“Home sweet home… I guess.” Prisha mutters as our carriage comes to a halt on the outer edges of Sirius.

  “I didn’t know you were from here.” I quickly respond. I guess there was a ton I didn’t know about her. We haven’t exactly spent a lot of time reminiscing and talking about memories of our pasts. It’s mostly about world ending stuff… and fascism.

  “I left after my mother was taken in. It was bad enough with her being in the Minor Arcana and living in Sirius, but once she was in the camp, I couldn’t stay. But I still have contacts in the city.”

  Prisha pushes open the door to carriage and climbs out, we all follow suit. Before us stood a long walking street that stretched on for quite a bit. Unlike the rest of the city behind us, it didn’t look so clean. Dirt and grime had built up on the road as well as the buildings and windows.

  Though the street looked unkempt, like the rest of the city, there were still cafes with tables and benches outside, shops open to the public, and it looks like it was fairly alive. Just as many people rustled about as any other part of the city, it just didn’t look as pretty.

  “Welcome to the Den of Sin.”

  “I’m guessing that name isn’t just for irony?” Madison questions as she squints and looks down the street.

  “It is apropos.” Prisha takes a few steps forward before waving at someone that was further down the street who immediately began walking our way. “Here lies brothels, criminal organizations, the poor, and of course one of the seats of the Minor Arcana.”

  “Why would the Order let such a place exist?” I ask. “If their whole thing is cleansing sinners, why let this place continue existing?”

  “I would guess that they recognize that certain things are still needed. You still need a villain to be able to punish, so you can’t completely stomp it out. Secondly, I imagine many members of the Order use the services granted here. But as you can see, it also just functions as a normal part of the city. Many people run here to hide from the Order or live their sinful lives out of sight of the prying eyes of the Blessed.”

  Just as Prisha finishes, the individual she waved at was now approaching. I couldn’t see their appearance from afar, but close up I was genuinely shocked at the person in front of me.

  They only wore a pair of leather pants and boots, with no top. Every available space below the neck was covered in various tattoos and markings. Each of them looked to be either runes, magic circles, or other incantations of varying colors. Their hair was shaved on the sides, and the top was braided and pulled into a bun on the top of their head. Even their eyes held golden magical runes that appeared as though they were glowing.

  “Prish, it’s good to see you!” They grab Prisha and quickly pull her into a hug. Prisha smiles warmly as she squeezes them tightly, tears welling up in her eyes.

  “Tate, I’ve missed you.” Tate pulls back and gently kisses Prisha on the forehead.

  “Tate is probably the most talented healer in the Minor Arcana, perhaps even rivaling several members of the Major Arcana.”

  “Awe shit, c'mon don’t talk me up like that, you know it’s not true.” Tate blushes as they pull away from Prisha and proceed to shake everyone’s hand in introduction.

  “Well, it’s true. I grew up with Tate here in the city, they’re practically like a sibling to me.”

  “Ah enough of that Prisha, where is this patient at?” Tate asks, trying to further prevent Prisha from embarrassing them. Prisha motions towards the carriage and Tate quickly climbs in to take a look.

  After a few brief seconds they come back out with a positive look on their face.

  “Eh, should be an easy fix. Nothing too crazy here, looks like you did the brunt of the work. Though, a bit worried about the whole not breathing thing, but still warm weirdly.”

  “He’s frozen in time.” Dardania says with a matter of fact attitude, as if it was just the norm to do to someone.

  “Gotcha. Well let’s get em inside and we can get him patched up in no time at all.”

  * * * * *

  As we walk down the street in the ‘Den of Sin’, I don’t know what I was expecting but it wasn’t this.

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  Part of me expected that it would be this grimy and unforgiving place, but not at all. It held just as much life as any other part of the city. Friends were sitting at cafes and drinking their ale or coffees. Couples walked hand in hand as they stroll down the street stopping at the various shops that they pass. The primary difference in any of this was the way people were dressed. Rather than the traditional garb that people adorned throughout the cities and towns we have been to thus far, it’s drastically different here.

  Several individuals weren’t wearing anything at all and opted for complete nudity. Some wore what could only be classified as kink attire, while others wore the most absurd bits of fashion you could imagine. It was closer to a piece of art than a garment, but they wore it with confidence and no shame nonetheless. It’s not to say that there weren’t people wearing clothes that would be deemed normal, but the variety was seemingly endless, and not a single person seemed to care what anyone else was doing. They all just appear to live in harmony and allowing their fellow man to do the same.

  As we pass a gay male couple Dardania turns to look at them as they pass, and she smiles. While one was dressed in the most extravagant suit I’ve ever laid eyes upon, the other was completely naked, but they looked happy. Like they didn’t have a care in the world.

