1.14 Slaughter Part 5

Gears glances over his shoulder at Protector. Both of them are in their armour and are out looking for Sinister Man.

“Thanks for coming Protector,” says Gears as they fly through the air, “It means a lot to have somebody at my back. Especially after this morning incidents.”

“Don’t worry about it,” replies Protector before his deep voices turns solemn, “I know what it is like to have a supervillain break into your home.”

Aquiline broke into Cain’s house the day he manifested.

He had it worse than we did.      

Aye, no powers, his family at home and multiple supervillains.

“You had it worse,” points out Gears.

“Guardian saved us,” replies Protector with a slight shrug, “Plus Aquiline has been staying away from up here.”

Gears thinks about the first supervillain that he and Guardian fought together. Assumed dead, Aquiline revealed himself to be alive once Guardian’s “death” became known to the public.

Since then, Aquiline has formed himself a team of superpowered psychotic serial killers known as the Slaughter Seven. Aquiline ditched his old teammates of Krystal and Techni-Hurt.

Now he has Demonica, an Abnormal with “Dark Magic” alongside several other powers, as his second-in-command.

Murder Wolf, a vicious teleporting wolfman, and Murderiser, an invisible Bellator, are his main combatants while Hackjob and Necromantress form support. Hackjob is a gadgeteer specialising in biology while Necromantress can bring back the dead as different types of “Undead”.

Friend is the last member of the group and is able to convince those around him that he is a friend or ally.

And all of them are A Class with the exception of Aquiline, who is unrated with his exact powers still an unknown.

And let’s not forget all of those lackeys who follow them around. Slaughter ‘Seven’ my arse. There is about twenty to thirty of them.

At least Aquiline has drawn most of the country’s powered pyschos to him.

Now remind me, is that a good or bad thing?

But while the Slaughter Seven have been terrorising the rest of the country, they have left the states around Lake Michigan alone.

“Guardian certainly made a lasting impression on Aquiline,” notes Leo.

Not only has Aquiline waited until Guardian’s death before revealing himself and is still avoiding the area around Guardian’s territory, but Aquiline has completely geared himself to counter Guardian.  The sociopath has completely eschewed electronic devices as well as devices with any sort mechanisms such as guns.

Even the public has picked up on Aquiline’s fear of Guardian. Several news reporters and bloggers have mentioned it. Not it has done anything helpful, but it has increased Guardian’s reputation due to massive kill count that Aquiline and his Slaughter Seven have been racking up.

“So what sort of powers does the Sinister Man have again,” asks Protector.

“Are you still watching the video?” replies Gears.

“Oh yeah,” says Protector, “Now I’m not. I’m starting to remember him better.”

Due to his adaptive ability, Leo figured that Cain would slowly become immune to Sinister Man’s memory forgetting ability, become more resistance each time it happens. And it has proved correct as Protector is able to remember Sinister Man after watching the video of the parahuman a multitude of times.

Cain’s adaptive ability has made him quite powerful as the power alters his body like the Enhanced power does rather than gain new powers. And in the months since he manifested, Cain has been training his ability every day.

In fact, Cain is now a D Class to D+ Class in most physical abilities with his regeneration being somewhere between D+ Class and C- Class.

I wonder how strong Cain will get.

Perhaps there is an upper limit on how strong he can get?

He would be so overpowered if he weren’t.

Yes, he is already half-immune to power nullification due to the nature of his adaptations.

I’m just glad he is one of the good guys with such a versatile power set.

Out of the corner of his eye, Gears spots a blur momentarily, the motion being highlighted by his HUD.

“Do you see that?” asks Protector as they reach one of the nastier parts of town.

“I think so,” replies Gears as he looks down at where something skirted into an alleyway, “Let’s investigate further. Cover me.”

Gears flies downward, landing with a gentle thud as Protector drops to the ground behind him. The sight awaiting them causing Gears to take a step back as he draws two of his four molecular daggers.

The beast is crouched over a pair of human corpses, both mangled and bloody. The creature itself is roughly three metres long and looks like a hairless and earless cat. Its stitched leathery hide looks hard and tough while the four eyes across its face look just plain out of place.

“What on Earth is that thing?!” exclaims Protector as the creature bares its fang filled maw at them.

“This is bad,” says Gears as the two corpses begin to get up.

They look as dead as ever, but they move as if they were alive, one even picking his gun back up.

“What are those things?” demands Protector as the two corpses march towards him and Gears.

