The atmosphere on the street was more tense than it has been at any time since our arrival, including when we had witnessed the fight between the sects and the Blood Guard. And I had not slept well.

The day before, after Jorl’s departure and subsequent discussion, we had mostly talked ourselves in circles about what we needed to do, or even if we needed to do anything, with our individual positions on the subject changing back and forth as arguments were made. Not for my part, however. Even if I did not know the specifics, I knew that my job was to ‘minimise civilian casualties’, and while that was almost as helpful as a sieve in a storm, I had come to realise that maybe it did not specifically matter where I was doing so.

Regardless of how it had ended up, we had all agreed to spend some more time alone and attempt to further acclimatise. It helped that we were about ready to break into a brawl at the time.

I had spent the rest of the day meditating, both topping up my reserves and attempting to deal with my bubbling, seemingly spontaneous anger; I had definitely made some progress on the former, though the latter was... questionable. My efforts had been somewhat dampened by the prospect of going to see the Blood Marshall, which we had all actually agreed was necessary, whatever else we did; the man brought out a part of me that I had thought to be overcome in the early days of my arrival. The instinctive aggression and posturing when met with challenge had been a mere detriment back then, but in the City of the Red Grasses, it posed what might be a life-threatening issue for me. As I said, I did not sleep well.

My eyes felt vaguely gritty as I did my best not to glare back at the suspicious crowds; there was even more space between people that day, and it appeared that some had even taken to leaping from roof to roof, as I had considered the day before. These individuals, however were eyed with even more aggression than the rest of us; maybe it was the instinctive reaction of prey to elevated threats, or maybe the locals just had very firm ideas about property rights. I had no idea, really, and my ability to care was worn thin by my own grating desire to start slapping some sense into people.

Riffa had stayed behind, to make sure Toria woke up; the alchemical medicine we had obtained for her turned out to be far more powerful than we had suspected, and while Darina had examined her and assured us that she was fine, she was pretty much dead to the world until it wore off. Which left the foul tempered apprentice healer, and the giant with anger control issues – for a risi – to accompany me to the Blood Guard, where I would meet a man that made me want to crush stone with my teeth. I was sure it was all going to go perfectly fine. We were not, as a group, going to explode into incandescent and senseless fury.

As we walked, we and the people around us would frequently pause for just a moment, as a sound reached us from some distant part of the city; the sounds could have been anything, but I suspected them to be more altercations.

I had caught up to Loneth, before we set out and finally remembered to ask somebody a question; she had seen – or heard – the cult member a week or so before our arrival, which meant that either he had left, or Jorl had missed him in his sweep of the city. Despite the Apex’s abrupt change in behaviour, I did not want to assume he had missed the guy; the city was hell for thinking straight, but I had to believe that in this at least, the man would have put his all into the effort. And that left me with the possibility that he had left. That was an unsettling thing to consider, as it meant that either the Risen Throne were done in the city, which seemed unlikely given the impact they had had in other places, or they did not want to be involved when things in Ouhl finally hit the fan. If the explanation was fan-related, then it was imminent, given the other piece of news the inn owner had provided; the disturbance we had heard the day before was no isolated event, it was just that the city was large enough that we hadn’t heard many of the occurrences. Loneth had said that conflicts between the sects were on the rise, with fights breaking out all throughout the night as they each attempted to interfere with each other’s business interests, and embroiling the city at large in their messes as they did.

“Are you sure this is the right way? I’m certain we passed that building half an hour ago.”

I just about stopped myself from rolling my eyes at my diminutive companion, refraining from snapping at her. I knew it would only devolve into another argument, and given the state of the people around us I did not want to risk pushing anybody past their tipping point. I was half-way through counting backwards from ten when I was interrupted, ruining the effort.

“Hey, I’m talking to you. Are you sure this is the right way, Hunter?”

She said Hunter, but she did so in a way that made it clear that she meant idiot. I ground my teeth and desperately resisted the urge to echo-punch her into the sky.

“I’m sure. The directions were very simple. This is the right way...!”

I found myself glaring at Darina, despite my best efforts and she met my heated gaze with one of her own, clearly wanting to take the ‘discussion’ further.

“In aggrieved conciliation, please hold yourselves in check; we are almost there.”

Muttering could be heard, along with the occasional growl from the apprentice as we both did our best not to take our unwarranted anger out on each other.

Before much longer – as we were definitely going in the right direction – we came into sight of what I had to assume was the Blood Guard’s central office. The building was a seemingly featureless block of stone that had to be at least five-hundred feet wide on every side, and maybe a hundred high, like a squat cube in the city’s centre. It had not been visible before that point due to the fact that the height of the other buildings, and our angle relative to them, effectively made it invisible from more than a street away.

“With professional disdain, the stonework seems crude, and the lack of ventilation may make the interior... unpleasant.”

I grinned up at my friend; leave it to a risi to have opinions about the construction of a stone edifice.

“Maybe it has ventilation on the roof, some array or... alchemical thing... moving the air around.”

That was how it usually worked back on Earth, though I wondered whether the use of magic over technology added any issues or benefits to the setup.

“With knowledgeable practicality, that is unlikely; the top of such a building is a more likely point of entry, and if it is designed with defence in mind, such methods would provide a distinct weakness. People who can walk or climbs walls are rarer than ones who can merely jump.”

