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City in the Snow The sun rose, illuminating a large concrete building and the rows of buses parked in an enormous parking lot. Vince's bus had arrived at the Bus Junction earlier in the morning. Here, Vince had patched up his wounds with bandages and changed into clean, unbloodied clothes. He had also used a bank machine to get some currency from his credit card, just in case. Vince held up the red orb. Yesterday, when he pulled it from the heart of the Titan, it had been a MagiMagnet. Now, after experimenting with it a little, using heat as the catalyst for change, it had become a magical signature distorter. "With this, they'll have a hard time pinpointing my location," Vince said to himself. "All they'll find is a big blur that's several miles wide." He took the brass necklace chain he had recently bought and strung the orb upon it, then wore it upon his neck like jewelry. Vince sat in thought at a light blue table. "Me, Lydia, and the Earth guy, that's three Dark Fiends. I need to find the other four, but how?" He closed his eyes, frustrated. Then, with realization, they opened again. "Wait... How did I find Earth in the first place? That impulse I had, it led me to him, my intuition. Just like how Lydia and the Mystics were able to find me, using a kind of magical perception." Vince closed his eyes, trying to trigger this side of his intuition, but he didn't feel anything. After a moment, he stood up and walked to the ticket counter. He didn't know where he was going, but somehow, his mouth ordered a ticket without even thinking. "One ticket for Bus 3169, 7:19 am, all the way to Rheasville, please," Vince said to the female clerk. Vince handed her his credit card. After processing it, she handed the card back along with a ticket. "Enjoy your trip," she said as Vince walked away. "I'll try," Vince called back. "I'll try." "I still have some time," he said, looking at the clock on the wall. "I ought to get something to eat, and maybe send an e-mail to Steph." The mountains were covered in a white, powdery snow. Vincent stared at the scenery through the windows of Bus 3169. To the left, there was the mountain, stretching upward thousands of feet. To his right, there was a small crater, in which he could see hundreds of snow-covered buildings. Vince had been riding on the bus for the last 6 hours, and they had almost reached Rheasville. It was less than a mile to their right, but several thousand feet downward. That was too steep a slope, so the bus had to take a longer route around the valley in a corkscrew path. Yet, Vince felt uneasy. He looked behind the bus and saw a truck and a group of motorcyclists driving up towards the bus. However, they weren't regular cyclists, they were Ragnaroks, and the truck driver was none other than Professor Mandragon. "Hey, you on the bus! Stop! Now!" Vince looked and saw a Mystic riding on one of the motorcycles. This Mystic had dark brown and a silver sword. "Motarius!" Vince shouted in shock. "Alive?" "By order of the US Government, stop the bus!" Motarius yelled. This time, the driver got the idea, and he stepped on the brakes, stopping the bus. "There's a Dark Fiend on that bus," Motarius said. "Very dangerous. I recommend you all evacuate the bus while we deal with--" Vince didn't wait any longer. With a quick jump and a burst of flame, the Dark Fiend of Fire jumped through the glass doors of the bus, shattering them. Without waiting for Motarius or any of the Ragnaroks, Vince ran down the steep slope, straight down into the snowy valley of Rheasville. A few Ragnaroks on motorbikes turned as if to follow, but Motarius gestured, and they turned back. "It's too dangerous to speed down that slope on your bikes," he said. "Take the long way around. Professor, that new flying MMH of yours? Send it down. Have it chase down our Dark Fiend." "All right," Mandragon said with a smile. "Deploying Wyvern now!" The back of the truck opened to let a flying robot out. It resembled a Pterodactyl from the Dinosaur Age, except its wings were rigid, its tail was that of a scorpion's, and it was made entirely out of metal. "In the meantime, we can send this bus back on its way," Motarius said as the Wyvern sped down the mountain. It hadn't been a minute since Vince started running down the mountain that the flying robot had already caught up to him. The Wyvern pointed its scorpion-like tail at Vince, then emitted a blast of charged particles from the tail's tip. Vince hopped to one side to avoid the plasma blast, then hopped some more to dodge the next few blasts. Then, Vince heard a click as the part of the Wyvern's rigid wings closest to its neck popped open to reveal two machine-gun turrets, which began firing upon Vince. Vince ran at a slant, heading for a grove of trees he saw. Despite his evasive maneuvers, a bullet struck Vince's right shoulder, tearing through it and emerging on the other side, bringing some blood with it. Then, Vince was safely in the patch of trees. As he continued running through the trees, he heard something falling behind him. It was the Wyvern knocking down trees. It had merely retracted its head and used its razor-sharp wings--a feature only now apparent to Vince--to cut its way through the trees to reach its target. The Wyvern fired a plasma blast, but the