Randidly walked to the edge of the alley to get a better idea of their position. They remained in a relatively rich part of town, albeit more middle class than the mansion studded section where Drane Swacc lived. Fewer gardens, more business. A few people walked around in the nearby street, so concerned with their own business they didn’t see a Nether King in black robes poking his head out of the alley.

Randidly scratched his cheek. Part of him figured this would be easier to take off his robe to blend in with the average person, but people’s reaction last time had been just as sharp and demanding. Affiliation mattered in the Second Cohort. And without knowing what the various colors meant, it seemed like a gamble to just make a robe in a random hue.

He glanced back into the alley, where Bogart was finally groaning back to his feet. Better to leave these two here-

Randidly paused as the Nether Ritual twinged again, urging him forward. His smile became wicked as something occurred to him. Ah, of course. No wonder the new Undersecretary was so quick to agree to an agreement with a Nether King. He will be the one pushing for higher security for the upcoming events, to solidify his power. And what better excuse than a murdered merchant in the heart of Malloon to justify that? He will likely make speeches about uniting in the face of tragedy, of not forgetting joy even during the most dangerous of times.

Well, let’s see if we can disappoint him.

“The two of you are free to go. I will not hold you here. However, if you want my assistance leaving the city, and are willing to answer my questions, you should wait here until dark. I’ll return”

“We will be here, Nether King,” Demetrius inclined his aged head. Behind his back, Bogart shot Randidly a vicious glance.

Shrugging, Randidly turned away; whatever trouble they got into while he was away was their own business. He would be annoyed if they ditched him, but not too much so. No one deserved to be locked away by a Swacc.

With a light hop, he propelled his body to roof level. His feet touched the slanted, tile-covered roof and Randidly blinked. He felt a strange sense of rejection on the roof that grew steadily stronger, like the pulse of an electric fence. The feeling was actually quite unpleasant.

His eyes went to the edge of the roof; an Engraving there flared angrily, pushing him to leave as quickly as possible, lest he attract its wrath. Electromagnetic, dimensional-wall caliber resistance it was not, but it was clearly designed to grab attention.

Of course, it took Randidly all of a single moment to understand the Engraving and remove the ‘lock’ that prevented him from being accepted, even with only a fistful of Aether. He scanned the surrounding buildings, finding slight variations on the same defense in every direction. The buildings in the area were all attached to small security systems. Randidly felt vaguely impressed. Even if a defense like this wouldn’t stop someone truly powerful, it likely did a lot against mundane burglars.

For a few minutes, Randidly examined the surrounding defenses and constructed his skeleton key. Then he began to move rapidly across the rooftop, heading in the direction indicated by Drane’s Nether Ritual.

He moved from the upper-scale residential area into a shopping plaza. Wide, well-maintained roads led around a series of heavy jade statues. Along the sides were anthropomorphic badgers standing next to high stacks of raw lumber and ore, for those who wanted to buy in bulk. Through the wide windows, Randidly could see the finished products being sold within, undoubtedly at a quite hefty markup.

As he took his rooftop highway around the shopping area, the main impediment was actually a massive stadium at sat in the middle of the neighborhood. The safeguards here included actual patrols, so Randidly avoided it for now. Although he did have a slight amount of curiosity about the Hobfootie everyone talked about. He wondered what sort of field they used to play.

Plus, I wonder how these compare to what I was able to accomplish without a Class. The Aether is actually pretty dense in the memory. A smile danced across Randidly’s face as he remembered his early adventures on Expira and then on Tellus. Ah, those were simpler times.

He arrived at the target location right as the violently whirling clouds moved across the sun and dragged a screen of shade over Malloon. He padded softly across the tiles and peered down in the direction indicated by the Nether Ritual. He saw the sign ‘Esstef’s Professional Supplies’ hanging over the door. From the increasing frequency of thunder, rain would soon fall. Randidly scratched his cheek, looked down at his black robe, and prepared himself to play the role of a villain in a noir scenario.

On cue, the drizzle began to fall as he hopped down onto the street and approached the door. The storefront was well-positioned, only one street over from the stadium. An eatery advertising ‘Malloon’s Best Yam Stew!’ was directly next door and there were several high-end clothing stores featuring embroidered robes in the window display. Randidly went to knock but hesitated. The first raindrops hit the back of his neck.

He opened the door without any audible warning, jumping into the situation and hoping it would pass quickly. Perhaps he would even find the target out.

The interior was dimly light, with several high wooden shelves full of wooden trinkets, but from the back portion of the store came light. The Nether Ritual pointed toward the being behind the desk, hunched forward and writing. Randidly had found Jotem Esstef. However, he wasn’t prepared for the figure in front of him.

