Vaan and Kage camped diligently outside until darkness fell. The streets dispersed rather fast, having only drunks and other wandering shadows lurking about, fueled either by liquor or the eagerness to taste home. The Dustlands were cramped, and without the addition of further infrastructure, the increase in homelessness became another problem. Buildings were too close together, food had grown more scarce, and innocent folk had to uncontrollably resort to violence and bloodshed just to survive.
Far up north—only visible from the highest peak of the Dustlands—stood the empire. Their base built atop a jagged cliffside, miles away from the walls enclosing the Dustlands. The empire ran the hidden law, patrolling with their guards on a daily basis. They ignored any illegal businesses running within the underground market of the Dustlands, so the work of those operations skyrocketed, and no one had the power to rebel or stop it.
A chilling breeze swept across the streetside, sending unnerving chills through Vaan's cloak. "Are you sure this is how you want to do this?" asked Vaan.
"Would you like to suggest an alternative plan?" asked Kage, squatting down behind a pile of broken debris across the street.
"I don't want to put the others in danger," Vaan admitted, gritting his teeth.
"Do you have family Vaan?"
Vaan shook his head silently, his golden curls jiggling back and forth.
"All I have left in this world is my father," said Kage, his voice as cold as always. "Without him, I wouldn't be here today. And it's people like this," Kage motioned ahead. "That tear innocent families apart."
Outside the building's front doors, two men wearing what seemed like dress pants and thick jackets stood motionless, their eyes searching the streets. They blended in with the shadows of the supporting pillars, keeping their hands behind them, nearly glued to the walls.
"Last chance to back out," Kage said, keeping his voice low. "You're still young, and there will be bloodshed if they don't cooperate."
"I mean no offense, but you don't seem too much older than me."
Kage's lips straightened into a thin line, as if that comment displeased him. "I've lived a long twenty-three years."
"Well I've lived a long seventeen," Vaan bickered.
"Listen, stay close and avoid being seen. Those are your only two rules."
Vaan scratched at his head, "Right…"
"You know what to do, let's move," Kage rounded the corner, approaching non-threateningly. He kept his shoulders loose, relaxed almost, walking with a timid pace. Vaan followed in his steps reluctantly, careful as to keep his expression void of any suspicion.
"State your business," One of the men began in a hard, dry voice.
Vaan jumped in front of Kage, greeting the two men with a nervous grin. "Uh-hello, My name is V-Vaan, and I am here to pay off my d-debts. This g-gentlemen here would also like to b-buy your services if you have any more possible s-services to ssell." Vaan was shaking, stuttering every other word, more afraid than he was on the rooftops the night prior. His ankle had eased the swelling, but he still had an annoying limp weighing him down.
The two men exchanged a glance, then a silent nod as if they had spoken a non-verbal language of some sort. "You can follow us inside, your friend, will have to wait outside."
The other man knocked on the door behind him, which opened about an inch from the inside, leaving a split between the doorframe. The man whispered quietly to someone behind the door, and after a few seconds, the door swung open. "We must check you first before entry," He said, motioning for Vaan to step to the side. He then patted him down, and pulled back Vaan's hood, allowing him entry.
Without much thought, the men led Vaan inside, shutting the door as they now faced Kage alone. They were careful as to not make a scene, as a few empire guards were strolling by. They wore all white clothes, uniformed perfectly with silver lining around the collars and sleeves, fastened with core-infused swords by their holsters. One wore a cap, leading the pack with a boisterous stride.
As they walked away, the two men looked down on Kage, who was a dozen inches shorter. "You don't ask for business." The man said in a raspy tone. "Our business comes to you. Now leave."
Kage, however, didn't move.
The men shared another glance, then stepped forth. "We don't ask twice."
Kage stared back at them, quickly scanning the surrounding streetside. After confirming the absence of any possible witnesses, he reached inside his buttoned cloak, and with his arms crossed inside, two dim orange glows sparked to life from within.
