447 CHPT 447: Into the Inferno...
Early Morning, Monday February 2nd, 2241.
The last Full Moon was successful. In many ways more successful than any of the others by miles. He stopped history from repeating itself. His will to change the events laid out before him under the predatory beacon was enough to save him. But more importantly, to save Ursula. She wouldn't have to wake up knowing she murdered and ate a team of Heroes for nothing more than a misunderstanding-- a product of society bathed in blacks and whites. They were in the grey. Troubles were born from that; Claude could combat them for her. For everyone. It was uplifting. To see himself as a Potential, was uplifting in those moments.
And when they woke up after a night of hunting and socializing, they had evolved. The way of all Lunar-Bound Shifters. Monthly evolution. Claude had now felt the embrace of four Lunar Evolutions. He'd hoped for many more. As many more as it would take to get his many jobs done.
Jobs like the one that was only hours away. Rising in prominence with the ascent of the sun. He could feel its heat take human form. Like a raging titan looming over him, screaming louder as the air grew hotter. The moisture rode the winds like lava.
Good thing Claude could take the heat. Because if he could, then so would they....
***
"Anyone got the time....? Buying a clock should've been mandatory, hm?" Rollan asked while tending to the garden growing on the side of the treehouse built around Claude's fathers cabin.
"Horses are still riding into town..... it's few and far between, but no carriages. I can still smell the iron and ichor of Monster flesh. Fresh-- relatively. Night Runners are heading back into the city to cash in on missions meaning it's probably no later than five." Claude replied while he sparred with Canis.
"I think the sun would have to agre--" Cassidy's reply fell short due to Ursula's fist connecting with his face nearby.
"Hot damn, girl-- no breaks?"
Ursula kept her hands up as she bounced around in the grass and shrugged, "I'm sorry. I'm nervous-- is nobody else nervous? This plan is..... it's insane right?"
Rollan chuckled while using a root manipulated from the earth to cut designs into the ground around his garden, "Look around, Madame. Are we not insane, hm?... at least in the eyes of many."
Ursula rolled her hulking shoulders in irritation, "Don't make me think right now, I'll have a stroke."
"Ah-- who will I teach the Camican art of Boxing to if you do that?" Cassidy jokingly added before unleashing a one two combo on Ursula.
Ursula activated her skill, (Adhesive Resistance) and felt Cassidy's high speed punches slip past her face and shoulders like she was covered in oil.
"Do Banshee's make good boxers?" She hammered a jab into his stomach.
"Ugh....maybe..."
Ma didn't stop singing. She didn't seem to be interested in the blood sport of boxing as she floated over the garden Rollan tended to. Who knew, maybe she was more interested in the practice of Druidry.
"What about you, Monsieur? How are you feeling about the plan so close to its execution, hm?" Rollan asked.
"[Poor choice of words, I'm afraid.]" Arne commented.
FWOO!
Canis swung his glowing white stone sword at Claude's face.
He sidestepped and ducked as Piet's hooves soared overhead.
"It doesn't really matter how I feel. For days we've worked the angles. This is it." Claude replied.
"I see...." Rollan replied. "So, surrender?"
Canis and Piet charged him as a unified front.
Claude began backing away as he spun his spears, creating a shield of blurring blades. The two Satyr's hesitated.
Mistake. Claude slammed his spears together, followed by the nature beneath their feet grabbing hold of them.
In a blur Claude bolted after the Satyrs, kicking aside Piet to grab Canis from behind with his spear tip held at the young Satyr's extended jawline.
Piet recovered, getting up and snorting in frustration before lowering his horned head to him. Claude let go of Canis and rubbed the soft light brown fur covering his head with his knuckles.
He too turned to face Claude and dropped his head, horns now more visible than before. He'd grown.
As they looked up, Claude copied their movements. Sparring was over. Iron sharpens iron. Respect garners respect.
In those moments he thought on what Rollan had just said. Usually when he asked very direct and specific questions, it was for an equally specific reason. A lesson, an understanding. Not something to be told, but to be learned. No answer was wrong in this regard. It was a test.
Was he surrendering by saying the plan they'd created was all they had. Was he submitting to the process and going with the flow like a blade of grass in the wind? Was he afraid of pointing out its many faults only to find more in others?
"So, surrender?" Rollan's voice came again in his mind.
Claude shook his head as he stood up and bumped knuckles with the Satyr's, "Nope. Focus."
Rollan smiled as he stood up from the garden. freshly planted Spell Blooms were already coming to fruition along with a myriad of other medicinal herbs and plants.
"Very well, beast of beasts. Now, who will ride into the inferno with you, hm?"
***
"HAaaaah. Why did I take a double shift? I don't even need coin that bad." Ilka complained as she worked the counter of the SkyLight Guildhall.
"You took the double shift because you're a hero fanatic and you can't get enough of this place. Even if everyone's got shit attitudes and enough personal trauma to scar a Mental Healer." The woman working the counter with her replied.
Ilka sighed and ran her hands through her brown hair to put into a ponytail, "Yea.... I just think it's so interesting. All these people we see every day. Or even once a month. Every one of them can become the next... Ronin. The Next Lioness or Shadow King or wherever the hell. You know?"
The lady working the counter beside Ilka nodded passively as she gave the reward of quest completion to the last batch of Night Runners on their way out. The bags under her hazel eyes were visible even with all the makeup.
