It's a sluggish morning. The room's too cold, the howling wind hasn't stopped. Her blankets are cosy and Cyan's wrapped his tails between them. It's soft and fluffy. So, despite she's awake, she spends another good half an hour pretending she isn't. She likes to snuggle. It's only until she hears Cyan groan,

"My arm's dead." that she finally opens her eyes. Oh. He's already awake, seemingly for awhile at that too. He’s staring at the ceiling fan behind her. Darting his pupils to chase the clanking wooden dolls to keep himself entertained. It's still dim and there isn't jarring sunlight to assault her. At least the storm’s cleared from the dripping she hears outside. Flickering her gaze towards her clock, it’s eight in the morning. Lazily, she greets,

“Good morning.” but Cyan doesn’t return it, instead, he asks,

“Did you make those?” he sounds like he’s been waiting for her to get up. Pulling his arm out from beneath her neck. He sits up to shake the blood back in his fingers. She lazily stretches, rubbing her eyes of sleep before she matches where he’s looking at,

“Yeah.” she yawns, snapping stiff joints in her spine and neck. Her bones ache. Probably because her bed is awfully cramped for two people. She slaps both cheeks with her palms to rid herself of the slumber, before she points at the animal shaped ones, “those I did.” it’s based off the creatures she’s seen in the forest when she was younger,

“Killian made the ugly skulls.” she forced Killian to spend time with her because she had no one else to play with. Although, in hind sight, Killian was probably thinking about Luci when he’s carved those.

It's perplexing him, raising an eyebrow at the spinning blobs,

“Those were supposed to be skulls? I thought they were slimes.” yeah, Killian wasn’t great with arts and crafts. Cyan seems to be intrigued by them, so she gets up, - God, it's freezing - quickly jumping to break one of them off its strings before diving for her blankets again. Passing him a fox that she’s retrieved,

“You can have it.” he’s examining it, fiddling the doll around before he critiques,

“You got the proportions all wrong. The head’s too big and the body’s too small.” that why he’s interested in them to begin with?

“If you don’t want it just say so!” she tries to snatch it out of his hand but he jerks away before she could,

“You can’t just take back something you’ve already given.” perhaps it’s the sluggishness of early mornings and cold autumn wind, that she thinks, Cyan seems to have gotten less bristly. His voice isn’t so harsh and admonishing anymore, then she changes her mind when she hears the next sentence in full snark,

“Your room’s really messy.” eying the pile of clothes and scrap bounties she’s discarded on the floor. Next to her tool box of exacto knives and wood shavings. She’s already found her energy at this point, the frost biting morning air combing past her bones has forced her into alertness, so she's fully ready to deflect the blame,

“Oh, you should’ve seen Killian’s.” it gets so gross sometimes, she doesn’t even want to step foot in it. Especially when he has worn women’s lingerie dangling off his clothing rack, used condoms tied at the neck and paper towels overflowing from the bin by his door. It reminds her, bracing the chill and running for her dresser,

“We should leave. Before Killian wakes up and he wants to stop me again!” tossing the folded t-shirt and sweat pants towards the bed,

“You can wear Killian’s clothes for now.” and hastily goes through her drawers for something to change into. Settling for a red knitted sweater with a white blouse collar, brown corduroy shorts and wooly thigh high socks to keep her legs warm. She turns over her shoulders when Cyan starts again,

“You know. I was wondering the entire morning,” he’s getting dressed too. Although, he seems reluctant to leave her warm blankets so he’s just pulling on the sweatpants beneath the covers. Killian’s clothes are way too baggy on him, the shirt’s is hiking down his shoulder. It makes even Cyan look like a hobo. It’s afterwards he finishes his sentence,

“Why do you even want to become an adventurer? You don’t have obligations to answer to, you have someone that loves and shelters you.” he quietens his voice,

“Even though you said you just wanted to go on adventures and do fun things, but knowing who you have inside you, is it really worth exposing yourself to danger?" that may be true at first, although right now, she found an actual purpose. Returning her comb to her vanity table, she turns around after securing her ribbon into her hair, facing him fully,

“My reasons are kinda lame actually." she admits not looking at him, dropping her eyes to fidget with her fingers, "I don’t have an identity. I don't remember my past."

