Elisha and Chloe came back without Valery and Bertha. The Mad Whip looked like she wanted to fight again and David was worried that was going to happen.

“Why did you do that?” Zoey asked. Her bow disappeared, fading into a thousand golden lights. The Vjognir popped out of nowhere, scrambling mid-air to get on Zoey’s head.

“Thank you, but I had that under control,” the woman said as she scrambled to get on her feet. She hissed, moving her neck side to side to check for injuries. Her dark hair was packed up and pinned by some kind of spine or spike that David had never seen before. She had gray eyes, like fine ash. It was beautiful and haunting.

“You almost got killed,” David said. “When they sniffed essence, they could have ripped you to shreds. What if we hadn’t been here?”

“I wish we hadn’t been here,” Zoey said. David turned sharply on her but Zoey only rolled her eyes and walked over to Elisha and Chloe. Chloe looked frightened, but she wasn’t crying. David stared at the dark haired woman. There was blood on the side of her head. He stretched his hand to hold her but she flinched away.

“The old woman was gone,” Elisha said. David nodded. Valery had seemed like a quick witted woman. He was glad she was able to escape. “What do we do now?”

“We leave,” the Mad Whip said, stumbling toward the door. “If you stay here, Balran will send one of the stronger ones. And that will be annoying.”

“Where do we go?” David asked. They all followed her to the door where they found people running. Screams rang as people were hurled away. David didn’t have to be told to know what was happening. He turned to the Mad Whip, hoping his eyes showed how maddening what she’d done was.

“You are going to ki…” Zoey stopped when one of the traders was trampled under those running for their lives. In the crowd of town folk trying to escape, they could see the torches lifted up and they heard the thuds of hard steps on stone. They were coming, and this time there was more.

“How did they get here so fast?” Elisha asked. The Mad Whip grinned, running down the steps to meet the coming group of Stone Sniffers. David hesitated. He wasn’t sure how any of this made any sense. They should lay low and make plans on how to defeat them, not rush into a wave of a battle they would likely lose.

“If we leave her, she will die,” Zoey said, running to join the fight. The street was nearly empty. Some of the traders caught out had hidden away from the terrifying gazes of Stone Sniffers. David wondered how many of them would survive if a fight broke out like this.

“David,” Chloe called. He looked back to see her eyes shining with tears. Elisha held her hands, pulling her into him like David would have done.

“Chloe, I need you to do something for me,” David said. “You are the only one with a full essence ring here, so your magic is stronger. Can you help us?”

She stared at him, her tears finally sliding down her cheeks. Then she nodded. David smiled, pulled her from Elisha and gestured for Elisha to help with the fight behind him. The snap of the woman’s whip was loud. Someone screamed, David ignored it, trying to think of a way they could all get out of this alive.

“I need you to give us a quick buff,” David said. “Nothing serious, just enough to keep us alive through this. Find a place to hide and begin.”

He rushed over to join the others. Zoey pulled on her bow and shot arrows at the coming Stone Sniffers. It was dark, but her arrows shone through, catching one of them in the chest. The Mad Whip lashed at them, her whip tearing flesh and clothes.

David sensed the change in the stone-sniffers almost immediately. He rushed at the closest one, his sword swinging even before he thought about it. The Stone Sniffer slid out of reach smoothly, teeth bared at David. His eyes were different, almost the same as Ziel’s tainted orcs.

He lunged forward, coming at David with an insane speed. Shadow slammed into the Stone Sniffer and Elisha came out of it with his dagger flickering. He was faster than the Stone Sniffer. Faster than David had ever seen him be.

David shifted left, dodging the sword of another sniffer. This one thick with muscles. He growled, spit dripping the side of his mouth as he glared with unfathomable rage. He brought up a vial of blue, glowing dust and sniffed it. His body radiated an eerie energy, as if essence was leaking out his every pore.

“You are dead! You are all dead.” He charged at David, sword coming in a wide arch swing. David crouched under the swing, hating to admit that an attack like that would cleave him in two. But he was faster than the big man. He slid left, entering the sniffer’s blind spot and slashed off his sword arm in one swing of his sword.

Ignis chuckled.

David turned to find another sniffer trying to stab him from behind. A flare of fire gushed off him, making the sniffer stumble back in shock. David quickly thrust his sword through the man’s chest. He saw the light wink out his eyes, the effect of the essence vanished immediately.

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The Mad Whip had switched from her whip to a thin chain with a dagger fastened at the end. She swung it like she controlled both air and steel.

Focus!

David’s eyes widened at the two men charging at him. They froze, struck down by Zoey’s arrows. He couldn’t see her face, but he could guess how disappointed she was. He was about to turn and pounce on another sniffer when he felt the familiar warmth of Chloe’s buff, and then he was enveloped in blue light.

