Motor City’s skies were as gloomy and overcast as ever. One couldn’t spot a single cloud in the sky, yet what should have been a normally vibrant and calming blue hue was replaced with the cold, colorless gray haze familiar to each and every person who called Motor City their hometown. Neyvahn had only been to the industry-driven city once before on a job with a fellow mage. He was on his own this time though, hunting down an illegal street racing circle somewhere in the city. Little information was known on these street rats. The most that Neyvahn’s client could give him was the fact that it started a little after midnight.
Neyvahn turned the corner of one busy street to another twice its size. The asphalt path filled with bumbling crowds was more than 80 feet wide, separating two sides of the city with its main highway. Large casinos, hotels, and restaurants lit up every inch of the street with an equally impressive noise level. “Jeez,” Neyvahn winced, covering his ears for a few seconds. “Remind me to never visit this place after dark again.”
With a tone-rich voice, Kei just chuckled a little. “After all these years being around Black Rose, and you’re still complaining about the noise?” Neyvahn didn’t bother to respond. He continued walking through the crowds towards the opposite side of the street. A busy road such as the main highway was not a likely route for street racers. They’d more than likely race in a low profile part of the town. With a quick scan around, Neyvahn began heading for the quieter side of the city.
After about thirty minutes of walking, Neyvahn made it to the darker, quieter part of town. Not nearly as many lights were on, and there were little to no vehicles around. No inns either. To Neyvahn, this seemed like the perfect place for a street race. No bright lights, no overabundance of pedestrians, and no sign of any vehicles. Even the roads were wide enough to accompany at least six vehicles driving side-by-side. It was all quiet enough for street racers to make all the noise, but that’s what bugged Neyvahn: Why was everything so quiet?
He expected some kind of human presence in the streets, even if it was a shady drug trade, but there was nothing. The most Neyvahn saw was the hint of a moving shadow in the alleyway. It was eerily quiet, Neyvahn’s soft footsteps only accompanied by the ever so gentle whisper of a breeze. Even Kei was getting unusually guarded.
“Brother? I don’t think this is the right part of town for us to be wandering in…” he said, each word barely rolling softly through Ney’s head.
“Where else would our targets be? All the other parts of town are too heavily littered with pedestrians or law enforcement,” Neyvahn replied. “They can race here without much danger of being caught... and jailed…” The man’s words slowed as his eyes scanned ahead. Something was on the road, sprawled out about 50 meters ahead of him. Neyvahn took another step forward, this one more hesitant than the last. “Uhh… Kei, are you seeing this?”
Kei didn’t answer. Regardless, Neyvahn continued closer, the thing’s shape gradually becoming more detailed and defined in the dim midnight lighting. Even immediately after he saw the thing on the road, Neyvahn had his suspicions as to what it was. Once Neyvahn was within 15 meters of the object, he finally realized what it was, confirming his suspicions. A body.
Neyvahn ran forward and slid down next to the lifeless corpse. It was the body of a man a little younger than him, although one could argue. The man’s skin was shriveled up, wrinkled like an elder in their 80s, his hair, probably full of volume and color before, was now fading into a dead grey, crinkling and falling apart, and his eyes… fogged over entirely like they were milky orbs with no irises, no pupils.
“What the…?” The silver-haired man looked over the victim, not even daring the touch the raisin of a body. “Kei, any ideas?”
“It looks like something straight up sucked the life out of him and took his energy,” the voice in his head said.
After a few seconds of thinking, an idea slithered its way into Neyvahn’s head. “Well then the culprit should be easy to track. He’ll have a large energy signature in a very low-energy environment.” The blues of Neyvahn’s irises began to glow a vibrant light as he looked over the body. To the naked eye, nothing was different except for Neyvahn’s eyes. To Neyvahn’s eyes however, everything faded from the regular scale of colors to a saturated warm-cold scale. Thermal sight that detected even the smallest difference in light energy. The body in front of him was blue-cold, and any sign of energy from it was taken. However, Neyvahn could easily spot the trail to whatever took that energy from the victim. A blue-green trail, just recent enough to give him a direction to go in.
