"My grandmother used to tell me stories of men and women who, in their greed for power or wealth, made deals with Lard. He always demanded the same price in return—one that left them haunted by what they'd lost."

  "Human flesh," Cassius finished for her. Aliss nodded grimly.

  Greedy and demanding, Lard often required significant sacrifices from his devotees. The lure of power and wealth drew people to him, but most encounters ended with the Axis of Seraphim or royalty intervening, leaving the survivors either eliminated or driven mad. Lard cared only for satisfying his desires, which supposedly included consuming human flesh. Though the gruesome evidence suggested it, Cassius couldn't accept it as truth without proof.

  Those who made contracts with Lard gained unimaginable powers and, consumed by their endless thirst for more, had no qualms about tearing apart anyone who opposed them. And now, Cassius—a bounty hunter from a small town—was about to face a man with considerable control over human bodies and a deep understanding of their anatomies.

  Cassius shook his head, trying to dispel his doubts. He had been second-guessing himself ever since the mission began, constantly worrying about what would happen and when. This wasn’t like him. He couldn’t afford to let TAS manipute him or treat him as a pawn.

  Aliss sat quietly, seemingly lost in thought. Cassius suspected she knew more than she was letting on and that her timing in revealing information was deliberate. He wondered if it was wise to let her continue accompanying him. He was used to working alone, but since Aliss had joined him, he had learned more in less time. Yet, the doubts persisted.

  Cassius bypassed the small town of Crullfeld, nestled deep within thick woods. The tainted signpost told a grim tale, and the empty houses seemed to echo with the screams of their former occupants. He still couldn’t understand why Zenior had taken the residents to the forest clearing for Lard to devour and then burned their remains. It seemed careless to leave before ensuring that all evidence of the Crullfeld massacre was destroyed.

  Cassius kept a brisk pace, eager to reach Kilfall and discover what Zenior had done there. The st update reported the disappearance of three families, and Cassius doubted that a creature like Lard would pass up the opportunity to feast on an entire town, especially one nestled in a secluded valley, far from the eyes of the world.

  A bnket of perpetual gloom shrouded Kilfall, enveloping the town in a somber haze. The sorrow was palpable among the residents, who rarely gnced up as Cassius and Aliss walked down the narrow, mist-covered streets. As they approached the town center, they saw women in dark, tattered garments wailing and throwing tantrums. They cursed Zenior and urged the men to band together and seek vengeance for their loved ones.

  Aliss halted in front of a small stall dispying meager items. The shopkeeper’s gaze turned eager as he assessed her wealth.

  "Tell me, how many people did the doctor kill?" Aliss asked, pulling out her coin purse and eyeing the hairpins on dispy. The stallkeeper’s tongue darted over his dry lips, his eyes gleaming at the sight of the purse.

  “He took three families, including the elderly and the children. Killed them under the pretense of treating them,” the stallkeeper said.

  “That’s all?” Aliss asked.

  “Yeah,” the stallkeeper replied, his impatience growing. “And seven men.”

  Cassius’s ears perked up. He hadn’t heard about that.

  “Seven men?” Aliss pressed.

  “They worked at the mines. They tried to find the doctor and avenge their loved ones. Never came back.”

  Aliss shot Cassius a look over her shoulder. He ignored her, keeping a close watch on the stallkeeper.

  “I can show the way to the mines if you want.” The man offered. As Aliss considered his offer, Cassius’ eyes narrowed at him. The man fidgeted, twisting his hands beneath the table, and his eyes darted nervously.

  “That won’t be necessary,” Cassius intervened. And then he yanked Aliss back, roughly pulling her out of the way just as a dagger whizzed past his ear.

  Cassius had his blowgun out in a heartbeat, and the dart struck the departing man's neck. He colpsed with a loud thud, and a scream echoed through the narrow street.

  “WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY ADELARD?” one of the wailing women rushed at Cassius, but he sidestepped her as though she were a mere inconvenience.

  Reaching the fallen man, Cassius turned him over and pulled down the neckline of his tunic. A collective gasp rose from the crowd as they saw a jagged scar running down his chest. Behind Cassius, Aliss stood unnervingly still.

  “He cured this man,” she breathed, her voice barely audible to Cassius. “Why? Why not kill him like the rest?”

