“So what exactly are we doing?” Leo asked, walking beside Garrote.

“We’re looking out for any signs of Blithe and Kiva,” Garrote said.

“And what would those be exactly?”

“Uhhhhh…yeah I’m just about as lost as you here. Really not sure why Trenton paired us together,” Garrote shrugged. “Where would they even be taken?”

“Well, we did break some sort of salamander law. Do they have a government building? Like a prison?”

“They don’t run the city. Even if they did have a spot to congregate, it’s not like we can rightly ask them.”

“Yeah, guess not,” Leo said, almost bashful at the idea.

They put their heads back together, brainstorming various possibilities until they found one that actually seemed reasonable, “Maybe something entertainment, like enslaved performers. Not that Blithe would be any good for tricks,” Garrote said, spewing an idea off the top of his head.

“There’s not a lot that goes on in that head of his. He wouldn’t make for a good anything,” Leo replied.

“But is it worth a shot?”

“It’s a start.”

Leo and Garrote trudged their way through the city, stumbling their way towards the city's grandiose entertainment district rife with different attractions, brothels, arenas, casinos, and so on. They wandered around for a while, skipping from building to building, finding little success wherever they went, and definitely skipping the brothel. If Millie and Blithe were taken to a brothel, then it was already over for them. They might as well pack up and go home.

Somehow, much to their surprise, no one had even heard of a big storma coming through, much less a water spirit. They even paid a barkeep for information, one that looked like he’d know underground dealings, but all he did was lead them to an empty warehouse with a bunch of random boxes laying around. There wasn’t even a soul around to ask about what they should do next, either. They had spent the whole day walking around to absolutely no success, the sun lingering on the horizon. Leo sat down on a box, pulling out a bit of dried meat from his deep pocket to munch on while Garrote complained.

“Damn bastard cheaped us,” Garrote exclaimed, pacing around, relieving manic energy by pushing various boxes around.

“We’re supposed to meet Trenton and Kiva soon. We’ve only got another hour or so to dawdle,” Leo said in between bites, his mind dulled from the long day.

Trenton’s words 5 days ago still hung heavy on his mind, but he’d been doing his best to parse through them. He knew better than to react emotionally, and he also knew better than to ignore wisdom when he got it, but that was much easier said than done. His heart was torn in half a dozen ways, strings pulling him every which direction. It felt like a wild storm raging through his chest, his mind doing little to alleviate the tension. He really didn’t know what to do anymore. He wasn’t getting anywhere, and he was long since out of ideas. He’d been hoping for some sort of epiphany the last couple days, but nothing had come. His mind was completely empty. It had only been 5 days, so it’s not like he reasonably had to have an answer immediately, yet that did little to assuage Leo’s self loathing.

“-out in the middle of nowhere, absolutely no one around. We paid to get an express trip to the local abandoned warehouse! How fun! I bet there’s assassins just lurking around the corners, too. It’d be a perfect spot. And all we had to do was pay for it. What an experience!” Garrote finished, Leo suddenly realizing he’d been ranting this whole time.

“C’mon. We can’t waste away here all day,” Leo said, finishing his little snack.

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s go…stupid,” Garrote kicked at one of the boxes, but this time, instead of sliding away like all the others had, it clicked, the box locking up, unable to be pushed any further. Suddenly, the floor in between them began to fall away, a staircase materializing that led downwards into impenetrable darkness.

“We’re going to waste a lot of time down there,” Leo said, looking up at Garrote who was beaming like a child on their birthday.

“Yes we are! Let’s go!”

They strolled down the steps completely unabated, Leo holding a small, flickering flame in his hand to offer them a modicum of light. Leo was at least trying to look out for traps or tricks, scanning the walls and steps to make sure nothing was off, to little success, naturally. Garrote, meanwhile, wasn’t even bothering. He waltzed down the stairs with a youthful vigor, chanting something about dungeons and crypts to himself the whole while. At least he was having fun, not that fun saved them from dying.

“They really could have simplified this design a little. I don’t think the mile long staircase is really necessary,” Leo remarked, getting oddly sick of the stairs after the 10th straight minute just descending.

“It’s because we’re going straight to the bottom. That’s the thing about crypts, Leo, the best loot is always in the deepest section. We’re getting the express pass,” Garrote said, convivial.

“But if these stairs lead right to the bottom, then all the important loot’s already going to be gone.”

“It’s about the adventure! The fighting, the exploring, the surprises! Loosen up a little.”

“...right.”

After about 15 minutes, they finally came out into a hallway, which happened to only be about 20 feet long, a simple steel door blocking the path forward. It seemed that the obnoxiously long staircase covered all the horizontal movement as well as the vertical, more efficient than Leo’d initially thought, still dumb. For whatever reason, however, the door didn’t have a handle, just a slot around eye level which seemed to be fastened in place. It didn’t look like they’d be able to get past it.

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“Fancy door. Check this out,” Garrote said, rapping politely on the door.

“W-is that it? Knocking?” Leo said, taken aback at the simplicity.

“Being polite will always get you the farthest in life.”

“People don’t say that.”

“I do.”

“I…yeah, you’re right. Glad to have you on our side.”

“You’re welcome. I’m putting in a lot of effort if you’d believe it.”

“I’d like to think we all are, but I’m not so sure.”

“Are you trying to-oh you mean yourself.”

“Yeah,” Leo said, his eyes downtrodden.

