The capital of this country was a place called Suncrest. It had been built upon an island in the middle of the river. Yoru had once stood on top of the castle seeing that the capital had grown beyond that island, further and further expanding.

The Sanctuary was comparable, but rather than being expanding horizontally, the city was built downwards. Buildings stacked on the cliffs like rings and it continued further down.

Even after being corralled into a processing center, and being asked a couple of questions about herself, she couldn’t help but be amazed.

“How is there a city like this down here?” She asked the woman processing her.

The woman was wearing a brown uniform, and gave her a professional smile.

“The Sanctuary has been here since the beginning.”

The way she responded made it feel like she had asked: why the sky was blue? It rubbed her the wrong way. She watched the woman flip through the folder in front of her, stopping at a particular page.

“I’m sorry, but right now, I must ask you questions to determine if you can integrate into our city.” The woman tapped her pen on the form. Her tone was polite but as sharp and painful as a rusted knife. “Chit-chatting with you will only make this take longer. You can direct those questions afterwards.”

Yoru sighed and looked through the barred window. Now this place looked like a prison. When they came in, they took their weapons. The door was guarded by some dangerous looking man. The guard had a couple of scars all over his face, and was missing an eye.

Of course, she had Shadow Heart sleeping in her shadow, and enough Spirit Energy to summon it if need to be.

“Then the feeling is mutual. Hurry and fill out the form, and ask your questions.” Yoru dismissively waved her hand.

“What’s your crime? Why were you sent down here?”

She wanted to retort. There was a file in front of her wasn’t there? But she decided against it. Wanting to get this over with.

“I killed a priest,” she told her. “Stabbed him in the heart. Then I turned myself in with the deal that I be sent here.”

“You asked to be sent here?” She rose an eyebrow at that.

“Yes.”

“Did you know about this place?”

She gave the woman a terse expression.

“Would I have asked my earlier question if I did?”

The office worker held up a finger, giving her a warning.

“Once more I ask if you could answer the question, rather than asking your own.”

Her tone grated her. She took in several breaths and finally answered her.

“No.”

“Good.” She stamped the form and gave it to her. “Keep that on you. You will need to come back here a month from now. Until then, you will live and be observed by one of our case workers to determine if you are a fit in this city.”

“I don’t plan to stay here that long. I’ll be gone in a week,” she said.

She cocked her head. “Are you going to kill yourself?”

“Sure,” she said with a shrug, just hoping to get this conversation over with quickly. She had to admit, this whole thing didn’t feel like a prison at all. It didn’t feel like a place where a bunch of blood thirsty monsters were tossed in.

“Well,” she began. Her lips curled back into a polite smile. “If you don’t plan to kill yourself, come in a month. Oh, and if you don’t, we will kill you, painfully. I will personally cut your tongue out, and make you eat it. I enjoy doing that quite a bit, so I’m hoping you do miss the appointment.”

“Ah.” That was it. That was what she expected. A fucking psycho.

She folded the paper into a square and then stood up from her seat. The woman led her out of the processing center, through a long hallway. She opened the door to room with a sitting area where Kenichi held up a hand to greet her. Aria was laying on the coach, looking up at the ceiling, whispering to herself.

“…Not dead…will come…back…soon…”

“Somebody will come and see you very soon.” The woman bowed and then left.

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Yoru fell onto the sofa across Aria and Kenichi, tired. Today had been a day. Spotting a teapot, she checked to see if it was filled with hot water. Steam came out, confirming what she wanted to know. She turned her attention to the ceramic containers on the table, opening the lid until she found some tea leaves. She took a sniff, finding the aroma familiar.

She took a few scoops, putting it in a filter, before pouring the hot water in a teacup. The tea leaves turned the water orange and she took a sip recognizing the taste as Cloudberry. She swiped one of the biscuits on a plate, a buttery taste filled her mouth.

“It’s weird isn’t it?” Kenichi spoke. “They have biscuits, tea, furniture, there’s almost no difference between up here and down here.”

“It is strange. Even with a sunroot, I don’t see a place where they could farm wheat or raise cows,” she said. “The tealeaves come from the north.”

“So, you see that something is amiss too then?”

“I do.” She opened a small pot, seeing high graded sugar. Deciding not to be surprised anymore, she put two scoops into her tea. “But is there a point? I don’t care how they do any of this. Our goal is one thing an-.”

She stopped talking. Her ears picked up a heavy set off footsteps. Kenichi did too. It stopped in front of the door and their door was knocked.

“I’m coming in.”

The owner of the voice came in immediately. He was a big burly man about the same size as Kenichi she guessed. As she glanced at him to make a quick comparison, she saw her companion’s slack jawed expression.

