Archie’s smile widened as the view of a walled city came into view as he reached the apex of a dune. Its walls spanned many miles wide and a few hundred meters high, with five large towers piercing over the wall, each a distance away from the other, with one in the middle.

  Archie's smile widened as he reached the apex of a dune, revealing a sprawling walled city in the distance. Its massive walls stretched for miles, rising a few hundred meters high, with only five buildings inside surpassing their height.

  “This is the city of Louther,” Aoife informed Archie, confusion lacing her tone. “How did we arrive here so fast? I understand that your Mana Bike is fast, but Louther is a weeklong journey from the Temple of the Handlers on foot and a two-day journey on Skyships. We got here in less than an hour.”

  “We were probably closer than you thought,” Archie answered, holding the clutch of his Mana Bike as both he and Aoife stared at the city of Louther. “Have you been to it before?”

  “I have visited the city many times with … Laer,” Aoife replied, with a complicated expression on her face. “Outwardly, it looks like a normal city, where everyone is busy going from place to place, and everyone .”

  “However, it's ruled by many gangs and cartels. Everyone is in their pockets, from the lowliest of beggars to the mayor of the city,” Aoife continued.

  “How common is it for a fight to break out in the city? Ones where tourists are involved,” Archie asked, his eyes narrowing at the city while munching on another sandwich and handing one to Aoife with a mana string.

  “We might get attacked if we flaunt money or show off any advanced-looking runic equipment,” Aoife replied in between bites, giving a pointed look at the Mana Bike they were on. “Only nobles and higher Grades can use them without worry.”

  “So, we should go on foot from here?” Archie asked, turning to face Aoife, who was chomping down on the sandwich he had given her.

  Aoife hummed in agreement mid-chew, making Archie rise from his seat. He let Aoife use his shoulder to push herself up and give her enough room to get off the bike. Making sure to close all four foot pegs, Archie demounted the Mana Bike and sent it into his spatial storage.

  “We should be able to make it before nightfall if we rush,” Aoife mentioned while looking at the twin suns and saw that they had three more hours till nightfall.

  A smile grew on Archie’s face as he inhaled the rest of his sandwich and started to sprint down the sand dune and toward the city. Looking over his shoulder, he shouted: “Last one there has to eat whatever the winner chooses for them!”

  The look of surprise and shock Aoife gave as she swallowed a piece of the sandwich was something Archie wished he could have taken a picture of.

  “Damn it,” Archie said in between heavy gasps of air, stopping a few meters away from the entrance gate of the city, Aoife a few meters ahead of him also out of breath. “You win,” he admitted before falling on his back onto the sand.

  Aoife grew a small smile at his actions, staring at him sprawled onto the sand, uncaring of the others who went past them and towards the city gate.

  “So, how does one enter the city? Do I need to have identification or something?” Archie asked as he saw the twin suns vanish behind the dunes on his left.

  “The city is protected by a Waystone, so it will automatically detect that you are not a citizen of Louther and inform the guards, who will demand that you pay an entrance fee,” Aoife answered. “If we commit a crime, then the guards will automatically know our location and arrest us.”

  “I didn’t know Waystones could do that,” Archie admitted, somewhat regretting that he wasn’t able to have a Waystone of his own. Having an automatic intruder detection system sounded great.

  , Archie complained

  When Archie checked to see how much mana was left in the mana container within the Runic Mana Engine, a few hours into the journey toward where Aoife saw the smoke columns, he’d almost swerved into a sand dune from what he saw.

  The mana container was completely full - it hadn’t even dipped below 100%.

  . Archie chuckled to himself as he got up from the sand.

  “So, how much is the entrance fee?” Archie asked Aoife while patting the sand off of his body, uncaring of the people around him who looked at the two of them with annoyance for blocking the middle of the road.

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  “It shouldn’t be more than twenty-five copper each,” Aoife answered as they walked toward the gate guards, who flagged them over.

  “What brings you here?” A female guard asked, wearing sand colored cargo clothes and similarly colored head wrappings around their head and throats, with the insignia of a cybernetic vulture on every article of clothing they were currently wearing.

  “Just visiting,” Archie answered, looking at the female guard and the four other guards around her, who, upon further notice, also had cybernetic hands that were colored to look the same as their clothes.

  “We were in the neighborhood and decided to stop by,” Archie joked, but to his dismay, they did not react.

  “Answer these next questions truthfully,” another guard, standing beside the one Archie spoke to, told them, gaining a nod from both Archie and Aoife.

  “Have you entered the city of Louther prior?” the man asked, getting a no from Archie and a yes from Aoife.

  “Are you a citizen or have any affiliation to the Synthari?” The female guard asked, getting a no from both Archie and Aoife.

  Archie wondered.

