Rivers of the Night

Chapter 735: Anelisc

"If you’re going to come to the job drunk, at least do it on time, fat ass."

"You’re one to talk. Look at you."

"And yet only one of us is covering for the other."

The banter of a pair of guards wasn’t heard by anyone else. Though, it would be hard to say if anyone would be surprised by it.

Their gig was actually quite hard to get into. Not only were the pair of them Dome of Heaven experts, but the both of them were Sixth Resonance Dome of Heaven experts.

Even for the Umbra Clan as a whole, there was a premium on experts of this level.

For the guards, though, there was an even greater premium on their positions. Not only were they paid extremely well to protect and the teleportation platforms of the Umbra Clan, the reputation of the Clan itself was so great that the number of times they actually needed to make a move that went beyond pulsing their auras out a few times was practically zero.

In fact, these two had been in this position for almost two decades now and they could only remember one incident where they actually had to make a move. And back then, it hadn’t even been humans foolish enough to do something, it was a beast tide they had been forced to step in and stop.

Other than that, they got free booze wherever they went, free play at the local brothel, and they only needed to work for a week at a time biweekly, while the other half of the year they spent doing whatever the hell they wanted.

On top of that, they got paid like real tycoons.

Sure, to the Umbra Clan as a whole, their positions were lowly and not worth much. But to the wider world, they were kings amongst men.

If all of that didn’t make them lucky enough, they were in one of the largest cities in Umbra Clan Territory, Versi. Many of their fellow guards were stationed in places quite far from home or poorly interconnected with other places.

Complacency was practically the name of the game for Averi and Benni.

And yet, the moment they sensed something off, it was like rust falling off well-oiled machinery.

Averi’s head snapped toward a certain direction, and Benni shot up from the chair he had been lounging in. What drunkness had been on their expressions was washed away by a pulse of their Mana.

"You sense that?" Averi asked.

"Yes."

"But that only triggers when...?"

"Nightingale Ancestor."

"Call in the troops."

"Already done."

...

Lyrah watched as Theron walked into the city slowly, her eyes filled with worry. Versi City was a top three city in terms of size and scope. Though there were some teleportation platforms that were in regions that were more remote, they were designed like this as well, having many more failsafes.

For example, those teleportation platforms could only go to very special and restricted locations, and they also had to be accepted from the other side as well.

By comparison, the large-scale teleportation platforms in more populated areas could afford to have looser restrictions, and also had no choice but to as well. With the sheer volume of teleportations it was used for, it was infeasible to try to micro manage every one.

While it was possible, the delays weren’t worth it, and much of the risk was mitigated simply by the existence of the Umbra Clan Elite Guard.

However... Lyrah was getting a very bad feeling about it all. Theron really wanted to return to Venlow City for whatever reason, but was the risk worth it?

...

A scream that could practically peel paint off the walls echoed, a building that had stood for centuries swaying, its foundations cracking, and its windows shattering.

The fury of a woman with hair practically painted in blood echoed across the city.

A servant by the door began to bleed from her eyes, ears, and nose. Then, she fell dead.

She wasn’t the only one. Many within the city experienced the very same thing, and those within the home were even more unfortunate.

The messenger that kneeled before the woman took the brunt of it, but he managed to keep his life...

For only a short while before the woman swiped out a hand, the long, heavy sleeves of her medieval dress slapping across his head and shattering it into a splatter of blood, bone, and flesh.

Tears streaked down the woman’s face, and quite quickly, they burned in trails of fire.

Two sons she lost. Two. Two in a single sitting.

Ilzan, her boy, her eldest.

Venicin, her youngest, her treasure.

Both dead.

This woman was Analisc, the third wife of the Umbra Clan Patriarch, and an Eighth Resonance Dome of Heaven expert.

She didn’t think that she would wake up today with the realization that she had lost two of her heirs. Ilzan might not have had any path to the throne of the Umbra Clan Patriarch, but he was still her eldest child. She hated how he was treated, but it was a sacrifice she had to make so that she could remain pristine and clean.

In the world of quasi royalty, these were the necessary sacrifices to make.

To lose him would have hit her hard enough.

To lose him and the reason she had sacrificed her first born’s happiness to begin with?

Unacceptable. Simply unacceptable.

"WHO DID THIS?!"

Her shrieks were interrupted by the blaring sirens of the city. Her head snapped in the direction of the shattered windows as though she would see across the entire world, but she didn’t find what she was looking for.

A coincidence? She didn’t believe it for a second.

This city was the closest to where they had died, and now it was suddenly under a great warning state? How could these two things not be related to one another.

They had to be.

Her sons’ killer was here.

She roared with fury.