"Is it that important to you? Remembering your past?" she nods,

"Yeah." she feels empty otherwise, with all these fragmented memories, pieces and feelings that're so within reach, yet so far away,

"I want to know who my blood family are, and what really happened to them, and how am I connected in all of this." and she can't stand not knowing.

"What makes you so certain, becoming an adventurer will help you find the answer?"

She isn't certain. The only thing she's got is the hint Luci's given her yesterday. To kill the guild leader of Atlantia Empire. It's a request she doesn't understand yet, but, she's able to infer, they may know something. Although, reclused to the public as they are, she'll never beable to contact them unless she's an adventurer herself. Rephrasing these statements, she forces an upbeat voice so she wouldn't trouble Cyan again with her problems, she explains,

“Rather than sulking about it, becoming an adventurer will get me somewhere at least. Be it through finding out my past, or redefining my future, I just feel like, I should be doing something." she flicks her gaze up to match his eyes before concluding,

“Even if Luci’s inside me, wouldn’t change my whim. I don't plan to give up. In fact, I should try harder actually, so I wouldn’t lose control to Luci again!"

Cyan's intensely studying her, trying to grasp the parts that she doesn’t voice,

“That isn’t called a whim anymore.” he corrects her vocabulary, “that’s called resolve.” he slides off her bed and heads for the door,

"But you're one thing for sure."

"And what's that?" he chuckles,

“A walking cliché,” what the heck! He's ridiculing her again. But he hurries her with a flick of his head,

“Lets go then! We have one month to complete all the trials. Otherwise, we’ll fail by default.” distracting her away from retaliating with her own verbal insults to instead, rush to grab her axe,

“Of course!” strapping it back on and slipping into her sneakers. They’re tipping toes down the hall way past Killian’s room. She's putting a finger to her lips to tell Cyan to hush as they shuffle down the stairs to the kitchen beneath. But Killian's already sitting by the dining table, smoking a cigarette and scrolling through his phone. Startling them both when they spot him.

Shit, he’s already foiled their plans.

Killian admonishes the moment he hears them,

“I knew you were planning to sneak out if I went to bed.” frowning, he lifts his head to make eye contact. Judging from the heavy bags under his eyes, he’s stayed up waiting for her! But before she can decide between flight or argue, he tosses her the phone,

“You broke yours in that last task I’ve made you do, yeah? Use this instead. If shit goes wrong again, call me.” she snatches it out of the air. Examining it, it’s a newer model too, two numbers already listed in the speed dial. One of them is Killian’s, the other is,

“Alyss? Why did you give me her number too?”

“You’ll see her when you go to Duskburn. When you do, ask her for one of her teleporting sigils. If you get into trouble with the guilds, she'll beable to help you.” he warns in a lower voice,

“But no matter what you do. Don’t ever let Luci out in front of the adventurers. It's a death sentence if they ever get definitive proof that Luci's within you.” untensing her shoulders, she realizes, Killian isn’t planning to stop her anymore, he flicks his eyes towards Cyan,

"And that includes your memories of being attacked yesterday. If someone like Feno's seen it. He will be officially justified to kill without questions." it sounds more like a threat than a warning, Cyan's anxiously nodding, "it won't happen." she reassures,

“I don’t plan to talk to her anymore.” at that, Killian gets up to unhook his car keys from the wall hanger, and changes the topic with an exhausted sigh,

“Come on then, I’ll drive you to a guild portal. You don’t need to take the train this way.” he looks so exhausted as he's said that. She can't help but to feel a little bit sorry for him. Although, she reckons she shouldn't say anything in case she changes his mind and decides to insist she quit the exams.

So, they're quietly passing the tavern. Killian’s left the wall mounted box television on. It’s broadcasting the news, something about another rebellion guild captured. Organ traffickers this time. But they’re leaving the house too quickly for her to pick up more than a few lines of drifting information. That and she’s half distracted meandering past the chairs and stools splayed about and dodging puddles of spilled alcohol and broken glass on the ground. Killian hasn’t gotten around to clean up yet. She’s usually the one doing it when she’s at home. Training, he called it, when in reality, he just binded on a few ring weights around the broom handle and exploited her for free labor.

