Summary:
The pair of uncooperative robbers Leo and Johnny get roped into a fight for survival when they meet the mysterious and seemingly all-powerful Aurora Reath. In order to prevail, the two men will have bury their personal grievances and work together. It's a shame the two are far to bullheaded to do anything of the sort.
– TEAS: The Lost Archives –
Chapter 8: Worst of the Worst
It was nighttime in the desert tundra. There was a small rundown carriage off the side of a main dirt road. The horses deserting long ago. It had been toppled and was currently laid on its side. The cargo since rummaged through and littered the area around it. Passing winds causing the wooden wheels to spin without traction.
Just beside it was a small campfire. Low on timber, the core of the flames were spawned from a heap of stolen clothing. Two men sat opposite of each other. Both dressed in suits, one in black and in contrast, the other wore white.
The man in black was brandishing a Tommy-Gun as he cleaned the barrel. He had a wide girth to his stomach, a stocky height. His thick shoulders hanging brutishly in his relaxed position.
With nothing but the howling winds of the dessert audible, the black dressed man would occasionally sneak passing glances at the other due to how frustratingly quiet it had become.
Across from the gunman, the other sat still atop a small rock which acted as a chair. Using the dim lighting of the fire, he was reading a recently acquired book from their earlier raid.
This figure was slender and much cleaner looking. He was clean shaven and his hair was slicked back, not missing so much as a hair out of place. Even in the less than favorable light, his eyes would dart back and forth across the pages with sharp inquiry.
Frowning, the gun wielding bandit put down his drum-barreled firearm and crossed his arms. "The heck is that thing anyway?" He asked aloud tactlessly.
Flicking through the pages, the white dressed man never stopped reading. "If I'm gathering this right, this seems to be summoner's bestiary; an almanac of a great deal of monsters and creatures of other worlds."
"Summoners?" The man in black repeated, starting to pick his nose. "Y'mean those stuck up magician types from way overseas?" He asked in verification using his most limited understanding of the term.
Knowing full well that a proper explanation would be wasted on the idiot, he didn't even bother. "Quite." Was all he commented on the question. "Yet it's far more than just a continent away. Their capital is on the other side of the globe. Or, at least it was. We couldn't be be further away from them if we wanted to."
"Yeah, yeah. Who cares?" The other scoffed beginning to lose interest.
"Don't be bitter, Johnny. I'm sure someone will care enough about you to teach you how to read a map eventually." The man in white commented callously.
Scowling in aggravation, Johnny aimed his gun at the man instead. "Screw off, Leo!"
Reaching a certain page, a passage near the bottom caught his eye. "Hm?" He hummed as his eyes lit widened ever so slightly. "This is...!" He stopped as he reread it in his mind in order to be certain he had processed the information properly. "It seems to have some instructions on how to implement summon spells as well."
Suddenly intrigued again, the other leaned over. "No kidding?"
Picking up a jagged rock off the ground, the black haired man in white began replicating a sigil from the tome into the sand. After checking his work, he tossed the stone away.
Rummaging through his pockets, the thief pulled out a pilfered necklace from their earlier target that night. A white and somewhat blue crystal at its center. Not even thinking twice about it, he ripped the gem out and shoved the remainder of the jewelry back into his pocket for later resell.
"This should be a chunk of summonite." Leo said, inspecting the hunk of crystal a while longer. "According to the book, with this pattern, I shouldn't even need an incantation. I only need to—" Holding it near the mark he had made on the ground, a reaction began to take place.
A blinding light illuminated the general vicinity as a mild gust emanated from its center. In precaution, the gunman grabbed hold of his weapon.
The light died down to reveal what otherworldly creature was pulled over. Both looking down, the two saw a small lizard looking around cautiously that was no larger than a rabbit. Nothing necessarily peculiar about it apart from its bloodshot eyes.
Unimpressed, Johnny prodded the creature with the tip of his gun. Not amused, the reptile spewed out a steady stream of fire from its mouth up toward the man like a living flamethrower.
Crying out with an undignified low yelp, the bulkier man tumbled backward and onto his side. Fumbling onto his back, he took aim and started firing at the small creature with sloppy marksmanship. Every projectile from the hail of bullets missing entirely and kicking up sand and dirt, this allowing the small reptile to creep away unnoticed.
Silent at first, Leo began dusting himself off. "Well that was certainly a comforting reminder of your skill set." He ridiculed after the shoddy display.
Growing ever frustrated, the black dressed thief reached over and took the summoning materials. Using the same glyph the other had used prior, he held the mystical ore in his hand. Presenting it in front of him, nothing happened. Repeating the gesture again and again, the end result was the same. Nothing. "The heck's goin' on?" The larger of the pair cried out in annoyance.
Flipping through his tome once again, the discharged soldier found another page which seemed to hold the answer to this question. "According to the book, only certain people can actually perform these kinds of rituals. Its something you're born with. A natural talent." As he uttered the last few lines, a great deal of self-worth began welling up inside him. "I see. This is something only I can do." A pleasant look growing as his eyes lit up with purpose. In this state, he failed to notice Johnny walking back over to him again.
Aggravated, the heavier of the two men yanked the book out of the other's hands. Holding it overhead, he prepared to hurl it into the fire. "Damn thing's useless."
Just as Johnny stepped forward to slam the book downward and burn its insulting pages, the tome was reclaimed by its new owner from behind. Still preforming the motions, the tarnished former knight nearly stumbled and fell face first into the flames himself. As he struggled to regain his balance, Leo reached down for his hand. This wasn't to aid him however. He reached down and took back the crystal as well before walking away back to his seat.
With a huff and a grunt, the black garbed crook pulled himself away and stumbled onto his backside, narrowly avoiding a nasty burn wound. With an aggressive exhale, he glared over to his unwanted partner in crime who was once again enraptured with his stolen piece of literature. "Fine. Keep the damn thing. It's useless anyway. You can't rob people with a book."
"You're limited intellect knows no bounds." Leo remarked offhandedly. "Just you wait." A sinister smirk growing across his face. "I'll be certain to put this tome to good use." His eyes unable to be ripped away from the pages in front of him. At that moment it was decided. That book and all its secrets belonged to him and him alone, they were just waiting to be discovered.
. . . . . . . . .
One Year Later
It was a little passed dusk. The setting, a rather small town home to barely over a hundred people. The land barely qualified to be marked on the map of the southern half of the continent. This was the town of Oscuro.
Expansion planned from its humble starts, the houses were constructed in firm rows with barely enough room between to call them alleyways. It was a simple place of simple pleasures. Stationed just beside its development to the North was a thin and lowly creak. While being close to water was beneficial, the wide span of only inches of water could never have been used for the most basic of hydroelectricity, making it almost pointless. It would almost have been funny, if it weren't so pathetic.
The streets fashioned in similar manner to more prosperous cities, it was lined in cobblestone. Still growing, many of the outer homes were still being put together. This resulting in the town's sole inn to be quite popular by workers and wayward travelers.
Inside this establishment was a small bar in the back. A handful of rooms on the ground floor while the rest were on the second as was the staple with many inns and taverns, this one being no exception.
On the ground floor, there was a rowdy mesh of patrons surrounding a pair whom were slugging it out in a otherwise barren corner of the building. The brash noises of fists colliding against flesh just barely overshadowed by the drunken cheers of the people watching the violent spectacle. Some throwing in small bills and coins for whom the victor would take as his spoils.
The man on the losing end was a top heavy carpenter. His shirtless figure while originally lean and well built now painted with numerous heavy bruises as well as blood from both parties. His short buy sweaty brown hair partially hanging over his face. Awkward and painful gasps escaping him between breaths.
Opposite, while similarly bruised, the larger man stood tall and unwavering. He had a stocky figure, a rather prominent gut to him. Having taken off his black suit and undershirt beforehand, it was fully exposed. This wasn't a bad thing in the current situation however. Having a gut only meant that area could take some tenderizing before any noticeable impact could be received. His arms were more muscular than one would expect. The biceps alone more than half the size of their owner's head. The knuckles bloody, the skin a paled color from long before, these were the hands of a man very familiar with violence and he had the deadened nerves to show it.
Cracking his neck roughly, the larger fellow rose up both his hands almost like a more woozy variant of a boxer. His meshed brown hair pushed sloppily to the side and held in place by his own sweat as not to get in the way of his vision. Two beaten but eager brown eyes staring forward toward their target, dead ahead. His brawl had been going on for a little longer than ten minutes, but the knockout blow was coming, he could feel it. When this thought crept into his head, a savage grin came to meet it.
Across the room, watching lazily and away from the crowd, sat a well dressed black haired man clad in white. His hair was combed proper to one side, there was a bit of resistance to this as a few hairs near the bangs stuck out of place. It was as if they were being instructed to act in a way they were unaccustomed. A light colored and pointed goatee starting to form as shaggy hairs grew along the chin line. This being the second sign of a fairly recent lack of what must have been routine grooming and personal upkeep.
As he seated himself at the bar. His drink only half touched, he stared without much interest. In contrast to the larger man, he was taller, and slender by what must have surely been over a hundred pounds. His pair of hazel eyes shifting about every so often.
Leaving the circle of cheering drunks, a man walked over to the bar and took a seat next to the well off looking man. With a friendly smile, he greeted the other and leaned closer. "Ya look bored, friend. Why not take a wager with me? Let's see who'll come out on top, eh?" He suggested eagerly.
Glancing at the man, the slender fellow gave him a quick once over with his eyes. "Oh? Not a particularly bad idea." He began, the man's words seemed slow, but remained articulate. "And whom would you bet on?" A small forthcoming smile emerging.
With a bit of nervous laughter, the local man kept up his friendly attitude. Something inside him unnerved by the other's tone. "W-Well I figured I'd bet on the big guy. Ol' Jimmy might look down an' out but I've seen 'im come back from scraps like this on' before."
Despite the vote a confidence, the traveler wasn't sold on the wager. "I think not." Adjusting himself, he sat more properly as he turned to his guest more fully. "That oaf will come out on top. It's simply a matter of when. Why don't we bet on how long it will take?"
The atmosphere soothing him, the local man laughed again much more earnestly this time. His worry from before fading away. "Sure. Why not? How's about we—"
Before the man could finish, the white dressed male slammed his right elbow against the bar counter behind him abruptly, startling the other. Crossing his left leg over the other, the traveler smiled. "We will wager the number of blows it takes for that unruly man to finish his deplorable mess of a slug fest. I surmise that it will take no more than three. Anything more than that, and you are the winner." Uncrossing his arms, he pointed limply at the man next to him. "Why not start the ante at one hundred?"
Shocked by the bold amount of the bet, the local gulped. "T-That's a pretty penny 'round here." Getting nervous, he took another look at the two fighters. While defeat seemed all but certain for the more muscular of the two, his legs were holding out and his eyes remained unshaken. Surely it would take more than three blows to knock him down and out. Turning back, he grinned. "Ya got yerself a deal, stranger!" He confirmed with an open hand which was shook respectfully a moment after.
Back amidst the center of the ring of drunks, the slimmer of the two had finally caught his breath. Gritting his teeth, he rushed back in. His face red from a mix of swollen skin and blood, the alcohol from before the fight began not helping the situation either. Stomping forward with heavy steps, the challenger let loose a wild right hook.
With hatred in his eyes, the larger of the two stood his ground. Not bothering to block or dodge, he launched a right as well. The two men bashing their bare fists hard against each other's faces without remorse. Blood flew out in opposing directions. The lighter forced to stagger a step back while the heavier remained unshaken.
Taking a deep breath, the larger ceased acting like a mountain in their ring. Stepping forward, and while the other was still somewhat stunned, he gave a strong straight with his left into the other's center of his chest. The look of pain on his face spelling out how the jolt of the impact surely must have rattled from the sternum all the way throughout each of the ribs.
Staggering backward again, the slimmer of the two combatants had his mouth open as he gasped and groaned in pain. The shock yet subsiding as he was forced to retreat a few more steps and clench his hands around his upper torso, as if the bones truly were rattling about inside him.
Watching the violent power on display, the local whom had made proposed the wager he was now locked into had begun to grow a look of dismay. Heavy amounts of sweat forming off the side of his brow the more he looked on. During one observation he even began to notice trembling knees. No matter how bad it looked, there was no way all it would take was one more punch. Even if he was another simple combination like the previous away, that would be two. Surely, he wouldn't be the victor in just one more blow. An uneasy smile struggling to find its way across his face.
The other gambler remained as still as before. Rather than watching the fight, more of his attention was given to the man beside him. The dark haired man had to hold in a chuckle at how unsettled he was becoming. Clearly, not a hint of worry about him at the ever nearing outcome.
Feeling his defeat fast approaching, the more athletic built of the two fighters gritted his teeth as he widened his footing to regain a proper stance. More than a few steps away, he all of a sudden dashed forward as he charged the large and powerful man.
When he saw this, the bruised but unhindered brown eyed man tucked in his right arm near his side. Stepping forward with his left, he readied a straight aimed dead center for the other man's head.
Taking the final step in his charge, the losing fighter gave his last ditch effort and began his finishing punch. When his foot touched down, it instantly slipped forward and the man began to tumble forward. As he did so, he looked down to see the cause of his misstep. Down by his boots was a small mess of blood, who it belonged to didn't matter.
Taking full advantage of the fall, the larger of the two instantly altered his pulled back arm. Changing the angle completely, the target remained the same. Instead of launching a straight, he unleashed a violent full body uppercut. The deadly swinging blow connected just below the nose with his opponent's mid-stumble. Blood spewing out as front teeth became misaligned.
All of the onlookers stared with the same wide and agape look of dismay on the bloody scene. The local gambler pale at the harrowing sight. The traveler wearing a sly smile proudly and unfazed.
Roaring as his fist continued, the larger dragged his opponent's face and body upright with the sheer force of his blow and knocked him backward back onto his feet. Teeth falling out as the fist was removed. His head and limbs fumbling about as though he were a marionette. staggering behind, about to slip unconscious, he fell backward. Instead of hitting the floor, he crashed against one of the tavern's wooden support beams which littered the floor. This bracing him upright. His eyes twitching as the man struggled to stand up on his own, apparently a gluten for punishment, even if all it would take was a strong breeze to take him out at this point.
Staring at the scene, the well looking man's smirk vanished instantly. A disgusted look replacing it.
Still somewhat trembling at the violent outcome, the local gambler laughed dryly to himself, trying to calm himself down. "W-Well, uh, deal's a deal, y'know? What say we wrap our little bargain up and call it a night?"
While the man was sincere and clearly eager to leave after such a scene, the other male had a different air about him. "Well that just won't do." He uttered, uncrossing his legs and standing up. Reaching over, he pulled out his cane with his right hand and lifted up his drink in his left. Walking right passed the local, he began a calm stroll over to the losing fighter.
The drunks stepping aside, the well dressed individual quickly entered the crowd made ring. Whistling as though calling over a pet, the beaten man sluggishly and sloppily glanced over. As soon as the man did, he was bashed in the face by the glass full of alcohol.
Shards of glass and new open cuts of blood flew out as the man roughly tumbled onto the ground. More horror washing over the crowd again from this seemingly random act of violence. Looking around at the large amount of dismay, the blond man stared them all down with a controlled look of loathing. "What?" He asked rather accusative with the same dreadful look. Seconds later, a smile flashed across his face. "Alcohol is good for cuts and bleeding. I was just giving him a helping hand."
Not a soul daring to cross this clearly dangerous man, no one spoke up against him. Everyone in the small crowd held their voice as some started to leave.
When the man in white was about to return to the bar, the larger combatant started stomping toward him. "The hell, Leo!" A new rage replacing the fire in his eyes. "I was jus' starting to enjoy myself! Ya bastard!"
Rolling his eyes, as if wondering why such a lowly individual would even address him, Leo kept walking over toward the bar. "Nobody asked you, Johnny."
More than ready to start another brawl, the bloody combatant stopped when he heard a crinkling of paper at his feet. Looking down in confusion, he found he was standing on a partially bloody bill. Looking around, he found the rest of his payout from the watchers littered the floor around him. Bending over, he began scooping them up.
The well-dressed vagabond strolled back over toward the counter at the end of the bar. A pleased look in his eyes. "Guess I won after all. Three blows was all it took. Interference subsiding." He mentioned at the end, offhandedly.
Trembling, the local gambler eventually shook his head. "The heck you talkin' about? I ain't payin' you a dime! Ya lousy che—"
Before the next insult could be finished, Leo's cane was lifted off the ground and shoved roughly against his throat. The butt of the walking stick planted firmly against the other's Adam's Apple. This pinning him back first against the wooden counter. "Wanna try that again?" The indifferent male asked politely, his face lacking all but a hint of his true cruelty.
Beginning to choke from having his throat pushed inward, the local reached into his pants pocket and pulled out his wallet. Sticking his hand in, he quickly pulled out a series of bills. As soon as they left the leather wallet, they were snatched right out of his hands and the cane was removed. "Pleasure doing business."
Rubbing his sore and abused windpipe, the local scampered away and out the door. A quickness to his step as far more than simple fear of getting hustled again controlled his actions.
About to sit back down, Leo stared down an annoyed looking bartender. "Anymore trouble outta you and you're outta here!" He warned pointing a finger.
"Be careful how you talk to your guests. I paid for my room already, didn't I?" The man tried to argue, not a single sign of remorse at his previous actions whatsoever.
Adamant, the bartender held a steadfast glare. "No more trouble." The owner repeated walking away to service the other guests at the other end of the counter.
With a mildly annoyed sigh, the former soldier took a seat. Reaching over, he picked up a spare napkin and began drying off his left hand. The only real regret of his prior belligerent actions being that he had unintentionally stained the every ends of his white cuffs with alcohol as a result.
"You don't happen to have any wine available here, do you?" Came the voice of a refined woman across the bar. It lacked any of the local dialect, similar to himself and Johnny, this person was clearly not from around here.
Continuing to tidy himself up, the rogue summoner ignored the conversation for the most part.
"Well, we do got some wine in the cellar, but I should warn ya, it's a bit expensive." The bartender responded.
With a regal and charming contained laughter, the woman spoke up again. "So long as you accept foreign currency, then I can assure you, money is of no inconvenience."
Leo's napkin fell from his grasp at this line. With a daring smile, he slowly glanced over to the woman seated across from him.
Much like he insinuated from her tone, the woman was dressed similarly to a noble, even if it was rather strange looking for her gender. She was donned in gray slacks. At her feet were a pair of steel tinted long boots, the bottoms of which were covered in dirt and mud, clearly seeing some use. She wore a refined red dress vest over a plain yet elegant white blouse. A black dress coat seated on her shoulders like one would wear a cloak. All of the garb and material of exquisite and impeccable quality.
Her skin was fair, but healthfully tan. She had long and well maintained straight hair. While most of it rested behind her back, some was carried over in front of her shoulders. The very front of her hairline showing hints of gray.
If he were to guess, the criminal would have to say the woman was somewhere close to her forties, maybe older. After his quick observations, he pushed up off the counter and waltzed over to her.
While Leo had found a new target, his loathed partner in crime had now just finished picking up his discarded earnings across the room.
Shoving them into his pockets, the portly man picked up the remainder of his clothing and quickly dressed himself. Slipping on his wife beater which sufficed as his undershirt, he picked up his black vest and suit which acted as his coat.
Just as the brute threw on his charcoal vest, he felt a tugging behind him before he could button it up. Whipping around, his coat grasped in his bloody hand, he saw someone who barely stood up to his chest.
The figure brave enough to address the violent man had pale skin to an almost unhealthy degree. Dressed in leather, ready for action. The feet had a pair of brown leather boots one size too big. Rawhide slacks stitched together at the sides. Steel knee pads strapped on over top. Resting above a dirty and long since white t-shirt was a raggedy mud colored leather jacket. The sleeves long since torn off at the elbows to allow ease of movement, the bottom half ending at the waist. A simple beat up pair of fingerless gloves. A black flat cap obscuring half of their face. Short and chestnut brown curly hair peeking out of the sides.
With the face and height matching that of a teenager, the youngster glared up at the bulk and bloody figure with a pair of pale blue iris'. "Hey you. Let me see your face." The loner ordered, indiscriminately. Not an ounce of fear in the way the figure carried on in their stance or tone.
More than just irked at the callous instructions, Johnny gritted his teeth as he stared down at the youth. "Pickin' a fight with me, runt?" His fist clenching up again.
Back over at the bar, Leo seated himself beside the noblewoman. Her recently ordered wine just arriving. When his intrusion earned him a subtle glance, he responded with a faux and coy smile with rested gauge. "Good evening, my lady." He greeted as warmly as he could muster.
With a refined look, the articulate thief made sure to match his gaze with the woman across from him. After sizing up her attire once more with quick and sharp glances, they would always reset forward. "I can't help but wonder what would bring a woman of your advanced qualities to a place like this. Unless you're simply passing through like myself?" He brought up confidently, paired with a smirk.
After a quick sip of her freshly poured drink, the long haired woman held back a chuckle as she averted her attention. "I would think it a bit too early to make such familiar assessments of me. Certainly you wouldn't find it so welcoming if I judged you on your most recent, colorful performance just now, wouldn't you say?" Her voice was anything but soft spoken; The words striking and assertive. A sort of rustic sense to her dialect.
"Forgive me." Leo, addressed in an immediate suave manner. "I rarely act in such a deplorable manner. I can't imagine what came over me." He lied politely, twirling his custom cane in his off hand.
All of a sudden, the woman's eyes became locked onto the gemstone atop the short walking stick. Her gaze glued to something other than her drink for the first time since its arrival. "Would that be, summonite?"
When the proper name of the stone was brought up, the man-made summoner could feel his body stiffen up if only for a moment in surprise. "Knowledgeable, aren't we?" He replied dryly, somewhat taken back by this.
Her eyes immovable at the moment, the older woman allowed a mirthful smirk to grow to fit her face. At first she was silent, but in less than a few seconds, this would change entirely. "You don't have the build for a knight. However, that would imply that you..." Her eyes seemed to light up for the first time since her late arrival to the tavern that evening. "...are a summoner?" Looking up, meeting him with her pair of magenta iris, it was clear this had done more than just pique her interest.
Something had changed at that instant. It was something the male opportunist couldn't quite understand fully. At that moment, small features about the woman in front of him seemed to have shifted ever so subtly. Her breathing was stronger, her small movements more defined, even the eyes seemed more alive. Stomaching the feelings of unease, Leo went along normally.
"Just something I picked up a while back." The selfish man brought up with an expression of forced sincerity. "But enough about me..." The topic something he wanted to avoid, at least for the moment.
"Aurora Reath." The elder woman mentioned casually as she leaned closer.
Noticing the change in distance, Leo couldn't help but flinch to himself. "Beg pardon?"
Adopting a pleasant smile, the dark haired woman reached over and grasped her drink once again but refrained from indulging in another sip. "My name." She clarified. "Is it not custom to give your names alongside introductions?" It was almost as though she were teasing him.
"A last name..." Leo couldn't help but think out loud at how unusual such a thing was.
"You're quite perceptive, Mr...?" Aurora replied, baiting for the other's title once more.
While unmoving, the thief allowed himself to be on guard once again. His earlier suspicions justified in his mind. The man's observant gaze taking in everything about this surely more than just foreign watcher. "I go by Leo." His tone much more natural and calculating, he was no longer putting on airs.
