Chapter 8: Northpass

“Ooh?” The demon said with a mocking grin that showed off her sharp teeth. Her skin was a sickly pale color, and if not for the rest of her look she could have passed as a vampire. Red eyes observed both me and Francis, her oddly slitted pupils were more than unnerving. Then they flicked over to Akna and she briefly flashed a knowing smile.

She wore an odd-looking white mask that hung to the side of her head, with an abstract depiction of a vibrant crimson half-moon engraved on it. It matched the rest of her rather functional-looking outfit. A white combat dress with different shades of red details.

Her hand was fair and slender but it ended in razor-sharp claws, with pitch-black nails that reminded me of Rabbit's eyes. The fur coat she was wearing had the same color as her gray-white hair and the fluffy ears that were twitching back and forth.

At least she didn’t sport a tail, that was already a huge difference over the usual fox demons I had dealt with in the past. But it didn't make her look any less like a monster.

I tried to observe her level but nothing showed besides a simple description.

[Empress of the Crimson Moon] [CORRUPTED]

"I am sorry, not a fox demon. Empress" I stated, best to be direct with beings such as this.

“Ahahaha” She laughed, the sound as clear and brutally cold as a mountain river on the dawn of spring:

“I heard they might have started calling me that a few centuries ago. I usually do not meddle in politics. I will leave that to vampires, they do love their games.”

She noticed my reaction to the word and her eyes flashed back to me in an instant.

“I see, or rather I smell it. Fascinating, rarely have I seen such a creative approach to butchering one's soul... Mhh mhh you two sure are interesting. A master of, as of yet, unknown curses and a witch trained in the magical arts of war, the unhinged slaughter of armies. I know plenty who would love your approach, ahahahaha," She giggled some more and I briefly worried about her mental state.

"Such exciting times we live in, do you not think the same Akna?” She asked the spirit, momentarily being done with us.

“My lady... What can this humble spirit do for thy?” Akna bowed her head slightly.

“Cut the nonsense and groveling. I am just here for the newest sleeper, they are becoming more and more frequent. It all might happen again.”

I noticed Francis move a tiny bit closer to me, readying himself to defend me. The demon, witch, empress, or whatever she might be, just grinned at him lazily. She had spotted it immediately.

“Do not worry about your well-being realm walkers, I am here to help you into the city. Akna might have underestimated the zealousness of our dear disgraced emperor.” The demon spoke.

“That means...?” Akna asked uncertainly.

“It means, he has locked down most of the exits with a small army, there are rumors that a Hunter might even be in town.” She responded and then laughed again.

“Ahahahaha but worry not my dear children, I will crush them under my heels and grind their bones into a fitting sacrifice for Am Deiridh. None will dare touch you as long as I keep the hunter busy."

“Not that we don't appreciate the help, but who are you exactly?” Francis asked with skepticism written clearly on his face. He did not trust the demon. Neither did I, but usually it was a bad idea to antagonize powerful entities regardless of if you trusted them or not.

Surprisingly it was not her who answered but instead Akna who spoke with a slight tremble in her voice.

“She is Lunra, one of the most ancient witches who were there during the first war and who will still be there when the stars begin to fall. She is the monster that parents use to threaten their children into obedience. It would be foolish for me not to obey her wishes."

“It’s all because of my dashing looks.” Lunra added helpfully.

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“It’s because you eat children or something, right? It’s always something like that.” I said.

“Ahahahaha. Let us not be stuck in ancient times. I am certain you have your fair share of experience with 'the forbidden arts'. And you, young witch, you have bathed in them willingly, nearly giving up the hold on your soul in the process. Yet you have prevailed and are now here, truly we are blessed to live in exciting times once more." She said to me, a manic smile on her face.

She laughed once before continuing in a more serious tone: "I would claim you for myself, but I sense that there is someone else who has a hold on all that you are and all that you will be. Someone powerful. I shall stick to helping you. A favor for a favor." She declared with a hiss, and I had a feeling she wasn't talking to me. My blood burned.

The monster turned around and snipped her fingers. With a groan, the stone to the left of us literally started melting away. I had seen such manipulation before and yet it was inspiring to see someone do it so casually.

I was briefly reminded of another family member of mine. Gustav the Cruel had been prone to torture his enemies by enclosing them in molten stone. All while keeping them alive with his extensive knowledge of the healing arts. In the end, he had been put down by the head of the family, Cassiopeia.

