I look down a deep dark tunnel, Torika by my side. In the background I could hear the splashing of the river, boats sailing, and people talking all around. We had snuck into the river warehouse Saen told us about.

“Did you ever know about these tunnels?” I ask her.

They were still being excavated and cleared out before I left. I knew they existed but didn’t expect that we were going to move in there. She signals.

“Where were you previously?” I then ask curiously.

Torika turns and then points up to the east, directly at the castle situated in the middle of the city.

The old red division started off as something a lot more official in the government, so we were allowed to work in the castle. When some allegations about us began spreading around however, we started making preparations to separate ourselves from governmental supervision. Unfortunately, I left before we fully made the transition.

Ah, makes sense why she didn’t know where the Red Division was situated either.

I turn to the musty staircase. “Right, let’s go then.” I close my eyes, focusing Anku to the ears and then head forward. Torika as well starts dragging her fingers along the walls, closely following me behind.

We had two roles, my job was navigation. Saen said there was a very distinct sound that would lead us there. He was a little vague, so I didn’t know exactly what he was talking about, but I trusted him enough. Torika would feel the walls for any vibrations, as well as scanning around in the dark, the second she confirms the presence of a potential enemy. She will tap my shoulders once if we can go around or avoid them, twice if we need to get ready for contact.

We descend deeper and deeper into the tunnel, we will have no light. Neither of us need it anyways, and we’ll be spotted from hundreds of feet away.

As we came to our first junction, I had a concerning thought. Why is there nobody standing guard? At the very least there should be one person blocking entry, random people might stumble into somewhere they shouldn’t be.

But, that might be just what they want. Isn’t it? After all, disposable humans are hard to come by I imagine.

I lower my head and focus, closing my eyes, numbing my sense of touch, holding my breath, until I could hear a drop of water splash against the ground from hundreds of feet away.

There were a lot of footsteps, voices, the pitter patter of small animals crawling around, and…

“I hear something.” I whisper to Torika. “It kinda sounds like… A lime being squeezed of all its juice.” Saen was right, there was something strange in the tunnels. Something liquidy, something hard, it sounded a bit more harsh than simply squeezing a fruit, but it was very hard to describe.

This way, I take the junction on the right.

Which leads to a hall scattered full of doors, I feel a tap on my shoulder and immediately smoothly glide into one of the rooms, a decrepit, unmaintained space, full of cobwebs and mold. I could hear small animals scurry away as we got close. Inside each room there was a completely degraded bed-frame, and various other collapsed furniture.

What is this place? It’s like a bedroom of some sort, but… Why would they have built this? Why is it underground?

It takes me a couple seconds before realizing what these tunnels were. It’s an old shelter isn’t it? This place.

My thoughts are interrupted as I hear the juicing sound one more time, far away on the end of this hall.

A couple of footsteps pass us by, I focus on their steps, making sure they’re a fair distance away before signaling to Torika to continue moving.

We continue down the hall, bedroom after bedroom spread out before us. I’m guessing this was supposed to be the residence hall. Looks cramped, whatever this place is it doesn’t look like it’s made for the rich. Kinda reminds me of those underground bunkers back in Shesu we sometimes had to retreat to in severe sandstorms. Not that the houses were leveled or anything, but the sand that was whipped into the air was suffocating for most people, even indoors.

I continue my thoughts for a couple minutes as we walk down the hall. Despite the situation I couldn’t help but feel interested as to the origins of this place.

We reach the end of the hall and pause by the door. I could hear the sound a lot more closely now, a squishing sound, vaguely unsettling, sending shivers down my spine every time it would happen.

I glance at Torika, she was frowning heavily, almost angry looking.

I slowly tap open the door, wincing every time it creaks. However, the noise was unavoidable and there was nothing I could do.

The two of us inch through the small gap I created and then look around. It was a much larger space and for the first time I could see some illumination behind some of the doors, meaning this juncture led to some Iquen hideout spots. The two of us quickly creep behind a box, I don’t trust that there isn’t anyone behind those lights. I carefully check the noise again. Squish, squish, squish, this time I could hear the dripping of water, accompanying the noise, like droplets splashing against a puddle, and it’s… Coming from that door.

I slowly move to stand up until suddenly the entire room lights up in a blinding white.

I quickly crouch back down behind the boxes, my hand pushes Torika’s shoulder down as well.

I blink a couple times adjusting to the light, the hell is this? I could hear a loud buzzing sound from the center of the room, a blindingly bright light hanging off the ceiling illuminating the entire room.

I could suddenly hear voices as a couple of presences entered the room.

“See, when I press that switch, this thing just flips on, no fire or lamp or anything, it’s gotta be some sort of Tetsu.”

Are they talking about that white light?

“Actually we found no Tetsu involved when we took apart one of those glass ovals. Looks like it heats up a small piece of rose-metal, making it so hot that it gives off enough light to light up a room.”

“Wait, how does it heat up?”

“I’ll tell ya for a price. We worked hard to dig some of this up, can’t just give it away for free.”

“Oh come on… Fine, I’m game, how much for the schematics?”

“1400 Doons.”

“What? That’s insane!”

“You’re a businessman, you know how much potential these bring, the whole world is going to want them.”

“Nonsense, until you gather up some sense in that head of yours I will be taking my leave.” I tense up as a plethora of footsteps begin to head our way.

