-City of Towers-

[A Human Realm city, featuring primarily

white buildings, the majority of which are towers.

The prestigious School of Towers Academy is located here,

and is considered the Capital of Magic.]

It was a little before mid-day, but the City of Towers was blindingly bright. The buildings were mostly white, and most of them had several windows, so the light was reflecting brightly all over the place. Jarou was looking up and out of the window, and motioned for me to check it out too. I leaned over him and looked up through the window. From my position in the car, I couldn’t even see the top of the buildings, save for one or two.

The streets were filled with people walking around. In contrast to Tsumi’din, where there were several Hunters walking around all hours of the day, the people in the City of Towers wore all kinds of outfits, with several different colors, rather than the few colors found on cloaks.

I turned my attention from the sides of the streets to dead ahead, where there were several cars ahead of us, and more turning onto the street. Several of which were heading in the opposite direction, leaving the city. But the main thing that caught my attention was the large hill at the end of the street. I had to lean forward and down in order to see what was on top of it. On top were more towers, what a surprise. However, these towers were different. I could only see the bottoms of them, but I could tell that much. They just seemed… grander, I think it is a good way to put it.

My face must’ve shown how entranced I was by them, because Oroske turned to me and explained that it’s the School of Towers Academy.

“The school is placed at the center of the city,” he began, “though I suppose it’s more accurate to say the city is built around the school, as the school was built long before the city.”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah,” Nadred spoke up, prompting me to sit back up in my seat, “According to records, the school operated for over 100 years before the city was officially founded. Any semblance of a city that existed back then were people that decided to build housing and shops near the school so they could be in close proximity to it year-round, both for students, their families, and administrative staff. Then after several years, it got large enough and had enough of a name that the Realm’s leaders decided to officially recognize it as a city.

“Now, over a hundred years from it’s proper founding, the City of Towers is one of the most populated cities in the world, and is considered the tech and magic capital of the world.” He finished his explanation as we neared the base of the hill, “Looks like we’re just about to our destination.”

Shortly after saying that, the driver pulled the vehicle over to the right side of the road, “Here we are, Black Tower Inn & Cafe. Your total is going to be 358V,” He said flatly, “I trust you won't need any help with anything else?”

“Nope, thanks for your service,” Oroske said as he handed the driver his fare, before exiting the vehicle. The driver bowed his head and waited as we all exited, driving away shortly after.

Despite the name “Black Tower Inn & Cafe,” there was no black to be seen on the building. At least, on the outside there wasn’t. Inside however was a primarily black and brown interior. The floor had black and white tiles, matched elegantly with the sleek black walls, which had a brown marbled look to them. Dead ahead of the door was a simple desk, made of dark brown wood. Standing behind it was a young man with spiky, light-blue hair, wearing a neat black suit with a vibrant red tie to contrast. His eyes matched his hair with a piercing gaze, and had a very casual, unguarded smile.

“Welcome to the Black Tower Inn & Cafe,” He greeted us with a small bow, crossing an arm over his abdomen, “How may I assist you, fine Hunters?”

“Are there any Hunter suites open?” Nadred asked.

“Yes, sir, there is one left, with a total of six beds. Will that be alright?”

“Of course, we’ll be having one other join later so that’s perfect.”

“Wonderful,” the clerk said as he opened up a drawer in the desk, fishing out a key, “Your room is on the sixth floor, on the East side, very back of the hall with the rest of the Hunter suites.

“I take it you’ve been here before but current guests get a discount at our in-house, award winning cafe,” he explained, gesturing to an adjacent room with several chairs and tables, “And if you need anything from us, please don’t hesitate to let us know!”

“Thank you,” Oroske said to the man before turning to the rest of us, “Shall we grab some food at the cafe before we head up to the room?”

