Embrace the Ether 11 The Black Spire

"Let's get out of here Droh," Deus said, somewhat in a hurry as he held the leather pack to his side. 'If this thing makes any noise now, I'll be in trouble… please, please… don't beep.'

"Deus? What's the hurry?" Droh asked as his head tilted to the side.

"Heh, no hurry, we just need to get going or we'll be late with meeting that Mercer guy," Deus claimed, trying to get the topic changed onto something that Droh would rush for. "Mercer?..."

"Mercer! Right, I almost forgot! Mari, we've got to get going for now, but I'll be back later to help with what we've agreed."

Marigold simply glanced at him with a half-tilted head, occasionally sighing she said, "Fine, whatever. Just go, and don't get yourselves killed before you can repay me."

Both Deus and Droh quickly turned out of the room in a hurry. They struggled to hold the vast amount of junk they had gathered, as they made an exit.

Outside, they stood together in the middle of the street. Marigold's complex stood behind them as the entire city once more surrounded them. "Where to now, Droh?"

Several seconds flew by as the young Faun thought everything over. "Hmm. We've got to go see Mercer before too long, but we still have some time before. How about we find a safe place to look at everything we've got, to make sure we're not missing anything."

Deus nodded his head in agreement, "Sounds like a plan. I'm assuming I'll be following you again?"

"Mhm. Keep close, and don't get lost again. Thankfully it seems everything has calmed down while we were getting everything." Droh claimed as he looked around, seeing how the panic from before had relatively calmed down. Everyone had returned to normal, but there was still an air of tension throughout the city. A pressure almost.

"Well, let's get going first."

Deus followed closely behind Droh as the two wandered through the city streets. They passed by a dozen or so local shops, old broken electronics sat around the store as security kept watch over everything. "Make sure you don't take anything without paying first, or you'll be in for a bad time."

Deus was shocked, "Wait, you're saying they're able to attack people within the city? But they don't look like those soldiers we saw before…" With a point, Deus looked toward several rough-looking hooligans who stood watch over the shops. They didn't seem to have anything in similarity with the previous guards who had searched the city.

"Well duh, the city guards can't deal with everything… these shops have been permitted to defend their land, as long as they cooperate with all city rules and searches."

'I see… so the territory lord doesn't really care how the people handle things as long as they obey his rules?'

"What's that over there?" Deus asked as he pointed towards a towering pillar, one that was only second in height to the territory lord's personal home.

"Ah, the spire. It's where those gatherer worms bring everything… it's all stored underground beneath it."

"Spire?"

"Right, it's where the military captain stays… you could say besides the main tower, it's the hub of the city."

Deus stared for a few more seconds toward the spire, watching as old black metal scraped against metal as pieces seemingly started to move slightly. "So those centipedes come from there, huh?"

Droh simply nodded in response.

As they walked on, they pushed further into the heart of Direfell. City streets went from run-down to industrial, with old pipes sticking out of everywhere, pushing black smoke upward as the sounds of engines shook the ground beneath them. Some sort of enormous engine must've been working overtime under their feet, powering the city and melting down the old scrap the Midnight Centipedes had previously gathered.

Looking around, Deus was quickly reminded of just how terrifying this place was as he saw the people - if you could call them that, walking about. Some of them possessing the faces of old dehydrated squids, with long tentacles draped down their chest, while others seeming more devilish in feature, with horns protruding out from their foreheads as a baleful aura radiated from their every pore. If there was one thing this place had in abundance of compared to Earth, it was the large variety of different cruel-looking races and species. A representation of everything, with a heavy emphasis on those darker, more sinister creatures that normally would lurk beneath the surface, hidden and cloaked in the shadows. Such monsters now walked the city streets as if it was the most normal thing imaginable.

"Hey Droh, I forgot to ask you this before… but how safe is it here?"

Droh paused as he pondered the question, seemingly taken aback by the sudden inquiry. "What do you mean safe? If you're asking if you'll get attacked on the streets... no. The city guard has outlawed that sort of behavior, and not even a psychopath would try it. Outside the city though, well, you know. It's a battlefield out there."

With a nod, Deus and Droh continued on their way. After some time passed, they both arrived before a decently sized building, metal plating sticking out from the sides as if the world had spat all of it out in a flurry.