Do I seriously have to deal with-

“Zombies,” replies Gears in a dry voice, “And yes, I’m calling them that. What’s next? Vampires? Werewolves?”

That said, they do seem to be more revenants than zombies.

Who cares?

Just a thought.

“So who dances with whom?” inquires Protector as the cat-beast unleashes its massive claws

.

“I’ll take the beast, you take the zombies,” replies Gears as the beast pounces at him.

Firing up his KEPs, Gears meets the beast mid-air as he hears gun shots below. The beast howls in frustration as Gears stabs one of his molecular blades through the elbow of its front legs.

The joint is sliced open, cutting the nerves that let it control its lower leg. With one leg neutralised, Gear quickly takes out the other front leg in the same matter before tossing the creature into the alley below.

As the beast crashes into the ground, Gears ground pounds his boot into its head. He feels the skull break under his boot and the brain go squish. But despite losing its head, the beast’s body is still squirming, trying to fight Gears.

Now that is creepy.

Should we finish it off?

Once the area is secure.

Aye, we should only waste time or resources finishing it off once all other threats are dealt with.

As he turns to see Protector still fighting with the two zombies, Gears hears a slow clap from behind him.

Godslayer Arc 1.15 Explanations Part 1

“Greetings Shocker,” says Drakvar as the Kith girl jumps down from the rooftop as he and Jordis take an alleyway shortcut.

“Don’t call me dat!” replies Shocker angrily, blasting Drakvar with a bolt of electricity with the usual results.

“Who is dis?” asks Jordis as the young Kithen looks out from behind Drakvar, “Is she a friend of yours?”

“Sort of,” answers Drakvar, “Jordis, this is Shocker. Shocker, this is Jordis Sunblade.”

“I just said don’t call me dat!” replies Shocker, unleashing more electricity on Drakvar.

“So why are you here?” inquires Drakvar.

“Dat guy, Galamin, said to come to de Twelfth District if I wanted an explanation about yesterday’s events,” replies Shocker stiffly, “Which I do by de way.”

“Fine, I will take you to him then,” says Drakvar.

“But Drakvar,” protests Jordis as she tugs on his sleeve, “You said we were going to go to a café to eat. And now you want to go back without doing dat!”

“We can do it later,” replies Drakvar as he kneels down to look Jordis in the eye.

“Promise?” asks Jordis.

“Of course,” Drakvar reassures the young girl.

“Your sister is different rather what your records say,” states Shocker as she watches the two of them.

“I have a sister?” repeats Drakvar, surprised at this new piece of information about his old life.

“How can you not know dat?!” exclaims Shocker, blasting Drakvar again.

“I lost all of my memories eleven days ago,” answers Drakvar defensively.

“Wait what?” says Shocker, stunned by this news, “But we first met fifteen days ago…”

“I have no memory of that,” replies Drakvar.

“B-but if you have no memory of dat day, but all of dose times afterwards…,” mutters Shocker, not 
paying attention to Drakvar, “Den…slug.”

“So you know more dan Drakvar does,” says Jordis as she comes out from behind Drakvar and addresses Shocker.

“I guess,” replies Shocker as she looks down at Jordis, “I have all of my memories.”

“Den can you explain what Kith milk is?” asks Jordis, “I’ve been seeing it in the shops in bottles, but when I asked Drakvar, he said he doesn’t know what it is and Valen refuses to tell me.”

“W-well,” replies Shocker, seeming flustered at what she is being asked, “A-all mammals on de planet produce milk during de m-mating season once dey are m-matured. But, y-you see, Kith are capable of ma-mating all year around so we are always in de m-mating sea-season. Because of dat, we are always producing milk once we are old enough. It is stored in de breasts of a female Kith and it causes dem to swell as more milk is produced. How much milk can be stored depends on de size of a woman’s breasts, which grow to their default size during de first time dat they begin producing milk. Eventually it gets unhealthy for de breasts to swell larger and de woman is milked. Den, de milk is either kept by de woman and used by her or anyone else she lets drink it or it is sold like de milk you saw earlier in de shops.”

“Oh,” says Jordis and she is silent for a moment as she looks thoughtfully at Shocker, “Do you produce milk?”

“W-what!” exclaims Shocker, “H-how can you-that is so rude! You can’t just ask someone dat!”

But Jordis just looks at her expectantly.

“I started producing milk only a few months ago,” answers Shocker quietly, almost too quiet for Jordis and Drakvar to hear as she blushes furiously beneath her cloak, “I’m going to have to get a new breastplate to accommodate my new measurements.”

