other creative writing The Spiritmaster's Fate: Chapter 2 - The Faction's Enemy

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'Four years have passed since that day. The day he saved my life. He taught me everything I know and disappeared two years later. Malcolm Robins, I know I owe you a lot, but why did you disappear? I guess it doesn't matter much at this point. Right now, survival is my only concern. I will get my revenge. I swear on my name.'

October 9th, 9:30 PM: Star Lake - The Brew

The Brew coffee shop, a small jazz club for coffee lovers and travelers alike. The shop was located on the eastern end of the town in the quiet part of the area, making it a nice place to relax and get a good cup of coffee. The inside of the shop was lit by a few lights and candles while the sound of smooth jazz echoed through the whole shop. The entire time Adrian was sitting inside, he could only smell coffee beans and the faint scent of mint since the five other people scattered around the shop were sitting and eating breath mints.

The boy sat at his table in silence, watching his Spirit, Stein, drink his coffee. He knew that some Spirits didn't understand the concept of taste and wondered what Stein thought of the drink, taking constant glances around every few moments in case any Faction of Light members showed up. None of the people sitting around the small shop seemed to have any relation to the Faction of Light.

"So, this drink you call coffee is suppose to be good?" Stein asked, setting the cup down.

"You wouldn't really get it, Stein. Just finish your coffee and let's get out of here. We need to keep moving." Adrian answered.

"Unless you want to wait an hour. I hardly understand how this is suppose to be any good." Stein pointed out, getting a sigh from Adrian in reply.

"Then don't drink it. We didn't come here to enjoy drinks, you know. I thought maybe this would help you rack that head of yours for a reason why the Faction of Light is after us." Adrian pointed out.

"We've wasted our time here, then. Nothing comes to mind regarding the Faction of Light or their reasons for hunting us." Stein replied while Adrian stood up.

"We're leaving. We'll try something else." Adrian said while he left a small tip on the table and began walking towards the door. Stein followed closely behind him, abruptly stopping when the front door of the shop slowly opened up.

"Stein, into my shadow." Adrian whispered. The Spirit nodded and sank into the ground when nobody was looking, taking the place of Adrian's shadow. The door to the shop opened up and a Faction of Light member entered the room. He glanced around the room while he took a sip from a coffee mug he was holding in his hand. Adrian froze for a moment as he watched the Faction of Light member walk by without saying anything. He had hoped that the man didn't recognize him.

"Good evening." the man said to the employee behind the counter on the other side of the shop, flashing him a smile and taking another sip of coffee.

"Good evening, Commander Goodman. You on patrol again tonight?" the employee replied, pouring more coffee into the man's cup while he took his wallet out of his pocket.

"The guys who are normally on night patrols have tonight off. It's been pretty quiet tonight. The lack of action is making my coffee cold." Goodman said, while he set a few dollars down on the counter. Adrian slowly started walking towards the door, listening in on Goodman's conversation with the employee. When he heard that Goodman was a commander, he froze up.

'That guy is a commander? No way. He doesn't even look the part outside of the suit.' Adrian thought.

"It's as they say. Looks are designed to fool other humans into false security, then they strike." Stein said, talking to Adrian through his mind.

"Stein, that's not the way the saying goes." Adrian quietly corrected Stein, slowly walking towards the door in hopes the commander wouldn't stop him. Goodman saw Adrian starting to open the door in the corner of his eye, flashing a small smile while he pulled out a pistol. He aimed towards Adrian, tightly gripping the weapon while he aimed. He took a breath and his pistol became shrouded by a golden light.

"C-commander, what are you-" the employee questioned until Goodman put a hand over his mouth and shushed him, returning to aiming at Adrian. When he saw the boy starting to walk out, he fired off a strange shot of light from his gun, attracting the attention of the entire shop when the shot left a small hole in the door near Adrian's head. The boy stood there, still as a stone until he felt a bit of blood run down his cheek. He moved his hand towards the side of his face to find a small cut that wasn't there before.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I was only trying to show my good friend here something with my powers." Commander Goodman quickly apologized, setting the gun down on a nearby table next to his coffee mug and walking over to Adrian, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Come, I'll get you a cup of coffee as an apology. You can never go wrong with a good cup of black magic." Commander Goodman added, leading Adrian back over to the table he was sitting at before heading back to the employee to order some coffee.

"We're in the lion's den now, Adrian." Stein said.

"What should we do, Stein?" Adrian quietly asked.

"For now, we wait. Clearly, he knows who you are. He can hide the truth from a human, but he can't fool my ears. The lies were easy to spot." Stein answered.