The woman couldn't help but stifle a small laugh. "Apologies. I like it, very austere." Turning away momentarily as she tried to hide a trifling laugh, she allowed herself to take a soft drink.
Easily annoyed by this haughty response from the regal figure before him, the man grew a little more daring than usual. Now was the time to confirm his mistrust above all else. "Having a last name implies your family has ties to the original summoners." The egocentric was blunt in his statement. Cutting to the chase, he concluded his thought. "Would that make you, a summoner as well?" His glance narrowing.
Placing her drink on the bar beside her, Aurora turned to face the younger man fully. She was so at ease that she placed her hands neutrally over her lap, not a hint of worry in her actions. "I suppose I did use that title at one point. However, it was so long ago that it seems like a lifetime since then." By the end of her explanation, a snide curve graced her lips before being wiped away. "...in a manner of speaking." It was as if she were telling a joke that she and she alone knew the punchline too.
The more he spoke with this woman the more the pit inside of Leo began to well up. There were so many things at that moment that jumped out at him; habits, minor subtleties, and gut feelings. Without even realizing it, he had swallowed a hard gulp. A cold sweat forming and running down the back of his neck. All these warnings did not fall on deaf ears. It was as though everything in the rouge's being was crying out to him, trying to alert him that the person before him was dangerous. The longer he stayed, the more his natural caution around her seemed more and more necessary.
"Yes, well, I think it's about time I take my leave." Adjusting himself to get up and depart, he was stopped completely when a thin hand and set of fingers grabbed his furthest forearm. Gazing forward, frozen stiff, his eyes ran up the opposing limb to see the imposing women it was attached too.
When the vandal attempted to remove the arm and walk away, he found he couldn't. His entire body from his legs to his fingertips were completely immobile. His eyes trembling in his locked up skull. Every second that passed the thief realized more and more that what had happened to him wasn't solely psychological. His body had been turned against him and may as well have been turned to stone. Before his eyes, without his realizing, upon a single touch, he had been made a slave.
Not sharing the look of fright understandably written all over the younger. Instead, she wore a look of pleased satisfaction. Brushing the hair off her shoulder with her left hand, her features became more confident still. "I do hope you don't mind staying here with me here a little longer. I've taken in interest in you, Lenard. Which is precisely why I think it would be beneficial for the two of us to get to know more about one another; really get to pick each other's brains." A brazen sinisterness to her words.
Unable to even furrow his brow or grit his teeth, Leo stared ahead in a mix of both indignation and fear. The only part harboring the faintest of wills being his eyes. This woman! What did she do to me? Just what sort of power is this?
Smirking, Aurora remained perfectly still. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
The criminal's eyes widened as his pupil's shrunk. If able to, his jaw would have dropped. Slowly, the noises of the bar began to dissipated. His field of vision shrinking as an almost growing darkness began to pull and consume him at the corners of his pupils and steadily close it.
After the brief and unpleasant meeting between Johnny and the leather clad youngster, the larger had declined the other's request to see his face. When he did so, the younger boyish person took it upon themselves to try to pull him in and catch the glance on his own accord. Eventually this would degrade further and further until Johnny had literally gone as far and pushing and grabbing at the other as they ran all around the bar, ignoring the owner's shouts of distress and high disapproval. Fumbling over each other, the two fell into the currently and unbeknownst to them, paralyzed man amidst his futile internal struggles for freedom.
Just before Leo's sight was completely submerged in a shroud of darkness, one thing remained to greet him in the dark. The only light that would grace him within the void would be an almost eerie hue emanating from the elder woman's purple iris. And then, there was nothing.
. . . . . . . . .
Slowly the white donned thief dragged his eyelids open. Groggy at first, he glanced around to realize he was sitting down by the bar, his forehead resting against the counter. With a tired groan, he sat upright.
Massaging the back of his neck, Leo started looking around the bar. Seeing his cane resting right beside him, he picked it back up. To his surprise, the tavern's entirety was abandoned. Outside a pair of open windows was a pitched darkness matched only by its dead silence. The only source of light being a dimly burning candle stick at the end of the bar.
Pulling his hand off the back of his neck, the criminal roughly dragged both his hands down the front of his face to waken himself up. "It's not like me to pass out at the bar." He noted aloud to himself.
At the creaking of the front door, slow but lean footsteps entered the inn. In strolled a woman, her stride confident, her face self-assured. The arms crossed casually right below her chest.
Looking up at the sight of the familiar long haired woman, the events leading up to this flooded back into his mind in one violent burst. "You!" Leo cried out, instantly bolting up into a stand and pressing his back into the counter, giving himself as much space as he could between the two of them, even if it was only inches. His chest rose and fell rapidly, the eyes wide and jittering to take in even the faintest of movements by the other.
With a small smirk, Aurora halted herself a few steps passed the door, but far from the center of the bar. "Your fear toward me shows your intelligence. Though, to be fair, I've hardly done a thing. Yet here you are, looking upon me like I'm some sort of devil." A clearly fake impression of pain marring her face.
"You're wrong." Leo started suddenly, quick to correct her. His breathing beginning to regulate itself, he stood up more naturally. "The devil walks around in plain sight; pretends to be human. You, you're something else entirely. I don't know what you are, but you're a completely different type of animal." A mix of fear and loathing dictating his tone.
The summoner's face dropped at the other's words. In a few seconds, this was replaced by a wide smile that shamed her former smirk. "I was right to bring you here!" She exclaimed, her arms dropping to her sides. "You've caught my eye, Lenard, and now I'm certain it was for good reason."
All of a sudden, the long haired woman recommenced her comfortable stride as she enclosed on the thief. "I want you to show me exactly what it is you're capable of."
Knowing the closer this woman got to him the worse off he would be, the Deigleyian began inching away as he crept the perimeter of the bar counter. As the distance becoming shortened, and like a cornered animal, Leo went on the offensive.
Reaching into his coat interior, the dark haired man pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. Slamming it down on the counter top behind him, a light filled the room as the glyphs on the paper and the gem in his cane started to glow brightly. "So be it! You asked for this!" The man roared, strong winds from his summoning blowing open any of the shut windows on the ground floor. "You wanna see what I can do? I'll show you!"
The wind and light dying down revealed an ape like figure. Its fur was a tinged blue. Its head arched low so that it wouldn't bump its head against the ceiling. Its biceps alone were as big as a person. A second set of eyes directly under the first. Under its right arm was a tucked in dead tree which judging by the destruction and lack of bark on one end, had been made to function as a club. A low growl escaping the beast as it slowly dragged its eyes around the room.
With a cheap smile, Aurora watched as the behemoth before her struggled to move around in the constricting environment. Adding a brief hum, she stroked the underside of her chin. "I see, you have a penchant to use ink glyphs. Understandable I suppose. I can't fathom you having any proper teachings from an actual summoner." Completely at ease, the woman sighed to herself. "It was naive of me to expect anything else." A closeness of almost disappointment in her voice if just for a second.
"I get by." Leo retorted smugly. Bringing up his right hand, he snapped his fingers.
As though commanding a hound, the ape suddenly went berserk. Howling, it started pounding its chest with its left arm as it more grabbed its weapon more appropriately. Swinging it violently, the great beast began its knuckle aided charge toward the woman, screeching wildly all the while.
Unafraid, the summoner simply watched her attacker's primal approach. Enclosing, it pulled back the mighty trunk of the tree as it prepared its running swing, now less than a step away.
All it took was the time between a single blink. Reopening his brown eyes, they became full and wide. Standing directly beside Aurora was an ape of similar anatomy. The only difference he could spot at the moment being its deep maroon fur, and a steel latch covering its eyes.
Within range, his own minion was about to finish its full motion and destructive assault. Rather than defending its master, the new beast pulled back its arm and gave a full power straight. The tree swung with the power of a speeding truck was halted inches away from its target as the first ape was blown back by the booming punch.
The impromptu weapon thrown back and collapsing into the floor, shattering a huge chunk of the flooring from its sheer weight alone. The former wielder hurled backward and crashing right passed Leo as it blew right through the counter and through the back wall. Debris, glass, and now jagged and misshapen wooden planks flew out from the collision, littering the ground floor with its mess instantly.
Leo didn't have to look directly, with one glance from his peripheral vision, he could see how motionless his first summon had become. Thinking it were simply unconscious after such a serious blow was being optimistic at best. Besides, he wasn't taking his eye off of the woman before her, not for a second or ever again. Everything else in his body being used to stop him from trembling. It was at that point he realized the difference in their power, a mistake he wouldn't make again, one he doubt he could and still remain breath.
Starting to walk forward once again, the red ape retracted its arm and followed directly beside its master. "I'm partial to the term collector. Only the strongest interest me." Reath announced with a prim expression. "My particular form of summoning is referred to as binding. They become my slave the moment they draw breath in this world. It's not exactly looked highly upon by my people. Well, let's just say there's a reason I'm not with them right now."
Passing the sunken in section of the flooring which served as the halfway divider of the floor, half a dozen scenarios ran through the rouge's mind. Eyes darting briefly to the windows, they immediately after reset before him then over to the staircase opposite. Gulping, he reached into his pocket to pull out another of his pre-made glyph. His finger fidgeting as he tapped furiously on the destroyed counter behind to relieve even the faintest degree of stress.
Halting herself, Aurora stopped a few feet away from her plaything. Keeping forward, in a half step, the great ape now loomed over the white dressed thief who had just pulled out another glyph from his pocket as it drew near. Before he could make use of it however, a heavy stomping came from up above.
With an abundant sprint, Johnny hopped over the second floor railing with a pair of Tommy guns, one in each hand. Grinning as he plummeted, he clenched down on both triggers, spraying a hail of bullets below as he bashed his feet onto the side of the gorilla's head and parts of his neck. As soon as he started getting his footing, the brute pressed down on his triggers once again, point-blank pot shots at the mighty creature in the center of its head far passed the point of necessity.
Glancing up at the display, Aurora wore the faintest look of displeasure. "I see, so he was taken in as well."
Noticing this brief moment of a lack of focus, Leo was quick to utilize his already selected glyph. Pressing it subtly under the now askew counter top, he was able to conceal the blinding light that would follow in the next few passing seconds to come.
Raising her hand up toward the large brute who was currently expunging half his ammunition into the giant which towered over the lot of them, a faint glimmer caught her eye. Turning her head, she became face to face with a winged green scaled serpent as long and thick as her arm's length moments away from sinking its crescent fangs into her jugular.
In an instant, from her shadow below, a skeleton knight arose with a pair of sickles in hand. It was clad in leather over its rotting bone. Slashing down, it severed the flying viper's head from its body. As soon as it was finished, it slowly sunk back into its shadow, creeping closer to the source as it disappeared.
"H-How did you—?" Leo choked out. His shaking hands only offset by the fact that he was clenching the bar behind him to prevent complete convulsions.
Welcoming the unkind smirk back onto her face, Aurora turned back to face her victim fully once more. "You're quite the opportunist, aren't you?" Stepping closer, the male did the opposite, inching toward the stairs. "Since you are curious I suppose I can explain. I find summoning from the other worlds far too time consuming and flashing. Instead I host them in my body. Once you grow accustomed to the thousands of screaming lost souls, it truly becomes quite convenient. For instance, as I grew older, I learned to shave the years of their bodies instead of mine." A calm tone and demeanor about her despite the insane claims spouting from her.
At that moment, the ape crashed head first into the ground. The remainder of the bar practically shattered at this point. Falling roughly onto his shoulder a few steps away from Leo, Johnny sloppily rose up and shakily took aim toward Reath ahead of him. The barrels of his guns still smoking.
With a huff, the brute glimpsed a peek at his partner next to him. "What's goin' on? I woke up 'stairs and there ain't no body there. Streets are empty too."
"We're completely alone?" The white donned thief noted. "How?" He asked himself, still trying to completely understand the absurd situation he found himself in.
Staring down the woman who did nothing more than callously glare at him, Johnny aggressively tightened his grip on his firearms. "What're we doin' with her? I killin' this one?"
His head jumping up at this possible chance to relieve himself of one headache, the slimmer nodded frivolously. "You get right on that, Johnny. Trying stepping in closer. Go on! Look, she's defenseless." The thief inching toward the stairs as he egged on his companion.
Taking aim, the shorter tempered of the two became hesitant at how eager the other had become. "I don't like it. You're hidin' something from me."
Gritting his teeth, Leo turned his head away. "Dammit. I was hoping if we both had to die you could at least be the one to go first."
Silent at first, the black vested brute aimed his left gun at the thief beside him. "So ya wanna die?" Now aiming at all others in the room.
Looking down on the two bickering men, the regal dressed summoner turned her gaze primarily on Johnny. "The larger one seems to be a distraction. Perhaps I should get rid of him." This earning her a firmer aim by the other.
His fingers digging deep into his palm, the white clad burglar started looking around given his small moment to think. His breathing unable to die down beyond a certain extreme. Even if she kills Johnny, even if he's able to distract her for more than a few seconds, then what? What do I do? What's the best exit? I need to get out of here, I need—
As he was still thinking, the red ape started to rummage among the debris. "The hell?" Johnny shouted. "How's it still alive?"
Dammit, dammit, dammit! The dark haired male shouted in his head from growing frustration.
The larger of the pair now conflicted between whom of the three of the others to aim his pair of weapons at. "Ya want some more? Bring it ya stinkin' monkey!"
Muffling a light cackle, Aurora rose a hand to cover her mouth and growing smile. "How quaint."
Bringing up his left hand, the slender pragmatist clenched at a patch of his hair just above his throbbing temple. All of you just shut up! What I wouldn't give for two seconds of peace and quiet right now.
As though to answer his prayers, a red cylindrical object dropped down from the second floor railing and bounced off Johnny's head. Landing on the floor between all of them, the troubled summoner was quickly able to register the foreign object as his partner was swearing and massaging the point of impact as a long fused stick of dynamite. A fuse of which was currently lit. A gentle hiss emanating from it as it trailed slowly down to the end.
"Well, son of a gun." Leo stated calmly, looking up to see where it had dropped from. To his surprise, he saw the short leather donned troublemaker whom was screwing around with Johnny before their current fiasco. Looking closer, he noticed a handgun of sorts aimed low, directly at the explosive. Putting two and two together, he jumped up with a spring in his step and dove over the destroyed bar for protection.
Just now glancing up, Johnny too was able realize what dangerous act was about to happen. Lunging over the crooked counter top he ended up disgracefully belly-flopping over onto the other side without a moment to lose.
The instant both had happened to make it over, the explosive was shot and detonated far earlier than planned or expected. The blast blowing up the general vicinity and toppling the giant ape once again. Smoke filling the room as a few support beams were knocked over along with most of the remnants of the bar counter.
Holding his ears, the black dressed crook was the first to rise up from the dust and debris. Leo doing similarly after holding on and primarily using the other's form to stand back up. The two of them coughing up a storm.
"The heck was that about?" Johnny roared with understandable outcry.
Groggy, Leo backed up and staggered over to what little was left of the booze lined back wall for support. "Even if I really couldn't hear you right now, I'd still say you're being far too loud." Through his complaints, he ended up swiping a mostly undamaged bottle for later use.
When the gunman turned around to offer a few complaints of his own, the leather dressed teen hopped down from the second floor. Using Johnny as their landing pad, the larger man was forced to take a knee from the sudden added weight before their short stock savior hopped down in between them.
"If ye two pansies are done floundering about, could someone tell me what's going on?" The stance overly confident as though to compensate for something, the feet spread wide apart. "Place is a ghost town, no one's 'ere."
Without answering, Leo leaned down to get a proper look at his tiny yet colorfully spoken guardian angel. His eyes tracing over their features with more focus than a glance. At the attention, he pulled his hat further down to hide his face. Clearly something to hide.
Johnny, just getting over being used as a landing spot, trudged a step closer. Lifting his arms, a dreadful look in his eyes, he extended them, ready to strangle the youngest. As he enclosed and yanked his hands forward, the other backed up and slipped the head just below the hands and traced around behind him before he could reach his target. "Stand still ya little—!"
Leo smirked at what would no doubt be a long display of his partner making a buffoon of himself. Looking down at the bottle in his hand, he contemplated popping the cork and taking a swig.
The smoke just now settling, a passing cross breeze from the open windows dismissing the smoke screen in one slow gust. Standing, seemingly unfazed, Aurora Reath looked on at the trio.
Leo, being the first to notice the menace, let the bottle slip from his hands and crash onto the floor. This shocking the other two out of their violent game of tag to see the same sight.
All staring, a dripping noise of a red substance brought attention to something else. From Aurora's right shoulder down, was nothing. Blown clean off from the shoulder blade was nothing more than a stub of bone.
Looking over, the summoner looked down at her injury with nothing short of disinterest. "Entirely my fault. Just one moment." The stream of blood trailed down in a thicker pace then halted around waist length. The bone lurched forward with a loud out jutting crackling noise. The veins regrew as muscle tissue spawned around the center. With the skeletal and muscular systems reborn, the skin seeped in from beneath, masking them flawlessly. A second later, threads from where the regal garb had been torn started spreading out and weaving together until it had perfectly replicated the limb entirely.
Each of the onlookers left were agape in a mix of awe and horror. Seeing the spectacle, Aurora started pulling in and extending each of her regenerated fingers one by one. "Now then, where were we?" Her eyes spreading across all of them, before settling comfortably on Leo.
Her target of focus, inched stiffly closer to the shortest of their thrown together team who had wound up between the pair of criminals again. "Got anymore dynamite?" He whispered as softly as he could.
Frozen stiff, the teen didn't respond immediately. "I-I do, but—"
"DO IT!" Leo commanded it in a take-charge manner.
Reaching inside the leather coat, he another long fuse stick of dynamite. Pulling a stick of matches out with the other, the fuse was lit in less than a second. The motions clearly familiar.
Much like her state from earlier, Reath looked on at the explosive without worry. "Rather long fuse. If I had to wager I'd say it'll take around five seconds before—"
"Yeah. Let's speed that up!" Leo shouted, as he swiped the demolition tool. Grabbing the string by the middle, he yanked it down and pressed the lit end as close to the base as he could without burning himself to quicken the process. With the string reignited near the end, the fast acting summoner urgently cast it ahead of him.
Without so much as batting an eyelash, Aurora made a rock golem rise up from the ground. Its lower body proportions were almost human-like, but its forearms and back were engorged. Slamming its two arms together in front of itself, the creature pressed them against its chest to act as a living wall.
Following the blast that shook the building, another smokescreen filled the room. A few seconds later, the moving statue's arms fell back down beside it, nothing more than a few scratches and soot.
With a haughty expression, Aurora stepped around her summoned and faced the mostly destroyed corner of the pub. Waiting for the dust to settle before uttering a word, the worldly elder stood proud with her arms crossed under her chest.
As a gentle breeze passed, the dust was pushed aside to reveal a barren scene. The sight forcing the older woman to perk her head to the side as she cocked a brow. At the sound a rusty creaking sound behind her, she turned around.
At the front end of the saloon, one of the two front doors had been bashed open rather forcibly. This was presumed as one of the hinges had been ripped straight off the doorway. Smirking to herself, Aurora couldn't help but release an unabashed chuckle. "Oh you are a clever one, aren't you?"
. . . . . . . . .
Dashing down the town's empty streets, the pair of thieves were sprinting as fast and far away from the inn as they could muster.
The larger of the two hoisting the leather dressed adolescent and carried under one arm as he ran. Realizing how unfair this was, Johnny looked over at his unfavored companion. "Why the hell am I carrying this runt?" He shouted as they ran.
Rolling his eyes, Leo kept up his stride. "Because you moron, we might have some need for more dynamite later."
Attempting to pry loose, the younger took up anger at this remark. "Yer mad! I'll never work with cowboys! Y-You slovenly rust marks!"
Practically growling, the gunman was tempted to ram into the other. "And why do I gotta do the heavy liftin'?" The other asked indignantly.
"Because I'm sure as hell not gonna do it!" The taller of the pair replied matter-of-factly.
"Bite me!" The vested criminal responded attempting and failing to stomp on the summoner's foot as they ran.
Rounding an upcoming corner, they faced the main entrance and in their case exit way for the town. Instead of a winding road which should have ran on for miles, there was instead a thick fog which engulfed the boundaries of the city limits.
Walking up to the drab cloud-like vapor, the white dressed male cautiously approached the gas wall. Attempting to press his left hand through, it was met with resistance immediately. With much less prudence than his first attempt, he started feverishly smacking his palm in front of him into the fog but was unable to penetrate the mist at all.
Losing his patience, he pressed his shoulder on the fog and rammed the butt of his cane into the area next to him forcefully. Instead of piercing the smog, it bounced clean off with an echoing thud. "What in the world?" He uttered to himself in disbelief. Glancing over the shoulder, he saw the other two staring in a similar state at the unbelievable sight.
"Trapped like rats." The summoner remarked offhandedly as he gazed over at a nearby one floor home. "We're taking shelter to regroup." After the comment, he pointed over at the closest building with his thumb.
The young leather rebel continued trying to struggle to break free but wasn't having any luck. "No dice, boys." He spat out, still fighting and tugging. "I tried my hand on some of the houses on the way over to the bar. They were all locked up tight. Ain't nothin' short of a bilge rat is slippin' inside."
At this comment, the two men spied a quick glimpse at one another. An instant later, Johnny dropped the youngest flat onto their stomach. After, he slowly started walking toward the door.
Watching with a stoic expression, Leo's eyes followed the brute. "Interesting tid-bit, Johnny's one of the best lock picks I've ever seen."
A bit surprised, the leather dressed teen stared as well. Pushing off the ground, he rose to a stand.
Once a few steps away, the rough-natured man broke into a charge. Leading with his shoulder at the end, the door was bashed clean through at the instant of contact. The door swinging wide open. The upper hinge blown completely off.
His hands slipping into his pockets, the tall brown haired man stretched his legs leisurely ahead of him with simple paced strides. "I told you. Never seen a single lock stand up to his weight." Loathing in his tone by the end.
While obviously having a distaste for the two criminals, the youngest ran right into the home, cutting in front of the other. There was strength in numbers. Being caught out in the streets this time of night with who knew what roaming the streets would not be welcomed surprised.
Standing at the door frame, Leo watched the two scout out the area. It was a simple abode. The home sheltering a small family from the looks of it. The living area which held a table and couch lead straight into the kitchen and lacked any wall separating them. As expected, it was abandoned.
The younger was checking out the cupboards. Johnny, raiding the icebox for a meal with zero discretion.
Just before entering inside himself, a black feather fell hauntingly before him, settling down at his feet. Peeking above without too much motion, the man spotted a black crow circling the residence from high above. Leering up at the creature, he entered inside. The door slamming behind him.
. . . . . . . . .
The mist surrounding the town had slowly been flooding the streets. While not as thick, it did cast the buildings in its cloud to worsen the visibility by a marginal degree.
Aurora Reath waltzed down the center of the town's street unafraid. The blinded and still injured great red ape following beside her, a trail of blood tracing behind it. Their forms transcending through the smoke from what at first only appeared as downcast shadows in the distance.
While moving at a casual pace, the elder woman halted her traveling boots in front of the very residence the others had sought out refuge in after abandoning the bar. Glancing up, perhaps for confirmation, she smiled seeing a black crow circle the premises. The creature cawing at the attention.
