After what must have been another solid hour of Nyx attempting to dote on Philip (despite she herself stating that she’s intangible), my patience finally runs out. Sure doesn’t help that I’m starting to feel a strange ache, and I can’t quite figure out what or where exactly is aching.

(You’re hungry.)

Oh, is this the mana thirst thing again?

(Yep.)

So what you’re saying is I need to hunt.

(Yep.)

Alright. Well, you can’t leave my perception, and I’m not staying here, so say goodbye to Philip. I’ve got places to see and people to eat.

She’s not showing any signs of doing any of that, so I take the initiative to pick up the portal key and head for the teleporter platform myself. And of course, as the door closes behind me, she’s standing right by my side, as if she was there waiting. She looks tired, but from the sideways look I get from having observed it, she’s probably not even capable of sleep. Wait, am I capable of sleep? Nyx’s brow begins to furrow, before I quickly think that no, haha, obviously I don’t, what kind of wraith would have to sleep. Ha. Haha. That’s silly. Anyway let me just activate the teleporter AND

And I dissipate. And rematerialize back in the alcove by the street. I very intentionally open the door, absolutely not accidentally when I phase through the door and the portal key makes contact with it, causing it to open when I was already mostly through.

(You’re finally growing an ego, huh?)

What?

(Spontaneous humor. It’s one of a handful of things not well emulated by advanced runic intelligences. It’s hard to fake.)

In my defense, in these circumstances there’s not much more I can do than laugh.

Ooh, that got a sigh. The hunger pangs haven’t stopped though, in fact they seem to be getting worse, so it’s time to find a snack. But, the streets remain empty.

(Location and time of day.)

Ah, I see. So people won’t be here now, and that’s normal.

I’m absolutely not surprised at all to continue seeing zero humans (or equivalent) as I drift along. Eventually, I start wondering if I should have been going the opposite way, until Nyx pipes up.

(We could always try the sewers.)

Wait, there are sewers here? Why? Aren’t all the apartments interstitials? How would the waste even get here?

(Easy, hotshot. The folks with money, usually with Systems, are the ones with interstitials. Mortals probably can’t even muster up the mana to trigger a portal.)

That used mana?

(Yep. Fortunately for you, you’re a big ol’ battery of it, enough that you probably consume or emit enough of it by just existing that you wouldn’t have noticed the pull.)

I see. Anyway, sewers? Why sewers?

(You’ll see. Trust me.)

I’m not sure I should trust her, but I guess it’s better than starving wandering the streets like I’m the last person on the plane. Person? Ghost? Person-adjacent mana entity? Whatever.

(Look for a grate, and phase down through it.)

Like everything else in this plane, it takes a while to find a grate. Why is everything so far apart? Maybe someday I’ll get my own teleportation powers and won’t ever have to bother with this again. Eventually though I do stumble across a grate and ask Nyx to confirm it’s what we’re looking for, which she obviously does. And so down I go – travel is pretty easy when you can just phase through doors, grates, whatever.

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The sewers themselves are pretty unsurprising, showcasing uniform gray brick walls and a shallow flow of unidentified and questionable purity liquids tracing the bottom. I’m going to assume the answer to ‘how are the walls this clean’ is ‘magic’, so don’t bother answering.

(Thanks for that.)

Yeah, any time. Sure. I’m just gonna keep looking for something to eat.

Takes a bit but before long I come across some oversized rats, eating the corpse of one of their own. Bet they didn’t get a title for that.

(They probably aren’t ascendant either. Works a bit differently for monsters usually though, they get stronger from a domain’s favor. Bet these ones are pestilence.)

Seems likely. They’re not particularly appetizing though, so I leave them be for the moment and continue drifting along, following the flow of water.

Before too much longer, I notice the sound of splashing a ways ahead. It’s fairly controlled and makes me wonder if whatever is making it is trying to move quietly. I take the hint and start sneaking myself, whatever that means for a semi-corporeal ash cloud floating above the water to begin with.

[Stealth has reached Level 1!]

Oh shut up.

I turn a corner and finally find my quarry: a human! Or humanoid. They’re wrapped in rags that only technically count as clothing and carrying a worn paper bag. I’d wonder why they’re so filthy considering they’re literally surrounded by water, but considering the water itself I can’t really blame them. They keep sneaking glances over their shoulder with their head on a swivel as if they think they’re being followed. They’re not wrong, but I doubt they’d expect me.

I follow for half an hour – which I know because apparently my System actually has a time and date feature, handy! – and they eventually stop at a section of wall no different from the rest, other than one brick being slightly darker than the others. After another moment of looking around, they press their left palm against it and mutter a few words I can’t seem to translate –

(Runic tongue. They used a skill or spell.)

What’s the difference?

(Skills are System provided. Spells are learned, even mortals can get those.)

Ah.

Anyway, the wall in front of them turns hazy at first, and then vanishes entirely. They quickly slink through the opening, and it reappears behind them. If it’s an illusion it’s a good one, since the water doesn’t even seem to flow through the opening when it reappears.

(Not an illusion.)

Fine. I manifest a feeler and give it a poke anyway, and I get the feeling of touching a brick wall in return. On a whim, I covertly sneak it around and give Nyx a poke in the side, just below her ribcage. And to my surprise, I feel flesh! And, her glare. What? I can touch you!

(Of course you can touch me, what part of ‘intangible outside of your perception’ didn’t you understand!? I only have a body because you perceive me to have a body!)

Wait, you said you were intangible!

(I AM intangible. I have a body in your mind, and you can perceive yourself touching it. That doesn't mean there's actually anything there to touch!)

So you’re material to me then?

She… doesn’t dignify that with an answer, which comes as no surprise. But, I have more important things to address, like this wall. I press against it, trying to phase through it like the others, and I feel a force repelling me. Guess I’ll have to find another way.

I spend a couple moments debating a course of action, and eventually come upon a solution. If I can’t go through here…

(Are you gonna…)

I shift six feet to my left, and then try to phase there. I’m greeted by the inside of a wall, consisting mostly of earth and poured concrete – oh hey, this plane is dirt based! Good to know. Anyway I move another six feet into the wall, then turn right and continue. I can feel the act draining me, weakening me, so I know I can’t stay phased much longer. And then I pop through, into a hallway narrower than the sewers but still lined with the same gray bricks.

(…Called it. At least you didn’t ask.)

I turn to my left to continue tracking my prey, and after a few twists and turns the hallway opens up into a large room – a VERY large room in fact, filled with ramshackle wooden buildings, some marked with signs. A few rats near the entryway scatter as I approach.

Which, gives me an idea. I find an alleyway, for the shadows, and drift into the settlement.

(They must have found this place, if they made that gateway they would have warded the entrance.)

Oh. So, me coming here would have set off an alarm, right? No sudden rush of defenders means no ward.

(Yep.)

Huh.

Anyway, I keep drifting along, looking for the taste of my prey, since I’ve apparently picked up the flavor of their mana signature… I’m guessing it’s related to a combination of mana thirst and mana sight. I do eventually find them, at a small stand in a clearing near the middle of the shantytown. It looks like they’re stocking a shop with… those look like vegetables. Seeing them going about their daily life of providing nourishment gives me an idea…

(Oh no,) Nyx whispers.

Hello, human, I quietly project as I approach from the shadows.