IV: Abschussen im Dunkeln

[Nayt]

"Yeah, it's fine," Zeto replied, a bit of urgency in his voice. Shin was the first human other than Sturm that Zeto had even seen in the City of Shadows; he hadn't the slightest clue what kind of trouble Shin could potentially get himself into. He kind of wanted to avoid that at all costs . . .

"Follow me," he declared.

He walked ahead, motioning for Kremnaes to follow him. The Eyes were vital to the city; they allowed for all sorts of micromanagement and efficiency. Many viewed them as an invasion of privacy and the enforcement of vice grip control, but Zeto didn't understand this.

To his knowledge, there was no such vice grip upon the inhabitants of their city.

"He's injured, right? He can't have gotten too far."

---

IV.2: The Pursuit of (Un)Happiness

"Keeeeeeeeep runnnnnniiiiiing!" Daniel Kerington cried as he turned the corner, flailing his arms in a frantic display of urgency all the while.

As Daniel passed them by, Presmodia passed an inquisitive glance to Christoph. It was a hesitation which almost ended badly for the both of them.

"You don't think he--" the Ersatzshad began.

But the question was never finished, though Christoph Zalien might have known and understood what Presmodia was talking about--perhaps enough to provide an affirmative answer. The interruption? It was the exact problem they'd been trying to avoid the whole time, of course.

The armored creatures turned the corner and quickly enveloped the north end of the street. There was a veritable sea of them, quickly lining the street from sidewalk to sidewalk, and hastily moving down its lengths, to where Christoph and Presmodia stood within the center of it--to where Daniel was fleeing like a bat out of hell. They were fiendish creatures, not quite Ersatzshad, but not quite shades: imp-like beings half the height of the average man, clad in conscript armor shined to a mirror finish. Each red eyed, pure obsidian fiend carried a likewise colored spear twice the size of each wielder and a small round shield on their other arm.

Without a word, Presmodia whipped around and followed Daniel's lead. Against these things, fighting wasn't an option--not in the least . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

Christoph started speaking at about the same time Presmodia did. "That simpleton probably-" But for the same reasons he was interrupted, and he hesitated a fraction of a second less longer than Presmodia did. He didn't need to know what they were or his assessment of their chances--the fact that there were so many of them was enough to cross combat off the list of options in Christoph's mind. Even though his magic would probably be especially effective against them, he couldn't hope to take that many at once.

"Take the lead," Christoph urged Presmodia--he trusted him to do whatever was in his own best interest, and right now that coincided with what was in his own: getting to safety. And of the three of them, he knew the city best. "That idiot will probably just lead us into more of them."

He was, however, finally buying into the idea that the city was a war zone...

[Nayt]

Great plan. Daniel would probably lead them all to a dead end, at which point they'd have no other choice but to turn around and probably get themselves slaughtered by a force of impish army men.

Unfortunately, they started running after Daniel passed them by, and Daniel was without a doubt faster than the two of them when he was running for his life--and that damn kid was really running for his life. Presmodia grumbled under his breath. There was no way they were going to catch up to him . . .

He checked behind him, checked before him, and checked his sides. They needed to come up with something--some sort of distraction or stalling device.

An idea suddenly came to mind.

"Hey, that building down that way!" Presmodia shouted in a rushed tone as he indicated a three story structure half of a block down the road, "Weaken it!"

Presmodia was not aware of the full extent of Christoph's powers, only that Christoph had powers. Of the group, it seemed like Christoph and Presmodia were the only ones that had outwardly destructive powers--and if Christoph could somehow weaken a building's structural integrity, that'd just be grand.

[Zach Kaiser]

Christoph was tempted to tell Presmodia to just leave Daniel if he ended up turning into a dead end, but thought better of it. He did still owe him his life, though after this he was tempted to say his debt was repaid.

While he got an inkling of what the Ersatzshad had in mind, and it was certainly an effective idea...

"I'm afraid I can't," he replied calmly. His magic could not physically effect anything that wasn't a demon, shade, or some other creature associated with darkness. He could make a human feel like they were on fire, but there would be no actual damage, and he couldn't so much as light dry wood on fire.

