“It's only natural that the betrayer is quickly betrayed. Swift justice for my treason.”

(«^») Aurora Faelina

8E/438Y/10M/86D 4:47

I was violently woken up as I was picked up by an older man, and tossed into a cellar. I kicked and screamed, but he held me out too far for me to do anything. I fell down a flight of stairs. And was greeted by the lovely sight of an archdragon going ballistic on the chains that kept her bound. Her mouth was taped over so she couldn't scream.

The girl herself? To put it simply she looked Nightmarish. Two horns of shadow. A tail of shadow. Black scales covering her neck, and hands. Draconic claws and three horizontal, elongated scales across each cheek.

And striking black irises.

She was bleeding, and even her blood was made of wispy shadows.

She was beautiful in a terrifying way.

(«^») Iris Exurrana

The door to the cellar opened after a few hours. At first I thought it was him coming to kill me, but no he was carrying a girl. Not a weapon like I expected.

The girl was tossed into the cellar with me. She fell down the stairs and landed a few feet before me. She picked herself up and looked at me. Half in awe half in terror.

The girl had pale skin, and short white hair that faded into a deep crimson at the halfway point. She had pink eyes that glowed with soft, slow moving, small flames. She was actually quite beautiful, but the eyes were a bit offputting.

Then it hit me like the mace Reje knocked upside the head with earlier.

This was the heiress. Ciana XII.

“You're bleeding fairly heavily, are you alright..?” Her voice was gentle, slow, and worried. She softly tore off the tape on my mouth.

“I've been through much worse. That fucker will have to try harder than that to make me scream in pain like he wants.”

“I know powerful healing magic. I can help.”

I grit my teeth, I just tried to kill you, why are you helping me?! I wanted to scream at her. “These chains will nullify any magic you cast on me. I need them off. Think you can do that?”

“All I've got is this dagger… I can't promise anything but I'll try…” She took out a small, double edged, white dagger and started striking at the chain binding my hands.

The strike left a small cut. Deep enough to be quick, “It's working keep going. What's your name?”

“I… I can't tell you that…”

“I know you're the heiress. I uhh… I had a really good view during the celebration.” I averted my gaze and tried my hardest not to grind my teeth.

She sighed deeply, “Just call me Ana… I can't have others knowing who I am…”

“Same here. I don't trust anyone I've just met. I barely trust my friends. I guess that's why I don't have many, but where I come from knowing a name is enough to get you killed. For now I'm Ashebelle Levyna.” She struck the chain a final time and it broke, letting my hands free. I took out a lockpicking set, and undid all the other chains. Ana resided to the wall, hugging her knees to her chest. “Hey, what's wrong? Don't you wanna get out of here?”

She shook her head, “It's pointless… I can't fight this…” I could tell she was crying. I gave her a hard look. I wasn't about to convince her to help me.

But, I wasn't about to let her die here either.

I couldn't, no, wouldn't live with myself if I let that happen. I owed her. So I shut up and waited for her to fall asleep.

It took an hour before I was absolutely sure, but I decided to wait two more to make sure Reje and his wife were asleep.

However, in those two hours I had a visitor.

The servant I bought off at Reje’s party. Quickly, and quietly she brought me my belongings, and I assumed Ana’s as well. I was about to thank her, but she put a finger to my mouth, shushing me. She simply mouthed ‘Undercommon’ and left. She purposely left the door open. I picked up Ana in both arms and crept up the stairs.

“We're not killing either of them, Reje!” I could hear the old women's voice to my left, in the living room.

“That's the whole point of this entire ordeal!” I quickly made my way to the right, trying not to hurt or wake up Ana.

“I will not allow it!” I opened up the back door.

But, I set off an alarm. “Fuck!” I readied myself and bolted. As much as I hated to admit it, I was extremely injured. That mace blow from earlier had broken me badly. I could run off of pure adrenaline and my need to protect this girl, but I was very bad shape. And...

BAM, I was gonna be taking a few bullets in the back.

