"What the…" Venka murmured at the strange boy's remarks. The Surdan boy wore a smile on his face, which grew wider and wider, at the moment he kept pace with them.

"And who the hell are you to be talking to any of us like that!" Nya remarked angrily.

"Me?" The boy sprinted ahead with alarming speed, enough to shock everyone, even Seya.

"Hey… we've been at this for 3 hours, right? And he's been ahead of the pack for so long, no one to catch the headwind, yet, he can still sprint like that?" Katya muttered.

As they looked ahead, the boy turned, jogging backwards, whilst still jogging he raised his right hand, placing two fingers on his forehead and stretched his other hand as if reaching back towards the group. "I am, THE MARVELOUS, THE STUPENDOUS, THE ATHLETIC!" He back-flipped twice, landing gracefully and continuing his backward jogging, "THE ENCHANTING, THE BEAUTIFUL," he winked, "The Astounding Blue Beast of Lightning, Wind, and Fire, Donovan Sarkany Ryujin-Ja o !"

"...What kind of name is that?" Morgan muttered.

"Oh, non-non, mon amie, It's a noble, regal name, of great importance." Donovan winked, "I, first of my generation, will be the greatest mage in history, greater than all the elves, all the riders, and even more powerful than dragons or Shades!"

"That's… that's an aspiration right there," Morgan muttered.

"He kinda reminds me of how you were when we first met," Venka said.

"I'm nothing like that loser!"

"Please! Don't compare me to that moron!"

Donovan and Morgan yelled at the same time, they then glared at each other. Donovan again broke into a smile, "Anyways, as I was saying, as the future greatest mage, any girl worth their salt would lay at my feet, so… ladies, are you at least half as smart as you're pretty?"

Nya's answered by sprinting forward, planting her foot on Donovan's chest, knocking him over. "Ass! What's wrong with you?!"

Donovan burst out laughing, "Did I get under your skin? Get on your nerves? I can slip under some other things… if you know what I mean."

Seya added to Nya's rebuttal with a savage kick to Donovan's side. He shouted in pain as his arm broke. "...Creep." She muttered.

The rest of the group jogged away. "That was… a bit harsh," Venka muttered as Seya and Nya caught up.

"Sometimes the student mages get a little too big on the britches, entitlement, gold, and magic can do that to people," Seya muttered light-heartedly. "Sometimes, in order to really break it to them that you aren't interested, you have to… break something. He should be fortunate to get away with an arm and not that thing between his legs."

Morgan winced. "Yeesh, Seya, you've not…"

"No, but Nya and Katya both have, Katya almost killed someone once."

They all turned to look at Nya, then Katya. Katya shrugged, "He tried to drug me, besides, if I hadn't beaten the tar out of him, my mother would have actually killed him, and death would have been too good for any piece of trash who thinks like that."

"Drugging you? My god, only an idiot would do that! My goal is to simply woo!" Donovan announced loudly, slinging his non-broken arm around Katya.

The group slowed to a stop, with every member shoving the cocky mage apprentice away.

"Leave, us, ALONE…" Nya growled.

Donovan raised his hands, "Hey hey, alright, you don't like being touchy-feely, I get it, so… what, candlelit dinners, music… food?"

"She's not interested, I'm not interested, none of us are interested, what part of leave us alone don't you understand!?" Venka finally burst out, angry.

"Well, you haven't punched me," Donovan began, "So I probably still ha-" he was interrupted by a quick punch by Nya. Wheeling back, he massaged his jaw, "Well… I guess I see your point." He gave them a sardonic smirk. "Well, good luck on your run." He burst into an alarming sprint.

"Wait…" Nya looked around; they were off the correct race path. "That… that bastard! He got under our skin! He aimed for this! Led us off the normal road!"

"Calm down Nya." Katya murmured, "We worry about him when we win." She looked up at Seya, "Seya, I know you aren't interested in winning and getting a chance to see that egg. But that… asshole, I'd have a bad taste in my mind if he was anywhere near an egg."

