Buildings Rose up from both sides, following the road till the eye could see. In Darrowtown, people came and went, walking back and forth with bustling efficacy. It was a good day. Nice weather, not a single dust cloud in sight, an event bold enough to pull people so that they may flood the streets. A stark difference to the general Darrow area.

After class ends, as if in complete rejection of boredom, students would rush out of the school as fast as possible and saturate the commercial district. Strangely though Rose could never see any of his classmates, but that was not why Rose was there.

It has been around a month since Rose was named alongside his peers. To be honest, for Rose, nothing much had changed since then changed since then. Since then, like an unstoppable tide, Rose felt the status quo surrounding his peers, shift -all since that moment where Ice first showed up; but that had nothing to do with Rose. He was here to find some plants, so Rose was walking, not in the commercial district but through it because no way in hell would he have the money to buy those overpriced bouquets that could be seen on display on the street.

He supposed his father was right, maybe he really was a peasant searching through the dirt. Near the newer parts of Darrowtown toward the northern edge of the city, the newly built roads were ambitiously wide with the hopes of Darrow’s new mayor, but more important the roads had dirt patches where Rose could only guess trees would presumably be planted. However because the trees would need constant watering in the climate they were in, it seemed that the trees hadn’t actually been planted so those dirt patches, so soon were filled with weeds. Last time he was just wandering through that area he found (a rare occurrence) when he spotted a small bright yellow flower growing from the dirt, initially, he tried pulling it out and growing in the garden but it didn’t grow at all and died soon enough, well at least then he realised he could just scoop some of the dirt that the flower was in and put it in a bag.

And thus Rose was walking, walking through the commercial district, past all the people walking around with all their friends.

Rose always thought he was destination-mined person. He never needed to enjoy the journey all he did was go places or walk where he needed to be, slightly faster than everyone else, by himself.

It turns out that the construction site that he was going to was empty, after all the new roads were wider with ambition than money, that needed to flow if Darrow could grow into an actual metropolis and become a settlement that could stand with the surrounding cities.

An thus Rose was walking, no longer through the commercial strip but through alleyway… Two stores flanked the short passageway. The sun had left it’s zenith creeping along the sky, casting yellow rays on the wall to Rose’s left and leaving Rose in shadows that seem thick next to the bright sunlight. Regardless it was dark and walking through such a shady alleyway, even if briefly, was not something that Rose really thought about and considered the implications about… Rose never walked the journey, he walked to the destination. In other words in front of Rose he had already saw a figure of a person yet he had yet to act. It wasn’t something that had immediately cautioned Rose but as Rose got closer and as he realised that person was standing still. An ember of panic didn’t really burn, but Rose didn’t need to be burned to be uncomfortable.

Rose was a destination oriented person after all, but that was going to change in about ten seconds.

Out of nowhere a bright flash blinded Rose and he stood there stumbling around.

Lets start the clock.

Blinking away the spots on his eyes saw someone ahead of him.

It was a man(presumably) his back turned to Rose. He was standing at a distance from Rose, but Rose didn’t really feel safe. The light in the alleyway had steadily diminished, fading under the encroaching darkness that climbed up the walls. It was a stark difference from the alleyway Rose had walked in a second ago.

How long had it been?

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Had Rose missed a turn?

For a second Rose wasn’t really what sure he was doing. Then the man turned around.

Rose took a step back, but that movement was quickly cut short. Time started to slow, Rose took a step back but perhaps due to the previous flashbang it was sluggish.

Standing behind Rose. The man’s hands were on Rose’s neck.

Rose could struggle but his joints were clamped shut only allowing a meagre shake through, but maybe that was for the best.

Then the man behind him began to shout causing Rose to flinch horribly.

"I will kill him, so… So why don’t we all just calm down”

That was when Rose saw the other guy.

