Scene 2 - Departure

Time passed by and the siblings were riding a carriage towards the lizard express; at this time the injuries Sol’s had healed and Dela had given Sol a loaf of bread and saw them off. A few of the siblings were laughing at how Dela treated Sol making both of them blush. Dela hurried off back to the bread store she waved her hand saying she’d come visit them later when they were settled in.

None the wiser of the siblings they were being tailed by Orin in another carriage following behind him. Seemingly both of the parties couldn't sense a hobo was also tailing them in the shadows of the back alleys. Jumping from wall to wall undetected in the middle of the day...

An hour passed in a blink of an eye; the siblings exited the carriage finally reaching their destination, the dragon express. The entrance was a grand giant black stone gateway that held a huge majestic Ironwood door.

Countless lizards were carved around the door and outer walls in a mystical formation that was pleasing to the eye. The walls stretched around for about two km in a circle, its location is inside the walls close to the east side entrance for easy access.

With no surprise, many people were lining up to the giant gates for a simple reason. For the Sectless Sect Examinations! Various hundreds of youths hung outside the doors waiting to enter inside to get a ride. Luna was a little stunned by how many people were here she remembered EmberFlake saying that a few people would be coming, but she didn’t expect think this many!

The nine got in line to wait around till the express doors opened up it seemed that it would take another hour before the dragon express opened. So the siblings waited around cheerfully talking with each other as the rest of the crowd was eerily quiet.

|M|O|U|S|E|

Orin had a plan to kill off the nine. He thought first to do it in the inn at the dead of night only to be stopped by an anonymous note that said to leave before he regretted it. The note was stuck in the ground by a knife in a show of force. He wasn’t a night type of fighter so he moved away far enough to stake out the inn; after all, he couldn’t head back after some note for fear of the elder's wrath.

Nothing really happened which made him sigh out in relief. Morning came and he decided to instead kill them in broad daylight when they decided to leave town. Unfortunately, when he saw them moving towards the east gate he knew they were trying out for the sectless sect.

Gritting his teeth he decided to bribe the owners to get on the same lizard as them and kill them lightning fast, then leave without a hitch by using one of his sandstorm scrolls.

That is until a hand came out from the alley and grabbed him without a sound; dragging him far away from where no one could hear him scream. Currently, Orin was tied up in the back alley with a knife to his neck.

If someone saw the sight they would be thoroughly shocked! A seemingly normal hobo was mugging an eight-stage heavenly body refiner. Weirdly enough outside of a two-meter range, no one could hear the man's plea for help.

The muddy filthy hobo grinned at the worm squirming in front of her,“I’d figured the Khoa would send somebody after my cute little junior's before they had a chance to grow. Didn’t I warn you not to come after them at this point? Ah... a frog who’s at the bottom of a well; I’ll make this a quick and easy since I need to get back to the hatchings.”

Orin at this point was sweating bullets as fear crept in every inch of her body at the pressure this hobo protruded had made him go stupid.

Despite imminent death but Orin tried to act tough only in hopes of surviving, “Y-y-you dare kill me, filthy women! Humph, you dare threaten the Khoa clan do you know what you're--?”

The hobo took the dagger in her hand and ruthlessly cut off his head in a flash. The man head rolled away as a pillar of blood shot out to the sky. Yet, not a drop of blood landed on the hobo who stood there stoically without remorse.

Opening up her cube of holding she took out a large vial of black liquid, pulling the stopper where a faint stench of decay started spilling out.

Tipping the bottle downwards the liquid began to fall drip by drip onto the corpse where the hobos' eyes twitched in disdain, ‘Why couldn’t I have an affinity with fire, instead I have to use this disgusting creature.’

Soon the hated noise of crunching could be heard as small teeth appeared on the ‘black liquid’ grinding into the body making a hair chilling sound of crunched up flesh and bone. Blood spilled all over the blocks as the terrifying creature kept eating piece by piece, chunk by chunk until not a speck of Orin remained.

‘Ugh Now for the worst part’, Scrunching up her nose the hobo hated the sucking noises made after all the meat and bones were consumed. As the creature sucked any and all blood soaked into the ground; not long finishing its ‘meal’ the creature rolled into a huge ball mass before shrinking smaller and smaller.

It shrank back to its original size then it lazily rolled over to the Hobo who held the face of disgust, “In you go.”

The slime-like creature entered the bottle with a grinning smile seemingly content, the hobo noticed a blood-red crystal and cube left behind the slime and picked both of them up.

“The only thing this creature is good for!”

Picking up the cube and crystal the hobo headed out without a sound back to where the siblings were waiting.