All Reath had to do was stare at the locked door before her for her familiar to move up accordingly. Without a word, her velvety gaze glued unblinking forward.
The behemoth pulled back one of its mighty arms and crashed it straight into the house. The monstrous appendage latching onto the side of the wall and pulling it clean off the rest of the building. Dust and debris filled the air from the destruction, but the orchestrator of the deed towered unmoving all the same, its master doing similarly just behind.
The dust settled to reveal the ceiling was now dipping down up front from its lack of proper support. The insides, were shaken up. Furniture had been knocked over, cupboards flown open, pottery and other decorations littering the abode. Yet, aside from the apparent mess, it was empty.
Scowling, the aged summoner started approaching the structure. Once again without any orders, her called upon muscle ducked its head down in order to fit inside as it continued its search.
As she stepped forward, she held out her right arm away from her. Within seconds, the crow from up high swooped down and landed on the limp like a perch. Up close, its more demonic traits were noticeable.
While unable to tell from the ground, the bird's size was roughly twice as large as the normal breed. The wingspan akin to a vulture. Its beak was curled inward like a hook. The left side of its face had one bloodshot eye. Cocking its head toward its master revealed the other side hid three. The sizes varied and unlike the other had pupils, each of which seemed to look around independently from each one another.
The malformed creature of prey released a low-pitched squawk which echoed down the empty road. At the action, it was thrown back into the air where it flapped its wings heavily to regain lost altitude. Once up high again, instead of circling the house, it started scanning the main streets and alleys, all of its eyes searching for something.
. . . . . . . . .
Across the street, a few houses down, Leo peered carefully out of the second floor window of a nearby dwelling. His back was pressed against the wall with his head pressed on its side to allow him the most amount of visibility while concealing himself.
He had watched Aurora's arrival from start to finish, and he wasn't happy about what he found out. "I knew there was something up about that bird. The whole town's deserted apart from one crow? As if such a thing were true." His tone almost insulted.
Ducking down below the bottom of the same window frame his partner was surveying out of, Johnny himself scoped out the scene. From the way he was kneeling, everything above his nose was displayed, but it gave him a full view of the area. "Now I gotta shoot every pigeon I see? Great. Just great." More annoyance in his voice than anything else despite the dire circumstances.
Standing just behind the robust brute, the youngest of the thrown together trio couldn't help but stare in dismay. Horror written on the teen's face. "Th-There's no way. How do we— What are we...?" The hopelessness of the situation starting to show its affect on one of them.
"We keep moving." Leo commanded, taking charge. Walking passed the other two he headed for a staircase which would lead downstairs and to a back door. "I saw a renovated barn across town on the way in. We'll head there for the time being. Stick to the back alleys. Hide from the sky." He advised solely for his own safety.
Scoffing at the order, Johnny begrudgingly followed behind. "This is just gettin' better an' better." His footsteps stomping behind.
The youngster's hands were still trembling. This was hidden from the others for the most part by taking up a crossed arms motion. Readjusting the hat which had become somewhat askew from all the running around, the owner made sure to correct it before rushing off all the same.
. . . . . . . . .
Having sneaked their way across the mist coated town for what felt like the better half of an hour, they had made it to the modified barn. Thankfully, the former farm building was tucked away just within the inner circumference of the town. The fog practically scrapping along its furthest corner.
Making their way inside and sliding the wide wooden doors shut once more, the group was met with a surprising sight. In the back of the building was a mighty forge. While its flames had died down, it was in impeccable shape. A hammer and anvil sat directly beside it. A rack of numerous spear designs on the wall beside it.
There were a pair of equally high four racked bookshelves in the center of the left wall. The tomes varied heavily in size, thickness, age and even content. From the doorway, one could see a smithing book directly beside a light novel. A simple work desk placed directly beside them.
The ground had been dug out and replaced with a wooden floor. The quality of the material was of a much newer standard to the outside, clearly part of the renovations.
Off to the side was a hollowed out staircase which lead to the exposed second floor. While much couldn't be seen from down below, the glimpses of a bed and parts of a dress inclined that it had been made into a bedroom or living area.
Looking on at the old but familiar sight, Johnny couldn't help but look away in disgust of the scenery and tools of his past life. "Well ain't this perfect." The man mocked in contempt.
Cupping his chin at the sight, the summoner rose a single brow. "Seems the most recent owner was a blacksmith. We might be able to make use of this." His mind racing toward anything that would lend itself to his survival.
"What does it matter?" The youngest asked in a downtrodden manner, walking between the two. The more colorful dialect noticeably missing. Heading over to the stairs with slow heavy steps, they spun around as the owner plopped down, utilizing the bottom step like a seat. "We're all gonna die anyway."
While Leo was about to say something, intending to mock the other's meek disposition, he had stopped himself when an unexpected display started to form before him.
The late teen had pulled an intact bottle of ale from the bar's wreckage. Biting into the corked top off with his teeth, the bottle was unsealed. Spitting the plug out, the mouth was immediately filled once again as liquor began being gulped down the youngest's throat.
"The hell?" Johnny questioned at the sight. "When'd ya steal that?" The brutish man asked aloud, crossing his arms impishly.
Humming lightly in like-minded surprise, the summoner nodded approvingly. "Fast hands on that one." He remarked, spotting an admirable quality, at least to someone in his line of work. "She's quicker than she looks." The skinny man mentioned casually.
"Yeah yeah." The louder of the two mumbled in agreement, not really paying attention. After a few moments in silence, his head whipped around to the man next to him. "What? She?"
Raising a questionable brow, the former soldier shot across a disconcerted expression. "Really?" The summoner asked in a downcast manner. "You really didn't notice? I know you're a moron, but please, do try to keep up here. My life does depend on your wits at the moment, as disastrous as that may be." The man followed up in his condescending tone.
Snarling, Johnny bared his teeth. "Screw you." Looking over at the now inebriated teen, the top heavy man started taking a few steps over to leather dressed youth. "Kid!" He barked in order to get the other's attention. "What's yer name? Out with it!" The man instructed, assuming the name would end their debate, or at the least give them a clue.
Being difficult, the soon to be intoxicated adolescent took another swig and started looking away childishly.
"I'm gonna wring yer scrawny little neck!" The older man cried out threateningly. "Won't matter what ya are when I'm done with—"
As Leo strolled passed, he patted him on the shoulder to ease the man's temper as well as patronize him. With a snide look, the arrogant man started twirling his cane in his hand using his fingers. "You don't have to tell us sweetheart. Just know, if you don't, this big lug over here will have to call you brat, child, punk, etc. Me, I'd go with a simpler approach. I'd just address you as idiot. Unfortunately as I call him the same name, I'd have to differentiate you two. Meaning I would change him to big idiot and you would of course be delegated to little idiot. Save us both the trouble, would you?"
Glaring daggers, the more physical of the duo balled a fist. About to sucker punch his deserving long winded partner in crime, he was stopped again.
"R-Rayleonard" The teen uttered, stiffing a hiccup, almost dropping the bottle as a result.
Johnny was rendered speechless by this for a moment's time. Staring blankly, he tried mouthing it out loud to himself. "Raylou— What?!" He stammered, messing up the proper pronunciation partway before giving up entirely. "You're making this up."
With a cocky laugh at the other's asinine lack of intelligence, the snide man walked over fully so that he now towered over the sulking youngster. "The name's real all right. Foreign." He noted at the end. "That doesn't change the fact that it's clearly a fake alias though." Leaning down, the other looked away again.
"It's not fake." The adolescent moped childishly.
Thrusting his head back, the white dressed thief laughed in an intentionally egregious fashion. "Oh you're a FUNNY drunk!" He shouted, swinging his upper half back down again by the end. His mouth close to the other's ear during the peak of his loudest point of input.
Walking over as well, the black dressed crook frowned to himself, looking down at the teen. He was attempting to look for any physical features which could give away the gender, but wasn't having any luck. Eventually, and with imprudence, he pulled down the other's collar and took a peek inside their shirt with a neutral expression.
Staring at the sight, Leo rolled his eyes. "For the love of..." He slapped the back of the other man's head. "She's a minor. Keep it in your pants, would you?" The man scolded with a disappointed tone.
Irked at the action, the short tempered man spun around and took a wide swing at the other man. Seeing the retaliation coming, Leo easily swayed backward and out of reach. "Fine! How would you figure it out?"
Shaking his head, the summoner wore a look of indifference. Leaning down, he grabbed the butt of the smallest's flat cap. "You caught me alright. I haven't the faintest idea what I'd do." Lifting the lid up, he took the whole hat with it.
Removing the apparel caused a previously hidden and braided ponytail to fall down to its owner's shoulders. The teen's more feminine facial features now no longer masked. A pair of dulled orange tinted iris' peer up above her. Pouting, she snatched her hat back and fumblingly tried setting it back the way she had it before.
With his evidence exposed, Leo stared over at his abhorred partner. "I'm really scratching my brain on this one. I can't think of a single thing." He berated unenthusiastically.
"I have to hide what I am, so I can be taken seriously." The recently outed female mentioned, still drowning her sorrows with fair sized gulps.
The white dressed crook scoffed at the drunken comment. "Hate to be the one to break it to you, kiddo, but you'll be judged a lot more on your age than looks. A thirteen year old girl can only get so far with determination and dynamite, Ray."
"I'm eighteen!" The teen challenged, staring up at the summoner.
With a single disregarding chuckle, the criminal in white glanced over to his partner. "Terrible liar." He mentioned.
Johnny nodded aloofly. "Yup." This being one of the rare times the two actually agreed on something.
Frowning is disapproval, what was delivered, most likely due to the alcohol, was more closely related to a pout. "I'll be eighteen... in about six months." She revealed bitterly, the second half more akin to a whisper as she glanced away once more.
After a moment, the hot headed gunman looked over at the former soldier. "Ray?" The brute asked, bringing up the earlier used nickname.
Arching a brow at the questioning gaze, Leo turned to the man more fully. "What?" He spat out, almost in indignation. "I abbreviated her preposterous cover name. It's also a unisex name. It's fitting, can't you see?"
The larger of the two men started cleaning out left ear with his pinky, a showing of how little he cared about showing respect to whom he was addressing. "If she's trying to be a guy, wouldn't somethin' like Roy be betta? It's more... uh... masculine. Ain't that the word?"
His shoulders dropping, the thief kept his eyes forward with the usual amount of disdain he gave the other. "As usual, you have no taste."
"It doesn't matter what you call me. Ray or Roy. I couldn't care less." The teen mentioned disinterestedly.
The two glared over at one another briefly before the taller sighed to himself and shook his head. "Yes, well, that is neither here nor there." Beginning to walk away, he headed for the bookshelves. "Go over to that forge and get what use you can out of it. You'll need more bullets for tomorrow."
Picking up a few tomes off the shelf, the summoner spread them out across the desk. Opening one up, he began ripping out the pages one by one. After a small pile had been made, he picked up an ink pot from the desk corner and went to work on scrawling out different glyphs and sigils on each of the papers. "This is going to be one long night." He lamented to himself as he continued his preparations.
Releasing a groan with a loathing manner, the larger of the two men looked over at the forge in the back. While not the brightest, Johnny was well crafted enough in his profession to know how much smoke would be produced from that furnace with the work he would need to get out of it. The task of crafting any sufficient amount of ammunition would have to be relegated to a long, slow and steady night long process to avoid drawing attention to their hideout.
"What's the point?" Roy brought up to the others. Shifting, she now placed her back against the wall connected to the stairs and stretched her legs outward. The right leg laying parallel to the step she sat on while the left limply swung off the side onto the stair below. "There's no way any of us have a chance against that thing out there."
Reaching over, the youngest of the group tipped over her mostly empty bottle and caused to bounce down the stairs beneath her in hallowed rings. It hopped off the one below her and bounced right off the lowest before landing on the floor with nothing more than a few scratches. A few droplets of liquor dripping out of mouth as it rolled helplessly into the wall.
Continuing with his own tasks, Leo didn't so much as look over his shoulders as he replied. "Then leave." The man said coldly. "Just be certain to leave any dynamite you have left along with that lousy scoped flintlock of yours by the door. And if at all possible, die on the other side of the city would you?" No compassion lining his voice as he continued to work.
"She's packin' a flintlock?" Johnny bellowed with a frown as the thought of using one crept into his head. "Geez, that's two reloads a minute if yer lucky. No thanks. She can keep it." Turning to the forge, he began a few lumbering and unwanted steps forward. "At least that way she can go out fightin'."
Balling a fist at how casually the two men were discussing her likely demise, Ray sunk her head as she slammed her fist into the wall next to her. "You think I'm happy about this?!" The teen cried out in ire. "Dammit!" She shouted in her desperate indignation. Dropping her head, she held her face in her palms. "Of course I don't wanna die! There's still someone I need to kill." She admitted conclusively as her hands shook from how upset she had become.
Neither of the two said anything at the outburst. Perhaps they too could relate to the feeling of unfairness at how hopeless their scenario had become. The desire to have another dead was something the duo was more than acquainted with. That all being said, it was also highly likely they simply couldn't care less.
Sloppily, the bulkier of the two men turned back around. "That guy you wanna take out, he a cowboy too?" The comment coming seemingly out of nowhere.
Roy rose her head at this. "Wha—? How did you—" Confusion written over her face.
"I'm right. Aren't I?" Johnny followed up as he stared at the teen with an aloof look. "It's why ya wanted to see my face so much at the bar and why ya got so worked up when Leo said you'd be helpin' us out earlier. Yer goin' after a cowboy without his name. But ya know his face? The hell that happen?"
After a dead pause, Roy began fiddling with her fingertips. She would've done anything to preoccupy her mind. Whatever the answer was, it clearly wasn't something the youth was fond of remembering. "It happened long ago, when I was still a little girl."
Leo rose a brow questionably at this. "Now when you say that, Ray, do you mean a few weeks ago or—?" The heartless man cruelly teased for his own enjoyment.
"Shut up already!" The teen barked back. This earning her a light snicker before she went on and continued. The fire in her quickly subsiding. "I had a brother. He was a only a few years younger than me. He didn't go outside too much 'cause he was kinda sickly. My mum always made sure to get him this special medicine from overseas. It was real expensive, I 'member her having to work two jobs just to afford it."
The summoner frowned. "How awful." The man uttered lowly to himself. "Working..." He repeated the heinous word to himself before shuttering in disgust as though a chill had wormed up his spine. "Ugh."
With similar inattention toward the sob story, the brute yawned after rolling his eyes from a lack of concern.
Ignoring the two apathetically acting men, Ray prepared to continue her tale. Her unwanted revisit down memory lane serving less as informative exposition for the thieves and more toward steeling herself against the threat which no doubt still walked the night streets in search for them.
With a deep breath, the explosives hurling youngster started up again. "One day these soldiers showed up outta no where. Said they were building a base in the area over and were going to use our town to stock up and use for board until it was finished. They didn't steal nothin'. Paid for the rooms at the inn too. The Knight's didn't like that though. They were too far inland, I take it." Her knees pulled inward as she held herself.
The next part seemed to resonate much more strongly with the teen than the first half. Ray's chin had started fidgeting from how tightly her jaw had been clenched. "Because they were so far away from the capital, the Knights hired a group of cowboys to take care of the matter for them. Apparently, they offered the leader a bigger bonus if they could resolve the matter without any casualties. With that in mind, the cowboys set up blockades throughout all the trading routes to my town. The embargo 'round my town lasted almost a month before the soldiers were forced to abandon it. The cowboys were reveled with glory for their deathless siege." A sharp bitterness starting to spit from her words and tone. "All except one. My brother. Because of the embargo, he couldn't get his meds. I had to watch him suffer. I had to watch him die for two weeks. And I couldn't do anything!"
The passion was reforge within her as Ray's hands tightly dug into her pant legs. "I don't know his name, but I'll never forget his face." A specific memory sticking out to her within her mind. The image of the long haired combatant grinning and looming over the small town from a high up ridge shook her to the core with anger. "...And that's why, I'll never work with cowboys!" She exclaimed staring hatred toward the two men she had been roped together with.
The seconds passed and neither of the duo said anything. Eventually, the white dressed thief started tapping one of his fingers on the desk.
Leo glanced over his shoulder all of a sudden. "Johnny, do you realize what this means?" The other was silent, regrettably allowing him to finish. "It means you actually made an astute observation for once." When the other shot him a blank but irked look, the egocentric summoner acted bewildered. "I can feel it, can't you? Hell chilling over." He even went as far as grabbing his arms and shuttering to drill the insult home.
Normally, the gunman would have been overtaken in rage by this point at the scornful comment, but instead, he simply balled a fist as vein seemed to grow in the corner of his forehead from the amount of fury he was suppressing. He was far too burned out after the night's events for his usual expected outburst. "That's it." Was all he said at first. His stare glued to the other as his fists dug so tightly into his palms that blood was close to drawing. "Once we kill that long haired chick an' her friends, ya next." Raising his left hand, he pointed his index finger like a handgun. "My last bullet, straight through that lousy throat of yours."
Leo was less than worried. His face didn't so much as twitch at the gory promise. "Oh please, you won't get the chance. I'll throw you under a carriage long before that opportunity happens."
Johnny stared at the brown haired man with a cold fire in his eyes. "Maybe yer right. Why wait? I should do it right now."
The brown haired rogue grew a coy expression as he crossed one leg over the other. "You're out of bullets."
The bruiser retorted at first by cracking his knuckles loudly. "Still got my hands, don't I?"
Wearing a gloomy face, the youth stared at the two violent men from her claimed staircase. "How do you two ever get anything done when all you do is bicker like this?"
"We don't." Johnny replied flatly.
"Common interests." The former soldier responded at the same time.
Realizing the two had ended up talking over one another, they stopped what they were doing to resume glaring toward each other.
Staring at the sight, Ray couldn't help but sink her head. "I'm doomed." She whispered to herself. Getting up, she walked down the few stairs back to ground level. The youth reached down to see if by luck there was any more liquor remaining in her discarded bottle for which she could use to further drown her sorrows.
. . . . . . . . .
The hours passed until the unlikely trio had survived late into the middle of the night. Day break mere hours off at this point. The youngest member of the group having collapsed into the bed upstairs in her drunken state long ago.
Off by the front doors, Leo peered out carefully from a creek in between. The two had taken turns doing occasional guard checks to make sure their hideout wasn't being surrounded while they each continued their preparations.
As the summoner did his check, his eyes since adjusting to the pitch darkness, he stared off silently. Having scanned all the roads and alleys which could have lead to their makeshift base of operations, his eyes now gazed up at the sky. His sharp eyes staring up at the numerous constellations up above them.
It was such a disparity between the sky and city below. The town hid monsters and demons which hunted their group down like bloodhounds. Meanwhile, the sky ravished them with its glorious presence. Above the fog was a cloudless sky. The number of twinkling stars up above almost seeming to overshadow the dark void between them.
While only noticing a few star signs out of sheer coincidence. As he noticed more and more of them, the act of finding more and more captivated him until he was pointing out almost every star in the sky out internally.
"If ya got time to go stargazin' then go make me some more bullets." Johnny remarked making has way over from the opposite side of the barn. His coat since removed, he was once again in his bloodstained undershirt. "I've been goin' at it fer hours and I still got loads more to go."
Ignoring the request, the self-centered man pulled away from the crack and leaned back first against the interior of the door. "As appealing as that sounds, I think I'll pass." With a yawn, the summoner began rotating his right hand as he massaged his wrist. "I needed a short breather. I'm starting to get a wrist cramp."
Once done, the man-made summoner pointed over to the work desk to show his progress thus far. Dozens of now empty books littered the floor around it, each robbed of all of its pages. Atop the desk sat three high stacks of what must have been hundreds of pages turned into glyphs. The remains of half a dozen emptied ink pots scattered beside it.
"Tell ya what..." Leo started smugly. "Normally, I'd suggest you take over for me, but we both know I wouldn't trust you with a hammer, let alone replicating the very symbols I'll be using to defend my life tomorrow."
Johnny scowled at the callous remark. "Shut up. I'll kill ya." It was less of a demand and more of a natural statement. As though the line had been delivered so many times any direness or unease upon the first few deliveries had been lost completely.
Walking over, the larger of the two men leaned on the opposite door similarly to his partner. The two of them looking off in unfocused manners.
Looking over, Leo couldn't help but notice the small burn marks around his fingertips. A hard day's night it seemed. Alongside the burns were like-sized bruises and stains of blood and gunpowder.
"Let's make a bet." The arrogant quick talking man announced to cut the silence before giving it a chance to grow. "Who do you think that psychotic woman will go for first when she discovers us?" The summoner donned a smug smile at the start of his own words. "If I had to wager I'd say..."
Johnny's expression remained dead as he cut the other man off. "You." When the other's growing elation halted suddenly, he went on. "She don't like me. She's nuts for you."
Leo's expression fell as he grimaced at the notion. "By god, you're right. If even you can come to the same conclusion it really must be the case." Raising a hand, the slim man slowly dragged the hand down his face and pulled the parts of his skin as he did so.
Watching his unwanted partner as the grim reality dawned on him, the loud spoken man yawned loudly. "Why don't' cha jus' call out that dragon thing again from the train heist?"
Rolling his eyes at the suggestion, the tall figure turned back around the face him. "No dice." He responded, a hint of defeat in his voice. "Tried it before. It seems like I smudged one of the glyphs when I was setting up the star pointed summons. I can't replicate it again. I know, I've tried."
Groaning, Leo hung his head low as he wore a look of annoyance. "I'll have to stay on the run to come out on top of this mess."
This comment only seeming to fuel some residual disdain in the tired gunman. "Ya've changed." He barked.
"What?" The man in white lazily responded as he rounded his vision back onto the other.
Johnny may have been out of energy, but he had far from calmed down. "Ya sucha coward now. Have been ever since we met that damn kid on the train."
Flaring up at this, Leo allowed a scowl to fit his recently grizzly mug. "Excuse me?" A certain cavalierness to his words, as though he was furious the other had any sort of criticism at all toward him. "What I'm being is careful. There's a difference."
Growing a snide, almost twisted appearance, the summoner looked down on his shorter lousy partner. "You wanna talk compensation? Ever since your last failure you started working out your upper body. One kid overpowers you and that's your reaction? What a joke." The man, smug at his retort.
Glaring at the other, Johnny faced the other completely. The two staring each other down as thought they were about to start a brawl right then and there. "We're done." Was all the gunman had to say. Rather than exploding or indulging at the faintest thoughts of the usual violence, the former knight simply turned away. Taking his leave, he once again set off toward the forge, his work not done for the night.
Silent, Leo watched as the man left. Now wasn't the time to be arguing, but somethings were unavoidable. While unsatisfied with the way the whole conversation turned out, he did his best to shove it away and ignore it. A tugging, nagging feeling welling up in him before he turned his view back at the starlight sky.
. . . . . . . . .
Laying on top of the borrowed bed, the teen amongst bandits tossed and turned as she was on the bridge of awakening. As she drew closer to this margin, the headache associated with a morning after hangover set in. Groaning sluggishly to herself, she rolled over onto her stomach and laid her face flat into the pillow, taking a moment to prepare and recuperate.
Rays of sunlight stained and painted the barn from the faintest of cracks in the aged ceiling. Even through shut eyelids, the young woman's eyes had already begun to orientate to the early hours of burning daylight. Begrudgingly, she opened her eyes to allow the partial blindness to set in and run its course before full proper adjustment.
