“Hey, isn’t that Drabby?” I heard a voice say, shattering the silence of the library.

I looked up, spotting two young men from fundamentals of alchemy. They had a girl with them whose red robe was emblazoned with the emblem of the Collegia Magico. The red halo converging on her pupils let me know that she was at least an inferno, but not quite a great soul.

The young man who had pointed me out had dark brown eyes. I briefly considered using the alignment spell to find out exactly how weak he was, but decided to forebear.

“Raylen.” I addressed him.

He looked surprised at that. I only knew his name because he was the perpetrator of my nickname. I didn’t like him, and I generally remember the people I don’t like. I probably should have tried being more diplomatic. It was just so hard to do with people who fit the classical textbook definition of a bully.

“Hey,” He said, recovering, “We were going to blow off studying for a bit and head down to the commons. Nothing like slumming it to feel alive. Say… you probably know a thing or two about that. Want to join us?”

“No.” I said, going back to my notes.

“Come on Drabby.” He coaxed, his hand coming down on my book.

“Move your hand.” I said, looking up at his grinning face, “I am working on a matter of life or death.”

“There’s something really interesting I want to show you.” He said.

“I’m not into guys.” I said flatly, hoping to either provoke a fight, or get him to leave.

He looked confused for a moment, then narrowed his eyes, “You litt-“

“What about monsters?” The woman, more a girl really, piped up, “I heard that you studied in Vern. I bet you know a thing or two about them.”

That piqued my interest. I looked up at her and saw that there was a light behind her eyes that might have been a trickle of ignited fire magic. That was an extremely dangerous thing to be doing in a library. Not to mention that fact that holding ignited magic within your body put strain on your soul. It was a mid-level control technique, but usually only used while meditating in a stone room.

This girl was either stupidly reckless or had a high level of magical control. Considering that she hadn’t set anything on fire, I was more inclined to believe the latter. Though I was not yet ready to discount the former. Her speech fit the bill of someone who would spend time with Raylen, but I was confused as to why a Collegia Magico student would be hanging out with him. Alchemists were generally looked down on by the students from that school. The alchemists in turn generally looked down on the Collegia Academico students.

I made it a point to avoid disparaging the scholars of the more mundane arts. Where I came from, people had accomplished wonders that would make even a great soul gape in wonder. Pound for pound, a mage was just better than a normal human. Human intuition and ingenuity however, were more potent than even the mightiest of great works. My memories were proof of that.

“What kind of monsters?” I asked.

Raylen looked around, then, seeing that we were alone, leaned in, “The kind that fight, for money.”

Monsters fighting for money? What kind of monster would fight for money? I was intrigued.

“They fight for money?” I asked incredulously.

“Not the monsters,” Raylen growled, “Betting.”

Oh. Fantasy cock-fighting. Got it.

I was about to dismiss him out of turn, then paused. Raylen was offering me an opportunity here. Tylee had contacted me once more in the time that I had been away. Her efforts to uncover the origins of the parasite had proven ineffective. I was getting desperate, and monster fights sounded just like the place where I could develop some less than savory contacts.

A ring like that would be bringing monsters into the city somehow. They might even know of a recent shipment of a certain parasite which had been used on Megaine.

I needed to go. It might even miff Megaine when I was able to discover a useful lead before she did. Purely an incidental pleasure though.

“Alright.” I said, shutting my book and gathering my notes, “Let’s go see some monsters tear each other apart.”

Raylen grinned, “That’s the spirit.

There was something ugly behind his eyes.

Well Raylen, you’re not the only one around here who can do ugly.

I extracted some silver and gold pennies from my bag, along with my staff and a speed potion, before handing the precious item to Master Norry for safe keeping. The man had become livelier and twice as stealthy now that his joints no longer hurt. The man was a jig-dancing ninja assassin. Nothing would convince me otherwise.

He looked askance at the three other students, but I shook my head, indicating that I didn’t need his help. He sighed and rolled his eyes at my youthful foolishness. I summoned up a smile, just for him.

My smiles were rare these days.

“I believe that we are going to do something called ‘slumming,’” I provided him with an air of false innocence, “If I’m not back in a couple days, send out the hounds.”

