When Grover woke up, the first thing he noticed was how numb and yet hurt his entire body felt.

The second thing he noticed was the walls of black bricks all around him, as well as vertical bars of some black metal - he was in a cell.

His first instinct was to flex his connection to his clay armor, but he was disturbed to find there was nothing there. He didn't remember exactly what happened with this Silhouette, but the weapon Soluble had reported shouldn't have been able to damage his armor. Clay filled with magical energies was rare and finding someone who knew how to enchant it without making a golem or pottery of some kind was hard. He knew the enchanter that had worked on his armor was a talented one, so a regular weapon should have had no chance of damaging it, at least in a way it wouldn't have been able to regenerate. The only possible explanation would be...

"An enchantment breaker?"

"Uh, guys? The old boss is awake."

Grover finally took notice of the thugs outside of his cell. In normal circumstances, he would have seen them immediately, but the loss of his armor must have greatly shaken him. He hadn't realized he had gotten so used to it. He would have to remedy that later.

In any case, it appeared there were six of them in the room, each wielding some strange black rod. He couldn't see well due to being locked up but from the position of his cell in the room, it appeared there must have been at least a couple more to his right. All the light in the room appeared to come from a strange lantern housing a black flame, resting on top of what looked like a chest of some sort.

"Men, status report."

"You got trounced."

"Hard."

This was why he hated working with freelancers.

"Get me out of here. There must be a way out of this place, we'll come back at a later date with a greater force."

"Yeah, no."

"What?"

"There has been a change of plans."

"We switched sides."

"What? How? When? Why?"

"We thought this place belonged to the Black Bank-"

"Because hiring a bunch of nobodies to assault a place filled with black stuff was suspicious."

"-and chose to surrender."

"Turns out, it's totally unrelated to the Black Bank-"

"At least we think so."

"-but the guy in charge accepted our surrender and then offered us a job."

"Cowards! You would betray your superior to save your own hide?"

"Yeah, we did."

"We also got better pay. Long-term stuff at that."

"And hey, it's not like you valued any of our lives. The new boss passed by a second ago and told us about the whole 'shoot anyone on sight' policy."

"So yeah, pot calling the kettle black."

"Release me! Do you have any idea of who I am?"

"No, but I'd be glad if you were to remedy that."

Grover turned around and saw that standing right behind him, emerging from the darkness of a corner of the cell, was a strange humanoid shadow.

"Silhouette."

"You seem surprisingly lively for someone hit by electricity not so long ago."

"Electricity?"

"Did you take me for some kind of savage? That I only had the one weapon Soluble saw? I did not think you would be so naive."

"I cannot be blamed for faulty intel."

"No, but you can be blamed for horrible tactics. Your management of your men was subpar at best. I understand you did not value their lives, but to throw them en masse at a problem three times in a row despite the first two being absolute failures? If I did not know any better, I'd assume you were trying to get them all killed."

Grover stared in silence at the odd entity he was conversing with. He had heard Soluble talk about it and seen it himself when he fought against it earlier, but this was his first chance to truly take it in. Soluble's account of a "living shadow" seemed pretty accurate, but there had to be more. Was it unique? A mutant? An unknown magical species?

"As you may have heard from my latest batch of employees, you're on your own. No one will come to save you, so cooperate."

"I was contacted by an information broker named Guy-"

"No."

"No?"

"I listened to your little conversation with Soluble about Guy's reward. The amounts mentioned intrigued me. Isn't money supposed to be hard to come by in the slums? It's why most people are here, after all. The only ones who have money in the slums are those that avoid the law. Guy is merely an information broker, the messenger, so who was willing to finance this little expedition? Whether he lied to Soluble or the rest of them doesn't matter. What does is the fact you were here. You said it yourself, truly competent people wouldn't take this mission. So why did you?"

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"I-"

"You weren't hired by Guy. You were his sponsor's way of controlling things. If my guess is correct, then you did an incredibly poor job. You didn't want witnesses. You didn't want me dead as you claimed to until the very last minute. So, who do you work for, and what do they want with me?"

"Release me and I will send you a letter."

"This isn't how negotiations work, Grover. You do not get to make demands when I hold your life in the palm of my hand."

"You won't kill me. You spared Soluble and I'm too valuable for you to lose."

"Is that so? Then I have a surprise for you."

Grover heard something and looked out of his cell, ignoring the group of guards who were awfully pretending not to listen to their conversation, and focused on the new figure that slowly approached the bars of the cell. One that looked eerily similar to Silhouette, if only less refined, less controlled.

Gover's eyes widened. There were two of the things? Did that mean they were truly a species? A group? This... This changed everything.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Grover, don't you recognize your ally? I shouldn't be surprised, considering the way you treat them."

"What are you talking about..."

"You see, during my last encounter with Soluble, I did not simply spare them out of the kindness of my heart. They were only an insignificant thug, someone I did not need to be afraid of. No connections, no secret strength waiting to be unleashed... But that does not mean I let them go without a warning. A little something that would make sure they'd never try to oppose me again. Apparently, they failed to understand this."

"I have no idea-"

"I did not need to raise a weapon to get rid of them today. I only had to will it, and they went down. But this time? Soluble may not have been able to learn, but I do. If you let someone go once and yet they try to kill you again, letting them go again would be foolish."