Pushing off the bed, Ray forced herself onto her feet. Hobbling at first, the late teen wandered over to a handrail and clutched onto it to steady herself. Still suffering slightly from her woozy composure she was thankful there wasn't much noise to impair her further.
That's when the heavy realization came down on her. It was near dead silent. She was alone.
Recalling the company she found herself in the night before, Ray's first actions before anything else was to check all her belongings. After rummaging through her coat pockets and interior, she let out a sigh of relief. Nothing seemed to have been stolen that she could make out.
Picking up her hat which had rolled off in her heavy slumber, it was seated back in its proper place. The teen's hair shoved inside out of habit.
After double-checking to make sure her flintlock was still fastened in her holster and that her ammunition supplies were still intact, she set her sights downstairs.
Still on alert, the leather dressed youth guided herself carefully toward the stairs while still gripping the banister. Both of her hands clasped onto it as she made her way down the staircase back onto the ground floor.
Once getting a firm footing, Ray took one last look around. The forge in the back had been long since snuffed out. No trace of anything but dead embers.
Shifting her view, the teen saw that the desk where the more talkative of the two men had been working was similarly cleared out. The only signs that anyone had been there at all being several ink stains upon oak.
She had been abandoned, likely viewed as dead weight or a liability. That was Ray's assumption given the evidence available to her. Before deciding which course of action to take next, she headed for the front doors. After seeing the state the town was in, she would plan accordingly from there.
Placing her hands on the edge of the door, the teen started sliding it open. With a heavy grunt and a little stiffness, the entryway was pried open properly.
After being assaulted by natural daylight, what the woman saw next left her completely agape.
Standing in the middle of the road, entirely exposed out in the open, were the two criminals she'd became entangled with the prior night. The two leaning on each other back to back. Both of them staring forward with an intense amount of determination. Heavy bags under each of their eyes from what appeared to be a sleepless night.
The left side of the street, the one Johnny had locked down was altered to accommodate him. The alleyways had been barricaded with timber and masses of furniture likely pilfered from the nearby homes. This essentially turning the road into a wide spacious hallway. If the enemy were to arrive, they would have to come straight down the center of the street to meet him.
Right in front of the gunman were two waist-high open topped crates. A single feed of must have been hundreds of thousands of bullets piled up to the point of nearly overflowing in each one. The single belts each leading up to one of the dual Tommy Guns the brute armed himself with. The drum-barrels of the weaponry altered to allow such.
The opposite side of the road seemed almost unreal. While Johnny had turned his side into a glorified shooting gallery, Leo had crafted his own masterpiece. The ground, alleys, and every house in sight had been completely covered head-to-toe in unique summoning glyphs. They were arranged in a maddening array which seemed to hold no rhyme or reason to their placements.
"Well, look who's joining us." Leo brought up, noticing the recently awoken guest.
The white dressed thief's comment taking a second before snapping Ray back into reality. Her awe waning, she glared back silently.
Tightening his grip on the two Tommy Guns resting at his sides, the black dressed brute stared angrily in his drained state. "If ya wanna go out fightin' make yerself useful. If yer not, get outta the way. We're gonna have enough movin' targets as is."
"Indeed." The lousy summoner agreed with a similar stale manner. "We've exposed ourselves to that surveying crow almost ten minutes ago. They'll be upon us any minute now. If so inclined, make your way atop the barn, perched above you can—"
"Get loaded or get lost!" Johnny roared, out of patience.
Roy balled her fists. "Well blow me down with a laugh." Beginning to run off, the teen immediately headed for a nearby alleyway. "You two can die and rot by yerselves!"
"Too-da-loo, girly." Leo gingerly waved her off with a smug expression, not distraught or surprised by her departure in the slightest. Cupping a hand around his mouth, he aimed to project his voice further to make certain she could hear him. "Oh! And by the way, before you die in a ditch somewhere, try to lure a few away! Thank you, sweetheart!"
After a brief pause, the gunman glanced over his shoulder. "You stole her dynamite, right?"
"Just one." The summoner replied casually. "Any more than that and she'd be sure to notice." Lifting his right arm, he revealed the aforementioned explosive which he had smuggled inside his coat. Done showing it off, he slipped it back inside.
As a single black feather collapsed down onto the pavement beside the two, both males looked upward. Circling them high in the sky was the same demonic avian from their last encounter. It cawed and squawked loudly. Clearly it was signaling the pair's location.
The siren-like alert continued for a few more seconds, Johnny lowered his eyebrows and widened his stance. "That long enough?" The brute of a man asked impatiently.
"I would certainly hope so." Rubbing the bags under his eyes, it was apparent the white dressed man was in a similarly annoyed state from his lack of sleep. "Kill it." He ordered in an unusual solid manner.
Jumping at the chance, the brawler rose up one of his Tommy Guns and took aim at the bird soaring high above them. After tracing its path for a little less than a second, a single bullet ripped its way out of the barrel and whistled upward. Instantly after, the crow let out a painful squawk as it fell and nearly nosedived to a far off building and out of view.
As though in some sort of retaliation, the ground itself began to shake and rumble like the aftershocks of a tectonic shift. The buildings rumbled, nearby windows shattered. Neither of the two so much as blinked an eye at the sight. Just then, the rumbling halted as all went quiet.
"Seems like there's quite a few of them on the way this time." Leo mentioned tapping his fingers along the base of his cane.
Looking over his shoulder, the gunman shot an aggravated stare. "No kiddin'?" His tone sarcastic and dry.
Just over the hill on Johnny's end of the street emerged a horde of hundreds. The assorted summon creatures featured all kinds. Demons, Angels, Mechanoids, and Beasts. Each of one of them having their eyes or mouth either blocked off or sewn up.
Likewise on the opposite end, a similar mob arose. All of them creeping forward at a slow but steady pace. Down the middle, not leading, but still in the front lines, Aurora Reath joined the fray.
Halting her forces half a block away, the all-powerful summoner stood still at the border of the furthermost edge of the summon glyphs. The troops on the polar end did the same.
With a mirthful smile, Reath gazed upon her prey. "Good morning boys. You look terrible. Did I come at a bad time perhaps?"
Despite originally wearing a tired neutral and tired expression, the white clad summoner quickly rose his head energetically and donned a sinister smile. "Not at all. We've been waiting." Spreading his arms wide, his cane in hand, he openly showed he had nothing to hide. "Well? Come on over."
Unafraid, the somewhat antiquated woman paused as she slowly gazed around the uncountable number of summoning glyphs scattered around her. "That's alright. I'm quite alright where I am now."
With a definitive snap of her fingers, Reath's army began walking forward once again. The front line mere steps away from the first row of summoning landmines.
Smirking at the action, Leo dropped his hands back down to his sides, holding himself more naturally. "Just as planned." He uttered triumphantly. Raising his hand near the gemstone in his cane, it lit up brilliantly.
Before Reath could do anything, she noticed a glowing light below her feet. Stepping off the tile of road cobble, the stone jittered and flew off to reveal a hidden glyph underneath. The glowing light hiding the original symbol before the aged combatant could analyze it.
In a grand display of light and roaring winds, a long-necked red scaled beast towered over Reath's Eastern forces. Its wings, if spread wide, would have overshadowed the entire block's width.
Widening its maw of over a hundred pointed fangs, fire began to ooze out of its gullet. The dragon pulled back its head and let loose a powerful blast of fire that looked as though it could incinerate a full farmstead in an instant. Reath's lone form at the creature's toes being its sole target.
The breath of fire shot out true and forceful beneath the wyrm. Before the burst of flames could hit their mark however, dozens of the nearby creatures lunged into the way of the attack to defend their master. Within seconds their bodies and shadows vanished completely, leaving behind nothing but ash and dust.
Reath stood still, completely unaffected by the attempt at her life. Little more than a few hairs of out place from the resulting wind force of the mighty blast.
When the dragon pulled back its head once more for a followup attack, the horde sprinted forward to meet it. Before another blast could be unleashed, the mob leaped up and dragged the massive destructive beast down to their level. The giant lizard struggling and clawing out when able as more and more pilled onto it and eventually overtook its body completely.
As they front most troops felled the great dragon, the rest began their reckless charge ahead. Those at the opposite end doing the same.
Johnny grinned excitedly at the sight. "Ya want some, huh?" Leaning forward, the man raised up both of his firearms with each of his arms. His grip firm as the butts of the rifle dug in between his shoulders and armpits to offset what would surely be massive recoil and kickback. "Just try an' stop me."
Clenching his index fingers down on both triggers, a hail of metal shot out in all directions. As the jettisoned steel whizzed and clawed through the air in front of him, ejected shells of the bullets poured out on both sides, already forming huge puddles. Having blocked off the side paths, his enemy was forced to meet him head on. This resulted in the opposing force becoming little less than a gloried shooting gallery.
One by one, and in no slow tempo, the Western forces were mowed down as they charged forward. Their bloodied bodies riddled with bullets even after collapse. A wall of fallen forces piling up closer and closer until a mound of corpses that each following row was forced to climb over as they attempted to continue their assault.
Johnny couldn't help himself from unveiling a crazed laughter that almost seemed to overpower the ear-deafening shrieks of his two blazing machine guns.
Back on the other side, after conquering the front line dragon, Reath's main forces zealously charged forward. As soon as the furthermost beasts had gotten within inches of the tip of his battlefield, his gemstone lit up.
Between the two forces, a wall of demons arose out from the handmade marks plastered on the ground to halt the advance. Some of the vile monsters summoned had four arms, others, three eyes. Some had fangs which trailed well passed their chins. Their skin ranged from red to gray and even blue. A few took to the sky with wings while others were more centaur-like in constitution. One thing was similar among the fiends, a look of bloodlust in their glowing red eyes.
The devils held off those previously graced with vigor from their fallen scaled trophy. A few stab forward with polearms, keeping the more ferocious of the beasts at bay. A few dove right in, matching the viciousness of their enemy as they clawed and bit into the creatures and monstrosities. A few in the back proceeding with incantations which upon completion unleashed torrents of blazing pillars ahead of them, obliterating both friend and foe alike in their wicked flames.
As the madness played out, both Reath and Leo caught each other's gaze. The thief wore a proud gleaming smirk. It was as if he was boasting. He was bragging. From one commander to another he gave a less than respectful two fingered salute, signaling that he was more than ready for whatever the other was planning to throw at him.
Aurora Reach chuckled at the gesture. At a hand wave, she sent in more of her forces. In turn, her adversary did the same as he summoned in more.
Things appearing to be at a stalemate, neither side making any definite progress, the leader took to the field. "I think perhaps you misunderstand me, Lenard!" The worldly dressed woman shouted in order to overpower the sounds of violence and gunfire which had previously echoed dully down the street. "To put it simply, I'm drawn to what fascinates me!" Halting her advance, Aurora stood proudly. "And I take what I want!"
Emerging from the army behind the all-power summoner, Leo's dragon arose once again. Its form changed, manipulated since its defeat. Its scales charred black. Its maw dripping fresh blood. Its eyes blocked off by an impacted plate of metal, blinding it.
Fully upright, the previously fallen beast towered over the battlefield once more. Looming over Reath, it aimed its ember oozing mouth directly at its former master.
Caught off guard by the turn of events, Leo turned to the center of the battle in front of him. Doing so, he noticed something he hadn't before. Now at the helm of Aurora's forces were some of his demons which had appeared to have fallen amidst the chaos. "What?!" The man cried out agape.
The realization coming to him, a dreadful thought wormed its way into his mind. "I-I'm feeding her army!" His empty left hand beginning to tremble and shake.
When his former dragon readied a fire blast toward him, the crook pointed his cane toward a nearby building and its gemstone lit up accordingly. A light shined out from the recently shattered windows as two platoons of tank-like Mechanoids broke through the walls and marched into the battlefield. While originally planned to be used in a pincer maneuver, the situation had turned from bad to worse quickly.
The machines had tank treads for a lower half. This was most likely due to support its incredibly top heavy form. They're chest and upper joints were heavily defended by layer after layer of reinforced steel. Mounted on their backs, peaking over their shoulders were a pair of long and heavy looking cannons.
Plowing onto the street, they ended up ripping up quite a few of Leo's glyphs as they spread out and took aim at the great lizard looming over them. In unison they shot out an ear-shattering barrage of ballistics.
The volley shot upward and knocked the now pitch-black dragon right back onto the ground before its incinerating breath could wipe out Leo and his forces. Its massive body crushing many of the seemingly endless number of Reath's full enforcement.
The man's sacrificial play resulting in a hefty sigh of relief escaping him.
With a witching smile, Reath gave a forthcoming wave as she left into a nearby alleyway. The older woman's hair flowing behind her as she ambled away and out of sight.
As the white dressed summoner witnessed this, he was once again filled with unease. "Why does she defend herself at all?" The man pondered aloud. "Why leave?"
"Her loss!" Johnny roared as he continued to blow any living thing that stepped up to him and his ever growing body count.
Completely ignoring the man, his partner continued with his previous train of thought. "She can regenerate herself at will. Perhaps there's a limit? Does it tax her body? If I could just get her alone then maybe..." The man began twisting his cane in his hand anxiously as he trailed off amidst his thoughts.
"Get lost already!" Johnny shouted over his bombastic gun play. Encouraging the other in his own way.
Without much of a second thought, the sharp dressed rogue started walking off toward an adjacent alley. Reaching the entrance, he stopped. "Johnny, don't die." His words were simple. They lacked the usual haughtiness that lined his dialect.
The black suited gunman took a break from his shooting gallery to glance away at his partner in crime.
When the two fierce men stared at one another, the former soldier smirked. "If you die, the rest of these louts will come after me. Do try to be a little thoughtful toward me for once, you selfish clod."
Grinning at the other's followup, Johnny turned back around to resume his job. The fact that the automatic gun's triggers had yet to be released were a true testament to the other's arm strength. "O' course I ain't dyin'. I'm savin' the last bullet for you."
Finished with their banter, Leo darted down the alley in hopes of cutting the other off before they wandered too far away.
With his loathed companion out of the picture, Johnny spread his legs apart as he adjusted his stance. When the last of Leo's summoned forces were depleted, Johnny pointed one of his two guns in the other direction. His head darted left and right as he now multi-tasked both sides of their setup war-zone.
An excited grin consuming him, the cowboy continued to plow through anyone who dared step up against him. "Rotten bastard! Makin' me clean up your mess again!"
When a great shadow overtook him, the gunman spun around to locate the source of overcast. Towering above him, half the size of a house, was the same battle bruised red ape from the other night. The bullet wounds still visible.
Rather than fear, excitement wormed its way onto the sweating and exhausted man's face. The lust for a rematch reinvigorating him as he pulled away both of his guns. Rather than aiming down both ends of the street, he instead turned both barrels up at the great ape. "I was waitin' fer you to show up!" The man boomed in an uproarious shout. His fingers once again clenching the triggers as far back as they could go as the ape moved in closer and he was swarmed at all sides by the marionette army.
. . . . . . . . .
Leo was cautious as he pried around the corner of one of Oscuro's back alleys. Carefully peering passed the corner, he saw a worrying sight.
Halfway down the back way sat Aurora. She was seated atop a garbage can next to a dumpster and had one leg crossed over the other respectfully. She was staring in his direction. Upon notice, she slowly rose her right hand and called him over with an inching finger.
Knowing full well that he might be walking into a trap, the self-made summoner was agitated to say the least. Scowling to himself in frustration, he turned the corner and slowly approached the woman.
Glancing passed the woman, Leo saw Aurora's horde still charging off to where Johnny could very well be making his last stand.
Anxious couldn't even begin to describe the gut wrenching feeling that was worming around from inside of the black haired man. He was without a whole night's sleep. The further things dragged on the more of a disadvantage he was at. Each and every step he took only seeming to bring him closer and closer to a complete collapse. This disadvantage seeming to be one sided as he gazed long and hard at the pristine looking woman before him.
Aurora's lips pursed upward with mirth. "You are oh so very different than the other summoner's back in the capital, Lenard." Her words and tone a mix of tempered and coercing.
Leo came to a stop, not wanting to get too close. "I wouldn't know." After an unblinking pause, the man continued his lifeless stare onward. "What is it you're after?" He asked, bluntly, not even attempting to hide how little he knew.
Reath rose a hand over her mouth, as though to hide what must have been a growing smile. A second passed by and the hand was removed, the same expression from before taking hold. "I stopped asking myself that question a long long time ago."
Swapping which leg overlapped which, the black garbed woman laced her fingers together. Resting them over her knee, she leaned closer ever so slightly. "Let me ask you something, Lenard. Are you satisfied with your life?" As soon as the words left her lips, a pack of her monsters came in from the main street and began flooding the compact passageway.
"I think I've heard enough." The male remarked, pointing his cane toward the dumpster across from him.
Staring down, Aurora watched as a light gust of wind pushed out from beneath the dumpster beside her. "To think you would set up a trap even this far out of the way. How very like you, Lenard." Still not an ounce of worry gracing her rustic voice.
Blasting the metal garbage container high into the air, it crashed down in the entrance way of the alley, blocking any immediate entry, at least momentarily as they would be forced to scale it and its debris.
A swarm of harpies sprung out and began assaulting the reinforcements before they could get to Leo. They distracted the group as well as swooped in low in order to swipe and claw at their vitals in between their weaving patterns.
Aurora rose into a stand, her eyes playfully following the aerial creatures before turning to their summoner. When she took a few steps toward him, he took an equal amount of steps back. "You can't accomplish anything if all you do is run away." The woman teased, no real anger in her voice.
"Watch me!" The summoner called out, intentionally childishly. Turning around, he sprinted as fast as his legs could carry him. Skidding to a halt at the back doorway to a house, he instantly began fiddling with the handle.
"It's locked." The woman called out as she continued strolling ahead. Less than a stone's toss away, the surreptitious woman reached out her left hand, now only a few steps away from her prey.
After just a moment, the door opened right up without resistance. jumping inside, Leo turned around. "I picked it this morning!" The self-centered man informed, slamming it shut in the other's face just before she could reach him.
Rather than reach for the handle as well, perhaps insulted from having the door slammed in her face, a four armed cyclops rose up from her shadow. Punching forward, two of its arms broke right through the wood. Grabbing it from the inside, the door was pulled apart and cast aside.
Heading inside, Reath halted herself as she stood in the doorway. The building was a two story home. There was a staircase directly in front of her leading to the next floor. A small living room area to her right, an ornate couch facing toward her.
Due to the angle of rising morning sun as well as the position of the building sandwiched between two others, the interior was very dim. Barely anything more than shapes could be made out.
Noticing the poor visibility, the impregnable woman glanced beside her to a candle stick holder on the wall just above her. To her surprise, the candles appeared to have been absconded some time before. Certainly if she were to make her way around the interior, she was positive any others would be left in an identical state.
It wouldn't be difficult for her to order one of her minions to break down a wall to let in more light. Yet, where would the fun in that be? A baleful smile slung its way across her sinister face. So be it. She would play his game of cat and mouse.
Without cause for alert, the far from cavalier but not quite curt woman headed for the staircase before her. The cyclops following a few steps behind. "I challenged a god once, Lenard. And I, was victorious." She announced all of a sudden. Her voice carried far into the home, its owner not yet certain where her game was hiding.
The woman's fingertips began gliding just above the railing of the staircase. Aurora's eyes dragging along the wall next to her which held a great many portraits of what was most likely families and house hold members. "I don't mean to disconcert you by any means. On the contrary, I'm rather fond of this galvanized side of you. I simply wish to put things in perspective." Her movements were much slower than usual as she carried herself regally.
The mirthful demeanor the summoner held before died off as it was replaced with a somber recollection. It was possible that memories of her mentioned conquest made their way back into her mind. "His name was Gehan. In the mother tongue of the ancients who named him. It means: All's End. He was as great as a mountain. Blood of lava that erupted out of its center. His eyes, vacant. They were old, Lenard. It was an oldness that you or I will never know."
Halfway up the staircase, Reath's eyes stopped on a portrait of a young teenage girl. The youth looked promising, well groomed with a clean face. Her eyes however were distant, her attention focused somewhere the painter did not illustrate.
Her gaze captured even ever so briefly by the painting, the amused smile from before took its place back upon her features. "It took a siege that lasted three days, and countless sacrifices. And yet, in the end, it was I who was victorious. I aimed to claim him as one of my own, but I could not. His will was the first that would not bow to me. Instead, I sealed him in enchanted chains and locked him away in an empty realm separate from ours." Gently pushing the frame aside revealed a hidden summoning glyph underneath.
As it lit up, the cyclops reached over its master and punched a hole through the wall. The paper completely destroyed.
Laughing to herself, Aurora shifted her eyes back down to the seemingly empty living room. "In a charming way, that defiance, reminds me of you."
. . . . . . . . .
Hidden behind the back of the couch, Leo swallowed a hard gulp. His hand tightening around his cane much more violently than before as his attempted trap was diffused so easily above him.
When the footsteps continued once again, the thief silenced himself as best he could to make out the other's movements. After several more steps, the man realized something alarming. The steps were getting closer.
He couldn't wait any longer. While no longer opportune, he aimed the head of his cane up toward the top of the stairs and it started to glow.
Atop the staircase, on a window, hidden under a pair of curtains, a secondary glyph lit up.
Feeling the gust of wind that accompanied the forceful tearing between the worlds, Reath turned lazily back around.
With a blinding light burning through the darkness, a snake as wide as a carriage spawned forth. Its materialization was so spontaneous that the glass behind the etching shattered violently and without warning. As soon as the scaled beast crossed over into their world, it lunged down the staircase, its mouth and fangs ready to clamp down for a kill.
At the last instant, Aurora pressed her back against the side wall. The giant serpent shooting passed her and attacking her minion instead. A look devoid of worry on her face as she watched the creature slip by.
The cyclops rose up its hands and caught the fangs the size of its arms. The force was so great that its legs instantly gave out and they two blew right out the front door. The sounds of the two slamming and wrestling each other echoing inside.
With easy footsteps, Reath once again brought herself back down to the ground floor. Her hands slipping into her pockets. The coat which rested upon her shoulders blowing back as wind passed through the house's new wind tunnel.
"You're mistake, Lenard, was assuming this was a battle between tacticians." As the walking army spoke, a new guest arose from the shadow behind her. This time, it was a Mechanoid whose body was coated in a blackened steel.
The automaton was considerably stout. Its back hunched over greatly to accommodate the heaviness of its arms. Both of which had a pair of hefty looking Miniguns strapped onto them.
As the barrels of the Gatling-styled weapons began rearing up, the white dressed summoner vaulted out from behind the couch and dashed toward the back of the house. A door beside a kitchen window seeming to be his goal.
With an impetuousness that would have put Johnny to shame, the machine started blasting away. As the bullets zipped through the framework of the house like paper, the spread narrowed as the robot's targeting mechanisms focused in on the sprinting man.
When Aurora's gaze shifted to the doorway, so too did her servant's bullet trajectory. At the speed and pace Leo had been running, he would have reached the door just in time to have his insides paint its very frame. This was not the case however.
Unexpectedly, rather than head for the door, the crook stopped on a dime and through himself out the back window. His body tumbling disgracefully outside.
When the man's form disappeared, the tremendous gunplay ceased. The barrels slowed down as smoke waved out above the now reddened and hot tops.