BAM BAM BAM! Three more shots, the last one hit my shoulder, and I screamed from the pain, but I kept running. I kept running.

I kept running.

I kept running because I was not going to die that day. I kept running because on my honor I owed this girl my life, both for nearly taking it, and her somehow avoiding it. I kept running because Iris Exurrana never gives up.

I could outrun Reje. I knew that. But I couldn't outrun a bullet. I ran down the street, before I started thinking a little more clearly. My lunar aura was gone. That meant I couldn't use magic. But I was fit. I had to be. I jumped a fence into the yard of one of the houses, then jumped another fence. This time I didn't land right, but I rolled right back into running. The last fence was too high, but it was made of wood, so I just broke it with my shoulder.

Finally I was out of sight of Reje. But I needed to keep going no matter how much it hurt. I needed to get into the Undercommon. As I ran I looked out for a drain on the streets. 30 feet, keep going. I pushed myself even harder. I knew he would chase even though he couldn't catch up. I got to the drain, and pulled the grate off and to the side, still carrying Ana with one arm. I jumped inside, then pulled the grate back over, and continued running.

(«^») Aurora Faelina

9:22 AM

The sun was already rising by the time we made our escape. I was awake the entire time, but I just didn't fight it. There was no point. Ashebelle kept running for about two hours until she found a rather nice looking door in the sewage system. She rapped twice with her knuckle, still carrying me over her shoulder.

A skeleton man wearing a suit opened the eye slit, he eyed me then looked towards Ashebelle. “Lethana who's this?”

“If they pull anything I'll kill them myself. However I don't think they're willing to burn us when they're not even trying run when I give them an escape route.”

“An escape route?”

“Yeah. I was caught finally. Although not by the police. We need a place to stay for now. I'm also gonna need someone to get all my shit from my house. I don't think I can walk in public right now.” Ashebelle spoke as he unlocked the door and let us in.

The room was small, but it looked like it led to other places. It was rather nice. It had crimson wood walls, a white carpet, and a kitchen and dining room with a white marble floor, counter, and table tops. There was a very long couch that took up the entirety of the wall of the lounge, in a U shape, ending at the doors. There was a holomagic tv in the middle of the room. Besides us it was devoid of people.

Ashebelle let me down softly on the couch. And collapsed on the floor.

“Don't get blood on the carpet ya’ damn heathen.” The skeleton man yelled at Ashebelle.

“Fuck off. Magic can do basically anything. Where do I find The Well? I've visited you a couple of times but I've never actually been to Vete Vonyr Exrrulae’s central point since I'm not actually a member.” The Von?! Aren't they a group of monstrous serial killers?!

“Heh, this right here? This ain't mine. I just spend a lotta’ time in here when I'm not running my little stand. This is the lounge of The Well. Just go down the hallway next to the couch.”

“Okay.” Ashe turned to me, “I'd appreciate some of that healing magic, Ana.”

I gave her a long look. This girl works with the Von… I shouldn't be here these are bad people. Right..? I thought about it a bit more. Well, she did save my life… she can't be that bad… right..? I held out my hand holding my symbol of Yofiel, and whispered a chant.

“Thanks.” I just gave her a nod in response.

(«^») 8E/438Y/10M/87D 6:08 AM

I spent most of the previous day laying on that couch doing nothing. Actually that's all I did. I didn't even eat. Or drink. I felt like I was dying.

And that's because I was.

Our world, as you know, works a bit differently than yours. In our world you can systemically break down a person's capacities into 12 numbers labeled Aura, Vitality, Endurance, Resistance, Strength, Dexterity, Agility, Intellect, Wisdom, Charisma, Luck, and Skill. There are several other capacities that are derived from these, as well as actual skills, weapon affinities, and magic. The Council of Nines even passed a law that meant you had to get your capacities measured every month to help record keeping. In our world not sleeping, eating, drinking, or being in very high or low temperatures lowers these capacities until you die. Of course it's similar to how it works in your world, but having low capacities scientifically means you die quicker than those with high capacities. Although you only die when they all reach zero. But having zero in any capacity is dangerous. Having zero in mental capacities basically makes you brain dead.

