Street Side- The Narrows
Themerlinhawk Megelis, Crow
Day 1, Afternoon
Megelis watched as Kirane dove for someone who had been rather furtive with just about everything she was doing. It wasn’t exactly unusual in the Narrows given that your chances of getting shot here were quite high. As Crow broadcasted that he was going to need to cross the Veil, Megelis frowned behind his mask. Miriam broadcast across the open channel to keep eyes open, something about this whole thing felt off to Megelis. It wasn’t just the Narrows, he had been on the receiving end of far too many ambushes to not know that there was something headed their way. Kirane’s run of the phone number popped up in his heads up display. It wasn’t exactly conclusive since the number she’d dial was some sort of land line in the Narrows. The registered owners were at best questionable since they had gang affiliations but there was no way to tell if they were the ones actually living in the residence.
Adjusting his position on the rooftop the soldier scanned the side streets. It was then that it dawned on him what was off. There were far fewer people on the streets than he’d expected. Sure this was a terrible part of town but there were people who lived here, it wasn’t a ghost town it was just dangerous place to live at the best of times. The people on the streets moved quickly and didn’t talk. It was like they could smell a storm, which was a bad sign. Megelis wondered if perhaps someone had seen the drop ship. If that was the case there was a strong possibility that they weren’t specifically being tracked but someone was probably looking for them.
“Captain, I think we’re being tracked. There are too few people out here. It feels like something is really off but I can’t put my finger on it-” Megelis cut off the sentence and dropped to one knee on the roof bringing up the gun’s scope as he knelt. Tracking the movement of someone else coming down the street. This time the person was on their phone and clearly looking for someone.
“Okay have someone Captain, they are on their phone and they are looking for someone.” As if on cue the person on the street made it to the end of the alley where Kirane had taken down the other woman and looked at his phone before looking around as though he expected someone else to be here. Ducking below the edge of the roof Megelis cursed softly. The guy in the street was as average as could be, five eight, one fifty in weight, close cut brown hair the whole bit. In addition to all of the average Megelis had caught sight of something he didn’t like in the slightest. On the man's collar and part of the way up his neck he’d seen an ink black brand. Too many years spent killing people with that brand made it all too easy for him to recognize. It was a Stygian dissenter who had been converted. The brand made them an outcast in both social circles because it marked them as having opposed the Stygian Empire but also as someone who had converted to following the Empire. They had been particularly hated in Korvan and carrying the brand had been a death sentence. So much so that the Council of the Blackened Throne had issued an edict to their soldiers that anyone with the mark was to summarily executed. The result had been the Stygian’s branding random people in order to get the Korvan military to kill innocents. One act of hate begot another and the cycle had continued without end.
“Captain, there is some in the street with a Stygian dissenter brand. They are looking for the woman I think.” Switching channels Megelis directed his next message at Kirane. “I need you to do something for me. Check that woman for a brand. It might be on her up chest or neck. If it's not there it's going to be on her upper thigh or lower back.” Megelis could have been wrong but he strongly suspected the woman would have one. The Narrows was the perfect climate for the Stygian Blade to employ the Brand again.
--
In the back of his mind Crow realized that they were in imminent danger. With that in mind he finished peeling back the Veil. With a heavy sigh the Veil Walker stepped across to the other side. The world beyond was a pale reflection of the world he lived in. The underworld was for the most part consistent with its mortal counterpart though it was often darker or twisted in some way. The Narrows had seen more than their fair share of death and as a result they were particularly warped. Looking left and right Crow grumbled, the spirit was not present which meant that it needed fetched.
Closing his eyes Crow pulled out his bell and shook it twice. The ripples spread out around him as he opened his eyes to the flow of life sitting on the surface of the Veil. Ignoring them he looked for the spirits on this side of the Veil. The bell had called them to him but he was looking for one in particular. Conjuring spirit fire in his hand Crow lifted it to peer at the faces around him, he was looking for someone with electrical burns. Unfortunately there was more than a few spirits here and many of them were older. “Adtende mihi et alietum” Vulture fluttered from his perch on the building above him and alighted on Crow’s arm. “There are far too many here, allow me.” With a flick of its dark wings Vulture scattered the ancient shades leaving behind the cowering forms of the newly dead.
Peering at the faces Crow still didn’t see who he was looking for. It would be easier with a name or some sort of connection to the spirit. Of course the bastards face had been seared right off- “There.” Crow snapped his head around to look at the spirit that Vulture was indicating. Sure enough there was a spirit which appeared to be completely charred as though it had been standing off to the side of a powerful transformer and wearing a lot of metal. “You!” Crow reached out and seized the spirit. It tried to flee but he held on tight and hefted dragging the soul in close to study it. The magic smelled correct but there was only way to tell, he would have to compel it to tell him what had happened. As he was looking at the spirit he suddenly looked down and turned backward tracking the movement he’d seen. It was a soul in the mortal realm but it was below him. “Son of a bitch-” Crow crammed the spirit of the dead man into the skull hanging from his belt. It screamed as it was mashed into the skull without any sort of ceremony. Running for the entrance of the Veil Crow came flying through it into the mortal realm. “Captain they are below the street. I have the spirit but I need to close the Veil.”
At that exact moment the ground near the street ruptured from an explosive and disgorged a dozen Stygian blade members onto the street as they climbed out of the whole that had been blown in the street. “Shit. Crow whirled and started the process of closing the Veil with his magic.
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