Stalkers 1
"We will have to circle back to the woods more frequently, can't miss a portal" Ashwa said, breathing heavily.
He turned to Ayame who sucked on a water pouch, she nodded.
He skipped and jumped over the debris of the collapsed buildings. Wind was harder, carrying the clouds away.
The climate was auspiciously in their favour allowing for prolonged navigation. They moved through the rubble of fallen buildings to avoid the unpredictability of standing ones. The unseen sun gave a warm glow to the dark clouds, barely suggesting the time. That did not keep them from looking for hints up in the dead sky.
"It's noon...I guess" she said.
"We move as long as the shine remains" he suggested.
"Once again... Why?" She asked.
"The watchers are now followers...or so It seems"
Ayame scanned subtly and closed the distance with him. Ashwa searched for the reason behind her worried face.
"Do you think they've seen us?" He asked to draw out answers.
"I'm not sure..., they might have" she said to remain mysterious. "You can tell can't you?"
Ashwa slowed down and looked around. An abandoned concrete jungle about to fall apart spanned all around them. Ayame halted behind him and Ashwa noticed it.
"Helldwellers wouldn't lurk around, they will confront...and take what is their's" he said with a curious look. "So...I'm not sure. I'm drawing a blank as well"
"What does that supposed to mean?" She asked
"I don't know...you tell me!"
"Again with the damned bullshit?"
" why else would Helldwellers hunt a human?"
Ayame stopped herself From speaking, she walked ahead of him silently.
"It's true isn't it?" He asked and followed her quickly. She walked away faster while he followed.
"So this is it!?...we die here?" He asked.
"I may" she replied.
"You think they'll let me walk away?...they are ruthless, and surprisingly overpowered outside of the Demonworld for some reason" he said and paused to get a reaction out of her.
Ayame did not speak, she walked with a stright face. She saw a burning skull every time she blinked, fuming away the flesh and hair, melted nose and sagging eyeballs. Trauma enveloped her.
"It's very unusual for Helldwellers to personally hunt a human down... It's unhear..."
"STOP TALKING, PLEASE" Ayame yelled, she closed her face with her palms and crouched.
"I need to breathe, just leave me alone for a bit" she said with a shivering voice.
Ashwa silenced himself, he bent his head and turned away. Yet another failed attempt at getting her to talk. He looked up into the distance and frowned.
"That's it" he said doubtfully.
Ayame inhaled "what?" She asked.
"We should split up" he suggested.
Ayame instantly realised the motive and raised with an optimistic expression.
***
"The orders are strict, until we receive a legitimate command, we must keep a close watch and nothing more" said a creature.
It was fully covered in a grey garment, a long beak stuck out from the head region. Particularly that of a pelican, protruding through the gap of the fabric.
It walked forward with its clawed feet towards another creature with pig like features on a humanoid physique, who was also cover in similar fabric.
The pig man was bejeweled with numerous gold piercings, through ears, brows, nose and lips. He was quite hefty and short compared to his avian companion, who was physically thin and tall.
Both of them watched Ayame and Ashwa from a distant buliding not bothering to hide.
"Mustang!, That cowardly basturd has jeoprodized everything" The pig man said and moved away from the window while removing his hood, he was shirtless and only wore a loose brown pant, he had many golden chain entangled with one another. He stretched his limbs and warmed up.
"The lithore most probably has the phob of the mage he killed, we must watch him particularly, I'll leave it to you, Vorgoff" the pig-man added.
"Yes sir. And...Speaking of Mustang, if this isn't the real Ayame, we are advised to abort and track him down as soon as possible. Apparently he's off radar after the capture was hindered" Vorgoff conveyed.
"He killed the strain and chickened out, there's nothing else to happen. Despite strict orders, he has killed more than 1500 strains of Ayame, no more pardon for him and he knows it" he said.
"But sir Aignet!. His last dispatch was...Prime earth!" Vorgoff reminded.
He stopped exercising and looked at him with wide eyes and snorted. He covered himself again and walked out of the apartment, Vorgoff followed. They walked down the stairs which produced new cracks with every one of their steps, the railing was wobbly just by a touch and concrete chunks fell all around them accompanied by trails dust, all of this didn't bother them, they descended the stairs calmly.
A huge piece of rubble was dropping down directly on Aignet, he didn't flinch as his head turned into solid gold before the concrete impacted and crumbled into tiny granules.
Aignet brushed the dust off his shoulder "the one where the prodigy is being bred?" He asked.
"Umm... There's only one prime earth... sir" Vorgoff replied while dodging.
"He's Barely trained my master. The boy is of negligible consequence, but the mage on the other hand could have been problematic. Fortunately, mages who leave Heavensworth are forbidden from using Zeto Tsenjin, that puts him below Mustang in statistical Ranking. So if someone did die, it's definitely the Ayame strain" Vorgoff elaborated.
They exited the building and walked away into more rubble.
"If he did kill the strain. I don't want to be there when he reports it to his Unholyness"
They walked pulling their covers tighter through the valleys of demolished piles, a strong wind elevated gray sand all around them. They vanished into the smokey blizzard, towards their prey.
***
Ashwa reached an Area where he felt a strong pull from underneath, he jumped on to the ground to hear any vibration from a strong metal. He has been searching for quite some time.
He showed his right palm to the ground while maintaining a strained face. The ground vibrated in unison with his fingers. Suddenly a metalic pipe unraveled from the ground and stuck to his hand. He smiled and gripped it firmly. He examined the peice and suspended it into the air where it hovered in front of him. He slammed both of his hands together, his palms were close but did not connect, the pipe was smashed to a thin sheet of metal. After quite a bit of sanding and sharpening, he made himself a cheap replica of his blade and looked at it top to bottom before gathered all the motivation to put up a minimum fight if had to.
