CHAPTER 76: EAST WING

When Raze saw the girl leap, he didn’t slow down, he sped up. He pushed harder, jumping off the edge of the first building at full speed.

He hit the next roof across the street with a bang, his leg crashing straight through the tiles and getting stuck. The impact shook the entire structure, but without hesitation, he yanked his leg free and kept running, ignoring the pain.

Gavin saw the gap and the insane jump Raze had just made and immediately decided against following the same path. Instead, he dropped down from the roof, rolling onto the street below. He dodged an incoming carriage, barely missing it by inches, then nearly collided with a group of pedestrians before veering sharply into the alleyway beside the building where Raze had landed.

The chase went on for several minutes as they moved deeper into the east wing of the city. The farther they went, the more the atmosphere began to change. The air grew thick, heavy. A foul stench crept into their noses, and black smoke rose in the distance. Dirty water ran through the cracks in the streets, and the sound of flies filled the air.

Ella, who had been trailing behind with Riker, noticed the direction they’d taken and immediately recognized it.

"The east wing..." she whispered. Her eyes widened. "The gutters."

She quickened her pace. "Riker, faster!" she urged.

Both of them were mages, not built for the same kind of raw speed Raze and Gavin possessed, but Ella couldn’t afford to lag behind now. She knew exactly where this chase was heading, and if they reached the gutters, things could go very, very wrong.

Raze didn’t care about the air, the stench, or the filth around him. He kept his focus locked on the girl, chasing her deep into the underbelly of the city. The smell of rot and decay grew unbearable, spoiled food, waste, and death filled the air. The narrow roads were slick with dirty water. Shattered homes lined the alleys, their walls caked in grime. People sat by their doorsteps, wrapped in rags, their eyes hollow and lifeless.

’When Ella talked about the gutters, I didn’t think it was this bad,’ Raze thought to himself as he landed on the cracked street, coming to a stop.

He looked around, his breath heavy, and couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Inside the majestic city of Ravenhold, a place that seemed perfect and grand, existed this hidden slum, this pocket of misery. These people were citizens too, yet they were trapped here, unable to step foot into the main districts without being insulted or beaten. And if they ever tried, the city guards would come for them, arrest them, and make an example out of them.

Only a select few from the gutters were ever allowed out, to work, to clean, but even then, they were still seen as filth. It was hard to not discriminate when the smell was all in the face of the person you stood by.

Raze activated God’s Eye again. What he saw made his stomach tighten.

The filth. The decay. The desperation. Children being beaten in the corners. People mugged and dragged into alleys. Men and women slumped against walls, too weak to move.

But he turned his focus back to the girl. He couldn’t get distracted, not now. The gutters were a festering wound, and if he got too involved, it could spiral into something he wasn’t ready for.

He pressed on, chasing after the girl again. He didn’t want to just let her go, the coins weren’t the issue, but inside the pouch was the card that Lady Terra had handed to him.

The presence of Raze and Gavin didn’t go unnoticed. Everyone nearby turned their heads to watch as the two unfamiliar figures sprinted past. It was obvious they weren’t from this place.

And in the gutters, strangers like them drew attention, dangerous attention.

From a shadowed corner, a young man lifted his head, his single eye glinting faintly. He stood, leaning heavily on a walking stick, and limped away. He made his way through a maze of broken walls and trash until he reached a crumbling house.

He banged on the rotted wooden door.

After a few seconds, it creaked open. A tall, thin man with a jagged scar across his face stepped out. His teeth were crooked, his hair filthy and unkempt.

"Oy," the scarred man rasped. "What d’you want here? The boss said don’t come back unless you’ve got somethin’ to offer."

The boy’s voice trembled. "I—I do have something," he said, his hands shaking.

The man narrowed his eyes. "Yeah? What is it then?"

The boy swallowed hard. "I just saw two people. From outside. From the main city. Two kids."

The scarred man’s expression changed instantly. His lips curled into a grin, revealing his uneven teeth. "Ah... now that’s more like it," he said, patting the boy’s shoulder before pulling him inside.

"Come on, boy. Tell us what you saw."

The rusted door creaked shut behind them, sealing the darkness in.

On the other hand, Raze and Gavin chased the young girl until they got to a certain place in the gutters that looked like a small town square. Then the girl came to a stop. She backed up slowly, and Raze also slowly approached her.

When suddenly, a shadow formed in the sky. Raze and Gavin looked up and saw a young man their age coming down with a sword and an overhead slash.

Raze and Gavin immediately pushed back. They dodged the attack as the sword dug into the floor and caused the dirty water to splash in all directions. The boy stayed in that pose for a few seconds.

He had short, odd white hair, pale skin, wore cleaner rags than the others, and looked cleaner than the others. He looked up, his blood-red eyes locking on both of them. Then he launched, his crimson eyes flashing as he moved.