Horizon took the pendant off from Nueve.
This precious pendant of hers, one which she had forbid him from touching before, was now within his grasp.
Light leaked out immediately the moment he opened the pendant, a stinging shine that made his eyes squint. With the undying fire having pushed the darkness away, Horizon glanced toward Nueve—who was writhing on the ground—and met her crimson stare. He saw her pain; and she, his guilt.
Horizon, in response, gritted his teeth and looked away.
He did this for her; and he would see it to the end.
‘I have the undying fire with me,’ Horizon said as he stood up.
‘Delightful!’ Came a voice from the darkness. The word echoed through the warehouse twice before it was continued. ‘I must admit my surprise when you hit her; I had thought you wanted no harm to come to her.’
Tap… Tap… Tap…
Outside, hidden in the veil of darkness where the light couldn’t reach, were figures who wore glowmoss armbands.
‘Not in a talkative mood?’
Tap… Tap…
Initially, Horizon hadn’t intended to harm Nueve.
By getting her to the warehouse, he had planned to introduce a situation—that entailed surrounding her with enforcers—which would encourage her to part with the pendant. However, there was a flaw, in that: the plan would rely on her willingness to do so. From his talk with her, he had determined that she would refuse to give in. That the plan would fail. That she would fight.
Tap…
A black boot stepped into the sphere of light.
The figure who entered wore a black trouser, a dark-brown enforcer uniform, and a glowmoss coated armband—with two stripes that crossed. The face that surfaced from the thick darkness was one with sinister eyes and a malicious grin.
‘Please, excuse me,’ he said, rubbing his chin as he approached Horizon; ‘it seems that I have made a face that’s a little indiscreet. Hard to contain my excitement when the undying fire which have eluded us for years is right before me. May I?’
He reached and gripped the chain of the pendant. After a moment, Horizon let go and he took it.
He brought the pendant closer and inspected the fire with wide open eyes. ‘Don’t mind if I test this.’
He snapped his fingers.
An enforcer entered the sphere of light, a woman. Her glowmoss armband had two stripes but wasn’t crossed. She carried a glass of water, which she offered to him. He dipped the pendant inside the water.
Contrary to expectations, the darkness didn’t rush back in.
The flame kept dancing with livelihood, even when submerged under its antithesis.
‘Splendid!’ he said as he pulled the pendant out of the water. ‘You delivered what you promised, and I am more than satisfied! Albeit, I do have a lingering disappointment, for I’ve wanted to try my hands on catching the elusive escapist.’
‘We had a deal,’ Horizon said.
‘Yes, indeed, we had a deal. Alas, though it shames me to admit, my memory could prove to be blurry at times. Would you repeat to me the arrangements that we’ve agreed upon? I have to be sure.’
‘The deal was that I give you the undying fire, and you let Nueve go and stop chasing her.’
‘That is so… Thank you, that refreshed my memory. However, what you said was only half of our deal. You had proposed that, yes, but I had added: I would honor the deal, given that everything progresses smoothly and that your side remains civil.’
‘Everything has been civil.’
‘I would have to agree. It has been civil so far.’ He raised his hand and pointed with a crooked finger a spot on the ground behind Horizon. Knowing the implications, Horizon immediately turned and saw an empty ground.
Nueve was gone.
Thump!
Sounded a blunt hit of metal on skull. In the darkness, an enforcer collapsed to the ground.
‘The civility has just been broken…’ he said with an ear-to-ear grin.
*
Flamedancer
Chapter 3
Soloist in The Darkness
*
When everyone was distracted by the undying fire, which remained alit even submerged, Nueve took her chance and crawled on the floor, dragging herself away. Her gut still pained; her being able to move was only because Horizon had held back his blow.
The enforcer with crossed armband didn’t miss her movement, but he opted to let things play out.
‘Alas, though it shames me to admit, my memory—’ he said, buying her more time.
Once Nueve was in the cold darkness, she reached toward the shelves for support, and pulled herself up to stand. Fortune favored her; a crowbar rested on the shelf right beside her hand. A weapon which she could use to render an unwary enforcer unconscious.
‘That is so…’ He remarked after hearing Horizon’s recollection.
Nueve gripped the crowbar’s handle; but, yet to lift it. She glanced at Horizon who still negotiated. He had created this situation for her to make her part with the pendant. If she would like to let the pendant go, it was now—or never at all.
