The ground was soft beneath Mathew's feet as he trudged along, arms folded. Every step he took sank into the red soil, kicking up sand and dust.
"Unbelievable." He muttered for what felt like the hundredth time.
"Mathias," Said Siyah behind him. "Hey, Mathias."
"What."
"Are you still upset at us?" She asked.
"Yes," He said. " And I can't believe you have the nerve to sound hurt."
"Well, I apologized already, didn't I? Can't we make nice?" he grumbled in response.
"Stop being so dramatic." Said Beyah, rolling her eyes. "It wasn't that big of a deal anyway."
"Are you serious?" Mathew said, turning his head to look at her. If he had had the ability to glare, he would have been shooting daggers at her from his eyes. "You guys really sneaked up on me while I was sleeping, and tried to cook meat on my face."
"We just wanted to see what would happen… I mean, metal gets hot in direct sunlight."
"It worked too," Beyah added. "The sizzling sound brought me satisfaction."
"You two are crazy. How can you act like you did nothing wrong?" He said, exasperated.
"I said sorry…" Siyah reminded him again. Era Belle actually made a sound that sounded like a snort. Had she actually laughed? It would be the most emotion Mathew had seen from her so far.
He looked at her, and his heart hurt a little at her sorry state. A permanent grimace was fixed to her face; her lips were chapped and cracking. For all her impossible immunity to the cold, it seemed she did not fare well under the merciless rays of the sun.
Mathew had offered her his outer robe the first day, and she had draped it over herself to ward off sunburn, but Mathew still worried.
It was a saving grace that Ophelia had the Cleansing Font, as it allowed Era Belle and everyone else to survive the barren plains of Attica.
"Are you going to be okay?" He asked her. Her eyes darted to him, then straight ahead, then back to him.
"I'm fine." She said, her voice hoarse. "Simply tired."
"That's all good then. We have been traveling for a week, and if Pandarus is right, the city should be in sight any moment now."
"Might that be the city up ahead?"
Mathew turned to follow her gaze. In the distance, it appeared that the reddish-brown landscape had risen up into a short hill or cliff, one that stretched quite far in either direction. Then Mathew realized that the "hill" was actually a man-made wall the same color as the land around it.
"It just might." He said.
…..
The group arrived at the city gates around an hour later. It had seemed close due to the lack of obstruction, but it had still been a few kilometers away from them when they had spotted it.
The walls were made out of some sort of reddish brick that Mathew could only assume was clay. There was no gate barring their path to the city, just a massive archway where people could pass in and out freely.
A train of carts and people was heading in and out of this archway, with a single guard standing in the midst of it all.
Mathew expected the man to stop them and ask for some sort of identification, but he simply glanced at them as they passed by without any resistance. He even put a hand in front of his mouth and yawned.
"Not the tightest security, is it?" He said.
"I feel like we could have smuggled something and he wouldn't have stopped us," Beyah said.
"Were you thinking of anything in particular?" Mathew asked. She stared at him, but didn't reply, which made him even more suspicious.
"Thalassa has always been like this." Said Pandarus. "The city is run by merchants, and all the military power and security is centered around their personal estates, caravans, and trade ships. The rest of the populace is left to their own devices."
"That doesn't seem like a very organized government."
"To say Thalassa has a government is a stretch. It is really just a poorly stitched-together community of opportunists and weirdos."
"Right. You called it the city of craftsmen. There are alchemists here? I thought those guys were recluses at the fringes of society." Mathew remembered the skeletons at the Nightkeeper temple. Ophelia had said they might have been made by an alchemist.
"Thalassa has no god it worships," Argus said. "Some merchants might call upon the name of Avarice the greedy to bless their business ventures, but no true prayers are spoken. However, this may be the only city in Tellus where people openly revere Alchemy the unmaker. "
An image of a strange woman with glowing gear-shaped eyes and a face covered in grease flashed through Mathew's mind. He held back the urge to shudder.
"Who would ever revere her?" He said after taking a deep breath.
"The goddess of curiosity represents ingenuity, innovation, and progress. Some even call her the mother of science."
"But not you guys?" Mathew asked.
