“What is the name of the city in the planes below?”

The woman frowned, her wide eyes lowering slightly.

“Centartta.”

“Who is its head? A mayor? A knight?”

“T-there is a mayor, but the city is really run by a man known as Merlä the Butcher. He is the third head of the Hellish Horde.” Flora explained with tightly clutching her arms.

I glanced at Ower and Ncil who looked at me with widened eyes before sighing deeply.

My focus then shifted back to Flora.

“Third? Who are the others?”

“The first is unknown. Everyone knows that the Horde has a leader, we just don’t know where he is or what his name is. The second head is the Ashen Witch Evílios.” Flora explained.

“I see. Why is Merlä called the Butcher?”

“Many reasons. For one, he likes to breed dogs and sell their butchered parts as meat. Actually, it’s the most common meat in Centartta since dogs give birth to several pups and those pups grow quite quickly. He… there’s also a rumour that he butchers infants… although I’m not sure if that’s true.”

I nodded before looking the pathetic woman over. Everything about her was dirty. Her hair, her skin… the very fact that she was human.

“and you? What are you, apart from a walking corpse?” I asked.

“I am- I was part of a rebel group known as Eclipse, but I grew far too weak from hunger and sickness to fight and so I was tossed aside. I spent the rest of my days collecting scrap and stuff to sell and get by but there’s only so much my body could do before it finally gave in. I ended up in that old house because places like that are where the weak and dying go to avoid being harvested for death.” Flora said before painfully coughing.

“Eclipse? What are their motives? Are they fighting against the knights or the Hellish Horde or both?” I asked even though I wasn’t that interested.

“Both. For too long have the people of Aurenia suffered beneath the feet of those so called holy knights. They tax us to death, pay us crumbs and the twisted among them torture us for amusement. We are nothing but livestock to them and I… we all dream for a day when that changes. That’s why members of Eclipse are fighting, even as we speak. But…” Flora’s eyes fell.

“Merlä has consistently thwarted their every attempt at revolution.” She said weakly.

I nodded before wincing.

“They harvest people for death? Apart from obvious military uses, what else do they use it for?”

“They use it to make Athánato capsules. Pills that can make a person feel the numbness of death without actually dying. They are quite popular among knights.” She explained while looking at me with her stupidly widened eyes and although it bugged the shit out of me, I remained relatively calm.

“I see. Back to Merlä- err… what was he exactly?”

“I-I don’t know. I’ve never seen him. All I know is that he never leaves his warehouse in the centre of the city.”

“And how many men does he have?” I asked.

“Hundreds… maybe even thousands.” Flora said prompting me to look out of the tent.

“If you want, you can ask Mártyras. He was once a silver knight and is a supporter of Eclipse, although… his body has since been broken.”

“Go get him.” I instructed prompting Ncil to exit the tent with Flora in tow.

I used the newfound silence of the tent to think of a plan.

I wanted to sneak through the city.

Entering the subspace would be the best option.

We’d deal with any space magicians we encountered accordingly.

Ncil then dragged in what looked like the top half of a man.

His limbs, torso and head were quite large and he had something large and oval shaped wrapped beneath a large dirty length of cloth.

It made him look line a legless, dirty turtle.

Ncil dropped him at my feet and began healing him.

The man then gasped and used his arms to raise himself before looking me over.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“What are you?” He wheezed revealing that some of his teeth were missing.

The problem with augmenting one’s body with Cavumium bones was that if they broke, regeneration wouldn’t bring them back.

The body would just return to its old, natural state. So, even as Ncil healed him, his knightly legs wouldn’t grow back as they once were.

“Is that any way to speak to your saviour?” I asked but the man narrowed his eyes.

“I simply want to know what I should refer to my saviour as.”

I took deep breath, looked up and recalled my name.

The name of the Black Prince.

A name I was never too fond of.

“Sonek. My origins are none of your concern. All you need know is that I am he who saved you from the brink of death.”

The man weakly nodded.

“And what is your name, knight?”

“Mártyras of the Statherós Legion.” He said as I looked over his many scars and wounds which hadn’t completely healed.

This was because, as a silver knight, he required far more life energy to heal and I wasn’t going to waste any on him.

The pitiful man looked up at me with weary but sharp eyes.

He had thin silver lines that ran all around his skin and dirty white hair.

I scoffed before looking out into the dark city that blocked my path.

I wanted to watch Lanceberg burn and it seemed as though Centartta was a powder keg waiting to blow.

The people were suffering at the hands of bandits and knights. The meek and dying were trying to revolt but their every attempt was crushed by the might of those above.

I glanced at Flora who knelt before me before looking over at Mártyras, who looked at me with narrowed eyes.

