The yawn that escaped Emily required both hands to cover as she arrived at the front door of her lodging.

  Genevieve had raved about the scepter, insisting she needed to study it further so that she might reproduce it. She even offered to pay handsomely for the opportunity. Emily was more than happy to let her do so but when Genevieve suggested Emily leave it there, she had to decline.

  Unlike the book or siphon Emily owned, this item was directly connected to her battle strength.

  She refused to cave to the Forge Master's requests as it was the only weapon Emily had found compatible with her source.

  Genevieve had offered quite the sum of money but Emily refused to budge. So when Juest suggested Emily simply pop by regularly for Genevieve to study the artifact it was the best compromise they could come up with.

  Emily had left the tower but not before getting to know Juest a little more over some drinks. The man was exactly how he looked. Defensive, yet curious. Wary, yet caring.

  He had gone through a lot and Emily found herself liking the pair of siblings. Even in a city like this, they seemed to be very down to earth.

  This was especially interesting, seeing as Juest was on some high council the bigwigs of the city seemed to respect.

  Either way, Emily had taken one of Juest’s carriages back to Ariandel’s guest quarters and was currently fumbling with the lock.

  On her third try, she managed to unlock the building and sneak her way in. It was the early hours of the morning so she didn’t want to wake anyone, but as she closed the door she heard the sound of a chair creaking.

  Glancing back she noticed a small light on in the room and although Cupcake was snoring peacefully in one of the corners, a pair of furrowed brows watched her enter.

  Emily blinked slowly, belatedly realizing it was Ashe sitting in the small armchair with a book open in her lap.

  “Well, at least you finally decided to show your face… Emily, where in the five hel’s have you been?”

  Emily opened her mouth but then closed it again as Ashe wasn’t done.

  “Do you have any idea the situation we’re in? I couldn’t even come out to look for you. Next time, let us know if you'll be out late. I thought you'd been caught—or worse!”

  Emily didn’t know what to say. Why did she care that she was out late?

  “A… I’m safe. So don’t worry.”

  That turned out to be the wrong answer because Ashe’s face only became more flustered. Ashe stood, her book forgotten as she stalked toward Emily.

  “I can see that now, but why didn’t you let us know you would be late? Nox spent most of the day searching for you. Anything could have happened in this city.”

  Emily was still at a loss for words but she thought she understood what was going on here.

  Ashe and Nox had been waiting for her return so when she hadn’t come back they had worried. Emily cocked her head, the thought settling uneasily in her mind.

  Someone had been worried for her.

  The concept was unfamiliar, like a melody she couldn’t quite place.

  Even her grandfather had not cared where she had been or what she had been up to. Unless she missed training, then the only thing she was met with was punishment drills.

  “I…apologize, I didn’t think it was that big of a deal, but I’ll make sure you guys know where I am from now on,” Emily said frowning to herself.

  Ashe stared at Emily and then groaned.

  “Why do you have to do that? I’m mad at you, let me be mad.” Ashe said as she crossed her arms.

  “Um, okay. Now I’m lost.”

  Ashe squinted at Emily and sighed.

  “Fine have it your way… I need to ask a favor. I need you to get me a pass to leave the upper college. We can’t get out of here if we don’t have one.”

  Emily frowned.

  “Why do you need one?”

  Ashe padded back to the sofa and plopped down onto it.

  “To search for our allies of course. Has Ariandel said anything about their whereabouts?”

  Emily nodded and relayed what he had told her but Ashe did not look too happy.

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  “I had a feeling this would happen. If that's the case then I might have an idea of where they could be, but I’ll have to move quietly.”

  At those words, Ashe had Emily’s full attention.

  “If you know where he is then all we need to do is get close and I can track him.”

  Ashe shook her head.

  “It might not be so simple. If they are where I think they are, we can’t go in with swords raised. I’ll need some time to search the area.”

  Emily chewed at the inside of her cheek.

  “You can’t be serious. You know where they are but won’t tell me?”

  “No, it's not like that. I will tell you, it's just I need to confirm if my hunch is true before we do anything. If I’m right it pertains to one of the cruelest secrets this city holds.”

  Emily glared at Ashe, searching her eyes for what had to be a lie, but she never found anything.

  “How long…” Emily ground out.

  “The sooner you can get me that pass, the sooner I can sneak out.”

  Emily pressed her lips into a thin line, her nod stiff with reluctant resolve. She was not used to trusting people, especially with the stakes being her life. As things stood, Emily was in a difficult situation. She wanted to go find Alex, but from what Ashe was saying that might put him in more danger. Ashe had yet to do her harm so Emily had to try at least to trust her.

  “You have a week. I’ll get you the pass. But if you still can’t find anything after that time you have to promise to take me there. I’d rather bring this city to its knees than let him get killed.”

  Ashe swallowed when she saw how serious Emily was.

  “Okay, I promise.”