Perhaps impressed with the man's quick thinking, Aurora recalled her servant. Bowing its head, the mechanical creature shrunk down and returned to its owner's shadow.
With a wry smile, Reath walked toward the outside and now bullet riddled and punctured wooden doorway. The frame destroyed just as much as the door to the point that all it took was a light tap of her finger to completely collapse half of the wall.
Stepping outside, the woman who seemed more and more only one step away from a deity examined the back lot. Her eyes curiously panning about.
From this point onward, the rest of the city was in much further disarray, so much as construction was concerned at least. The following block was far off from being finished. While the groundwork had been set, only the very start of the house frames had been set up so far. The paved street halting abruptly as it turned back into a dirt roadway.
Turning to the West, the road met a small hill which overlooked the flat riverbed. The mill churning along at a steady and slow pace in the outskirts of the city limit within the fog wall.
Looking down beside her feet, Reath saw a puddle of shattered glass just below the window. A few droplets of blood painting the ground and leading off toward the river.
Smug at the sight, Reath looked up to the originator of the trail staggering off a little less than half a block away. Smiling to herself, the woman started walking after the man, not a hint of hurry in any of her actions as she nonchalantly pursued the injured man.
. . . . . . . . .
Huffing, Leo trudged along as he stared desperately out toward the water mill. The building was close to half a mile away. Passed the dirt road, the tired man simply had to cross a small stone cut bridge that serviced as a way across the river.
Frenzied breaths escaped him as he dragged his tired body forward. His coattail now tarnished by bored bullet holes. Small pieces of glass sticking out of his right shoulder.
"Allow me to guess..." Reath began from behind, her voice closer than the other liked or found comforting. "...you've also booby-trapped the mill?"
Coming to the conclusion that making a run for it wouldn't help him this time, the now partially ragged man started to turn around. "W-What gave it away?" He asked in a forced bravado to steady his nerve.
Turning around, Leo grasped the full distance between them. They were a little more than ten steps away from each other. The babbling of the useless river water down beside them drowning out her approach.
Reath laughed at the bold response. "Really now, at least have try the town's inhabitants livelihood in consideration throughout all of this. How else will they subsidize themselves if you've ruined all their dwellings and caused this much damage to this budding development."
While the comment was intended as little more than a joke, something about it irked the self-taught summoner. "Why?" He asked, earning him a questionably raised brow which beckoned him to continue. A telling assertation the man was fine with meeting. "Why do you keep talking like any of this place matter?"
With a complacent shake of her head, Aurora stared across at the male. "What a cold-hearted thing to say."
Not sharing the other's level of amusement, the battered thief's hazel eyes stared ahead with an almost emptiness to them. "Let me rephrase that. Why do you keep talking like this town even exists at all?"
The older's hearty nature died down immediately at the question. Her shoulders stiffened up as she stood up more straight. Her lavender gaze staring back with an icy glare. "Whatever do you mean?" Even her tone became more ridged at this.
Sighing, it looked as though the criminal almost regretting his comment entirely. "The stars gave it away." Was all he said, hoping the response would suffice.
"Hm?" The woman hummed curiously. The playful smirk from before returning full force.
Rubbing the back of his sore neck, it took a lot of willpower for Leo not to pause to let out a massive yawn. "It was a rare sight, wouldn't you agree?" The man's eyes admittedly sparking back to life in a similar manner as the other as he began. "Aegis' Whip, Seraphine's Pendulum, and even Gough's Hammer. All those star signs out at once. It was something to behold. I was captured by it."
Beginning to lose interest, the black dressed summoner glanced away, just momentarily. "Yes, I suppose it was." Turning back, her gaze seemed sharper, more menacing. "Worthy of one's final night. If I had to say so myself."
Ignoring the threatening words, Leo continued. "The problem is, it's more than just rare. It's actually impossible."
This definitive statement catching the other off guard. "Whatever do you mean?" She inquired curiously.
"Not an astronomy nut I take it? Understandable." The slender man grinned a little wider at this, exposing some teeth. "Certain constellations can only be viewed under certain constraints. Some in the Northern hemisphere, others the South. Even the seasons effect it. And yet, the series of star signs that laid above us last night, was completely impossible."
"Is that so?" Aurora retorted. A wide smile enveloping her as a trail of goosebumps ran up her spine.
"Playing coy won't help." Leo boasted confidently. "Thanks to those stars I've figured it out. It was the final nail in the coffin."
Trying to swing the momentum of things back in her favor, the gray haired woman spoke up again. "What coffin? Yours perhaps?"
Much like before, this was altogether ignored. "An empty town full of locked doors. All the while surrounded by an impassible mist and impossible sky. There's only one conclusion as utterly preposterous as it may sound. The very place we stand, even here and now, doesn't exist."
Reath was rendered silent at the accusation. Her eyes shutting briefly as she collected herself. "My, my, Lenard, whatever could you mean?" Greeting the man with her purple gaze, she intentionally looked away, as though disinterested. "You're beginning to sound mad. Is this all to much for you?"
Starting to get frustrated at how dismissive the other had become, Leo took a long breath. "Here's my assumption:" The man's gaze true as he stared forward. "When you grabbed me at the bar, the real bar, you cast some sort of spell. It's why I couldn't move, why I felt hypnotized. I'd thought that was it, but thinking back, your eyes lit up afterward. That must have been the second ritual. At the same time, that bumbling oaf and the kid bumped into us. Which explains how they ended up here as well when no one else did. The moment I opened up my eyes it was already too late. I was already in a fake town of your sheer fabrication. It's why the sky didn't match. I awoke at dusk, you didn't have a sky to replicate, so you built one out of memories. Unknowingly slipping up."
Shaking her head in disapproval, the horde commanding woman took up the mantle of seemingly disappointed stance. "You give me far too much credit. Not to mention that this suggested plot of yours is full of holes. Firstly, just when and how did I stumble upon such powerful magic, Lenard? If you can't answer that much, I think there's little point in continuing this charade of yours."
"You're right." Leo agreed donning a snide look. "Which is why I'll do just that." The claim earning him a facial twitch out of the other. "You shave life out of your bonded. Your words, not mine. You carry quite a bit around with you. I don't think it's too far fetched to assume you've been pulling that little trick of yours for some time now, centuries even."
When he spotted what couldn't have been more than the faintest shadow of unease on his adversary's face, the sleep deprived thief shouted with what little he had left. "Out with it! I'm right, aren't I?!" One of his feet stomping forward.
Silent and still for what felt like minutes, Reath stared at the man before her with an unblinking and icy glare. Eventually, she pulled her hands out of her pockets. Raising them up, she spread them no further than her sides. After, she brought them together for a single silence shattering loud clap. Pulling them apart, she repeated the action four more times before stopping completely. "Remarkable." The woman noted, adapting a proud smile. "Correct on all points. You truly are an astounding man."
Within seconds, Aurora's face contorted to a much more deprived and sinister look. "If only that was everything that mattered. Even with all that progress, it still isn't enough. The advantage still rests in my favor. Nothing's changed even with your new found affirmed knowledge. All that's left is to accept your harsh fate." A hard edge to her words.
Scoffing at the haughty speech, the former soldier looked off and toward the dirt. Indignation painting his face as he could do nothing to dispute the counter-point. After a moment however, he looked up, facing the other down once more.
Leo didn't often don a determined look, but he'd gone too far to back down now. He wouldn't lose to this witch. Not in battle, and certainly not in a battle of wits or even this odd debate they had found themselves tangled up in. "Yeah, I'll admit it. In this world, some people are just lucky. Born with it all; allowanced with talent. I'll concede to this. That people with God's given gifts have an advantage. However, if I do that, you'll have to agree to something as well. That us godless bastards have something else. While people like you can rely on your own skills, we lie, we mislead, and we make full use of every single advantage and rotten trick in the book."
unable to hold back the chortles from the outrageous claims, Reath was forced to cover her mouth once again. "Y-You..." She paused to compose herself, a few snickers poking out. "You aren't actually suggesting that—?"
Grinning wildly, Leo stood up proud and tall. "That's absolutely correct. Cheating, its man's gift to himself!"
Her hand dropping, Reath had lost full composure. Both her arms were forced to hold onto her sides as a long laughing fit erupted out of her. Tears leaking from her eyes, she wiped them away as she took in a handful of deep breaths and collected herself. "Not just remarkable, you truly are an interesting being." The compliment coming off genuine despite how partially condescending it was.
Putting his hands onto the front of his long coat, he grabbed it by the lapel and break line. "And don't you ever forget it." Spreading his coat wide revealed one last gambit. The interior lining of the jacket had been completely covered in dozens of uniquely designs summoning glyphs. Each one of them glowing along with the cane in his hand.
Far more satisfied with how things were playing out than anticipated, the age old summoner slipped her hands back into her pants pocket. "Never." She replied honestly. A new horde of monsters festering and spewing out of her shadow to meet the next display of aggression.
A mighty wind blew forth from Leo blowing down Westward. With a blinding light, tens of creatures were called forth from their realms.
From the right side of the officer's coat, heads of the beasts started tearing and clawing through the worlds. Fangs and sharpened nails dragging their hosts closer, little by little. On the left, advanced rifles from the machines were met by long angelic pole arms of angels.
Just as Leo's forces were about to pass through entirely, the counter retaliation was already underway.
Reath's own puppet army sprung out from her and attacked the very ground of which her opponent stood. Disrupting the earth, the top layer crumbled away with a miniature landslide.
Losing his footing, Leo collapsed disgracefully under himself as he fell down the hillside. His poor condition disabling him from catching or stopping himself early, he plummeted the whole way to the bottom. His body almost seeming to bounce partially as he was thrown face first into the muddy riverbed.
The man trembled as he attempted to rise back up. His hands slipped beneath him as he fell right back down. As Aurora took her time and leisure heading down the hill to meet him, the egocentric laid still, unmoving.
The once proud and clean imperial had become a shadow of his former self. His once immaculate clothes were now dyed brown with noticeable tints of red from his own injuries. His face and hair in similar disarray. The once sharpened gaze had dulled as its owner was forced to let his body rest atop the muddy surface. His cane sticking out of the ground a few feet away from him.
Staying immobile, Leo watched as the sheets of paper glyphs which lined his coat's interior floated up to the water's surface. Their ink all running away as they drifted downstream and away from him. Hours of planning and work gone to waste as they abandoned him.
Stepping into the riverbed with her long boots, Reath wore the same condescending expression as before. Keeping a fair distance, she waited to see the other's next course of action.
His hand slipping, Leo was barely able to catch his grip as he pushed himself onto his knees. Seated atop his legs, the man's slender arms hung lifeless at his sides. The now dirty fingertips swaying limply with the weak current. An almost comatose stare aimed at the stream in front of him.
Staring at the defeated man before her, Aurora remained silent for a time. The respect shown almost akin to that one would show at a funeral. The only difference immediately noticeable being the wicked smile across her face.
"Well, Lenard, you certainly had a good run." Her tone far from matched the flippant words which left her mouth. "As I've taken a liking to you, there only seems to be one option left before me." In a graceful if not peculiar manner, the woman took her hands out of her pockets. Gradually, she spread them apart from her center until they were wide and away from body as she continued to speak.
"Join my congregation, Lenard." A welcoming look eased itself upon the aged summoner's face. "You wouldn't be the first human to do so. Your will, your ambitions and aspirations, all of it will echo within me forever. You will become an undimming candle in a sea of flames for all of eternity."
Twitching at the end of the prattle, Leo rose his head to stare up at the obstinate woman in front of him. The former soldier's eyes shook as they focused in. "F-Forever?" He repeated seeking clarification.
"Forever." Aurora repeated in the utmost confidence.
After a pause, Leo's speechless look shattered as it was replaced with loathing. "I'd rather have nothing." He replied with the utmost bitterness he could muster.
The warm and gentle look that seated itself on Reath's face crumbled. Replacing it was an indifferent gaze of disdain. Both of the woman's arms draping back to her sides. "Forgive me, Lenard. It was not my intention for it to seem as though I were offering you a choice in this matter." Callously, she began her approach.
Before the urbane maven could take a single step closer, Leo reached into an interior pocket of his coat. The once white and pristine but now graying outerwear wavered as its owner dug around inside of it. Afterward, a large shard of broken glass was revealed. The base gripped tightly to the point of drawing small creases of blood.
Eying the shard, Reath couldn't fight back a small smirk. "A memento of your daring escape from earlier, I take it? You certainly are fond of planning head, aren't you?"
Rather than rise up, charging the woman in one last stand as he flailed the glass around like a makeshift knife, Leo remained on the ground. Instead of attacking his opponent, he aimed the tip of the shard toward himself with woozy motions.
Noticing a flat rock sticking out of the water beside him, the self-taught summoner laid his left hand flat atop it. His palm pressing against the cold, damp stone surface, the shard was raised above it. In one decisive action, the glass was purged into his flesh. A whimpering grunt escaped him at the moment of impact. Blood trickling down between a few fingers.
Motionless, Reath stared and watched the display before her. Perhaps enjoying the scene with a bit of morbid curiosity.
Pulling out the shard only partially, Leo started scraping the glass across his skin. He continued prodding and carving at his own flesh until a steady stream of blood oozed out of him. His task completed, whatever it may be, he discarded the bloody shard of glass, allowing it to flow downriver.
His left hand trembling greatly from the pain, the former soldier grabbed his wrist with his right to steady the shaky appendage. Angling his hand just right, the blood strained solely and thickly down the index finger. Woozily, he began leading his hand across the flat rock surface as he painted familiar symbols.
Finally seeing what was happening, Aurora smiled to herself. "One last glyph, eh, Lenard? Out of ink, only blood to suffice? Desperation doesn't suit." A fair amount of smugness to her cold words. "I'll allow it. In fact, I won't even move. Consider this your reward for trying so hard. Hit me with your fiercest summon. I'll grace your final moments by allowing you to land one attack on me." Not a single trace of worry in her words.
Even after using both hands to steady himself, the final product of his work was a woozy mess. Instead of a cohesive shape with affirming symbols of ancients long passed, the piece instead looked as though it was an illiterate toddler's best imitation.
Reclaiming his cane, he pressed his thumb against the chunk of summonite near the middle. Despite his best efforts, the gemstone refused to react at all to his bloody mark beside him. Work. He instructed in his head. Pressing his still bleeding hand against the glyph, his eyes faded in and out of focus. Work. He pleaded subconsciously again.
The criminal's blood continued to flow. It had now completely disrupted any faint trace of a summon sigil that originally remained. In frustration, the man's hand began clenching into itself. Work!
At that moment a weak red ring lit up around the beaten summoner's iris'. All the anger he had built up until that point came boiling to a head. After a second, the glow faded away. Shifting his gaze in front of him again, the kneeling man glared forward up at the woman before him with looks that could kill.
Slacking her shoulders, the older woman sighed to herself. "Can't perform? I expected as much. You've reached your limit." An absence of worry continuing to line her actions. "Unfortunate but—"
An explosion from somewhere up high seemed to echo throughout the whole town. An aftershock rumbling it to its core.
Shocked and confused, Aurora looked up to something that left her awestruck. High in the sky, there was a massive set of cracks in the sky itself. As though something enormous had impacted a mirror from the other side.
Completely baffled, Aurora could only continue to stare as her mind raced with possible reasons behind the phenomenon. "What in the wor—"
Just then, a second quake hit the town. A like-sized series of cracks painting the sky at least a mile apart from the original area of impact. Before the aftershocks could even settle, the sky itself seemed to be tearing itself apart between both of the first two impacts.
With renewed confidence and tenacity, Leo started standing upright once again. This action going mostly unnoticed while Reath was understandably preoccupied by the Ragnarok occurring above them.
At the point of the first impact above, the tears grew wider and larger. All of a sudden, the tear blew wide open. Punching straight through the now shattered horizon was an arm half the size of Oscuro. The limb was miles wide and thick. Red skin covered it. The texture appearing to be made of igneous rockscapes. Clawed fingertips at the end. Rivers of lava straining down the arm like an overflowing volcano after eruption.
Thousands of age old weaponry was sticking out of the hardened skin like toothpicks. Once wielded by no doubt proud warriors, the armaments surely served as nothing more than gravestones for the courageous warriors that dared challenge such a beast.
Massive pure white chains, links of which were the size of houses attempting to pull the appendage back through the hole it had created between worlds. Something from the other side desperately trying to pull the limb back to their side, and failing.
As one barely had a moment to process what now hovered above the town, the other cracks spread wider still. With similar bombastic force, the second area burst open as well as the second arm punched straight through alongside the original.
Both limbs hovered motionlessly above Oscuro. Their combined size being so gigantic, that it appeared as though if they had decided to, they could pick up or destroy the whole city in an instant. Even with the mighty chains pulling and tugging to bring the arms back, they did not move a single inch.
The largest and center most part of the sky finally gave way. Two curved horns as wide as canyons were the first to emerge. The tips were both bloody and cracked each having clearly seen use.
Following to their base, the giant's head ultimately coming forth. Its skin pigment matched that of dried blood. Its eyes, as large as lake beds, each entirely bloodshot and devoid of pupils. Rivers of lava trailing down its face like tear lines. Titanic scars carved along its mug from what were assuredly titanic blows.
Having a clearer picture of the great creature's form, despite a few missing joints, its entirety had become more clear. While unable to be verified, it was most likely humanoid in shape. It almost seemed as though a great mountain had violently erupted, and in that state, something had bestowed the landscape with life of which to be taken form. Powerful, and ever exuding force.
Staring up at the god that now towered over the town, Reath's face had completely fallen into itself. Her mouth agape for the first time that night. Her composure was lost as she stared down the familiar yet foreboding sight. "Gehan. All's End." She uttered out in complete disbelief.
Glancing down, the summoner saw Leo retake his stand. The red ring around his eyes now fully apparent. The ring, an identical color to the titan's bloodshot eyes above them.
Realizing what had happened, Reath gave the man before her complete attention. "Lenard, you don't understand the powers you're dealing with." Noticeable amounts of sweat protruding down the sides of her face as she tried to reason with the man. "Gehan cannot be utilized. He cannot be controlled. You were right, this town isn't real. It's an illusion of my own creation." Gulping subtly, the graying haired woman stressed the next segment of her logic very clearly. "However, a being like him, would be able to completely shatter the barriers between this world, and ours. Complete destruction of our world, your world, that's what you're risking here, Lenard. And so, I beseech you..."
Aurora paused when she came to the realization that the man in front of her stared on with a look of sheer disregard. Infuriated by the other's devoid grasp of the gravity of their situation, she began raising the volume of her voice. Hopefully, this noticeable difference would hammer home even the slightest amount of her dire sincerity. "Dammit, Lenard! This is serious! He will destroy you and everything else without prejudice! I repeat myself, he cannot, under any circumstances, ever be controlled!"
Letting the words sink in, the dark haired man stood idle. Repugnance and contempt still overtaking his glare, Leo refused to look away, or even blink. Nothing would desist the hatred in his eyes for even a second.
Slowly, he rose both his hands and balled them into fists. Leaning forward, the man took a more natural fighting stance. Remarkably, Gehan mirrored from up above. The sounds of his hands shifting into fists were accompanied by what sounded like shifting tectonic plates.
For the second time that night, Reath was once again left entirely awestruck and agape.
Keeping up his glare, Leo started pulling back his right arm. Likewise, Gehan did the same. The massive red fist pulled back slowly. Boulder sized debris shaking off like dust at the slightest of movements. "Remember..." The heartless man began, speaking up for the first time in a while. "...don't move." Stepping forward with his left foot, he delivered a right straight with all he could. His slender frame shaking at the end from the force packed behind the swing at the air.
Following the summoner's movement, Gehan did the same. The city sized punch seemed to start at full power. The clouds above becoming ripped apart from the size and velocity of the swing. The massive fist heading straight down like a meteor about to destroy a planet.
Rendered immobile, Aurora watched the sight in horror. The god's transmitted blow picking up such speed and power that a veil of fire seemed to surround the attack.
Without a word of command, hundreds of thousands of creatures spawned from her shadow. All of them flying up or leaping above her. Piling themselves together, they formed a living shield for which to absorb the blow which would eviscerate the false town. The end result being a mass of flesh that was miles high and across.
The fist connected and instantly evaporated everything the knuckles touched into a thick red mist. Every last living entity was snuffed out within seconds. While slowing down considerably, and despite losing much of its initial power, the blow carried on. Smashing into the ground where the regal dressed summoner stood, the riverbed shook and shattered. A geyser of water exploding off from all sides as the water was pushed out and away after impact.
As Gehan pulled back his fist, water rushed to fill the great crater it left behind. Reath's flattened body floating up to the surface.
Leo stared on from where he stood before resigning himself to anything else. Listening in, aside from the sounds of running water, there were sharp cracking sounds. He was certain, the summoner before him had already began rebuilding and resetting her bone structure.
Shifting his weight, the once white dressed summoner pushed his left hand away from him. His palm facing the distorted sky, he delivered an underhand horizontal chop.
Following the attack again, Gehan swept his massive hand in front of him. As soon as it began, destruction was caused in its wake. Beginning so low to the ground, half the skyline of buildings were cleared out and brushed away by the powerful winds that followed behind.
Like before, hundreds of thousands of Reath's bonded appeared to defend their host and master. Performing the save living shield tactic as prior, only on a horizontal front, they packed themselves in together and braced to absorb as much as the attack as possible.
History repeating, the army sized force was utterly devastated once again. Those hit directly were obliterated in the blink of an eye. Those unfortunate to survive met the aftermath of the dust bowl that followed the chop. A razor sharp wind carrying the destroyed buildings swept them away and crashed them all into the barren edge of the riverbed like broken dolls.
Reath's living shield were able to serve their purpose more effectively this time than the last. Aurora's body was pushed aside at the last moment. This granting her body more time to heal as her forces perished.
Grounding his stance, Leo gave his opponent no time to rest. Taking a deep breath, he pulled his head back. The delay between his actions and Gehan completely vanished by this point. The two in perfect synchrony. Swinging himself forward, the god flew forward, stretching outward to complete the set up headbutt motion. The force so strong in this final attack that the chains pulling him back were completely shattered.
Gehan slammed his horns and forehead against the riverbed with such force that the city's entirety became enraptured in a massive quake. The once simple stream erased as the landscape had been altered from a thin line to a deep bowl shaped crater that even Leo had been sucked into. Its circumference stretching miles wide. Any homes left standing near the epicenter caved in right away, tumbling over instantly as their foundations were destroyed. Bits of rubble and giant shards of chain raining down around the bowl.
As the titan began uprooting himself out of the crater of his own creation, the chains falling around him stopped and started flying back up. Reforming, they pulled and gripped with twice as much vigor as before. Tightening around the god's body and throat, they all tugged in one tremendous motion. Without so much as a wail, Gehan and his appendages were pulled back through the gateways, forced once more into his prison realm.
The tears in the sky sealed themselves back up. The distortion in the horizon mended itself within seconds.
The red ring around Leo's iris flickered before fading away entirely. Blinking as he placed a hand over the side of his now throbbing head, he groggily gazed over the destruction he'd wrought. A grin slowly forming a growing as he admired his handiwork. Eventually thrusting his head back, the rouge let loose a mad laughter.
