Luna and Cassian approached the edge of the Undercity; the sun was just beginning to rise, and the crows were singing. The streets were mostly quiet at this time of the early morning apart from the occasional mill worker heading to or from their shift. Though they worried about being caught by the royal guards, things had gone surprisingly smooth so far. They stepped out of the shadow of a ramshackle copper mill, it spewed smoke from massive, crooked chimneys that looked like they might collapse at any moment. Luna’s hand shot out, grabbing a hold of Cassian’s shoulder and pulling him back behind a stack of shipping crates.

She raised a single finger up to her lips in warning before whispering to the prince, “This is bad. It looks like soldiers have blocked off the tunnels that lead up to the mountains.”

Sure enough, in the hazy distance an alert company of soldiers stood blocking off the entrance to the old mining passageway. Quickly assessing the shoddy bridges and ramps that crisscrossed up the side of the cavern leading to the tunnel entrance, Cassian cursed under his breath.

“I don’t see any way to get the jump on them given the terrain and I don’t like our odds against twenty special operations soldiers. I recognize the captain. He’s won countless battles and is extremely skilled at fighting with amethite. Really just a lot of words to say, we’re screwed.” Cassian said quietly.

Luna looked around anxiously, “There is one other tunnel system that leads to the surface. Under any other circumstances I would avoid it. At this point however, I fear it’s our only chance to escape.”

“It’s that bad, eh?”

“Worse. First, it’s on the bad side of town. I’m not supposed to pass through there, it’s Black Widow territory. Second, that tunnel system is the source of countless old wives tales. It’s an extremely treacherous path… and yet, I don’t think we have another choice.”

Cassian shook his head trying to process the bad news. He ran his hands over his face slowly, yawning. “Alright, let’s do this. If our back is to the wall, then let’s change course and get out of the city while we still can.”

Luna’s face was focused, and she appeared to be deep in thought for a long minute before she looked up at Cassian with dread in her eyes. “Okay, I don’t see any other way to make this work. I really hope we won’t regret this. Follow me.”

Luna gave one last look at the tunnel entrance guarded by soldiers before groaning and making off towards the South Side. Cassian followed closely behind in silence. His mind was racing as he tried to consider the potential implications of their choice. Moving briskly towards the southern edge of the slums, the prince found himself instinctively tracing his fingers over the hilt of his long sword and his pouch of amethite.

About an hour later they passed over a creaky wooden bridge covered in graffiti. Crossing the bridge Cassian noticed that the region of the Undercity they were entering was plastered in colorful murals. The slang and scenes depicted unsettled the prince. Words like killer, lawless, no love, hate, and black widow were painted colorfully on nearly every building or bridge. Wow. I’ve never seen anything like this, it’s unbelievable. One would find themselves spending serious time in the dungeons for defacing property in this way Topside.

Walking the streets of the South Side for the first time, Cassian made the observation that it felt completely different to the rest of the Undercity. The streets were lined with beggars huddled around flaming stacks of trash. Sprawling shanty towns spilled out from the alleyways and vacant buildings. Eyes bulging and cloudy, the downtrodden denizens gave off an animalistic impression. Cassian glanced over at Luna who appeared extremely jumpy.

“Geez, these people look like zombies. What’s wrong with them?” Cassian asked quietly.

Luna looked around at the beggars and shivered before pulling her hood down low to obscure most of her face, “The South Side is run by a vicious gang called the Black Widows. They peddle a dangerous and addictive drug called sting. These poor people have had their lives ruined by it.”

“I hate to say this, but I think when people Topside think of the Undercity this is what they think it’s all like.”

Luna’s eyes narrowed, “That’s only because those snobs are too busy sipping overpriced wine and gossiping to realize that it’s not that simple. You only know what you’ve been told, but things are rarely so black and white.”

Cassian blushed looking down at his feet, trying hard to refrain from responding before impulsively blurting out, “And us topsiders aren’t all gossip mongering elitists with our heads stuck in the clouds!”

“Says the good hearted prince. I hope you know that I don’t think you’re as altruistic as you want others to believe. I haven’t figured it out yet but I’m going to figure out who you really are!”

