“Parties not your thing?” A man asked.

  I turned to look at my interlocutor, a seat over. A scrawny balding man in rich purple robes and wearing what looked like shades indoors. Empty bottles in different sizes and colors sat before him and while there was a glass, it was obvious that this man had been drinking straight from the bottles. That was odd. I would expect the staff to pick up the bottles but they weren't, in fact, they seemed to have avoided his corner of the bar entirely. I mean, I was not going to comment on his alcohol consumption habit considering that I was feeling buzzed as well, while I should be out there mingling and making friends. That was the logical thing to do.

  “Yeah, not really. What about you?” I asked finally, not wanting to be rude but not really sure how to address this guy.

  “Same. At some point, these rituals just don't appeal anymore. And yet, to not show up at all is to deny face. So I came for the free booze.” He grinned, revealing browning uneven teeth. “You don't particularly look like the kind of girl to enjoy being in places like this. No offense intended, of course. It's a compliment.”

  “Takes one to know one, I guess.” I said before my mind could process what I was saying. Stupid mental skills being so good that I end up eroding all my filters by just relying on them. He laughed and I joined in after a moment.

  We settled into companionable silence after that. I didn't ask for his name and he didn't ask for mine. Until he too left and I realized that I didn't actually want to drink anymore. Being actually drunk at a party with rich assholes with more money than sense was a good way to offend someone I couldn't afford to. I trusted Medea to keep me safe if someone got too handy or something stupid but surely there was something better to do than drink the night away.

  And so I started exploring.

  Opposite the alcove that held the private booths was an entrance to a large room with dealers with enforcer-like masks sitting at counters and gambling tables. For some reason, one of the tables was very popular with the bigwigs of the city and beyond. Even I could recognise some of these people from the newspapers. Another was practically empty and I could see what exactly the game was being played. A single dealer, probably with a relevant class or skill to prevent cheating, was tossing ten marked Aetherite crystals into the air periodically as the players placed, removed or exchanged flat tokens each with a uniquely design on the table. A separate box-like contraption with a slider was placed before each player and occasionally, one would fiddle with their slider. I leaned against a wall and decided to watch while occasionally sipping from one last glass I had snagged. Maybe I was underestimating how much of an alcoholic I actually was.

  A red-headed person with androgynous features watched stonily as their opponent groaned and left the table with a grumble. The game continued.

  I think I was vaguely getting the idea behind the game now. Those tokens weren't like poker chips or something, no, the players had to get rid of them. There was some mechanism of initiating a transfer or draw of tokens, and by sabotaging other players by giving them certain combinations of tokens, they could be made to lose. I still didn't get what the boxes were for or how the token movement system worked considering they were all face up but I definitely understood enough to tell that red hair was winning. Winning big.

  ‘I paused. How do I even explain gambling to a damned spider-scorpion? ‘

  ‘

  ‘

  Medea sounded confused and I was rapidly losing confidence in my ability to explain gambling. I had never thought about it before but Medea was not human, it didn’t have the dopaminergic reward circuits that we did.

  ’ Thankfully I was spared trying to explain further by a voice.

  “Lady, fancy a game?” One of the players from a side table further out called out to me, overweight, balding and with a messy moustache. I shook my head vigorously, internally suppressing a squeak of surprise, and then a shudder when he leered at me. Right at that moment, the constant background hum of the musician surged and a vague idea of following the man into one of those booths came into my mind. I turned away to hide the visceral disgust no doubt on my face. Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew! One of the dealers strode over to him and while I couldn't see the face behind the mask, I had the distinct impression that it was frowning.

  “Sir, please kindly focus on the game. We have other establishments if you seek to… fraternize.” He said the last word with such delicate disdain that the man's shoulders dropped and he hastily muttered something agreeable.

  Taking that as my cue to vacate this area, I left. Some people were dancing slowly on the center stage and the light seemed to shine on them in a way that not only accentuated their best features but enhanced them even further. I was curious about how that light would make me look — Medea could serve as my eyes — but I avoided it like the plague. That said, I needed to stop being so reclusive in a party and use it as the opportunity it was. That was, however, a problem. How do you even approach strangers in a party without a third party introducing us? I didn't have the effortless confidence of Fahria, never had. Even before my skills made social events practically anathema to me. Would I seem rude and interruptive? Who was I kidding, of course I would. That, or it would seem like I was flirting. That was probably even worse. Not the worst likely outcome of course, that dubious honor went to a different scenario. Unlike Fahria, I couldn't exactly reveal why I was desperate for allies and naked hunger of power could only go so far. One misstep and I was running the risk of revealing that I was Godtouched. Valdima's warnings about how exactly the Godtouched were seen and treated was still fresh in my mind, burned into sharp relief by golden crackling lightning.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Still I tried. At first I was looking for someone, anyone that I knew. That endeavour did not bear any fruit. After that, I had to accept that I had to figure out how to navigate this with the tact and grace that I had never possessed, and that was before my mental skills further deteriorated it all. It was Medea who came to the rescue.

  That was true. A common threat would be nice. It sure would be nice if I found the other Godtouched and could then work with them. That was obviously not the case. But that phrase ‘common cause’ made me think of something else. A common thing to bond over. I had been overthinking while resolutely avoiding the obvious.

