Why wait on a fracture when the demon could live right among us.

The first and second tier cities deem themselves too fine to take care of the orphans left behind after the fractures, attracted by all their fancy magi-tec. So they dump them here, for the third tier cities to take care of. And with no way to know if they are sending some changelings right along.

Quote from a street interview in Birchtail, May 2215

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Damn guardians. Playing themselves up as the saviours of humanity. But in truth they are just reckless idiots with too much power. This Spark is no different. Burns down whatever’s in his way. And now he’s hiding here in a third tier city because he's come across some demons that were stronger than him and he doesn't want to fight any more. The coward.

Robert has looked into Spark for a while now. He has found out a good place and time to take him out. But even more important he has a good idea of what he’s capable of and prepared some protection for himself. He is wearing trousers that look like loose jeans but are actually reinforced with fire retardant material, similar to the leather jacket he is wearing over a simple t-shirt.

Robert is walking along the path through a badly kept park. The grass and bushes overgrown and some of the trees still damaged from the storm that blew through here some weeks ago. A city like Birchtail doesn't have the funding to take care of it’s parks. And why would it. Tier three city are only there to dump all the orphans left behind in the wake of the fighting. That’s how the guardians have decided it should be.

Robert stops and looks at the plain ring on his finger for a moment. He then takes it off to place it in the pocket inside his jacket and makes sure the zipper is closed securely. With closed eyes and one hand flat on the jacket where the pocket is he quietly says. “Just wait for me. It’ll not be too long before I join you. But I need to take as many of them with me as I can.” Then he continues on his way.

Spark has a usual spot in this park where he would spend some time alone, every week from the late afternoon until the evening when he would start his night shift. He might be a guardian but without regularly fighting in fractures he needs another source of income.

Today he won't make it to his job, Robert thinks.

It’s a secluded spot surrounded by some trees and a few overgrown bushes that give cover from the path going through the park. And he should be there right now. Robert walks through a gap in the bushes, and there he is. Sitting on the grass with his eyes closed, hardly aware of his surroundings.

Like it is with most of them, it’s easy to see that Spark is a guardian. When they make their contract they get effected by the Reality Warp. From what Robert understands this is what gives them their magic. But it also effects their appearance in some way. Spark’s hair had changed into different tones of yellow and orange so it looks almost like a flame on his head. And even though it’s to cold for it he is wearing nothing but short and a t-shirt.

With some effort Robert puts on a friendly smile before he starts approaching the young guardian.

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"Oh, there's someone else here already. And i thought i found a little place of solitude in this noisy city." he says.

After a second or so Spark looks up. "Oh, ehm. Yeah, ... its hard to find a quiet spot around here."

Robert is casually walking towards the sitting guardian. Its about ten more steps.

"I hope I didn’t interrupt anything."

Eight more steps.

"I'm just meditating a little out her. Sorting my thoughts before i have to go to work."

Five more steps.

"A hectic job i take it?"

Three more steps.

Spark was slowly lifting himself off of the ground now that Robert got closer. His movement are still a bit sluggish from sitting there for a while. Just as he's looking back up and is about to reply Robert has closed the distance, pulled out a stiletto style knife with a long thin blade and pushes it into the guardian's stomach.

There was quiet a lot of resistance for such a thin blade and Robert had to put a lot of strength into this one attack to overcome the additional defence the guardian's attributes provided against a mundane weapon like this.

But it wasn't enough.

After a tense moment, that felt like an eternity to Robert, the blade breaks through the skin and plunges into the body. The guardian barely has a chance to know what's happening.

Robert immediately pulls the blade back out of his target and takes a few steps back.

And not a second too late as a fiery inferno bursts up around Spark cloaking him in flames.

Spark is a guardian that uses fire magic and while Robert's clothing is fire retardant he isn't too keen on testing this at point blank range.

Robert is ducking away to gain a bit more distance from the blazing heat and pulls out the revolver he carried under his jacket. His clothes and quick reaction saved him from more than just a few singed hair on his head.

A normal person would likely die from a stab like this but those dammed guardians are as tough as nails, even at low levels like Spark.

After a few more steps the heat becomes more tolerable and Robert turns around again to shoot.

The Guardian doesn't seem too keen on fighting however and is already running in the opposite direction.

Robert gets out two poorly aimed shots before the guardian reaches the bushes and is out of sight. The shots seem to do nothing but scare off some birds.

Right, this one's a coward. goes through Robert's head as he picks up speed to go after his target.

Luckily the park is usually empty this time of day. Which is one of the reasons Robert decided to do this here.

With the gun in one hand and the knife in the other Robert follows him into the shrubs.

The cloak of flames had nearly burned out when Spark came through here but it did leave some marks on the plants around.

Spark's trail was pointing towards the edge of the park. In the direction of Sage-Tree Market.

Damn, he's heading for the night market to hide among the people. With that thought Robert slowed down for a moment to put away the blade and the revolver before running as fast as he could.