4/7/54
SARAH KNIGHT
I had reluctantly accompanied my family in their… business. It was distasteful to me, but when family needs you, what can you do? Truly, I love them, and I would quite enjoy spending time with them if not for their unfortunate line of work.
It was as we were leaving the bounty hunters’ office that I saw someone familiar. Deimos stood in front of one of the bounty terminals, holding someone in a death-grip hug. I saw one of their eyes, and a shiver went down my spine.
It was staring back at me, the person’s features distorted in a glare with tears running down their face, the pupil and sclera glowing white, the iris in comparison black and bottomless. Little, barely visible lines of glowing white grew from their eye, the lines resembling veins as they pulsed with magic.
I quickly turned around, as if ashamed of simply making eye contact with someone so visibly enraged with me. I didn’t know whoever that was, their body covered by Deimos. I wonder who they are?
DEIMOS DUST
I held Alexander close. Half his face was buried in my chest as the other half watched on what I was afraid to show him. I understand that what the Knights do is a service to the rest of us, killing off the evil magicians before they can fester in society. Even then, it was hard to watch the life drip from a child, the crimson blood collecting in a growing pool.
Though… Damnit… Fucking damnit! This is awful! Even before I met Alexander I–
… What’s happening? Why does my chest feel tight? Why does it hurt?
I… I need to calm down. I need to fucking calm down! Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.
…
Okay. Decompress. Think. The Knights will pass. I’ll get myself and Alexander somewhere private to break down. Collect ourselves. Finish another job. Retire for the evening. First though, I just need to calm down.
ALEXANDER GALDUR
FUCKING KNIGHTS!
They were walking away, not even a glance behind them to look back on the corpse they had dropped off. My rage had faded to sadness, then rekindled into an uncontainable fury. My vision swam, the eye buried against Deimos couldn’t see anything but black and the world through my left eye was like watching an old movie with the tape burning. Some spots seemed to glow while others darkened, crippling under the burning glare of brighter spots.
Sarah met my eyes as she left, leaving the office with nothing but its original occupants. Deimos dragged me away to the men’s bathroom, locking us in one of the stalls. We were squashed together, barely half a foot apart, even while leaning against the stall walls. Heavy, quivering breaths came and went as I pressed myself further into the cool plastic.
Deimos, seen past the effects distorting my vision, grabbed my face and looked me in the eyes, “Calm down. Okay? Breathe. That’s right, deep breaths. In and out, just like that.”
I tried, but it continually came out gasping and harsh.
“It’s alright, it’s alright. Just look at me. There we go. Look into my eyes and just keep breathing.”
I did. I stared back at his unflinching gaze and kept my focus there. His irises were cyan, and looking into them deeper, it was like looking into fog. The more I watched, the more I seemed to notice. Their slight glow in panic, something showing not even he could keep his cool after seeing… that.
…
No, focus.
Watching them was mesmerizing, his irises seemingly swirled, and when combined with the slight glow, it made it look like a car’s headlights glowing from behind the veil of a foggy night. It felt like I could lose myself in them, the rest of the world losing its vibrancy and detail in contrast.
My breathing slowed. My heart stopped thundering in my chest, and the adrenaline lost its effect. My head hurt and I was more exhausted than this morning and afternoon together. Eventually, I closed my eyes, tearing myself from the illusionary pull of Deimos’s eyes. I pushed off the plastic dividers and thumped my head against Deimos’s chest, resting myself into his sternum.
Deimos put a hand on my head, “Better?”
“Yeah.” I mumbled, the energy drained from me.
“Good. I was worried you’d pass out and have to get another thousand added to your debt.” He said and I looked up. He had an unconfident smile on his face and I realized it was him joking.
“Pft- you ass! I was all emotional and you had to tell a joke?” I laughed, a little too hard. The emotional maelstrom had passed, and relief led to me chuckling hysterically. It felt like the funniest thing at the moment, and I laughed till tears welled up in my eyes.
His nervous smile grew into something a little more like himself, confident, serious, and sturdy. It felt unflinching despite seconds ago his fancy suit was soaking up my tears.
