After their meeting, count Amor allowed Yordan and Kyllian to roam freely within his mansion as his honored guests, they were both given rooms and for the first time in a while they could sleep under a roof. Kyllian was also given access to the armory in preparation of the raid. After a night of rest he began roaming the building in search of it, Yordan was trying to collect information on the Arachaes, thankfully, the count had an impressive library which he was given unrestricted access to. Yordan was walking in the A section of the library looking for any piece of information. " There seems to be no book dedicated specifically to the Arachaes, I guess it should not be surprising with how deadly the creatures are. Maybe if I look for it within a bestiary I might find something.". He then moved towards section B and when entering it he stumbled upon Alyssar perched on a ladder looking for something.

  " Hi!"

  Upon hearing his voice she was startled, lost her balance and began falling backwards, Yordan dove forward to prevent her from hitting the stone head first, sadly he miscalculated the timing and she ended up falling on him. A few of the books had come down too, she was dazed for a few seconds before realising what had happened, quickly she stood up and started apologizing to him.

  " Oh by the creator I'm so incredibly sorry! Are you alright mister? "

  " I'm .. perfectly good ow.. you are as light as a feather milady and please call me Yordan. "

  " I'm really sorry sir Yordan, I was just in deep thinking and had not heard you approach, it's totally my fault! "

  " It's nothing really, what were you looking for if I may ask? "

  " I was hoping to find a bestiary to .. "

  " .. fight the Arachaes, I was doing the same."

  " Great minds think alike. "

  " And did you find it? "

  " I had my hand on it just before you arrived, it probably fell with me. It must be ... oh this one right here ! "

  She elegantly bent over and picked up a brown book with yellow pages.

  " We can examine it in my room. I was also given the corpse of the hatchling your friend killed. Would you mind assisting me for the autopsy? "

  " I have never conducted such an examination, I'm an archivist and historian, not a doctor."

  " Sometimes it's good to have the view of someone who doesn't know what to look for, I tend to hyperfocus on some things and miss others. Please? "

  " I guess I will."

  A big smile lit up her face, she tucked the book under her armpit and waved at him as she was walking away.

  " Come by my room in an hour, everything will be ready by then and you will be able to see your friend. "

  " See you. "

  For some reason, his cheeks had become red and heated" Don't freak out, it's just a work thing. "

  Meanwhile, Kyllian was still roaming the mansion looking for the armory. " Why is this place so fucking big? I think I've seen this one statue three times already, what did the maid say? Go left then right then straight, pass two doors RAAAAAAAAAA shit !! I hate this so much, every door looks the damn same! ". As he was walking in one of the many corridors he noticed a dim light coming from under one of the doors and decided to slightly open it. Inside was a small room lit by a few candles, there was no bed and only a desk with many brushes and pots of paint on it. Kyllian entered and further explored the room, " Is this the workshop the count was speaking about earlier? He works on jewelry and dolls?". The desk had many tools upon it, a few magnifying glasses, brushes, tweezers and some of his ongoing work were cleanly placed upon it. " The man likes clean and precise work.".

  " Excuse me? "

  Kyllian pivoted on himself upon hearing the voice, the count was standing in the doorway with his arms crossed.

  " I don't remember inviting you to my workshop. "

  " I was looking for the armory and I got lost. "

  " Hmmm. Go down the hallway, till the end, you will see a painting turn right and then the first door on the right with two swords crossed on the door is the armory. "

  " Thank you, can I ask you something while I'm here?"

  The count let out a heavy sigh.

  " Fine, but don't take too long. I would like to resume work. "

  " You can work while we talk. "

  " I can indeed, move aside please. "

  Kyllian stepped to the side and let the count sit on a stool in front of his desk, he immediately began painting a small figurine with the utmost care.

  " So what is it about? "

  " Earlier Tsirek mentioned an issue in the western district, what is it about? "

  " Some Arachaes have been spotted in our sewers, Tsirek has a reason to believe they managed to dig under the city to attack from within. "

  " Have you told your citizens about it? "

  The count silence at the question was enough of an answer.

  " Why not tell them? "

  " And risk panic in such times? I thought you were a smart boy. "

  " The panic would be worse if they were taken by surprise in the middle of the night. "

  " The people aren't stupid, I reinforced the guard around this part and the entire district is on lockdown, complitely cut off from the rest of the city. "

  " Aren't you scared that this is what the Arachaes want? "

  " What do you mean? "

  " It's easier to attack one isolated target who can't get help if you take it down quick enough. Earlier when I fought the hatchling, he baited me to get closer to his friend who was hiding and tried to shoot at me from behind. It remained hidden waiting for it's opportunity to attack. They aren't just stupid beasts. I think they have intelligence, a hive mind of some sort, they might be closer to insects in nature than predatory arachnicds. What if the ones that were caught in the sewers were scouts sent to make you close this part of this city so they can rush in and take the entire district without any possibility of it being helped? "

  " Hmm, I had not considered this possibility. I truly hope that you are wrong. I will send a messenger to Tsirek and tell him about this possibility. "

  " Thank you Sir. "

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  " Now go, I need to think."