"So you want me to stay here and drink coffee with the crazy, pistol wielding commander?!" Adrian loudly whispered back to make sure nobody else could hear what seemed like him talking to himself. He didn't notice that Commander Goodman was standing in front of the table, giving him a weird look.

"Are you talking to yourself?" Goodman asked. Adrian quickly looked up at the commander, seeing the two coffee cups in his hands. One of the cups was unusually large for a coffee mug, making Adrian question where the man even got it from.

"No. You're just hearing things." Adrian responded after a moment of silence.

"That's a pretty weak coverup, Adrian. You were clearly talking to yourself." Stein mumbled in Adrian's head.

"Shut up." Adrian whispered back before he returned his attention to the commander who was now sitting across from him.

"So what was the big idea? Is it common for Faction of Light members to go shooting at innocent people with firearms the way you did." Adrian questioned.

The commander sat and drank his coffee, waiting for Adrian to stop talking before he picked up the pistol.

"Sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about. This gun has no ammo. I've never touched a single bullet in my entire life. This pistol has never held a single bullet as long as I've owned it. How could I fire something from a gun without any ammo?" Commander Goodman replied, taking another sip of his coffee.

"He's lying. He fired something from that pistol, even if it wasn't an actual bullet. He's a Spiritmaster, so he must have some kind of ability that allowed him to do what he did." Stein pointed out. Adrian smirked, picking the weapon up and observing it a bit.

"You say this weapon has no ammo in it, but that's nothing more than a lie." Adrian said, standing up and aiming the gun at Commander Goodman. The man didn't seem bothered by the fact a boy had a gun aimed at him. He calmly took a sip of his coffee, watching Adrian pull the trigger of the gun only for nothing to happen.

"What was that you said before? The weapon having no ammo was a lie? If you really think I'm lying, take a look for yourself." Goodman commented, snatching the weapon from Adrian's hand. He opened up the weapon, showing Adrian that the weapon really did have no ammo in it.

"Are you ready to retract your statement? Come, sit down and drink your coffee before it gets cold." Goodman added, setting the pistol back down on the table. Adrian glared at Goodman, a bit frustrated that he had outsmarted him, sitting back down and taking a sip of his coffee.

"Black coffee." Commander Goodman simply said.

"Black coffee?" Adrian and Stein both questioned even though the commander couldn't hear Stein.

"Deep darkness in the cup. A bit of cream brings some light to this black sea lurking in my mug. It is similar to our world, but in this situation, your Spirit is the darkness in the coffee mug that is life, Mr. Rivers." Commander Goodman continued. Adrian tried to keep his cool, knowing that Goodman was trying to get him to crack. He was ready to make a run for it, but he noticed right away that Commander Goodman wasn't aiming on arresting him on the spot for apparently harboring a Spirit turned to the darkness since he would've done it already. Adrian still had the feeling that the commander was up to something, though.

"You're not going to run? Smart boy. Go on, enjoy your coffee. I simply wish to have a little chat before we skip ahead to the part where you run away." Goodman said, taking a sip from his mug. Adrian was a bit hesitant, hoping that Stein had could come up with any bright ideas while he stalled for time with a talk.

"Start talking." Adrian replied, watching Goodman set down his coffee mug. He took a glance at the pistol that sat in the middle of the table, keeping a close eye on it just in case Goodman had any ideas.

"Now, before we begin, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Timothy Goodman, commander of Star Lake's Faction of Light branch. The reason I'm here is simple. You're harboring the Dark Spirit connected to The Harrowing, and I ask that you hand him over." the commander said.

"Why should I bother releasing Stein to someone like you?" Adrian questioned.

"You didn't let me finish talking. Allow me to explain." Goodman responded.

"You've been on the Faction's radar for almost four years, and all because we found out you were the Spiritmaster of Stein. You've gone through quite some daring escapes, and put yourself pretty high on our list. There is a way out for you, Mr. Rivers. How about we strike up a deal?" Goodman started while Adrian raised an eyebrow.

"If you choose to surrender Stein to me right now, you will be free to go. I'll make sure all of your little incidents with the Faction of Light are wiped off the record. You'd never have to worry about being on our radar ever again." Goodman finished, taking a sip of his coffee while Adrian considered his options.

"What if I refuse?" Adrian asked. Goodman smiled a bit upon hearing this and set down his coffee mug.

"Easy. That coffee you're drinking will be the last thing you'll ever enjoy. You will be arrested and put on trial for harboring the source of our world's current state. The odds you'll face a punishment that isn't execution is almost impossible. So, what will it be?" Goodman explained.

'So it's either give up Stein to save myself or keep things the way they are?' Adrian thought.

"Something about this whole thing seems a bit shady. Don't you think it's a bit odd that this commander would give you such convenient options? In fact, it's a bit strange how a commander would just happen to come by a coffee shop at this hour when you're here." Stein pointed out.

