Skazka Illyuzia was located at the gorge.
The entrance was almost insulting in its simplicity compared to Shenlu Cheng or the coastal cities he had already seen. There was no gate, toll or heavy officials checking entry documents. He simply reached the opening in the rock and kept going. That alone felt strange after everything he had come through but the sight that waited inside made the lack of a gate make sense. The gorge itself was so deep and broad that it had become its own natural barrier. The city was built into the stone walls along the wide open base.
It looked Russian at first glance but not in some ancient, frozen, storybook way it felt in Russian tales. It felt more like late twentieth-century Russian architecture fused with the practical needs of a fantasy city. The buildings were sturdy and blocky with tall facades and wide windows that gave the city a grounded, urban feel. A lot of the roofs were steep and angular. Some had rounded edges and the color palette leaned into pale stone colors. The streets were broad and clean and maintained with obvious care. Lamps stood along the walkways, ready to light the city once dusk came, though most of them were off in the daytime.
There were also cars, though not the modern kind that he was used to.
Some were parked near side roads. Some moved slowly through the wider lanes and some looked like modest transport vehicles adapted to the Timeless Realm's strange blend of old and modern life. It was not a futuristic city but not ancient either.
Veneri looked around once and exhaled through his nose.
"Of course. A Russian circus city in a gorge."
Parasphlen who was now walking with them in her newly formed body, looked around with wide-eyed curiosity and obvious delight. Biolumine had shifted into a Cat Therianthrope form and was keeping pace with them. The strangest part of Skazka Illyuzia was not the architecture alone.
People were speaking Russian all around them.
Veneri caught fragments as they passed by. Some were calling one another. Street vendors spoke across the road. Workers carried materials. Children laughed. An older man argued with somebody near a corner kiosk. He did not understand Russian but that was not a permanent problem. He already knew enough about his own soul structure to understand that if he wanted to, he could unlock the Justice Pentarch and use Memory Implantation and Extraction to understand the language properly. That would take time, though and he was not in a rush. Still, he noted it. The city was clearly built around the language and culture of the realm it belonged to. The circuses here were likely expected to know the tongue of the Timeless Realm itself anyway, so he would not be stranded. For now, he just listened and walked.
The streets were full enough to feel lively without becoming crowded. Market stalls could be seen. Tram-like vehicles moved by slowly. People wore practical clothing with a little more theatrical flair than the average settlement, which made sense for a circus hometown. There were jackets with bright embroidery, coats, scarves, boots, wide hats and uniforms that looked like they belonged to performers, handlers, acrobats and mechanics all at once. The whole city had that half-workshop, half-theater feeling.
The people noticed them immediately. Veneri was used to that part by now, though he still found it irritating.
He wasn't wearing his mask and for once he didn't have to. The Prism Madonna was known as female. His male form was not associated with that name in anyone's mind and because nobody in Skazka Illyuzia had seen his face connected to the legend, he could move freely without the black faceless mask becoming necessary. That was starting to feel like a relief and a problem at the same time. His face itself was the thing drawing attention.
Men and women alike looked at him. Some because he was simply too striking to ignore. The city did not seem immune to beauty, which meant his presence was immediately doing what it always did in settled spaces: causing people to stare a little longer than was polite and then pretend they had not.
Parasphlen walked beside him, though even she seemed aware of the glances landing on them all. She was being looked at by a number of young men with very obvious sexual intent which made Veneri roll his eyes almost immediately. That part was expected. She didn't seem bothered, though she was clearly noticing. Veneri sighed and kept walking.
"I'll never get used to it."
Paran glanced at him, then at the men staring at her, and gave a small laugh through her lingering embarrassment.
"You mean the looks?"
"Yes."
Biolumine, in Cat Therianthrope form, had also drawn attention in a different way. People looked at her, then looked back again. Her form was somewhere between beast and humanoid compatibility. The stares from passersby did not seem to bother her, but she noticed them all the same.
Then she asked the exact question everyone in the group was thinking in one way or another.
"Are we really that good-looking?"
Veneri glanced at her and snorted softly. Parasphlen, floating a little higher, seemed amused by the whole thing.
"Apparently."
Veneri looked ahead down the street, then around at the city again.
"Come on. Let's find out where the performers live. But let's eat first."
