Arianna looked around the chamber as she heard the door close behind her. The carnage wasn’t any worse than the carnage in the courtyard, and she immediately diverted her attention away from it. She coughed softly and raised her hand to her mouth. Aeritus, it was awful.

As Arianna scanned the room for Iktomi, she noticed two young men standing and talking with each other while a wounded man walked away. She sensed the kage’s within them and wondered what they could do. One of them turned to speak, and she heard him say Iktomi’s name. When she turned her attention towards where he was speaking, she saw Iktomi slumped against the wall. His exhausted state reminded her of when they’d play tag as children, but this had been no game of tag. All the innocence of chasing each other around had been lost to most in Sovereign. Now the only game of tag was between enemies. She removed her hand from her mouth and headed over. She was wary of Iktomi after hearing his thirst for more souls, but she pushed her thoughts aside for further questioning later.

“Are you alright?” Arianna asked as she stood beside him, looking him over quickly in case he had any wounds.