Your curse will be my salvation.

Your loss will be my gain.

Know that whatever pain, whatever hardship you are about to endure...

It will serve my greater good.

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Sol'Hathazar tapped his finger against the steel table. Wisps of steam ebbed and flowed from the cup of crimson liquid clasped in his left hand. Not for the first time, he noticed the scars that had seemed to grow in number every time he looked at his hands. Deep, blackened rivers crisscrossing up his arms and disappearing into his sleeves, remnants of Pacts pushed to their limits.

And nothing to show for it.

The Daemon across from him prattled on about something he had lost track off quite some time ago. Her voice had joined the low hum of the café. It was a nicer establishment, in Outer Limbo at least, and sat comfortably high above ground level. Soft lights reflected off brass pipes to bask the space in comforting colors. He wasn't sure when the City had chosen the aesthetic, but he enjoyed it. It was better than the offbeat shapes and colors vibe of the last iteration. He shuddered.

"Are you alright?" his companion asked, her eyes narrowed in concern. Mal'hara was pretty. Beautiful even. They had been setup by mutual friends for a couple of dates and they should have been great together. Similar hobbies, interests, lifestyles, the whole gambit.

But you aren't her.

"I'm fine, just bad memory," he said, forcing a grin. He didn't do well with social situations any more. It took a lot for him to stay connected to conversations and he often found his mind wandering: Wandering to times long ago, happier times...

And times in those dark tunnels, trapped, running.

"Hopefully not about me?" she said, returning a playful smile.

"No, of course not," he said, once again pulling himself back to the present. What he wouldn't give for an out. His head ached with the strain of maintaining the charade.

That's when he felt it.

A slight twinge, nearly unnoticeable, from the outside the windows of the cafe. White hot, magnetic, burning beneath the skin.

The pull of malicious magic. One he was familiar with intimately.

He saw it almost as soon as he felt it. A streak of purple and crimson outside the window spiraling towards the ground. Sol'Hathazar briefly glimpsed a Daemon and some other creature entangled together; the Daemon's body glowing red, the creature's wrapped in purple strands of light.

He shot up from his seat, the steel chair crashing to the ground. All eyes in the room turned to him, somehow missing the spectacle that had just careened past the floor to ceiling picture windows. Mal'hara started, surprised by his sudden outburst.

"Sol? What in the-"

"Sorry, Mar," he said, already halfway out of the café. "I'll contact you later!"

He was almost certain that was a lie.

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Abel woke, for the second time, surrounded by garbage. His vision swam as he collected his thoughts, the concrete ground offering no comfort to him.

I was falling.

His body ached.

I'm alive.

Did he still have his limbs? Considering the height he fell from, he wasn't even sure how he was breathing. He flexed his fingers, relief washing over him as they responded.

Where was Vel'tek?

Last he remembered was his unwilling escape partner lit up like a torch. Abel eased himself into a sitting position and took stock of his surroundings. He was in an alley. The neon lights and the dull roar of the city poured in from its entrance. Abel groaned as he stood. He looked up and was disappointed to find the sky was barely a pinprick of dark light above him.

"Hello?" he called out. No one answered.

"Vel'tek?"

Still no response. His call disappeared into the noises of the City. Abel groaned as he stood and shuffled further back into the alley, tapping heaps of garbage with his feet to see if they contained a fallen body.

"Vel'tek?" he hissed. He was getting worried. The last thing he wanted, despite what his past actions might have conveyed, was to kill the poor creature. Further into the alley, where the light pouring in from the street faded to darkness, Abel heard a faint pop. Abel froze. He realized just how tall and claustrophobic the steel buildings around him felt.

"Vel'tek?" he asked, much more hesitant to send his voice down the dark passageway.

A hiss called in answer. It was low, like pressure being released from a valve. Abel inched forward as his eyes grew accustomed to the deeper darkness. Was something horrible waiting for him? What if Vel'tek had perished during the fall? Could he handle being a murderer? His left hand shot up to his face, but he forced it down with his right. He had just enough sense to realize picking his face after laying in garbage might not be the greatest idea he ever had.