“Nah, I wouldn’t say so. I think the best thing you can do is make sure to look after yourself, if nothing else. And if you can help everyone else out at the same time, then that’s all the better. Back at the compound? That was all you. You led Kiva and I to the fight while also doing enough damage to let us even begin to stand a chance. You did more than anyone of the rest of us combined. Just because I lost my arm for it, doesn’t mean that you didn’t put in the effort. You’ve got your own problems, of course, but who doesn’t? Everybodys got stuff going on in their head,” Garrote said, his tone more down to earth than Leo had ever heard before.

“...thanks…you should probably knock again. I don’t think they heard you.”

“Huh? Oh, right,” Garrote knocked on the door again, this time a little more forceful.

The slot slid open, a pair of eyes appearing behind the door, “Sorry, I was on lunch break,” the man behind the door said.

“It’s almost sunset,” Leo replied, furrowing his brow at the man.

“Is it? We’re like 3 miles underground here. I can’t exactly see the sun,” the man replied.

“Can we enter?” Garrote asked in his most polite tone.

“Uhhhhh, hold on a second,” The man asked, his eyes disappearing from behind the slot. “Hey, we got these two kids at the door that want to come in. Do I let them in?” The man said, his voice further away, but still very audible.

“Did they give the password?” Another man replied from behind the door.

“Password?” The first man said, clearly confused.

“Yes, the password! Did you not listen to a damn thing I taught you!?”

“Don’t yell at me! It’s my first day! This is all very confusing!”

“It could not be simpler.”

“...so what’s the password again?”

“I-no, I won’t get mad. You’re right. I should be patient. Kindness gets you the farthest in life.”

Garrote leaned over to Leo, giving him a smug look, “Don’t even start,” Leo said.

“All I’m saying is some people know good wisdom when they hear it, and I happen to be standing with a disbeliever,” Garrote remarked, throwing his hands up.

“The password is, ‘Baliphias,’ write it down or something so you don’t forget it again,” the other man finished, the password guarded gate now much less secure than before.

“Right, sorry boss.”

The eyes reappeared at the door, the man taking his post back up, “What’s the password?”

“Baliphias,” Garrote said, doing his best to stifle a laugh.

The man stared at them blankley for a second, before turning his head to the side, “So does that mean I can-”

“OPEN THE DAMN DOOR GYRUS!” The other man yelled.

The door swung open, a wave of sound hitting the two boys as they crossed the threshold. They were standing in a large circular room, the entire place built ramping down towards a large fighting ring in a center pit, a couple VIP booths overlooking the whole event. All around them, people were standing and shouting, not a single comprehensible word among the bunch of rowdy, gruff men. Off to the side, an aged man was scolding Gyrus who looked to be surprisingly pretty young, around their age.

“An underground area. Isn’t that fancy?” Garrote said, nudging Leo in the side.

“I’m surprised you’re not more upset that it isn’t a crypt,” Leo replied.

“An adventure is an adventure, my friend. One must not be picky when they decide to explore,” Garrote said, raising them over the heads of the other spectators to give them a better view.

Down in the center, two men looked to be reaching the end of a fight, a little brown haired man and a chiseled blonde. They both looked somewhat injured, but the brown haired man was clearly struggling, his whole body quivering head to toe. He was also releasing an alarming amount of blood for an arena match. If they kept going much longer, he was sure to die. In a flash, the blonde burst forward, laying out the brown haired man without even bothering to use his magic, assuming he had any.

Leo recognized the technique as one Walibeld would always use, moving instantly with incredible speed, but he couldn’t put a name to it. He would have to ask around later, or read about it if they ever got their hands on books again, which actually reminded him that Trenton still had the Gasal book. He’d have to ask if Trenton was done with it yet. He really wanted to read it, especially after talking with Walibeld, but would wait his turn. Patience was a virtue, after all.

The crowd burst with mixed cheers and cries of anger, hundreds upon hundreds of gold coins exchanging hands everywhere they looked, deals reaching their conclusion. He shouldn’t have been surprised. Even back in Aria the gambling scene was rather large, recreational gladiator fights one of the biggest venues for bets.

Slowly, the men started to clear out, people shuffling away into side rooms, paramedics seeing to the downed fighter, the blond man disappearing from view. It looked like the spectacle was over. That was probably the last match of the day given how strong the fighters were. Theygenerally had a habit of building up to their headlining fight over the course of the day, slowly building excitement for the battle that everyone really came there for.

“I wanna talk to him,” Garrote said, staring into the arena.

“The guy that just got knocked out?” Leo asked.

“No, the guy that just did the knocking out.”

“Any particular reason?”

“No.”

Following the crowd into a side room, they slinked around the building, slipping past guarded doors and entryways to find themselves in presumably restricted areas. It took them a little bit, but after a couple minutes of barely dodging notice, they saw the blond man walking to his room, toweling himself off.

“Excuse me, sir, do you have a minute?” Garrote asked, jogging up to the man.

“You’re not supposed to be-” the man said, looking from Garrote to Leo, his eyes going wide. “Holy hell,” he walked over to Leo. They were about the same height, around 6 feet or so, which put them on pretty equal footing. The man placed his hand against Leo’s chest, Leo too scared to move away. “I’ve never felt anything that wild.”

“Like what?” Leo said, sweating profusely.

“Your core. It’s practically bursting with magic. Yours too,” the man looked over to Garrote, “just not to the same degree. Are you two fives?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but the answer is yes,” Garrote said confidently.

“Have you never heard about that? I guess it’s not common knowledge. Well, I was going to relax, but you’ve actually peaked my interest. C’mon, we’ll chat in my room,” the man said, opening the door to let them inside.