Although Chiri knew the sound of her heels rapidly striking the stones and her forced breathing was present as she ascended the steps directly behind Allen. They were drowned out by the deafening clang of the clock tower as it struck eight, nothing but the chorus of its chimes still ringing in her ears long after it had ceased. Chiri strained to hear much else within the tower. The sheer force of the vibrations which reverberated through the tower echoing through her. Chiri was unable to distinguish whether it was her own unsettled heartbeat or the quaking of the clock tower that shook her chest. A nagging sense of foreboding building up inside of her. She would have little choice but to ignore its ardent warnings as she pursued Allen up the monumental spiral staircase that led to the top of the bell tower. Although not hesitating to follow her partner’s pursuit of their nemesis from Crosson, every instinct within her now screamed out that they were running into a trap. However, whil
The blood dripping onto the crisp white lapel of his uniform, Horus’s eyes began to water. Not having peered into their honest spheres like this for so long, Chiri was saddened to see the panic within his blue and gold irises as he realized the extent of her injuries. Most minor cuts, his eyes came to rest in horror upon the sword that had been driven cleanly through her right shoulder. Blood beginning to trickle along the end of the blade, Chiri collapsed. Rolling onto her side next to Horus, she gazed at his tears despondently. Wishing that her brother would no longer have a need to weep for her after this night as his quivering hands reached out to her. Chiri felt his desperate hold on her more severely than even the wound she had incurred. Wincing as Horus's fingers grasped her more tightly, she regretted that her presence in his life only seemed to bring him profound and repeated suffering. Chiri’s hands also made unsteady from pain, she extended one towards her brother. Managi
The room, a sanitized white it shone brightly in the cold light of the clear crystals which dangled from the ceiling. Allen squinting against the harsh gleam characteristic of the Alliance’s critical care unit, its sterile appearance and unblemished tile floors were well known to him now. However, he frowned as he gazed down at his partner. Finding himself growing increasingly uncomfortable simply by looking upon her body lying on the hard ground. Offering no bed or sheets to cover her bandaged figure, she had been tethered to the center of the room. Each of Chiri Krane’s limbs shackled by multiple restraints, they were the only things that prevented her from being lost amongst the host of magic seals which encircled her. Their etchings, seeming to flow together after a few hours of staring at the unmoved figure at their nexus, Allen saw them even when he looked away from her. Their victory over the man who had terrorized Crosson and led to the deaths of several feeling to him more
His shoes clanking down the corridor in the sort of curt and determined gate that one might expect from Cazer Krane. The noise was only made all the more severe as it marked his progress down the dark and dank network of halls which made up the underground cells of the Alliance. Their doors contained those either made to suffer under the justice system of the Four Gateways Alliance or to be forgotten by it completely. Liberating Chiri from a similar bleakness several years earlier, Cazer’s mind did not budge from her as he found himself marching through its hallways resolutely again. The image of Chiri grappling with the hex inflicted on her by the members of the Moon Gate organization and the tedious conversation he had conducted with her inept partner still fresh in his mind. Cazer’s mood darkened with each step he took down the row of dismal cells. Filled with moaning and wailing, which resembled those he was accustomed to hearing from his phantoms, they did not perturb him from m
The blinding white light of the containment cell in the Alliance infirmary searing through her eyelids as she closed her eyes. Chiri received no reprieve from their harsh interrogative glare even once she had drifted back into the land of her subconscious mind. Their brilliance presenting no end or beginning to the uncomfortable emptiness inside of her, Chiri was left with little choice but to embrace the endless void that remained within. Nothing distinguishable in any direction, she released an exasperated exhalation as began to walk forward with neither purpose nor destination. No distinctive horizon with which to separate the walls or ceiling from the floor. The sound of her bare feet echoing hauntingly as she shuffled along what she could only assume was the ground. Barely progressing a couple of steps, Chiri heard an unwelcome voice reveal itself from behind her, “I knew you were hollow inside.” Her jaw clenching immediately at the recognizable lilt of his snide remark. Chiri s
A deep voice, the only thing to be heard in the large conference hall, its monotonous tone hardly penetrated Allen’s tired ears as he watched another hour tick by on the face of his watch. Almost the only face he could see, he glanced around vacantly at the seats positioned around the immense table with the man’s voice continuing to drone on in the background. The prominent furnishings of the room constructed from a richly colored red wood, it glistened like a deep wine in the dim light of the room. The polished surface of the table stretching into the unknown darkness at the other end of the conference hall, Allen had ceased in his efforts to squint at the different speakers around it at some point in time. Identifying each representative that had convened there only by the sound of their voices, there were very few he could actually assign a name to amongst them. That was aside from the grimly morose tone of Xavier Crouse. Situated somewhere far removed from them, it was still not
The buildings with their wretchedly abyssal gray façades staring forebodingly down on her. Dark streaks running from the hollow chasms of their orifices as though they had been stained by unrelenting tears of their sorrows, Chiri walked through the grim alley undaunted by their morbid appearance. Far from the busy main streets of Vemery, these were the people and residences shunned by the well-to-do public of the capital. Inhabited by the destitute or those who were supplied with too meager a wage to survive in a city which only catered to the nobles and rich of the country. The people who had fallen on hard times or had the misfortune to be born into adverse poverty were exiled to the unseen crevices of the city that few of its more entitled citizens even were aware of.The grime on the stones beneath her feet and the dank puddles of stagnant water creating an offensive odor, Chiri’s stomach churned slightly as she paused between the buildings to observe her surroundings. The narrow
Having escaped from the suffocating stagnancy of Alliance bureaucracy, Chiri heaved a sigh from behind a rather stern looking statue of one of the organization’s founders. Leaning against the coarse stone of the alcove which housed the commemorative effigy, she slid down the wall and onto the ground behind it. Not far from the conference room, Chiri ran a hand through the long locks of her hair as she concealed herself from the prying eyes of the others who had also chosen to depart in her wake. Flopping her head back tiredly into the stone behind her, Chiri continued to rest in the staunchly immovable shadow she had ducked behind. Listening to the excited conversations and sedated footsteps as they passed, Chiri closed her eyes. Attempting to tune out the buzz they created amongst her own thoughts, she could not account at this time. Possessing no ulterior motive, other than facilitating her own departure from the senseless debates of people she did not much care for, Chiri had not
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
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,
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
Amidst the forgotten streets and the forlorn inhabited who were relegated to their drenched cobblestones, was a place that remained far removed from the eyes of the public. The location of the business, only known to the few who required specialized or otherwise illicit magic items, Allen was perplexed to once again discover himself at the threshold of Ekral Manstein’s shop. The dismal weather, causing the gray steps that led down off of the street to become slick beneath his feet. Allen descended them cautiously, before finally arriving at the door. Issuing a knock, he passed a long minute or two out in the persistent drizzle, before the little compartment on the door slid open. A pair of dark and tired eyes revealing themselves to him, they scrutinized Allen, whose hair and clothes had come to cling damply to him as they grumbled, “What brings you here?” A few drops of rain from the mantle of the door, falling to slide down the back of his neck, Allen shivered as he replied, “I need
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
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
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
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
“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