The Secrets Of Krilux

Chapter 28

Raziel and Saber both stood up. Saber then began to lead the way out of the castle.

"Which faction are we going to next, may I ask?" Saber questioned.

"Faction one." Lucien replied.

"Perfect, Calamity lives there, I can give her this."

Saber then took a necklace out of his pocket.

"She left it at my house when she came over yesterday, it's her favourite necklace, her auntie gave it to her for her birthday."

"That's sweet, I take it Calamity is a friend of yours?"

"She is, we've been friends since we were little, her father was best friends with mine."

"If I remember correctly, her father is Jasper Valormore, correct?" Dredge asked.

"Yeah, Mr Valormore's cool. He's a bounty hunter." Saber said, "Oh look, we're here."

Sure enough, they were back at the castle entrance. They left the castle and proceeded to follow Dredge to the first faction, stepping over the people who had been knocked out in the streets, most likely due to street brawls. On the way there, Winston and Douglas began to talk.

"You were awesome back there, Winston."

"You think so?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks Douglas."

"No problem, I'm just speaking the truth."

The pair fell silent for a moment, but then Douglas moved closer to Winston and spoke again.

"Hey Winston?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course, you can ask me anything."

"Would you maybe, I don't know, consider um... Dating me?" Douglas asked, a nervous but hopeful smile forming on his face.

"I'd love to date you, I've actually wanted to for a while but I was always too nervous to ask."

Douglas's nervousness then became relief and he held Winston's hand, following the rest of the group. 

After a while, they made it to the first faction. This faction was very different to the second faction. For starters, it was much less barbaric. The buildings weren't damaged, nothing was on fire, the had not been destroyed and people weren't fighting in the streets. Another difference was that the entire faction seemed to be an attempt at merging a kingdom and a cemetery. The buildings almost looked like mausoleums, only much taller and with windows covered by iron bars. The cobblestone streets were lined with gravestones, as was the majority of the space that wasn't occupied by buildings. The flora mostly consisted of long grass, brambles and dead trees with twisting branches. The people there, while not fighting, seemed to be very on edge and wary of each other, almost as if they knew that there was an imposter among them, and the animals consisted of crows, rats and a few black cats. In the distance, a tall tower was visible, almost looking like a witches tower from some sort of dark fairy tale.

"That's the Nightshade tower, named after the family who built it and reside in it." Dredge began, "Keep your hands in your pockets and be aware of those around you, you get a lot of pickpockets around here."

Everyone simultaneously put their hands into their pockets as he said this, not wanting to be stolen from.

"And keep your heads down, this place is riddled with bounty hunters and they know a Darkheartian when they see one. Jasper's fine, he's only interested in accepting bounties that he'll be paid handsomely for, as are the more experienced bounty hunters, but watch out for the novices. Darkheartians have only recently become wanted in this faction and only offer a small reward, so only the novices will attempt to capture you. This faction is currently the only faction where being a bounty hunter is a paid profession, so this is the only faction where you'll need to be extremely careful at all times."

"Good to know, if they try anything I'll slice their heads off." Sapphire stated.

"I don't doubt that for a second, seeing as you did the same to those thieves in The Forest Of Grim Fates, but to avoid drawing any attention to ourselves we shouldn't kill anybody outside of the castle."

"Lord Dredge has a point, Sapphire." Noelle said.

"Yeah I know, but just in case."

The group then began to make their way to the tower, keeping their hoods up and their heads down in order to avoid being noticed by any novice bounty hunters who could be lurking around.