The crowd pushed the two undead into a back alley between two buildings like unwanted sand left in the delta and both sides were quickly blocked off as the humans swarmed towards the main streets. The sound of drums rumbled from afar. Iris tried to push her way through the crowd her efforts gained her a fruitless harvest as the humans pushed back her efforts to cut into their line.

 

"Heck." The frustrated elf grimaced. 

 

"Mmmm?" Kia hummed her question.

 

"We are stuck here for foreseeable future." 

 

The undead mage looked unbothered by the possibility of wasting time idly standing in a dark back alley. She watched the young undead restlessly search for an unseen exit. "Can't you climb onto the roof?" The girl tilted her head while offering an obvious solution to Iris's problem.

 

"Maybe." The risen looked up, eyeing the two towering buildings and the distance between them.

 

"What are you doing?" Kia's puzzled voice sounded from behind the elf as she began to run her hands across the plastered walls.

 

"Looking for a ledge to grip onto." Iris answered.

 

"But all of your stats are above one hundred."

 

"And?"

 

"Can't you jump from wall to wall?" The fair skin girl explained. Her idea wasn't as insane as Iris first thought, the alley was at most only slighly wider than two humans standing shoulder to shoulder and she had seen Dian do similar feats of acrobatics.

 

"Oh," The two-month-old risen realised what Kia meant. "I guess I can try." 

 

Iris was about to run towards the stone wall before Kia stopped her. "Don't leave me here. I can't jump that high, Iriiis." The doll like girl's hand tightly clutched the hem of her cuff with surprising intensity.

 

"Hop on." The elf kneeled allowing the mage to climb on her back. A pair of hands wrapped themself around her neck tightly. A pulse of cold suddenly rippled through her back as Kia pulled her body close to the elf.

 

Iris stood up barely able to feel the girl hanging on her back and ran toward the wall. She felt her jump not being much higher than when she was still living but as soon as she pushed her foot against the wall she was accelerated into the air. Her feet moved on instinct as she repeatedly pushed herself off the walls. A small giggle sounded right beside her ear.

 

A feeling of achievement and giddiness suddenly filled Iris as she landed on the roof. She peeked over the ledge with a proud smile.

 

"Kia?" The elf said.

 

"Mmmm?" A gentle hum tickled the long elven ears.

 

"Hopping off?" The elf asked feeling the girl on her back not moving to get off.

 

"No." Kia tightened her grip around the elf's neck. The sound of drums thundered below them. "What's happening down there?" She changed the topic pointing at the humans with her finger.

 

"I don't know," Iris answered.

 

  The streets below them were packed with humans observing soldiers marching through the main street.  In the military parade, an older human in elegant yet simplistic armour rode on top of a black reiter with a dark purple stripe along its spine and waved at the crowd surrounding him. Iris spotted a golden mace with a blue sapphire embedded on top in the man's hand, an aura of authority and power radiating from that human even from such a distance. Behind the human, two soldiers riding on their own six legged monsters clad in suits of black metal flanked the elderly leader, their armour lacked the purple hue distinct to adamantine which led Iris to think they were wearing painted steel armour. One of the soldiers riding was clearly a nordling who towered over soldiers behind him and made the monster under him look more normal while the other soldier wielded a strange weapon resembling a combination of a sword and a whip which was coiled into a bundle on his or her belt. A long column of soldiers followed closely behind, divided into equal size sections led by a soldier carrying the simple banner Iris saw before. From the sides, bundles of colourful flowers were thrown at the feet of the marching soldiers as the crowd cheered.

 

"Iris, someone is staring at us." Kia warned the elf.

 

"From where and how dangerous they are?" Iris quickly backed away from the edge pulling the girl off her back.

 

"From the street in front of us, I think." The girl said, her face showing annoyance with herself. "I am a too low level to know more."

 

"Are they following us?" The risen asked the undead girl as she went further away from the edge before jumping over to the next building.

 

"I don't feel anything now." 

 

"I recon we should get out of here." The setting sun shined into their backs as they walked on the roofs to avoid the humans below.

 

 

 

  The sound of drums playing their songs had ended and the sound of celebration followed soon. The lights in the windows were snuffed out one by one until the city was thrown into silent darkness as Firmusa began their slumber. A splash of water echoed in the lower district of the city. Two figures walked through the street between the shabby houses hugging the outer wall. A small orange light moved in the darkness in front of Iris and she head towards it.

 

"People should not be walking through dark streets in the middle of the night." A pair of eyes illuminated by the light given off by a lit pipe stared at the elf. "People go missing at nights like these." 

 

Iris's eyes saw a man leaning against the wall in the darkness of the night with a sword strapped to his side. His accent felt familiar to the elf. "You are not from here." 

