After making sure we looked our best, we walked into the shanty town at the closest gate, and it was quite a change from anything we had witnessed so far.

The world looked weird as we approached the coastal capital of Canopy, it was early fall everywhere else, the second day of Necros rarely as warm as this place, and the distant smell of saltwater felt just inherently weird to me, as this body had not been confronted with it before.

What would have been a collection of hastily cobbled together shacks in most other cities was worth considering its own city here, the lifestyle in the outskirts of our capital similar to that in my former home, though the people seemed much more alive.

As soon as we entered the town, a pressure landed upon us, like a collection of gazes that begged to understand our deepest truths, a scan I weaved my own magic around, the corrupted amulet helping me disguise my true nature, or at least enough of it that the weight lifted off me soon after.

“Never been to the capital before, huh? Probably never passed through a ward either. You gotta do it fast and mark a protective rune of some kind, otherwise they’ll have your IP long before you can apply for one. And if they got that, you’ll be haunted by advertisement dreams for at least a week.”

An elderly man said, flashing his surprisingly white teeth at us.

“Call me jester, that’s what everyone around here has taken to calling me. What can I call you boys?”

I took a deep breath, the old man surprisingly hard to detect for the leisurely way he sat in his rocking chair.

“I’ve got quite a few names, we both bear the name of titan slayer, though I personally prefer the name of Elemental, it was quite hard to attain.” At that, my friend chimed in.

“To make it a bit simpler, he is Elemental titan slayer, and I am Ember titan slayer.” He said, the urge to pride myself with my achievements overcome by the realization that these names are extremely edgy.

The old man's smile grew a bit wider, to the point of becoming unnerving.

“I see that the outer towns and cities still employ the inner cities naming conventions. Remembering these names is going to be extremely important once you are beyond this area, but out here, I recommend you shorten the name elemental. Few know what it means, and those who do have no reason to be out here that isn’t a lack of morals. It was nice to meet you, given the nature of fate, we will probably meet again.” With that, we walked on, confused as to what we just witnessed.

“So, You're going by El now?” Asked my friend, who I smiled at. “Nice name, you want to stay with Ember? I think I’ll make sure my name isn’t too much of a crime against common decency, that’s why I ditched the devourer one.”

We both continued our way to the outermost wall, passing by merchants everywhere, a single goblin selling cursed totems to anyone stupid enough to observe him.

It was a premonition for the future, the most beautiful of totems I had seen before holding curses that longed for a wearer to embrace them.

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I tasted the smell of blood from a slightly distant alley, where two houses stood particularly close.

Immediately, we headed there, only to see an orc and what seemed to be a half dwarf fighting behind a tavern, both reeking of alcohol and busy always hitting the same places.

My hunger grew worse than it hand in a long time, and thousands of voices screamed for me to eat them, even as I knew this area to be much tighter patrolled than anything before.

Slowly, we returned to the main road, now much more observing.

It was impressive how the social pressure worked, some wanted to ascend into higher ranks, trading to pay for the entrance fee or insert some questionable substances to temporarily awaken a power that could be considered magical. If I had to guess, this was a thriving place for demons to do business. On the other hand were those who had accepted they would stay here all their life, businesses and comfortable café’s lining the streets, the blood of those who grew desperate with that knowledge flowing between their walls. It was beautiful in the most twisted of ways, every drop of blood or exposed brain made my stomach grumble, every single blade I witnessed triggered the urge to defend myself.

I was a lion in a herd of sheep, restrained only by not knowing the power dynamics out here. I was salivating, and when we finally saw the guards, I had to cast spells on myself to resist jumping them.

A simple demonstration of a tier one spell made them let us in, not even questioning it as we passed by them, after all, asking a mage, cultivator or scholar what they were doing in the shanty towns was almost guaranteed to result in a headache, and one probably way above their pay grade.

The fifth ring was different to the shanty towns on a level that is hard to put into words, the houses just a bit bigger, the alleys a bit cleaner, and holes in the ground that implied a rudimentary drainage system. One from which the smell of blood originated, and made me finally lose the last of my cool.

Running felt good, even as I left my mask and robe behind and jumped into the nearest hidden manhole, a single guy with a glowing sword investigating it and fighting a bunch of rats as I descended upon him.

I could have used magical powers to overwhelm him, but being drained for so long made me almost mindless. My hands held no weapon as I sheathed them in a twisted mix of Arcana. A swift strike of his disposed of the rat, an opportunity I used to dash towards him, my nails almost breaking as I smashed them against the scaled Iron armor, leaving a black mark upon it.

Upon this attack of mine, he thrust his blade between my ribs, an attack I evaded just enough so it didn’t kill me.

I felt his cold steel penetrate, and simply pushed closer, my tongue lashing out at his face as I shoved it down his nose, my venomous saliva paralyzing him as I drew upon his blood and brain.

He was a hero, the kind that was destined for more, and as I began to devour him, he prayed to the gods for forgiveness.

It was weird to witness a dying man be blessed, his blood boiling at my touch, even as I began absorbing his memories and blood, only dropping him once I regained enough control to understand what I was doing, but he was already mostly gone.

I grabbed him, enhancing my body in every way I could think of as I came up to re dress, the unconscious man in my arms now the collective project of both ember and me.

“I don’t want to be a monster. There must be some way to save him.”

My pleas were heard as I passed by a woman inside a potion store.

“You seem like you could use some help, if he isn’t dead, I can probably save what is left, any particular Information?” She asked, and I decided to throw her one of our golden coins.

“I found him next to the corpse of another person, similar to him but dried out and wearing only rags, it also had a enormously long tongue.”

She nodded at that.

“Sounds like a ghoul, bring him in, I got to repair the wound.”

For the next minute, I observed her closely, getting a detailed log for all sygils and potions she used, the perfect mentor for this kind of art.

“He has a strong sense of divinity inside him, if he survives, he’ll probably become a paladin, if his heart is at the right spot.”

I sigh at that.

“What is needed to pass to the fourth ring from here?”

I ask, curious as I don’t want to walk to the gate and suddenly be shot for no apparent reason.

“You see, this gate mainly requires you to pay a fifteen gold entrance fee for one day, or to show a passport. Any amount of noble lineage works as well, why do you want to go in there? The people in the fourth are all very annoying to deal with.” She mentioned, a question Ember answered for me.

“My brother and I have some arcane talents, and we want to join the academy, so we need to pass through and reach the second ring to apply.” This made the woman chuckle, her yellow teeth on wide display.

“You need a nobles voucher to get into the second ring, that’s going to be a hard thing to achieve, so, I hope you know how hard the work ahead of you is.”