War of Prophecy

[Allule]

The city burned steadily under the trios gaze. They stood on the highest point in the city, currently anyway. A cathedral with high stone spires and a nice balcony overlooking the whole town was that perch, and they were conversing in rather loud tones, not really bothering to conceal their presence. After all they were the most powerful thing in the town at the moment.
They were a rather odd trio, two of them wearing tan colored robes and one wearing something that looked vaguely like a diner suit, pinstriped and all, including a top hat. The man in the Hat was perhaps the strangest looking of the three, the top hat barely concealing the crazy tufts of graying hair that were sticking out from under the hat at strange angles. He had little eyes as well; the eyes of a traitor. His smile was also a little out of place, seeming a little too big for his face, though no one could deny that it suited him, crooked teeth and all.
The other two were disconcerting as well, not because of the unquiet their facial features might bring to a wondering passerby. They were, instead, starkly different from the man in the suit both appearing rather normal. There was a man and a woman, both of whom looked unique on their own, but seemed to fit together despite their differences in appearance. The man was bald with a long braided brown beard that reached down to roughly his belt level on the long tan coat he wore. He had a kind face, which looked out on the carnage as did the other man, but he also had a thinly veiled layer of contempt surrounding him as well.
His counterpart, on the other hand, was a fairly pretty looking female with shoulder length gently curled dark hair. She also had a kind face, although in a different way than the man. Here there was malice, pure and simple, but the veil was so thick it was hard to distinguish it from the care she normally displayed towards others. She stood a little back from the two, her blue eyes surveying the slowly incinerating town, showing nothing but contempt towards it in her air, but not attempting to participate in the conversation that was going on in front of her.
“She will come, you know.” The man in the tan said. His voice was one of warmth, like that of a grandfather, albeit perhaps a stern one.
“So she shall. It’s always been that way. After all, it’s your Order’s job to hunt down my kind is it not?” replied the other man. He was wearing glasses which obscured his eyes in this light, showing only a reflection, and making him appear alien. His voice was taunting and high pitched.
“One could put it that way. “ replied the man in the Tan, still looking at the devastated town. It had been stone, after all. Stone wasn’t exactly the easiest stuff to burn. There was a silence, then the man in the tan said slowly. “It doesn’t help that all of these targets have been in her area.”
The man in the suit turned towards him, still smiling a little too widely to be considered normally. “Well that really shouldn’t matter should it? Tell her to ignore it. You are her superior, after all. And our mutual, ah, benefactor has a great many reasons to have these targets removed you know. All part of the bigger plan.” Here the man in the top hat turned back to the carnage and said “After all, how does she know it’s even the same person doing all of the burnings?”
“She has her ways.” The other replied. “Mannequin has always been one of the more Resourceful hunters. It’s why she’s the only one assigned to this Area, even if it is somewhat small. She’ll know it was you again. Just like last time. Mark my words. It always happens. She caught a scent of myself and Io here too,” Here he motioned to the girl beside him, who paid him no heed. “But I don’t really think she knew what she was looking at. Which is just as well for us. If our superiors found out what we’re doing out here….” Here he fingered the breast of his coat as though in thought. There was a black sun embroidered there.
The man in the top hat chortled. “What we’re doing out here? You mean what the two of you actually are? Yes, yes I shudder to think of your fate among such as those you work for.” Here the man, who was rather short, cackled gleefully. “But at any rate, how does that wench figure out who exactly is at the scene of these burnings?” He sounded truly inquisitive, a rare emotion for the man in black. He was far more prone to sarcasm.
“Well,” Said the man in tan, “When we do any sort of magic, we leave a trace.” Here the man in tan waved his hand in the air in a kind of theater-like gesture, causing a twirl of blue dust to dance around his hand experimentally. “Even little things, although the smaller the act the smaller the trace.
Now, normally, one can’t detect these little traces, especially without some sort of spell or enhancer to sight. Something like that. Now, something like this,” Here he waved his hand to encompass the entirety of the smoldering buildings. “Is a little more obvious. Especially to hunters. But even we need some sort of device to detect magic-”
“Basics, fool, basics. You know who I am. I need no lesson. What is her tool?” The other interrupted.
“She carries a dagger.” Sighed the man in the tan. He always liked hoarding his knowledge over people as long as he could. “A dagger which is capable of detecting the magical fields around things. Things like people. AND spells. So she can easily figure out who cast this spell. That’s why I didn’t do it myself.”
“Hmm. Point taken. But the question remains, what do you want me to do with her? She’s witnessed a fair amount of our master’s plan, and my nose tells me she’s on to you. Although probably not onto Io.” Here he glanced at the other person in their trio, who was still glaring into the fires with a kind of incensed, yet far away passion.
“You’re probably right…. I suppose it couldn’t hurt to dispose of her. After all, she’s served our purpose has she not?”
Here both the men laughed, the one in the top hat nodding vigorously. After a moment or two the man in the tan turned to the other and asked “Would you care to do the honors?”