'So you think someone here set us up?' Adrian thought back.

"It's not a matter of thinking. It's a fact. Plus, I don't think this man is very trustworthy. Something in his words don't ring true. His weapon and erasing your incidents off the record. The lies in his voice are very faint, but I can sense them clearly. It's time we left, Adrian." Stein replied. Adrian nodded in reply and stood up.

"Sorry, but I'm not giving up my Spirit. I don't care what you say. Stein isn't a Dark Spirit as you claim." Adrian finally said, watching the commander slam his hands on the table and reach for the pistol. Adrian wasn't expecting the move from Goodman and went for the gun a few moments afterward, but he was too slow.

"I tried to play nice, kid. Looks like we're going to have to play the hard way. Give me the Dark Spirit, now!" Goodman demanded, aiming the pistol at Adrian. The boy glanced around, noticing that the other customers were watching the scene unfold. Adrian flashed a bit of a smile, taking a few steps back. Under the table, a shadowy hand rose from the ground, flipping the table and causing Goodman's coffee to fall onto his lap. He let out a shout of pain while Adrian turned around and started making a run for the door.

Goodman didn't pay notice to the table flying across the room and breaking upon contact with the floor, taking aim at Adrian. He took a breath and the pistol became shrouded by a golden light once again. Without taking a moment to check his aim, Goodman fired another shot of light at Adrian, shooting him in the shoulder. The boy let out a cry of pain as the bullet pierced straight through him, causing him to crash into a few tables.

'What the hell was that? Whatever it was, it hurts...' Adrian thought, finding himself unable to move.

"Divine light. My powers are extremely weak to divine light. He must be fueling his power into that gun to fire off shots of divine light. In any case, you need to get up." Stein responded while Goodman slowly approached, clearly in pain from having scalding hot coffee spilt onto his lap. Adrian tried to stand, getting to his knees before getting kicked back down to the floor by Commander Goodman.

"You really like to make things difficult, don't you? I try being a nice guy and giving you a choice, yet you have to go and screw up my night. You damn teenager." Goodman said, taking aim at Adrian. The weapon became shrouded by a golden light once again and Goodman took aim at Adrian's head.

"If I kill the Spiritmaster, the Spirit will be forced back to the Spirit World, and they can deal with it from there. I'll kill two birds with one stone." Goodman said. Adrian growled a bit in anger, causing another shadowy hand to rise out of the ground and grab a piece of one of the broken tables from when Adrian fell, knocking the pistol out of Goodman's hand and following up by throwing a large chunk of a table at the commander, knocking him away from Adrian.

"You play pretty dirty for a Faction of Light commander." Adrian simply said once he stood back up, keeping a hand over where the blast of light pierced through his shoulder. Goodman stood up shortly afterward, sighing a bit.

"Does it really matter in this day and age? Nobility and honesty are dead in this world. No matter what way you look at it, lies and deception are all around us. The darkness from one hundred years past has infected us all. Some more than others. While some of the commanders may try to seem all high and noble, it doesn't matter anymore! The end justifies the means when it comes to dealing with people like you and Spirits like Stein. If I need to go against the book for a few missions to get things done, so be it." Goodman explained, laughing a bit. While he spoke, there were a few quiet conversations coming from the other customers. While Goodman was rambling on, Adrian decided to jump on the chance and make an escape. Using the shadowy hand from before, he grabbed an undamaged table and threw it the large window of the coffee shop, shattering it and jumping out once the glass was broken.

"Commander Goodman, aren't you going to go after him?" the coffee shop employee questioned, who was hiding behind the counter while the fight was taking place.

"He won't get away. No matter what he does, I'll find him." Goodman confidently replied before he took out his cell phone and dialed a number.

"Goodman here. Stein is here in Star Lake. The Spiritmaster was here at The Brew less than thirty seconds ago, and he's heading your way towards the lake. Bring him back dead or alive, along with that Dark Spirit. I'll be on the chase with Aeon soon enough." Goodman ordered, hanging up the phone and laughing a bit.

'No matter where you go, I'll find you, kid. No Dark Spirit gets away in my town. I will be the one to eliminate the monster who ruined our world.' Goodman thought.

Adrian dashed down the road, paying no mind to the occasional car passing by on the road. He took a glance behind him every few moments to see if he was being followed by Goodman.

"Why isn't he following?" Adrian questioned, getting no reply from Stein. While he ran, he saw a young girl walking towards him. He growled a bit and pushed the girl out of the way with a shadowy hand, paying no attention to who it was he had pushed. He took a sharp right turn onto the next street, hoping to make his way towards the town's lake to find a hiding spot, but on his way there, he stopped in his tracks when he saw a large line of white cars blocking the entire road. In front of the row of cars was a group of armed Faction of Light members, almost like they were all waiting for him.

