In Nocturne, everything has a price. Even your memories. Even your life. And sometimes… your sanity goes on discount.
The city whispered of it but never shouted.The Midnight Market — a bazaar hidden in the cracks of reality, trading in things no sane person would name.
For Asher Blackwood and Rosa Flores, tonight's destination was exactly that place.
"You sure this is the right spot?" Asher muttered, eyeing the grime-streaked sewer lid beneath their feet. He rolled his aching shoulders; the chaos at the club still weighed on him like phantom bruises.
Rosa just grinned, that wild spark in her eyes undimmed even after cursed drinks and close brushes with doom."I told you, I know a guy. Trust me, it's super exclusive. All the best cursed junk is down there."
Asher exhaled smoke, watching it curl and vanish in the chill air. "Exclusive. Great."His instincts screamed this was a bad idea. But what else was new?
Rosa knelt, rapping twice on the manhole cover.Then, sweetly and with just the right tinge of chaos:"I wanna spend my regrets."
A pause.Then the lid groaned open on its own, revealing a spiral staircase descending into eerie green light.
"After you," Rosa winked.
Asher sighed and stepped down, muttering, "I always regret this."
The Midnight Market hit them like a slap of sound and scent.It sprawled underground like a carnival thrown by demons after a three-day bender.
Neon signs sputtered.Booths made of jagged bone and rusted metal lined the maze-like corridors.Demon merchants hawked wares ranging from cursed trinkets to bottled nightmares.Overhead, glowing insects flitted between exposed pipes, casting fractured shadows.
Asher's eyes narrowed, absorbing it all — the chaos, the unholy commerce, and the faint tug in his gut that told him trouble was near.
"This place is AMAZING!" Rosa shouted, eyes sparkling as she spun in a circle. "Ooo, look! They've got haunted plushies now!"She bolted before he could stop her, zeroing in on a stall covered in stitched monstrosities, each teddy bear weirder than the last.
Asher stood still a moment, letting the noise settle into the back of his head. His gaze swept the stalls, hunting — no, tracking — for any sign of artifacts tied to the serpent cracks. He wasn't here for cursed stuffed animals. He was here to stop the damn apocalypse.
A sharp scent cut through the air — sulfur, ash, and something cold.A sign flickered near a darkened stall:"Artifacts of the Old Serpent — Priced to Move!"
Bingo.
Meanwhile, Rosa haggled like a gremlin unleashed."I'm not paying five regrets for this teddy," she snapped at the merchant, waving a threadbare bear with one glowing eye. "Two regrets and I'll throw in my last cursed hairpin. Deal?"
The demon merchant shrugged."Fine. But no refunds when it whispers Latin at 3 a.m."
"Deal!" she beamed, hugging the bear close.
She didn't notice her reflection shimmer in the booth's cracked mirror… and then vanish.
Asher approached the serpent stall cautiously.The vendor — cloaked in ragged chains, face hidden — watched him with gleaming eyes.
"I'm looking for something," Asher said, voice flat but laced with warning. "Anything tied to the serpent cracks."
The vendor's chuckle grated like broken glass. "You're poking your nose where it doesn't belong, detective. Dangerous hobby."
"Yeah, I've noticed," Asher replied, unimpressed.
With a scrape, the vendor slid something forward — a jagged mirror shard, black and spiderwebbed with cracks that pulsed, faintly alive.
Asher's heart thudded.The patterns on the shard matched exactly the fissures creeping across Nocturne's skyline.
He stared at it, fingers twitching."This came from where?" His voice was low, lethal.
The vendor's grin was a razor line."Pulled from the Spine of the City. The cracks are growing… soon even this market will crumble into the serpent's jaws."
Asher's jaw clenched tight.This wasn't just urban decay anymore. This was something much worse.
Suddenly—"ASHER!" Rosa's voice rang out, panicked.
He turned just in time to see her wave frantically, her cursed teddy in one hand, and a wild look in her eyes.
"Uhhh… I might've traded away my reflection by accident? Haha?"
Asher stared, deadpan. "Seriously?"
She spun, gesturing to the mirrors around her. Nothing. No reflection."It's gone! Oops?"
He closed his eyes, breathing deep."Fine. We'll… fix that later. First, we're buying this shard."
They barely had time to breathe.
The ground lurched — violently.Cracks, glowing faintly green and shaped like a serpent's spine, spidered out from beneath their feet.
Screams ripped through the market.Booths toppled. Neon signs exploded in showers of sparks.
Asher's gun was in his hand in a flash.Rosa clutched her cursed teddy like it was a holy weapon.
And then — from the largest fissure, something rose.
A hooded figure, face hidden in shadow, but its presence suffocated the air.It pointed one long, bony finger at them.
"The feast begins soon," it rasped, voice hollow and endless. "The detective and the thief… appetizers."
Asher's eyes hardened, grip tightening on his revolver."I hate shopping trips."
[End of Chapter 57]
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Preview of Next Chapter (58) — "Crack in the Underworld":Asher and Rosa are trapped in a collapsing Midnight Market, forced into a deadly game of survival against the Herald of the Serpent. Expect explosive fights, relic-fueled chaos, and moments of dark humor as they unravel the deeper conspiracy choking Nocturne from the shadows.