Which is what happened to me.

I could barely even process what I was seeing or feeling. Everything was just a haze

Eventually Ashebelle took notice and had to force feed me so I didn't die.

Although I still just felt dead inside.

(«^») Iris Exurrana

6:49 AM

Once I had rested, and felt assured that Reje wasn't gonna find me, I force fed Ana, and went into the The Well.

The Well was a massive underground lake, that was a bit of a hub for The Von in the Undercommon. From there you could get anywhere in the Undercommon. Every city had an Undercommon, because The Von was everywhere, and the Undercommon belonged to The Von. The Undercommon was a second home to people like me. Thieves, assassins, spies, infiltrators, information brokers, and fences. I did all of those jobs besides the last. Although, I wasn't actually a member of The Von I just took contracts from them regularly. I believed in their cause, and I was good at doing their work for them. Although I only knew The Von through A. Here I was known only as Vete Cethyr Lethana. The Silent Storm in your tongue. We only referred to each other by names like that because I wasn't lying when I said knowing a name is enough to get someone killed. And that's because The Council of Nines had been actively hunting down The Von ever since it existed. Although that's a story for another day. Here you could find anyone of the previous occupations I listed. The catch was that these people were like brothers and sisters, and they would only hurt those that were a major detriment to the people. That meant everyone in The Von looked out for each other. It also meant you couldn't put a hit on someone that was just kind of an asshole. But if you knew parents who were abusive to their children they'd jump on that contract. The one thing about being in the Von was that you had to give up half of your daily feeding vials to the treasury. And since there were well over 10,000 members of the Von that meant the treasury was immense. The reason they did this was because many people couldn't afford to pay The Von up front for their services. So, they allowed people to pay them 1,000 a day through feeding until their debt was paid off. They then paid whatever member of The Von took the contract in full immediately, through the money gathered in the treasury by taxing every member daily. This system was in place so people could get help as soon as they asked for it without going into debt, and without putting The Von into debt. The people of The Von truly do wish their services could be free, but no world is perfect and just doing good isn't viable for jobs as dangerous as mine. Prices must be paid, and that's a shame, but at least they make it easy on the people paying those prices. Working for The Von also isn't a full time job. It's something people do when they need money, or when they feel like there’s a job they need to do.

Me myself? I did it, and still do it because The Von always has and always will stand for something I believe in.

The Von also had a tier system. Each member had a rank, that ranged from one to one hundred. The lower the better, and being a tier one member meant you were the best of the best. There were also titles that defined what jobs you did like leader, huntress/hunstman, shadow, seeker, keeper, face, ace, and other more minor roles like treasurer.

The leaders were obviously the people that ran The Von. Huntresses and huntsmen were assassins. Shadows were thieves and infiltrators. Seekers were people who could find anything. Keepers were information brokers. Faces were spies. And aces were people who could do every one of these jobs, besides leader. To be a leader you needed to be a tier 1 Ace.

I was considered a tier 38 Ace. Although that's because I've spent so long working for these people that I got really good at doing just about anything they wanted to throw at me. I wasn't an actual member, but they contacted me so many times I was already basically a member. Just not officially.

Anywho, The Well. The Well was like a small town built on a shallow underground lake. It was also underneath a lake that was permanently frozen at the bottom. You could find thieves, information brokers, assassins, spies, infiltrators, fences, and anyone who did similar jobs. Like I did, this isn't a full time job, so at any given moment there were only twenty to fifty people around. Sometimes less. Although it was unlikely that there wasn't enough that you couldn't someone who could do what you needed them to.

I looked around for a man named Shax. An infernal that was one of the leaders. I found him smoking some crimson grass on the edge of the lake. He was a very old man. Hunch backed, bald, long white beard. He constantly wore a pair of aviators, an unbuttoned, floral patterned shirt, a muscle shirt underneath, some shorts, and sandals.

