I landed on the rooftop with a thunk. It wasn’t a loud sound and probably didn’t even carry to the street, but it was uncharacteristic of me. The night sat poorly with me. It had been too long since I had unchained the storm within my mind and the constant pounding of it trying to escape was affecting me.

“Worms, I call them,” Calixte replied, more than a little amused. “More like shrimps crossed with millipedes. They went into your eyes and shielded you from the sight of dear Lady Beatrice. As a side-effect, you should now be able to see a fly shitting from a few hundred feet away.”

I had firm footing when the memory overtook me. A few more flashes and their timing might not be so forgiving. The next time I tried a memory spell I would make damn sure it stops when my hand comes out of his head. Or at least that I don’t need to rob a place the same day I cast it.

After a thorough but futile shake to try and clear my head I surveyed the surrounding rooftops. This was in a much nicer party of the city now, though still a primarily commercial district. I was near my target now, I just needed to…there we go.

I leapt to the next ledge finger-sized holes littered the roof and this time connected with shingles silently. As near as I could tell I was only 2 or 3 jumps away now. The scenery looked very close to that shown in the memories I borrowed from dear Albert. I was sure he had never suspected that working as a guard to some hidden secret would prove so dangerous. Albert was kind of slow really…

One roof away now. I could see the window that would serve as my entrance. No one stood at it now, but the whole building was patrolled at all times of day or night. Albert was a day-guard so he didn’t know the exact routine during night. But if it was anything like during the day…

Sure enough, a bored looking guard passed the window after a minute. He didn’t linger, likely eager to return to whatever stool or bench he had waiting for him. I watched for a few more circuits and determined that he was the only one there. Or at least the only one in the attic–like top floor. It was unlikely I’d be able to enter without alerting him. Preventing him from getting word to the rest, on the other hand, was very achievable.

I readied myself for his next pass. Arms stretched and poised. Wouldn’t be long now. I dropped the leathery fabric from my hand. There he was!

The sound of the window shattering was deafening to my adrenaline-addled mind. The look of shock on the guard’s face as I crashed through the frame was one of denial, He was caught totally unaware and a split second later had collapsed to the floor under the force of my dive. It was enough to wind him but probably not to keep him down. A quick blow to the neck would solve that.

Guard taken care of I quickly took stock of the room. It could best be described as a hall. The window was near the end, just past a corner that seemed to go a ways into the building. A quick look confirmed it was lined with doors on either side until it reached the far end. Presumably one of them had the stairs behind it, but what could be behind the rest?

Still, one thing at a time. There was nothing to do for the glass that now littered the floor but the rest of the mess could be cleaned up to help ward off suspicion. The guard would go right out the window and onto the roof, where he wouldn’t be discovered until morning. As for the broken sill itself, I removed the thick, goat-hide cloak I had used to pass through it and hung it over the frame. It was an imperfect solution but hopefully anyone who came up here wouldn’t know any better.

“Oh, lady thief, you are just too funny!”

I wiped my head around, only to see nothing. A memory, that’s all, disguised as a voice to torment me in an exciting new ways. It was weird though. Even the worst backlash from that spell should have been unable to blend my waking mind with old, dug up phantoms. Well, the worst backlash possible would probably have rendered me catatonic, but still!

Something very strange was going on here. The storm that was my conscious mind might be an unstable beast, but it had limits, and I had countless years learning to live within them. Unless I had just up and gone crazy…err, again. Was that even possible?

I was pressed against the wall before the sound finished echoing. A booming noise, a nearby clocktower. Letting go of the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding I admonished myself for it. I was far too experienced to be rattled by a clock! Whatever the problem was I’d figure it out after I had finished my heist.

The first room I checked was completely barren, with only a dust-coated desk. The second was little better, full of moth-eaten rags and an old bedframe. It soon became clear that what I was after was not on this floor, I had expected the high-value items to be stored further down, but I thought there would be something up here.

Soon enough I found the stairs behind an otherwise unremarkable door. This was where things would get tricky. There would certainly be many more guards on the main floor, including stationary ones in my direct path. Killing them all was impractical. Too many unknowns and too many people. Even if one didn’t get lucky I would put the entire country after me…again. No, I would need to take a detour.

Making all the noise of an alleycat I crept down the stairway. No guards were at the bottom yet so that was good. When I reached near the bottom I pulled out a mirror, careful not to add fuel to the storm by looking into my eyes, and peered around the corner.

“Oh, dear Ada, how delightfully plebeian!”

