“Are we ready?” I asked the three in front of me.

Cerila, Sylvia, and my mother all nodded their heads, and with that, we put our hoods up and made our way into the nighttime storm that blanked the entire city for a third day in a row. The night was still young, and even though it was raining heavily, the city was not yet asleep.

The amount of rain was surprisingly not putting much of a burden on the city as people of all different races moved from one open store, bar, or inn to another. Some were drunkenly mucking about, others laughing, holding onto each other and their drinks, still celebrating from the tournament a few hours before.

From what I was told, rain storms like the current one were common around spring, so the people of Flumare and apparently the tourists were used to it for the most part. The city itself also had an expansive drain network that forced the excess water back out to sea, and it showed no signs of bursting.

This amount of rain reminds me of Owlkirk. Around this time of year, the rainy season would have already come to an end.

Regardless, having people outside was to our benefit as we needed to blend into the crowd, especially considering our group was… eye-catching, to say the least. Our objective was to meet our first of Lin’s informants at a small general store in the center of one of Flumare’s market districts, as we had an illegal auction to raid.

We would get another location as well as a chance to evade anyone tailing us. Not that anyone would be getting past the four of us so easily, but one could never be too careful. After all, Lin was putting her neck and the neck of people on the line to include us. She was not obligated to do anything for me, yet she didn’t hesitate to assist me whenever I asked her. The least we could do was follow some simple orders.

“This rain is starting to piss me off,” Sylvia grumbled underneath her cloak.

“I think it will clear up by tomorrow,” Mom answered casually.

“What? How do you know that?” Sylvia asked.

I turned my head and watched as my mom put a finger to her chin and looked up at the dark sky. “It just will. You can tell because the rain is less intense today.”

I stared at the rainy street and up into the sky. The droplets were thick as they pounded against the stone road in rapid succession. I had no idea what my mother was talking about, and as I shared a glance with Sylvia, she seemingly agreed with me.

Cerila signed.

Even Cerila thinks that? Is that some Beastmen biology at work? I don’t know…it looks and feels all the same to me. Would it be different if I was in a forest or jungle, I wonder?

I signed back.

Cerila smiled back at me as Sylvia just rolled her eyes. There wasn’t much else to talk about as we arrived at the general store. It was a simple shop; nothing stood out, and it fit right in with everything else around it.

The lights were still on inside, and we walked in just in time as what seemed to be the last customer walked out. The building was small, all things considered. Just a counter with shelves behind it carrying things such as meat, salt, and any other daily necessities a family might need.

The middle-aged Human woman behind the counter smiled at us and, without so much as a word, walked past us and locked the door. I raised an eyebrow at her, but she just smiled back.

“Shouldn’t you confirm our identities?” I questioned.

“Oh, but you already have. That pin is the sign,” she said, pointing to the small silver flower that Cerila had pinned on her chest.

Huh, so that’s why one of Lin’s assistants just randomly came over and gave that to Cerila. That would have been nice to know.

“Also, changing four people's facial and body appearance would be very difficult. And changing it to look like you and Ms. Sylvia would be even more of a challenge,” the woman added with a smile. “But please, come with me.”

We all gave each other a quick look and nodded, following the woman into the back of the store. She led us to what was essentially a pantry that could barely fit two people in it and motioned for us to crowd in. It was, as it looked, uncomfortable.

“I apologize for the tight fit, but please bear with it, as it will only take me a moment. Please change your clothing in the passage and head out the other way. Oh, and don’t forget to check the map to see where you should go next,” the woman said with a wave.

With that, the door shut, there was the sound of something sliding away within the walls, and the back of the pantry slid open, revealing a small passageway.

“A hallway between the buildings? What kind of people are we meeting exactly, Kaladin?” Sylvia asked me as we stepped into the new path.

Mom wrinkled her brow and narrowed her eyes. “Assassins or spies. Probably both.”

Cerila asked her.

A faint and not-too-happy smile spread across my mom’s lips.

I confirmed nothing, as was promised. I told my family that the information and the informants were all to be trusted. They were hesitant to blindly trust someone they had never met, but in the end, because they wanted to come with me, they agreed to follow me there without asking too many questions.

We set to changing our clothes. And by changing our clothes, we just took off the outer garments like our robes, and switched to something else. We also made preparations to hide our faces amongst others.

Sylvia let her hair down that was tied up in her hood as she donned a rugged brown one instead. The purple and black obsidian hair she always had was gone and was instead all black now. She hid her face with her old damaged mask, which she also painted white just in case.

