The Iyago looked down at the Beastman, “I believe they have demonstrated enough. I’ll proceed with the Oath unless you have any other objections.”

The Beastman begrudgingly looked away, “I do not.”

“Wonderful,” he said before turning back to the group, “Each of you must swear to abide by a couple of rules. First, killing or maiming any Oath-abiding resident or any children is strictly forbidden except in the arena as part of a duel. Second, the destruction of essential infrastructure to the city is forbidden, and third, should Iyanu come under attack by an outside party while you’re within the city, you will aid in the defense and fight with your fellow residents, irrespective of the individual’s clan, to kill or expel that outside force. This includes any foreign invaders, those who have violated the terms of this contract, and those who have entered the city without making the Oath in the first place.”

He glanced down at the Beastman, “Finally, no clan is to attack young unsworn Demons from any clan making their first trip to Iyanu.” he said, turning to look back at the group.”Do you have any questions before you make the Oath?”

Demitrus spoke up when the Iyago looked at him, “How do you know if someone has broken the Oath? What's to stop someone from killing another when both are alone?

“As you’ve probably been taught, Demonic magic is chaotic by nature. The only way to control it is to bind it within the bounds of a contract or Oath. Once broken, the magic will be free to do what it wants, most often taking control of the wielder, and naturally, that is very obvious to everyone around you.” The Iyago said, its tail idly swaying behind the arch.

“What’s considered ‘essential’ infrastructure,” Leah asked,

“Anything related to the guards, the foundations of the city, a clan’s main building, and the Citadel.”

“I see,” Leah said, nodding to herself.

“Will this contract change us in any way?” Leo asked, a hint of nervousness in his voice.

“The mana from the Crystal Heart,” The Iyanu indicated towards The large Crystal pillar that made up the center of Iyanu with its beak, “Will be the magic bound by the Oath. It takes on the properties of the magic the Oathmaker already has, and, in short, what happens to your body depends on what your magic already does to you.” The Iyago said, looking back at Leo.

Leo gave it a nod, “Alright,” he said, his shoulders relaxing a bit.

“Any other questions?” The Iyanu asked once more, looking at the group. When no one spoke up, he glanced down at the baby Rakna and Leo, “The only exception to these rules is if the individual in question is too young to make a contract. However, the caretaker will be required to report weekly to the nearest administrative section. Once the child is deemed able to make that decision, they either need to make the contract or be expelled from the city.” Is that understood?” He said while looking at Leo.

Leo gave a silent nod.

“Very well, step forward one by one and place your claws on the archway, swear the abide by the laws of Iyanu that have been presented to you, and you shall have entry.” The Iyago said, shifting until it sat on the edge of the arch and could look down on them as they approached the arch.

Eliza was the first to step forward. She could feel the hostile gaze of the Steel Blood guard on her as she placed her hand on the archway. Ignoring him, she closed her eyes and said, “I swear to follow the Laws of Iyanu as have been described to me while within the bounds of Iyanu.”

No sooner had she said the words when a somewhat painful prickly sensation invaded her hand. She opened her eyes to see glyphs forming on the archway around her hand. A moment later, she felt some of the magic within her well up, coursing through her arm into the pillar. The glyphs lit up as they absorbed the magic power. A few moments later, less magic streamed back to Eliza but that magic was much denser than what she had given to the pillar. Before long, the glowing glyphs darkened and faded until the arch was a solid smooth stone surface once again.

One by one, with the exception of Xalefore, the rest of the group stepped forward. Demitrus made the Oath with little to no hesitation, and Leah, while she was a tad bit more hesitant, still did so with a gleam of excitement in her eyes. Leo was much more reserved. Slowly walking up to the arch, he promised to follow the rules of Iyanu as well as to present the baby Rakna once a week. His turn done, he stepped away with a sigh. Finally, Xalefore practically lunged forward and placed his hand on the arch, so eager, in fact, that he stumbled over his words a couple of times in his excitement. Once done, he practically skipped back to the group with a pleased grin on his face.

Seeing them all finish, the Iyago spoke once more, “Congratulations, you are now permitted to enter into Iyanu.” He said, standing up and stretching before returning to the position he had sat in before they arrived.

“Thank you,” Eliza said, giving a slight bow to the Iyago, “Which way is it to the Shadow Weaver clan’s part of the city,” She asked as she straightened out and looked back at the Iyago, who had a pleased glint in his eyes.

“Head up this bridge and make your way toward the Crystal Heart, which serves as the congregation point where the clans trade. Do not go to the upper level. That is where the council meets in the Citadel. Same for the arena at the base of the pillar, unless you want to be dragged into a fight on your first day?” The Iyago said with a glint of amusement in its eyes.

