Escape from Melekar City

An awning of glowing stars had already materialized in the night sky.

Occasional waves of laughter from bars and taverns could be heard breaking the silence of the night. It was an unremarkable evening at least for the common man.

Bathed in moonlight, Tracy could have easily passed for a nun going about her business in the alleys and streets of Melekar City save for the big backpack held to her chest.

Occasionally, she would turn back and gaze at the darkness behind. At other times, she would break into a short run as long as the streets were conveniently devoid of pedestrians.

From the moment she left the Red Ghost Castle, Tracy had noticed that she was being tailed by two individuals. They were both garbed in black cloaks melding eerily into the shadows cast by the city's medieval buildings.

Tracy's efforts to shake her tail had proven futile. She had tried blending into the crowds in bars, tavern common rooms, and night markets, all to no avail.

Tracy was worried.

[ I can't seem to shake these two. Vivian's distraction should have attracted the attention of the Manroes? I need to settle this quickly.] She thought and took a turn into the next alley.

Tracy set the backpack down at an inconspicuous corner and then blended into the darkness awaiting the arrival of her pursuers. She didn't have to wait long. Only a few minutes had passed when they arrived at the entrance of the alleyway.

"Friends! You've been following me for some time now! What is it that you want from me?" Tracy inquired with forced cheer.

[I should avoid any drawn-out conflicts within the city… We won't survive if we draw the attention of the top dogs of the families.] Tracy thought while weighing her pursuers.

The first, a woman, carried what looked like a black mass of a substance that seemed to suck in moonlight making the surrounding night appear darker. She was beautiful and her gray eyes projected a mature charm tainted with a bit of malice.

The second was a scrawny thin young man. He was enshrouded by an aura of darkness that seemed to pulsate around him.

"We are members of the Manroe Household." The woman answered in a hypnotic voice.

With less caution, Tracy would have been enthralled by that voice. That would be followed by incapacitation without any form of resistance on her part.

Seeing that her charm-spell was fruitless, she advanced and the scrawny man followed while conjuring an orb of light in his hands.

"Why have you left the Rafaela household at this time of the evening?" The woman asked.

"This is no way to treat members of the Dark Church. Your family is allied with us …So why are you tailing me? The Rafaela family is one of your Eastern ancient families? … I don't believe that any of the other families are keeping tabs on whoever leaves your Black Ghost Castle …Are they?" Tracy countered, the anger showing on her face.

"You are in the attire of one from the Church of Darkness, however, in the past, enemies of ours have disguised themselves similarly. We would like to double-check your identity."

"If everything is legitimate, we'll even compensate you for your time… however, if you are lying… things will get ugly for you…" The woman's tone had changed to an authoritative one.

The dark mass she held seemed to grow bigger… soon it engulfed her entire arm.

[Looks like a typical rank-2 dark spell.]

[The two must be mid-level Manroe Household mystics who have been tasked with double-checking the identity of any people leaving the Rafaela Castle… Even so, I can't be careless. They may have communication artifacts linked to someone more dangerous.]

[The strategy should be… "playing the pig, eating the tiger"… That should work.]

Tracy raised her arms to indicate she had no objections to having her identity checked. Mystics garnered respect wherever they went. So long as a mystic wasn't an enemy and didn't threaten the interests of a given organization, they wouldn't risk creating a new enemy.

[As long as Hugo is not discovered, there will be no danger to our lives.]

[I have a valid identity as a nun of the Dark Church from Old Man Medici. Surely, the Manroes wouldn't risk antagonizing the Dark Church.] Tracy thought, smiling innocently as a young maiden escaped from home.

She slowly took out her papers and handed them to the approaching woman.

The pair remained vigilant even after receiving the papers. The boy had remained a few paces back and only the glow in his hands indicated his presence.

The woman scrutinized the documents and Tracy alternately to deduce whether they were in order. But after seeing the seal of the Dark Church on the second page, she returned them to her.

"Sorry, Ma'am. A few of our enemies have sneaked into the city recently, we had to make sure you were not one them. With the turmoil on Gaia right, we have to be cautious." The woman said as the dark mass covering her arm dissipated.

"But why run when you spotted us? All this could have been over and done with earlier!" She added.

"Who wouldn't run after seeing two eerie mystics following them? Mystics with a dark aura like yours." Tracy replied while fanning herself. She just looked like an innocent nun trying to force a smile on her face.

"Ha-ha…" The woman laughed melting the gloomy mood enveloping the alley. She laughed with a sinister beauty.

"The Dark Church lives up to its name. … It has been years since I heard someone call me out as eerie! Okay! We shall take our leave. … By the way, send my greetings to Madam Teresa when you get back. Last time I saw her she was stationed at the Migotir Chapel of your Dark Church." The woman added nonchalantly.

[Hehe… Trying to play mind games with me 'your grandma'… Only someone else would fall for such a simple trick… But I'm not so simple… This lady must take me for a buffoon.] Tracy thought amusedly before replying.

"Ma'am! I think you need to see a healer from the Church of Life. Your memory may be jumbled as there's never been a Madam Teresa in the Migotir chapter. Alternatively, you could purchase 'mental reconciliation potions'. … They would sort you out in short order." Tracy replied with a solemn expression on her face, perfectly mimicking a nun giving counsel to a believer.

"Hehehe… girl I'm starting to like you. I might end up a believer of the Darkness if you were my guest at Black Ghost Castle. Won't you come with me and help treat my memory problems?" The woman spoke with an amused tone.