“Huh, that hadn’t occurred to me. I guess that I can already jump high enough to reach the roof, and more than most walls even. What’s even the point of the walls, if a Core level cultivator can just hop over?”

“Not all beasts can jump, and of those that can, not all of them can jump so far up.”

The words were clipped, and I appreciated that Darina was at least trying to hold back her elevated vitriol, though that appreciation only lasted until her next words.

“And most places have arrays that prevent it; this is common knowledge amongst people who aren’t id... aren’t you.”

I did actually vaguely remember something like that being mentioned at some point, though I could not place exactly where; it made sense though. An Instant Frog – for example – could probably jump really high, if it wanted to, and that was certainly a beast you did not want in a city; unless a person had some method of passively subduing it, it would just run amok, doing as it pleased.

I chose not to reply to her insult; not only had she mostly managed to forestall the barb, but she was right; people who were not me probably would know, and even I had known somewhere in the back of my head. My memory was certainly a step behind what seemed to be normal for my level, and I wondered if that was due to how old I had been when I started, and if so, would that improve as Experience worked its magic on my body? Or perhaps it was something to do with being in a new body altogether; I heard once that a brain has not finished forming until a person is in their thirties, and my body was probably younger than that, though that did not explain Darina’s seemingly superior recall. Thinking back over the course of my life on my new world, I wondered if a lot of what I wondered could be blamed on simply having a new brain. Many of the behaviours from my last life, like my anxiety and chronic depression had simply vanished; I had attributed this to how different my life was, but it was my understanding that a lot of those issues are chemical, or ingrained through repetition. If I had a new brain, maybe I had just... lost all that. Still, that did not explain everything, like how I had retained my existing memories, as they were physically part of my brain as well.

Titbits of Gnosticism, fringe scientific theories and reincarnation flicked to life in my mind, and for the first time I found myself genuinely distracted from the oppressive mantle of the city while in the presence of others. Of course, that did not last long, as my lapse into silence had occupied enough time for us to reach the base of the Blood Guard structure.

“Where’s the door?”

I looked around; I had been lost in thought as we finished our approach, but as I gazed about, I noticed that the stone building was surrounded on what looked to be all sides by a wide plaza covered in blank, smooth stone flags. Oddly for Ouhl, there were not many people moving through the space immediately around the offices, with those who did so keeping to the very outer edges, which seemed to consist primarily of residential housing, judging by the lack of windows or displays.

“I don’t see anything; maybe they don’t like – or take – visitors.”

“Then why wouldn't somebody say that when giving directions?!”

“Maybe they thought we were trying to avoid the place? Lots of people seem to.”

“With careful observation, it does appear that you are right, Hunter. Perhaps the door is on another side, or more likely, is hidden in one of the surrounding buildings, or on top.”

“I thought you said having weak points on the top was bad, because of people jumping up there?”

“In calm correction, I said that methods of facilitating airflow would be a weakness; if the main way in or out is up there, it is likely to be well defended.”

“Fair enough, Reff. Well, up you go, Darina.”

“What do you mean, ‘up you go, Darina’? If you want to check, you can do it yourself.”

“But... if there are wards, or arrays, or whatever, you’re the most likely to be fine, because of the whole ‘healing’ thing.”

“I played test subject the last time, you can do it yourself, you Void damned-”

“In strained mediation, any arrays are unlikely to be damaging, Hunter, as they could in theory harm the populace. You should be fine, if you take a look.”

“’Fine', huh?”

It seemed stupid to me for the person who was nearly indestructible not to be the person taking the risk, but at least Reff seemed fairly confident, and it would at least save some of the issues of trying to talk Darina into it, since she appeared to be adamant that she would not.

Grumbling under my breath, I Focused slightly, took a few quick steps and leapt up, cutting the power as soon as I left the ground; I was at about half strength by that point, but it was pointless wasting more than I had to.

The glass-smooth surface of the building flashed by and within a moment I stood on the roof, which was wide, flat and features. It was also occupied by a very angry looking Blood Marshall holding what looked like a giant black cigar. Glaring at me, the man stomped over, curling indigo smoke flowing around and behind him in his wake.

“What the Void fucking shit are you doing up here? You’re like Void born plague, you little shit. This is my city, and you’re not attractive enough to share with.”

I gritted my teeth and held onto my temper with every ounce of willpower I had; the urge to let my Praxis rip and try headbutting him down through the flat roof was almost overwhelming, but somehow, I managed to hold long enough to count backwards from ten and take a deep, calming breath.

“I’m looking for you, actually. My friends and I have some information about all the... disturbances in the city. Maybe.”

“What the fuck good is maybe? And how would you know, you’ve been in the city for five-fucking-minutes and you’ve spent most of that time getting on my last fucking nerve! At least the Apex left, but I’d hoped he’d taken you with him!”

“... Yeah, me too, actually. Look, we have a lot to go over, can we go inside? Is there, like a hidden door up here or something?”

“Hidden door, what is this, some fucking minstrel’s tale? Door’s on the other side, you lazy, Void blinded idiot. And who’s ‘we’? You’re not here with that mouthy midget, are you?”

I rubbed at my eyes, knowing that between Tain and Darina, my day was going to be a real pain in the ass.