Neyvahn stood up from his kneeling position and sprinted in the direction of the trail. It trailed down the road for a few more blocks until it branched off through a narrow alleyway that separated two short apartment complexes, and the trail was getting stronger the entire time. By the time Neyvahn had made his way into the alleyway, it had changed from a cool blue-green to a lukewarm yellow. He was gaining ground, but not nearly as fast as he was hoping.
“Try the roofs,” Kei suggested. “You’d probably be able to bypass the trail and find the source.”
With a satisfied grin, Neyvahn quickly changed direction and used the fire escape of one of the apartment buildings to make his way to the top. “Our killer is probably shining like a beacon. That man back there was young, probably full of energy. Consuming something like that would make more than just a glow.” Neyvahn leaped the last level onto the concrete roof.
It only took him a few glances to find their target. As he thought, Neyvahn could easily spot the red-hot signature the killer was giving off about 40 meters away. Swiftly and quietly, Neyvahn bounced from roof to roof. Occasionally flashing from one spot to another across a large gap. He was only 10 meters from his target now. A few more buildings and he’d be right on top of him.
Neyvahn pushed for those last 10 meters and leaped off of the building towards the energy source. With only a foot or two to spare, Neyvahn landed gracefully in front of the runner and unsheathed his sword, deactivating his thermal sense. “Surrender now. Don’t force me to put you down,” the mage said.
In response, the culprit just growled and snarled. He was a man in his mid 20s with semi-long white hair tied back with an elastic band, piercing green eyes, and a tall, muscled physique that easily shadowed Neyvahn’s. Combat boots, cargo pants, tank top… and two hunting knives in their sheathes at his belt. The man’s fists were clenched right next to the weapons, uncomfortably close. Neyvahn got the sneaking suspicion that he wasn’t the kind to surrender.
“Long time, no see, nephew,” the man hissed. “Look how little you’ve grown.”
Neyvahn raised an eyebrow and leaned on one hip. “Gonna have to try harder than that. You’d be one poor ass uncle to be wearing diapers at the same time as your nephew.”
The man in front of Neyvahn laughed heartily, his arms raising up into a folded position across his chest. “Don’t flatter yourself. You have lived half the time that I have, Neyvahn.”
“Wha-!?” Neyvahn’s emotional state began to turn sour, but Kei did what he could to keep it intact.
“Brother, keep your composure as best as you can. This man, whether he knows us or not, is trying to catch you off guard. Keep yourself focused.”
With Kei’s quick reality check, Neyvahn tightened the grip on his sword’s hilt. “You’re playing a dangerous game, ‘uncle.’ You’re gonna hurt yourself.”
“It won’t be myself that I’ll be hurting,” the man said, his hands resting on the hunting knives. “Now come give Uncle Kaji a hug!” He leaped forward at Neyvahn, swinging his right knife at the boy’s throat. With only enough speed to dodge the attack, Neyvahn lurched backwards and took a steady stance with his sword in front of him. Kaji threw another wild swing with the other knife at Neyvahn’s chest, but the attack was blocked by Ney’s sword.
To take down Kaji, Neyvahn would first have to create an opening. “Ardeo.” He thrusted his left hand forward, only a few inches from Kaji’s face. The palm of it suddenly erupted with a quick, bright light that temporarily blinded and stunned Neyvahn’s opponent.
Kaji stumbled back with a quick yelp. “Why you little-!” He was cut short with a swift roundhouse kick to the face that knocked him right off his feet. Neyvahn didn’t give him any room to recover.
“Dura Lux.” He blasted a ray of focused light right into Kaji’s back while he was on the ground, illuminating everything in the street.
“Aaagh!” The intense delivery of ultraviolet rays left Kaji’s skin sizzling.
The silver-haired dragon slayer walked to Kaji and pulled him up by his collar, the hunting knives dropping to the ground. “Now… you’re going to tell me a few things,” Neyvahn growled, forcing Kaji close to get his point across. “If you really are my uncle, then where is everybody else?”
Kaji didn’t answer right away. He only laughed amusedly.