"Are you serious?" Adrian growled, taking a step back when the armed line of white suited men and women took a step forward.

"By order of the Faction of Light, surrender the Dark Sprit or else!" one of the men in the line ordered.

"Or else what?" Adrian questioned. The same Faction of Light member pointed up towards an approaching helicopter with a minigun attached to the side of it.

"Or else you'll be shot up into swiss cheese. There's nowhere to run or hide, kid. Just give up now and your prison time may not be as bad." the man responded.

"You know, when you mention prison time, it doesn't exactly make me willing to give up." Adrian pointed out.

"Shut up! There's nowhere to run or hide! Just give up your Dark Spirit or face the music!" the man shouted, taking aim at Adrian. He growled a bit in anger, taking a look around the area for any escape routes before the helicopter arrived, but he saw it was nothing more than a straight road. There were no alleyways or other paths to take. The road was straight and the only possible routes of escape Adrian would've had was the way he came, but he was too late. He could hear the helicopter in the air behind him, set to fire the minigun if he failed to cooperate.

'This is just great. There's no way out of this one now.' Adrian thought.

"There is one way. We may need to resort to using that technique." Stein added.

"How long would we have?" Adrian asked.

"Forty seconds. Maybe less. We'd need to be quick." Stein replied. Adrian gave a nod of reply, taking a look around the area, trying to find a place to go. When he found a good location, he started making a dash for the side of a building.

"What is he doing? He's up to something. Fire away!" another person in the group ordered before the line of Faction of Light members began to open fire on Adrian. While he ran, more shadowy hands rose out of the ground, changing into walls of darkness to protect him from the hail of bullets to the left of him. Once the minigun from the helicopter started firing, Adrian was forced to speed up. He was getting close to the side of the building, but the flurry of shots from the minigun were closing in at an extremely quick rate. With no other option, Adrian sucked in a breath and took a dive, sinking directly into the ground and avoiding the minigun's assault.

"He got away again! The commander isn't going to like this." one of the people in the line said. The head of the group, the guy who was shouting at Adrian earlier, took out his cell phone and called Goodman, ready for whatever criticism he had in store.

"Commander Goodman, we have some bad news." the man started to say.

"He got away again, I'm guessing." Goodman replied, standing at his car across the street from The Brew.

"Y-yes, sir. The boy sank into the ground." the man added, wondering how Goodman would reply.

"Don't worry about him. For now, tend to the people. Check and see if that boy harmed anyone. If there are any questions, give them the truth. I'll take care of the boy." Goodman responded, feeling something cling to his leg while he was talking.

"I'll call you back." Goodman finished before hanging up the phone and turning his attention to a young girl who was holding onto his leg as if her life depended on it. The girl was wearing an angel Halloween costume, but there was dirt on a few spots, as if she had been pushed to the ground recently.

"Aeon, there you are. Did something happen to you?" Goodman asked while he put his cell phone back in his pocket.

"A bad man pushed me, Mr. Goodman. A bad man in a brown coat." the young girl replied, keeping her grip on the commander's leg. Goodman thought it over a bit, clenching his fists when he remembered that Adrian was wearing a brown trench coat when he was at the coffee shop.

'I swear, Rivers, if I learn that you were the one to push Aeon, you'll wish you had turned yourself in years ago...' Goodman thought, returning his attention to Aeon.

"I think I may know who the bad man is. There's a similar person that's going around and causing problems in town. We need to find him and bring him to justice." Goodman said, opening up the passenger's side door for Aeon.

"We'll take the car. I know where he's going, so it won't take long." Goodman added while Aeon let go of Goodman's leg and got into the car.

"How do you know where he's going, Mr. Goodman?" Aeon questioned.

"I have my ways." Goodman responded, getting into the car and starting it up. He smirked and took his cell phone back out, opening up a radar app and handing the phone to Aeon.

"Keep an eye out for a red dot on that radar. The bad man is that dot." Goodman stated before slamming on the gas and speeding away from the coffee shop.

October 9th, 10:43 PM: Star Lake - Empty House

Down in the southern side of Star Lake, a safe distance away from the chaos involving the Faction of Light in the eastern part of the town, Adrian emerged from the shadows inside a house. The moment he got out, he was coughing and trying to catch his breath. Stein stepped out shortly afterwards, taking a glance around their new location.

"So this is where the shadows led us." Stein simply said, walking around a bit until Adrian finally got back up.

"Where are we?" Adrian questioned.

"Still in town, without a doubt. As for right now, it seems we're in a family's former residence." Stein answered.

