Elrith stood up and stuck his head out from over the end of the tunnel. The checkpoint wall was a decent distance behind him, and a few sparse trees could be seen in the surrounding area. A statue of a woman holding a greatsword directly up into the air with one hand could be seen towering in the distance. “The coast is clear,” Elrith said as the earthen spider crawled out of the hole in the ground. “Welcome to the second sector.”

Raea squinted as the first sun shone in her eyes. The tunnel Elrith dug was surprisingly long and took a while to traverse through. The second sun was already beginning to rise. “We’re in General Jones’ area?” Raea asked when she spotted the statue of the woman. “I didn’t realize we traveled that far east.”

“So what does that mean?” Cleo asked. “I thought this was supposed to be a populated area. Why’s it so empty?” Palan’s eyes narrowed as he adjusted to the new environment. His nose wrinkled—the region smelled filthy, almost as bad as goblins.

“I think this is one of the areas where General Jones carries out her drills,” Elrith said as he glanced at the ground. Patches of earth were exposed in the grass, clearly indicating lots of wear. “But since she had to reinforce the army to fight against Solra, no one’s here now.”

“What are those?” Sally asked and pointed off in the distance. The tops of buildings could be seen sticking out from over the treetops.

“Apartment complexes,” Elrith said. “There should be a city there.” He turned his attention to Raea. “Should we go that way?”

Raea nodded. She heard rumors about the apartment complexes in the second sector, but she never experienced them for herself. She found it hard to believe that so many people could fit in one building. Elrith hesitated before commanding the spider to run forward. “You don’t want to cover up your appearance?” he asked.

“I’m not ashamed of what I look like,” Raea said and stuck her chest out. “If anyone has a problem with my appearance, I’ll kill, err, not kill, that’s bad. I’ll … I’m not sure what I’ll do to them actually.” She scratched her head.

Elrith sighed. Nothing should happen as long as he was there. Even if he couldn’t put out Raea’s flames, the residents of the town wouldn’t antagonize them due to his ranking. Ex-ranking. “I can’t help but feel like this is a bad idea,” Elrith said. He turned his head, looking for someone’s affirmation. The only one who looked at him was Sally, and he gave her a wry smile. A sigh escaped from his lips; sometimes he missed being a general. Maybe it wasn’t too late to rejoin the army. All he had to do was … no. He decided to stay with Raea, and he was going to stick with his decision.

The city gradually came into view as the spider left the training grounds. A few angels wearing armor could be seen standing watch around the city’s stone walls which were five feet tall. Buildings towered over the miniscule wall, clustered into groups. Palan’s ears started to hurt from all the noise coming from the city. “It’s loud,” he said and wrinkled his brow. Before he came to Div’Nya, the greatest amount of demons he’d ever seen in one place was no more than forty. The experience in the army had accustomed him to large groups, but the amount of ambient noise was louder than thousands of soldiers marching in time. People could be seen meandering through the streets. A river rushed through the center of the town, turning an endless amount of watermills. Shining boats floated on top of the river, transporting hundreds of passengers.

Elrith smiled when he saw the looks on his party member’s faces. Even Raea seemed stunned by what she saw, and they hadn’t even entered the city yet. “What do you think?” Elrith asked as the spider slowed down while approaching the city’s gates.

“The walls are really low. Even I could jump over them,” Cleo said. She recalled the wooden walls surrounding her old village. The stone walls around the city were negligible in comparison.

“They’re just for show,” Elrith said. “There’s no danger here. These walls used to be taller, but they were dismantled to create other structures once the second sector’s wall was established and the third sector became the new borderlands.”

“Why are there so many people?” Sally asked with wide eyes. While she lived underground, the different races tended to live separately. It was only recently that they gathered together to form an army. By now, the group had reached the entrance to the town, and Elrith dissolved the spider. “It makes me a little nervous.” She shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

Elrith reached over and held the tip of her wing in his hand. “Don’t worry,” he said. “Nothing’s going to happen to you.” He glanced at the collar around Sally’s neck as a frown flashed across his face, but he replaced it with a reassuring smile.

