Hunting Haidians

[Jake Narmolanya]

((Planned as a solo, but if you'd like to jump in PM me on Breaker.))

I followed the hooded figure through the darkness and swathes of mist that obscured the salty night. The city of Serenti loomed beneath ghoulish clouds, the alleys between her blockish buildings making up our path. The soft leather soles of my boots trod silently, even when they landed in puddles of what I told myself was water. You could never be certain, especially close to a stables. Or a tavern.

The demon paused outside one such tavern and turned, looking over his shoulder and spotting me. His hood fell, and I caught a glimpse of his jaggedly pointed ears and glowing red eyes.

“Shit in a basket.” I muttered.

He raced to the two-story tavern’s stone wall and climbed upwards effortlessly.

“Flaming shit in a basket.” I’d been hoping for a quick, clean kill, but I hadn’t brought my bow. I thought about throwing a fireball but didn’t want to attract the attention, or risk setting something ablaze. I thought about using the crystal sword strapped across my shoulders to summon the spirit of the dragon, Long. She could fly me up to the rooftop, but not as quickly as the demon climbed. That left only one option, the one I’d been meaning to avoid. Cronen always said I relied too much on my portals in live combat.

As the demon neared the top of the wall, I conjured a stone door from the cobbled road. The door’s twin appeared on the rooftop, directly above the demon. As he crested the wall I kicked my door hard and it flew open forcefully, as did its twin. The door on the rooftop struck the demon in the head, and he fell like a sack of sand, stunned into silence.

Whump. I looked about to see if anyone had heard. No one came out of the tavern, or the nearby residential buildings. Something stirred in a shadowy corner, but it looked like a mere rodent and scurried out of sight. I crouched at the demon’s side and grabbed his wrist to check his pulse. He folded inward like a sprung beartrap, claws and fangs gnashing for my throat. I ducked and weaved and twisted the wrist I had ahold of, forcing his face down into the cobblestone. I stomped on the back of his skull, five times it took before he stopped moving.

The Haidian lay still, green blood seeping slowly from his jagged ears. I knelt and pulled the enchanted quill from my inner pocket, stabbing the demon in the chest with its diamond tip. The air around him whispered as the essence of his power was absorbed. The body faded quickly, leaving only a small stain on the cobblestones.

I could feel my own abilities being bolstered by the influx of power. I had been using the quill long enough to unravel its complexities; each demon I absorbed with it increased my own potential. Sometimes I stole specific abilities, like the portalling I’d taken from the first Haidian I ever slew. Other times, like this occasion, I merely felt a little stronger. The demon I’d just killed had been young, for a Haidian, and of a low caste, but it could still have caused untold trouble in Serenti. Smiling grimly, I headed for the only place I could be certain to find ale at such an early hour of the morning.