The sun sets in the sleepless city, the largest in the border territories of the Luath kingdom. And as the poor and broken hide in their huts or the alleys, the rich, the immoral, and the worst populate the streets like cockroaches.

Anaid and Loretta enter the brothel with another bag of stolen goods, they quickly drop it on the trembling hands of Hulian, who offers them a sincere smile, one which Loretta is always eager to return as she unravels the scarf on her face, while Anaid gives a quick, almost imperceptible smile and quickly tries to leave.

"Ah! Wait girl" Hulian speaks up, and Anaid halts her escape with an exhausted sigh "Don't worry, this is news you will surely like" at those words, she turns around arching an eyebrow "Scarlett needs you both to bring her the scrolls of this month's earnings...and her grimoire, Anaid"

The princess smiles excitedly and quickly leaves to bring the objects. And while Hulian watches her go with his warm smile still intact, he turns to look at Loretta, who is visibly upset.

"It is her choice, you know this darling," He says as he rubs one of her long ears, forcing a chuckle out of the saddened woman "She has made up her mind, and there is nothing you can do about it"

"I know, it's just...wish she would find another way"

"Hm. I thought the same with Scarlett once, but I suspect that's the same reason why she took her in. They are both too determined to allow their dreams slip away right in front of them...not realizing that some dreams are not worth chasing after"

"Did you ever, you know?... Got through her? When you wanted to make her listen to you"

"A couple of times, but she can't be dissuaded from pursuing her main goal, and I only got to convince her of a few things because of our relationship" he messes her hair with his hand as they both chuckle joyfully "You may get luckier if you make an advance"

"W-What?! Shut up, old bastard!" Loretta flushes beet red and sticks her hand inside his coat, taking out a small leather bag "I'm taking this dried fruit! Tell her I'm downstairs waiting for her!" She then makes a run for it, deeper inside the brothel as a few whores are forced to jump away from her path.

"You seriously shouldn't go down there!" He laughs as he shakes his head, knowing he can't stop her, a burst of coughing follows soon after as he looks at the stolen contents in his hands.

Loretta rushes into the basement, filled with many barrels of wine, dried flowers in cabinets, perfumes and the occasional scandalous contraption only to be taken upstairs for the most peculiar of customers. But she doesn't stop there, the place is barely lit already but she keeps going deeper until she is in a place that seems to have been forgotten for so long that spider webs come from the ceiling down to the cold floor.

Until she reaches a dead end and waits. Anaid reached her after a few minutes, on her back was a large linen bag thick with scrolls, and hanging from a belt a thick, leathery book of dark green color.

"You think she will teach you more?!" Loretta offers a weak, yet still believable smile.

"She better, I won't waste more time getting her trinkets that she could easily buy herself anymore"

"Well," Loretta now smiles knowing that what's to come always irritates her friend "Do your thing" Anaid shakes her head.

"The first thing I do when I learn the words of illusion will be to change these keywords, I swear" She breaths in deeply "Swallow" The wall becomes blue fire as Loretta guffaws " Come on, you act like a child" She rolls her eyes and phases past the flames.

"I can't help it! I just can't help picturing you with the white dress and perfect hair" Loretta's laughter stops after she follows her friend, realizing her mistake "Sorry! Shit! I'm sorry"

"No" Anaid replies, an empty chuckle escaping her mouth, she turns to see her friend, giving her the smile she knows will make her feel better "I like those memories. Now let's go down" She summons a ball of blue fire to light their way.

Loretta takes it as it is delivered, and relaxes a bit, still pulling her ears as self-inflicted punishment for speaking without thinking. The two of them go down a set of spiral stairs, the space big enough to not squeeze them between the walls, but tight enough to feel claustrophobic. And as they go down the stone stairs the noise above dims, and the noise from below beckons.

Talking, shouting, screaming, there is a circus of noise that in these tight walls almost make one deaf. Finally, they reach the end of the stairs and lay in front of a long corridor, and at its end, a cold steel door, blackened and orange with erosion.

