Felicity took in the half-burned sign that hung lopsided from a rusty chain that read Green Emer—. The crumbling defensive wall surrounding the town had holes big enough to ride a bus through. The buildings the wall protected were either eaten away by an acidic substance, had complete walls missing, or were nothing but an empty shell. On the outside of the town’s defensive walls, the trees had been cut back to give the town a clearer line of sight, but Felicity still noted the tell-tale signs of battle.

  Something, or someone, had come from the west, carving a path through the trees like a stampede of wild animals. In the distance, trees were bent back or uprooted.

  “Well, this is a shithole if I ever saw one,” said Francisco, but she ignored him.

  She continued to focus on the destruction. Walking toward the outer rim of the cut-back boundary, she noticed green puddles in the distance. They dotted the surrounding area like puddles formed after a rainstorm. She walked to the nearest one and jerked back as toxic fumes wafted in the air. Bending down, she picked up a stick and threw it in the nearest green puddle, only to watch the liquid eat away at it until nothing was left.

  “Well, that’s never a good sign,” said Francisco, at her shoulder.

  “No. No, it isn’t. I guess it explains what happened here.”

  “Does it?”

  She looked at him as if he was an idiot. “Of course it does. Whoever attacked this place must have an acid-type Ink power.”

  “Or we could be dealing with a monster who utilizes acid-based attacks,” said Isaac, joining the pair.

  Francisco looked at Felicity. “Does something like that even exist?”

  She shrugged. “How the hell am I supposed to know?”

  “Because you’re the nerd who read all the books and shit when we first got here.”

  She rolled her eyes as Isaac examined what she found further. “Whoever—or whatever—did this,” he said, “we are not in a position to face. This level of power speaks of Archdukes or higher.”

  “We defeated a Duke,” said Francisco. “Whatever troubles we face, we’ll be fine.”

  Issac rounded on him. “We were lucky. Clarence was an arrogant fool who relied on his Ink far too much. We will not be so lucky again. Not now they know what we are capable of. So let’s get in town, get what we came here for, and get out.”

  All of them turned to face the destroyed town.

  “Why are we here again?” asked Felicity.

  “Smith sent us here to find someone,” said Isaac.

  “And that someone would be…”

  A flash of embarrassment crossed Issac’s face before he hid it. “I’m not sure. He said we’ll know who it is once we find them.”

  Felicity buried her face in her hands as a groan escaped her lips. “Of course he didn’t give you a name. Why would he? That is far too much of a simple and easy thing to do. So what are we meant to do, comb the streets, call random names, and hope to meet the right person?”

  “If we are going to be calling out random people’s names, do you mind if we also see if this place has a massage parlor—”

  “How about we start by calling out Dave?” asked Felicity, cutting Francisco off. “Oh, right, that’s the name of your super-duper axe thingy, isn’t it? Sorrry, I forgot.”

  “Look, don’t get annoyed with me just because my dense and muscular body needs constant attention and maintenance. If I don’t get my weekly massages, then I get all stiff and—”

  “Maybe if you did some stretches and tried to touch your toes once in a while, your big ass wouldn’t get so stiff.”

  “I can touch my toes. And anyway, Dave as a name for a weapon is way better than Destroyer of Gods. What kind of overhyped-anime-Shonen-bullshit name is that for a weapon? Next thing you know, Flic, will have a bow called Piercer of Souls. Or Taker of Hearts.” He rolled his eyes. “Now that I think about it, Dave is a fantastic name for a weapon. It’s honest. Hard working. And tells you it will get the job done no matter what.”

  “Dave sounds like a bricklayer,” said Issac. “A bricklayer who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day and wears a white vest.”

  Francisco went to respond, but Felicity got in between the pair. “So you’re telling me we don’t know the name of the person we are here to find?” He gave her a nod. “Do we at least know if they are male or female?” Isaac gave her an embarrassed shrug. “Do we know if they are human—orc—beastkin?” Again the same shrug. Felicity ran her hands down her face. “So let me get this straight. We are here to meet some random, that we do not know who or what they are, and we don’t even have a name?”

