A lone figure crouched down and peered through a hole in the roof of the old subway terminal. A white cloak with an oversized hood covered almost 90% of their body, leaving only their bare feet visible beneath the cloak.

A single strand of long purple hair had escaped the confines of the hood and dangled freely in front of the figure’s masked face.

The crude black mask had few defining features to speak of. Only that it’d been carved from a block of reinforced plastic into the vague approximation of a human’s face. A thin layer of sponge-like padding had been sewn onto the inside of the mask to mitigate any discomfort caused by the shoddy craftsmanship.

Incandescent red eyes lifelessly scanned the floor of the terminal through the slightly too large eye holes. After a few seconds of waiting, the eyes landed on the crimson-haired Giant walking through the terminal with his companions.

The eyes came to life as excitement and curiosity filled them. Who were these people? Why had they come to Afrium… Or what was left of it?

Looking around at the destruction caused by the Giant’s war against the demons. The figure could understand why the demons chose to flee with their tails between their legs.

The figure only wished they could’ve seen the battle from the beginning.

Normally, the figure would be stuck inside the safehouse for another few hours, sleeping the day away and waiting for the moment day turned into night. Then, and only then, could they be certain it was safe enough to leave in search of a meal.

Until thirty minutes ago, that’s exactly what they’d been doing. They’d been deep asleep, curled up inside a bathtub with a large woolen blanket over their head and their favorite towel hugged against their chest.

Then a gigantic golden shield burst through the floor a few feet from the tub and completely ruined any hope they had of getting back to sleep… However, in exchange for their sleep, the figure was treated to a sight out of their most fantastical dreams.

After decades of living alone, and centuries of battling demons for control of the city. The figure had finally found another survivor of the demonic scourge. A mutant, like them, who didn’t fear the Miasma the demons needed to survive.

A colleague who could slay demons almost as efficiently as they could.

A smile appeared behind the mask. “I should go introduce myself.” The figure realized before standing up and taking a step closer to the hole - But just before they committed to the drop, they hesitated. What if the Giant was hostile towards their kind? Would it matter that they hadn’t chosen to become this way, and instead had it forced upon them?

Would the Giant just see them as another demon?

The figure slowly retracted their foot and looked through the hole… The Giant’s head was pointed towards the ceiling.

Gold met Red as they locked eyes.

The Giant smiled and lifted his arm, causing the sleeve of his raggedy white robe to fall open and expose his muscular arm.

The figure watched the Giant reaching for them, almost like he was reaching out to shake their hand.

They couldn’t help but be captivated by the Giant’s stare. They’d seen yellow eyes before; they’d even seen orange eyes before. But not Gold, never Gold. Before they realized it, the figure was reaching out to take the Giant’s hand in return- “Sanctuary” The Giant said. His voice rang in the figure’s ears like a gong struck directly beside their ear.

The figure stumbled back as mana poured forth from the Giant’s outstretched hand and flooded the terminal. The figure knew they shouldn’t look directly at the Giant’s mana, as doing so was no different than staring directly into the light of the sun.

They knew it could blind them. Maybe it could even kill them. But still, the figure didn’t look away. Not until the mana had touched every corner of the terminal lobby and turned opaque.

The figure fell to their knees beside the hole and stared at the barrier.

Had they missed their chance? Really? Just like that?

The figure audibly ground their teeth together in anger. They closed their pale hands into fists and squeezed until their nails punctured the skin of their palm. Scalding black blood oozed from the gaps between their fingers and fell onto the lowest portion of their cloak.

The blood didn’t soak into the satiny fabric. Instead, the droplets combined to form two small puddles of bubbling darkness - tiny hands emerged from the darkness; clawing and grasping at the fabric in an attempt to pull themselves free from the blood.

Stolen story; please report.

The figure stuck a single finger into each pool of blood. The creatures wailed with regret as the blood was absorbed back into the skin of the figure’s hand.

The figure once again stood and looked down on the barrier. Regret and a clear liquid swelled within their eyes before they turned away from the hole and shook their head.

“Guess you’ll just need to wait until they come out to introduce yourself.” The figure whispered to themselves. “But that’s okay. You’re used to waiting-” Their stomach made a loud rumbling sound a second before their throat began to burn.

“Maybe it’s for the best.” The figure sighed. “Who knows what could’ve happened if you greeted them with an empty stomach?” The figure muttered, despite knowing exactly what would’ve happened.

It’d been so - so long since they’d last had untainted meat.

