Alicia
Raytech Automobiles had grown so quickly that it would’ve given cancer a run for its money. Going from niche ship makers to global automobile giants in just two short years, Dr. Boon’s company was richer than most entire countries in the world.
Alicia had not learned this willingly. Dr. Boon’s untimely demise had shaken the globe. A fact that was being broadcast in her face in high-definition on a sixty-five-inch ultra-wide screen airport display.
Their flight had been delayed by nearly six hours. So, she had all the time in the world to soak in every facet of his long and miserable life in luxurious detail. Even death would’ve been kinder.
When their flight did arrive, the trip aboard Raytech Airways was a pleasant one as long as they didn’t think about it too hard. Alicia, in particular, had never been on a plane before. Her only global trip before this was on a ship to Lucidea. Even then, she’d been squished among forty other stowaways for the entire journey. On this flight, however, she had more legroom than she knew what to do with, unlimited catering, and five beautiful air hostesses waiting on her at all times. It was like all her birthdays had come at once.
Well, almost all of them.
The moment their flight hit Wadinese soil, Trent started barking orders left and right. “Handle the luggage with care. It is extremely delicate. Don’t speak unless you are spoken to. We don’t need any more attention than is warranted. And keep all forms of technology hidden at all times. So, no using phones. No laptops. Nothing computer related as long as you’re in public.”
Sebastian cried at the last instruction. “Hey! What’s wrong with the tech stuff? I need my phone, man.”
“You need oxygen and a working set of organs, kid. If these people find your phone, you can be damn sure you’ll lose one of those things.”
“You have gotta be kidding me.” Hope scoffed at him.
“If only that were the case, Miss Hastings,” he chuckled, retrieving a pack of cigarettes from his carry-case. “The people of Wadin don’t take kindly to strangers much less strange technology. It’s a wonderful country with a rich history of petty squabbles and brutal genocide. Not unlike your own, really. But why let me spoil the fun? As they say, telling is rarely as fun as showing.”
The moment they left the airport, which was quite barren on its own, the Merry Band was assaulted by the simmering embrace of the desert sun. Alicia shielded her face with a bright orange shawl and growled, “Rich history, my ass! This heat’s gonna kill me.”
“I thought you were from Wadin.” Hope raised an eyebrow at her, covering her own head with a cloth.
“And what? That’s supposed to make me fireproof or something?”
“No, I meant-”
“Just move your useless butt. I don’t wanna stay here a moment longer than I gotta. Oi Mistah leader, please tell me you got us a ride.”
“But of course,” Trent answered with a smile. “Follow me. Ah, I almost forgot. We can’t possibly walk around in the Empire dressed like this.”
“Oh, don’t you fucking dare tell me we need to play dress-up.” Alicia groaned.
“We will need disguises,” said Trent with an almost apologetic grin.
Alicia had considered moving to Lucidea a top-five decision in her life. Not quite as high as punching that jerk who called her impure for kissing a girl but still, right up there with replacing the headmaster’s drinking water with urine.
Coming back was giving her all sorts of knots in her stomach. Like her insides were being torn and twisted from end to end into hideous shapes. And that was the easy part. The garments brought back memories. Painful memories she’d sworn would remain buried. Covering her from head to toe in bright blue cotton, the outfit was functional, yes, even offering decent protection from the sun but… the very material made her skin crawl.
Her only respite? The trip to the city was mercifully brief. All courtesy of a dune buggy Trent had “acquired.” Alicia took in the desert smell as the four-by-four tore through the scorching sands, cutting their travel time by several days.
After nearly two hours of silent driving went by, Hope initiated the conversation. “So, is there anything we should know about this Noor place?”
Trent replied, “The Golden City of Noor. Jewel of the Wadin Empire. Everyone and their uncle wants a piece of it. The place has been devastated by invasion after invasion for nearly two hundred years.”
“Why’s that?”
Alicia spat and repeated the saying she’d been taught as a child. “Whoever controls Noor controls the Empire.”