The man in black chuckled once more and then turned around and produced a match from inside of his withered jacket, a match which quickly lit itself, with no apparent striking needed. The man in black then blew on it, and low and behold, the lone flame spread , and very quickly at that, to encase the uppermost pillars of the Cathedral. Still smiling the man in black turned to the pair in tan and with an ironic bow said “It will be taken care of. Just arrange for her to come after me after figuring out that I burned her beloved Terra. She’ll be more than willing.” Then the man in black turned and vaulted the railing, dropping out of site for a moment or two before returning to eye level, soaring between the clouds of smoke apparently under his own power, and laughing madly all the while.
“Agreed.” The man in the tan said, more to himself than Io. “Allule Mannequin will be dead long before anyone can figure out what we’re doing. Io, give us a portal. We’re going back to the tower.” Without a word Io turned from here contemplation and placed her hands together. Then she pulled them apart, and where there had been nothing before a portal, apparently composed of dark green matter was standing. Quickly the man in tan stepped through, then Io after him, After which the portal closed, seemingly of its own volition. The cathedral was left to burn, apparently magically, and the people of the town were left to fend for themselves. A very sad state indeed.

Two Days Later
Allule Mannequin stepped through the debris that still lined the streets of the city, disgust lining her normally pretty face. She had only heard of this supposed accident this morning, right after she had gotten finished with her daily ritual and had ridden directly there.
“No accident can burn stone.” She had placidly told the unfortunate officer who had brought word of the towns demise to the Keeper of the area. Sometimes people didn’t come back alive from meeting with Mannequin, it was rumored. A temper as fiery as her hair, some said. Never the less, Allule was the keeper of the region. And it was her duty to keep the peace. A job she felt she had been doing less than adequately with each passing day, and more in particular, these strange stone burnings. She had come here to access the damage and to possibly help with the recovery effort. After all, this town had been her home for a while in a way. She had been housed in the Cathedral for most of her life. But now that was gone too. Sighing a little, Allule adjusted her tan jacket and the pair of sword belts strung on her hips. Frowning, she stopped pondering and took a little walk. No one was in sight, even though it was a fairly clear day. They had all cleared out of the ruins, what was left of them anyway. There wasn’t much left when even stone could be burned by whatever had happened.
But what could actually burn stone was a question indeed. And a question that Allule thought she could answer. Sighing a little, she stopped in front of one of the huge piles of Ash and crouched down. Then, she carefully took a dagger, the hilt of which was set with a clear stone, and stuck the pure silver dagger into the ash, blade first, being careful to leave the portion of the dagger with the gem in it well exposed. The gem, which was normally a clear, diamond like substance flashed a myriad of colors, the most prominent of which was a light sickly purple. “Damn him….” She muttered under her breath.
She had been seeing readings everywhere like this recently… The dagger, which read magical ‘Auras’ for lack of a better term was practically going haywire every time it got used. Still cursing her luck, Allule reached into the coat again and pulled out a small key shaped object, which she jammed into a small hole on the blade. This caused the hilt to pop open, gem an all, exposing some gear like machinery within as well as a few knobs and switches. Allule adjusted one of the knobs and toggled one of the switches, then promptly closed the instrument and jammed it into the ground again. This time it’s cycle through the colors was a good deal slower than the first time, and Allule was able to define the message much more clearly. The spell had been flammable in nature, obviously, but the one who had cast it had cast it on an Object, or multiple objects it seemed, just like the other times this had happened. There were also signs, albeit minute, of two other people having been here, but they were so small that Allule couldn’t tell who it had had been, or if the color was familiar to her. There were a lot of Aura colors after all, each one associated with a different person. Like their signature.
Mannequin could have tried to refine the search more to figure out who the other two magic users in the group had been, but it was really too much trouble. That overwhelming purple aura was enough for her to know who, exactly had been here to burn the town. The man in black. He had turned up everywhere almost every time there had been a burning, and it was only through a series of happen stance occurrences that Mannequin was able to find out that the ‘man’ (if that was what he really was, which Allule doubted heavily) was a magic user and that he left behind this purple aura. And every time he had attacked he had left an even bigger city than before in ruins. This city, Terra, was only the latest target in this string of burnings. And all of the towns had had at least one stone building in them, a substance that wasn’t supposed to burn ever, yet that crumpled against the iron flame of this spell, whatever it was.
Allule had guessed that Terra would be the next target, and she had been right, a fact which,
while she wasn’t happy about, made her think considerably. The next thing to be burned, she wagered would be something to the west, perhaps. And then the Capital itself. No one was really clear why these burnings had been happening, nor how they were connected. There had been other crop burnings too, though in peculiar fashions and various shapes. It was all a big mystery. But it was one that would have to be solved, and preferably quickly. After all these things had to be occurring for a reason. Allule needed to think, to contemplate what all this meant, and more importantly to look at a map. But more than anything else, she wanted to get the Man in black. He was, after all, the reason for all of this chaos. Yet every time Mannequin tried to get a warrant for his arrest, or something, anything that would prove his existence her request had been turned down by one of her higher ups. She had never figured out who it was, but she suspected it was the same person over and over again. Protecting the man in black perhaps. Although why someone in her order would be protecting someone like that was beyond her…
Perhaps there was something she was missing. Never the less, even the thought that there was corruption within the order which waged war on a certain kind of corruption was troubling. Frowning down at the dagger, she pocketed it and stood to stare at the rubble all around her. This had been no ordinary person who had done this thing. Allule had suspected for a while that her adversary wasn’t human from the first but this confirmed it. There was no way that someone who was human could have done so much damage to stone. The first towns had only had one or two buildings made of stone, if that, but Terra had been completely stone, from the ancient buildings to the now destroyed cobblestones beneath her feet.
