I have experienced worse pain. But after walking for almost a week straight, I only felt tired. Acers can go up to a week without sleep and food, but at this point, I want to just fall asleep for days. Sadly I cannot do that because I have just arrived in Noctius. From last I remember, Noctius is unnaturally dark at this time of night, and the only lights to illuminate the streets are mage lanterns that are hung about the town. Not many people are in the streets at this time of night, Noctius is a fairly large town and the streets are the emptiest I've ever seen. Even the smell of the darkness feels off. It mostly smells of the people's fear. They might be afraid of the dark, or it could be the fear of whatever lurks in the darkness.

Then something catches my eye at the end of blurry street. I see a pair of red eyes in the place where the light doesn't reach. I lock eyes with it. I am not sure what it is, but I feel as though I cannot move. I feel so tired that I cannot fight it, my eyes become heavy, and my legs give out. I collapsed in the middle of the street.

Not even a few seconds later, I hear someone shouting at me.

“Hey, are you alright? Can you hear me?” they say.

When I open my eyes, there is a bright light shining in my eyes, and I sense a familiar aura, it's magic.

“Oh good, you’re awake. Are you in any pain?” They asked me again.

Only half awake, I ask them, “who are you?”

“Good, you are responsive. Don't worry. I am a doctor; my name is Asher,” he answers. “Now, let's get you inside the clinic, ok?”

I only nod, and he happily helps me inside. I cannot see the face of Asher, but from what I can tell, he is shorter than I am, and by the fact that he can carry me alone, he must be pretty strong.

Before he takes me inside, I stop in my tracks to look behind my shoulder to see if that thing is still there. It was still watching me, but when we lock eyes, turned around to leave, I see a small part of it in the light. A large paw walks off into the distance, looking almost dejected.

“Is everything alright?” Asher askes me

“Yeah everything's fine, let's just get inside.”

When I walk into Asher's home I am overwhelmed with the smells of herbs and incense. It smells so sweet but very intoxicating. There are bright lights strung about the whole clinic. Some shelves have other items for sale. Asher leads me to a backroom that is decorated much differently than the other room. This room is, from what I can assume is his living room because when we get to this room, he sets me down on the couch. From here, I can get a better look at him.

Asher gets on his knees and begins examining me. The first thing I notice is his eyes. They are a bright forest green. The kind you could just get lost in. His hair is a deep brown with a small streak of deep red. The red is much darker than my messy mop. It's like the kind you would see from a fresh corpse. The last thing I can see is the sheer amount of tiny freckles upon their face. It's not something you notice quickly on his russet skin like I said with his eyes. You could get lost in them.

“I would say my eyes are up here, but it seems that they too carry you off into a different realm,” Asher teased at me.

I could feel my face turn red, and he looked up only to let out a small giggle at me.

“Well, anywho you are completely fine, but you do need some rest because your body is under extreme exhaustion. Since I've already introduced myself, why don't you do the same while I make you some tea,” Asher said to me while he made his way to the kitchen. “By the way, I can tell you are not from around here. We have a curfew around here because of the creature problem.”

“I know about your creature problem. I was brought in to deal with it, I don't know why the lieutenant general did not include that information,” I tell him. “But in any case, my name is Andromeda. I am the new Acer that's going to be working around here.”

“Ah-Ha! I knew you were familiar to me!” he shouts from across the room.

“You have probably seen me from the newspapers because of the war, right?”

“No, I know that. Everyone knows that. But there are pictures of you around Jessica’s house, as well as the other two she talks about.”

“Wait, you know Jessica?”

“Sure do! I do happen to be one of the only doctors in the town. I happen to be legit and not rely on magic as most mage doctors do,” Asher tells me as he comes back with a cup of tea. “Here, drink, it will help with the pain in your feet.”

I took the tea in my hands, and it smelled so calming, like a home I'd never known. I took a small sip and felt an instant weight off my shoulders, or feet, I should say.

 I inquire about Jessica “So, how is she doing these days? Is she ok?”

“Physically, she is fit as a fiddle but with a bit of minor nerve damage from where she got hit. But mentally, that's a whole different and much longer story. The short of it is, she has been stuck in her little hovel for the past five years or so. She needs something to get her out, and then maybe, just maybe, she could get on the path to healing. After all, she did suffer a great loss in that war,” He says, sounding more worried than anything. “But this topic is rather depressing, how about I go get you an extra blanket from upstairs. Since you are already here, you can crash here for the night.”

I thank him, and he walks upstairs, leaving me alone with my tea and my thoughts. What was that thing I saw in the street? That thought just keeps replaying in my head. I wonder if that thing, whatever it is, could be the creature? The problem is, I know this town has a barrier around the main areas, making it so that creatures can't get in. My thoughts get interrupted by the loud sounds of a trap door rattling open. Then suddenly, a figure comes out.

“Ash, I smelled an unusual scent in here is everything alrigh-,” he stops dead in his tracks when he looks at me.

Awkward prolonged eye contact happens between us, for a good minute and a half. It felt like the longest minute and a half. The tall figure looks more scared of me than I am of him.

“Oh, hey Andromeda I couldn't find any extra pillows, but I did find a nice blank-” Asher stops in the middle of the stair when he looks at what we are doing. “Um, ok well I see you've met Alexavier, and Xavier quit staring at her! Introduce yourself,” he tells Xavier, almost sounding like a mother does with her shy child.

Xavier fully climbs his way into the house and walks towards me. He puts his hand out to shake, which I accept.

He clears his throat. “I am sorry we got off on a weird start, I honestly did not expect you, and it caught me off guard. Most of the time, when I smell something different, it's mostly a new herb that Ash is trying out. But anyway, I am Alexavier Rasika, the leader of this town's coven-"

I cut him off. "Coven? As in vampires?"

"Yep, that would be us, don't worry, we don't bite. Well, humans at least." he chuckles.

"And I don't kill vampires unless instructed to," I say, offering the same chuckle.

“Um, what do you mean by that?” he asks me, almost worried.

I pull out my Acer insignia necklace from under my shirt, the metal phoenix. “I am the new Acer that got assigned here by the Lieutenant General,” I respond.

“She's the one replacing Ridley, so be nice, Xavier,” Asher adds while he walks past Xavier to give me the blankets. “We can continue this conversation later, Andromeda but for now, you need to rest, doctor's orders, and it is already really late.”

Asher ends up shooing Xavier back into his little trapdoor. From the words I could make, it is that the catacombs where the coven resides are under this place. In all my years of being in and out of this town, I have never heard of a coven being here.

When Asher comes back, he begins putting out the lights in his house with only the flick of his wrist. We bid each other good night, and I calmly drift off to sleep.