Wretch brought out his finest suit. Dark fabric inlaid with thin bands of blue and silver. The matching outer coat stretched to his ankles, he even had a low rounded hat to go with it. All of it had cost him several pounds.

  Almost two weeks had passed since the battle with Mr Datlovich in his tomb and spring was in full bloom. Wretch had waited patiently and finally, the evening of the auction had arrived. The day he'd see what other Blessed weapons were out there.

  The past days, Elenya had ramped up the training, much to Astrid’s dismay. Wretch however, was getting the hang of it. The fight with Mr. Datlovich hadn't just gifted him with black metallic bones, but taught him another aspect of his regeneration.

  He could take a sword through the gut if it meant landing a critical blow on his opponent. But Elenya urged him to keep dodging, and save that trick until it truly mattered. Besides, regenerating required flame, and flame was the currency of the hunt.

  He looked at himself in the mirror, inspecting himself from different angles. His left arm was ashen and ended with a dark, clawed hand, slightly longer than his regular arm. His hair had grown long, but tucking it behind his ears and pushing the hat down hid its disheveled look.

  The most striking change was his face, unrecognizable from when he joined the crew. The skin no longer looked strapped to the bone and his jaw was rounded, with a healthy hue and puffy cheeks. The scars from the fights were still visible, but that only added to his appearance. He might even have grown a centimeter or two.

  A young, mysterious and scarred gentleman.

  Opening the door, he strode out with confidence.

  Elenya was walking past with a cup in one hand and a struggling Whisky in the other, she paused as she passed. Turning towards him with a quick motion, and taking a step forward. He craned his neck to look up at her as she stared down with a hard look.

  She said nothing, just gazed into his eyes without blinking.

  After a few moments, Wretch caved to pressure.

  “Well, what do you think?”

  “Who are you?” Elenya said with narrowing eyes.

  “What?”

  “We are waiting for our last member. He’s about your height, beady eyes, wears a shirt down to his ankles or whatever he finds in the trash.” Elenya said. “Oh, and an unsettling, rat-like face.”

  Edmund, seated on the sofa was mid-sip from a mug, launched into a sudden coughing fit. Astrid peeked in with a questioning look from the balcony, a sickle in hand.

  “Knock it off Elenya! He can’t help his looks,” Astrid said.

  “So you agree on the rat’s appearance?” Elenya retorted with a mischievous smile.

  “I… no wait.” Astrid stammered.

  It was Elenya’s turn to burst into laughter, while Edmunds was bent forward, coughing. One hand over his mouth and struggling through tears.

  “This is workplace harassment!” Wretch shouted, “I have read all about it in the newspapers!”

  He put his chin up as he continued.

  “The Bureau of labor will take my case very seriously when they see what a handsome gentleman I am,” he answered, puffing out his chest.

  Elenya drew a sharp breath, and her face contorted in theatrical shock. The cat finally escaped her grasp to dart under the table.

  “Oh, good, sir!” She said with exaggerated seriousness. “Let me get you there right away.” She took a step towards him, a palm grasping at his shoulders.

  Wretch crouched instinctively. Stepping close to her and slipping around her back.

  She turned just as quick, swiping the air to catch him but missing by a hair's breadth. The chase continued around the living-room, a showcase for both their speed.

  “You are no match for my dashing looks. Thug!” Wretch let out from the other side of the kitchen counter.

  “You are slippery, I will give you that,” Elenya said with a malevolent grin. “Come here and let me see if your bones are as unbreakable as you say.”

  Wretch bobbed and weaved, even throwing himself over the table. Landing on his hands to somersault away. Losing his hat in the process.

  “You have to catch me first, brute!”

  “Alright you fancy lil midget,” Elenya said after pushing a chair away from her path. “See if you can escape now.”

  Shades of red crawled out from her sleeves to play on her exposed skin as her pupils lit with fire.

  Oh no.

  The captain cleared his throat, they both froze as if petrified.

  Edmund, still seated on the sofa. Rubbed away a tear from his eye. He looked serious, but the corner of his mouth wiggled.

  “I would prefer the house still standing when the girls return.”

  The red marks on Elenya dissipated, and an apologetic look replaced her grin.

  “Right, sorry, cap’n,” Elenya mumbled, looking like a child caught stealing.

  Wretch pouted, sticking out his tongue in Elenya’s direction and picking up his hat, dusting it off with his human hand.

  “Bonehead,” he whispered just loud enough for her to hear.

  “What was that?” Elenya snapped back at him.

  “Nothing.”

  Astrid shook her head in disbelief.

  “Now that you say it,” she said. ”A haircut may be in order.”

  He glanced down at the black uneven tufts, stretching down to his shoulders. Whenever it got in his eyes, he cut away the most problematic locks with his knife.

  “Let’s get going already, you don’t want to be late for these kinds of things,” Edmund said, pulling the strap of his giant suitcase over his shoulder.

  Wretch had brought all the coins in his possession and tucked them deep in his briefcase, alongside a miniature oil lamp he’d bought for five pence. His knife hung from the belt under his coat.