"So you killed them?"

"Weren't you listening? I never said I did. Quite the contrary."

"What..."

It finally clicked. He... He couldn't have. What were the chances he could have access to this kind of power...

"They only just woke up. It's the reason why I came back here in the first place, you just happened to be awake too. I must admit, I did not expect them to choose this form. I thought they'd keep the humanoid form, maybe the transparency too, but you can never predict the results of this sort of work.

"How... How did you find a Transformation Aspected weapon?"

"Who said anything about the Transformation Aspect? Who said anything about a weapon? But if you are curious, maybe you'd like to go through the same procedure?"

He couldn't be serious. Surely-

"Soluble. Come on in."

The second shadowy creature approached the cell and tried to get in. While its body flawlessly entered, casually slipping and reforming over the bars, a black skeleton inside got caught on them, lagging behind the movements of the main body as the bones rattled and rearranged themselves until finally, the skeleton passed, joining back with the main mass.

"Oh, their skeleton is still inside. Good to know."

Grover simply stared at the unmoving abomination as it just stood there after his horrifying entrance.

"Now, I'm curious. Soluble, talk."

"Yes, master."

"Soluble, say what you have on your mind."

"I obey, master."

"Soluble, tell me something Grover and you should know that I couldn't."

"Guy has a scar on his forehead. He wears a hat to hide it. I never saw it until his hat fell when we met with Grover for the first time."

"Thank you, Soluble. Is that name still appropriate? Uhm, I do not think so. And you, Soluble?"

"I am whatever you wish."

"Good. It'll be Solvent from now on."

"Understood, master.

"As you can see, Grover, in case you wish to keep on lying or try to remain silent, I have alternative means to learn what you know. So. Talk."

"My boss sent me to scout things out. Guy didn't take Soluble's story too seriously, but he still passed the word. One of my boss' men heard it and convinced his superior to bring it up to the boss. He thought there was potential in the mysterious creature if the story was true, and he chose to finance Guy's little team on the condition I got to choose the men. I chose a couple trustworthy to hire people while downplaying the reward offered."

"Why?"

"That way, only disposable people would come, but enough to reassure Guy and Soluble. They wouldn't suspect a thing."

"I see."

"Then, I was supposed to lead the assault down here while letting Soluble think they're the leader. I would slowly get rid of the useless team, use the orc, the shark, and the slime to weaken you if the regular men weren't enough, and then get rid of all of them to save you. You would have realized the dangers of working alone and would have joined us willingly, hopefully. Or then I'd have to force you to obey."

"A critical failure, if I may say so. The fact you thought threatening me into submission should be your first approach tells me all I need to know about your boss. Well, no. I need his name. His description. His powers. His weaknesses. His relations."

"Threatening you was the second option-"

"Barging into my home with armed forces is a threat. Now, answer my questions."

"I don't know much-"

"I hope for you that you are mistaken because if I'm not satisfied with what you have to say, I still have another alternative."

"I... I told you I would talk..."

----------------------------------------

Somewhere between the center of the slums and the Black Block, in one of the few buildings in relatively good condition, a five-stories tall building of lightly cracked grey cement, a man sat in his red leather seat. From his open office at the top of the building, exposed to the light of the sun, he watched over the slums.

His black business suit looked odd compared to the state of decay in this part of Zalcien, but he didn't care. The slums were only a step for him, after all. He began to scratch his grey beard as he let his pale blue eyes roam over everything around him. His long equally grey hair fluttered in the breeze, exposing his pointed ears.

He heard the steps of someone running up the stairs to reach the building's roof - his office - and soon enough a large figure in heavy plate armor kicked open the door to the main building and jogged to his desk, panting as they delicately put the tray they were carrying down and began to serve tea.

"You're almost late, Karadok."

"I am incredibly sorry, mister Runar."

"I do not mind. This is only tea, after all."

The elf stared directly into the knight's eyes despite the visor he was wearing.

"I hope this lateness is only when tea matters are involved, however. It wouldn't do to fail an operation because you have been slacking on your training."

"O-Of course mister Runar!"

"Good."

The elf picked up his teacup and took a sip of its content.

"Satisfying. You're free to go."

"Thank you, sir."

The orc let out a sigh of relief before he walked back to the stairs.

"Oh, Karadok, one more thing."

"Yes, sir?"

"Is there any news of Grover? I believe his mission to collect that bizarre creature was today."

"No, sir. But it's not surprising, hunts such as this one can sometimes take weeks."

"Yes, you are correct. I was simply curious. Go along now."

As soon as the knight had left, the elf rose from his seat and approached the edge of the roof. He stared down to the ground, his hands behind his back, and waited. Soon enough a gunshot roared, a bullet stopping mere centimeters from the elf's forehead, stretching the fabric of the blue shield encompassing the entirety of his office. He scoffed and with a wave of his hand the bullet went back to the sniper who had shot it, hidden in one of the surrounding abandoned houses, and lodged itself deep inside her brain. After the bullet left the shield went back to normal, perfectly invisible.

The man took one more sip of his tea.

"I wonder what Abrak is doing..."