“We should probably get going,” says Drakvar as he eyes a pair of Darklurkers watching them from the end of the alley.

“Oh? Dose guys?” says Shocker as she follows Drakvar’s gaze, “Not a problem.”

She fires off a burst of electricity at them and electrocutes both of them before they can flee. Drakvar can’t help, but note that Shocker’s attack is a lot weaker than what she usually uses against him.

“What is it with all de gang activity down in dis district anyway?” asks Shocker.

“The Twelfth District has no Ti’darkei Knights, minimal support from the City Authorities, the majority of the District Authorities are highly corrupt while the Twelfth District Watch Department is severely underfunded,” explains Drakvar, “Because of all that, the gangs practically run the Twelfth District.”

“Dat can’t be de case,” protests Shocker, “Dat is de complete opposite of what is reported in de Inner Districts. And de Ti’darkei Order would never let things get dat bad in one of Kar’mire’s Districts.”

“They have,” disagrees Drakvar, “Ask anybody who lives here in the Twelfth District and they will tell you the same. As for your reports, I did say that the District Authorities are extremely corrupt. They would never let the true status of the Twelfth District get out to higher authorities.”

“I see,” mutters Shocker darkly, “But I can deal with dat later. I still want an explanation about yesterday’s events.”

“Follow me then,” says Drakvar.

1.14 Slaughter Part 4

The punch goes upwards, connecting with the Sinister Man’s jaw from below. Unlike Leo’s, Joan’s punch actually hurts the Sinister Man, causing the parahuman to stagger backwards.

Where did she learn to punch like that?

And where did she get that much power to put behind it?

To Leo’ shock, Joan follows it up by grabbing the Sinister Man’s arm and twisting it as she kicks him in the back of the knee. The Sinister Man’s features contort in pain before he violent throws Joan away.

When did Joan learn out to fight?

Those are some good moves.

Guardian has used those moves in battle before.

Wait, did Legacy teach Joan how to fight?

Either that or Ceta is in control right now.

It could easily be both.

As Leo gets to his feet, he moves to grab at the Sinister Man, but the hostile parahuman is already trying to get away. As the Sinister Man flees from sight, Leo stops and blinks.

What is going on? Why does my body hurt so much?

We-we were in a fight?

Yes, we were.

Against whom?

A fellow parahuman?

It has to be. No normal person could beat us so.

Or mess with our memory.

I-I vaguely remember fighting a tall man in a suit.

This is troublesome.

***

Leo drops his school bag on the chair after closing the door. While not injured enough to send off to hospital, the school nurse still sent him home after looking him over.

But right now, I’m not worried about my injuries. What is worrying me is the parahuman.

Indeed, we still don’t know the full extent of the parahuman’s powers.

Even his appearance is still fuzzy to remember.

He was a tall and slim man with short black hair and very bland features.

And he still on the loose.

And once he leaves your sight, you forget about him. Even if you see him on video.

Yeah.

We can remember him.

We’re spreading out of the effects of his power between the six of us. It is only one sixth effective on us than it would be on a normal person.

Joan was able to remember the Sinister Man due to Ceta’s defences in her mind, but pretended it was due to Abby’s power affecting her. The two girls had no memory of what happened, but Leo was able to capture the Sinister Man on video. Even if they hadn’t, there was still the aftermath of the fight.

But as soon as the video ended, people would forget about the Sinister Man. Ultimately the police got their officers to describe what they were seeing so they could record their words as evidence.

Leo walks into the kitchen. While he should probably stay at home, it would be best if Gears hunted down the Sinister Man.

“Father,” says Jaylyn, her voice emitting from Leo’s phone, “The Sinister Man is heading to your house. He is almost there.”

He is coming after us?

In our own home no less.

How did he find us?

Perhaps it is one of his powers?

Maybe he just followed us.

“If it a fight he wants, then a fight I will give him,” replies Leo.

In private, I can do a lot more.

Plus we have all those gadgets you have hidden throughout the house.

We still need to be careful to not trash the place.

Now that would be hard to explain to our parents.

“Be careful Father,” says Jaylyn before the call ends.

Leo dashes up to his room where he has stored a basic set of power armour. He quickly puts it on. It doesn’t consist of much, just an exosuit and some Gardium armour plates. No extra gadgets or devices other than the helmet HUD. Nor is the power armour as strong, powerful or durable as a set of Guardsman armour.

Leo grabs a pair of molecular blades that he has hidden away beneath his bed before deciding to go and confront the Sinister Man. As he turns to exit his bedroom, Leo spots the Sinister Man down the corridor at the top of the stairs.