  “How long do you intend to stay within the city of Louther?” Another guard asked, one with a noticeably younger-sounding voice, gaining a barely perceivable narrowed glance from the guard beside them.

  “Uh, a day or two,” Archie answered calmly. He’d noticed the glance the other male guard gave to the one who spoke to him.

  “Do you have the equipment or skill to create a spatial storage?” asked the female guard, who had spoken to them first. If so, please hand it in for inspection. It will not take more than a few seconds to confirm that you do not have any contraband on you.”

  “Yes,” Archie answered, taking off the Spatial Ring he’d earned from the Shaman dungeon and passing it to the guard’s outstretched cybernetic hand.

  Although he couldn’t gain the stat points from the ring, he could still use its enchantments since he had bound it to his soul. Meaning that it could act as a tertiary storage for him, just in case his Livingwood Propagator and the other Spatial Ring got full.

  He was a hoarder, so carrying a third one on him felt right. More room meant more valuables he could pilfer away.

  She held it up to her eye and rolled it between her fingers, scouring through its contents. After a few seconds, she passed it back to him, confirming that he had no contraband within his Spatial Ring.

  The only things within it were a few crates of metals, food, coins, a few potions, a Steel Dagger, and a Staff of Nature. He’d learned enough from crime shows and movies to know that you need to have a decoy up and ready for when the authorities come knocking.

  If you filled it with enough ordinary stuff, no one would bat an eye. That was how he, his brother, and Daniel got away with camping when they told their parents they were going to sleep over at the other’s house. They split the tent into separate parts, each carrying different parts mixed in with their ‘sleepover necessities’.

  Sliding his Spatial Ring back on, Archie listened as the female guard began explaining the city's main laws: No killing, no stealing, no brandishing weapons, no drugs, no attempts at mental manipulation toward a citizen, and absolutely no Syntharian propaganda. Breaking any of these rules will have you marked and subject to immediate capture and execution.

  “If you accept these terms, you may enter the city of Louther after paying an entrance fee of thirty Copper coins each,” the female guard informed them.

  “Why the increase in fee?” Archie asked while handing her sixty Copper coins. “Last I heard, the fee was twenty-five Copper coins to enter.”

  “Have you been living under a rock?” The younger sounding guard blurted out, the same one who was being glared at by his team.

  “More or less,” Archie smiled. “Been away from cities and the like for quite some time now, so I’m a bit behind on the news here.”

  “The city is currently at war with the Synthari, the neighboring city,” the female guard answered.

  , Archie connected, before releasing a hum of understanding. “That would do it.”

  Archie watched as the two rear guards signalled the guards who manned the gate to allow both Aoife and himself passage inside.

  As Archie and Aoife walked past them and into the tunnel that led into the bustling city, he faintly heard the guards they’d spoken to yell at the younger guard.

  “Why in the hell would you disobey orders and speak?” A gruff voice shouted.

  “Your orders were to shut up and observe!” yelled the female guard, whom Archie and Aoide mainly spoke to.

  “I-I,” the younger guard, the one who asked how long they were staying and if Archie lived under a rock.

  “I-I,” the gruff voice mocked. “Shut the fuck up! When your shift is over, head to the disciplinary hall for correction. I’ve told you time and time again not to-”

  The rest of their voices were drowned out by the bustling sounds of the city as Archie and Aoife stepped into its lively streets.

  them, Archie inwardly joked.

  The shouts of merchants selling their wares, the chattering of other people as they walked around, and the distant hum of music from open shop doors filled the air, and the sounds of kids running around and causing havoc with every step they made.

  , Archie guiltily chuckled as a few kids knocked over the vegetable seller’s cabbages. , Archie smiled.

  Inside the city, perfectly paved roads and sidewalks stretched in every direction, lined with trees and small tufts of grass nestled between street lamps. Houses made of brick were decorated with various plants and ornaments.

  The streets were filled with people riding on other creatures and

  “Is it always this easy to get in?” Archie asked Aoife. He was expecting something closer to airport checks at the very least. “Unless they can detect lies or something, then what’s to stop spies from entering the city?”

  “They do have a skill that detects lies,” Aoife answered, her eyes scanning the alleys beside them and the various shops they walked past. “If they detected a lie from any of the answers we gave, then we would have been either barred from entrance or killed on the spot.”

  “Really?” Archie asked in surprise. Having a skill to detect lies sounded insanely useful to have. “I guess I have to keep that in mind the next time I talk to the guards.”

  “Do guards only have that skill? Or do judges and government officials also have it?” Archie asked, crossing the street and onto the adjacent sidewalk.

  “It’s a common skill for most Professions who deal with governmental work or similar Professions,” Aoife informed him.

  “Sounds like a great skill to have if I’m being honest,” Archie said as both he and Aoife followed the signposts leading toward the Forging District.

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