His car is parked on the main street. The roof trims, dripping rainwater onto the hood where the exposed steam engines are mounted. It’s a rustic thing, furnished with metallic grey paint and copper. How has it not already weathered away by the humidity in these areas? But she assumes, the same way the Felmane blimps can stay afloat despite looking like it weighs a few good tons; the mechanical inner workings are probably too complex for her to grasp.

The trip to the portal is rather tense. Cyan seems too awkward to speak his mind in front of Killian, so he’s just gazing out the windows most of the time. Darting his eyes on every shop that they passed and tracing his pupils at decorated horse carriages trottling by them. They aren’t real horses of course, just machines built to look like one to fit the aesthetics of these places. Same with the pigeons and bees and other suburbanized animals to give Gildamore life. The only exception is the rats, scurrying by the curbs and along sewer drains. Those Maverick couldn’t exterminate no matter how hard they tried. They repopulate way too quickly for even adventurers to keep up.

On the half way mark, she decides to fill the silence by recounting all the events that’s occurred, and the trials they have already completed. Though, judging from Killian’s noncommittal responses, it seems he’s already heard half the things she’s retelling. She’s also tried to pry if he knows about what their next trial is going to be, but Killian merely shrugs, if she's capable enough, she'll beable to pass even if he doesn't tell her. It just sounds like, Killian doesn't actually want her to clear the exams. So instead, she’s gotten around to ask what do Poelium Magum and Incantatio mean.

She finds out, Poelium Magum is basically the term for a combination of Vi and Intelligentia stats, whereas Incantatio is phase two of an Intelligentia focused alignment. She guesses, Intelligentia probably is the stat responsible for all the flashy heals, seals, buffs, portals and curses in the memories she's witnessed.

Nearing the one-hour mark, they’ve finally crossed the connector bridge to get out of their tiny little suburb and towards Gildamore's main city. It’s at this point Killian becomes sick of her incessant questions about his past, Luci, and the guilds, and redireced it on Cyan. Asking for his purpose on keeping Lilith’s secret. His sudden inclusion has abruptly startled Cyan to straighten from dozing off against the window, stammering, because they’re friends and he has no reason not to, as if he’s interrogated by a shot-gun wielding father.

Is Killian that scary?

She’s never seen Cyan so nerve-wrecked in front of anyone before. Not for long at least, because their conversations eventually relegated to casual gossips and they both agree that Odion’s a prick, and Rosemary is hot. It's surprising Killian’s actually putting in effort to not intimidate Cyan by making small talk. He usually doesn’t really give a shit about appearing approachable. Either that, or he's using this as distraction tactics to get her to stop pestering him for answers he claims 'he doesn't know'. How could he not know what kind of person Luci was when he was in love with her! He's just too stingy to tell her. What a dick.

By ten in the morning, they’ve finally arrived. Parked outside an unassuming antiques store right beneath the tracks of the dangling sky trains for intercity travels. It’s an asymmetrical little building, with a coppery green roof and pipes running down the sides to funnel clogged water into the sewers beneath.

Entering it, the shop’s just as clustered on the inside. They have to weave around the shelves lined breathless with various trinkets and gadgets that serves more decoration purposes than functional. It smells even greasier and dustier than the busy streets. They’re approaching an old man by the counter, a magnifying glass, akin a mini telescope, fixed to an eye, repairing a pigeon that’s broken down from rusting with spare junk parts. He’s too focused to address them, so instead, he just acknowledges Killian’s presence with a,

“Are you here to take another bounty for that child you picked up?” without making eye contact. It’s only after Killian notifies him, that child, he’s talking about is here with them that he finally lifts his head up from his work. Although, he’s more intrigued by the fact, Cyan’s here with him too.

How is Cyan recognized by almost everyone? His dad must really be some sorta of a big shot. And judging from the lack of an adventurer’s ring on the old man’s finger, is he actually a commoner? It’s only after a few more exchanges that she finds out he’s already retired and this is what he does now. And when the old man finally gets out of the counter, she understands the reason why. He’s wheelchair bound; a leg’s completely mechanical. Apparently, he’s lost it in Luci’s war, but the crippling blow was a fracture to his hips. That’s instead shattered by an infamous Rebellion guild, Shadow Falls, a century ago.

