As the group finally calmed down and Ann released the dome, Rans nose twitched.
Thick streams of blood-colored air flowed into his nose, though he was the only one to notice.
Now extremely wary, he looked around in search of the enemy. However, all he saw was some green, then some white, more white… and even more white!
Whoever had targeted him was able to hide in a scene with only two colors! What kind of horrible creature was this?
But everyone else wasn't having any of it. They noticed his increasingly frantic behavior, and understandably, were perplexed.
"What's wrong?"
Ann spoke up and patted his shoulder, but Rans senses were so sensitive to his surroundings that he was spooked by her touch.
"Fuck! Oh gosh, you scared me. What do you want?"
That whole time, his scent of blood in the air got stronger and stronger, to the point it was starting to affect Rans behavior; he was now a little cranky.
"Nothing, you just look like a bird dropped a deuce on you. You okay?"
"Of course not! Plus, what kind of joke is that? You can't even see my face."
"Then why—"
"Because… someone's here."
At first, it seemed to be just normal bickering, but his last words had the whole group have chills running up their spines. They took what he said seriously, and they gulped as they also looked around, only to find nothing. When they became frustrated from finding nothing, and were going to confront him, that's when something happened.
Someone… spoke.
"Looking for me?"
The voice appeared to be masculine, and it carried a certain kind of tone with it. It was that of authority.
They turned in the direction the voice came from, and it happened to be above one of the tall structures behind them, which no one bothered to look at.
The voice came from a person, a human to be exact. His skin was pale, had short black hair, and dark brown eyes. He wore a thin robe, made from red velvet, which didn't seem appropriate for the weather.
Flakes of snow covered him from head to toe, even his hair was covered with them. Going by this and his location, it could be inferred that he had been swept by the avalanche and ended up there. Well, either that or he was a ninja that sneaked up on them and climbed the structure only to reveal himself anyway.
The young man was sitting on the edge of the tall structure, and his legs swung back and forth casually; he appeared very comfortable.
However, he was the only person at ease in this situation. He even wore a warm smile, but it was clear to everyone that it was rotten inside.
Yet, when they were going to ask for his identity, there was an abrupt thud.
As it turned out, Queenie had fallen on her plump ass (don't worry she's over eighteen).
And I shit you not, the very definition of fear was written on her face as she looked at the young man.
"You," She shouted at him, her tone incredibly shaky and filled with uncertainty.
"What are you doing here!?"
With her practically being hysterical, the group just kind of metaphorically scratched their heads. But upon looking at the young man, and back at Queenie, they came to realize something.
They were the spitting image of each other! Or rather someone else.
"Oh come now, is that anyway to welcome your brother?"
Yup. They were siblings. Fraternal twins to be more specific. However, the brother didn't seem to care for any of that as he seemed to gain pleasure from the apparent fear Queenie felt for him—giving him a wicked smile.
"You know, when I left home devastated by my defeat, who would have thought I would become who I am today."
While he spoke directly to Queenie, he shuffled his gaze throughout the rest of the group. He jumped down from the structure and landed on the snowy ground once he finished speaking.
"And worse yet, when I came back home, you ran away from me," he said as he seemingly pouted.
But Queenie was infuriated by his words! She immediately got up and shouted at him.
"You tried to kill me, Kingsley! You would've succeeded too if it wasn't for my father."
Her face was red from anger and frustration and she gritted her teeth as if she was remembering a terrible event.
"Your… father? yes, well I suppose so. He too tried to kill me."
"Kill you!? He merely imprisoned you temporarily to figure out why you went insane and tried to kill me." She scoffed at his words and would have spit on the floor if it wasn't for the fact that it was too improper.
"Yes, he did. He tried to kill my spirit."
He said those words seriously, but he clearly wasn't taking it seriously from his nonchalant facial expression.
"Hmm, yes, go ahead and say what you want to say. But we all know you also fled after killing all the servants guarding you; you couldn't even face my father in person before running away in the middle of the night."
While meant as an insult, it was indeed an accurate depiction of what happened. Which is why it probably made Kingsley furious.
"Shut up! You know nothing about me or what I went through. When I came back and beat you fair and square, it should've been passed to me."
"Oh please. Do you really think you can just declare yourself the winner after already losing the first time? We fought, I won, deal with it!"
"Oh you little… the city is mine and you know it!"
"Nuh uh!"
"Uh huh!"
…
At this point, the situation had been made crystal clear to the group.
Queenie and Kingsley, who were siblings, had fought for the right to govern the city after their father. Queenie ended up winning, and so Kingsley left dejected to find himself. After an unknown amount of time, he returned and bested Queenie, but the decision had already been made and the winner was already decided.
At that point, Kingsley tried to murder his sister, for whatever reason, who was saved by their father and was subsequently imprisoned. He then broke free, causing the father to be scared for his daughter's life and sent her to his friend in the lower layer.
Kingsley continued going after her, but failed once she crossed the ocean into the lower layer. Later on, Queenie had gotten word that her father was "taking care" of Kingsley, so she decided to return. She returned, but it seemed that whatever her father had been trying to do had failed.
Now, her crazy, maniacal brother was standing just a few feet away from her.
But to Ran and Ann, this was actually kind of familiar.
This kind of familial feud was not a stranger to them. They had had a similar interaction back home, specifically with Rans father Torian, and his brother Florence, who is no longer in this world.
But this entire situation was clearly not going to end well, no matter the side.
"Oh, I've had it with you and trust me, you'll get what's yours. But for now…"
As Kingsley spoke, his demeanor swiftly changed to one of more dark and sinister origins. And finally, he swayed his head, looking directly at a certain white-hooded male—Ran.
Kingsley slowly walked up to him, and the closer he got, the more blood wind sprouted forth from his body. It bellowed out of him like fog, gradually suffocating Ran and making him nauseous.
And as stunted an individual he was, he had to directly look up to meet Kingsleys eyes, but he had no fear.
But once Kingsley reached a certain distance, a flash of light almost blinded him; in front of him now was a dark-skinned woman who fiercely locked eyes with him.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Her voice oozed with sarcasm, as if daring him to actually respond. In fact, the only reason why she hadn't done anything yet was out of respect for Queenie. If Kingsley was destined to die today, it definitely wouldn't be by her hands.
But seeing this strong momma block his way, he merely smirked.
"Oh? Lady, do you know what you're getting yourself into?"
The question was rhetorical, however, and he didn't bother about her potential response. He only leaned his body to the side a little to look passed her at Ran.
"So… you're him, huh?"
Hearing his words, Ran was confused and tilted his head a little. This was the first time someone had called him "him".
You sound like you know me, so why don't you call me by name? Isn't that disrespectful?
Now of course, despite missing the entire point, Ran was still confused by what he meant anyway. They never met before, so where was he getting all this?
"Oh don't act like you don't know what's happening here. I don't know what you did to anger her, but today, and sorry to say this, you're not leaving here alive."
And to that, everyone was stunned.
Da fuck?
What the hell was he even talking about?
Of course, the people who knew what happened to Ran also knew who his enemies were, the supposed three families that had yet to make an appearance. However, by saying "her", Kingsley was clearly talking about one person. So, was this person part of one of the families, which seemed likely although at no point has Ran bumped into any of them in any serious sense? Or was this someone else?
This only led to even more confusion of what was actually happening here. First, it was clearly about the siblings, but now Ran was inexplicably thrust into it as well?
But one thing remained clear.
This man was not a friend.
However, since Kingsley didn't want to be friends with Ran, and he even tried to hurt his friend Queenie, then nothing else mattered.
Which was why he got a laser beam to the face.
Okay, bye now.