"I will have to be back in Migotir by tomorrow night. Otherwise, I risk purgatory. So, No thank you. Maybe next time." Tracy smiled declining the invitation politely.

"Okay! Have a safe trip, Sister Angelina." The woman said while throwing a black pouch towards Tracy. However, Tracy did not stretch her arms to catch it. It would be foolish to risk her life to receive some simple gift from the Manroe mystics.

She couldn't be sure the two mystics wouldn't attack her.

Sister Angelina was Tracy's alias in the Dark Church, and she planned on dropping it for the next few months to take care of little Hugo. Thus, she didn't mind any background checks being conducted.

The lady turned back and nodded to her quiet scrawny companion. Instinctively, Tracy could tell he was the more dangerous of the two.

[From his aura, he's probably at the peak of the dark-wizard realm. Maybe a rank-8 dark wizard.] The two turned and started walking away…

[However, at that moment, a faint sound emerged from the corner of the alley. It sounded like something scratching the surface of a cloth.

It was very faint and could have been ignored on any other day. However, today was different… The two mystics stopped in their tracks…

However, Tracy reacted faster.

She moved at the exact moment the sound was heard in the quiet alley and conjured a wand out of thin air. The wand looked like a dried stick decorated with an assortment of black and white strips. It was slender and arms-length with two black and white snakes curved in coils around it, their heads forming its base.

As Tracy advanced towards the two, she chanted…

"Nyoka mweusi... Kuua."

Two dark shadows shaped like black spiraling snakes coalesced from the wand. As she extended out her hand, the snakes struck out at the heads of the two mystics.

They sunk in sending the two mystics into a trance.

This was the rank-2 spell 'dark-serpent-paralysis', perfect for a surprise attack at night. Its mana signature was very weak and gave the enemy nearly no time to counter it.

Tracy was a dual-element mystic who could cast both light and dark spells. However, using a light spell in Melekar, however simple, was as conspicuous as lighting a bonfire. She thus opted for a dark spell.

She moved under augmentation towards the stunned mystics, so fast that her shawl was blown away. In no time she stood right behind them and conjured a dark dagger in her other hand, which she used to effortlessly slit the throats of the two mystics.

All her actions were smooth and measured taking no longer than a few heartbeats.

Even before the bodies dropped to the ground, she had extracted a small black bottle from her storage ring and doused its contents on them. When the substance came into contact with the two bodies, they started to disappear, eventually leaving behind only a pool of dark-red oily liquid.

Tracy then conjured purple fire from her wand which wiped away these last traces of the mystics' bodies.

She knew that killing the Manroe mystics would be the easy part, escaping from the ensuing pursuit in case their demise was discovered would be more difficult. But she wasn't worried. Her time as an assassin for the Dark Church had led to the perfection of methods of concealing her activities – not crimes.

Tracy took out a blue bottle from which she scattered a black powder around the area.

She then retraced her earlier steps and picked up the backpack which was now making some minute movements.

She held it to her chest muttering… "Little Hugo! You've caused me plenty of trouble today… please be good. We need to leave without bad guys seeing you."

The backpack seemed to have listened to her and stopped making the minuscule movements.

"Good boy! Little Hugo. Once we leave this accursed place, I 'your great aunt' will show you the wonders of this world. Wait until you see the big animals in the forest… then there are those beautiful flowers in the plains."

"We will be going on a long journey… No… we are starting an adventure… An adventure marking the genesis of the life of little Hugo." Tracy muttered, her voice rising dramatically at the end.

The backpack no longer made any movements as if it did not want to bother with her.

Tracy didn't mind and started humming a lullaby while gently rocking the backpack in her embrace.

She poured some more powder around the area before leaving the alley and disappearing into the night.

****

A few minutes after Tracy's shadow disappeared from the alley, a group of hooded figures appeared above the area.

"We are too late!" Hooded figure one remarked.

"I am not sure why you didn't allow me to use the astrology platform? I would have deduced her position easily using the Black Ghost Castle's arrays." Hooded figure number two expressed her confusion about this matter.

The other figures shook their hooded heads showing no intention of providing an answer to hooded figure two.

"Melak and Tony appear to have been killed within seconds. This doesn't seem like the style of the Medici girl. There are remnant dark-mana signatures around the area. The assailant was likely a specialized assassin, probably from the Dark church." Hooded figure number one observed.

"Even if she escapes, we have already placed the curse on the infant. This won't affect the ritual on the next full moon. 'Moloch' can retrieve any sacrifice around the Eastern continent." Hooded figure number three spoke for the first time.

"Yes. I don't believe that she will have escaped from the Eastern Continent by the next full moon." Hooded figure number one added.

"Let us keep the sacrificial ritual as it is. We may be able to raise a new mystic-king after the next full moon." Hooded figure number three added.

"Let's leave. We should lay low in the meantime. But Monte, keep an eye on that boy of yours. Having him join the Sacramento Order could turn out to be a double-edged sword for us."

Hooded figure number one nodded before disappearing from the alley. The other two shook their heads before leaving.

The alley returned to silence once again, but not for long…

After a few seconds, a figure dressed in a long maroon dress appeared in the alley. Her eyes were so blue that they seemed to illuminate the dark alley. A black shawl adorned her face, making her facial features a mystery.

The figure looked around and muttered as if to herself… "Tracy has matured. Little Hugo will have a good life. … The Manroes are getting more unruly. I will hunt down a few before leaving." After looking around once more, she also disappeared from the alley.

****