Chapter Dwellers of Darkness
In a corner of town that was still under construction, a group of people were meeting in the dark of night, they appeared to belong to the cult who had been leaving cryptic messages across Sanctuary.
The leader was an ex-citizen of Northan, she was a woman who had seen plenty of combat and had the scars to prove it. She looked across the few who had gathered, and cleared her throat, in preparation to talk.
"I have called you, the leaders of the sects, here today to reveal that our insiders can confirm the City Guard are aware of us at last, though they do not seem to be devoting many resources to us, as of yet. I believe we need to send a message, stronger than we have before" The woman preached.
In the back of the small crowd, a white haired young woman watched, and frowned to herself. It was Lumina, in disguise. She thought to herself, wondering why Ariel and the others were not responding to the warnings.
Lumina sighed and watched the High Devotee, the cult leader, Marin preaching to the crowd, while she was occupied, Lumina slipped away into the darkness. She had to find out why Ariel and Ashe were not investigating the cult yet.
Lumina made her way across the city, to the apartment where the important city leaders were housed. The front door was heavily guarded, she sighed and looked up.
"Well, only one way to do this" She whispered to herself, as she began climbing the balconies of the apartments, while struggling to stay out of sight of the occupants and any guards who happened to gaze at the sky.
As she made her way higher, she gazed out across the city, the view was amazing, she could even see Arranthian slumbering in his home, the giant airship from Disceath and the city square. Eventually she resumed climbing higher and higher, before finally reaching Ariel's apartment.
Lumina climbed onto the balcony, the lights were on, so she knocked on the window. She spotted Ashe coming out of the games room and heading to the front door. Lumina rolled her eyes and knocked again, as she saw Ashe opening the front door and looking around.
She knocked once more, and chuckled as she saw Ashe jump back in fright and slam the door, before Ariel walked out of the games room and noticed Lumina, she scowled. Ariel walked over to the balcony door and slid it open.
"Give me one reason not to push you from here" Ariel said, as she folded her arms, Ashe also made her way over.
"I've infiltrated the cult" Lumina shrugged.
"It's real?!" Ashe gasped.
"Why aren't you guys at the City Guard investigating?" Lumina asked.
"Because we are..." Ariel rolled her eyes as Anya and Wes also walked out of the games room. "I guess this means you're on the team" Ariel shrugged.
"They're planning something, I don't know what it is, but they seem angry that the City Guard still haven't taken notice of them" Lumina explained.
"Are they dangerous?" Anya asked.
"I believe so, they think the darkness is here to cleanse the world of its sins" Lumina replied.
"What do you think they may be planning?" Wes asked.
"Something symbolic, I don't believe they would attack the wall yet... but..." Lumina began.
"The sky" Ariel said as she snapped her fingers.
"Exactly, bringing down the synthetic sky would herald a return to endless darkness. The perfect symbol of their twisted fate" Lumina nodded. "Have you all discovered anything as of yet?" She asked.
"We believe there are several hundred cult members in many different levels of the city management system, if they wanted to bring down the sky, it is perfectly possible" Ashe frowned.
"Right, I'll get to work on trying to find a list of all their agents" Lumina nodded.
"We'll look into making the access to the synthetic sky system more difficult" Ariel smiled back, before frowning as she realised she was smiling at Lumina. Lumina chuckled as she ran over to the balcony and jumped.
She rapidly descended to the ground and landed on her feet outside the apartment building, making a man across the street drop his shopping in shock.