The City

Once again, Quinn was on the move; he flew up in the air and a Shadow appeared in front of him, still attatched to his back. It morphed into a giant claw, resembling that of a Dragon. The claw slashed through the air and bent the space itself, allowing for Quinn's body—that was attatched to the Shadow—to warp and travel the desired distance that he had in mind: in accordance to the magnitude to which he bent the space.

Quinn had discovered this seperate property of his Shadow just a day before traversing to Nyxterra. Void was dumbfounded by this property of Quinn's Shadow—the Dual Attributes of his Shadow—of both Time and Space. The Time attribute of the Shadow was quite common, however, only the Third King had another attribute to his Shadow: the attribute of Space—a most rare attribute, that when hypothesised to be used alongside Time, would make for an unfathomable power.

What truly set the Third King apart and earned him both fear and recognition among all higher beings was his unparalleled ability to masterfully manipulate Space and Time, extending beyond merely his Shadow.

Perhaps, Void could see a similar fate and path for Quinn, who was in a similar light to that of the Third King, with similar abilities to him. But, of course, he know that this path was most difficult; especially now that none of the Shadows are alive. No other being was ever even meant to walk this path along with the Third King, and it ought to be the same for Quinn.

There was no salvation for the Shadow race, and Void—as the last King—sought none as well. There was no saving the Shadows from extinction, and Qunn really was the only one left; Void only hoped that Quinn would have a fighting chance against the Higher Will. Maybe... just maybe, Quinn would be able to find the truth and end this cycle that all Shadows must bear witness to; over... and over, and over again.

By now, Quinn was just a 200 or so metres away from a thriving empire-like city with modern and futuristic looking castles; the whole city was the size of the late United States of America. It was even more fabulous and advanced than what Sen had described it to be.

The whole city was filled with towering skyscrapers with sleek, metallic surfaces that looked to have no windows; or maybe, they were just one-sided ones. On a lot of the relatively smaller buildings, adversitements and such could be seen, adorned with neon lights and holographic displays. Interspersed among the modern buildings, were gothic towers with pointed arches and intricate stonework with the alien material.

The residential buildings featured both modern apartments and, more luxurious, mansions of ancient gothic grandeur with a hint of modern aspects.

Streets and walkways were illuminated by bioluminescent plants and energy-efficient lampposts, casting a soft glow that enhances the city's twilight ambiance from the eclipsed stars.

Lush gardens filled with bioluminescent flora and water features provided serene spaces for relaxation. Statues and fountains reflected both modern art and gothic motif; truly magnificent.

High-speed silent trains of sorts glided through the city skyline as it remained attached to a special sort of rail. There were dozens of these different tracks spread across the city and a dozen more stops at which the train halted.

Elevated walkways and skybridges link buildings, offering breathtaking views of the cityscape and creating a layered urban environment; much like that of the Human metropolitan cities. However, this city looked much less dystopian, even with the gothic architecture.

There were towering structures that surrounded the whole city, resembling ancient walls that were built around an empire. However, these gigantic, insurmountable walls were reinforced with sturdy and modern alien materials. On the walls, there were towers that were the height of about 10 metres; these weren't watchtowers, but some medium through which surveying was done, indeed.

Quinn could see—and feel—the different races that lived in coexistence. There were a total of four different types of auras that his Arcane Energy could detect: those of Vampires, Humas, some Dwarves here and there, and beasts. Although most of the races lived in peace and did not get in the way of anyone's busy lives, out of the corner of his vision, did Quinn spot something out of place: a Vampire gone berserk was about to pounce on a Huma.

Noticing this, Quinn wondered if it was his place to interfere. But, thinking that could possibly just save both of their lives, why not do so? Thus, conjuring some of his Arcane Energy, he fired off the minimum amount needed to knock the Vampire out, at the back of it's head.

Landing near to the edge of the forest, a distance away from the city walls, Quinn sought to wake Aaron up so that the two of them could head to into the city.

———

"Hmm!" Aaron awoke with a jolt as he tried to scream with his mouth closed. "Finally awake, tough guy? I was worried you weren't gonna wake up after I slapped you around for a bit," Quinn was squatting near him as he said the following, "I gotta get in that empire-city place. Tell me how I can get in without causing any trouble or raising suspicion."

Taking a moment to calm down and sort his head out, Aaron finally spoke: "I know a passage through the woods, to the citycity. Come, I'll lead you to it. But, which side of the main gate to the city are we at?"

"Ah, the gates right over there, on our 12; we're South to it," Quinn pointed in the general direction to the main gate, "By the way, the problem with the smell..."