"So...." She started while looking at Ilka as the Night Runners left, "You're fascinated by the concept of potential?"
Ilka's eyes glimmered, "Absolutely."
"AH FUCK-- What the...?"
One of the Night Runners that just checked out yelled amidst his group as they left the building.
Ilka and her co-worker looked from the door to themselves before shrugging and preparing themselves for the entry of Daytime Heroes and Students heading to the University of the Pheonix. Another day another dol--
The door swung open. It was loud, maybe because there were so few people inside, maybe for some other reason beyond the physical realm.
Ilka shuddered. The first time she'd felt cold in months. It gripped her and didn't let up for a second until she was covered in goosebumps. Large shadows loomed from the size of the group entering the building.
In the silence, she still couldn't hear their footsteps. But she could feel the polished wood floor cave from the weight. That never happened.
"AHHHHH!!"
A lady cleaning the upper floor near the bordered off balcony to the right of Ilka screamed as she looked out over the Guildhall and doorway.
Ilka's head snapped back to the entrance as they entered along with everyone else in the room.
A man walked in causally. He wore a long coat fitted with a deep hood and held two short-spears at his back. The hood hid his face and splashed shadows over his high cheekbones and sharp jawline. She imagined he was devilishly handsome beneath the hood. The type of handsome you didn't want to take home and show your father. Winds blew and shined a light on the state-of-the-art AutoBows at his hip along with a Bounty Hunting badge.
Which happened to perfectly explain the man he dragged into the room with him.
He was tall. He towered over everyone in the room even as he walked with his head down, hidden in his dark cloak. All she could see was the black hair hanging from the hood. Long, silky, wild.... familiar.
Behind them both, a woman entered. Ilka only knew it was a woman due to the sway of the hips and chest. Otherwise she was as bulked and rugged as the two men ahead of her. A Monster skull armored her shoulder along with bits and pieces of knights armor elsewhere bordered by furs that looked like they were hacked off an animal minutes beforehand.
Ilka couldn't recognize the girl. Not with the mask covering the lower half of her face. She was physically imposing, tall and red headed. All standout traits that should've made her known.
Everything about the girl faded into irrelevance as a literal adolescent Dinosaur walked into the room, just barely fitting through the doorway.
"What the hell...?"
Beside the Primal with bunches of diamond-looking reinforced scales, a canine Monster of sorts trotted in. Oddly enough, when it looked to Ilka, it's tail wagged.
"Excuse me....?!!" Ilka's coworker shouted.
The Bounty Hunter stopped in front of them.
"What the hell is this?!"
Cassidy flashed his badge again, "I'm a Bounty Hunter with the Vada District Enforcers Guild. I'm under strict adjusted orders to reach the University of the Phoenix with all current members intact."
"Adjusted orders?"
Cassidy nodded, "Damn right, ma'am."
"Can I see some...OH MY GOD!" Ilka's coworker panicked as the Primal's massive head peered over the counter, sniffing at the two women with interest.
The handcuffed and cloaked man clicked his teeth and the Primal backed away as if pulled by an invisible rope.
Cassidy guessed what she was requesting and pulled out his ID.
Ilka grabbed it in place of her panicked friend and scanned it.
Cassidy Coldheart. Bounty Hunter and resident of the Vada District. Skilled Marksman. Former Military Affiliation. Age 35. Silver Rank (LV 35).
Alongside his ID, there were tags from different Districts he'd been to along with certification insignias that had Ilka's eyebrows reaching for her hairline.
"And you don't plan to collect your Bounty here? What does the University offer?"
"That is information I can only disclose with the Head of the University. Sorry, ma'am."
Ilka swallowed and nodded, "I-- I understand, sir. You look good to me, if you want you can request a Unit of Enforcers to trail you."
Ilka handed him his ID, "That's quite alright, ma'am. Believe it or not, these folks are innocent."
Cassidy flashed a sly grin at the two absolutely lost women and headed for the portal.
Everyone inside the Guildhall watched on in disbelieve as the bizarre group disappeared.
"You still want coffee?" Ilka asked her friend.
"....."
"Yea me neither."
BOOM!
The door was kicked open again.
Ilka's friend jumped once more before turning towards the new entrants with fury written all over her face.
"God dammit! I swear to god if another one of you super powered no manner having...." She trailed off after seeing it was a trio of students.
"My bad, miss. It's..... our friend isn't very home trained." The tallest of the trio answered shyly.
The friend the student referred to looked around the room at the front, "The only thing we need training in his combat."
The two boys behind her sighed as she led them by the hand to the front desk workers.
"Morning." Ilka started. She knew the girl. Maris. She wasn't much of a talker-- or a communicator in any regard to anyone other than the two boys beside her.
Isaac and Warren. She ran into them often at the end of her shifts... or start.
Maris looked at her, something more in her eyes than usual. "Where did the people with the oversized lizard go?"
"It's called a Primal, Maris. That one in particular was a Protartyrannus."
"What he said." Maris explained, "Where did it go and the people with it?"
Ilka answered, "They went where you're all headed. To the University."
Maris was dragging the two into the hall of portals before Ilka finished. She could hear the echoes of their conversation as they disappeared.
"WHY ARE WE STALKING PEOPLE??" Warren cried out.
"Because, I have a feeling."
As soon as Ilka heard the Portal absorb the trio, a group of Detectives flooded the room like hounds on the hunt.
They both just pointed down the hall.
