Then again, that was also kind of Levi's fault as he distinctly remembered bragging to Ahmed on several occasions that he had visited the lost city. The honest truth was that when Levi had been getting his tattoo done in a dingy little parlour in the questionable settlement of Egidu, he had happened to meet upon another man who had been able to read the freshly inscribed script on Levi's shoulder.

"Amn tarial etack piola," the grey haired man had read out loud, squinting at Levi's new ink across the smokey air of a back alley bar. "That's Alackai..." the man had murmured thoughtfully, sliding off of his barstool and drawing closer to Levi with his amber drink still in his hand. "It translates to 'In lo-"

"I know what it means," Levi had coughed, half choking on his own beverage in his haste to cut the man off. He had gotten the words written on his skin, he didn't need the whole damn bar to hear them.

"That's probably not the poignant or poetic proverb you hoped it would be when you found it in some dusty old book," the man had laughed, "it's actually part of a manual for -"

"Do you have a name?" Levi had snapped. He had only just lost quite a large quantity of money in a card game that afternoon and hadn’t been feeling all that amenable to chatting with complete strangers in some backwater hell hole that he was being forced to lie low in.

"Milton," the man had replied promptly, holding out his hand for Levi to shake. Levi had stubbed out his cigarette before responding cordially enough to the gesture, names were a currency around these parts and not always so willingly given, it was an act of good faith for sure.

"What's your poison Milton?" Levi had asked, nodding to Milton's nearly empty glass.

"Anything they're selling," Milton had admitted with a rueful grin. It was only by being up close that Levi now recognized the red flush of Milton's nose and cheeks, the slightly glazed veneer to his eyes - the man was an alcoholic for sure.

"I've been there you know," Milton murmured as Levi gestured to the barkeep to bring them another round of the same, although god knew what that actually was.

"Where?" Levi had asked absently, distracted by quickly scouting out possible exits from the bar for when it was time to pay his tab.

"That language," Milton hiccoughed, swaying slightly, "Alackai, it was spoken by the Kaiaya people. I've been to their city - Alack."

"Sure you have mate," Levi had smiled gently, indulging the poor bastard. Perhaps he had even been through a rougher time of it recently than Levi?

"No," Milton had frowned, "I really have, I can prove it."

This had caught Levi's interest by a fraction more as he had turned to pass Milton his newly arrived and brimming drink. "Oh?" Levi had prompted as Milton seemed to take an eternity to savour his first sip.

"What?" Milton had looked confused for a moment before realisation dawned on his face, "Oh - Alack! Yes, no I can prove that I've been there. I used to work for Sandsneaks when I was a boy,"

Levi raised his eyebrows. 'Sandsneaks' were bands of petty criminals who tended to live on moving caravans across the desert.

"I'm a dream-stealer," Milton had added by way of explanation, not that that meant much at all to Levi.

"The hell is a dream-stealer?" Levi had asked, taking a sip of his own stale drink and wrinkling his nose.

"I can take people's dreams when they're sleeping, "Milton had answered with an almost wistful look.

"What would people want with other folks' dreams?" Levi had questioned, feeling like Milton was probably missing out some important information here.

Milton, however, suddenly let out a sudden laugh that somewhat startled Levi, causing him to spill half his drink. "Are you kidding?" Milton had snorted as Levi scowled and reached for the nearest rag on the bar to clean himself up.

"Dreams can reveal everything about a person," Milton had continued as if nothing had happened, "they're the secrets that your subconscious tries to conceal from the rest of the world."

Levi had thought about his own dreams that mostly involved writhing naked bodies and plentiful amounts of drink and food. He wasn't exactly sure what was so secret or valuable about that content.

"So my father sold me to the caravan of Sandsneaks," Milton had announced as if he was already mid-way through a story that he had simply forgotten to clue Levi on. "And we travelled all across the inner desert going from one end of Nagimiotani to the other."

"And you just happened to find the lost city of Alack?" Levi suggested, with a casual wave of his hand.

"No," Milton had shaken his head with a shudder that served to knock Levi's hand once again. Levi had sighed, placing his now nearly empty glass back on the safety of the bar in front of him, resigning himself to being uncomfortably damp and sticky for the rest of the night.

"It found us," Milton had continued. "It was just shadows at first," he had paused, "whispers in the sand storm winds. We didn't think much of it - figured we were all tired and dehydrated at best."

"What are you talking about?" Levi had narrowed his eyes, wondering why the hell he was listening so intently to the ramblings of some inebriated and wretched soul.

