Hump spotted Luna through the carriageway window as he descended the cliff. Even out of her priestess robes, her blonde hair stood out from the crowd. She was with a slightly older woman—no doubt the chaperone she’d mentioned—off to the side of the carriageway, the two of them talking as they waited.

Hump checked his reflection in the window. He’d changed before leaving the training grounds and still hated the new clothes. That was always the case though. It didn’t feel his until properly worn in. The quilted grey shirt wasn’t so bad—that at least was warm. The embroidered brown vest on the other hand looked ridiculous on him. He’d left the rest of his equipment in a bag that he’d left with Dylan, along with his staff, so it was too late to change his mind now.

The rest of his party would follow a couple of carriages behind, hanging around the same area as him just in case anything was to happen. Though as Hump was now, he didn’t think it was likely. He’d put his spellbook in the pouch at his side with his egg. Without his staff, there was really nothing about him that stood out as anything more than an ordinary person. Well, he supposed he was better dressed than most. More a merchant’s son than a farmer or tradesman.

He tilted back and forth on his heels as the carriage descended, his nerves building the closer he got to the ground.

Just don’t be awkward, he told himself. He’d stepped into dungeons and fought off hordes of deadly monsters, this was nothing to get worked up over. If things didn’t work out, he’d just keep doing what he was doing. Sure, Celaine would make fun of him, but at least he would have tried.

As the carriage touched the ground, he forced himself to smile and headed over to where Luna was waiting. They were facing away from him, watching the main road.

“Hi Luna,” Hump said.

She turned to him, almost appearing surprised to see him.

She looked great. They were in the heart of winter, so she had a thick blue dress on with a chequered grey pattern. A dark blue cloak draped over her shoulders, with white fur about her neck; her blonde hair cascading around it. The belt about her slim waist was of dark leather, matching her cloves. He’d seen other ladies in the Upper City dressed similarly, and Luna pulled it off with effortless charm. Practical, yet elegant, and a damn sight warmer than Hump’s attire. He’d grown too used to a good cloak and battle robes, he’d need to try and replicate the runes to resist the elements.

“Wizard Hump.” A smile broke on her face. “I didn’t expect you to be arriving from the Upper City. Hi!” She gestured to her friend. “This is Miranda, another priestess of Lady Light.”

“Good day,” the woman said cheerfully. She was a little older than them, appearing to be in her twenties. Like Luna, she wasn’t in her priestess attire, instead wearing a dress and a heavy overcoat. “It’s not often a wizard attempts to court one of my sisters. I’ve been rather excited to meet you.”

“Er…” Hump mumbled, not knowing what to say. “Is that a good thing?” He gave a gormless grin.

“It’s certainly interesting,” she smirked.

“Miranda!” Luna said, her cheeks turning red. “You make it sound so daunting.”

Miranda laughed and looked at Hump. “Did you have business in the Upper City?”

Hump shook his head. “Not business exactly. Training. Marcela Daston was kind enough to give my party access to her family’s training grounds. We’ve been making use of it.”

“You were with Lady Marcela?” Luna asked. “I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised after seeing you return to Sheercliff with her.”

“Nobody is more surprised than I. She was our squad leader while we were questing around Stonebark Forest. At least for now, she’s asked us to stick around.”

“Goodness. You really have come a long way from the half-dead Dragon Slayer I met in Bledsbury.” She looked him over and rubbed her chin. “I like it!” She grinned. “He looks like a young lord, wouldn’t you say, Miranda?”

“Yes, yes. Very dashing.”

Hump laughed, trying to hide the blood rushing to his cheeks. “I guess I should thank my party after all. They wouldn’t let me come until they took me shopping.”

“I only spoke to them briefly in Bledsbury but they seemed like good friends,” she said. “They were very worried about you.”

“They have their moments,” Hump said. “We’ve gained two new members since then. It’s been an exciting few months.”

“I’d love to hear about it. It’s been months since I could travel. Since we arrived in Sheercliff City, it’s just been work, work, work.”

