Lyraâs protests echoed through the narrow, cobbled streets of Valoriaâs outer district as Kaelen carried her, still draped unceremoniously over his broad shoulder. "NOOOOOO! PUT ME DOWNNNN! I AM AN A-CLASS MAGE, NOT A POTATO SACK! MY CREST DEMANDS RESPECT! LET ME DOWN, YOU BIG, UNFEELING BEHEMOTH!"
Finn, leading the way, was trying and failing to suppress a grin as they navigated the labyrinthine back alleys, sticking to the shadows to avoid the main thoroughfares and the ever-watchful eyes of the City Guard. They were fugitives now, and the grand, familiar avenues of the capital had become a hostile territory. Noel, walking close behind Finn, kept glancing nervously at the rooftops, half-expecting a squad of knights to descend upon them at any moment.
As they passed the mouth of a particularly dark, refuse-strewn alley, Riko, walking silently at the rear, suddenly stopped. She held up a hand, a silent, sharp command. Finn halted instantly, turning to see the faint, white glow of the Crest on her right palm. She brought her other hand to her lips, signaling for absolute silence.
"I hear something..." she whispered, her voice barely a breath.
The glow on her hand intensified. The milky white of Riko's eyes began to shine with a soft, inner light, and her pupils constricted to nearly invisible pinpricks. To the party, her face seemed to lose focus, her expression becoming distant, as if she were looking at something a thousand miles away. The world for Riko was changing. The familiar, clear map of white outlines provided by her Kokugan began to waver, to blur and fade into a murky, indistinct gray. A wave of vertigo washed over her as her primary sense, the one she had relied on for a decade, was suddenly taken away.
But in its place, something new rushed in. Sound.
It was an overwhelming, deafening flood. The distant clang of a blacksmith's hammer, the rumble of a cart two streets over, the murmur of a dozen different conversations, the frantic beating of a pigeon's wings as it took flight from a nearby roofâevery sound in the district hit her at once, a chaotic symphony of noise. But then, her Crest seemed to filter it, to organize the chaos. The sounds became a new kind of sight. She could "see" the shape of the alleys by the way the sound echoed off the walls. She could pinpoint the location of every person within a hundred yards by the sound of their breathing, the scuff of their boots, the frantic, terrified thumping of a single heart.
"Riko, what was that?" Finn asked, his voice low and serious, a concerned rumble in the new, sonic landscape of her perception. "Your crest was glowing like crazy."
She didn't respond for a moment, her head tilted as she focused on that one, terrified heartbeat. Then the glow on her hand faded, her eyes returning to their normal, vacant state. The familiar world of black and white outlines snapped back into focus, a welcome relief. "My sight... it vanished," she explained, her voice tight with the strain of the experience. "The outlines went nearly black. But my hearing... it was like I could hear every single heartbeat in this entire district."
Lyra, momentarily forgetting her arachnophobic plight, poked her head up from Kaelen's back. "Wait a minute. Your Crest made you go almost totally blind, but your hearing went into overdrive? That sounds like a sensory trade-off. A way to hyper-focus one sense by sacrificing another. But why just your hearing...?"
Riko didn't answer. She was already moving, gesturing for them to follow her deep into the twisting alleyways. They moved quickly, their footsteps echoing off the stone walls. As they rounded a corner, Riko stopped them again, pressing them flat against a cold, damp brick wall. Peeking around the edge, they saw the scene.
Ronan, his armor scuffed and his face a mask of pure, unadulterated rage, had a terrified woman pinned against a wall. The purple taint in his eye was no longer a subtle glint; it was an absolute, burning violet.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
"I WILL NOT ASK YOU AGAIN, WOMAN!" he roared, his voice dangerously unhinged, spittle flying from his lips. "I KNOW YOU SAW THEM! WHERE IS RIKO AKARI?!"
The woman, a simple baker judging by the flour dusting her apron, was sobbing, her body trembling so violently Riko could hear the chattering of her teeth even from a distance. "I-I don't know who you're talking about, ser knight! I swear!"
Lyra, still on Kaelenâs shoulder, was now completely silent, unable to see the scene but able to feel the palpable, suffocating killing intent that rolled off Ronan in waves. "What is it?" she whispered with urgency.
"It's Ronan," Finn whispered back, his hand tightening on his own sword hilt. "His Crest... it's turning completely purple."
"It's a Sin," Riko stated, her voice cold as ice. She looked back at the party, her expression grim. "We need to help her. Now. He's seconds away from killing her. Lyra, do you have one of those rocks you made?"
Lyra, still unable to see the specifics but trusting Riko's urgency, scoffed but complied, tossing a smooth, rounded stone over her shoulder. Riko snatched it out of the air with lightning-fast reflexes. "Meet me outside the north gate. I'll catch up."
They nodded and began to move, Kaelen carrying the now-pouting Lyra with them. "That was my favorite rock..." she muttered under her breath.
Back in the alley, Ronan drew his holy blade, its brilliant light casting monstrous, dancing shadows on the walls. He pressed the tip against the woman's throat. "Ten seconds to tell me where she is, or this sword goes through your stomach! Ten... nine..."
Riko, hidden in the shadows of an adjacent alley, tossed the rock high into the air, a perfect, silent arc that would land on a loose metal grate on the rooftop directly across from Ronan's position. She melted back into the shadows, waiting, her heart pounding.
"...five... four..." Ronan's countdown was cut short by a loud, sudden CLANG from the rooftop. He grinned, a cruel, triumphant expression, and dropped the woman to the ground. "You really are predictable, you scuâ"
He never finished. In the instant he was distracted, Riko was a blur of white cloth and silent motion. She grabbed the terrified woman, pulling her away from the wall and into the safety of another alley. She pushed her gently towards a rickety ladder leading up to the rooftops. "Are you okay?"
The woman, shaken but alive, could only manage a tearful, grateful nod. From around the corner, Ronan roared in pure, animalistic frustration.
"Get up that ladder. Don't come down until he's gone," Riko commanded before disappearing back into the labyrinth of the city. Ronan stormed into the alley to find it empty, his rage so immense he punched the stone wall, the impact cracking the solid brick. The Crest on his shoulder now glowed with a deep, undeniable, and utterly malevolent violet.
Minutes later, Lyra, Finn, Noel, and Kaelen were waiting anxiously outside the city gates, trying to look inconspicuous. A white-cloaked figure dropped from the top of the high city wall, sliding down the weathered stone face to land silently beside them.
"Well, about time!" Lyra said, crossing her arms. "You took my favorite rock and made them run off with me!"
"It's Ronan," Riko said, her seriousness cutting through the air, ignoring Lyra's complaints. "His Crest is almost completely consumed by his Sin. It's not looking good."
Noel turned his head, his expression a mixture of confusion and concern. "If you don't mind me asking... what exactly does that mean? A Sin consuming a Crest?"
This time, Finn answered, his voice grim and heavy with the weight of experience. "It's what happens when a Crest-bearer gives in to the worst parts of themselvesâgreed, obsession, hatred. The Crest's power becomes twisted, corrupted. It's a massive, unnatural boost in raw, destructive strength, but it comes at the cost of your soul. It's a dark, ugly path, and there's often no coming back from it."
Noel nodded, the gravity of the situation sinking in. Ronan wasn't just a rival anymore; he was becoming a monster.
Finn looked at the group, managing a tired smile. "We can worry about him later. For now, we have a spider to hunt."
The party nodded in agreement. Lyra, however, tried to quietly crawl away, only for Riko to scoop her up and toss her back over Kaelen's shoulder. Her renewed whining echoed as the party finally left the hostile walls of Valoria behind.