Non humans weren’t exactly rare. After all, who hadn’t seen at least one in their time? Especially with a traveling band of them that attempted to visit every town in the realm to peddle their acting talent (Which in Allule’s opinion was merely serviceable, yet it was a service on which quite a lot of money was made.) But never the less, they weren’t exactly common… They had fewer rights than most under the current Alliance that held the countries together in a strained peace. If these burnings kept occurring though that strained peace could quickly turn to an all out battle for supremacy. It was quickly headed that way.
Perhaps that was what the man, the thing in black and it’s hidden allies were angling for. After all, chaos was the perfect atmosphere for a takeover. But Mannequin thought that perhaps there was something more going on. There always seemed to be… Layers upon layers of intrigue and subterfuge always seemed to surround events like these… Conflicts within conflicts…
Sighing, Allule stopped staring into the debris. There was little else to do after all. But now she had a little bit of a lead. Albeit, not much of one… But it could be something. Anyone who was anyone in the non human realm would probably frequent the place. Frowning, Allule decided what she was going to do. The place wouldn’t be horrific to visit, after all. She had talked to a few people who came and went there regularly. Still contemplating, she began walking, careful not to trod on the ash and soot where she could help it. Leaving traces anywhere that she had been to one of the Burnings would only cause questions, especially where she was going. As she walked, she shed the tan coat, then turned it inside out and put it back on. The inside of the coat was black and far less likely to attract attention. Carefully stepping over the ash of the last building in her direction, Allule reached her vehicle.
It was a fairly large black armored thing with wheels , its black armor stuck out at random angles and there were two guns on the top of the construct. The inside labeled it an ATVX, although Allule wasn’t sure what that meant exactly. She had never seen another quite like hers, and even though that was the case she was fairly certain that the thing was magic. There were 4 compartmented panels at the top which could slide back and forth and which controlled the energy input the thing got, apparently from the sun. It was certainly a handy contraption, and even though Allule had studied it she was certain that she wasn’t aware of half the things she could use it for. It had proved to be a very versatile machination thus far.
Frowning still, she went to the front of it and punched in a combination on a keypad that was set into a small indention there. After a few beeps and a click, a series of panels slid open, revealing a seat as well as a few controls. Allule climbed into the machine and into the seat, toggling a switch on the side of the seat as she went. As soon as she sat down, the panels closed around her, leaving her in the pitch black. Not a moment went by, however, before a holographic picture of what was directly in front of her popped up, displaying the ruined town and the little patch of green she had left between the vehicle and the car. After a moment blue lights also burst into life, illuminating the controls around the seat. The thing roared to life without any prompting from it’s operator.
“Magic.” Breathed Allule, thinking out loud. And the amount of distance this thing could cover was pretty incredible too. But it had to gain energy fairly often as well, resulting in sometimes long and aggravating pauses. Smiling a little now, Allule relaxed into the comfortable chair and began twirling the dials on her arm rests. The armored hulk began to turn in the direction of the dials and a small map appeared on the holographic display, marking her position with a red dot. Allule stopped moving the dials and instead reached forward a little and pulled a lever set in the console in front of her. The machine started moving almost instantly, the large wheels absorbing almost all of the rough spots in the terrain and giving a fairly seemless ride.
Suddenly a small voice right beside her ear announced that something called ‘Auto-Pilot’ had taken over smiling a little to herself, Allule sat back to watch. It was always interesting watching this thing rumble through the landscape, although Allule had never quite figured out how it knew where she wanted to go. But the arrow on the map was pointing in the general direction of her destination, and that was good enough for her right now.
Under her breath she said “Abhinc, Here we come.”
TWO
The ATV came to a stop just outside of the city, finally powering down and opening it’s Light hatches on the top of it’s armor. They could work in Lunar light too, Allule supposed. Checking her pockets to make sure everything was where she had left it, she reached over to the side of her seat and pushed the switch which opened the hatch in front of her. The panels whirred open revealing dark skies and grass, as well as the lights of a city not too terribly far down from where Allule stood. The Vehicle had stopped on a grassy knoll that was located above the city, a strategic point on the whole.
After she had stepped out the panels whirred closed again, sealing off the light from within. Frowning, Allule turned around and looked at the city, finger on her chin in a contemplative way. She could need something heavier… She turned around and walked to the side of the bemoth, then put in another code on a pad that was similar to the one in the front. The side of the vehicle popped open revealing a plethora of different swords and other various weapons that were apparently magnetized to the inside of the flat board that had been concealed by the panel. Looking over the cache, Allule picked up a blue metalic sword and weighed it carefully in her hand. Then, deciding otherwise, she put the sword back and picked up a different sword, one that was a rusty red. She carefully weighed it again and then shoved it into the sheath at her belt. It would serve. It’s have to.
She slammed the panel downwards where it locked safely into place and then turned in the direction of the city and headed for the outskirts. She would have taken the big wheeled thing into the city, but she didn’t think anyone would have taken well to that. It was one crazy invention after all. No one was quite sure where they came from.