Cerila was next, and she went through much of the same motion as Sylvia. Her long snow-white hair was dyed to a reddish brown, and she wore a black cloak to cover her armor, sword, and body. She looked over at me and twirled her brown hair around her finger.

she signed.

…

I responded instantly and set back to changing my robe.

The three of them stopped moving for a moment, and I looked back to find them just staring at me. They all wore an expression as if they had stepped in horse droppings or something. Even Sylvia and my mother looked at me as if I was an idiot.

Did I say something wrong? They asked my opinion, and I gave an honest answer…It’s true that I find Cerila to be more beautiful with her natural hair color. What’s so wrong about that?

Sylvia turned to Mom with a frown and asked, “Did he get this from you or his dad?”

“From both of us, sadly…” Mom said with a sigh.

“Just… I don’t know, hurry up. We’ve got people to see, and we still have a lot of walking to do,” I muttered quickly.

Sylvia stood off to the side as I fashioned my makeshift visor to my face. It was less than ideal, but I needed a way to hide my eyes without hindering my vision. It made me miss my old mask, but I came up with a temporary solution as well as a trial run.

I had Padraic do some work for me and attach straps to a piece of the green crystal I found in the dungeon and had the Dwarves investigate. They poured the acid from a Red Slime monster onto one side, and it essentially made a nearly perfect visor, leaving one side visible through the other.

The crystal was heavy and uncomfortable, and strapping it to my face with a few strips of leather and a buckle was less than ideal, but…it worked. My face from my top lip and eyes were wholly covered, yet I could see just fine. My sense of smell was hindered, and breathing through my nose would be a problem, but that was fine for the time being.

I kept my hair braided and tied up, and put on a black half-mask to cover my neck and lower face. I brought my hood up and pinned my hair to it so it wouldn’t fall out. The soft fabric of the hood tickled my ears, and it sent chills down my spine that made me want to crawl out of my skin, but…I just didn’t have a choice. I would have to deal with it for a few hours.

Cerila also wore something similar to me but opted to leave her eyes exposed. With that, we were ready. I turned my attention to my mother, who got ready in silence. She was wearing the flowing fabric outfit I had seen when we were reunited again, but it was dyed in all black now.

The outer layers made it difficult to discern where the clothing started and her body ended. It felt like she was lost in that wispy material, and every time she moved or adjusted something, it was difficult to see her movements. It felt like an extra hand with a knife would slip through the clothes and attack me at any moment.

The Lighting Witch of Tel’an’duth has made a return…sadly.

I honestly wished my mother didn’t have to go to such lengths. I knew she hated it, but she felt obligated to help me, not as a client or her master but as her son. And I wouldn’t turn her away. I don’t think I could turn her away even if I tried.

I let out a deep breath and looked at the wooden wall. Pinned to a board was a map with four markers on it and three of the silver flower pins. Sylvia, my mom, and I took our pins, and we made a note of where we would have to go. Once we were ready, I burned the map, and we continued down the hall.

We would separate here, go through a few more of these checkpoints, and rendezvous with Lin at the actual meeting place. A part of me did feel that this was all a bit too convoluted and unnecessary, but maybe this was just what assassins and spies had to do in order to keep themselves safe. I wouldn’t know if that was the case or not. My job in my previous life and in this one was much different after all.

—

After going to two more safe houses and out another entrance, I was finally given the final destination to meet up with the others: an inconspicuous inn on the outskirts of the city. The entire time, I was sure to be wary of anyone trying to tail me, but I never did notice anyone or anything out of the ordinary.

Like clockwork, the four of us arrived at the backdoor of the inn within a minute of each other. The inn was located just outside an industrial area that was strong with the pungent smell of fish that seemed to seep into the wood itself. The inn was also bustling with patrons as the loud voices seeped from the closed windows.

The rain pelted me as I walked up to the door and gave it a solid knock. A small wooden hatch opened up at about eye level. The swirling brown eyes gave us a quick once over, looking directly at our flower pins, then shut the hatch. After a few seconds of removing the locks on the other side, we were let in.

It was another narrow hallway, but on the other side was a door, plenty of voices, and the jingling of coins. The smell of fish and alcohol was strong, but that wasn’t our desired location. Without missing a beat, the guard that let us in dragged his hand across the side wall and pressed into it.

A piece of the wall depressed in, and a false door opened up, leading elsewhere. The man gave us a curt nod as the voices from inside called out to him. He screamed back at them, telling them it was nothing, and once we stepped inside, he closed the door behind us.

