A loud snapping sound rings throughout the checkpoint of the ramp to the second floor of the city. The guard's baton having smacked into the woman's back as she assumes a fetal position on the ground, using her hands to cover her neck.

She whines in pain whilst her partner tries his best to get onto his knees and protect her from the guard's attacks. But all he does is put himself in harm's way when the baton crashes into his skull, throwing his head against the ground.

Both of them are bruised and bleeding as they lay on the ground, wincing in their attempts to move their body. As the guard raises his baton to beat them again, a woman's hand grabs his arm before it can strike.

Kita glances to her side to see Raya has snuck away during her spectating and then glances back at the guard to see Raya's blue hair wafting in the wind as she holds the guard's arm.

"This just got interesting," Kita says under her breath, turning her head to notice Raya has caught the attention of the two other guards.

"How dare you!" The guard yells at Raya.

She chooses to respond by snapping a quick punch to the guard's gut. He hunches over, struggling for his breath before another swift punch crashes into his nose. Raya releases his arms allowing him to lose his footing and fall to the floor. Like a magic of its own, Raya is suddenly holding the pouch of money and playfully tossing it in the air with a satisfied grin plastered on her face.

Kita eyes the approaching guards and starts walking towards the incident, trying to cut off their path to Raya.

"Excuse me," Kita says, putting on a panicked voice as she steps in front of them.

"Out of the way," One of the guards orders.

"Something is happening over there," She adds, pointing in the opposite direction of where Raya is.

Both guards turn their heads to the crowd, prompting Kita to grab both of them by the face. The guards raise their arms to react but Kita has cast her spell.

Consume.

Kita successfully hides the clouds of smoke escaping their mouths as they lose consciousness and fall to the floor. The civilians around her all step away from the downed guards, isolating Kita in a circle with their two bodies laying on the floor. Twenty-five.

Kita turns her head in the direction she'd pointed. Noticing four more guards heading in their direction amongst the scattered observers.

"Raya!" Kita yells across the crowd, grabbing her attention and then pointing to the approaching guards.

Raya confirms the information with a quick nod before tossing the pouch beside the beaten man attending to his wife.

"Leave," Raya instructs the couple. Receiving a grateful nod from the husband as he lifts his wife to her feet and supports her as they stumble away.

Kita wouldn't mind taking on a few more. She's itching for a fight.

What should I use on them? Kita wonders, trying to come up with a new spell.

She thinks about casting a simple slice spell but then notices the crowd of people she would harm in the process.

Damn. This would be way easier if she didn't make that whole commitment to improve herself.

"We'll lose them on the second floor," Raya says, suddenly standing by Kita's side. "Well take out the guards at the gate,"

They both dash to the gate where two guards were standing, checking IDs and providing entry. But, they noticed Kita and Raya's participation in the commotion. They have their rifles raised in their direction.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Stop right there!" yells one of the guards, aiming down the sights of his rifle.

Civilian casualties will be inevitable if they start firing. Kita places her hand on Raya's shoulder and decides to try something new.

"What are you-" Raya stammers.

The both of them momentarily blink in darkness before they find themselves halfway up the ramp.

"- doing?" Raya stutters as her face turns pale.

Kita turns her head to see the back of the two guards, now flustered by them suddenly disappearing as their heads rapidly scan the area trying to locate them.

"Nice," Kita says, excited by her new trick.

"Teleportation?" Raya mumbles.

"Yep," Kita chuckles. "How'd you like it?"

"A warning would have been nice," Raya says, still trying to deal with her discomfort.

It worked perfectly. But, Kita can feel the mass reduction in available souls- It cost twelve. It would be useful to know how much a spell costs before casting it. But, she's presumed it doesn't work that way.

As they reach the top of the ramp, Kita glances behind her again and notices four guards making their way onto the ramp to give chase. Fortunately, there isn't a checkpoint at the top, allowing them to slip into the crowd. Raya gracefully unravels a lady's headscarf as she runs past them, and uses it to cover up her hair and the lower part of her face. She slips another one and hands it to Kita.

"Cover up," She says.

Kita quickly covers her head and face with the scarf and both of them stop running and walk casually amongst the crowd. As Kita comes to a sudden halt, the skid of her boots prompts her to glance at the ground.

It is tiled in one enormous piece of white marble. Glittering as bits of sunlight reflect amongst the waving details. She looks up to notice all of the buildings are covered in light grey marble, with gold lining the edge of each building.

"Holy shit," Kita says, basking in the sheer wealth gap between the first and second floors. The majority of the people on this floor are wearing sunkissed thoub's, glistening like a muted gold. With a few of the Navy blue robes sprinkled as a minority amongst them. The occasional tourist in regular clothing can be seen too- They probably have IDs.

Raya taps Kita on the arm, tilting her head in the direction of a store. They both scurry through the door, momentarily startled by the jingle of a bell.

"Welcome," Says a middle-aged woman, smiling to flare her golden teeth. "What can I do for you?"

Kita glances around the store trying to get an idea of what the place is for. There are shelves full of specialized jars carrying a plethora of plants and flowers.

"Woah," Kita and Raya both mumble as they ogle at the spectrum of colour painting the store.

The store owner's smile grows bigger, "Quite the sight, isn't it?"

"I thought all of the vegetation had gone extinct," Raya says.

"We have the finest remnants of the past, in the City of Water," The owner says as she walks over to them. "Many of them can be used for consumption or even healing. Whilst others can be nurtured to grow and share their place in your family," she chuckles. "Like that of a pet,"

Kita walks over to a jar that catches her attention. A crimson flower with a green stem extending into a small plume of dirt stands tall as it hypnotizes her with the spiralling formation of its petals. Her eyes travel the pathway as it leads her to the centre.

"That one is more of the pet variety- It is called a Rose," The lady says.

"Rose," Kita mumbles, entranced by the bright, blood-red head of the flower. Noticing the name engraved on a gold plaque at the base of the display.

"Feel free to look around the store," The lady says, "And let me know if you would like to see the ones in the back," She adds before walk-in away to attend to her other clients.

Kita takes a step back to take in the whole shelf. So many colours and sizes. Light blue, pink, and yellow with all sorts of gradients. White ones, green ones and so much more, all displayed like works of art in a gallery.

At the bottom of the shelves, she notices large, steel boxes with a symbol imprinted on the face. Kita squints at them, as they ring familiar, but she can't put her finger on it.

"This is crazy," Raya says, still in awe of the life before her.

"It all looks so familiar," Kita says.

"Have you seen them in that village you dream about?" Raya asks.

"Some of them," She answers, still glaring at the boxes.

Raya steps beside her and follows her line of sight to the boxes below.

"Those look familiar too?" Raya asks.

"Yeah, I-" Kita suddenly remembers where she saw them. Vlad's storage room. There was a massive room filled with steel boxes like these.

Does Vlad own this store? Or does the store own him?