After a few moments, the doorkeeper from inside the building heard a similar knock from the outdoors, waking him from his nightly nap. "What is it this tim—"
The second he creaked open the front door, his voice cut off by a pulverizing scythe stabbing through his chin, cutting cleanly through the back of his head. Blood burst through the top of his skull, as his maw rattled from side to side in a gargling mess. Seconds later, the blood had faded, and the doorkeeper let out a silent wisp, vanishing into a thin echo of dark ash, as though he had never existed.
The front door swung open, and from inside the building, the moonlight painted a dark, hooded silhouette standing in the doorway. Kage held two, one-handed sickles by his side, both crafted so beautifully by a mixture of tungsten metal and steel, enveloped in a sculpted design of vines and thorns. The sickles held a dim orange light imbued into the handle, as well as an ominous dark miasma grasping the air around them.
Kage locked his sight into the hallway, and the 5 other men facing him from within. Doors were spread out left and right, along with a broken elevator and a set of crippling stairs at the end of the hall. Small electric lights were spread out, mainly from the rooms, with a few dangling from the high ceiling in the main hallway.
The men in the hall quickly grabbed whatever weapon they could find around them, some shouting frantically, while others hurriedly breaking out of their stationed positions. A horrifying aura had begun to corrupt the walls from the entrance, spreading like a shadow in a lightless room.
Most of the men managed to grab knives, large metal beams, or wooden slabs. Only one remained without a weapon in his hands, but he did have a glass bottle of alcohol, which served its purpose as he broke it against the wall.
The hallway was quite narrow despite the vastness of the structure; Kage caulked back one of his sickles, flinging it sideways like a playing card through the dead center of the hall. The curvature of the blade whooshed through the musky air, leaving a trail of black smoke as it flew at immense speed.
Unaware of how to react and with nowhere to dodge, three men were sliced clean like paper, their torsos splitting from their limbs in a single sweep. A hollow wisp momentarily escaped their lungs as their bodies faded into a breeze of ash, disappearing into the darkness.
The sickle hadn't managed to reach the remaining two men in the back, as it fell short, sticking to one of the walls. However, the remaining men refused to charge forward, as they stood paralyzed in fear, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
Kage began walking toward them, flipping the handle of his remaining sickle and readjusting his grip. In the center of the hall, one of the men reached for the sickle, attempting to pull it out of the wall. As he grasped it, a banishing screech erupted from his lungs, followed by a burst of pulsating spasms traveling up his arm and through his veins.
"You cannot touch death," said Kage, his voice chilling the air. "For death, must touch you."
"What in the hell are you!?" The man yelled as he forced all of his strength into letting go, but no matter his efforts, his hand seemed glued by an ominous force to the sickle.
"You have placed your touch on which thou does not belong," Kage edged closer to him, now a breath's distance away from his horrified expression. "And that is the greatest sin of all." Using his other sickle, Kage pierced the man's heart, watching as his body crumbled into a mist of black smoke.
The one remaining man dropped to his knees, releasing the broken glass bottle in his hand. His heart pounded at his chest, tensing every fiber of his muscles. A sudden chill swept through his senses, his movements locked by some sort of ominous force. Then a voice spoke out to him. Do not move, do not speak, do not falter. Perhaps it was his heart speaking to him, or the lives of all those he had lost within the passing years. Either way, he obeyed the voice, and silently watched as Kage approached him.
"Why are you working with this association?" Kage asked him.
As sweat ran down the man's wrinkled forehead, and the coldness clouding his heart seemed to fade. "I h-had no choice. If I d-didn't accept their proposal, I w-would've starved. I had no h-home after I was banished from the e-empire."
He was banished from the empire? Kage thought for a moment as he ripped the sickle out of the wall. My father used to—
"Tell me," Kage started. "What does the empire look like from the mountains? What do they have?"
The man, now beginning to cry, shook his head. "I s-swear I don't know… All I remember is waking up on the street," His sobs slurred his speech. "I can't remember anything! I s-swear!"
"What's your name?" Kage asked, placing a curved blade across his throat. "And what is your responsibility within these walls?"
An unsettling numbness clogged the man's throat for a moment, "Ashton! My name is Ashton! All I do is bring the booze in! I d-don't do anything the mercenaries d-do..." He gulped, feeling his saliva edge the blade of the scythe. A scent of thick air ruptured his breathing, but it faded as Kage backed away.
