Chapter 30: UNDERCITY
The Capital’s splendor was a lie that ended at sunset. As darkness fell, Reed pulled his hood lower, obscuring his face as he moved through streets that no longer pretended to defy gravity. Here, beneath the gleaming towers and floating gardens, the Undercity sprawled like a festering wound—reality laid bare.
"This is unwise," Shia murmured beside him, her hand never straying far from the curved blade at her hip. "The tournament begins at dawn. You should be resting, preparing."
"Knowledge is preparation," Reed replied, his voice barely audible above the cacophony of the Undercity. "And there are things I need to know that won’t be found in the gilded halls above."
They passed through a market where butchers hawked meat of dubious origin, the stench of blood mingling with incense burned to mask the rot. Reed’s gaze lingered on a vendor selling organs—some still pulsing with unnatural life, others preserved in viscous fluids that glowed with alchemical properties. Not all appeared to be from animals.
"Looking for something special, Lord?" the vendor asked, yellow teeth bared in what might have been a smile. His eyes—three of them, arranged in a triangle—gleamed with recognition. "Rare components, perhaps? I have hearts that beat without bodies, lungs that breathe elemental essences..."
Reed kept walking, but not before noting how the vendor’s third eye tracked him with unnerving precision. Word of his presence was spreading.
The architecture grew more hostile as they descended. Buildings leaned into each other like drunken mourners, windows like lidless eyes watching passersby. The people changed too—fewer pure elementals, more hybrids, mutations, and beings who defied categorization altogether. Outcasts and anomalies, like Reed himself.
"The Whispering Veil is just ahead," Shia said, pointing to a structure that seemed to fold in on itself, its entrance visible only from certain angles. "Your contact should be waiting."
Reed nodded, but his attention had fixed on a figure being dragged into an alley across the street—a young woman, her elemental signature flickering weakly. Water domain, by the blue-green shimmer of her aura, but corrupted somehow. Three larger figures surrounded her, their elements clashing jarringly.
"Wait here," he told Shia, already moving.
"Reed—" she began, but he was already across the street.