"I... I don't understand... Where... Where are you? WHERE ARE YOU!?" I let out in frustration as the orbital-halo shined overhead. It had been a week since Jurghdak's performance, and since that night Smiling Jhurack had not appeared once. There were no slight, cruel teases just so he could put me on edge and no chases that saw him forever evade my claws. He had just not appeared at all, and I could not grasp at all why this was the case.

I had been checking with the newstablets to see if I had missed anything, but no, they did not discover anything. I've even made a point of just watching over Lari to make sure he wasn't trying anything back there in her place of rest during the night. I even went to Inerish to demand what I could from her, to see if her seeming omnipresence had found anything. But there was nothing, Smiling Jhurack had just disappeared without a trace and I couldn't figure out why.

"Oh, it's useless, but please, you have to know something!" I hissed at the Sundial as I watched some airships return to it at the end of their patrols. Then, upon seeing an opportunity, I lashed out at one with my magic and reeled myself in towards its underbelly. Just before it then landed within the monolithic hangar, I dropped down, much to everyone's surprise. Mutually, however, we paid little mind to each other and I rushed on towards Inerish's command centre.

"No, Dark Crow, we have not found him." Inerish exasperated through the building's speaker system as I rushed on towards her.

"HOW HAVE YOU NOT!?" I roared at the nearest device that mattered.

"Well, while you are here, I have something to show you." she sighed before the speakers went silent. But that only made me angry, if it wasn't Smiling Jhurack, then it didn't matter, it was a waste of time! I kept on heading for her, though, I was desperate for even the slightest hint of where he had gone...

I hadn't even saved her, he couldn't vanish now, not now...

"What!?" I snapped once I rushed into the command centre with a set of huffing lungs.

"Try this on, will you?" she asked of me as she returned to me my mask, though it had been modified.

"Th-This is it?" I let out in disbelief as I took it from her and stared at it with what felt like a trembling gaze.

"Yes, it is, now put it on and hide that crazed gaze of yours." she nearly snickered as she shook her head. Ignoring it, however, I put on the mask and stared intently at all the information that was suddenly flashing before me.

"What good even is this now? He's vanished, he's completely vanished..."

"It was finished at no better time, then." Inerish told me as she gestured to some of her staff, and when she did, the information flow slowed down.

"You don't know where he is!" I reminded her with an angered hiss.

"No, we don't, and neither do you." she answered with a smirk, something that made me approach her with a hateful gaze.

"Do not test my patience, Inerish." I growled down at her as I flexed my claws.

But she held firm and kept the bemused gaze, "When we find him, you will now know, seen as you apparently are having trouble as of late."

"Fine... What can I expect from this machine?" I spat before I asked her about the copper-coloured modifications to my mask.

"It is linked to Thrurstradtur's security systems directly, a one-of-a-kind device that I expect you to look after well as it would prove quite valuable to criminal or foreign elements."

"So everything you see in here, everything you hear, I can as well?" I asked as I looked around the command centre.

"The see part, yes, but only what we allow, thankfully." she answered as she had the point emphasised by her staff.

"I don't need to see the city or its underbelly, I just need to find him... He's all that matters, his death, his excruciating, painful death..."

"And we will show him to you when we can, but for now, patience is your greatest ally. So, get acquainted with him, Dark Crow." she dismissively suggested.

"Patience..." I scoffed under my breath as I looked around the room to get used to the new view.

It was strange, really, I felt like I could see better with this device on as the lenses almost guided my gaze. It was surprisingly unobtrusive as well, a slight glance to the corner of the lens made it more obnoxious, but otherwise, it wasn't. There was a lot to take in but I had a lot of control in regard to what I wanted to take in. Obviously, I would take some time to get used to it being there, but, I could see the uses and I grasped its benefits readily.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Okay, let's start with something simple, someone plug him into a view of the biggest event at the moment." Inerish ordered with a wave of her hand before she moved to sit down.

"Uh, Grand-Guard, this might be better off on the full screen." someone answered after they had suddenly jolted from their chair.

"Well?" was all she had to say as she rolled her hand.

"Here." that same man answered as a giant magic screen suddenly dominated the far end of the room.

"What...?" I muttered as I took off my mask so I didn't have it echo back on me.

"And it is with great sadness that I announce that I shall be performing my last show here in the great city of Thrurstradtur. Tonight, I shall define my legacy in such a way that will leave the world perplexed and confused and maybe even bitter. But, I shall not be performing from any theatre or private institution tonight. I shall instead be performing from the balcony of my penthouse at the Highpeak View Hotel, my gracious hosts and place of residence for the past few years." Jhurghdak announced.

"This just happened?" Inerish asked as my blood froze up completely.