"There's darkness in Alack," Milton had said, in barely more than a whisper, causing Levi to lean in further to hear the rest of his alcohol addled speech. "And darkness needs to feed. It sensed us you see - we wandered too close to Alack in the desert and it stretched out its roots of darkness like a cactus might find water many miles away."

"You're saying you were drawn to the city because it was hungry?" Levi had stated dully, wondering if he could get away with ordering another drink or whether the bartender would start demanding some form of payment soon.

"Yes!" Milton had cried, his eyes lighting up as he moved to grab Levi's shoulder excitedly. Levi had let out a hiss of pain as Milton's fingers pressed against his still sore skin from the recent tattoo. "That's what it does you see - you think you're going mad, but it drew us in and then it turned us on each other before..." Milton's eyes glazed over again, "....there's darkness in Alack."

"So you said," Levi had nodded cheerfully before making the decision to stand up and quickly make his exit whilst the barkeep was refilling some barrels.

"Wait," Milton had called out, following Levi through the side exit and out onto the chilled night air of the town. "Don't you want to see it?"

"See what?" Levi had frowned.

"My proof of course," Milton replied before looking around furtively and pulling Levi over to the shadowed side of the street.

"Yes, well, hurry up about it will you?" Levi had replied tensely, glancing back up at the bar exit and wondering when the barman would realise he had absconded with the best part of five pints in him without coughing up a coin.

"Come back to mine," Milton had told Levi adamantly.

"You having a laugh?" Levi had muttered irritably, dragging his hand down his face and wondering what he had done to shit so much on Karma this time? "Sorry mate but you're not really my type..."

"Please," Milton had hissed, "I want to show someone and you -" he pointed at Levi's tattoo, "you'll appreciate them!"

At that moment Levi heard angry shouting starting up from inside the bar. "Um, yeah alright - you say you've got a place here in town?" Levi had asked Milton quickly, grabbing his arm and starting them off at a rapid pace down the street, "Okay you take me there then."

Levi had figured even if Milton was planning on leading him down some back alley to beat him up and fleece him of all his belongings he would still be able to probably take the pissed idiot.

Instead, however, Milton had been true to his word and guided Levi back to his modest apartment above what looked suspiciously to be some kind of brothel catering to those not in possession of sight...or smell.

"Excuse the mess," Milton had burped as he had led Levi into the large single room with a makeshift bed propped up against one end of the space. Everything was everywhere and there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to Milton's placement of possessions. However it had still taken him a surprisingly short amount of time to find what he was apparently looking for.

"These," Milton had hissed reverently, presently Levi with the four cracked stone tablets, each of them about the size of a full grown man's palm, "are something you might recognize."

Levi had frowned down at the tablets, momentarily distracted by the ornate edging of embedded gold, there were also swirling patterns in between each line of script - clearly some sort of precious stone fused into the rock using bonding magic. "They're beautiful..." Levi had murmured, "must be worth a bloody fortune."

"Yes, yes," Milton had whispered dismissively, "but look at the script."

Levi had attempted to further focus his alcohol blurred vision to study the chipped calligraphic lines. "Oh," he had said suddenly in understanding, "It's written in Alackai - the same as my tattoo."

"The very same," Milton had smiled triumphantly. "I managed to bring them with me when I escaped the city - the only one of my caravan to do so."

Levi had glanced up to take note of Milton's accompanying expression to his fantastical proclamation. Whether Milton was mad, drunk or neither - he certainly seemed to believe his own story.

The two men had stayed up talking for an hour after that, before Milton had offered Levi some blankets for the night and promptly fallen asleep himself.

By morning Levi was gone, and so were the tablets.

The inner desert town of Egidu was firmly behind him.

**Back in Present Day**

"Shit," Levi groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose and nudging out the stick he had been holding to stoke the fire back up to life. If the fire died out during the night then it wouldn’t exactly be ideal for him or Hani.

The realisation that Levi was going to have to go back to Egidu solely to seek out Milton had not exactly done his headache any favours. Milton, a drunk, probably very confused, ex-criminal who Levi had robbed blind was his only damn hope of actually finding his way to Alack and not being consumed by cursed Seprimo fire.

Levi glared over at Hani, what the hell had Muna been playing at?

"The Kaiaya...were one of the few races where people could be born of both dark and light magic...and for anyone of fully Dark magic - they invented a device that could turn them half light - allowing them to live long and healthy lives."

Muna's words echoed through the pangs of pain in Levi's head.

"So this is all for you is it?" Levi grunted miserably as his glare in Hani's direction softened from sheer fatigue. Levi couldn’t see this whole ordeal resulting in anything other than catastrophic failure, but, he guessed, at least it was a chance.

Then again, maybe going up against twenty sorcerers in the ring might have been more of a chance.