… Shit.
“Oh, shit! Your jacket! It, well, uh…” I trailed off gesturing wildly at his jacket, attempting to convey my thoughts via a demented form of sign language and flailing.
He looked down at my strange hand motions and saw the imprint I left on his white jacket, the mess of wet tears and snot that formed a vaguely human-esque face. The mess left behind stained his jacket something awful and it hurried along that trip to dry cleaners.
“Oh… It-it’s fine. I’ll just, maybe, yeah, alright.” He muttered as he pulled off his jacket, being very careful to avoid the stain. He bundled it up to trap the wet part on the inside while tucking it under his arm. Despite him having said it was fine, I could see him turning green.
After violently jerking his eyes back to meet my own, he put on a lopsided smile and opened the door for me, “I’ll just hurry along laundry day, don’t worry. Come on, you should clean yourself up.”
I nodded silently and splashed some absolutely freezing water from the tap onto my face, using one of the crappy, brown paper towels to clean and dry up. Looking up into the dirty mirror, I saw my eyes were red and puffy from the fit. They were a little bloodshot, but otherwise, they were still normal. Still the same white sclera with black irises and pupils.
I left the bathroom and met with Deimos who had decided to wait outside. We walked together to the atm-like machines, logged in, and started the hunt for a bounty for me to complete. Deimos said he wouldn’t pick one out for me this time and that he’d just watch.
I was a little nervous as I scanned through each option, worrying whether I’d pick something too advanced for me. In the end though, I found a request posted to hunt down a monster terrorizing Willowfield Lane. From bystander descriptions, it was a lizard the size of a wolf with the temperament to match.
It was four feet long and thick enough to make you want to dive out of its way. Its tail was long with hard tumor-like growths covering it. It attacked with such ferocity that it would wind up injuring itself. It was completely fine with that, however, because it had enhanced healing that could patch up burns, stabs, bludgeoning, and bullets. Really, it could probably recover from anything thrown its way if given the time.
It was rated at one point five stars, landing it exactly within my own rating. It would be somewhat more challenging than yesterday’s mission, but now I was more prepared for what to expect. I locked in the request and followed a similar pattern to yesterday: get a hoverboard, search for the location, get a better view once there.
I threw myself onto a building’s roof and sat down, waiting for my legs to stop burning and wobbled to a spot that overlooked a street within the general vicinity that the monster had been seen. Unlike before, nothing really happened for the first thirty minutes.
… Or the second thirty minutes for that matter. At one hour and fifteen minutes, I climbed down the building and started asking people about the lizard. Most of them said something along the lines of, “kids like you shouldn’t be looking for trouble.” My response was a repeat of the question with an edge of warning in my voice. After the third repeat of this with my aggressiveness ramping up after each one, they usually caved and told me.
Stolen novel; please report.
From what I gathered, the lizard would most often appear between a very distinct red building a block off and a public pool a few blocks down. The lizard tended to stay within two blocks of the red building, so that was probably indicative of a nearby nest or burrow or whatever giant lizards lived in. I moved to the red building, leading me to another minute of recovery. The exercise from earlier was beginning to catch up to me and damn did it suck.
I waited around up there, Deimos appearing fifteen minutes later as he had taken the stairs. He sat down near a skylight, watching me with a judging eye. I kept my focus on the streets below, waiting for the lizard to appear. We waited. And waited. It was dark—I’d guess seven thirty—and still nothing had appeared.
From what I heard, the lizard had apparently made its attack before I arrived, stealing some food on the way out. Reptiles in general have slow metabolisms, so it might be a while before it appears again. Then again, it was reportedly hurt by someone being a little overzealous with their bio magic, so it would need to eat to regain the energy spent on healing.
Though, even with the energy needed to heal, it still took a while. My eyelids were heavier than lead by the time that something had finally happened. It must’ve been around eleven when a scream stretched through the night. I immediately leapt off the roof, scrambling across terraces and fire escapes, eventually arriving above a convenience store with a giant lizard charging after someone at a terrifying pace.