“Surely you are at your wits end? I cannot fathom how much you’ve suffered but I cannot imagine that you’ll return to that city once I leave-“

“Anything but that!” Flora cried while clasping her hands together.

I glared at her and her face quickly grew red with fluster as her eyes lowered.

“If anything, I would like to ask if I could join you on your journey lord Sonek. Surely there is something even my lowly self could do for you.” Flora said with her head pressed to the floor.

“I am sorry but mine is a destiny lined with darkness. A cursed path of death and destruction.” I said before suddenly getting an idea.

“Raise your head.” I instructed and she complied.

I then stared into her shaking brown eyes and filled the room with darkness.

Four thin bands of black smoke then gathered around her wrists and ankles and they solidified, creating a set of bracelets and anklets that dug into her flesh.

She winced in pain but stared into my eyes regardless.

“There. Now you have received my cursed binds. Live and fight on, for my sake. I will simple watch over you from deep within the dark.” I said and I couldn’t help but smile as tears welled up in Flora's eyes.

“Of course, my lord.” She whimpered, her hoarse voice trembling clearly in the silence of the tent.

“Good. Cover her up.” I said and Ncil promptly wrapped the weeping woman in a thin blanket.

I delighted in her cries before once again looking out into the dark stormy sky.

I had killed Merlä so the chances that I would run into another Primair knight were lower but we were in Lanceberg and I didn’t know just how many other Primair ranked enemies were lurking about.

Aa for Merlä himself, I wondered why he butchered people and animals?

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know.” Flora said after I asked.

I nodded before turning to Mártyras who’s eyes seemingly scanned me over.

“And what about you, knight?” I asked although I hissed the last part out.

“Mmm… what I know of the butcher is closely tied to my story and the fall of my legion.”

Ah shit! He’s about to start spouting exposition-

“Our legion, the Statherós, hails from Agna. We were sent here to deal with the growing number of bandits, but just as we entered that bloody warehouse deep in the city, he appeared before us, revealing his twisted, grotesque form and he whispered words of corruption to my brothers. They turned against the kingdom and… they killed our own Priestess before attempting to kill me.”

“So you’ve met the man?” I asked but this only made Mártyras tremble.

“Ohh… that thing is no man. What could once have been a Regal golden knight now stands as a walking pillar of soft flesh, dirt and blood. He also long forsook his golden sword and instead carries a large hunk of steel which he uses to crush bone and rend flesh. He was once a Primair knight captain of the Nosokóma legion. They were healers who went from battlefield to battlefield healing the wounded and helping bury the dead. But something happened during the Moonless War and he abandoned his legion to join the Hellish Horde.” He explained.

“I see. How many other Primair knights are in the city?” I asked.

“I do not know for sure.” He said.

I then took the silence that followed to think about my journey and how many more battles I’d have to fight.

Just thinking about it made me exhausted.

“Uh… may I ask a question?” Mártyras asked.

“Go ahead.”

“Why is a great, dark being, such as yourself in league with mud crawlers?”

“Is there a reason I shouldn’t?” I asked.

“Mmm… I just think that your trust would be better placed in other hands.”

“What? Like yours or those of any other human? Haha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You make me laugh, knight. Let me establish something very quickly. You, all of humanity, are but a growth- no, a leach that has repeatedly hampered the natural course of things. Your time came and went a long, long time ago and yet here you are. Crawling desperately in an attempt to perpetuate your pitiful existence. Mmm… I guess that’s the point of all life, but still. Your kind has always burnt all in its attempts to maintain its dark reign.” I said before realizing that I had said far too many unnecessary things. I didn’t really care whether Mártyras understood what I was trying to do and I definitely didn’t care about what he thought about the Rendaro.

I sighed and looked out into the rather grey afternoon sky.

“The only thing that you are entitled to is a fiery death. Remember that.” I said rather softly.

Mártyras nodded before lowering his head.

“What’s on top of the plateau?” I asked while shifting my eyes to Flora who’s small body quivered due to the cold.

She sat up and looked deep into my eyes.

“That’s where knights and some other people live. I’ve never been up there, but I heard the roads are clean and they even have healers too. They say no one has scars in Édratontheón, the City in the Clouds. It’s both its own city and a part of Centartta.”

“and I’m assuming Merlä lived up there?” I asked.

“N-no. He spends most of his time in his office in the meat factory. At least… that’s what I’ve heard.”

I nodded before raising my hand and creating two weapons. One long sword and a small dagger.

“Go on. Use these tools to take that which you desire. I will simply watch, from the darkness and like I said before, your fates, the fates of all humans will decided by fire.” I said as I stood up.

Why did I give them swords and those words?

I wanted to give them hope.

I wanted them to reach out towards something and I wanted them to burn as a consequence for even trying.

I walked toward the dark city and Ower sunk into the subspace with Ncil.