"Some family's old house? Well, that explains why it's so empty." Adrian added, walking over to the window and taking a look outside. He could see distant lights from other buildings in town, but at the same time, he saw a searchlight flying around in the air.

'They're still looking for me. Getting out of here today may not be possible without that technique again. Forty seconds may not be enough, though.' Adrian thought, punching the wall in a fit of anger.

"This commander relies on his underhanded tactics to get an edge on us. How he's getting away with doing this, I wonder." Stein pointed out, dodging a blast of light that came flying in from the kitchen.

"It's because this is my town, Dark Spirit." a familiar voice responded. Adrian quickly turned and saw Commander Goodman walk into the room, aiming his pistol at Stein. Following close behind him was Aeon. The moment she saw Adrian, she pointed at him.

"That's the one. He's the bad man that pushed me." Aeon interrupted, causing Goodman to change his target to Adrian.

"I had a feeling you were the one who pushed little Aeon. You cold monster. If I had known you were the type to push around people weaker than you, I would've killed you at the coffee shop.." Goodman angrily said, sounding like he was only concerned about Aeon.

"How the hell did you even find me?!" Adrian exclaimed, completely ignoring what Goodman was saying. He avoided a shot of light from Goodman's pistol, watching him smile a bit and take his cell phone out.

"The beauty of tracking technology, Mr. Rivers. You didn't even notice I planted a tracking chip on you back at the coffee shop." Goodman replied.

"Isn't that suppose to be illegal?" Stein pointed out.

"The end justifies the means, tall, dark and creepy. As long as Mr. Goodman finds the bad man and brings him to justice, we can break a rule." Aeon responded.

"Oh great, now he's got the little girl thinking like he does. That's just fantastic." Adrian sarcastically said, rolling his eyes.

"I'm not a little girl! I'm probably older than your great, great grandfather!" Aeon shouted back.

'Older than my great, great grandfather? That must mean...' Adrian started to wonder.

"She's a Spirit. Goodman's Spirit by the look of things." Stein added.

"That little kid?" Adrian asked.

"Spirits don't grow older with age. To you, Aeon may look like a little kid, but in reality, she's probably thousands of years old. I question why she chose to take on such a childish form," Stein answered. Aeon smiled a bit, brushing her hand through a bit of her golden blonde hair.

"Call me a kid all you want. We'll see who the kid is at the end of this!" Aeon said.

"That makes no sense in this situation." Adrian pointed out.

"Shut up!" Aeon shouted, turning to face Goodman, who was quiet because he was drinking a cup of coffee.

"Mr. Goodman, can we teach them a lesson?" Aeon asked, waiting for Goodman to finish his drink. Once he took his last sip, he threw the plastic cup on the floor and put his cell phone away.

"We'll teach them more than just a lesson, Aeon. Prepare yourself, Mr. Rivers." Goodman answered while Aeon became shrouded in a golden light and shot up into the air. After a few moments, a radiant light shone down on Goodman, bringing him up into the air. The light soon covered the commander, brightening up the entire room. Adrian had to block his eyes to avoid being blinded by the light while Stein stood still and watched.

The light faded away and Goodman landed to the floor, but when Adrian saw him, the boy was unsure if he was even facing the same man. The commander was no longer wearing his white suit and was instead wearing strange white robes. His greasy black hair had become a light brown and his eyes were as golden as the light he represented as a member of the Faction of Light. Floating above his head was a golden halo and his pistol was replaced with a bow.

'So this is his true power...' Adrian thought, taking a step back. Stein stood in place, almost like he was observing Goodman's actions. He watched as Goodman took a deep breath and cleared his throat.

"Art thou ready for combat?" Goodman questioned, sounding like a different person. Adrian stopped in his tracks, wondering what part of Goodman's sentence even meant.

"Art thou ready for combat? If thou art prepared to die, come hither." Goodman repeated, getting Adrian angered with the comment.

"If I want to die? Are you really that overconfident in your skills to think you can kill me?" Adrian questioned.

"You know, I thought you were planning on chickening out." Stein said. Adrian growled a bit, clutching a heart shaped necklace he was wearing.

"I'm not giving up. I made a promise that I would avenge her. I will get my revenge, and no Faction of Light member is going to stand in my way. Stein, let's show him what we're made of." Adrian responded, his tone growing serious. Stein gave a nod of approval and sank into the ground. A pit of shadows opened up around Adrian and a large number of shadowy hands grabbed him and dragged him under. Once it seemed like Adrian was gone, a hand rose from the pit of shadows, and Adrian rose back up. His trench coat had changed from brown to jet black, and he had a white streak in his hair like Stein.

