It had been a month since the incident at Burning Sensation.

Rumors had been spread about just what exactly happened that night and many different stories had surfaced.

Some thought that a gunfight had broken out on the street,

Others thought the woman working at the bar got fed up with the customers and gunned everyone inside and on the street causing the bloody scene. Only the bystanders on that night knew the truth but never opened their lips on the exact details, until...

"Mr. Smith correct? You were there on night of the incident correct?" Said a newsreporter holding a small and cheap microphone man's mouth.

"Yes, yes I was." Mr. Smith answered honestly.

"Do you remember anything about the events that occured on that bloody night?"

The man's voice changed from that point on. His voice sounded like the sweet melody of a woman's voice rather than a his own voice.

"She made sure I could not speak the truth" Mr. Smith said while clutching his chest tightly. His heart felt sharp pain from the moment he started to talk.

"Ah yes, most of the bystanders we have interviewed answered with the same response" The newsreporter said while fixing his tie and not paying midn to the man clutching his chest.

"She only let me tell anyone one thing..." Mr. Smith said as clutched his chest tighter and tore into his own skin. The newsreporter perked up and the cameraman shifted the camera shifted towards the man. Mr. Smith looked at the camera with a blank stare and started to speak.

"If you wish to know the truth I can only say one thing. There were no gangs at war, nor were there workers who lashed out at their customers." He said while blood started to leak from his eyelids. People in the back of the studio were signaling to cut the camera feed but the reporter ignored them and continued.

"That night there were only 2 people who fought on those bloodied streets. " Mr. Smith said while stretching his arms forward. He gripped the camera tightly and pulled it towards his face. He dig his nailes into his face and slowly started to dig and tear at the skin on his face.

The man then jerked forward as tears of blood flooded down his face and sullied the ground. His voice became shaky and irregular as his eyes become bloodshot and the veins on his eyes begin to pop.

"The princess of the Flame coated the streets in blood that night as an invitation to the City of the Flame. Regina Ignis and her Seven Holy Guards await there." Mr. Smith said as his nails violently tore the skin off of his cheeks. Blood started to spurt from his wounds onto the camera's lens as the man fell over onto his back. He started to laugh maniacally as his blood spread over the floor. The news cuts off at that exact moment and an ad is played immediately after the bloody scene.

"And I've lost all my appetite..." Mort said while hardly being able to swallow down the bite of food he had put in his mouth.

He forced another spoonful of cereal and into his mouth and started to chew. Sarah walked into the room and greeted him warmly as she sat down at the dinnertable along with him.

"Good morning Mort, how's the arm doing?" She said while taking a bite of the scrambled eggs that were laying on her plate.

"Gwood! I can stwart to mowve it agwain!" Mort said while food was still swirling around in his mouth. Bits of cereal flew onto the table with every word Mort had attempted to utter.

"Ugh eat with your damn mouth closed before talking moron!" Sarah shouted as she grabbed a sheet of paper and wipes the pieces from the table.

"Sowwy..."

Mort swallowed the food and looked back at the TV to see an intermission screen playing on the news. Shivers ran up his spine when he thought about how the veins on the man's eyes had popped and his bloodshot eyes stared deeply into his soul.

"So Sarah, now that I've almost recovered and am ready to get back on my feet. What are you going to do?" Mort asked as he started to drink the remaining milk that was left in his bowl.

"Oh that's an easy question. We're going to Ignicity!" She replied while taking a sip of her dark coffee. Not even a second had passed before all the milk in Mort's mouth shot out like a stream of water coming from a fire hydrant.

"WE?!" Mort shouted as he immediately stood up from the dinnertable and looked at Sarah with widend eyes.

"Yes 'We' are going to Ignicity. YOU got me into this mess with Kyrre so YOU are coming along!" Sarah shouted back at Mort as she stood up from the table as well and stared daggers back at Mort. Mort backed down slightly but Sarah did not relent and continued with the verbal assault.

"Not only have I been tending to your wounds for a month now, I've let you stay here at my home and fed you while not charging you a SINGULAR DIME!" She said while grabbing him by the collar getting face to face with him. Mort looked into her dazzling blue eyes and felt lost for a moment. His vision shifted slightly and his cognitive perception of Sarah flickered from her angry look and her blue eyes, to a woman with red eyes covered in blood.

"Your eyes...they are beautiful..." Mort barely muttered as Sarah's expression changed from an angry one to a more shy expression as her grip loosened.

