A weathered warehouse loomed in the distance, its brick walls and rusty metal facade stretched miles on end. Boarded-up windows and a crooked, rusty sign, its words intelligible added to its air of neglect.
A single, flickering light cast eerie shadows inside, illuminating dusty crates and cobweb-covered boxes. The door, slightly open, creaked softly in the howling winds.
A lone figure sat motionless in one of the warehouse's many rooms. The room was impeccably neat and well maintained, a stark contrast to the rest of the building.
The room was sparse except for a single desk positioned centrally. The figure sat before it, surrounded by a lantern and multiple devices that occupied the table.
"Sir, no movement here. Walking back to check again" a voice echoed from one of the devices.
"Hmmm" the figure responded, almost impatiently.
Silence filled the room once more as it sat still.
A few minutes passed since the brief report, and the figure remained motionless, its arms crossed, simply waiting.
It didn't have to wait for too long when another device clicked before connecting,
"Sir!! Group 3 found dead in the left wing. What do we do sir?!" The voice was frantic as it relayed its report.
The figure's grip on its arms tightened, his expression unreadable.
'So he chose this route huh' it thought to itself before grabbing the device to respond.
"Group 1 and 2 should -"
Another voice chimed in, interrupting the figure,
"Sir! Group 9 found dead in the right wing"
"What?" The figure stood abruptly at the new report, it's eyes narrowing as its thoughts raced.
'How?!'
Each group was numbered and stationed in descending order, arranged systematically with the route they occupied. Groups 1-4 occupied route 1, 5-8 occupied route 2 and so on. It didn't make sense for two groups to fall so far apart from each other, this soon.
'Is he not alone?'
"Sir Gab, what do we do?!!!" The voice behind the device snapped him out of his thoughts. He quickly reined himself in before addressing them,
"1-3 regroup with each other, keep your eyes peeled for the target.
"Yes sir!"
"10-12, tell the others in the route that the target is close by, chase after him and get back to me"
"Yes sir!"
With a click, the device disconnected, and Gab was alone with his thoughts once more.
"Something is off"
15 minutes before the report was made to Gab, Arthur lay in ambush, shrouded in the darkness of a deserted alleyway, watching a pair of soldiers patrolling the area. The rain had stopped and the winds had calmed down, casting an errie silence over the streets of Eduard. Except for the few homeless huddled in random spots, the streets were barren, a stark contrast to the bustling crowds that filled them hours before.
The soldiers, clad in armour and swords positioned at their waists, moved cautiously, their footsteps echoing off the buildings.
"Sir, no movement here. Walking back to check again." A soldier spoke into a device, his voice low and steady.
A low, contemplative "Hmmm" echoed from the other side, confirming their report.
"C'mon, let's go" the soldier spoke up once more as they turned around and walked away, oblivious to Arthur's presence.
'So that's how the news spread so fast,' Arthur thought to himself, a spark of confidence igniting within him. 'This really might be doable.'
With a deep breath, Arthur fell into step behind them, keeping a safe distance.
"I'm so tired, I just wanna sleep" a soldier complained, holding a lantern that cast flickering shadows on the ground.
"You would have been awake for night watch anyways, what's the difference" his partner replied, stopping momentarily to glance around, the darkness seeming to swallow him whole.
" Yeah, but at least we were stationed at one place. Not having to walk this much, I'm sick of it. Aren't you?"
The soldier's voice trailed off as he turned to his partner, but there was only silence. He stopped dead in his tracks, the lantern's light casting an eerie glow on his face as he turned around. But there was no one there.
"Yeah yeah, stop with your jokes and come out already" he called out, but once more, he got no response.
Panic began to set in as the man's eyes darted around, searching for his partner.
"Hey man, it's not funny", his voice panicked, cracking slightly as he took a step back, the lantern shaking in his hands.
Clang!
His head snapped in the direction of the noise, the darkness seeming to stretch endlessly.
"Dammit dude, sto-" his voice stopped abruptly as a hand clamped over mouth.
"Mhmmmmmm" he tried to scream through the gag but it was muffled and desperate.
A searing pain shot across his neck, as a dagger sliced through, releasing a warm gush of blood.
