The teleporter blinked active, and Vivi’s consciousness flickered from the third level to Essi’s hometown. Mistvale.

  A familiar tapping sound reverberated from the rain canopy. An open sky of grey clouds spanned well into the distance. The teleporter platform was atop a hill. Modern brick buildings and rain canopies, and pretty paved streets stood firmly below: a similar landscape to the one Vivi saw daily in Fellwater.

  Most of Ythar’s named towns were similar to each other, clearly designed and built by the same architects. Towns were often distinctive through simpler characteristics rather than the style infrastructure itself, though Mistvale was easily recognized by the river flowing down through—with a small old-style wooden water mill in the very centre of town. And of course, the tallest building was another one of Ythar’s churches.

  Vivi didn’t have much time to study the town, as the two men standing just outside the teleportation ring took her attention. Both stood in shock, taking a step back. One held a non-runic steel spear, wearing a helmet and leather armor. He seemed like an ordinary non-spirit wielding guardsman, doubling as a constable, wearing the same uniform that Fellwater’s guards wore.

  The second man wore a red and white jacket and a vest. A member of the Sylva Bloods.

  Anger flooded through Vivi at the sight of him. Her fist clenched on its own. She recognized that plump face with his golden eyes. He’s one of them, she noted. One of the cloaked men from Paradise.

  “So,” Lortel asked calmly, clad in a grey raincoat. “Who dies and who do I knock out?”

  “He,” Vivi said through gritted teeth, pointing at the hunter, “will be captured.”

  Lortel’s figure flashed, disappearing, and a red spirit blade spawned in the man’s hands. Though just like Vivi remembered from Paradise, he wasn’t very good—certainly not a challenge for Lortel. A blow hit him in the nape, knocking him off of his footing. Then his hands appeared behind his back, and a click followed.

  The hunter thumped on the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back by ether prevention cuffs. Nothing cuffs they were called, since they worked with nothing runes.

  The guardsman was frozen in place, too scared to even run. His eyes were wide. “Ess?” he asked, staring at her, as well as the demons behind her.

  His reaction wasn’t surprising, considering a full convoy of demons, slingshot launchers in hand, stood on the platform. Vivi held a hand, prompting everyone to lower their weapons, but their horns were harder to hide.

  “Do we know this man?” Lortel asked, looking like she was ready to knock him out as well.

  “He…” Essi said. “He’s my father.”

  The man, Essi’s father, took a step back, nearly falling on his back as he hit his foot on the edge of a column. “No… Ess, you can’t be. This can’t be real!”

  Lortel had her eyes on Vivi. None of the demons could understand what was being said. Regular humans had no access to translation magic, and Vivi wasn’t certain how many of the demons had brought translation skills of their own. Most likely, only Vivi and Essi could understand the conversation right now.

  “Dad, it’s not what you think…” Essi said.

  “They said you had turned evil,” Essi’s father said. “I didn’t believe them. My daughter could not have betrayed the hunters. It wasn’t possible.” He took another step back, horrified.

  “Dad…” Essi said. “Please believe me. I’m not evil.”

  “Ess, why are you with the demons!” he called, pointing his spear at his own daughter.

  Essi tried to think of a response. Words didn’t form. Instead, the only answer Essi could muster was tears.

  Seeing his daughter break into tears, Essi’s father slowly lowered his spear.

  “They tried to kill me,” Essi said, sniffling. “The Sylva Bloods. Am I evil for not accepting a death sentence?”

  Her father was confused, seemingly not understanding the implications behind what Essi just said. “Essi?”

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  “I would never betray the hunters,” Essi said as she stepped closer. “You raised me, dad. I wouldn’t turn evil.”

  Logical thoughts seemed to escape from his head, but the sight of his own daughter’s tears spread tears to him as well. The spear fell from his hands. When Essi was close enough, he accepted his daughter’s hug, holding her head as she cried.

  Vivi walked closer and met his eyes. “The Sylva Bloods tried to assassinate your daughter. They saw another candidate to give the spirit to, and they didn’t think Essi was fit to wield it. So they tried to kill her.”

  “They…” His voice barely came out as a whisper. “They told me my daughter was a betrayer. They said Essi escaped. And until her punishment was held, they…”

  “They took your family as well,” Vivi said.

  He said no words, but Vivi knew from his face of shock and despair that it was a positive answer.

  “Essi didn’t betray anyone,” Vivi said. “She did everything like she was supposed to. The hunters just didn’t want her.”

  “Who are you?” he asked.

  “Vivi,” she said. “Essi’s friend.”

  “You mean… Vivian? Vivian Runeblessed. The… Demonspawn Hunter?”