He suspected Presmodia had some kind of power of his own, but whether or not it was capable of weakening the building, he didn't know.

[Nayt]

"Shit," Presmodia frowned.

Presmodia reluctantly raced past the structure he originally had plans for. He didn't have the time to take care of it as he wanted to, not without help. Some of these things took time, a waste of time which would no doubt lead to their deaths if he tried it. With help, however, he could cut that time in half, and maybe get the two out of this relatively unscathed. Presmodia, at the very least, would be able to come out unscathed.

Maybe all wasn't lost, though. Presmodia eyed another structure, this one a story shorter than the previous, another half of a block down the road.

"Can you at least cover me, then?" the Ersatzshad asked in blatant irritation.

Not that his irritation wasn't understandable. Daniel drew these enemies to them, outpaced them, and a method he came up with on the fly to get them out of this problem was debunked by Christoph being a lot more useless in this situation than Presmodia figured he'd be. In swapped roles, Christoph would have probably been just as irate.

[Zach Kaiser]

"Of course," Christoph responded curtly. It wasn't his fault; Presmodia simply made a false assumption. One had to constantly monitor the situation, reassessing it as new information came to light. Assuming information one hadn't confirmed could cost one dearly.

Fortunately, even if he was being slightly irate, Presmodia seemed to have a plan. And while Christoph couldn't affect the building, the pursuers were another matter.

He spun and slid to a halt as he swept his arms out wide. As he did, a wall of silver fire erupted from the ground, covering the entire street end to end. He hadn't wanted to use such a blatant display of power, lest he draw unwanted attention to himself, but it was the lesser of two evils here.

Presmodia had to hurry as fast as he could, though; Christoph didn't know how long he could keep such a large effect active before it weakened to the point where their pursuers could break through without killing themselves...

[Nayt]

Presmodia slowed to a stop shortly after Christoph did, to find that Christoph was, in fact, laying out a distraction for Presmodia's even larger distraction. Beautiful.

For a long moment, there was a pause amongst the dark, armored creatures. They were clearly hesitant to cross the threshold and enter the flames, and as they were guided by the will of one particular Ersatzshad, that must have meant that he was hesitant to sacrifice any of his order to test the boundaries of Christoph's powers. The silver fire was an all too familiar image for the former shades. The silver fire, for them, was condemnation; it was the guarantee that they would die and die painfully.

And yet, as time passed, one impish creature of darkness took a bold step forward. Its comrades remained in fixed position, unmoving, as the one took a small step forward--and then another, until finally its helm met with the silver fire crossing the street--and then, it took yet another step forward.

The one imp of shadows, clad in its well shined armor, emerged . . .

It appeared completely unscathed. Silver fire flickered across its mirror sheen armor and its figure retained perfect form, undaunted, uninjured. It was unhurt--it was an example, an example of the questionable nature of magic, of how it possessed no rules, of how it held only guidelines, all of which were fundamentally breakable . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

He'd been afraid of that; whether it was magic or simply thick enough metal, the creatures' armor was protecting them from his flames. However, he didn't intend to kill the lot of them, and non-sentient though they seemed to be he preferred getting away without killing any of them if possible; he was already in enough trouble.

In a burst of silver fire, the Silver Nova appeared in his hands. A double ended weapon with flame-shaped blades, it was a versatile weapon that required skill to wield. Hoping to catch the creature off guard before it gained its bearings, he lunged with one end and attempted to hook the imp's weapon on his, then twist in order to disarm it. If that was successful, he'd follow up with a boot to the chest, not for damage but in an attempt to push it back to the other side of the flame wall.

"How much longer?" he asked. If Presmodia was almost done he could start to retreat, but if not he'd need to figure out some other way of stalling them. He wouldn't be able to hold them if they all came through at once...

[Nayt]

The imp, truth be told, seemed confounded by its survival. The imps on the other side weren't sure if the one passed through alive. They looked to each other with quizzical glares of solid red eyes, while the one imp that passed through lost its gusto in light of its survival.

