Into the Darkness

James

I was hesitant as I headed up the wood-damaged staircase. To me it looked like the scouting report had been completely inaccurate.

The report not only failed to warn us about Stanley’s skill as an Illusionist, it listed his known hideout as being on the other side of town. It was hard to shake the feeling we had been lured there and I braced myself for a fight.

I still had two runes remaining that were loaded with Astral Light. I would use them replenish what Astral Light I used from what I had stored in my body. Due to my condition, Astral Attachment, the cells in my body need to consume great amounts of Astral Light just to function normally. A large amount of Astral Light is consumed in any normal battle between two magical Adepts.

These factors combined make proper management of that resource my number one concern during these sorts of encounters.

Normally two potions would be more than enough, but considering we had already ceded the environment advantage to Stanley I was not feeling over-confident. In a battle, if you can’t get a battlefield were you have a natural advantage, the second best thing is a battlefield were you and your opponent are even. The current situation is the worse possible scenario from a tactical point of view. An environment that was owned and totally decided by my opponent.

I made my way up the decrepit staircase slowly, it was dark and I was still anticipating some sort of ambush.

“Stanley, where are you? Show yourself now so we can get this over with.” I yelled up the stairs into the darkness. I got no response.

I could sense his Aegis up at the top on the tenth floor and assumed he barricaded himself in there. I continued my march up the stair case until I tripped and fell on a thin, clear wire placed ankle-height at the top step of the staircase.

In an instant, I flung my Runi across the room. I did this because I knew I was going to need my hands to break my fall and probably move out of the way quickly soon after. The blade of one end of the Runi sounded like it stabbed into someone. This was because the impact made that distinct sound a blade makes when entering flesh.

I didn’t have much time to ponder if it was Stanley I had hit though. I immediately fell down to my knees, stopping my fall by placing my two hands on the floor in front of me, then instinctively rolled forward out of the way of what I anticipated to be a trap.

I was correct, because an instant later I watched a heavy blade, about the size of a butcher knife, come crashing down right in the spot I had been.

Those blades would’ve decapitated me. I suppose a normal person would’ve been shaken by what was unmistakably a “near death incident”. But my training was such that I viewed events like this as more of an inevitability than something traumatic. I got back up to my feet and dusted myself off. I then cast a room illumination spell to light the black room while I searched for my Runi.

The room was now well-lit, all except the long hallway down which I’d thrown my Runi. This floor looked strikingly different than the ground-level. It was about as disorganized as the bottom floor, but instead of trash and grim there was old electronics. Apparently he was using this floor as some sort of storage facility for obsolete technology. It wasn’t immediately obvious to me that this would be relevant in locating my weapon, so I but the thought in the back of my mind and continued to search.

“Was that you I hit Stanley?” I asked in the direction of long unlit hallway where I had flung my Runi. “You can at least give me back my weapon.” I added.

“Well that I can oblige.” Responded a dark and raspy voice that was clear not Stanley’s. A moment later I saw my weapon headed directly between my eyes at a very high velocity.

***

Back downstairs, Madame Rend was waiting for me to finish up with Stanley. Stanley’s building was absolutely filthy. There were critters and trash and grime covering all the surfaces throughout the downstairs area.

“This is disgusting.” She said to herself after accidentally resting her elbow on something slimy. She then went outside through the front door and lit a cigarette in front of the entranceway.

“Why do I always get stuck with the garbage? The Patriarch hates me.” She was still talking to herself, but someone overheard her.

“Well it’s not because he trusts you.” A disembodied voice replied.

Rend was visibly startled, put out her cigarette and took a defensive position.

“Who are you? Stanley? No.” She said. She could clearly tell that the great power being emanated from whoever was approaching her was greater than Stanley’s.

“Calm down, it’s just me.” He said as he appeared out of the shadows.

Rend relaxed her stance upon seeing the face that belonged to the voice. “Oh it’s you, Branson. You found me here.” She said to him.

Branson Lando, often known as ‘Tornado’ after his spiritual and magical connections to the natural disaster, was one of the main officers of the Lando family. His standing at the high level of Preserver (the council of people sitting directly below The Patriarch in the Lando Family’s strict hierarchy) meant that he was the foremost warrior of the family.

He was also the assumed successor to The Patriarch, should the old leader (rumored to be hundreds of years old) suddenly decide to retire.

Branson was a good-looking man, never short on attention from the opposite sex, but he was so focused on work that the more lecherous members of the family thought it a waste. But that was the natural consequence of his position, one that he took very seriously. Branson took any opportunity to help his family, and that included reprimanding those he felt were acting out of line.

This reputation for fiercely pursuing the interests of the family is what made Madame Rend suspicious about his sudden appearance in the middle of her mission.

“Good to see you, Rend.” Branson smiled at her and made a slight bow. “You look great.” He added.

“Charming as always Branson.” She replied only just slightly attempting to vail her sarcasm. “But I’d like to know what the hell you are doing here in the middle of my assignment. This better be important.” She said to him.

“Important? I didn’t mean to interrupt you, Rend. But when I hear reports of you intimidating civilians, with reckless displays of magic, in a crowd movie theater I think my role as a Lando family Preserver makes this something I need to look into.” He explained to her.

“How did you even hear about that already? I’m going to kill that chauffeur.” She replied angrily.

“You will do no such thing.” Branson shook his head at Rend in disgust. He was used to her bloodlust, it was a trait that was expected of people who worked for her family. A trait he had not picked up on.

In fact, Branson’s lack of sadism put him at odds with the sort of education he received as a member of the Lando family. As a child, he’d often be unable to carry out tasks like murdering animals.

These tasks were assigned to the children to desensitize them and make them effective agents for the family in the Hidden War.

Because of his considerable talent, Branson was able to rise quickly through the ranks of the family despite not sharing their sadistic tendencies. However, this difference still put him at odds with some members of the family.

“Where is James? Don’t tell me he sent him after Stanley without supervision. You’re supposed to bring him back alive. The Patriarch wants us to just teach him a lesson, if you kill him this situation is just going to escalate.” He scolded her.

“It’s not my fault if that monster ends him. You know what he’s like when he gets going.” She responded.

“That’s why you’re supposed to supervise him, Rend.” Branson was starting to get impatient.

“Have you seen inside that building? It looks like a crack den. I don’t think I should be expected to spend even 5 minutes in there.” She told him haughtily.

Branson took an exasperated breath, rolled his eyes and face palmed. “You’re focused on all the wrong things as usual. Just listen, I’m not going to get involved here. If that made it onto the assignment report that would be even worse for you.” He warned her.

He paused and looked her intensely in the eyes before he spoke again.

“Do not let this get out of hand. This was supposed to be an easy win and we’ve already let it spiral into a serious situation. You’re already on thin ice, just because of your attitude in general. If this thing goes bad, there will be serious consequences for you.” He told her in a grave tone.