Lychway, the city of blood, the city that is ruled by the Blood Council and its Blood accords, laws that were set in the hope that vampires and humans can co-exist, and so they did, however this co-existence is more fragile than grass and on the verge of breaking apart and the rebels are already trying to recollect and grow once more, the death of one leader never stopped humanity before from pressing forward in the history, it was but a matter of time.
The Council have to face the the outside threat of rebels along with multiple inner problems, if it wasnt for Lord Savant role, things would have already broken apart and chaos would spread widely, this same Lord was now strengthening his new chess piece, Eleanora.
Lord Savant intends to use Eleanora for his plans to this city, while Eleanora wants to make use of being in his side, after all what is a better role to help you survive than being the ruler's right hand? As long as Eleanora does well, he will surely have her favoured in the end, that will be an immense help for her in this harsh world, however, Eleanora deeply underestimated the power of the political hidden war between the three noble houses, she is yet to see it first hand now that she fell deeply into this whirlpool of power struggle. Right now, her and lord Savant are heading towards the midnight bazaar.
Set up on the wide outer section of the city's main square to the north near the gates, the Midnight Bazaar draws merchants, artisans and peddlers from all over the land of Nyx to Lychway, creating an amalgamation of tents and market stalls in which one can find almost anything available under the twin moons. Apart from the stalls, the bazaar is alive with performances. Dancers gracefully move to the rhythm of the night winds, storytellers share tales of twilight adventures, and seers tell fortune for a handful of coins. The Midnight Bazaar is not just a marketplace; its the heartbeat of the city that never sleeps, a sanctuary in the dark, and a testament to a culture that evolved around impossible differences, all glued together with coin and commerce. Eleanora and lord Savant were walking normally among the crowd, but she noticed two guards following them from a distance, and a cloaked figure walking ahead of them, those three people stopped whenever lord Savant stopped, and walked whenever he walked, keeping a distance yet following strictly, she immediately guessed, a figure as important as lord Savant surely wouldnt walk around unguarded, but still she decided to not let down her guard, after all she witnessed an assassination first hand before, while Savant is a powerful Elder vampire that is not to be underestimated, she on the other hand was a pretty easy target herself if she was careless.
After some walking, they reached a decent looking armory, Savant glanced at Eleanora and she nodded, they entered and the merchant behind the counter immediately welcomed them.
"Welcome! Welcome! We have the finest blades and plates, be it offense or defence we have you covered! Even the Oberon patrol themselves buy from us!"
Savant identity was hidden not only by his hood but by the fact that commoners dont know how does the elders of the council looks like.
"What do you need? I will grant you one free weapon and one free armor, choose the best that suits you" lord Savant calmly whispered to her. Eleanora pondered it for a mere second and her choice was as clear as a night illuminated by the two moons, she picked a decent padded leather armor, it has sturdy defence higher than a normal leather armor and while it is not superior to a plate armor, it was way more flexible and light on the feet, it will suit her swift battle style perfectly. "That would be 700g, would you like anything else? A sword maybe?" The merchant spoke happily, he could already tell his customers tonight are somewhat wealthy, so he was trying to make them buy even more things. Eleanora glanced at the weapons rack, it had many shining weapons raring to spill some blood, short swords, long swords, broad swords, axes, double edged axes, spears and pikes, maces and even large battle axes and large maces were on display, but Eleanora ignored all that and walked to the counter, there were some decent swords there, one was a short sword that its blade was pitch black, while another was a curved blade that had a golden guard, Eleanora traced with her fingers across a certain blade, it was a broad sword with a shiny blade that had a red jewel in the middle of it, a ruby, and another smaller blue jewel in the middle of the handle, a sapphire. "This is a magical sword that utilize the user mana to strengthen the blade by engulfing it in sharp magical veil, its the best piece in my shop! But... sadly I cant simply sell such a weapon to you, you know the rules." His face showed sadness, it was nothing but an act to make those two rich customers more set to buy this sword, 'how dare he think we dont have the tokens to buy what ever we want?!' Thats what he imagine they are thinking right now, one of the rules in lychway was that high value weapons and magical items is not to be sold to strangers, only those who have the token to prove they are one of lychway vampires then they could purchase such expensive pieces, some pieces even require a token of a scion to be sold.