“No, not really.” Eliza said.

“Then I would suggest you try to find a clan member in the marketplace. The Shadow Weavers blocked off the bridges into their section of the city a while ago, and nobody can enter on foot. Members of your clan can still be found in the Marketplace, so there must be someway in.” The Iyago said, stretching its wings, “If all else fails, you can approach the barrier and I’m sure they’ll eventually let you in since you’re part of the clan.

Eliza once again lightly bowed to the Iyago in thanks before heading toward the bridge. The rest of the group followed her as she walked up to the archway that was blocked by the Steel Blood guard. He stepped out of the way when they approached, his heavy armor clanking with the movement. As Eliza passed, he mumbled, “Watch yourself, Shadow Weaver clan or not. That doesn’t guarantee your protection.”

“Thanks for the advice,” Eliza said and continued past the guard up the bridge.

She stepped off of the bridge and onto the stone platform and looked around at the city now that she was actually in it. The platforms were wider than they had appeared from a distance, with enough space to hold about a city block worth of buildings between the edge of the platform and the central stalagmite. The buildings were rectangular in shape, varying from single to double stories, and were made out of the stone-like wood they had seen back in the Steel Blood’s forest. They were built in a gridlike pattern, softly emitting a red glow, clearly marking this area as the Steel Bloods.

Looking out, Eliza saw that the other stalagmites were similarly built and that the platforms went all the way down into the chasm below. Pillars were more and more frequent on each platform the further down she looked. Eventually, she couldn’t see more as the bases of the stalagmites were hidden by a large body of water at the bottom of the chasm.

The bridge they needed to get to was a couple of platforms up, so the group headed toward the stairs carved into the stalagmite. Xalefore was ecstatic, bouncing around as he looked around the city while they walked past Beastmen, Hellhounds, and Hobgoblins with the occasional Imp.

“Why’re you so excited, Xale?” Leah asked as she stepped out of the way of a Beastman who had made no attempt to move around her.

“Xalefore happy cause Xalefore gets to enter Iyanu again. Most Demon only gets chance to enter once, and if Demon’s clan don’t like performance, they send Demon back to clan territory.” Xalefore said happily, taking in a deep breath of the murky air.

Demitrus raised an eyebrow at that, “Sounds like it’s a big deal to be here if they’re regulating who can stay. What’s so important about this place?”

“Simple, Crystal heart makes Demon magic stronger.”

“If that's the case, why would a clan allow the other clans near it? Surely they would want to monopolize it.” Leo said as they approached the stairs and started to ascend.

“Clans do, but many die in battle for Iyanu. And more die if clans didn’t agree on Oath. Now clans hate other clans, but conflict gets solved in Arena.” Xalefore said as they ascended the stairs until they reached the platform that held the bridge. They started to make their way toward it, with Xalefore excitedly leading the way.

“We’re being followed,” Demitrus said quietly to the rest of the group. He didn’t break stride or show that he had noticed them being followed.

Leah tried to look around, but Leo stopped her by resting a hand on her shoulder.

"How do you know? Many Demons have been watching us as we’ve walked by.” Leah asked, turning her head to look ahead.

“Because they’re doing a piss poor job of doing it. I’ve caught sight of the same three Demons four times now.” Demitrus said.

“Xalefore knows good place called Frellies Emporium. Many imp species use place to escape stronger Demons that want to hit them,” Xalefore said.

“And they’re trustworthy? As in, they don’t sell you out to the stronger Demons?” Leo asked.

“Of course!” Xalefore said brightly, “ Xalefor use Frellies many times in past. They always help if Xalefore give money.”

“Good to know, “Eliza said, glancing down at the imp, “Let’s try to find the Shadow Weavers first.”

“Xalefore know good place, popular Frost Dance merchant liked by many small Demons. Frost Dancer have many connections.” Xalefore said, leading them to the bridge.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

They didn’t need to go far to get to the bridge, and they began to cross it. Eliza marveled at the structure before her. The upper portion of the pillar held a large building that encircled the entirety of the Crystal, which was certainly the Citadel mentioned by the Iyago. The building itself was an upside-down pyramid shape with many platforms extending out of the side of it that admitted a variety of flying Demons into the structure. A series of sigils were carved into the dark stone itself, each glowing a different color from one of the clans, giving it a shimmering appearance as the air itself continuously swapped between colors. Access by foot looked to be handled at the intersection of the bottom of the pyramid and the uppermost platform.

The lower part of the pillar held another building that was supposedly the arena, likewise built around the Crystal. Other structures were built around it, but from her angle, Eliza wasn’t able to get a good look at that much.