Now, all we had to do was head down into the gloomy tunnel. The wooden walls of the inn gave away to bare stone that was perfectly cut into. The job was clearly done by a group of earth mages, as there were no signs of tools digging into the earth.

“All these dark tunnels and going into suspicious places…I really don’t like this,” Sylvia grumbled,

“You can always turn around and go back home,” I offered.

Sylvia clicked her tongue. “As if. I didn’t spend all that time just for nothing. And the last time I left you alone…you did some idiotic things,” she said with a glare.

I smiled wryly behind my mask as the sounds of people shuffling around reached my ears. Everyone else also heard it, but we made no moves for a silent approach. After a minute or two of walking, we came out of the tunnel into a large underground clearing.

Armed men and women wearing all black, head to toe, were moving boxes and stacking them. Many of them stopped what they were doing and watched us not out of fear or caution but just curiosity. It appeared that they knew our group was coming.

But there was a problem…

A sudden burst of bloodlust exploded out from behind me as my mother walked in front of us. Her golden eyes glared at the assassins and spies of Lin’s family with silent, cold hatred.

“The Emperor’s Hands. To think the new royal family didn’t purge your group,” Mom growled in a low voice.

Sure enough, the only common thing about any of the masked people was the crudely drawn hand on them. Some had it on shoulder pads, other breastplates, or a cape. It was the only identity marker.

Lin’s group, who seemed peaceful at first, began reaching for swords, knives, or whatever weapons they had on hand. I was about to break things up when a large man came out from the opposite hallway. His shoulders were broad, filling out his black leather and chainmail outfit, and he strode forward toward us without fear.

“The Witch of Tel’an’duth lives. How fascinating,” the man commented nonchalantly.

Wait…that’s…his face is hidden, but his eyes, yes…that’s Lin’s uncle, no doubt it.

Cerila asked.

Mom signed quickly.

Lin’s uncle cleared his throat, and our eyes met each other. He nodded at me, and I nodded back.

“We are no longer the Emperor’s Hands, but we are The Hands of The King now. What about you, Witch of Tel’an’duth? Do you still serve your emperor?” he asked.

Mom let her hand fall to her side and straightened her back, her bloodlust decreasing to a more… comfortable degree. As comfortable as a War God’s bloodlust could be, that was.

“No, I only live and die for my family now,” Mom answered back instantly.

“Then there is no need for this. We are on the same side, right?” he questioned as he looked toward me.

I simply nodded, and the tension in the room abated. A few people let out sighs of relief, and they went back to their work, albeit with a lot less curiosity for us.

“Follow me. I’ll take you to our leader,” Lin’s uncle said.

Cerila nudged me as we walked, a frown on her face and her nose wrinkled.

Oh? If the Paine family was a household of doctors, I’m sure they would have access to interesting reagents. Amongst them would be something that tricks the nose of a Beastmen, even when they are this close.

I assured her.

The path to Lin was not far, and that small conversation was enough to fill the time, but Lin’s uncle stopped us before he opened the door.

“Just the Dragonslayer. You three must wait out here,” he said.

“I’m not leaving—”

I placed a hand on my mother’s shoulder and smiled, although she couldn’t see my face. “It’s fine. It will only take a moment. We’ve made it this far, right? I told you that I trust these people. Or I should say that I trust him and their leader.”

Mom gave me a troubled look but nodded reluctantly. “Okay…”

Lin’s uncle closed the door behind me, not following me in. The room on the other side was a small square, with exposed rock on either side and a wooden desk that did not match the atmosphere. Sitting behind it was a woman in all black, working on paperwork. A hood was drawn over her head, but for some reason, where there should have been a face, there was nothing but empty blackness.

“That’s an interesting dungeon item,” I commented.

I couldn’t see her eyes, but I did feel her gaze. “Yes, it’s quite handy, isn’t it? Can you even tell what race I am?” a garbled voice asked me.

“No, not at all. Just that you are a woman, and well…your voice is interesting as well,” I said as I sat down in a chair on the opposite side of the table.

“Another dungeon item. These two, in conjunction, make it nearly impossible for people to identify me. It’s a shame we can’t replicate them,” Lin said as she took a ring off her finger and pulled the hood off, revealing her face.

“It’s probably a good thing there isn’t an entire organization running around with that,” I said with a chuckle as I looked around the room. “This operation is more in-depth than I originally anticipated.”

Lin smirked and rolled her eyes. “Contrary to your belief, my family and I aren’t your personal information broker. We do actual work most of the time. Things like this are what we specialize in.”