It had sandy scales and looked like a monstrous version of a bearded dragon. It probably was a bearded dragon, and it would have been nearly identical if not for the longer and more muscular legs that were built for bursts of speed to chase down prey. In addition, as it ran, its mouth was on full display: an elongated face that resembled a crocodile’s. It was filled with jagged and uneven teeth meant to tear, maim, and catch prey.
There were rows of the sharp fangs, each one uneven and unique in appearance. Some looked like snapped bones while others were smooth and dagger-like. Finally, its eyes were more forward oriented as to increase depth perception and make its attacks more accurate. I watched as it used its mutations to lunge at the person running away, only to have a rock the size of a fist be launched into its approaching maw. That stunned the lizard long enough for the person to get to a safe distance.
Bright, red blood and shattered teeth were hacked up along with the launched rock and I moved in under the thought that the lizard would be weakened after that attack. As I approached, I quickly led with a burst of light through my body, carrying my fist into the lizard’s side. Attacking a non-humanoid opponent made my boxing less effective, but it still taught me the fundamental rules of hitting things hard.
The spikes on my knuckles easily penetrated and cracked the scales, sinking deep into the warm flesh of the monster. A surge of magic created a surge of electricity to flow through my target, an ear-piercing and warbling screech sliced through the air. Its body twitched and a wild tail swing flung me away.
I landed about seven feet out from the monster, my ribs screaming and bruised. I grunted and got up, but before I could deliver any possible counter strike, the lizard awkwardly ran towards me. I lifted a hand in a desperate attempt at saving myself, and much to my dismay and despair, a mouth full of regenerated fangs and teeth crunched down on my arm, bones snapping like dry twigs in the face of its primal power.
It then shook me around by my arm, forcing a violent yelp out of me, followed by groans of pain as it once more flung me to the side. My spine unfortunately met the hard and unyielding surface of a nearby streetlight—my world blacking out for a moment, the pain not even registering until I hit the ground.
I laid on the ground, expecting for a quick end to be brought by a hungry lizard, but after cracking open a dizzy eye, I saw that the lizard was still twitching and spasming from my previous attack. Then, the cogs turned in my head and I realized two things about the lizard: it healed quickly and was weak to electricity.
The first one had slipped my mind, only now coming back to me after having felt recently regrown teeth make my arm resemble a certain young and British wizard’s after a certain magical sports related incident. The second revelation gave me some hope for the situation. Reencouraged by this, I made to get up, but my own injuries quickly made themselves known.
The pain was bright and sharp and I definitely wouldn’t be able to operate in intense combat with a strong foe under these circumstances. The creature may have been near my strength, but I was hasty in my approach and was rewarded with an uphill battle. Then again… I was handicapping myself most of the time. If it lets me win this fight…
Before making any more rash decisions, I looked around for Deimos. Nothing. He must’ve fallen asleep. In that case, I didn’t have a choice.
Using my light magic to both boost me along and attract the attention of the lizard, I limped into a nearby alley, hoping the monster would take the bait. I twisted and turned down each dark corridor and was soon met by a deadend. I whipped around, finding the lizard having followed me here. Perfect.
Reaching deep into myself, I used up most of the dregs of my light magic to create floating orbs. Each shone and cast dark shadows through the alley. The lights flickered and dimmed only to brighten once more. The shadows moved along, shifting, growing, shrinking, all covering the actions of my next move.
Ever since I’d seen the knights, I’ve felt something in me. It hasn’t settled down, and only through constraining it within myself and the efforts of Deimos had it stopped. Deep in me, the light, as it drained away, lost its ability to hold in the dark. The lizard approached warily, hesitant in attacking in a new environment, but in predatorial bloodlust, or possibly foolhardiness from its regenerative capabilities, it charged. It charged, but I surged.
Shadowy tentacles pierced through the air with deadly precision, wrapping around the startled monster. They circled around every part of the beast they could, fusing into cuffs that pulled from every direction. The monster was lifted into the air from the pulling binds, the magic not being strong enough to rip it apart as planned but still strong enough to disable it.