The middle part of the pillar, the one they were crossing the bridge to, looked to be several levels devoted to being a marketplace with by far the largest concentration of Demons she had ever seen. Eliza and co stepped onto the platform and started looking around for a Demon from the ShadowWeaver clan. They passed by several buildings made out of the same material as the other two levels that were occupied by fairly affluent Demons peddling their wares. The level bustled with activity as the less prosperous Demons displayed their goods on a cloth on the sides of the streets, calling out to the crowds that passed by.

They circled around about a quarter of the platform while Xalefore tried to find the merchant he had mentioned. They passed by many Demons that lightly emitted red, green, or blue colors, signifying which clan they belonged to. But they came across no Demon that emitted a black-purple color that would indicate the Shadow Weaver clan.

The group was passing an alleyway that was next to a particularly busy shop that was selling trinkets and other forms of small jewelry when Xalefore suddenly stopped and exclaimed in excitement, “This alley, Frost dancer use alley next to shiny shop many times!” Xalefore excitedly started down the alley before anyone could say anything.

Eliza met the rest of the group's gazes before shrugging and following the imp into the Alley. It didn’t take long for them to hear the sound of something breaking, following a gasp of horror.

She then heard a voice, “I told you I’d do this if I ever saw your face around here again, Selene. You’re not permitted to sell your ice around here. Many residents don’t like the pests that it attracts.” it growled.

Eliza and the group continued down the alley. They passed by several smaller side alleys before they found the source of the sound. In the center of the alley floated a translucent Water Nymph that was teal in color. She had a female upper body and a long tail as her lower body. Her hair was bluish and was long enough to reach the middle of her lower back. In front of her were what had once been crystal clear containers that held a vanilla-colored creamy substance that had been solid but was quickly melting into the stone.

A clawed foot raised before stomping down to shatter another crystal container, splattering its contents across the stone ground. The foot belonged to a Hobgoblin, who, judging by the red glow that surrounded him, belonged to the Steel Bloods. He wielded a wooden club that was about half his size in length.

“Leave me alone, Gera!” The Nymph cried, tears in the form of ice crystals trailing down out of her deep bluish-green eyes that lacked pupils, “What have I ever done to you to make you hunt me out of first the streets and now the alleys!?” she said in distress, finned hands covering her mouth as Gera smashed another container.

Gera sneered, “With the decline of the Shadow weavers, the Frost Dancers have grown weak as well. What other reason do I need?”

Surprisingly, Selene started to chuckle, her pitiful look quickly morphing into one of spite.

“What’s so funny,” Gera growled.

“Me weak? That’s rich coming from a SteelBlood bottom feeder who can only stay in Iyanu because he joined the guard before his clan could kick him out. Or did you think people had forgotten about that? Sorry to say, but everyone knows,” She sneered.

Gera’s face contorted in anger, “A bottom feeder, am I? Tell me then, how does a hit from a ‘bottom feeder’ feel?” He growled as he lashed out with his club, Swinging it directly at Selene's form. Ice quickly formed across Selene's arms as she brought them up to block Gera’s blow. On impact, the ice shattered, and Selene let out a cry of pain as the hit sent her flying into the wall.

“Don’t let anyone leave the alley,” Eliza said before starting down the alley toward Gera, approaching the goblin from the side.

Arms raised protectively over her head, Ice reformed on her skin as Selene defiantly glared at Gera through her arms, “Is that all you got? Children could hit harder than that.”

A look of rage crossed Gera’s face, and he raised his club to slam it back down onto Selene, However, Eliza managed to grab his arm before he could.

“Who dare-.” Gera began but was cut short when, in a quick movement, Eliza twisted his arm behind his back and knocked the club out of his hand. From there, Eliza was able to wrestle Gera face-first into the ice-cold broken containers on the ground,

“Unhand me at once!” Gera yelled, the shards piercing into his skin as he struggled against her hold.

“Why should I?” Eliza asked.

“You’re interfering with the business of the guard, that’s why!” Gera snarled.

“Harassing a merchant hardly seems like it would be the business of the guard. ” Demitrus said,

“It’s not,” Selene spat, slowly uncurling from the ball she had rolled into. “If he was on official business, there’s no way he would’ve separated from the other guard he was patrolling with,” she growled as he quickly wrapped up the remaining crystal containers and she placed them into a bag.

“What the Guard does is none of your business,” Gera growled as his eyes began to glow red. Almost immediately, He began to struggle anew, only this time, he was harder for Eliza to hold down, much harder.

