=== A few minutes later

 

"We have discussed everything so far, so it is time to talk about how we should proceed together."

Ishina sat down on a chair and pointed to the box.

“You should drink the knowledge potion. Otherwise, this will be more of a monologue than a dialogue. Crete and I set ourselves a time limit of one week because the poisoners are already active, so one week is already generous, and we could already be too late...”

I nodded in agreement and grabbed the vial of knowledge potion.

I opened the vial with my paws, then bit the bottle's neck and lifted the vial. The liquid poured into my mouth, and I swallowed it all down.

My head started to hurt. It was a sharp pain. I got gasps, and it felt like I couldn't breathe.

My eyes went black when Ishina appeared in my field of vision and poured water into my mouth. It was just too much water that I coughed up.

"Is it okay now?"

Ishina's question made me realize that the pain was gone, and I could breathe normally again.

She noticed my relief and spoke to me again.

"And should we talk now?"

Instinctively, I felt that I could answer her, so I spoke to her, as I usually did.

"We can."

Her eyes widened at my answer. She looked surprised for a brief moment but quickly regained her confidence.

"Very good. Then we sit on the floor for comfort."

She sat cross-legged on the floor and looked at me.

"How do you want to proceed?"

I lay down and watched her.

"We're looking for the poisoners and their necromancer... Since they despise orcs and demons, I'll focus on the human's district while you investigate the elf district."

She pulled a piece of paper from her cloak and spread it out between us.

“These are our contacts. These two are humans, and this is an elf. Each of them works for me from time to time, but please remember, they're not trustworthy.”

On the spread out paper, there were profiles of the respective people, as well as drawings.

 

=== In the evening

 

"You want to explore the city?"

Ishina followed me out of the house, surprised that I wanted to explore the blackhole at night.

"Yes, I want to get an overview under cover of the night."

Ishina nodded.

"Well, I can understand you, but watch out, even in the dark, the Blackhole has eyes."

I ran down the hill, and when I felt I was far enough away, I manifested my wings. I pushed myself off the ground and soared high in the air.

The buildings of the Blackhole approached quickly, and before I knew it, I passed them.

"Astonishingly many lights..."

The streets were lit, and lights could still be seen in many of the houses. The first area I could see was the district from the humans. I tried to remember Ishina's map but couldn't be too precise. But what I could see was a palace in the center of their neighborhood, a castle that was definitely not on Ishina's map.

You can't overlook such a palace... we're talking about a vast, elaborate building!

I circled the area and found massive walls erected between the surrounding buildings and the houses even further away. Walls that were there to keep strangers out.

I took a closer look at some of the buildings before I landed on the balcony of the palace. The light was still on in the room, so I slowly approached the window and looked inside.

There were curtains in front of it from the inside, but a small opening allowed me to peek through them.

The light came from a source of my field of view. The light fell on a bed on the wall opposite of me. This bed was a cot. A woman sat on the edge of the bed, her eyes fixed on the bed.

*clonk*

I wanted to move away when I accidentally hit the window with my left wing.

"Who's there!?"

A surprised and, at the same time, angry woman's voice came out of the room.

I hurried up and jumped off the balcony, and glided through the air away. I left their district behind and flew into the next one.

The houses became more rustic and larger, and the lights in the houses and the streets were less constant. It looked to me as if ordinary firewood were used in them. I approached the tallest building in the neighborhood and landed on the roof. The entire building was reminiscent of a colossal longhouse, which was once built and used by Vikings.

I looked down into the room through an open window.

I could see deep down, the room was something like an arena. Something like sword training could be seen in the middle of the hall.

That must be the Orc district... Well then, I'll be gone first.

I flew away, but as I approached one of the quarters, I had the feeling that I wasn't welcomed. The lights in this district were of a dark purple hue, which turned the entire area into a rather sinister-looking place. Just by looking at it did, I got chills.

I immediately turned to the last district. This had to be the elves district. The lights of the streets came from luminescent plants. The houses also had a natural construction which was a perfect match for the elves in my mind.

There was an old tree in the center of the elven district, it wasn't particularly high, but there were many symbols and the likes around it, which made it seem like a place for prayers.

I landed in front of the tree when I heard a strange voice.

"We have a visitor."

I looked around but couldn't make out the source of the voice.

"And?"

A second voice spoke, and I couldn't locate its origin as well.

"Look, it's looking for something."

The first one sounded compassionate.

“What should a creature like this be looking for? Feed? You are not food."

The other voice had some similarity with Vond because they always had an annoyed tone in their voices.

I created a small fireball and threw it on the tree, but before it could reach the tree, a shadow appeared in front of the tree and destroyed the fireball.

"What does this creature think it is doing!?"

"So it was an Ent."

I spoke my thoughts out loud when I saw that the annoyed voice belonged to another Ent. The ent didn't answer me, but the tree did.

"Creature of the forest, you can understand us?"

"I can."

"How can we help you?"

"I'm looking for someone to-."

"Too late!"

The Ent interrupted me, and at the same moment, I heard something approaching.

"Creature of the forest, you have to go."

Without thinking, I did as the tree told me to. I jumped up and flew away. The Ent disappeared again into the treetop.

I watched out of the sky how a group of people appeared next to the tree. They started to look for something.

I think I won't be able to return to the tree for now...

I finished my midnight walk and flew back to Ishina's house.