She stepped into the newly created path and we followed her into the darkness. I marveled at the grandness of her aura as we tried to keep up. It was suffocating in its beauty and violence.

Further and further we went up the mountain, the fox demon creating paths where there had never been any before, and as soon as we passed they closed, to never be opened again.

We stopped and I could nearly taste it. Magic. An unfathomable amount of wild magic saturated the outside world. It was intoxicating, my heart fluttered with excitement.

“You can feel it too, right Francis?”

“Yes, it's a wonderful feeling. Maybe I will be fine without payment after all.” He said with a smile on his face

At that moment Lunra decided to split the last bit of stone in front of us and I had to turn around to shield my eyes from the light.

“Welcome! Welcome to Northpass. The unyielding city! The heart of the imperial arms machinery. Favored by traders from all over. This is where fortunes are made and family dynasties fall into despair. Home of all the major guilds and the seat of power of the Emperor."

I stepped through the hole and gasped.

It wasn't because of any huge imposing buildings, no these were rather rare, rather it was the sheer size of the crater that opened up in front of my eyes.

Over a million people could easily live here, of that I was certain. The buildings were the color of the mountain, some darker very sturdy looking, others a bit brighter but still matching the rock around it.

Either a meteor had fallen here, to create a giant crater, or this was an old inactive volcano. I guessed the latter as I saw plenty of fields outside the wall that had been built around the residential areas. The ground must have been fertile, cause the fields of various types and colors looked rather bountiful.

We were on a small cliff, a hundred-something meters above the ground. And all around us, on the same level, I saw thousands of holes that had been dug into the inner wall and stairs leading up there.

But it didn't stop at our altitude, instead, it was like the whole city extended upwards towards the sky, vertically built into the walls of the crater.

And as I was looking up, I saw what I assumed were giant birds at first but turned out to be airships sailing through the sky and docking at different places.

The architecture of buildings, with a few exceptions, looked rather simple, but it was hard to say from such a distance. The people however seemed to love to pain their roofs in all kinds of colors. Like a wonderful sea of life and light.

"Wow," I declared, still in the process of absorbing everything. "This is so unlike any city on earth!"

I looked at the rest of our small party, Akna was staring intensely toward a building in the very middle of the city. It wasn't the most pompous one but it was definitely the most well-defended, as it was enclosed by three different walls with towers on each corner. It was to guess that that this would be where the emperor resided.

Francis on the other hand had a rare smile on his scarred face. His cloak was gently billowing in the slight breeze.

Lunra was waiting for us to take it all in, but her eyes were looking toward another cliff on the left of us. My eyes followed and I realized why.

Wide stairs were leading up to that specific cliff, wide enough for a row of soldiers and instead of a normal hole, it was a small gate that was built into the mountain.

"So that really was their play? Wait and murder us at the entrance, why?" Francis asked, he had also noticed what was going.

"Not murder you, capture you, bind you, then bend you to their will. The emperor wants his weapon after all." Lunra answered.

"I would make an awful weapon," I said. "I like blowing myself up too much."

"Ahahahaha I think you would make a great one, but I know that nothing can bind you looking at what you have done to your soul." The fox demon smiled, it was an ugly smile.

"Be that as it may, but how do we get down?" Francis asked.

"Well, I am glad you asked... Akna, you know what to do," She spoke, "Master of curses, Sleeper", this time addressing Francis and myself "I apologize in advance for the rough landing, farewell"

I wanted to ask what she meant but we were already falling through the floor

"AAAAAAH!" I screamed while Francis was just cursing a storm up in surprise.

We landed roughly in some shrubs, I ended up doing a cool combat roll that my old body would have seriously struggled with.

"That couldn't have been the gentlest way, ugh! I can't wait to take a bath and grab some food, I am starving!" I grumbled as I helped Akna to her feet.

Then suddenly it was as if time and everything else stood still. Lunra made her move. The whole cliffside that the army had been standing on disappeared in a storm of dust and raw blood-red arcana. I was thrown to the ground as a shock wave blasted through the crater and the wild arcana all around us turned into pure unfiltered malice.

"What the fuck?!" I heard Francis yell.

Akna grabbed my shoulder and commanded us: "We should move, quickly. No one is safe if she decides to go all out" We ran and with each step, the city wall grew taller.

Despite everything, I had a smile on my face.