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Chapter 45: Smudging
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Knocking curtly, Cazer soundlessly entered the room across the corridor from his own without receiving a response. Previously unoccupied, the chamber had originally been intended to accommodate a personal aide to the Director. Not adorned with many of the same trappings as the Director’s suite, its size and furnishings were simple but tasteful.
The door closed securely behind him, Cazer treaded lightly towards the bed. Looking upon the face of its sleeping occupant somewhat relieved, he was surprised when his presence did not arouse her from her slumber. Depleted by the day’s events, the usually alert Chiri slept soundly, curled on her side.
Coming to stand next to where she slept, Cazer regarded the diminished state of her complexion and breathing with increasing vexation. Chiri’s thin frame shivering under the covers at something, which haunted her in her dreams. Cazer could see the normally placid features of her face qu
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Crowded in the Grand Banquet Hall, amongst the other Hunters and their prospective partners, Allen adjusted his tie nervously. Many officials and senior members of the Alliance gathered for the formal affair, they paraded around room too preoccupied with their debates or tales of intrigue to take notice of him as he stood awkwardly to one of the rooms.Admiring the extravagant the affair, held to conduct the Blessing Ceremony between new and existing Hunters of the Twilight Gate to their chosen partners. Allen felt misplaced in his burrowed suit amid the crystal chandeliers, elaborate walls, and social gossip of the hall. Torn from his disparaging thoughts by an elbow ribbing his side. Allen turned to regard Tristan as he sidled up next to him. Two drinks in hand, his friend glanced around in a deliberately overexaggerated manner, before asking, “Where’s this mysterious partner of yours Al?”Tired of his jests on this topic, Allen could only summon a
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Their discussion interrupted by an ominous booming voice from overhead. Allen took one more perturbed glance at Chiri, before slipping the trinket she had given him into a suit pocket.The voice announcing that the Blessing Ceremony was about to commence, they both made their way towards the raised platform at the front of the banquet hall. Two staircases descending down onto it from above, they served to grant access only the Elders and officials on the upper levels. Most choosing to view the ceremony from behind the lustrous golden curtains on the balcony above, the few who were officiating the ceremony already sat on grand throne like chairs awaiting them. Immediately distinguishing one to be Xavier Crouse, Chiri’s eyes skimmed over the remaining seven Elders present. Identifying another loathsome character amidst their ranks, her face made a tiny tremor of disgust. Chiri’s distaste forcing her to look away from their countenance, she attempted to ignore their
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Chiri took a deep breath. The frigid air chilling her lungs, she looked out over the garden below the terrace. Housing many exotic plants groomed by the Alliance for medicines and potions, their darkened leaves made disfigured shadows on the ground and walls as they shook from a gust of cold air. Chiri acknowledge that her partnership with Allen may not have been the wisest decision. Regardless of the trouble and opposition it was likely to cause them both, Chiri felt it was the best she could do to aid Allen Pierce. However, not entirely altruistic in her motivations, Chiri had her own reasons for accepting Allen’s request. Although, she had assured Cazer that she would exercise caution due to the attacks aimed towards her before. Chiri could not pass up the opportunity to investigate the mysterious threat herself. Bothered that their attacks had already killed one man and endangered several others. Chiri was just as keen as her partner to put a stop to their activities, and her agre
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Twirling the liquid in her glass dispassionately, Chiri glanced around the crowded banquet hall. Exhausted by the tediousness of attending such events, she stood alone at one side of the room. A mild summer breeze entering the room through the open exit to the terrace, she was revived slightly by the cool air as it swept past her. Having just returned from an assignment merely a few hours earlier that day. Chiri had no opportunity to rest prior to donning formal attire. Covered in charred debris and baring a shallow cut, which ran the length of her outer thigh on one leg, Chiri still possessed a certain wariness about her demeanor that made her mildly unapproachable to most. Despite having bathed, she could still smell the ash left by her mercilessly scorched opponents clinging to her. Her third consecutive mission of the week, Chiri intended to take on another shortly after resting for a day. Completing successive missions after she was made a Guardian, Chiri had qu
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Finding Chiri on the terrace, Cazer removed his jacket. Seeing her slim frame shiver even from afar, Chiri seemed to have become oblivious to the cold as she remained caught in her lone ruminations.Coming to stand beside her silently, Cazer placed his jacket over her bare shoulders. Chiri’s skin turning cold from standing outside in the harsh winter air, Cazer replaced his hand on the crevice in her back. The dip fitting his palm naturally, Cazer felt the little space begin to warm gradually as he continued to rest his hand along its soft dip.Cazer was not in any way surprised that Chiri had chosen to remove herself from the crowded interior of the banquet hall at the first available instance. Although, Cazer would have preferred Chiri had been more attentive towards her decreasing body temperature. He would not criticize her for seeking some solace on the secluded terrace.Whilst, feeling the loss of her company more acutely than he had expected. Cazer
