Chapter 7: Dark Signs Part 1
Early morning on a grassy area south of Dravagan, two horses pulls a wagon with white clothing that covers it. Sights like this are rare since the only merchants who use this kind of transportation.
Travelling merchants aren't the most profitable way of income as they are for an easy target to all bandits. That is why only those who can afford a mercenary lived this kind of lifestyle.
This carriage doesn't seems to show any signs of having one with them since they usually sits out in the open, serving as lookout. It is a wonder that the wagon still remain intact during the travel here.
The wagon arrives safely by the gate as it opens its door, entering Dravagan without an incident.
Meanwhile, Demios notes down a few interesting jobs that he pulls down before anyone else had a chance to get their hands on it. He head inside to approve the request.
"Today is the day they arrive right?" a female voice catches his attention as he waits for the approval. A male human and a female dragon are chatting close to the main help desk.
"Around this time, they should have arrived. They are probably setting up their wares right now," the man replies.
"So the time has come again huh...," Demios mumble to himself.
Various traveling merchant sells various wares to attract potential customers. They wander the world in search of rare items to sell, with most items they gain through trading. Usually, one will arrive at Dravagan every four months.
"Demios... Demios!" A loud voice snaps him back to reality. The receptionist glares back at him. "How long you are going to stand there? I still have papers to approve," he says, pointing to a small line behind Demios.
"Oh, sorry," he quickly grabs the paper and head out of the building, planning to review the jobs he got.
Before he got far, a wagon gets his attention. There are humans and dragons preparing to sell their wares. Noting from the way they are assembling, it appears that only one group that will have their wares to offer this time as they pack their stuff together. One interesting thing to note, most of the dragons is white dragons. Being a kind specialized in the mind, this kind of living somewhat suited them as a merchant, with emphasis on somewhat.
There isn't much place with a really wide area for them to set up a stall, so the front of the guild is the usual location for any traveling merchant. It will be still a couple hours before they are ready. Demios decides to head towards Anima's house early.
In a surprising turn of events, no one talk about the Reaper anymore with various news makes their headlines. Despite this, Cronus still receives a few stares since he still wear his helmet everywhere he goes, even when sleeping according to Phobos.
Demios arrives at the house Anima mentions. Green house with a mailbox besides the door. A sign, 'Send mail here!' is above the mailbox.
As he walks closer to the door, there is a loud sound coming from inside the house. Demios slowly knocks the door, waiting for Anima to reply.
"Whoever you are, if you don't have any important business, then leave!" Anima shouts from behind the door.
"Anima, it's me, Demios. I'm here early," Demios announces.
The door opens, revealing Anima himself, wearing a lab coat. From the looks of it, something just blew up as black dust covers his face and coat.
"Whoa, what happened?" Demios asks in surprise.
"You can see for yourself," Anima replies, resign to whatever that already happened as Demios enters the house.
Right of him, there is an area that seems to be used for chemistry experiment. Walls and counters for experiments have black soot cover them. It must be quite an explosion to create such mess. Demios sweat drops as he passes by the main room. He stops in his tracks as he sees a metal pod at the center of the room.
"So this is your unfinished creation...," Demios says as he approaches it, "looks like a bed to me."
"Don't call it creation," Anima says as he appears beside Demios, surprising him. "It will be my masterpiece, just you see!" Anima insists. Demios backs off a little. Anima realizes what he just done and clears his throat to avert speculation about himself.
"Anyway," he points to a round table with eight chairs close to his desk, "You can review your jobs over there." He quickly retreats to clean up and changes his clothes.
Demios spread the jobs he got on the table. There are three jobs he found interesting.
Usually, jobs tend to have deadlines written in them. For now, Demios manages to grab jobs that don't have a direct deadline.
Demios notes down the details of each job.
The first job is a request by the guild to take down an underground fight club. It appears that a black market station themselves there, posing as a fight club. The guild request to oust the dealer or destroy the place as soon as possible
The second job goes about a rumor of an evil plan. The requester asks to meet them at the Industrial on evening. They also request to bring at least 2 hunters, and anyone inconspicuous. There is also an extra note written below, 'Do not bring anyone from the Halberd clan!' Demios raises his eye, curios.
