Sweet and spicy sauce dripped from the meaty kebab, splashing against my shirt. I pulled it away, sucking the sauce from my fingers, and taking a moment to relish the taste. The mystery meat was tender and juicy, and the purple vegetables added a nice crunch.

"Here," Flint said, tossing me a cloth napkin.

I wiped my mouth and hands.

"Thank you."

We were sitting on a wooden bench at the edge of the Goblin Market in Tattertown. A colorful mix of tents, stalls, and wagons was spread out before us, the din of bartering and the chatter of voices mingling together. There were no goblins here, I wasn't sure they even existed in the Tower. The name of the district had nothing to do with the creatures, and was apparently named for the dirty, ragtag merchants and vendors that sold their wares here.

Flint finished his second kebab and let out a loud burp. "That was amazing," he said.

Eliaria said nothing, chewing on a piece of meat. She was still working on her first kebab, her eyes glued to the achievement scroll we'd bought from the information broker.

"Have you seen something that interests you?" I asked.

She shook her head. She hadn't said much all day, and was clearly frustrated about something.

"I get that it's a good idea building in a place with no spawn points," I said, "but building a city on top of a volcano? Not the best decision."

"It's magic, don't overthink it," Flint said, licking his fingers clean before picking up the scroll on the floor boss.

"The boss is Lunaris, the Twilight Lord," he said, scanning the parchment. "I would have thought it would have been a fire type, since, you know, it's on a volcano."

"I've heard that name before," I said.

"He's Tiamara, the Mother Dragon's husband," Eliaria said, "There were two bosses on this floor before her spawn point was sealed away."

"Two bosses, huh," Flint said, glancing at the scroll. "You'd need a large party to handle the two of them at once."

"What does the scroll say?" I asked, leaning over to look at Flint's scroll.

"Just says that he commands darkness and has moon-related powers. Manipulating shadows, influencing lunar phases, and harnessing the moon's energy. The usual boss stuff. Oh, and there's a special note here that says he's an expert sword fighter."

"Is Lunaris a god?" I asked.

"People on this floor worship the couple," Eliaria said, "the sliven worship Tiamara, probably because she's a reptile like them, and the ven'thik worship Lunaris, probably because of his connection to the moon."

"Why the moon?" I asked.

"Ven'thik are insectoids, so most of them are nocturnal," Eliaria said.

I glanced over at Eliaria, that was the most she had said in the last hour. She'd been keeping to herself ever since I'd arrived back from the genesis floor. But then again, Flint had been a bit off as well. I kinda understood it. Our choices had been limited on the genesis floor, so there wasn't much to argue about, but here there were so many options. Our end goal was the same, we needed to ascend the Tower, but there were so many ways to achieve that, of course that would cause some conflict.

"So, how do we get to the boss room?" I asked, finishing the last of my kebab.

Flint rolled up the scroll and popped it into [Arcane Vault].

"Apparently you need to pay the city guard for the privilege of facing it," he said. "They'll only allow challengers who have a certain level of clearance."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Flint shrugged. "It doesn't say."

I let out a sigh. "Well, at least we have a starting point."

I looked around the Goblin Market. Of course without the sun it was impossible to tell what time it was, but if I had to guess, it was the middle of the afternoon. There were plenty of merchants open, and the streets were bustling.

"What do you think, Elia?" I asked, "you’ve been quiet. Is everything ok?

"Yeah," she said, glancing up from the scroll.

I waited for her to elaborate, but she just went back to reading.

"Ok," I said, deciding to give her space. "Let's head back to the inn."

***

We left the Goblin Market and made our way back through Tattertown. The crowd had swollen as the day wore on, and it was now a chaotic mass of bodies. Merchants hawked their wares, and patrons haggled over prices. Children ran through the streets, playing games of chase and hide-and-seek.

As we walked, I felt something brush against my leg. I spun, seeing a ven'thik child, with antennae and moth wings, his hand was in my pocket. He was fast, but I was faster. My hand shot out, lifting the crude knife from the child's belt and just as he turned to run I threw the knife, pinning the thief's tunic to the ground.