Eleanora took out her shiny silver token and showed it to him. "Hmm Activate it please, I have to be sure." She willed and gently pressed it a bit more, and the silver token shone with purple light. "The price is 20,000g, not negotiable." He firmly said as he took the sword out of the special rack and sheathed it then handed it to Eleanora with a smile, she glanced at Lord Savant, this was a pricey piece, ten thousands alone can buy you ten decent swords! With a twenty you can start your own armory business!! However Savant simply nodded in agreement. He walked forward while counting the coins within a small purse then he put it along with a similar one on the counter, those purses were so full you can see the edges of the coins. "They contain a thousand and a half each, keep the change." As lord Savant said so, the shopkeeper immediately took them with both hands while his face glowing with happiness "hahahahaa! I made a fortune out of this spoiled initiate and her elder!! Tonight must be my lucky night!!" The shopkeeper thought in his heart as he happily started counting his coins, Eleanora and Savant walked out of the armory, even Eleanora couldnt conceal her joy and a small smile was showing on her face, Lord Savant stopped and chuckled then he said "I will let it slide this time" then he pointed at her hip, she had a hand axe held there, in other words he was saying 'I know you use axes for battle and you took this sword so you could sell it later' and indeed this was Eleanora's plan, when Lord Savant told her he will grant one free weapon and one free armor she immediately thought of buying the most expensive looking weapon, not to fight with it, but just to sell it later and gain its worth of gold coins, Eleanora was a spell caster type, a weapon was not a primary thing to her, her old axe is already good enough for her to kill whatever gets too close, even if she needed a better axe if she managed to sell that jeweled sword she could buy a better axe easily, money was more important for her survival than a weapon currently, even though she didnt bought the most expensive armor as well to not raise lord Savant suspicious he already saw through her plan with a simple detail, she carried an axe already which means she prefers fighting with axes, that made her even more wary of lord Savant, he was sharp and powerful, he may had let it slide this time but that means if she wanted to scheme anything in the future she have to be more vigilant with every detail and spend more time planning.
Next they stopped at stall with a display of rare and exotic magic staffs and wands, now that was more like a decent weapon for Eleanora, for a spell caster a wand or a staff was a must, every different staff has its own effect, some magicians even make their own staffs or wands to get the exact effect that suits them, Savant was fully aware of that naturally, alas, Eleanora didnt, and that was not strange since no one ever taught her, she only knows the basics of spell casting and three spells, one of them may be a primal spell but it was one that was more suited to be used outside of battle, in offense she only relayed on one spell; Crimson spear, Which was very consuming to use but displays superior offense.
"Why did we stop here?" Eleanora asked.
"You should pick a staff or a wand, it will be a big help in your path as a magic caster, however, I offered you one free weapon and one free armor... the bill will be on you this time." Savant said firmly, Eleanora didnt try to persuade him, because she wasnt convinced herself that she needs a staff or a wand now, but she decided to trust lord Savant words, after all he is a very wise elder, his words should not be taken lightly. She browsed the wands and staffs...
700 gold coins worth glass wand
1,200 gold coins worth witch wood staff
1,000 gold coins worth pyro wand
1,500 gold coins worth green shaman staff
...
All of them were pricey, the cheapest and most common glass wand was 700g, while Eleanora pockets didnt even contain 500 gold coin currently, she could only browse and see the prices to come with the right gold amount next time, she heaved a sigh and head out.
"Whats wrong? Nothing suits you here? We I know a better shop if thats the case" lord Savant asked.
"No need for that lord Savant, I just lack the coins to buy the one I had my eyes on currently, however I can get it later, where will we head out to next?" She asked out of curiosity, she already have a new armor and a weapon and she will buy the staff she wants later, what else is there to get? After all lord Savant didnt seem like he wanted to head back, his gaze were aimed at somewhere else among the markets, stalls and shops...
