Dyonaigus needed to act fast in that moment as he started to run. The guards were all turning to watch the commotion and the crowds started to act on their own. Running, chasing and shouting. But he had the initiative, dashing past outstretched arms and orders to stop as he got closer towards his objective of the bank.

Every footstep resonated around the plaza as the soles of his shoes slapped against the cobbles in a sprint that rivalled that of the great athletes of the games. A pace that they had never achieved before and that he couldn’t let up if he wanted to live. Something that he knew how to do from the wisdom imparted from his father’s touch, to use his demigod physique to his advantage.

In front of him the doors of the bank lay wide open and kept agape by a well-dressed man. Out of it was meandering a group of other merchants happily chatting with each other. All of them seemingly ignoring the sudden commotion in the distance that was growing closer and closer.

Only for them to realise just too late as a horned demigod barrelled into them, pushing them out of the way and onto the ground.

Inside the bank was bustling with activity. Grand hardwood tables sat all around with clerks and their customers, counting money and writing the terms for their loans. But on the right-hand side of the room was a massive table of sorts that stretched from one end of the room to the other with guards stationed in front, protecting the clerks behind it.

He gritted his teeth, whipping his head around to see the running and screaming guards for a moment before making another really stupid move.

Dashing across the floor he again pushed his divine body beyond human limits, feeling his muscles tingle as he jumped over tables and ran between scattering people. All the time his eyes fixed on the doors to the fortress section of the building that guards were rushing towards.

Mounting onto a table he launched himself over the barrier table and to the other side. Everything in that moment seemed to slow a little as clerks dove out of his way, his feet touching the ground and his legs pumping as he landed without any pause, with the doors just about to shut.

And he made it. He slipped straight through with a hairs between his arms and the doors as they slammed shut behind him. The guards seemingly caught in the shock of the moment to stop and chase after the interloper.

By the fucking gods.

But there wasn’t any time to dwell on that miraculous victory.

As he was now surrounded by a lot of well-armed and rather surprised guards.

Shit, shit, shit! Is there a gods damned way out!?

His head whipped around, seeing locked doors, tiny windows and solid stone walls all around. But yet there remained some small amount of hope in a door left cracked open that led to a spiral staircase.

“Stop yo-“

Dyo instantly started to move, elbowing the guard in his path out of the way and causing a jolt of searing pain to rush across his arm that made him squint. It was needed to get out alive, but he made a mental note to never hit a man in chainmail with no protection again.

At least they also flinched as they were sent stumbling backwards.

Practically falling onto the stairs, he started to scramble up them, only taking a moment to slam the door in the face of another man trying to come after him. That was met with a firm snapping sound and a somewhat muffled scream of pain.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Something that was best not to dwell on as he made his accent upwards, going up and up and around and around. Doors passed by yet no end in sight as the echoing sound of footsteps started to grow louder and clearer behind him.

But as he climbed, slivers of light from the dingy world outside started to encroach as the sound of rain started to mix with that of his pursuers. The sign of his way out.

And sure enough, he had met the staircase’s end too with the final door leading out into the pouring rain and grey skies of the outside world.

But it was a dead end that he was faced with as he was standing on top of the gothic spire of the bank. There was no way down other than the stairs and a risky drop onto another tower.

He was trapped.

It was a trap of his own making too just to top it off. He could have just run into one of the back streets and maybe have made his way to the stables that way but no! He just had to run into the first thing that came into his head.

But the men were still storming up the stairs and he needed a way to block it. Just something to stop them from running through the door and him with their halberds. And also the Inquis- Shit!

He’d almost forgotten about him in the sudden dash, but the man was surely on his way up those stairs too. Dyo did not know what sort of magic he had but having any was sure to be dangerous in some way, even if the man didn’t look like he’d do well in hand-to-hand combat.

But as his head started to whip around for material to jam the door a muffled shout came from behind the door, followed by the thunder of footsteps stopping. All of the sounds from the staircase were gone but one set of feet plus staff walking up.

Dyo tried to dash over, his head whipping over for anything, just anything-

Knock, knock.

He was there…

“I am the only one here young fae, open the door, or else I’ll assume that you’re hostile and I will open it for you.”

He swallowed, “And will you not bring up the other guards if I do so?”

“I won’t have any reason to if you cooperate.”

If he could be kept stalled for just a little while longer, then I might be able to hold out for the horses…

His hand reached for the door, slowly opening it with the Inquisitor emerging from its shadow.

Even as the rain pelted down on it, the man’s white, gold and red vestments remained seemingly impeccable, every bit of it bright in the dim overcast light. His green eyes focused squarely on him like shards of glass.

“So, fae, I am Arch Inquisitor Marcus Haspel, though I think you already know that with how you ran at the sight of me.” He intoned, “Do you have something to be afraid of?”

“Nothing that I should be.”

“So why did you run then? It’s awfully brash attracting the attention of the guards and a servant of God’s will like that. Unless you had some guilt weighing upon your soul perhaps, daemon born?”

Dyo’s heart stopped as without thinking he started to step away. He knew he was in potentially deadly trouble the moment he started to run but those words still hit him like a bull. His mind took all the horrible possibilities of what they might do to him if they thought of him as a daemon. A daemon.

Perhaps what he did to those men warranted that though…

A wicked smile that portrayed the inquisitor’s pure radiance of satisfaction spread across his lips. “So, were the one who murdered my men?”

He stopped, frozen in place as his mind cast back those ravaged corpses.

“Ha!” Marcus laughed dryly, “I’d almost forgotten what it was like to have a murdering heathen like this! Well then, is the guilt that I see in your eyes enough to give yourselves up to the mortal keepers of God’s domain? Or are you nothing but a feral monster who is only feigning emotion?”

A feral monster.

In that moment, looking at the courtyard filled with blood and bile he thought he might be that. A self-imposed identity that Hreysti found himself drowning in too, reinforced by the unfortunate realities of his existence.

But Hreysti did not deserve that, nor did it encompass who he was, and it was the same for himself. It certainly was not like that, and he just needed to learn. And did not need a self-righteous zealot that he just met who had sent thugs after him and his friends to call him a monster!

His fists clenched as his eyes hardened, meeting the Inquisitor’s head-on with an intensity that matched those green eyes.

“I defended myself against your men who shot my friend and were pressing blades against his throat, yet you are the one who has to lecture me about guilt!? Guilt over saving people that your thugs were going to kill!? Kill in the name of your god who you do not understand!” Dyo laughed, remembering Athervi’s little tale as he lost himself to the whirling maelstrom of emotions inside him. “I’ve heard about what Inquisitors like you have done in the past to those they ‘arrest’! If you want to go up against a man with a real connection to the divine, go ahead!”