With his birthday only a day away, Grey had expected the world to give him mercy, or at the very least, cut him some slack. But that was unthinkable, impractical, absurd, preposterous, utterly and hopelessly… impossible. No, the world rejected him, as if he wasn't a child of its own. It treated him like a foreign object, as if he hadn't belonged to it. In the mere span of a singular day, the life Grey spent two years building from zero was utterly shattered. And all of it was that guy's fault. The man with a thousand faces.
When they had first met, that man was simply a beggar. Or rather he held the guise of one. They had shown him hospitality, fed him, and even went as far as to call him a friend. This was not long after Grey and Mono had arrived in the city, only five or so months after. It was a new but warm feeling Grey would get when helping that man. When they asked for his name he presented himself as Lucian. Even before everyone was barely scraping by, having to work many hours overtime in order to bring food to the table and such, yet at that time Grey and Leon could do nothing but study. Afterwards, it was worse, Lucian never got a job, nor did he ever consciously make an effort to. In hindsight, somebody should've noticed before Jonah. If it wasn't Jonah who had noticed then he would've still been breathing. When Lucian was confronted out of pure malice, he gave that to Jonah, and that had eventually been his end.
The tears never stopped flowing, nor did he ever stop laughing. Grey completely broke. At the sound of this, Isabelle burst into the room with a doctor. To her horror, she walked in on Grey holding the corpse of what had been her fiancee. Her knees buckled and she fell to the floor. She couldn't understand it. The scene unraveling before her very eyes was unusual, too odd to be real. Yet it was no mere dream, but rather the cruel reality of the world that she faced.
The doctor and the nurses attempted to wrench Jonah out of Grey's arms, but he wouldn't budge. As long as he had the strength to hold on he would never let go. Laughing, laughing, descending into a spiral of despair. Grey would never let go if it was his choice… no, even if it wasn't he would never let go, not of his own volition.
In this moment Grey drew upon a great strength, the energy fizzling and cracking throughout the air. The staff watched in horror as the creature manifested itself behind the boy. A figure born of mist, only there was no mist to speak of in the area, it had just appeared as if it had always been there. The mist twisted and twirled to create wretched limbs. Constructing itself the figure donned its black cloak and blade. It did not speak, it did not make a sound. It merely spectated, exerting a pressure greater than the force of tidal waves. Death had returned, its lantern dimmed. With the sudden release of pressure, everybody in the room felt as if their bones were being crushed, Grey included. Yet that did not stop his desperate laughter, nor the stream of tears flowing down his cheeks.
The nurses were the first to give out. With a yelp, they all fell to the floor crashing down with great force. Grey wished to keep going, to keep expressing his pain. Yet the world is cruel, and Grey is nothing other than a foreign object to it. Letting his limbs give out, Grey fell to the floor. The figure of the mist unraveled itself and let a gentle gust blow it away. The crackling ambiance of energy disappeared from the room. Grey snickered. Laughing… laughing. All he could do was sneer and snicker. Once again the darkness swooped in on him and took him to sleep. As if it were a gentle angel.
***
Grinning hideously at the arrival of the information, the man had finally seen through the death of the fodder. A simple tool whose naivety he leeched off of in search of wealth. His pawn had told him that the fodder had died in the arms of the boy. That brought a halt to his laughter. No, it completely soured his mood, his hideous grin transformed into a terrifying scowl.
That boy, Grey, was one of the odd ones out in the fodder's group, alongside his elder brother. Never directly gave their names to him. They were the first ones to catch on. Specifically the boy. In the end, he managed to win the boy over, but never the elder brother. Yet ever since he had forced that condition onto the fodder, he was constantly being pursued by someone, most likely Grey. The reason for this was revenge, or at the very least confrontation.
In all honesty, he wasn't worried about Grey, but rather the walking mystery that he brought alongside him. That elusive elder brother of his was the real problem.
"Alright. I see."
The man responded to his pawn's information with a dissatisfied look. He hadn't had much to do while in the empire other than exploit naive fools. He exhaled loudly. His pawn gave him a curious look, not understanding what his boss was saying.
"I mean we're returning to Lyndwrm. Hurry up and pack your things."
The man added. This time the pawn immediately understood the gravity of the situation.
At this time it became apparent. The man known as Suzaku, the great war general of Lyndwrm, has returned. And with the restitution of his position, destruction will ensue.
Suzaku grinned widely, causing him pain. His decision to return to Lyndwrm was made hastily, but definitely not out of stupidity. The Empire would be done for whether or not he decided to return as a general, he was just speeding up the process. Besides the reward, he would reap… it would be befitting of a king.
***
Mono gripped the ion pistol tightly. He turned towards Kael and stared at her intently.
Kael gave an understanding look and nodded. She accepted his proposal because she was indebted to Mono, and besides the man with a thousand faces hindered her orders.
'Grey was foolish to think that he could catch him.'
Mono pocketed the pistol and walked out of the alleyway. Kael followed him closely as he traversed through the busy city streets. It had been around twelve minutes since the incident occurred, and Lucian may have already escaped the city. That however did not matter much, the ion redirector has an impossibly long range, and its ray would not dissipate until it struck an object or lost energy.
"Mono, that guy can shapeshift. Do you think we'll actually be able to find him?"
Kael asked. She brought up a good point, the man with a thousand faces wasn't merely a cosmetic title. It was due to his ability to disguise himself, that he is a dangerous and manipulative criminal whose strength and connections are unknown.
"I'll recognize his aura, it'll be fine."
Though her comment agitated Mono, he would not show it on his face, nor would he let the tone of his voice betray his stoic visage. Kael gave him a look and then turned away. Disgruntled by the seemingly worryless retort, she did not have much trust in Mono's ability to detect a master of disguise and deceit. Regardless, she could not doubt Mono's combative ability, nor could she ignore the opportunity given to her, so she accepted this fact and continued following him.
Kael tilted her head downwards, attempting to dismiss her doubts. Shaking her head, she looked up to see Mono had stopped, but before she could stop moving forward she crashed into him. Kael fell, hitting the back of her head. Yet when she looked up she noticed that Mono did not even budge.
'What is he, a wall?'
Kael pushed off of the ground with her hands promptly sending herself back into an upright stance.
"Hey Mono, why did you…"
Kael trailed off as she was asking her question. A wave of anxiety washed over her, as she came to the realization of why Mono abruptly stopped. In front of him, was a man with deathly white skin, his long black hair tied up in a ponytail. With a large odachi on his waist, the man stared into Mono's eyes.
At the sight of the man, it was not only Mono that stopped, but the crowd and the guards came to a halt, trembling with fear. At the sight of the man, no more accurately at the sensation of his aura, Mono clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. A wave of nausea rippled throughout the crowd; neither Mono nor Kael could escape its grasp, nor could the city's guards. There was not a single person in the empire who was not familiar with the man's identity.
"Lyndwrm's great war general… Suzaku."
The man spread a sly smile at Mono's comment. Sweat filled Mono's palms, his breathing became irregular, his eyes struggled to focus on the individual before him. He had only felt this emotion once before, it was the same feeling that the profane raptor encapsulated. Fear. Mono's heart seemed to briefly stop, as if the man ahead of him would not allow it to continue beating.
"Ah no need to be so frightened, I'm just here to play around."