Noticing a puddle of muddy water on the ground beside him, Leo bent over next to it. Shoving his two hands inside, he took what little water he could and slicked his hair back. The already drying muck keeping it in place. The action cleaned up his view which had been obscured by now all but one loose strand of hair. It also exposed a wide forehead.
When some rubble from the opposite side of the crater started to move, the egocentric ceased his cleaning activity but kept the cocky grin.
A bloody hand plunging up from the ground, Reath started pulling herself out of the ground. Her body, torn and degraded from head to toe, it started its healing process over from the beginning, only noticeably slower than before.
Cracking her neck, Aurora's jaw reset as she rose up to a shaky stand. "Don't underestimate things." The aged summoner announced, her arms repairing. Confidence still residing in her voice despite everything that had transpired. "You have wounded me far passed the range of many before you, Lenard, but I—"
"The name's Leo." The ragged man remarked, cutting the other off. His cocky attitude returning full force. "Leo Avaricious." He reintroduced.
Her lower body just finishing the last of her regeneration, Reath shrugged. Her body had mended completely back to full force. Not a hair out of place. "So be it. You've earned a last name. I won't dispute this fact."
Rather than wait and counter-attack, Leo was the first to move this time. His cane in hand, he started steadily walking forward unafraid. Something in his eyes seeming different. His pupils more shrunken in, more focused and precise than ever before.
Standing up proper, the worldly summoner slid her hands back into her pockets. "Very well, Avaricious." While her mannerisms stayed the same, her spoken tone had changed fully. It was more respectful, as though speaking to an equal. A last name being only the first thing the other had earned.
The tattered man halted his advance at this. Standing on a raised section of the uneven bowl, as well as his natural height, he looked down on the woman in front of him. Disgust forming in his gaze. "Reath," He began with a hint of revulsion. "...who gave you permission to speak to me?"
While one of them had learned respect, it seemed the other had thrown it out the window.
Irked beyond belief, Aurora remained still. Resentment born under her face. Just then, dozens of monsters crawled out from her shadow. Ogres as well as knife wielding imps charging and dashing toward the other summoner.
The ogres were rough skinned and fat nuisances. Pale skin with protruding guts. They were close to twelve feet tall as they awkwardly through their weight around.
The imps were a perfect contrast. They had green skin and pointed ears. Hunched over, if they were to stand upright they would barely reach one's kneecap. Energetic creatures, they jumped about, even twitching when idle. A small knife in each hand.
It seemed overkill for someone who lacked a means to defend himself. His glyphs were gone. Each of them used up or destroyed. Yet Leo wore no fear.
The male remained idle just as his adversary. When one of the imps was the first to draw closer, Leo's eyes zeroed in on it. Just behind, one of the ogre degrading marched ahead, a few seconds away.
Leo tightened the grip on his cane. Slowly pulling it back, the gem in the center started lighting up.
The imp was blissfully unaware as it leaped up at the man. The ogre spreading its arms apart as it reached for its target, intent on squeezing the life out him forcefully.
Within an instant, a hulking Mechanoid which stood on equal with the ogre appeared behind the once white clad summoner. It seemed to originally have been created for construction purposes. The fact that its right arm had been completely replaced by a massive pressing piston being the main tell. As if its spontaneous appearance was not surprising enough the aforementioned mechanism was pulled back fully.
The imp as close as could be before attacking, Leo slammed his cane forward. The hook end smashing into the small creatures skull and bashing it violently against the ground. Its twitching ceased as the knives fell from its hands.
At the same time, a geyser of steam flooded out of the large Mechanoid as the piston fired forward. Originally designed for impacting metal and pressing gravel and other stone flat, it had no problem punching a giant hole straight through the ogre's wide midsection.
As the second creature fell before him, so too did his minion fade away. Its departure as fast and subtle as its original appearance.
Reath's troops stayed still. Their master and vessel trying to piece together what she had just witnessed. There was no glyph involved at all. No incantation uttered or even a flash of light which signaled the transcending between the realms. In other words, she was drawing a blank.
Needing to see more for herself, she silently instructed her forces to change tactics. All together, the horde surrounded the opposing summoner, blocking off any attempt at escape.
Choking his cane up near the head, the bottom was aimed to the ground. It was now held like knife about to be plunged down. "Kneel vermin." Leo commanded, beginning his downward stab. At the same time, a giant armored angel appeared overhead.
The angelic being was twice the size of a human. Its cobalt armor added to its overall size. Two celestial pairs of wings spread wide from both sides.
It held a grand saber in its hands by the handle, the blade facing downward. The weapon was nearly as thick as its owner, the tip protruding passed the feet. Unfamiliar rune markings lining the sword's broad sides.
Diving the divine metal downward, the runes illuminated. A hail of white lightning rained down in the area around them. Each violent burst striking down like heaven's wrath. All those within its range were reduced to charred misshapen piles of ash. Stray bolts causing smoldering miniature craters all around.
Its work completed, the angelic soldier raised its sword and vanished without a trace. Only corpses left behind.
Staring at the graveyard before her, Reath couldn't take her eyes off the fully realized summoner. Her resolute purple gaze firmly positioned ahead of her. While rightfully cautious with her previous action, the woman knew it wasn't how she dealt with rebellion. A force so great it trumped any tactic used against her. That was the method to her madness.
From Aurora's shadow rose up a greater demon. A pale gray skin coating its form. At its full height, it lumbered over the shattered arena nearing almost two stories tall. It was human-like in shape and muscular. A single curved horn pushing out from the center of its forehead.
Reath glanced up at the demon beside her which shadowed her like a tree in a forest. "Go." The soul collector commanded affirmatively.
At the order, the creature kicked off into a full sprint. The ground cracking apart and shaking with each step. With less than four steps, it would reach the rival summoner.
Leo pulled back his left hand at this sign of aggression. Spreading apart his fingers, his nails aimed forward like a set of claws. The cane in his other hand glowing, he swiped his opened hand at the moment the greater demon reached him.
As the horned creature stretched down to destroy the arrogant combatant, a black furred lion appeared to its right. The beast's left most claws preparing to strike as it was in the middle of a pounce.
The feline was larger than a horse drawn carriage. Its fur a midnight black with a graying mane. As it began its attack, the muscles went through each action so mechanically it was apparent such strikes had been committed to muscle memory. While aged passed its direct prime, the beast had very clearly taken part of numerous acts of savagery.
The lion's long claws ripped apart the flesh of the greater demon's arm. Chunks of meat flying off as three deep wounds bleed heavily from the appendage.
Before the fiend could pull back or aim to defend itself, the beast leaped up. Opening its wide maw, it released a brutal roar. With terrifying swiftness, it had engulfed the demon's full head within its spread mouth. Crunching down from atop and below, its fangs dug deep into its prey's neck and throat, dragging it toward the ground. Touching down, it finished its chomp and severed the connection between head and body instantly.
The demon's body laid flat and bloody. It was outclassed to the point of being bested in the span of three seconds.
Spitting out the head, the dark lion stared at the gray haired summoner across the crater. When Leo joined in on the glare, was when the physical threat took its full course. Both man and beast shared the same eyes. Each beady eyed with sharpened stares. Ferocity and the intent to kill perfectly in synch.
When the beast vanished like a passing mist, the cynic of a man smirked to himself and once again continued his fearless approach to the walking army across from him. "Have you figured it out yet? I won't fault you as it took me a while to come to the only logical conclusion." His baiting words sinking and spreading out like poisonous venom. "All these beasts, demons, angels, and machines, they're no different than people. Each and every one of them, they were born and created for one sole reason; to be used as tools by me alone!" He boasted in complete seriousness.
It had finally happened. The man rare to admit error or failure in his actions had gone completely off the deep end. His arrogance escalated to the full extreme of a god complex in minutes. Marching proudly forward, he wore a look of satisfaction. Why wouldn't he be? From his point of view he had already retaken his throne; seated and claiming his divine right as the worst of the worst.
The slow pace no longer suiting him, Leo broke spontaneously into a sprint.
Rushing in close, Aurora was rendered completely off guard. She dodge out of habit as she ducked a swing of the other's cane and backed away in reflex.
She could and would summon more of her forces to end the man, but her numbers had began dwindling. She needed to understand what was happening before throwing away more of lifeblood at the man whom at least presently was more than capable at swatting away.
For a time, neither of the pair summoned a thing. It was a desperate exchange of swings from the now zealous male and dodges from the well vested woman. Leo's cane swing out with a mix of swift motions only to be replaced immediately after by desperate and violent blows.
Eventually, tired of being on the defensive, Reath prepared a counter-attack. As she backed away from the most recent swing, a skeleton soldier dressed in leather and equipped with a buckler and short sword appeared between them.
With a sword thrusting quickly toward Leo's face, it would have only been logical to back away. Once securing one's safety, move back in and counter the counter. The man seemed to care little for his safety at that moment however.
Instead of running away, the ragged man ducked his head and stepped inward still. The blade shaving a few hairs off the top of his head. Following this, he spun the cane in his hand and stabbed the bottom forward, but even at the full length of his reach, his opponent had already backed off just out of reach.
The self-taught summoner wasn't finished however. Just as he began his own thrust, a centaur wielding a pike appeared beside him. Following the same motions as its master, the steel pike stabbed straight through the skeleton. Penetrating through the first enemy, it stabbed further. The head landing inside Aurora's chest right before it dissipated.
The wound didn't have a chance to draw much blood. While healing was a natural option, it had still happened so quick that it left the age old summoner in a state of unease she wasn't comfortable with.
Barely taking a moment to catch his breath from his daring stunt, the narcissist dove right back into the fray. One slip up and it's over for me. I've never fought like this before, have I? I was always the type who let other do the heavy lifting for me. The background suited me just fine. This type of scene, this point of view with danger flying toward me at this incredible distance, it's so new to me. Up until now I've hidden myself away; out of reach of my opponents. Up close like this, I can't run away. And yet... A crazed look settling in on his mug. What is this euphoria?
Reath was forced to dart around to avoid the other's constant attacks. Her attacks countered and returned at every step. It had been too long, she had forgotten to to fight defensively, and it was showing. As a result, her mind was consumed in thought. This man. I was completely wrong about him. From the beginning, I'd thought each and every one of his actions were planned solely for his own survival. How wrong I must have been. The person standing fearlessly before me, is that of a man whom is desperately chasing after a victory. Was I mistaken from the start? No. It's something much more than that. Before my eyes, at a terrifying speed, this man's world view is changing.
Stepping in, Leo had closed the distance between the two while the other was distracted. "I won't allow you to run away form me. We've just begun. Show me more of that pitiful look; a face twisted in agony and hopelessness."
Using his front most foot, he caught the back of Reath's ankle as he pulled back with his own. Tripping her up momentarily from below, he pushed her upper half away with the bash of the blunt hook of his cane.
As the other was about to tumble over her lost footing, her face was caught by the other with both hands. Pulling her back in, he forced her to look up at him. Gently caressing the sides of Aurora's face, Leo started to speak. "It's good that your body can regenerate. It means that I can kill you again and again. Over and over until I'm satisfied."
Reath readied to retaliate, but before she could, two masses blocked her vision from the sides. Suddenly, both of the man's thumbs were plunged roughly inward, gouging her eyes and meshing them to pulp. At that instant, the older woman was lifeless. She could do nothing more than release a bloodcurdling scream.
Aurora was left in temporary agony. Her suffering cut short as a bear-like creature appeared from behind to defend its host.
Standing on its hind legs, it was mostly normal apart from a few irregularities. The major difference between it and a common black bear being an exterior skull which seemed to grow around its face and fortified jawline.
When the beast slashed downward with its claws, Leo was forced to halt his barbaric actions as he turned away to retreat temporarily. Doing so in such a rapid motion, it took his officer's coat a moment to catch up. Trailing just behind, the creature's claws ripped the long slender coat tail apart, turning it into three.
Leo didn't care that he was forced to expand the distance between him and his opponent. After all, he'd learned something very valuable. While escaping death seemed easy for the woman he was up against, she did feel pain. The realization causing a bloody grin to suit his face.
Rather than recoil, Reath instead started laughing. Opening up her eyes, the once mangled organs had already retaken their natural form. "It's been a long time since someone's hurt me like that." An excited expression growing from within her.
Recalling the creature within her, Aurora once again stood alone. "In another era, you'd have been a king." She couldn't help but compliment as she started walking forward menacingly, both arms hanging low.
Mimicking the action, Leo did similarly. The two summoners heading straight for one another. "As if I'd take up a position so beneath me."
Reaching a medium range between them, Reath was the first the strike. A handful of monsters crawling out from her spreading shadow in front of her.
At the notice of aggression, Leo stomped forward. At the same time, a creature that seemed to be a living tree with glowing eyes spawned beside him. Raising a foot that looked like an uprooted tree stump, it slammed down. This attack crushing the other's budding forces before their chance to strike and it disappeared as well..
This dance repeated over and over. Usually, Reath would summon or attempt to summon one of her own forces only for Leo to counter at the same exact moment. As his own would vanish immediately after, no change ever in their temp ever occurred.
Occasionally, Leo would step in and swing his cane for extra reach. This however would prove fruitless as Reath simply needed to back away. The male summoner's new closeness of range finally picked up by his opponent.
On chance that Reath did regain the upper hand, Leo would keep his cool. Rather than panicking, he would bind his time and summon a new creature to mop up the most recent challenge. Thus, causing the cycle would reset. An impenetrable deadlock forming.
Eventually, stepping in a little further than usual, and swinging a little wider with his extended reach, Leo hit his mark. The hook end of his can whacking the edge of his opponent's temple at the apex point of his attack.
This strike came at such an angle that it seemed to hit the other in her blind spot. Not bracing for the precise blow, Reath's eyes went wide at the time of impact. Her eyes unfocussed as they hallowed out briefly.
The narcissistic man had all intention of rushing in at the other's moment of weakness, but stopped as an unexpected phenomenon occurred high above in the sky that garnered his complete attention.
The sky flickered before morning daybreak shifted into completely blankness. A white sky looming over the entire city.
The nothingness faded into the image of a small room. The sky seeming to take the form of a projection screen, a movie played out.
. . . . . . . . .
A small chamber faded into view. Very little of the room was in focus apart from a table in the center. Seated at one of the edges was a young child with long black hair. She was doodling something on a piece of paper using a pair of crayons. Every so often, she would stop to glance at an open book beside her, clearly copying an image from the tome.
After a few seconds, an older man entered the frame. The sounds of his approaching footsteps echoing from all around. He was dressed in what appeared to be robes which held some ceremonial value. The man was obviously an important figure.
Reaching the child, he rustled her hair affectionately. "Tracing glyphs again?" After a hearty proud laughter, the man started encouraging her actions by pointing out key elements. "Keep up the work and you'll be a prodigy before your schooling even starts."
Giggling happily, the child looked up at the adult. A pair of purple eyes shining with wonder and glee at the praise. "Yeah!" The small girl exclaimed before returning to her drawing.
. . . . . . . . .
Much older, the same child from before entered her home from outside. She now looked to be in her teen years. A pair of thick tomes pressed against her chest with one hand. A scroll tightly clutched in the other.
Aside from growing into her features, not much about the girl had changed. She was now however dressed in a robe that shared very close similarities to the man from the earlier projection.
Entering a living room. The same man from before was seated in an important looking chair. Another man seated opposite of him. "I mean it Reath, the council just can't stop talking about her." The guest began excitedly. "That kid of yours is breaking every record at the academy, and she even skipped a few grades. She's shaping up to be a real shining star!"
Nodding appropriately, the other wore a proud smile. "Yes. I'm very lucky to have such a brilliant daughter. It's important we always push ourselves as far as we're able. It's how we progress as a society. I'm glad to see she takes those words to heart."
Deciding not to ease drop any further, the purple eyed girl took her leave quietly. Heading toward her room, a pleased look settled onto her face and glowing cheeks.
. . . . . . . . .
The man from prior memories now stood in the center of a mostly empty room. Rather than the simple and proud expressions he wore before, his face was mangled and terrified. His jaw left agape as his arms remained limp at his sides.
On the ground before him was a very complex looking summon sigil that had been crafted in blood. Multiple signs overlapping each other. At the opposite end of the markings stood the girl from before.
She had fully matured to adulthood. Her robes tarnished with bloodstains. Her right hand bleeding. The left was holding a crimsoned knife.
Behind her was a hulking creature. Its appearance malformed. Every breath that escaped it seemed to be rampant and unsteady. Its very existence almost seemed to be torture.
"Aurora..." The man began, fear enveloping his face. "What have you done?" A dire horror to every word.
Smiling illustriously, the woman steadied her bleeding hand as she discarded the knife. "I'm doing what you taught me, father. It's important that we as individuals push ourselves and our craft as far as we are able. It's how we progress as a society."
At the end of her response, the monstrosity behind her let out a painful moan as it took up a crude kneeling stance. A moment later, it oozed into the ground, becoming one with the bleeding summoner's shadow. After doing so, the blood which dripped from her wounded hand ceased entirely.
Pleased at the events that had transpired before her, the woman stared ahead in a dignified matter. A wide smile spreading across her lips from ear to ear.
. . . . . . . . .
Skipping further ahead, the now far older woman walked down the streets of her gothic city of summoners. Alleys were empty, roads scarce.
Everyone in town had assembled in the city center. Panicked looks plastered over countless faces, disillusioned looks overtaking others. Evacuation had begun.
On the ground, a mass of summoners had gotten together to paint a massive glyph upon the ground. It had been designed wide enough to reach and extend to the point where every citizen in town had enough room to stand within its borders.
With the townspeople assembled, Aurora seemed to be the last to arrive. Just as she was about to join her people within the circle, her father stood between them and her. "You're not coming with us." His words sorrowful and curt as they went straight to the point.
"What?" The woman asked in utter confusion.
Bearing his teeth in frustration, the man balled his fist in a failing attempt to control his anger. "This isn't my decision. It's out of my hands." It was obvious he was lying, at least to some extent.
Before any argument could ensue, the massive spell circle began lighting up. Taking a few steps back, the man made certain he was inside, and that his daughter was cleanly out of its reach.
When great winds started emitting from the sigil, tall sky scraping buildings started tumbling over in the distance. As a light was born so bright it could rival the sun itself, the man spoke up again. "You don't belong where we're going. Rot with the monsters of this world oh wayward daughter of mine."
When Aurora cried out and rushed forward, her father pushed her away. The now blinding violent light engulfing half of the city. Reath only able to watch as her people forsook her very existence.
As the light died off, it had left behind nothing but a massive crater where the center of town used to reside. A few buildings collapsing in the distance in the aftermath of the mighty spell.
Abandoned and alone, the woman sat still on the floor. Her eyes unable to be torn away from the sight before her. It had taken a while but a realization seemed to dawn over her that caused the glimmer in her eyes to vanish completely. She was alone, but what haunted the most was the quest she could not help but ask herself.
For how long?
. . . . . . . . .
Aurora Reath sat at the peak of snow tipped mountain range. Cold, bone chilling winds blowing her regal garments behind her. The center most landmass, the one the woman currently found herself on, dwarfed all the surrounding ones by far.
The woman's face had changed once again. It was more sunken in, wrinkles starting to settle in. A deadened look in her lilac gaze.
Despite being the desolate location, the summoner was far from unaccompanied. All around the long haired woman were her scattered horde. Beasts, fiends, and Mechanoids of all shapes and sizes. All of them kneeling to their master.
The sheer number of the woman's forces stretched down the entire mountain to the jagged base and even further on. Every inch taken up by her dutiful army.
Reath glanced toward the horizon, a vacant look on her face. Doing so, she was met with the majestic sight of a setting sun. Immediately after, she would see her forces stretching on further still for as long as her eyes could reach. A truly unconquerable display to behold. Yet, even at the incredible sight, her empty look remained; unsatisfied.
. . . . . . . . .
The sky began returning to its original appearance. The sun taking its place as it approached the peak and center of the azure abyss above. Clouds moving in appropriately.
Life returned to the centuries old summoner. Her eyes sharpening, she glared with a feisty look over toward the callous summoner in front of her who had just finished the unwarranted peep show at her memories.
Locking in on her opponent, while he had the restraint to back off temporarily, for reasons unknown, he was still closer than she felt comfortable with. Instantly behind her, as a form of requital, she had called out to a four armed reaper.
A demonic executioner sprung forth, standing a full dozen feet tall. The creature was practically skin and bone. It was dressed in a simple loincloth, a beige skin tone almost melding into one another. Its arms could have hung down to reached down to his feet if it were to hang them at his sides. Instead, it raised its slender, multi-jointed arms high above, a crooked scythe preparing to strike.
Realizing his opponent sought retribution, Leo brought his cane passed his side. Grabbing near the head with both hands, the eccentric criminal slashed horizontally at the air in front of him.
In the blink of an eye, a headless knight in a full suit of faded gold armor appeared in the forefront of the man. A green fire burning from within the hollowed creature and seemed to power it. Even missing a head, it was of equal height with the reaper opposite of him. Gripped in each hand were two thick scimitars.
When the enigmatic knight pulled both blades to his left, it swung them identically to its master. As the scythe sliced ahead, aiming for Leo, both of the headless warrior's blades clashed against it and pushed the attacker aside.
The hollowed creature started to disappear; fulfilling its purpose. Similarly, the lanky reaper returned to its owner as well. The elder not wishing to lose any more members of her army, she brought it back into her body in precaution. The two pulled into a standstill once again.
A smugness returned to the older as she fixed a part of her hair with her right hand. "That surprised me. Being pushed to such an extreme like this, it seemed my hold on this illusion wavered for an instant. Forget what you saw. It was irreverent." Reath instructed dismissively.
"I couldn't care less about your sad little life." Leo remarked coldly with a flat expression. "After all, I'll be ending it shortly enough." A raving grin replacing his passive look from a moment before.
Content at the response, Aurora stood up in a more placid manner. "Instantaneous summoning." The woman declared. "It's an art of summoning that requires no use of glyphs or any type of incantation. It's also completely different from my bonded. To most summoners, the technique is regarded as completely useless." She was very vocal about that final divulged information. "Unquestionably. As there is nothing tying them to this realm, they can only exist within it for a brief second or two. The creatures hone in on their summoner and pull through using their soul. As a result, they are summoned closely to their master, and toll the body simultaneously."
Reath felt no need to hold back a petty laugh. "You'd have been a laughing stock back in the capital. A summoner actually having to get in close to their enemy? Having to sustain self-injury with every cast? No, no, no. That wouldn't do back home." In a complacent tone, she concluded her self appointed lecture. "I said it before, did I not? Desperation doesn't suit you."
"Like I give a damn." The criminal replied candidly. The comment lacking the man's usual flair or smooth-tongued emphasis. "Achieve the most basic level of success by utilizing the least amount of effort. That's the outlook you're describing. Well tough!" His tone changing into a shout just at the end. "I've tried living like that before, look how far it got me. I don't want to hear a single word about efficiency or properness. I'll achieve my own triumphs. I'll steal victory for myself, no matter what it takes. Just try and stop me!" A fiery determination born in his beady eyes as he stared forward with a dense conviction.
Aurora was physically taken back by the response. Her eyes widening just a bit before returning to a natural state. She had actually initially intended on complimenting the man's decision before she had been cut off. The reply she received as a result however was far worth the token of disrespect. A small smile creeping up on her face. "This resolute side of you, I don't hate it."