“Okay, okay.” The other voice says in a calming tone. The footsteps stop to my relief. “2000 Doons.” He then says.

I hear a small noise of disbelief. “You take me for a fool?”

“We are in no rush to sell these, and honestly, with some of the other things we’ve discovered, it might be possible for us to start mass production ourselves. Once that happens, I guarantee you’ll regret not taking the chance when you could.” Hey… This voice sounds familiar. It was only for a couple of minutes but…

“I can slaughter your entire little group with my army of mercenaries, from all over the world, Shesu, Zlitia, I’ve hired many who’ve gone through training in The Eye. You think you can hold anything against me?” I hear weapons being drawn. My my, I don’t think they know who they’re going up against.

“Mmh, you should have brought that army with you then.” A slow, drawn out ring of steel on steel fills the room as Roko unsheathes his blade.

I feel two taps on my shoulder, and I quickly turn to Torika.

This is our best chance to take him down, do you have your sling with you? And some balls? Torika signals.

I tap my arm guard, hidden underneath the leather was a sling I could whip out in a moment’s notice. Within my pouch, hanging off my waist were also a couple of projectiles for that sling.

Great, let me smear some blood on one of them, when you’re ready you’re going to pop out and then try to hit any part of his exposed skin. If that fails we run out and tag team him again. Are you ready?

I nod as Torika pricks her finger and douses one of my lead balls with blood. I load the sling up and listen closely for my opportunity.

From just the weight of their footsteps, I could tell that the bodyguards here weren’t going to be any help. I wouldn’t call them amateurs, but they aren’t anything special.

As expected I hear yells and cries of pain as each bodyguard goes down one by one. If I intervened here, Roko would have most likely been able to dodge due to his state of high focus during combat. I have to get him when his guard is down.

“You— Who are you!”

“Right, so do we have a deal? 2500 Doons for the technology, let’s see… And than another 1000 of those for you to walk out of here with your head attached.”

Gah, I couldn’t help but feel distaste for both of the people involved here.

“Better hurry up before something bad happens.” Roko whispers.

But hey, only one of those grudges was personal.

With a single motion, I crouch down to jump, then pop out from behind the box and whip my arm forward. The pocket of my sling snaps forward and releases the ball at the apex.

Roko’s eyes immediately snap towards my location, and from how fast he reacted, I knew immediately that this wasn’t going to work.

Roko grabs the man by his collar and swings him in front of the ball like a shield. I hear a deadly crunch as my ball smashes through his back, but I don’t pause to think about that as I’m already vaulting over the crate and rushing forward.

I stare intently at his sword, running recklessly, waiting patiently for the direction of his swing or parry. I can’t play it safe here, I have to abuse my curse here if I want to win quickly, to die and then counter the next attack with full force.

My eyes immediately lock onto a flash of metal coming from above. Roko then pauses the downward motion, flipping his grip with a brilliantly dexterous feint and then slices horizontally.

I mentally prepare myself for the immediate jump back in time and ready my Sek for a brutal rightward parry. Because of the feint, he isn’t swinging at full strength here, so I can completely overpower the stroke and knock him off balance.

Roko twists his arm, turning the blade flat.

Immediately, instead of dying, I buckle downwards, all the breath is driven out of my lungs, and a consuming shock of pain reverberates throughout my bones. as I’m slammed from the side of my ribcage, launching me far into the air.

“Yep, that little charge of yours there confirms it.” Roko looks down at my body. “You can turn back time by dying can’t you?” Roko then puts a blade next to my shoulder, turning his eyes towards Torika.

“Don’t try anything, or her arm goes.” I bite my lip as he digs his tip into my shoulder, causing a stream of blood to drip down. “That’s right, not enough to kill her, but too much for you to fix.”

How? What… He figured it out? I think deeply about the last time I fought him. I don’t think I even died once back in The Eye.

“I thought of all the people someone like you would have come up with a better plan commander.” He eyes Torika. “After all, isn’t it obvious that after Saen betrayed us, and we knew that he betrayed us to you specifically, that you would show up shortly?”

Distract him, I only need a split second. I signal with my free hand to Torika.

Okay, careful with your arm.

“So you came to us two versus one again? Didn’t you learn your lesson from last time?” I ask, trying to fidget my shoulder from underneath his sword.

“I have never once taken a fight I could not win. Only last time, I learned my lesson to never trust that stupid girl.” He leans in closer to me. “Still want to try to—”

Torika suddenly bolts forward. When going against a cautious and highly analytical opponent, she simply did the most obvious thing possible, charging straight at him.

I lean forward and push my shoulder straight through his sword creating the grating sound of muscle tearing. I wrap my free hand behind his neck before Roko has a chance to look up, then viciously drive my head into his forehead.

God FUCK! That hurts! I wasn’t used to sustained pain like this. I could handle the short bursts of pain before death pretty easily now, but this was something different.

I activate the blade on the toe of my shoe then kick upwards, forcing Roko off my body as he jumps back avoiding the stab.

I quickly stand back up, clutching my shoulder and look at Roko, who should be at least a little bit concussed right now. Should make for an easy target for Torika.

But of course he’s not.

Of course it’s not going to be that easy

In fact, he’s smiling, ear to ear, and his teeth are bloody. Having just bitten down on a pill full of blood.

“I’ve conducted exactly ninety-nine assassinations since joining The Red Division. Twenty-three of those were under your command. How exciting then, that I get to kill the former commander for my hundredth one.”