"No weapon of choice? Quite a saucy fool to think thou can defeat me, especially with no weapon." Goodman said. Adrian smirked a bit, snapping his finger. The pit of shadows he was standing in changed into two large, shadowy hands, each of them with one large eye in the palm.

"Fie! Thy darkness radiates worse than I had expected. It appears I will have to show thee the light." Goodman stated, aiming his bow at Adrian. In his free hand, a golden arrow appeared in his hand. Adrian had a bad feeling about what Goodman was up to, charging forward and throwing one of his shadowy fists forward. Goodman jumped back, ducking once he landed to avoid Adrian's fist, causing him to punch a large hole in the wall as a result.

While Goodman was preparing to fire his arrow, he tried to kick Adrian in the back, but the boy's other shadowy hand slapped the man away, causing him to release the arrow. The moment the arrow touched the ground, it exploded in a bright flash of light, lighting up the entire room. Adrian turned back around, but the light destroyed his large shadowy hands in moments.

"It appears thy foolish weapon did not serve thee well." Goodman laughed, creating another arrow in his free hand.

'What is this light? There's no way it should've destroyed my shadowy hands the way it did. In fact...why is the room still lit?' Adrian thought, taking note that the light from the arrow still lit up the room. He growled a bit, knowing that he wouldn't be able to make any new shadow hands without any shadows. He took a look around until he noticed the lack of light near and up the stairs. He took a quick glance at Goodman before making a dash towards the stairs.

"Wherefore dost thou flee to? Thou art quite the fool for running, especially when I have a special gift for thee," Goodman questioned before firing off his arrow in Adrian's direction while he was running up the stairs. The arrow exploded upon contact with the steps, completely eradicating the stairs caught in the small blast radius of light. Adrian was lucky enough to get away from it and up the stairs, taking a sharp right turn down the hallway and into a darker area where he was able to weave more shadows together to create two more large, shadowy hands exactly like the first two.

'So, the commander likes to play with underhanded tactics like using tracking devices. Two can play at that game,' Adrian thought, punching open the door to a room with one of his shadowy fists and walking inside. Even though it was dark, Adrian could see the light blue walls and yellow flowers painted all over the room. Adrian decided to take to the shadows and hide on the roof, waiting for Goodman to arrive. He kept his breath slow and quiet, listening for any footsteps or noise from the hallway. When it was nothing more than eerie silence, it began to bother Adrian.

"Something's wrong. Why hasn't he come yet?" Adrian said to himself. He lowered himself from the roof and moved over to the doorway, but the moment he reached it, he saw a small ball of light attached to the nearby wall. Once Adrian got close, the ball started to grow brighter, as if it was ready to explode.

"Oh sh-" Adrian managed to say before the ball of light unleashed a large explosion of light, blowing apart a part of the house and sending Adrian flying outside into the front yard. A large group of Faction of Light members waited for him along with Commander Goodman. A searchlight shone on Adrian from a helicopter flying in the sky while the other Faction of Light members had their weapons focused on Adrian.

"Doth thou see now, boy? My divine light can destroy all thy tools of the darkness faster than thy can make them. Thou had no chance of victory from the beginning of our encounter," Goodman said, laughing a bit. Adrian got back to his feet, taking a look around. In his eyes, everything was very blurry, almost to the point where he was completely blind. He moved his hand in front of his face a few times, but he couldn't see it at all.

"My eyes...what did you do?" Adrian questioned.

"Sight is an important thing for a Spiritmaster to have. Although, thou shouldn't concern yourself with sight any longer. It ends here!" Goodman answered, getting an arrow ready to fire at Adrian until a distant laugh broke the moment of silence.

"It's a bit too early to put the show at it's season finale, Commander Timothy Goodman," a voice called out from close by. Some of the members of the group of Faction of Light members looked around, trying to find the source of the laugh until the searchlight from the helicopter shone up towards the broken roof. Standing on the roof was Zex, wearing a strange squid mask.

"Commander! Isn't that the masked man from the museum heist report?" one of the men in the line of members asked.

"So, thou chose to reveal thyself now? Thou art quite the fool, for now I will bring the justice that Ms. Seers failed to bring," Goodman said, completely ignoring what he was asked and taking aim at Zex.

"Ha! Justice? Coming from a man like you? You wouldn't know justice if it beat you over the head! If you're so confident you can beat me, though, I'll humor you a bit, then take what I came here for." Zex laughed, moving his hand towards his mouth and spitting out an inky black ball from his mask into his hand. He waited for Goodman to fire his arrow before he threw the inky ball, causing a large explosion in the sky when the arrow and the ball collided.

