Outside of the Vault was a blurry mix of lights and shadows, the dark silhouettes of buildings receding into the distance, while the cold wind blasted through the narrow alley. Asher's heart rate kicked up a notch upon leaving the teleportation spell with Seraphine. They had raised the alarm in the Guild by disappearing, but now they were fucking moving, dangerously close to discovery.
"We need to get out of here. Now," Asher said, in a low but urgent voice. He cast his gaze around the mouth of the alley, searching for any sign of pursuit.
Seraphine nodded, determination etched in her features, though the stiffness in her posture told a different story. "The Guild's coming for us. We need a safe house — somewhere out of the way."
Asher's mind was spinning. The words of the Architect rang still in his mind. You were meant to find me. We were partners. Brothers.
A million questions flooded his head. What had the Architect meant? Why had he walked out when Asher struck? What the cycle that he had spoken of was?
For now, though, the focus was escape. There would be no answers, if they were dead.
Seraphine immediately focused on her magic, casting an illusion that obscured their location. The air was shimmery around them, distorting reality to make them seem to be part of the very bricks and mortar of the city. They drifted with the shadows, meshing right into their surroundings as the footsteps sounded closer from off in the distance.
"You've been quiet since we left," Seraphine said, her voice low. "Something's bothering you."
Asher's fists curled tight; the weight of the most recent battle, and the words of the Architect, rested heavily on him. "Everything's pissing me off," he said. "That Architect… I've seen that person before. In another life. Or many, maybe. He said that he and I were partners, and…" He paused, and stumbled for the words. "I don't know what is real anymore."
For a moment, Seraphine's eyes softened. "It is difficult to keep up with all of it, I know. But that's the whole thing, right? The Guild and all these big shots — they don't let us know anything. But now you're beginning to see the cracks. The truth."
Asher sighed and rubbed his temple. "I need answers. And I want to know who really controls all this."
"We will," she said, her voice overflowing with conviction. "But at this point in time, we need to make sure we're not dead before we get to that stage."
Asher nodded. "Fair enough."
They navigated the city's underbelly and arrived at an old warehouse in the outskirts. It was sparce, concealed behind a string of ancient buildings and out of reach from the gluttonous eyes of Guild monitoring. The perfect place to regroup.
The warehouse door creaked, swinging wide as Seraphine waved her hand in the air. It wasn't much, but it was something.
He entered, every nerve acute, looking for signs of an ambush. This was a place where few people would go, as the walls blossomed with the music of life.
Reed's voice crackled in the earpiece. "You two made it. Just in time too. Clemm's got half the Enforcers in the city looking for you. I've been covering for you, but don't get too comfortable."
"We'll keep our heads down," Asher said, looking around the room. "How's things shaping up on your side?
"I'm still trying to dig into the Guild's systems," Reed added. "But I've kind of come to a bit of a wall. Whoever's pulling the Guild's strings — they're good. Too good. It feels like I can't touch anything without an alarm going off." They've got layers, they've got layers of protection."
Asher clenched his jaw. "That's not good. "Right now we have to find a way to get to the heart of the Guild — someone on the inside."
Seraphine, who now stood at the back of the room, was playing with a dusty, old trunk. She turned to them. "I think I have something better. This was my contingency plan for a pinch we used to be in. Let me show you."
This was the first time she had ever seen such a chest, it opened with a creaky noise, revealing the stuffing inside of it: old scrolls with markings she cannot comprehend and artifacts. They were ancient — very ancient — every one glimmering with a ghostly sheen.
Asher approached, curious. "What's all this?"
"This," she said, pulling one of the scrolls into her lap, "is from a long-forgotten order. A subterranean group aware of the Guild's real origins. They were disbanded a long time ago, but they had information. Trueman — The True Rulers of this World The ones above the Guild."
Asher's interest piqued. "So you're telling me this group knew one about the Guild's master? Who is it?"
Seraphine paused, her fingertips skimming the perimeter of the scroll. "They had their own ways of keeping out of sight, but they referred to him as… The Architect of the Cycle."
Asher felt a catch in his throat. "The Architect…" he repeated. The puzzle pieces were beginning to fall into place. The man in golden armor, the same man to have said he would be his partner, was no commoner enemy. He was connected to the people Asher was trying to take down.
"What do these scrolls say?" Asher asked.
"Everything," Seraphine shot back, narrowing her eyes. "The Architect isn't just some Jim Jones type. He is one of many in a web of people who determine this world's fate. And the Guild? They're nothing but puppets, acting at his discretion. But these scrolls detail how to end the cycle, how to end the world they've created."
Asher's mind raced. "And you're saying we can use this to take them down?"
"I think so," Seraphine replied. "But we need to be careful. Such information is dangerous," she said. In the wrong hands, it can be the end of the everything."
Asher glanced over at the scrolls, the weight of his decision feeling heavy on him. This was it. He contemplated the truth, which was (potentially) right there. And with it a means to ruin the Guild, to ruin the Architects, to ruin the cycle that had bound them all this time.
And yet, when he glanced at Seraphine, he couldn't shake the heavy feeling of it all.
"We have to move quickly," he said. "If the Guild's looking for us, they won't rest 'til they have us. And if the Architect knows where we are…
Seraphine nodded. "Well then we have no time to lose. So let's get ready for what's ahead."
Over the next few hours, Asher and Seraphine studied the scrolls, absorbing every detail, every hidden secret. This was their clue that had been a part of the missing pieces of the puzzle that, when fitted together, were scattered through centuries of history as they guided them towards the center of the Guild's power. But there remained a question — where was the heart? And how could they reach it without risking everything?
"It needs to infiltrate the Guild's inner circle," Asher said. "If we want to know where these people are going and get them to stop, we need someone on the inside."
"I have a couple of ideas," Seraphine responded with a smirk. "But it's not going to be easy. The Guild doesn't allow just anyone to walk in."
"Then we'll carve our own way in," Asher said, an undercurrent of determination in his tone. "We are going to rip this system apart — piece by piece."
The journey forward would be impossible, perilous and fraught with peril. Asher had never been one to run from a fight though, and with Seraphine next to him, he was ready.
They gathered resources, deciphered the ancient texts, and prepared to set their plan in motion as the night wore on.
The cycle was about to end.
And Asher would see to that.