As they walked toward the marketplace stalls, Doren's mind was racing. He was so caught up in the new information about his father that he almost missed a crucial detail.
"Wait," he said, turning to Meko. "My supplies from home. I left them at the stables." He pointed toward the outskirts of town. "I stored them there to lighten my load for my travels throughout Havenport."
Meko's brow furrowed in thought, then he nodded. "That's perfect. That'll save us some coin," he said, "We don't have much anyway."
They changed course, heading toward the stables. They grabbed the worn saddlebag Doren had left behind, which held a bedspread and a few other supplies. With that, they headed to Meko's humble home, a small, one-room cottage near the edge of town but still surrounded by neighbors. Meko went inside and grabbed a blanket and a pillow. "This will have to work for now," he said, a weary sigh escaping his lips.
Just as they were about to leave, a loud knock echoed through the quiet street. The sound was sharp, authoritative. A voice followed, deep and unwavering.
"Havenport Guard. Meko Hahn, we have a couple of questions."
The two men exchanged a look of pure dread. The Order of the Sunless was one thing, but the city guards were another. They were trapped.
Meko swallowed hard, a flicker of resigned frustration in his eyes. He pulled the door open. Doren stood just behind him, partially hidden by the broad frame of his friend. The guard's helmet obscured his face, but his voice was firm and unyielding.
"We have heard some information about a fight towards the abandoned section of the town. Were you involved?" The guard asked, no emotion in his voice.
Meko didn't lie. He knew better than to try to deceive the local authorities. "Yes, I was, sir. But it was self-defense. A crook took one of my friends and attacked us. We were only protecting ourselves."
The guard's silence was long and heavy. "You of all people know not to use your elements with brute force," the guard said, his voice dropping an octave. "I have had this conversation with you before." His gaze shifted, looking past Meko's shoulder directly at Doren. "That goes for you too."
Doren's blood ran cold. The guard's voice was unyielding. "There will be a fine of 500 coins, and if you cannot pay it by tomorrow's eve, you will be put into a cell for 24 hours."
Meko's face, already grim, went pale. He had no more than a handful of coins in his pocket, barely enough for a single meal, let alone a fine of that size. The guard's gaze was a heavy weight, and his words were a final, unbreakable law.
"Yes sir," Meko said, his voice a low, resigned acknowledgement.
The guard nodded once, a final, impersonal gesture, and turned away, his boots echoing as he walked down the quiet street. The silence that followed was heavy and cold. Meko closed the door, the click of the latch echoing loudly in the small cottage.
Doren and Meko were now alone, facing a fine of 500 coins with no way to pay it. The ticking clock of the city's justice system was now a new enemy, an impossible deadline that threatened to imprison them before they could even begin to run from the Order of the Sunless.
Meko looked at Doren with a smug, defiant glint in his eyes. The resignation he'd shown to the guard was gone, replaced by a confident smirk. "We're not paying for that..." he said, his voice a low, knowing rumble.
Meko turned and patted Doren on the back, a gesture of quiet camaraderie. He then stepped out into the street. It was a home he would never see again. The moment his boots hit the cobblestone, he stopped.
Standing a few feet away, at the mouth of the alley, were two hooded figures. They were still, silent, and cloaked in shadow, their faces obscured by the deep folds of their cowls. They didn't move, yet their presence was a heavy, chilling weight in the afternoon air. They were waiting. They were not guards.
There was a feeling of dread in the air. Doren and Meko had traded one threat for another, only this one was far more sinister.
Meko let out a nervous chuckle and held his hands up in a placating gesture. "No offense, fellas," he said, the joking tone a stark contrast to the wide fighting stance he was settling into. "But we can't be fighting anymore. Can't afford the fine."
The hooded figures remained motionless, two dark statues in the street. Then, one of them slowly raised a gloved hand. He twirled it, his finger pointing toward the ground. "Void," he said, his voice a deep, inhuman sound that seemed to come from a place of pure darkness.
Before Doren or Meko could react, the cobblestones beneath their feet began to crumble into nothing. A swirling vortex of pure blackness opened up, sucking in the ground with a low, hungry growl. The air grew cold, and the sound of the world around them seemed to dim as if it were being consumed by the growing hole. It was a power unlike anything they had ever seen.
Without hesitation, Meko clapped his hands together. He raised one hand, and with a low groan, the ground beneath them burst upward, forming a jagged stone pillar that pushed them above the swirling void. The black hole below them roared, and in an instant, it closed, cleanly severing the pillar in half. The top section, with Doren and Meko clinging to it, came crashing down into the alleyway.