'Here's my chance,' Zex thought, spitting up another inky black ball and jumping up into the air. When he was above all the Faction of Light members and Adrian, he threw down the ball, causing it to explode and spread ink all over the area. At the same time, the ball exploded in a way like a flashbang, giving Zex the chance to extend a tentacle from his mask and grab Adrian from off the ground before he landed behind the group.

Once he got behind everyone, he dropped Adrian, who had fallen unconscious from being so close to the inky blast, and touched his mask to change it to his bird mask. In an instant afterwards, he transformed into a large bird and picked up Adrian in his talons, flying away from the scene while the Faction of Light members were unable to see.

Goodman rubbed away the ink from his eyes, taking a look around to find Adrian was gone along with Zex. He growled in anger shortly before he was shrouded by the same golden light as before, returning to his normal form. He fell to one knee, panting and dropping his pistol.

"Mr. Goodman, are you alright?" Aeon asked once she reappeared in front of him, hugging the commander, but moving away after a few moments.

"Why are you all covered in this gooey stuff?" she asked.

"It's nothing, Aeon. The bad man got away, though," Goodman responded, smiling a bit to make sure Aeon wouldn't be too worried. He stood back up, turning to the line of ink covered Faction of Light members.

"All of you, get yourselves cleaned up and find those two! Search every inch of town for them, even if it takes all night! We must keep the peace in our world by destroying the Dark Spirit Stein and that masked man. You're all dismissed!" Goodman ordered, watching as the helicopter started to take off and the rest of the group started walking down towards their cars, talking among themselves.

"Mr. Goodman, what should we do?" Aeon asked before Goodman put a hand on her head.

"We can let the others handle this one. I need to rest before I fight again," Goodman replied, picking his pistol up from off the ink covered ground.

'So that anonymous caller was right. Adrian Rivers is involved with the masked man who robbed Crown City's museum. This is going to be huge at the next meeting,' Goodman thought.

October 10th, 7:18 AM - Mysterious Log Cabin

Adrian groaned and opened his eyes. He still couldn't see anything, but he could feel he was in a bed of some kind. He had no idea where he was, and trying to feel his way around didn't help him much at all. He jumped a bit when he heard a door creak open, wondering who was entering the room.

"Looks like my ink bomb didn't kill you. I'm impressed," an unfamiliar voice stated.

"Who are you?" Adrian questioned right away. He got nothing more than a laugh as a reply, listening to the approaching footsteps and noticing his sight improving when a pair of glasses were slipped on him. Once the glasses were on, Adrian could see that Zex was the person he was talking to, wearing the same bird mask as he wore to escape the scene the previous night.

"A friend. You can call me Zex. Before you ask, those glasses are made for your current condition. Seems that what happened to you isn't a rare case. That commander plays pretty dirty for being one of humanity's lights," Zex pointed out before Adrian could say anything. Zex turned around, making his way towards the door.

"Eight o'clock, sharp. There's a bus going towards the direction of Maury City. You seek power. Power enough to gain revenge. The power of darkness is on your side, and there's a special place in Maury City that will put you on the right path. The ticket is on the table. As for your Spirit, he's on lookout for any Faction of Light members. The entire town is on high alert after what happened last night," Zex continued, stopping at the door.

"Getting back into town won't be simple. I have a disguise prepared for you. It should get you to Maury City with no real problems. Come on. You should eat before you head out," Zex added before walking out of the room.

'Last night...I'd rather not think about that for now,' Adrian thought, remembering that he was nearly killed multiple times that night. He followed Zex out of the room into a small room where only a small wooden table and two chairs sat in the center of the room. A single sandwich sat on a plate next to a bus ticket.

"How did you know about my revenge plan? In fact, who or what are you?" Adrian questioned, Zex didn't say anything in response, tossing a backpack sitting on one of the chairs at Adrian, completely ignoring his questions.

"There's a few things in there that should help you get by for a few days. The disguise is in there too. Don't do anything stupid and you should survive the trip," Zex started to explain without bothering to answer Adrian's question. The lack of answers to his questions was really starting to get to Adrian.

"Listen, why the hell aren't you answering any of my-" Adrian began before Zex was in front of him with eagle claws at his neck.

"You'd best not get on my bad side. I don't care about your questions at all. You're here because I chose to save you. I could end you in an instant if I want," Zex pointed out, brushing his eagle claws around the side of Adrian's neck as a sort of threat before moving away towards the door.

"The train will be leaving soon. Don't screw this up," Zex added while he opened up the door and walked outside.

"Hang on, who am I supposed to be looking for?" Adrian tried to ask, but Zex had already closed the door before he could finish the sentence. Adrian let out a sigh and took a seat in one of the chairs, looking over to the bus ticket that sat on the table.