I sat down next to him and lit my own cigarette of crimson grass.

“What can I do for you today, Lethana?”

“I need two favors.” I took a puff of the cigarette and held it in, then slowly exhaled. “I need my belongings from my tower moved into this bag,” I patted the satchel on my side, “And I need a place to hide.”

“I see. I take it this is because of Reje and him having you assassinate the royal family?”

“How did you find out?!”

“One of our members had their suspicions about a newcomer. They brought us a message they received from Reje telling them to have you do so. We only just found out an hour ago.”

“Is that what PROJECT NEW DAWN is? I read the letter but it was all gibberish.”

“It was encoded. We decoded it and found that it's a plan for Vaelik to take the royal family's throne for themselves.”

“I guess that explains my friend sitting in the lounge…”

“When I heard about you coming to us I checked on you when I got here. Although both of you were asleep. And yes, it does. When we decoded the letters we had planned for the heiress to escape to Yn Dyr and meet up with one of our own. But it seems the member we sent her to was none other than Vaelesian General Reje’s wife, who had been presumed dead for years.”

“They played us…”

“Indeed, but you're alive and so is the heiress. So, about those favors. I'm willing to provide for you if you take the job of escorting her to Yn Dyr. After that we'll discuss more plans over our personal MCS. If you can see this through to the end I can promise you a life worth living.”

“I life worth living, huh..? All I've done up to now is survive… A life worth living doesn't sound too shabby. I'll see what I can do. By the way, one of those favors… do you have some reinforced Exana steel?”

“We have a lot of things.”

“Can I use some?”

“You are taking up one of the most dangerous jobs we've had on our hands in decades. So sure.”

“Thanks.” I finished my cigarette and made my way to a forge.

I took apart the hilt of my blade and blanketed it in vial dust and waited an hour for it to harden while I melted some of the reinforced Exana steel. I then cracked the film in half, took the sword out, then made the film a whole piece again. I poured the molten metal into a small hole in the hardened film. After the blade was still red hot, but no longer liquid, I did the hard part. I filled a long, open container with my blood, and tempered the blade in it. I then heat treated the blade, and sharpened it, giving it seven bevels. I then coated gravity tuned vial dust onto the tang, then put the wooden handle back onto the hilt.

I held the black blade up to the light shining down from the ceiling. The blade was black, with purple differentiations in color that you could only see in the light, in a pattern like that of Damascus steel in your world. It sparked with purple lightning when I ran my lunar aura across it.

I then did the same thing for the combat scabbard.

I smiled widely, letting my fangs show just a little.

If you don't know what I just did, I crafted a heroic weapon. I sacrificed a portion my total aura, and 50,000 vials to create it because I knew things were gonna get rough. Although weakening my total aura might've been a bad idea, this blade would be worth it in the long run. I was gonna permanently enchant it too, but I would do that while we were traveling to Yn Dyr which would be a long trip. It would be thirty days by sea, which was the likeliest way we were traveling.

(«^») Aurora Faelina

2:38 PM

At some point that day I found myself on the floor, still curled up in a ball, not wanting to do anything. Especially when I was in The Von’s base of operations. Surrounded by murderers and petty thieves. It was no place for me.

Eventually Ashebelle came to me and stared me down angrily on the floor.

“So ‘Ana’ you plan on preparing yourself?” Her tone was harsh. I just curled up even tighter in response. “I'm not gonna repeat myself.”

“...”

“Tch. You're really pissing me off. Do you even know what we're doing from here?”

“...”

This time she kicked me. Not full force, but enough to hurt.

“Ow!” I got propped myself up on my arm, “You don't need to be so mean and rough!”

“Old habits die hard. If I'm gonna be taking care of you, I can't pull your weight 36/7. I need you to work with me on this.”

“I… I can't…” I averted my gaze.

“You thought we couldn't escape from Reje and look at us now. Safe and fucken’ sound.”

I looked at the floor. “You work with The Von… I can't trust anyone who even associates with them… you're all monsters..!”