Then, they have to bid Killian farewell before they make their way through a crusty green door. Killian isn’t allowed to follow them in, being exiled and everything means he no longer gets privileges to the guild portals. She gives him a quick hug before she leaves, reluctantly muttering a thank you. And if he didn't reek of cigarettes, she might even consider telling him, she loves him. But he did, so she won't.

Killian's always eager to push her off regardless, suggesting that if she gets attacked again, just make Cyan the meat shield, he shrugs it off way easier. But Cyan probably didn’t realize that Killian was joking with the deadpanned delivery of his humor. So, it’s making Cyan protest,

“What the heck, I thought we got along!” as his parting message before wheelchair old man shovels them through. They’re going down a cobblestone tunnel. Glowing portals with different city labels embedded within each wall. But the walk is too brief for them to get to know the old man aside from a half spoken sentence, how long has he known Killian. That and, unlike Rufus, this old man is far grumpier and less accommodating, so he doesn't answer her and simply rushes them to leave, he’s still got work to get back to.

He seems difficult to get along, she thinks as they exit through the other side, the portal behind them closes up. It’s brought them to the top of a massive bell tower. Running to the ledge, she presses against the brass rails to get a full bird’s eye view of the captial. She hasn’t actually been here after Felmane’s completely refurnished it. So, the excitement quickly overwhelms all her previous sentiments.

It’s an extremely vertical place. All the buildings are incredibly tall and off balanced. Bulky at the top, narrow in the bottom. The entire city’s build like layers of a cake. Metal bridges, elevators and stairs, twining between segments to stabilize the structures, looking like a tangled mess of yarn thrown at stacks of half-played Jenga. Almost like an amusement park.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

It's so cool!

They’re levelled with the tops of roofs right now. In front of them, lion emblemed hot air balloons are drifting between hissing sky trains and creaking cable cars that’re interweaving, like rollercoasters, down the buildings. They’re so high up even the machine pigeons are flying beneath them. It’s crowded on every tier, with people on the lowest ground level, looking like mere dots in fogs of grey smoke, caught orange by the peeking sunlight above them. Normally, this is where she’ll take a huge gulp of air, but, it’s Felmane’s work. With all the grease and dust, she reckons, she should probably spare her lungs.

Beside her, Cyan begins pulling out pouches that Rufus gave them. There’s two of them, one containing the map, and the other, a brown card with a golden crown symbol in the middle of it. She joins beside him to search for the red dot, it isn’t that far from where they’re currently at. Probably a half hour walk. In fact, she can see the building from here. It’s that giant, tacky structure right at the center. With the same crown symbol hanging off the side of it. Right beside the mess of gears and cog work powering a slot machine that’s embedded into the metallic dome roof.

They spend a few more seconds to work out their bearings before setting off. Spending their journey there boarding precariously hanging elevators, navigating past confusing winding bridges, overlooking the steep drop beneath that she can’t help but to pity the folks with acrophobia that lives in this place. There isn’t any concrete ground on the upper tiers, only metal grates making the walkways. That’s why it’s incredibly noisy with creaks and rattles on top of the already defeaning white noise. She’s learnt each level serves a different purpose.

The surficial most, where they’re at, are the central business districts. Directly beneath them would be the offices. Few layers under that, probably residential because she’s able to spot a few laundry lines through the gaps. And the bottom most, on the ground, where the light hardly reaches even in day, she guesses are the slums. Each time they cross a different building, Cyan had to repeatedly stop her from running into yet another store offering tourist traps like, build your own machine animals or snail tours.

What the heck are snail tours?

She realizes shortly after, it’s a tour on a giant snail’s back where the mechanical creature slowly climbs up and down the city like it's a metal garden. In fact, one of them is directly beneath their feet right now. Sludging through the underside of the bridge. How do the people in them not fall out? One thing’s for sure, Duskburn is way more fun than Gildamore can ever be. All they’ve got, is horse carriage rides on bumpy uneven cobblestone paths.

After crossing a few more bridges, she finally convinces Cyan to go into a clothing store with her. telling him that, he should get something that fits better, their next trial might involve physical activities too. Killian’s sweat pants, puddling at his ankles, looks like it could fall off him if he ever tries to jump. That and she’s noticed he’s been trying to tug it up countless times. She drags him in before he could even protest about it.