"Stein, you can come out of the shadows. I know you were listening," Adrian called out. The Spirit stepped out of the shadows in the corner of the room, sitting down in the second chair.

"There's something about that Spiritmaster. Something evil. You felt it too, didn't you?" Adrian stated.

"Impure darkness in his heart. He was a Dark Spiritmaster. Although, why would he go out of his way to rescue you?" Stein replied, looking over to the backpack Zex had left for Adrian to bring with him.

"That's something we'll need to find out later. We should get going before the train leaves. We'll have to trust this Zex guy for now," Adrian said, opening up the backpack and pulling out the disguise that was prepared for him.

'The power of darkness is on your side, and there's a special place in Maury City that will put you on the right path...' Adrian couldn't stop thinking about Zex's words while he changed into the disguise. Stein stood a few feet behind Adrian, watching him, thinking Zex's words were having some kind of influence on Adrian's reasoning for getting more power.

'Don't let yourself sink too far into that masked man's influence, Adrian...' Stein thought.

October 10th, ??:?? - Mysterious Chamber

"It seems the first act is ready to start. The time to put our grand work into action has come at long last," a mysterious voice stated. A large green tube sitting in a small metal room began to glow, lighting up the room a bit. Standing in front of the tube were two men. One was wearing a suit while the other was dressed for a trip to the beach instead of an important task.

"You know what you must do, my children. Dispose of the ones with powers. The ones the humans call Spiritmasters. It is time that we took control," the same voice continued. The men got on one knee and bowed.

"Yes, my queen," the two men said.

'Now, let's see how the humans fare against my soldiers. It will give us plenty of time to continue our search for what had been left on that rock for us.'

 

[lVergill]

You make me feel bad at my own writing. xD

Laziness is to OP or...in this case, fatigue... =( 

[NyxAvatar69]

1 minute ago, lVergill said:

You make me feel bad at my own writing. xD

Laziness is to OP or...in this case, fatigue... =( 

My writing isn't even good

[Kalvoras Vertal Banned]

1 minute ago, NyxAvatar69 said:

My writing isn't even good

^"False"

[lVergill]

You do write a lot which is very nice in my opinion but you do lack deeper description of the thing surrounding you and you could add that before quotes which are nicely separate! 

[NyxAvatar69]

1 minute ago, Shuya "Cheshire" Hideaki said:

^"False"

Totally not false.

[NyxAvatar69]

2 minutes ago, lVergill said:

You do write a lot which is very nice in my opinion but you do lack deeper description of the thing surrounding you and you could add that before quotes which are nicely separate! 

Editing is a thing that I will do...in the eventual future.

[lVergill]

1 minute ago, NyxAvatar69 said:

Editing is a thing that I will do...in the eventual future.

Well, we all start bad sometimes, you know? My first story on Persona 3 in FF was bad.... and right now, I have improved quite a lot since then and adding descriptions of everything to "add" more words or just look nice on paper. =P 

[NyxAvatar69]

Just now, lVergill said:

Well, we all start bad sometimes, you know? My first story on Persona 3 in FF was bad.... and right now, I have improved quite a lot since then and adding descriptions of everything to "add" more words or just look nice on paper. =P 

.....

But I'm still bad now, even though this is a vast improvement to the first thing I've ever written.

[lVergill]

Just now, NyxAvatar69 said:

.....

But I'm still bad now, even though this is a vast improvement to the first thing I've ever written.

Trust me, everything anyone writes is bad at the beginning or now but it is up to the reader to think on that and some really do like what you write. It is some of the major factors to keep writing, sweetie. 

[NyxAvatar69]

3 minutes ago, lVergill said:

Trust me, everything anyone writes is bad at the beginning or now but it is up to the reader to think on that and some really do like what you write. It is some of the major factors to keep writing, sweetie. 

.....I see.  I'll try to keep that in mind, but no promises.  I'm no optimist, after all.

[lVergill]

1 minute ago, NyxAvatar69 said:

.....I see.  I'll try to keep that in mind, but no promises.  I'm no optimist, after all.

You will try? got it =P 

This is just writing 101 in FF, just something to give you more confidence and currently writing that myself because of this and that. =3

[NyxAvatar69]

1 minute ago, lVergill said:

You will try? got it =P 

This is just writing 101 in FF, just something to give you more confidence and currently writing that myself because of this and that. =3

The word "confidence" does not exist in my magical world of fun and occasional introverted despair.

[lVergill]

Just now, NyxAvatar69 said:

The word "confidence" does not exist in my magical world of fun and occasional introverted despair.

That will soon change, I am here as your special someone and we do have our entire life to make you see it for yourself. Of course, you don't have to change but making you see the possibility of that and I can wait.