Embrace The Ether 7 A Quick Meal, Followed By Death

As the two of them pushed past the security checkpoint, a ma.s.sive sprawling city of rustic metal came into view. Enormous steel p.r.o.ngs shot out of the earth toward the sky, piercing into the walls from every angle as several towering structures were built using the p.r.o.ngs as a foundation. Metal sheets that stood fifty meters into the sky dug up against the steel p.r.o.ngs, holding up the homes of hundreds of citizens each.

The streets were filled with the hustle and bustle of the working life, while along the roads etched into the sides of the towers were small alcoves that served as private property, shops, and entertainment, such as clubs and bars. There were too many little signs to count, each of them advertising their own product.

In the center of the City of Iron, Direfell, stood a towering monolith of iron and steel, as it carved into the earth as if pierced all the way through to the center of Midnight.

"You see that tower over there?" Droh asked with a point, directing Deus's attention towards the enormous structure that stood in the center of everything. "That's the home of the city lord. No one goes in there without his permission, not even other territory lords can enter that place unless he gives the go-ahead. Of course, you can always try, but no one, no matter how tough they were, has ever survived a direct charge."

"The city lord, huh? He sure knows how to live… it quite physically towers over everything else, like he's announcing to everyone how he's the one in charge."

"That's sort of the case, yeah. City lords usually aren't too aggressive from what I can tell, but that may just be because I've never actually dealt with one, so I'm a bit ignorant."

Walking down the street of Direfell, shops surrounding them as the crowd of people pushed them this way and that way, the two managed to stay together as they crossed further in, moving past the cheap private shops to the more mainstream and popular clubs and restaurants - if you could even call them that.

In a place where the variety of food was limited to your fellow citizen, sc.r.a.ps of metal, and in-house grown plants and mushrooms, there weren't too many options that seemed appealing to Deus. In the end, he went ahead and ordered a cheap mushroom stew, made from underground black-mushrooms mixed with some nameless liquid. It was probably best not knowing its name, truth be told.

Droh ordered the same thing, only he kept his black-mushrooms dry, opting for a simple toasted mushroom on a stick, charred around the edges, giving it a slight crunch as you bite into it.

The two sat together as they ate, Droh having to pick up the bill for their meal since Deus wasn't even familiar with how the economy worked in Midnight.

"So, what's the plan after this Droh?" Deus asked with a mouth-full of soup, chugging it down with a bitter-sweet smile as every so often he could taste something slimy drip down his throat. "I'd rather not become a squatter… so what sort of jobs are available for someone like me?"

"A job, huh? The main job everyone does is scavenging… but with how things are you probably won't get lucky enough to find anything of importance enough."

"Scavenging? Wait, so does it work on a reward system, where you have to scavenge something valuable to get paid?"

"It depends on who you're scavenging for, but usually yeah. The city lord pays for the items you bring in, but he makes no promises to pay you at all until you've brought him something good. There are some private groups, or even some clans, who specialize in scavenging, and they take better care of their people… but even then it's a tough job and usually doesn't end well."

"Why's that? I can't imagine scavenging is too dangerous, right?"

"Depends on who you're working for. The city lord doesn't care where you find the stuff as long as you bring it to him… but those clans, even though they usually pay you an advancement, typically you'd need to use it on prepping supplies, bandages, and weapons."

"Weapons?"

"Yeah, since the clans usually demand you go scavenge in dangerous places where there's a higher possibility of loot. The city lord's people don't scavenge those spots because why would they when they don't have to? So the clans pick up the slack and send their people in droves to pick everything apart."

"That doesn't explain how those places are dangerous, though. Is it dangerous because there can be fights between the different clans?"

"Clan wars happen, yeah. But most of the time, though, it's dangerous because of the storms that hit, which usually end up causing the area to get filled to the brim with those gatherer worms. No one wants to compete with them... truth be told, how could they? Even though I told you about some people here who don't even have to pay attention to those worms… but as you could probably guess it scavengers aren't those types of people. No sir, those worms would rip them apart if they tried to get between them and something s.h.i.+ny."