  Isaac nodded. “That pretty much sums it up.”

  “And that doesn’t worry you?”

  Isaac waved her fears away. “It will work itself out. It normally always does.”

  Felicity looked at Francisco. “You got nothing to say about this?”

  He shrugged. “What is there to say? We either find the person or we don’t, not much we can do about it. Plus, by the state of this town, I doubt we’ll find anyone alive, anyway.”

  “And why is this person so important?”

  “No idea,” said Isaac, causing her to groan. “All Smith wrote is that we are to find them, escort them to our next destination, the Cloudwalker Islands, and from there, they will help us find a reliable ritual tattooist and more information on the second Forbidden Tree.”

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

  About to say something else, Felicity gave up and simply pointed ahead of her so Issac could take the lead.

  ***

  Isaac agreed with the big guy. He wasn’t sure if anyone was still alive in the Green Emerald domain. He didn’t want to voice his concerns and worry the others, but the further they walked through the town, the less he thought he would find what he was looking for.

  The entrance to the town was open like the door to a frat house during a house party.

  As they walked down the main market street, rundown stalls lined either side of the road. Further back, stores had either been looted—their windows smashed, and shelves stripped bare—or burned to the ground entirely.

  The trio stopped at a sign that read “baked goods” that had collapsed to the ground in a puff of dirt.

  Isaac stared at the sign as memories of cupcakes and flames emerged from his conscience. He buried them back down.

  Here and there, he saw more signs of Ink users’ battles. Craters big enough to bury him whole. Metal eaten through by the same acidic substance they saw outside the town. Coming to a stop in the middle of the road, he closed his eyes and sent out his Aura. It was a technique he learned from Felicity. It allowed someone with the power of a Viscount and above to search out for anything living. Felicity had learned it from a training manual that she freely shared. Isaac had devoured the information through its pages like a man dying of hunger.

  The creators tailored the training manual for lower-ranking personnel, but the information within remained enlightening. It told him things he could do with his Aura that he never guessed.

  The training manual had been written for lower-ranking personnel — but even so, it was enlightening.

  It revealed things he’d never known he could do with his Aura.

  Simple things, like turning it into a beacon so others could find him. Or the opposite—hiding it completely to avoid detection.

  He could suppress others with his Aura, even to the point of death. Sense nearby Auras. And, at the highest levels, read people’s emotions as if they were printed on a page.

  The manual also spoke of those with strong Auras being able to change the outcome of entire battles. Some had abandoned the use of Ink altogether, dedicating their lives to forging an Aura so powerful it could knock out ten thousand people with a single surge.

  It was something he knew he needed to train. But training an Aura wasn’t simple. There were only three ways to do it: meditation, Aura battles—whatever those were—and extreme trauma.

  The manual didn’t go into detail. It was only meant to get someone to Viscount level, after all.

  Isaac closed his eyes and sent his Aura out. The manual said that at the highest level, one could do so without needing to close one’s eyes, but he wasn’t there yet. He still needed to close his eyes to concentrate. Like ripples spreading from a stone dropped into a quiet lake, his Aura rolled out in waves. Small animals scattered from their hiding places as his senses brushed against theirs. He pushed out further and was beginning to think the place was deserted before his senses picked up on something.

  It was faint. Someone was hiding.

  Eyes snapping open, he looked the others’ way. He nodded up ahead and pointed to the left.

  Francisco took out his halberd and swung it, giving him a look. Enemy?

  Isaac wasn’t sure, but he didn’t want them to come across looking like a threat. He motioned for Francisco to put his weapon away and gestured for Felicity to take to the roof. She gave him a nod as she melted into the shadows and scaled the nearest building.

  Isaac walked forward, hands visible, as Francisco took his lead.

  At the end of the market road, they took a left and continued. The further away they moved from the main road, the more signs of life appeared. A collection of white tents appeared on the road they were on. Some had bloody handprints on the outside, while others had pots and pans littering their front. He thought they were all deserted, but one tent had a small fire and a pan of stew over it boiling away. The same scene repeated itself until they came to some wooden houses that hadn’t been as damaged. The houses reminded Isaac of cabins or hunting lodges.