Master Norry frowned at me. Apparently I wasn’t very amusing. Or maybe sending out the hounds has a different connotation on Esturia…

I checked my belt, where I kept the ten-centimeter knife which I had forged. Ten centimeters was about as far as I could go without making people wonder why I needed a machete in order to cut food. A knife could go places that a sword never could. A walking stick also had this benefit. The two would be a nasty surprise to anyone who thought they could mug me.

My companions, having secured my agreement to come, promptly left me trailing in their wake. I didn’t mind so much, there was nothing I really wanted to hear from the trio. I wasn’t here for their company, just their connections.

A half-hour passed and we came to stand before a seedy tavern. A sign hanging askew in one window announced it as The Plentiful Flagon. I suspected that the only plentiful thing in this establishment would be fleas.

The warmth and sickly smell of the common room left me a little dizzy. The Rusty Bucket had not smelled half this bad on its worst day. I suspected that this place would only become worse as the night went on and men began drinking in earnest. As it was, the only patrons I saw were those with yellow eyes and jaundiced skin, indicative of advanced liver disease. The hollowness of their gazes was matched only by the broken aura that seemed to roll off of them. These were professional drinkers.

Raylen spoke to the barkeep, who nodded to the side. The man himself was a brute, and probably served double duty as a bouncer when things got rough. Of course, it was more than likely he was also employed by the fighting ring to watch the entrance. I didn’t envy any of his three jobs.

We descended through a trapdoor into a place that, surprisingly, smelled less foul than the tavern above. As we dropped into the earth, I began to hear something that sounded like moving water. As we drew closer, I began to realize that it wasn’t a river I was hearing.

It was a crowd.

My eyes adjusted slowly to the smoky light cast by dozens of torches which lined a large, square cage at the center of the crowd. Two barred walkways led into the cage, and the hideous roaring I heard from inside the roughly thirty square meter space let me know that there was a fight going on.

“This is great, don’t you think?” Raylen crowed in my ear, his eyes alight with a flame shared only by madmen and those suffering from heavy fevers.

I continued to watch without responding. It looked like they had captured a hellhound and were pitting it against a myisa. Hellhounds were a type of awakened dog, while a myisa was a large cobra. It’s hood had expanded to the point where, if it so wished, it could have wrapped entirely around the hound.

I heard Rylen lay down a bet on the myisa. It was certainly the larger of the creatures. I was unconvinced of its dominance though. Hellhound salivary glands can be used to make a level three frost resistance potion. I suddenly wondered if I would be able to make an oil infused with its power.

The myisa struck with blinding speed, but the hellhound leapt to the left, its red eyes blazing with fury and hunger. With a howl, I felt the telltale tingle of essence being ignited. Interesting, I had never seen a monster using essence in person before. It made sense of course, the creatures were filled to the brim with the stuff. I would have been more surprised if there were no monsters which used essence.

With a chuffing sound that rose quickly into a retching gurgle, the hellhound vomited a mass of black ooze onto the myisa. My eyes narrowed at that, I was almost sure that it would-

The myisa’s shriek was unearthly, and the crowd was suddenly more concentrated on clapping their hands over their ears than cheering. I followed the flow, keeping my eyes on the cage. The viscous material which had hit the myisa had begun to smoke. That was probably a bad sign.

I put several bodies between myself and the myisa before crouching low.

With a deafening boom, the hellhound’s vomit exploded, causing a cacophony of screeches to emerge from the front of the crowd. I counted my lucky stars that I had retained enough of my senses to duck for cover.

Remember kids, safety first in the lab. Especially when working with magically enhanced nightmares.

The clamor died down as the wounded, along with some possibly dead victims, were dragged away. The remains of the myisa were pulled from the cage as the hellhound, now sated from gorging on its victim, was herded back down the steel-clad passageway through which it had come.

“That was amazing!” Raylen yelled in my ear.

I hope you fail all of your tests.

“Where do they get the monsters?” I asked, trying to curb his enthusiasm for the blood sport.

I will admit to a certain amount of fascination with the fight, but I was more concerned with the logistics behind smuggling live monsters all the way from the Broken Lands. If the hellhound was any indication, there would be great peril posed by the monsters themselves for any captors, let alone the dangers of being caught bringing such monstrosities into the Sunrise Lands. I imagined the penalty of such was nothing short of a quick drop and a sudden stop.

