Published at 20th of October 2026 8:56 am

Chapter 2124: Only One Clue

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The Dock Borough was alive. It always was.

Ships crowded the harbor, their masts rising above the waterfront as sailors hauled cargo onto the docks. Drunken voices and laughter echoed through the streets, mixed with the occasional scream of some argument that had gone out of hand.

A light drizzle had turned the ground into a muddy mess—not that this district was ever a paragon of cleanliness, to begin with. Boots splashed through puddles as workers, sailors, merchants, and adventurers hurried from one place to another.

Adam watched the city’s skyline behind him. In the rain, it looked even more beautiful. He eventually arrived at the designated warehouse.

It was an old, weathered building used by customs to temporarily store goods brought in from overseas. Crates and barrels filled most of the interior, leaving only narrow paths between them.

Adam had to ensure no one was watching. Smooth was the name of the game. The tiniest fluctuation of mana would summon the Watch like moths to the fire.

He slipped deeper into the warehouse and stopped before what appeared to be an ordinary section of flooring. Except it wasn’t. He crouched and pressed a hidden mechanism.

With a metallic click, part of the floor shifted aside. Beneath it was a mechanical lift. Adam stepped onto the platform and activated it. The lift began descending. Lower and lower.

The sounds of the harbor slowly faded above him, replaced by the groaning of gears and chains. Several levels below the warehouse, the lift finally came to a stop.

Adam stepped off. The stench hit him immediately. Sewage. He had arrived underneath Davos, in the sprawling sewer systems. He wrinkled his nose slightly. Didn’t think he’d have to tread through shit and piss. He sighed and moved onward.

After navigating a series of twisting tunnels, he arrived at another secret door hidden within the wall. He pushed it open. Darkness greeted him like an old foe.

Adam hesitated before stepping in. He began walking. Down and down and down. The tunnel seemed endless. Suffocating. And terrifying. There were no lights. No windows. No signs of life. Only the sounds of his own footsteps echoing through the narrow passage. The deeper he went, the tighter the walls seemed to become.

Then the fear returned.

The seventh trial. The dreadful seventh trial where he had tried to commit suicide. Adam stopped in his tracks. His breathing quickened. His chest tightened. His heart thundered inside his chest. He leaned against the wall and slid down. Tried to calm himself. Hyperventilating.

He shivered on the ground, hugging his knees. After several long minutes, maybe hours, he finally muttered to himself in a shaky breath: "This is getting annoying."

He forced himself to breathe slowly. Then he continued. A few minutes later, he had to stop again. The darkness pressed against him from every direction. He sat down, rested for a while, and waited for his breathing to settle.

Then he got up and continued walking. He had to overcome this. This ridiculous fear of darkness and confined spaces was becoming increasingly troublesome.

What would happen if one day in the near future he had to fight in the darkness? Or corridors? Would he take a moment to catch his breath? Would the enemy give him that luxury?

Adam made a mental note to visit the Coil again after this. Perhaps he could find some way to deal with it. He had to understand the root cause of this fear before he could think of overcoming it.

Then he heard something. Water. Splashing and raging. He stopped and listened. The sound grew louder. He quickened his pace. At last, his hand found another mechanism built into the wall. He pressed it. Click.

A section of the stone wall shifted inside. Adam stepped out of the darkness at last. Took a large mouthful of air as if he were a babe just come out of the womb.

A vast underground river raged before him. The water glowed with an eerie phosphorescent green, illuminating the enormous cavern around it. Adam stared for a moment. So beautiful. So alien.

He followed the river. For what felt like hours, he walked alongside the glowing water, watching it wind through the vast caverns. Then, gradually, he began to see lights ahead. Hundreds of them. Then thousands. Then more and more.

A vertically sprawling city appeared in the distance. Dark Port again. Adam had arrived at the Feet.

For a moment, he stared at the city with awe. People liked to talk about the Wall and how it was a marvel. A Wonder. It was half a kilometer tall.

But Dark Port extended over a kilometer!

Adam couldn’t help but wonder about the men and women who made this marvel possible. How little they must have had in their stomachs when they built this city. How meager the rewards they must have been promised at the end of their work. Yet they built this city nevertheless.

Thinking of how this dark yet magnificent city came to be, Adam made his way to the Heart before finally arriving at Greene’s Emporium.

This time both Sandra and Esmond were present. They sat at the counter. And when they saw Adam enter, they welcomed him warmly.

"My boy, you’ve returned!" Esmond rose to his feet and pulled him into a hug. He patted his shoulders and said, "So did you think about my proposal?"

"I’m here, ain’t I?"

Esmond laughed. "I knew it! Come. Come. Let’s head upstairs."

And so, Adam followed the vampire couple to their humble abode. He made himself comfortable over a cup of steaming coffa.

"So what’s the mission?" he asked at last.

"The Night Guild has been searching for an item for the better part of a decade," Esmond said solemnly.

"They’ve sent countless adventurers across Davos and beyond to find it. Even many of their own agents have spent years hunting for it. But they still haven’t found it."

Adam was intrigued. It would appear the Night Guild had invested a lot of manpower into looking for this item, and it still remained a mystery.

"So what are we looking for?" he asked.

Esmond and Sandra exchanged glances. The latter smiled wryly and said, "That’s the thing, Adam. No one knows."

Adam was speechless. "So what have these people been looking for in the past decade then? Don’t tell me they’ve just been following their gut feeling."

"Well, there’s only one clue that we were given from the Guild," Esmond said. "I’m pretty sure the other hunters have worked their way from that one clue and kept the details to themselves."

"What clue?" Adam asked.

"It is related to the famous author and explorer Leto Morgan," Esmond said.

"More precisely... the cause of his imprisonment at Fortune’s End."

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