Pandarus chuckled. "Alchemy and those who follow her are beings that have tossed aside any ethics or care for human life for the sake of discovery. In the last few centuries, the goddess herself has left behind countless living abominations and weapons of mass destruction. It's best to keep your wits about you when dealing with people like that."
"Makes sense," Mathew said, nodding.
"Argus, Dread." Came Ophelia's voice from up ahead. "We shall rest a few nights in this city before crossing the bridges to the holy land."
"Shall we look for an inn, my Lady?" Argus asked.
"Yes."
"Aye aye, captain," Mathew said with a salute.
"Drea," Ophelia said with a deadpanned stare.
"Yeah?"
"Don't ever do that again."
"…Right."
"Hey…" Siyah said, "We need to find a place with a stable for Hamlet."
"Then you best search carefully, or the horse will have to be tied up in the street," Ophelia told her.
Beyah frowned, and Siyah looked hurt, but she bowed anyway and said: "Yes, my Lady."
As the search for an inn with an attached stable began, Mathew began to notice something about the square, flat-roofed buildings around them.
"Wow… they are all spaced so perfectly," He exclaimed.
"The entire city follows a grid-based plan, which allows for easier navigation, better land distribution, and supplementation of the sewage and drainage systems," Pandarus said.
"This city has sewage…" Mathew said, thinking about the modern world he had been taken from.
"The engineers of this city are quite talented. They built a system that runs beneath the street, supplying running water to every building, allowing for drinking, bathing, and waste disposal. See that over there?" He pointed to a metal grate off to the side of a street. "That's a manhole that allows for regular maintenance."
Mathew turned to Argus, surprised.
"Is this one of the most advanced cities in this world?" Argus shrugged.
"Perhaps in the continent of Asphodel. Most Elysium cities have aqueducts and other utilities, and the nation of Scyvia is pretty advanced as well."
Mathew was about to question further, but was interrupted by an excited Siyah.
"My Lady! my Lady!" She said. "We found an inn with a stable." She pointed to a large building, which had a long wooden structure attached to it.
"Excellent," Ophelia said. "Argus, you and the maids take our dependents to the inn. Negotiate two rooms for us." She waved a hand at Era Belle and Hamlet when she said "dependents".
"What will you do, my Lady?" Argus asked with an eyebrow raised.
"I am going to assess the cost of crossing the bridges." She said.
"Understood, my lady." He said, and then motioned for Siyah, Biyah, and Era Belle to follow him. Ophelia began to walk in the opposite direction.
"Dread, Guide, with me." She said to them, and they followed obediently.
Dokkebi flew in the air above their heads, carrying with him the lantern. They got more than a few strange looks, but no one said anything, and no guards tried to stop them.
"There is no way this can be normal, right?" Mathew said.
"Of course not." Said Pandarus. "But abnormal is ordinary here. People will acknowledge the bizarre, but never question it."
"Huh… I really expected there to be more of a reaction to us bringing a Nightspawn into the city, but even the guard at the gate didn't seem to notice."
"We shouldn't have much trouble here. Anywhere else would be a different story though." Mathew nodded.
"If it was Elysium, your creature would be dead without a question asked," Ophelia commented.
"I imagine so," Pandarus admitted.
As the three of them made it to the far outer wall of the city, Mathew noticed that fewer and fewer people were walking the streets. It was early afternoon, and the sun was still in the sky, so it couldn't have been the time of day.
Where was everyone? Perhaps this corner of town was just less populated?
They reached a large arch similar to the one they had entered on the other side of the city upon their arrival to Thalassa; this one also had a single guard posted there to meet them.
This guard, however, raised a hand to stop them.
"Hold it," She said, as she tried to project an image of strength. "No one is allowed past this point."
"What is your reason for stopping us?" Ophelia asked, her eyes narrowing. "We need to cross the bridges."
"The bridges are off-limits to civilians and travelers." The guard said.
"And why is that?" Ophelia said. Mathew half expected her to summon her sword right there. The guard's eyes flitted about quickly at the empty streets, and then she said in a low voice:
"A Nightspawn has taken over the area."