"I'm Iris. What is your name?" The tall undead spoke coldly. She wasn't the cleanest monster Fiikhindqah had seen and her touch caused the scales around her hand to stiffen pushing themselves shut. He might have been called a hippocrate given how he himself looked by the undead if she could read his mind, the colourful sheen of his scales dulled by a murky layer of mud.

"Fiikhindqah the Timeless." He responded quickly fearing what the enemy of life might do if left unanswered. The monster's mouth began to move without making a sound as she seemed to repeat his glorious name.

Examining the undead further, she didn't look like a raised member of the race above, with pointy ears and a slimmer frame than the humans. She vaguely resembled the Urathîl hero who had locked him in the statue, but similarly to the humans, she lacked the veins of mana running through her skin like ore.

It was rather likely that just like him, the undead had been driven into this foul place. Maybe there is room for diplomacy here.

"You are a dragonoid?" She lowered him down but kept her body in a battle stance.

"Strictly speaking yes, but-"

"I'm calling you Draco," Feeling his soul pierced by the towering undead he didn't dare to protest. "You knew I was an undead. How did you do that?"

"Outside of the undead vibes, like pale skin, not breathing and reeking of death? I noticed that the ambient mana flowing through you which is an anomaly in and of itself, was getting filtred as if your body was eliminating all of the life mana around you," Fiikhindqah explained remembering old memories of teaching new hatchlings belonging to his order. Maybe not, the things he spoke of were a product of instinct which only now was explained by reason but the feeling remained. "I had never met an undead which appeared warm to my eyes and I'm beginning to think you might be a summon of an undead." An unusual feeling caused the wings on his back to spread open wide to appear larger than his sleek form was.

"Kia will have to hear this." The female closed her eyes, appearing to the lizard man still aware of his movements.

Warriors are scary.

"What is your class's role?"

"Role? Do you mean my spec?" The lizard man asked unsure of the words the undead spoke. "I, Fiikhindqah have one class of the holy trinity. I'm a mage."

"You sound like one too," The long-ear murmured. "Can you cast healing spells?"

"Of course, I can cast healing spells. I regrowed my teammate's tail without uttering a single word." He said proudly, making his scales stand and expose their colourful underside creating a rattle as scales brushed against each other.

"Perfect." A smile filled with white needle-like teeth caused the scales to drop instantly but not before his mind recognised the danger.

"Ahhhh! My hand! Why?" A painful cry emerged from the gecko-like being, his eyes appearing like half moons as they reacted to the pain, remaining tearless. He quickly began to back away from the undead only to hit the wall behind him.

"Want me to heal you?" The undead spoke with such an emotionless voice that it bordered on mockery. At least some monsters derived some joy from cruelty.

"Why?" Green shine covered the lizard and the bloody yet cleanly cut wound began to close, his scaly skin climbing on seemingly empty air as it took on the shape of a hand. He hadn't seen a weapon in Iris's hand so his guard was down but in the blink of an eye everything above his wrist disappeared, cut with something incredibly sharp before being pulled off.

"Was it your favourite hand?" Iris said, shaking the still bloody hand a little bit.

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"No, but that doesn't matter."

"You don't have ears and I need to show proof to the guild," The undead said as if Fiikhindqah would understand. "I was sent here to track you down and kill you."

"S-s-s so?"

"So clearly I'm not planning to kill you," The spear wielder explained. "Me and another undead are often travelling and can't be exposed as undead. I need you to go with me to meet her and explain your method of detecting me. You can leave afterwards."

"..." The dragonoid's big round eyes stared at the odd undead, the numb feeling staring at his hand like a ghost army of ants. It was clear what would happen to him if he refused, he was a mage in close quarters with a warrior, in a tunnel to add. There was no chance for him to escape. But why would he want to, the undead seemed to know the strange hive of stone and wood well if she was tasked with tracking him. "I will do that but only if you help me find someone." He said, tilting his head and closing one eye in anticipation of the spear coming down at him.

"Who?"

"I don't know yet."

"Great." The undead needlessly sighed. "We are going to speak about this later, first I need to get you out of here." Spoke the undead eyeing the exit behind her, a thick greenish white fuss covering the archway.

