A hooded man advances hunched over among the crowds, his face covered by shadows, barely showing strands of his gray beard. Like a ghost, no one hears and no one notices him, but he is attentive to the surroundings, to what is shown, to what is heard.
A merchant shouts to a caravan leader to avoid taking the bridges to the south, because for the moment the miners are still making their way through the new wall. In a store selling a variety of objects, there is a line to buy daystones, fragments of warm, luminescent, golden rock that is said to give off the same light as the sunrise. The middle-class people of the kingdom began to hang such stones from the doors and windows of their homes and stores, for the superstition that it keeps away the dark elves and other creatures of the underdark.
The man acting as a shadow smiles bitterly. He thinks: If the sun itself was unable to keep the dark elves away, how could a few small imitators do any better?
More efficient promise to be the glares rising from the noble district, the walled area near the castle where the wealthiest inhabitants live. Those explosions of light that leave gawking children gawking from a distance are powerful barriers and blessings released by priests. The service is expensive, but after what happened, wealthy families decided to rent a service they had previously ignored.
The hooded man growls in a rough voice and heads for the exit of the second wall.
It is hard to tell where the districts inside the third wall begin. The alleys are mixed, also the houses, the stairs are erratic, and there are many dark sessions where it is recommended not to walk or end up with no exit. Still there are corpses and blood in those corners, among the rubble and smoldering ruins. Simple citizens cannot go in to clean up, it is up to the soldiers, to the men and women with weapons, because otherwise they might fall victim to the plagues that grow deep in the lower districts, places where not even the king, with all his authority and power, has been able to reach at all.
The hooded man crosses a stone bridge and looks down into the drain flowing below. The water is ash-colored, but sometimes, when it moves away from the light, that strange dust can glow like frost. Wanderers and dusty children wade into the water to try to catch the light spots with their hands, only to emerge disappointed when the plenilunium debris is hit by the sunlight again.
"How could they resist the sun...?" The hooded man wonders, raising his eyes slightly to the sky. He frowns and clenches his fists until they squeak. Smells it and feels it, unnatural powers stalking the realm.
But where exactly...?
The hooded man understands that he won't find answers on that bridge. Decides it's time to go home.
Going through the most uncrowded paths, the hooded man reaches one entrance of the castle wall. The guards on the threshold recognize the man, stand up and salute.
King Marc gives them a nod of recognition and prepares to return to the castle, but then a vision stops him and makes him raise an eyebrow. There are at least a dozen naked men running around the castle. Marc remains silent for a minute, trying to figure out what is going on. He turns and asks the guards if anything interesting has happened.
"It's a punishment imposed by Captain Hilda, your majesty. We don't know exactly what they did to anger her, but it must have been something very serious"
Marc nods and walks to the castle. Avoiding to stop the punishment, he assumes that Hilda will have valid reasons. Perhaps his wife will end up shrieking in alarm at the sight of such a spectacle, and the thought makes Marc wield a tiny smile.
The castle entrance is a single iron gate, and to reach it you have to climb five large steps, to the point that to overcome each one you have to take a long stride. Each step is supposed to represent the five men who helped Stoicus to found the kingdom... But it is also uncomfortable, especially for the damsels, hence it was ordered to build a normal staircase on one side of the main ones, a facility that Marc is allowed to use now that he is only a hooded man and not 100% a king.
Arrive at the foyer. An octagon-shaped skylight lets in natural light. Near one of the four square pillars supporting the ceiling, there are a handful of maids talking, several of them blushing. Noticing the king, they all startle and hasten to lower their heads. When he gives them permission to speak, the oldest and most authoritative, asks the favor of stopping the soldiers' punishment outside.
"I'll see what I can do. Where is Hilda?"
The maids tell that Hilda left in a hurry to the castle basement, followed by Captain Lynel. King Marc frowns when he hears the news, but decides not to ask any more questions and goes to check on his own. With Arrax in bed, the king doubts that this is the reason Hilda got carried away in her haste.
Another possibility, a small but worrisome one...
The Dungeon Core.
Marc arrives at the cells and walks ignoring the prisoners. He reaches the lab, and finds one of Arrax's disciples sitting on a stool, hunched over, clutching her head in both hands. Marc puts a fist to his mouth and clears his throat loudly to make his presence known.
Marnie squeals and flails her arms to regain her balance, nearly falling off the stool at the sight of the king. Clumsily she rushes to kneel, but the king stops her by extending his hand and demanding to know where Hilda is.
"She left with Captain Lynel, none have returned," Marnie says, unable to control the trembling in her voice, she plays continuously with her hands. "The core, the imp, they talked to them... They changed everything! And claimed to have something to show, something that would help the kingdom"
From the way Marnie trembles, the king understands that perhaps Hilda and Lynel fell into a trap. He looks at the core room doors with suspicion, in another time, he would have thrown himself into danger without a flinch, but now he has a responsibility over his head.
"Your Majesty" A voice comes from the cell corridor.
When Marc and Marnie look, finds the witch with slanted green eyes and shaved head: Laikara. Marnie recoils instinctively, the secret oracle is Arrax's enemy, and therefore also hers.
"I have bad news..." says Laikara.
King Marc assumes that it is about the possible rebellion of the core, but Laikara hastens to get him out wrong.
"Captain Claus arrived about an hour ago..."
Marc nods pleased, with Claus could eradicate the core and save Hilda and Lynel if necessary. But Laikara's grim countenance makes him understand that it would not be so simple.
"A dark elf attacked him when he was accompanying Captain Axiel. Claus... Is in a coma"
...
"All right... Do your thing," Hilda says with her one eye closed. After 20 minutes of searching for keys, looking for illusions, extinguishing the torches, relighting them, and elbowing the last door with no sign of success, she decides to settle the matter and accept the clue.
"My master says there is a proper and polite way to ask favors," says Dowmy.
Hilda opens her eye and faces the girl. Dowmy backs away quickly, fearful of the stare and of receiving a sword. Lynel rushes into the middle to make peace.
"Hilda, I've got this," Lynel says and looks up at the ceiling, where he assumes the Dungeon Core is watching them. The captain coughs to clear his voice and says, "Sir Dungeon Core, would you be so kind as to give us a clue?"
Both knights turn their gaze to Dowmy waiting for an answer, which soon comes.
"My master wants the woman to ask for it too"
"Don't play with my patience!" Hilda bursts out.
Lynel again steps in front of the captain and raises his hands in an attempt to calm her down.
"Hilda, please, we have to finish this and get out soon. If we delay and don't stop the punishment in time, half the troop will desert," Lynel says.
Seeing the concern in her comrade-in-arms' eyes, Hilda sighs and takes a deep breath to relax. Clenching a fist and twisting her lips into a grimace, she glances at the ceiling and begins to speak slowly.
"Please... A hint... Dungeon Core"
Jimbo would rather ask more of her, but with a mischievous grin decides that will do, and dictates the clue to Dowmy. The imp nods and relays it.
"It has to do with time... And age"