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Aldritch knelt down in the center of the transport hub with a knife borrowed from Max in his left hand. He drove the tip of the blade into the center of a tile and began carving a complicated octagonal rune into its surface. The blade made from a wyvern’s claw was incredibly sharp and was only a shade or two lighter than onyx in color. However, aside from the materials used to make it, the knife was otherwise no different from any other carving knife.

“They’re finally gone.” Oakairo said after another minute. The amusement in the Dragon God’s voice was instantly recognizable. He was so very glad Aldritch had followed the mortals to Iolara. He hadn’t had this much to look forward to since the last dragon war.

“I can tell.” Aldritch replied after a second. He stopped carving and placed the blade on the ground beside his knee before reaching out and placing his left palm against the center of the rune.

He closed his eyes and focused on releasing a small stream of mana into the rune to get it started; The mana penetrated the rune at the very center of its design. Once inside, it spread rapidly, reaching every corner of the eight-sided rune in about three seconds.

The instant the mana touched the final corner, the rune came to life and lashed out - Aldritch felt a weak stream of mana splash against his face as the rune desperately searched for sustenance.

A tendril of mana was expelled from each of the eight corners in search for something to fill the crawling void inside the rune. Each tendril had practically infinite length so long as the rune had enough mana to keep extending them, so Aldritch was stuck pouring mana into it until they found something else to feed off of.

Thankfully, after about fifteen seconds of searching, the first tendril found the roof of Sanctuary and punched through it to reach the outside world.

The only reason this could happen without shattering the dome into a million tiny pieces, was because of a technicality in Sanctuary's limitations. Sanctuary would absolutely break if anyone cast a spell while inside it, that was still as true today as it was a thousand years ago.

But channeling mana was different.

Aldritch liked to think of it like having a program with hard boundaries that would punish you for crossing them: casting another spell was definitely a no go. Showing aggression towards anyone else inside the dome was also a hard ‘No’. But channeling mana wasn’t technically casting a spell, so it fell into a gray area that Sanctuary would ignore unless you deliberately went overboard.

One by one the tendrils found their way outside the dome and began hungrily reaching towards the sky.

After a few seconds of climbing, the very tip of each tendril relaxed and transformed. Eight invisible flowers bloomed in the sky high above the building; the mana in the air, as well as some miasma, was drawn into these ‘flowers’ and funneled back into the rune. This would allow Sanctuary to remain powered long after Aldritch had returned home. And, so long as its ‘boundaries’ were respected and the rune was maintained, Sanctuary would continue to protect the place for years to come.

Aldritch felt something brush against his leg and he looked down at the grouchy-faced puppy staring up at the ceiling.

His eyes softened as he looked at her. He’d felt the hungry gaze land on him a while ago, but she’d noticed it even before he did. The small pup had been sleeping in his arms when she sensed the eyes land on him. She awoke with her teeth bared at the ceiling and a growl shaking her body.

Aldritch rubbed his thumb in a circular motion against her forehead. Synne’s eyes drooped a bit at the contact, but she refused to look away from the ceiling. He chuckled quietly and lifted Synne off the ground with one hand while picking up the knife in the other, then he started walking towards Sulika and the others. At first, Aldritch had planned to try a ‘wait and see’ approach since he was very interested in the masked individual’s identity. Plus, he didn’t think they were hostile, per se. At least, no more hostile than a hungry wolf or dog could be. But with Sulika, Faeyra, and the others here with him. Aldritch wouldn’t risk allowing the beast to come any closer than it already had.

However, that just meant Aldritch would need to return sooner than he’d first thought.

And next time, he’d come alone.

“What’s got Synne all riled up? Did the demons come back?” Sulika asked as he reached them.

Aldritch shook his head. “No, the demons have fled for the time being. This was… Something else.” He said, a slight smile appeared on his face just before he finished speaking.

“Well, that’s annoyingly cryptic.” Faeyra muttered. She seemed disappointed about something, but Aldritch couldn't quite figure out what was bothering her. He'd have to remember to ask once they returned home.

With Max leading them back towards the portal, the group hopped to the tunnel floor and started walking home. Zarud, Oladi, Derrik, and Ralocan were following just behind Max. While Aldritch, Sulika, and Faeyra were walking side-by-side about twenty-feet behind them.

“And you really have no idea what this thing is?” Sulika asked.

“Well, I have some ideas.” Aldritch said, speaking just loud enough for the two of them to hear.

“I think it may have been a potential Returnee.”