The Stone Quarter should have been a peaceful place. The houses were nestled together and flowers grew in window-boxes. In between rows of homes were a few shops and restaurants too, and as Rex walked under the moonlight he breathed the fresh night air.

But something in the Stone Quarter was wrong. It was not what was present but what was missing that caused Rex's heart to piston in his chest; the lack of sound, the lack of light in the windows, and that as he walked down the cobble path no moths fluttered or insects buzzed. It was utterly lifeless, and Jin drew close to him.

"Maybe we should go back." She whispered, though no one was there who could have overheard them.

"We came this far already," said Rex. "I want to get to the palace before dawn, make the king give us a room. I don't want to waste these coins."

The passed an alley, and Rex sensed a presence. He jumped, and put his hand near his sheath, his hand grasping air. Shouldn't have sold my sword.

Standing there was a man whose face was twisted and opening his mouth as if to shout and scream. But he was motionless, skin grey. "It's just a statue," Jin said. "But I still think we should go back."

"These garden ornaments are kinda sucky," Rex said. "There's no accounting for taste...."

They traveled past a tavern that had its door dangling half-open, and as he passed Rex glimpsed statues inside, sitting at the bar and at the tables playing cards. Rex quickened his pace. Step-step, step-step, step-step.

"You know what Jin," Rex said. "There definitely is something wrong here. You know how there weren't any guards by the fence? I think that's because no one in there right mind would come here."

Step-step step-step step-step step-step-step step-step-step

Rex paused, and Jin stopped walking.

"I think we should go forward." said Jin.

"Why'd you change your mind right when I did?"

"It's faster now to keep going forward than to go back," Jin said, pointing. The palace, a collection of blue spires and gray-white walls, loomed larger in the sky.

Step-step-step step-step-step step-step-step step-step-step STEP-STEP-STEP

"Let's get moving again," Jin pushed Rex but he was frozen in place.

"Jin," Rex whispered. "if we've stopped walking, then where are those footsteps been coming from?"

Their eyes connected and an unspoken word passed between them. Run.

Rex and Jin sprinted down the path, stones pushing on their feet. STEP-STEP-STEP-STEP-STEP-STEP-STEP

"Here!" Rex hissed and they turned into another door that was ajar. It was a furniture shop, and the proprietor was a stone man in spectacles behind the counter. Rex picked a cabinet at random and opened it. "Hide here."

Jin and Rex both hopped into the dusty space but the cabinet door still dangled open uselessly. He wrapped his hand around the wood to pull it shut, but his fingers got in the way of its closing. thunk thunk STEP-STEP-STEP-STEP-STEP-STEP

Rex jumped out and looked at Jin's glowing gold eyes.

"No!!" Jin said, as he shut the cabinet door and sprinted out the back.

He found himself in a courtyard. Rather than people, the statues here were animals. Wolves, dogs, cats, and foxes - fangs bared, whimpering, or watching, their fur was all rough frozen rock.

"Shit," Rex said as he struggled through the pack. He tripped over a snarling cat and ran head first into an enormous wolf, larger than the one he had fought in the woods, and then fell back onto the grass.

STEP STEP STEP STEP STEP STEP.

The stepping paused.

Rex saw above him a blonde-haired knight, and then, after a few moments, another silhouette.

"You need help?" said the man in between breaths, offering a weathered hand.

----------------------------------------

"I'm sorry My Lord," said the knight. "I should have taken them to you right away. Your body..."

"Is not what it once was, but will suffice." said the other man as he brushed aside his gray hairs. "We'll be at the palace at just a moment; I have a special entrance in the back. I can't believe you were so frightened of me as to lock your companion in a closet for safety..."

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Jin and Rex climbed with their party up a flight of stairs that wrapped around the plateau on which the castle was built. The knight in the lead had struck a match, lit a lamp, and guided them with the faint glowing light. The other man spoke again.

"You can trust me." He said. "That's Daymond," - and the knight in the front nodded - "And you know, of course, who I am." He fished into his pockets and came up with a silver coin. He held it by the torchlight at all angles, smiling.

"I don't know who you are," Rex said.

"I don't know who you are," Jin said.

"It seems like they don't know who you are My Lord." Daymond offered. "Should I introduce you?"

The man sighed and lowered the coin back into his pocket. "I knew I shouldn't have shaved my mustache."

"Oh! Nose-fur!" Jin said. "In that case - might you be...?"

"Yes, I am Irwin," the man said. "You might have known me as the King of all land of Omniscia, or, simply as I think of myself now, Ewan's father."

They entered the castle. Colorful tapestries covered the walls, and a red carpet with gildings unraveled endlessly down the hallway. At the fourth door, Daymond gestured them inside.

There were two couches surrounding a table piled with scones and tea, and Rex and Jin soon settled in.

"Are these silver?" said Jin, waving her hands at the china and plates.

"Tin," said Irwin. "It's a shame that's the best I offer you."

"But I don't eat tin," said Jin in between bites and sips. "I eat food."