Regretfully (for it), it hadn't the time nor opportunity to embark upon its ideal celebration of poking a sharp edge through soft flesh, peeling away skin, and prodding through all the soft and gooey organs beneath. The celebratory feast that would no doubt follow celebratory poking was, too, out of the question, for during its confusion and self interrogation to determine its survival, its spear was grasped by a spear of a different variety. It looked up with shocked red sclera and a lifted obsidian brow, only to discover the ideal target of both celebratory prodding and celebratory feasting staring down at it not with his eyes, but his boot.

The impish creature stumbled back and fell through the silver fire. On the other side, it was caught by a flurry of instinctual but vaguely guilty spears. Its armor was pierced, its eyes were closed, and its limbs were limp. The other imps slowly backed away to evade the guilt of their accident.

Beyond the accident, however, they soon came to accept that they could pass through the shimmering fire and return unscathed. The only concern was what happened to live on the other side.

Fortunately for the imps, they were in much greater number than their immediate threat, and worry was only upon the minds of those in the front--those that took the first steps forward. Soon, Christoph faced a new wall: not one of fire, but one of small, onyx skinned creatures, clad in their mirror coated armor, and leering at him with their red scleras and invisible pupils.

"Go!" Presmodia then shouted, perhaps to the immediate relief of Christoph Zalien.

[Zach Kaiser]

Just as the creatures were unaware what lay beyond the flames, so too was Christoph ignorant of the fate that befell the being he kicked. Not that he would have particularly cared if he knew, as it certainly wasn't his fault that his opponents were quicker with their spears than their wits.

He had more pressing concerns anyway; the entire group began to advance through the flames, far too many for him to take on in melee combat. He was weighing his tactical options when he heard Presmodia call.

Wasting no time, he turned and began to flee once more; he'd follow Presmodia's lead for now, and hope that whatever he had planned would stall their pursuers long enough for them to get away.

[Nayt]

While Christoph ran, Presmodia did not. He remained still--standing where he was, half of a block down from Christoph. Focused as he was upon the impish creatures, he hadn't seen what Presmodia was up to, not until now. During Christoph's distraction, Presmodia had kept on moving forward, until he was at both sufficient distance and nearby a sufficient structure. This one was only two stories, but he figured it would do.

When Christoph retreated, if he paid attention, he'd find that Presmodia held one hand out, his palm open towards it. There were numerous cracks running up its foundation, gliding up along its sides, and grasping at its rooftop. Dust fell loose from the thin open spaces let forth by the newly formed damage. Presmodia was grinning as he hadn't grinned for quite some time. With rest and relaxation since the last time he used his powers, Presmodia was restored to full. He required some degree of preparation for a large catastrophe, but he was more than capable of delivering one . . .

The impish creatures didn't notice it. Their eyes were solely upon Presmodia and Christoph, who had since passed Presmodia by. When they were close, Presmodia's grin practically ran ear to ear.

"Boom," he whispered as he glided his open palm, to squeeze the air and throw forward as if he were chucking a lightweight object at the encroaching imps.

The assault was instantaneous. Once Presmodia guided the throw, it was upon them: cracks viciously attacking in diagonal and horizontal pattern, claiming whole sections of walls, segmenting and separating, collapsing destroying all at once, but not upon itself. Dust kicked up as the structure roared its death cry, and at the behest of Presmodia, lurched forward in segmented ruins all at once, terrorizing the structure just across the road and forcing it to collapse in on itself just as well. The asphalt and cement below quaked as the structure's remains heaped across the road, collapsed upon the imps, most of them, and encasing the others within temporary stony tombs.

The dust this kicked up was extraordinary. Presmodia remained standing still, convinced of his success, though it was physically impossible to see a thing for the next half a block, and would remain that way for some time.

"Well, that should keep them busy for awhile," Presmodia declared as he dusted his hands victoriously.

[Zach Kaiser]

"Telekinesis?" Christoph guessed in between coughs from the dust. He then thought back to the battle with the angry Ersatzshad squad earlier. "Ah, so that's what happened to those last few. Well done."