A figure clad in gilded golden armour shining unnaturally and blatantly in the darkening evening air. Rose was just dumbfounded staring as the shining figure walked slowly towards him carrying a long slender ivory sword. Time slowed down, Rose was dumbstruck as he stared at the painting in front of him, a preternatural aura so strong that it pierced Rose’s veil of despondency.

Then for a second Rose tried to erase his awe and try to struggle out of the hold he was in…

…but before Rose could do anything.

“Shit”

“Wait what”

The man threw Rose to the side.

Rose skid against the floor, tasting the dust on the floor, crashing against the brick wall awkwardly with the taste of sand in his mouth. A dry pain branched out of Rose’s back, traveling up his body, causing his body to curl up without any of input of his own.

It was then when Rose felt fear. It felt like knives poking at him from all sides, steely barbs filling up his vision, tearing at him savagely till he shivered, coaxing him further into a ball, into one point where he lay, unmoving. A point untouched by anything, isolated by the rest of the universe, untouchable and safe and calm. However, that was not what he was and he was not sleeping on the floor, the blood within him flowed stagnant, freezing faster than the his shaking hands, but the turmoil and shame flamed and stung as he unfurled himself.

Rose knew, though, that if he stayed there he would die.

Rose tore himself from his own grip and slowly looked up. The other guy was dressed cheaply, well more like a homeless person, yet he and the armoured figure were engaging in close combat. The homeless-looking guy was quick. He was dashing around, throwing out strikes, but somehow the golden person was pushing him back calmly, outputting elegant swipes of their slim white sword every time the man got close. When would Rose have a chance to run?

The armoured person brought down their sword and the man caught the blade, with his bare hands.

Red rushed out the man’s hand but he had spoken:

“[Vein]”

A myriad of crimson ropes emerged from his wrist to wrap around the sword in a macabre tight grip.

The homeless man threw a punch to the armoured guy and just as Rose thought that the he was going to win, the armoured figure just swiped their sword, cutting through all the blood vessels with ease whilst simultaneously forcing the man to retreat.

A shower of blood erupted. The sound of blood spraying filled Rose’s ears.

“[Vein]”

The bleeding stopped, but the blood had gone everywhere, covering every surface including the prone form of Rose.

Rose opened an eye.

In the world of red, Rose could hardly see anything but a golden glimmer.

The armour that the person was wearing was something unlike Rose had ever seen in his life, something so absolute and radiant that seemed like it was something from somewhere completely different than the world of dull orange sand and dust. Honestly, Rose was entranced by that armour.

“Not this shit, again” Rose heard the homeless guy to the side of him.

The amour wasn’t just glittering, it was beginning to glow.

Rose took a step back, just to collide against the wall again. Then, without warning, Rose felt himself being lifted up and turned upside down.

He immediately began to struggle.

“You might want to hold onto something” a voice told him, right next to his ear. That didn’t really placate him and he continued to scramble and shake with every fibre of his being.

But, whilst struggling Rose saw golden light pooling grandly around the armoured figure and Rose froze.

“[Vein]”

Rose froze.

Rose was thrown up, instantly ripping the breath from Rose’s lungs as wind rushed rapidly against his face, in a split-second whiplash, all whilst Rose watched as a golden light quickly rushed after them. Then when they landed on the roof of the nearby building, and the homeless looking man, presumably called Vein, immediately began to run forward.

Rose being carried couldn’t see much as he was dragged along, but he certainly hear the sound of an enormous explosion deafening his already ringing ears and he definitely felt the air shift around him.

Well, if Rose was saw where he was standing about a seconds ago he would’ve seen a crater tearing into the ground eating into the buildings to the sides of the alleyway, leaving nothing but rubble and wisps of golden energy that quickly dissipated into the air. Standing at the centre of the crater was the golden figure. They let out a disciplined breath and sheathed their sword before leaving their destruction nothing but not too hurried yet rapid metallic footsteps echoing through ruin in the already too cool evening air.

Also, in case you forgot you should have stopped the timer already.