We all agreed and moved over to the next room. The decor in the cafe was similar to the lobby, but with dark oak planks making up the floor. It was elegant, yet very comfortable. The lighting was a little dimmer as well, setting up a very relaxed mood. As a group we wandered up to the counter, with a young girl standing behind it, but in front of the menu. She had short, silky white hair, cat-like ears poking through at the top, which confused me, I hadn’t seen anything like that before. She didn’t have regular ears on the sides of her head at all, which led me to believe those just were her ears. She had her back turned to us initially, turning around when Oroske greeted her, revealing kind, mesmerizing blue eyes. Despite her ears, her eyes had rounded pupils.

“Ah welcome, Hunters,” She returned the greeting, “What can I get for you all today?”

“Any ideas what you want, Kuro?” Oroske asked me.

I looked at the menu, unsure of what all my options were, “No clue, honestly. What would you recommend?”

He laughed a little then returned his attention to the lady behind the counter, “We’ll take two coffee biscuits, two large coffees, black, a water, and two of your hot sandwiches of the day.”

“Today’s sandwich goes really well with the daily soup as well, would you care to try that at all?” She asked sincerely.

“Hmm,” Oroske thought about it for a minute, “Sure, we’ll take one bowl. And that’ll be it for us two. Nadred, Jarou, order whatever you want, it’s on me today.”

“Oh, well that’s kind of you,” Nadred prodded Oroske with his elbow, “I’ll take you up on that. I’m just gonna get the same thing, one coffee biscuit, one daily sandwich, and a bowl of the daily soup.”

“I’ll get the same!” Jarou chimed in.

“Alright! Your total will be 1,830V,” she declared. Oroske pulled out the keys to our room and presented them to her. “Oh I see, let me run that discount real quick… Okay, your new total is 1,460V.”

Oroske fished out a bunch of coins from his small bag, and placed them on the counter. The lady counted out the coins then said, “Wonderful. Go ahead and have a seat, I’ll call for you when your order is ready!”

We went over and found a table next to a window that looked out into the street. As was the case when we entered the city, there were people all over the place walking around. Despite this, the cafe was mostly empty, only one other table had a single person at it, surrounded by a stack of thick, hardcover books, and several pieces of paper, which the man was poring over, occasionally writing something on one of them. “Looks like a student, probably attending the School of Towers.” Nadred said. When I asked how he could tell, he said the white and red robe he was wearing was a traditional outfit for mage apprentices in the Human Realm.

“Interesting,” I muttered, then spoke up properly, “Why didn’t they give us a price for the room we’re staying in?”

“Ah that, very astute of you to notice,” Nadred began his answer, “Several years ago, a group of Hunters took on a high-profile target that had been targeting this institution. Actually, Oroske, you were there right?” He nodded and gestured for Nadred to continue the story. “The short version is that after the target had been taken care of, the owner of the Inn & Cafe came to Tsumi’din and made a deal with Danfis where he would set up a handful of rooms to be specially reserved for Hunters. These rooms would be free as well, and the only thing he asked for from us is that any requests he puts in gets special priority. As far as I’m aware he hasn’t put any in for a long time though.”

“Correct,” Oroske finally spoke up, “A bit more context, we saved him and his daughter’s lives. There is also the extra stipulation that as long as there are rooms available we use this place as our base in this specific city. Not that everyone follows that ‘rule’ of course.”

Just as he finished that statement under his breath, the lady called out, “Hunter group! Your order is ready.”

“That’s my queue.” Oroske got up and walked over to the counter to pick up the food. As he did, a large group, dressed in the same or similar robes to the other student, piled in through the door. Some of the group looked only a little older than me, but others looked like they were closer to Nadred and Oroske’s age, and the rest were somewhere in between.

They were also loud. Like, really loud. They were all talking, and by that I mean they were practically shouting over one another, but I couldn’t make out a single sentence from any of them. They all started clamoring over the poor lady as soon as Oroske had left the counter with the food tray. It looked like she called out to someone in a back room, quickly answered as a man with whiskers and long, brown hair tied into a bun ran out and helped take orders.

“Glad to see this place is still popular with students,” Nadred said with a chuckle as Oroske approached.

