Adrian waited until nightfall.
He lingered in the shadows across the street, watching the building in silence as the hours crawled by. The streets emptied, the beggars drifted off or fell asleep, and by the time the bells rang for the eleventh hour, the eastern district was dead quiet.
That's when he moved.
He circled around the church, sticking close to the walls and checking for anything unusual. The front door was still shut tight—but he spotted something better. A window on the upper level, slightly ajar. Attic, maybe.
Too high to reach by jumping, but not too high for him.
Adrian took a breath and reached for his coat.
With a whisper of thought, the black fabric rippled and shifted. He pulled a small section from the hem, molding it with his magic into a simple, sleek mask that covered his lower face. It wasn't perfect, but it would make him harder to identify—just in case.
Then, he focused.
Using matter manipulation, he created temporary stairs from the dirt and stone beneath him—small, solid steps leading just high enough to reach the open window. They wouldn't last long, but he didn't need them to.
In seconds, he was climbing.
With practiced ease, Adrian reached the window and paused, listening carefully. No voices. No movement. Just the faint creak of the old building and the distant hum of silence.
Adrian reached the window and tried to push it open—but it didn't budge.
Odd. It was clearly ajar, but something was holding it in place. Magic? A ward? Or just some stubborn old hinges? Either way, it wasn't much of a problem.
He placed his hand on the frame and let his mana flow. A thin ripple of energy spread across the wood and glass like water over stone.
With a simple thought, the material softened—welcomed him.
And just like that, Adrian stepped forward.
The window didn't open. It parted—warping around his body, flexing to his shape, and reforming behind him the moment he passed through. Not a sound. Not a mark.
"God, I love matter manipulation," Adrian thought, grinning behind his mask as he stood inside the dim attic.
The air was dusty, still, and filled with the faint scent of old wood and candle wax. It was quiet—too quiet. No creaks, no scurrying rats, just silence thick enough to taste.
He crouched low and started moving, ears sharp, eyes scanning.
Time to find out what the hell's really going on here.
Adrian moved carefully down from the attic, each step calculated and silent. Strangely, he hadn't encountered a single person on the upper floors. No creaks of footsteps, no murmured prayers—just that same oppressive silence.
As he approached the final stairwell to the main floor, he crouched and peeked down.
There they were.
Two of the so-called "people" stood motionless near a rectangular opening in the floor where the long dining table used to be. The table now sat awkwardly pushed in front of the hole, like someone had moved it there as a crude cover-up.
The two husks wore the same eerie smiles as before—but this time, their eyes were fixed directly on the door. Unblinking. Waiting.
Guess they didn't expect anyone to come through the attic, Adrian thought with a smug grin.
He crept behind them casually and stepped past the hidden opening. A ladder extended downward. Without hesitation, he climbed down.
At the bottom, to his mild annoyance, he found a spiraling staircase descending even deeper.
Why put a ladder just to lead into stairs? Who designed this crap? he muttered mentally, rolling his eyes.
The spiral staircase was wide, carved cleanly into the stone. Small glowing orbs floated just off the walls—photomancy, simple light magic, but it bathed the passage in a steady warm glow. Functional. Controlled. Deliberate.
Adrian descended slowly, counting each rotation. The further he went, the more the air thickened—warmer, humid even. By the time he reached the bottom, he'd gone down at least two hundred meters.
The stairs opened into a wide stone archway, easily big enough for several people to pass through side by side.
Adrian stepped through.
His eyes widened slightly.
A massive, man-made cavern stretched before him. He stood at the top of a rocky ledge, a narrow path to the left leading to another descending staircase.
From his elevated perch, he looked down into the cavern—and froze.
Over a hundred of those people moved silently below, working in near-perfect coordination. They tended to massive underground fields—actual rows of crops, growing in the soil under artificial sunlight. Above, suspended high on the ceiling, was a powerful golden light orb that mimicked the sun so convincingly that it warmed the entire space.
Plants shouldn't be able to grow in a cave. Yet here they were—lush, green, and thriving.
Adrian narrowed his eyes.
Someone didn't just build a hideout. They built an entire ecosystem.
"Holy…" Adrian muttered in his head, eyes narrowing as he scanned the vast, surreal landscape before him.
His gaze shifted left, toward a separate section of the cavern. A group of the "people" were gathered there, working in eerie synchronization. They were shaping something—white crystalline shards. Adrian immediately recognized them.
The same stuff I saw under the dining table, he realized. A soft glow pulsed from each crystal, faint but unnatural. It reminded him of salt—or maybe sugar—but now, he wasn't so sure.
Are they making drugs or something?
He wanted to get closer, investigate. But there was no cover between him and the lower levels. He'd be seen the moment he stepped onto the stairs.
Then a voice rang out. Deep. Commanding. Not quite yelling, but loud enough to echo through the cavern like a sermon.
"GET BACK TO WORK, YOU PIECES OF SHIT! AND MAKE IT LESS POTENT THIS TIME! THEY LOOK LIKE LIFELESS CORPSES IN THAT NEW BATCH—THEY NEED TO BE CONTROLLABLE, HUMAN-LIKE!"
The workers didn't flinch at the voice. They just kept moving, silent and obedient.
"I HAD A CLOSE CALL THANKS TO SOME RETARD IN BLACK! I SENT SOME GUYS TO KILL HIM BUT THEY HAVEN'T FOUND HIM YET, IT SEEMS!"
Adrian blinked.
…Ah. So that's me.
He backed away from the ledge slightly, mind racing. Whoever this was—he was in charge. And he knew Adrian had been here. He felt threatened.
That made things interesting.
Very interesting.
"Well guess i should find those assassins and if they are sane i can get info from them" adrian thought to himself
Adrian turned to leave, his instincts telling him he'd seen enough for one night. But just as he rose from his crouch, a sharp voice cut through the cavern.
"IT'S YOU, YOU BASTARD!"