The assault of sounds and smells nearly overwhelmed me as I leaned on Valerie’s shoulder for support, following her through the crowded streets.

  Neither of us knew where to go, or who might be able to help her. This Undercity obviously ran on different rules than the upper realms, or even my old world.

  Crime was blatantly occurring without anyone seeming to notice or care. A drug sale here, a stabbing over there. If I hadn’t just survived a monster attack I would’ve been shocked to see it.

  What shocked me more than the crime though was the sheer variety of species down here. We passed by so many different races I’d never seen before; I recognized a few dozen from random fantasy stories, but even that was probably just the tip of the iceberg.

  Most were wearing various forms of weaponry ranging from glowing katanas to full-on rail-guns.

  Had it been the me from this morning I would've stopped and stared...

  But now?

  Now I just looked away and carried on. I didn’t have the time or energy to address it, not with Valerie in need of medical care.

  Paying for her treatment was another glaring issue we faced. I sincerely doubted we had any funds left after the Ordon Corporation took everything.

  Would anyone even help if we couldn’t pay? Maybe there were loan sharks down here we could borrow from. It was just the kind of illicit business that would thrive in this environment, so odds were high that they existed. Being in crippling debt was better than being dead, right?

  Many such thoughts passed through my head as we staggered our way through the crowd, not fully knowing where to go.

  “Hey, you.”

  We stopped and turned to the person who called out behind us, only to find a young albino human woman simply standing, nonchalantly, in the middle of the street with a bored expression on her face. She wore a black jacket over a gray t-shirt and cargo pants with blood-red buckles and straps that looked more decorative than practical.

  I was more worried about how she casually held the hilt of an unsheathed katana, dripping with blood, over her left shoulder like it was the most normal thing in the world.

  Which, honestly, might be more normal than us walking around completely unarmed, considering we were the only ones without a weapon of some kind.

  Was that why she stopped us? Because we were easy targets?

  My pulse quickened as I prayed she wasn’t planning on robbing us. It would be quite the cruel joke for us to have survived that monster only to get murdered by a random psycho on the streets less than an hour later.

  “You probably want to get that looked at,” she continued in that same monotone she used before, nodding to Valerie’s severed stump. “I can tell your mana reserves won’t hold up much longer. Did the corporations let you keep any money when they threw you down here?”

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  “How did—” I started before Valerie quickly clamped a hand over my mouth.

  Valerie hesitated as she glared suspiciously at the newcomer. “No, they took it all. We have nothing of value. We aren’t worth robbing.”

  “That’s not true, organs are valuable.” She shrugged, sending a tremble of fear down my spine. “But that’s not why I asked. You are pretty enough that Mr. Forester would probably take you in. You’d have to pay him back as an employee, but that’s probably better than dying, right? It’s not like you have time to be picky.”

  “And why would you want to help us?” I asked, eying her bloodied katana suspiciously.

  She caught my gaze and glanced at her sword. “Oh, don’t worry about the blood. It’s from killing some… ‘animals’ earlier.” She turned her red eyes back to me. “As for why I’m helping her, I owe Mr. Forester a favor or two. Just settling a debt.” She rummaged through one of her many pockets before bringing out a rumpled business card, brushing it off before flicking it to Valerie.

  I watched with suspicion as she turned and left without another word, disappearing into the crowd.

  “Well, that was odd.” I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose tiredly. “What do you think, Valerie? Should we take her advice?”

  Valerie grimaced, staring down at the card in her hand.

  “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to check,” she sighed in resignation. “It’s not like we have many other options right now anyway.”

  The creepy lady was right about one thing. We didn’t have the time to be picky.

  ———

  “Aether's Flame. This must be the place then.” I looked up at the huge building towering over us. It wasn’t too hard to find with its blazing neon sign standing a bit higher than the rest of the establishments.

  It was obviously a gentleman’s club that catered to the Undercity elite. The exterior walls were made with something akin to granite, but shimmering like a polished gemstone as the light bounced off it. Two heavy dark-wood doors stood open to the streets and I could detect laughter and alcohol drifting through them to the outside.

  I would have thought that the albino woman had given us the wrong address if the business card didn’t mention a ‘Mr. Forester’ on the front. The same name she mentioned she had to repay a debt to.

  I threw a worried glance at Valerie. She was getting worse, we needed to act soon.

  “Well…” her throat bobbed as she swallowed nervously. Her gaze fixed on the imposing doors, obviously unsure about this whole situation. “How about you wait out here for now. No reason to get you involved in this too.”

  “No,” I quickly shook my head, denying her request, “I’m coming too. I don’t want you to go in alone. We don’t even know if this is some kind of trap yet.”

  Just as we were working up our nerve to enter, a tall, fit, ornately dressed woman exited through the open door, pausing to observe us with narrowed yellow eyes. She nodded to herself after a moment and confidently strode towards us, her long tail flicking from side to side.

  She had blood red skin and pointed ears, with black tattoos running all over her body. At least, I assumed they were tattoos, they could just be markings that her species were naturally born with.

  Two long, curling, jet black horns extended from her temples; otherwise, she looked almost like a human.

  As she drew closer, my eyes flicked to the futuristic longsword that swung from her hip, secured in a sheath in the same blood red color of her skin.

  What was the deal with swords down here? First that weird albino girl, and now her? Come to think of it, I was noticing a pattern. Quite a few people here wore bladed weapons instead of guns. A fashion trend, maybe?

  The demon woman stopped a few feet away from us, appraising us with that piercing gaze that seemed to read me like an open book. For a moment I thought her eyes glowed. Was I just imagining it? Maybe some kind of cybernetic eyes?

  “I assume you’re looking to get that injury fixed?” She gestured to Valerie’s missing limb.

  My sister hesitated, but eventually nodded briefly in response.

  “Very well,” the woman sighed, then flicked her chin in the direction of the club. “I will guide you inside the back way then. Wouldn’t want to distract our customers, even if some would prefer the spectacle of it all.”

  She turned and led us around the building’s exterior to a plain metal door that slid open on its own as she approached.

  We stepped across the threshold into the bright interior of a place where the atmosphere practically radiated ill-gotten wealth.