City of Sin (Yanyu Jiangnan)

Land Of Dusk

Richard seemed to be floating on water as he flew past his first target before her head even touched the ground. The leader that he was moving towards cowered for a moment in shock, but the man quickly turned ferocious and roared as he drew a short spear and threw it forward. Richard simply flickered and allowed the strike to hit the ground, sparks flying out from the point of impact as the weapon was distorted. In the meanwhile, its owner trembled and collapsed to the ground, blood leaking from all over his body.

The entire process took only a few moments, to the point that the people around the ditch were still jumping with excitement. They each fell backwards as Richard circled around them like a flash of light, holes bored through their hearts. He then took all of their wristbands before gathering the remaining black oil.

Once he’d taken what he could from the battlefield, Richard looked at the mess of corpses around him and sighed. Technically, he hadn’t extracted everything of value; there was now a ton of meat here that could sustain him for a long time. Butchers couldn’t be eaten, so humans all fed from the same source.

He silently activated the power of Issa, a faint tetrahedron floating up and drawing out the souls from the corpses nearby. The earth suddenly shook as a multitude of souls shot out from the butcher corpses as well, seeming to be all the beings of order that the creature had eaten in all these years. More than a hundred souls flew out from each of the half-dozen butchers, making for nearly a thousand of mostly-legendary beings. The motes of light converged into a current that surged into his body, the virtual impact causing the earth to crack as his legs sank in from a loss of control.

The rate at which Richard absorbed these souls was limited, but large numbers of them fluttered around him in circles, refusing to leave. It eventually took seven days to redeem them all, integrating them into his own power before allowing the tetrahedron that was now much more solid to fade away. When he finally opened his eyes, a ripple of energy engulfed everything in a hundred metres and turned it to ash.

Someone familiar with Richard would be able to tell that he’d changed, but they wouldn’t be able to pinpoint just what this change was. He cut two branches off another soul tree on his way back, shaping them into usable firewood before returning to the city. Two days later, he was back in the house looking at Nanook who was lying around with nothing to do. This was the life of many people in the Darkness— there simply wasn’t much that one could entertain themselves with.

“Nanook, I need your help with something,” Richard said to the man who jumped up with liveliness, handing over a leather map and a sack of items, “This is the town I passed through when I first came to the Darkness. I hope you can go there and pass these things to them.”

In the sack were equipment, pure water, and food. Half had come from the hunters who’d tried to rob him, while the rest came from the butchers’ remains. A hint of greed flashed across Nanook’s eyes as he saw the items, but as he suppressed it and studied the map he eventually shook his head, “No, it’s too far. I can’t walk that way, and if I meet a butcher I’ll die.”

“No need to worry about the butchers, I’ve taken care of any that are nearby,” Richard dismissed casually, the words shocking Nanook silent. The burly man took a step back and bumped into the wall; killing all the butchers nearby? He had never heard of such a thing before. Even the hunting groups in the wastelands almost never managed that feat for a single one.

However, the surprises weren’t done yet. Richard handed Nanook a leather belt and a small globule of black oil, “These are for you. They should help you cross the wastelands and get these things there safely.”

“Clamskin? And… core oil?” Nanook couldn’t believe his eyes. The leather would make him near-invisible in the wastelands and defend him against the distortion, while the oil could increase his control. Most people in the city would kill for these things, forget traversing the wastelands.

……

Having settled his debt to old Barduch, Richard left the house in relief and walked towards the inner city. The second veil of order was quite small and well-guarded, but after revealing the soul wood he had chopped down Richard was allowed to enter and meet the lord.

The city lord’s name was Suman, and he was reportedly an epic being from before he had fallen into the Darkness. He had been here for nearly a century, and was an invincible existence in the vicinity that had lit a second timefire and formed another veil of order to expand what had been a small town into its current size.

Richard met Suman in the city’s only four-storey building, the place crawling with guards. Seated on his high throne, Suman stroked his beard as he stared at Richard and the two piles of soul wood with interest. This wasn’t a lot, but it could sustain the city for a few years. Even with Suman’s strength, he would lose a number of subordinates whenever he went out to get some.

“You want all this just for a look at the timeflames?” the lord asked.

“Yes.”

“I have two.”

“It would be best if I could see both, but just the ancient one would do as well.”

Suman chuckled, “Interesting! Here I was, thinking you wanted to figure out how I lit a timefire myself, but you were actually interested in that small bonfire.”

Richard's brows furrowed slightly, but the lord continued, “You might not know this yet, but this is the Land of Dusk. The Chosen assigned to this sector failed tens of thousands of years ago, and until a new one is selected we will never be able to build a Lighthouse of Time and return to order.

“But I don’t believe in resigning oneself to destiny. I fought for decades and personally lit a second fire. I will build a new Lighthouse in the future, and reestablish order in the Land of Dusk. There’s no need to wait for that old dragon who takes forever to send his Chosen!” Suman’s voice grew louder and his gaze sharper as he stared at Richard, “I can tell that you’re very strong, perhaps only slightly weaker than me. People like us shouldn’t place our destinies in the hands of others; we don’t need the old dragon’s charity!”

He stood up and looked down at Richard, extending his hand, “Come with me. Let’s bring this place back to order ourselves!”

Richard stared at Suman and replied dryly, “And if I refuse?”

Suman's face sank, "Then leave all your things behind and scram!"

Richard smiled, "If I leave everything behind, then it’ll make it that much more difficult to leave."

Suman’s expression turned gloomy and he sneered, “You’re right, you can’t leave! You’ve been lucky enough to get so much core oil; tell me how, and I’ll make your death a little easier!”