She closed her eyes, imagining a future without that pendant.
All she could see, as she had expected, was a vast blackness which she couldn’t escape from without the light. A future she wouldn’t want.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
That small sphere of light, Nueve thought, opening her eyes, is the world to me.
‘I would have to agree. It has been civil so far.’
Nueve lifted the crowbar, went to the nearest enforcer standing in the darkness, and swung toward the back of the enforcer’s head.
Thump!
The enforcer collapsed to the ground after the blow.
‘The civility has just been broken…’
*
Clang! Clang!
Nueve had thrown the crowbar away; the metal would only weigh and slow her. She immediately crouched toward the collapsed enforcer and searched his uniform, pulling out a rune weapon: the gun.
Horizon tried to reason, ‘I can convince her to—’
‘Seize her,’ ordered the enforcer to the others, utterly disregarding Horizon. ‘Dead or alive.’
All attention was heading toward the collapsed enforcer, and Nueve immediately jumped to the side for cover. Her movement was still sluggish, but she was regaining her agility.
The enforcers closed in on her vicinity, with a gun each; ready to kill.
Nueve, standing behind an iron create, inspected the gun she had stolen. It was the same model as the one she had disassembled in her hideout. She disarmed the safety mechanism; ready to risk her life.
Silence.
She inhaled the calm air… then exhaled…
4 enforcers, she had counted, between me and the pendant.
*
The enforcers had split up to cover more grounds.
One of the enforcers, a man who had just a stripe on his armband, had tensed shoulders and pointed his gun frontward. His steps, like the others, were silent. Where light was absent, sound was a determining factor in combat. Carelessness could cause noise and would expose his position.
Stealth became all the more important in this darkness, as its obscurity had increased after everyone’s eyes were exposed to the undying fire.
Thud.
He heard a soft sound from his left and turned.
In his training, he was told never to ignore any disturbance. Better a false positive than a false negative.
Facing an iron crate; not seeing a figure, the enforcer was cautious and didn’t approach. Instead, he pulled the trigger of his gun—and the barrel glowed a dim red. There was two seconds interval before it would fire; and in that glow, his eyes were able to discern a shape on the floor: silhouette of a stuffed toy.
A diversion.
In a pinch, he blindly followed his instincts and pointed the gun rightward. A line of concentrated fire was shot, blazing through the air instantly. In that same brief moment, he saw a young woman. One with crimson eyes and pink lips.
Then, just like the shot which had missed barely, he too was swallowed by the darkness; rendered unconscious by a palm strike to the jaw.
*
3 left.
Cautious, Nueve took cover behind a crate and assessed her surroundings; the light from the missed fire would attract the other enforcers.
A dim red glow surfaced from the darkness; Nueve could see a gun pointed at her. She jumped sideways and dodged the concentrated fire. The iron crate behind, which fell victim, had a glowing; melting hole from receiving the shot.
In response, Nueve pulled the trigger of her gun; and only then aimed.
Noticing that the enforcer had been beside a shelf, Nueve pointed the barrel at one of the shelf’s supporting legs instead. A moving enforcer was difficult to hit; meanwhile, an immobile shelf was not.
Two seconds were up. The gun shot a concentrated line of fire that blazed through the shelf’s supporting leg. Killing its balance, causing the iron crates from the second story to tumble down toward the enforcer.
Crash!
2 left, Nueve counted down optimistically. Whether or not that dealt with the enforcer, she could not determine for certain.
To the right, Nueve’s ear picked up a hasty shuffle of footsteps. The other enforcer had taken advantage of the loud crash and prioritized on speed instead of stealth. Turning to the right, Nueve saw a gun—already a dim glow—pointed at her.
How long had time elapsed since the trigger was pulled, she had no way of knowing. However, what she knew for certain: if she didn’t attempt to dodge, she would be hit by the fire. Clinging to her life, Nueve threw her gun at the enforcer with the flick of a wrist, hoping to derail the shot even by just a little, then ducked.
The thrown gun distracted the enforcer; and he failed to keep his aim tracked on Nueve.
Zing!
The shot missed.
The fire only grazed the shoulder of her jacket.
Having no weapon, knowing that she was still outnumbered, Nueve intended to deal with this enforcer now while the situation was even. She stepped in and rushed toward the enforcer, attempting to close the distance.
