Crimson and Gold

Aervelian slum was one of the oldest districts of the city, shy only of the city’s heart—the Golden District, where the houses of nobility and the Royal Palace were located.

Before the Aelian rule, the city and the region belonged to the Kingdom of Shahriz. It fulfilled the role of a spiritual center of the country, which was represented by countless temples built across the region.

Similarly to Aelius, the Shahrezi temples dedicated to their Āsmānar Lords offered not only spiritual guidance, but also aid to those in need.

The followers especially dedicated to this mission were the worshipers of Senki, the Goddess of Hope.

The temples built for the Goddess were often very modest, as the majority of the donations were redistributed to the people in need. Next to the temple were built a public kitchen and baths open to the common folk.

One of those complexes was located at the heart of the slum in Aervelis. And, according to Mormo, it was the biggest nest of the Husks.

Saria glanced at the dilapidated entrance of the temple.

“After Aervelis was conquered by Aelius, Emperor Iberianus swore to keep the Temple and its kitchen running without any changes. Of course, he kept that promise for laughable two years before shutting it down and kicking out the priestesses.” Eris sighed, standing next to Saria and tracing the remains of the Temple with a melancholic gaze.

Saria focused her senses and scanned the area.

In the main building of the temple, she found nothing but a small army of rats and other rodents taking advantage of the countless holes and tunnels marking the ruins.

Finally, in the back of the complex, she sensed vague, almost impossible to spot traces of human life.

The sensation was so faint that it barely caught her attention.

From what Mormo had told them, this place should be overrun by violent druggies, and yet the complex didn’t show any signs of life.

Bad feelings welled in her stomach.

“I can hear something in the back of the old warehouses. Let’s go.”

Eris nodded and followed after Saria.

The wooden structures looked like just one stronger wind could topple them like a house of cards. It was a miracle any of this was still standing.

Threading carefully, Saria walked into the eerily quiet warehouse.

Her senses kept scanning for heartbeats, but despite a few faint echoes, she couldn’t sense much.

“Did Mormo give us the wrong location? It looks like nobody is here,” she wondered aloud, looking around the mostly empty area.

“Before us, the place had already been scouted by other teams. Mormo wouldn’t bother sending us to chase dust. They must be hiding somewhere,” Eris explained, tightening the grip on her unsheathed daggers.

While Eris was straining her eyes to see anything in the dark, Saria focused on the blood.

The previous trail disappeared as soon as they entered and stayed quiet ever since. There were only two cases when a heartbeat would stop being detectable by her.

The owner either ran out of the her power’s reach or passed away.

Both cases were difficult for Saria to believe.

Her mind involuntarily went back to the first night she worked for Lysandra.

Back then, she also couldn’t detect the heartbeat, at least not right away. It was as if something was masking it.

Saria’s brows knitted tightly, feeling as if the answer was right before her, but she was failing to notice it.

At the same time, Eris kept her head low, searching for tracks in the thick layer of nearly a century-old dust.

As she was approaching the corner of the warehouse, a faint noise reached her. The tapping, reminiscent of a liquid hitting the ground, became more and more audible the closer she got to it.

The inside of the warehouse was dark, with only a dim moonlight creeping through the cracks in the worn-out wooden walls.

Eris stopped in front of a puddle of viscous liquid. The stench coming from it made her stomach churn in rebellion. The drops were coming from the ceiling, but it was too dark to see anything.

Eris snapped her fingers, summoning a tongue of fire to dance on her palm.

The next events unfolded in the very same second.

As Eris’ hazel eyes readjusted to the sudden brightness, they were met with a nightmarish face looking down on her. The moment her gaze met the abyssal black orbs that once belonged to a human, the Husk lunged at her.

At the same time, Saria’s senses exploded with signs of life appearing all around them. She managed to notice the Husk above Eris just in time to throw a knife that pierced its skull just seconds before its jaws tore through her throat.

She spun on her heel and ducked under the arms of another enemy coming at her from behind. Her dagger quickly stabbed through his heart.

To her surprise, however, the man—the Husk—didn’t even flinch. It caught her by her throat and roared in her face. The blackened eyes completely devoid of humanity.

“The head!” Eris shouted from across the warehouse. “You have to cut it off or burn them. Otherwise, they’ll keep going!”

