If I earned a gold coin every time I had to swim through the sewers, I’d have exactly three coins.

It wasn’t much, in the grand scheme of things, but it was really annoying that it’d happened thrice. My clothes—which were already tattered at my knees and elbows, mind you—were soaked through and stuck to my body like a second skin. I cursed under my breath as I trudged through the narrow tunnels, the putrid smell of waste making my stomach churn. The darkness seemed to press in on me, suffocating and unrelenting. My feet slipped on the slick, slimy floor, and I grimaced at the thought of what I was stepping on. A foul mix of rotting meat, sour vomit, and the unmistakable stench of moldy toenails slapped me in the face when I took a deep breath.

Big mistake. Gods. I’d be damned if the sewer wasn’t actually an elaborate way to poison the town.

The only sound was the sloshing of my footsteps in the ankle-deep sludge echoing off the damp stone walls. I couldn't believe my luck—or lack thereof—as I navigated my way through the labyrinthine passages, trying to remember which turns I had taken years before. I paused to look over my shoulder, chewing on the inside of my cheek as the confusion gnawed at me. Had I turned left twice? Or was it left, right, left?

You know, if it weren’t for the big, ugly brute at the bar who stuck his nose too deep into my business, I wouldn’t have been forced to come this way. If he’d let me take what was owed to me, I would have been on my way to the meadows where I could watch the Tears of Oriunus trail across the night sky. It only happened twice a decade.

To think I’d spent the last Tears of Oriunus in a—

Gods, dammit. I was in a sewer last time, too. I groaned so loud that the little critters on the thin ledge raced off. My only friends. Gone. For a minute there, I thought their little tittering clicks made sense. Rat One was just about to tell me about his affair with Rat Three—if Rat Two found out, they’d be screwed.

Royally screwed.

Just when I thought the fumes were going to make me lose it, I saw a faint glimmer of light up ahead. My heart leapt into my throat—or, was that the vomit?

Probably the vomit.

Regardless, I quickened my pace. I reached the end of the tunnel and emerged into a dim alley, gasping for fresh air. I leaned over my knees and gagged on the remnants of that wretched place, stumbling over to the wall to hold myself up as I steadied my breathing. Gods, this better be worth it. Instead of stealing the stupid necklace off the neck of the perfectly respectable lady—cough, not in any way an old hag who belongs in her marshy home, cough—I had to chase after the northern side of town in the sewers. I just hoped I went the right way. After all, their carriage was far faster than my legs—with or without soiled water soaking me to the bone.

The distant sound of a bell ringing caught my attention.

Dong…

I straightened up, wiping my hands on my already filthy trousers, and glanced around to get my bearings. The night was starting to envelop the city, casting shadows that seemed to dance in the flickering light of the gas lamps.

My mind raced as I tried to come up with a plan. I needed to find a way to catch up with the carriage without drawing too much attention to myself. I had to move quickly, but not so hastily that I made a mistake and ended up in another unfortunate situation. An unfortunate situation in the sewers, at least. I could handle most other hurdles.

Dong—

I darted through the maze-like streets, sticking to the shadows and avoiding any potential threats. This wasn’t necessarily a wealthy part of town, with the homes overcrowded, smashed up against one another with boarded windows and holes in the peeling, painted wood. But when the rickety click of a loose wheel echoed throughout the otherwise silent streets, I took off on a sprint. I skidded around a corner just in time to see the carriage make a turn up ahead. The driver cracked his whip, urging the horses to pick up the pace. I cursed under my breath, my heart pounding in my chest as I pushed myself to run faster. The cobblestones blurred beneath my feet, and my lungs burned as I raced to close the distance between me and the carriage.

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…Dong…

But no matter how close I got—no matter how much the bones in my foot cracked with my resounding footsteps, shock waves of pain ricocheting up my leg—I couldn’t get any closer. At this rate, I wasn’t even sure traversing to the rooftops would help me. There were no people in my way, and the crates that I had to shift my weight around were anything but a nuisance. They were mundane, at best.