"Do not bring anyone from the Halberd clan? I wonder why?" he comments before moving towards the last job.
The third job is simpler. There is a rumor regarding a suspicious activity on a forest north of Dravagan. The task is to investigate and destroy any possible illegal activity.
Demios begin thinking regarding who should take each task. Aurnat and him seems should be able to do the second job. Cronus and Anima can handle the suspicious activity part. This leaves Phobos and Ray to do their job to destroy the underground fight club.
Demios write down each member's name on the jobs he assigns before compiling them neatly. He takes a moment to look around Anima's house. Anima's desk is close to shelves of books. Anima's collection seems to match those of a library, but his seems to contain more about science more than anything. Anima himself has switched clothes and is currently cleaning the house. Demios decides to take a look around his collection, looking for something to read.
Meanwhile, Phobos and Aurnat have the same thing in mind, the bazaar.
The merchants have opens their stalls, showing off their wares to sell. They sell various things, ranging from weapons to little items. Cronus also finds himself here, despite showing no interest in the bazaar itself.
The bazaar in front of the guild is full of people. Merchants setting up their stalls, customers looking for items of value.
Phobos manages to struggle ahead to see what items they are selling while Aurnat latches on his back. Cronus proceeds to force himself to get out from the area, relaxing after he manages to get some personal space before spreading his wings and take off towards Anima's house.
Meanwhile, Phobos and Aurnat began looking towards the wares. Their merchant is two small white dragons. One of them, the one with larger wingspan has a quiver with arrows inside and an odd looking bow behind him, while the other one with a smaller wingspan has a silver bo staff behind him. Yet Aurnat notes that the staff is a lot shorter than usual bo staff. Perhaps it is to compensate his small stature. Then again, both dragons are short in comparison towards average human height, especially the one with the bow. His height seems to be half of an average human's height. Either his descendants are short or he is just a young dragon.
"Welcome, come take a look at our wares," the dragon with the bow announces excitedly while waving his hand around, inviting curious customers.
"The Silver Cross has various items of great quality, come take a look," the other dragon, possibly his partner also announces with him. Phobos eyes them with interest while Aurnat takes a look at their wares.
On a blue carpet are various items of interest. Among them, there are various materials for crafting or forging. Ranging from threads, ores, and furs.
One object in particular that got Phobos's attention is a spherical object with a rope on it. Lifting it up, Phobos recalls the same object that Falux uses when they battle the other day.
"Are you interested in that sir?" the merchant with the staff ask him.
"It piqued my curiosity," Phobos says, still looking at the object, "tell me, what is this thing, umm..." Phobos goes silent; he doesn't know their names yet.
"The name's Silver, and this is my partner Cross," he clarifies, pointing at the dragon beside him, currently bargaining with Aurnat, "and that object is a bomb."
Phobos raises his eye in interest as Silver begin explaining, "To be quick, it is an object that will explode when lit. It is a very devastating tool."
Phobos narrows his eye, there is no way a mere merchant can get something dangerous like this easily.
"Where do you get this?" Phobos asks, feigning curiosity.
"Trade secret," Cross interjects with a smile on his face. For some reason, Phobos feels that Cross did that on purpose.
"How much?" Phobos asks.
"50 Dracoins," Silver reply, smiling like a merchant usually do. At least he doesn't rub his hands together, which irritates him for some reason.
That is a lot more expensive than he thought. Despite this, Phobos takes out his pouch and tosses 5 gold coins at Silver. He catches it with ease as Phobos put away the bomb inside his pocket, knowing that at least it will be useful.
"Thank you for your patronage," Cross waves Phobos and Aurnat goodbye as they leave the area.
"So, what do you get?" Phobos asks Aurnat as they continue walking.
"Strings for my lute, that is all," Aurnat says, holding a small box.
"Finally huh?" Phobos quietly asks.
"Pretty much."
Meanwhile, Cronus already landed in front of Anima's house. He took a moment to relax before looking at the door, ensuring that he arrives at the right house. There is a mailbox besides the door allright. He knocks the door, waiting for a reply.
The door opens, revealing Demios standing there.
