Your Choice
"But Junblem, I love you!" cried Hafte.
Around him the two, rain from the storm outside pelted the stage, giving the scene a solemn air. Imprints hidden in the walls kept the sound from being too oppressive, a light pitter-patter that provided a starch dichotomy to the fat raindrops from above.
"I'm sorry, Hafte," Junblem sobbed, her furry ears drooping with sadness. "But my family is won't let me see you anymore. They say humans are filthy creatures undeserving of life. Oh, if only they saw you as I do!"
"Then run away with me, Junblem!" Hafte insisted. "We'll elope, live the rest of our days together in a nice, quiet house where none can judge us."
"I'm afraid I cannot. My parents have Imprinted a tracking enchantment on my own tail! Goodbye, Hafte. We were always destined to be… Tail-Crossed Lovers."
Junblem walked off stage as Hafte sunk to the ground, tears pouring from his cheeks heavier than the rain itself.
The curtain closed, and Deodeky stood with the rest of the audience and gave raucous cheers, screaming so loudly Kravoss would've worried for her vocal cords if he hadn't been so mesmerized by the play.
'Is this what love is?' he wondered. 'Joy and laughter, destined to be snuffed out by the unrelenting tides of fate?'
Speaking of Fate, the Dracok's master was currently running through this storm to shake off a pursuer. He didn't spend much time thinking about it. If Fate needed help, he'd ask for it.
But just to be safe… 'You alright?' Kravoss asked.
'Fine,' Fate roared. 'Rain is loud, I can barely think!'
Kravoss shook his feathery head. Fate's thought volume was ridiculously loud, enough to give him a headache. 'Need any help?'
'Not much a Tier I Magical Beast can do against a Master,' Fate replied. 'I'm sure he's still following me, so don't try to catch up!'
"Kravoss, you okay?" Deodeky asked when she saw Kravoss' distant stare.
Kravoss pointed at Berny with a wing, then at Deodeky.
"Oh, something with Fate? Is he in trouble?" she asked, turning serious.
Kravoss nodded.
"Does he need help?"
A head shake.
"Are you sure?"
Nod.
"Then let's head home. I have classes in the morning."
Kravoss trotted after the human, mind spinning with the implications of what he had just learned. He wasn't thinking about Fate; if Fate said not to interfere, he meant it. And Kravoss knew his limits well. He'd get floored by this Black Dragon Master.
No, he was thinking about the play. And in doing so, his thoughts drifted to Pospo, the Familiar of the kitsubus Cait.
Like Junblem and Hafte, the two Magical Beasts had known each other since childhood. Like the humans and kitsubi during the play's time period – which was shortly after Settan's conquest of the demons and the known world – Dracoks and Kaleido cats hated each other.
Kravoss couldn't help but consider the question: did Pospo like him?
Fate gained a fresh burst of speed when the Academy gates loomed into view. He stepped into overdrive, running as fast as he possibly could, but it wasn't enough.
The assassin from the Black Dragon appeared in front of him, and Fate skidded to a stop, breathing heavily to catch his breath.
"Isn't the arrow supposed to be a warning?" Fate asked.
"For others, maybe. For me, it's a way to get the job done fast," the assassin said with the same smile he always wore. "No need to drag this out into a weeks-long affair when I can go home tonight."
"Must feel great, killing people barely into adulthood," Fate jabbed.
This particular street was empty, the gate not even having a guard stationed at it. Students would have to enter with their robes and Academy maps.
"I feel nothing one way or the other. It's all just money to me," the assassin replied. "Now, you can either hand over the antidote or I'll take it from your corpse. Your choice."
"I don't like either of those," Fate replied. "Is there a third option?"
The assassin disappeared, and Fate spun around, punching behind him. The fist was caught by the assassin with ease, who then kicked Fate in the stomach and sent him sprawling to the ground.
Fate coughed violently, his lunch trying to make its presence known. The force behind that kick was more than enough to shatter Fate's bones.
He could only count himself lucky that it was his stomach that had been struck, but as he dry-heaved and fought against his own body, he found it little consolation.
"Last chance," warned the assassin. "Hand it over."
"Go get it," Fate said, pulling an object out of his ring and tossing it as far as he could.
The assassin watched the object sail out of sight with a bored smirk, having no difficulty tracking it through the dark and the rain. "Did you think I'd fall for that? That was a Light."
Fate had thrown a coin in hopes of distracting the man, and that it did. As the assassin turned back, Fate was already ten feet away and booking it toward the Academy gates, kicking up water in his mad dash to escape.
He stepped forward, appearing in front of Fate with an admonishing finger wag, his smile still refusing to fade. The man was a devil in human skin, offering valuable things at horrible costs. And Fate was the unlucky customer that couldn't say no.
"You kids. Always trying to play hero. If you want to die so badly, then I'm not going to stop you."
He raised his hand and clenched it, Fate floating off the air and gasping for breath as his airways were forcefully closed. The Journeyman kicked and writhed in the air, trying to break free, and even threw his Mage Reach at the assassin's, to no avail.
Fate's Mana sputtered to life, turning him intangible, but that was as fruitless as everything else. He didn't relent, his Mage Reach pelting the assassin with invisible bullets. None seemed to have an effect on the man.
His smile remained calm and inviting, a killer who took lives with all of the tenderness of a mother tending to her child.