Walking from his workstation to the entrance of the tunnel took about forty-five minutes, and Elias tried not to think about how years of his life's work could be walked past in such a short time. It was a reminder that, as a mortal, his footprint was small, and he wondered whether one day he would miss the time when he was an unknown individual in the cracks of civilization.
Ninety-seven of his prey were buried within these tunnels, and for a moment, it was as if the eyes of the dead reached across the veil that separated life and death so that they could touch his skin.
'At least if I perish in the near future, I have left some sort of legacy behind, even though it is grim. I wonder if one day the bodies would be found hidden in the stones.'
As Elias stepped out of the tunnel, his face was illuminated by what he thought was lightning. He looked up, but saw no clouds in the sky.
Usually at this time of the night, there should be three moons overhead, but there was a fourth crescent standing by their side, appearing earlier than it should.
Four moons appear at night, but not all at once, with each moon appearing every third hour of the twelve hours of darkness. Without clocks, looking at the number of moons in the sky was a good way to tell time.
Lunareth, Vyrindel, Sylthera, and the final moon, Zarathos. All were children of Solthar, the Sun God; of course, all of them were dead now, and Elias did not know how or why their representation still patrolled the skies. All of these were mysteries he may only get answers to if he were able to touch Lumina and ascend to a level greater than a mortal.
Elias stood still for a moment as he admired the moons above, as if he had not seen them before. He wondered whether he was stalling by standing still, but he could have sworn that their lights had never been so beautiful.
The four moons above shone with different colors. Lunareth was the brightest and shone with a silver-white glow. Vyrindel glowed deep crimson; Sylthera was a pale, misty moon cloaked in a faint blue-green haze; and finally, Zarathos was golden-amber.
Each moon rises every third hour, starting at 9 PM with Lunareth, followed by Vyrindel at midnight, Sylthera at 3 AM, and Zarathos at 6 AM.
By dawn, all four moons were visible, creating a breathtaking display of silver, red, blue-green, and gold before they faded with the sunrise. This cycle repeats nightly, with each moon dominating its three-hour period but lingering faintly until dawn.
Zarathos, the fourth moon, should not yet be out. This was a sign of bad luck, but Elias did not believe in superstition. Although he found its appearance odd, this was not the strangest oddity he had noticed during his life.
As someone who was obsessive about details, Elias knew how chaotic his environment was, and it was something that most would never notice. The presence of the Lumina caused many tiny changes across all things, and Elias had learned to either ignore or work with them.
Walking outside the tunnel, Elias hurried home; the time for his ascension was near, and whether he would live or die depended on fate.
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Emerging from the tunnel, Elias did not turn around for him to feel the incredible weight of the Royal Palace behind him. The sight of it was enough to draw a mortal into madness, and that was one of the perils of his job… the ability to keep his curiosity in check.
No mortal should be able to get close to the Royal Palace, even its outer walls, beneath which Elias worked. This place was built by the greater hands than men, and they left deep traces behind. Elias had worked in the shadow of the Palace for almost five years, but not once had he looked upon its beauty; he had always kept his head down.
It was not as if Elias was a coward, but this was common sense across all people in the city; you do not let your mortal children look upon the Royal Palace or special institutions like the Central Guild Houses or the Military Barracks. These were places with powerful Siphons, and they were built with structures that could seriously harm the physical and mental state of young children who were still mortal.
Of course, there were always foolish children and teenagers who believed in their mental and physical prowess, but their dying or decaying bodies were constantly thrown at the center of the cities to be eaten by dogs. You would think, with such an example, there would be no accidents of youth stepping beyond their boundaries, but every year, the dogs in the city center grow fatter.
Elias was not as afraid of being hurt as much as anyone, discovering that he could supernaturally recover when he was injured, even when the injuries should have killed him ten times over. To protect himself, he did not break the rule once and kept his head down for four years, despite how much he wanted to look upwards.
He could only see the world in books, and even those were heavily restricted because he was too fragile even to lift some of the basic books for Siphons. In many ways, he had not truly seen this world.
Stepping out of the tunnel, he was greeted by an elaborate carriage made of metal and stone, the size of a building and resembling a house with various gargoyles and other extreme embellishments on it, pulled by eight Rune Beasts whose shapes were similar to horses; they were called Wargs and were one of the few domesticated Rune Beasts. These similarities to horses were limited to their overall shape, since these beasts were carnivorous and had claws rather than hooves.
Elias did not dare to look at these beasts with his eyes because of the aura of menace surrounding them and the sheer power they possessed. Besides, he knew they were intelligent, and they may be able to see through him more easily than a normal human or a Siphon.
Every Rune Beast was wild, and those that could be "tamed" were few. As far as he could discover, there were fewer than a hundred Wargs in the whole of Stormfall, all held by the powerful forces of the city.
He did not know how strong they were, only that any one of them could crush a Fury Forge with a single stomp. Elias still had a healthy fear of anything that could kill him with no effort.