"...Don't change the subject dumbass..." Sarah muttered as she let go of his collar and Mort fell back into his chair.

"Alright I get it! I know I'm in your debt but I really don't want to go to that city!" Mort said with a shaky voice as he fixes his collar.

"Why are you so damn opposed to going there?!" Sarah said while sitting back down and taking another sip of her coffee.

"She's going to be there." Mort said while refilling his bowl with cereal and milk. Sarah took another bite of her food and questioned Mort's reasoning.

"Who the hell are you talking about?" She said while swallowing another spoonful of egg.

"Saphira...The bitch who took my girlfriend and made my life hell is going there soon and I want to be as FAR away from her as I can!"

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"Well if she's going there isn't it the perfect oppertunity to get back at her?" Sarah asked while taking her final bite of her food.

"What?! You expect me to get back at a girl just randomly in the street? And what do you think the police is going to do?!" Mort said while slamming his spoon down and looking towards Sarah with a confused look.

A moment of unexpected silence occured as Sarah looked back at Mort with a similar confused look.

"Mort...what do you know about Ignicity?" Sarah asks him while looking him dead in the eyes.

"Uhhh......It's a city that exists and people like it for a reason?" Mort said unsure of his answer. The moment he uttered the last word of his sentence Sarah slammed her head against the table.

"Ugh this is going to be a VERY LONG morning..." Sarah sighed as she lifted her head and rubbed her forehead in pain.

"Alright I'll lay it down for you Mort... Ignicity is basically a country of its own with it's rules and hierchy. For example there arent any jobs but rather Duels."

"Wait? Like the one I challenged Kyrre to?"

"Yes although the fact that you survived an encounter with her is a miracle to me." Sarah said while standing up and taking her dishes into the kitchen followed by Mort who was following behind her as they started to work together to wash the plates and trays that they had used.

As Sarah washed the dishes and handed them to Mort, he dried them and put them in the cupboard.

"So how do Duels work as jobs?" Mort asked as he started to dry another plate that Sarah had passed to him.

"For a Duel to occur either both parties must consent to it, or a prize from the challanging party must be offered of equal value to the other parties consent." Sarah said as she handed Mort the final plate.

"What's the worth of someone's consent?" Mort asked as he finished with the final plate.

"Depends on the person. Someone like Kyrre would require something on the level of a bar of pure gold and someone like yourself would be worth...maybe a dollar?"

"AND I FOUGHT HER?!" Mort shouted as he almost dropped the plate he had been drying for a while now.

"NOW you get why I was stressing like hell! You should thank me for saving you at the end and that you got in that lucky blow in or you would have been DONE!"

"Alright I get the idea of the worth of someone's consent for fights and stuff but is there any reason to challange someone to a Duel?"

"To climb to the top..."

"Ignicity has it's own hierarchy and rules." Sarah said as she grabbed Mort by the hand, sat him down and grabbed a piece of paper from the cabinet behind her, placing it infront of him.

At the bottom are the Enslaved, those who lost their rights in a Duel. Enslaved are not allowed to leave Ignicity nor disobey the victor of who they lost their rights to.

Just above them are the Newcomers, those who recently entered Ignicity and haven't fought in a Duel yet. These people are rarely recognized and often brushed to the side.

Then come the Rookies, they are those who won a few of their Duels and are slightly known around Ignicity.

The Veterans come next, they are those who have won many Duels and are pretty commonly known around the city. in most groups of people found within Ignicity a Vetaran is at their head.

Then there are the Elites, those who have won so many of their Duels that they are revered as champions. Everyone knows these individuals and they are unquestionably respected and revered.

The other half of the paper of the paper is folded and not visible.

"...And that's basically all!" Sarah said while attempting to pull the paper away from Mort. Mort quickly puts his hand on the paper and stops Sarah in her tracks.

"But what about that folded piece of the paper you're trying to cover with your hands?" Mort asked as he pointed to her hands sneakily covering the fold of the paper.

"...Smartass" Sarah said as she raised her hands and unfolded the rest of the paper.

"Alright so while Elite is the 'technical' cap that most people can reach, there is a category above it called the 'Royal Guard'."

Far above where the Elite are there exist the Royal Guard. They are those who got elevated from their position for some reason and have a place in the royalty of Ignicity. There exist another 6 ranks under them.

At the bottom are Pages, these aren't necessarily stronger than an Elite but have been chosen by a role higher than them as a 'Trainee.'

Just above them are Squires, those who were elavated from Page status and stronger than the average Elite and are the direct subordinates of Royal Knights.