  No sooner had the question left her mouth than Aderd sprang to his feet with an unnatural roar. He swung his arm at Aliss, and Cassius pushed her aside, saving her by mere inches. The crowd erupted into chaos, some fleeing while others hesitated. The man's wife screamed at them to stop and leave Aderd alone, but Cassius ignored her. Aliss moved to confront the woman, allowing Cassius to focus on Aderd.

  “I won’t stand for this insult!” Aderd growled, one of his eyes fshing red as a dark network of veins became visible beneath his skin. Was he infected? Or had he sold his soul to Lard? It appeared, especially given how he’d tried to lure them to the mines.

  Exhirated by the prospect of a worthy fight, Cassius taunted, "Come at me, then." For a tense moment, he braced himself, certain the man would leap and tear him apart. But in the next instant, Aderd y at their feet, seven of Cassius' darts embedded in his neck. He wasn’t worth wasting all his energy.

  Aliss approached them, her voice steady as she remarked, "Seems like Zenior wasn’t the only one to make a deal." This time, she appeared composed. Behind her, Aderd’s wife struggled to contain herself, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her lips curled in disgust—not at the man lying at Cassius' feet, but at Cassius himself.

  “True, but he hasn’t fallen to such a state,” Cassius pointed out. “Either they left this man behind to distract any pursuers, or he’s working as their footman.”

  “Why would they do that?”

  “Because it seems our target is onto something significant,” Cassius replied. “I suspect this man lured anyone searching for Doctor Zenior into the mines to feed Lard. Since we haven’t encountered anyone else on the way, and his eagerness to lead us there supports this. But we won’t know for sure unless he talks.”

  "Oh, he will," Aliss said, her voice low but resolute. Cassius gnced at her, noticing her strange, resolved expression. She was clearly following her instincts, and he hoped their paths wouldn’t collide.

  When Cassius attempted to take Aderd’s body, his wife intervened again, her voice too loud for his liking. He shot a pleading gnce at Aliss, silently urging her to handle the situation. Cassius only knew one way to silence people, but he had no intention of using his darts on a woman who was neither a monster nor his target—just a hysterical person, the likes of whom he wasn’t trained to deal with.

  Leaving Aliss to manage the woman, he headed in the direction Aderd had indicated. People stepped aside as he passed, their eyes wide, their expressions wary. Once more, Cassius felt uneasy under their scrutiny, but there was nothing he could do. If he had been alone, he would have taken to the rooftops of the modest houses lining the streets, slipping by unnoticed. But things were different now; nothing stayed the same.

  Stepping beyond the town’s boundaries, Cassius stopped by an abandoned barn. He unceremoniously dropped Aderd’s body onto the hay-strewn floor and began pacing in front of it. Moments ter, he heard Aliss approaching, muttering curses under her breath as she entered.

  "What’s your pn?" Aliss asked, her tone ft, though Cassius could see her effort to keep it that way.

  "Head in the direction he pointed us."

  "Is it right toward the monster?" Aliss's voice raised an octave before she caught herself, swallowing hard as she looked away. "I mean, we can’t just walk into the mines."

  "Why not?"

  "There’s one way in and one way out. We might as well be walking into a trap."

  "Might," Cassius corrected. Aliss threw up her hands in frustration and stepped away from him and the body. Letting her cool off, Cassius turned his thoughts back to the man's scar—it was strange. It remained a lingering mystery in Cassius' mind how he had sensed it when he first faced Aderd.

  Following his intuition, Cassius grabbed the torn corner of the man’s colr and tore his tunic open, revealing a gruesome network of scars. A thick one ran from his neck down to the center of his chest, with jagged lines branching out like a spiderweb. Cassius studied the bckened scars, which covered the man’s body in a disturbing pattern. He didn’t need to ask Aliss for her thoughts—he’d already heard her stifled gasp and noticed the shiver that ran through her. She recognized these scars, and from what Cassius knew of her, they might have marked her father’s body. This raised several troubling questions that Cassius decided to save for ter.

  Before Cassius could speak, he caught a whiff of the powerful stench of magic that had guided him from the edges of Bredensea Woods to Kilfall. Instantly, he sprang to his feet and headed toward the source of the odor, which seemed to be leading him to the entrance of the mine caves.

  "Watch over Aderd!" Cassius shouted to Aliss as he stepped out of the barn and approached the scent.

  Stay tuned for the next chapter on 04/11/2025