The shop interiors are extremely lavish, decorated with flowers, except all the plants are made of gold and brass. Even the butterflies that’re fluttering around them, are entirely machine. But she’s more interested in the outfits. It’s exactly like the kind Alyss wears. She’s excitedly running around the racks to pick clothes for him until Cyan reminds, they don’t have any money. They've only got Kusma currency at the moment. Overhearing them, the cosplaying store assistant points out, they have a credit card. She’s referring to the crown card Cyan’s clutching in his hand. They would be able to put it on their tabs.

Hearing that, Lilith begins relentlessly shoving fabrics into his arms and pushing him into the curtained changing room. She likes to dress him up. Cyan’s super pretty so everything looks amazing on him. Except Killian’s clothes. Killian’s devoid of taste can make even a model appear homeless. She eventually convinces him to go with the, ruffly white shirt, leather vest with gold clasps and dark fitted trousers. Throwing in goggles to strap on his head to finish the aesthetics.

He looks so cool! Like, movie protagonist levels of cool so she insists he should wear it. Although, he does bring up the clothes completely defeat the purposes of mobility. But who cares about mobility when you can look absolutely epic! After a few more lines of persistent convincing, Cyan eventually gives in, or rather gives up with an annoyed - fine whatever, he grunted, somewhat flustered with the incessant flattery that she’s drowning him in.

He can be so endearing at times.

Following that, they’ve exited out the opposite side of the store to cross their final bridge to their destination. They join the queue before the burgundy red grand doors, beneath the flashing florescent bulbs that spells, The Aegis Royale. Guarded by two uniformed Felmane adventurers on each side. Despite the entrance is open, she can’t see beyond the fluffy velvet carpet and the dividing wall that blocks her view to the interior. But she can hear it’s awfully noisy inside, seeping out with high pitched dings and pings. When it’s finally their turn, a lady in bunny suit and fishnet stockings stops them by the stanchion barriers,

“May I see some IDs please?” she requests, gesturing to the little circular sign that says, no entry below 18,

“I’m afraid the two of you may be too young.” but she proceeds to let the customers behind them through. Hooking the rope back on to stop them entering. At that, Cyan’s again checking their map.

They’re at the right place alright. But before they’re able to convince bunny lady let them through, someone abruptly bolts out from the building. Bumping both bunny lady and Lilith in the process to shove them aside. It’s made bunny lady off balance, tripping her forward to smoosh Lilith’s face with her cleavage with a little startled yelp. She can't breathe.

That’s so rude!

After Lilith orients, she turns her head to see the man that’s pushed them, hands bound before him with blue Magia sigils, floating around his wrist acting like shackles, desperately ramming past the gasping crowd with his shoulders. He’s in brown, prison like robes. Number 42 printed on the back.

Is that a runaway? What is he doing here?

The prisoner looks frantic, darting his head about and pinning his eyes on the bridge behind them and making a dash for it. But he’s again, stopped dead in his tracks by a rock wall that bolts up from the metal grates to seal his escape. It’s summoned by one of the Felmane guards. The other’s waved in a sword, charging to attack but the prisoner tackles himself into the crowd of confused passersby that are slowly bubbling away from him in whispers, realizing something is going wrong. The prisoner violently grapples a child from her mother. The little girl screams in horror before the mother’s even able to react. He threatens,

“Get back! Don’t move.” to halt the two Felmane adventurers in motion,

“Let me go, otherwise I’ll kill her!” it instantly freezes everyone in the area in a clamoring panic. The rock summoner seems to be attempting something with another flick of his wrist, but before he’s able to get the anything off, the prisoner commands again,

“I’ll break her neck! You won’t be fast enough.” clamping the little girl, in demonstration, between his forearm and biceps like a walnut to be cracked open. It’s completely emptied the air from her lungs in a suffocated wheeze. Realizing he’s right, the Felmane adventurer attempts to persuade,

“Please, calm down.” flaring out a palm to request the rock summoner to halt whilst lowering his sword at the same time,

“Stay calm... we are not going to do anything.” he tries to inch forward but the prisoner immediately takes a defensive step backwards,

“Don’t move. Don’t flinch. Don’t even breathe.” he’s hypervigilant with all the adrenaline pumping through his veins right now. It’ll be difficult to catch him off guard,

“If I see anyone moving-” he tightens his grip, repeating his threat to show that he’s being serious,

“I’ll snap her neck.” it’s choking the girl. Tears puddling her eyes, her face’s turned completely blue as she tries to claw against him with little avail. The adventurers try again,

“Please. Just calm down and let the civilian go.”