Eliza could feel Gera’s skin changing beneath her hands as he channeled his magic. It was quickly becoming apparent that she couldn’t keep him held down forever. This was when Demitrus stepped in and conked Gera over the head with the wooden club. Gera was knocked out cold, his body going limp.

Eliza let go and stood up, dusting off her hands, “Selene was it?” She asked, glancing over at the merchant, who was almost done wrapping the rest of her stuff up.

A bright and cheerful look spread across Selene’s face, ”The one and only!” She said before diving toward the ground and picking up one of the last remaining containers. Once it was secured she floated back up, easily moving through the air as if she was swimming through water.

She excitedly held out the container to Eliza, “ Please have this. It's the least I could do after you helped me.” she said.

“What is it?” Eliza asked warily.

Unperturbed by Eliza’s lack of enthusiasm, Selene said, “I call it IceScream, the ice comes from the fact that is made of Ice, and the Scream part is because it tastes as sweet as the screams of despair of your mortal enemies!”

“...is that so?” Eliza said, eyeing the container with a newfound interest. The face of her uncle suffering for what he had done to her family crossed her mind, and she hesitantly reached forward and took the proffered Icescream. Selena twisted the top of the crystal container, and it popped off, revealing the vanilla-colored substance within. She then handed Eliza a thin wooden stick.

Unsure of what else to do, Eliza scooped some of the substance up with the spoon and, after lowering her mask, placed it onto her tongue. Almost immediately, the ice-cold substance began to melt, and a burst of flavor flooded into her mouth. Few of the desserts she had eaten throughout her life compared to the sweetness that she was experiencing.

“How was it?” Selene asked, floating directly in front of Eliza with a look of joyful expectation in her eyes.

Eliza coughed and looked away, covering her mouth with her hand. Even now, she wanted to devour the rest of the IceScream in the container, but she didn’t dare let herself lose her composure like that, “It's pretty good,” Eliza said.

“Hmmm, is that so?” Selene said, floating backward with a knowing smile on her face. She quickly gathered a couple more containers. While she was doing that Xalefore ran up to her. “Hi Selene!” he said happily.

Selene’s eyes widened in shock when she looked down and saw Xalefore standing there.

“Is that you, Xalefore? I had thought they kicked you out?!”

“Yes, Clan kick Xalefore out, but friends bring Xalefore back!”

“Really? Good for you!” Selene said, giving Xalefore a wide smile, “As a welcome-back gift, how about you have this?” She passed him a crystal container which he gleefully took.”

“Thanks! Xalefore love Selene IceScream!” he said.

Selene then passed out a container to the rest of the group, and everyone took some, with the exception of Leo.

“So, what brings you down my quaint little alleyway? As helpful as you were, I doubt you came here by chance,” she said as she passed a container to Leah with a smile on her face.

“We’ve been looking for you, or rather we were told you could help us find a member of the Shadow Weaver clan,” Eliza said.

Selene froze, the smile falling off of her face as she forgot to let go of the container that Leah was trying to take. Leah tugged on it, and Selene snapped out of it, the smile quickly returning to her face, only this time, it looked empty.

“So it was you, huh?” She said quietly with a barely discernable hint of sadness in her voice.

“What do you mean?” Demitrus asked.

“They’re already aware of you, have been since you entered the city. They wanted me to point you in the direction of the nearest outpost if you approached me.” Selene said.

“...Well, let's hear it then,” Leo said.

Selene hesitantly pointed down the alleyway, “Head three streets that way and head down the second alley on your right. Somewhere down it, there will be an entrance that a shadow weaver clan member can find.”

“Thanks for the information and the IceScream,” Eliza said, lightly bowing her head to the water nymph.

“...Not a problem,” Selene said after hesitating a moment.

The group started to follow the given directions but was stopped a moment later by Selene saying, “Hey, uh, Eliza. Be careful, okay?”

Eliza stopped before slowly turning her head to give the nymph a nod.

After they had made some distance, Demitrus said, “ You never gave her your name.”

“I know. I’ll figure out why later when we no longer have this problem of finding the Shadow Weavers,” Eliza said, putting another scoop of IceScream onto her tongue, relishing the sweetness as it melted in her mouth.

“We should be careful, the Shadow Weavers are doing something, and I’m fairly sure it isn’t anything good for us,” Leo said.

“Agreed,” Demitrus said, trying a bite of the IceScream.

“We’ll have to see what happens,” Eliza said, “Isradine said we could trust them, so we’ll need to trust her on that. There are many reasons they could be acting this way, one of which could be that they’re being careful because unknown individuals entered the city with their magic.”

“Nevertheless, a little vigilance never hurt.” Leo insisted.

“Alright,” Eliza said.