“Well, not completely accurate,” Trent remarked. “Currently, Noor is controlled by the Yousef family and their private militia. Dangerous folks. Idiots with more money than brains.”
“Motherfuckers basically hold the city hostage. Long as them’s in charge, no one gets the city. And if no one gets the city…”
“No one controls the Empire and the country remains divided,” Hope finished for her. “That’s kinda messed up. Also, way above my pay grade. Yeah, we’d better stay clear of them. This is some serious high-level stuff.”
“Took the words right out of my mouth, Miss Hastings. Tell me, how’s it feel to finally learn your place? Liberating, isn’t it? Knowing that you don’t always have to be the hero.”
For some reason, his words hit Alicia like a slap across the face. Without thinking for a second, she snapped at Trent and gave him a piece of her mind. “For fuck’s sake, give it a rest, big guy. You don’t always gotta be a dick. Girl’s been through enough shit already.”
A sudden silence befell the vehicle. The entire crew turned to face her as if they’d just witnessed a ghost. Sebastian and Ren bore the identical expression of “What in God’s name did I just witness?” Hope’s jaw was left dangling from her face. Even Trent struggled to find the right words, but his smirk said it all.
After several seconds of uncomfortable silence went by, Hope expressed her gratitude with the finest speech known to mankind. “I… thanks, I mean… thanks…”
“Quit it,” Alicia rebuked. “I just… don’t like it when girls are told to stay in line or know their place, okay?”
Trent shook his head with a quiet laugh as he breathed in his cigarette. “Remarkable! Alicia Miller defending another person. I never thought I’d live to see the day.”
“Oh, eat a dick, you fucking chimney.”
“Everyone, look!” exclaimed Ren.
As the crew turned to face the horizon, their eyes were filled with childlike wonder and awe. Far in the distance, a mountain gleamed over the golden sands. Its jagged slope, darkened against the evening sun, grew larger with every inch they rode. The buggy felt tinier than an ant in its presence. This is it. Alicia gulped.
“Feast your eyes, people,” said Trent. “The largest mountain in the Empire and home to the Golden City of Noor. The Muntassir.”
“Holy shit!”
“Quite right, Miss Hastings.”
“Oh, my crap!” Sebastian chimed in with his first outburst in days.
“That too, Mister Collins.”
“Pfft! City folk.” Alicia scoffed.
“Y-you mean… t-that’s where Noor is? Like, on top of that thing?”
“Well, around that, if you want to be precise. The top of the Muntassir is home to the Great Arcane Temple. The city of Noor is built around it. Far, far below on the ground. Speaking of which, just look at that beauty!”
As the dune buggy approached the mountain, it was greeted by walls shaped like the jaws of a great serpent with scales crafted from golden steel and eyes formed of glowing sapphire. Its colossal spine coiled around the mountain, forming the walls of the city. Inside the maw of the serpent, stood two soldiers with spears pointed to the heavens.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, the Golden City of Noor.”
“Hark! Who goes there?” one of the guards called out in clear Wadinese.
Trent asked the team to stay behind as he did the talking. Armed with his silver tongue and a bag of gold coins, he befriended the soldiers in no time.
Alicia recalled the saying she’d been taught as a child. “No one enters or leaves Noor without permission of the Yousefs.” My, how the times have changed. Or maybe not. Maybe he’s just plain smarter than the rest.
Once the soldiers were convinced that neither he nor the people with him meant any harm and he had sworn to stay out of sight as much as possible, the gates were opened. He gestured for the team to come over. “Just follow me quietly and there won’t be any trouble. Understood?”
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“Of course, Sir Trent.”
“Y-yes, sir!”
“Yep.”
“Yeah, yeah, got it. Whatever.”
“Excellent. Now, let’s carry on with our business. Nice and gently.”
The inside of the serpent’s maw formed a pitch-black tunnel that led to the city. Alicia recalled her first trip through. Her parents had brought her to the city when she was five. She’d shut her eyes and held onto her mother’s finger as they crossed. Damn place had the same rotting smell from all those years ago.