His eyes fully adjusted, but they left him with more questions than answers. Near the backend of the alley, about ten feet up, was a large red egg stuck to the building. Its shell, from what he could see, wasn't hard but made of a skin-like material. Abel stared in confusion as it pulsed with a near imperceptible red light.

"Gross?" he whispered to no one but himself. Was this egg what made the hissing noise?

He was answered with a gout of steam from its top end. Abel jumped back and stifled a yelp. With a squelch and flash of red light, the egg unfolded like a grotesque flower and dropped its contents onto the cement below. Abel wasn't able to make out any details in the darkness, now augmented with the putrid stream. He stepped closer. All he could see was the vague outline of something on the ground.

The something groaned and swayed up.

Abel scrambled back, falling over the discarded trash in the alleyway.

"Listen, I don't have any money. Or anything, really. Please don't eat me," he whimpered.

The form stepped forward out of the steam and dark, revealing a naked figure with a tattoo that spiraled out in fractals from the center of their chest towards their arms and back.

"Really, you just tried to kill me and you've already forgotten about me?"

Abel stared wide eyed, mouth agape. While they certainly had the same voice as Vel'tek, they were much, much slimmer now, almost emaciated. He could see their rib cage and sternum to an uncomfortable degree. Abel saw their horns also seemed to turn upwards at the ends now. Now, to his discomfort, he could definitely tell the gender of his unwilling savior.

Vel'tek cocked her head at him and put her hands on her hips.

"H-how?" Abel stammered, his words failing him as he tried to piece together the string of events that could have led to the last five minutes.

Vel'tek pointed a sharp, black nailed finger at her chest. "Rebirth Pact. Only to be used in the most dire of circumstances."

She turned her finger to him as her face twisted in rage. "Which, no thanks to you, I just had to burn mid Incursion."

Abel flinched. "Sorry," he said. He wasn't sure of the exact implication, but it didn't sound good.

Vel'tek pinched the bridge of her nose. Abel could feel the stress pouring off her in waves. Or maybe that was the egg stench.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Alright, fine, look, we just need to get moving before they find us," she said.

"We?"

"Yeah, we, you fiend-mind, or did you forget you dragged me into your mad escape plan?”

Abel scowled. "Again, I'm sorry. But you're alive, and for all intents and purposes you don't need to run with me. I'm thinking they are just looking for me."

"They are. But you're an Anomaly, or at least they think you are, and now I've got your weird scent all over me."

Abel instinctively gave himself a sniff. "You can smell me?"

Vel'tek rolled her eyes. "No, I mean in the Abyssal sense."

"Abyssal?" Abel asked, more to himself than her. He was desperately trying to keep up, but was quickly losing track of every new piece of information. He hauled himself to his feet, brushing bits of grime and trash off his clothes.

Vel'tek shot a glare at him. "You really aren't from around here, are you? Maybe I should let those Keepers find you."

For the first time since coming to EndsMarch, Abel felt a flood of strength within him. He shot a glare back at Vel'tek and righted himself. "Try it. I'm not letting you or those things stop me from getting to my family."

Vel'tek held his gaze. They were so close now Abel could make out the worryingly sharp incisors accentuating her scowl. He held firm despite his heart thudding in his chest. Confrontations weren't his strong suit.

With a sigh, she relented and held her hands up in surrender. "Fine. But I'm watching you Abel."

"You're welcome too. But I need to go..." His voice trailed off as he turned towards the alley entrance. "Actually, I have no idea where I'm going."

Vel'tek groaned. "Can we start by getting me some new clothes?"

----------------------------------------

Sol'Hathazar shoved his way through the mass of Daemons clogging the sidewalk. His size helped him get where he wanted. He stood a foot taller than most and was built like a bio-ship. To their credit, most pedestrians moved aside as they saw him approaching. Those that didn't were moved with force.

He could feel it still, the pull. The stench of tainted magic drifted towards him on the winds of the City. Sol'Hathazar had taken the stairs from the café eighty stories down and followed the Pull to street level.

Why now, why here?

He shook his head. It didn't matter. What mattered was that it was here.

