A note to everyone reading.
This is the first story I have ever written, and I've thought of it to become a series.
I enjoy taking pre-existing ideas of MapleStory and tweaking them such that I can mold the story the way I like and add ideas of my own of these concepts, as you will notice.
Also, I have split this one chapter into two.
Read along. I'm hopeful you'll enjoy it.
Kerning City.
A city known for its beautiful orange dusk sky. A city known for its ghostly subway systems. A city known for its secrets, thieves, riots . . . A city known for its hell. But recently, hell is worse. The once secret war between the Dark Lord and Lady Syl is revealed. Thieves have become increasingly aggressive. Riots are an everyday occurrence. In Kerning City, thief is pitted against thief; Bandits and Assassins on one side, and, on the other, Dual Blades.
A lone Nightwalker skips through the rooftops of this concrete jungle, through the thick smog and cold ambiance of its atmosphere. She was clad in Dark Shadow equipment, but lacking the Pilfer; she preferred to let her long, wavy red hair loose. Her footsteps made no noise, but they didn't need to; the chaotic noise from the riots in this place drowns most other sounds. Nevertheless, she proceeds stealthily, hoping not to come across any aggressive individuals willing to take the life from her as quickly, or as gruesomely, as they can.
"Scout Kerning City," the Chief Knights commanded back at Ereve, almost four hours ago. "Look for anything that could lead us to the location of Lady Syl. Some of the Dual Blade aggressors possess skills that even Lady Syl couldn't have taught. We have plenty to ask her."
At first, the notion of locating this hideout seemed ridiculous to Rika, the Nightwalker in question. Cygnus Knights are supposed to eliminate the Black Mage. Hell, Cygnus Knights should be focused on locating him! The more she thought about it, however, the more it made sense. These Stalkers, as these more powerful Dual Blades are dubbed, could have been given these abilities by the Black Mage through Lady Syl, or perhaps even by the Black Mage himself.
As Rika runs through the city's canopy, she could see the scars done unto this place; collapsed buildings, gashes on the walls and streets which daggers and kataras have made, piles of cars where they have crashed, you name it. The city's landscape is crumbling. Both the Jazz Bar and the Secret Garden are sacked; gone. The new locations of the two rogue leaders are anyone's guess.
She stopped at the corner of the top of the tallest building, panting. After three hours of searching for any little anomaly, her energy is drained. A little rest shouldn't hurt. The higher vantage point should give me ideas on where to search next, anyway. As she reaches for a Mana Elixir in her pack, she glances over the new ruined skyline of Kerning City.
The first rogues started here, she thought. All rogues started here.
Rika had never lived here. She had thought of residing here before, but after witnessing what there is to behold, she reconsiders. Shaking these off her head, she takes a rejuvenating drink from the Elixir bottle. Back to work.
Work is interrupted.
The suspicious sound of footsteps whispered from behind. Someone was trying to sneak up on her. She hoped it isn't a Stalker; heck, she hoped it isn't a Dual Blade at all, but only they would be willing to cause her any harm. In this situation, she could jump off the building to avoid a possible attack, but her experience with Flash Jump is insufficient, and therefore too risky for her to use it to reach even the next building in front of her, which is too far of a distance away; or she could try to face the source of the footsteps.
She decided on the latter. Better to fight death than to flee to death, right?
In one swift movement, she spun to face the assailant and flung two Steely knives in his direction, aimed at his head. A direct hit!
Or so she thought.
The stars simply passed right through a faded silhouette. Mirror Image. Crap. Her eyes searched beside the silhouette for the Dual Blade, but couldn't find him. The real thing flanked her on the left, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. Thinking fast, she flash jumped the distance she can achieve inward the structure's plateau, dodging three lethal stabs in the nick of time. Quickly reorienting herself, she threw another pair of Steely knives at the Dual Blade, but they, too, flew right through him. What? It was only another animated silhouette. It took her time to realize it, but there were four others besides the two she had encountered, and they all move independently.
This is bad. And that, it is; the first individual she came upon was a Stalker, or should that be, the first individual she has yet to come upon. This isn't Mirror Image. All these dark figures were products of Soul Splitter, one of the currently identified capabilities of this new breed of killer.