“Rounding up undesirables and executing them in the dead of night without a word?” I teased.

Lin grunted and waved her hand, standing up from her chair. “You already know how it is. And since you already know, we need to get started. We have some exciting evidence to find, right?”

“We do indeed.”

—

The plan was so simple it was dull, which was perfect as I had no intention of suffering a painful loss. A dull, effective plan was better than a flashy, dangerous one.

The Paine family assassins were deeply ingrained in this underground auction and have orchestrated all of this from the start, and we are just hitching a ride on their coattails. Sylvia and Cerila would be a part of the assault group and would breach the auction with the assassins. It was a brutal job as the Paine family was not taking prisoners. These people would not be tried in a court here in Luminar or anywhere else. They were to be executed in the dead of the night.

I tried to get those two just to wait outside and catch stragglers, but they both refused. I suppose there was no point in trying to baby them. Both of them have already taken the lives of others. I just wished it didn’t have to be that way, even if it was nonsensical and selfish.

My mother was also asked to join that squad, but she vehemently refused, saying she would infiltrate with Lin and me as we would be going through a secret entrance that led directly to the holding area for all the auction items. And that was where we found ourselves, moving through a one-person-wide tunnel in the darkness.

“We are here. Everyone beyond this is an enemy and a criminal. Aim to kill, not capture,” Lin’s distorted voice said quietly.

We stepped out of an illusion that was hiding the hidden passage and into a dark box. As planned, I took three steps in and kicked forward, crushing a wooden piece of wood to dust. The room was quickly illuminated by torches, and a group of three men, sitting atop some boxes playing cards, looked at us in pure confusion.

“There shouldn’t have been anyone here…seems there are slackers wherever you go,” Lin grunted as she fired an arrow directly into a man’s head.

The other two barely managed a scream as my Earth Lance pinned him to the far wall, and the second one died from a lightning-clad throwing knife to the heart. They were small fry, and they were dead in a matter of moments.

“I’ll go on ahead and secure the entrance,” Mom said as she dashed off, darting between the stacked boxes and out of sight.

“Your mother is really scary, Kaladin. If looks could kill, she would have stabbed me in the back at least a hundred times,” Lin said in English with a deep sigh.

“Try not to hold it against her. She has been fighting your family for what seems like hundreds of years, and she is just worried,” I explained.

“Aye, aye…now, where is that manifest,” Lin said with a shrug as she led me to the front of the room.

Stuck to the wall was a long sheet of paper with various things written on it. Lin snatched it away and began pointing at things.

“We had to keep the manifest a secret as many people didn’t want to disclose what they were selling until the final moment so as not to get robbed, so this is my first time seeing it, but…there are a few items of interest. Come on, let’s go check out the first section,” Lin said with a wave of her hand.

Lin mumbled a few things to herself as we walked through the storage room. The building was packed wall to wall with crates, bins, chests, anything and everything that could store something. Lin pointed to a dark wooden chest with her finger.

“Check in there. It’s from a Tel’an’duth noble. It’s supposed to be some powerful dungeon items with unknown powers,” Lin explained.

My spear appeared from thin air, and I broke the chest’s lock and peered inside. It only took a cursory glance with my Dragon eye to understand the content’s value.

“Nothing, they are all fakes. Not even a dribble of mana resides in them,” I said, shutting the lid back down.

We spent the next few minutes looking through various chests, popping open creates to inspect them. All the while, the sounds of battle and screaming echoed from above us. The ground would even shake occasionally, kicking up dust and dirt.

Lin tabbed her chin with her finger and looked around. “Well, this is getting us nowhere as it’s not like we know what we are looking for… I sure wish that Deguzman guy gave you a hint that mattered. Why don’t you use your Dragon eye to see if you notice anything?”

I scanned the room with my Dragon eye as Lin suggested, and since I could see through solid objects to an extent, I did see quite a few items glow with the power of mana. But none of them quite fit the bill of being so different from the others that it would warrant—sus…

“Over there, right back side of the room. There is something alive,” I said quietly.

Lin flipped through the manifest and squinted. “I don’t see any slaves or animals on the list, but we should check it out.”

I led the way this time, and we found a medium-sized cube covered with a large tarp. I yanked the tarp free and immediately recoiled out of pure instinct, thrusting my spear into the gap of the metal cage before me. A roar echoed out, and a snake-like creature slithered to the deepest recesses of its cage.

“What the hell…is that what I think it is?” Lin said, the shock evident in her voice as she held the torch up for light.