 

"Did not expect to see a fellow southerner in the slums of Firmusa or rather its old merchant quarter. You are an adventurer are you not?" The man expressed his surprise. "Let me guess you are looking for somewhere to sleep but you can't find any place to stay?"

 

"How did you come to this answer?" Iris eyed the human, noticing his leather clothes bore marks of enchantments.

 

"Experience," The man said, he opened a door beside him and stepped in leaving the door open for Iris to follow. "Guild Master of Firmusa branch." The man flashed her a small tired smile. "I kept the rooms and beds as best as I could but... better to not get your imagination running." He pointed his finger at Kia standing beside the elf.

 

Iris turned her head to look at the girl swaying weakly from side to side. "Thank you." She said with genuine gratitude picking Kia up and carrying her upstairs. The door unlocked as the elf twisted the door handle allowing her to step in. The room in front of her was small and quite humble with only two neatly made beds on opposite sides of the room with a night stands between. The ceiling above her head followed the outline of the angled roof outside.She walked in and laid the already asleep Kia on the bed. The unconscious girl snuggled into the pillow beside her as Iris pulled her boots off her feet as to not dirty the cushions. She found the tall black boots to be incredibly complicated to take off with many series of belts securing the boot to the soft pale leg under it.

 

She quickly gave the room another look but she failed to spot anything out of the ordinary for any inn, the window appeared to not fit its frame completly which could had been annoying but she was an undead and the girl beside her was far colder to the touch. She took off her jacket and laid it on the bed before she went downstairs leaving the door wide open.

 

"Hello." The Guild Master said to Iris. Grey smoke coming from his pipe shrouded part of his face.

 

"Hello," The elf returned the greeting. "How much do I owe to the guild?"

 

  The man watched the adventurer stand still in front of him with a frown. 

 

"That's the first one," He commented. "Never heard of an adventurer so easily separated from their coins. Let me think about that." The wooden pipe danced in his teeth as he spoke. The small amount of orange light glinting off his bold head covered in tattoos resembling dwarven runes. He waved at Iris as he said. "Come sit down and then we can talk. I promise I will not bite."

 

  The tall adventurer did as she was told and sat on a chair opposite to the ageing Guild Master. The two sat in the darkness for a short silent moment studying one another unbothered by the surrounding darkness illuminated by small orange embers in the long smoking pipe.

 

"Denson, what is your name."

 

"Iris."

 

"And the name of the sleeping lady?"

 

"Siri."

 

"Hm, similar names." The man commented. "Did the headquarters send you?" 

 

"No, we just ended up in the city by accident." Iris responded.

 

"A man can hope," His cheek twitched with irritation as he spoke. "Must have been quite the journey."

 

"You could say that." The elf responded with another short answer.

 

"How do you like the city so far?"

 

"It's strange." The elf responded.

 

"After some time you get used to the streets," Denson jested. "But I agree people here are different than in the south. In my decade of living here, I don't remember a time Firmusa was not at war with something or someone and the people here seem to see it as normal. If this was Marinya there would be riots after three years of warfare yet these people are always cheering." 

 

"There are on the frontier of the human territory." The elf responded.

 

"Human territory..." The human said leaving a long pause to hang in the air. "I would describe this city as a human enclave in monsters territory."

 

"Could you explain?" The words of the human piqued the elf's interest.

 

"There are monsters in this very city living among us, among the oblivious sheep meant for slaughter. I reported my findings to the authorities but they did nothing with them." The clearly frustrated Denson banged his hand on the table causing it to jump slightly. "My hands are tied behind my back because of the king not listing to me and I can't take any direct action which goes against the king because of an oath I swear to Grand Master." 

 

"If you can't do anything how did you gather any information?" Iris inquired, the man in front of her nervously eyed the closed door behind her as if expecting something to barge into the guild house.

 

"My oath does not prevent me from being informed." A vicious smile with a healthy mix of obsessive delirium mix in appeared on Guild Master's face.

 

"Must be tough to unable to do anything?" Iris gave her diplomatic condolences to the powerful yet at the same time powerless man.

 

"Like you can't imagine... Alright, I will go now so you can go upstairs and join your teammate and before I forget about it, you can pay me only seven silver coins in the morning." Denson stood up bowed and left the elf alone in the room.

 

  Iris went back upstairs and was greeted with the sight of Kia snuggling tightly around her jacket with the blanket kicked out to the bottom of the bed. The elf took off her clothes and lay beside the happily purring undead. Her eyes felt heavier as the time slowly passed, and she decided to rest a little. As her consciousness receded fully into the comforting darkness she heard something hitting the roof tiles above her. Iris concentrated on her surroundings and stayed awake for two more bells before eventually allowed her mind to rest.

 

"Must have been the wind"