The transition from the lush plains of Caria to the arid outskirts of Sisiphon was jarring. The air grew dry and thin, tasting of dust and ancient ozone. The city loomed out of the desert like a bleached bone, its massive sandstone walls shimmering under the moonlight with protective runes that flickered like dying stars.
"We're here Eirene, Sisiphon City." Plasma said
I touched down softly in the sand a few miles out, the grit crunching beneath my boots. With a sharp mental tug, I retracted my wings, feeling the heavy, wet ache as they folded back into my skin. I buttoned my tattered robe tightly, ensuring the tears in the fabric from my transformation of my blood wings were pinned shut.
"You do realize you ran out of money. You spend every silver from that toll." Plasma exclaimed
I was exhausted, and true to what Plasma said, my purse was empty. I needed a way in, and I needed a buffer.
"Well, there is a caravan pile nearby, your only way to get past these gates is to steal. It's our only option."
Near a cluster of resting caravans, I spotted a merchant snoring loudly atop a pile of silk rugs. His coin pouch hung precariously from his belt, swaying with every heavy breath. I moved like a shadow, my fingers light as a breeze. One quick snip. I felt a pang of guilt, I wasn't a thief by nature, but I was a hunter on a deadline.
"Forgive me, I'll pay it back in the blood of the woman poisoning your customers."
I thought, slipping the pouch of silver coins into my cloak. I approached the towering gates. The heat of the day still radiated from the stone, even at midnight. The gatekeeper, a man with a sharp, academic gaze and a nameplate that read Nikolai, leaned against his spear.
"Greeting traveler, welcome to Sisiphon City, Land of the Scholars. You appear to be arriving in the dead of midnight. A strange hour for a girl alone."
I didn't answer. I simply reached into the stolen pouch, pulled out a silver coin for the toll, and handed it over along with my status card.
Nikolai took the card with a bored flick of his wrist, sliding it into a scanning device powered by a glowing blue crystal. He waited for the chime, his eyes drifting over my hood, until the crystal flashed a violent, pulsing red.
His posture shattered. He nearly dropped the device, his eyes bulging as he read the data scrolling across the magical display.
"S-Rank?" he choked out, his voice cracking.
Nikolai looked at the name, Eirene Rynd, and then at the "Mute" status listed in the traits. He looked at me, then back at the card, then at the empty desert behind me.
"In the name of the gods... a Rynd? Here?"
He fumbled with the card, handing it back with a hand that shook so violently the metal clattered. He didn't even check my luggage. He didn't ask about the stolen silver.
"Forgive me, Lady Eirene, the Alchemist Guild... they didn't mention a high-rank auditor was arriving. Please, enter freely. I shall inform the Central Library of your presence immediately!"
He stammered, bowing so low his forehead nearly hit the sand. I snatched the card back, a cold spike of annoyance hitting me. I didn't want the Library to know I was here. I wanted Oksana.
"I bet the gatekeeper had some issues with you, Eirene? Look at his eyes, tremble in fear when he learned your surname."
Believe from what Plasma had said, a Rynd is a Rynd, a family that was a simple commoner in Town Allure and are raised to be heroes of Andromeda, I, a former appraiser was supposed to be a bounty hunter on days time.
I walked past him into the city. Sisiphon was beautiful in a haunting way, white marble towers reached for the stars, and the smell of sulfur and lotus flowers hung heavy in the warm night air. But beneath the beauty, I could see the shadows: figures huddled in alleys, their eyes glowing with a faint, sickly pink light.
The Lotus Dust had already claimed the streets.
"It seems that Oksana's drug empire had been expanded, some of them were not the age of adulthood. This is too disturbing, Eirene." Plasma muttered
The horse's hooves clicked rhythmically against the sandstone pavers as Nikolai led the way through the winding, moonlit streets. The silence of Sisiphon was eerie; unlike the bustling nights of Caria, this city felt like it was holding its breath.
"You arrived by midnight, and the Council is closed, we should head to a nearby inn. You're a bounty hunter, right? You came here for Oksana's head."
Nikolai said, glancing back at me with a mix of reverence and desperation.
I didn't need to nod. The cold, focused weight of the Registry of the condemned in my cloak was answer enough.
"You're in the right place, tomorrow, I'll lead you to the Central Library to inform the Council. They've been praying for a savior. To think, a Rynd has come to our gates..."
