The group stood in front of a tall building that clashed with its surroundings.
Modern brick and wood restaurants flanked it on either side, only embellishing the Roman-style columns and masonry on display. A slanted marble roof was suspended by four spiraling beams that were set into the top of a flat foundation.
A large doorway was set into the middle, with a series of windows surrounding it. Dozens of wealthy patrons walked inside, whispering in hushed tones.
For an unknown reason, Charon found it hard to go up the stairs, his robes strangely firm in their desire to stay out. The others continued without him, not noticing his disappearance, until Liam paused, took a few long steps back, and roughly shoved him forward.
"Don’t want to be caught alone out here. Might be confused for a pickpocket. Liable to get yourself hurt."
Shaking himself out of his stupor, he thanked Liam and rushed to catch up.
The interior of the theatre was no less opulent, with dozens of expensive-looking paintings and portraits hanging on the walls. A few cased items were placed on pedestals, so plaques beneath them for onlookers to read.
Of them all, only Annie bothered to stop and give them a glance, her eyes dancing as she eagerly drank up the historical information.
’She really likes learning. It’s admirable.’
Charon had never been much of a reader himself, preferring to go off exploring and writing his own adventures, but it was hard not to watch Annie get so engrossed in what she was doing.
His cheeks turned red as he looked away.
’It’s totally because of her excitent, not because she is super pretty or anything! It couldn’t be that! I am a respectable young man with far larger things to worry about than a beautiful girl my age!’
He knew it was hopeless, and even if it wasn’t that, it was pointless.
’She has n like Darius around her, and besides, I’ll be leaving for the realm of the living soon enough. How would a cross-dinsional relationship even work? "Hey honey, hope you don’t mind, but I need to step through this portal and go to a world you died in. Want to bring back so milk?"’
He smirked at his own joke, born from a mixture of humor and doubt.
At the end of the entrance hallway, they ca to a small kiosk, where a handful of well-dressed n were using small gun-like items to scan holo-pads and, in so rare cases, necks.
’Those must be soldiers who underwent the sa procedure Erius and I did.’
Darius approached one of the n and offered his own holo-pad, a square disk with a series of buttons on it. The man scanned it and gestured to the hallway leading down the right, offering a professional "Thank you, please enjoy the show" at the sa ti.
Following the path, they entered through a doorway on the side of the room to arrive in a wide-open theater. Long rows of black velvet seats stretched up high, with viewers already filling most of them.
A wooden stage sat at the foot of the chairs, long purple curtains hiding the bulk of the surface. tal lights hung from the walls, shining their beams to create a circular ring on the very center of the drape.
Darius reverently raised a finger to his lips, signaling them to remain silent. He faced Liam for multiple seconds, drilling the intent into his skull.
They rose the stairwells hanging on the sides of the audience, moving to one of the seats in the back.
Despite their distance, Charon could see the stage as if he were right in front of it, his eyes narrowing as he recognized so kind of magnification magic at work.
’How does it even operate? I don’t see any runes or spell formations. Is there soone manually holding the spell, or is the chanism hidden?’
A sound above him drew his eyes skyward, as he noticed five platforms extending over the audience. They were semi-circular in shape, extending a few yards from the wall to allow more than enough room to move around. Two were on either side, with the last one being above the back seating, which was where the group sat.
’What are those?’
As if he could read his mind, Erius leaned over and whispered in his ear.
"Box seats. They are for the very wealthy or nobility. My family owns quite a few spread across the Empire. They offer the best view in the house, as well as special access to the perforrs."
Nodding his thanks at the explanation, he pondered how nice it must be to be able to afford sothing like that.
The group shuffled to one of the rows before beginning to awkwardly cross so of the other viewers as they maneuvered to the center. They sat in a line, with Darius at the end, followed by Erius, Charon, Annie, Liam, and finally, Red.
He was a bit giddy at sitting next to Annie, but he tamped those feelings down, reminding himself of the pointlessness of it.
The mont they sat, Darius and Erius began whispering to each other. The black haired swordsman described other plays he had seen, while the blonde-haired swordsman eagerly listened.
Although Erius had seen many such shows, his family’s ownership of the box seats alluding to as much, he never once ntioned them.
Initially confused as to why, he almost face-pald when he rembered that they had never revealed where they truly ca from.
’They still think we lost all of our mories when we ca here. That’s for the best. Only the gods know who they could tell it to.’
Beyond the practical reasons for keeping it a secret, Charon also did not trust them yet.
Erius was one thing. He might not have known him for long, but he had proven himself ti and ti again, even when he didn’t have to.
The others hadn’t done that yet. The closest that they ca was helping take them to the Fort, but that was done as part of their job as a scouting party.
’Maybe one day we can tell them the truth.’
Tuning into their conversation, his head subtly turned to face them as he overheard sothing interesting.
"The last ti I witnessed their performance, they were doing so kind of depiction of the God of the Mind. They were locked in so kind of conflict with the God of Death, with many of the actors portraying the various minions being used as pawns."
Erius nodded along with him.
"That sounds like quite the show. Do you recall how it ended?"
Darius frowned and scratched at the stubble growing on his chin. His green eyes sohow glimred in the dim light, creating a majestic appearance that would make any woman go mad.
"Strangely enough, I do not. I vaguely rember one of the minions who we thought dead returned, only to be cast out for the final scene. Whatever happened during it, I could not tell you, except that it was very sad and very thought-provoking."
Charon’s friend chuckled into his hand, an expressly noble action that was out of character with how he normally saw Erius act.
’Is he playing up his roots to get more information out of Darius?’
"For being a thought-provoking piece, you seem to have forgotten much of it. It is hard to believe it was as good as you describe."
Before he could respond, the theatre lights turned brighter. Chains rattled as the house curtain was pulled to the sides, splitting down the middle to reveal a short man in a neatly pressed suit standing in front of another curtain.
He coughed into his fist, his voice carrying easily in the well-built room.
"Ladies and gentlen of the audience, I thank you very much for your presence here tonight. We have gathered to give you a performance unlike any other, ticulously crafted through years of dedication and hard work."
He took a few steps forward, pausing at the very edge of the stage. He withdrew a golden pocket watch and clicked a button on the side, the glass covering popping open. A soft ticking sound began to spread, echoing off the walls like a trono.
"It is now ti for us to grow silent and bear witness to a story lost to ti. You may laugh, and you may cry, but we ask that you maintain control of yourselves at all tis. What you are about to see is not ant for mortal eyes, and yet it must be shared regardless."
With that foreboding warning, the man shuffled off stage, his watch still held out in his hand.
The ticking continued, never wavering. It was staccato and unending.
Like the beating of a heart.
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