I let my mind follow that thought. I hadn’t even heard a whisper of this kind of thing, yet it seemed to be an established operation, catering to the desires of certain types of people. People like Raylen. I glanced over at him as he animatedly discussed the battle with the inferno woman, whose own eyes were bright. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to end up as a babbler.

If they couldn’t bring monsters in, then the monsters were somehow appearing here. Could the Awakening be active somewhere in Aramor?

No, that made no sense. There would be reports of monsters. Lots of them. Without any adventurers in the area, there wouldn’t be anybody to keep the population down.

So that left.

No.

That would mean…

“Come on Drabby!” Raylen crowedin my ear, grabbing my arm, “I want to introduce you to someone.”

“Don’t touch me.” I said absently, pulling my arm free.

“You’ve got to meet the boss,” Raylen said, “It’s protocol.”

I was never one for protocol, but then again, I did want to make a connection. This might be just what I needed.

Raylen led me through the crowd and up to a dais which held a chair that resembled nothing less than a throne. Upon this throne sat a sickly pale man, whose frame might have been charitably compared to a scarecrow. His eyes were dark as midnight, and I got the eerie feeling that he could see straight through me. In fact, when he leveled those eyes at me, I was certain of it.

“Boss!” Raylen called, waving at the man.

A look of annoyance crossed his face as his gaze shifted from me to the young man leading me.

“I-I mean, Master Solus.” Raylen corrected, his shift in tone noticeable.

Well, that interaction was worrisome.

I took a chance on courtesy and bowed to the man, “Master Solus.”

The man inclined his head to me, then gave a dismissive wave to Raylen.

The young man started to protest, but a rather muscular man with silver eyes stepped up. He handed Raylen a small pouch. My erstwhile compatriot looked inside, his face lighting up at whatever was inside. He allowed himself to be led away after that.

“You have something you want to ask me.” Solus said, gesturing behind me, “Please, sit.”

I looked behind me, only to find that the hulking man, or perhaps another like him, had appeared bearing a simple wooden chair. I complied with his request.

“What makes you say that?” I asked, trying my best to think in two directions at once.

“Raylen is an idiot,” Solus said, “You, Ethan Dyre, are much too smart to be spending time with him without some ulterior motive. So, I ask you, what is it you want from me? I suggest that you don’t make me ask again.”

The indifference in his tone was frankly more terrifying than any amount of passion would have been.

“I was hoping to make contact with someone who is familiar with activities that might be…” I hesitated, “Less than legal.”

“It’s called crime.” Solus said, “Double talk is only interesting in stories, it just makes you sound foolish in the real world. Tell me what you want, and I will make my offer.”

“I’m looking for a monster.” I said.

He gestured to the cage behind me, “I am in possession of many monsters. Anything in particular?”

“A parasite,” I said, “It would have been brought into the city about three months ago. It infects and drains a mage of their essence until they die. The effects are worse when they ignite essence into magic.”

He leaned back, stroking his smooth chin, “What you are looking for. It’s not exactly what we would call a monster.”

“Then what is it?” I asked.

The look in his eyes made me wonder whether I really wanted to know.

“Do you know how to kill a god?” Solus asked, his eyes glinting, “Because the thing you are looking for, is nothing less than a fragment of the body of a murdered deity.”

I suddenly felt like I had been pulled into something far larger than a simple plot to exterminate a great house.

“I think I need to leave.” I said, trying to rise.

A heavy hand fell on my shoulder and Solus spoke.

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible,” He said, “It was very kind of you to deliver yourself into my hands. It saves me so much time when I don’t have to hunt people down. First, I would like to know what your association with the house of Arefina is. After that, we can discuss your peculiar affinity. I’ve always wanted to test the boundaries of a gray mage.”

With a flare of power, I drove myself up from the chair, my dagger coming free of its sheath. I spun, slashing out with the weapon, only to find it blocked by a similar weapon held by the guard. He smelled like strangely flavored earth magic.

Before I could strike again, the guard’s weapon flashed forward. I intercepted the blow. The weapons sparked for a moment, then to my utter surprise, the dagger which I had forged with my own hands and imbued with my will, shattered.

I had a moment to marvel at my own shoddy craftsmanship before something very much like a railroad spike drove itself into the back of my brain, toppling me into unconsciousness.