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His fingers clumsily fumbling at the top clasp of his jacket in the cold, Allen securely fastened it under his chin. Puffing some warm breaths of air into his hands, he rubbed them together rapidly. Then plunged both hands back down into the depths of his pockets to shield them from the relentless chill. The leaves of the now barren trees, crunching on the ground beneath them as they walked along the deserted trail. Regarding the forest around them cautiously, Allen placed a mindful distance between himself and the steep slope that ran adjacent to them. The rift opening up like a gaping mouth, its size made indeterminable by the canopy of the growth that rose up from its depths, Allen staring into it guardedly as they skimmed along its edge. This being his first assignment since he had been promoted to Hunter, excluding the cover he had used during his rescue mission at Vasmere Manor, they had not been deployed far from the Alliance headquarters. Only half a d
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Withdrawing his pistol cautiously, Allen tried to make the squelching of his steps less audible as he progressed through the darkened trench. Not noticing until this moment just how devoid of sound the forest was. There were no hoots or the screeching of animals, nor was there any wind to rustle the branches or the chirping of insects present in the night. Even the long strides of his partner on the path above leaving him far behind, Allen felt completely alone in his mission now.This revelation only making the unexpected sound of a woman’s gentle sobbing all the more pronounced to him among the darkness. Progressing carefully, Allen drew closer to the cries. Brushing past the leaves of massive ferns growing in the pit and crunching over the discarded limbs that had fallen from the trees, he came to find a young woman. Near to his age, she sat on the floor of the forest. Covered in leaves and dirt, her dark hair disheveled, the woman grasped at her ankle in distress.
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Returning in the early hours of the morning, there were only a few wandering souls who witnessed Allen and Chiri walk through the doors of the Alliance. Allen still covered web, dirt, and leaves; he was not pleased despite their first mission passing without any major incident.His partner not even managing to uphold her promise to him for a single assignment, Allen felt foolish for believing that her nature would change so easily. However, he had hoped somewhat that Chiri might at least attempt to comply with his simple request of her. Still in a huff, Chiri sidled up next to him. Evidently refreshed after her reprieve from the Alliance Headquarters, there was an energy in her steps now as they made their way towards the Night Gate dorms.“I wasn’t going to let her eat you.” Chiri chuckled, nudging him jovially with her side in an attempt to alleviate some of the tension between them.“That’s not the poi
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The office filled with the serenity of the subtle white noise of each person’s solitary or otherwise mundane activities. It was the frustrated sigh which stood out amongst them as Chiri stared at the black and white squares of the board in front of her. The mild amusement that her opponent as he derived some enjoyment at her expense, evident by the sly smirk on his face. Chiri finally plucked her bishop from the board, her brow furrowing as she placed the piece in the last movement available to her, she slouched back onto the soft leather couch in resignation.Aware of her defeat without him having to state it, Cazer still smiled as he declared smugly, “Check mate.” Sulking as she sustained another loss, Chiri crossed her arms in front of her chest as she muttered back at him sourly, “I hate this game.” The smirk of confidence he possessed from beating her repeatedly at chess that morning, unrelenting as he continued to stare back at her. The expression would have irked her more had s
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The smell, like death and decay condensed. It seemed to cling to the walls of the tunnels and hang in the air as repugnant as one might find a corpse which still swayed in its noose. The heinousness of the scent, only becoming more egregious as they continued further into the catacombs beneath the bustling streets of Ineset, Allen found that each breath he drew provoked a repulsed churning in his stomach.A rat, made fat by feasting on the bones of the deceased and the other hapless creatures that might live within them, brushing past his foot. Allen released a mild gasp, before recoiling back against the wall of the tunnel in disgust. Already traversing the morbid labyrinth for at least an hour now, he began to hope for any sign of the rogue mages’ hideout to be uncovered soon. Whilst acknowledging that their unlit corridors and seclusion were perfect for those who did not want to be found, Allen could not fathom how it was inhabited by any member of the living for long.Their route,