He looked at me over his shoulder, his eyes wide with a sudden realization.
"You're related to the Shadow Walker... and the Offspring Goddess, am I right?"
I felt a jolt of genuine surprise. I knew Elias was a legend of dark magic and the gun, but hearing Elicia's name in this city of scholars made my heart skip. I gave a slow, solemn nod.
Elicia, my older sister, the one who had stood by me when the soldiers brought news of our mother's death. I hadn't realized her fame had spread this far. In Sisiphon, a city plagued by the physical and mental rot of Lotus Dust, a healer of her caliber would be seen as a literal deity. Her Divine Regeneration was more than just magic, it was a miracle that could knit flesh and soul back together. To them, I wasn't just an S-rank threat; I was the sister of their greatest hope and their greatest fear.
"Your sister is a saint among the mages here, and your brother... well, we pray he never has a reason to draw his weapon in our streets."
Nikolai whispered as we pulled up to a modest, sand-colored building with a flickering lantern. He helped me dismount in front of the inn.
"Get some rest, Lady Eirene. This is the Sand-Glass Inn. It's cheap, quiet, and the owner knows how to keep his mouth shut. I'll be back at sunrise to escort you to the Library."
I watched him ride off into the dark. I stepped into the inn, the smell of dry parchment and old spices greeting me. The owner, a hunched man who barely looked up from his ledger, took two of my stolen silver coins without a word and handed me a heavy brass key.
"That man has a greedy on his face, Eirene, I bet he will steal your luggage by dawn." Plasma said
I climbed the stairs to a small, spartan room. I locked the door, pushed a chair against the handle, and finally let out a breath I felt like I'd been holding since Caria.
"Oh, you got to be kidding me!" I thought
The Sand-Glass Inn was less of a sanctuary and more of a rotting carcass. The floorboards groaned and splintered under my boots, and the air was thick with the ammonia stench of stale urine and neglected drains. When I had taken the key, the hunched man's greedy smile hadn't been one of hospitality, it was the look of a vulture that had just swindled a traveler who had nowhere else to go.
I didn't even sit on the bed. The thought of my skin touching those stained, reeking sheets that even has piss and semen stains all over it, seeing it made my mind filled with disgust. I preferred the cold, hard sand of the desert to this filth.
I moved toward the window, my fingers brushing against the grimy, moth-eaten curtains. I needed to check the perimeter, to make sure my blood wings hadn't left a trail of crimson mist in the moonlight that might draw unwanted eyes. I pulled the curtain just a fraction, the fabric tearing slightly in my grip.
Below, in the narrow, shadow-drenched alleyway, the Scholarly City revealed its festering heart.
Two students, still wearing the prestigious ivory-and-gold robes of the Sisiphon Magic Academy, were huddled together, their hands shaking. Standing before them was a man in a tattered leather coat, his face obscured by a low-slung hat. He held out a small glass vial filled with a shimmering, strawberry-pink powder, Lotus Dust.
The light from the streetlamp caught the desperate, dilated pupils of the students. They looked like they hadn't slept in weeks. One of them reached for his coin purse, but his hand stopped mid-air, trembling violently.
"I... I can't," the student whispered, his voice cracking with a mixture of terror and agonizing craving.
He looked at the pink dust, then at his companion, his eyes filled with a sudden, lucid flash of horror.
"If we take this again, we won't be able to cast. Our mana-circuits are already fraying. I... I wouldn't do it."
The dealer didn't move. He just uncorked the vial, letting the sweet, floral scent of the drug waft upward.
I watched from above, my one green eye narrowing. The student said he wouldn't do it, but I could see the way his fingers twitched. I could see the way the Scholar's City was being dismantled, one gram at a time. Oksana Petrivna wasn't just selling a product, she was harvesting the future of this world and turning it into ash.
"Damn these naughty kids, taking stuffs in an young age."
I let the curtain fall. The cliffhanger of that student's resolve hung in the air, but I already knew how it usually ended in Sisiphon. I gripped the handle of my hidden dagger.
Morning couldn't come fast enough. I had no interest in the Council's politics or the Offspring Goddess reputation. I just wanted to find the woman who turned these children into husks and show her what a real monster looked like.
"Eirene stop them."