The Broken Halo

Chapter 1010 - 1009: Life Upon The Dragon

Simon kept thinking about the Guardian Court as they walked.

He wasn’t surprised that The Abyss had powerful members who rarely appeared. An organisation that had survived through seven Sovereigns would hardly reveal everyone it could call upon.

What mattered was whether those hidden Daemons were enough to make its enemies hesitate.

An attack on The Abyss might succeed. But if the attackers expected to lose several gods, perhaps even someone stronger, they would have to consider whether the result was worth it.

The problem was that Simon couldn’t judge either side.

Enigma didn’t know how many members the Guardian Court had, and the previous Sovereigns might all be dead. Simon couldn’t count on six ancient rulers appearing whenever the current one needed help.

He glanced at Enigma, then returned his attention to the road.

Even with those uncertainties, joining was probably his best option.

Daemons were exceedingly rare in the Demon Realm. Before coming here, he had met very few, and he had never heard of another organisation like The Abyss.

Where else would he find people who understood his bloodlines? Where would he obtain techniques meant for a body like his, or learn more about powers that ordinary demons couldn’t possess?

Lilith knew a great deal, but she didn’t have a treasury full of materials inside his heart. He needed resources as well as advice.

He could keep travelling and searching for them. Perhaps he would find another extraordinary opportunity.

Perhaps he would spend months pursuing something that turned out to be useless.

Here, at least, there were people who had already advanced along the paths he was only beginning to explore. Sonya and Akaza could benefit from their knowledge too.

That didn’t mean he would accept any terms they offered.

He was willing to contribute, take assignments, and follow reasonable rules. He wasn’t willing to let another clan own him like what happened with the Shadowgrave Clan.

For now, he would listen to the council. Enigma had given him enough reasons to attend the meeting without deciding its outcome before he arrived.

With that settled, Simon finally gave his surroundings his full attention.

They were walking along a broad paved avenue. The buildings on either side stood on the same enormous scale, though most of its surface was hidden beneath stone, stairways, and foundations.

A stretch beside the road had been left exposed.

Black ridges ran through it, rising higher than his ankles. Near a building’s entrance, the smooth pavement ended against the dragon’s hide without so much as a patch of soil between them.

Simon looked ahead.

The raised edge of the next scale rose beyond the rooftops. Houses crowded beneath it, and several bridges climbed across the deep groove separating the two plates.

It was easy to mistake it for a cliff until he remembered what they were standing on.

Veyra’s corpse.

Her body curved away into the distance, carrying more buildings than he could see from the street. Farther along that curve, towers surrounded the base of a broken spine.

Fire descended behind them.

Its light spread across the windows and polished doorframes, turning pale stone orange. Shadows swung across the road as the burning stream passed, then lengthened again when it fell out of sight.

Simon looked upward.

A fresh shower was falling through a crack in the sky toward the buildings to his left.

The air above their roofs darkened. Molten droplets struck a barrier and spread across its curved surface, joining into bright streams that ran toward the sides.

A low roar rolled overhead.

Below it, a demon continued pushing a cart.

Simon watched the molten rock pour into a channel beyond the buildings. The flow followed the slope of the scale until it disappeared over an uninhabited edge.

Nobody shouted or ran.

They were used to this.

Near the channel, two demons used long tools to break hardened deposits away from the stone. One lifted the pieces into a cart while the other checked the groove for obstructions.

Someone had to keep the runoff clear.

A little farther on, a one horned demon was sweeping black grit from a flight of steps. She moved aside as a Daemon emerged from the doorway, then hurried after him with a covered tray.

The Daemon’s skin resembled overlapping plates of dark metal. He had no visible mouth. Three narrow openings along his throat moved when he spoke.

”Lord Enigma.”

His voice came from all three at once.

Enigma inclined his head at the greeting.

The Daemon’s gaze passed over Simon’s horns before he bowed at Enigma and continued down the steps. His attendant followed, keeping the tray steady as she struggled to match his longer stride.

Simon glanced after them.

The pressure around the Daemon had been restrained, but it was enough to make the servant hold herself carefully. She didn’t speak until he addressed her.

Similar scenes appeared farther down the avenue.

Ordinary demons carried packages, cleaned entrances, and waited beside seated Daemons. A pair of broad-backed workers lifted a stone chest onto a platform while its owner stood nearby, speaking to someone else.

Their cultivation wasn’t always low. Simon recognised the aura of a Greater Demon among the workers.

Here, that demon was carrying another person’s luggage.

He had expected a difference in status. Seeing it throughout the street made it much clearer.

A tall figure approached from the opposite direction.

Its loose robe left part of its chest exposed. Pale ribs enclosed an empty space, with thin strands of violet light hanging between them. A smooth, eyeless face turned toward Enigma.

”Fourth Lord.”

The figure bowed slightly.

Simon felt an unpleasant chill as it passed. He didn’t follow that sensation with his perception. There was no need to examine a stranger’s body simply because it looked unusual.

He had no idea what race it belonged to.

Across the avenue, a female Daemon sat beneath a stone canopy while a servant fastened an armguard around her wrist. Her lower jaw was divided into four narrow plates, which shifted when she spoke. Two long, jointed limbs rested folded behind her shoulders.

She looked up as Enigma passed and gave him a respectful nod.

Her servant bowed more deeply.

A few eyes lingered on Simon. Some studied his face, others stopped at his horns or the black wraps visible beneath his sleeves.

Nobody approached to ask who he was.

Enigma returned the greetings without slowing down, and Simon kept pace beside him.

The street was quieter than a market in Velmora City, but it wasn’t silent. Wheels scraped over paving stones. Tools rang behind an open workshop, and someone argued over a delivery beneath an archway.

A smell of heated metal drifted from the workshop.

Simon glanced inside and saw a demon holding a long strip of glowing material with tongs. A larger Daemon watched from beside the furnace, occasionally indicating where the next blow should fall.

Beyond it, a narrow shop occupied the space beneath an enormous staircase. Its doorway would have been ordinary elsewhere. Here, the steps above it were large enough to serve as separate floors.

The buildings had been adapted for inhabitants of very different sizes.

Some entrances had smaller doors fitted beside them. Others used ramps, and Simon saw a servant carrying folded cloth up a winding stair built against the side of a much larger one.

There were empty buildings too.

Their doors were sealed, and the light from above revealed no movement behind their windows. Simon wondered who had once occupied them, but Enigma was already leading him toward a bridge.

They crossed over the groove between two scales.

Through the gaps beside the bridge, Simon saw black hide descending farther than the light reached. He kept his senses close. He hadn’t forgotten Enigma’s warning about investigating the darkness below.

On the other side, the road divided.

One branch passed between closely built houses. Another led toward broad compounds with guarded gates. Higher up, enclosed walkways joined several tall buildings, allowing people to cross without returning to the street.

Simon followed Enigma along the wider route.

From his room, the settlements had seemed like clusters of buildings scattered over an impossibly large corpse. Walking among them, he could see how much had been built to connect one level to another.

He would need more than a view from a window to find his way around.

Simon turned toward Enigma.

”Is The Abyss divided into districts? What are the main places I should know about?”