“Good for business, annoying for us,” Oroske said as he placed the tray down, eyeing what everyone got and making sure it matched up with where everyone was sitting, before finally sitting down himself.

He handed me my soup, sandwich, a biscuit and a large cup with a liquid that was such a dark brown it almost looked black, as well as another cup with just water in it. He then gestured for me to dig in whenever I wanted, and began eating his own.

I decided to cautiously try a bite or sip of my different entrees.

The soup was simple yet very savory, small chunks of meat added to the flavor nicely. The sandwich had thin slices of a few different kinds of meat, some melted cheese, and a small variety of sauces that complimented the meat well. I saw Oroske dip his in the soup, and I decided to try that myself as well. It was delicious, the soup really enhanced the flavor of the meats.

Next up was the biscuit. It was bitter, yet sweet. Neither side of the flavor overpowered the other. I decided to try dipping that in my soup as well. It was good, but I think I preferred it just on its own.

The coffee was nothing but bitter. I must have made a funny face when I took my first sip, not expecting the powerful bitter flavor, as Oroske laughed at me. “Too bitter?” He asked, to which I responded, “No it’s good, I just wasn’t expecting that flavor, or that strong of bitterness.”

It seemed like it wasn’t Jarou’s first rodeo with a lot of these things, as he had very little reaction to any of it, other than occasionally just savoring the soup and sandwich.

The rest of the meal was eaten in relative silence.

As I finished up my food, I remembered I wanted to ask about the lady’s cat ears.

“Oh that?” Nadred started quizzically, “It’s actually a bit more common than you’d probably expect. She’s what’s called an Aeth’en. They come about when pregnant mothers are exposed to excessive amounts of aether during their pregnancy. Are you familiar with Beastification?”

“Doesn’t sound familiar.”

“Figures, I know I didn’t teach you and I’m sure Oroske wouldn’t,” he joked, eliciting a sigh from Oroske, “Part of this is a warning for you, and all magic users for that matter. People are still doing lots of research into why this is, but upon using an excessive amount of magic, or rather, having an excessive amount of aether pass through you, the part of your body that is active, or having the aether pass through, will take on animal-like qualities. You’ll know when you’re about to hit the limit, as it’ll feel like your body can’t handle any more.

“It is a blessing and a curse if this happens to you though, as beasts, and therefore body parts that have undergone Beastification, have larger passthroughs and a higher capacity for aether. It’s a curse though, because if you don’t stop immediately after, and don’t get it treated properly, you’ll have permanently transformed that part of your body, losing any humanoid function it had. What kind of beast you acquire changes person to person as well. Some people get lucky and still have opposable fingers and thumbs, most do not however.

“And so, that brings us back to the Aeth’en. By having a mother exposed to excessive amounts of Aether, they can cause Beastification to happen while the child is still in the womb. They typically only inherit a handful of features from the beasts however, and it’s rare they impact their humanoid features. Like for example our kind lady behind the counter, she inherited the ears of a feline, and probably a couple other features, but she’s still distinctly Human. Aeth’en do have a bit of an unfair advantage, however. Due to having beast traits from birth, they also get the higher capacity for magic and aether. Not quite as much, and they can still go through Beastification in other parts of their bodies, but they do get a natural boost.”

And thus ended Nadred’s long lecture on the Aeth’en. Apparently, one of the students from the large group had been listening in. Wide eyed he stared at Nadred. He couldn’t have been much older than Jarou and I, and had deep blue eyes, contrasting long, vibrant red hair, tied in a high ponytail behind his head. “You know a lot about Aeth’en, huh? Where did you learn all of that?” He asked. That’s when I noticed he had a distinct lack of human ears, rather, he had flaps like a dog’s ears.

“I’ve bought just about every publicly released book the School of Towers has released, on just about every subject,” Nadred said with a chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck.

The boy's eyes lit up, “That’s incredible! I’ve only just started learning the history of the Aeth’en, it’s actually why I decided to go to the Academy.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” Nadred nodded with his eyes closed, “The Academy has incredible amounts of knowledge and information.” He sighed, “Oh, if only they accepted Half-Demons. I’d love to attend properly and study all their exclusive information.”

