“What are you doing?” Clay had his back against the wall, or rather the barrier, the enclosure giving him almost no room to move around.

“I ran into some people from Venetis this morning, and they told me a bit about you.” Rika circled the barrier until she stood before him. “If they know you're with me, the NDSA probably isn’t far behind.”

Clay’s blood went cold, was this a setup? Was she going to turn him in? “I didn’t kill them. My family, we were attacked that night, my older sister is possessed by something. She killed my father, kidnapped my sister.” Clay clenched his fists as his anger grew “I don't have time to be bothered by the NDSA, I need to find her.”

Rika studied his face, if nothing else he wore his emotions on his sleeve. After a few tense seconds she sighed, “You’re nothing but trouble kid. What am I going to do with you?”

“You said you’d owe me a favor for the crystal, let me go and I’ll just leave. You won’t have to deal with any trouble from me again.”

Rika hesitated, but finally relented, releasing the barrier around Clay. “Somehow I doubt that. Get out of here before some NDSA agents show up, I already have enough on my plate to deal with.”

“Thank you” Clay nodded as he hurried out of the building.

Rika sighed again, of course her stroke of good luck would turn out to be a landmine. Still, the kid, especially the specter inside him, was of immense interest to Rika.

She pulled a spirit crystal from her pouch, summoning the entity bound to it. “Follow him.”

…

Clay walked briskly away from Rika’s place. He would have to pack his things quickly and ditch town. It sucked he lost the best source of income he had found so far, but at least he had a decent nest egg to keep him going for a while. Of course, that didn’t help him with his primary concern, finding his sister. He still had no idea where to begin for that.

We’re being followed.

“I know” Clay whispered back to Sephtis. As soon as he had left Rika’s, he had been aware of someone tailing him as he went block to block. Was it the NDSA?

Clay turned into a tight alleyway, and as soon as he was sure he was out of sight, he specter leaped up onto the roof of the restaurant to his right. Seconds later a man turned into the alleyway before freezing, obviously surprised to see Clay was gone. Clay watched as he slowly walked down the alley.

‘He looks kind of shabby, is he really an NDSA agent?’ Clay debated between confronting the man or just running. ‘Well, I am leaving town anyways, guess it wouldn’t hurt to confirm it before I do.’

Pulling the pistol from his jeans, Clay stepped back into the alleyway, grabbing the man as he landed, and pushing him up against the wall.

This isn’t a man, the soul in here is something else.

The man stared at Clay expressionlessly, before suddenly going limp as the body crumpled to the ground. Clay could feel whatever was possessing him had left, the body itself had been dead a while now. “What the hell was that?”

Clay stepped back from the body when he suddenly fell into darkness, the ground beneath him giving out. He didn’t fall far though, quickly coming into contact with the ground, but all around him was pitch-black emptiness. Looking up, Clay caught the last glimmers of light disappear as the opening he fell through closed back up.

The darkness was suffocating, the total lack of sound disorienting. For a second, Clay considered the possibility he was dead, but the thumping of his heart confirmed he was still alive.

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Clay took a deep breath, trying to calm the panic rising in his mind. Slowly, he stretched out his arm, making sure the path in front of him was clear. With his foot he felt the ground ahead, making sure it was solid and stable, and took a step forward. Methodically he repeated this process, slowly taking step after step.

After his fifth step, his hand came into contact with something. Something solid. Something firm but squishy. Something fleshy. Clay leaped back as his brain registered what he was feeling.

Finally, something broke the silence, a voice piercing through the darkness. “Sorry to keep you waiting, I just had to get the guy who asked me to pick you up. I’ll send you his way now.”

Clay didn’t recognize the voice. Before he could respond, he felt the ground give out beneath him once again, this time falling into a small clearing in some woods somewhere. At least there was light this time, the sounds of birds chirping in the distance were extremely relieving.

Some mage was messing with him, flinging him around places with teleports. Considering he didn’t get dropped into a holding cell in NDSA headquarters, it probably wasn’t them. Maybe Venetis?

Clay didn’t get any more time to ponder the situation as the ground beneath him erupted in flames. Clay specter stepped away, only to find the place he stepped to also engulfed in flames. Again and again, Clay stepped away, narrowly dodging the worst of the attacks, but he couldn’t escape them completely unscathed as the heat and fire licked his legs, burning his jeans.

Gritting his teeth in a mix of pain and frustration Clay leaped up into a tree, landing on a branch. He had barely had time to balance himself when he was zapped by lightning. He shouted in pain, but unlike the flame attacks that erupted where he stood, the electric attack was directed. He knew what direction it came from.

Drawing his pistol Clay specter stepped towards his attacker, somewhat blindly, but with these constant attacks, he had to move fast. Landing back onto the ground, Clay squeezed the trigger, emptying his clip in the direction of his assailant. The bullets all bounced off a barrier. Clay quickly specter stepped backward, narrowly avoiding being captured in another barrier prison.

“You’re a real pain in the ass” A familiar voice called out. It was him, of course it was him. The elf from before, the one that got away. Clay reloaded his pistol as he avoided several more attacks from the elf.

This time he wouldn’t get away.

Locking eyes on the elf, Clay rushed forward, dodging multiple spells as he closed the distance. Stepping right up in front of his target, Clay raised his pistol to the elf's head, pulling the trigger. The bullet once again bounced off a barrier, one so close to the elf's body that it was like he was wearing it. Clay tried to step backward but slammed into a barrier that erected behind him.

“Your attacks are so simple, defending against them is easy. This power is wasted on you.”

Once again flames erupted from the ground, this time Clay couldn’t evade them. Just like the day his sister was kidnapped, he was powerless to do anything to this elf. Clay yelled in pain as the flames enveloped him.

“This is for my brothers you killed that day” The elf muttered as he walked away.

…

Rika raised her staff above her, a bright light emerging from it and soaring into the night sky above the clearing in the woods. She had waited all day before setting out, not wanting to risk running into the elf.

She had already known what to expect from the scene, the spirit she had ordered to follow Clay had filled her in on what happened, but seeing it for herself reminded her how powerful elves were. And how powerful Clay must’ve been to have survived an intense battle for so long.

Her spirit had returned to her barely an hour after Clay had left her office. It had observed as Clay confronted the man following him, and managed to slip into the teleport of whoever had captured him. Worryingly, the spirit reported becoming disoriented as it emerged on the other end of the teleport. It didn’t know where it had been brought to, but it did mention a large concentration of spiritual energy. It followed Clay through the second teleport and observed his fight and death against an unknown elf.

Slowly Rika walked through the battlefield until she came across the charred remains of Clay’s body. Seeing him caused a tightness in her chest she hadn’t expected. The kid was nothing but trouble, but clearly he had been going through plenty of his own struggles. Struggles he had been facing all alone. She had sent him off to face them alone.

Rika began to turn away from the body when movement caught her eye. Looking closely, she saw the body begin to re-color, the charring reversing. She watched wide-eyed as the body was restored back to pristine condition, and then faded away. It was resurrection magic, that was for sure, and it was unlike anything she had ever seen.

She recalled the question he had asked her the other day, the one about resurrections. She had been so caught up on the specter she hadn’t connected the dots. He had been talking about himself.

Rika laughed at herself for missing the obvious. She didn’t know what his respawn point was, but she would be sure to find him again.