Inside the Union building.
The large pillared building opened up in front of Flo.
He entered with it being much busier than usual.
Groups of adventurers huddled against every inch of wall and bigger groups gathered in circles along the middle of the building.
The front desk swarmed with begging adventurers.
For the first time more than one worker was at the long desk.
Emily didn’t look much different whilst two other workers copied a similar look.
Having the same plan as many others, Flo joined the back of the crowd surrounding the questboard.
Not surprisingly, there wasn’t any quest that could even be done—all the quests that could be completed inside the city have already been taken.
Taking a seat on the floor by a spare space in the wall, Florian sighed as he looked around.
The unknowingness built up in him as his eyes wandered across the crowds of distress and worry.
The constant chatter intensified the situation but no solution was going to come for the crowds anytime soon.
But a solution for Florian wasn’t far away.
A quick repetitive tap on his shoulder caused Florian to shift his attention to the left where a familiar figure was bending over.
It’s Max.
His green eyes stared at Flo as he spoke to Florian, “I know a way out of the city,” he said.
Luckily no one else heard it as they were all locked into their own conversations.
Florian stood up hearing this.
“Lets go then,” he said, unwilling to wait till night time to leave the city.
They left the Union building together with Max walking ahead.
They traveled through streets Flo had never seen before.
They were a lot dirtier, cramped and squalid compared to where he lived.
The streets and alleys themselves were an incredible mess of obvious poverty.
People lay squished together by the sides of tipped over bins and others used the bins as blankets.
Hydra covered his nose acting like a perfect scarf as they walked with Max staying ahead.
Eventually, they reached the perimeter of the city where the large wall blocked their way out.
Florian looked around trying to spot their way out and nothing really called to him except for one area.
His eyes widening as he imagined what Max wanted to do next.
A river flowed through the city and under the wall but the bad part is, it is filled with the waste of the nearby streets.
“Are we gonna use the river?” Flo asked hoping for a no in response.
Max stared at him with a flat look, a stare that described Florian’s idiocracy.
Not explaining, Max hopped down into the river but only to the side where a pathway was built above the river.
Flo sighed in relief as he joined Max who walked ahead to a gate with a large metal chain arrested around the gateway.
Max grabbed the lock attached to the chain, pulled out a key and quickly undid it.
Looking around once more before they left, Flo realised how noticeablely dead this part of the slums were compared to the earlier alleys.
Turning away from the city, he exited through the gate as Max stood sideways, allowing his passage.
Shutting the gate with a large metallic Bang and re-locking it with the chain, Max followed behind Flo as they ventured beside the flowing waste river.
Eventually, they reached a stairway that took them upwards and into a field of grey grass.
As they stepped through the field, aiming for the greywood forest that awaited at the end, Flo’s eyes flickered between Max’s left hand and the expansive woodland.
Flo looked back, only to see the large city walls dwindling away in the distance.
“So, where are we going?” Flo questioned, his mood uplifted.
“To get cores,” Max replied simply.
As they walked through the field, the wind started to pick up, causing ripples in the grass.
Flo walking ahead of Max pulled out one of his pistols and pulled the trigger.
Bang Bang
The double shots echoed into the surroundings.
Hoping to attract attention it didn’t take long for meat-hungry beasts to the source.
Two fire wolves darted out from the grey trees and towards Max and Flo.
Their tongues hanging out, saliva dripping off as their tails swung rapidly behind them.
Balls of fire essence began to gather at their tails, whilst Flo had already got both of his pistols out and Max had his halberd out.
Bang Bang Bang Bang
A flurry of shots erupted from the pistols flying towards the wolves as they released their own fire.
Their charcoal fur glowing as the fire zoomed past and countered some of the bullets.
However some of the blooded bullets survived and dispersed into the wolves.
As both pistols jolted backwards in his hands, Flo gazed through the field of withering grass and to two wolves that jerked backwards and then fell onto the ground.
The wolves were dead and their bodies started to dissolve being swallowed by the black blood.
Moments later, Flo pulled out the two fire cores and pocketed them.
Max followed behind Flo as they traveled into the collection of iron-grey trees.
2 hours later…
Florian and Maxwell had their pockets stuffed along with bodies of large silver snakes surrounding them.
They were gradually disappearing as their bodies were absorbed by the black blood.
While a few weren’t being dissolved, their bodies sliced in half by fresh cuts of surging winds.
Glancing up to the skies through the collection of shivering leaves and witnessing the last moments of the dappled sunlight, Florian made a suggestion, “shall we head back, can’t carry much more anyway?”
Max nodded in agreement as they journeyed back the same direction they came.
Nothing seemed to have changed and nothing should have changed.
Except something did change.
Whilst, Max had already grabbed onto his halberd, the golden and blood weapon standing out among the depressed forest.
What caused this reaction was a large pool of blood stifled below a tree with more being added to every moment that passes.
The source of the blood came from a hanging corpse, both his arms forced into the air and tied together by his own shirt.
The man’s body was wrecked and destroyed, his intestines sliding out of his body, while his whole upper body was ripped apart, entire gaping holes owned his body.
The lower body of the man had both his legs intact but large gashes shredded his legs.
His feet were covered in blood as it collected at the bottom of his toes to fall onto the ground.
His long golden hair was stained in fresh blood and his head was covered in gruesome markings.
Luckily his eyelids were sealed shut saving us from witnessing his final emotions.
But his forehead was carved, most likely with a knife, with a cultish saying in all capitals:
‘GOD HAS SAVED THE PROPHET’.
This phrase caused Flo’s breath to hitch in his throat, his fingers rubbing themselves together as his brain was drowned in the chaos of his own thoughts.
Beside him, Max stayed on alert but became frozen in fright.
Eventually, Flo left his stupor and regained his senses, “Stay on guard Max,” he commanded as he tugged the man’s body to the floor, causing his wrists to burn against the tight shirt.
Searching his body, he looked for a plink but found nothing.
His body was stripped completely bare.
Only the shirt, ripped trousers and a necklace with the symbol of the sun dangling from it remained on the man.
“Let’s leave,” Flo declared as he stood back from the body.
Turning away, they walked towards the city walls with haste and urgency in their footsteps.
Some scattered beasts blocked their paths but they were quickly shot and killed.
The rest of the journey passed with no event anywhere near as gruesome.
They returned to the same river filled with the waste of the Birnam slums and walked down the stairway built to the side.
Entering under the city walls through the gateway, together they re-entered the city with Max still visibly shaken.
Walking through the alleys and back to the main streets, they entered the Union building where it was much less crowded as the sun began to set and the moon began its rise.
Trading in a their cores, they split the shards 50/50 and Flo opened his plink screen:
[Currency – 180 Shards 0 Sols 0 Eclipse Shards (Owes 250 Shards to All Gunnery to be paid within 85 sunrises)]
Satisfied with the amount, Flo bought 8 stage 1 blood bronze cores:
[Currency – 76 Shards 0 Sols 0 Eclipse Shards (Owes 250 Shards to All Gunnery to be paid within 85 sunrises)]
Grabbing the cores he turned to chat with Max but he had already left.
…
In the middle of the streets of Birnam, a lone figure was silently treading with a golden and crimson axe soaked in the blood of beasts.
His face seemed stoic but underneath was a rumble of frozen panic.