After another day or so of travel we saw the dazzling city of Fulgerous. Its aura of ever changing light shining even into the day. It seemed the whole city itself was carved from a mountain, sitting lower than the range surrounding it. Its capitol stretching high into the air, a glowing crimson stone sat atop its peak, a beacon to all around. We hiked down the mountainside to the cities gate where we were stopped by a unit of guards. Their armour was intricate in design, seemingly made of obsidian chainmail and wrought iron plates on the chest and shoulders. Their boots shared the same appearance and their pants were stark white under their black chain skirt. Each wore a bronze helmet, sharply curved eye openings which formed a line down to a point at the bottom of the face plate. The back of their helmets came to a short, blunted point at an angle before settling down to the nape of their neck, intersecting with the chain mail. Each one had a different insignia on the forehead part of their helmet. Swirling, pointed, symbols made of red arourus stone. They all held long spears, wickedly pointed at the end, and a short sword on their side, stored in a black leather sheath. They crossed their spears as we approached, blocking our path. "What is your business here?" One in the middle said. His voice hoarse and deep. Hadar pulled out a piece of parchment from his bag and showed it to the guard. They uncrossed their spears and let us pass. The tall stone gate grinding open to reveal the shining city to us. "Where do we go now?" Aloura asked. "You said you had a contact here right Mr Hadar? Where would he be?" Hadar responded "Just follow me. It won't take long to get there." I couldn't see how. The city was huge, much larger than Anchoraad was and far more busy. People ran about trodding through the streets. Some in fancy clothes with shining jewellery, some in artisans attire, some sitting on the side of the street with a cup, a cloak draped over them. As we were walking by one of the people sitting on the ground he grabbed at the wolf skin that hung from my waist, holding out a wooden cup with a few small coins inside. I reached for the coin purse on my side but Mr Hadar grabbed me by the wrist. He shook his head and pulled me along before releasing. "Sir why did you pull me away? I was just going to give him a coin" I asked. "How old were you when you last came here boy? Seven, eight? There are a lot of people here who are simply out to con you. The sooner you realise that the better." He responded, not glancing back once. We soon found ourselves in front of the tavern. It was an exquisitely designed entryway, a dark wood door decorated with gold lining and aurorus stone to make a stunning recreation of the constellation. The sign above read "Aquarius" and had a pitcher that seemed to be pouring out colorful streams of light. We walked in and were quickly met with a symphony of drunkards belting out tavern songs along with the bards on stage whose instruments felt magical themselves. It was a joyous place filled with laughter and cheering. Hadar though looked grim, shuffling up to the bar as if he were shackled at the ankles. The bartender, a beautiful young woman with flowing white hair, bright emerald eyes, and a blue dress twirled and danced along with the tunes behind the granite bar top, pouring drinks left and right. She seemed uncanny for some reason, nothing bad per se, but not entirely..... human. That's when I noticed her long pointy ears. AN ELF??? I screamed in my mind. I had only heard about them. I knew they lived farther north and sometime ventured into this city but I didn't know they had moved in. Elves had always seemed like a folktale to people from my village, not one had been seen anywhere nearby. Though now that I noticed there were several of them in the bar. "A lot can change in five years Kaine" Aloura said, noticing my surprise. "They've began to integrate into human society. Just a few towns for now though." We all followed closely behind Hadar, huddling around the bar. The barkeep noticed us and waltzed over slowly. Her carefree smile turning into a mischievous one. "Baron. It's been a while hasn't it?" She said, slowly. Hadar seemed to shake when he spoke back, "Yes, indeed it has. I believe it's time for me to call in that favor from all those years ago." Her face went dark. "You think you can just pull the shit you did, disappear for twenty years, and come walking back in my tavern like nothing ever happened?!" Hadar steeled himself. "This isn't a favor for me Isolde. It's for these two young ones travelling with me. Their parents, stolen by the crown. They wish to find them and they saved my life so I'll do everything in my power to help them. Have some pity Isolde please. They're children." Her emerald eyes turned towards me, seemingly staring into and through my own. She got closer and held her fingers up towards my face for a second before retracting them back. I felt a haze fall over me for moment, buzzing in my head. "Oh you poor thing. Someone as young as you shouldn't know such anguish. And you young lady, you've shared his pain." She wiped a tear away and continued, "I may be young for an elf but I've still lived dozens of human lifetimes. You learn to read people well." She turned back to Hadar. "Fine. But you know I don't work for free. You'll have to make it worth my while if I'm going to help." "I understand Isolde. Tell me, what can I do?" Isolde sat back and stroked her chin for a moment, mulling over the question, before answering, "All of you go upstairs and go to the third door on the right. Drop your things off there and take a rest. I'll have Dak bring dinner up later. "Thank you Isolde" Hadar said turning towards the stairs. "Not you Baron. You're going to stay down here and help me with this crowd." Hadar hung his head for a moment before handing his bags to me and