It’s now Lilith finally figures why the prisoner strikes her as familiar. She was certain she’s remembered that ugly bulging mole on his nose. It was one of organ traffickers on the news earlier! The ones that got captured. So, he’s a rebellion guild member! Although, more than anything, he looks utterly terrified with how badly he’s shaking when he accuses,

“Calm down? You people are fucked up!” he’s frantic with these lines, “You are all fucked up psychopaths! Our lives aren’t pawns for you to play games with!” sweat streaming down his face to bead at his chin, dragging the child with him as he attempts to back towards the bridge again, he briefly glances at it,

“Undo the spell lock around my wrists and put the wall down.”

“The spell lock is Admiral Alyss’s Magia, we can’t-”

“Go fetch that bitch then!” he interrupts and when the official fails to move, he barks again,

“Now!” to send sword adventurer scurrying into the building to report the commotion. The moment he’s gone, the prisoner commands the other,

“You. Put the wall down.” at this point, the little girl he seized has already passed out. Looks like the suffocation’s stopped the blood circulation to her brain. Magia users are way stronger than commoners, even without skills. Lilith’s experienced it herself, how brittle their bones are and how easily they break. She should do something. But the moment she’s reached a hand behind her back to grip at her axe, the prisoner catches notice of her,

“I said no movements!” he commands, stopping her in her motions with the reminder in his hand. Shaking the girl’s frail body like a rag doll with the way he’s lifted her off the ground. The mother’s near ruptured her throat from screaming at this point that the passersby beside her had to hold her back to keep her from rabidly launching herself forward, trying to calm her down.

Beside Lilith, Cyan’s quietly reminding,

“Don’t act reckless. He’s a timebomb that may go off at any moment. If he does, then that girl’s blood is on your hands-” but he’s interrupted by the prisoner’s thundering voice,

“No speaking, no whispering, no moving!” Cyan’s right. He’s extremely paranoid of everything right now.

The commotion’s also drawn the attention of everyone in the surroundings. Tourist and residents alike, watching and whispering from the metal bridges. Some of them, even recording the incident on their phones, others, frantically trying to contact Felmane's request boards. It's incredibly tense. The prisoner demands again,

“Put the wall down. Now!”

The Felmane adventurer’s conflicted, tossing his head about until Alyss finally emerges from the building with the sword adventurer that was told to get her. She reading a hovering panel open with his personal information on it. Zooming in on his class, Poelium Magum, and the skills he has listed beneath. The moment the prisoner spots her, he commands,

“Stop right there and undo the spell lock!” to get her attention. Halting her next to bunny lady who’s completely at a loss since the beginning. Yeah, it’s definitely unnerving how calm Alyss is even in a hostage situation,

“I’ll undo it if you let go of the girl.” her face is almost impossible to read. And it unsettles the prisoner further,

“Do you take me for an idiot born yesterday? The moment I let her go, you’ll have your sniper shoot.” he’s gesturing with a flick of his chin towards the opposite building. There is a glint of a scope atop of a metal roof. When did the sniper even get there? Adventurers sure respond pretty quick. He’s calling her bluff,

“I can kill her faster than the bullet’s able to reach me. I’m not letting her go until you undo my spell lock.” and he's aware of it. Alyss waves the panel away, pondering a little, before she guesses,

“I suppose, your plan is to make a portal once I release the spell lock, back yourself to safety and then, you’ll release the hostage once you’ve guaranteed your escape?” from the way he’s immediately tensed up at her statements, she’s called him out too. So, he takes another step backwards, but she says,

“Very well. I’ll allow that.” to get him to stop subconsciously squeezing the girl even tighter in his arms. He looks extremely skeptical, she’s trying to negotiate,

“However,” she points out, “you’ve already deprived the girl of oxygen for nine minutes at this point. In one more minute, she’ll be completely brain dead. Let us save her before that happens. Let her go the moment I undo your spell lock. As long as you abide by these rules, I swear on my title that I will not attack you.” he isn’t believing her,

“You’re expecting me to trust the words of an honorless bitch like you after you baited us into your fucked up games?” scoffing,

“I heard about you, Alyss Mildred. The silver-tongued snake who’s built her fortune on lies and exploits. You bought out the previous admiral, and took his place as treasurer and third admiral of Felmane.”