  “Excuse me, is there a place for feeding pets?” I asked a server.

  “Of course, ma'am. Would you like to have someone escort you and your pet to it, or just the pet so that you can enjoy the festivities?”

  “The former. Thanks.”

  I was led down to another massive room. It was enclosed like the casino but much, larger. Servants in masks like those of the enforcers milled around with plates and tubs of food. There were not many actual guests here, at least compared to the number of pets flying, walking, slithering, skittering and sliding along every surface. Somehow, magically, none of them seemed to be getting into any conflict. I could believe that most, or even all of them were well behaved enough, considering the caliber of the guests here, but it was still impressive.

  Something that looked like it was a baby alligator with bird wings flew close and sniffed at a shrunken Medea. Seemingly confused, it cocked its head quizzically before flying away. Something seemed familiar about the creature. Not in the sense that I had seen it before but more… like its description was something I had been given.

  Medea skittered over to a new tub and stuck its open mouth inside. I was about to stop it, half expecting something similar to what happens when a blender ran without covering to occur but it didn't. Slowly the tub of bloody meat began to lower. Instead of just watching it eat, I looked at the other pets. Almost no insects. Well, there was one, a large moth with wings as detailed as any butterfly’s if not more. A velvety midnight-blue, glowing sky-blue and black playing off each other as the moth fluttered everywhere. Curved horns of the deepest black emerged from below its antennae and wrapped around their lower halves before joining into what was unmistakably a crown. My breath hitched, I knew what was. I had read about it in the Archives. A pseudo-elemental creature of darkness that with illusion powers that could almost match an actual low level classer.

  ’

  Native to a different continent entirely, they didn't have the overwhelming power of some of the things I had seen in the forest, or the growth potential of others. Their illusions were not something very potent and it was practically unheard of for anyone to actually get the insects to tier up but they were really useful as is. I was tempted to try to steal it, consequences be damned. Or at least make it lay eggs for me before letting it go. I seriously and legitimately considered it but decided that I was not that much of an idiot.

  “Beautiful, isn't she?” A voice asked while I was busy gawping. It belonged to a small girl with black hair and red eyes wearing a Even her face was wrapped in cloth. What tiny hints of her skin was revealed was pale but that was not all, it was her shadow that was the word part. It didn't resemble her, Instead it was that of an enormous humanoid bat that stretched far behind her, far too long for the angle of the lights to naturally stretch it. I didn't need my skills, books from the Archive, or the glass of red she was holding to tell it was a vampire. Well, the vampires weren't what I had read about in my world. They were just another extant elvenoid, only with a crippling sensitivity to light and slowed growth during the day. They were fundamentally still like humans, just with a few more weaknesses and a shapeshifting ability that affected their dietary habits.

  “Yes, she is.” I ignored my hammering heart. Vampires were harmless and cohabited with humans across the former Catrian lands and beyond. They didn't even drink human blood unless it was the last option possible. Just because a skill of mine made my blood tastier than most didn't mean that the vampire would try to eat me.

  “Navisha, come.” The vampire raised a hand and the moth landed on it. “Navisha here is just one of many that my company came here to sell for Renewal Day.” Ah, that explained it. “I'm Runi, by the way.”

  “Anya.” I spent the next few minutes chatting with Runi about Navisha and then she gave me a card and an address for a location in New Delport before excusing herself.

  Can't argue with that. I hadn't even realized that I had been given a sales pitch until Medea pointed it out. Runi was not good at it but I was distracted by an asinine theory about being kidnapped and being turned into a blood bag.

  And that was when I accepted that maybe making friends during a high profile party like some kind of movie spy was not something I was good at.

  By the time Medea had its fill (the glutton had decided that since the food was free, it could stuff its face and slowly digest it all later), a new creature came in, held by a sweating butler with wild eyes.

  “What’s wrong with him? My master let him wander for a bit and now it is like this.” The butler demanded frantically and a masked person moved in to check in on it. The creature, a dog-like thing with horns, looked bad. No, it looked terrible. dark was growing on it from within, and it trembled violently every few passing seconds. The person in the mask called another over and they laid their hands on it.

  “Where was he when you found him like this?” One of the masked men asked.

  I switched over to mana sight and blanched. The pup’s mana was fraying and untangling itself and then reforming into something else. I remembered the sense of unease I felt about Aetherite slimes, it was like that but a thousand times worse. Tiny appendages of mana were slowly peeling the poor creature’s hide apart to coax out whatever was hidden inside with no regards for the safety of the host. And then the smell hit me, a sweet smell that was not that of rot. It beckoned me closer, wanting me to taste it. Then I started feeling thousands of tiny mana feelers trying to crawl over body and I shut it off.

  The masked people attending to the canine looked equally as harrowed. Every other monster had retreated deeper. As to be away from the infected pup. But I didn't care for them, not even for lovely Navisha. Not now. I just asked Medea to fly behind me and I walked out.

  The cloying smells seemed to cling to me and I hastened my pace. I needed air. Needed to clear my head. I climbed up the stairs of starlight to the middle layer, and then to the upper pair until I was on the roof. Finding a relatively secluded spot was hard even up here but eventually I found a somewhat closed off section facing the city with a railing to learn on. There was only one person there, their back turned to me and ringlets of smoke around them.