"Cronus? You're early today," Demios greets him before looking around, "Where are Phobos and Aurnat?"
Cronus points to the huge crowd behind him that is heading towards the bazaar.
"I see, looks like they will be there for some time," Demios concludes as Ray arrives as well.
"Demios and Cronus, good morning." Ray greets them, "Is everyone here?"
"Not yet, Phobos and Aurnat are on the bazaar. Why don't you two come in? I would like to summarize the jobs I got."
With that, the three dragons enters Anima's house.
"So, what have you got?" Ray asks as Demios leads them to the round table. Anima puts away a broom as he takes a seat on one of the chairs, waiting for Demios.
"Well-"
A knocking sound on the door interrupts him before he gets any further.
"It must be them," Demios says as he head towards the door, with Ray following behind. Indeed, Phobos and Aurnat have arrive, with Aurnat carrying a small box with him. Both dragons enter the house as everyone assembles together at the table, ready to hear about their assignment today.
"So, I have got three assignments from the guild today. We will move in pairs to complete them. First one is about an investigation regarding an illegal activity north of here, Anima and Cronus, both of you will investigate this one."
Cronus nods in affirmation while Anima rubs his chin. Demios decides to continue the briefing.
"Next one, the guild have reports of a suspicious underground fighting club. They wanted the club to be destroyed for illegal gambling. The simplest thing to say about it, that it is like a coliseum in a sense, only darker. It is located within the slums. Phobos and Ray, your turn on handling this one."
Phobos crosses his arms while Ray nods
"By the way," Phobos speaks up, "Ray, change your clothes. We can't have you walking around as a Halberd."
"Huh? Why?" Ray questions.
"Just do it," Phobos insists, "You will understand."
Anima points to a small room behind him, "Change your clothes over there."
As Ray heads off to change, Demios continues the briefing, "Last one is a mission regarding being a bodyguard. Something about preventing an assassination, I think. I and Aurnat will handle this."
Unfortunately, Ray hears about it and burst out from the room, already changes to a more casual outfit.
"What? Why don't you let me do it? I am not a Halberd for nothing," Ray said, emphasizing his point through raising his halberd and shield.
Demios rolls his eyes before replying, "He wants someone inconspicuous. And I doubt anyone won't recognize you Ray, no offense. Besides, they specifically stated 'No Halberd's clan'."
"What kind of someone would reject an offer from us?" Ray asks as he slumps in his chair.
"Who knows?" Demios shrugs.
"Well then, I suppose this marks the end of our meeting. Let us meet again at Hearth's after we have finished our jobs," Demios says, adjourning the small meeting. All of them part ways, each heading towards their mission's destination.
"Are you sure you will be all right?"
In order to get extra income, Selene has decides to do various jobs from the guild, since anyone can take on simple quest without the need to be a hunter. No one ever makes a living this way though as the payment isn't that much.
"Positive, I'll be back soon," Selene says with confidence.
"I suppose I can't stop you," Sol sighs, "Just promise me you'll be careful. Okay?"
"Promise," she replies before turning away, "Well then, I'll be off."
She runs ahead towards the front gate, which is quite a distance from their home. Sol shakes his head as he enters back the house.
[Cronus & Anima]
Cronus is scouting the forest below him, with Anima on his back. It took them two hours to reach this location.
"Over there," Anima points to a small tower on the distance, close to a mountain. Cronus lands on the small clearing near the tower as Anima get off Cronus's back. The tower ahead them is your basic wizard tower, made of stone. There is nothing notable about it.
"A tower in the middle of nowhere, perfect for something illegal waiting to happen," Anima comments as they began moving towards the tower.
"It's too quiet," Cronus speaks up as they arrive at the base of the tower.
Anima looks above him. The tower is surprisingly small; it is a little smaller than most trees surrounding the forest. Anima tries to open the door, but it wouldn't budge.
Cronus motion Anima to stand out of the way as he prepares to charge. Anima silently move away as Cronus slams the door with his body, destroying it and sending wooden splinters inside the tower. What came to view was something they don't expect.
There is a purple circular drawing on the floor. The circle began to emit an eerie light as a being appears from the circle. Anima and Cronus tenses up as the creature emerges with a roar.
