บท 4: A Tiny Enemy
Hex was out walking the city at night, which was dangerous but hey, he had magical powers now, what random mugger or freak would mess with him and his flesh rending claws? He needed a break from the studio, he was working hard on his new song, and hated how depressed it made him, so he decided to walk the empty streets of Lyserge City,
He had just come out of the border, which was a large metal wall that spanned the floating rock he walked on. The entirety of the city was a floating rock, as were the other bits of land that was left of the planet. His planet was widely lost to a vortex that sucked up what wasn't able to escape its pull. He remembered seeing the wings of the hovering machine from where he looked. There were many like it all along the bottom of the city.
Everything was man made now, from the atmosphere, to the ozone layer, there were even backup machines that switched on at the slightest sign of problems. He recalled looking over the edge again, the shimmering water that covered the barrier where the vortex was trapped was beautiful as always, in the late evening especially
He almost walked past a sign, but he decided to turn and look at it. It was a sign recruiting for another space mining project, to find soil that was similar enough to the sea floor that could be used to cover the barrier and restore marine wildlife habitats. He smiled, if he wasn't so scared of going to space, he would be right there with them.
The distinct sound of a car slowing down and braking. He turned his head back to see a black hearse stopped just behind him. Oh shit, he thought, he was warned about hearses, there was a vigilante group going around killing random people, on top of political figures, that used black hearses as a cover for their operations.
Someone got out of the passenger seat. It was a girl that was ever so slightly smaller than him, with long blonde hair. Her knee length black dress blew in the wind she pressed against the skirt of her dress with her arms that had gloves going up to her elbow, and she adjusted the rim of her mourning bonnet with no sides with a fishnet funeral veil that went halfway down her neck so it sat square on top of her head. The girl opened her eyes, which were a solid red.
"Holy fuck," he whispered under his breath. Was this a Demon Hunter? No, Zlyena said something about a beige coat, and he didn't see any stitching on her dress.
"Surprised, new friend?" The girl bobbed a curtsy, the claws on her hands slightly hidden, which didn't make him any less worried.
"New friend? What do you mean by that? I've never seen you before." He was kicking himself on the inside after he said those words, she was terrifying, and what he just said could have very well made her angry.
"Ah, but you are a magical creature too! Even though you are hiding your true form, I can sense it. Us magical creatures should stick together, you know." The girl smiled, revealing sharp, vampire-like fangs.
"Aren't you the ones who are killing random people, on top of political figures? I'll pass." He had just remembered, and even though it would have pissed her off even more, he wanted to stay true to his beliefs that violence doesn't solve anything.
"Ah, so you've heard of my vigilante group? The people I kill are all criminals and corrupt politicians. I'm making the world a better place, you see." The girl put her sharp index finger to her lower lip.
"I don't think violence really solves anything, I believe in prosecuting rather than killing." He wasn't impressed, he knew the justice system was fucked several ways to Sunday, but he believed in restoring it to its former glory, rather than joining a vigilante group.
"But the justice system doesn't do shit, you know that as well as I do, why would you let the worst of the worst pay their way out?" The girl grimaced.
"I'm an activist, I'll help restore the justice system to its former glory, without killing anybody." He didn't think killing would help anything, and believed activism was more noble than vigilantism.
"It's hopeless, there aren't that many good people in this world left." The girl's grimace faded into a frown.
"I'll take my chances, you should really stop killing people though." He knew she would keep killing, but he desperately wanted to prevent any further deaths.
"Not a chance, I'm the best goddamn chance you have at justice right now." The girl smiled again.
"Then I guess I'm going to have to stop you if you won't stop yourself." He focused on the tips of his fingers, and surprisingly, it worked, his claws came out.
"Ha, you still only have your claws, I have a better weapon." The girl put her hand out, and small red sigils sprang from the palm of her hand. A sword with two thin sets of metal demon horns on the cross-guard that curled up like bull horns, materialized. The girl grabbed the sword and brandished it.
"Oh fuck me." He whispered under his breath again.
The girl jumped at him and swung her sword. He caught it with the claws on his left hand. He felt an intense burning pain from his fingernails as his claws clashed with the sword.
"Agh, fuck!" he yelped, yet he continued to push back against the sword.
"They are very sensitive initially, aren't they? You should try cleaving at someone's flesh while they are that sensitive, it's a wonderful feeling." The girl snickered.
"Don't make fun of me, this really fucking hurts." He felt his eyes begin to water.
"Are you sure you can stop me when you are like this?" The girl asked.
"I thought we were going to have a claw fight, I didn't expect you to bring a fucking sword," he said.
"Oh, you have one too, I'm sure of it." The girl relented and pulled back her sword.
She held out her sword as it disappeared, red sigils came back and she summoned a pistol.
"Oh no," he said silently.
She pointed the gun at him, still smiling.
"You underestimated my resourcefulness quite a bit. But you seem interesting, and since I rarely see any magical creatures out here, I will let you live." She lowered the gun and it disappeared in her hand.
"Jesus, don't scare me like that." He felt hot electricity running through his body as adrenaline was released into his system.
"It was to showcase how you are no match for me, at least at the moment. If you were trained enough, you wouldn't have been scared, and would be able to block a bullet." She shrugged.
"I'll find a way to stop you eventually." He huffed.
"I look forward to it, though I'm sure it won't happen. On this day you will feel fear when you hear the name Elaine." Elaine laughed and got back into the hearse quickly, and it peeled off, leaving Hex very confused.
"Who the actual fuck was that?" He asked himself, all he knew about Elaine was her name, what she looked like, and how scary strong she was.
He went home and told Din and Owen about being accosted by a tiny demon girl, at least he thought Elaine was a demon. They didn't really believe him, and Owen asked if he was on drugs again. He told Owen to look at how his eyes weren't dilated. Sure enough, they weren't. He told him he still didn't completely believe him, but he said he'd decided to give Hex the benefit of the doubt at the moment.
Read the rest of the book here: https://www.moonquill.com/book/113
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