NOVEL NEXT B3 - Lesson 18: "Ears To The Ground, And News From Afar."
The morning sun barely crested the jagged peaks by the time the winding mountain path spat them out onto the final approach to Halirosa's outer gates. From here, the city sprawled out in a breathtaking panorama — crystalline towers flaring with the day's first light, shimmering spirit barriers catching sunbeams like prisms, and the city's sprawling markets clustered tight within the walls.
But none of them had eyes for the city's splendor. What drew them up short was the crowd.
The road had choked with travelers well before the gates came into view: caravans of spirit elk-drawn wagons piled high with battered trunks, children perched atop sacks of grain, elders with hollow eyes and threadbare cloaks, their faces turned east as if still listening for thunder on the wind. Traders argued with guards at a hastily erected checkpoint. Adventurers of every stripe, some bristling with weapons, others clutching battered talismans, jostled alongside families and lone wanderers.
Maggy felt the tension like a living thing. The usual throng was gone, swallowed up by a far greater press of humanity. Voices mingled in a dozen dialects; the accent of the east, lilted and musical, clashed with the guttural twang of the southern foothills. Somewhere in the din, a baby wailed.
"Celestials above," Garrelt muttered, pushing his way closer. "I haven't seen the gates like this since the last time the western trade routes flooded. And even then…" He shook his head. "This isn't commerce. This is flight."
Hugo, for once, looked subdued. His eyes lingered on a cluster of refugees huddled beneath a makeshift awning — grandparents, perhaps, or parents — shielding two children with what little remained of a tent. "This… isn't normal," he said quietly. "There weren't half so many people on the roads when we left with Bosco."
Dr. Maria's gaze swept the crowd, clinical and sharp, assessing injuries, hunger, and the tinge of exhaustion beneath every eye. She caught sight of a feverish child shivering in his mother's lap, lips blue in the morning chill. The old healer's jaw set, and for a moment, her travel-weary poise slipped, revealing something far more brittle and raw. "We need to get inside," she said, her tone like flint. "If the city's letting this many in, the clinic will be overrun. I want to see how bad things are."
Maggy had frozen, one hand clenched tight around her staff. The swirl of dialects and dust sent a ripple of memory through her — the battered folk who'd passed their camp in the night, clutching children and rucksacks, muttering prayers to nameless gods. She'd seen only a handful when the expedition had left. Now, the trickle had become a torrent.
As the group inched forward, the scent of the crowd pressed in; smoke from hasty campfires, sweat, dust, the faint tang of incense burned for luck. The gates loomed overhead, massive and gleaming, but even their shadow could not blot out the undercurrent of fear.
A pair of city guards faces pinched and armor dusted with road grime, worked the lines. "One at a time! Halirosa is not closing her doors, but everyone will be checked for contagion and dangerous artifacts!" one barked, voice hoarse from overuse.
Garrelt nudged Maggy. "Let's ask what's happened. We're not getting in quick anyway."
They caught a guard between waves — a tired woman whose eyes darted from Garrelt's badge to Hugo's armor, lingering just long enough to decide they weren't trouble. "What's the hold-up?" Garrelt asked quietly.
She shook her head, eyes dark. "Same story as always. The clans and sects smell blood and the common folk pay the price. Too many, too fast. Refugees started coming weeks back — at first just a few from the east. Said they were fleeing storms. Rumors of cult activity. Now…" She gestured helplessly at the swelling lines. "They say the dead are walking in the Radiant Sea. Whole villages gone overnight. Some claim it's the Iris cult again — like the last uprising, but worse. And the storms… they're nothing like the monsoons we see here. If you want my advice? Get in, do your business, and keep your head down. It's not just people coming out of the Radiant Sea now. Things are following them."
The guard leaned in, her voice low. "I've heard the suppression field around the Radiant Sea has vanished. The sects are swarming the place like ants on a carcass. Not to mention the powerful beasts rushing in."
Dr. Maria frowned. "That's not good. If the suppression fields are down, the Radiant Sea is about to become a blood bath… if it's not already."
Maggy turned to the doctor and tilted her head. "Suppression fields?" she asked.
Dr. Maria nodded. "It's the more technical term for the odd phenomenon in the area that forcibly suppresses the cultivation of anyone over the First Greater Realm. The stronger the individual, the stronger the effect. Those over [Soul Fusion] can't even enter the area without risking death."