Her friends, however, were not as accustomed.
“Oh geez! I feel like I’m gonna puke,” Sebastian informed them weakly.
“There, there.” Hope patted his back.
“This smell, it is beyond foul. And I cannot even see anything. Are you taking us to a city or a mass grave?” Ren inquired.
“Okay, island boy. First of all, lovely comparison. Please, seek therapy. Secondly, quiet the fuck down, y’all. We’re almost there.”
“How do you know?” Hope raised an eyebrow that she couldn’t possibly have seen in the dark.
“Umm hello? Local here. Or did your dumb ass forget already?”
“That’s quite enough, Miss Miller.” Trent shot back with a glare she could absolutely feel in the dark.
As they emerged out the other side of the tunnel, the light nearly blinded them. Alicia’s partners gaped in awe as they set their eyes upon the wonder that was Noor. Fittingly called the City of Light, it glowed with the golden hue of the evening sun. The colorful bazaars bustling with people dressed in vibrant garments were unlike anything the city folk had ever seen. For some reason, she felt a little pride in her heart.
“Keep your heads down,” Trent commanded. “Our destination is still some distance away.”
“Wait, you never told us where the server is.” Hope crossed her arms to shield herself from all the stares. It didn’t help.
“Well, how do I say this? I don’t exactly know where our target is.”
“Say what now?”
“You see, I know that the server is in Noor. But I don’t know where in Noor, to be exact. It could be inside the Royal palace, could be behind that sweet shop, for all I know.”
“And you couldn’t have told us before, why?”
Trent shook his head. “Miss Hastings, do I look like a guy without a plan? Of course, I know how to find it. The hotel we’ll be staying at? Its owner used to work with the local militia. He’s our best shot at finding a way in. I will have a chat with him. See what I can squeeze out. Once we have the location, we decide upon a plan of infiltration, and then, it’s business as usual. Unless you have a better idea, hmm?”
Alicia asked, “What’d you say the hotel was called again?”
“The Hashian. Owned by a Kaiden Harroun. Are you familiar with it?”
“Oh yeah, that’s the big ugly building in the Jurah district. A bit south of here. Shouldn’t take too long.” Alicia gazed in the distance at a tower near the Western end of the Serpent Wall. The slums. Her stomach coiled up into even tighter knots. “Actually, y’know what? You guys go ahead. I’ll… catch up later.”
“And where might you be headed, young lady?”
“To a little place called none of your fucking business,” she barked back. “Relax, I’ll be there before dark.”
“If you say so. Don’t be too late.”
The rest of the Merry Band disappeared behind a herd of townsfolk going about their business. With their backs turned, you really couldn’t tell them apart from the locals. Alicia laughed a little, then grimaced, and sprinted towards her destination.
She rolled her eyes at how little the city had changed in the last six months. The Malaks, Layla Yousef’s private militia, still patrolled the dusty business district, stealing eatables from the vendors. Fucking dicks. Old Rasheed still gave them protection money. Protection from what? Even he didn’t know. Suleiman, the man named after the West Wadin Emperor himself, was still a useless drunk who beat his family. And most of all, even now, no one was allowed to leave the city of Noor.
As she turned around yet another familiar corner, something caught her eye. It was the shop that used to sell her medicine. The only shop in the entire city that served demonspawn. Her fingers reflexively curled over the mark on her wrist as a hateful voice pierced her ears.
“Lowborn scum!”
Five brutes towered over a boy near the shop. He couldn’t have been more than ten.
“Sir, please, my mother needs the medicine. Where am I supposed to get it if not here?” The boy whimpered.
“And thas ‘sposed to be my problem, why? Youse demonspawn need to understand yer place,” another man spoke up.
“Thas right. We dun wanna sully our hands over your filthy skin. So, get the hell outta here!” said another.
By then, Alicia had had enough. “Hey, crotch-rot! You mind leaving the kid alone?.”
