With This Treasure, I Summon Primordial Weapons
Chapter 21: Sunrise

Chapter 21: Sunrise

Sleep took him faster than he expected.

His back met the cushion and the world went out all at once, without dreams or warning.

It did not last.

Something came through the tower, less a sound than a vibration, up through the stone and the bed frame and into his bones, arriving there before his mind had caught up with it.

Godric’s eyes snapped open.

Beside him, Raven’s did the same.

Somewhere during the night, the distance between them almost disappeared. The pillow that had been on his side of the bed now lay pressed against hers, no gap between them.

Her hair had come apart in the night and hung loose around her shoulders as she turned to him with the question already on her face.

Through the window on their right, the first line of sunlight opened up the night sky, and the dungeon went back to being what it actually was.

The red desert.

Godric was at the window before he had decided to be.

Crimson sand was coming down over the melted city. It filled the winding streets below the way water fills a trench, finding every gap, leaving nothing behind it, and then the first wave reached the foot of the tower.

From the stairwell came screaming. The sound of a great many people deciding at the same moment to be somewhere higher.

"We need to go."

Raven did not need telling twice. She had her heels on and was at his shoulder in a second.

"Come on, lover. Let’s not get buried."

She was just about to pull the door open when the knock came.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

When the door opened up, Torr stood on the other side.

His gaze swept past Raven and found Godric almost immediately.

"Come on. Boss wants you to join him."

Godric nodded, then turned to Raven. "Let’s go."

"No." Torr cut in. "Just you."

"She’s coming with me," Godric replied without skipping a beat. "Or you can explain to Daren why I can’t join him."

Torr frowned, then glanced back at the staircase behind him and nodded.

"Fine. We don’t have time. Let’s go."

With that, they followed after the second in command.

During the short climb to the top floor, Godric couldn’t help but lean out past the railing and look down at the stairway below.

People pushed against one another as they hurried up the stairs.

He watched a moment longer, and then he saw the thing that stopped him.

Every one of them stopped climbing at the same floor.

Fifteen down, or sixteen. He couldn’t tell from that height. But not one of them went past it. They arrived, and they packed in, and they stayed there, as though the stair above that point belonged to somebody else.

Below them, the sand reached the base of the tower and began coming up the stairwell at a terrifying speed.

Godric leaned back from the railing and quickly caught up to Raven and Torr.

They stopped only at the last floor, where a single door stood, leading directly into Daren’s chamber.

Beside it, where the stair ended, was a small window with no glass that looked down the length of the tower.

Torr took a step toward the door, knocked once and swung it open.

Inside was the same size as Godric’s chamber, but the furniture and layout were far different.

In the middle of the first room stood a massive oval table made of some kind of black wood.

Fifteen chairs stood around it, but only eight were occupied.

"Oh? You guys are here?" Astrea asked in surprise. She sat roughly in the middle of the desk, while Daren, whose gaze swept across Godric and Raven, sat at the forefront.

"You’re not alone," Daren said in a tone that offered little to show how he felt about it.

"I’m not," Godric replied without hesitation.

Daren’s gaze lingered on him for a couple of moments before the man nodded.

"Raven, if you be so kind, could you wait in the other room?" He gestured to the small door to their right. "The council meeting is about to begin, and only my lieutenants may attend. I’m sure you understand."

Raven nodded, then walked out into the other room.

"Now, Godric, please sit down." He gestured to the table. "We are about to begin."

Godric’s eyes swept across the table.

The seating told him everything before anyone spoke. The nearer a man sat to Daren, the more he was worth, which was why they were all crowded down one side of the table and why the far end of it stood empty.

There was a place waiting for him at the bottom of that arrangement, right next to Astrea, who was the newest member of the council.

Godric, however, didn’t try to follow the already established hierarchy.

He instead walked the length of the table. Past everyone present, past the empty chairs, past the seat next to Astrea, and sat down at the far end, facing Daren directly.

There was only one other seat in that room with nobody beside it.

And he had just taken it.

"So," Godric spoke as he leaned back in his seat. "What’s on today’s agenda?"

Daren’s eyes never left him for a moment.

He couldn’t tell whether the look on his face was intrigue or silent fury.

When he spoke, however, Daren sounded oddly calm.

"Expedition to the sanctuary..." Daren began, turning toward one of the men sitting to his left. "When are you leaving?"

A man with long black hair and armour made of mismatched monster hides quickly straightened up before responding. "We are ready to leave on the next moon rise."

Daren nodded. "Good."

’A sanctuary?’

Godric couldn’t help but find the sound of the place intriguing. Especially so since Daren, who told him he wouldn’t leave this place until he found something, was sending people there to look for most probably that very same thing.

Of course, he couldn’t sound too interested. That would raise suspicion he could not afford.

He leaned back in his seat and listened carefully to the conversations which unfolded all around him.