NG EY

6 | They go for the gold.

You could call them the same thing. 

No, Deavor. They kill for the sake of killing. We kill to survive. 

Not recently. 

I disagree.  

It was nearly midnight, and the moon lit their journey through the streets from its perch in the dark shape of the mountains. Rigo maintained a walking pace, which was unfamiliar to Kellyn, but he saw its purpose. He'd only been able to use his masking spell on all four of them, since Rigo had expressly forbidden invisibility. Right before they left, Rigo had explained that the Collective hid lookout enchantments in odd places in the halls, and they could detect invisibility being used.

Their route through the busy, high-end Scenann district was also unusual. They passed several other groups of cloaked figures who were visiting the pubs, all without incident. Still, Kellyn could hear his heartbeat by the time they arrived at the gate. The massive stone arch was more imposing than he had realized, and the four guards at attention in front of it didn't help matters.

Rigo didn't say a word. He walked straight into the sheet of magical fog, and Kellyn followed Fox and Nalia's forms after him. The magic pressed against Kellyn's skin with a suddenness that made him jump. He gasped a breath, and for just a second, his lungs filled with electrifying fog. He came out into the courtyard coughing, even as the feeling vanished.

When they were farther down the path, Rigo muttered, "Sorry. I should have warned you all about that."

Next was a doorway that Kellyn knew even less about: the front door of the Collective building itself. Thinking back, he couldn't remember if he'd ever looked at the Collective from the front like this. The door was tall and had clearly been constructed out of magic. It looked similar to the case of the Ng Ey, actually: translucent, iridescent, white in some places. Rigo took a deep breath and pulled the door open, ushering them inside.

They encountered surprisingly few people in the halls, and one look at the three stripes of gold on Rigo's sleeves made the occasional guard avert their prying eyes. The pattern of gilt trim was similar to what Kellyn had seen on the cloaks of the senators in the break room, except one of Rigo's stripes was thinner. Nalia and Fox had only two stripes. Kellyn, dressed as an initiate, had none.

Kellyn started to have trouble maintaining a straight face. "We're just... doing this?" he murmured.

"Don't overthink it," Rigo replied. "Do you know your way from here?"

"I think so." Kellyn glanced around. "Yeah. This way."

He located the colorful plants, then the fountains, and soon they were standing in front of the huge nenimac doors of the Ng Ey chamber. Fox checked that they were alone, then whispered, "How did you get in last time?"

"I dunno," Kellyn said. "It just opened." He tried the handle, and sure enough, the door swung gently open without needing to be pulled. Kellyn led the group inside, and when the door closed, he told them, "I'm pretty sure this place is soundproof."

"Ah. Clever," Rigo remarked into the sudden quiet. He noticed the loose scrolls on the shelves around the room, and his eyes widened. He hurried to unfurl one. "These are Athael's journals," Rigo said with a small gasp. He started to read.

Fox was inspecting one of the seven lanterns on the walls. He bent down and squinted into the glass but quickly turned away. "Just looks like normal magical fire to me. It's too bright to see much of anything."