Seya looked at them quietly, then nodded. "See you guys at the finish line." She turned towards the quickly shrinking figure of Donovan, then, gritting her teeth, burst into a headlong sprint, rapidly catching up…

…

"Alright men, I know this will stink to high hell, but I need you all to be ready for anything, several people have disappeared, and we'll be on the lookout for anyone in there, the highest priority will of course be Linus Wilkons, child of the noble Lord Bradley Wilkons, remember, we'll be looking for his silver insignia."

Faris watched the guards, they had faces shifting from disgust to determination, a few of them glanced back at him, trading his even stair with a plethora of different expressions, some disgust, some dismissal, some hate, some pity, and a lot of fear. Faris subconsciously touched his forehead, and cursed to himself when he saw his red hair, he forgot he had washed it. Though there was little time to regret it, as the smell of raw sewage assaulted his nostrils, nearly making him puke. He wrapped a cloth around his face tightly and nodded to first Ventus, who flew away, and to Minnie, who had already turned and fled by the time they were within a dozen feet of the entrance of the sewer.

Be… safe.

Faris nodded, entering the sewers. It was a dank, musty air, even discounting the smell, it was difficult to breathe. Several soldiers wretched left and right. Eventually, the soldier who galvanized the rest, in the beginning, sighed, waving his arms then muttering a few words in the ancient language. The air around the soldiers began to clear. Faris turned his head sharply to the freckled man.

"What?" He gave a wry smile, "You think everyone with some inkling of the ancient language comes from that school of yours? The majority of members of the Du Vrangr Gata wouldn't even qualify to be bronze ranked mage apprentices, so, those outside the school get in any way we can."

"I'm not a mage anymore."

"Yes, I'm aware." The guards looked around, one pointing to a furrow in the muck.

"Sir, these look like footsteps, of varying sizes and quality." A guard called out.

"Several people have passed by this location, let's follow the trail." He called out. The guards quickly marched behind him.

"So… you're their leader?"

"Vice," The guard said, "I know a bit of healing, quality of life, and such, help a man's bad back, fix a popped shoulder, arrow to the kneecaps? You earn a man's loyalty, fix his wife's toothache, fix his daughter's nose she broke as a child? You earn their devotion."

"So, you believe in the utility of magic?" Faris asked.

"Well, we have it, it can be a finer instrument than even that made by the most meticulous of craftsmen, and it's capable of evil and good, depending on the user. I believe in being as strict as possible with it, even to the point of limiting words that can be used in the ancient language for everyday living, it's not our language we speak normally, and whilst we use it to affirm the truthfulness of our statements, at the moment, people don't fully believe, know, or trust in that language." The guard smirks, "I assume you believe in the full use of magic?"

"No," Faris answered, the guard gave him a surprised look. "Don't be surprised, the ancient language requires someone to be truthful at all times, so, elves invent ways to lie without lying. They will speak in half-truths, omit information, and answer to completely different questions, while keeping a level of stupid decorum, maybe as a society humans can reach that, but such passive-aggressiveness is harmful to a society marred with the desire to live for tomorrow."

"You sound like one of those codgy philosophers." The guard chuckled.

"I probably do." Faris sighed, "But it's difficult, I want to be nuanced in my goals, and include as many people as possible."

"Oh? What sort of aspiration do you seek?" The guard asked, somewhat amused.

"Utopia." Faris answered resolutely, "I want to save the people of the slums, help them pave the way to change their destiny, then spread that to every village of this nation, every city of this kingdom, and every kingdom in this world."

"Seams dangerous," The guard remarked, "There are more than a few people who feel legitimately threatened by the rising of the status of the people of the slums, and of peasants in general."

"The nobles you mean." Faris nodded, "Yeah, I know, as long as they don't try to stop me, I won't hurt them."

"Oh? You'd force your ideals against them? What if the queen was against you." The guard fingered the pommel of his sword.

"Then you should probably kill me now." Faris began, "I have three measures of engagement when it comes to how to deal with someone, their age, their status, and their past and current actions."

"I feel that'd be four things."

"Your past has as important a bearing as what you do currently." Faris remarked, "And I think it's stupid and unfair to believe that just because an individual has "changed", we shouldn't take into context what they've done before. This critic of the past isn't just of people, but of society and culture as a whole."

"Really? How so."

"I know you are just humoring me, I'm constantly judged for my actions and for my appearance, even if I rail against the unfairness of it, it is still a part of who I am," Faris remarked. "Wait… hold on." He paused, scanning the end of the long underground pipe way, the smell was thickest there, and the tunnel split down two paths.

