Episode X Dark Hunter

The Diamond Guild

They walked through the crystalline doorway and stopped at the guard just on the inside right. Videsse removed her firearms, belt, and blades, handing them to the guard. This was becoming such a common occurrence it was almost natural. So was her body language of disapproval.

The guard looked her over with suspicion, raised a handheld scanner and moved it up and down her and Cam.

"Horusuk, Rudcka," the guard commanded.

Videsse raised her hands with a gesture of confusion. "Do you speak Basic?"

The guard's face was stern and cold. "Your gauntlets, Rudcka," he said through gritted teeth. Rudcka was a term used by Arkanians to describe an outsider. It was derogatory, and though Videsse did not know what it meant, she was sure to catch its intent. This guard, though he could not see her face, knew she was not Arkanian. How he knew the Basic-speaking woman, the only one in the city that was clothed in full armor, weapons, and a helmet was not an Arkanian, we must assume was a part of his training or at least attributed to his astute observation skills. Whatever the inconceivable reason, we must treat it as another detail of the story that must remain a mystery.

Videsse restrained her comments and dropped the gauntlets on the clear crystal table in front of her. The olive skin of her hands was now evident as if that was needed to show herself as an alien.

"It's been a while since any security managed to disarm me completely," she muttered to Cam as the guard waved them to enter. "Whatever."

The entry hall was vast and open. Everything was blue glassy crystal; the walls, the floor, the icicle-pinned ceiling twenty meters above them. The diffusely lit floor beneath them gave the impression that one was walking on a sea of glass, that same undulating light also caused the icicle spires above them to glow and fill the room with a cerulean organic light. Again, as I have mentioned previously, their culture was an odd contrast between extremes, and here was no different. The cold dead crystal, with its sharp and rigid lines coexisting with the smooth, living waves of light, like water over ice; the spirit over the material.

It was disorienting at first for Cam, to walk on the glass floor. The crystal seemed to extend forever beneath them and into a dark void. He looked down and felt as if somehow he would fall into it and sink slowly and eternally downward into the dark depths just under the undulations of light; lights that danced as if living spirits, maybe even the undead calling him under. "Hear our tale. Enter our dwelling and listen."

"Cam," Videsse barked. "Keep up."

He raised his eyes from the floor, the trance broken, and so he ran a dozen steps to catch Videsse.

The occupied hall vast as it was held at least a hundred men and women engaging in business at clear tables. Still, the hall felt empty. On one end there were three guild representatives that stood behind desks, desks that seemed to be an extension of the glass floor as if sections of the crystal had simply been pushed up from beneath. The desks glowed and undulated in the light like the floor and everything. Thus, the faces of the attendants were underlit by this luminescence, giving them a harsh and severe appearance. In contrast to this, these female attendants were three of the most beautiful Arkanians that Videsse had seen to this point, and she did notice that.

Two were busy aiding other businessmen so Videsse walked up to the center desk which was available. The attendant was much taller than Videsse, standing at least a head higher. Her orange skin was paler than most, almost yellow, and her pupilless eyes somehow appeared brighter, even more glassy than the rest of her race. Her hair was long and rich, straight and resting over her left shoulder down to her hip. She wore a white gown, regal-like, which caught the blue waves of light from the desk. Woven scalloped lacework at the neckline was filled with the curved lines of fire, and the sharp lines of ice. A white thin belt, without a buckle, adorned the waist of her hourglass form. The delicate dress silhouetted her hips and traversed down her legs where it barely touched the floor and hid her feet behind a lacy hem.