The Hollow Citadel, a Place where within its walls creatures of Malice and Darkness manifest that were aptly named iDs, a place where you had to fight to stay alive, to eat, to conqueor. The Law of the Strong devour the weak rules over this accursed plane.

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"GYAAAAAAAAaaaaah!"

Wails of the sad fucks echoed being devoured in the alleys unaware of the blonde that walked with purpose with his bow fully drawn as sparks of lightning surged within the metallic bow and arrow. He held his breathe as the metal arrow began to thin and become more streamlined, its head fusing with the shaft creating a large needle, a titanic bellow would compare the projectile ready to fly. His cobalt blue eyes sharpened as he let loose the arrow which flew relatively faster than he calculated forgetting the rule of motion for a moment as the sparking oversized needle made its home

and Hole

in its forehead as it slumped to the ground.

The beast was an Edrel, a mix of a man, Elk, and Bird which feasted on both carrion and fresh kills, an iD that stood on all fours. A low ranked iD, that was worth seven Silvers, enough to last a week for a single person but the Archer was not alone as he had his Mothers and Several of his adopted sister he had to feed.

Taking the standard issue Hunting Knife, Cor, he decapitated the corpse and deposited the head in his form of pocket dimension, his Anima. He needed more iDs to slay to secure them for months. Ingram had put down the cloak as he made his way to the deeper ends of the Citadel, Manus, the Downtown area which most of the iD population were recorded to be at a thousand strong. For any lesser man it would have been suicide, but for a determined Ingram Albertine, it was a better opportunity to get more coin on his person for his family.

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At the Albertine Household, Eirina Albertine Mother of Ingram and Adopted Mother of seven daughters was working on her iron works at the forge. The hearth was filled with white hot coal and its bellows blowing more life into the flames. She sighed as he put one of the iron bars into the burning hearth as being a dragonkin woman had its perks, well half dragonkin since she did not have any of the visible signs of draconic blood with the excemption of her privies and chest which were always covered with her choice of smithing attire that was comprised of a red tunic which reached her ankles with leather sleeves that ended to gloves, a Smithing Apron which was more of an aesthetic choice, just because she was almost 900 did not mean she would be unfashionable as she retained her look of youth, being a twenty-year old woman with Brown hair and teal eyes. She sighed as she took out the white hot metal placing it on the anvil and began her work smacking her hammer along the edges of the hot iron bar flattening it shaping it to her liking.

After hours of heating and hammering the rough shape of a sword was made depositing the hot metal to oil to temper it fully. The Albertine Matriarch smiled at her craft and decided to keep it as it for now as she had a few mouths to feed. Dragonkin were not 'true' Dragonborns so to say, against many humans' belief the Dragonkin are closer related to humans than that of dragonborns as they shared their form, stature, and faces with the excemption of additional... features, such as and not limited to: tails, small patches of scales on some parts of the body, horns of different ornate skeletal shapes and a natural resistance to heat and piercing weapons as their 'skin' were scales that match their 'skin' pigments hers was of almond brown. She absent mindedly walked to the kitchen, the House Hearth with the Blackened Iron Pot over the flame placing lard, Garlic and Onions listening to its sizzle and placing the cuts of meat when it became aromatic. Stirring the pot until she could distinctly smell the umami that the meat let out, she placed tomatoes over the fire for a moment roasting them before mashing them into the pot of meat allowing the sour smell to reach her nose then pouring warer into it, sprinkling salt, pepper, star anise, and cinnamon. Spices that would help fill the stomach so food would not be too much trouble.

"When will Ingram come home." She hummed as she tasted her stew.

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"Ah, large Haul yet again Black Gold." The Hub lass smiled as she counted almost four thousand silver coins. Emilia was certainly surprised as Ingram, known as Black Gold to her, bought in an Ouroboros and four heads of a class 1 Hydra , two Silver classed iDs in the bestiary. Mostly found in Manus of the Citadel and are dangerous to anyone but oddly enough Ingram somehow managed with only slight cuts and bruises. His forward facing horns and handsome face

for the Blond Human lass

unscatched and were in pristine condition. She placed the coins in a ornate pouch that the blonde dragonkin had provided smiling at him tilting her head, blushing as he smiled back. "Abababa...."

Her face was burning, no searing from the gentle smile and look Ingram gave her, the Dragonkin rarely gave out those smiles in public as those were exclusive to his sisters and mother, hopefully she was part of it as well. Just about when the Dragonkin was about to leave the hub she called out to him.

"Ingram, may I come with you!?" She internally facepalmed as her words would have been taken as someone who wanted to eat for free so she followed up her sentence. "I'll bring groceries as well, it would be rude of me to intrude with nothing at hand..." She muttered a 'sorry' before Ingram smiled and gestured her to follow with him.

Emilia smiled closing her designated stall to walk with Ingram with noticeable skips in her strides.

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