Tears streamed down his face as he struggled to break free, the lantern slipping from his grasp and crashing to the ground, its light extinguished, plunging the area into darkness. He punched, kicked, clawed but it was of no use. The metallic smell of his own blood filled his nostrils, making his stomach churn. His vision began to blur, then blacken, as the life drained out of him.
Thud!
Arthur released his grip on the soldier letting him fall to the ground.
''I really don't like how familiar this feels." Arthur muttered to himself as he looked at the men he had assassinated; their lifeless bodies, a shiver running down his spine as he struggled to shake of the unsettling feeling.
"Sigh, I'll worry about that later"
With that he bent down and began searching the man's body. His hands moved swiftly, and soon, exclaimed triumphantly
"A-ha! found it!"
Arthur examined the object in his hands, his eyes tracing the contours of its cuboid shape. Pulsating veins, like dark, ethereal tendrils, wrapped around the edges, converging at the core, a dim crystalline center. The texture was rough and slimy, sending shivers down Arthur's spine as he held it, the sensation evoking a mix of disgust and curiosity.
"Just how does this work? It glowed when this guy held it."
Arthur held the item towards the soldier's hand and the crystal within it flaired, casting a deep, ominous crimson glow.
"It's connected to him?" Arthur's brow furrowed, his mind racing with implications.
"I can think of that problem later, right now I need to focus."
With a deep breath, Arthur grasped the soldier's hand, his dagger slicing through the wrist with a disturbing crunch of flesh and bone. The sound sent a shiver down his spine, but he didn't flinch. He continued until the hand was severed, then ripped off some of the corpse's clothes to fashion a makeshift tourniquet, stemming the blood flow. "From my observation, these guys are the third group in this wing. I need to let the others know they're dead and make a report."
5 minutes before the report, two more soldiers, clad in worn leather armor, emerged from the shadows of the left wing, their eyes scanning the darkness for any sign of their quarry. One soldier held a lantern in one hand and a crossbow in the other, while his partner gripped a sword, with eyes fixed intently on the path ahead.
Clank!
The sudden, jarring sound sent their heads jerking toward its source. There, a blurred figure was momentarily spotted before it burst into a sprint.
"AFTER HIMMMM!!!" the swordman bellowed, his voice echoing off the walls as they both gave chase.
WOOSH!
An arrow was fired at the figure but it made a sharp corner just in time, avoiding it by mere inches. The arrow missed, embedding itself in the wall with a loud thud.
The soldiers rushed around the cornersl, scanning the area frantically but there was no sign of the figure.
"Dammit! Where'd he go" the ranger exclaimed, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath.
"Let's search the area, he couldn't have gotten too far", the swordman suggested, his partner nodding in agreement as they began their search.
The men moved stealthily through the streets, their ears strained to detect the slightest noise, their eyes scouring every shadowy silhouette. The ranger led the way, the lantern's faint light casting eerie shadows on the walls as he navigated the darkness.
"What the -" the ranger whispered abruptly, his voice trembling as he peered around a corner, his gaze frozen.
"Hey, move it," The swordsman commanded impatiently, walking through the corner, but his stride abruptly halted as he took in the same sight, his eyes widening in shock.
Two of their allies lay dead, soaked in their own blood. The bodies desecrated, with body parts and organs ripped from their torsos. Their eyes frozen in a permanent stare, a haunting testament to the terror they endured before their brutal murder. "Dammit!" the ranger exclaimed, slamming his fist against the wall in a fit of rage. His partner remained silent, his jaw clenched and his grip on his sword tightening to the point of his knuckles turning white. He approached the fallen men, kneeling to gently close their eyes, a solemn act of respect for his slain comrades.
"I'll kill that son of a b***h." Rage and venom laced his voice, his words trailing off into a deadly vow.
As the ranger watched his partner and fallen comrades, anger bubbled within him as well. He reached into his pocket and grabbed the communication device, holding the crystal. He spoke into it, "Sir!! Group 3 found dead in the left wing. What do we do sir?!"
Arthur sat and watched the men from the roof of a nearby building, his gaze calculating as he observed their actions. He had mutilated the bodies in order to get a rise out of them, ensuring they wouldn't discover he had stolen from them.
He held onto the severed hand and placed the device in it, bringing it close to his mouth, "Sir!! Group 9 found dead in the right wing", a sly smile spread across his face as he spoke.