"There are two paths." A soldier remarked.

"Yeah, I noticed that with my eyes." Another soldier muttered, "It's all about which one we need to take."

Faris looked at the prints on the floor. "The fresher footprints are on the left path." His voice echoed, we might find someone if we go there." The guards looked at each other, but the freckled one nodded.

"It's a good bet."

"Wait… wait dammit!" A guard shouted, "Why are you being so chummy with this…" He looked at Faris, "Thing, look, look at his hair and eyes, they said he turned into a Shade, he's either a monster or fool attempting to scare people."

"I am neither." Faris muttered, "And that's not rel-"

"I heard when he was at a hospital he killed a man, made his heart rupture just by being around him for a week, and when they found them when the old man died, his blood was on the boy's lips." Another guard remarked.

Faris had to hold back his urge to shout in anger. "We are here to rescue people, I-"

"And why would a monster like you care?!" The guard shouted angrily, "A fuckin' shade thinks he can care about people? You were one of those mage faction bastards, killed a bunch of people, burned them alive, and you think you can 'save the slums?' Those bastards you burned were slum trash too right? Slum trash beating down on other slum trash, everything could rot for all I-" Faris brushed past the other guards, slipping out his dagger and holding it to the man's nose in a fluid motion.

"The only reason I tolerate your bullshit is because people's lives are at stake, if you fucking think so little of people that you write them all off, why the fuck would you care if I killed slum trash?" He cocked his head, looking as the other guards held their weapons at him. "You bastards are feckless trash, I'm 12, yet I'm riling you up like this? Because I killed rapists, murderers, and smugglers? Because I'm supposed to be some sort of demon, who if I was as evil as you pretended to think I was, and actually had the abilities you ascribe, would have killed you, already."

The guard gulped, then stuttered, "S-See! See! He's trying to kill me!"

Faris rolled his eyes, "I am speaking to you in a somewhat even tone, my knife has not drawn any blood, and your head's between your neck and you aren't missing any digits, though… I don't think you could be any uglier even if I cut you up."

"Faris… calm down." The freckled guard began carefully.

"Or what? You'll kill me? Demonize me?" Faris didn't turn his head, keeping them evenly on the guard he was threatening. "The 'middle authority' in this city is driving me mad, and-" His eyes cut to the side, he pulled back his arm then whipped it forward, slinging his knife forward and past the guards. Almost immediately a guard punched him in the face and another attempted to spear him. Barely avoiding the spear, Faris pointed a finger forward. "Someone's there!" Most of the guards barely registered his words, and the one he threatened ignored him, reaching for him until an arrow struck his arm.

"AAAARGH!" The guard screamed, falling over as the impact of the bow hit his shoulder. The guards scrambled and turned, in the distant gloom, a lone figure dressed in filth-caked rags that covered their figure wielded a bow.

"Surrender yourself!" The freckled guard demanded.

The figure responded with 5 more arrows in quick succession, some striking the guards in non-vital locations like below the leg and the forearm, others bouncing off the walls and causing sparks. In one such spark, everything was illuminated for one short second, and Faris's eyes widened, the arrow which struck the guard, was the same kind of arrow that killed the dwarves. He got up quickly, doing his best to be inconspicuous as he inched towards the front of the guard unit, who had by this point gathered their shield bearers to the front. After waiting for one last volley of arrows, Faris vaulted over the lead guard, using the man's shoulder as a ledge, then carried his momentum forward, keeping low and placing his buckler forward. In his other hand he took out a small cylindrical object with a hard leather grip, the object had two openings, one of which was capped, and two levers on the grip, resembling the brake levers on a bike or motorcycle.