Slithering about, wounded from my spear thrust to the body, was a snake-like creature with glistening red and orange scales. Yet, it did not have the face of a snake. It was small, maybe the size of a large dog, but the power it exuded was fearsome.

“It’s a Wyrm. It must be a hatchling, just barely a few weeks old,” I confirmed.

The infant Wyrm had the face of a Dragon. One large pointed horn came out from the center of its head. The creature glared at us with dark black eyes filled with pure malice.

Even as an infant, a Wyrm was a dangerous monster that could bite a grown man’s limbs off with a single, swift motion. In just a few months, this creature would be twice as big and four times as deadly. If a Wyrm were to be released into a city as big as Flumare…it would kill hundreds, if not thousands, of people before it was taken down.

“This is something that is not supposed to be here. This must be what your magic man was talking about,” Lin said with confidence.

“Possibly…either way, it has to die. Better to kill it while it’s weak,” I said as I raised my hand to send an Earth Lance into its head.

That was until the ceiling above me collapsed, forcing me to grab Lin and dodge backward. A familiar laugh echoed into the storage space, and I heard the sound of something reaching toward me, but I was somehow too slow to react.

Now, I wasn’t too slow. They were just that much faster than me.

I was lifted up just by my arm alone like I was a child. It was a familiar feeling, and accompanied by the laughter and lack of bloodlust. I didn’t even need the dust to settle to know who it was.

“Kaladin, my friend! Ah, and Lady—Never mind! I have arrived just in time! Hahaha!” King Maxwell announced.

“All this work… just for you to shout my name,” I groaned.

At least he didn’t yell Lin’s name out loud.

The king just bellowed another laugh and set me down. “Have no fear. There won’t be any saviors anyway! So I just wanted to come by and have some fu—”

I launched forward, but King Maxwell was faster. He stopped talking mid-sentence and, like a blur, whipped his massive arm around. His bear-sized palms gripped the head of the Wyrm like it was a toy. King Maxwell didn’t even flinch and instead swung the dangerous monster around, sending it flying into a nearby crate with a metallic thud. Blood splattered everywhere, coating the nearby boxes as well as us.

The creature’s head exploded into a red mist upon impact. A Wyrm, albeit a hatchling, was killed just by throwing it hard enough. It was probably a world first.

King Maxwell wiped his hands off on his toga. “Well, that was unpleasant.”

Lin went over and, with an arrow, poked the headless corpse. “It’s definitely dead. Just how hard did you—”

Lin stopped talking and stared at the bloody mess. A box was covered with another tarp, and she used her arrowhead and tapped the surface of it, eliciting a metal-on-metal tapping noise. She sliced the tarp away and pulled it apart, stepping back.

“This is…not normal,” she muttered as she quickly went over the manifest. “There is nothing about this on the paperwork either, just like the Wyrm. But who would have a crate made out of Blood Iron?”

King Maxwell and I went over to Lin and looked over her shoulder. And sure enough, the crate was indeed made of metal, and it was red in color all the way around.

“This is truly odd…what a waste of material. Surely there are better ways to transport goods? Why would someone do this?” King Maxwell pondered.

…

“What if they were hiding something that used mana…something dangerous?” I suggested.

The three of us exchanged looks, and King Maxwell shrugged with a chuckle. “Only one way to find out!”

He jumped on top of the box, and from his hand, a purple crystal appeared. It was in the shape of a blade, and he thrust it straight down into the metal crate, cutting into it like a hot knife through butter. He made it look far too easy.

His muscles bulged, veins popped out from his skin and face, and he let out a loud grunt. With a single jerk, the entire front part of the crate went flying off, embedding itself into the wall. And that was when it hit us all. The smell of blood and flesh was beyond overwhelming. It was putrid and toxic. I could taste the iron on my tongue wafting out from the contents.

Lin tossed the torch into the darkness, and my eyes went wide with shock. I—I didn’t even know what to say. There was no other way to describe it other than brutality beyond imagination. Calling it torture was just not good enough.

“What—what am I looking at? Who would do such a thing to a person, and why? Why put it in a box like this?” Lin asked hesitantly.

King Maxwell just stared into the crate, as did I. Inside of it was a scene beyond reason. Not even a psychopath of the most extreme could conduct such an act. A body was mangled and bent into so many odd angles it barely looked like a person anymore. Not only that, it was pierced through across the spine, neck, knees, hands, ankles, and everywhere conceivable by thick pieces of Blood Iron.

It was sickening and grotesque, but what made it worse…was the Vampire that was still alive, staring at us with maddened crimson eyes.