Allule reached the bottom of the fairly steep slope, bouncing up and down as she did a little. No matter how many times she came to this place she always worried about falling down that slope. It could send her right into the outskirts of the city, an outskirts which were very dangerous for the unprepared. Carefully she eased the sword out of the sheath at her belt, just a little. Her footsteps slowed and stopped all together as she reached the very outskirts of the fairly large city. There were lights further on, but there was a strip out here that everyone had to pass through to get to the heart of the city, and indeed where Mannequin hoped to get. This place was a little shady after all, and they didn’t want just anyone to get in. Especially not people like her. Never the less, she had managed to come and go through the city a fair number of times due to her magical ability. But even so the Outskirts had always been the trickiest part of the journey when she took it. The… things… that lurked there were very perceptive and very violent. They were peoples worst nightmare when they made this journey.
Carefully Allule took a step into the outskirts of the city, her boots clanking metallically on the steel floor. Carefully she stopped, examining the shadows beside her. No yellow eyes lit the deserted side streets or lurked in any corner as far as she could tell. They had always been there before. Carefully she took another step, then two more. Then three. No eyes appeared to haunt her path. The guards of this place appeared to be gone, an ominous sign in the best of times a stirring of something now, perhaps. Allule had never heard of an instance where the Guards of this place had just disappeared… Frowning even more now that she had reached the halfway point between the grass and lights, Allule pulled her sword out the rest of the way, holding it at the ready with one hand, the other sneaking into her pocket as she walked.
There was something out here. She could tell, a great rumbling shot through the air every so often. It hadn’t been obvious at first out nearer the wild, but in here among these rings of abandoned buildings it was blatant. Frowning even more, Allule pulled a small red orb out of her pocket, an orb that lit up in her hand once it hit the night air. It seemed a pity to use it now, but the original guardians had been attracted to magic, so she wagered that whatever this thing was had some sort of magic sensing ability too. While the orb had a spell placed on it, it wasn’t considered magic by most things. The spell, after all, was contained within the orb. Mannequin kept walking, sword swinging in a whoosh of wind every so often. She was ready for anything. She had to be of course. But after about 5 minutes the rumbling had begun to fade, apparently going in the other direction, around the city perhaps.
“Can’t be too careful…” Allule muttered to herself. Not long after the receding rumbling, she arrived at the true outskirts of the city. A gate, albeit an apparently un guarded one stood in barrier to her passage. But she knew the drill. It might look unguarded, but nothing in this city truly was.
Carefully, she walked up to the gates into the lit city and called “I know you’re there. The pair of you. Come let me in.” She directed her voice at the gate which looked very ominous in the low light. Suddenly a pair of things appeared in midair, their armor shining in the moonlight and their slightly pinched green faces sporting looks of contempt directed at Allule, appearing menacing even though they were about as tall as a pair of fire hydrants.
“How did you know where we were?” Asked the slightly taller one in frustration. He was obviously the leader of the pair.
“Yeah where we were?” echoed the other one.
“Well, considering that for guards you always hide in the same spots, it’d be fairly easy to find you, wouldn’t it?” Mannequin asked innocently.
This caused a short argument amongst the two, who were goblins, about weather they needed to move about during their guard times so that they wouldn’t be detected. This argument took about 5 minutes, each bringing up valid points. However in the end they determined that they would stay in the same place they had been in before. Allule just watched this, hand over her mouth to keep them from seeing her smile. Every time she had ever visited the spot they had the same argument. It had gotten slightly comical after a while, especially when she had realized that the pair always brought up the same points, pretty much word for word. They had never changed their verdict.
“Well, now that we’ve got that settled,” said the taller one. “What do you want Mannequin? More detective work? You know you can’t do that without one of those writ things.”
Frowning, Allule reached into one of the pockets of her jacket and flashed an official looking document in the tall goblins face before replacing it in her pocket. It wasn’t actually official, but these two guards never seemed to take note of that particular fact.
“Righ’” said the smaller one. “Seems in orda. Go on thro-“ but before he finished his sentence, the larger Goblin had bashed him over the head with his fist, causing a loud crack to bound through the night air.
“Sorry mam,” said the big one, picking up the smaller one and brushing him off a little. “ He doesn’t know the policy.” Then he cleared his throat and said “Welcome to the hidden city of Faerie.”
Then he swung the gate wide, allowing the smell and light from the streets to permeate the night air. Allule stepped through, careful to avoid tripping over the step upward created by the gate. Almost automatically after she entered, the gate slammed closed rather fiercely, the hinges creaking with the force. Her face very serious now, Mannequin turned down the side street just to the right of the gate she had just entered. What she was looking for and more specifically from there who she was looking for would have been here at some point. But the question would be where she could get the answers she desired and almost more importantly, a place that wouldn’t talk about her getting the answers. A place that didn’t ask questions back.