As Faris closed in on the archer, he noticed the figure sling their bow and take out a short sword, swinging down at an obscenely fast pace. If not for Faris predicting the downswing and angling his buckler he would have been cleaved in two, even then, he was bounced to the side with obscene levels of force. The figure charged towards him but backed up as the first of the guards reached him. In a quick swing, their assailant knocked down the guard. Faris pounded his fist into the ground, getting up and charging forward. Pressing the first lever, the second opening popped out, and a dark black liquid spilled out on the figure's cloak. Almost immediately Faris switched to the second lever, rapid clicking filled the air as his short baton let out several sparks, igniting the oil he just spilled on the enemy. As the flames engulfed the figures cloak Faris didn't hear the screams or shouts of a man or woman, but rather a raspy, hissing noise as the figure backed up and ripped off its cloak, revealing the Ra'zac. Faris tossed more oil around, coating grime in the stone walls and setting it on fire, illuminating the gloom with a hellish light.

"A child…?" The Ra'zac cocked his head in confusion. "Why… here…?"

Faris froze, from what he remembered, Ra'zac were duplicitous and flesh-hungry, while they would flee from a large group of soldiers they wouldn't hesitate to unleash a killing blow. Before he could respond the Ra'zac screamed in pain as a spear pierced its side. Retreating from that spot it slinked further into the darkness and began firing arrows at rapid procession.

"COME NO FURTHER! LEAVE US ALONE!"

"Leave us alone?" Faris muttered, "who's 'we'?" The rate of arrows began to slow down, and Faris began to get up, behind the guards again. He looked for the lead guard, the freckled one, and began slipping through again as he found the man. "Catch the Ra'zac."

"You want us to catch that thing?!" The guard retorted. "We'll have trouble even killing it."

"I can give you words in the ancient language." Faris began.

"That's against the mage laws, you can't share your knowledge with non-students."

Faris shrugged, "I'm not a mage anymore."

After a few seconds, the guard nodded, "Fine, we'll try, my name is Niro."

Faris raised an eyebrow, "Your name is Niro?"

"Yes, it wouldn't be fair if you didn't know my name," Niro smirked. "Alright then kid, illuminate me."

The guards began to attack the Ra'zac with a more combined effort. The Ra'zac parried and dodged their blows, striking out at and knocking down guards left and right, but it was not without injuries, an especially severe wound in the arm caused the creature to click rapidly several times and slice down with killing intent, finally slashing a soldier's handoff. The soldier screamed in pain and the others backed up, leaping over a kneeling soldier, Faris charged forward, sword swinging and buckler in front of him. The Ra'zac batted him away with ease. The Ra'zac felt something in his hand tug and turned to see Faris, string connected from the buckler to the Ra'zac's arm. The ra'zac raised its sword to cut the string but was unable to move. Its compound eyes flickered as they scanned its many lenses, resting on an exhausted-looking soldier with brown hair and freckles who had his hands raised towards the Ra'zac. Before it could respond, Faris charged forward, more string and rope in his hands. He worked quickly, binding its claws in rags, then tying them behind the creature's back, then tying more rope and twine around the creature's arms and legs until it was bundled tighter than a caterpillar in a cocoon, with only its face exposed.

"Ugh! Letta!" Niro groaned, dropping his hands and falling to his knees. The Ra'zac began struggling as the magic binding his movements ended but found the rope impossible to break out of.

"No use." Faris began, "we'll have to cut the rope to free you, now, who-" he was cut off by the cheering of the guards, who pumped their weapons in the air. "Yeesh…"

"Release me! You won't take them back! They are safer here!" The ra'zac hissed.

"Safer?" Faris said loudly, "Who are you talking abou-", Faris was interrupted by another loud shout. He glanced up to see the guard he threatened bearing his sword down on the Ra'zac. "HEY!" He shouted, glancing the blow away with his buckler.

"What! Is the monster going to try and save the other monster!" The guard shouted, spittle flying from his mouth. He moved to thrust again, but another guard stopped him.

"Wark! Stop." The guard commanded.

"Let's just get rid of both of them while we have the chance!" The guard, Wark, screamed. "That brat held me at knifepoint, and the other monster shot me in the shoulder! He also fucking killed all our men!"

"Well…" another guard muttered quietly, as he slowly limped up, "except for my severed hand, most of us aren't in too bad of shape."

"You aren't helping, Nog!" The Wark shouted in rage.

"Yeah, and you think you're helping Wark?" The guard muttered, "Yeah, shades are terrifying, and the kid burned a ton of people to death, you can fear him all you want for doing that, well, Wark, who's your hero?"

"That's different." Wark averted his eyes.