It has a centipede like body, with two pairs of arms with black scale that covers its entire body. Its face is unmistakably a dragon, its entire body glows a menacing green as it looks at them, standing around Anima's height.
"Finally...," it says, the voice is unmistakably male, but raspy, "The time has come..."
"Who are you?" Anima asks, cautious on his part.
The creature stares at them; he appears to be analyzing them before keeping his attention towards Cronus. Through his eyes, Cronus's entire body glows softly as he growls.
"I can see it...," he hisses menacingly, "your 'promise'..."
Cronus tense up at the word 'promise'. He quickly takes out his scythe brandishing it against the creature.
"I, Dividers will destroy that vow!"
Dividers roar as he charges at them. Cronus and Anima dodges out of the way before he slams into them. Hissing menacingly, he looks around the area, looking for them.
Cronus quickly gets close to Dividers, slicing his left arm and damaging the scales below it. Dividers roar as he slams Cronus to a wall.
Anima began hurling knives at Dividers. He turns around just as the knives lodges itself to his upper body. Roaring in defiance, he pulls them out, green blood leaking from the open wound.
Cronus gets on his feet as Dividers takes a breath before spewing out green flames on the battlefield. Cronus covers himself with his wings as he tries to locate Anima. Dividers turn his attention towards Cronus, preparing to claw him.
"Maybe I can use this safely...," Anima mutters as his right hand begins glows soft green.
He extends his hand out as an astral blade appears before him. The translucent weapon is green entirely. Anima wields the blade as he extends his left hand, speaking an arcane sentence, "Dragon Flame!"
The astral dragon breathes fire that engulfs Dividers. Cronus covers himself from the fire as Dividers silently turns around, unaware that Anima had hurl the blade towards him.
The blade strikes the same wounded area, only deeper. Realizing what happens, Dividers look down seeing the blade lodges on him as the blade dissipates into small green sparkle that returns to Anima.
"I-Impossible," Dividers coughs as he fell. Anima and Cronus approaches the fallen dragon as he clutches his chest.
"It... appears... that I... have arrived... too early...," Dividers coughs as he laments his defeat.
"Arrived too early? What's that supposed to mean?" Anima interrogates him as Dividers laugh.
"Fools, I am nothing but a small part of darkness, for there are many more of me, waiting their turn to wreck havoc," the dragon declares as he smiles at them wickedly, "enjoy your time, for when the time comes, there will be chaos."
His body shatters into small black energies that disperse to the air. Among those who watch, a figure looks from the shadows, paying attention on their battles earlier.
"Still too early," the figure mumbles before stopping in its tracks, "...I feel like I am forgetting something. What was it?" The figure mumbles to itself before shrugging, "Oh well." The figure vanishes into the darkness.
Cronus and Anima relaxes as they examines their surroundings once more. The only thing worth noticing is a door ahead of them. Opening the door, they see a room what seems to be a former study. A desk and a shelf of books are the only thing here. Anima proceeds to examine the shelf while Cronus examines the desk.
"How could anyone get their hands of this kind of stuff?" Anima wonders as he flips through the pages of one of the books. The book he has in his hands right now is an almanac of demons. To be more precise, dark dragons of destruction. One of the pages even details Dividers. "I can't believe that they are dragons like us..." Dropping the book, Anima continues to skim through various books on the shelf. One book particular book catch his interests.
It is a leatherbound book. The cover has a magic circle inscribed on it, but no titles. Glancing around, he silently put away the book inside the sack.
There is nothing on the desk. The desk itself is all dusty, definitely haven't been used for a long time, this includes the drawer. Sighing, Cronus turns around only to see Anima stares at him seriously.
"What?" Cronus asks, uneasy.
Anima pushes him a book on a certain page, "Read this," he says.
The book depicts someone with chains and a lock on them. But what surprises Cronus is a certain sentence.
'It granted them power to weigh down their enemies, but loses their own. Only the true wielder can render their enemies helpless, destroy them and still becoming stronger through natural means. For they are the real being itself'
"True wielder? Real being?" Cronus repeats in confusion as Anima takes the book away from him.