  They stepped outside onto the hectic street and walked to the elevator, where a queue of people shuffled forward. Wretch took in the team. They looked sharp, Edmund had a suit with blue and gold details and a tall hat. Like a well built business baron, and his own attire matched it well.

  Astrid wore a white dress with a black vest on top and a pair of long black gloves, a large black hat over her spectacles.

  Like a poisonous flower.

  Elenya was the most casual looking. Black pants, white shirt, and a black vest with a golden chain hanging from a breast pocket. And, Wretch knew, at least a dozen weapons hidden in the folds of her equipment.

  Like a bum.. a strong, deadly bum.

  The elevators were wide and bulky platforms suspended from enormous chains. A dome of glass and metal covering those within, reminiscent of an oversized birdcage. Paying the eight copper fare and showing their badges to a bored officer, they squeezed into the platform.

  The elevator rumbled to life, chains rattling against steel and stone. It didn’t ascend fast, but the view over the city was breathtaking. The minor spires jutting upwards, walkways and machinery connecting them like the web of a giant spider. And in the distance, the Scar Spines. Mist and snow shrouded the mountain range, with rough peaks jutting out like rows of sharp teeth.

  They ascended to the eighth floor of Saints Summit. The differences in the surroundings were obvious. Statues of gargoyles and angels littered the facades and squares. Tall houses with gardens surrounded by spear-like fences. Unlike the lower floors, it was quiet, with a few carriages and small groups of people walking around leisurely. The pedestrians, dressed up in suits and wide extravagant dresses. Wretch wondered what kind of jewelry he could have swiped in a place like this. He dispelled that notion when he noticed the number of patrolling officers.

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  They took a smaller, more adorned elevator from the eighth to the fourteenth level.

  “How many floors are there on Saints summit?” Wretch asked Astrid, who was fiddling with the buttons on her vest.

  “Twenty-eight.” She said glancing out over the city from their vantage point. “But the top belongs to the Saint herself. It’s not open to the public. Even we are at most allowed into the Munitions bureau at the eighteenth floor.”

  “Have you been there before?” Wretch asked over the vibrating platform.

  “Only once, but I bought nothing. Before you joined, the Richter’s were low on funds.” She answered in a monotone voice.

  Edmund leaned over with a smile.

  “Hey now Astrid! That’s not true. We are still low on funds.”

  The captain gave him a wide grin, perhaps wider than usual.

  “But the top floor is quite the sight, kid! I have been there a few times, only to sell some coals, though. You know what a cathedral is?”

  Wretch shook his head.

  “It’s an extravagant church, like those of the Saint, but bigger, way bigger. The top floors are all like a giant cathedral with tall towers and halls.”

  Wretch pushed down his hat and soon they had ascended to the fourteenth floor. A brimming high class society, without a single piece of trash, dirt, or vagrant in sight. Instead fountains of polished marble littered the squares, surrounded by meter-tall statues of the Saint brutally dismembering different horrors.

  Edmund pointed out an imposing building complex of glass and steel with twisting towers and moving machinery. It stood so tall it ascended to the next level on the spire, large trees and well trimmed bushes in front.

  “That’s Von Agér College!” Edmund said with enthusiasm, needlessly pointing it out. “The tuition fee is a hefty 1250 pounds a year, but the education is top-notch.” He continued with palpable excitement.

  Wretch observed him with narrowing eyes. He was acting like the twins, bustling with emotion compared to his usual businesslike behavior.

  “Did you go there? You look like you’re remembering something happy,” Wretch said, and Edmund gave him a secretive look.

  “I used to go there.” Astrid answered in his stead. “But I dropped out.”

  Elenya and Wretch stared at her with wide eyes.

  “You dropped out!” They exclaimed in unison.

  Astrid put up her gloved hands defensively. “I didn’t like it, that’s all. The free buffet was nice though.”

  “You could have just passed and been set for life. For life!” Elenya said while Wretch bounced around by her legs like the small dogs of the upper-class.

  “You had free food, and you gave it up? Did you fall on your head? You fell on your head and became dumb, didn’t you!” He sputtered from below Elenya.

  The two of them hounded Astrid for a better answer, as Edmund looked up at the college with a smile. A tuition for two was a small fortune.

  After a stern reprimand from Astrid, they ascended the final elevator to the eighteenth floor. The height was dizzying, the minor spires looked like tiny spikes far below, and he could see the inner gate around the city’s heart. Beyond them, a few scattered smoking industries looked like bugs in a spidery web of roads cutting through the slums. Encircled by the massive circular outer wall, holding in the entire city like a basin.

  Astrid had called the city a cage, but looking at it from here, it felt anything but restrictive.

  If it is a cage, then it’s a cage with a view.

  Beyond the city was a rough landscape filled with patches of vegetation, thin black lines cutting through the green. Approaching the city on one of the dark lines came a black caterpillar looking blob. It blew a trail of smoke behind it.

  A train.

  He hadn’t seen one before, but it looked tiny and vulnerable from up here. Connecting the dozen strongholds with Nov Yanosk, the true city of man. Each a bastion against the deadly wilderness.