  Demonspawn hunter? Vivi thought. That was new. She’d had plenty of nicknames, but it seemed the hunters had gotten even more creative.

  “That’s me,” Vivi admitted. “I’m Vivi, the Cursed Runesmith. I’m going to save your family.”

  He didn’t respond. His head must have been in total panic. Only his crying daughter in his arms kept him from totally losing it.

  “Vivi saved me,” Essi said. “Without her, I would be dead.”

  She let go of the hug. Her face was still teary, but she faced her father with seriousness. “Where is everyone? They haven’t hurt mom, have they?”

  “Everyone is held captive,” he said. “Until you answer your…”

  “I’m not answering anything,” Essi said. “Take me to them. We’re all going to live.”

  Lortel, meanwhile, was interrogating the golden-eyed man. “Do you like to have your balls crushed in,” she asked, “or would you prefer to kindly lead us to the girl’s family?”

  The hunter snorted. “Town hall,” he said. Being an ether hunter, he could use spirit translation to speak to Lortel. “Nothing complex. They’re not even tied up. We’re feeding them well.”

  Lortel turned to Vivi. “Which building is the town hall?”

  Vivi studied the town below. “It’s probably the mill. The town hall is usually the building that looks most out of place.”

  “Yes,” Essi said. She scowled down at the captured hunter. “I’m sorry, Gwenor, but I won’t accept my punishment. If I am a traitor, so be it.”

  He breathed in. “I can’t blame you. I would have done the same. I’m doing this because I’m told to.”

  What a stupid attempt at sympathy. “You are a fool,” Vivi said. “You’ve conspired to kill a young hunter. Your entire hunting company is involved. You can’t claim innocence.”

  “I do not,” Gwenor said. “And I did not think Essi deserved it. But I am not one to disobey orders.”

  And that’s exactly what makes you pathetic, Vivi thought. She couldn’t stand looking at him anymore. “Knock him out,” she said.

  Lortel did so in a flash, and Gwenor’s golden eyes fell shut, unconscious.

  “He’ll wake up in Paradise,” Lucius reminded.

  Doesn’t matter. The news spread the moment we hijacked a teleporter. The hunters know we’re here. And if they want to attack, they are free to. I don’t intend to stay for long.

  “Anthony and the ballistics team will keep the teleporter protected!” Vivi ordered. “Hunters might try to rush in and capture us. If weaklings come, try to capture them without harm, but if someone tries to kill you, feel free to return the treatment. Essi, let’s go. Lortel, please trail us in the shadows.”

  Everyone complied. Vivi tightened the hood of her raincoat and stepped into the rain. She walked downhill with Essi and her father at a calm pace and kept her aura low, focusing all of her ether into improving her perceptions—eyesight, hearing, and she focused on her sixth sense, of course, in case anything tried to ambush her.

  The teleporter was a short distance from town, and the paved path in between was empty. Townsfolk observed from a distance. Stern orders had probably told them to stay away from the teleporter. They could probably tell something was going on, but nobody was close enough to identify it as a demon invasion.

  Only the sound of rainfall welcomed the three into the town. A sense of longing appeared somewhere deep in her chest as Vivi entered. Mistvale was very much like Fellwater—like most towns on the surface. The constant rainfall and the grey skies gave every place on the surface a similar atmosphere.

  And just like in Fellwater, the charm behind Mistvale came from its safety. On the surface, humans didn’t need to worry about monsters and surges reanimating anything they tried to build. Even the weakest humans could raise a family here. If one’s profession was at all related to craftsmanship, art, paperwork—anything that didn’t require land rich with ether—the surface was the place that people sought.

  But with this storm season, surges and storms had started brewing on the surface as well. No place was totally safe.

  The storms must have been part of the reason why the streets were so sullen. Hardly anyone in the town smiled. Townsfolk didn’t run away in fear at the sight of Vivi—in her black raincoat, she looked normal enough—but people remained close to their doors, where they could quickly hide inside if something happened. A woman in a blue raincoat at her doorstep looked like she wanted to talk to Essi and her father, but she said nothing.

  The painted wooden door to the town hall had a window, but it was blocked with curtains from the inside. Vivi tested the handle. Surprisingly, the door opened.

  A surge of hostile ether followed, and Vivi immediately summoned Dawnpour. She blocked a spirit blade descending on her head.

  The attack made contact with Dawnpour, and the spirit blade immediately shattered by the weight of its own swing. Its plump-faced wielder paused in confused shock, as if food he’d been chewing had just disappeared from his mouth.

  The second man, she noted, recalling the features from Paradise.

  She punched him in the face.

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