It didn’t take the group long to finish off their IceScream. The containers promptly melted into water as soon as each individual had finished. Before long, they reached the alleyway identified by Selene. At first, nothing looked any different from any of the other alleyways, but after a few moments of looking around, one of the walls in the alley looked off to Demitrus and Eliza. On closer inspection, it was an illusory wall that hid a small entryway into the building. Eliza met everyone's gazes before nodding and stepping in first.

Wooden floorboards creaked under their feet as they entered an unlit, mostly barren room save for a couple of poor-quality rugs that were laid out. Two Demon species Eliza had never seen before sat on said rugs.

On the right sat a tall and thin Demon with a body shape similar to a human, but that's where the similarities ended. The Demon had two sets of spider arms sprouting from its back with a set of normal arms in between with long, thin fingers. Four eyes, devoid of irises, sat on its face that faintly glowed purple, two of which were where a human’s eyes would be and the other two a little above and to the sides of the head. It had long, silky black, straight hair that extended down to the middle of its back, and it wore a dark robe that covered the rest of its body.

“Welcome.” The other Demon said, standing up on its digitigrade feet. Its mouth took up the entirety of its face, save for two small thin holes that sat directly above it. Thick horns jutted out of the sides of its head that pointed up to the ceiling. When standing, its arms were long enough for its sharp-clawed hands to reach its knees. A long tail extended out behind it the swished side to side.

“We’ve been expecting you,” it said, showcasing the many serrated teeth within its mouth.

“So we’ve heard,” Leo said.

“Tell us, how have you come across our clan's magic?” The tall and thin Demon asked.

“It was granted to us,” Eliza said.

“Impossible, only Salendal or the Clan leader could’ve done that. But Salendal hates outsiders, and the clan leader isn’t in the state to do so right now.” The Demon said.

Suddenly, Eliza began to feel some of her magic begin to drain away. Then she heard a voice speak as a shadowy form materialized in front of her.

“I’m hurt. Was I really that forgettable?” Isradine said, appearing between Eliza and the two Demons.

“...So you still live, Isradine.” The horned Demon said Eliza wasn’t too sure, but it almost sounded as if the Demon had hoped that wasn’t the case.

“C’mon, you’ve gotta have a bigger reaction than that, Neral,” Isradine said,

“I’ve never been one for excessive displays of emotion like you,” he grumbled, stepping off of the rug and swiping it to the side with his tail, revealing a set of glyphs carved into the wood in a circular pattern. Whatever Eliza had heard in his voice before, it was gone now.

“...It's been a long time Isradine.” The tall Demon said, “Some would say it hasn’t been long enough.”

“That's nothing new. Salendal never did like me.” Isradine said.

“That's not what I’m saying… just… be careful who you trust. A lot has changed in the last fifteen years.”

“Enough, Jasaira, “ Neral said, “...She’ll find out soon enough.”He finished as the shadows in the room converged on the glyphs carved into the floor. The glyphs darkened and a moment later a black shimmering surface appeared in between all of the Glyphs.

“Your Grandfather is a little busy right now. Go through the portal below, I've set it to bring you to see someone who can take care of you,” Neral said.

Isradines shadowy form bowed to Neral, “Thanks. It’s good to see all of you again.” she said, dispersing.

Neral looked at the group, “one at a time, please, starting with you.” he said, his head directly looking at Eliza.

Eliza came to the portal and hesitated. The concept of a portal wasn’t new to her, having heard about them from one of her family's mages. However, no portal had been made that hadn’t killed its user in some ghastly way. In fact, so many had died that the Royal council of mages, more commonly known as the Royal Order, had forbidden further research into the subject. They decreed that, while portals were theoretically possible, it was a spell only possible for divine beings to use safely and was a deathtrap otherwise.

Yet that deathtrap, if this was in truth a portal, was right before her, and she was expected to go through it. With everything that had been going on, Eliza had a feeling there was a trap. But it seemed like Isradine trusted these two so maybe it was okay. Eliza took a deep breath to prepare herself and stepped into the portal.

The moment her foot came in contact with the shimmering, black glass-like surface, something latched onto her and pulled her in. It felt like a bucket of ice-cold water was splashed into her face before everything around her went pitch black. She tumbled through the air as whatever was pulling on her dragged her through the darkness.

A moment later, another bone-chilling wave of cold hit her, and she fell before crashing onto a wooden floor, the breath knocked out of her. Her vision swam as she sucked in a breath, and she almost gagged on the sickeningly sweet smell that hung in the air. Whatever it was only made her dizziness worse.

Eliza heard something moving toward her from somewhere above her head. She glanced up in time to see a wooden beam swinging directly for her head.