Rex looked at the man called 'Irwin' again. His face was worn, and there were bags underneath his eyes. Though the room was brightly lit his eyes were void and bleak, with only his lips curled into a tense smile.

"So," said Rex. "if you're king, then where can I find the Demon Lord?"

"Are you seriously not aware of Omniscia's political situation?" asked Irwin.

Jin lowered her tea-cup to the table, but before she settled the cup on the platter...

*thunk* *thunk* *thunk*

Someone banged on the door, and from behind the wood there was a rustling and a hiss. Irwin's blood drained from his face and he pressed in front of his lips a crooked, trembling, finger.

Silence, he mouthed.

The teacup descended lower and lower, and Rex grabbed Jin's wrist, her cup hovering over the saucer. Irwin's eyes were on the entranceway, but his shivering came from whatever was beyond the door.

*thunk!*

Jin's hand jumped, hot tea splashed onto Rex's chest and the cup clattered onto the plate.

"Having visitors Irwin...?" came a raspy, muffled, voice.

"Just having tea by myself," called Irwin. "You know how lonely it is these days."

There was a groan, and then a shuffling that slowly grew faint. Irwin sighed and slumped in his chair.

"Is this what a king looks like?" Rex asked.

"It's not," Irwin said. "Not anymore. The Gorgon King rules Yorn now."

"Who?" asked Rex.

"You were never told?" Irwin said. "Haven't you been sent here by the 'bandits'?"

"I was with a group of people inside some kind of compound," Rex said. "Mathilda, Gemini, Caliban... those were their names."

"Then the people known to the public as bandits," said Irwin. "and to me as the Underground. Yes, yes, they've sent you to me... so what is your plan? If not to slay the Gorgon King who rules the land, are you going to take the Sea from the Siren? Wrest the Sky from the Lightning Dragon?"

"As I've always said, I just wanted to kill the Demon Lord," said Rex.

"Then you must have a plan to take the keys..." said Irwin, and as Rex's forehead creased own Irwin's mien reddened.

"You were not told of any of these things," Irwin said slowly. "You don't know about Yorn and you don't know about any of the others either! You! You should have informed him!"

"We're just travel partners," spoke Jin. "I'm not a bandit."

"I'm not working with the Underground either," Rex said. "They've, uh, released me."

"Then," Irwin said. "there is no plan to save me? No plan to take revenge for my son? Will Yorn not be freed? After all I have done to survive? No!" Irwin continued. "You are powerful, the chosen one. Even without the support of the Underground, you must have great potential."

"This is a catalyst from the treasury," Irwin said, reaching into his pocket and setting a ruby on the table. "Use it. Pick it up!"

Rex pressed the gemstone and focused. His mind was dark, but then in that mind's eye unbidden he saw a spark, two sparks, now a flurry that burst into flames.

Fire.

But when he opened his eyes, the stone was still cold, without even an ember. Irwin held his head in his hands.

"What have I done... what hope does the kingdom have... Ewan...."

Irwin straightened, his eyes as dead as the catalyst. "Well, certainly we must work together now. If you leave, are caught, and confess, I would be executed and my survival to this point would all be for naught."

"Tell me then," said Rex. "how to kill the Demon Lord."

""The Demon Lord is in Hell," Irwin said. Hell has a gate that requires three keys; and he gave those keys to his greatest minions."

"The three you said before..." Jin said, yawning. "Gorgon, dragon, siren."

"Yes," said Irwin. "And I've had the displeasure of dealing with the Gorgon since Ewan vanished two years ago. He turns not just traitors into statues, but also expands relentlessly the Stone Quarter, and makes all who dwell in it into his prey. One day the Stone Quarter will surely consume the city."

"Then we must make sure the Demon Lord loses," said Rex. "As soon as he can. So-"

The first rays of sunlight fed through a stained-glass window.

"Stop," Irwin said. "Sleep here tonight, and we'll pick up where we left off tomorrow."

"Sleep here?" Rex said. "This looks like a room for visitors, not a bedroom."

"It is one of the few private spaces afforded to me in exchange for continuing to help run the city." Irwin said. "Remember I live in the Palace, but I am not King."

"Wait," said Jin. "I have one more question."

Irwin turned right as he was leaving. "What is it, cloaked one?"

"Two years ago... did you write a letter to a village in the woods?"

"A letter," Irwin spoke slowly. "Maybe there was such a thing. It's been so long that I cannot say. But there wouldn't be a point to it."

"There wouldn't?" said Jin.

"Because, at that point, the Demon Lord - and the Gorgon King would have already won." Irwin said. "Have a good evening, you two."

Rex and Jin each picked their own couch to rest in, and Daymond the guard brought them blankets. Jin sniffed the ruby drowsily. "It's hard to sleep... when the room... smells like smoke..."

But it was hard for Rex to sleep for another reason.

When Daymond gave the blanket to Rex, he had bent down to whisper in his ear.

When morning comes, leave the city. and don't come back.