This-this is actually pretty scary.

If it a choice between keeping our family safe and keeping our secret identity…

We will always to our best to keep our family safe.

And that means removing this fiend from our home.

“Well, well, well,” says Leo as he strides forward, “I can’t say I expected you to follow me home, but when I found out you were coming…anyway, did you really think you could just make forget about you?”

Make myself appear more confident than I am.

Good plan.

The Sinister Man is silent as Leo draws both molecular blades. Once he is within two metres, Leo sidesteps as the Sinister Man strikes at him. Also moving inhumanly quick if slower than his foe, Leo slashes both blades at the Sinister Man.

One blade cuts the Sinister Man across the left cheek while the other nicks the side of his chest. The Sinister Man’s facial feature express surprise and he doesn’t react as Leo kicks him down the stairs.

Landing at the bottom of the stairs gracefully, the Sinister Man and Leo stare at each other for several minutes before the Sinister Man decides to leave, moving swiftly. Before Leo can stop him, the Sinister Man is already almost out of the house and Leo decides to just let him leave.

Well, that could have gone a lot worse.

1.14 Slaughter Part 3

Leo rubs his lower arm as he looks at the bandage on it. The True Humanity thugs nicked him with a shallow cut across his right forearm while his left shoulder has a slightly deeper gash. Other than that, Leo only has bruises here and there.

It was good fight.

Aye, we put the other five guys in hospital.

And we don’t need to worry about giving sued between Joan’s connections and that fact they had three guns with them while we were unarmed.

Now only if that were the end of the matter.

Now Leo just has to worry about it making True Humanity pay. Leo has left them alone since even if those people are bigots, he isn’t going to go around beating up people simply because they have disagreeing views to his own.

But then they went and made it personal.

Yes, they have to pay for hurting Joan.

Not disagreeing.

The question here isn’t whether we make them pay, but rather how we go about making them pay.

Leo pulls out his modified phone and brings up the data of local True Humanity members. Rather 

than having Gears beat them up, Leo is finding the idea of their personal data being released to the world rather enjoyable.

Normally he would disapprove of such actions and try and stop such things from happening, but this is a special case.

Why limit it to only the local members?

Indeed. Let’s reveal the data all of national members.

Seems a bit harsh.

Perhaps we should let Jaylyn and Legacy go through all the data and release it as they deem fit.

Good idea. Hmm, when is it that Legacy is returning the physical world?

Within the next three days.

About time we get Guardian back. Man, I have missed having her out in the field. The girl might be weird, but she is easily the best fighter in the Guardsmen.

Leo stops as he turns a corner into a new street on his way to school. As a pair of girls from his school on their way as they usually do, a tall man in a black suit follows them. The man is slim with short black hair and very bland and average facial features.

Who is that?

‘What is that’ would be a better question.

Indeed.

So we do we do?

Alert the others and intervene.

We are a world famous premier superhero.

Gears is, but Leonard Geary isn’t.

Would you let innocents suffer to protect our identity?

No.

As the sinister man walks out towards the girls, Leo marches forward.

“Hey!” calls Leo as the man reaches for the closest of the girls.

Both the girls and the sinister man turn to look at Leo and one of the girls screams as she spots the man. The other girl quickly spots the man and begins to freak out as well. Meanwhile the man just smirks at Leo and strides towards the young man.

It appears we have his attention.

Better us than those girls.

Aye.

We don’t know what sort of powers he has.

Plus we don’t have any equipment on us and the others are unaware of this threat.

Actually we do have one gadget with us. Literally in our hands.

Leo sets his phone to record as he points it at the approaching man.

The video will automatically go to the Guardsmen records.

Alerting Jaylyn as she will know about this the moment it enters the records.

And then our daughter will alert the others.

While we deal with this threat as best as we can until help arrives.

That is my plan.

As the man comes within a couple of metres of him, Leo decides to make the first move. He darts forward and swings a fist at the sinister man.

The man freezes for a moment before reacting very rapidly. If it weren’t for the fact his Bellator reflexes and enhanced mental processing, Leo is sure he wouldn’t be able to track the sinister man’s movements.

As is the case with many of my foes these days.

But Leo is ultimately able to follow the Sinister Man’s movements and while the Sinister Man does move out of the way of Leo’s attack, it is just enough to throw off the punch of a normal person. Leo adjusts the direction of his fist mid-swing accordingly and glancing off of the Sinister Man’s face.