Frowning Allule paused on the cramped street to look at the sky and contemplate. This whole city was a grid of buildings and bars and other creatures of legend. It was a veritable mash up of everything from fairy tales to nightmares. It was also perhaps one of the most crime ridden places you would ever come across. The only ‘law’ around here was the pitiful Task Force, which never seemed to be able to do much good and what people could get their hands on. Much would be off limits to her if she couldn’t find a contact, or at least someone who knew the ropes... Suddenly, she had it! There was only one person for the job, and conveniently he was located not too far from where she was. With bated breath, she took the next right she came to and then a left. She kept walking. Eventually, after going about five or six blocks she came to an old building that stood skinny and withered looking, apparently made from drywall or wood. There was a single door set into the front, as well as a single grimy window set a few hand spans above the door. Frowning again, Allule knocked on the door.
THREE
The door swung open after the third knock, apparently unopened by anyone within. The landing that the opening lead onto was dark and shaded, no obvious source of light to chase away the inky blackness. Still a little hesitant, Allule stepped into the house, shutting the door behind her. The sound of the door was fairly bleak and ominous. She had been expected, she supposed. After all, the person she sought did have a particular way of knowing things. That’s why he was here after all, in this forsaken hole of all places. Allule waited impatiently, and sure enough, pairs of blue flame sprung up along the length of the fairly short hallway that she was standing in. Traversing the length of it, she ended up at a heavy black curtain which was drawn. Pulling it back, she slipped into the opening and pulled the curtain closed behind her. She stood on a landing which had a stair case on either side, one leading down, one leading upwards. Each was lined with the same blue flames, lighting the way for her.
“This building’s deceptively big…” she muttered to herself. She had known He’d have an abode like this, even if she hadn’t expected something so medieval. It was just like him. Frowning, she felt a calling to go up the stair case heading upward, so she decided to follow it. It had been faint, but sometimes those mental proddings were subtile. She frowned at the stair case and headed upwards, sword now at the ready. One never knew what they’d find around a corner in this neighborhood. While some of the inhabitants of the city were less than happy with the human populace on the whole, the number who did anything about it were even fewer. And the number of inhabitants who resorted to violence were few and far between indeed. But those that did were normally very formidable. And often times those whom were most formidable appeared in the most unexpected places. Mannequin had learned that in her first trip to this part of the world.
Allule continued the climb steadily plodding along as she worked her way to the top, which always seemed just out of reach. It was a trick of the topmost inhabitant, Allule knew, but she didn’t appreciate thinking she was so close in any respect when there was in all reality a good ways to go still. She took one step and another and then reached her foot up to find the next step only to find that there wasn’t one. Loosing her balance a little, she righted herself and adjusted her coat, as a matter of habit. The place she had landed was a small landing, once again curtained off and still lined by the blue candle like flames. Frowning to herself, she walked over to the curtain and pulled it aside, stepping into yet another hallway. This one however was lit differently. Instead of the blue flames which had guided her way thus far a soft yellow light glowed down from the ceiling, radiating from no apparent source. It revealed the walls to be a smooth stone, each piece set and worn down by the test of time, or so it seemed.
“Very impressive…” Allule muttered to herself, brushing her hand against the smooth stone as her voice bounced around the chamber. There was no curtain across the adjoining door now. There was No door at the end of the hall. For all intents and purposes it looked as though Mannequin had walked right into a dead end. Yet she sunk to the floor and sat, waiting for something apparently. She closed her eyes and began to contemplate the meeting ahead of her.
It really shouldn’t be that bad, should it? She reasoned with herself. I mean, he let you in right? That’s always a good sign… And It’s not like you really have anything to do with what happened to him right? I mean, It wasn’t like you really had anything to do with him being let go. But even as she thought the words she regretted them in turn. It had been somewhat her fault, but not entirely. Then again none of these things really were just her fault. She sighed in frustration. Dealing with Telepaths was always frustrating, if nothing else. Suddenly the wall opposite the doorway she had just entered disappeared completely and reappeared right next to her, so that she was suddenly sitting in a corner, like a child who had just been punished. Unimpressed by his sense of humor, Allule entered the newly opened room and was faced by what she could only classify an interesting sight. The room was lit by orange candles, and had rows upon rows and stacks upon stacks of books around it. The room was circular in nature and there was a raised pedestal in the center. On the pedestal a chair sat bolted down. It was facing away from Allule until she entered the room. When she entered the brick wall promptly reappeared behind her and she was left alone in the room, as far as she could tell.
However, she could sense a presence….
Suddenly the chair began spinning, very, very slowly, so slowly that it was not even noticeable at first. But eventually it spun all the way around, causing Allule to gasp. There was a young man in the chair, but instead of sitting in the chair, he looked to be connected to it, plugged in to the chair various wires and mechanics protruding from his skin. Only his face was left un touched.
“Oh my god, Alastor, What happened to you?” She asked. The last time she had encountered the telepath he had just been developing his powers. He had helped her destroy one of the first threats she had faced in her chosen path, helped discover the way to save the entire social structure of their society.
But he even though he had been just as old as she had during that mission, she had seen him as being like a little brother. He had been so stupid and reckless… But here he was, obviously very powerful but a terror to behold. He didn’t look exactly healthy either; some of the wires seemed to have cut him when he moved around, and the cuts didn’t seem to be healing correctly… It was a horrifying site.
They found me. Came the voice in her head. It was weak, merely a fragment of what it had been. Looking a little more closely, she saw that there were some wires attached to Alastor’s throat. He must be mute now. Allule clutched a little weakly at her own throat, and the man in the chair nodded.