The boy was shocked for a moment, but soon recovered and tried to wriggle free.

I moved quickly, grabbing the boy's arm and pulling him upright. In his fist, he clutched my coin purse. It only contained a handful of coppers, but that was all the money we had left.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I said.

The insect-like kid did not look afraid, he looked furious. "How did you do that?" he asked, his voice full of venom. "Are you an assassin?"

"Sure, kid," I said, "I'm the kind of assassin that will chop off your fingers if you don't give my coin purse back."

The boy hesitated, sizing me up. His eyes fell to the knife still embedded in the ground, but he made no move to retrieve it.

"Alright!" he snapped, "you don't have to be such an ass about it, I'm just working here."

He opened his small fist, revealing my coin purse, and held it out.

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"Well, go work somewhere else," I said, snatching the coin purse and tucking it back into my pocket.

"Go screw your mother," the kid snapped, he tugged on his cloak tearing free of the knife holding him in place and spread his wings and flew away.

I watched him go, a little amused. That was when I noticed that my relic dagger was missing.

"Oh, shit."

"What?" Flint asked, coming over.

"He took my dagger," I said, cursing.

I looked around, trying to catch a glimpse of him.

"Hey mister assassin," a voice called out.

I looked up, seeing the ven'thik kid standing high atop a rooftop. He had the dagger held up in the air.

"You might be fast, but you're not so bright," the boy said, a smug smile on his face.

"I'll kick your ass," I shouted back. "Give it back!"

The kid laughed and disappeared over the edge of the roof.

"Flint, cast [Float] on me," I said, "quick."

Flint did as I asked, casting the spell. A moment later, I was floating in the air, my feet hovering above the ground.

"Give me a boost," I said.

Flint grabbed hold of my robes and spun, using his momentum to throw me toward the roof. I soared through the air, landing on the edge of the roof and tumbling across the tiles.

It was strange, [Float] didn't actually make you fly, it just made you weightless.

I managed to right myself and stand, looking around for the ven'thik pickpocket, I saw him in the distance jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

I ran after him, leaping through the air, my body feeling lighter than ever. It was exhilarating, but also terrifying. The wind blew against my face, and I could see the whole city laid out before me.

"Come back here, you little thief!" I yelled, as the kid disappeared over the edge of the next rooftop.

I jumped, following him, my heart racing as I flew through the air. I felt the spell's effects dissipate and I landed hard on the next rooftop. I stumbled, catching myself on the edge of the roof. I looked down, and saw the kid running through the streets below.

"Dammit," I cursed.

I dropped to the floor landing in a roll, before sprinting after the kid. He was fast, but I was closing the gap.

He ducked down an alleyway, and I followed. Homeless people scattered as we passed, and a couple of stray cats hissed at us. I burst out the other side of the alleyway, and saw the kid running down the street. I followed, my heart pounding. I was much faster than him, but he knew these streets better than I did, and every turn seemed to slow me down.

We ran through the crowded streets, weaving in and out of people. I caught glimpses of the ven'thik's antennae bobbing up and down as he dodged and ducked through the crowd. Finally, he turned down a side alley and stopped at a dead end, his wings buzzing.

"Give me my dagger," I said, as I slowed to a stop in front of him.

The kid spun around, his wings fluttering behind him.

He drew the dagger, holding it out in front of him like a sword.

"I'll cut your throat!" he shouted.

"No, you won't," I said, taking a step forward.

"Try me!" the kid hissed, brandishing the blade.

I heard movement behind me, and turned in time to see a pack of dirty-faced children emerge from the shadows.

"Don't," I warned, raising my hand.

"You're surrounded," the ven'thik kid said, a wicked grin spreading across his face. "Give us your gold, and we might let you leave alive."

"Not a chance," I said, stepping back.

"Have it your way," the kid said, before lunging at me.

I easily dodged the clumsy attack, and grabbed the kid by the wrist, twisting his arm and forcing him to drop the dagger.