He climbed on a pile and gazed at the direction of Ayame, she had distanced substantially, he sighed and continued circling.
"Sire...the mage is alone" Vorgoff informed.
"The mage. He sensed us. Get rid of him and meet me with the phob " Aignet commanded.
Vorgoff spread his wings wide, one flap and the cover blew away, he was a 7 foot tall pelican with a damaged eye. His wing span was enormous having the majority of the feathers on his body. He had many patches of wounds and cuts. His long legs were of the same colour as his beak. A Muskmelon yellow. the damaged eye was woven shut giving him a vicious look.
He took off with a huge gust of wind, blasting sand everywhere. Aignet turned away and walked forward with a grin.
***
Ayame drew a circle by writing cursed signs around her using her own blood as ink. She closed herself inside the circle. She tore her sleeve and tied the bleeding finger.
She stayed reasonably calm and sat down leg folded, inhaling and exhaling with subsequent intervals to ease the panic.
She sharpened her vision and observed the distant bulidings carefully. Scanning around throughout her neck-span.
A shining spot appeared at the corner of her left eye, she focused on it rapidly and compressed her lids to clarify the target. Sweat drops trickled down from her brow hairs.
Aignet walked towards her slowly and menacingly. Every inch of his body was of gold. He looked like a walking sculpture of gold forge. His footprints were deeper and prominent due to his weight.
Ayame took a deep breath and raised.
She cracked her knuckles randomly which lit her bloody circle on pink flames. Aignet stopped like a statue and stood stright. His smile faded.
"Impossible" he said under his breath.
He walked close slower, Ayame began to levitate.
"Mrs Matsumoto, it appears that you are well versed in dark magic " he said with a false enthusiasm.
She continued to breath heavily and focused on the sorcery at hand.
"Though I would say that 'The Belt of Graveyard'... is a bit overkill, don't you think?" he asked.
"So you might also know what it's capable of" Ayame finally spoke.
"You think I can't fending off a couple of zombies?" He replied.
"I'd like to see you try" Ayame said.
"Why are you making this so much harder for yourself? If your father did love you, he wouldn't have wanted this for you" he said in a provocative tone.
"He's far from your grasp now, just like I am" Ayame said with a smug look.
Aignet grunted and charged forward. Ayame whispered a spell while her hair flowed upwards. The circle of pink fire around her expanded beyond. The ground within the circle started to pulsate and weather. Horrifying screams echoed from the cracks on the floor. Aignet continued his approach with concern. He ran past the flames into the circle and immediately regretted his actions. The ground was uneven and loose. He gradually halted and looked around before turning to Ayame who was still disobeying the laws of gravity.
"Is this the extent of your dark magic? I should have known. You are just a human. Pretending to be strong.
Puny and helpless. Just like your grandparents" he mocked her.
Ayame looked at him with filled eyes "no" she said in a shivering voice.
"Yes. It was me....I still remember the day, they did came quietly once called, they knew better than to retaliate....And then came the cursed father and his daughter to reek havoc. Rebelling against the Helldwellers" he continued opening up Ayame's trauma.
Ayame bit her lip to prevent tears, she couldn't close her eyes, she saw the burning body of her father every time she did.
"Look at me, my cookie. please...(Sigh)...Moon of my night sky, sun of my day and.... (Cough) love of my life. Won't you do this one last thing for your old man?"
She let the pain flow for the first time since she was scarred. She saw herself setting her father on fire in the middle of the living room, his gasoline drenched body was covered in flames within seconds. He didn't even move a muscle. He just gazed at his daughter while his face melted away. The house around her was stripped into particles, but her eyes was fixated on him. She stood there, knowing what she lost, what she had done. Wanting to scream till her throat ripped. Guilt and anger fought inside her for superiority while she remained defeated and fallen forever.
Dead inside since.
"You set his soul free and added his curse upon yourself, now it's time to pay double the price. Ayame. daughter of Aoi" Aignet shouted.
She snapped out of her guilt trance and opened her reddish eyes.
"YOU WILL NEVER CAPTURE ME. YOUR KIND SHALL LEAVE. MY FAMILY. ALONE" she shouted back.
The flame of the circle blazed brighter. Corpse from the ground raised and crept up towards Aignet. He began to thrash them away one by one. The zombies multiplied in number within a matter of minutes, Aignet started to feel slightly overwhelmed. He was pinned at one position while the dead bodies tried to bite on his metalic limbs. Soon visibility was obscured, some climbed on top of him and others made him trip over. His gold body was the only thing keeping him alive.
This is beyond her capabilities, what is this magic?. Belt of graveyard is only supposed to Conjure a hand full of undead.
Aignet exploded the zombies away as he stood up producing a shock wave, he barely had a scratch on him. The undead began to slowly crawl black towards him.
"Is this how you plan to stop me?" He asked. While slowly walking towards her.
"What is that you are trading for this? You seem surprisingly intact after such a spell" he asked.
"Are you going to hide under that armour throughout the battle?" She asked.
"Battle? Don't make me laugh, this is your petty struggle, a futile one at that. Tell me what's the prize? Your life span? Blood?" He asked curiously.
Soon the zombies latched on to his legs and started pulling again.
"You're not getting out of this" he said while glancing at the dead walkers and back at her.
"Neither are you" she replied.
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