"Stronghammer slew nigh 200 men, but you idolize him don't you?"

"They were enemy soldiers working for a tyrannical despot!" Wark shouted. "They burned villages!"

"And the men I killed were child kidnappers and exploiters." Faris retorted angrily.

"Well, it's fucking different! You aren't one of us!" Wark shouted, "Roran was a soldier of our kingdom, this is a magic-using bastard!"

An awkward silence filled the sewer. Faris stood up and looked at the Ra'zac, "You mentioned someone or a group of someones who were safer down here, who are they?"

"What? Have no words to refute me monster?" Wark jeered at Faris.

Faris ignored him, staring at the ra'zac and propping him into a more comfortable sitting position.

"I… will not betray them."

"You have my word, that if you have not killed any people, that you and whoever you are protecting will not be killed."

"Promise me that they will be safe regardless of my fate."

Faris turned to the guard, then back to the Ra'Zac. He nodded, "I promise." Dragging up the Ra'zac, he adjusted the rope around its legs, allowing it to semi-shuffle across the muck, leading them to an uncanny surprise.

"Th-these…" Wark began, looking at the myriad of young faces looking back at him. "Are these, All the children?!"

It was a well lit, large room with a dry floor, in one corner of the room sat a Roaring fire, warming everything, elsewhere were myriads of small candles, surrounding the candles were hundreds of different glass shards of different size and color, hanging from the ceiling by a long string. Along the walls of the room were several boxish divots, large enough to hold an adult, in each one was a bed, and in some of them were children, sleeping, awake, but restful and unhurt. Milling about the room, eating, and playing, were other children. Faris sniffed, the room was much better smelling than any other location in the sewers, looking up, he saw several holes in the ceiling, likely connecting this odd section of the sewers to outside ventilation.

The guards began fanning the room. "I found the young lord!" Nog called, pointing to a child in the center of the room, about 7 years old.

"Who are you folk?" He asked in confusion, "Are you from mum and pa? Here to fetch me? Why don't you have my favorite servant?! Come back when you have all those!"

A guard turned to the Ra'zac. "And what is this supposed to be?!" He shouted in an accusatory tone, "did you gather these children to eat them?! Like chickens in a coop?!"

A child charged the guard tackling him in the gut. "Leave Rags alone!"

"R-rags?!" The guard shouted in confusion. The children by this point all turned to see that the Ra'zac was tied up, and a few of them began surrounding the guards, attempting to slip past them to free the Ra'zac.

Before they could act, Faris took out his knife and sliced the rope off. The Ra'zac got up and hugged the first child to reach it.

"I'm fine Ronny…"

The guards stood dumbfounded. Wark twisted his face in anger, but before he could angrily move forward Niro raised a hand to stop him.

"Where are your parents? I know some of you are orphans, or your parents are around, but some of you had parents who went missing about the same time."

The kids got quiet, one finally answered. "They went to go to work."

"...work?" Faris asked.

"Yeah, most of our parents… they were…"

"They were all awful," An older kid, sleeping in one of the cots, sat up. "Drunk, angry all the time, beating us, none of us want to go back, so good riddance to them, now they're working, and we get food, and clothes, and toys, and warmth. Then some big kid doctors come and help us if any of us are sick."

"Surely not all of them were bad." Faris reasoned.

"I thought you could understand…" The kid scoffed.

A soldier grabbed a child by the shirt. "Where the hell are all the people who came after you?"

The older child who spoke before got up, with other older children rushing the guard. Before they could get into an altercation Faris took out his baton, pressing both levers he swung into the air as a wave of fire burst out before dissipating, this caused both groups to stop.

"Please, let the child go, and calm down, we need to speak rationally, lest we miss any information." The guard let the child go, who ran into the large crowd of children, who had by this point surrounded the recovering Ra'zac. After a few seconds, he turned to the guards. "I don't know most of your names, you all know mine, but I don't need to know most of your names." He turned to the kids, "as for you kids, I don't know any of you personally, which leads me to believe you come from a different area of the slums from where I am. If you don't know, I am a former mage apprentice named Faris. Please pick a representative to speak for you. The guards shall do so as well, and we can exchange all the questions and answers we need to till we all die of boredom. Otherwise, if this turns violent, people will definitely get hurt."

