“Come on! Don’t be a baby!” An eager young boy urged on one of his friends, who was defiantly shaking his head, staying put.
“Nuh uh! I don’t wanna go there! We could get in trouble, and my mom already–”
“Seriously? When is a chance like this gonna happen again? Not everyday when a building is destroyed close enough where we can explore it!”
“But what if the police–”
“If they’re there, we won’t go in. Promise. We’ll just take a quick look from the outside.”
His friend looked down at the ground before finally taking a shaky breath and stepping forward. “A-alright…let’s go…”
Upon gaining his friend’s approval, the boy’s grin widened as he turned and walked down the road, slowing his pace to match that of his friend. As the two adventurers turned the corner, the steady pop of gunfire scared them both stiff, not moving as their eyes darted to each other, their faces pale.
“W-what was that?”
“I don’t know. I’ll–I’ll go check.”
“No! Nate, don’t go!”
However, ignoring his friend, the boy took several steps towards the building, spotting the parked police cars out front. However, as he slowly raised his shaky leg for another step, another series of pops rang out as he ducked for cover, rushing behind one of the vehicles. Peeking his head over, he spotted Kaelen dashing backwards, keeping distance between himself and Elias, who was desperately trying to close the gap between them.
Elias gasped for breath as he jumped forward, slashing his knife, but was met with the disappointment of the blade cutting air. “You’re still like a cat!” Elias shouted as he continued his pursuit, ducking behind some concrete before Kaelen fired two more shots.
Kaelen chuckled to himself, despite the circumstances. “It’s all thanks to you.” Elias grinned before his face turned more serious and leaped over the concrete, instantly closing the distance between them. Effortlessly dodging another strike, Kaelen fired another shot, forcing Elias to take cover.
Grunting, Elias once again left the safety of cover and purposefully swung the knife, unrelenting from his attack. As Kaelen dodged each strike, the appearance of a large, snarling dog momentarily startled him, slowing his response just long enough for Elias to nick his arm, blood beginning to trail down his arm.
Kaelen immediately glowed, the dog instantly vanishing into thin air. Firing another shot, forcing Elias to retreat, Kaelen bitterly clicked his tongue. “Very clever with your casting…”
“I have to be clever.” Elias replied. “I wouldn’t have any chance otherwise with that nullification ability of yours.” He smugly grinned. “Definitely helps that your fear of dogs is still alive and well.”
Breathing unevenly, Kaelen flicked the safety on and holstered his gun. Hearing the weapon being holstered, Elias slowly lifted his head, standing up and watched as Kaelen stood still, glaring at him. However, the short peace between them shattered as Kaelen dashed forward, reaching out and grabbing onto a piece of a broken, rusty pipe, and swung his makeshift weapon down, the clang of metal rang throughout the building.
Elias’s eyes widened as he dashed to the side, his heart miraculously beating even faster than before as a primal fear coursed through his veins. Dodging another strike, the pipe smashing through a chunk of concrete, Elias’s breathing became frantic. In all his years of knowing Kaelen, not once had he seen the pure hatred and bloodlust in his eyes as light frantically flickered from his body in multiple directions. There was no chance of his casts having any effect on him now.
As he desperately dodged each lethal strike, Elias’s eyes desperately scanned the area, hoping to find something, anything that could turn the momentum of the fight back in his favor. Some movement outside of the store, on the other side of one of the police vehicles, briefly drew his attention, as a boy watched the fight unfold, his mouth agape with shock and awe.
Dodging one last strike, Elias dashed out of the store, rushing towards the vehicle. Before the boy could respond, Elias had slid on top of the hood and reached the other side, reaching out and grabbing the boy, pressing the knife against the terrified boy’s throat. “Stand the fuck back Kaelen!”
Elias shouted, his voice shaky as he gasped for breath. “You take one more step and I swear to the goddess I will slit his throat!”
Kaelen, who had given chase and was now in the middle of the street, immediately slowed and stopped as quickly as he could, hatred burning in his body. “You son of a bitch!” Kaelen muttered as he dropped the pipe and took out his gun again, pointing it at Elias, who had dropped his head behind the boy’s shoulder.
“You should know me by now, Kaelen.” Elias breathed out as he tried to catch his breath. “Nothing is off limits to me now.” The boy whimpered as Elias put more pressure on his neck. “Now, if you value this boy’s life, you WILL step back and drop your gun. NOW!”
Peeking over the boy’s shoulder, Elias watched as Kaelen remained in place, still pointing his weapon at him. Moving his hand down slowly but firmly, blood was drawn from the boy’s neck, who let out a terrified scream. “I said NOW!”
Kaelen, seeing the terror plastered on the boy’s face, sighed and lowered his weapon. Slowly setting his gun down, Kaelen took a step back as he observed what Elias’s next action would be. “Don’t you move a damn muscle! Take one step towards us, and you’ll have this boy’s death on your hands!”
Kaelen scowled as Elias began to drag the boy away, facing Kaelen every step of the way. Once he was a good distance down the street, Elias roughly pushed the boy forward and sprinted, turning around a corner. Knowing a pursuit would be pointless, Kaelen cursed under his breath as he grabbed his gun and holstered it. Walking to the boy, who was weeping and clutching his neck, Kaelen kneeled next to him. “Are you okay?”
His voice, once deep and filled with hate, was now light and bursting with compassion. The boy shook his head, opening his mouth to speak, but no words came out as his breathing was uneven, his body shaking. Placing a comforting hand on the boy’s shoulder, Kaelen tried to calm him down. “It’s okay. He’s not here anymore. He won’t hurt you anymore.”
As the boy slowly began to calm, Kaelen took his hand from the boy’s shoulder to his shirt, ripping off a piece. Cautiously raising the boy’s hand from his neck, he saw a sizable but non-lethal slice to the neck. “Here, put this on your wound. It’ll help slow the bleeding.”
As the boy shakily grasped the piece of cloth and placed it on his neck, Kaelen smiled. “There. Now, go back home. Let your parents know what happened.” Nodding quickly, the boy stood up and began running away, stopping briefly to take one last look at Kaelen, and disappeared around another corner, hearing another boy’s voice babbling out questions about what had just happened.
Standing back up, Kaelen took a deep breath to stabilize his emotions. The first chance he had in eight years to enact justice had slipped through his fingers. Clenching his fists, he walked to where he had last seen Elias and looked around, not seeing him. Letting out a growl of frustration, he began to walk down the street, trying to plan out his next steps.
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As Kaelen walked away, standing on top of the roof of one of the buildings, a slim man, sporting a sword that looked like it belonged in a time long since passed, silently watched. “Well, that was a close one. Thought I would have had to intervene, but that criminal appears to have a soft side to him.” Taking out his phone, he called a familiar number and placed the phone to his ear. “It’s me. Fragment wasn’t here, and it appears like we weren’t the only ones who were looking for it.”
After a few moments of silence, the man nodded. “Yeah, and it appears like that mercenary Gray is also involved, though it appears like his target is the man who was looking for the fragment. Not sure if–”
He stopped speaking as the voice on the other end interrupted him. Listening for a few more moments, his body tensed. “Understood. I’ll keep this incident under wraps and continue my mission. It’ll only be a moment before I’ll get wind of that man’s whereabouts and follow him to our target. Until then...” Ending the call, the man placed his phone in a pocket in the robe. Walking towards the edge of the building, he jumped, safely landing on the ground as his body glowed. “Time to get back to work.”
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and then Add to home screen.