Aether Beasts

The mayor's office was far simpler and more normal-looking than I'd imagined a mayor's room would look like. The walls lacked any decorations apart from a single painting of an unfamiliar landscape, and to the right was a small bookshelf that was only half-filled. At the center was a large desk and sat behind it was a pudgy-looking man that looked to be in his late thirties. He had messy brown hair and beady eyes, but that was contrasted by the king smile he wore on his face. He gave off what I could only describe as a fatherly feeling and I immediately felt some of my nerves vanish.

"Well come in, come in," the mayor said jovially, getting for us to take a seat. "I'm mayor Hayson, though I suppose you already know that. May I have your names?"

"I'm Aiden," I replied, taking a seat then pointing to Sandra and Misty. "And these are Sandra and Misty. We're here from th—"

"I already know why you're here," He said. "You've come bearing a letter from your sect. I must say I'm very impressed you managed to make it here. I've tried to open up channels for communication before but without the backing of any of the major families I've been unsuccessful."

I pulled the letter from my ring and handed it over.

The mayor quickly opened it up and began to read its contents. I felt a wave of nerves wash over me and I glanced over to see that Sandra wasn't much better. She was biting her lip with a nervous look on her face. This letter would decide a lot and if it wasn't successful and we didn't get any backing or help then the war was all but lost, and my town of West Vale would fall under twin horn rule.

The mayor's face went through a mix of emotions from anger to hope to excitement as he read. Once he was done he placed the letter down then turned to us with a smile on his face. "It's good to see that my old friend is doing well. This letter of his will allow me to do much and finally force the city to act."

"So you'll help?" Sandra asked hopefully.

"I will, but they cannot know that yet," The mayor replied. "The letter is an outline of things and holds a lot of information, far more than is needed but will be very helpful."

"They?"

"The twin horn." The mayor sighed. "If they find out my intentions that I'm as good as dead and chaos will fall in the city, I must go about this carefully. Did Hyphen give you any other instructions?"

I shook my head. "No, just the letter and to make sure we got it to you at any cost."

The mayor slumped. "I was afraid of that. This letter is enough, but a bit of backup wouldn't have been amiss. Do you plan on staying in the city, because if you do, I must insist you don't. I would offer you a place to stay but then that would be seen as me favoring you which cannot happen."

"You don't have to worry," Sandra said. "We'll be leaving as soon as possible, though… Do you know of any secret exits out of the city? The twin horns know we're here, and are waiting for us outside."

"I see," The mayor mused. "There are tunnels below the city from when there were plans to turn the underground into storehouses, but it was scrapped. Most of the tunnels are unfinished, but some were repurposed into emergency escape exits from those of the upper districts."

"That's good and all, but they're waiting for us outside this building and will surely follow us," I explained.

The mayor smiled. "My boy, I never said anything about going outside. There's an entrance within this building."

"But won't the twin horn disciples become suspicious?" Sandra asked skeptically.

"I can make the excuse that you'll be waiting for a day or two before your meeting with me and then I can simply say I refused to see you and play it off as though you slipped out into the night. Leave your cloaks with me."

I looked over to Sandra and saw the same emotion that was probably also in my eyes. Hope. This mayor celery knew what he was talking about and had agreed to help us not to mention he made it sound as though he was friends with elder Hyphen. We also had a way out without needing to get into a fight which I doubted we'd win. That disciple had probably gone and gotten a whole group of twin horn members. We had Misty and weren't weak, but Misty couldn't reveal too much of herself and I had no illusions I could beat back a dozen disciples by myself, and that was ignoring the fact that they might have a second core arcanist with them.

We handed over our cloaks to the mayor and then using an odd-looking stone which he held up to his mouth, he called an assistant into the room and after explaining everything to the assistant ordered him to lead us to the lower emergency exit. I'd been worried at first that he'd so freely told someone about the letter, but then he'd informed us that his assistant had family within the steel heart which set my mind at ease.

"You think this is a good idea?" Sandra asked as we followed the assistant.

"I can't think of anything better," I replied. "Perhaps we might make it if we ran, Misty certainty would, but that's a low chance of success for us. They could have people waiting at the gates and watching out for us now. If we get caught then we're done for. We can't fight off that many disciples and I don't know about you but I don't want to end up dead or as their slave."

"I'm not disagreeing with the plan,' Sandra explained. "I just wanted to get your opinion."

"How about you Misty, are you doing well?" Sandra asked.

I glanced over at her, surprised that she'd asked the blonde. They rarely ever talked or communicated outside of group conversations.

"I'm ok with it," She said. "As long as we don't have to fight. I'm not really trained like you guys."

I scoffed. "That's a lie and you know it. I've seen you fight. I don't know why you've turned so meek as of late since I remembered you being a lot livelier. You can certainly fight. Do you forget that we were in the same class?"

Misty blushed and looked away in shame.

"Way to go," Sandra commented.

"What?" I asked. "I just told the truth."

"Dense," Zirani said. "So dense at times. When we get back to camp we're having a talk and i'm finally explaining everything to you."

"About Misty?"

"About Misty," Sandra confirmed.

It took a lot longer to move through the building than I would have thought, at least that was until the assistant explained that it was best if nobody saw us heading to the entrance since not everybody had family in the steel heart or really cared for them. There was also the fact that some might take the information to the twin horn for a quick bit of coin, which disgusted me, but the assistant told me that most people didn't realize what would happen if the town horn won. They were under the false pretense that the city could handle them which was a lie. Only the steel heart knew their true strength and a few higher-ups in the city.

The entrance to the tunnels was located in the basement of the building, hidden behind a false wall and controlled by a simple switch.

"Just keep moving straight," the assistant explained. "Don't branch off into any other paths, they'll all lead into dead ends. It should only take an hour or so before you make it outside the city."

"You ready?" I asked Sandra and Misty.

Both Sandra and Misty nodded looking completely calm and I was reminded that I was the one at a disadvantage here. Sandra had very good night sight and a dark affinity while Misty could literally see in the dark as though it were the day. No wonder neither looked nervous at all.

"I think it's best if blondy over here leads the way," Sandra said. "I've got good night sight, but not as good as her."

Misty smiled at the compliment then took the lead as the assistant flipped the switch. The door slid upward and a wave of cold and dank air washed over us as I looked into the pitch black tunnel.

"That doesn't look scary at all," I said sarcastically.

"Don't be a baby," Sandra said with a chuckle. "Now Misty, if you would."

Misty nodded and led us into the dark passageway. Once we were a few feet in I heard the sound of the door closing behind us and couldn't help but shiver slightly.. I really hoped nothing went wrong down here.