  Emily could see the concern on Ashe’s face, but she still promised to take her, and for now, that was enough.

  “Alright, I’m going to bed, I’m heading back to Ariandel’s tower tomorrow. I’ll keep trying to find out things on my end, but I’ll probably be back late evening.”

  Ashe nodded with a sad smile.

  “Hey, I know it's late, but would you want to go over some runes with me?” Ashe asked.

  Emily peered at Ashe curled up on the sofa and although Emily was tired she realized she was quite tempted. So nodding, she moved to the other sofa and sat down.

  Ashe smiled as she opened her book on a particular page and flipped it toward her. Emily scratched her head and began looking over the runes. Even though there were little annotations around the page the best Emily could make out was that the rune was used for magnetism.

  They went at it for an hour or so, before Emily’s eyes began to feel like they were being weighed down by bricks. Eventually, the world's colors faded and not even her stars came to greet her.

  Emily wasn’t sure when it happened but, she must have fallen asleep because the next thing she knew she was waking up still sitting in the armchair with a massive ache in her neck.

  Ashe must have put a blanket on her at some point because one covered her now, though, in the current weather, it was not all that necessary.

  Luckily, Emily woke from her slumber in the early morning. Getting up she saw Nox leaning against one of the nearby sofas with a paper plate. He was shoveling something that looked suspiciously like a pancake into his mouth.

  “Mmmm, where’s Ashe?” Emily groaned.

  “Shtill shleeping,” Nox said through a mouthful of food.

  Holding out her hand, Emily made a ‘gimme’ motion.

  Nox frowned but he handed her a plate with the fluffy delicacies.

  Swallowing the pancake. Nox looked thoughtful.

  “All this place has is junk food here and there. I don’t know how anyone is supposed to eat well in this place, luckily Ashe knew some places. Also, it costs so much more than it should.”

  Emily nodded as she shoved another one in her mouth, holding out her hand again.

  “I don’t have anymore” Nox shrugged.

  Swallowing her mouthful Emily shook her head.

  “I need some of those refined source coins we got from the Layline, I know you have them.”

  Nox’s eyes widened.

  “I can’t, Kael would chop me into little bits for stealing his loot.”

  Emily shrugged.

  “He’s not in a position to argue, plus l intend to use it to help the wandering fangs anyway, he would be fine with this.”

  Nox hesitated, worry shifting behind his eyes.

  “Okay, but I’m going to say you needed them.”

  Emily grimaced but otherwise said nothing.

  Making a short gesture, Nox pulled around ten pieces of refined source out of thin air and handed them over to Emily.

  “Hey, I have a question for you,” Emily said as she pocketed the pieces of metal. “Is teleportation something yellow source is capable of?”

  Nox paused but nodded.

  “Yes. But it’s not something even practiced Mages take lightly. It requires incredibly specific wards and spells to make sure you don’t end up appearing in random places. There is a permanent connection between the northern and southern continents in this city, but they are closely monitored and take an incredible amount of source to use.”

  Emily pursed her lips and glanced at the ceiling. They were trying to get down south, so why couldn’t they use the teleporters?

  Had Alex just not thought of them? No, there had to be a reason he was avoiding them. The only thing Emily could think of was the bounty on his head.

  Emily refocused on Nox.

  “I’m going to head out, let Ashe know when I’ll be back.”

  Nox nodded and Emily left the house early. This time Cupcake stirred from her slumber and padded after Emily. Patting her flank as they walked Emily arrived at the tower and went up.

  Ariandel was busy with Citta but when he saw her early he welcomed her and her partner. Emily asked for a pass for her friend and though Ariandel was hesitant he eventually gave in.

  The next couple of days were rather repetitive. Emily would wake up head to the tower, talk and study the documentation Ariandel had prepared, and then leave in the late afternoon. After that, Emily and Genevieve would head to Juest’s tower and she would study the scepter.

  Emily would relax and either look over their experiment or some new runes. On the odd occasion, Juest himself would show up and Emily would have a partner to talk with but he seemed like a fairly busy guy.

  Once Genevieve was content Emily would head home to get study with Ashe. Honestly, Emily had always wondered what college life would be like and this was probably as close as she would get.

  The days flickered by and Emily's impatience grew as did the armies outside. It was hard to notice at first but the few hundred fanatics outside the city were slowly growing. Some came from the mountains with armor and robes, while others were travelers caught up in the black core’s indoctrination.

  The shield held firm but the larger the groups out there grew, the more attacks rained down on the dome.

  Ashe left in the morning of every day and returned just before Emily in the evenings, or at least that's what Nox said.

  It was on the morning of the fourth day that things finally changed.

  Ariandel had been going over the runes with a critical eye and when he spoke there was an air of excitement in his voice.

  “I think we’re ready. The changes we’ve made aren’t going to get much better until we can see how they have affected the survivability rate. I have prepared all the necessary ingredients. Today we’re going to do our first test.”

  Blood points 319