The ceasefire ended abruptly as the cunning male ran back in, putting his money where his mouth went. His decision rewarded him as he erased the distance between them in a matter of seconds.
Rather than waste her time on offense at all, Reath had resided herself entirely to dodging. Succinct lunges and dashes keeping her ahead. His soul has become so twisted that he's calling out to all like-minded summons of a similar nature.
Electing to keep herself at least three steps away from the other at all times was mere child's play. At least it should have been. The offbeat mix ups of swift swings of the other's cane only to be followed by savage slashes from the other direction had kept her on her toes.
When Leo had hastily called out a beast to his disposal, it lunged at the black garbed woman. Too late to react in time, she was forced to take a heavy hit to her side. Blood poured from her side, cloth and muscle spewing outward. All the while she kept a level head and ignored the pain. The knights used only one partner in hopes that through the years they could form a bond so strong that it could create something greater than the sum of its parts.
Taking a moment to examine her opponent, Reath verified her theory. Just like the times before, the summoner and his called upon servant shared a posture. By mimicking his proxy's stance, honing his sense of dread, mad desire and loathing, he's actually found a way to replicate that bond, if for only an instant.
The pain vanished as her wound healed up on the spot. The blood floating up from the ground and resettling within her skin before sealing itself. Aurora normally would have put up a bravado at the spectacle, but things were different. Her forces were now lower than ever before, and every mistake she made cost her heavily.
It was such a rare feat. No one had ever made it this far. The thought that someone could, long since vanishing from her mind. I'm certain that when I was a child, just learning the arte, this type of summoner would have been my ideal! Reath couldn't help but think to herself in respect toward the tenacious man standing up against her.
Frustrated by his lack of progress, Leo lunged forward. Instead of planned strikes, he started summoning monster after monster. Each temporary ally attempting their own devastating blows in between the man's own violent swings with his cane.
A normal person would have been overwhelmed by the assault. Aurora Reath seemed dedicated to prove how little she belonged to that category however. Every move she made was purposeful and resolved. None of her actions showed she held the slightest fear of death. But I am a child no longer. She thought, resuming her internal discourse. I grew up. I realized that my kind had no interest in anything that could have jeopardized their safety or precious status. The sins and traditions I've broken to get where I am today cannot be overwritten, cannot be changed. My punishments, my exile, they had meaning. To become what I am today, I needed to endure them.
Ceasing her dodges on the spot, Reath stood her ground, reinvigorated. "Your way of summoning, it's nothing more than a glorified fantasy. I'll show you, prove that mine is the stronger craft!"
Retaliating after her struggles, a bull like creature rose up beside her. Charging ahead, it rammed straight through the other summoner's own beast just as it was called forth.
Boldly walking forward, Reath's most recent servant withdrew inside her. "You should have realized by now the strain this sort of craft is tolling on your body. Each one of your summons is robbing a little bit of your soul upon arrival and departure."
Before she knew it, her opponent had appeared just a few inches away from her face. Her eyes wide, she was left agape. "H-How did you—?"
"You always dodge inward to your right after every counter." Grinning widely, the male refused to break eye contact. "Did you really think I didn't notice?"
Moving directly in front of the sage, Avaricious stuck out his right foot. His boot stomped down between the other's legs. Pulling inward, he had tripped the other by sweeping a leg out from behind her. A sneering look worming its way onto his face at the success of his underhanded act.
With the other's footing weakened, Leo pushed her upper half with a rough shove oh his cane. Its side pressed into her chest, throwing her whole body backward entirely.
"Sell my soul for more power?" The man inquired, picking up the conversation from earlier. Seeing the other begin her tumble, his grin stretched from ear to ear. "Why didn't anyone inform me this was an option from the start?"
Pulling back his right hand, Leo punched toward the ground. Simultaneously, the piston-armed Mechanoid from before took its place behind him. Steam blasting off as the metal press shot downward, crushing the regal woman into the earth, compacting her bones and internal organs.
"You can't lose something you've abandoned long ago!" The wiry man exclaimed. Shifting his left foot forward, he slid it forward along the ground only to pivot to the side to sharply halt its path.
With a strong gust of wind, a male harpy spawned beside him. A long red scarf obscured his face. Countless war scars detailed his muscular frame.
Diving in low, the mythical beast flew across the ground leaving a violent storm behind. Swooping passed the injured summoner, Aurora was plunged back up and carried into the sky. The wind so strong that it reopened her healing wounds and even spread them wider.
When gravity took its course and Reath started to plummet toward the ground, she caught the other in the briefest of eye contact. A menacing look drilling into her core. "Take it from me!" The man dared, clenching the center of his chest. "Rob me of all compassion! Seize anything left of my empathy!"
Now hovering above the man was a multi-headed demon. The fiend sat in a cross legged manner. Its hands pressed together as they took up a praying position. Its eyes lighting up, a scarlet torrent of fire erupted from beneath Reath, scorching her skin. An agonizing screech crying out from the burning woman as she collapsed back into the dirt.
Stepping closer, the man looked down at the tarnished combatant whom had him running like a rat less than one day ago. Loathing carved into each of his features. "You want my body so bad? Squeeze the blood from my veins, scrape the marrow from my bones!" As he was shouting, a bulbous Mechanoid started rising up behind him. "You want it? Take it."
One of Aurora's regenerating eyes had reconstructed enough to see what new threat awaited her. Looming over both herself at its master was a massive war machine.
It was a tank-like Mechanoid in build. A bulky exterior held up by a pair of thick reverse jointed legs. It appeared as though it could crash straight through a home without gaining so much of a scratch against its chassis. Aside from the main cannon which ridgedly aimed over the man's shoulder, it had a series of chain guns built in on both of its sides. A total of eight of them aimed straight for her.
As the chain guns revved up, the sound of a heavy shell could be heard being loaded up from inside the Mechanoid. Each of the machine guns laid into her body from all sides. Bits and pieces of her self flying in and out of view as bullet after bullet carved into her body. "Take it all!" The mad summoner roared maddeningly, somehow able to overshadow the gunfire. As soon as his decree left his mouth, the tank fired its main cannon, blowing the immediate area in front of it to smoldering bits and covering the zone in dust from the destroyed terrain.
The last of Leo's servants dissipated as he started breathing heavily at the end of his ruthless combination. When the same hand as before clutched his chest again, he was forced to use his cane for support. This being one of the rare times he had used the tool for its intended purpose. "F-Four." The man huffed out between breaths. "Four's my... my limit then." The note committed to memory as the pain in his chest began to subside.
Rising from her disheveled grave, Reath grew more confident against all that she had just withstood. Every wound gone. The slightest tear in her clothes mended. Immaculate and unblemished. "I tried to warn you." The summoner's purple eyes piercing forward. "Engage with this kind of selfish conjuring for too long without rest and your life truly will meet its end. Unfortunately for you, your arte is far more finite than mine. I've simply had to out last you. Which is seems I finally have."
Without any instruction, the reaper from before stood up behind its master. Once again, it lifted its crooked weapon high into the sky above it as it prepared the deathly slicing motion that followed.
Seeing all his hard work gone to waste, his struggles for nothing, Leo rested his head. Closing his eyes, he held onto his cane defiantly as he accepted his fate. A bitter expression on his face refusing it to the end.
Before the death blow was struck, Aurora looked long and hard at the now crestfallen man before her. His head hung low in a dispirited fashion. It's a shame you'll never know. Even though instantaneous summoning was created partially in spiteful jest, roughly only one in fifty summoners could actually replicate the technique. It required a strong soul and vibrate spirit. A man such as yourself, who has rejected any hint of talent or luck, I won't dare tarnish that pride in your final moments.
Another thought creeping into her head on spur of the moment of his demise. How odd. To think I'd find what I searched for my whole childhood and adolescence in the furthest possible location from my home. And more than two centuries later no less. It's almost funny, to an extent.
When the scythe started plunging down, the fiend's owner smiled softly but victoriously. "Farewell, Mr. Avaricious." The blade inching closer and closer.
All of a sudden, a lone gunshot broke the silence of the execution. A single bullet blowing straight through the demon's skull. The scythe flying out of its dead grip and stabbing into the ground beside the two parties. The lumbering creature's body almost crushing its host as its lifeless body collapsed.
"Who?" Aurora howled looking up near the ridge of the mighty crater. She was doing her best to follow the trajectory of the bullet but had little luck.
Similarly, Leo rose his head back up. Looking over toward the sound of the gunshot, he saw the culprit instantly.
The man brandished a single Tommy Gun in his right hand. His left arm having been used the steady it due to the great distance between him and his target. Sliding down the ridge, he made himself known to both of the combatants as he started advancing toward them. "Yer a real pain, Leo. I was savin' that bullet fer you. Now I'm all out." This proved not to be some form of bluff as Johnny discarded the firearm entirely.
Walking over, his more downtrodden features became apparent. Half the buttons on his black dress coat had become torn off. Blood stains painting his white undershirt to the point it was hard to determine the fabric's original color. A now swollen and partially closed black right eye. The fact that he hit anywhere near his target proving to be nothing short of a miracle.
"How are you still alive?" Reath asked, almost completely agape at the sight. Johnny now standing beside his despised partner in crime.
Rubbing the back of his neck, Leo pushed off one knee and got into a woozy stand. "Took you long enough." The taller of the two crooks complained, falling back into his braggart persona. "I was wondering how long I'd have to keep her busy."
Scowling Aurora shifted her gaze between the two. "Enough with the bravado!" The eldest bellowed, starting to lose her patience.
"Ya look like dirt." The stocky gunman mentioned to his partner as he continued glaring at the woman in front of them. Exasperated eyes indifferent to the sea of fallen and decayed summons littering the crater's entirety. The testament of every struggle and trial which had unfold entirely ignored as he approached the undertaker responsible.
Rolling his eyes briefly, the lanky crook threw his cane into the air. Catching it, he choked it up by the neck with his right hand. "Don't even start." The other snarled as a reply, his eyes focused on the same thing.
Aggravation welling up inside of her, Reath took a long calming breath. Her left hand clenching and unclenching to ward off the budding irritation. "Very well, gentlemen. I believe we've reached the point where our time together must come to an end."
"Ya got that right." The gunman distressed as he punched an open hand in front of him, catching the fist. The threat bouncing right off.
With narrowed eyes, the summoner in white twirled his cane amongst his fingertips. "For once, I couldn't agree more."
In unison, the two men started walking forward together at an equal pace. This action catching the ageless woman off guard partially as no words between the two seemed to signal the coordination.
Johnny reared his teeth during his approach. "Yer gonna pay." The man forewarned.
Unblinking, Leo's stare never wavered or budged the slightest degree. "You're going to suffer"
The bloody brute's right hand slowly balled itself into a fist one finger at a time. "We're gonna kill ya..."
Clenching their teeth together, the two continued marching forward.
"TWICE OVER!" The two roared in unison.
Both rushing ahead with complete disregard for their own safety.
While the two recklessly charged in, the all powerful summoner across from them called forth a giant pitch-black arachnoid creature. Its lumbering joints and hulking form overshadowing the three underneath it.
The insect lifted its front most leg and stabbed it down ahead of it like a spear. The tip of the appendage razor sharp as it cut through the air with vicious speed.
Both men split apart in opposite directions, continuing their dash. The javelin like leg piercing the solid and jagged rock beneath with ease.
Seeing the duo approach with lightning speed, the woman in black called back her monster, preparing to sacrifice it in exchange for any damage she might sustain. Dodging backward, she prepared to summon something else in counter.
Just a few steps away, Leo tripped over his feet and started collapsing forward. His sustained damage beginning to effect him. Instead of accepting the fall, he used his downward momentum to his advantage. Glancing up, he hooked his cane upward. His tenacity was rewarded as the curved head latched around the back of Aurora's neck.
Witnessing this, Johnny skidded to a halt and pulled back his right arm as far as he could muster. His fist angled toward the ground, his elbow facing the sky.
Leo dragged himself upright, pulling Reath down simultaneously. Recovering from his stumbling, he was able to shove the other summoner down instead.
The set up complete, the bloody gunman unleashed a devastating uppercut. The woman's downward angle ended up leading her face into a head on collision with the violent smash. When the fist made contact, its target's purple eyes immediately became hazy and unfocused. The nose broken as it was pressed to the side.
The white clad summoner unhooked his cane at the last moment, allowing the woman to fly passed him before collapsing flat on her back. Even her feet uprooted all the while. Blood spewing out from her face in a single thick trail as she plummeted.
The wayward woman's eyes centralized as her nose reset itself. Staring up above, instead of facing a cloudy sky, she saw two men looming over her with killer intent. Sadism on one, unbridled rage on the other. Johnny was cracking his knuckles. Leo doing the same with his neck.
When the woman had attempted to get up, Johnny threw himself down one knee. Slamming his left forearm down, he pinned the gray haired summoner's head by the throat. Trying to struggle free, the violent man began bashing his knuckles fiercely into her skull. The act forcibly rocking her head up and down. The back of her head smashing into the rubble below further with each hit.
Not one to sit around doing nothing, Leo went to work on the Aurora's ribcage. Raising his dirty boot, he started stomping down on her midsection with fervor. Occasionally he would grab his cane near the tip and beat into her as though it were a bat or other bludgeoning tool and utilized over exaggerated overhead swings.
Enough of being used like a punching bag, Reath spread one hand flat on the ground beneath her. A moment later, an ancient looking symbol lit up in a menacing hue from underneath her. Before either of the two men could react, it pulsated and exploded in a magenta shockwave, roughly blowing the duo away.
The blast lifting the two up off their feet and hurled each to different corners of the arena. The lighter bodies pushed away as well to the furthest exterior until only the most heavyset corpses remained, embodying gravestones.
Their bodies were cast aside as they were sent crashing into opposite ends of the bowl. Johnny's back slammed into the wall before dropping plopping down on his rear. Leo took the brunt of the collision with his shoulder only to tumble down and land on his stomach.
Grunting, Aurora pushed off the ground as she took up a shaky stand. Her regenerations taking longer and longer as her appearance repaired itself.
Their frames trembling, both of the criminals started to rise back upright. Each of them leaning heavily on the cliff walls of the crater to do so.
Rendered somewhat weary by the two over persistent men, Reath forced herself upright. "And yet you still stand?" She questioned in disbelief.
As if challenged, the two took off into misshapen jogs. The former knight began rotating widely around the masterful summoner as he headed clockwise. Similarly, the Deigleyian did the same. They needed to keep moving, as much as it pained them. They were too much a pair of sitting ducks while stationary.
"What's the plan Leo?" The abused brute yelled out in a tired manner across the crater, still keeping on the move.
His feet barely able to carry him any longer, the dishonored soldier waited between heavy breaths to respond. "She's weakened... Her life force, is draining... The longer we force her to heal... The sooner we'll win." A deep gasp between every pause.
Frowning, the gunman turned and started dragging himself straight toward the regal woman in the center of the bowl. "Why ya gotta complicate it like that? Just whale on 'er until she ain't movin'!" The man grumbled in annoyance. His tone raised at the end to spirit himself onward.
Shaking his head, Leo had forced himself to stop before heading toward the center as well. "I won't apologize... to a simpleton." He replied, still winded.
With the luck she was having, Aurora couldn't risk sending out any more of her army away from her. As much of a risk as it may have been, she would have to wait for them to approach. At least that way, she could recall her minions for protection.
Wobbling over, Leo was the first to reach his destination. His cane choked up near the hook, he slashed it in front of him like a claw. With movements akin to that of a drunkard, it wasn't hard to avoid. The woman wanted to wait for the man's movements to cease before striking back, but to her grievances, he had more left in him than she anticipated.
As soon as his first swipe had missed the mark, the Deigleyian spun the cane in his grip. Now holding it upside down, he grabbed the butt end in his other hand. Pulling his hands together, the wood started to bend and resist the action. Letting go with his second hand, the walking stick lashed out like a whip as it rushed to retake its natural form.
Even though her wits were still about her, she barely had enough time to avoid the swift flying cane as it grazed the air just in front of her eyes. With a step back further, she nearly doubled the distance between them.
Changing his grip again, the cunning man grabbed his cane firmly on the bottom with one hand. Stepping forward, he stabbed the hook end of his cane forward. Twisting his elbow as he extended his already lengthy arms, a truly dangerous distance was revealed. Despite being three steps away at this point, the curved top of the cane was once again able to snake its way behind the other summoner's neck.
When Leo pulled Reath toward him again, he lunged forward with his back leg. Pulling her down at the last second, he shoved a rising knee into her face, her nose askew for the second time.
As Aurora staggered back, she felt a grip on her shoulder. Being forcibly turned around, she was face to face with Johnny who had just now made it back over. As soon as their faces met, she slugged roughly across the face about to fall backward again in a repeat performance.
Reath's legs gave out temporarily as she began to fall. Before she could, Leo hooked his cane on the side of his belt and moved in. Grabbing her from behind, he swooped his arms under hers as he made certain she had little to no free movement. Leo locked up his hold as his partner stepped up to do his part.
The stockier man widened his stance as he grounded himself. Pulling back on his right arm, he delivered a violent hook that jolted the woman's head to the side. Blood shooting out of her mouth.
Leo moving his head away at the last second to avoid a collision. Pulling the woman back upright, he made sure she was ready for the second course.
Shifting his weight while barely changing his footing, The gunman returned with another hook with his left. Shockingly, the force delivered was of equal load as the first, perhaps even stronger.
Like before, Leo mirrored his earlier motions and pulled his head away to avoid any self injury.
Reath's vision wavered briefly after the second blow from the hard hitting man. At that moment she was assured of something. If not for being held up, she'd have collapsed under her own weight long ago.
Not finished yet, Johnny started swinging his right arm behind him in a windmill motion. After a few cycles, he stepped in and converted the generated momentum into a devastating straight.
A moment before the cannoned fist hit its mark, the failed soldier released his hold. Dashing to the side he was sure he was a safe distance away as he stuck out his leg behind her.
Reath took the full punch and was instantly blown back. It was as though her body had just taken the full head on collision of a steam engine locomotive. Unfortunately for her, when she tumbled over the out jutting leg behind her, all that momentum was angled downward and she crashed back first below. Once again, she had been thrown to the ground by the two crooks.
When the two men eagerly approached, they were halted in their tracks. Before they could swoop in and take advantage of their downed adversary, another of her servants had sprung out from under her.
A gargantuan minotaur now overshadowed the two. A pair of broken shackles on each wrist. Its horns were sharp, its color darker near the tips from most likely stained blood. Its size only matched by its muscularity.
A raging howl escaped the beast as it lowered its head prepared to charge dead ahead.
Both men were paralyzed from the unexpected counter attack. Even if they were to dodge right then, they wouldn't have made it in time.
Just then, a blistering burning sound hissed from above. When both men glanced up, they saw a familiar, but worrying sight. Floating down toward them, more so toward the mad creature, was a descending and lit stick of dynamite.
Acting quick, both men squatted down and covered their head as opposed to dodging. The Beast ignored it as it began its violent rending charge. Yet, before it could reach the two, a single gunshot echoed throughout the crater and detonated the explosive early, blowing the beast into bits and uprooting a cloud of dislodged dust and debris.
The dust settling, the two men looked behind them to see the young girl on the outer edge of the crater. Unlike Johnny, she seemed resolved to stay put as she began the tedious act of reloading her flintlock pistol.
"How the hell's Roy still alive." The brute pondered out loud.
"Ray." The taller corrected unnecessarily.
After a second devoid of any reaction, Johnny all of a sudden swung up at the other's head. Expecting such, he ducked at the last second and danced around the shorter with a few deliberate steps so that he was now behind him.
Looking back up toward the reloading girl, the lanky man grew a snide pretentious expression. "Lending a hand are we?" He shouted, to make certain his voice was projected the appropriate distance. "What about your precious codes and morals?" He asked poking some fun in what very well could have been his final fleeting moments.
Gritting her teeth, Ray kept focused as she continued pouring gunpowder into the barrel of her handgun. "Screw morals!" The chestnut haired teen hollered in reply. "I'm going to live, dammit! There's still something I need to do!"
Smug at the retort, Leo unhooked his cane from his side and began twirling it in his fingertips. "And so we finally get to see your true colors. And you've even dropped the phony accent too. Splendid."
The leather dressed tomboy couldn't help but feel her ears heat up at the embarrassing comment. "S-Shut up! I'll kill you!" She yelled back across the bowl.
Johnny cupped his hands around his mouth at this as he turned toward the teen as well. "Get in line toots! I'm still waitin'!" The man barked back.
The summoner's admittedly frivolous demeanor died suddenly at this statement. "Oh, please." He disregarded rolling his eyes. "I'll kill all three of us before I let that atrocity happen."
"I can't help but feel I'm being ignored." Both men turned around at the familiar and confident voice. The last of the dust settling behind them revealed Reath back on her feet. Disdain written across her face. "Let's fix that shall we?"
At the end of her threat, two wide stone golems rose up at both of her sides. Their forearms were noticeably thick and sturdy looking. It was as though they were born for the purpose of being living and mobile barricades.
Undeterred, Leo stared down the opposing summoner. "Keep pressing on. We're making a dent." He instructed as he readied himself.
"Like I'd back off 'cause you told me." Johnny disregarded being the first to charge in.
Both the men as well as the golems dashed in toward one another. Before they could meet however, another stray stick of dynamite hovered overhead the two creatures of living stone. Shooting it early, Roy was able to blow one of the stone guardians to a pile of rubble.
The lone creature roared as it swung one of its giant limbs toward the approaching duo. Part of the rocky ground destroyed as the low starting swing emerged.
Leo sprinted around the slow but mighty creature as Johnny stood his ground. The gunman hopped to his left just in time to avoid losing half his body from the tremendous attack.
As the slender thief wormed his way in close, he started swinging his cane viciously. Each one of his slashes and stabs aimed for the head or other's vital locations. Every one of them avoided by a hair.
When the man pulled back his right for a noticeably robust swing, he was forced to stop awkwardly.
Just behind Reath's shoulder spawned a mutated looking mosquito that seemed as large as a football. Swooping forward, its saber length stinger darted forward for the center of the man's left eye.
Pulling to his side at the last second, a thin cut from the insect's stinger cut straight across his left cheek. A few trails of blood oozing out.
"All it will take is one mistake for it to be all over for you, Mr. Avaricious." Reath mentioned with a menacing intent and glare.
Reaching behind him just as the mosquito zoomed by for a second attempt, Leo caught the stinger bare handed near the blunter but still sharpened base. Pulling the bug over in front of him, she smashed it onto the ground and dislodged the bladed appendage as he stomped harshly on the annoyance, killing it. Zipping back up to a hunch, the criminal threw the sharp stinging in front of him like a dart.
Swaying to her side, Aurora didn't so much as flinch as the impromptu weapon lightly carved the side of her cheek. A mirror injury now shared by the two.
Grinning, the man in tarnished white stood up more properly from his hunched state. "So what you're telling me is that all I have to do is be immaculate to defeat you? I'd thought you were trying to intimidate me."
Leo's satisfied smirk dropped entirely as his eyes went wide. Incredibly, the wound on the other's cheek was not sealing up, it bleed like a normal wound and showed no signs of stopping.
Seeing his chance, the man dashed right in, overzealous as he started swinging his cane in an attempt to end things once and for all.
Still dealing with the golem, Johnny was forced to keep on the move. With no dedicated weapons apart from his fists, he was up creak without a paddle. Even if he was forced to wait for another stick of dynamite, it looked as though it would take at least another minute for the needed preparations.