Neyvahn wasn’t in the mood and dragged Kaji to a wall, slamming the man’s head against it. “I don’t know you, whether you’re my uncle or not. If you don’t respond to me after I ask a question, then I won’t hesitate to-”
Kaji reached up and grasped Neyvahn’s wrist, a slight glow shining at the point of contact. “Hesitate to what?” Suddenly, Ney’s strength began to fade. His muscles began to whine as if they had been exercised non-stop.
Kei cursed under his breath. “Drain magic! Get him off!”
Neyvahn instantly understood and fought to release contact from Kaji. The action was futile. Kaji leaned off of the wall and looked Neyvahn in the eye. “Your mother was selfish to think that she could hide you from me, to hide what was rightfully mine.” Neyvahn’s fatigue continued to grow. “That telekinesis you were born with? It was meant to be passed to the eldest… want to guess who that was?”
Barely focusing on Kaji’s words, Neyvahn fought hard to get back from his supposed uncle. “Let me guess, my mother?”
Kaji kneed his nephew in the stomach and tossed him to the ground. “Rrgh, NO YOU BLIND BASTARD!!” Kaji shouted. “THAT TELEKINESIS WAS RIGHTFULLY MINE, BUT YOUR MOTHER KEPT IT FROM ME, EVEN GOING AS FAR AS TO PASS IT ON TO YOU INSTEAD… and- and that bitch had the audacity to hide you from me!?” Neyvahn took a breath, sitting up while Kaji continued to laugh psychotically. “Well… at least I can say that she got what she deserved.”
Neyvahn froze.
“... What do you mean?”
Kaji walked to his knives and grabbed them, rubbing the blades with the fabric of his cargo pants. “To put it simply, you weren’t the first one I would’ve killed with these knives.”
…
Neither Neyvahn nor Kei had any words to say. The dots connected in Neyvahn’s head, the entire picture coming into his view. Kaji... his own uncle… was the reason that he was an orphan… the reason he had no family to speak of… no mother… And he still wanted to take more from Neyvahn.
“... b-but…” Kei stuttered, unable to manage anything. Neyvahn’s heart was stuck in his throat, preventing him from even uttering a word. Only his jaw was able to open and close, completely inaudible.
Then he snapped. Neyvahn’s body flashed white before disappearing then reappearing mere inches in front of Kaji. He swung his sword low and angled it upwards towards the man’s shoulder. However, Kaji’s little energy drain gave him enough energy to easily dodge the attack, countering with his own slice at Ney’s shoulder. The cut went deep, causing Neyvahn to wince a little and drop his sword.
Kaji went in for another strike, instead going for a stab to the lungs this time. With a quick strafe to the right, Neyvahn thrusted his uninjured arm forwards and planted it right into Kaji’s stomach. “Cassa!” Kaji looked up, but Neyvahn was nowhere to be seen. A sharp sensation forced his head to turn one way, before another invisible force slammed into his chest. Neyvahn had bent the light around him, rendering him completely invisible to the untrained eye. Even though invisible however, Kaji could sense Neyvahn’s anger. The nephew would continue to slam into Kaji and drain him of his strength.
“Selfish!” Right hook to the kidney.
“Ignorant!” Leg sweep and an arm lock.
“Stubborn!”
Snap
“AAGH!” Kaji screamed as his elbow pushed and snapped passed its breaking point. Neyvahn's body reappeared with a white flash as he slammed his heel down on the man’s shoulder blade and pulled harder, dislocating the arm completely.
“You never deserved anything! Nothing was EVER rightfully yours!” The infuriated bakeneko gripped his sword and pointed it down towards Kaji’s neck. "Even your life became forfeit the moment you claimed another’s.”
Kaji just laid face down on the asphalt. A soft chuckle slipped out of his lips, gradually growing into a hoarse cackle. “Then yours shall become forfeit soon enough.” Kaji’s body flashed quickly and brightly for only a fraction of a second, then the light faded away. When it did, Kaji was nowhere to be found. Neyvahn tried to find him with his thermal sight, but everything was too scrambled. Neyvahn growled, stabbing his sword into the space where Kaji’s neck used to be.