As it fell, Meko and Doren leapt, landing with a roll on the sloped rooftop of a nearby house. They scrambled to their feet, looking down at the two hooded figures in the alley below. The figures stood motionless, their heads tilted upward as if studying the two elementalists. The void was gone, but the air was cold, and the tension was a physical presence.
Meko returned their look, a cold, grim realization dawning on his face. He leaned closer to Doren, his voice a low whisper that cut through the silence. "Doren... It's the order."
The words were a chilling confirmation of their worst fears. They weren't just fighting random thugs; they were fighting the same organization that had hunted their friends, terrified his family, and left a threatening note in an empty shed. The enemies below were no longer a mystery; they were a direct, personal threat.
The other hooded figure took his glove off, revealing a scorched, blackened palm. He slowly reached out and touched the side of the house that Meko and Doren were standing on. "Blaze," he said, the single word a chilling promise.
In an instant, the wall of the house burst into flames. The fire was not slow, but a sudden, roaring inferno that consumed the wood with a hungry ferocity. The heat rushed over them in a searing wave, and the air grew thick with smoke. The roof beneath their feet was starting to splinter and crackle, the fire licking at the edges.
There was screaming. The high, terrified shriek of a woman and the piercing wail of a child echoed from within the burning house.
Doren didn't hesitate. He thrust his hand out, and with a crunch sound from the earth below, a chunk of cobblestone from the alley shot up and slammed against his knuckles, molding to his hand like a gauntlet. He knelt down on the blazing rooftop and punched through the shingles, creating a hole just large enough for him to fit through. He jumped inside, landing in a cloud of dust and plaster.
A little girl and her mother huddled in the corner, their faces streaked with soot and terror. Their eyes widened as they saw Doren, his hand still covered in rock. He moved fast, grabbing the mother and the small child from the ground.
"This way," he said, leading them back to the hole in the roof. He helped them out and guided them to a neighboring rooftop, away from the smoke and flames.
Meko remained on the still-burning rooftop, his feet steady against the splintering wood. He glared down at the two hooded figures in the alley, his expression a mixture of cold fury and newfound determination. He wasn't helping with the rescue; his focus was entirely on the enemy.
The terror in the woman's eyes, the small, terrified child—it all lit a fire in Doren that burned hotter than the flames consuming the house. He was a beacon of anger.
He leapt from the rooftop, a furious blur of motion. As he fell, he tucked his body, straightening out at the last moment and throwing a vicious kick down toward the hooded figure who had set the house ablaze. The kick was aimed at the head of the man who had just risked the lives of innocents.
The kick landed with a stark thus, sending the hooded figure staggering backward. Doren didn't even have a moment to feel satisfaction before the second figure's gloved hand shot out and clamped around his face. A strange, numbing sensation spread through his jaw and temples, his vision blurring as the figure's grip tightened.
Just as Doren's mind began to spin, Meko acted. He tore a chunk of rock from the burning rooftop and hurled it with all his might at the figure holding Doren. The rock flew, a dark blur of earth. Meko didn't wait to see if it landed. He launched himself from the burning building, hurtling downward to join the fray.
The hooded figure, with Doren still in his grasp, moved, shifting Doren's body to block the incoming rock. Meko, already mid-air, saw the move. He whipped his hand to the side, and the chunk of roof, still in flight, veered sharply away from Doren, slamming into the opposite wall of the alley with a deafening crack.
Meko landed in a crouch, his eyes locked on the figure holding Doren. The man's grip on Doren's face was still firm, his dark hood obscuring his expression. Meko was now a few feet away, close enough to fight, too close to run.
Meko's eyes narrowed, and his body coiled. He lifted his elbow, and with a grunt of immense power, the cobblestones beneath them tore free, a wave of jagged earth erupting upward. The hooded figure holding Doren was thrown backward, the grip on Doren's face broken as he was sent flying into the alley wall. The other figure, still dazed from Doren's earlier kick, was also lifted and slammed to the ground.
Doren stumbled back, gasping for air, the strange numbness on his face quickly fading. Both of the figures lay motionless in the rubble of the alley. The tables had turned. For a brief, precious moment, they had the advantage.
Meko didn't waste a moment and with a furious motion of his hand, the very ground they stood on buckled and writhed. The earth tore upward, twisting and folding in on itself to form a jagged, circular wall of solid rock around them. The sound of the groaning stone and the thud of the two hooded figures hitting the ground was muffled, but they could still see the figures lying in the dirt, disoriented.
Doren stumbled, the numb feeling in his face fading, and he looked at Meko, his chest heaving. They were safe, for now.