"Hmm? I thought you were from around here? Although the smell of the two different types of humans may only slightly wary, only those at the Elder or Lord level should be able to distinguish between the two." Aaron said, "Although you have stayed on Earth for majority of your life, the smell should not have changed. Do not worry."

'Ah, shit. Well? What do I do?' Quinn asked Void, hoping to get some advice for his sticky situation. He thought that in busy areas and crowds, him having no scent or aura would not matter and in fact, just prove to be useful, it was still a pressing matter if he was alone with just a handful of Vampires; they would surely notice that something is strange.

'Did I not say this earlier? Pardon me if I did not, but you can change every aspect of your being; not just your form. You may wish to leak a bit of aura instead of none, you may wish to bleed if you want, and thus, you may smell like a human if you must. Be careful though, boy.

'Aaron, in his transformed state, cannot use his innate abilities of being a Werewolf—other than his Soul Release Ability which is literally the same as Ki—and that includes his incredible sense of smell. Thus, be careful around Werewolves that have undone their transformation. However, there are still other transformations that have a good sense of smell. Meaning: just produce some smell all the time; just to be safe. Although the Werewolves may not be as good as the Shadows at transformation, they are still masters of their craft.'

Thinking back, Quinn truly could not remember if Void actually told him this; he wondered if it was just him forgetting things or something completely else. Stuff like this keeps happening to him nowadays, after all...

———

Following Aaron around for a bit as the same was in his true form—that of a Werewolf—sniffing the place as he moved carefully as though there were traps right under their nose; which Quinn noticed: there were.

Unearthing a trap precisely and carefully, he noticed that they were quite modern and sofisticated, and thus, wondered if his Origin or Arcane Energy could work. 'Hmm... these guys that Aaron knows need to stay hidden and discreet, so this many traps with little to no place for mistakes makes it easier for them to breathe. Just frying them all with electricity or an EMP doesn't cut it; it'd be bad for the only people that could help me with this situation.

But, then again... I could just travel in the Shadows and make my way in. But, I've Aaron with me and I can't reveal my Shadow to him any more than I already have; I can't keep this charade of it being my Darkness Ability and my magic. Plus, I might just need an identity in that place; I don't know how dangerous or advanced it is. So... this should do for now...'

'Good thinkimg, boy. I suppose putting those attribute points into Intelligence has come in handy. Hah,' Void cackled; a sound that Quinn found quite off-putting.

Releasing his Arcane Energy, he temporarily disarmed all of the traps around a 50 metre radius of him. The Arcane Energy was mysterious; it felt like it could just do about anything and everything. Through experimentation, Quinn found out that it had everything to do with anything and everything related to any sort of knowledge; which was definitely a useful thing—since everything around him is literally information, and thus, a medium for him to use Arcane Energy.

"What have you done?!" Aaron demanded an answer. "Relaax~, it's temporary. The traps'll rearm themselves after we're done with this. We can hurry up now."

———

After walking about for a bit, Aaron had finally come to a halt. As he dug out some of the soil from the ground, he spoke: "Watch me closely and where I jump to from the place that I marked."

As Aaron proceeded to get into position and jump, Quinn had attached part of his shadow onto Aaron's. Thus, as Aaron jumped up in the air and seemingly disappeared, landing on solid... nothing, Quinn was already behind him as he used his Authority over Shadows to appear out of the shadow that he attached onto Aaron.

Before Aaron could even turn around, Quinn was already behind him and asked: "Is this some magic? Pretty sure it's not technology that's doing the trick; this is a whole different space. An invisible portal elevated in the middle of nowhere does make for a pretty safe hide out; especially with all those traps."

Aaron was beyond just confused and taken aback by Quinn's prowess and seemingly limitless capabilities. 'Just what did master teach him... to have such a huge gap between the two of us. He could very well be stronger than even the other one.'

The two of them were in a cage of some sort. And, all of a sudden, surrounding them were hundreds of weapons, pointing at the two of them emerging from the white walls of the cell. 'Huh...? Maelicious iron? This is interesting.'

"Relax, Zoyal. It's Aaron," Aaron spoke, identifying himself, bearing a calm demeanor as if despite the cumulative firepower rivaling a few kiloton of TNT pointed at his face. 'I mean, it would be a rather quick death, I guess.'

"Who's that modal of a kid then? You know that no one can know about anything relating to... what we do. I'm going to need to flatline him, Aaron," A garbled voice spoke, intentionally covered by static.

"That's some heavy iron you got there, man. Try shooting that thing and see what happens to this whole space. I'll erase it from existence; not even a particle of regular matter will remain. Not~ . Jo~king~. But, I'll refrain myself from doing that 'cuz those toys won't even shoot," Quinn openly and fearlessly threatened the man behind the mic, aiming all manners of weapons at the former, "Let's not waste any more time and let's get this done with."