The Thugs hesitated, the tension in his shoulders giving him away.
Finally, he let the light fade from his hand. Without another word, both men turned and left.
Seren's eyes followed them until they were gone. Elara crouched to help the boy to his feet, brushing dirt from his clothes and asking softly if he was hurt.
The boy's voice was quiet, almost a whisper. "I'm alright."
Elara kept her tone gentle. "What happened?"
He hesitated, his eyes flicking between her and Seren's acolyte uniforms. His shoulders tensed, as if he was unsure whether to speak.
"It's alright," Elara said, beginning to channel a faint glow into her hands. "You can tell me while I take care of that bruise."
Before he could answer, Seren stepped in. "Can you get back on your own?"
The boy nodded quickly and ran off without another word.
"Wait," Elara called after him. "The healing isn't-"
Seren cut her off. "You shouldn't have asked that. He's doing what he needs to survive. Sometimes leaving is the safest choice."
The alley fell quiet. I stepped forward, looking at Seren. "Can you answer me now?"
She met my eyes. "Can you tell me how you knew those two men and what they've done?"
I didn't answer.
She gave a small shrug. "See? We both have secrets. But we also have the same goal. I'm investigating the missing people from the academy."
Elara's expression brightened. "In that case, let's do it together."
Seren and I both turned to her, neither of us looking convinced.
"Don't be like that, Lucian," Elara said.
"We have the same goal. I don't know why she was there either, but it doesn't change the fact that she saved both of us. And she seems to know more than we do."
I glanced at Seren. She nodded slightly. "I do have some leads. The tunnel we came from is connected to more places. I plan to explore it further."
"Then we'll do it together," Elara said. "Tomorrow. I'll make some preparations."
Seren gave us a brief nod. "I have something else to take care of. I'll find you tomorrow." She turned down another street, disappearing into the crowd.
Elara and I started toward the dorms. The streets grew busier the farther we went, but the light here felt dimmer.
Stalls were half-empty, the stone walls around us stained from years of smoke and rain. People moved with their heads down, voices low, most of them avoiding the gaze of passing acolytes.
Elara's face shifted as she looked around. "You know, Lucian… I never understood why this place is like this.
Doesn't Luminis teach that everyone is equal in Her sight? They deserve to live like we do."
"It's not that simple," I said. "The Lower District exists to keep the Upper running.
The people here work the hardest jobs, cleaning, carrying, repairing. They get just enough to survive. The rest of their labor and resources go upward, to keep the spires clean, the markets full, and the temple vaults shining."
She frowned. "That's… wrong."
"Maybe. But it's efficient. If everyone lived like the Upper District, they couldn't keep it running. Someone has to be on the bottom for there to even be a top."
She was quiet for a few steps before asking, "And the boy earlier? What do you think he was doing?"
"Guessing?" I said. "Probably copying scripture from the temple archives and selling them cheap to the locals.
Official copies are priced so high that only merchants or priests can afford them.
Someone like him makes his own version, sells it for a fraction of the cost, and still earns enough to eat for a few days. It's not legal, but it's common."
Her brow furrowed deeper. "So even the word of the goddess is sold like a luxury?"
"Everything's a trade here," I said. "Even faith."
"Isn't it the same with us?" I added. "We give the goddess our faith, and in return, we get her blessing to cast spells."
Elara's expression turned solemn again. She didn't answer right away.
After a moment, she changed the topic. "That light construct you used… how did you manage it? I've never seen that technique before."
"It's just something I experimented with," I said.
She gave a small nod, eyes narrowing slightly in thought, but didn't press further. We kept talking as we walked, and before long, we reached the dormitory gates. She gave me a quiet goodnight before heading inside.
Back in my room, I shut the door and leaned against the desk. "Echo," I said, "what was that back there? Why didn't you warn me about the ghouls or the two barriers?"
"This is the last cycle," Echo replied. "If I tell you everything, you'll make the same choices you always have. I'll only give you information I judge necessary."
Frustration tightened in my chest. I wanted to argue, but I knew it wouldn't change anything. Debating Echo was pointless.
I pulled the list of names from my pack and set it on the desk. My eyes moved over each entry, but my thoughts kept drifting back to Seren.
Why was she there at that exact moment? And how did she know the tunnel paths?
Maybe she'd been following me for some time. That meant she knew where I'd been going since High Ordainer Celvayn Lecture Rotunda. Or she had her own route through the city's underworks.
In Solaris, that wasn't impossible. The city was old, older than the current temple walls, with layers of stone and brick stacked on top of the bones of older districts.
Half-collapsed sanctuaries, sealed aqueducts, and abandoned ritual sites that had been walled off when the faith shifted focus.
Some were sealed to keep out heresy. Others to keep something else in.
If Seren had access to those paths, she had either special clearance from the Ordainers or knowledge gained through unsanctioned means. Neither made her safer to trust.
I glanced back at the list. Most of the missing students were theology or praxis acolytes, not field clerics. None had reason to go into the Lowrise tunnels, unless someone led them there.
That was the part that made my jaw tighten. In Solaris, the faith controlled movement as much as it controlled magic.
You needed clearance for almost everything: leaving your assigned wing in the Upper District, visiting the market squares, even which staircase you used to cross between courtyards.
But the Lowrise? The gates were open to any Upper citizen who could tolerate the stench and the eyes of the desperate.
A perfect place to make someone vanish without drawing attention.
If Seren was already walking those tunnels when she found us, she might have been tracing the same trail I was… or she was part of the reason there was a trail to begin with.
Than could it mean her invitation were a trap?