“What the hell was that!?” he said.
After what felt like ages, Kei finally spoke up, malice and hatred plaguing his voice as he spoke.
“It was mom’s killer.”
Neyvahn turned the corner of one busy street to another twice its size. The asphalt path filled with bumbling crowds was more than 80 feet wide, separating two sides of the city with its main highway. Large casinos, hotels, and restaurants lit up every inch of the street with an equally impressive noise level. “Jeez,” Neyvahn winced, covering his ears for a few seconds. “Remind me to never visit this place after dark again.”
With a tone-rich voice, Kei just chuckled a little. “After all these years being around Black Rose, and you’re still complaining about the noise?” Neyvahn didn’t bother to respond. He continued walking through the crowds towards the opposite side of the street. A busy road such as the main highway was not a likely route for street racers. They’d more than likely race in a low profile part of the town. With a quick scan around, Neyvahn began heading for the quieter side of the city.
_oOo_
After about thirty minutes of walking, Neyvahn made it to the darker, quieter part of town. Not nearly as many lights were on, and there were little to no vehicles around. No inns either. To Neyvahn, this seemed like the perfect place for a street race. No bright lights, no overabundance of pedestrians, and no sign of any vehicles. Even the roads were wide enough to accompany at least six vehicles driving side-by-side. It was all quiet enough for street racers to make all the noise, but that’s what bugged Neyvahn: Why was everything so quiet?
He expected some kind of human presence in the streets, even if it was a shady drug trade, but there was nothing. The most Neyvahn saw was the hint of a moving shadow in the alleyway. It was eerily quiet, Neyvahn’s soft footsteps only accompanied by the ever so gentle whisper of a breeze. Even Kei was getting unusually guarded.
“Brother? I don’t think this is the right part of town for us to be wandering in…” he said, each word barely rolling softly through Ney’s head.
“Where else would our targets be? All the other parts of town are too heavily littered with pedestrians or law enforcement,” Neyvahn replied. “They can race here without much danger of being caught... and jailed…” The man’s words slowed as his eyes scanned ahead. Something was on the road, sprawled out about 50 meters ahead of him. Neyvahn took another step forward, this one more hesitant than the last. “Uhh… Kei, are you seeing this?”
Kei didn’t answer. Regardless, Neyvahn continued closer, the thing’s shape gradually becoming more detailed and defined in the dim midnight lighting. Even immediately after he saw the thing on the road, Neyvahn had his suspicions as to what it was. Once Neyvahn was within 15 meters of the object, he finally realized what it was, confirming his suspicions. A body.
Neyvahn ran forward and slid down next to the lifeless corpse. It was the body of a man a little younger than him, although one could argue. The man’s skin was shriveled up, wrinkled like an elder in their 80s, his hair, probably full of volume and color before, was now fading into a dead grey, crinkling and falling apart, and his eyes… fogged over entirely like they were milky orbs with no irises, no pupils.
“What the…?” The silver-haired man looked over the victim, not even daring the touch the raisin of a body. “Kei, any ideas?”
“It looks like something straight up sucked the life out of him and took his energy,” the voice in his head said.
After a few seconds of thinking, an idea slithered its way into Neyvahn’s head. “Well then the culprit should be easy to track. He’ll have a large energy signature in a very low-energy environment.” The blues of Neyvahn’s irises began to glow a vibrant light as he looked over the body. To the naked eye, nothing was different except for Neyvahn’s eyes. To Neyvahn’s eyes however, everything faded from the regular scale of colors to a saturated warm-cold scale. Thermal sight that detected even the smallest difference in light energy. The body in front of him was blue-cold, and any sign of energy from it was taken. However, Neyvahn could easily spot the trail to whatever took that energy from the victim. A blue-green trail, just recent enough to give him a direction to go in.
Neyvahn stood up from his kneeling position and sprinted in the direction of the trail. It trailed down the road for a few more blocks until it branched off through a narrow alleyway that separated two short apartment complexes, and the trail was getting stronger the entire time. By the time Neyvahn had made his way into the alleyway, it had changed from a cool blue-green to a lukewarm yellow. He was gaining ground, but not nearly as fast as he was hoping.