The kids' followers charged at me, their crude weapons raised.

I cast [Shroud Form] and as the shadows engulfed me, the weapon's past through my body, striking nothing. Someone screamed, and there was a moment of chaos. Then the kids' minions began to panic and flee, leaving the alleyway empty except for the two of us.

A second later, the spell faded, and I bent down to retrieve my dagger, slipping it back into its sheath.

The kid was on the ground, holding his wrist and looking up at me with a mixture of fear and awe.

"If you're going to be a thief," I said, "then you better learn how to fight."

"If you are so strong," the kid said, "then you can help us."

"Help you with what?" I asked.

The kid stood up, his antennae twitching.

"Um, well, the Black Briar, they rule Tattertown now. We can't even earn a copper coin without them taking a cut."

"What does that have to do with me?" I asked.

The kid paused, scratching his chin with a sharp claw. "If you could chase them out, we could make some real money. I'd split it with you, of course."

I shook my head. "I'm not interested in playing politics. You'll have to find someone else."

The kid's wings drooped, and he let out a disappointed sigh. "You don't understand they are bad people, they sell dragon's breath to kids, and when they are hooked on the drug, the kids just vanish."

I stared at the kid for a long moment. I'd never heard of dragon's breath, but I could imagine it was this world's version of drugs. I guess no matter where I went, there was always going to be people ready to make money by exploiting the weak. But I had promised Flint, no more side quests.

"We've already got enough problems," I said, turning and walking away.

"You're a coward!" the kid yelled. "If you can't help us, then I'll fight the Black Briar myself."

"Good luck with that," I called over my shoulder, as I left the alleyway.

The kid's words had hit me harder than I wanted to admit. In the years after the blight struck, Flint and I had been forced to do all sorts of things to survive, and while most of it had been to keep us fed, some of the stuff we did was because people had manipulated us.

I sighed, pushing the memories aside, and focused on getting back to the others.

***

When I returned, I found Flint and Eliaria sitting on the bench, chatting away.

"Did you catch him?" Flint asked, when he spotted me.

"Yeah," I said, sitting down next to them. "You two looked really concerned about me."

"You had it handled," Flint said, "besides, it was getting crowded here."

"Well, thanks for the support," I said.

Eliaria glanced at me.

"What did you do to the child?" she asked.

"I didn't hurt him," I said, "we just chatted, he wanted us to help him drive out some drug dealers that have moved into the neighborhood."

"And I thought the genesis floor had problems," Flint said, "drug dealers, really?"

"It's not that unusual," I said. "Where there are poor people, there are always people trying to prey on them."

"You could have helped him," Eliaria said, sounding upset.

"No," I said, looking at Flint. "We have our own mission, we can't stop and help every person we meet. Trust me, it's only going to get worse from here. If we want to succeed, we have to stay focused."

"We were given our strength for a reason," Eliaria said, her gaze fixed on the street ahead. "We have a duty to use it to help those who need it."

"I'm not disagreeing," I said, "but the reality is that there are just too many people who need help, and we can't save everyone. The higher we go, the worse it will get."

"Why is that?" Eliaria asked.

"Card mages are like gods compared to normal people," I said, "the disparity between the powerful and the weak will grow the higher we go. Do you think the powerful will be satisfied with living on equal terms with the weak? Or will they take what they want at any cost?

"Shit, that's rough." Flint said, his eyes wide.

"Can't we help? At least a little?" Eliaria asked, her eyes pleading.

I felt like there was more to what she was saying. We'd seen the poor and downtrodden everywhere, and she hadn't batted an eye. Why was this different?

"Sure, we could try to drive out these Black Briars for the kid," I said, meeting her eye, "but what about the next person we meet in trouble or the one after that. We can't help them all."

"But we can help this one," she said, "isn't that enough."

Flint stood up and stepped between us.

"All I care about right now is a cold mug of ale," he said, his gaze shifting from her to me, "we can worry about saving the world tomorrow. Trust me, it will still be just as screwed up in the morning."

***