I checked the other corner and bit my tongue. There were two guards to my left, stationary for the moment. They were talking but whether that meant one was passing by or they were merely trying to pass the time I could not say. There was a third man on the other side, now just walking around a corner. I would need to be wary of patrols but what I was really interested in was whatever warranted a standing duty.

I carefully put the mirror away and retraced my steps to the top floor. Was it four rooms down? No, closer to five. Maybe the room with the chairs…

I reached once more into my adventurer’s pack for the next tool of my trade. After careful consideration I placed the tip of the two-handed drill onto the floor and began spinning it. Once I was through I removed the tool and peered through. Sure enough, I had hit my target. There was another set of stairs, this one leading underground, and another guardsman. Probably a senior given his relative proximity to the treasure they were guarding.

“Perhaps planning to add another skull to your collection?”

“Sh-“ I actually had to bite my hand that time. This kind of instability was totally unlike me. But damn it I wished that monster-bitch in my head would shut up…and that it wasn’t actually her in my head. Ugh. I’d rather have gone mad…der than deal with THAT.

“Be careful what you wish for.”

Fortunately, while the guards on the main floor presented a problem, a single man behind a locked door did not. Well, as long as he didn’t spot me sawing through the roof anyway. Success breeds laziness, so with luck he wouldn’t but there was no reason to take the risk. A few more drill holes later and I had a glass-tipped dart in the crack between his neck and shoulder. Couldn’t say when exactly he would wake up, but it would certainly be long after I was gone.

Soon I was in on the landing of the new stairwell via carpentry bypass and sure enough it lead into a basement of sorts. There was only one more door at this point, an impressive-looking, reinforced metal door. And with what seemed to be a first-rate lock as well. Even the walls were stone so I couldn’t bypass them like I had the ceiling. Overall it was a thoroughly impressive last defense considering the number of guardsmen most people would pass to even see it.

But…

But. But. But.

It opened outwards.

Even the heaviest and most secure pin was trivial to remove next to a well-made lock. A screwdriver and a small mallet were all that you really needed. Once the pins were gone the door sat slightly crooked in its frame but remained standing. My crowbar soon saw to correcting that, swinging the door using its lock as an impromptu hinge.
And just like that I had arrived. I was in the treasure horde.

I went to pick up the nearest item, what appeared to be a long fang that matched 2 others I had collected. Only the Dragon Tooth was not one. When I picked it up it turned to a burning ash that singed my hand and caused smoke to rise from the floor.

The next item, a jade globe, shattered at my touch and left only sand behind. The third was an amber eye. It melted into tree sap. The headdress became maggots and the elixirs all dried up and my hand passed through the staff and WHY WAS THIS HAPPENING!?

“You thought you could get away from me.”

AUGH! “I DID get away from you! You aren’t even real! That monster has much better things to do than torment an acquaintance from hundreds of years ago!” This couldn’t be real…

“I let you get away. We both know I did. What makes you think I wasn’t merely waiting for a boring day?” No you’re not real you’re not real you’re not real…

The air was darkening into smoke, though there were no flames. The room was cold and spinning or was I spinning? It was dark now. Darker than I’d seen since she’d given me new eyes all those years ago. “Maybe I’ll leave you alone for another few hundred years after this. But first I think I’m going to take something so you don’t get so uppity this time around.” It didn’t exist. The ceiling seemed shorter now. The floor felt soft and spongy under my feet. A flash of blue. “After all, it’s not like I need you to be able to see.” No no no no no no.

Wait. Blue?

Everything froze. Everything in the room except for myself suddenly and literally stopped moving. The smoke hung in curls in the air, thick but suddenly less solid, with a feint texture of frost on it. I couldn’t see the floor or ceiling, but room was no longer spinning. There was something very wrong here. Something way beyond my madness that affected me. Something in the room?

And then everything started moving again. It went slowly, as if it felt time at half the speed I did, but it was slowly picking up. I had to act quickly. I had steadily become worse as I neared the building. What I had taken for backlash from my spell quickly turned into hearing voices, and though I could not distinguish truth from lie it was clear that not everything I now saw was real.

It had nearly reached the speed from before it first froze. The accompanying anxiety and fear were beginning to return with it. “…you’ll be…forever”

The cause must be in the room. Something blue? But what, how, could I save myself from this trap? Something blue…

“And when you die…”

Something blue! A box! But what…“I’ll fill you with worms and…” Calixte!

“Consider this an inoculation.”

I reached out and touched the box.