She felt her heart in her mouth as they walked up to her. Up close, they stood a whole two feet taller than her. “Stay outta this, cow!”
Alicia gulped and stood her ground. “You leave the kid alone or I call the army. Yeah, you heard me. Now scoot!”
The four men looked at each other before breaking into a burst of braying laughter. “You hear her, fellas? Ooh, the army. So scary.” The largest man of the bunch grabbed her by the arms and pinned her against the wall.
The sleeve of her garment slipped down to reveal the mark on her wrist. The symbol of the Untouchables. Alicia cursed her fate.
“Hey, look at her arm! This bitch is a demonspawn!”
“Kill her. Fucking kill ‘er!”
As the big man’s grip tightened around her neck, she felt her consciousness slipping away. I am such a fucking idiot.
∆∆∆
“What are you doing, Zaheera?”
“I’m only doing what you’ve always done for me, Aliyah. Now, go!”
“I’m not leaving you here, damn it!”
“Yes, you are. I wish both of us could go. But it’s too risky. I want at least one of us to live life to the fullest. And I want that to be you. Now, go!”
“Zaheera, you big moron, you come back here this instant!”
“Goodbye, Aliyah! Please, go. I’ll distract them.”
“I swear, I’m coming back for you. One day, when I have enough money. I’ll come back and I’ll take you to the ocean. We’ll start a new life. Together.”
“Aliyah…”
“Just you wait. Don’t you ever stop waiting for me!”
∆∆∆
Upon waking up, Alicia found herself covered in dirt rather than bruises. Looking around, however, it became easy to guess what had transpired.
“You know? You actually look kinda pretty while you’re sleeping.” Hope smiled atop the pile of unconscious brutes. Some were groaning in pain while others were flat-out drooling. One unlucky sap had even soiled his trousers.
Alicia got up with a groan and dusted her garments. “Why the hell were you following me?”
“Straight to it, then? No thank you or anything like that?”
“Why? You that desperate for my approval?”
Hope shuddered for a moment, then buried her feelings under a smile, and spoke, “Anyway, Trent didn’t want you out of sight and I didn’t want you to do anything… unsafe. I mean, anything that jeopardizes the mission, of course.”
“Pfft! Yeah, right. Well, you don’t need to worry anymore. Just go back to the hotel or whatever.”
“Yeah, about that.” Hope averted her gaze with an innocent chuckle. “Remember how this is my first visit to the city?”
“Ye-es.” Alicia already knew her response but some part of her didn’t want to accept it.
“And remember how I went straight after you once we got here?”
Alicia slapped her forehead. “You don’t know the way back.”
Hope tried soothing her with a dismissive smile. It did not work. “I guess I’m stuck with you for a while, then? Ha ha ha… You’re not laughing.”
Being the older sister in her family, Alicia had experience dealing with annoying children. Her sister, while not too difficult, had a real talent for getting into the dumbest dilemmas. This one time, during what can only be described as the hottest summer in the history of Noor, she had gotten stuck in a pot meant for storing water. Her explanation? She thought her body would drink it faster than her mouth.
While that could be dismissed as childish stupidity, this was not one of those situations.
“Are we there yet?” Hope asked for the fifth time.
“No,” Alicia answered, one step closer to sticking a knife in her.
“I feel like we got off on the wrong foot.”
“Ya think?”
“Can we, perhaps, start over?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Could you, perhaps, not throw me in jail six months ago?” Alicia answered in a mocking tone.
“I already told you, I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” Hope protested.
“Yes, and that’s supposed to magically fix everything, ain’t it?”
“No, I- forget it. Where are we going, anyway?”
“I gotta pay someone a visit,” Alicia answered, a little agitated this time. The backstreets of Noor were a far cry from the golden hue of the main plaza.
“Is it someone important to you?”
“Fuck no. I mean, yes!” she exhaled. Beads of sweat collected over her forehead. “Hell, I don’t know. I don’t even know if that son of a bitch is still alive.”