walking behind the bar. Isolde sweetly smiled at the three of us and nodded towards the stairs. We trudged upstairs and went to our room, letting our belongings clatter to the floor and collapsing onto the small beds. As I lay there i began to feel heavy, my eyelids drawing closed and my consciousness fading. Most nights since I escaped from the prison I still had flashbacks to my captivity. But this dream was different from those I experienced previously. It felt less like a dream and more like I was truly somewhere else. I sat on a stone floor, black flames pluming up from the cracks. The flames crawled up the walls around me in a circle as well, yet the room felt cool. Unnaturally cold even. I was not alone here. Beyond the flames there was something, someone. A presence I could not see or hear yet I felt it. This beings aura clawed its way into the depths of my soul, icy cold fingers gripping my heart. I wanted to run, to cry out, to do something, yet I was frozen. Unable to move, speak, breathe, or even blink. Then I heard a voice in my head, sharp and coarse, like a stone grinding against a blade. "You do not know me mortal, but I've known you since the day you were born." Every word sent chill through my body, every syllable dripping with venom, feeling like knives in my skin. "W-who are you?" I asked shakily. "You needn't know who I am. All you must do is exactly what I tell you to do. Or else you shall fall to undesirable circumstances, per your contract." He replied. "What are you talking about? What contract? Who the hell are you?!" He let out a sinister laugh, cackles booming from the base of my skull, rattling my brain. "You'll soon understand" he told me. I awoke to Aloura shaking me lightly by my shoulder, cold sweat drenching my clothes. "Are you alright? You're burning up" she said frantically, hand on my forehead. She handed me a glass of water and I chugged it down. My entire body was trembling and aching as if I was sick. I felt feverish and lethargic. This only continued for a few minutes before I calmed back down. Aloura had left to go get me another glass and returned with the water as well as Isolde in tail. She gave me a once over and confirmed that I wasn't ill. "What happened dear?" She asked. "I'm.... Not sure. I saw something. It-it said it knew me. Whatever it was, it's worse than any demon or monster I've heard of." Isolde looked at me peculiarly then took a small pendant from a pouch on her side. It was a dainty thing, small bits of gold woven together around a center sapphire stone. She dangled it from its chain in front of my face. Soon the sapphire started to vibrate, before shattering and falling to the floor. Isolde began to tremble as her breaths grew shallow, stumbling backwards away from me until she was at the door. "Go to the temple, immediately. Go now!" I was stunned, she had seemed so cool and collected mere moments ago, now reduced to a shouting mess. "GET OUT." She screamed, then collected herself once more" "Please. There is something inside of you that is directly from the darkest part of the Hells. A priest might be able to help. But for now I must place precautions here. So please leave." I slowly rose from the bed and walked out towards the door. Aloura followed me closely. When we got outside she asked if I was okay. "I'm fine" I told her. But in reality I was terrified. They were right. Maybe I am a demon. I started to walk off towards the temple when I realized I had no idea where it was. "Do you know where the temple is, Aloura?" I asked. She shook her head and walked forward pulling on my sleeve. "Let's just walk around a bit I'm sure we'll find it." She said with a slight smirk. I followed her down the busy street into the shining city. As we strolled around we talked about all the recent and not so recent events. "We haven't really had the chance to talk about everything." Aloura said. "Yeah. I guess not" I replied. Off in the distance bells rang out in a discordant song, the delay from the spacing of the bells synching up to form an eerie melody. As the rest fell quiet one bell continued its chorus for a moment before lulling back to sleep as its echo rang throughout the city. Suddenly people began to pour out into the streets, the whole space became crowded and bustling. Aloura grabbed hold of my arm so to not be separated. We started walking towards where the last bell rang from, assuming that was the temple. "We missed you, you know. Not just your parents. I missed you a lot." She said softly. I almost choked up. "I missed you too, all of you. The thought of seeing you all again was what kept me going." She squeezed my arm tighter and smiled. As we came up on the church the crowd thinned out a bit yet Aloura held on for a second before realizing and releasing her hold. She swept the hair from her ear and glanced down for a moment. She probably didn't notice but she was blushing, a red hue washing her face. Has she always been this pretty? I thought. I shook my head and reminded myself there were more important issues we needed to take care of. The entrance to the cathedral was an opulent centrepiece to the surrounding structure. Its white marble doors, trimmed with gold, stood fifteen feet tall. The symbol of the churches practice, divine star, was imbedded in gold on both doors, a glimmering diamond at the center. The rays from the sun refracted from inside the jewel, forming multi colored rays along the walls and ground in front of it. I reached for the handle and went to pull the door open but, I was met with a strange resistance, almost as if my body didn't want to grab the handle. It wasn't enough to stop me from my task, yet it was noticeable. As I pulled the door open I felt a wave of pressure wash over my body, almost as if some kind of aura from inside wanted to deny me entry. Strange, I thought. With some effort I pushed past and we entered the church.
