Emily’s worn boots clicked softly against the aged cobblestones as she passed by a statue bearing Ariandel’s name—a commemoration of some magical achievement. She noted it in passing but had little interest in the details right now.
Her mission was simple: find something warm and tasty to fill her stomach, but that turned out to be harder than she had originally hoped when she got out onto the main street.
It was erring toward late afternoon, but the quiet streets were still flush with passing busybodies—less so than the lower levels—but no matter where she looked, she mostly saw carriages. This meant that while there was the odd walker on the street, there were not many bystanders for her to ask directions of. When Emily did find someone, they looked confused at her.
“Sorry Miss Mage, there are many nightbrew shops along the way, but if you are hungry just call you tower servants.”
She followed his directions to the nearest nightbrew shop and stepped inside. With its quaint older style and large bay windows, the shop exuded a cozy charm. Outside, groups of patrons in flowing robes chatted at small tables, their voices a gentle murmur in the afternoon air.
Inside, more figures sat sipping steaming mugs, their discussions about the mysteries of source and magical experiments halting as Emily entered. Their gazes followed her briefly, a quiet pause hanging in the air before they turned back to their conversations. Emily frowned slightly, noting the peculiar shift in atmosphere as she approached the counter.
Ignoring the stares, Emily went towards what looked like a brewing station and spotted a short woman with a gold vest on, who was currently making a pot of night brew. Concentration was evident on her face so Emily waited for the woman to finish. When she had she looked up at Emily and her eyes widened.
“My goodness, I’m so sorry for making you wait, Miss Mage, if you take a seat I’ll have a cup of our darkest roast out to you in two flaps of a millo bird’s wings”
Emily nodded and glanced back noticing the odd few people still watching her.
“That would be wonderful. However, I find myself incredibly hungry and was hoping you could whip up something for me to eat as well.”
The woman's eyes went wide and she took another glance at Emily’s person as though assessing her.
Her eyes flashed over the badge and then down to the scepter on her side.
“I’ll…a- I’ll see what I can do for you miss.”
Emily nodded her thanks and turned to look around the room. She ignored the obvious stares from the people nearby and then spotted a small reading nook nearest to the fireplace. It was not a particularly cold day and by the looks of things the rain that did fall in this area was blocked by some kind of environmental spell so the warmest part of the room was not currently in use.
Smiling to herself, Emily went over to the two-person table and sat down.
Now taking the time to meet the gazes of the men and woman in here, many of which still snuck glances over in her direction. When she glanced at them they would either politely look away or challenge her by locking eyes with Emily. With nothing else to do, made a game of it, by locking eyes with a particular patron and counting off how long it took for them to either get bored or turn away in embarrassment. Emily did this with just about everyone in the room and the longest anyone had managed yet was eleven seconds. That was until when she got to a taller gentleman sitting with three other men. He was in his twilight year and had a heavily receding hairline. When Emily turned her body toward him he rubbed his chin, getting up from his table, and began making his way over to Emily.
He wore a green set of robes that had been styled into a more practical button-down coat but he never lost his comfortable smile as he made his way over to Emily's table.
When he arrived he spoke up in a tempered voice.
“Good afternoon Miss, may I join you?”
Emily hummed, she didn’t want any company right now but at least he had the guts to approach, the rest of the patrons in here either shot her withering glares or ignored her altogether.
Emily didn’t respond but indicated to the open chair across from herself.
The man let the briefest of smiles flash over his face before he sat down
“I wasn’t aware that Ariandel had taken a new Student. As he long time friend and fellow researcher it would be remiss of me not to warn you that this particular brewing house is not for Adepts.”
Emily’s brow furrowed at the man’s question. She could see he probably hadn’t come over to pick a fight but his concern was pointless.
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“I wasn’t aware, but that shouldn’t be a problem as I’m not an Adept,” she said as she watched him closely.
Emily put it together quickly. This shop was probably a gathering spot of high-ranked Mages and they forbid Adepts from coming here, probably a way to get away from their students, but Emily was telling the truth because she had yet to even reach an adepts level.
His eyes widened as he readjusted himself in the seat.
“I… Well then I have been rather rude, haven't I? My name’s Connor, I'm the head of the runic biology institute. I used to work closely with Ariandel, how do you know him?” his eyes falling to the badge once more.
Emily was about to answer when the woman arrived at their table with a tray holding a cup of night brew and a large toasted sandwich made from thick slices of bread and cheese.
“Here we are, Miss Mage.” Emily nodded to the woman before taking a sip of the dark mug of warm nectar. It was slightly sweeter than she was used to but she refocused on Connor.
“You are correct in thinking you have been rude, but I’ll answer your question seeing as though it came from a good place. I have just recently started working with Ariandel on a project.”