The guard nodded along. "That's what the mages say. For centuries, between the Akh'lut and the suppression, that land has managed to keep the big fish out — no high-level cultivators, no greater beasts. Now? Every adventurer, spirit beast, and power-hungry mage east of the Crimson Mountains is pouring in. Locals don't stand a chance. We're trying to keep order, but…"
She broke off as a fight broke out farther down the line. Two men, both ragged, shouted in the clipped speech of the Radiant Sea, shouting over a crate of dried fish. A chorus of curses, a brief scuffle, and the guards surged in, clubs drawn. Not cruelly, but with the tired routine of those who have seen too many such brawls.
Alpha listened from his place atop Hugo's shoulder, silent and still as a shadow. Even in the throng, he was a mote of unnoticed machinery, an afterthought beside the steady chaos of the city gate. If any of the newcomers from the Radiant Sea had paused to glance his way, they'd have seen nothing but a strange insect in a city full of curiosities.
But inside, Alpha was elsewhere — stranded in memory and algorithmic worry.
The Radiant Sea, open to all comers. That's… not just bad, it's catastrophic.
He hadn't spent much time on those plains filled with rainbow-colored grass, but that didn't mean he couldn't be worried. His mind flickered through a thousand fragments: the endless, sun-drenched grasslands; a group of gap-toothed village children laughing as they huddled around his TAWP and listened to stories from worlds beyond their skies.
Slatewalker village hadn't been advanced by any measure. Even their strongest fighters were barely up to snuff compared to what Alpha had experienced since then. But the community had been happy and prosperous. It was the kind of place the Federation strived to ensure could grow and live in peace.
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Alpha wondered, Are the Slatewalker kids all right? Did they make it to Jadewalker City in time? He remembered Amru, the smallest, forever pestering him to show "magic tricks" with the drone's lights. He remembered the careful, proud way Snowball had presented every kill to him, as if telling him she was going to catch up to him one day.
I wonder how she's doing, too, Alpha thought, reminiscing about the little whale-puppy, his first companion in this strange world.
On a whim, he tried to connect to the drone HUDs he'd left the children. His current setup wouldn't be able to ping them if they weren't within a couple of dozen miles, but if any of them had made it out this far, he would know. The village kids had been so proud when he'd entrusted the devices to them as if the simple act had made them keepers of a secret too important to name.
Nothing. The signal dissolved, too distant, too weak. The only response was an echo — faint, threadbare, swallowed by static.
He cycled a long, slow exhale, an affectation he'd picked up after months among humans. It helped, sometimes, to pretend. He shunted the ache — whatever passed for longing, for loss — into a closed data partition and flagged it for later review. Worry would do him no good, not here, not now.
Focus, he told himself. I can't do anything for the Radiant Sea from here. Not yet. But maybe, if I'm careful…
Alpha watched the brawl resolve with practiced detachment, the guards separating the men and restoring a brittle semblance of order. He cataloged every accent, every half-heard rumor, every new face — building contingency plans, searching for any thread that might lead back east. Back to the Radiant Sea. Back to his TAWP.
"If what they said is true… getting back might not be as easy as I thought it would be," he said, absentmindedly.
"What was that, sir?" Hugo asked, looking down at the [Wasp] drone on his shoulder.
"Nothing that we need to worry about right now, Hugo," Alpha responded.
Hugo nodded.
Dr. Maria pushed them forward. "Come. We're no use standing gawking. And the city will need healers more than ever."
It took nearly an hour to push through the gates, the crowd thinning as guards waved them on. The group showed the guards their guild badges, and a slipped coin from Dr. Maira smoothed their entry.
Inside the city, Halirosa thrummed with an uneasy energy. Market squares overflowed, new encampments sprang up in alleys and abandoned lots. Temple bells tolled for the lost, and the air buzzed with news — half truth, half wild speculation.
At a crossroads, a crier in Guild livery shouted to a passing crowd: "Undead hosts in the Radiant Sea! Spirit suppression lifted! High Clans call for volunteers — defend the city, aid the east!" Leaflets fluttered.
Dr. Maria sneered. "Right. 'Defend the city.' I'm sure that's really what the clans are thinking." She shook her head with a sigh.
Garrelt frowned. "If the High Clans are acting, there must be some truth to the rumors.
Maggy watched it all in numb silence. She felt Hugo at her side, the warmth of Dr. Maria's hand on her shoulder, Garrelt's steadying presence. They moved as a single knot through the chaos, the city of a million souls already shifting to absorb a new wave of the lost.
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Hugo couldn't help but worry how different the streets of Halirosa felt now.