Looking around the crater, he saw numerous defeated summon creatures. A Mechanoid a ways off catching his eye. Specifically, a shoulder mounted missile cannon attached to the lifeless war machine. Boxlike in shape, four hand missiles were preloaded, never getting their chance to be used.
With a hurried step, the short tempered man slipped around the raging golem and sprinted for the Mechanoid. When he reached it, he grabbed it from underneath and pulled at it until it had broken off completely.
It was only after severing the weaponry did the gunman realized two things. The first being that it had no manual firing mechanism. The other, no power supply.
With the living stone giant charging over toward him, the rough natured man went to work. Dropping the weapon for now, he used both hands to roll the heavy machine over onto its side. Doing so revealed that part of its chassis had been blown clean off. Looking inside, sparks of electricity shot out.
Picking up the missile launcher, Johnny pulled at the plating where he had forcibly removed it. His fingers bled as the jagged metal was pried loose and bent outward.
When the golem was just a few seconds away, Johnny yanked out a few ripped wires from the weapon in his hand and aimed it in front of him. He quickly went down and took a knee to steady his aim. Bracing himself, he then proceeded to shove the wire strands into the heart of its former owner with his clenched bare hand.
The weapon beeped a couple times to itself then fired all four missiles simultaneously. A lesser sized man would have been blown back by such a kickback of recoil. Each rocket bombarding the stone creature and blasting off pieces almost one at a time. With a giant hole in its chest, the creature fell back lifelessly.
Dropping the now useless launcher, Johnny pulled back his hand. Some of the wires had glued themselves to the palm of his bloodied skin. A few fingertips singed by electrical burns. Yanking the wires off, the gun man grunted in response as he rose back up into a stand.
Witnessing Leo still going toe to toe with the other summoner, the gunman swore under his breath before forcing his body forward again.
As Leo continued sticking close, Reath didn't take too kindly to the show of disrespect. Avoiding another swipe up toward her head, the imposing woman ducked down low. While nearing the ground, she placed an open palm beneath her on the floor. Like before, an arcane symbol lit up directly under.
Catching it a moment too late, Leo darted back. The shockwave was carried out and the less experienced summoner was hurled away.
When the slim individual was sent cascading toward the furthest wall, Johnny stepped in the way. Leaning forward, he prepared for the interception. Catching the other man, even with his weight, the two were pushed back over a dozen feet. A trail of two straight lines lead off from Johnny's dug in feet to where he stopped.
Having eventually come to a halt, the stocky gunman dropped the other back onto his feet. After, Johnny resumed his glare at the elder woman across from him.
While shaky at first, Leo reaffirmed his footing and readied himself for whatever came next. Neither saying a word to each other.
Huffing to herself, Reath arose into a proper stand. Doing so, she took the brief and surely short-lived pause to take a look at the three who stood before her.
A short tomboy with a handgun and ready explosives who sat herself perched out of reach. A match stick held tight in between two fingers in case it was needed.
Aurora's eyes flowed down to the two main combatants who were nothing more than a stone's toss away from here. Defiance written on their warn faces.
One of them being a selfish gangly thief who copied the craft of her people. The other, an untamed ruffian with a temper problem.
Disparate as they all seemed, some traits were identical between them. That joining similarity was a steadfastness that they would succeed and a hatred for the being they all stood against, herself.
Finished with her minor mental survey, Reath grew a sad smile and looked away. All she could see beside the crumbling landscape were the heaps of bodies of her fallen forces. No one left by her side. "And so once again I'm spited by those around me, even now. Perhaps it's my fate." The woman announced in a dejected state. Glancing back, her purple eyes stared long and hard ahead of her.
Leo's hardened expression changed to cynicism. His mouth laying flat, his burnish gaze lacking any life or luster. "You have quite the martyr complex, don't you?" Any form of enthusiasm was starkly barren from his tone.
"Hag's dumber than me." Johnny added with a similar bored expression.
This reaction bewildered the age old summoner to no end. She was speechless in ever facet. All she could do was continue to stare in a confused manner and be hopeful there was more to the conversation.
Sighing, Leo started slowly dragging himself forward. "You don't understand anything at all, do you? Talk about delusional."
At the other's mocking question, Johnny began his approached too.
Sighing, the self-taught summoner allowed his shoulders to slack. "We aren't banded together here to stop your pernicious or ruinous nature. We aren't some warriors of light dedicated to the ideal that a monster such as yourself doesn't belong in our realm. We're not perfect."
Stopping in his tracks temporarily, Leo took some much needed long and heavy breath from his long winded lines. He was in terrible shape. His body was coated in small cuts and bruises of all sizes. His once pristine clothing ripped and stained to points beyond repair. In spite of this, he wore certain untouched solace.
After one last deep breath, the scrawny male held his head high. "The reason we've fought so hard, the cause of our determination is derived from one simple fact. The reason why is because—"
Placing her armaments on the ground in front of her, Ray rose up into a stand. With her hands free, she cupped them around her mouth to project her voice the lengthy distance from the other three. "It's because you're an asshole!"
There was a silence that amassed in the center of the bowl that was an odd mix of awkwardness and disbelief.
After a while, the worn out gunman gave a shrug. "Yup." He offered, in agreement.
Sighing to himself, the tension eased off from Leo's shoulders. "Tactless, but passable." A budding smirk arising on the side of the man's face. "I suppose."
Reath however remained silent. Perhaps in recollection, she had closed her eyes and aimed her head downward. There was also the high probability that she had simply become so fed up with the outlandish group before her that she no longer saw value in conversation.
Sharing the briefest of glances, both Johnny and Leo nodded to themselves. With what little they had left, the two ran in for one final push.
When the taller of the pair was only a few steps away, Aurora's purple eyes shot back open. They had become weakened, but regained a hint of lost passion. A self-righteous smile finding itself on her face.
With one swift motion, Reath stuck her right foot out in front of her in between the lead man's approaching steps. One more movement was all it would take. Just like she had done onto her, she would trip the man up and send her cascading toward her.
Groaning from behind, a single ghoul hid itself directly behind the woman. Her last remaining bonded summon creature. A mass of deteriorated and rotting pile of flesh given form.
All she need do was step aside after the other summoner lost his footing. He would stumble forward and become face to face with her last monster. Finishing him in his current state would be a breeze. Having divided their forces, all she need do next was conquer.
Reath could barely contain herself. Stepping forward, she snaked her leg properly and pulled back. The confident look on her face died that instant. Glancing down, she saw an unnerving sight. At the last second, Leo had shifted his foot just a few inches to the side, negating the sneaky trick entirely.
The woman's eyes went wide. How? It was perfect in every way. An exact replica of what had done to her prior. Staring forward, she realized something. The thief's glare never budged an inch. It wasn't that her ploy was noticed at the last second and was reacted to accordingly. Far from it. The man in front of her saw the trick coming and planned which actions to take even before getting in close. To have this level of concentration, even now, incredible!
In her stunned state, Reath failed to see Johnny's left fist coming her way. Not enough time to react, she could only stare as the punch approached. Shockingly, it flew right passed her. Confused, she followed it further and turned her head. What she saw next caused nothing short of a panic within her.
In leaning forward in her attempt to stagger the slender crook before her, she had exposed her ghoul. Johnny's fist was never aimed for her. Instead, it slammed dead center with the fiend at her heels. Its head flying clean off its shoulders as it flew back.
Not finished yet, Leo reaching into his right sleeve. In doing so, he pulled out a pilfered stick of dynamite. With her mouth agape, it was easy for the man to forcibly shove the underside into her mouth until half of its form was pushed inside.
As the elder prepared to spit or rip the explosive out of her mouth, Johnny stepped inward, pulling back his left foot. Using a powerful right uppercut, the teeth of her lower jaw bit deep into the stick of dynamite and was stuck shut.
At the same time, Leo and Johnny grabbed onto the summoner with their right and left arms respectively. They made absolutely certain she couldn't worm her way out of whatever was to come next even if it cost them a usable limb.
Holding up his empty left hand, the gemstone in the Deigleyian's cane started lighting up. Reath was disoriented but knew it was impossible. It can't be done. He's used up too much of his soul already. Another instantaneous summon is nothing short of suicide. A light emitting from the edge of her peripheral vision drew her attention as well as pulled her back to reality.
To her shock, the back of Leo's hand was lighting up. What? Did he enscrawl a glyph on his hand? No. I would have seen it. The only time he even touched his hand was—!
The memory shot into her head. Before summoning Gehan, the summoner was in need of blood. In his dire moment, he stabbed into the back of his hand. The movements looked off, rather than simple plunges of the shard of glass, he was carving at his flesh.
Realizing what he had done, Reath was left entirely awestruck. Sweat beginning to pour down the sides of her face as her hands trembled. Is it possible, for someone to have this level of foresight?
Try as she might, the banished summoner couldn't make out the symbol. It had become to obscured by dirt as well as the man's own blood. What is it? It could be anything. Another dragon, a feral beast, a war machine. What is it?!
Exiting a quick flash of light, a small lizard-like creature spawned atop the hand. It looked around cautiously, understandable as it was no larger than a rabbit. Nothing necessarily peculiar about it apart from its bloodshot eyes.
Tossing the reptile into the air and off his hand, Leo turned his hand around so that that palm now faced the sky. The lizard feel back down and landed in the man's icy grip. Squeezing down, the small creature pulled and struggled but couldn't escape.
Lifting up his right arm, Johnny yanked down on the feeble creature's tail. Caught by surprise and frantic as it was, the reptile opened its mouth and shot out a small stream of fire. The distance it covered ended at just the right point to light the end of the dynamite's long fuse.
Tossing away the fire lizard, the duo prepared for the next step. With the fuse now lit and the clock ticking down, the two now started running forward, dragging Reath along with them. After dashing a short distance, they through her ahead of them with what little energy remained.
Aurora staggered forward, still astonished as well confound by what just transpired. Her legs not able to keep up with the momentum thrust upon her, her footing became unsettled. When one of her boots hit an outward rock, she flew onward, face and stomach first toward the ground ahead of her.
As she fell, a gleaming object on the edge of the crater caught her eye. Focusing in, she realized it was the scope of the tomboy's flintlock. The glare only possible if the gun was aimed straight at her. At that dreadful realization, terror consumed her. Fear writing itself over her face.
The pair of criminals booked it in the opposite direction as soon as the older woman was thrown off of their hands. Running away a great distance, they jumped into squats and ducked their heads low for their own protection.
Roy fired her last bullet. Dropping heavily from the angle as well as the distance, the steel ball drew closer and closer.
Reath rose both her hands in hopes of blocking the lonely shot. Her fingers were spread apart, intending to cover more area. The steel ball dropped further and further. Getting in close, it slipped between both sets of the other's fingers and amazingly hit the dynamite dead center, all before the summoner could even land on the ground.
With one last bombastic explosion, the bowl shook for one last time. A dark dust cloud forming off center from the crater's middle section.
The pair of rogues both rose up and stared at the dust cloud. Their breathing heavy, eyes deadened and tired beyond words.
Suddenly, a booming voice echoed all around that shook each member of the ragtag brigade to their very core. The words distorted, the tone disillusioned.
I was born. In the wrong era.
The cloud was sucked downward as a great wind pulled all parties toward it. A black void had formed from the epicenter of Reath's presumed demise.
It was as if a black hole had been created. It grew larger and larger at an alarming rate, eating away at the world as it advanced its reach.
The vacuum grew stronger with each passing second. Once the main debris was sucked in, eventually the fallen buildings started crumbling and were engulfed by in the void.
Doing her best to fight the winds, Ray being the lightest was the first to be uprooted. She screamed as the winds seemed to pluck her up and drag her head first into the break in the manufactured world, causing her to disappear without a trace.
A hunk of rubble crashed into Johnny from behind. He attempted to fight back but the combined weight of the debris along with the void's own growing suction were too great. The reckless man shouted in aggravation as he fought the current to the bitter end, his frame eventually eaten away just like the first.
The gap had grown to roughly half the size of the crater. The ensnaring torrents speeding up to match.
Leo was harshly dragged feet first. Lacking Johnny's weight, he was lifted up with ease. Flying toward the glutenous hole, the man saw an out jutting rock cropping, he stuck out the hook of his cane in a last ditch effort for his own survival.
Surprisingly, the cane latched onto the crooked lump of earth. The thief's grip slipped partially from the sudden resistance but remained tight locked on the end. Looking passed his floating feet, he watched the void continue to grow larger still as the manufactured world was eaten away bit by bit.
Sighing in a defeated manner, Leo did the only thing left for him to do. With a small push, he unhooked his cane. Flying into the ever growing break, he too became consumed.
Just like when he first arrived, he became surrounded by the blackest darkness imaginable. Giving into his present weary, the man finally allowed himself to close his eyes, no difference distinguishable.
. . . . . . . . .
Leo's eyes slowly crept back open. Unsure what his face was leaning against, he was able to determine it was a mix of dirt and grass. When birds chirping and running water filtered into his senses, the man shot upright.
Looking in front of him, the summoner saw both Johnny and Roy on the ground in similar disoriented states. Both of them seeming to readjust themselves to their new barrings just as he was.
Beside him, Leo spotted a slow flowing stream. What gave him the most distraught was that it was a river he was more than familiar with.
To check out his hunch, he turned around, the rogue saw a familiar dirt covered hillside. Pushing off onto his knees, he started his trek up to the top. Reaching the peak, his suspicions proved true as he looked on to the completely untouched Oscuro. A few passerbys giving him peculiar looks as they walked down the road.
Unsure why, he looked down on himself and immediately found his answer. His raggedy appearance was one of the few things carried over from his nightmare. His bloody hand and noticeably torn and stained long coat sticking out to even him.
When a child skipped by, she stopped herself as she looked up at the battered looking man. "Are you okay mister?"
Scowling, Leo glared at the child. "Beat it." He barked callously.
The girl pouted at the reply. Sticking out her tongue, she ran off to where she was originally heading.
Sliding back down the hillside, Leo found the others were starting to become more awake. Passing right beside them he kneeled by the river. Cupping some water, he splashed his face and started cleaning the grime off his face.
Sitting up, Johnny put his back to the hillside. Bringing up one leg, he rested an arm on his leg. A baffling look on his face as he slowly surveyed his surrounding.
Shifting onto her knees, Ray started glancing between the two, confused by their silence. The tomboy eventually spoke up. "Was it— Was it real?"
Leo felt the answer was clear enough by their appearances, Johnny however wasn't sure himself well enough to respond. As though to answer the teen however, the fire lizard crept along the ground between them, each staring blankly for a time before it scurried away.
Finished cleaning himself up, the summoner looked over to the stone cut bridge leading off to the town's water mill. Doing so, revealed a troublesome sight. "Johnny!" The man called out, getting the other's attention. "Gonna need a set of eyes on this one."
When the gunman lazily dragged his head over, he understood the jolting command instantly. Roy looked over and did so as well.
Kneeling under the bridge, and hidden out of the way of anyone coming too and from the bridge, was Aurora Reath.
The tomboy was the first to jump up into a worried stand. Johnny sluggishly had to push off the hillside to rise into a stand.
Using his cane, the slim man forced himself upright. Staring at the wayward summoner across from them, he noticed something that compelled him to roll his eyes.
Starting to hobble over, he motioned for the others to follow. Hesitant at first, they both journeyed along side him.
Drawing closer, they realized the lack of immediate concern. Aurora's frame was motionless. Her skin an unusual gray.
Just a few steps away, they all stopped and stared at the curious sight. Reath's entire body, clothing and all had turned hard as rocks. It was as though her body was turned to stone amidst her actions, like a perching gargoyle. One thing that stuck out to them all was the elated smile seated across her face.
With a balled fist, Johnny marched forward. "I'm tossin' her in the river." The man announced, receiving no objections.
When his hand drew close, it bounced off against something you couldn't see. Aggravated, the gunman tried to kick the statue but it was bounced right off. A dull gong-like sound echoing much like when they attempted to leave the false city's fog.
Leo stepped over, he spotted some runic symbols burned into the grass around the statue. Taking a knee, he got a closer look. "I recognize some of these from my bestiary. This mark stands for protection. And this one..." His hand gliding over to another, the man grimaced right away. "...regeneration."
The duo stared with a blank but annoyed glare at the recent revelation.
Pushing up into a stand, Leo started making his way for the hillside. "Time to go, Johnny." The underhanded crook issued succinctly.
With a nod, the brute headed in the same way. "Right behind ya." He was in such agreement it seemed that he didn't even bring up the fact that he was being ordered around.
Sprinting in front of them, the tomboy cut the two criminals off. "Just like that? She'll come back, won't she?" The younger asked in concern.
"Who knows." Leo replied dryly. "Maybe she will, maybe she won't. Could be a week or an hour from now." A wicked smirk fit the man's face. "Tell ya what, you stay here and find out for us." Leaning down, he patted her on the shoulder to belittle her further.
Swatting the hand away, the teen scowled. Taking a step back, she used the elevated landscape to become eye to eye with the older man. "I got's a proposition fer you two mates." Ray, sparking back up. "I still gotta find that no good cowboy I'm huntin'. He's no doubt worth a shiny fortune. I don't know his name, but I'm sure I can pick the scoundrel out in a crowd. So whataya say? You two privateers team up with me. Find 'em and you can have every last golden coin that comes with the bounty. Sound good?" Her arms crossed over her chest, as though striking a deal.
"Sounds like a lot of money fer a little bit of work." Johnny mentioned considering the offer. "Guy's gotta be strong too if he's survived out here this long."
Leo wore a disinterested and glazed stare. "Oh. The accent's back." A complete lack of agency in his actions. "Charming." He replied somewhat sarcastic. "That could be a deal breaker."
The teen could feel her face heating up again. Pulling her cap down, she hid part of her face. "Shut up! Fine, if you—!"
"Relax." The summoner responded, cutting the younger off. "We're interested." He conceded as he rubbed the back of his sore neck. "I do have several ground rules though." Leo's eyes narrowed, becoming more serious. "Our survival, both physical and financial, comes first. This means we may have to take a few days off this wild goose hunt to acquire some more funds to continue the search. It won't be earned from sweat of brow alone. Robbing banks or homes, even pickpocketing passersby, whatever we need at the time. Surely, the possibility that you may even get roped into—"
With an affirmative nod, the tomboy silenced the man. "Fine. Do what you have to do." When the response earned the girl a curious brow raise, she explained herself. "You have your goals, and I have mine. And I'm willing to do whatever it takes, just like you two."
Smirking at the response, Leo glanced over his shoulder. "Well, Johnny, any complaints?" The man beckoned lackadaisically.
"Lots." The gunman replied giving one of his usual canned answers.
A low exhale, Leo resisted another eye roll. "Well that goes without saying. I've my own too, obviously." His apathetic gaze replaced with a harsh glare and evil smile. "Most of them, you."
Still missing a days worth of sleep, the cowboy just walked passed the others. "Can't believe now I gotta drag around you and this brat halfway around the desert." Not even looking over his shoulder, he shouted the rest in a disgruntled attitude. "This guy better be loaded! Ya hear?!"
"Yes, yes." Leo fanned off, ignoring his partners resentments. "Alright then. Let's be off already so I can find a proper doctor for this hand of mine." Now heading up the hillside as well.
Confused by the statement, Ray took up the rear. "Why wait? This town's gotta have a clinic somewhere, don't it?"
Making his way back onto the main road, the thief glanced over his shoulder at the younger. "I don't doubt it. But if you think for a second I'm letting any of these uncultured backwater yokels wander so much as three feet of my wounds, you're even more idiotic than I thought." The curt response delivered unabashed. Even as more peopled walked right by. "I don't care if it scars forever. I'll wait to find someone more qualified." He added firmly without regret.
The first on the road, Johnny hailed a horse drawn carriage. Noticing the group, the coachman stopped the horses on the side of the road. The carriage had a simple design and a hump on top of the cart.
"Hello there sirs. Where ya heading?" The man asked politely to his potential customers.
"Not here." The gunman replied in a candidly response.
With the tip of his hat, the coachman flashed a smile. "Lucky you! I'm heading there myself."
Opening up the carriage, Johnny hopped up and pulled himself inside. The interior was smaller than it appeared on the outside. Only one side had a seat. The other was made barren for any extra luggage that couldn't be carried on top or in the back.
When the short fused man took the furthermost seat, Roy hopped in next. Not wanting to sit too close, she ended up placing herself off center from the middle. This was offset when Leo threw himself inside and slammed the door behind him. The carriage setting off.
When the summoner took his spot, he pushed the youngster aside. When the tomboy bumped into the heavyset man, she frowned and tried pushed the other aside. "Move over."
Johnny remained rigid, crossing his arms. "Tough. I need more room 'cause I'm older."
The man across from him held his head in his hand as he looked outside. "He means fatter." The presently brusque feeling man said offhandedly.
Trying to stand up, the cowboy hunched over and tried to make his way over but started fumbling about from the suddenly bumpy road. Having to hold onto something in order prevent himself from falling down. Instead, he settled for shaking his fist over toward the other. "Yer goin' out the window when I reach ya!"
Roy took a stand and attempted to keep the larger man in check. This wasn't out of worry for the other, but self preservation. Since she was in the middle, and the room was so tightly packed together, she was bound to get caught up in any crossfire between the pair.
These attempts were fruitless however when Leo started prodding the gunman in the head with the butt of his cane. His intentions weren't too malicious. This was apparent by the bored look on his face. Johnny screamed throwing the teen as far off to the side as he could in his effort to strangle his partner.
Outside, steering the carriage, the coachman smiled to himself. Listening to the rowdy bunch, the man couldn't help but laugh peacefully. "My, what a lively bunch."
With all the shaking of the cart, no one could have felt someone hopping aboard from behind. The figure climbed to the top.
Laying on the back end of the hump, their figure was completely hidden from the driver. With everything above their knees relaxing on the roof, the legs kicked leisurely off the back.
Holding their hand out in front of them, a multi-eyed crow swooped in and landed on the arm. The purple gazed woman smiled as she stroked the underside of the avian's ruffled breast.
"Lively indeed." The woman commented, responding to the coachman's comment softly to herself. Turning to her bird, Aurora wore a restrained beam of delight. "And if that's the case, the more the merrier, correct?" The gray haired woman asked in attempt to justify her uninvited tag along.
The bird squawked, as though conversing with its master.
The carriage moseyed on. Occasionally it would sway from side to side by varying degrees because of all the commotion going on inside. The journey chugging along, no matter how shaky the path became or would become on the road ahead.
Author Notes:
Leo and Johnny showed up for one chapter, had a cameo scene in the final chapter, and appeared again in the baseball chapter. They are the definition of throwaway villains. Despite this, something about Leo stuck a cord with me. I wanted to do more with him. I wanted to develop him into a fuller realized character while simultaneously transforming him into a worse more frightening person. Rereading this chapter, I feel confidant enough to say that mission was accomplished.
I can't say whether or not Leo and crew would have had a more prominent role in never finalized story board for Arc II, but I can say that if I ever made the decision to include him, he would absolutely have been elevated to protagonist status along with Ryuk and Talon. Despite this, I doubt he would ever have a run in with either of the other two ever again. If anything, I would use him to highlight other aspects of the world the other two wouldn't be able to naturally.