He felt refreshed, as if he’d just woken up from a long rest. David moved his head to the left, out of the reach of a straight sword. He could see and sense things clearer. Zoey had stopped using her arrows. She was fighting like a beast.

David moved forward, almost as if the ground had simply pulled him. He caught the neck of a sniffer and pummeled him with the hilt of his sword until the man went limp in his hand, and then he went to the next. The Mad Whip’s laughter echoed in the night as she went through them like a plough machine. Chloe’s buff was on her too.

The numbers of Stone Sniffers began to thin. Most were dead or injured, but the rest were trying to escape. Zoey’s arrow split into about a dozen, flying for their retreating sniffers. The Mad Whip moved to chase but David held her back, pulling her with him as he walked back to Zoey. She struggled against his hold for a while and then gave up.

“We could have killed them all,” The Mad Whip said. “We could have reduced Balran’s number considerably.”

“Not tonight,” David said, glaring at the woman. “I don’t know you and in the span of time we’ve met, you have dragged us into a fight we were not prepared for. You have included innocent people in this chaos. What do you think this Balran will do to them? To this town?”

“Are you crazy?” Mad Whip asked, looking at David with feral eyes. “You think these people care about us? You think they give shit if we die? They are NPCs, dipshit.”

David stared at her for a moment, trying to see if she meant that. “You really believe that?”

“What do you think?” She asked. David scoffed, wondering if it was stupid trying to help her after all. “Do you want to get out of this damn floor or do you want to play at being some kind of hero?”

“We can do both,” Zoey said. The Mad Whip turned sharply to her, hers shining with malice. Zoey smirked. “We can save them and move out of this floor. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.”

Chloe came down to them. She stood beside David, putting her hand in his.

“We have to get out of here anyway,” David said. He looked around, it was still silent. Those that had hidden away slipped into the night, returning to the safety of their homes. Safety. The word sounded like a joke. There was no place safe in a place like this. He turned to the woman, her black leather armor gleaming in the darkness.

“Do you have somewhere to hide, Whip?”

“Yes,” she said, glaring at him. “And it is Hanna. And no, I am not hiding tonight. I am looking for someone. They took her when we got into the town two days ago.”

“You are trying to be a hero after all,” Zoey said.

“Not to people who I don’t know.”

David sighed. He’d hoped they could rest after Ziel’s trials but things were beginning to move too fast again. Yet, he couldn’t shake the feeling that Hanna could help them find a way out of the second floor. She was looking at him, waiting for him to decide what he wanted to do.

“We will help, but first you have to tell us what you know about Balran.”

She shook her head. “I’ve never met him. I have heard stories from some of the town folks, but they make him sound like the big bad wolf in fairy tales.”

“Maybe because he is?” Elisha asked. “Uthzar is not a small town. Imagine the power it would take to control a town like this?”

“Did you see guards at the gate?” Hanna asked as she led them through the trade district of Uthzar. They walked into the residential part, where the homes were well spaced, made of wood and dirt or stones. She stopped in front of a door and knocked roughly.

“Jo, open the door or I will wrap my whip around your throat.”

The door opened slightly and a pale face peeped out. The boy was just as bald as the Stone Sniffers. The light inside illuminated the scorpion tattoo drawn on his face. Its claws stretching down both sides of his face. His eyes were dull ember red, tainted. He growled when he saw the others.

“You keep bringing me trouble, Hanna.” His accent made her name sound strange, but Hanna didn’t seem to mind. She pushed the door, shoving him back. Jo staggered for a moment, and glared at her when he gained ground.

“This is Jo,” Hanna said. “He wants the same thing we do.”

“To get killed?” Zoey asked.

“He stole from Balran and his old master wants him dead. Apparently, their stone dust is rationed, but Jo stole some vials of stone dust.”

“Essence,” David said and Hanna nodded. “So he doesn’t have enough essence?”

“He does,” Jo said before Hanna could respond. “He’s a greedy old swine, him and his Hollows.”

“Hollows?” David asked and Jo looked at Hanna sharply.

“They just arrived,” Hanna said. Jo snorted.

“Balran has three Hollows. They are his chiefs. They are strong, able to harness the stone dust more than any of us, except Balran. He uses them to put the others in line.” Jo sighed. He wore a large, grey robe tied at the waist. His feet were bare and his face looked scratched.

“He is suffering,” Hanna said when she caught David staring at him. She summoned a vial and tossed it at Jo who caught it hungrily. He opened the vial, pressed his nose to it and inhaled deeply. The red of his eyes shone briefly and he grinned.

“That’s it!” Jo exclaimed, touching his face as if the skin there was something new to him. Hanna stared at him with disgust.

“He’ll be our guide to Balran,” Hanna said. “For his freedom and our way out of this damn town."