The guards turned to Niro, and the older child that spoke up walked forward. He had a deep tan and gray hair, his eyes were equally gray, making him look older than he was, he glared at Faris, then at Niro.

"I am vice-captain Niro, we were sent here to rescue Young Lord Linus."

"I didn't need rescuing, I ran away!" Linus called out.

"... Be that as it may, that was our task." Niro continued. "Ra'zac are dangerous, and were used by Galbatorix to feast on the common folk, the fact one is here is troubling, I don't know what sorcery it cast to trick all of you, but I f-"

"If by sorcery, you mean food, clothes, and shelter," the gray-eyed boy began, his frown deepening, "then yes, he cast 'sorcery' on us, how about you take your noble brat and leave us alone?"

"Brat?!" Linus began, shaking in anger to the point that his blond curls bobbed up and down. "I have been civil, and polite, you are the rude one you… you vagabond!"

Faris ignored the noble, looking at the Ra'zac. "You gave them food? So, you don't eat humans?"

The ra'zac made an odd series of clicks before speaking. "Eat… humans, the children...never, the food… I eat the rats… the wild birds… not the children, protect… them."

Niro breathed out from his nose, grunted, then spoke, "Are you serious?"

"Are we expected to believe that?!" Wark shouted angrily. "I say we slay that thing and leave with Linus, these brats can decide to follow after us if they want."

Many of the kids moved in between the soldiers and the ra'zac again.

Niro gently spoke, "don't any of you miss your parents?"

"Please, we're all orphans, our parents are either dead or they abandoned us, the few who didn't have abandoned parents ran away from home, else we'd be sold into slavery."

"Slavery is illegal." Niro began roughly.

"Oh? Is it? Yeah, the word, slavery is illegal, but household servant? It's not." The boy began, "Let me ask you, how is it that nobles have all these young servants? Are they simply the children of their servants? Do those children get paid?"

Faris perked up at this, "Which nobles do this? Can you guys tell me?"

Wark interrupted, "They feed and clothe you bastards, what would you brats do otherwise if those nobles didn't take you in? Resort to thieving, trash our streets…" He spit on the floor. "In fact, I imagine you stole all the food and clothing you have."

"I did not steal… I was given." The Ra'zac began.

"Who gave you the food and clothing." Faris began, interrupting Wark's angry retort.

"We did~!" A voice called out in a sing-songy tone. Faris turned, alarmed, and cursed as vines erupted from seemingly everywhere and nowhere, grabbing unto him and the soldiers, pinning them to the walls, ceiling, floor, or simply suspending them midair.

Walking into the room were two teen girls, both with white hair. The oldest had shoulder-length hair, cropped bangs, and an arrogant smirk on her face, she stared at Faris with her deep red eyes.

"We meet again, garbage," Alpha smirked.

Faris attempted to pull against the vines.

"Don't try too hard." Gamma called out, her green eyes glowing, "they have…"

Faris winced in pain as he felt several needles poke into his arms, several soldiers also shouted in alarm as the vines erupted thorns which pierced the men.

"Why are you two here?!" Faris shouted, enraged by their presence.

Ignoring him, Gamma walked up to the Ra'zac, helping him up. "Ah, there we go… Rags right? That's what the kids call you? Well, anyways, we are glad you are unhurt, and that these 'bad guys' got captured."

"Bad guys?!" Niro shouted angrily. Immediately, an oppressive feeling filled the guards' minds, Faris felt it as well and began to fight back with all of his might against the mental onslaught of the enhanced children. Many soldiers passed out, some were gasping for air, others held still. Niro, for his part, was able to eke out tired speech, "what… are you…? We aren't… evil… serve… the city…"

"Oh please." Alpha smirks, most of you enjoy being able to step all over the weak, these kids would have died under your 'guard', but they get to be productive otherwise now."

"What?!" Faris shouted.

"Hmmm…" Alpha began, "Gamma, the doctor stated our spies reported that Faris lost his magic right?"

"Yes, he did."

"He's got a decent mental defense going on… I wonder… jierda."

Faris screamed in pain as his ankle bent, the bones and joints snapping and separating.