“You've agreed to my games yourself,” she's keeping the conversation focused,

“But I digress, you should understand what’s going to happen when the girl dies, yes? You’ll lose your only leverage, and your only opportunity to escape. And with this charade you’re pulling right now, things aren't really looking good for you.”

“Things aren’t looking good for me to begin with!” but she’s now completely ignoring him to check her wristwatch,

“You now only have twenty more seconds to decide, nineteen, eighteen, -” she’s intentionally pressurizing him with her nonchalant countdown. Pupils dilating, he’s starting to intensely panic,

“Guarantee my escape and I’ll let her go!” flickering his head about to check the sniper who’s still pressed flat on his stomach on the distant roof, she isn’t conversing with him anymore,

“Ten, nine, eight, time’s running out honey, she's dying in five, four, three-” relentlessly forcing him to choose.

“Fine. Fine! I accept your conditions!” at that, Alyss wastes no time to snap her fingers. The spiraling Magia binding his wrists disappears in a fracture of blue sparks. Hastily, he tosses the girl aside, swinging his arm to conjure a portal. But before it’s even formed, a black silhouette blinks in with a zap directly behind him. A mythical boy, with cat ears, spinning a long needle in his fingers to jab it directly into the prisoner’s jugular with a blurry swoosh of his arm.

What was that?

That teleportation skill was unlike anything she’s seen thus far. It’s near instantaneous without any visuals to even denote that it’s going to happen except for the glass like effects flaking around the boy that disappears shortly after he’s emerged. By the time the prisoner realizes,

“You fucking lying bitc-” he couldn’t even finish his accusation before he passes out. He’s hit with a tranquilizer. So, he doesn’t hear her when she retorts expressionlessly,

“I’ve only promised that I wouldn’t attack you.”

Finally, both the bodies hit the ground. The worried mother, near hysterical at this point rushes to her daughter’s side in tears to pick her up. Alyss’s ordering the two adventurers, one to take the prisoner back to his cell after she’s rebinded his wrist with a snap of her fingers and the other to send the girl to the medics. As the adventurers scurry away to perform their respective duties.

Lilith can't help but to wonder, what was the prisoner on about? He certainly received a very different fate harming a commoner as compared to Wysera's goon awhile back. Is that because, their statuses are different?

It seems, Alyss is eager to resolve the incident quickly. She's stepping forward with a polite curtsy to address the crowd,

“As apologies for our mismanagement, the Aegis Royale will cover half the expenditures on all purchases made in Duskburn today.” she fidgets with another hologram that she’s projected from her ring. It’s displaying live recordings of the drifting hot air balloons hanging Felmane banners in the skies. With a few taps, the writings on the balloon’s display screen now instead scrolls, ‘fifty percent off, city wide.'

“So please, shop to your hearts content and do continue supporting our local businesses.” it’s making the crowd clamor, some looking up to verify her words and others chattering amongst themselves in whispering discussions. It takes a few moments for them to start dispersing after realizing the incident's over and nothing major has actually happened. No blood was drawn at least. The bribe's working. So, they’re now scampering for the shops to reap the benefits of it. Whereas a few, loitered around the area seemingly trying to grasp what just happened.

Once that’s over, the cat boy skips past Cyan and her to join by Alyss's side,

“The bullshit on the ten minutes was pretty sly.” he’s checking his watch with a smirk, “pretty sure it was only five.”

That was a bluff all along? Put anyone under a time crunch and they’ll lose sight of the finer details to grasp at more blatant lies. It’s amazing how expertly Alyss’s handled the situation.

Cat boy's taking the chance to proposition,

“So, as reward for helping out on my off day, do I get something in return too?” the rifle on his back makes Lilith realize, he is the sniper on the roof this entire time. And, well, at a closer look, he’s actually pretty tall. Some maturity to his features so it wouldn’t be exactly fitting to call him a boy. He’s closer to the age of a young man, possibly eighteen or nineteen, or a few centuries. She can’t really tell at this point. Adorned in all black, same shade as his hair. Leaving the only colors on him in his stark gold and green heterochromatic eyes.