The enforcer threw away his gun—for it needed a few seconds before being able to fire again—and picked up the gun she had thrown. He pulled the trigger and aimed at her.
The gun began to glow a dim red.
Nueve kept closing in.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t close the distance in two seconds; and she was out in the open without cover. Thus, she stopped charging straight, lowered down, and weaved her whole body rhythmically left and right as she approached. This swaying motion baffled the enforcer and affected his aim.
Zing!
In the brief light of the concentrated fire, both their expressions became visible for a moment. The enforcer with surprise, for he had never faced anyone quite like her before. Nueve with a smile in the corner of her lips, for she was honest to her feelings; and being alive in mortal situations filled her with gladness.
The shot missed.
Life and death situations might have intoxicated her with a daze of the crazy.
The enforcer threw the gun at her, which she dodged with an eloquent motion. When she was within his range, he threw a jab at her, which she parried to the side with her hand. Then, his solar plexus suffered from a sharp front tiptoe kick.
It was as if air was sucked away from him, and the pain made him collapse.
The darkness of unconsciousness claimed him.
1 le—
Nueve received a tackle from the side, from a female enforcer. The one which she thought had been dealt with by the falling iron crates.
She had miscounted.
Both of them fell to the ground, separated, and each weakened from the impact. While Nueve was the receiving end of the tackle, the enforcer wasn’t in her best condition. She had lost her weapon and evaded the iron crates, but she had had a falling crowbar hitting her head.
In this battle—where both sides were on the ground—the first to stand had the advantage.
Nueve, grabbing the leg of a shelf, pulled herself up as quickly as she could.
She was first to stand, but her legs shook, and she had failed her first attempt. That failure had allowed the other enforcer time for her to stand up; and they both stood at the same time. Nueve had failed to seize the advantage.
Faced with this one-on-one confrontation, Nueve turned and showed her back.
‘You’re not running away from me!’ shouted the enforcer with anger. She pounced toward her.
As the enforcer closed in, Nueve’s upper body began falling—headfirst toward the ground. She then broke the fall by having her palms onto the ground. Her vision upside down, through the gap between her legs, she was able to see the enforcer who was within her range.
She spun her waist, hands on the ground for balance, and launched a kick:
Stingray’s Tail.
Not expecting a kick from that position; coming from the side, the kick hit the enforcer’s temple. The blow shook the inside of her skull, causing her to trip to the side, and fall unconscious.
1 left. This time, Nueve’s count couldn’t be mistaken.
*
It had been quiet for too long.
Inside the sphere of light, the enforcer with crossed stripes on his armband held the open pendant by the chain, seated and waiting. Not for his subordinates, but for the escapist. She had eluded capture for years; and he doubted that three enforcers would succeed on what many others had failed.
Tap... Tap… Tap…
He heard confident footsteps from within the darkness. One that echoed through the warehouse with a presence that could rival his. His cut lips curved into a smile.
Tap… Tap…
He shifted his attention from the pendant and looked up with eyes full of glimmering expectations.
Tap…
Stepping into the light was a young woman with crimson eyes and pink lips. Her posture was straight, and she carried with her an aura of conviction.
‘Get away from him,’ she demanded.
‘…’ The enforcer was sitting on the fallen Horizon nonchalantly. He wiped the blood from his cut lips with the sleeve of his uniform and stood up. The young man had given him a good fight. ‘Is it wise? Forsaking stealth and surprise?’
‘… I have been surviving.’ The gun she had stolen was still held on her side, pointed toward the ground. ‘After those fights I figured I… want to try living. Facing you head-on is a statement. That I’ll no longer only run, but I’ll also fight back.’
‘… Excellent!’ In his vision, he could see her radiating with light, shining with a ray of hope. Her doing this was far from stupidity. No. ‘You’ve made clear that in this moment, the old Nueve Noira had been burnt to ashes. And from those same ashes, a new one could be born anew! Excellent.
‘I, for one, never hated this kind of confrontation. Allow me to respect your wishes and challenge you with all the might I could gather.’
From his uniform’s inside pocket, he pulled out a sheathed knife. Once he revealed the blade, Nueve could see runes drawn on it.
A rune weapon.
The enforcer then threw the pendant to the ground, at approximately equivalent distance between them. This sphere of light, where each side stood on opposite ends, became a makeshift arena for the two.
The outcome of this fight would determine whether ashes would remain ashes.