After all the waiting, all the anxiety, he finally had a trail to follow.

He shoved aside another absent minded pedestrian, the Pacts on his arms and legs flaring to give him a surge of strength. The black markings pulsed with red energy across his flaxen skin. The majority were hidden under his clothing, while some poked out of his sleeves and continued to wrap around his hands.

He was stronger by nature, and his Pacts leaned into that strength. Strength enhancement, damage mitigation, physical durability, anything one could think of to make him a walking tank he had tried to squeeze onto his body. The only indulgence he allowed himself was a Pact on his right hand devoted to creating small illusions.

He had been weak before. He made sure not to make that same mistake again.

The crowd eventually thinned as he rounded a corner. The Pull grew stronger. He found himself in a row of high end shops and business entrances. Following the Pull, he found himself in front of a building named "N.Z.T". Large glass windows made up the front of its entrance, revealing a spacious waiting area. Furniture wrought from materials found in the Depths marked the place as not only luxurious but exclusive. Could he even get in?

It never hurt to try.

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Abel sat pressed between two creatures who looked like they could rip his spine out with little thought. Their muscles bulged beneath armor that matched what he had first seen Vel'tek in; the helmets they wore completely hid from their faces from view.

Abel was piecing together different facets of this "EndsMarch". As he and Vel'tek had rushed from the alley, with barely a glance from fellow pedestrians to his surprise, the sheer magnitude of the city bore down on him. Buildings reached higher than anything he had every seen, their tops sometimes disappearing into clouds. If he had to guess, the tallest structures were at least a mile high, if not more. He wasn't sure how that was possible. It unsettled him. He thought he could see neon signs up near the top of them. Who would even need signs that high? From what he could tell, the population density was similar to New York city’s. Did they really need that much space?

He was obviously missing something.

The second bit of information he picked up was that no two creatures had the same pair of horns. From a distance they might appear the same shape, but each one had unique growth patterns and ridging.

Like fingerprints...

For now, you are from out of City. Up north or something. If anyone asks, you're my distant relative visiting from the polar encampments, Vel'tek had whispered to him as they made their way through the crowd. Maybe no one will question your weird looks with that story.

He hoped so. He wasn't sure he could do anything if the two creatures beside him questioned his origin.

He wasn't even sure he could tell them the truth. He didn’t know what it was.

Vel'tek had sat him down on the bench between the two creatures across from the room she now occupied. It was one of many in the hallway, each door marked with an unfamiliar sign near its top.

There were plenty of open benches farther down the hallway, too. He didn’t know why she had chosen this one in particular.

The creature to Abel's left shifted and sighed. Apparently Abel wasn't the only one stuck on the bench.

"Rough one, eh?" the one to Abel's right said. Abel looked up to see the creature looking down at him. Abel chuckled nervously.

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"Which company you with?" they asked. Their voice was gravelly and coarse, how an old sailor’s might be.

"Oh, I'm with her," Abel said, pointing to the closed door across from them. "I'm visiting."

The creature nodded. "Ah, makes sense. You looked about as confused as a Blood Vermin in water," they chuckled. "She's in Retake, yeah?"

Abel nodded. He hoped that was the right answer. He subconsciously gave the creature the name "Righty". Simply because they were on his right.

"Dae, they have it rough. I worked that for a few years before switching to Depth Exploration. Same company, too. Abysaalt, its much more dangerous but the pay is so much better. I don't have to worry about civilians either." Righty paused and glanced back at Abel. "No offense."

"None taken," Abel said. He prayed the creature would stop talking lest he accidentally let it slip he didn’t know what they were talking about.

"So, which part of EndsMarch are you from?" the creature continued. Abel stiffened.

"I'm actually from up North. The, uh, Encampments."

"I love it up there. Aside from the obvious," Righty said, nudging Abel with an elbow. "Which encampment are you with? I hear some are really having it rough."

Abel's heart thudded in his ears. What should he do? Lying would be obvious, but staying silent would be just as suspicious.

He chose something in the middle.

"Y-yeah, it has been rough. What about you? How has it been for you?"

The good ol' point back to the other person.