More than anything else, Jotem resembled a cross between a walrus and a dolphin. His skin was a soft, comfortable blue made dusky by the dim light inside the shop, with only a few candles next to him for illumination. His face looked humanoid, with a dark-haired goatee around his wide mouth. But the weirdest part was that Jotem floated in the air, utilizing an instinctual grasp of gravity to keep him aloft. His body tapered down from the torso into the tail, so he had an almost slender back half, like some sort of cosmic undersea genie.

Before Randidly could even speak, Jotem pointed sideways to a small side table. “For your valuable time. Enjoy a few humble offerings, wrought by my own hand. During this time, I wish to finish getting my affairs in order. I assume-”

He looked up halfway through his words and started; apparently, he was just as shocked by how Randidly looked as he had been by Jotem. He twisted his body behind him, his tail swishing back and forth weightlessly. The movements were almost hypnotic. “How peculiar. A Nether King, accomplishing the nefarious tasks of Drane Swacc? T'is true then, what they say. His words are naught but air. An empty, false being.”

Randidly looked over at the side table. A plate of muffins stood stiffly on an ornate plate. However, he only had to walk across to the muffins and sniff to detect the image lurking within. He pressed his lips together and looked at Jotem with a bit of annoyance. “These are poisoned.”

“A coward’s implement, sure, yet sometimes a necessary tool of the survivor.” Jotem offered a half shrug, as though apologizing for the attempt to kill him. Then his eyes went to the dusty shelves. His expression crumpled and he seemed about to cry. “As is evident by your ominous presence, other weapons have proved ineffective at escaping this fate. Seized by desperation, I will not cease struggling. Is that such a crime”

Randidly looked at Jotem but didn’t quite know what to say; the merchant was not what he had expected. The poison in the muffins wouldn’t truly give him any problems, but they looked quite stale. “What did you do to piss off Swacc, anyway?”

Jotem sucked in a breath and puffed up. “After the voting primary, I pointed out that in fact, Drane Swacc was not born in Malloon nor spent any of his formative years here. He is totally a foreigner to our city. Therefore, the number of write-ins required for him to be listed on the official ballot should have been significantly higher. A hurdle which would have had Swacc’s political ambition flopping onto its face; he lied on his application.”

Bringing his hand to his chest, Jotem said. “I would know. It was I who sponsored the malicious, spineless, grotesque-necked poison back when he was still a whelp. With an open hand, I provided a job as an assistant and gave my ringing endorsement of his work when he moved to start his own mercantile firm. And now-”

Jotem fixated on Randidly. “Now you. An angel of death, simultaneously unexpected and inevitable. Ah, the poetry inherent to your existence moves me, even now, even with my approaching demise…”

Randidly felt bemused to hear the tangential thoughts of this being while simultaneously feeling the struggles of the Nether Ritual in his left arm. It sensed the proximity and demanded immediate satisfaction. Sulfur enjoyed its tightening grip.

The floating figure swam through the air, graceful and effortless. He descended in front of Randidly and spread his arms wide. Clearly, the expectation of death had him positively swooning with emotion. “Please, no more of this dwelling; were you also required to torture me before my fire was snuffed? But as I was with Drane, I will be generous with you. I will not fight. Do your cruel work and be done with it.”

He closed his eyes. Randidly scratched the side of his nose. It was strange that this man couldn’t read the significance, which very clearly indicated nothing of note would happen in the next few minutes. He cleared his throat. “...do you have somewhere you can go? Outside of Malloon.”

The rain began to fall harder, pelting the glass windows. Thunder crackled with enough force to shake the building, even through the defensive barrier around the city. Randidly wondered how dangerous the storms were outside.

“What?” Jotem seemed confused, but it got him to open his eyes again.

Shrugging, Randidly said. “Don’t misunderstand why I’m here. Today is not the day you die if you wish to continue living. All that is required is that I get rid of you. If you have a place outside of the city… well, go there.”

His face creased with anger. Once more his body puffed up. “Here I am, baring my soul to you, and you take the time to needle me further?!? Do not give me false hope. My whole life-”

“You are an origin beast, yes?” Randidly interrupted. Based on the strange life energy he sensed out of Jotem and the easy mastery of gravity the man possessed, he felt relatively confident in this assessment. “A powerful, influential race, even if you have fallen on hard times. I have the utmost respect for you; I have received quite a bit of inspiration from your fellows. As such, I would not lie to you. All I’m required to do is get you to leave.”

The Nether Ritual on Randidly’s arm seemed confused. Its constant urgings loosened.

“Just a half-Origin Beast, but… You speak with an honest heart and tongue?” Jotem gaped at him. “This… I do have a small far only a short distance from the city. If I am allowed to live the rest of my life there- what can I do to repay you?”

“Actually,” Randidly offered a small smile. “I was hoping you would let myself-” He adjusted his initial statement based upon the Nether beings he had rescued. “-and a few others stay with you for a while. What do you say?”