In some ways a darker mission than the last. No doubt the vibrant nightlife of the city was seething with misdeeds and evil. Kaz unveiled the letter and shook his head with a grin. This time he was heading out solo like the old days. He tucked the note back into his robe and moved through the streets to the meeting spot. There was a nostalgia to these quests, but at the same time, he did miss the simplicity of monsters.

The wind mage arrived at the meeting spot early. Enough time to get a grasp on any threats that may lurk about. An attempt to avoid the missteps of last time and the surprise ambush that awaited them. With little else to do in the town, he took up his position atop a building and waited.

"Holes in the back of the head, huh. Fascinating," he pondered aloud. "I wonder what’s going on with all this," he rolled the paper back up.

Footsteps clacked on the street below. A daft wind blew like death had arrived. A feminine build stood with a bundle wrapped up in her hands. Thin logs poked out from beneath the tattered cloth wrapping. She had a black veil covering her face.

"An ominous look." He turned to the long path in front of her. Floating lanterns lit the path, but didn’t shine into the mask that she wore. Kazimir stood closer to the ledge and dropped down with his feet silently hitting the floor.

“Miss, are you?” he began and the woman stopped abruptly. The veil wasn’t moving at all from her breath. She turned to face him without a word. The bundle of sticks held loosely against her chest. Kazimir leaned forward only a hairs’ width. What he saw sent a chill to his core, and he lunged backward. Her eyes were nothing but black pits. She didn’t respond to his leap and continued her walk as if nothing was in her way.


WC 330

He shook his head and laughed nervously at the startling development. The woman wandered off down the path with a single focus. Kazimir gave chase, hugging close to the wall and dashing along the rooftops. Keeping the high ground is what kept him alive all this time. They were moving further out of the city toward the outskirts of the town. A place he would be able to use his magic more effectively. Rain poured down. The woman’s feet sloshed through puddles. Even without eyes she somehow knew exactly where she was going.


An old building loomed over uncut grass and swampy water, on the outskirts. It was surrounded by abandoned buildings and a forgotten construction zone. Two men sat on the steps of the house the woman was headed for. There were two stories and the second floor only had boarded-up windows. Kaz stopped ten or so meters away from it. "I can smell blood,” he said to himself, taking in a deeper whiff of the death that was emanating from the domicile.
A third man arrived with an item wrapped in cloth much like the woman’s. Both of them arrived together and dropped the logs onto the ground. Something still remained in the cloth wrapping. The two guards looked at what remained and nodded. The man and woman wrapped up the much smaller bundle now. Something in the shape of a gemstone.

The man and woman entered the building. The guards stepped to the side and slammed the door shut behind them. They sat back down and never turned to face the home. Kaz inched his way closer. The smell of blood grew even stronger. It permeated his nostrils and sent worry shivering through him. The sound of screams made the wind mage stand up. The guards flashed a panicked look at the door. It flung open, snapping at the hinges. The third man clawed for freedom but was drug back to the pits of darkness within the house.

WC 330
Total

Kaz jumped up ready to move. He closed the distance as the two guards darted away from the doorway. The guards rushed by Kazimir without a word. Fear was etched onto their face.

Kazimir hopped out of their way and glared at the rumbling house. The door burst from the remains of its hinges. The man that had entered before staggered out with his feet shambling together. His eyes were solid dark with a strange flame-like blue light radiating from them. He collapsed to one knee and then the other. The back of his neck had a wisp of shadow bored into the base of his skull. blood ran down the sides of the hole and dripped onto the wooden porch. The woman shambled out behind him with the same appearance. The dark voids where her eyes would be were still there but a blue wisp trailed from the back of her neck. The wisp of shadow pulsed and drained more of his essence away, seeming to turn his life force into shadow. The woman collapsed on the side of the doorframe. Muddled groans came from both the bodies. Their skin pulled tight to their bones.

The clouds parted and moonlight flashed through the doorway. The wisp of shadow floated like flotsam back to a large hulking figure, merging with its body. A full shadow form of their body floated away from them and crumbled into tiny wisps all feeding the beast.

Shadows trailed behind the beast and poured into the basement. Kazimir took a deep breath and stood in the yard facing down the creature. It was a hulking mass of shadow with spindly fingers attached to bulbus hands. Blue fire raged where it’s eyes should be. The same flames that burned in the backs of the two victims.

The creature lurched forward and grabbed the man by the leg. With what little awareness the man still had, he clung to the sides of the doorframe.

WC 320
Total WC 980

Kaz sprang into action and hurled his body forward. The man's fingers peeled away one by one from the doorframe. His nails were bloody and splinters punctured his flesh. The wind mage was upon him in an instant. He snatched the man's hands and pulled him. The body fell forward without effort. The shadowy tendril that connected the man to the beast was wisping into nothingness. The last remnants of the man were gone. He was already fed upon.

Shadows warped and distorted near the beast. Kaz clenched his fist and slammed on one the ground next to him. He rolled the man's body to the side. His eyes flared with a red hue and he felt the painful rush of hunger as his vampiric nature enraged his body. He could see clearly in the darkness. The blood that stained the walls from the demonic creatures need to feed. The innocents murdered.

He saw a reflection of his own existence in the creature. The ones that had turned him during his journey to the east. He stood up and breathing heavily. His nostrils flared. Wrath of the angels, wrath of the tiger spirit, the wrath of the vampire. No matter what he was or what he did. It always came back to that one thing.

"I'm gonna feed on your energy," he snarled and held his face. A pulse radiated from his back. Something pushing for freedom. The mammoth figure barreled forward and slammed a shadowy arm into Kaz sending the mage hurling into a wall and busting through it.