Then come the Royal Knights, those who elevated far above anything seen before them. If there is ever a crisis or situation in Ignicity they usually send a single Royal Knight to deal with it.

The rest of the paper is a dark red colour and in cursive black letters a single sentance is written.

Tantum aliquis potest aperire hoc sigillum cum regiis sanguinem.

"Why is it in Latin? Aren't there 3 more titles?" Mort asked as he looked at the sentance and puzzled at what it could mean.

"..." Sarah said nothing as she broke eye contact and stared at the table with pain in her eyes.

Tension had risen as Mort felt he had accidentaly touched a subject which felt painful for Sarah. He quickly shifts the topic to something different to attempt to lighten the mood yet again.

"So, have you seen how much they are covering the stuff that happened at the bar a month ago?" Mort asked as he pulled the paper towards himself and folded it back up and handed it to Sarah.

"Oh...yeah! It's been NUTS how much they've been covering the incident even a month afterwards!" Sarah said as she quickly shifted into a more lighthearted mood.

"Did you see today's broadcast? It was weird..." Mort said as he went to go sit on the couch.

"Tell me about it. Was it another one of those interviews from a bystander where they don't say a damn?" Sarah asked as she sat back down on the couch next to Mort.

"It was something about someone called Regina Ignis, Princess of the Flame and The Seven Holy Knights?"

...

The thick atmosphere that had just dissipated immediately returned the moment he mentioned those titles. Sarah sighed and pulled the paper out of her pocket yet again, but this time she fished out a pocket knife along with it.

"Don't freak out Mort..." Sarah said as she clicked on a small button and popped the knife out, bringing it closer to the palm of her hand. She dug the knife into her hand and quickly pulled it out. Blood leaked from the palm of her hand onto the paper and deeply stained it.

"Ostende te, conditor urbis, Ignicity! Tu quoque tibi ostendere, o septem magna protectores flamma, et filia ardenti igne." Sarah chanted as the blood that streamed from her hand turned a liquid resembling the golden Ambrosia from mythos as the papers letters turn golden and the final section of the paper is revealed.

"*Cough* I hate...doing that..." Sarah said as her Ambrosialike substance stopped streaming from her wound and her skin around the wound turned pale. She swung left and right until collapsing over Mort's lap as her wound began to bleed normal blood again.

"Oh shit! where are the bandages when you need them dammit!" Mort said as he lightly shoved Sarah to the side and ran to fetch the first aid kit. He quickly wrapped her wound in bandages and grabbed a blanket to cover her with.

"Ugh...what the fuck happened?" Asked Sarah who rubbed her head and clenched her wounded hand in pain.

"You fainted after stabbing yourself." Answered Mort who had been sitting next to her while she was asleep.

Sarah sighed and sat up straight. While her wound had not bled for a while, her skin still looked pale and painful...

"Alright I'll explain the final three roles in the hierachy..." She said while grabbing the paper and placing it infront of them.

First come the Daughters of the Flame, they serve as the people who are set to take the role of Queen once the existing one dies. They are often far stronger than any Royal Guard you will encounter.

"..." Sarah stays silent and bites her lip when shifting her finger down. In golden letters 'The Seven Holy Knights' is calligraphed.

The Seven Holy Knights are those who keep Ignicity in check. They serve as the guiding lights that let the city prosper and exist and make sure havoc doesn't break out. One of them could singlehandidly take on any threat to Ignicity without much trouble.

"...And finally her"

The Queen of the Flame, she reins as the ruler of Ignicity and judges the trials that take place when someone must be punished for a SIN that they commit. She had been the ruler since the inception of the city.

"That is all there is." Said Sarah as she places her hand on the paper and chants yet again.

Sanguinem sigillum

In the blink of an eye, the golden letters disappear and the paper turns blank. Mort looks on with amazement at the scene that had unfolded infront of him.

"...So I got my ass whooped by a random woman who turns out to be FAR more important than I had through, my arm got SLICED OFF and reattached by my personal freaky goth doctor who I've been staying with and you just preformed a damn miracle with your own blood. My first theory was correct and a freaky goth woman kidnapped me and has my brain resting in a tube!" Mort said while still trying to process what had happened with him over the past month.

Sarah could sence the uncertainty in Mort's voice and decided to take action...

"Alright Mort, come with me to the garden." Sarah said while standing up and putting the blanket Mort had layed over her to the side.

"What are we going to do?" Mort asked while also standing up.

We're going to fight!