°°°°°°°
The restaurant they found was small and slightly busy. It sat along one of the cleaner streets in Skazka Illyuzia, tucked beneath a building with broad windows and a plain sign out front. Inside, it was all wooden tables, hanging lamps, the smell of tea, broth, baked dough and grilled meat. People were eating quietly, speaking in low voices and glancing up whenever someone new came in. Naturally, the moment Veneri, Paran, and Bio entered, the room's attention shifted towards them.
Veneri ignored it.
He slid into a seat with while Paran and Biolumine took the opposite side. The menu was already a problem. It was entirely in Russian, which made Paran stare at it with visible frustration and Bio tilt her head in confusion. Paran looked over the page again.
"I understand absolutely none of this."
"Neither do I."
Veneri sighed and lifted his hand.
"Waiter."
A young man came over almost immediately, wearing a neat uniform. He glanced at the three of them, lingered a little longer than was necessary on Biolumine and Paran, then smiled politely and asked in the language of the Timeless Realm.
"What would you like to eat?"
That at least solved the language issue.
He began listing dishes with the speed of someone who had done this a hundred times before. Soup, bread, meat, dumplings, tea, a few sweet pastries, some local rice dishes and two types of fish. Veneri listened for the names he recognized then pointed out what he wanted for the others. Paran ordered cautiously, still mildly suspicious of the menu even after it had been translated. Biolumine kept it simple and Veneri did the same. There was no reason to complicate lunch.
Then, while the waiter was still standing there, Veneri's attention drifted away from the table. His eyes had met another pair across the room.
A young woman sat alone at a small table in the corner, dressed in the kind of clothing that immediately marked her as noble or at least wealthy enough to afford classy outfits. Her tea was untouched in front of her. Her posture was composed, but only barely. There was something worn and sick in the way she held herself. She looked like she hadn't rested properly in days. More than that, Veneri felt something unusual from her.
Energy.
He narrowed his eyes.
It was not impossible in the grandest sense but wrong for this realm. In the Mortal and Immortal Anchor, beings did not carry energy in the way places might imagine. Mortal and immortal bodies here did not depend on internal energy reserves. They used Techniques instead. Energy could exist in the atmosphere but not usually in the living bodies of the anchor-born themselves. That's why no one could sense his own power because they don't have energy they can use.
So seeing energy radiating from a woman like that felt immediately off to him. It was the sort of thing that should have belonged in the Divine Anchor where bodies and laws worked differently. The waiter noticed Veneri's pause and glanced between him and the woman in the corner.
"Is everything alright?"
Veneri didn't answer.
The food arrived not long after that, carried over in neat portions on plain plates and bowls. Biolumine and Paran both leaned toward their own meals. It took Biolumine speaking first for Veneri to finally bring his attention back to the table.
"Veneri."
"What?"
She jerked her chin towards the corner.
"You were staring."
"Was I?"
"Yes."
Paran followed her gaze and then frowned. Her expression changed almost immediately once she looked properly.
"She has energy. That's odd. Normally someone like that would be in the Divine Anchor."
"That's what I was thinking."
He rested one elbow on the table and glanced back at the woman. She had not moved. If anything, she looked more drained than before, as though sitting alone with her tea was the only thing keeping her upright. Her energy was faint but still visible to him. She did not look like she belonged in a circus city at all. Not with that kind of exhaustion at least.
Biolumine accepted a bite of food and then scoffed.
"Maybe she's just weird."
"Probably."
Paran took a sip from her cup and looked between him and the woman one more time.
"Are we going to do anything about it?"
"No."
Biolumine nodded immediately as if that was the only sensible answer.
"Good."
Veneri picked up his own utensils and finally started eating.
"We're here to make a faction and join a circus, not to investigate every strange woman in a restaurant."
Paran gave him a short glance.
"That exactly like the start of an investigation."
"It isn't."
"It never starts as one for you. I bet she'll be relevant later."
He ignored that and focused on the meal. The food was simple but decent and suited to the city's style. The waiter had clearly chosen well enough for them. Around them, the other diners continued their own conversations though the woman was the same.
Veneri did not press.
Not yet.
If the woman mattered, he would eventually find out. If she didn't, then there was no reason to ruin lunch over it.
He took another sip of tea and let the matter settle into the back of his mind while Paran and Biolumine continued eating beside him, both of them clearly content to leave the strange woman alone for now.
For the moment, that was enough.