should've felt

, it ha

hat flicker of life vanishing in an instant-stuck with me. Back on Earth, I'd never

to a corpse, gripping a

lm, wet with slime. It didn't seem like a fair tra

em didn't ca

P: 10

to level. And rats we

-

med. I killed two more sewer rats and almost died fighting a third that jumped

watching me. The tunnels seemed to breathe. Each time I turn

re ripped, my hands were bloodied, and I smelled like

en

alive. That coun

-

Towers glowed in the light, casting long shadows over the slums. Pe

her usual spot b

look at me

didn'

ever try killing a rat the size of a housecat in a

handed me a sta

without

he said. "But there's someth

led up,

did. But that spark in you's brighter.

She was right.

the fear had begun to cu

onfid

so

-

he barrel, staring into the flames, watc

s when he

Not anothe

irst

cloak trimmed with red. His face was sharp, his eyes like frozen steel. He moved

?" he asked, voice

lowly, pi

s ask

's Kael. You're making a

this sewer had a

e. It didn't r

ou know. You've got something

you

round him thick with pressur

," he said. "But if you ge

t move.

ugh that I could see the

ommoner," he whispered.

ished into

-

Word was spreading about a rogue slum

ather straps onto a broken guard's baton I scavenged from a corpse. I even found a discard

s came

like a gamble. But I

n it ha

-

VEL

l: 2

P | +1 to Al

ocked: Arcane

-

he screen, panting after

cles were firmer. My senses sharper. Magic

fist and cas

e and air away in a small shockwave. It wa

n't care who I

t

starting to

-

s, I found somethi

her, s

, arms crossed, eyes watching me

a staff carved with crystal glyphs. Her black hair was tie

id as I approache

all mages stalk sewer t

watched. Not just by the

d. "Who

the Arcanum. And if you're smart, you'l

hy

"Because what you're doing? Yo

. "And yet,

rd and poked my ch

mage lineage. And yet you cast Arcane Pulse like

ying to sca

er," she said

walking away

around, "Kael's not the only one keep

appeared int

-

in the alley,

ng had

t fighting r

ming somet

system hadn't even begun to