blast hit a tree instead. "Well, at least the trees provide some cover," Vince commented. "Still, I better keep moving." After a few more close calls, Vince left the patch of trees and saw why no road was built here. A cliff stood between him and Rheasville below, a cliff of roughly a hundred feet. Unable to stop himself, Vince slid over the edge, and the Wyvern followed him. Vince looked up and saw the Wyvern fire plasma blast at him. Quickly, he kicked off the wall of the cliff to propel himself out of harm's way. Rolling through the air, Vince landed with a thud on a snowy field, but he didn't have time to stay down for long. He got up and continued running, just as the Wyvern flew down and bombarded the previous spot with plasma. Vince kept running, but the Wyvern was slowly gaining on him. Up ahead, a tall, wooden fence separated him from the street. He ran to the fence and leaped over. Behind him, the Wyvern simply used its razor-wings to cut its way through. Vince continued to run down the street, jumping over the cars. He made a turn at an intersection, then ran into an alley before the Wyvern had seen him. The Wyvern flew right past the alley as Vince hid behind a dumpster. He let his hands burn and sat in wait for the Wyvern to arrive. The Wyvern came back, stopped momentarily at the alley, but then sped away. "What the...?" Vince thought. "I know that the MagiMagnet masks my magical signature, but that still would hide me from something that close to me." As Vince came out of the alley, he reverted to his human form. Blood dripped from his shoulder's bullet wound. "Well, since I'm here and Ragnarok's not, I might as well go exploring." The white paint on the large apartment complex was peeling. On the front lawn stood a sign that read "Skias Real Estate". Vince wasn't sure whether this "Skias" was the same as the one who had granted him his firepower, but it was worth a try. He pressed the doorbell. A moment later, an elderly man, who wore black and brown clothing, opened the door. He stared at Vince, then suddenly smiled and extended his hand. "The Dark Fiend of Fire, what an honor," he said as Vince shook his hand. "We're glad to have you here." "Um... Where is 'here'?" Vince asked. "Oh, I'm sorry," the man said. "This is a Shadow Lodging, one of the many locations where followers of Skias live and worship." He led Vince in, saying, "Everyone, we've been visited by the Dark Fiend of Fire." Suddenly, a crowd of people came up to greet Vincent, telling him various things, asking him various questions. It all came to Vince as noise--irritating background noise, to which he was too tired to want to respond. "Please, please, let him rest," the elderly man said. "He's had a long journey, haven't you, Fire?" "You can just call me Vince," Vincent replied. "All right then, Vince," the man said. "Feel free to make this place your home, at least as long as you plan on staying in Rheasville." As the man left him, Vince took a look around. The apartment complex looked exactly like a normal apartment complex, except that Vince sensed that every tenant here was a follower of the Shadow Religion. "All this hospitality," Vince thought. "Lydia obviously isn't in full communication with the rest of the Shadow Religion. Otherwise, they'd have spotted me out for a traitor already. Either that or she's too injured to tell everyone else about it. Still, I can't stay here too long. Eventually, Ragnarok's going to track me to this place." The elderly man came back, saying, "So, how do you like the place so far?" Then, he saw the look of worry on Vince's face, so he led him outside. "You see that dark orb atop that flagpole?" After seeing Vince nod, he continued, "That's our Shadow Disruptor. It disrupts any locator magic, making all Shadows within a 5-mile radius virtually undetectable, except with Shadow magic. You'll be safe here from Ragnarok, my friend." Vince paused, then remembered why he had come. "Um, excuse me, sir," he said, "but I came here looking for the other Dark Fiends. Do you know where I might be able to find them?" "Ah, Vince, that is where the problem is," he replied. "A Dark Fiend cannot be detected by any magic until after their Dark Fiend physical form first emerges. We wouldn't be able to help you find your friends--" Vince mentally laughed. "--until they make their first transformation. You, however, have a slight advantage. Because you are a Dark Fiend, you are naturally drawn to other Dark Fiends, even if they've never become a Dark Fiend before." The old man paused, then asked some questions of his own, "By the way, what about the Dark Fiend of Earth? You found him, but you fought him. What was that all about?" Vince was startled by the question. "Oh, uh, he was being uncooperative," Vince hastily replied. "I see," the old man replied. "Don't worry. We'll convert him eventually. Even a renegade Dark Fiend will eventually become a follower of the Shadow Religion, just because they're Dark Fiends. The Dark Fiend Energy makes it so. It's irresistible." "That's what I'm afraid of," Vince thought. Then, he said aloud, "Thanks for the information, sir. It's very helpful. In the meantime, I'd like to get some rest." "No problem," the man replied. "Room 16 is empty. You can use that one." Then, Vince parted with the old Shadow and headed toward the room. He took