Connor's spine straightened and he glanced at the other nearby tables when a couple of ears perked up at that information.
“Well, if Ariandel is working on something then I can only assume it's big.”
Emily shrugged as she picked up her sandwich and crunched into a thick string of melted cheese melting from corners. The bits of smoked ham and crushed herbs made for an incredibly rich meal. After weeks of dry rationw, it may as well have been a five-star meal. Perfect for her first taste of civilization.
Refocusing on Connor, Emily saw that the man was looking at the sandwich with trepidation.
“As a warning to keep in mind. It is never a good idea to eat outside of your tower, or in this, case Ariandel’s tower. Drink is easy to screen, but food less so.”
Emily looked up from her delicious morsel of food and locked eyes with Conner.
“Why…”
Connor grimaced and looked around.
“Well you should probably be fine seeing as no one here knows you as of yet, but Mages are jealous creatures you see. A bit of poison here or there to get rid of a competitor is almost expected.”
Emily continued to munch on her food but she made a surprised murmur. The people in this city went to all kinds of extremes.
“I’ll keep that in mind, but I just arrived in the city so it's a chance I’m willing to take. As a side perhaps you are the perfect person to ask but when one first arrives in the city where do they normally go?”
Emily had been sending out small pulses since they had gotten here to see if she could locate Alex but as of yet, nothing had turned up. If she could just get a rough location then it would be a good place to start looking. She couldn’t rely on just Ariandel to find him, so she would kill two birds with one stone.
“Mmm, well if they are a non-mage, then after entering they probably would have gone to one of the lower levels depending on their connection to magic. The higher up they would have been able to stay.”
Emily hummed.
“Even if they have the coin to stay higher?”
Conner shook his head solemnly.
“Even then. Coin is only half the problem. One needs to surround themselves with the right minds too” he said tapping his head.
Emily wanted to roll her eyes so badly, but she took another bite of her sandwich instead.
“Okay, so if they are with skilled mages, where would a mercenary group normally stay?”
Connor rubbed his mouth in thought.
“I mean if they were Mercenaries then in all likelihood they probably would have gone to the rusted gauntlet.”
Emily paused her meal to look at the man with a raised brow.
“It's a place where they can take all sorts of jobs, but most of those are put up by Mages for ingredients in their experiments.”
Emily nodded at the man, it was a pretty good place to start looking.
“Well, I’ll thank you for the information then. Where can I find this place.”
Conner leaned back in his chair as though assessing Emily.
“As a Mage, you will want to be careful down there. The guards of overworked in that area, so it's a lawless zone compared to up here. ”
Emily smiled as she popped the last piece of bread into her mouth.
“I certainly hope that's the case.”
After listening to the directions Emily got up from the table. She nodded to Connor, throwing back the remains of her nightbrew, and went to the counter to pay. It was quite pricey for the fair, but Emily assumed that was because of their location.
The woman in the vest waved her out as Emily left, the stares trailing her down the street like shadows. Navigating out of the upper campus proved more challenging without a carriage, but Ariandel’s badge granted her passage through the checkpoints and onto the towering elevator.
From the platform, Emily gazed out at the tiny army stationed beyond the domed shield.
Why was Lorethil hesitating to clear them out? The only explanations she could muster were grim: either they could not, or they deemed Sam’eth insignificant—a notion she found impossible to believe. She had fought those people, they were a threat. Yet from the looks of things, the people here scarcely gave the army outside a second glance.
Occasionally, a burst of dark energy rippled out from the protective barrier, like ink spilling through water. The dome held firm against the assaults, its surface unmarred, yet the sight unsettled Emily. Whatever was happening out there, it felt like something far worse was on its way.
The platform couldn’t reach her floor fast enough. When it finally did, Emily hopped off and strode down the main road.
Walking on steel streets felt strange—each footfall rang hollow, echoing faintly as though the ground itself were an empty shell. Beyond the road, the ravine stretched into a breathtaking view, though Emily found more comfort in the thought of a warm bath waiting back at the house.
Her thoughts were interrupted as her destination came into view. The Rusted Gauntlet was unmistakable—the sign of a metal fist hung precariously above the door—but chaos had spilled out of its walls.
Two figures tumbled through the entrance, grappling furiously. A small crowd of bystanders lingered, their grim faces fixated on the fight like spectators to an inevitable tragedy.
Emily ignored them, her eyes drawn toward the now-vacant doorway—until something stopped her. One of the fighters caught her attention.
They were both teenagers, rolling and thrashing on the ground, each landing wild blows on the other. But it was the younger one—brown hair, cocky smirk peeking through the dust and bruises—who froze her in place.
His clothes were torn and filthy, his face battered, but there was no mistaking him.
It was Nox.
Blood points: 302