Anaid walks ahead and bangs on the door several times. After a few seconds, it opens.

"Sister" a young woman welcomes them, dressed in a black dress decorated and at the same time, worn. A black cat with two tails and a deformed, jagged mouth purs as it rubs its face on Anaid's leg "You should visit more often, do come in" The woman steps aside showing the interior of what seems like a room thick with smoke and decorated with many curtains "Azgoth, stop it"

"I'm dying of boredom in here, mistress" the cat replies without moving his mouth, the voice, monstrous and disembodied is guttural.

"Is Scarlett in her office?" Anaid asks as she enters, closely followed by Loretta who avoids at all costs the demonic cat "I have to deliver these to her" She adds glancing at the bag on her back.

"Well then, it must be very important if she wanted you to take those to her right now because she is in the Hall"

Anaid eyes widen for a moment, she can barely contain her excitement now. She nods and walks away with a quick step, Loretta rushing to her side as she looks at the cat in disgust.

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"I admit, I hope yours is prettier than that"

"Devils aren't pretty"

The building they are in is similar to the brothel above the surface, only that everything is made out of stone, and is covered in smoke. Anaid makes sure the scarf covers her nose. The many curtains allow a glimpse at the rooms in their interior, where people, either, sob, scream in anguish, cry or laugh. These people hang from chains in the walls, and while one may call them people, the shape of their bodies betrays that notion, for they are deformed.

And they bleed into large and wide objects that lay beneath them. Loretta does her best to not look at them, growing paler every passing second as the rooms seem almost endless. Anaid doesn't look away from in front of her, to the large gates.

Once they reach them, both of them push them open, and a whole new world reveals itself.

They are beneath the city, where once one of the biggest dungeons of the old empire lay. There are buildings made into the walls of the vast cavern, with paths and bridges connecting each other, taking people from one corner of the cavern to the other. And no matter where you look there seems to always be another path taking to yet more buildings. A subtle mist permeates everything, like vapor.

There are only stairs, bridges, and narrow paths, with large empty spaces between one side of the cavern and the other. Anaid and Loretta are at the very top of the cavern structures, where the paths are the cleanest and few people are walking through them, mostly deformed humans carrying absurdly big backpacks filled with all sorts of objects move at a snail's pace, into and out of the other buildings with their large gates they can barely push open with their skeletal frames.

Normal-looking humans instead, drag behind them poor and neglected slaves, entering the buildings and leaving with large bags in their hands.

Anaid and Loretta remain silent, and quickly walk to the right, where a large tower rests in the distance, rising from the impossibly deep darkness of the caverns and rising to the roof of the cavern. Made out of black, almost oily stone slabs, with many hanging cages still displaying the remains of the unfortunate souls that were forced inside.

They walk close to the edge of the path since most of the other side is occupied by the slavers carrying their goods. Puppets follow their masters up close. Loretta glances down to the depths of the cavern, and there are other buildings, with paths of their own. And the lower you look, the more people you find in the streets, even from afar the deformity in their flesh is apparent. And the thicker the mist.

They carry or drag heavy bags, or what seems like fresh corpses, into the buildings. One could mistake this world for hell, only that there is no fiery inferno, only cold dampness, and distant screaming with a strong acidic smell.

And occasionally, bodies are thrown from the paths by humans dressed in brown, bloodied leather full-body suits. The corpses they threw black, mummified carcasses with a perpetual expression of suffering forever carved on their faces. A distant sound of water splashing resonates once they reach the pitch-black bottom. A bottom that can't be seen, for the already dim hanging braziers of the bridges, and paths, can't cut through the thick mist of the bottom.

Anaid and Loretta advance with a steady step until they reach the center of the cavern, where the path circles around and connect to the other side, a single wide and heavily guarded path leading to the ornate and intimidating iron gates of the tower. The guards are not men, but devils.