The dragonoid stared as the undead began to walk away. When she reached the crossroads, she waved, a strange gesture offered by the strange monster of the new cycle.

Iris looked back and saw the big gecko struggling to keep her stride as he waddled behind her. The strange being's wings would lift slightly each time he sped up before weakly settling back the muscles once powering them attempted from disuse.

"You don't look like the lizardmen up in the Wetlands." Iris noted as she casted flame, burning away the viscera from her weapon and filling the air with choking black smoke.

"Because they aren't as dashing as I am?"

"No, they are bigger," She said. "What is your race called and how did you get here?"

"That's unimportant, especially because I don't know yours."

"I'm an elf."

"Is that what undead are called these days?" Draco tilted his head, helping both of the big round eyes to focus on the elf.

"No, that's what I was before this life." She saw Draco raise his finger into the air ready to speak up before the will carrying him whittled and the finger dropped down.

"I lost a duel to a cheater and he imprisoned me in a statue. I then was summoned back and I appeared in this hive and was driven in here."

"That's it?"

"Yes." She received a scholarly answer.

"I'm guessing that the one who you seek is the person responsible for your summoning," The elf watched for a reaction in the still yet alien face. "How would you even know who you are looking for?"

"I will find a way." Draco answered with his croaking voice, his eyes meandering aimlessly before going toward the source of dim light in the otherwise dark tunnel. "I need to."

"Hmmmm, I will you give a cloak so make sure you're not drawing attention to yourself." Iris answered as she surrendered her cloak to the strange creature.

An alert murmur rose as the metal hatch rattled with age. She could see the city garrison standing at attention before the dozen or so soldiers lowered their weapons. 'She-elf' the word travelled along the courtyard as surprised eyes followed Iris watching her like a ghost from a tavern story.

Finding a street with a clear view of the Academy, Iris saw that she was far from her usual hunting grounds. The eastern section of the inner wall formed a shallow 'U' shape as it followed the lay of the land. Judging that she could only see one set of walls she must have emerged in the second ring.

People dressed better than the people near the port, gave her and Draco a wide berth as she walked down the street, their steps quickening and eyes darting elsewhere, as though proximity to her carried an unspoken weight they were eager to escape.

A tyrant or a pettier person might have found a way to retaliate against those who stared at the adventurer, their worried gazes filled with a conceited assurance in their beliefs. Iris couldn't find a will inside her to notice, as she ploughed through the arterial roads with purpose.

"Turn back citizen," A woman with dark circles under her eyes pointed her bill hook at the crowd while soldiers behind her blocked the road. Her armour was missing parts and appeared misfitted as if in a hurry she had tried to dawn two armours at once. "Stop, the entire street is now off limits." She shouted at Iris as the elf continued to walk.

"I can take care of myself." The towering non-human replied not wanting to waste time.

"In the name of House Severin, I order you to stop!" The soldiers around the officer pulled their weapons.

Iris stopped as ordered but before she could be chewed out by the soldier the ground shook accompanied by a thundering explosion. Flaming splinters skid off the smooth cobblestone-like fresh sparks in a blacksmith as a fireball ripped a building apart.

"Get the fire brigade here!" A man running from the blazing building shouted at the ribbonless soldery. "Tell them to fuck their contracts, I will skin them alive if Oriripol burns down because of this!"

Iris grabbed the lizardman's hand as the entire street began to fill up with spectators, tightly packing themselves to observe the fire like a barrel of fish. She grumbled as each street she wanted to walk through was guarded by soldiers and cavalrymen who hurriedly galloped through the alleys.

"What's up with you?" The elf pulled Draco as he dropped to the ground, both scally hands pressing against his head.

"My head! Ahhh, it's too hot, hot. All jumbled together, too much." The dragonoid gritted through his lipless mouth.

Squatting, the elf pressed the back of her palm against Draco's forehead feeling nothing changing thanks to her race. Pulling out a rag, the elf gathered some snow and pressed it against the scales on his forehead. After the third refiling of snow, the risen noticed that the suffering mage appeared like a dying fish. His movements slowed down to a drunken crawl while all resemblance of intelligence left his large round eyes, his irises narrowing down into dark columns of a feral cat.