The Undying God Read Online Free

Arxu.
    “Actually, I won’t be staying in
Sepulzer for long,” she confessed. “I can’t afford to spend too
much time in...” The guard looked noticeably
disappointed.
    “I understand...” He set down the
sword. “As a member of the city watch, I’m obligated to collect a
small tax from all merchants renting space. It’s only a minor fee
that every trader abides by. Have you the payment?”
    Nishka looked warily at Arxu, who
nodded in assurance. She dipped her fingers in the purse dangling
from her belt and retrieved a small sum of copper.
    “Thank you,” the guard said, and he
smiled at her for a moment longer than necessary. He swept away
with cocky strides and Nishka breathed a sigh of relief once he
disappeared.
    Arxu continued to drink in the
spectacle of Sepulzer. Every imaginable city paled in comparison to
this debauched place. He wandered down the street as something drew
his attention.
    Tythoril beckoned him. She lured Arxu
across the street like a grandiose maiden whose silent presence
proved captivating. The tower watched over the city like a
guardian, a feat of construction outstretched for the heavens—if
such a place existed over Sepulzer.
    Tythoril was dedicated to no one,
perhaps only to the concept of beauty itself, a lofty embodiment of
grace, arrogant in its pose but tempered with a voluptuous form.
Its spectacular proportions could never be replicated with nearly
the same infallible detail and splendor. Over sixty years and a
thousand artists had been instrumental to its
construction.
    As he neared the structure, the sun
passed behind its form. The darkness it rendered stretched across
the northwestern bowels of the city.
    Shapes crept through the dark side
streets and sinister-looking vagrants slinked through the alleys.
Commoners strayed further away from the street as though the
darkness itself portended human vice. The voices of haggling
merchants and customers were drowned out by silence.
    Nishka couldn’t believe how surreal the
Sepulzer market had become. Where had the guards gone?
    She watched uncertainly as two men
approached. The lankier of the two grinned insidiously with lips
curling back from his rotting teeth.
    “What are you selling, young
lady?”
    If his eyes dared linger on her body,
she would make him soon regret it. Disgust boiled up inside her at
the very sight of his face. The offending odor of alcohol lingered
on their breath, causing Nishka to recoil. The man chuckled
deviantly.
    “These streets are under the control of
Morrig, not the city watch. Our master likes to collect some coin
from the merchants in return for renting his streets. You may think
of us as your insurance against any unfortunate incidents or
misunderstandings.” Nishka grimaced at the poorly disguised
threat.
    “We make sure the people behave in
accordance with Morrig’s will. So what do you say? We wouldn’t want
anything to happen to you. Morrig can become... angry if he
isn’t compensated for his generosity.”
    Nishka was offended more by the man’s
smell than the fact that he was coercing her for money. She
discretely scanned his hands and arms, looking for any peculiar
body markings. She concluded he was not a member of Sinner’s Eye.
The foul man sneered and held out his gnarled hand.
    “Do we have a deal?”
    She glared into his eyes.
    “No.”
    The thief looked as though she just
spat in his face. He was outraged but he stifled the words that
nearly flew from his lips. Instead, he smiled peculiarly as though
her answer amused him. He leaned in close to her ear, but he
pivoted sharply and aimed a dagger at her face.
    Before the blade could even nick her
skin, Nishka’s elbow smashed into his jaw. A sharp pain, leveled by
her knee, knocked the breath out of him and he collapsed to the
streets. The other thief leaped over his fallen comrade and
brandished a sword in his gangly fingers.
    He saw Nishka reach into the cart
behind her as he raised his sword to finish her off.