"Tell me Ashton," Kage knelt down. "What would happen if I were to let you go?"
"N-not a single word would be said of what my eyes dared to witness tonight!" His tone became high-pitched, but his eyes—running with tears—stayed true to his word.
"Ashton. Do not be enveloped by fear. Embrace it. You did not plead for your life, even when standing on death's door. You must have a set of principles and goal to guide you forward. I will not ask about your life, however, I hope you understand what I am implying."
Ashton nodded rapidly, his tears trailing down the sides of his dimples.
"Go to the Bellowing Borg on Westside," Kage walked past him. "Ask for Phenix. Tell him you'll work for free for a room and a meal."
Stopping a few paces away, Kage glared at the man sulking into his palms. Although he lied about his origins from the empire, can someone such as this still be redeemed? He thought to himself. Perhaps it is best to see for myself.
Ashton, still sobbing, climbed to his feet, and as he turned his head back around, Kage was gone. The trail of the hooded man lingered into the stairway, and a sudden silence filled the hallway once more.
…
On the top floor of the building, Vaan was led into a large, circular office with a view of the city. A crescent couch cushioned with vintage leather circled around a sturdy wooden desk. The desk's drawers were filled with stacks of coins, all in front of a pillow-filled scarlet chair overlooking the surroundings. In that chair sat a slightly overweight man seeming to be no older than forty. He continued to intertwine his long black beard with the curls in his hair, resting his chin on the palm of his hand. Half of his head was bionic, keeping his skull intact from a previous blast-related injury.
Ten other men, which consisted of his main group of subordinates, lined the room on the outer walls. They all wore thick jackets and dress pants, some carrying small daggers dangling off their belts.
"Who is this?" The bearded man behind the desk gnarled, coughing globs of spit out of his throat. "Why is there a little brat in my office?"
A tall, well-built man that had brought the boy in, cleared his throat, then spoke in a low tone. "This is the boy that killed Jinn, Amesly, Krigg, and Noki. We recovered their bodies before the guard had a chance to find them."
The bearded man squinted his brows, "You're telling me this kid took down Noki? Along with the other three? I am in no mood for theatrics."
"Sir," The tall man cleared his throat again. "This boy was the one who stole the core, so Noki and the others were sent after him. I apologize, but Noki isn't known for giving mercy, especially his own life. After some diggin' from the lower levels, this boy currently has a food contract under our name. However, we believe there was an external party involved."
"External party?" The bearded man thought for a moment, his voice as rigid as a used pipe. "What of the core? And how did you catch the boy? Find and interrogate any locals in the area that might be tied to this brat. Find any relatives or friends of his, and bring 'em here. As for the boy, you can beat the answers out of him. That core he stole was no ordinary rock in a drain. Find it immediately."
"Understood."
Vaan felt a trail of goosebumps prickle his arms, and just as he was prepared to run, a hand gently grasped his shoulder. The touch seemed to settle his fear, calm his heart, and release a breath of anticipation out of his lungs.
"You've done well Vaan," A familiar voice whispered in his ear. "Now, remember what I told you. Stay close." Kage swiftly brushed past him, driving a sickle into the tall man's abdomen. Blood exploded from the man's upper spine, as the curvature of the blade pierced the man's lungs. Forced to drop to his knees, his growls faded, as the darkness engulfed him. His skin seemed to crust with every passing breath, peeling into a thick smog of ash.
The other ten men in the room instantly bounced into a fighting position—confused as to what they just witnessed—some pulling out jagged blades, others pulling out sharpened daggers.
The bearded man sprung out of his seat, startled rather than afraid. "What the fuck just happened!? What kind of sorcery is this?!"
Kage dropped his shoulders, ignoring the question and asking one of his own. "Are you in charge of the operations this building runs across the Dustlands?"
"And if I say I am?" The bearded man spat, motioning for his men to circle him.