The boy nodded in solemn agreement, “Rumors have it they’re looking into accepting Demons and Half-Demons soon, but a lot of people doubt it.” Someone from the group of students shouted from the other side of the room, catching his attention. “Ah, looks like I got to go. Maybe I’ll see you all around!”

As he ran back to his fellow students, Nadred commented, “Nice young man.”

Oroske clapped his hands and declared we should clean up our meal. Once we were finished, we decided to head up to our room.

As we were passing through the lobby, however, Oroske stopped. “Actually, Nadred, Jarou, you two go on ahead. I’m gonna do a little rumor investigating with Kuro, show him how it goes,” he said as we all stopped and looked back at him.

“Oh, good idea,” Nadred affirmed as Oroske tossed him the keys, “We’ll see you guys in a little bit then.”

We watched as the two went up the stairs in the hallway connected to the lobby. As they left eyesight, Oroske turned to me, “So, first off, let's ask the desk clerk if he’s heard anything.”

He patted my back, pushing me towards the desk. I turned to him, not really sure what he wanted me to do, and he just gestured that he wanted me to take the lead. I nervously approached the desk where the clerk was reading a book. He must’ve seen me approach from the corner of his eye, as he looked up at me and asked what he could do to help me. “W-We had some questions to ask you,” I stammered out, looking back at Oroske, not really sure what questions I needed to ask.

“Sure, what’s up?” He asked casually.

I hesitated for a moment, then Oroske took the lead. “We were curious if you’d heard any rumors involving a Restless at the old city library?”

“Ahh, yeah I’ve heard some stuff, mostly in passing though. My older sister is obsessed with stuff like that,” the clerk laughed, “I don’t really know anything specific, but supposedly she heard from someone who heard from someone who saw a cloaked figure go inside the old library a couple days before the rumors really started. A lot of misfortune has befallen the people who’ve gone near there since then as well, typical ghosts and curses. Pretty sure someone got attacked the other day by something the other day. That’s pretty much all I know though. She’s at school right now, but my sister will probably stop by here on her way home, could ring your room so you can talk to her if you’d like.”

“That would be great,” Oroske said, hand on his chin like he was deep in thought, “Thank you, this information will be very helpful.”

“Of course, glad to help out,” the clerk said, his tone equal parts casual and solemn, “My boss isn’t the only one with debts to the Hunters.” That last part was under his breath, I almost didn’t hear him. He returned to reading his book. I was curious what he was reading, but the hardback cover was plain black, and if there was a title I couldn’t see it.

Oroske guided me away from the desk, then asked me what I made of the information as we walked.

“It reminds me a lot of the reports we got during the Training Hunt. But this one seems a lot more violent,” I commented, I wasn’t really sure what else to think.

“Indeed,” Oroske conceded, “Not all Restless are violent, but most of them are. There is one piece of information that is most interesting, any guesses what it is?”

I thought for a minute, going through everything that was said. “The cloaked figure going to the library, I guess?”

“Bingo. Odds are that’s our true target, a Necromancer,” He said as we began our ascent up the stairs.

“What exactly are Necromancers, anyway? Like, why are they such big targets for us?” I had meant to ask for a while, but never really had a good chance to.

“Necromancers are people who try to bring people back from the dead. This usually results in Restless showing up, due to them struggling to reunite body and soul. As for why they’re such major targets for us, part of it has to do with them treading on our territory, part of it is due to our agreement with the Guardians, and the last part is easier to explain once you’ve seen it for yourself. Which hopefully you’ll see soon enough.”

“I’ve gathered that they’re important people, but who exactly are the Guardians?” Another question I should have asked a long time ago.