As he steps back, Leo doesn’t look down at his stinging fist as he looks the Sinister Man in the eye. His facial features don’t change at all, but Leo is sure that the Sinister Man is stunned at the fact Leo was able to touch him at all even he doubts the guy was hurt.

He didn’t expect that.

No he did not.

I wonder how we will react.

Leo grins at the man, portraying confidence that he doesn’t feel within. He might be a decently high Bellator Class parahuman, but he is still trapped out in public without any equipment. Not only that, but Leo is certain he was hurt more by the punch than his foe was and that is not a good sign.

I don’t think we can win this one guys. We’re too badly outmatched.

Then let’s go out fighting.

Agreed. We shall go down swinging.

Today, we shall make a good accounting of ourselves.

The man straightens up even further and darts forward at Leo. He dodges the first inhumanly fast punch, but the second catches Leo in the chest. Leo goes flying through the air as he gasps for breath.

Leo crashes into the pavement and he groans. No bones are broken, but his back and the rest of his body hurts like heck. As Leo attempts to get to his feet, he hears to steps of footsteps coming towards him.

As he sits up, he spots Joan of all people coming down the road, right towards him and the Sinister Man.

What on Earth is she doing?!

Coming to help us it would seem.

She doesn’t stand a chance. We don’t stand a chance and we’re a parahuman while she is powerless!

She has some power from being her sister’s “servant” remember.

Stolen power that is the only thing keeping her on her feet rather than a hospital bed! All it does is put her on the same level as a normal person! She doesn’t even have any combat skills!

As the Sinister Man steps past Leo to face Joan, Leo grabs his leg. The Sinister Man looks down at Leo and smiles as he bends down with a hand stretched out towards Leo.

“Leave my boyfriend alone you freak!” yells Joan as she swings a fist at the Sinister Man.

Godslayer Arc 1.14 Paliyil Part 2

“What happened?” demands Drakvar as Valen comes to a halt next to him, the wall of light in front of them disappearing.

“Paliyil teleported away idiot,” explains Valen, “Don’t worry, I got a trace on de blaster’s Chi. She is only a few blocks away.”

“You lead the way then,” says Drakvar.

“Wait Pakdar!” shouts Shocker as she comes running down the alley, “What on Lyatar are you doing?”

“Hey Shocker,” says Drakvar as he and Valen turn to face, “We’re-”

“Don’t call me Shocker Pakdar!” screams Shocker as she unleashes a massive blast of electricity at Drakvar.

He blocks it with one of his arms with a sigh.

“Friend of yours idiot?” asks Valen with amusement.

“No, just a psychopathic girl who keeps attacking me,” replies Drakvar.

“What did you just call me Pakdar?” demands Shocker as she sends another burst of electricity at Drakvar with the same results as always.

“Let’s go idiot,” says Valen as he turns away from Shocker, “We can’t let Paliyil get away.”

“Right,” agrees Drakvar as Valen breaks into a run and Drakvar chases after him.

“What is going on?” demands Shocker as she keeps pace with Drakvar and Valen, easily running alongside them, “Who is Paliyil? Do you know why all this chaos is happening?”

“Stay out of this,” says Valen brusquely, “It is too dangerous for normal folks to get involved with. Even a Psychic.”

“I am no normal person or some mere Psychic,” replies Shocker briskly, “I am Miskara Stormmistress, Champion of de Ti’darkei Order and one of two Level 6 Psychics.”

“I don’t care,” retorts Valen bluntly, “But since you’re tagging along and we don’t have time to shake you, I’ll explain de situation anyway. We’re chasing a powerful Warlock called Paliyil Dibar.”

“Warlock?” scoffs Shocker, “You don’t honestly expect me to believe dat nonsense.”

“Says de Kithen who uses magic of her own,” counters Valen sharply, “If you don’t believe in magic, go and deal with your own business. You have no place here.”

“I am not a Kithen,” replies Shocker angrily, “I am a Champion and I have worked hard to prove myself worth of dat title!”

“Focus,” cuts in Drakvar, finally paying attention to duo’s argument.

“Right idiot,” agrees Valen, “Anyway, Paliyil has gone rogue. Turned against the Elder Gods, slaughtered her cabal and took over de body of her second-in-command, binding her Sortel to her spear.”

“Sounds like a bunch of nonsense,” mutters Shocker.

“Regardless, we are here,” replies Valen as he comes to a halt outside of abandoned warehouse, “Be careful. Given dat Paliyil hasn’t fled, I feel dat she is prepared traps for us in what little time she has had. Lightsword!”