"Have you ever went to fortune teller before?" He said while staring away at the markets and shops, as if he was staring back at his own memories rather than actually gazing at what infront of him. Eleanora had a confused look on her, she didnt know if he seriously meant that question or no, so she decided to answer it.
"I never did, but I heard about them before when I was a human child... are we... actually going to see one?" She was in doubt if that would be to any use to her, she already know that all fortune tellers are just fake and its an act to entertain the costumer and tell him something that he would like to hear it would happen. Savant did not reply at once, but he chuckled first then he started walking ahead, only after that did he speak back.
"You can say so, we are going to meet the one and only 'Seer'."
Eleanora didnt answer, but she was confused, while she didnt venture too deep into the bazaar before to meet a fortune teller she clearly knows that in the whole bazaar there would be not only one, but many fortune tellers in such a big place of trade, there would be one in every corner at least of the bazaar. Soon after some walking, Eleanora could feel the air around them change as the noise drastically became less, in this area of the bazaar the market and stall owners were not shouting there products or offers, because there was no need to do so for them, those are clearly much older markets and stalls that all had regular customers, their name is now well known to most in the city, Eleanora had never been in these parts before but she clearly recognised some sign names, she heard people mentioning them before or saying that they are heading to it, the calm chats of people and blue illuminating lights of these parts was a big contrast to the outside part of the bazaar which was filled with noise and shouts and commotions and red and orange lights, a fierce outer side and a calm inner side, one of the many beautiful sites of lychway city. While Eleaonra was slightly lost in such a scene, lord Savant steps stopped and so Eleanora immediately stopped as well, glancing around to figure which market are they going in, but while there were many doors and couple stalls, none had signs, even the shops had nothing but a door and a window showing a dim shop inside, if it wasnt for the small dim view from those windows one wouldnt guess those are markets and would think those are houses in the middle of the bazaar, one old sign that its text was almost not readable due the time, 'Arcane Menagerie', this peculiar name raised the curiosity in Eleanora, but lord Savant went in without saying anything, almost as if he was in a hurry to get inside...
A woman walked to a table and gently put a bright white tea set with golden lines on its edges, she didnt look very old yet not quite young, she was wearing a ginger red colored plain dress that gave off the feeling of elderly dominance, her face was half covered by the large witch hat she was wearing, which had the same color of her long plain dress, she elegantly takes the tea pot and pour down tea on three cups, putting a single sugar cube on one, and three cubes on the other two, her pale white fingers had nails that were a bit tale and were glossy black in color, the fragrant dense vapour from the tea started rising up quickly, the beautiful smell made it clear that this was not your ordinary daily cup of tea you are used to it, it didnt even have that yellowish red translucent color, it was rather a dense maroon-red color which was not translucent at all, both the tea and the clothes of this women were another -yet big- contrast, as the place was illuminated by a gloomy blue hue, cyan light filling the place giving a sad lazy aura that contracts with the vigorous lively aura of the red color from both the tea and woman clothes, even the furniture was made of a blue colored wood, it is called the mermaid wood. The lady casually pulled a chair, as she sat down she glanced at the fourth empty cup, the turned towards the back, there was a counter and a slightly open door behind it then she spook with a calm smooth voice.
"Noir dear, do you want a cup of tea as well?" A rough strong voice came echoing from the back answering her.
"Maybe next time, when you prepare something else other than the maroon blood tea, I never liked its flavour, I will do with some milk though." The voice came from the further back echoing, the place was pretty empty and silent.
"Sigh, I wonder how many years will pass until you stop being picky like that? I have ordered some milk but you know its not easy to come by, I only ordered it tonight so its natural it didnt, and wont, arrive tonight, at will need at least two more nights, so will settle with something else until then?"
A couple silent moments passed before an answer arrived.
"Ha! look who is talking! I will just do with some red juice then, I will go grab myself some and come back while you take care of those customers."
"Dont forget the token! Remember what happened last time? It would be such a time waste for that to happen again."
Silence...