Only men in form, wearing steel armor everywhere except for the legs, which resemble that of goats, their faces and legs deformed and twisted. Almost four meters tall, they hold on to their massive spears that instead of pointy ends have swords at each end.

The first pair growls and steps forward when they lay their black eyes on Anaid, she stops and the flame in her hand grows in intensity. The devils step back and a shadow jumps from the entrance of the tower as if it had always been there mixing with the blackness of the tower. A massive bird of obsidian feathers and an abnormally long neck lands in front of Anaid, bigger than the devils guarding the bridge, and Loretta shrieks.

"Witch" the bird speaks, its long neck stretching around Anaid, a perfectly human face of a beautiful man where the face of the bird should be, leans close to Anaid's, who through all this doesn't budge an inch, or shows any sign of discomfort "Name your master" his voice is soft, almost melodic as well.

"Scarlett, I was requested to bring her these scrolls" The creature's black eyes turn white for several seconds, and once they return to their natural color its wings spread.

"Wait" He orders and takes off, flying back to the tower where it flies around it a few times, disappearing behind it.

Loretta sticks close to Anaid, pale and almost shaking, and while Anaid has kept her cold expression, the sweat of her brow, and the paleness of her skin betray any illusion of tranquility.

"Sorry for the wait" Scarlett whispers, earning another shriek from Loretta. She appears behind them, wearing a different dress, just as ornate and ostentatious as the red she has, but this one is a dark purple with white, her hair tied perfectly in a bun.

"DON'T DO THAT!" Loretta screams and jumps to her, hugging her tightly "I hate it here!"

"I asked for Anaid, not you, Lory" Scarlett replies with a soft chuckle, caressing Loretta's hair lovingly "If you dislike it so much you shouldn't come down here, this is no place for someone like you"

"Why don't you just get another servant to follow your orders? Like the last one-" Scarlett rests a finger on her mouth, shutting her up.

"Because I have learned from my mistakes" She offers her a thin smile and Loretta lets go of her.

"I thought you never made mistakes, Mistress," Anaid says, whipping the sweat off her brow.

"Ah, I turned out to be too good, and my little servant became too...Independent. But well, I've got you now, haven't I?" Scarlett reaches for Anaid, pushing her head up with her index finger.

"So long as you help me get what is mine" Anaid, says after remaining quiet for a few seconds, shoving away her hand.

"And the sword? Have you gotten what is mine?" Anaid remains quiet and after a few moments of silence, she steps forward, her steps making no sound at all, in fact, when she doesn't speak there is no sound coming from her "But I trust you will get it, that's why I decided to reward your endurance...I trust you didn't forget my grimoire? Or have you spent too much time with Lory?"

"No, I brought it...does this mean-"

"If you are willing, Anaid. The path you want to take will taint you, and may even turn you into a Warlock like myself, are you ready to make your every day a living hell for the throne? A hunger that can't be satiated no matter how much you eat, a thirst that can't be quenched no matter how much you drink, no pain, no pleasure, no taste...Are you willing?"

"I...I don't think I will need to give up that much, but if I have to, I will" Anaid responds, looking directly at Scarlett's black eyes.

"The more we want, the more we have to sacrifice to get it. And you, princess. You want it all" Scarlett chuckles as she stops behind Anaid, looking at Loretta "Return home, puppy. Your friend and I will be below for some time" Scarlett rests her hand on Anaid's shoulder and makes her turn to leave with her.

"Be careful where you step, and don't eat too many of those" Anaid says to her friend, pointing at the bag of dried fruit she just pulled out.

"You be careful, dumbass" Loretta replies halfheartedly, swinging her fist mid-air "Please, be careful" she repeats, this time more firmly, all fake calm abandoning her face.

Anaid nods once and looks forward, walking next to Scarlett as they walk toward the tower. Loretta picks a small bit of dried fruit but her trembling hand makes her drop it. She stares at it.

So beautiful and full of life once, now dried, and dead.