Inside, there was a crowd of people lined up throughout the room, all of them paying no attention to each other as they simply stood facing forward, waiting to be called on from the front desk.

'What an odd sight… a bunch of monsters waiting orderly in line.'

"Come on over here," Droh called out as he headed further inside, turning down one of the hallways passed the crowd of citizens. A large room opened up in front of them as they walked forward. Stood inside there was another crowd of people, albeit smaller in size than the entrance. "Let's go inside. Here we can get a place to stay, we just need to pass the security."

"Security?" Deus stopped in his tracks, his mind wandered as he remembered the device stashed inside the leather bag he carried. "Hey Droh, can I have a quick word?"

"Hmm?" The young Faun grunted out as he glanced toward Deus, leading him off to a corner of the room so they could talk, "Sure, what's up?"

"Ah…" Deus mumbled under his breath, "How to say it… I may have taken something back at Marigold's."

Several seconds passed as Droh remained silent, simply placing his palm against his forehead between his eyes, creasing his nose, "What did you take?"

"Ah heh… something that would probably get detected by security… something… electronic."

"Eh?"

Deus dug into his bag for a moment, carefully exposing the white electronic device to Droh, while also ensuring it wasn't visible to any passersby. "This. It reminded me of my ho-... something I used to have."

Deus had to stop himself before he accidently revealed his origin. That was the one thing he was warned not to do, so he had to at least take that precaution.

Droh, still holding his forehead simply sighed, "You're trouble… you know that?"

"Heh." Deus gave out a slight chuckle as Droh attempted to discipline him. "Alright, so what's the plan?"

"Let me think… hold on."

Time slowly passed as the two of them sat in the corner, Droh watched the room as he tried to figure out the right plan. "Hmm… we could… no. That wouldn't work…"

"Hey, move!" A tall behemoth of a man shouted a fair distance away from them. Stood in front of the man was a smaller, more fragile looking man, he hid his face beneath a black shroud.

Everyone present in the room turned to face the noise, watching the larger man face off against the smaller one. An almost silent air of concern lowered itself into the room as everyone held their breaths.

'Wait, are they going to fight? Didn't Droh say fighting wasn't allowed… like… at all? Are they really that suicidal to do that?'

The cloaked man, holding the top ridge of his hood, turned to face the larger more obnoxious man. Beneath his hood, one could see cold, glaring eyes. "...How annoying." He mumbled under his breath as the room's security finally took notice.

"I said move pipsqueak!"

'Something's wrong…' Deus thought to himself. Normally under usual circumstances, you'd assume the larger, more muscular man held the advantage, but the feeling in the air was quite the opposite. There was an almost mutual fear from everyone present, everyone, of course, but the larger, dumber giant of a man.

"Move! Or die!"

"..." Several seconds passed as silence sank its way through the air, not one person worth their salt dared to breathe.

"... I choose death."

CRASH!

Everyone went wide-eyed as the body of the larger beast of a man collapsed to the ground. The shorter man hadn't even moved and yet the person who stood in his path had practically dissolved into blood and gore. The security agents rushed to the scene as not a single soul dared to approach the man.

"You there! Killing isn't permitted within city limits!" "Surrender!" "Get on the ground, you're under arrest!" Countless soldiers surrounded the man, shouting obscurities and orders without restraint.

"Stand down." The man ordered, raising a single black seal out from beneath his cloak.

Thud!

All at once the soldiers throughout the room fell to their knees in a subservient manner, all of them shouted in unison, "We recognize the Military Captain! Hail Sire Roch!"

Deus's mouth sat agape as he watched this whole exchange. 'Military ccaptain?' He glanced downward toward Droh only to find the young Faun boy shivering in his seat, true terror in his eyes as he didn't even dare look up.

The man's voice carried through the room, "Send word to the Spire… that bastard Androma is still on the run."

'Androma? Wait… the one who was exiled by the city lord earlier?'

"Yes sir, captain." One of the soldiers shouted out as he began to speak into his wristband.

The cloaked man, Roch, glanced down toward the puddle of blood and innards, which had liquefied from his mysterious attack. "Still… that man was an idiot for annoying me… I suppose even Direfell gets its fair share of fools."

Chapter end