A throat cleared, and metal clanked as an old-looking soldier with a wooden stump replacing one of his legs stepped forward. Elrith released Sally’s hand and saluted the guard. “State your business,” the guard said. His eyes were narrowed, and he seemed ready to use the spear in his hand at any given moment, but his expression relaxed when he saw Elrith’s salute. His gaze swept over the party, pausing for a second on Raea, before landing back on Elrith.

“We are traveling to the first sector and wish to resupply here,” Elrith said.

The old man’s brows furrowed. “Traveling to the first sector? Are you a refugee?” he asked. “There’s been a recent influx of travelers due to the minor conflicts in the west, and you don’t seem to have too many possessions.” The angel rubbed his chin as he gave Elrith another once-over. “You look familiar. Do I know you?”

“Everyone says I look familiar,” Elrith said with a smile. His body type was quite common, and he wasn’t wearing his trademark towershield. “I guess it’s because I have such a generic face.”

The guard squinted at Elrith before nodding. “Alright, go on through,” he said. “Keep a close watch on your slaves. That four-winged demon looks awfully feisty—I can see it in her eyes. I know a man who can break her in for you. He does it for cheap.”

Elrith’s face darkened. “That won’t be necessary,” he said as Raea’s eyes narrowed. Elrith grabbed her hand and squeezed before pulling her through the gate. He prayed to the Creator to stop Raea from killing the poor man. Thankfully, it seemed like the Creator heard him because Raea didn’t turn into a raging inferno. Instead, her gaze landed on a stall which was selling pastries. Elrith noticed her staring and directed the group towards the stall.

Cleo’s eyes widened as she walked through the crowds of people. Her steps slowed as her hands flashed. “This is paradise,” Cleo said with a sigh as her hands repeatedly disappeared into her space. Her claws clacked against the stone floor as she hurried to catch up with Palan. It was easy to find him—the crowd avoided him like a shark in a school of fish. “There aren’t many demons here, huh?” Cleo commented when she caught up. Palan didn’t answer her. She tugged on his tail, causing Danger Noodle to hiss at her. “What’s wrong?”

“Even a king lizard can get overwhelmed by a pride of lions if there’s enough of them,” Palan said with a frown.

“I have no clue what a king lizard or a lion is,” Cleo said.

“There’s too many people here,” Palan said. His steps were light, but Cleo could see the muscles in his body tensing. “Way too many. We have to leave as soon as possible.”

“Aren’t you overreacting a bit?” Cleo asked as the duo caught up with Elrith, Raea, and Sally.

“What’s wrong?” Raea asked as she turned to face Palan and stuffed a cake into her mouth. She handed Cleo a donut and offered Palan a cupcake. “Try it.”

Cleo bit into the donut and made a face. “It’s too sweet,” she said and used her claws to scrape frosting off of her tongue. “And Palan doesn’t like it here.”

Elrith muttered after glancing at Raea and Palan, “If it’s not one, it’s the other.” His brow furrowed as he looked at Palan whose eyes were wide. “What’s wrong? Don’t tell me you’re not good with crowds.”

“How many people live in this place?” Palan asked. “Thousands? Tens of thousands?”

“It is pretty crowded,” Raea said. Even she wasn’t used to it. The mansion and property that belonged to the Caelums was nearly half the size of the whole city, but only contained less than a hundred people. “Are you not good with people? You seemed fine in the army.”

“Imagine if everyone here attacked you once,” Palan said and ground his teeth together. He spat a tooth towards Cleo who caught it with one hand. “You’d be deader than dead.”

“But they’re not hostile,” Raea said and furrowed her brow.

“Everyone’s hostile,” Palan said. “I survived in Eljiam by not doing stupid, suicidal things like this.” Danger Noodle bunched itself up and kept its head in the air, watching angels as they walked past.

“You need to relax,” Raea said as she walked in front of Palan and stuffed the cupcake into Palan’s mouth. Danger Noodle whipped around and shot towards Raea, lunging towards her face with its mouth agape. Raea’s eyes widened, and reflexively raised her arm to block the strike. Danger Noodle crashed against Raea, sending her flying into the pastry stall while a lightning bolt fell from the sky and struck Palan.

“Goddammit,” Elrith said and sighed as a few members of the crowd started to scream.