Pride and Glory (Shinsou vs Storm)

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

Daylight had finally broken for Shinsou Vaan Osiris, with a crimson sun rising over the beautiful sea of Corone. The city of Radasanth blossomed beautifully in spring, and as the Telgradian swallowed a mouthful of morning orange juice and banged the empty glass down on the oak tabletop he looked out from the second story of his apartment. Below, people from all walks of life began to file into the streets; traders, politicians, children, couriers and all varieties of citizenry busying themselves with their professions and their past-times.

He sighed and looked at his reflection in a mirror hanging on the wall; a momento from his old Whitevale office. His face wasn’t as thin as it used to be, and now there were some lines near his eyes and some colour in the cheeks, but his golden eyes still resonated with life. Shinsou truly felt better for his estrangement from Whitevale, although he still woke in most nights expecting to find the uncomfortable mattress of his Brotherhood dormitory beneath him instead of the his king sized goosedown mattress. Old habits, it seemed, died hard.

The balcony door swung open and Arius, Shinsou’s friend and former Brotherhood advisor, paced in. His shoes tracked a film of thin gravel and dust across the clean laminate. The Telgradian rolled his eyes, cursing that he would now have to clean up later.

“Could’ve wiped your damned shoes, you know. Anyway, what brings you here at this ungodly hour?”

The wiry scientist looked cheery, even for him, with his white-seamed face drawn up in a smile. Shinsou raised an eyebrow. Events that made Arius smile were often events that involved being dragged into some mad situation, usually in the pursuit of some magical lunacy. Nonetheless, the Telgradian gestured for him to sit at the table.

The slender, bespectacled man pulled back a chair and slid his slight frame down in it. Reaching inside his leather jacket, a scarred hand produced a folded piece of parchment and placed it on the table. Arius slid the paper slowly across the oak surface towards a curious Shinsou.

"Two weeks, it took," Arius said in his soft voice. He raked a hand through disheveled bed hair, eyes weary from a natural lack of sleep that most scientists consider second nature. "But I finally got hold of him."

The folded paper that came from the man's hand caught Shinsou’s attention immediately. He picked up the paper and unfolded it, and after a brief glance at the tidy scrawl on the page began to feel a smile spreading across his face. He cleared his throat and wiped his lips, and then read the note.

Shinsou,

Any time, any place, I’d be more than happy to kick your teeth down your throat.

Today, midday, at the Citadel. Don’t be late, and don’t bring any blended shit. Just the single malt.

When the monks piece you back together, perhaps we can enjoy a glass.

Storm

Shinsou crumpled the parchment into a ball and threw it into a nearby trashcan. So, Storm was up for it. His lips curled into a wide smile, displaying his pearl white teeth to Arius. He had worked with the electromancer, and had once even stood against him. Despite all they had been through, Shinsou’s biggest regret was never being able to find out who was better.

Now all that would be settled.

"You've heard about the first time me and him met?" The Telgradian asked his friend, and got a terse shake of the head in return. "It was chaos. I had that lumbering idiot skeleton Elite Optic with me, and he and that prick Rayse Valentino ended up in a melee in the middle of the street in Radasanth, right in the middle of the bastard day. It was a long time ago, but I ended up getting there and squaring off against Storm. He was like a bullet – fast, dangerous but with a body that refused to die. He took my Enpera Kurohitsugi at full power and lived. Not only lived, but sneered at me, even as the blood dripped from his wounds. I liked him immediately."

He raised a hand. "But we never finished that fight. Before long, we were working together, and the more I saw of him, the more I knew I had only seen a fraction of what he was capable of. But I grew too." Shinsou peered at the parchment in the bin - "Now, I want to find out who is better. He came up from nothing to be the leader of the Brotherhood – the sole, rightful leader – and I can’t underestimate him, but I know if I give him everything I've got, I can eat him alive. Then, after that, I will have his back as many times as he needs.”

The Telgradian stood, sliding his chair back and clapped Arius on his back.

“Look after Shira and Stygian for me, Arius, and strip my coat of the metal buckles. I won’t be needing any metal today; swords or otherwise."

Arius nodded. "So, what's your plan?"

Shinsou stopped halfway to the door, collecting his white coat before throwing it and his two treasured blades into Arius's waiting arms.

"What else? I'm going to stand and trade with him, man to man. Magic, fists; it doesn't matter. I'll give him a fight he'll not soon forget."