The creature stalked forward, pulling a trail of shadow with it. "Maybe you are the one I was looking for," Kaz called out from the darkness. His red eyes the first thing to be seen. The creature leapt into the air and rose a gargantuan claw.

Kaz sprouted red wings like crimson blood from his back.

WC 320
total wc:1300

Kaz flew out of the room with a powerful thrust of his vampiric wings. The shadow creature expanded its size and opened its body, creating a hole that Kaz could fly threw. The wind mage overshot and zipped through the hold but kicked the air and shot himself back down in a flurry, crashing into the back of the beast. The collision sent them both hurtling into the building.

The shadow beast broke apart into thousands of tendrils and reformed on the rooftop. Kaz rolled back to his feet. He could feel his own life force renewing from the damage he inflicted on the creature. They glared at each other. Two creatures of the night ready to feed on the other. They ran at each other once more. The shadow creature sent out dark tendrils and Kaz dashed and tumbled between them. He was too fast to be touch by the onslaught. He released a wild series of wind blades at the creature, slicing pieced of him off only for them to reform once more. But each cut left the creature slower to regrow its body parts.

A clawed hand swiped at Kaz and sent him crashing through the roof and into the basement. The shadow creature panicked and leapt down with him, stalking into the basement. Kaz shook off the debris that covered his body and looked around. Dozen's of bodies were laid out. All feeding a taller but more slender shadow beast. It cooly looked the wind mage up and down as if a stray cat had entered its lair. The people it fed on were already gone. Just husks remained.

"Two of you then," Kaz spoke and the slender creature appeared right in front of him. Faster than anything he had seen before. Fear snuck into the mage's heart and then a sword formed by shadow pierced his abdomen. He spat out and hunched over the blade.

WC 320
Total 1620

The three began a deadly dance. One brute and one speed demon, flanking the wind mage. Shadow blasts of energy and tornadoes of wind ravaged the old building. Kaz's ability to drain life force was keeping him standing. Bruises speckled his body. Each moment of reprieve was met with the sudden appearance of the tall one, knocking him back into the mix. He dipped and dodged what he could. Fatigue began to weigh in on the mage. The monsters were slowing down to though.

Kaz jumped back and shot a conical blast of wind that tore through the big one. It broke apart and sluggishly collapsed into a wall. It's body reformed but with bits of missing parts. Chunks that were empty now, and you could see straight through.

The other appeared behind the mage once more and booted him across the field. Kaz skipped across the ground and rolled to drag his hands into the ground to stop him. He was ready to fly when the creature was behind him again and smacking back into the building.

Kaz knocked the debris off. His survival instincts kicking in once more. He had to get faster. Had to be the wind. Harness everything that he could. His headband felt heavy. A spiritual pressure radiated from it. The roar of the tiger echoed in the back of his mind. The Shadow beast dashed across the battlefield once more. This time, Kaz could see it. It lobbed a magical blast of dark energy at the mage and Kaz dashed backward. He was twice as fast as the blast and it was like watching it in slow motion. He dashed forward and was behind the shadow creature now. The being tilted its head around. If it could look surprised it would have.

Kaz kicked his leg sending a blade of cutting wind to sever its leg. The tall creature jumped back as far as it could. Kaz merged with the wind and was gone in an instant. He reappeared behind the creature yet again.

WC 340
Total WC 1960

The roar of the tiger at his back. He held his hand out and let it flow through the wind currents. He could see them now, feel them brush against his skin. The tall shadowy beasts rolled forward. Tendrils of shadow peeled off the ground like octopus legs. It curled into its body and raged taller. The shadows whirled around it in a frenzy. Spectral figures of the people that were once alive formed from the flotsam of darkness oozing from the creature.

A squad of dark warriors appeared at its call and look at Kaz with lifeless eyes. The wind mage stood with his robe rustled by the wind and his headband flowing in the currents of the air around him. Blood red wings flapped from his back and his red gaze fell on his enemies. "Let's find out then," he whispered and dashed forward. He struggled to control the speed at first. A shockwave rippled behind him. He was almost twice as fast as before. He was on them in less than the blink of an eye and drove his fist through a shadow minion. It wisped away into oblivion. The extra workouts were paying off.

More foes charged forward. Kaz through a scattering of wind blades that tore through the air even faster. He followed the blades, shocked that his magic itself was faster now. He looked at his hands in disbelief. The blades cut through two more of the shadowy figures. The tall specter dashed around the wall like a panther pouncing.

Kaz heaved another blade of wind and dashed next to it. He smiled as he sailed by his own spell even faster than it. He left it in the dust trail behind himself. He was like a living spell moving through the world of wind. He whizzed by the beast. The specter swiveled its head, distracted by the mage and Kaz swiped his hand, sending the blade of wind to tear off the creature's arm. He kicked off a wall and shot back, sending a column of wind outward, faster than the creature could keep up with. It opened its mouth to howl but there was no sound. Shadows formed into blades and stabbed out of the earth after the wind mage. Kaz dodged higher into the sky, weaving between them. His wind magic carried him high and with a roar, he called down a dozen tornadoes to ravage the land. The walls and ceiling toppled.

The dust settled and all that was left were spirals of shadow fading into the night sky. The wind mage landed next to the first creature that was barely clinging to life. With his fangs flashing he sunk them into the strange creature and drained the remains of its magical life force. Kazimir took a deep breath and removed the bodies from the cellar. The rune knights arrived not long after and took the bodies for burial. The wind mage greeted them and left the nightmare house behind him.

He returned to the city and the captain in the knights. With a quick description of the events, the captain paid Kazmir his reward. tucking it away, he walked out of the area and headed back to the inn he was staying out. But there was still something strange about it all. Something unanswered about why those creatures were there.

-exit-

WC: 560
Total wc: 2520