Those who we had hunted down, they found me after you left. Hurt me… He shuddered. It looked painful. Then, well then They took me to a hospital. Hooked me up to this thing, and I’ve been in it ever since.I don’t think I could survive without it… Not any more, as sick as it looks, It doesn’t hurt.
He spun away from her. Why did you come anyway? Certainly not to relive old formalities.
“I came to ask…” Here Allule paused, still shocked by what had transpired, especially that it had been because of her. “Well, I came to ask if you had had any strange thought readings in your district recently? Word on the street has it that you’ve been keeping tabs on every man, woman, child, and everything else in this city.”
It wouldn’t be incorrect to assume that was the case. Came the thought. After all, I don’t feel secure anywhere anymore. Its like having a knife in my back and turning around in the middle of a crowd of people who want to twist it. Here his real body gave a pain racked cough
But who were you looking for? Perhaps I can help you once more… When he said this the wall in front of him began lighting up one by one. Suddenly it was revealed that they were under the view of hundreds, perhaps thousands of televisions, all positioned so that they formed a globe like structure around the piles of books and stacks of paper. Each television showcased a different part of the city, each showing a different aspect of the life of the mostly magical community of the City.
Momentarily awed by the display, and still shocked about Alastor’s condition, Allule wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do. Never the less, she managed to say
“A man in black… He wears a black tophat and has a deranged smile. Wears glasses as well. He’s a Demon, Alastor. Been burning cities in a path towards the capital it looks like. He might be gathering forces. Perhaps supplies. I don’t know if he’s actually here or not… It seems like a far shot but I thought of you and… Oh my god. Are you ok?” She finished, almost afraid of the answer.
The televisions began flickering rapidly, displaying varied images and locations. Most of them were in the city, but some were of their previous journey through Alastor’s eyes. He didn’t answer her questions however apparently scanning the televisions for some sign of the Man in black. Suddenly in one of the televisions about two away from Allules head, The man’s image popped up, then switched again, and then went back to the man in black’s image. The screen image slowly spread across all of the televisions until nothing else was left. Only the man in blacks grotesque smile lingered as he was caught on film. He was entering a bar named the Witches Brew. Somewhat of a stereotypical name, but one that fit the situation rather well. Allule sighed at Alastor and asked again.
“Are you ok?”
But there was no answer. Slowly the televisions turned off one by one, the candles around the room going with them. Eyes tearing up slightly, Allule vaulted onto the platform and walked to the other side of the chair to lay a hand on Alastor’s head. It was cold.
He was dead.
Letting out a horrified sob, Allule turned and ran from the room.
FOUR
She knew where the place was, the place where the Man in Black had been identified. And she really didn’t regret asking Alastor…. After all, he had been the only person she trusted in the City. But it still bothered her that he was gone. Still crying a little, she let herself out of the house and closed the door. Then she re-opened it , revealing a small dusty room with no doors and no windows, only two rickety looking staircases, one going down one going up. The kid really had been a powerful telepath if he had been able to project all of that into her head.
Sighing a little, she closed the door and forced her feet to take her towards the heart of the city. The streets became more crowded as she went, filling with all sorts of interesting people, from Ethereal beings to Witches. There were even a few Weres , possessing the air around them with a kind of ferocity that allowed no one near them. This place was a hive for misfits, particularly of the magical variety. It was a haven for them, a place where they could get away. The buildings were much the same, looking to be glued together from different pieces of various constructions, many of them resembling something that might have come out of a child’s sketch book, weird shapes protruding everywhere only adding to the alien feel of the place. It was a dangerous neighborhood to say the least, and Allule got many unfriendly looks as she passed through. But the sword at her side gave her away as someone not to be toyed with. She was stopped by no one. She made certain to skirt the heart of the city; her destination was practically opposite where Alastor had resided, but it wasn’t worth heading into the heart of the danger just to save some time. Side streets were her friend as she wound her way towards the Witches Brew. The closer she got the more crowded it became, apparently a sign of business.
She kept going forward, but her progress was slow; she practically got into a nasty argument with what appeared to be a group of Vampires when she tripped and ran practically headlong into one of them. She managed to get out of it though by pretending to be magicly addled, a problem which dissuaded most people from interacting with her for the rest of her journey. Apparently news spread fast around this town. Mannequin wasn’t complaining. She wasn’t particularly fond of some of these creatures anyway. They were here for a reason, after all. No one asked questions here. It was like an unwritten rule.
Albeit a rule she was anticipating breaking quite soon. Frowning to herself she slipped into thought and almost walked right past her destination. Quickly she backed up and looked into the windows, which were a tinted dark glass which made it impossible to see in. It was a dingy place, only marked by the shabby sign which was so tattered only the D and B E were clearly visible. One would not have known the name of the place if they weren’t looking for it. In fact… Alulle stepped back and looked to the right and left. There was a pub like establishment on both corners of the cobblestone block. So then why had the Man in the top hat chosen this residence? She doubted it was because of the drink choice.