"Oh, that took more energy than normal," Alpha commented. She smiled serenely at Faris as he looked up at her, his face plastered with sweat and his eyes slightly watering from the pain. "You're about to cry?" She smiled wider. "Good, scream, beg for mercy."

Faris's reply was to click a few buttons on his igniting baton, which lit the vines wrapping him up on fire. The two enhanced children watched on in amusement as Faris burned himself, and smirked as he landed when the vines could no longer sustain him. Just as his feet touched the ground more vines began to wrap around him again, but Faris had gained enough time in his fall to reach for his pistol, aim it at Gamma, and fire his prepared shot. Gamma collapsed as the bullet tore a hole in her skull, and part of the oppressive force bearing down on their minds lessened. Shaking free from the vines, Faris and the few conscious guards moved back as quickly as they could. Alpha looked at Faris with renewed interest.

"Interesting, the maggot can actually leave a stinging bite." Before he could reply, she sent him flying into the wall, he nearly blacked out, and as he struggled to get up, he saw Alpha dismantling the guards with the ease of a tank through a field of paper cranes. The children began to scream in fear at the brutality of it, and Alpha turned to them, muttering words in the ancient language causing all of them to collapse.

"The… the children?!" Rags shouted.

"They're asleep." Alpha turned her attention to the three guards still standing. "Well, you seem impressive." She moved her eyes across Niro, Wark, and Nog.

"How dare you.." Niro hissed, tightening the grip on his short sword. He had to let go of his spear when Alpha began to lift both it and him up into the air with just one hand, only to watch her spear two of his comrades.

"Oh please, if you are truly angry, perhaps you should defeat me then," Alpha smirked. The guards charged her.

Faris attempted to get up and assist them but slipped on something on the floor. Looking down, he saw his palms, slick with his blood. His heart began to pound and he began to feel light-headed as the adrenaline could no longer hide the pain he was in. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from crying out in pain, looking for anything to pull him off the ground.

He found a snapped spear, and grabbing one of the bits, began to try and pull himself up like a walking stick. His arms wobbled and he cursed in pain. Giving up, he instead reached for his pistol, groaning as he found it across the room, he began to crawl to it.

The three guards, Niro especially, fought admirably, Niro had a high enough ranking that he was given a crystal that slightly improved his physical ability during the battle, but even then he was like a toddler facing a giant as he swung at Alpha.

"Okay, I'm bored." Alpha sighed, sticking her index finger into the forehead of Wark, killing him instantly, turning to Nog, she set him on fire.

Turning to Faris, she smirked, "I recalled you set this guy's previous leader on fire, so, I thought it would be fitting."

Niro screamed in rage, unleashing as many deadly combinations in the ancient language as he could, swinging his blade in tandem. Alpha's eyes lit up in interest.

"Oh, you have magic, but you aren't one of those ridiculous robbed mages, so you must be trash at that too." She blocked his attacks and endured his spells with ease, smiling as Niro collapsed, cold and lifeless. "See, forgot the most important rule of magic, if you don't have the energy, the spell will kill you."

Faris grabbed and reloaded his pistol, firing upon Alpha's chest, the bullet caused her blood to spurt out, causing her to fall back. Capitalizing on this, Faris rushed over, donning spiked gauntlets and punching Alpha in every vital area he could see, throwing his weight into his punches. His own body protested as he moved, and blood began to seep faster from his body, but he was desperate. After a few seconds, Alpha grabbed his neck.

"That was it? No tricks? No surprises? Was that really your best?" Faris smirked even as he was choking. After a few more seconds Alpha dropped him, face twisting into a frown as her wounds healed at a slower rate. "Ah, seithr oil." She kicked Faris, breaking his left arm. After a quick chant, her body began to heal rapidly, turning to Gamma, she kicked the enhanced child in the arm. "Get the hell up."

After a few seconds, Gamma's vines raised, wrapping around and lifting her up. Gamma smiled, spitting out the bullet Faris shot her with.

"He's got new tricks." Gamma offered.

"He needed at least that to hurt us, besides, his large weapon was better, the one he used to defeat those mages." Alpha retorted.

"Would that have beaten you?" Gamma quipped.

"Of course not." Alpha sighed, "so, how long would you have been lazing around there Gamma?"

"As long as you were going to waste with weaklings." Gamma retorted.

