In the usual dimly lit room, Raiden sat on his throne-like chair as he twirled a dagger in his hand.
There was a board some feet away from him with pictures of people that were crossed with a red X, pinned to the board.
In one swift throw, Raiden threw the dagger at the picture, and it cut in half.
He then snapped his finger,and suddenly the picture burst into flames.
He threw another dagger,and burned the ripped photo afterwards.
"Lord Raiden!" A man shouted as he entered the dark large room.
He knelt on one knee when he was now in front of Raiden.
He was bleeding terribly, from his mouth, from the bullet wound in his leg,from the cut on his hand, from the deep wound in his head, everywhere!
So many wounds surrounded him that it looked as if he just escaped a battlefield or a butcher's kitchen.
It was a surprise this man was still alive.
"Did you kill them as I asked?"
Raiden stated as he stared at the dagger in his hand,not in the least sympathetic or concerned about the bleeding mess in front of him which was literally screaming for medical attention.
"Yes Lord Raiden,we killed them, but all the others died, I'm the only one who made it out alive."
In one quick and swift move Raiden pointed the dagger at the man's throat, with one knee crossed horizontally over the other as he rested his head in the palm of his other free hand.
"Why did you come back here, you could've been followed."
" I made sure I wasn't, Master."
" Why return back like this? You're of no use to me now... I don't take back the weak chaff."
Raiden leaned his face closer as he added a little bit more pressure to the dagger.
" I know I'm not supposed to return like this,b-but Sire I saw something.. which might interest you."
Raiden's brow raised as he retracted the dagger, and threw it at the wall. The dagger hit a spider that was crawling up the wall and killed it.
"Go on."
Heaving a sigh of relief,the injured man continued.
"I saw a girl, tall,with silver hair,and...and..."
"And?"
"And your mark,Sire, the Artian one."
Raiden's brows now furrowed with confusion.
Silver hair? My mark? Could it be...no it can't be...she's..
alive?
Raiden thought to himself as his expression remained one of confusion.
The wounded man stared at Raiden with widened eyes, a bit taken aback at his Master's confused expression. This man had the ability to be confused?
He opened his mouth and was about to speak when suddenly the wounds he had inflicted more pain into his already tired self,and unable to bear it anymore,he gave into the darkness.
Finally regaining back his composure, Raiden turned back to the man.
"Are you sure you-"
All he saw was a man lying on his belly with blood oosing out of him.
He checked his pulse,but there wasn't one; the man was dead.
"Weakling."
Raiden said and snapped his finger, and immediately the man's body burst into flames and burned ,until there was nothing left,not even ashes.
He sighed as he rose to his feet and closed his eyes, disappointed that the weakling pulled through all those wounds and made his way to him to disclose something, only to die before him in the end before he could completely finish what he had to say
Raiden turned to leave, when suddenly he felt a tingle in his arms,neck and eyes.
His eyes lit up in a glowy blue light,and so did his arms and neck.
'What's this?' Raiden thought to himself.
He wasn't the one controlling this, someone else was.
He closed his eyes again and when he opened them, he saw a different room.
There was a figure with silver hair in front him,and the figure was also glowing.
The figure opened her eyes and turned to look in his direction, but it didn't seem like she saw him,she just started blankly.
He got even more confused as his eyes took in the scenery in front him.
This person was....
"Arie?" he called out as he walked closer to the figure.
No response. He called out again,louder this time.
"Arie."
He was now close to the figure,and he stretched out his hand to touch her but,she and everything else around her vanished before he could.
He was back at the underground base.
So the weakling wasn't lying, he did see Arie, she was really alive.
All that time...she was alive and he didn't know it.
Where was she?
He closed his eyes and tried to feel and locate her energy. It was faint,she wasn't far,he could feel it.
Focusing on the faint aura of her, he was only vaguely able to locate her.
It felt as if she was... bound by something...
Was she captured? He needed to get her back.
*************
Raiden summoned his men.
They were lined up in rows in front of him,fully armed, almost as if they were going on a war.
He paced in front of them as he gave instructions and commands to them, briefing them about what they were going to do.
" This is not a wipe out mission, you're just creating a diversion by keeping the targets occupied,until the poison bombs go off. It's just 'xarnyx'; it's not lethal if you don't stay in it too long. When the countdown starts,you have less than ten minutes to get out of there .
The targets should be at the bar near Kin Street in about half an hour. Your job is simple: you're just stalling, don't kill them, I need them to stay alive. But if anyone else besides them engages or gets involved, deal with them.
You might be armed, but you don't attack till I give the order to.
The entire place will be heavily guarded,so be on the lookout; because if you get spotted, captured or injured, you're not my problem. It's best you kill yourself than return back to me for help."
They all listened as Raiden spoke.
"You.." He directed his gaze to one of the men in front.
"You're in charge of all this. The targets would probably be out before the bomb goes off, but make sure they have a hard time doing so. And remember, don't kill any of them."
The men bowed and left momentarily to take their positions.
Raiden took off his white mask and put on a black one that covered his entire face, unlike the white one.
"Stay put wherever you are Arie, I'm getting you back," he said and with that, he left.
************