Doing her best not to look anything like what she was, Allule opened the door and stepped through into the establishment. As she did so a bell rang somewhere in the back of the place. It was a dingy establishment, the floors and bar itself were made of a black wood that looks practically ancient. The tables were much the same, chairs too. It was like a scene out of an old western, had that western been painted almost completely black. There were a number of decorations around the walls of the place, all of which were covered in at least a thin layer of dust, if not more. The only things that weren’t dusty were the patrons and the bartender, of whom there were only two or three. Allule carefully withdrew the sword from her belt and placed it on the rack that was next to the door, as per the instructions which were posted on a grimy plaque above the rack. She kept her dagger though. She wouldn’t use it as a weapon unless the circumstances were dire. It was meant to be a tool, not a weapon after all. But she could use it as a weapon if she had to. It had happened before.
As she walked further into the place and towards the bar, she a better look at the place. It had a high ceiling and only one obvious exit, which could prove nasty if things got tight. Not that she intended them to. It was also set up like an old west saloon in that tere was a second floor, but that floor was visible from the first and railed off in a crude square shape and there was a stair case leading up to the second floor in the back, or so it looked to Allule. However, she kept her pace up and managed to get to the bar without looking at any of the patrons (Who were all staring at her) and sat down. The bartender, who had been rubbing down the same glass since she had entered the Brew was also giving her a look that suggested that she should be careful where she tread. That in itself wouldn’t have been very intimidating. After all, Allule had faced down people like him, fairly large and powerful, with just magic before. And this guy would have been much the same, but this one had four arms, marking him as a Dordivik, a mutated human. One who was resistant to magic. Grimacing, she called down the bar to the tender for a vodka, which was passed to her rather brutally by the four armed Dordivik.
After a few moments staring at the clear liquid, she downed it, (which admittedly made her a little woozy.) and got up, walking down to the end of the bar, she attempted to engage the bartender in conversation, asking casual questions.
“So do you get much business here?” was the first one. The Dordivik grunted in a non committal way, so Allule continued with her questioning, giving herself a mental shrug. The vodka made her perhaps a little less socially inhibited than normal.
“It is a rather nice place.” She said in a sing song voice, encompassing everything in front of her with a sweeping gesture, and then took her hand and wiped some of the dust off of the panel of the bar she had been leaning on, blowing it off of her hand into the tenders face.
He gave and annoyed snort, still cleaning the glass, but more slowly now, both of his inactive arms moving slowly to something under the counter. Allule however noticed nothing, still blabbering on about how nice the place was, apparently fairly intoxicated, although one drink shouldn’t have been able to do that so quickly to a person. However, eventually she started dancing around what she had come to ask, questioning about the kind of patrons that he got and weather all of them were as sad looking as the pair that were there right then (the mentioned pair straightened slightly when she asked this). Every question she asked she got a non committal grunt. Except for the last one. Which she finally got around too. “So what about the man in black? You know the guy with the top hat? Does he come her e often?” Suddenly Allule found a gun pointed at her face. A rather large gun too. And by the sound of it the other two patrons had guns pointed at her back too.
“I wondered when you were going to ask that question.” Said the bartender.
Then he shot her in the face.
Five
Or at least that’s what would have happened. But Allule had been preparing for something like this since she entered the bar, gathering all of the magical energy she could possibly get into her hand into her hand. Using that energy and a good amount of luck Allule was able to catch the bullet. If she hadn’t been expecting it it would have been impossible. But she was able to do it, albeit just barely. It knocked her off the stool and clear into the weapon rack, which, while rather painful was the best place she could have been sent. After rolling behind the post that was directly in front of the door, Mannequin grabbed her sword and the two other weapons that were there, an Axe and another sword, and jumped back into the fray, throwing the sword and axe at the two patrons who had begun firing at her the moment she had leapt from concealment. The one whom had gotten the sword thrown at him managed to deflect it with the barrel on his gun, knocking him over in the process. But the one who had gotten the axe thrown at him took it in the chest, going down still firing now errantly. The Bartender was still struggling to reload, the giant bullet being almost as big as his hand. Allule began making her way to him walking in as straight a line as she could from the door to the shooter. But right as she reached the middle of the path, the patron who was still alive finally managed to get up and began firing again. Surprised by the unexpected attack, Allule managed to swing her sword in such a way that it managed to block a few of the bullets, but one got through, piercing her shoulder.
This caused her to fly backwards, right into the dark glass windows and, as they were apparently not thick enough to support her weight, right through them and onto the cobblestone street. The pair behind her only stopped firing for a moment before resuming the barrage, bullets raining down on Allule like deadly hail. She rolled to the left side almost instinctively as it was closest, managing to avoid most of the deadly stuff. What did make contact hurt a lot though, like a thousand needles piercing the spot at once. Grimacing heavily at the pain, she managed to stand and shuffle further away from the windows. Here she rolled up her sleeve to look at the place, which was on her upper arm. Amazingly, there was only a shallow cut, which hurt but was nowhere close to life threatening. Still grimacing, she switched sword hands and shuffled further up the street. There wasn’t much choice now. She was going to have to pray that the vehicle was smart enough to figure out where she was headed and to meet her there. It had done things like that before, after all. Sometimes Allule wondered if it didn’t have a life of its own.