Alyss ponders a little, before suggesting,

“How about I increase your squadron’s budget for one entire year?” he must be one of Felmane’s division captains huh. Cat boy isn’t entirely interested,

“I was thinking of a more personal reward.”

“And what do you propose?”

“Go on a date with me!” oh. He actually fancies her, “your treat, of course.” it’s quite adorable how excited he looks when he’s suggested it. It surprises Lilith a little with how snappily she’s agreed to it too,

“Alright then. Seven in the evening tonight. You can choose the location.” but Lilith can’t exactly tell how Alyss feels about him. Considering she’s only got an unchanging dead tuna stare on her face no matter the situation.

At that, cat boy skips away humming a joyful tune after he’s told her, he’ll pick her up in front of the casino. He’s going home to change out of his clunky combat gear. Blinking away once he reaches the ledge.

Beside her, Cyan's wondering audibly, why did the prisoner escape from Alyss's casino to begin with? In fact, isn't it weirder she has prisoners in her casino? Does it matter? It's resolved and Alyss can help them get into their next trial. Besides, Killian's already implied she's trustworthy, so Lilith's repeatedly calling out,

"Miss Alyss!" trying to catch her attention with a big wave before she would again, disappear behind the wall. Alyss hasn’t noticed them amidst all the commotions that’s unfurled,

“Oh. You’re already here. That was quick.” then she examines Cyan,

“And I see you’re completely recovered.” she’s able to gather, “you didn’t heed Killian’s advice.”

Alyss gestures the bunny lady to let them through.

"Killian's solutions are too extreme." Lilith rushes beside her, changing the topic as she hypes,

“You were so cool! You read the prisoner like a book. How did you know what he was going to do-” losing herself in a spiel of admiration. She’s only reminded to keep her dialogue focused when Alyss tilts her head at her as if she’s instigating her to get to the point. It reminds her,

“Oh right!” slapping her fist against her palm,

“Killian told me to ask you for a teleport sigil.” it seems Alyss’s forgotten about it too when she replies,

“Ah, yes. He texted me earlier.” she grabs both their hands when Cyan finally catches up in a stroll, engraving her magia onto their wrists. It’s a spirally blue mark, looking like a tattoo before it fades away to nothingness. Alyss informs them, to activate it, all they have to do is to repeat pumpkin pie three times in their heads and it should bring them to her. Lilith pries, why pumpkin pie? Alyss responds with the most deadpanned look on her face, it’s her favorite food.

Down the velvet carpeted corridor where they’re heading, Lilith inquires about more trivals, like, what’s Alyss's relationship with the cat boy, does she like him, and why does she sleep with Killian? She hardly knows much about any of Killian's flings aside from the utter bullshit he told her, so, she can't help but to be curious. But Cyan rolls his eyes at her, her questions are useless, if she's really got to ask, then she should be asking about the prisoner, and their trial and some confusing information on their map. Alyss isn't the red dot, that means someone else is their examiner.

He's right!

But before she's able to correct herself, Alyss shotguns the answers just as quickly. Cat boy’s really efficient at getting stuff done, so yes, she does like him. And Killian has useful connections she needs, that and he's good in bed. Looks like Alyss is more keen on entertaining her useless questions. She isn't holding anything back. Not even on the descriptive details that makes Lilith immediately regret accidentally blurting, 'wait, really?' to her last statement.

If there's one thing Alyss seems to be good at, it's misdirection, because even Cyan’s distracted from instigating about more important matters to search her face. Wondering if he's mishearing the slew of crude lines straight out of a badly written erotica Alyss's emotionlessly spewing like a robot because she's misunderstood Lilith's surprise as a request for elaboration. She segways as casually as though it was the weather she was talking about when they’ve reached their destination shortly after. Inviting them forward with an outstretched arm,

“Go on now, best of luck for your third trial.”

They're still stunned when Alyss quietly slips away. Leaving them with no substantial information aside from the cursed imageries they now have to bleach their brains to get rid of. Only then they realize, staring at each other, they just got fucking bamboozled!