“Let’s walk and talk,” Miranda said. “As much as I enjoy spending my evening watching you two have fun, I do have a life of my own I’d like to get back to eventually.”

The streets were crowded but not bustling, so they could walk together unimpeded. Hump walked alongside Luna feeling awkward, while Miranda followed closed behind. He told her a little about his time in Fishers Lake and Stonebark Forest, though left out the more morbid parts.

“How have things been with the refugees?” Hump asked. “Did the people of Stonebark get settled okay?”

“As well as one could hope, I would say,” Luna said. “It’s difficult. There are so many people already, and every day the numbers increase. We’ve started referring to it as the Outer City at this point. The third tier of Sheercliff hierarchy, full of homeless people and starving children.” She sighed and gave him a look. “Sorry. I love what I do, but it can be hard sometimes. Today was my first day in the temple for a while.”

“That’s alright,” Hump said. “It’s a sentiment I understand well. There are many perks to being an adventurer, but where the highs are fantastic, the lows are equally awful. The fact that you can stay here and help all the refugees day after day is amazing.”

“It means a lot to hear you say that.”

Their conversation lapsed. Luna looked down at her hands, rolling a gold ring between her fingers. Suddenly, she chuckled. “Look at me, dredging up such gloomy topics. This is supposed to be fun.”

“No, not at all. I’m interested. Very, actually. My perspective feels rather disconnected, so please, tell me more about it.”

She gave him a sidelong glance and smiled. “Okay then.”

She told him about her typical day. Each of the churches were required to send their members down to aid the refugees, whether that be priests and priestesses or Chosen. Even for those of the clergy that lacked the blessings of the Chosen, their faith held power in a different way, not to mention all the support and charitable services that they provided.

“I suppose everything looks small from the Upper City, doesn’t it?” Luna said. “Do you like it up there?”

Hump considered it. He had come to enjoy his time there. The vacant streets, the cleanliness, and the artistry that went into everything—it was nice, but there was always a sense of being out of place. Like he didn’t belong amongst that crowd. “I feel like a stranger. The fineries of the rich and noble are spectacular, but I’m much more at home down on streets like these, amongst ordinary people.”

“You’re a wizard. I would hardly call you ordinary.”

“I wasn’t always a wizard. For the first years of my life, I was just another child on the streets, without family or home. My master saved me from that life.”

Luna looked at him. “I had no idea. Considering the company you keep; I just presumed you were an academy wizard or something of the sort.”

Hump shook his head. “It was only just before Bledsbury that I met Bud, Celaine, and her mentor Vamir on the way to the dungeon itself. Bud keeps chalking it up to fate, though I put it down to blind luck.” He wrinkled his nose. “I probably shouldn’t have said that to a priestess.”

Luna gave an enchanting laugh. “The difference between fate and luck boils down to one’s perception in the end. For me, it’s reassuring to think that the Lady looks over me and ensures I do not stray from where it is I am supposed to end up.”

“What if you don’t like that place?” Hump asked cautiously, aware that he was treading dangerous ground. It was best he dished out the ‘blasphemy’ slowly.

“I don’t know. We’re taught that every life has its purpose, and we all eventually find where it is we belong. Wherever that might be, I think I’m content to enjoy the journey. She hasn’t steered me wrong so far.”

“How did you become a priestess?” Hump asked.

“It was thanks to my mother. My father passed away before I was born, and she was a Chosen of Lady Light, and her duties often took her away from home. Because of that, I was largely raised by the church. She died in the Fallen Lands, and since then the church became my family.”

“I’m so sorry. That must have been hard.”

She smiled and shook her head. “It was a long time ago. I was eight. My sisters in the church helped Honestly, I don’t remember her very well now. Only that she was beautiful, and on the day she left, how valiant she looked in her armour, like a paladin from a painting.”

Hump smiled at her. It was a good final memory to have. Hump didn’t remember his family. Until his master came along, it was just him on the streets, and seeing the old man die painfully, muddled by fever dreams, was horrible.

“I can’t imagine growing up in the church,” Hump said. “What do you do all day? It must get stuffy with all the old priests about.”