  Kyllian bowed slightly and made his way to the armory. Thanks to the count's instructions he managed to find it with ease and entered the room. A few sets of armor and weapons were on display under glass panels, he had never seen such a display of wealth before. " Mom would have loved this place.. ". There was every type of weaponry inside, daggers, short swords, longswords, hammers, maces, everything but nothing was really doing it for him." I usually use my fist or the other thing .. but I can't use that again so soon. ". He kept walking in the room but nothing catched his eye until he opened a small cabinet and discovered a short sword in it, it had a silverish lace around the handle, strange signs engraved into the metal and the blade had this " vibration " about it. " Hm, it seems fine, sharp but also very valuable, probably one of those he won't let me take.". He picked the sword up and made a few moves with it, remembering his childhood where he would run into the woods to train with sticks. His mother would always scold him for wanting to fight so he had to do it away from home. He was remembering all the different men his mother had gotten with that he had to call dad for them to engage in training him. At the age of six he already understood human psyche enough to know that guilt is a powerful feeling and that adults are also suceptible to having their ego stroked. Them feeling sorry for this little kid with no dad, all he wanted was their teachings and not this superficial love brought by guilt, the only human he ever cared about was his mother and she was now gone from this world. He shook his head to wipe away the memories who started flooding in and resumed striking the air with the sword. It was decided, this will be his weapon at least for the raid.

  Yordan was standing in front of the door to Alyssar's room. He did not understand why he was feeling so nervous, he tried calming himself by taking a deep breath and shaking his hands. " Come on, it's nothing special, it's just a formal examination, don't get any strange ideas, plus you have to see Dag.". Finally he mustered the courage to knock on the door, almost instantly Alyssar opened the door, he smiled at her but she simply took his hand and brought him inside.

  " You need to see this ! "

  " Wowow slow down ! "

  She led him inside and brought him to her operation table where the dead hatchling was.

  " I have two things to show you! It's about the hatchling and it has something to do with your friend. "

  " What do you mean? Is he- is he alright? "

  " Just look here. "

  She used a small knife and opened the base of the abdomen of the hatchling, after cleaning some of the blood she took out a small white sack. Yordan was doing his best to not gag as she digged into the creature and some dark blood was spilling all over the table and dripping slowly onto the ground.

  " Do you know what this is ? "

  " I have no idea but it smells terrible and it's repulsive. "

  " It's an egg sack, unfertilized. "

  " So this one was a female, what's the matter ? "

  " We haven't seen female Arachaes in years ! The way they work is that their sex is not determined until their first mold, only after that are they allowed outside the nest, otherwise they are kept inside and if they are a female the queen eats them so she remains the only one that the male wants. "

  " So did this one run away ? "

  " No, you probably don't know but females are bigger and have longer limbs than males, they also have a bigger abdomen to store stroe their brood, this one right here, has the anatomy of a male. "

  " What ? I don't understand .. "

  " Meaning the Arachaes are mutating, they are becoming hermaphrodites. The ones we were dealing with were already mutated versions of a regular one as the normal Arachaes size is maximum that of a dog"

  " But why now ? "

  " It could be the result of their living conditions, their numbers are dwindling slowly but surely, the queen is getting older and older and producing less and less each time. So the species adapted and females are starting to appear among them."

  " More reasons to exterminate them as fast as possible. "

  " The second thing concerns this, follow me. "

  She walked up to a wooden desk with a dead rat on it, the rat seemed like it was filled with liquid and some dried blood had come out from all of its orifices.

  " I conducted an experiment on this rat, we never knew what exactly their poison was doing, so I took a bit of it from the hatchling and I injected it into the rat. The first stage was the blood not clogging, rendering the prey unable to fight back and easier to track down in case it managed to run away, second was a fever and general weakness, third is that the poison sort of " melts " the inside of the victim so the Arachaes can just suck it up. Everything inside this rat is mush now, completelly melted."

  " This is horrifying .. "

  Alyssar had a look of worry on her face, there was something else she had to tell and Yordan could see it.

  " Alyssar? What's wrong .. "

  " Your friend, he .. "

  " No, don't tell me. "

  " What he was poisoned with was distilled Arachaes venom. "

  The news shocked Yordan to his core, to the point that he had to crouch and join his hands to calm himself.