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The small wooden frame of the bed moaning as someone shifted on its lumpy twin mattress, the noise prompted Chiri’s eyelids to flutter open slowly. Awoken from her deep sleep, she rolled onto her back to observe the person who sat on the edge of the bed they had shared. Her long hair tangled beneath her, she watched his broad back silently as he pulled on the few articles of the uniform that had been scattered about the floor during the night. Her gaze, apparently felt by him after a while, Allen Pierce turned. Greeting Chiri with an affectionate smile as she blinked the sleep away from her eyes, the skin around his blue gray irises crinkled from the extent of the contentment within this moment. The springs of the mattress displaced again as he leaned towards Chiri, Allen cupped her cheek tenderly in his hand to say gently, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.” His thumb caressing her cheekbone lightly as he spoke, Chiri smiled back at him tiredly from the pillow. Her hand, rising
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The final weeks of summer saturated by a persistent drizzle, it left gray pools on the footpath. Branching out into different avenues between the headstones, Cazer did not pause to consider the names etched on each nor did he become weighed down by solemn reflection as he progressed past them determinedly. The patent leather of his shoes, marred by the dirt of the cemetery as he entered into the more ancient part of the Alliance burial grounds that was shaded by the gnarled branches of a few mature trees. Cazer proceeded past the mossy and worn graves until he came to the one he sought.A sandstone mausoleum to one of the Alliance’s founders, Regus Sieg. The foreboding bars, clamped shut over the structure’s hollow opening, were only made more grim by the effects that time had over its once pristine stones and columns. Weathered and darkened by centuries of dreary days, such as this, Cazer mounted the few steps that led up to its gates. Placing a hand onto its cold metal, there was a
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The room, silent, aside from someone tapping out an odd stunted interpretation of time with their fingers. Allen discovered himself in the company of an unusual assortment of friends and acquaintances he had never once expected to encounter. All there under the reasonable assumption of what joined them together, Tristan Hurst, Morose Akena, Horus Crouse, and Lance Armistice eyed each other awkwardly from their varying positions amidst the office. Unsure of whether to broach their purpose for being there or to feign normalcy by engaging in small talk as they awaited the final members of their group, Allen found that his foot too now drummed along to the peculiar rhythm set within the room. The anxious wiggling not ceasing, he contemplated the wisdom of joining these diverse characters together in their mission. Although operating seemingly well in their exasperating partnership, Cazer and Allen acknowledged that their plans to launch an more offensive strike on the Moon Gate mages wou
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The rank smell of decay and mildew immediately enveloping her, Chiri knew that she had rejoined the dark catacombs where the cohorts of the Moon Gate’s malicious hoard gathered. Hissing as her form solidified again in the tunnel, Chiri again grasped at her side. Unsteady, the weight of her body found some stability as her back slumped onto the damp wall beside her. Expecting to be met with some snide remark in regard to her injury instantly upon her arrival, Chiri was to discover instead that her entrance had hardly been noticed amidst the affairs that had preceded her. Voices heard in the large junction between the tunnels, Chiri turned her head lazily in their direction. Leaning wearily against the dark tunnel, her eyes pinched together mildly as she squinted at the figures in the opening. Most of them the usual suspects that collected around Ryker Crouse, there was one amongst them that was only vaguely familiar to her. The woman’s hair matted and clothes dirty and torn from the t
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Hurried steps and panicked voices arising from outside the Dawn Gate, the source of their alarm was indeterminate from what corner of the empty ward Chiri occupied. Disinterested by the distant sounds of their mingled unease faded into a buzz of unrest as she closed her eyes against the persistent pain which plagued her. Clutching the saturated fabric more closely to the gouge at her side, Chiri grimaced as blood oozed out from between her fingers and onto the pestine floor beneath her. The wound, not having cut deep enough to touch any vital arteries or organs. It only posed the immediate threat of blood loss as she remained a solitary entity amongst the empty cots of the infirmary. The injury’s presence, no less vexing in the least, this was to be the reward Chiri enjoyed from another one of Ryker’s misguided assignments. Reclining against the wall slowly, she hissed an embittered curse through gritted teeth, “Sodded slug suckers!” Fortunate enough to find that no one else should b
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“Those damn toothy bastards can burn in Hell for all of eternity!” Cazer roared, the doors slamming shut behind him in order to punctuate the vehemence of this outburst. They were then battered again as he landed a ferocious kick onto the barrier of the office. The eruption of his fury causing the solid doors to shake, Cazer barely regarded the man who sat observing the dramatic display from his position on the couch.Allen’s eyes following him warily as he stormed into the room, Cazer found the silent pressure of his judgemental stare of little consequence as he marched over to his desk. Breathing agitated and his hair disorderly, he jerked open a drawer on the bureau. Withdrawing a half-full decanter and wiping the rim of a glass on the desk that had previously been used for water, Cazer poured himself a sizable portion of the spirit. Not offering any to the Hunter, he waited for Cazer to down the drink before asking, “No luck, I take it?” In too foul a temper to accept the smugness