"I'll take a look of this alongside a few things," Anima says as he put the book inside a sack with various books he takes from the shelf. "I'll detail down the information later, let us go back."
Once again, Anima clings onto Cronus's back as he ascends to the sky, albeit a little slower since he carries a cargo with him as well. While Anima wonders about the creature they faced earlier,
Cronus is curios about his origin, as all he remembers is his time when he is young. A mistake, all painful memories returns to him in an instant.
'How naive, for you to think we will accept you easily.'
'Get away from us monster!'
Cronus clutches his heart while flying, his breath becomes erratic as the painful memories keep resurfacing.
"Cronus! Cronus! Get a hold of yourself!" Anima tries to calm Cronus down.
"Make it stop," Cronus screams, hands on his head, "MAKE IT STOP!"
Cronus quickly loses altitude as Anima holds on to Cronus and the sack. They fall down to the forest below as Cronus lands painfully on the ground, rolling until he crashes to a tree. Anima breaks his fall by landing on the sack not far from where Cronus is.
"Ow...," Anima rubs his arm as he looks at his surroundings. Trees everywhere, flying out of here will make it easier, but he doesn't know any magic for such purpose.
"I should have studied some utility magic back then instead spending my time reading books...," Anima slump in defeat on his situation before shaking his head, "No, now it's not the time to be like this."
He carries the sack of books as he checks Cronus's condition. He is out of cold, his back shows a bruise mark, definitely from crashing into the tree earlier.
'I'm can't carry him, he is too big.' Anima thinks as he something came up to him. He could check out the mark on Cronus's left hand, on the other hand, prying into someone's secret while that someone is unconscious is too unethical for him as a person, since he also have a lot of stuff to hide.
Anima decides against it. He proceeds to scout the surroundings on his locations. Without any hints, he won't be able to make it out alive unless Cronus wakes up. The sun began to set, it will be dark soon. Anima decides to stay close to Cronus for safety, and hoping that he will wake up soon or at least someone is around to help. But first things first, he needs a fire.
[Phobos & Ray]
As Cronus and Anima heads off to their destination, Phobos and Ray have arrive at the slums.
"So where is this 'fight club'?" Ray asks Phobos as they traverse the area. Phobos pulls out the parchment from the guild, reading it
"Around the center of the slums, shouldn't be too far from here," he clarifies.
Both dragons continue walking in silence. As they continue deeper, some of the residents give them dirty looks, but most direct their eyes at Ray. All of them avoid direct eye contact towards Phobos for some reason. Phobos pulls Ray away before he got too uncomfortable, figuring that he could ask him instead of asking them.
They have arrive at the location. From the outside, the place is just a small old building but Phobos is quite sure that the interior should be the location. The exterior is nothing but a decoy to hide the interior. Now, the only question is how to get in.
"Options Phobos?" Ray asks as they stand by a nearby wall across the building.
"Either charge in, or the more subtle way," Phobos says as he pulls out the mission parchment, "let see, 'the only known way to get inside is through invitations' is what they said." Phobos put away the parchment.
Ahead of them are two dragons standing in front of the door. Phobos smiles in a mischievous manner as he quickly grabs both dragons by the throat, drag them to an alley and knock them unconscious before any of them can do anything.
"Phobos!? What the heck!?" Ray shouts as Phobos searches their belongings, "You just straight up robbed them in front of me."
"I called it being opportunistic Ray. Besides, they are about to enter an illegal location, so why bother?" Phobos says as he produces two envelopes from them, "alright, let's go." Ray sighs in defeat as Phobos drags Ray to the entrance.
"What did I get myself into?" He mutters, "The clan will kill me for this."
Knocking the door lightly, the view slide opens as a pair of eyes watches them. Phobos reveals the envelope as their invitations. The window view slide shut as the door opens slightly, a claw points towards the envelope before opening his palms. Phobos gives the envelope as the claw motions them to enter.
The path descends as the figure gives them a pin with names on it. 'White' and 'Red' respectively. Ray takes the 'White' for himself, leaving Phobos with the 'Red' name pin.
As they stuck the pin on their clothes, they arrive on the main stage. Roars and cheers are everywhere it appears that a fight is just over with the loser being carried away, while the winner roars and raises in his fist in victory.
