Josh lay back on the pillows and watched the succubus sleep, enjoying her scent and the rise and fall of her breasts until he sensed midnight approaching. He smoothed Leila’s golden hair back gently until her eyes fluttered open.

“Time to go,” Josh whispered. He helped her sit up and rubbed her back in slow, energizing circles. “This will be quite the adventure. Are you prepared?”

Leila arched an eyebrow. “We are bound to save my mother and retrieve my soul, Breaker. You may rest assured I am prepared.” She stood up and smoothed her dressed, crossing her arms and tapping a foot as if she were waiting for him.

Josh dressed quickly in his Haidian attire - a sleeveless leather jacket and tight-fitting breeches - and slipped the vials into his pocket. The tablet he carried beneath his arm. The greatcat skin he left atop the bed.

“Come along, then,” he said, and he took Leila’s hand.

They ventured down the stairs and out into the night, the chill air nipping at their cheeks. They swept along sandy roads and down darkened alleys, navigating by memory and the light of the moon. Suravani smiled on them, but she could not see all.

After a time they came to a diner that remained open day and night. A barred door stood to the right of the main entrance. Josh rapped thrice in rapid succession, raising an eyebrow at the peep-hole.

A long minute passed, and then a dark skinned man opened the door. He was much more rotund than the average Fallieni, a show of his success as a merchant. He wiped his brow with a cloth and beckoned for them to come in.

“You’re a little early,” he stammered as he led them down a flight of stone steps, toward a distant flickering light, “I scarcely heard your knock.”

“You should have been waiting,” Breaker admonished, “for the amount of gold I paid you. By the way Leila, this is Neesden.”

The man nodded and wiped his bald pate again. His sandals skidded to a halt beneath the flickering lantern sconce and he fished a key out of his robe’s pocket. It turned in the brass lock with a rusty click, and the door opened.

The room revealed piles upon piles of books and parchments, as well as a desk and a large circular artifact. It had strange Fallieni sigils engraved on it and loomed at the far end of the chamber. The area immediately surrounding it was the only clean space to be seen. Clutter - mostly books and the occasional artifact - covered floor, desk, and chair.

“This is it,” Neesden puffed, clearly somewhat nervous, “all you need do is touch this sigil here, think of the location you seek, and a portal shall open. Now, about my payment-”

“I’ve already given a pile of gold,” Josh reminded him.

“Gold is not enough.” Neesden insisted. “You are an influential man in these lands, Granite Phantom. I should like a favour from your in return for use of my portal-maker.”

“What favour?” Josh asked warily. He shared a look with Leila.

“Nothing specific,” Neesden said, breathing shallowly, “nothing yet. But I am a gambling man… I like to risk my riches at the fighting pits. If ever my luck should run foul… I may need a man to defend me.”

Josh chuckled. “Alright, Neesden. You get one for free. If a leg-breaker ever comes knocking, let him know you’ve got the real Breaker in your corner.

The man nodded nervously, and bowed slightly as he stepped aside. The portal-maker loomed over them, a great sand-colored ring.

“Leila,” Josh said, “you’re up.”