  The Eighteenth floor itself was like an ancient castle. There were no freestanding houses, instead every structure seamlessly connected, as if the entire floor had been chiseled from one massive stone. Or perhaps the entire Saints summit had been raised in eons past with this place in mind.

  Wretch saw no civilians, only a few scattered attendants hurrying about with stacks of paperwork and a handful of masons working to maintain the imposing walls.

  Edmund led them through the gateways and arches, up to a pair of wide stairs, ascending up to a gate. Evening approached, and the suns showered the stairs and fortress atop the world in gold. A metal emblem above the gate reflected the light, a doglike monster impaled by a swarm of humans with spears and swords.

  Elenya stopped at the foot of the stairs, shielding her eyes from the sun to look up.

  “Now, this is a place worth remembering,” she said, turning her head towards Edmund. “You should have brought me earlier.”

  “And waste a coin on elevator fares, never,” Edmund said with a soft smile.

  “This is a special occasion, as we might have the funds to purchase something today,” he continued. “I encourage pooling together our coin, if you find something that could raise our effectiveness.”

  Astrid peeked out from under her enormous hat. “Let me guess, you’re not buying anything. You’re only lending?”

  “Who knows? If something catches my fancy, perhaps I will partake. Otherwise, my coin is yours… at a respectable interest rate.” Edmund said with a bow.

  Interest rate? Wretch thought.

  The captain’s expression changed as if he just remembered something important.

  “Oh, and don’t pick a fight with anyone. Especially not the guards. Looking at you Elenya.”

  “I am on my best behavior, promise,” she answered.

  They walked up the stairs and Wretch realized he had misjudged the size of the gate. It was massive, adorned with chiseled images of hunters and warriors fighting hordes of terrifying beasts. Two men sat on either sides of the gate. Wretch’s eyes widened.

  Giants.

  The guards sat on stone pedestals, each giant thrice the height of Elenya. The left one was blubbery and round, wielding a two-handed hammer with a head larger than Wretch himself. Two small eyes watched them from under bushy eyebrows, its face framed by two wild sideburns.

  The other was slender but just as tall, with a thin face and a long hooked nose. A massive angular broadsword resting by his side. They each wore an elaborate suit and a golden breastplate the size of several tables.

  By the saint, they are huge!

  They stood up and Elenya gave a whistle. She opened her mouth to speak but suddenly flinched, Astrid had driven an elbow into her side.

  “Good evening, Igor the Siege and Dorjan of Earth, we are here for the hunter’s feast,” Edmund said.

  The giants exchanged looks, then the round one, Igor, tilted his blubbery head and scrutinized them.

  “What crew are you from? You’re not kindling trying to pull a fast one, are you?” he said with a voice so dark and low, Wretch felt his chest vibrate with every word.

  “No. I prefer to not become a smudge on the stairs!” Edmund answered without delay, “I’m Captain Edmund Richter and I have booked a seat at tonight’s auction for me and my crew.” he said, gesturing to the rest of the crew.

  The fat giant crouched down to stare at them with an eye the size of a small plate.

  “I don't recognize that name.” He rumbled.

  Wretch took an instinctive step behind Elenya for cover.

  The thinner one revealed an oversized parchment that still looked small in his hands. He held it close to his face and gazed at it with one eye.

  “They are on the list, Igor!” he said. A deep and melodic pitch to his voice, like water rushing between rocks.

  The big one grumbled and sat down with enough weight to make the ground shake.

  “Never anyone trying to pull a fast one.” He grumbled.

  “You are free to enter Captain, not everyone has arrived yet, pay the clerks two pounds,” the slim one said.

  The group followed Edmund as they entered the building, and Wretch couldn’t help but glance at the giant men. Standing up straight, he was barely taller than their knees.

  In the hall beyond, open burning fires were the only light. The interior had intricate, cut stone reliefs and minimal furniture. A clerk took their coats and coins before showing them through a winding corridor.

  “How… how did they become so big?” Wretch asked in a hushed tone.

  “Actually, I want to know that too!” Elenya chimed in.

  “You’re big enough as it is Elenya.” Astrid answered.

  “I assume it’s linked to their blessings. I am fairly certain they were human once.” Edmund said. Wretch imagined himself as a giant, sitting stoically and guarding the treasures of the Saint herself.

  Their footsteps echoed as they walked into a giant hall, the ceiling was so far up Wretch was certain they could fit a dozen of the Richter’s house inside. The walls had columns and reliefs of stone, depicting humans ripping through horror after horror in a grotesque scene of exposed wounds and violence.

  Gold and red sunlight scattered through tall windows of stained glass, each put together with multicolored shards to depict Hunters in chromatic detail, the dying sunlight warning of the coming night.

  He froze.

  "Hey!" Elenya said as she almost bumped into him from behind. “Cold feet kiddo, don't worry big sis will handle—”

  She grew quiet as she saw the look on his face.

  “Ratty?”

  He was staring with wide eyes, up onto one of the reliefs. Depicting a hunter shredding a retreating horror with two long knives. A wide rimmed hat and wicked smile carved from stone, sharp canines reflecting in the light.

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