Phobos looks around for more information on this place. Ahead of them is definitely the fighting ring. Behind them is the exit. Right of them is the bar where patrons can get drink. A counter on their left is the betting counter. Beyond the counter seems to be a door leading to a private area, though Phobos prefers not to think about it. Blue lamps are hung above the fighting stage. Phobos decides to examine the fighting stage first.
"Come on Whitey," Phobos jokes as he drags Ray.
"Stop dragging me, Red!" He complains as they look at the stage.
The fighting stage itself is actually below them. The place where they are standing right now is the spectator's area. Upon closer look, bloods are around the floor, definitely the mark of a beating. Crowds around roars loudly as they anticipate the next match. Across the stage, Phobos notice a small door, a figure enters the place, and another exit, with an object in their hands. An object bought from the black market perhaps.
"And now," the announcer said loudly, "here comes our big guy!"
The fighter that emerges from their side is a huge muscular red dragon, wearing nothing but a loincloth. Phobos swears he could hear females moan at his sight. The red dragon grins and flexes his muscles at the spectators.
'Feels like the coliseum for some reason...,' Phobos silently notes.
"And now, the challenger is...," the announcer goes silent as he watches the figure entering the ring.
Emerging from the other side is a smaller white dragon, which cause everyone to stop cheering. Phobos and Ray too are silent with shock at who appears.
Phobos notices that instead of underbelly scales like most dragons have, his is a more human torso. The white dragon wears a purple old jeans and a robe that he ties on his waist. His horns are a sharp two thin long curved horns with a dark red hair. He stands a little taller than most average human.
He takes a fighting stance as the red dragon laughs at his opponent, believing that this will be a quick win.
Recovering from the initial shock, Phobos notes the dragon stance is that of a professional one, being firm, and strong. Phobos heads back to the betting counter.
"How much the ratio this time?" Phobos asks, wasting no time.
"1.1 for the big red, and 20 for the white one," the man behind the counter explains without any interest, expecting this one will order the red ticket like most do.
Phobos smirks at this ratio. Handing out 100 Dracoins, he set them on the counter, "Then I'll bet for the white one."
Phobos declaration is heard by everyone around them. Everyone stares them with a face that says, 'is he serious?' Phobos's expression doesn't falter a bit, while Ray keeps looking at Phobos.
The cashier looks in surprise for a moment before regaining his composure. He takes the coins as he takes out a small ticket, signing '100 Dracoins bet, win 2000 Dracoins.'
Phobos pockets the ticket as he nonchalantly walks back to the spectator area. Some of them step away from him at his seemingly overconfidence. The fighters below don't seem to care about that. The red dragon takes on a feral stance, roaring loudly at his opponent, trying to intimidate him. The white dragon remains firm, waiting for the red dragon to make his move.
The red dragon began to charge towards his opponent. He swipes the white dragon using his big claws. The white dragon ducks, rushing forward as he delivers flurries of punch at the dragon's abdomen. The red dragon staggers back, holding his stomach as he glares at the smaller dragon before him.
Meanwhile, Phobos silently watches while the crowd cheers.
'There is something wrong with this fight, but what?' Ray wonders as he rubs his chin, eyes on the stage.
The red dragon charges at the white dragon, planning to take him down right now. The white dragon runs forward instead before spinning in a cartwheel move.
The white dragon lands a kick at his opponent's stomach. The red dragon staggers back a little but instead of swiping the smaller dragon, he doesn't react for a few second. The white dragon quickly deals an uppercut at the dragon's jaw, knocking him out. The white dragon takes a deep breath, calming down after the battle.
'What?' Ray questions. He spot a moment where the red dragon can counter and land a finishing blow, 'It can't be..., was this is all a setup?' Ray speculates.
The crowd has a shock expression on their faces. The red dragon lies in defeat against the white dragon. Phobos silently head off to get his winnings while Ray frowns. The move the red dragon made earlier clearly indicates that the white dragon is meant to win.
'Did he know about this?' Ray wonders as he looks at Phobos, carrying a sack filled with Dracoins, 'Probably not…'
A figure looks at Phobos hauling off the sack of Dracoins. He motions a servant to come closer.