"Hold on, what storms? That sounds like something important that I should know about." Deus coughed out, staring at Droh in disbelief.

"Oh, yeah I forgot to mention them." Droh shrugged, "Yeah, the storms are what bring the metal. A storm hits, fires down lightning, and with it, metal and electronics appear. Usually, the clans are the first ones to show up, followed by those worm gatherers."

"What happens if one of the clans finds something major?"

"Well, in that case, they'll sell it to a territory lord. There are occasions from what I've heard where clans find stashes of electric weapons, things like lasers and explosives… but the lords would rather obliterate a clan than let them keep it, so the clans usually just sell it to a city lord in exchange for money and influence."

Taking a bite from his charred mushroom, Droh continued, "In fact, there is one clan in specific here in Direfell that has done just that… you heard me mention a Roland, right? That's him. A few years ago Roland stumbled upon a ma.s.sive stash of weapons and laser equipment. Fearing the Lord's wrath, he decided to sell it instead, in exchange he now has the second highest authority here in this city, second only to the city lord and his direct descendants."

"Right, so this Roland bought his power here, and from I can gather, he's after you?"

"Well, sort of…" He hesitated, lowering his eyes so as to not meet Deus's gaze. "Actually, the truth is that I may have… taken something."

"Hold up, you took something from the second most powerful man in this city? Do you have a deathwish or something?"

"It's not like that! Roland stole it first… I just took it back."

Deus was starting to get the full picture. The relations.h.i.+p between this Roland figure and Droh wasn't a simple one, that much was obvious. "Right, well regardless, what do you plan to do? From what I've gathered so far, it seems this Roland wants you dead, all the while that Mercer guy is practically blackmailing you into meeting with him. What sort of job do you think he's got going?"

"Mercer, right… I forgot about him. He'll probably ask me to go out on an expedition with him, especially since he's got quite the debt to deal with."

"Debt?"

"He's a gambler. A bad one at that. If he wasn't an official city guard he'd probably already be dead because of those debt collectors. He's mostly harmless, but I don't think he's bluffing about telling Roland about me… not this time."

"So how you planning on handling him? You going to do the job, or…?"

"I'll at least meet him, say it's a token of good faith. I'll figure it out when I get there, no use fretting over what can't be controlled, right?"

"I don't know if that's a good outlook to have or a suicidal one. Hey, I'll go with you to this meeting, I owe you that much."

"You'll… come too?"

"Yeah, it'll make it tougher to bully you if I'm there to act as the muscle, right?"

Droh let out a guttural laugh as his tension vanished, "You're not that intimidating, though! Hah hah."

"Hey, don't be like that! I'm terribly frightening!" Deus joked, showing a smile as the atmosphere changed dramatically. "Well besides that, where should I even stay? Are there places to rent out, or am I destined to squat on the side of the street for all eternity?"

"You'll be fine, there are plenty of places to st" Interrupting Droh, an earth-shattering quake rocked the city as a rumbling voice shouted through the air, for everyone to hear, "You've crossed the line, Androma! Leave this place, and never return!"

"What the h.e.l.l is going on!?" Deus shouted in panic as he looked across the table at Droh.

"Th-that's the city lord…" Droh's fur stood up on the back of his neck, his tail wrapped around his leg as his ears laid flat on his head.

Deus's face froze as those words filled his mind. 'City lord? Who is Androma… what's going on…"

"Everyone, remain where you are." A voice echoed through the streets as everyone ran about in panic. "Stay inside. This is an order from the Ironmaster Reimar, master and guardian of Direfell."

Droh shouted out for Deus to hear, "That's the military captain's voice, isn't it? My lord, something major must've happened!"

'Ironmaster Reimar? Not only that but also the military captain?' Deus questioned, 'So even the territory lord has acted… what is going on?'