Righty shrugged. "Oh, you know, not too bad. Ends' been stable in the Outer Reaches for some time now. Makes for an easy commute but sometimes a little switch up can be fun."

The creature to Abel's left sighed again. Abel assigned him the name "Lefty", for obvious reasons. Lefty's voice droned, as if the experience bored him. "Fun isn't the word I would use for it, Bar'hew.”

"Oh, shut it Kelt," Right huffed. "Like your life is any more exciting."

Luckily, before the conversation could veer back to Abel, the door across from them swung open, revealing Vel'tek in a brand new suit of black armor.

"Let's go," she said, not bothering to glance at the bench. Abel stood and fell in step behind her. He waved back to the bench where the two creatures still sat.

"Nice to meet you," he said.

"You too!" said the one Abel now knew as Bar'hew.

"Have fun?" Vel'tek asked with just a hint of aggression.

"Not necessarily."

"Good. Because you just cost me a month's worth of pay."

Abel sighed. "Again, sorry."

They walked to a set of elevator doors with a pad of call buttons, each with an unfamiliar symbol on them. Vel'tek keyed in a sequence quicker than Abel could track and turned back to him. Abel noticed she seemed to be back to her previous size, though he wasn't sure if that was the armor making her appear bigger.

"I've got my basic Pacts back now and recovered some muscle mass, but we're going to need to be careful. I can defend us against minor threats, but if we come across those Keepers again..." She shuddered. "Well, best not think about it."

A light above the elevator doors blinked a notch higher. They had gone quite a ways up, making the wait feel extra long in the ensuing silence.

Abel needed answers. Now seemed like as good a time as any to get some.

"So, what are... Pacts?" he asked. He stumbled over the word, like his mouth wasn't sure how to form the basic components.

Vel'tek gave him a sideways glance. "Oh boy."

"What?" Abel asked, somewhat offended.

"We really are in trouble."

"Tell me and we might be in less trouble."

Vel'tek sighed. "Pacts are ways to invoke Abyssal magic through the use of life energy." She held up a hand for him to inspect. Rivulets of black arced in intricate patterns across her visible skin. "Energy goes in, effect comes out."

Abel leaned in to inspect the marks. Magic was the least insane thing he had heard of that day. "Huh. So that egg you were in was..."

"An emergency Pact meant to protect Reclamation agents from Incursion rot. It converts the outer layer of my body into what you saw and shoves all my vital organs as close to center as possible to delay long enough for rescue crews. I can manually undo the transformation to rebuild my body but-," she motioned to herself, "As you can see, it takes more than it gives back."

Abel felt his stomach churn. “And how did I survive the fall?”

Again Vel’tek shrugged. “Beats me. I thought you would know.”

He shook his head and changed the subject, not wanting to think about it. Hopefully, he also hadn’t popped out of a flesh egg. "So, how do you know English?"

Vel'tek raised an eyebrow. "English?"

"Yeah. You know... what we're speaking?"

Vel'tek gave him a blank stare. "I have no idea what you 're talking about."

Okay, never mind. More questions than answers.

"Where should we look for Asher and Miya?" he asked, letting the question slide. "I assumed they were close to me."

"Like I said when we found you, nothing else Daemon, or close to it was in those buildings." Sadness passed over Vel'tek's face. "Nothing but Incursion was left."

That didn't give him any confidence.

"So what then, we just give up?" He refused to believe that he was the only one to have survived that ordeal.

Vel'tek pursed her lips. "You need to prepare yourself for the worst."

Abel stared at her, his eyes unwavering. "Where. Do we go. Next?"

Vel'tek sighed. "I know someone that works in the Anomalous Division here. Hopefully, they can help set us on the right path."

Abel nodded. "Then that's where we'll start."

The elevator doors slid open with a soft ding. Inside was a creature that could have given Bar'hew and Kelt a run for their money. Their horns curled backwards from their forehead and their yellowish skin was alight with reddish light as their Pacts ignited at the sight of Abel.

"There you are," they said, stepping out towards Abel, a wicked grin plastered across their face.

"Name's Sol'Hathazar. It will be a pleasure breaking your legs."

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