a nap, deciding to search Rheasville for the Dark Fiend he felt after he had some rest. That evening, Vincent Zeng wandered the snow-covered streets of Rheasville, following something he did not quite understand, but he trusted the feeling. It led him all around the city for about an hour, and yet, he found nothing. Finally, as he was about to give up, he came across Rheasville High School. He could barely here music being played inside the halls, and he saw a banner hanging on the wall saying, "School Dance Tonite!" "It's just a school dance," Vince silently remarked. "What do I care?" He turned to leave, then stopped. Suddenly, he wanted to go back to the school dance. He didn't know why--maybe it was nostalgia--but that's what he wanted to do. "Excuse me, do you have a ticket?" asked a black gym coach guarding the door. "Uhh..." Vince hesitated. "Do you have ten dollars to buy a ticket?" the black teacher asked. "Yeah," Vince said as he handed him a ten-dollar bill. He thought to himself, "Lucky for me I got some money from the machine at the Junction." The teacher made a tally on a paper, then stoically said, "All right, go on in." "Um... What's the dress code?" Vince asked. "Casual," the teacher replied. "Don't worry. What you're wearing is fine." "Thanks," Vince said as he entered the school building and went to the dance hall. Now, he heard the music distinctly. It was very new, very upbeat. Vince didn't happen to be a fan of this type of music, but he had heard his sister Alice listening to this music before, so it didn't bother him too much. Still, the sheer loudness was an irritation. So was the darkness. It was especially hard to see with his sunglasses. Everyone was just a blurred outline. He could see movement, but couldn't tell who or what it was. Before Vince knew what he was doing, he found himself walking over to the other side of the dance hall. A white girl, sitting alone in the corner of the room, caught his eye. She had light brown hair with light brown eyes to match. She wore a tight, white t-shirt, some blue jeans, and a pair of sneakers. Although she was beautiful, Vince had noticed her for a different reason. "She's a Dark Fiend," Vince thought. "I can feel it. I know it." A break in his thoughts. "Still, I better make sure before I do something. In the meantime, I ought to befriend her so I can watch her and see if she really is." Thus, he approached her. When he was within speaking distance of her, he said, "Excuse me, Miss. I couldn't help but notice that you were sitting here all alone." The girl had been moving her eyes back and forth, as if searching the room, but when Vince greeted her, she blinked and looked at Vince as if with different eyes. "Oh, this song!" the girl suddenly said as the DJ changed the music. "It's my favorite song, and it's a slow song. You wanna dance?" "Ah... All right," Vince reluctantly agreed. She got up off the chair and stood close to Vince. Vince held her as dancers were expected to in that day and age, and they danced. He noticed that she was a better dancer than Stephanie was and that she was a bit taller so that he could see her face better. After a while, the white girl said, "I don't think I've seen you around here. Are you from our school?" "No, I'm not," Vince replied. "I see," the girl replied. "Those teachers don't check to see if you're a student like they're supposed to, but that isn't always a bad thing." With that last remark, she patted Vince's shoulder. A moment later, "Oh, I'm sorry, you still don’t know my name. I'm Chrissy. Chrissy Wolfreid. I'm a junior here. And you?" He hesitated before saying, "You can call me Vince." "Vince," Chrissy replied. "Wasn't there someone on the news named Vince?" As she danced, she tried to think. Then, she opened her mouth in surprise and looked up at her dance partner, then pulled off his sunglasses. "Vincent Zeng, the Dark Fiend of Fire," she said as they pulled apart. Vince looked down upon himself, and said, "I'm sorry." "No, it's all right," Chrissy said. "I have no reason to turn you in anyway. I wouldn't want something a silly as the Dark Fiend hunt thing get in the way of our new friendship." "Thanks," Vince said. Then, Chrissy smiled and rested her head upon Vince, who understood the signal and held her, and they resumed their dance. After a moment, Chrissy asked, "So, Vince, what brings you here to Rheasville?" "I came to look for the other Dark Fiends," Vince said. "Do you know of any?" "I'm sorry, I don't know any Dark Fiends," Chrissy replied. Thoughts passed through Vincent's mind, "Either she isn't a Dark Fiend or she just doesn't know it yet. Either way, I want to stay here with her. To make sure, of course." As they continued their dance, Chrissy said to Vince, "Tell me about the Dark Fiends. They sound kind of interesting. I want to hear that story." "All right," Vince said. "It all began when--" And so, they continued dancing as Vince told his new friend about the Dark Fiends. For the next two hours, they danced and talked, gradually growing closer. When the dance was over, they wished each other good night, and Chrissy kissed Vince on the cheek. Vince stood there, in thought, as Chrissy walked home. At that moment, standing there as white snow fell on his black hair, Vincent hated himself. How was he going to explain this to Stephanie? |