I narrowed my eyes on the carriage. It glistened unnaturally, sparks of electricity bouncing off the polished wood and into the open air above it. In time with the bell, which still rang over, and over, and over—

My head whipped in the direction of the tower that loomed in the distance, its spire reaching into the darkening sky like a skeletal finger pointing to the heavens.

Dong!

This time, a violent wave of energy crashed through the city with the bell-tower’s final toll. It knocked me off my feet and the rickety homes cracked as if the foundation beneath their old floors had just shattered. The ground trembled beneath me as buildings swayed dangerously, sending clouds of dust billowing into the air. Panic erupted in the streets as people poured out of their homes, shouting and screaming in fear. I stumbled to my feet, my heart hammering in my chest as I tried to keep my balance. A deafening roar filled the air, drowning out the panicked cries of the city's inhabitants. I looked up to see a massive creature emerging from the shadows of the tower. It was like nothing I had ever seen before—a peerless behemoth with scales as black as night, eyes glowing a malevolent red, and wings that stretched out with a span that blotted out the stars.

Fear clenched in my chest.

I lunged towards the carriage, dodging falling debris and cursing out loud as the darkness seemed to strike down at me. I was no stranger to this sort of darkness. No…this was the type of darkness that I had once escaped. Pushing harder, faster, farther, I raced after the carriage. I didn’t care if it was the last thing I felt, I’d get my hands on that sparkly little necklace. People like me didn’t get far without coin—and I couldn’t get coin without necklaces like the one around her neck.

Besides. My client was very specific. It was that jewel or no jewel.

And no jewel meant I lost a finger for simply failing.

I ground my teeth as I finally started making traction toward the carriage amidst the chaos. The coachman screamed as a wave of energy rolled through the ground like moving hills, knocking him so high off his horse that he flipped at least a dozen times before smashing into the side of a tall home. Wincing, I forced my gaze away as he peeled off the side of the building, falling to his merciful demise.

I reached the carriage just as the massive beast let out an ear-splitting roar, its wings casting a shadow over the entire city. Dark matter spiraled around in front of the carriage, stemming off the shadowy wings of the creature that loomed over the clock tower. I knew I had to act fast. As the vortex sparked, akin to the electricity that had bounced off the top of the carriage earlier, I leaped onto a stack of crates near the corner and launched myself towards the vehicle. My fingers grazed the edge of the carriage's window, the smooth, warm rooftop—

And then a rush of cool uncertainty hit me in the face. It enveloped my body like a lethal hug, cracking my bones and squeezing the air from my lungs. The world around me seemed to slow as I felt a force pulling me deeper into the vortex. I was sent flying off the carriage as gravity failed me, my body spinning ‘round and ‘round as what little light that had remained vanished.

My back collided into hard stone, then my head.

I cried out, stars riddling the darkness behind my eyes. When my vision cleared, I found myself in a place unlike any other. The ground beneath me was smooth and cool to the touch, almost like polished marble. The air was thick with an otherworldly shimmer that danced and flickered around me, casting strange shadows on the luminescent walls that stretched endlessly into the distance. It felt as though I had been transported to another realm entirely, a place where time and space twisted and coiled around each other in a mesmerizing dance.

And as I sat up, every bone in my body aching, I saw the carriage across from me. One wheel was rolling in a circle repeatedly until it clattered onto its side, the rest of the coach cracked in half. The chaos of the night had faded, leaving behind nothing but a never-ending tomb of marble and white walls. There was no breeze, no dark monstrosity looming over the city, but in the near distance a figure in purple threads awaited me.

He stepped forward, the base of his palm glistening like a bolt of lightning.

Well, I wasn’t trapped in the sewers for the Tears of Oriunus as I had once feared.

No.

I was trapped in a wizard’s realm.

“Welcome, little thief,” the voice racketed off the walls as if he were everywhere. “Don’t you know it’s not nice to chase?”

In an instant, the light that sparked across his fingers dissolved into a blinding flash, shooting off his person toward me no slower than a panther in the jungle.

“It’s time to run.”