Bright orange flame burst out of her hand and coiled like a snake around the Husk attacking her. It wrapped itself tightly, immobilizing the monstrosity, then relentlessly burned its body until ash was the only thing remaining.

Saria pulled the dagger from the husk’s chest, and the other from the sheath on her back. Then, in a swift move sliced through its neck.

Blood black as ink erupted from the wound as the body hit the floor. There were no more signs of life or a chance of the Husk rising back.

Since she knew what to do, Saria didn’t waste any more time. She threw herself into the battle, attacking with surgical precision.

Each slash of her blades equated to a Husk being brought down.

As the hoard grew thinner, Saria and Eris became more harmonious with their attacks.

They quickly found the same rhythm, covering one another’s weaknesses and complementing their actions.

In no time, what was once a horde of monstrosities turned into a pile of ash and dust, layered thickly on the wooden floor of the warehouse.

“Looks like this was the last one,” Saria said, wiping the sweat off her forehead, watching the last corpse disappear before her eyes among the raging stream of fire summoned by Eris.

She took a moment, allowing her eyes to readjust to the darkness, then scanned the empty space around them. “That was quite a group, so they had to crawl out from somewhere. Let’s look around and see if there are any hiding spots.”

Eris nodded and, without delay, started looking around the opposite side of the warehouse.

At a glance, there really wasn’t any place where someone could hide. The place was long deserted, holding barely a few empty crates scattered all over. However, Saria knew that warehouses like this had often hidden chambers underneath, used to hold contraband.

The only problem was figuring out where the entrance was.

Smuggling and unauthorized trade were a lucrative endeavor, but also a dangerous one. The government wasn’t fond of transactions that didn’t profit them in any way, so the punishment for it was severe.

If the estimated losses for the treasury from the illegal trade were significant, the people involved could even face a death sentence.

For that reason, the smugglers put significant effort into hiding the chambers.

Saria walked slowly, scanning the floor for anything out of the ordinary. Meter by meter, she tested each board with her foot, observing the dust for traces of airflow.

Finally, after long minutes of searching, she noticed a line formed in the ashes.

She walked over and knelt, then she took off the glove on her hand and hovered the palm over the crack. Surely, she immediately felt the cool draft coming from the cracks.

She swept away the dust, then stepped on the boards while listening to the changes in the sound.

Finally, the hollow thud sounded under her foot.

“Eris!” Saria called out, while already searching for a way to pry open the boards. “There’s something under the floor. Help me pry it open.”

After a moment of struggle, the two of them finally managed to reveal an opening leading beneath the surface.

“I’ll go first. Don’t follow until I let you know it’s safe,” Saria said, preparing to jump down the dark pit.

As she was about to move, Eris caught her arm.

Saria looked at her, puzzled, watching how the girl opened and closed her mouth a few times as if hesitating to say something.

“Please, be careful… Call for me if there’s any danger,” she said eventually and let go of her arm.

Saria hummed in agreement, then flashed her a confident smile. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. Wait for my signal,” she said and jumped down, wasting no more time.

The fall was even shorter than she anticipated.

Saria landed softly on the ground, then froze, anticipating an attack.

When nothing happened after a minute of waiting, she finally relaxed and called for Eris to come down.

“What is this place?” the girl asked, igniting a flame in her palms to light up the area.

“Warehouse workers often use their job to earn some extra money. They would dig up a hidden room underneath, where they kept illegal goods to sell on the black market,” Saria explained and walked deeper inside.

Unlike the surface, the hidden chamber wasn’t robbed of its contents. A room the size of a small house was filled with crates, barrels, and chests, which left little space to move around.

Nonetheless, the floor was littered with hay and torn rags, arranged in messy, makeshift beds, signaling that the place used to be inhabited.

Saria carefully rummaged through the belongings left behind.

Suddenly, she noticed a small pouch, tucked in a crack in the wall behind one of the crates.

Inside was a fine, grayish powder, mixed with something that looked like silver particles, shimmering in the light.

“Is this…”

“The drug?” Saria finished Eris’ question. “I think so, but to be sure, we should let an alchemist test it.”

Eris frowned. “Hm… It could be difficult to find someone trustworthy, but I’ll ask Mormo if he knows anyone.”

Saria flashed her a smug smile. “There’s no need,” she said and put the pouch in her pocket. “I know just the right person for the job.”