"It did, Grand-Guard Inerish." the staff member answered before Inerish turned a stern gaze towards me.

"You have one final chance, Dark Crow." she made openly clear to me as she likely tried to consider a plan of action.

"One final chance..." I breathed as I reached for my mask once again.

This was going to be it, wasn't it? If I failed tonight, then Lari would stay the way she was, and even worse, she could die because of one final act of spite. I couldn't allow this to happen but I was frozen by fear as I considered it all. How was I meant to beat Smiling Jhurack tonight when I have only ever failed every other night?

"I need to go and prepare..." I muttered like a scared child before I rushed out of the command centre. Going back along the route I took to get here, I returned to the hangar like the desperate madman I was. Then, I flung a spell at a departing airship and shot myself right over it and soared into the air. With a clear destination in my mind, I then swang fanatically towards Lari's resting place.

A twisting flip then marked my arrival and I landed at the hotel with shallow breath and a slight tremor in my body. Having breathed out what panic I could, I then made my way down onto the penthouse's balcony and then inside. Impatiently, I then waited for Jhurghdak to return because I needed to hear him in person. I needed to know that this wasn't just some trick by Smiling Jhurack, that this wasn't just some new trick by him.

"You're here, Nin?" the man I was looking for let out in confusion as he stepped out from the penthouse's office.

"Is it true!?" I demanded to know the moment I saw him.

"Be specific."

"Your declaration is it true!? You are leaving...?" I begged to know as I collapsed before him.

"You aren't heartbroken like my fans, are you?" he joked with a sad smile.

"Do not joke with me!" I choked as I started to feel breathless.

"Yes, Nin. It is true."

"No... No. No! You can't!"

"I do not answer to you."

"If you leave this city, Smiling Jhurack goes with you, she will die!" I cried as I moved to grab him so I could shake him with all I had.

"I can't do this anymore, Nin, I'm tired."

"Then just sleep..." I nearly cried as I tried to figure out what he meant.

"Not that kind, you ignorant, stupid boy." he told me as a drink came floating towards him as he stepped out of my grip.

"W-Why are you leaving? You can't leave, not yet!"

"Every time I come to this city, Nin, for the past thirty-five years..." he struggled to answer as he took a sizeable gulp from his glass.

"For the past five no one..."

"That would still make it thirty!" he snapped as he smashed the tip of his cane against the floorboards.

"It's still five years where I have managed to do something... To stop him from doing something!" I cried in disbelief as I felt my only chance to save Larishazza disappear.

"And for those five years, you have hunted him to save a girl you love more than any other..." he clarified as he began to cry himself.

"Why are you...?"

"Because of that piece you wrote, Nin. It was beautiful, more beautiful than anything I could have ever made myself." he explained as he wiped his eyes.

"That's not true, don't even try to-"

"I am not lying, I am being earnest, honest, as truthful as this damaged body of mine can be." he told me with a shiver before he refilled his empty glass within the snap of a finger.

"But why does that mean you want to leave...? How can a song, a shitty, worthless song written by some unloved, uncared for, discarded bug motivate you more than hundreds, maybe thousands of deaths over thirty years!?"

"What am I, Nin?" he asked back coldly once he finished hobbling to the fireplace.

"MY ONLY KEY TO SAVING HER!" I roared viciously as he downed a whole glass in one go.

"A musician, Nin. I am a musician." he stated twice with pride and knowledge as his chest pumped itself up and out.

"So I have damned myself by listening to you...?" I let out in disbelief before I looked down in anger at my claws. Then, in a sudden burst of rage, I began to claw at my scalp as the contradiction ate away at me. I was trying to save the woman I loved, but in speaking about how the process made me feel, I had failed her...

"Stop it." Jhurghdak snapped as his surprising magic strength restrained my claws and healed the superficial damage they had inflicted.

"What am I going to do...? If you go, he goes..."

"Beat him." Jhurghdak answered sternly as he turned his gaze to me.

"He's only ever beaten me..." I reminded him as the shame turned my blood cold.

"Change that, then, change it!" he told me with a continuation of that stern tone.

"Tonight, then." I muttered as I nodded my head up and down cautiously.

"Now, please, leave me, I have to get prepared for tonight." he told me with a sigh as he used his magic to open the door. And, I did as he asked and I went to the edges of the door.

"You will be gone in the morning?" I asked as my body stopped trembling.

"I hope so." he answered before the door nearly slammed into me.

"Very well." I said as the last of my worries were put to sleep or locked away, I could not afford them at this hour. My doubts had to go, my knowledge of failure had to be blurred and a lack of consideration had to be taken up. My life mattered no more for the rest of this day, only the end goal which I have chased for so long, that is all that mattered. I would either die once again and meet Larishazza for the final time in that misty limbo...

Or I would win.