The portal had transported us into what looked like a bedchamber. The only illumination came from a cracked window in the far corner, its meager light spilling across the floor. After so long in near-total darkness, even that faint glow was enough for my eyes to see without issue.

  A robed figure sat slouched in a wooden chair opposite me, hood drawn low.

  The portal snapped shut behind me with a muted pop, far quieter than the thunderous ruptures I’d grown used to, but loud enough to startle the guy who looked to have been asleep.

  The moment our eyes met, he stiffened, realizing I was not the one he had been waiting for. He lurched upright, hands rising as mana coalesced in his palms.

  The spell discharged in a sputtering flash, a weak bolt of energy snapping across the room toward us. Balt moved first. His shield flared into being with a resonant hum, the energy bolt splashing harmlessly across its surface. With a grunt, Balt twisted his staff, expanding the shield outward quickly. The force hurled the robed man into the wall with a bone-jarring thud, pinning him there.

  I walked forward. Ember’s edge gleamed as I stepped in close, pressing the blade to the man’s throat. “Now that,” I said, my lips curling into a smirk, “is no way to treat guests.”

  Balt stepped up beside me, his staff humming faintly as he hooked the tip beneath the man’s hood. With a flick, the fabric fell back, revealing a pale face framed by dark hair. He couldn’t have been more than in his late twenties, eyes wide, darting between us, more terrified than defiant.

  We pressed him for answers, but there wasn’t much to squeeze out. His voice shook as he repeated the same story again and again: he had been told only to wait here for an Ardent, and then escort him to a safe house that overlooked the north guard tower. He was one of three apprentices to the portal master and swore he knew nothing more.

  I eased Ember back a fraction, just enough to let the man breathe.

  “Your name?” I asked.

  “Dre… Dree,” he stammered, eyes flicking between me and Balt.

  “Good. Then, Dree, you’re going to take us to the Duke.”

  His head shook violently. “I... I can’t. I was told only to wait here. If I...”

  I let my aura slip free, just for a taste. The energy pressed down on him like a storm front rolling in. His breath hitched, knees buckling as sweat broke across his brow. Ember’s glow painted his face in sapphire as I nicked his neck, making a trickle of blood roll down.

  “Try again,” I said softly. That finally broke him. “Y-yes. I’ll take you.”

  Balt released the shield pinning his torso, and Dree staggered forward, clutching his throat where I had nicked him. He led us down a narrow stairwell, the stone steps spiraling until we emerged onto the streets below.

  From the tower window, the city had looked pristine, with whitewashed walls, clean stone roofs, orderly streets. But down here, the illusion cracked.

  People lined the streets with bandages wrapped around various parts of their bodies, their movements sluggish, and their eyes hollow. A woman sat slumped against a wall, rocking back and forth, her skin fevered and pale. The air smelled faintly of ash and sickness, a rot that no amount of clean stone could hide.

  The architecture of the Whiterock reminded me of that of ancient Rome. Most streets had rows of marble columns lining the streets. It felt like a forest of stone as I walked by. The buildings had tiered arches stacked one on another. Despite the beauty of the city layout, the city’s beauty was only skin deep. It was rotting from the inside.

  Dree cut through an alley and ten minutes later came out onto a broad avenue lined with cracked statues and wilted banners.

  “This is it,” our unwilling guide said quietly. “The causeway, it will lead you straight to the Duke’s gates.”

  Besides a single patrol trudging down the far end of the avenue, the streets were eerily empty of guards and people. This one road was not lined with a single bandaged person. It was so silent that I could hear my footsteps echo off the stone now. For a city as big as this one, the silence felt wrong, like the bones of a beast with no blood left to move it.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  We passed beneath the shadow of a cracked statue; a nobleman carved in the act of presenting a scroll. Dree’s pace faltered. I caught the twitch of his shoulders, the sudden jerky movement.

  He bolted.

  I didn’t even think. One step, and the world blurred. My flash step carried me right behind him in a rush of air. I snapped out a quick jab. The blow landed square at the base of his skull with a dull crack, and Dree crumpled like a sack of grain.

  I exhaled in annoyance and then bent to haul him up. Slinging his limp weight over my shoulder, I rejoined Balt on the causeway.

  “Guess our guide’s not very eager to talk to the Duke,” I muttered.

  Balt only grunted, eyes sweeping the hollow streets ahead.

  “Apparently not. But I can’t shake something about that cavern, there were three portal archways. No way an entire army came into that bedroom like we did. Where do you think that army went?”

  I let out a low breath. That’s the million?credit question, isn’t it? Where did those other portals lead to?

  The Duke’s gates loomed in the distance, stark against white banners and the darker building behind them. The gate itself was a masterpiece; it was carved with reliefs of what must have been a former battle. With a man in full armor leading an army on horseback with a saber in his hands. With Dree slung unconscious over my shoulder, I was sure we were going to make a strange sight as we approached.

  The gate grew larger with every step, the detail of the artwork becoming clearer. Then I saw them, rows of armored figures stationed along the walls and clustered near the entrance. Dozens of them.

  “Well,” I muttered under my breath, shifting Dree’s weight on my shoulder, “put on your best smile, Balt, and let’s see if we can avoid a fight for once.”

  One of the guards broke off from the line and strode toward us. A stripe marked his shoulder plate, his expression flat and weary. His eyes flicked to the limp body I carried, then back to me.

  “If another one has fallen,” he said, voice clipped, “take them to the central infirmary with the rest. We have no place here for him.”

  I sat Dree’s unconscious body to the side and fixed the striped guard with a steady look.

  “Please bring me the highest?ranked commander you can,” I said, voice carrying just enough steel to cut through the clamor of the guards mustering behind the man. “I have news of the Duke’s son.”

  The guard’s eyes narrowed, skepticism plain on his face. His gaze lingered on me, taking in my appearance, then slid to Balt at my side.

  That’s when it hit me. Balt’s robes hadn’t had time to mend; the fabric was still scorched and hanging in tatters from the fight. My armor had spared me the worst of it, but I wasn’t exactly a fresh summer breeze myself. Between the blood, gore, and sweat, we both likely reeked to high heaven and had gone nose blind to it.

  I sighed, glancing at Balt. He met my eyes, and with no need to say more, Balt just shrugged back at me saying, “Fuck it.”

  Regalia snapped into place around me, plates of shimmering armor locking together with a sound like steel and thunder. I flared my aura to its peak, a crushing tide of power rolling across the causeway.

  The striped guard went pale, his jaw slack. Behind him, shouts rang out as the other soldiers scrambled, weapons half?drawn, eyes wide with panic. I held the display for a heartbeat longer, then dismissed the armor in a ripple of light, the weight vanishing as quickly as it came.

  “Now,” I said evenly, “get your commander.”

  The guard dropped to one knee, head inclined. “As you wish, Champion. I… I apologize. I did not know someone such as you was here.”

  I stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder. He twitched at the touch, fear flashing across his face.

  “It’s okay,” I told him, voice softer now. “What’s your name, soldier?”

  “Evan,” he answered quickly.

  “It really is okay, Evan. Now go get your commander, I have a report to give.”

  Before he could move, a portal appeared in front of the gate and a deep voice cut through the air. “No need to get me, Corporal Evan,” it rumbled. A burly man stepped out of the darkness in beautiful white armor, with two dark robbed figures in tow behind him.

  “I’m already here.”

  Identify triggered

  I looked over at Balt, and he had an over-exaggerated smile on his face. “I’m putting on my best smile, Riven, and I don’t think it’s helping.” Balt said.

  “You are such an asshole sometimes, you know that.” I replied.