Gone was the lively chatter of merchants hawking wares or the spirited song of buskers competing at street corners. The music of the city had changed — heavier, slower. A low hum of worry threaded through every intersection. Even the Spirit Lanterns, usually hovering cheerfully above each major thoroughfare, flickered with a more subdued glow, dimmed to conserve power.
Alpha sat perched on Hugo's shoulder as they moved through the crowd, the others fanned out around them like silent guardians. The drone's tiny head swiveled with metronomic calm, recording details with clinical precision. Stray dogs barked near a broken water trough. A burned-out incense cart smoldered beside an overburdened temple gate. Flyers fluttered from every flat surface, promising work, refuge, or salvation — sometimes all three. But always for a price.
Maggy hugged her staff closer as they passed a line of gaunt-looking youths clustered around a local bakery. "I don't remember it being this bad," she murmured.
Dr. Maria didn't answer. Her eyes were locked on a man treating wounds at the side of the road using scrap fabric and boiled water. "That's Kalor Root poultice," she muttered. "And not even a proper one. Damn it. That infection's going to spread."
Garrelt sighed. "And this is just the outer ring."
They turned the last corner, and the Adventurer's Guild HQ came into view. It stood as solid as ever — a massive circular building with a central dome, gleaming in polished bronze and sandstone. Banners hung limply from its tall spires, marked with the sigils of guild chapters from across the continent. Even here, a line of new arrivals waited by the outer desks, guarded by clerks and lower-ranked adventurers who looked far more tired than they should've for so early in the day.
Garrelt stopped just short of the main steps.
"This is where I split off," he said, adjusting the straps of his satchel. "The Guild needs to be brought up to speed — Robert's betrayal, the goblin village, the artifacts, everything. They'll need a full account before any real action can be taken."
Alpha's drone tilted slightly in acknowledgment. "Be thorough. They won't believe half of it, but facts carry weight."
Garrelt gave a grim smile. "I've learned how to stack facts loud enough that even bureaucrats have to listen."
Dr. Maria turned toward the merchant district, eyes already scanning the skyline for the white spire of her clinic. "Same for me. My people need me. I've been gone from the clinic too long, and from the looks of it, the city's bleeding at every seam. I need to see what's left of my staff."
Alpha nodded.
Maggy hesitated, bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet. Her fingers curled around the crystal focus near her collar. "I should… I should check in with my teacher. He needs to know what happened with the artifact. Someone tried to take it — someone who knew what it was."
She looked toward Alpha. "I'll let him know about your offer too. He might not show it, but he's curious. I can feel it."
"Good," Alpha replied. "Just make sure he knows the offer has no expiration date — but that early adopters may receive priority access to certain… perks."
Maggy rolled her eyes. "I'll translate that into something that won't give him a heart attack."
Before they could part, Alpha raised a small forelimb. "Wait."
A panel on the drone's side hissed open, and from within emerged three flat, dark-gray disks, each barely the size of a coin. He passed one to each of them.
"Communication nodes," Alpha explained. "Stick them behind your ears. They'll sync with my drone and remain undetectable to most scans. Contact me at the end of the day. Updates. Impressions. Anything noteworthy." Then colder, more serious, "Don't make me track you down manually."
Garrelt affixed his without hesitation. "Let me guess, it'll hear everything we say, too," he said with a smirk.
Alpha chuckled. "Look at you. Only a few weeks, and already know me so well. I'm proud."
Dr. Maria smirked. "You say that like you haven't been spying already."
Alpha offered no denial, only a digital hum of amusement.
Maggy stuck hers on with a sigh. "Fine. But I'm letting teacher know."
With nods and a few last words, the three peeled away, swallowed by the chaos of their respective duties. That left only Hugo and Alpha, standing in the middle of the street as the crowd surged and swirled around them.
Alpha turned his red eye toward his companion. "All right, Hugo. You're the local. Lead on."
Hugo scratched the back of his neck, his expression sheepish. "Uh… well, I mostly just know the market district. Most of the fancier places won't let you near without a high enough cultivation… or the right connection. I, uh… do know of a couple of back alley places. Some inns. A tavern or two. Maybe one or two places with less-than-stellar reputations…"
Alpha chuckled. "Relax, soldier. 'Seedy' is my natural habitat. Let's go see what you cultivator's dank little alleys have to offer."
Hugo grinned despite himself and turned toward the lower quarter, where the honest dirt and dishonest gold of Halirosa mingled freely in the shadows.
They slipped into the city's underbelly — and Alpha smiled.
Now the real scouting could begin.