Suddenly shots rang out behind her, announcing the return of her pursuers, and it sounded like they had gotten help by now. Thankfully, she thought that she had a good way to get rid of them, although it might take some effort to get to the point she was thinking of. Quickly she took a near side aisle, heading out towards the Outskirts, and keeping her fingers crossed kept taking a general route that would lead her out of the place. Her pursuit was fairly dogged, managing to follow her through every back alley and even through a few buildings. Luck was with her in this chase; She didn’t run into any dead ends nor did her arm hurt her particularly. She had lived through much worse after all. But it wasn’t exactly the ideal situation for running from such a group; They seemed to gain more people every time they turned a corner. It seemed as though they were directly behind her as well, almost literally on her heels. However, eventually the number of habitable buildings began to dwindle, and, sure enough it seemed she was reaching the outskirts. Even so, her pursuit were being more diligent, apparently having spread out, as more and more sounds were coming from both sides of her. Every so often she would see one of her pursuers jumping from roof top to roof top only to be thwarted by a destroyed building in their path or simple lack of structure among the rooftops. She was flat out running now, determined to make the spot she had decided would be best for her stand.
Suddenly, she heard the rumbling, the same rumbling that she had heard heading into the city. It was louder now, apparently disturbed by the chase, even though they were doing no magic, which was strange if Allule guessed the nature of the beast correctly. But that rumbling, almost like an earth quake could not be mistaken… Suddenly Allule had an idea. She came to a dead stop and began fiddling with something in her bag. She really hoped this worked…
Charlie Smith had been hired by his nameless employer some months ago, on a good pay scale for doing relatively little. After all, moving boxes from one point on a map to another wasn’t so difficult. Had he known what was in the boxes, it might have been a different matter. But Charlie was never one to ask questions. Always quiet and never one for too terribly much thought, he had always accepted his job with no qualms, not a word to the contrary. He always assumed that if someone called him for a task that he was serving the better good. That was how it had always been.
And tonight’s job shouldn’t have been any more difficult. After all, he had had one like it before, once or twice, and normally it was the easiest job he got in his line of work. The job had been to sit at a bar and to wait for someone to ask a question, and then to remove the person from the premises, preferably forcefully. On the few occasions that Charlie had had to do this particular job before, the questions had always been fairly simple, such as whether one preferred ones alcohol shaken or stirred. Never the less, there had always been a low brow crook looking kind of guy who would ask the wrong question. Always been someone who’s presence the world would never miss. So when the Redhead had walked into the bar, he had never suspected that she’d be the one to ask the ‘question of the night’ as It was sometimes called when he was at the place of employ. He had also never known that the barkeep was in on the job as well until tonight. Then again, from what he cared to remember about the call to come in, it hadn’t sounded like his regular employer, even if the bar was the regular place.
He had almost wanted to question the job but had decided against it. After all, there wasn’t a better way to make money. And it was for a good cause. Always was. But now because of it he was out here searching for the redhead with a bunch of who knows what. Charlie was a human himself. He associated with those from other planes of existence on occasion, sure, and he didn’t really have anything against them in the long run… But sometimes they creeped him out. So when they spotted their target, just standing alone doing absolutely nothing he for one did not question it. She was in a fairly open space, no obvious structures in the immediate area. They had all been warned when the search had begun, albeit in hasty tones, that none of them were to approach her alone. She was, apparently a spell caster of some renown, and they had no casters among the search party, or at least none with any talent.
They had all formed a loose circle around the motionless figure in the center of the area and were closing in slowly but steadily. It was only when they were about a yard from the form when Charlie felt it. He thought that he was the first, although he was never really sure. The ground began rumbling, at first barely audible, but quickly getting loud enough to drown out every other noise in the area. A few people dived at the red head, but she crumpled to nothing more than dust as they landed on her. Then, quite suddenly, the ground opened up in the center of where their, now obviously fake, prey had been and a gigantic thing hopped out.
Allule cringed a little when the yells began, but didn’t stop walking towards the hill where she had spotted the big black wheeled thing that would carry her on her way. She had thought that the monster, whatever it had been, was attracted heavily to magic, so she had done the best thing she could think of to avoid her would be captors, creating a double of herself with Magic. Albeit, a double that couldn’t move or do anything else like that and a double that would fade when she got to a certain point away from it, but it was a creation that would serve her own purposes quite nicely. And, as she had hoped the residual magic in the creation had served to draw the guardian that was in the sand somehow or another to the spot. It had then done her dirty work for her, or so she assumed from the fact that the yells had pretty much stopped by this point.
Sighing a little, she reached the vehicle and opened the side panel, putting the sword back into its proper position on the magnetized plate. Then, closing that she reversed her jacket again so that the tan was showing and climbed back into the dark control center of the thing, the plates closing as she sat down and the familiar bright LED display popping back up. Silently the thing started up and Allule turned it around, pointing it back in the direction it had come from. She had come all this way to learn nothing. She hadn’t learned anything about the man in black, nor where he would be hiding, nor had she learned about his apparent accomplices. All she had managed to do was to kill a few people and see a friend die, neither of which had been at the top of her to-do list. And she was already late to Headquarters. She sighed at herself. It had certainly been a long time since she had screwed up this badly… Moments later, the vehicle took over control and she sunk back into the seat. She certainly needed a moment or two to herself to think things through before she reached the city. As she contemplated, the sun started to rise.
It was going to be a long day.

((This story is centric to the Seven Blades Time line, and is the start of the War of Prophecy. ))