“What the heck is that?” Riki said, “Is the inn burning down?”

“I have no clue. A burning building would have fire as well, but I don’t see any flickering light that would depict a fire. Plus the smoke itself is not rising into the air.” Tamaki said, “it’s strange, why isn’t anyone else in the city reacting to the smoke?”

The inn was indeed pretty far from the main city. Yet, the black haze was still visible from where they were standing. From what they can tell, no one around them noticed it and bothered to point it out.

With that, Kaori took off.

“Ah… Kaori!” Tamaki called out, “Riki, we’re coming as well.”

The three ran straight for the inn. The first thing they noticed was that it was almost completely enveloped in smoke. There was no fire, just enshrouded in a layer of thin smoke just barely enough to see.

“Tamaki, what is happening right now?” Riki asked.

“I don’t know, but this is definitely not caused by a fire…”

“You two, don’t come any closer. This stuff around the inn is flammable…” Kaori said as she examined the powder on her finger.

If anything, having one of your family’s properties being burned down by an attack would ruin not only your family’s reputation but also yours as well.

She thought to herself. What constitutes as a single object? Can I theoretically use the powder to gather information on the inside? What other choice is there left but to try?

She focused on the feeling of the particles’ turbulence in the air on her skin.

This is really dangerous. What am I doing?

She felt the momentum of each individual particle. It was like a pathway with traffic coming outside of the inn. Squeezing through everything, she imagined the door. Within it, there was an absence of them shaping a silhouette of a humanoid. She felt the space where a top hat would fill in, a suit, and a plague mask. This was where the particles were most concentrated at.

It’s working…! I’ve never once thought to use my ability like this! Unfortunately I think the only reason it's only working in this scenario is because the smoke particles are just large enough compared to normal air. Also, what the heck? This person is straight from the 18 century.

“Hide, you two... there is someone inside the inn. And they certainly do not seem friendly…”

“What do you mean by tha—” Riki starts.

“Just hurry up please!”

With no other questions asked, the three hid behind a nearby bush near the path leading up to the inn. Tamaki continues monitoring the figure. Continuously doing this, however, drains her. It seems she can only keep this up for so long. As soon as she was about to release it, the figure made their move. Tamaki follows where the lack of particles were traveling, to the front door. Exactly in 5 seconds they will open the door to the front of the inn. She relayed this to Riki and Kaori. But while doing so, she came across new information.

In the next 4 seconds, something worse was about to happen. Flames. Flames everywhere. Tamaki sees everything being engulfed in a sea of fire. The person would have lit all of the surrounding powder up.

“This can’t be… Can we even do anything about this?”

Tamaki noticed a strange empty space where their right hand is. An empty space meaning an object would fill that space. That shape… is a lighter.

I’m not going to let that happen.

“Hey Kaori, I want you to watch the door, that figure will come out of the inn holding something in its right hand. After they walk out a fair bit, locate that object and stasis it. The problem is after doing it… More importantly! The timing has to be absolutely perfect!”

“What a way to put pressure on your assistant. But I trust you.”

As the door opens, the three of them catch their first look at the mysterious figure. They couldn’t discern anything about them. Kaori instantly sees the object in their hand, a lighter! After the figure comes in closer, they get a better view of its appearance. An old-fashioned shirt with a burgundy waistcoat, black trousers and loafers. More eye-catching, was the plague mask. It’s appearance especially creeped out Riki.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Kaori instantly activates her ability, and the lighter is completely immobilized.

The figure is visually forced back when they couldn’t move the lighter at all. It was suspended in mid air, locked in space. Because of this, the mask bearer backed off.

That lighter is dangerous right? Riki thought. There was a fair amount of distance between the lighter and the mask bearer now. If there was any opportunity to retrieve it, it would be now. Riki sprints for the lighter, revealing their location.

“Hey here’s the lighter!”

Riki goes in for the kick to launch it straight towards the two.

“Wait! Don’t hit the lighter! It won’t move until-”

It was like kicking a metal pole bolted to the ground. The pain reverberated from his shin all throughout his body.

“Urgh... Not my problem then.” Kaori said with a hand on her head.

He collapsed to the ground. Although, it wasn’t as if his shin was broken. That was the first time Riki experienced pain. Because they’ve been found out, Tamaki and Kaori revealed themselves.

But then the lighter launches itself, like it would have 1 second before. It lands by their feet to which Kaori picks it up in astonishment. It can store momentum like that? She thought.

“...Ca… Can we have a discussion? Pl…. Please?” Tamaki stumbled over her own words as she faced the mysterious figure.

“Asimov won’t be pleased.” The voice was morphed. Disfigured. They pull out a cigarette pouch, the self-lighttable kind.

“Crap! I got distracted!”

Kaori quickly reacts and attempts to stasis it, but… it didn’t work? Rather, The person condensed a cloud of smoke in front of her line of sight and that condensed region was the one to get affected. But Tamaki was already there, beneath the mask, already eyeing the cigarettes.

“I’ll have you know, I know my fair share of self-defense!”

She had one hand on her uniform, another hand out to steal the pack. That’s right, her uniform is a singular object. She anticipated the sudden indentation to her left shoulder. They were aiming to land a blow there to stun her.

Not gonna let that happen!

Tamaki side steps at the last second to dodge their arm going at mach 1. That was too fast! She was too much in a state of shock at the speed that she forgot to steal the cigarettes. The effort was in vain.

They immediately hit her on the neck, stunning her and letting her fall on the floor. Afterwards, out of the inn they went, making sure their shoes won’t get dirtied.

“My lady… No one touches my lady!”

The clouds of smoke were interfering with Kaori’s ability. As surrounding her with the clouds means freezing a clump of smoke. But yet, she found a way around it. The mask bearer left an empty space above her to which she took full advantage. Riki saw a huge crate floating in midair right above the thing’s head.

When did she throw that in the air?!

The time limit came up, and the crate came crashing on the head of the figure. Or at least, that should have happened. The mask bearer was just too fast.

And all of this happened as Riki stood there in silence. Baffled at what you can do with an ability. Baffled at how limiting you feel without one. The plague mask bearer brushes past him while bringing out a cigarette to light it. Riki felt destroyed.

What...What am I doing just standing here!? What am I afraid for!? Do something!

The mysterious person closed the lid of the packet and turned it around. They tested the rough side by running one gloved finger over it.

You have no ability. You can’t do anything. That’s right, I’m useless since I’m not special like them.

The choice between staying back to guarantee his safety and risking his life for the sake of two people he had just met yesterday seemed like an easy choice.

“Hm?”

They looked back at the kid, he was running straight toward them, his left fist was raised to go in for a punch. He was scared out of his mind.

“Riki! Don’t do it!” Tamaki immediately got up to get him but it was too late.

All of the smoke suddenly vanished from the surrounding air. And then, a dark sphere of smoke spawned from the palm of the visitor’s right hand. They let it go straight towards Riki and the inn itself. They lit the cigarette, and the ball bursted into a flame so large, the only thing Riki saw at that moment, was red.

Am I going to die right here? Just like this? After knowing absolutely nothing in the world? Knowing absolutely nothing in my life?

The immediate explosion knocked him unconscious.