The setting suns painted the world in their fading glow of twilight. Under the few rays escaping the fog and the horizon, in North backstreet, Elyas and Noah were standing.

  In front of them was a building no different than the other hovels in the backstreets. It was as if someone had tried to build a mediaeval house, but midway through, realized, what they had access to was only scrap wood, and rubble of a fallen city.

  Elyas and Noah weren't alone either. A few dozen stood in a small line, and people kept coming out of the building like leaking water. Some went in only to come back more dishevelled.

  Elyas's back pain seemed to worsen in the cold. So he tried distracting himself by observing the crowd standing a few metres away from them.

  “Are you sure that this is where a seer lives?” he asked.

  Noah glanced in the same direction, a hint of understanding appearing in his eyes.

  “What? did you think only the “good” parts of society had Dreamers?”

  Elyas raised an eyebrow.

  “No…why would you think that? I just thought not everyone would be able to afford the services of a Seer…”

  Noah shook his head.

  “It is hard. The only reason you see these street rats here, is because most of them are part of a Syndicate. Besides… some of them have other business inside.”

  “Oh, so it's like that… by the way how long do we have to stand here?”

  “Oh we can go right now.”

  Elyas stared at him for a solid minute before speaking. “Then why are we standing here?! Let's go!”

  Noah let out a laugh before following Elyas. Noah seemed to become more and more like Julius with each passing day. They got some dubious looks from the line as they passed by. Ignoring the insults that flew shortly after, they went inside.

  The house was surprisingly big. Much like most houses, its interior was wood, mostly rotten by the damp air, but wood nonetheless.

  Stepping through the foyer and onto the stairs In front of it, Elyas saw a small part of the tastefully decorated living room. The second floor however…

  The stairs lead to a narrow hallway that could barely fit two people. Noah had to walk behind Elyas, and yet, the smell of rotten wood on the walls was close enough and not easy to ignore. Each wall housed several rooms, and in them…

  ‘I guess I know where a brothel is now. But why would a seer live… are they the owner?’

  Walking past doors and ignoring the moans, they reached the end of the cramped hallway.

  There stood a single door.

  The only reason they knew the seer was operating in that room, was the customers coming out of it.

  They weren't naked.

  Knocking on the door, Elyas waited for a response. “Come in.” A strangely soothing male voice entered his ears.

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  Opening the door they were met with a small and sparingly lit room. Opposite the door, was a round wooden table and two chairs. Behind them, a single round window stood, illuminating the lone figure in the chair.

  It appeared to be a man. Short hair, a crude uneven wooden mask hiding a round face, a worn out worker jacket. But despite all of it, the man's perfect, beautiful face made one doubt themselves.

  The Seer raised a hand to gesture for Elyas to sit. But soon, he froze. The man's eyes —what could be seen from behind the mask— widened in horror.

  “Take off your clothes.” He? she said. It was hard to tell with the Seer's strangely beautiful voice. It was just as hard to say no to it.

  Before he knew it, Elyas was already taking off his shirt. Noah looked at them both with shock written all over his face. Shaking Elyas's shoulder seemed to have worked in beating some sense into him.

  Coming back to his senses and seeing himself half naked, Elyas jolted away from the chair.

  “Sir…ma'am? I'm not sure if you know this, but I'm not one of your workers.”

  The seer did not have time to appreciate Elyas's sense of humour.

  “Take off your clothes. Now!” The enchanting voice was commanding. Yet, the desperation in them did little to lessen Elyas's willingness to oblige.

  Elyas did as the seer said. This time, Noah did not stop him. Since he was standing behind him. He was first to notice it.

  “Wh-what is that?” On his face, a look of utter fear and horror took shape.

  On Elyas's back, was a strange black tumour the size of a man's head. It seemed to have eaten into his flesh. Little teeth glistened with his blood as they detached from his skin only to dig further in.

  Elyas seemed unaffected by it though. Only a silent question could be seen on his face.