I limped forward, my right arm hanging loosely by my side. Doing the best I could, I began beating the monster. Spikes pierced flesh only to quickly be healed. Armored fists beat down on tough scales and thick muscle, bruising my knuckles in the process. Still, I continued, because with each hit, more and more electricity was delivered into the beast.
Physical damage may have been useless, but the electricity that destroyed nerves and fried flesh slowly whittled down the lizard. Burned skin healed slower and an ever-growing deal of wounds accumulated. My vision flashed in and out as exhaustion ate away at me, and after an indeterminate amount of time had passed, a wall of crackling electricity appeared in front of me.
I jumped back, tentacles of darkness coming to my aid, but then a solid hand wrapped around my arm. Turning with a primal growl, I punched out as the tentacles of darkness flowed with my fist’s direction. Another hand in an elegant, white glove redirected the punch with ease and a wave of shadows punched into the wall behind the tall, almond-skinned, teal-haired assailant.
My brain froze for a moment just to realize Deimos was standing there, holding me with both arms. A look of anger and steel was in his eyes and he said with a cold tone, “Deactivate your magic, Alexander.”
I looked at him in defiance, before my rational side took over again and I quickly acquiesced. As the illusionary barrier of electricity dissolved, so did my shadowy binds. The lizard laid there, still, not a beat to its heart that might suggest life. Deimos went over to check the body while I stood there in awkward silence. He examined its injuries, its eyes, and its response to pain—or, lack thereof. Once he was done, he gestured with his head for me to pick up the corpse with him.
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We had turned in the bounty, and once we had returned home, he had confronted me about what had happened.
“What the hell was that?”
“What? What was what?” I asked, attempting to squeeze enough information out of him to know how to avoid more conflict with my free housing and food.
“What I mean was, why did you act on your own? Why didn’t you wake me up? Why did you think using dark magic was a good idea!?” He questioned, his voice rising with every question.
“I-I thought that you had followed me when I went out! You should’ve stayed awake since you’re so keen on watching me!”
“You are a bounty hunter now. You have to be more aware of what’s happening around you. Like your safety net not being with you for your fuck up! And, that’s not even to mention you using dark magic! What if someone had seen you? What if you hurt someone?” He accused, venom in his voice.
“Excuse me? First, I didn’t run away because there was a hurt monster in the middle of the street! It would’ve been desperate, and it would’ve attacked someone had I let it be. That’s why I took it to the alley, where no one would’ve been. Where no one could’ve been hurt.” I snarled, anger making me tense up and choke out words.
“You had attacked me. If I was anyone else, I would be dead!” He shouted, the atmosphere vibrating with rage.
“You think I don’t know that!?” I yelled, my voice cracking, “You weren’t supposed to be there! I’ve lived for nine years of my life with this curse; you think I don’t know what can happen!”
Tears formed in my eyes by the end, and my body started shaking uncontrollably, with anger or sadness I wasn’t sure. Maybe both. That didn’t stop Deimos though.
“Then you should be smarter than this. Get a handle on your shit before you force me to.”
With the ominous and open-ended threat hanging in the air, I fled to my bedroom and slammed the door behind me. Anger lulled me into a stressful sleep where nothing felt safe anymore.
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ELIZABETH GRANT
Holy fuck, holy fuck, holy fuck, holy fuck.
I was walking down some… random fucking street and all of a sudden I heard fighting a block or two down. I went to investigate, and I saw a bright flash from an alley. Then, I saw honest-to-God dark magic.
Holy fuck, holy fuck, holy fuck!
Ducking into an alley, I peeked back around, just in time to see the flash of a white and gold suit fly by. The design struck me as familiar when it suddenly came to me: the DME. That was a DME provided outfit for rankers!
Okay, so, that means a report probably went to the DME about a dark magician, and a nearby ranker was probably sent out to deal with… that.
I… I guess I’ll probably be hearing about this later in the DME then. Though, for some reason, I can’t shake the idea that something… else is happening.