The sun had nearly set on the City of Light when they reached their destination. A miserable old shack in the furthest corner of the Eastern slums. Home to nothing but demonspawn as far as the eye could see. A place Alicia was ashamed to call “home.”
Her hand reached for the chipped wooden door with confidence but fell back before she could knock. Even after all this time, her heart raced at the thought of seeing him again. She crossed her arms and retreated back into the street.
“You okay?” Hope inquired.
Alicia nodded and spoke in a low whisper, “Could you… knock for me?”
Hope did as she was told. Three sharp taps later, a manly voice grumbled from within the shack. Then, there was the soft glow of an oil lamp. The sound of approaching footsteps made Alicia shiver. Hope comforted her with a sisterly embrace as the door was flung open.
The smell of liquor leaped out of the shack like a wild animal. Following it, a fifty-something Wadinese man emerged wearing nothing but a white tank top and a towel wrapped around his ample waist. His features showed signs of bloating that locked his face in a melancholic expression. He squinted at the two women with a hand over his silvery stubble.
“Who the ‘ell are you? I already told ya wenches I don’t got any money. Come back tomorrow. Or better yet, never!” he croaked, barely keeping his balance.
Alicia removed her faceguard and smiled as a tear raced down her cheek. “Hello, Father. I see you’re still alive.”
The old man’s eyes became as huge as bowling balls as he recognized the person before him. “You.” He spat with venom and went straight for her throat.
Before he could lay a finger on her, Alicia drew her knife and swiped his hand with a clean cut. The drunk fell to his knees with a pained cry that would’ve woken half the city. But this was the slums. Murder was a mercy.
“Oh, it stings! Oh, how it fucking stings, you miserable cow. Why the ‘ell are ya here? Come to finish me off; have ya? Well, it’s not gonna be that easy. You’ll pay for this. You’ll pay for everything!”
Alicia gripped his cheeks between her fingers and held the knife inches from his face. “Any more shit flies outta your mouth, I’ll chop your fucking tongue off. Tell me, where is Zaheera?”
“She’s gone. Kill me if you like but I ain’t telling ya. She’s better off without you. She’s not impure like you. She deserved happiness and I fucking gave it to her. You stay outta her life now.”
“Goddamn you, asshole!” Alicia tossed his bloated body to the ground and kicked him with all her might. She screamed, cried, and kicked until the old man was bleeding. She did not hear his painful cries for mercy. She did not see the look of sorrow on his drunken face. All she saw was the years of pain this man had inflicted upon her, her mother, and her sister. When her feet got tired, she resorted to punches. When her arms got tired, she picked up a nearby stick and struck him until it broke. “This is for Zaheera. This is for mother. This is for me. Die! Die! Die! You bastard. Die!”
In the end, she did not kill him. It wasn’t because she didn’t want to, or he didn’t deserve it. Everyone in the slums knew he deserved it more than most. But she found herself stopped by a most unexpected person. A girl who called herself the Ghost of Haven City.
Though her vision was obscured by a veil of tears, she could tell that her fist had not reached its target. “Stay outta this, girl.”
“That’s enough.”
“It’s none of your fucking business. Move outta the way,” Alicia barked with anger.
“No,” Hope said firmly. “We’re done here. None of this is gonna make you feel better. We’re leaving.”
“B-but… but-” Her voice got shaky.
“Alicia, look at me. Look me in the eyes and tell me you really want his blood on your hands.”
Alicia wiped her tears and saw within Hope’s eyes something unexpected. She saw herself. And she didn’t look angry or enraged. Far from it. She was afraid. Afraid and helpless. She dropped the stick and lowered her gaze.
Hope stepped forward with a soft expression and put an arm over her shoulder. “Come. Let’s get back to the hotel.”
Despite the smooth blend of hot mess that was her mind right now, Alicia felt like a mountain had been lifted off her back. Her sister was still God-knows-where in the largest city in the Empire. But she’d be damned to hell and back if she wasn’t going to find her.