“Try the roofs,” Kei suggested. “You’d probably be able to bypass the trail and find the source.”
With a satisfied grin, Neyvahn quickly changed direction and used the fire escape of one of the apartment buildings to make his way to the top. “Our killer is probably shining like a beacon. That man back there was young, probably full of energy. Consuming something like that would make more than just a glow.” Neyvahn leaped the last level onto the concrete roof.
It only took him a few glances to find their target. As he thought, Neyvahn could easily spot the red-hot signature the killer was giving off about 40 meters away. Swiftly and quietly, Neyvahn bounced from roof to roof. Occasionally flashing from one spot to another across a large gap. He was only 10 meters from his target now. A few more buildings and he’d be right on top of him.
Neyvahn pushed for those last 10 meters and leaped off of the building towards the energy source. With only a foot or two to spare, Neyvahn landed gracefully in front of the runner and unsheathed his sword, deactivating his thermal sense. “Surrender now. Don’t force me to put you down,” the mage said.
In response, the culprit just growled and snarled. He was a man in his mid 20s with semi-long white hair tied back with an elastic band, piercing green eyes, and a tall, muscled physique that easily shadowed Neyvahn’s. Combat boots, cargo pants, tank top… and two hunting knives in their sheathes at his belt. The man’s fists were clenched right next to the weapons, uncomfortably close. Neyvahn got the sneaking suspicion that he wasn’t the kind to surrender.
“Long time, no see, nephew,” the man hissed. “Look how little you’ve grown.”
Neyvahn raised an eyebrow and leaned on one hip. “Gonna have to try harder than that. You’d be one poor ass uncle to be wearing diapers at the same time as your nephew.”
The man in front of Neyvahn laughed heartily, his arms raising up into a folded position across his chest. “Don’t flatter yourself. You have lived half the time that I have, Neyvahn.”
“Wha-!?” Neyvahn’s emotional state began to turn sour, but Kei did what he could to keep it intact.
“Brother, keep your composure as best as you can. This man, whether he knows us or not, is trying to catch you off guard. Keep yourself focused.”
With Kei’s quick reality check, Neyvahn tightened the grip on his sword’s hilt. “You’re playing a dangerous game, ‘uncle.’ You’re gonna hurt yourself.”
“It won’t be myself that I’ll be hurting,” the man said, his hands resting on the hunting knives. “Now come give Uncle Kaji a hug!” He leaped forward at Neyvahn, swinging his right knife at the boy’s throat. With only enough speed to dodge the attack, Neyvahn lurched backwards and took a steady stance with his sword in front of him. Kaji threw another wild swing with the other knife at Neyvahn’s chest, but the attack was blocked by Ney’s sword.
To take down Kaji, Neyvahn would first have to create an opening. “Ardeo.” He thrusted his left hand forward, only a few inches from Kaji’s face. The palm of it suddenly erupted with a quick, bright light that temporarily blinded and stunned Neyvahn’s opponent.
Kaji stumbled back with a quick yelp. “Why you little-!” He was cut short with a swift roundhouse kick to the face that knocked him right off his feet. Neyvahn didn’t give him any room to recover.
“Dura Lux.” He blasted a ray of focused light right into Kaji’s back while he was on the ground, illuminating everything in the street.
“Aaagh!” The intense delivery of ultraviolet rays left Kaji’s skin sizzling.
The silver-haired dragon slayer walked to Kaji and pulled him up by his collar, the hunting knives dropping to the ground. “Now… you’re going to tell me a few things,” Neyvahn growled, forcing Kaji close to get his point across. “If you really are my uncle, then where is everybody else?”
Kaji didn’t answer right away. He only laughed amusedly.
Neyvahn wasn’t in the mood and dragged Kaji to a wall, slamming the man’s head against it. “I don’t know you, whether you’re my uncle or not. If you don’t respond to me after I ask a question, then I won’t hesitate to-”
Kaji reached up and grasped Neyvahn’s wrist, a slight glow shining at the point of contact. “Hesitate to what?” Suddenly, Ney’s strength began to fade. His muscles began to whine as if they had been exercised non-stop.