Valen summons a blade of glowing white light to his hand and with it, he hacks open the lock to the warehouse door.

“Follow me,” says Valen as he swings open the warehouse door.

Drakvar steps forward, but Shocker steps in front of him, making him pause.

“I’ll go before you,” says Shocker snootily and she follows Valen into the warehouse a moment later, leaving Drakvar as the last one to enter.

“Take cover!” shouts Valen as soon as Drakvar enters the warehouse, “Light Protection!”

As a twisting bolt of wind flies at Valen, a circle of glowing white light appears in front of it, taking the blow for Valen. Shocker on the other hand isn’t as lucky as another bolt of wind slams into her chest with a vigorous fury.

As Valen blocks another trio of wind bolts with his magic light shield, Drakvar spots another couple of wind bolts heading for the downed Shocker. Leaping into action, Drakvar darts towards Shocker, placing himself between her and the incoming attacks.

As Drakvar expected, the wind bolts disappear upon making contact with him.

“Hey idiot!” shouts Valen as he points to where Paliyil is located on the second level of the warehouse, “De blaster is up dere!”

“Twisted Winds!” casts Paliyil.

“Wall of Light! Valen counter-casts as supernaturally powerful winds comes at them.

The wall of glowing white light appears in front of them and Paliyil’s howling winds smashes against it. Valen’s wall holds, but is clearly damaged by the attack.

A bolt of lightning flies out from behind Drakvar and Valen, twisting and curving so it flies over the wall of light and straight at Paliyil.

“Wind Walk!” shouts Paliyil and she teleports out the way of the lightning bolt, reappearing a mere couple of metres to the side.

But the lightning bolt changes direction, swinging back around to hit Paliyil in the back.

“Ray Hand!” casts Valen, reaching out with one hand at Paliyil as the Warlock is blasted from the second level of the warehouse.

As Paliyil falls and Drakvar runs forward to meet her as she lands, a glowing yellow hand reaches forth from Valen’s outstretched hand and grasps Paliyil’s spear from her loosen grip.

“No!” shrieks Paliyil as she lands on her feet, glaring at Valen, “Aeris109! Breath Theft!”

As Drakvar closes with Paliyil, ready to strike her with his fists, he feels the air being ripped from his lungs, his magic-nullifying power doing nothing to protect him. Drakvar staggers and stumbles, toppling over forwards as he gasps for breathe.

As he panics over his inability to breathe, Drakvar barely hears Valen shout, “Virtus126!” followed by, “Blazing Light Beam!”

A massive beam of white light with an overbearing yellow glow soars over Drakvar’s head and smashes into Paliyil. As Drakvar feels the air returning to his lungs, Paliyil is sent flying across the warehouse and slams into the wall on the far side of the building with a heavy thud.

“I summon de Ancient Warrior-Spirit Solara of de Good Sword!” shouts Valen as Shocker blasts Paliyil with another bolt of electricity before she can recover.

“Soul-” Paliyil starts to cast as she struggles to her feet, only to be cut off as Solara blasts her with a beam of light as the Warrior-Spirit appears in the middle of the warehouse.

“Good work,” says Sir Galamin as he enters the warehouse through the same entrance as the others, “I shall deal with Paliyil and Fatimir now.”

But before any of the group can doing anything, Paliyil screams in pain and terror as a black mist is pulled out of her nose, eyes, mouth and ears by an invisible force. The black mist soon disappears even as Sir Galamin tries to cast a spell.

“Mithias Curse it,” curses Sir Galamin as he strides over to Valen, “Brother Valen, the spear please.”

“Of course Milord,” replies Valen as he hands over the spear to Sir Galamin.

The Knight of the Good Sword strokes the spear one hand and mutters a few words in an unknown language before turning to face Shocker.

“Champion Miskara Stormmistress of the Ti’darkei Order,” says Sir Galamin as he address Shocker, “Take care of this spear. It is the vessel of Fatimir Baric’s soul and mind, whose body was stolen by her traitorous master, Paliyil Dibar. I am trusting you to guard her well.”

“O-of course,” replies Miskara in a stunned voice as she accept the spear from Sir Galamin.

“Brother Valen, Sir Solara and Squire Drakvar,” says Sir Galamin, addressing his group as he strides towards Paliyil’s fallen body, “Please return to Jordis. I shall deal with Fatimir’s body and her mother. Champion Miskara, if you wish to have an explanation, return to the Twelfth District tomorrow.”