Chapter 11: The Stoneward Asylum

Wargs were fierce creatures, and staring directly at them was a sign of challenge, and for a mortal like Elias, a snort of irritation flavored by the power of Damnation from these beasts with Lumina in their veins would turn him to a broken corpse. If by some miracle he survived, he would wish he had not.

And so, even though at his core, Elias did not fear these Wargs, he made sure he never gave them any reason to observe him. He had learned that sometimes, the instincts of beasts about his true nature were surprisingly deep, and Wargs were not normal beasts.

For all his years of working under the ground for the Alchemist Guild, Elias had never tried to observe these beasts because in the few descriptions he had seen of them, they were truly magnificent beings. Anyone else would have fallen to curiosity, but he was not normal in any sense, and he could wait for the day he was strong enough to look them in the eye.

Still keeping his head and eyes down, Elias walked up to the carriage and stood before its large doors. He did not know the material that made up this colossal vehicle; it may appear to be made out of stone and metal, but it was not—standing before it gave him the feeling of being in front of a heavy mountain that was slowly leaning towards him.

This feeling was not strange to him, mainly because he was in the Old District of the city. A place built by gods or perhaps their divine servants, and he knew that for a long time, Siphons had tried to unveil the secrets of the past, and they were not entirely successful.

The Old Districts were filled with structures born of god-era alchemy, and Lumina filled its walls, granting this place impressive characteristics that could only be used or understood by powerful Siphons. Elias did not know how old some of the structures were in the Old Districts, but they had existed during the time of the gods, yet he knew that most of them must still work perfectly.

When he was in the Old District, Elias felt small and blind. He could not see Lumina or hear the voices of Miracle or Damnation. A vast part of the world lay before him, yet he was blind to it.

His powerful mind yearned to pierce through the veil of wonder that Lumina and all her gifts had granted, but he was shut out of the door.

“Unless that door opens for me today.”

Elias brought out a gleaming silver token from his breast pocket and held it before the door of the carriage in silence. He felt a breath of hot air pour over him, as if a gigantic beast was sniffing his body, and there was a hiss of released air, and the door of the carriage opened.

Inside was nothing but darkness, but Elias did not hesitate before he climbed into the carriage. He had to physically pull himself inside the carriage because the lower edge of the door began at his chest; it was as if this carriage was built for a giant, or for Siphons who could cross great distances with a single step.

His body had barely crossed into the carriage when a pulling force dragged him fully into it, and the door slammed shut behind him, leaving him in darkness.

Elias heard the news of one of his predecessors who had been slow to enter the carriage. When the door shut a few seconds later, the poor man was cut in two at the waist. Because he was a Siphon at the peak of the Wisp stage who must have placed most of his points in his physique, the poor man had taken hours to die.

Inside the carriage, Elias felt as if the darkness had weight and was squeezing him tight, but he endured the uncomfortable sensation so he could get home faster.

One of the perks of the job was a carriage that could carry him from the Old Districts, where the nobility and other powerful forces had made their seat of power, to the New Districts, where everyone else lived.

The New Districts were home to weaker Siphons and mortals who had not touched Lumina; it shielded them from the madness and untimely demise that was a part of life for stronger Siphons. It was not as if there were no great powers in the New Districts, but it was rare to see a mortal like Elias in the Old Districts, and without this carriage, Elias would not be able to travel through the Old Districts.

Always hidden in the shadows of the Old Districts, Elias thought of the New Districts as a patchwork of mortal ambition that strains but never soars. If it were anywhere else, the buildings constructed in the New Districts would be regarded as impressive feats of architecture and engineering. Still, when set beside the glory of the old gods, everything seemed flat.

Elias had barely had the chance to become used to the pressing darkness when the door of the carriage opened, and he was spat out. He thought he could hear snorting of irritation from the Wargs, but he might be wrong; the sound of the wind was loud, especially when he was thrown out of the silence of the carriage.

He had the common sense to let his body go loose, so when he fell, he did not break any bones. Elias was not worried about the break, only how he would be able to explain how it healed up in a few minutes.

He turned around, and the Carriage had vanished. As always, he could never tell how it came and went; there was no sound, and he had been transported from the edges of the palace, inside the Old District, to his home in the New Districts. A journey that would have taken him days on foot was reduced to mere moments.

Elias had been unable to tell they were moving while inside the carriage, and if not for his mind that could keep time, he would have believed he had fallen asleep.

Looking down the empty road, there was nothing to tell that a carriage the size of a building had just passed through. Elias sighed and looked around him, observing that every window in the surroundings was still closed, which was not strange because it was in the early hours of the morning when sleep and dreaming still held their sway.

This was a city that should house millions, but in the early hours of the morning, covered by soft mists painted by the light of the four moons, Elias thought it looked like a graveyard. In the distance, he could see massive buildings in the Old Districts that seemed so tall that it almost seemed as if they touched the clouds, and he looked away when he began to feel a growing chill in his spine.

Drawing his backpack closer to his body, he turned around and looked at his home, The Stoneward Asylum, an orphanage.

Although he wondered if this place could still be considered an orphanage when he was the only “orphan” living inside of it.

“Home sweet home,” Elias muttered as he walked towards the large metal gate in front of him.”

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