  Isaac came to a stop in front of a building that looked like a block of rundown apartments—the kind you would find in any poor city neighborhood. It stood out amongst the surrounding buildings. Only four stories tall, the building had clothes strung across washing lines outside, swaying gently in the breeze. Smoke drifted up from more than one chimney, curling into the sky.

  “Is this the place?” asked Francisco.

  Isaac nodded as curtains twitched and a female voice called out. “That’s far enough. Who are you and what do you want?”

  He took a step forward but stopped as an arrow embedded into the mud an inch from his foot. “I’m looking for someone,” he said, lifting his hands in the air. “A friend of mine sent me to find someone.”

  “What’s your friend called?”

  Isaac looked up at the window, trying to see which one the voice was coming out of. Multiple curtains twitched, trying to throw him off.

  “I asked you a question.”

  “And I’m more than happy to answer, but I would rather talk face to face like a civilized person.”

  A snort. “Civilized? There’s no such thing on The Other Side.”

  His eyes darted left to right. Where was she? “As you can see, we are unarmed and—” Another arrow struck the mud on The Other Side of his foot. There! Top floor. Last window. He wasn’t the only person to notice as Felicity slipped through the window next to it.

  “I won’t ask again. Who are you and what do you want?”

  “Like I said, I’m looking for someone. A friend of mine called Smith sent me—”

  A harsh bark. “Smith has no friends.”

  “He sent me to find someone important to him. I do not know their name, but maybe if you can ask around for me, you can point me in the right direction.”

  A moment of silence before the speaker spoke with disdain. “Your story sounds like bullshit. Who sends someone to find a person without even giving them a name?”

  Francisco chuckled. “Flic did warn—”

  “If you’ve met Smith,” said Issac, “then you know the man can be…trying at times. That is all the information he gave me. I swear on my word and honor.”

  Another snort. “Well, ain’t you the chivalrous gentlemen. On your word and honor. Next, you’ll be laying your jacket over a muddy puddle so I don’t get my boots dirty.”

  “I don’t know who you have dealt with before, but my word and honor means something.”

  “Ha! You must be new to The Other Side if you think things like that mean anything to anyone. Honor will get you killed here faster than a young man looking for adventure during a time of war. And your word…means even less. You are not even a Duke. Only the words of Kings and Queens and beyond mean anything here.”

  “Look, there must be—”

  “I don’t know who you are, and I don’t care! I don’t know how you know Smith or my connection to him, but that kind of information could be easily brought. Now, unless you turn around and leave, we are going to have a problem.”

  Isaac gave his best hopeless shrug. “We are not a threat. We come in—”

  “Peace! You come in fucking peace? Is that what you were going to say? Do you know what happened the last time these people trusted someone who said they came in peace? They took everything from this already destroyed town and have been coming back ever since to try to get the remaining crumbs they left behind. So fuck your peace and—”

  The speaker stopped abruptly as Felicity’s voice stilled all. “Now, friend. We just want to talk. Is that too much to ask?”

  “It is, when you’ve got an arrow pointed at my back.”

  “Like Isaac said, we come in peace. We mean you or these people no harm. So why don’t you—”

  An explosion of glass showered the ground as Felicity flipped in the air until she righted herself and landed on her feet in a superhero pose. Glass continued to rain around her like a light spring drizzle as Isaac and Francisco armed themselves.

  A bright holy light shone from the window Felicity had escaped from as a black female, dressed in white flowing robes, floated out of the window, and descended toward them. With her arms outstretched and braided hair suspended in the air, she looked like an angry prophet looking down on them. She stopped a foot above the ground and took all three in. The halo floating above her head matched the white light that shone behind her eyes.

  “Peace,” she whispered. “You come in peace, you say? Yet you ambush me. Yet you point your weapons at me. Peace! I shall show what peace means on The Other Side.”

  Aura rushed away from her like water escaping a dam and assaulted all.