“Are these insects really worth our time?” said a being in a violet cloak with a high pitched voice. “We can just send in the officers and their soldiers to deal with them. We shouldn’t even be bothered to deal with such minor matters.”
The being stepped over a corpse which was one of the many that littered the cavern floors. Nearby fires were burning down the supplies that were stockpiled underground and several soldiers were already in the process of adding the corpses to those piles. The tunnels were filled with smoke but the individual wasn’t even bothered by it.
“Exterminating insects aren’t part of our duties,” said another individual in a violet cloak as well. “Still, we have our orders to retrieve the jewel. Reliable intel stated that it should be down here somewhere. At least, that was the case before the attack.”
“How hard is it to find the offspring of the former Rashedi head? I still can’t believe they failed to secure her earlier and we have to come to the slums.”
The two individuals walked through the tunnels, paying no heed to anything around them. Any officers or soldiers that came across them quickly made way. These men and women stared down at the ground until the individuals were far away. They were given orders to carry out and scurried off at the earliest opportunity.
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“The fact that we still haven’t found her is worrying.” The individual stopped. “We did specify that we needed her alive, right?”
“At least until we pull the jewel from her summoner’s realm. Her death will be….inconvenient. And the person responsible will need to be punished…in a special way.”
The duo kept walking until they exited the tunnels, arriving outside the city. They found themselves on a cliff with a clear view of Naeleph. Much of the city was lit up but the slums were the brightest due to all the flames that had engulfed the sector. Except for the growing fire, the city was largely peaceful with hardly any activity, at least from where they stood.
The two individuals then turned their attention to the countless people who were on the ground near the tunnel exit, seemingly asleep where they were laying. These people were all adults with half of them men. One of the individuals walked to a person and placed her hand on the chest. Tendrils grew from her hands and inserted themselves into the body. In the next minute, the person started shrinking until only the clothes remained.
“Please let me know next time when you decide to….feast on corpses. Your feeding habits are truly horrid.”
“You get use to it after a while. I was also unaccustomed when I first started.” The individual then proceeded to the other corpses until there were none left. “Now that was a good meal! Let’s head back into the city!”
"We better find the jewel before we are punished. I don't look forward to explaining our failure."