Her face twitched into an even deeper frown. She pulled her leg back, and I flinched.

But instead of kicking me, she kicked the wall. “Call me a monster again… I fucking dare you…” I looked up at her. Her draconic features were showing, horns and all. She really did look like a monster. Especially with eyes darker than The Void. “CALL ME A MONSTER AGAIN.” I flinched a little but I met her gaze. She was angry, but she was on the verge of crying.

“I…”

“SAY IT!” She was fighting so hard not to cry, but two tears let loose from the corners of her eyes. She huffed, and walked back into the hallway she came in from, and I heard the door slam close and splinter.

I pushed myself up to a sitting position. “I don't know what I'm doing.”

(«^») Iris Exurrana

I walked into a shooting range built into the stone walls of The Well. There were a few people in it. There was one noticeable girl using a sniper rifle. I walked up to her, “You. I need to blow off some steam. I'll be your practice dummy.”

“Exactly how will that help?”

“You'll see. Fire when I say I'm ready.”

“Are you sure about this? You look like you can take a few bullets, but this is still really dangerous…”

“I'll be fine.”

“Whatever you say. I have witnesses that know this was your idea anyways.” She nodded to the others in the range that were staring.

I didn't respond, I just walked into the range a few hundred feet. I readied my blade at my side, front knee bent, back leg stretched back, my hand on my scabbard.

“Fire!” I yelled.

The gunshot was loud. The bullet would get to me in less than a second. But me being an archdragon with inhuman capabilities could do this if I focused on total defense. The bullet was quick, but I was quicker.

I pulled the blade out of the scabbard, with enough speed to force the air in its way back, causing a short, but noticeable hard wind. I arced the blade diagonally, cutting the bullet clean in two, the two halves flying past my ear and thigh.

This. This was the reason I have my blade seven bevels. The last bevel would be very short, but have a steep angle. Meaning if I ever cut a bullet with it it wouldn't just hit me twice. I kept at it for a few minutes, trying different kinds of cuts and deflections. I put all my anger into the swings until all that was left was satisfaction with my technique. I walked back into the lounge, this time with a clearer head.

But, just because I had clear head didn't mean I still wasn't seething at those words. “Oi. You. Get up. We're going.”

“I… I can't do this…” Ana looked at me pleadingly.

I picked her up off the floor with a single hand, “I. Do. Not. Give. A. Single. Fuck. If you don't do whatever the fuck I say I'm putting a bullet straight through that dumb fucking skull of yours.” I threw her back onto the ground.

She gave me a long hard look. I could tell it was look of many mixed emotions. But at the time I didn't care. I was there to help the damn girl, and I was going to fucking help her. If I needed to threaten her to get her ass moving then so be it.

“I-”

“Shut the fuck up. Follow me and do whatever I fucken’ say, got it?”

“...”

“This gun has thirteen bullets with your name engraved on them if you don't hurry the fuck up and just do.”

(«^») Aurora Faelin

Ashebelle Levyna lived up to that name. She was a beautiful, yet terrifying storm of lightning and fire and filled with the wrath befitting of those two elements. She was driven, and willing to do anything to get her way.

At that time I still stood by my words. She seemed like a monster. She acted like one.

She looked like one.

But what she was offering me seemed like safety. She only threatened to kill me because I didn't want that safety. I didn't want anything. I just wanted to lay there and hope this all went away.

I still wanted that, but my will to live edged it out just a tiny bit more. I felt like her threats weren't empty, and I wasn't willing to test that theory.

So.

I got up, and followed her. Hesitantly. Slowly. And like a coward. But I did it. She lead me into a large metal shipping box filled with boxes of vials labeled ‘RATIONS’ and ‘WATER’.

“We're gonna be sailing to Yn Dyr. Our goal is Saela, but it's father inland, so we're sailing to Faer, and making the rest of the way by train. Once we're there we'll be discussing new plans. The sailing itself will take thirty days give or take. Try not to go insane from boredom.”

I sighed, but didn't give a response. Why does it have to come to this…