Kei cursed under his breath. “Drain magic! Get him off!”
Neyvahn instantly understood and fought to release contact from Kaji. The action was futile. Kaji leaned off of the wall and looked Neyvahn in the eye. “Your mother was selfish to think that she could hide you from me, to hide what was rightfully mine.” Neyvahn’s fatigue continued to grow. “That telekinesis you were born with? It was meant to be passed to the eldest… want to guess who that was?”
Barely focusing on Kaji’s words, Neyvahn fought hard to get back from his supposed uncle. “Let me guess, my mother?”
Kaji kneed his nephew in the stomach and tossed him to the ground. “Rrgh, NO YOU BLIND BASTARD!!” Kaji shouted. “THAT TELEKINESIS WAS RIGHTFULLY MINE, BUT YOUR MOTHER KEPT IT FROM ME, EVEN GOING AS FAR AS TO PASS IT ON TO YOU INSTEAD… and- and that bitch had the audacity to hide you from me!?” Neyvahn took a breath, sitting up while Kaji continued to laugh psychotically. “Well… at least I can say that she got what she deserved.”
Neyvahn froze.
“... What do you mean?”
Kaji walked to his knives and grabbed them, rubbing the blades with the fabric of his cargo pants. “To put it simply, you weren’t the first one I would’ve killed with these knives.”
…
Neither Neyvahn nor Kei had any words to say. The dots connected in Neyvahn’s head, the entire picture coming into his view. Kaji... his own uncle… was the reason that he was an orphan… the reason he had no family to speak of… no mother… And he still wanted to take more from Neyvahn.
“... b-but…” Kei stuttered, unable to manage anything. Neyvahn’s heart was stuck in his throat, preventing him from even uttering a word. Only his jaw was able to open and close, completely inaudible.
Then he snapped. Neyvahn’s body flashed white before disappearing then reappearing mere inches in front of Kaji. He swung his sword low and angled it upwards towards the man’s shoulder. However, Kaji’s little energy drain gave him enough energy to easily dodge the attack, countering with his own slice at Ney’s shoulder. The cut went deep, causing Neyvahn to wince a little and drop his sword.
Kaji went in for another strike, instead going for a stab to the lungs this time. With a quick strafe to the right, Neyvahn thrusted his uninjured arm forwards and planted it right into Kaji’s stomach. “Cassa!” Kaji looked up, but Neyvahn was nowhere to be seen. A sharp sensation forced his head to turn one way, before another invisible force slammed into his chest. Neyvahn had bent the light around him, rendering him completely invisible to the untrained eye. Even though invisible however, Kaji could sense Neyvahn’s anger. The nephew would continue to slam into Kaji and drain him of his strength.
“Selfish!” Right hook to the kidney.
“Ignorant!” Leg sweep and an arm lock.
“Stubborn!”
Snap
“AAGH!” Kaji screamed as his elbow pushed and snapped passed its breaking point. Neyvahn's body reappeared with a white flash as he slammed his heel down on the man’s shoulder blade and pulled harder, dislocating the arm completely.
“You never deserved anything! Nothing was EVER rightfully yours!” The infuriated bakeneko gripped his sword and pointed it down towards Kaji’s neck. "Even your life became forfeit the moment you claimed another’s.”
Kaji just laid face down on the asphalt. A soft chuckle slipped out of his lips, gradually growing into a hoarse cackle. “Then yours shall become forfeit soon enough.” Kaji’s body flashed quickly and brightly for only a fraction of a second, then the light faded away. When it did, Kaji was nowhere to be found. Neyvahn tried to find him with his thermal sight, but everything was too scrambled. Neyvahn growled, stabbing his sword into the space where Kaji’s neck used to be.
“What the hell was that!?” he said.
After what felt like ages, Kei finally spoke up, malice and hatred plaguing his voice as he spoke.
“It was mom’s killer.”