It might seem odd that he could guess that, but due to researching his magic Christoph was quite well versed in knowledge of many different paranormal phenomena. Psychokinesis included, though he'd quickly ruled that out as a source for his own powers. In any case, he wasn't a scholar for nothing.

"I don't suppose you saw where Daniel went. I can't see a thing." Part of him hoped that Daniel was long gone; he didn't wish any particular harm on the boy, but he was beginning to think his company was more trouble than it was worth.

[Nayt]

"Not a clue," Presmodia shrugged his shoulders.

He couldn't dwell on that for too long, though. They had time to work with, but not a lot of it. If they just hung around this debris field, they were going to find themselves in an even worse position than before. They needed to get out of here and get someplace safe, someplace they could lie low for a little while. This was simply going to allow them that opportunity. It was an unfortunate waste of time, but they didn't have much of a choice by this point.

"Here's the plan, though. We're gonna go out somewhere the Eyes can see us. Danny boy's friend is gonna tell him where to find us. Then we're going to break into one of these places and hide out for a few. Chances are we're gonna be surrounded for a few; this whole sector's gonna be blocked off. We'll try this again when it's all clear."

Presmodia started away from the rubble, hand over his lips, eyes shut. Like most Ersatzshad, he didn't need sight to function normally. When he passed by Christoph, he reached out with his other hand to tap the man on the shoulder and to indicate that Presmodia was there, and in what direction Christoph needed to follow.

As if thinking on the same lines of Christoph, Presmodia added with an irritated mutter, "Not like we have a choice. Danny-boy's friend won't do a thing for us without Danny-boy with us."

And at this point in time, Danyr had all the cards: they needed to either play by his rules or lose any chances of getting through the city safely. Daniel was regrettably a permanent member of the group, despite how belligerently incompetent he acted sometimes--like now.

[Zach Kaiser]

There was interesting chain there, in that Christoph didn't need Danyr's help but rather Presmodia's: it was he who knew where Usurii lived. However, Presmodia wanted, he guessed, to either permanently disable or take over the "eyes," which right now Danyr had. Thus, he supposed he did need Danyr by extension, and therefore Daniel by an extension of an extension.

"Very well," Christoph responded. Unfortunately, right now he held none of the cards; he had nothing that anyone in the group particularly wanted. He guessed, given Presmodia's lack of reaction to his magic, that he wasn't with whatever faction wanted him dead, so even betraying him didn't do him much good. Though again, that was assuming Teos wasn't lying about people being after him.

Despite the similarities, it's much more difficult to read Ersatzshad than humans, he lamented to himself.

Feeling the tap on his shoulder, Christoph turned and followed the hazy silhouette of Presmodia through the dust...

[Nayt]

It was amazing how things could change so quickly. Danyr sneaked in, took out the target, and took over full control of the Eyes. They should have had a full advantage over the rest of the city. Danyr could see it all. He could see all but the blind spots--and that did not exclude the facility. They should've had ever advantage in the world.

But it seemed the Ersatzshad had measures to take just in case their Eyes started to go blind. Aware of the intruders in the city and the few like Presmodia who were clearly not on their good side, they weren't taking any chances. Now, Danyr, Christoph, and the others just needed to lay low for awhile.

Not like they had much of a choice in the matter anymore . . .

IV.3 The Azure Reflection

They'd long since cleared the facility, Shin and the figure. Shin followed, but it seemed the figure was always several steps ahead of him. It was subtle, how it worked; if Shin regained enough strength to walk two paces faster, the figure walked three paces faster.

For that matter, it seemed to take a route that was very . . . open. The way they left the facility, the way they walked the streets--there was no one to see them. No one in the windows, no one in the halls, no one in the rooms, nor no one in the streets. The figure took sharp corners, back halls, and ruined staircases, back alleys and darkly lit streets. The figure strode briskly, always two steps ahead of Shiden, unobtainable in both distance and attention, for even the slightest of noises that may have indicated that it was being followed did not draw the figure into reaction.

And it continued--until one sharp corner came, and figure had vanished completely . . .