  " Oh by the creator.. "

  Alyssar gently rubbed his shoulder to help him calm down.

  " I have tried all that I could, he is still alive but he is currently deep in a feverish state and barely responds. Even with the Saradane I don't know if I could save him .."

  " How long does he have? "

  " I would say not more than two days, it's already a miracle he lasted this long. "

  " Can I see him? "

  " Yes, in the back behind the red curtain. "

  " Thank you. "

  Yordan stood up and walked up to the back of the room, he stood in front of the curtain, already scared by the heavy breathing of his friend on the other side. He moved the curtain to the side and saw his friend laying on his back, he was drenched in sweat with his eyes closed, his leg wound still bleeding a dark blood whose scent was overwhelming. Yordan sat on the bed next to him and stood there in silence.

  " Do you remember why we started this trip? One day you came into my library, and you said " Yordan, do you have a map of this continent I could borrow? I don't have money but I will pay you back I swear ". I wondered why you came to me, we barely knew each other, we were just the odd ones of the town I guess. The rare times we interacted before this was me saying hello to you as you walked in with your tea, that damn tea, I used to hate it because it would reek the entire library but once I tasted it, I could not spend one night without a cup of it while I was deep in my books. I don't even know why I remember this. We were crazy to leave home and just dive into this, we aren't adventurers, we are just an engineer and a librarian, but that's exactly why we left, we left to become more than what we were, to prove not to others but to ourselves that we hold more value than we look. That one time you said ... you said the world was there for us to accomplish great things in it. ". Yordan could not hold back the tears from flowing, he turned towards Dag who was still unconscious and wiped some sweat from his forehead " you better make it out alive, you still have a lot of things to accomplish you hear me ? ".

  Yordan stood up and returned to the main room as he was wiping away some of his tears. Alyssar was deep in the reading of the bestiary while walking around the hatchling's body.

  " Yordan I may have found something!! "

  " What about ? "

  " A procedure that could save your friend's life but it's a longshot. "

  Yordan's eyes, still slightly puffy and red, lit up with hope.

  " Where do we start ? "

  As the afternoon came, Kyllian was called to the guards barracks in the center of the city, this was the center of their operation and where the raid will depart from. He had been escorted from count Amor mansion to this place, it looked way less glamorous than the mansion but the size of the building was impressive. He first entered a courtyard where many veterans were training younger men and women. Some were resting under the shadow offered by the walls, Kyllian looked around and instantly spotted Tsirek sparring with a young man. He walked up to them but decided to stand aside to watch their fight. Tsirek was obviously the better fighter but each time the young one was sent back he would come back with even more determination to defeat the captain. Noticing Kyllian watching, Tsirek gave him a nod and instead of defending he finally attacked, he moved as fast and hit as strong as a lightning strike, each of his hits was making the shock of the swords make a vibrant sound, now everyone in the courtyard was cheering on the young guard defending himself the best he could. Ultimately, Tsirek sword managed to find a weakness in the young man's guard and with an upward slash sent his sword fly out of his hands. Tsirek then pointed his sword at the apprentice's throat and laughed.

  " Good fight Mika but you still need a few years of practice if you want to be a challenge for me. "

  " I will sir. "

  " Good. Everyone, round up and call the fifth and seventh divisions into the yard. Kyllian, come over here while we wait for everyone."

  Kyllian nodded and followed Tsirek who was going to sit at a wooden table to drink some water. As he passed Mika, Kyllian could feel him staring at him with mistrust and animosity, he stopped in his tracksand turned to face the young man. Mika was a little bit smaller than Kyllian and was probably younger too. Kyllian himself was not extremely tall but not small either, standing at roughly 1m74. Mika must have been only a few centimeters shorter than him but one thing Kyllian had noticed was thta people in this land all seemed to grow tall and strong so Mika stood out. He glared at him for a few seconds before he decided to finally speak.

  " Is there a problem ? "

  " Why do you have wraps around your arms ? "

  " Because I beat the shit out of the little cunts like you ask pointless questions. Satisfied ? "

  " Who do you think you are to speak to me this way ? "

  " I'm someone who is too much for you to handle, I ain't got time for you, I have business with your captain. "

  Kyllian began walking away from him but he then felt Mika's sword drop itself onto his shoulder.

  " We are not done talking. "

  " Trust me you don't want to anger me, just stop while you can, I'm busy. "

  Kyllian resumed his walk and clearly irritated Mika.

  " You are a coward ! "

  " Yeah yeah whatever. "

  " I shit whoreson's like you every morning ! "

  Kyllian froze in his tracks and slowly turned around.

  " What did you just say ? "