As they approached the walls of Sieburn from underground, Chidi couldn’t help but get nervous. All it would take was one person feeling their movements or hearing something underground, and they would be compromised. Aconite was digging deep enough that they should be fine, but he couldn’t help but worry. Perhaps that was because he was barely contributing.

With little else to do, he kept his ears and other senses open for anything that might be above. Sensing for the vibrations of someone’s footsteps wasn’t easy, since he had to try to break through Aconite’s movements, digging huge chunks of dirt. He honestly wasn’t sure if he succeeded at his goal- but he didn’t sense anything.

Soon enough they were past the walls. They stopped a bit away from the walls, under a basement of what seemed to be an unoccupied building. It seemed like it had been that way for a while, which at least made Chidi less concerned. He didn’t want to think about the people who had probably just died in the city’s takeover. But of course, he did anyway.

They broke through into the dusty basement and made their way onto the streets after shaking off most of the dirt coating them. In many places, Chidi could have simply blended in with all the other cultivators. However at the current moment the only people out and about were the disciples of the Harmonious Citadel. Those who didn’t cultivate- still a significant portion of many planet’s populations- also seemed to remain inside, even if they might technically be allowed to move about.

The pair of scouts made good use of the cover of darkness, as well as buildings and alleyways. Their target was… somewhere central. Neither of them knew exactly what, and since they weren’t familiar with Sieburn they would just have to figure it out. Some administrative building, or anywhere else they thought would be of use.

Even if they thought nobody would hear, the two of them refrained from speaking. Aconite’s words would be concerning to anyone if she was heard, and they didn’t want to accidentally give away their presence.

Hairs began to rise on the back of Chidi’s neck as they approached the center of the city. Was this the sort of time he should retreat? If they couldn’t complete the mission, then leaving was the best for both them and the squad. Otherwise, they would just be killed or captured, and the squad would be waiting for people that would never return- likely to meet the same fate soon enough themselves.

As they continued closer, Chidi was able to place a source of his unease. It was a cultivator radiating an unbalanced sharpness. A cultivator so far above Chidi he couldn’t even pretend he might have a chance to defeat them in a fight. Not an Augmentation cultivator- he’d seen Tauno a couple times- but an Integration cultivator was still infinitely beyond him. Chidi wasn’t even in Essence Collection yet. He was only a step away, but he couldn’t figure out which step would bring him the right direction and not set him on a dead end path. And he couldn’t easily change his answer.

Perhaps Chidi could have turned to leave, but he instead chose to press forward, after pausing to make sure Aconite was aware of the presence. She didn’t seem to want to leave either.

No doubt an Integration cultivator would have useful information, but Chidi wasn’t so crazy as to think he could get any of it. Instead, he kept the individual of unbalanced sharpness in his mind. The feeling was so strong, he wondered what happened to them. Or was it some sort of intentional trick to conceal their true threat?

The streets were fairly empty, because the Harmonious Citadel members who were present were not terribly numerous. Likely only hundreds in a city that could support thousands on the street, and not all of the occupying forces were just wandering about. They were still an annoyance, but all of them were loud in both displaying their cultivation and how they walked. Even their vision was not hidden, and Chidi could almost feel their arrogant gazes through walls. Or perhaps he did feel them, it was just that they weren’t looking at him. Or Aconite.

The pair darted across streets to alleyways, or scurried along them for a distance. Chidi could afford to be spotted from a distance, as his concealed cultivation would make him seem like a local citizen. Aconite would be more obvious, if they saw more than a vague shape. Though if they were spotted, looking like they were hurrying wouldn’t be good for them.

So they had to be careful how they moved, matching each other’s pace and worrying about being found. They were too far into the city to even hope they could flee if they were singled out.

Then the Integration cultivator began to approach them. Chidi’s initial reaction was panic. His second brought him back, as panic wouldn’t help. Instead, he tried to draw upon his confidence in himself and Velvet’s training.

The Integration cultivator was moving quickly. Not at their maximum speed, but Chidi and Aconite only had a few moments to find somewhere to hide. They chose a small park, with thick hedges they could shelter behind without appearing too unnatural if they were noticed. A man and an oversized wolf might stand out, but they would stand out more if they were crouching behind something.

The cultivator continued to approach. Chidi could hear her feet on the pavement. Feel the sharpness of her blade, sheathed though it was. Smell the blood she regularly encountered. She was close enough for him to trace the shape of her body. He almost didn’t notice the prosthetic limb starting from her left elbow. It was appropriately shaped, but it didn’t feel… alive. Enchantments aside, it was just bits of metal put together.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Chidi knew who this was. Rakiya, one of the most prominent disciples of the sword saint. She’d lost her arm to Chikere, Chidi’s namesake. If she found them, their lives would be over. Though strangely enough, that didn’t bother Chidi too much. Not because he wanted to die… but because his life was still currently in his hands. And that of Aconite. He felt her energy grasping for something, but he placed his hand on her and shook his head.