  “What is it? What are you talking about?”

  Noah was about to tell him, but at the same time the Seer started to act.

  “Do not move!” Elyas stood motionless, so did Noah. The seer moved fast. Taking off his worn-out jacket, he placed it mid air.

  It extended from all sides, forming a giant wall housing several small safes and cabinets made from fine silk and cotton. Grabbing seemingly random things, the man rushed to Elyas's side.

  Drawing a few overlapping circles under Elyas's feet, he moved rapidly and with precision. Strange bags of powder and candles were placed neatly with ominous, faint reasoning.

  After the seer was done, he drew a silver dagger from nowhere, carved several symbols on gemstones and placed them one by one on each circle. After that, he said, his voice coming back to its usual, soft and soothing nature.

  “This is going to hurt.”

  And with that, the knife was thrusted into Elyas's back. As soon as it reached the tumour, the circles ignited and shone with cold blue moonlight. Elyas's entire body shook and spasmed, he coughed violently, falling to the ground.

  Opening his eyes and glancing at his hands, he saw blood, his own blood.

  …

  Noah could see that the black thing was not in good shape either, it was letting out a silent shriek, spasming violently as smoke came out from its disgusting form. Slowly, the smell of cooked flesh filled the room.

  Noah's expression was grave and full of worries. Although it had only been three months since he met the fumbling fool, he had grown fond of him.

  From his new friends strange lack of knowledge about anything regarding the world, to his comically bad luck in the past week to the strange tales he shared of his life as a detective to…who he reminded him of.

  Noah didn't want Elyas to die. And that is why he did not intervene. Not yet.

  Elyas's body spasmed and shocked again, his screams of pain ran through the whole house, startling the Seer. Enough, to loosen his grip.

  The black tumour, seemingly gaining intelligence by the pain of being stabbed and slowly erased, used this opportunity to escape.

  Slithering and leaving bite marks on Elyas's back with its teeth, it rapidly climbed down and fled toward the window. But shortly after, its escape came to an abrupt halt.

  Noah had drawn a silver stiletto from a small coin pouch attached to his belt. Currently, he was thrusting it again and again into the small, black tumour with fury. He let out an angry growl.

  “No one… no one will take him away from me again!”

  For a moment, a memory flashed before his eyes. One of the dreams he once had. A young man with brown hair and a warm smile. He cared for the man. He feared in his place. So Noah cried when he saw how the man's life would end.

  He drew his blade one last time, and with a swift horizontal slash, cut the black stain in two.

  The mass of teeth, coagulated blood and bone writhed in pain. At the same time, the circles of light dimmed and vanished, as if not ever present. All except one.

  The seer fell to the ground, exhausted. After a bit, he noticed that he had misplaced a few ingredients. Standing up, he moved and changed the place of two bags.

  At the same time, Noah gave the pool of black blood and bone one last glance, making sure it was dead. After that, he rushed to help Elyas.

  Propping him up and putting him in a chair, Noah examined his wound. On Elyas's back was a deep, bloody hole. It was as if someone had excavated a quarry or tunnel in his back. Their destination… seemed to be his heart.

  Turning to the seer, Noah asked with urgency.

  “Do you have any way to treat him?!”

  The seer nodded before falling to the ground again. He started taking his robe off to cool himself down.

  Noah fell silent after seeing the strange scene. But his attention was suddenly diverted. Because Elyas was screaming again. This time, the cause seemed to be the strange orange glow coming from his back.

  Turning his head, Noah was met with the sight of molten steel filling the wound. It made Elyas's flesh sizzle, burning him from inside. Slowly, it cooled and a giant piece of cold, hard metal closed up the tunnel.

  By then, the beautiful man was covering his half naked body in his jacket again. Shaking off his sweat, he turned towards them and walked to his chair and sat.

  After a minute of heavy gasping from both Elyas and the Seer, the beautiful man spoke as he re-adjusted his cold, ugly wooden mask.

  “Should we begin?”