Faris threw several things at their feet. They looked down to see origami balls.

"What...paper?" Alpha began, "What's that gonna-" she was cut off by Faris tossing his igniting baton at their feet, the oil hit the paper, the sparks going off and setting off the soldier powder in the balls.

Faris covered his face as the explosion rang out, knocking him back somewhat. As he looked around, his heart fell. "The children?!" He realized, cursing, he had forgotten about them in the conflict, looking around, he reloaded his pistol, which was incredibly hard with only one usable hand. As the smoke began to clear, he saw the vines had moved to protect all of the children, unfortunately, the guards in the vicinity were not protected, Faris felt bile gathering in his throat as he turned to the origin of the dust cloud. Emerging from the smoke, with only slightly singed clothes was Alpha and Gamma. Faris fired at Alpha, who casually moved her hand in front of the bullet, it didn't even reach her body, stopping at her wards.

"You really are full of surprises Epsilon." Alpha smirked, "That was almost as much force as a punch you threw us when you became a shade." She smiled, "well, at least, other than the subjects, the doctor will have an interesting tool to examine."

Faris in response crushed his gun with his gauntlet.

Alpha just smiled wider. "You would have made an excellent family member Epsilon, just behind me in perfection."

"Fuck you…" Faris muttered darkly, clutching his side.

"So, how do we kill him?" Gamma asked, moving her vines to entangle Faris. "Dismemberment? Quartering? Defenestration?"

"What? Alpha asked, "What the hell is defenestration?"

"Toss him out a window," Gamma smirked, flicking her fingers to move the vines closer.

He couldn't fight as the vines wrapped around his body again, suspending him helplessly into the air, only to hear deep booming laughter and his heartbeat growing louder. "Shut up…" Faris muttered. "Stop laughing."

"Ooh, we better kill him fast, he's already lost enough blood to hallucinate," Gamma called out.

Alpha ignored her, walking up to Faris and caressing his cheek. "You've gotten older, pity…" she slid her hand down his face to his neck and began to wrap her fingers around it, squeezing tighter and tighter.

The pounding and laughter in Faris's head as he struggled for air got louder and louder, drowning out all of his thoughts, all his pain, all his fear. Eventually, he could feel nothing except great exhaustion, giving in to it, he closed his eyes, slumping into the vines.

Alpha continued to squeeze harder, disappointed Faris hadn't made a single gagging sound. "Is this really all you-" She was interrupted by Faris moving his hands to her wrist, gripping it with enough force to make her frown. Faris slowly opened his eyes, the pale, colorless light replaced with a deep red, almost as fiery as the sunset. With an inhuman roar, Faris kicked forward, launching Alpha backwards, she bounced off the thorn wall as Gamma moved to attack Faris. Without turning to look, Faris leapt into the air, reaching the ceiling and pushing himself out of the area into the center of the room.

"Oh… I remember this look." Gamma smiled nervously, "I knew we should have just killed you."

She looked at Faris, no, Tartarus, as he glanced at his limbs then felt his strands of hair, closing his eyes, he looked at Gamma, then at Alpha. "You really are interesting…" he smirked.

"Oh? Thanks?" Gamma began.

"I wasn't talking to either of you…" Tartarus extended his right hand and stabbed himself in the chest. As his blood spilled unto the floor, a deep, rhythmic booming sound began to echo across the room, emanating from the Shadling. As his blood began to drip, he got paler and thinner, as if he was being sucked dry. The blood that dripped from his chest was tinged green, and as it began to spread, words in the ancient language began to spread across the room, written in his blood and spreading out until it covered the walls, floor, and ceiling. His body, now almost wraith-like, turned to one of the dead guards. Smiling, he cut the man open and began to drink his blood.

Gamma held her hand to her mouth in disgust, and even Alpha frowned at the site.

"Forgive me." Tartarus muttered, as he tossed the body to the side, "but I needed to replenish my blood, luckily, there's a hole in my stomach, and all the bile already left, so as my body heals…"

"We don't need or care for your reasonings, and we don't care about the fates of those weaklings," Alpha smirked.

"Again, I was not talking to you." Tartarus picked up Niro's short sword, twirling it a few times and turning to face the two enhanced children. "Alright…" He charged forward...