“I know you. You’re the Bandit King. I heard you perished. What are you doing here?” Kenichi stood up.

“I was.” The bandit gave a toothy smile as he rubbed his shovel spaded beard. “It’s a very easy thing to answer. I was caught. The question is, what are you two doing here? The Mad Monk and the Shadow Priestess that he protects.”

“Same as you. We were caught and pushed down here.” Yoru gave an exaggerated sigh, shaking her head. “Truly a shame. Much like you I see. You’re here to give us a tour to the Sanctuary, right?”

Kenichi turned to him, his expression complicated. “You are?”

“Don’t give me that look. I’m no tour guide. I’m goddamn council member. But, yes is the short version of your question.” The Bandit King crossed his arms and leered at the both of them. “Usually it would be someone else, but the two of you are special and because of that, I’m forced to leave my nice little den to come here.”

“So, you want to get this over with then? Then let’s go.”

The Bandit King held up his hand for her to stay seated. He grabbed an armchair from the unlit fireplace, and dragged it across the room, setting it up adjacent from the two of them. He sat down and took out the bottle of whiskey and four glasses from the pack he had been holding.

“Now,” he uncorked the bottle. “We could do that. Go out, I show you the sights. You pretend you love it here, and then later you stab me in the back.”

He poured four shots of whiskey, Yoru leaned in her seat, baring her teeth, showing off her sharp canines.

“If I wanted to kill you, I could do so right now.”

He froze for a second, then proceeded to slide the whiskey in front of them.

“You can try honey, but do you really think I’ll go down so easily? Instead we can drink some fine whiskey, and we can have a nice and even chat about why the three of you are really here.”

Kenichi frowned at his whiskey, holding up one hand up in the air and another on his chest.

“I do not drink. It is against our code.”

The Bandit looked revolted at that. He turned to Yoru.

“What about you? This is Redpine Whiskey. It comes from the South. Are you saying you won’t partake in something so heavenly?”

“I only drink to celebrate.”

He looked as if Yoru had stabbed his son in front of him. He turned to Aria, looking hopeful but soon his face fell. One glance and he knew that she wouldn’t drink. He reached out to get all four glasses back.

But Aria snapped hers away. She gave a laugh, holding the glass high in the air.

“Celebrate! Death! Comes back! Reincarnation!”

Kenichi moved to snatch the glass, but she immediately drank it all. Then, she smashed the glass on the ground, throwing her head up in a mad laugh.

The monk shook his head, and kneeled down to pick up the broken pieces of glass. Walnut gave an approving laugh.

“See, why can’t you be like her?” He retrieved Kenichi’s glass but Yoru covered hers with her palm.

“I said I’d drink if we celebrated. There might be a chance I might.”

“I hope so.” Taking a sip of the whiskey he gave a satisfied gurgle from his throat. “Now that’s what I’m talking about!”

He leaned back in the armchair ready to talk to them.

“So tell me the real reason you came down here?”

“We’re here to meet the Warden,” she said without a hint of hesitation. It was better to just get this over with.

The silence was heavy. He first drank Walnut’s glass. Then, the Bandit King proceeded to pour himself another shot, drinking it like water. He repeated this process three times, putting the whiskey bottle down before he could get a fourth.

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Liquid courage allowed him to blurt out those words.

“Is he in this city?” Yoru asked.

“No!” He shook his head. “Thank the Goddess he isn’t.”

“I wouldn’t have thought that Walnut the Great Bandit King would shiver in his boots,” the bear noted.

“Your name is Walnut?”

Walnut ignored her, pretending that what she had asked hadn’t been said. He answered Kenichi’s mocking with his own glare.

“Oh, he is.” He gave a slight nod, his face was becoming red from the whiskey. “He’s not someone you want fuck around with. You might as well knock on the Door of Oblivion itself.”

“If that’s what it takes, then that’s what we will do, Walnut.” She emphasized his name.

Walnut took out some walnuts from out of his pocket, holding them in his palm for them to see. “Do you know why my father named me my name?” He gripped his hand, the shells crushed with ease. He opened his hand, the shell powdered and its meat in tact. “When I was two, I crushed some walnuts in my home. My father had an ill sense of humor and named me after that. He wasn’t laughing when I did the same to him years later.”

It didn’t matter if it was knocking on the Door of Oblivion or facing the Sun Devil herself. The Seal was here, and she had no doubt the Warden guarded it.

“It’s almost that time of the year.” The Warden grumbled. “Fine. I don’t know where he is, but I know someone that does. He’s not here right now though, knowing him, he’s probably busy.”

Yoru nodded, taking up the glass of whiskey.

“Then, I have something to celebrate then.”