Rakiya continued to approach, but she didn’t enter the park. She simply walked past it without giving it a second glance- or perhaps not even a first, finding it insignificant. The two scouts breathed no sigh of relief, simply waiting until the woman was far enough past them. Then they continued forward, having learned at least one valuable piece of information. Though there was nothing they could practically do about Rakiya being in Sieburn, even if they had the whole squad to fight just her.

In the center of the city, Chidi could feel a number of important buildings that had been shattered, holes in their ceilings or walls. Some effort had been taken to make sure they were stable, as they were currently being used by the occupiers. Chidi could feel numerous busy individuals.

Now came time for the decision making part of his training. He tried to determine which place was most likely to have the most valuable or retrievable information, just based on what little he knew. He took a minute to decide, then pointed towards it. Aconite nodded her head up and down in agreement. They’d come to the same conclusion, or at least one that was close enough.

The building was some sort of military headquarters. Not the easiest building to sneak into, but with recent events… not as difficult as it might seem. Similar to the outer walls, which had guard covering every gap, this facility had people stationed at all of the obvious entrances. Some of the guards were just Spirit Building cultivators, but any conflict would bring attention from the others so it didn’t matter how strong they were.

What was important was that the formations were all messed up. As they reached the base of one side, away from any clear entrances, Aconite looked to Chidi for confirmation. He nodded, pointing up. She scrambled up the wall- minor imperfections providing her sufficient grip to climb with her claws. From there she would go to the roof and- she went in a window. Alright. That was fine. Chidi hurried after her, surprised that a window had been left open. It was not quite large enough for Aconite to fit through, and was now dangling awkwardly. Rather than let something happen with that, Chidi used his energy to mute the sound around it and yanked it the rest of the way out of the wall, setting it down in the small office.

There were papers in various places, in the desk and in nearby cabinets and a few scattered atop the desk. None showed anything interesting at a glance, and Chidi’s glances took quite a bit longer as he had to feel into the paper for the shape of ink, but they dumped everything into Chidi’s storage bag.

Outside the office, someone was wandering the hall. Once the sound of their footsteps faded, they moved on. The offices seemed only minimally interesting, and instead the two headed towards a larger room. Some sort of strategy hall, it seemed. Chidi felt more than a couple people inside. That was a shame, because he wanted to see what was in there.

Aconite had a solution, though. She reached for a powder in her bags. This time, Chidi had no reason to stop her. If she thought it would work, he would let her make use of it. He had no solution of his own.

Out of the bag came a powder, which Aconite placed at the bottom of the door. Then she inhaled strongly, before blowing the powder into the room under the threshold. Nobody reacted to the finely dispersed powder, but Chidi could feel the way their energy began to pulse strangely.

“Breath through this,” Aconite growled as low as possible, two little bits of energy plucking something from her bags and then shoving them into Chidi’s nose. It smelled bitter, and spicy. But he complied with Aconite’s instructions as he felt people in the room begin to collapse one at a time, unconscious and seemingly without sensing anything being wrong. “It won’t last long,” she warned. “We must hurry.”

Inside the room, there were more papers- but also a large table with pieces sticking up from it. The table had a relief map- which made Chidi quite pleased- and it showed various pieces which should represent the Scarlet Alliance and the Harmonious Citadel. Chidi was also able to pick out different shaped banners, over what he presumed were various cities. He found Koton and Sieburn, recognizing the terrain, but standard maps weren’t of much use to him so he didn’t have any familiarity with the rest.

There was an alarming amount of Harmonious Citadel presence, however. Whether it was simply plans or the current scenario, it was bad news. Chidi took in as much information as he could, while wandering around to gather documents.

He also had a question for Aconite. “Won’t they notice when they wake up? Shouldn’t we already be running?”

She nodded. “We leave soon. In a few minutes, they wake. A few more to shake off brain fuzz. Then, it will be dangerous.”

Chidi would have liked to get more information without alerting anyone, but he didn’t know if they could have gotten far. That was why he didn’t protest Aconite’s actions. Now, it was time for them to go. They needed to make it out of the city and report back to the squad… hopefully before anyone realized they might be nearby. If all went well, they would presume spies were staying in the city. Hopefully, their tunnel wouldn’t be discovered for a day or two.

Moving through the streets at nearly a run, the pair avoided the limited number of individuals out and about. They found themselves briefly approaching Rakiya, but she was not quite in the right section of city for their abandoned building.

Then they were back in their tunnel, the loose dirt only slowing them slightly as they basically swam through it and out the other side. All that, and they were still alive. Just in case, they waited inside the exit to their tunnel, wary of ambushers or someone following them. If they had been discovered and led someone to the squad… Chidi didn’t know if he could live with that. Emotionally, of course. Practically, he was certain to be dead along with the rest.

Not too long after that, they had returned to the squad. As he was reporting what they learned to Captain Tiras, he felt a huge sense of relief wash over him. They had survived the mission- and been successful. At least as much as could be hoped.

Something stirred inside of him with the burst of confidence flowing through his veins, though he didn’t notice anything at that exact moment.