“Let’s see, what’s the best way to explain…” He began thinking, “The simple explanation is that they’re the current Gods. Or I suppose they’re just the Gods of our world in general. They’ve got a weird, complicated history that spans to before the creation of Spire. They were around at the very beginning, stayed around for a long time, suddenly disappeared for several hundred years, and reappearing in new bodies near the end of the Grand War. After working together to end the war and bring peace, they’ve taken an active role in ruling this world. While both Realms have their own rulers, the Guardians rule over both Realms, keeping the peace to the best of their abilities. They’re also the only people Danfis has to answer to, and the people who gave the Clan their power and position.”

That last part had a hint of some very complex emotions, I couldn’t quite separate all the parts of it.

“If you ask me, the less involved you are with the Guardians, the better off you are,” He continued, “They may protect the world as a whole, but on the level of individuals they’re nothing but trouble makers.”

It seemed like he had personal experience, but I decided not to push him for details. Part of that was because we were finally on the sixth floor, and the other part was because it didn’t seem like the time to ask him.

We wandered on over to our room, and were greeted by Nadred and Jarou.

The room had a simple layout, when you walked in you had the kitchen immediately to your right, which featured a bar accessible from the dining area, which was just ahead. The far side of the room was a living space, with comfy looking chairs and a large couch, and featured a large window that looked out over a park. The green from the plant life was a nice break from the white. Speaking of color, the room switched back from black and browns to mostly white and greys. Then on the left wall were three doors, all of which led to identical bedrooms, each with two beds, and a large, floor-to-ceiling window that had an incredible view of the School of Towers. Opposite the bedrooms was a single bathroom, with all the facilities you would need.

After looking around Oroske and I reported our findings with the clerk, he gave me the lead, insisting it’ll be a good experience for me to know how to give reports and gather information, and the sooner the better.

After the report, we decided to bunker down for the night and prepare for tomorrow, as that’s when the Hunt truly begins. We had dinner ordered from the cafe, conveniently brought up to our room, and passed the time making small talk. Oroske and I also did a bit of passive magic training, as well as some very light workouts. Then, an hour or so after it got dark, we decided to turn in for the night, as we would have a very early start the next day. Jarou and I took the room closest to the entrance, while Nadred and Oroske both took their own rooms.

---

In the middle of the night, a few hours after we all fell asleep, I awoke to the sound of a door opening, followed by hushed talking. Curious, I slipped out of my bed and wandered out. Cautiously opening the door, my eyes strained as they adjusted to the light that was pouring in from the living area. Once my eyes adjusted, I was able to see Nadred sitting in a chair under a lamp, with a book closed around his thumb, supporting his jaw with his other hand as he leaned on the arms of the chair.

In front of him was the source of the current hushed voice, with crimson red hair, long and tied in a mid-height ponytail, the excessive draping over their shoulders. They also had very tall, bunny-like ears. They were also just tall, very tall. They were dressed in a black tank-top, jeans, and combat boots. Their presence was very intimidating, I could sense they had immense power, and a commanding aura.

Just as I decided to move closer, the far door opened up, the room Oroske claimed. He walked out, rubbing his eyes, stopping dead when he saw the person in front of Nadred. “I was wondering who would be talking out here,” he commented, “You’re early, wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow morning.”

The person turned around, stopping her gaze on me for a second, then moving to Oroske, “Yeah, yeah, I got here early and didn’t want to have to find some place to stay until morning, and not like I could do any work this late anyway.” Her voice matched her mature face. “And hello Oroske, and you too, Kuro. Though from what I’ve heard you probably don’t remember me.”

I was shocked she knew who I was, and even more shocked that she acknowledged my presence like that.

“Sorry for waking you guys,” Nadred apologized as I moved into the room, “We were just getting caught up. Kuro, this is-”

“Mom? What are you doing here?” Jarou asked, sounding like he was still half asleep, and very shocked. He drowsily walked over to the stranger and gave her a hug, which she returned.

Nadred chuckled as he continued, “As I was saying, this is my wife, Kared.”

“Nice to meet you again, Kuro,” She said as her purple eyes pierced into mine, her gaze gentle, yet undeniably intimidating.