  “I always imagine this was what Tabathia was like, just people living how they saw fit.”

  Madison stops after what Dardania said and turns to look back at the city behind us.

  “To think we are standing in the same city now. I can’t fathom how it can go from one to the other.”

  “There’s still so much we don’t know know.” Dardania adds as she looks out at the city with Madison. “We know why it was made, but not how this city we are in today came to be. I have to find out.”

  “Sounds like a kick ass adventure. For now, here we are.” Tate stops walking and motions towards a rather large apartment building that sits slightly offset from the street. In front it stands a small courtyard where several children were currently playing.

  Tate was using two magical gurneys to pull Nabu and Avis, it was basically like a regular gurney, minus wheels. It just floats there and was very easy to pull behind you.

  “Let’s get these guys inside and cleaned up good and proper.”

  Tate places their hands on Avis’s chest, closes their eyes, and begins muttering in a language I’ve never heard before. On their back, a large sigil starts to glow a bright golden color.

  “What is that?” I ask, leaning over to Dardania hoping she had the answer.

  “Specifically, I don’t know; but not everyone can use magic. Tate, if I had to guess, is one of those people so they inscribe magic sigils all over their body in order to use magic.”

  That markings as far as I could tell covered every inch of them. I saw them remove their shoes before they entered the magic circle they are standing in now, and they had tattoos on their feet as well.

  The room we were in was completely empty save for the magical carvings that covered the walls. In the center of the room on the floor was a magical circle where Avis and Nabu were currently resting.

  “They can’t use magic, but all the markings work in unison with one another. Tate is basically a walking encyclopedia for magical sigils in multiple languages. So they will channel multiple markings and combine their work for new and different uses. It’s why they’re such a good healer.” Prisha adds to Dardania’s explanation.

  Tate rubs their hands together as a sigil on either arm starts to glow in addition to the one on their back. After a few seconds, their hands begin vibrating and glowing a bright white color. Slowly they lower their hands onto Avis’s chest, and the light ripples through Avis’s body and the wound starts to glow.

  The light begins to sink into his skin like liquid. After a few brief seconds, it stops sinking and what I see is absolutely extraordinary. It was like an x-ray. The glowing light essentially back lit the wound and has allowed us to see what it looks like beneath the surface. Rather than just seeing bone though, we could see everything. It was as if someone had taken a black and white photo of the inside of the stab wound.

  “His lung was punctured and has partially collapsed. The internal bleeding appears to be minimal, and most of the damage was in the muscle tissue. Luckily whatever knife was used was extremely sharp and not serrated, which appears to have minimized the damage.”

  Tate removes their hands from his chest, takes a deep breath, and spins around to face all of us.

  “Well folks, that’s the thick of it. His massive pecs saved his life. Thank the gods your brother is a brute. So I just need to blow that sucker back up so he can breath, and seal the wound and he will be back in ship shape.”

  “You make it sound so simple.” Prisha responds nudges Tate who smiles. Dardania sits down by Avis’s side and lets out a sigh of relief.

  “I can put the muscle back together and close the internal wound, but the healing has to be done by him. Time is all that will take. Speaking of, you freezing this sucker in time probably saved his life.”

  Dardania turns towards Madison, tears in her eyes.

  “Thank you. Thank you both.”

  “We didn’t do anything, thank Nabu when he wakes up.” Madison smiles and places her hand on top of Dardania’s head before turning and walking towards the door.

  “Welp, I better get on this right away. I’ll just need some space. You can leave me to it and next time you see your brother you can unfreeze the sucker.” Tate gently nudges the rest of out of the room and closes the door behind them.

  We all stand awkwardly in the hall, unsure of what to do with ourselves.

  “Well I can’t just stand here.” Dardania proclaims as she stretches her arms above her head before marching towards the stairwell to exit the building. She looks like a toddler on a mission, but I would never tell her that.

  “I want to see the statue.” I say. I saw it in the past and I want to see what it looks like today. I think I need to see it to reconcile the two things.

  “It’s a plan.” Dardania holds her hand out for me, I grab it and start marching towards the exit with her, also in toddler fashion.

  “I’m gonna stay here.” Madison says. “As much as I would love to see that the crack still stands eons later, I don’t think I have it in me to look at it right now.”

  “I’m going to stay as well, maybe do some reading.” Prisha adds.

  Dardania just nods without saying anything but moments later she jerks me towards the exit. She clearly didn’t want to linger around her while her brother was being operated on. Onward toward the statue of the Saintly Asshat.