"Wonderful," said Kage. "Then I will only ask once. Return every single coin you've ever stolen to their rightful owners, including Vaan," Kage motioned behind him. "And for the pain and lives you've taken, double it, and let the homeless live in this building rent-free, and I'll spare your life, and your life only."
All the men in the room shared an awkward stare, which broke into a hard, sturdy laugh. The bearded man took over, spitting coughs of uncontrolled laughter. "Is this a joke? Which one of you hired this fool? Markis," He signaled to one of the men. "Get rid of this bastard and his fancy eye tricks, then bring me the boy."
Markis held a long, brimming sword with a purple haze along the edges of the blade. An orange glow had sparked to life from the holster, but even Kage noticed it was far too weak to rival. Markis had an odd pattern of fading brown hair on his scalp, pairing nicely with his cluster of awkwardly drawn tattoos on his forearms.
As Markis stepped forward, he swung his sword from above, aiming down at Kage's hood. The finer edges of the longsword held an otherworldly glow, shimmying through the air.
Half-interested at the sight of a cored blade, which was quite rare to come by, Kage sprung back, careful as to avoid the attack.
As the longsword smashed against the ground, a maroon haze lit up the floor, forming a sheet of ice around the impact. A trifling blue smoke emitted off the sword, and Markis stepped forth again, aiming for a broad slice.
Kage gripped his sickle tightly, letting the dark miasma ripple across the floor as he sliced through the longsword like butter. With the second sickle in his other hand, he cut straight through Markis' torso before the man could even react to what had happened.
However, the longsword had not vanished into a black smoke like its owner. Instead, the blade fell flat, clinking against the tile flooring. The faint hues of orange faded, dimming into a dull, colorless essence.
Wasting no time, Kage leaped through the remnants of the dark smoke that wisped out of Markis and the taller man, forcing little effort into the remaining 9 left standing.
Vaan kept close, clinging tightly to Kage's steps, his jaw trembling. Is this the power that all the empire guards have? Just who is this man? He thought to himself. His steps grew uncoordinated, and he toppled forward.
Kicking Vaan back, Kage dashed through the uniformed men, one by one, perishing them into a black ash with simple, precise movements. The bearded man backed away towards the ceiling-high windows, his arms frozen in midair. "Please! Please spare me! I'll do as you ask. Just spare me. You can have the damned building!" He weeped, bowing down to the floor.
"That's interesting," Kage flipped the blade of his sickles to their handles, holstering them back against the small hooks on his waist. "Your confidence from earlier sounds differnetly now. Why is that?"
"I'm sorry, I swear—"
"Quiet." Kage interrupted him. "Tell me, why is it that people like you make the lives of others worse. The Dustlands is a place where life is already pitiful. Yet there are people like you who still choose to make it worse. For what? Money? Power? Selfishness? I fail to understand."
"How moronic can you be?" The bearded man coughed, wiping the spit off his beard with his overwhelmingly large jacket. "Of course it's about money. Money is everything and will always be everything. How do you think we survive? Even our methods barely scrape the bottom of the barrel."
"I find that hard to believe," said Kage, narrowing his brows.
"I rule over Southside, the poorest shithole in the Dustlands. And even I have debts yet to be repaid. I simply collect interest from those unable to have access to food and lodging, like that bastard over there," the bearded man spat at Vaan. "What I do is no different than half of this city's damned elites."
"You're a virus, an infection plaguing these streets. You speak of your lesser evil, but how have you acquired such food and lodge? Would you care to speak on your methods regarding that?"
"I see now, it matters not what I say. You are the ghost of my sins." The bearded man clenched his jaw, his beard stiffening as he quickly reached for something in his back waistband. However, before he could retrieve the item, a sickle had struck through his neck, leaking a trail of dark light.
The man choked on what seemed like dark blood, as his neck slowly crumbled into a black dust. His limbs fell limp, and his soul had wisped into the midnight air.
Standing slowly, Kage sighed, "The ghost of my sins," He repeated, those words sinking into his stomach.
Vaad, who had fallen backwards, stared at the man before him in awe. The flashing neon lights of the streetside below illuminated Kage into a deathly presence. His silhouette loomed over the room, like a curtain of dread and darkness.