Rika was both lucky and unlucky, in that Soul Splitter is known to deplete its user's life and renders him immobile to create six silhouettes for a short period of time, but getting to the Stalker before he gets to her will be a challenge. One of the silhouettes leaps into the air and lunges towards her, two more approach her from the sides. There wasn't any time to do any thinking; just enough to let instinct take over and jump back. The Flying Assaulter narrowly misses her, making a small, albeit noticeable scratch on the tip of her orange-lined shoe, but the two silhouettes sent a storm of slashes at her, and caught her as she makes another leap. Intense pain surged through her body. She was, however, a tough enough cookie not to scream bathed in this amount of hurt, and sane enough to keep herself from panicking.
The six silhouettes approach her slowly, tauntingly moving closer to her bit by bit, as if savoring the moment before eliminating her existence. She crawls herself backwards until a wall stops her. With her limbs twitching and her eyes watering, she ignores these dark figures, looking for the Stalker. He's got to be close to dead. These things have been around for long enough. And she spots him.
He stood motionlessly on the edge of the crane next to the building. Die. A single Steely should be enough to kill him at this point. She ceases her breathing to aim delicately at the distant target, and then sends two more throwing knives to fly through the air. The silhouettes have already reached her. They're standing around her. Hopeful that at least one Steely will pierce the heart of the assailant just before his silhouettes carve her body dead, she closes her eyes as if they'll disappear by the time she reopens them.
A cold gust of wind engulfs her, and she is grabbed in the neck by a strong vice grip of a hand, pinning her against the wall. It was the Dual Blade. His eyes were the coldest she has ever seen; they looked colder than those of a frozen dead body. The silhouettes have gone, and he now controls her fate. All Rika could do was helplessly kick him and flail in his grasp. Even scratching his arm with a Steely didn't work.
"Shall I welcome you to death?" he taunted, loosening his grip just a bit to hear a response. Rika knew better than to give him one; it could only make him more torturing. Instead, she used this loosened hold to take deep breaths and save herself from suffocation. He resumes strangling her, and she resumes kicking at his Dark Studded clothes and scratching the Steel Rover that closes her throat.
All this was interrupted by the arrival of yet another thief, jumping onto the edge of the building. He wore on his face a stark, focused yet relaxed glare, and on his body, a Nightshift set. Sweaty and panting, he was possibly fleeing another scene or just survived one. He produced a Triangular Zamadar from its sheath and took a battle-ready stance. Rika wanted to scream at him to run, but she couldn't with a hand grasping her throat.
"What the hell are you gonna do? Look at you," taunted Rika's captor. He was still letting her breathe every now and then. "You don't look like you got guts for anything."
A coin fell from the rogue's pocket and wheeled toward Nightwalker and her captor. The Dual Blade released Rika and picked it up, smiling at its shine.
"Thanks," he said. "I suspect I'm paid a quarter short, anyway." He took the coin to the wheezing girl and coated it in the crimson liquid oozing from a wound on her neck.
He swallowed it.
"Money sure does taste better when there's someone's blood on it." He obviously felt like a lord.
The rogue dashed toward him in the blink of an eye, wounding him in the chest with his dagger. The Dual Blade was surprised; he was misled. The seemingly lowly rogue was in reality a Chief Bandit. No problem, he thought. I'm deadlier. Leaving the girl, he focused his attention on the new arrival, taking a Dragon's Tail and a Blazing Dragon Katara in his hands, activating Mirror Image and charged at the Bandit with a Tornado Spin. The Chief Bandit moved out of the way and brought an Assaulter upon the Stalker as he passed. Another wound was opened, this time, on the back. The Blade turned and attacked with eight fatal hits, and the Bandit parried with six savage hits of his own; two cut him, but he barely made a face of pain.
"You're welcome for the quarter, by the way," the Chief Bandit stated, "but you made this much easier for me." With a flick of his finger, a low boom bellowed from within the Stalker's belly. Both dagger and katara fell to the floor before he fell to his knees. He let out an anguished scream before hugging his stomach and coughing up blood. The Chief Bandit kicked both of his weapons out of reach. He removed the mask, and grinned upon seeing his recognizable face.
"Well now," he said, staring at the Stalker coldly in the eye. "Deja vu."
Rika could feel herself drifting into unconsciousness and started to close her eyes. The last thing she sees is the Bandit swinging his dagger at the attacker. The last thing she hears is a morbid gurgle followed by the plentiful sound of droplets meeting the ground.