Their shouting had drawn the attention of the lifeless denizens and empty eyes began congregating on Luna and Cassian. The prince was visibly offended by the hurtful words and he stopped in the street, looking Luna right in the eyes, “Your life of hardship has made you distrustful—I get that. But at least I don’t see the worst in everyone I encounter. Oh, and when you figure out who I really am, please do share what you find. You may think my life has been nothing but sunshine and rainbows, but I’ve never been given the freedom to figure out who I truly am. Can you even imagine what it’s like to have every decision made for you? To make things worse, now my mother is gone. The only person in my life who encouraged me to be my own man.”

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Luna took a step back surprised by the emotional outburst from Cassian. “I’m sorry for being so harsh and inconsiderate. I honestly never considered all the emotional trauma you might be carrying. I was too distracted by the perfect portrait of your life I had painted since I was a child. As a kid growing up with nothing and trying to survive any way possible, I would dream every night about a life in the palace. About being a princess. I didn’t know…”

Cassian took a deep breath before interrupting her, “It’s okay. How could you have known? Regardless, I think we should keep moving. I don’t like the way all these addicts are gawking at us. They seem desperate. Desperation is tough to predict.”

Luna looked around at what appeared to be hundreds of twitching dead-eyed vagabonds watching them. “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s get out of here.”

Luna pushed past the addicts and down a hazy alleyway while Cassian followed closely behind. The moldy brick wall in the alley had a mural depicting a giant spider web with victims caught in the web. Cassian shuddered when he noticed that the people caught in the spider web were him, his father, and his mother.

“Ignore it if you can. You’ll find more anarchist graffiti down here then you can count.” Luna said.

“Why do they hate us?” Cassian replied, scratching his head.

“Cyrus, the leader of the Black Widows. He hates the Topsiders and he despises your family the most. He blames your father for how bad things have gotten in the Undercity. He says that before your father discovered the amethite, the Undercity was thriving. There was no division between the Topside and Undercity. It was just one united Cloudreach.”

Cassian shook his head confusedly, “Is that true? He discovered the crystals before I was born. This is the first time I’ve heard about this.”

“It was before I was born as well. But my father always told me when I was a child about a time when things were better. He said that Cloudreach was united and there were no walls and guard houses segregating the capital.”

Cassian couldn’t make sense of it, “I don’t understand. The history books I read talked of amethite transforming our nation into a powerhouse that couldn’t be stepped all over any longer. Before we had the crystals, we were under the iron rule of Bohlkov. They taxed us until we barely had anything left and took our people as slaves.”

Luna shrugged, “I don’t rightly know. I never studied history….Or really any subject for that matter.”

Cassian grabbed her hand, “Seriously? You never studied at all? Don’t you have schools in the Undercity?”

“We do have some schools. But they’re criminally underfunded. There aren’t enough desks, or teachers, or even books for all the kids. Everything is outdated and in a state of ill-repair. It traps the children of the Undercity into lives of mediocrity working in the mills—and don’t be fooled, that’s by design. That’s why I’m going to build the most magnificent school anyone has ever seen. Future generations will have every opportunity to make a good life for themselves.” Luna said, her smile lighting up the dimly lit alley.

Cassian felt a tingling in his stomach when she talked so passionately about helping those in need. He found himself staring at her smile awkwardly for a second too long and diverted his eyes to the trash lined pavement. “Your school sounds incredible. But with such a passion for education, why didn’t you complete your studies?”

Luna ran her fingers down the back of her arm and shifted her eyes away from Cassian, “My father died in an accident at the textile mill when I was young. I had to drop out of school to make money for my brother and I to survive.”

“That’s terrible. I’m so sorry for your loss. I can’t imagine processing something like that as a child. For what it’s worth, your brother Lane seems like an awesome kid. I can tell you’ve done an amazing job raising him. How did you earn enough money as a kid to provide for yourself and Lane?” Cassian said softly.

Luna smiled at Cassian looking deeply into his eyes for a moment before looking away nervously. “I…I’d rather not talk about it. I had to do things…things I’m not proud of.” She stuttered as if each word was dredging up painful memories.

Just ahead of them a group of women dressed in garish outfits stood just outside the entrance to what looked to be a tavern. They wore cloaks with red and black spider web patterns, and they were taking turns kicking a downed man in an apron. They were laughing maniacally like the bruised and barely conscious man was a jester whose grand finale was getting the tar beat out of him.

Cassian noticed the violent act taking place roughly a hundred feet ahead of them and his hand shot to his sword hilt. Luna grabbed his arm and shook her head at him, motioning for them to go the other way, but he shrugged away out of her grip running off to help the man.