Paleblood

Paleblood Chapter 5: Ihyll Pale Shade

There it was. The aged,dark gate,separating the Cathedral District from the rest of Ihyll. Normally,wide open,its abbeys and main Cathedral calling to the faithful. Now,it was shut tight,preventing both exit and entrance. They may be skilled enough to slay beasts as tall as a spire,but none of them held gargantuan strenght. The three of them stared at the blackened gate,with the Drundarian glacing here and there,his eyes darting along the tall walls of the reclusive Cathedral District. Hoshiro looked more and more disheartened,with Josh's visage turning into one of confusion. Though quickly,he was snapped out of his daze by Neul's voice.

"Oi. You don't happen to have  some ropes in that fancy jacket of yours?"

"Nope." Josh sighed wearily,akin to a man frustrated with his limited options. "I'd wager I could hack my way through it,but that's bound to attract unwanted attention,first of all,and second,it's guaranteed to blunt my edge."

An exasperated sigh left the Drundarian's lips,with Hoshiro shifting his confused glance between the Kishar Church Hunter,and his brother in arms,so to say.  "And let me guess; you just used up your last whetstone last night. Am I correct?" As soon as Josh was about to reply about how he hadn't packed whetstones in the first place,Hoshiro spoke up,his dull,green eyes, a polar opposite to Josh's own pair of brilliant emeralds, shining with a glint of concern.

"There is an underground passage below. But you might not like it." The young man was met with a mildly loud smack on the shoulder by the smiling Church Hunter. No matter how dire the situation,Josh seemed to always be in some sort of laxadaisical behavior. Was he always like this?; would be what the Ihyllian thought as Josh spoke up.

"There is no real reason to like or not like a pathway,Hoshi! Anything you cook up has to be better than the chance to fight off a battalion of beasts!"

"I can only say that I share his sentiment. So. What is the passage you spoke of?" Neul asked in return,prompting Hoshiro to speak,his head bobbing and nodding in an odd sign of anxiety. Why was he so nervous? No matter what the cause was,Neul could understand it,to a degree. Despite being in a company of two capable Hunters,they were still human,after all. And in a situation such as this one,there would be plenty of ways for things to go wrong.

"About 20 years ago,shortly before I was born,there were slums running below the surface of Ihyll,so to say. In truth,they are left overs of the old city upon which Ihyll was built. I don't remember the actual name,but it is known as the Warrens,colloquially." Neul's face scrunched up upon hearing this. Call it a sixth sense,but something was offputting about the young man's voice.

"There is an issue with the Warrens now,isn't there?"

"Precisely!" Hoshiro's face lit up as he continued.

"The issue is; the Warrens were flooded by an accident. No one knows what caused the flooding,as the Church Hunters were sent to investigate. And before you ask,they did not disclose the information,because of course they didn't. But I digress."

With a short pause,the young man looked beside him,down below into the muddy river,slowly undulating far beneath the stonework bridge. His eyes said it all,his longer,jet black bangs swaying lightly with the barely noticeable breeze. There was a personal issue at place here. Whatever had happened in the Warrens,it must've affected him in some way.

"You see,before I managed to get my family onto Ihyll's proper streets,I used to live in the Warrens myself. Hundreds died. Some of those people were my friends,and my friends to my parents. And I'll risk sounding like a conspiracy theorist,but I'm not going to buy the nonsense about an old dam from Old Ihyll breaking. I'm a hundred percent sure the Church Hunters had something to do with it!"