Luna laughed. “They were certainly strict, but we had our ways of having fun. There were our lessons, of course. We spent a lot of time reading, learning to cook, knit, and the healing arts. Once that was all done, though, we were mostly free to do as we liked.”

They reached the gates of the Lower City, where more guards than ever were posted. It only took a look at Hump’s adventurers’ medallion and the rings of the priestesses for them to be allowed through.

“The guard presence is even more than it was yesterday,” Luna said quietly as they passed through the gates.

“Have they told you much about what’s going on?” Hump asked.

Luna shook her head. “We know that something is going on, but we’re not very involved. Our job is just to keep looking after the refugees. Though, after Priestess Freya died, we’ve been scared of even that. It doesn’t help that the High Priest of Osidium still hasn’t returned.”

Hump frowned. “There’s a High Priest of Osidium? I’d have thought I would have seen him at one of the faction meetings.”

Luna arched an eyebrow. “You really have moved up in the world. But yes there is. Rumour has it he locked himself in the Shrine of Osidium after his daughter died.”

It suddenly clicked for Hump. “His daughter was the priestess.”

She nodded.

Hump glanced at the cliff, where the giant head of Osidium stared out. “No wonder he’s locked himself inside. I didn’t know.”

“I’m sorry for bringing it up,” Luna said. “I just thought you might know a little more about what’s going on. All we know is that the Temple Guard are more active than ever.”

Hump sighed, feeling guilty.

“If you can’t say anything, I understand.”

“I can’t say much,” Hump said. “What I can tell you is that the relevant people are making progress and they are taking action. Your fear is warranted, but this stalemate we’re in won’t last forever.”

“Thank you,” Luna said. “Right, well that turned dark again. We need a policy where we avoid topics like this.”

She smiled at Hump, and he felt himself smiling too.

“Agreed.”

They entered the suburbs of Sheercliff, and soon arrived at the refugee camp, though it could hardly be called as such now. Outer City seemed a more fitting term. Blocks of smooth-stone apartment buildings lined the streets everywhere, formed in long straight lines. They weren’t much to look at. Formed from magic rather than human hand, they looked out of place compared to the rest of Sheercliff. Ugly even. Hump had overheard people of the Upper City scorning its development for ruining their city, but the streets here were even more packed than in the Lower City. Thousands upon thousands of people needed homes, and how else were they to do it?

Hump paused as he spotted a group of perhaps twenty wizards manning a single giant formation. Much of the formation was now obscured by the building constructed at its centre, but it appeared to be a rendition of Transform Earth, scaled up to be used by a large group. Nothing particularly complicated, but likely only a Tier 1 variant of the spell. The wizards worked in perfect harmony, weaving their essence as one to summon up stone from the earth and fix it in place, producing the same smooth walls as the buildings around it.

There was a time when Hump imagined himself following a path like this. Construction wizards were always in demand. It was a safe job that was reasonably well paid. A good way for any wizard to make a living that didn’t have the potential to make it as an adventurer.

“This is the incredible side of it all,” Luna said. “So many people coming together to help each other.”

Food stalls lined the streets. Shops ran from wagons and carts, selling all the goods people managed to bring with them to the city. People making do. Music filled the space around campfires, people drunk and cheered, the smell of meats and soups wafted from large tents manned by the church. There was a sadness to the people here, but there was also resilience.

“I can see that,” Hump said. Somehow, Countess Daston was making it work.

“We’re almost there.” Luna pointed down a path that led between a large wagon and a stand, where it looked like multiple families had joined their carts together. Further down, he saw a colourful array of tents and carts. As he looked around, he noticed Bud lumbering down the road in their direction, the big Chosen sticking out even out of his armour.

Luna took Hump by the elbow and whisked him through the crowd. He was hit with the sweet scent of her rose petal perfume. “Now, I’ve heard the Master of Illusionary Arts is exceptional. I’d be very interested to find out what you make of it as a wizard. The entire show is put on with magic, while actors perform the voices and music.”

“That sounds brilliant,” Hump said. “Let’s start with that.”