"Send that dragon in, I would like to have a word with him," he tells the servant. The servant bows as he heads off to Phobos. The figure keeps his eyes on Phobos.
Phobos got envy looks from patrons around him as he stands close to the betting counter. Bartenders act like a professional but a little tense, hoping him to spend his money here. The cashier doesn't care about this as he proceeds to take a nap.
"Excuse me sir," a voice calls out to Phobos, a man wearing a formal suit approaches him, "Someone requested to see you. I'm here to escort you personally."
"Who is this person?" Phobos asks.
"You will found out about it yourself," the man replies with the same formality.
"What do you think, Red?" Ray asks Phobos.
"Take care of this for me," Phobos says as he hand over the sack. Ray holds it with ease as Phobos pass him, "Be careful, if you sees an opening, take it," Phobos quietly whisper as he continues following the man. Ray closes his eyes as he grips the sack.
The servant lead Phobos to a private room downstairs. It appears that the place he thought serves as the hub for black market is actually stairs to private rooms, but he can be wrong about this. They arrive at the farthest room; the servant knocks at the door, waiting for reply.
"Enter," come the voice from the other side.
The interior has a blue wallpaper. There is a sofa at the end of the room alongside a table with drinks. Behind them is a pane of tinted glass, to watch the fight without anyone staring inside.
"There you are, now leave us alone," the man says, waving the servant away. The human bow as he left them. The man reveals himself as a black dragon, wearing a black tuxedo suit and a black cap. Phobos tense up as he recognizes the stance this dragon adapt.
"What's wrong? Paling up when looking at me," the dragon asks, feigning confusion while his hands are on the hat, "Ooh, I get it. Is it because I look just like him, no?"
The dragon throws away his hat. Phobos is already frozen with shock, the man in front of him has the same features as Valon, but smaller.
"After all, I am his brother."
In a different room, the red dragon from earlier is taking reps at a weight set in his own personal room. The defeat doesn't faze him much. He's waiting for someone to arrive. Finally, a door opens and a figure enters the room, closing the door behind him.
"There you are, I've been waiting for you," the red fighter greets his guest. It is the white fighter he loses to earlier, "So eager to get started eh?"
The white dragon laughs, "You and your words, Realon. Is that how you greeted everyone who has an appointment?"
The red dragon, Realon guffaws, "Everyone wants to meet with me. We just share a common thing that makes it easier, isn't that right Dusk?"
The white dragon, Dusk smirks but doesn't reply.
"Today is the day right? You ready to do it?" Realon cross his arms as he watches Dusk.
"Every time is always the same with you, hard and direct. I suppose that's why females dig you a lot," Dusk shrugs indifferently, "Although that sentence tends to send the wrong messages..."
"You know me, habit," he guffaw before grinning, "Enough talk, let's do it."
Dusk grins as well, locking the door behind him and ensuring no one can hear or see them, "Of course, I'm always ready."
Realon's grin becomes wider, "Good."
[Demios & Aurnat]
Demios and Aurnat have arrives at their destination, the Industrial. Residents work here, for those who aren't a hunter that is. There are many factories here. Mostly they are metal processing or threads processing factory. At the end, there is a waterfall with the water generator atop of it. This is the only area that has design like that as the river flows through Dravagan, also the only area with a small park to enjoy the scenery, despite the noise.
"Our requester should be here soon," Demios comments as he looks around.
"May I ask what our quest is on this one?" Aurnat asks.
"Something about preventing 'an evil plan', as they put it," Demios clarifies, still looking around. Aurnat pulls his feather hat a little. He has a bad feeling about this.
"I see you have arrived," a voice calls out to them. Aurnat tenses up as he pulled his feather hat further to cover his face as their requester appears.
The requester happens to be a man, wearing a butler suit.
"I believe that you two are the one that accepted my request?" he asks with a formal tone, before looking at Aurnat with an intense stare.
Aurnat closes his eye, not looking at the man.
"Master Aurnat," he suddenly says, catching Demios off guard before turning to Aurnat.
Aurnat doesn't respond. He opens his eye to stare back at the man, hands still holding his hat.
To be continued...