Chapter 2 - Call to Action

Author's Notes:
-And here we have chapter two of volume two of Brian's and my story. Brian wrote this one, as I'm sure is evident.
-I've been pretty damn slow to post these chapters lately >.<
-Starting to introduce many interesting new characters here :3
Enjoy! :D


In the heart of the Brazilian rain forest, deep beneath the canopy in the thick of the lush vegetation, Nemestrinus was running as fast as he could. His long, brown hair was littered with twigs and leaves after running through the brush for so long. Dodging behind a tree he leaned against it to try and catch his breath. Tiny ants crawled from the bark onto his slightly tan skin. He didn’t disturb them. Nemestrinus knew more than anyone about the careful ecological layout of the earth.
He reclaimed his breath and calmed himself down. Above his head a blade split the bark of the tree. He looked up in time to see the blade slice down the trunk. Before it could split him in two he threw himself out of the way. The blade withdrew back into the tree; then suddenly the trunk was smashed out of the way in an explosion of splinters and wood chips. Nemestrinus could see a dark figure standing there where the tree once was. The dark shadows cast by the canopy above blocked out the figure’s face, but Nemestrinus had encountered him many times before and that weapon he was carrying was unmistakable. It was a long pole that had an enormous blade on one end and a huge spiked ball on the other.
The figure ran forward and swung the spiked ball part of the weapon. Nemestrinus ran out of the way as the ball thudded in the dirt. As he raised his hands, a giant root from a nearby tree suddenly came out of the ground and loomed over the figure. Nemestrinus brought his hands down and the root went to smash down on the guy. However, before it got close, the figure swung the spiked end of his weapon and smashed right through the root. He looked smugly at the plant manipulator.
Nemestrinus turned and ran, but the figure chased after him. He waved his hands at a couple of vines which sprang to life and began to wrap around the figure, who proceeded to use the blade to slice them up.
The figure threw the weapon, spiked ball end first. As it soared straight for him, Nemestrinus reached up and let a vine wrap around his wrist. The vine pulled him up as the weapon soared an inch under his feet. The spiked ball hit the trunk of the tree and smashed it to bits, toppling the canopy from which the vine came from. The vine heaved Nemestrinus through the air. He let go, directed a tree branch to move into his path, and managed to safely land on it.
He looked down at the figure on the ground. As he was looking he noticed a shadow growing right where he was standing. He took a step to the right and just missed getting hit by a big wooden paddle. He jumped off the branch as the wooden paddle slid along the wood and smashed into the trunk. Another branch moved aside to allow him to land on it and take a look at the new assailant. The figure was also cloaked in shadows, only this one was quite obviously feminine and held a paddle as weapon of choice. Nemestrinus had encountered her before as well.
He jumped off the branch he was on in the opposite direction. The female figure hoisted her paddle and followed him through the canopy. The figure on the ground picked up his weapon and followed the two of them.
Don’t let her touch you! Nemestrinus thought to himself.
It had turned into a game of tag that only ended when the figure on the ground threw his weapon again and destroyed the branch Nemestrinus was about to land on. He fell through the air. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a handful of flower petals and threw them into the wind. The air suddenly began to rain flower petals, obscuring the vision of the two that were chasing him. When the storm ended, he was gone.
The two figures looked at each other and nodded their heads. They grabbed their weapons and fled the scene.
A flower of abnormally large size opened its petals and let Nemestrinus crawl out.
They’re getting closer, he thought. I have to find the others.

Demonic was pissed. She had a stack of papers to go through waiting on her desk, training sessions were deplorable, and no one contacted the organization for a contract for a while. It had been 2 years since Maion’s invasion on the organization and things weren’t getting any better. She lost a lot of assassins in that mess, and creativity for some reason was eluding her so drawing more had become increasingly difficult. She tried to cover up the invasion as much as possible, but naturally information leaked out and the cover up turned into saving as much face as possible. Money had become a huge issue as well. She had to spend most of her funds on rebuilding and refurnishing the place.
To top it all she wasn’t eating or sleeping very well. Most nights she would close her eyes and the faces of Dolosus, Kat, and Crimson would float into her mind. She partially blamed them for all the bad things that were happening to her beloved organization. If Dolosus was still around, he could persuade more customers and help get more money coming their way by taking on all the contracts while the others trained up. If Kat had told her that she had the document this entire time she wouldn’t have had to kill Altojo and Dolosus wouldn’t have left. If Crimson had died like she had planned none of this would have happened. They all took their toll on her and left her behind to pick up the pieces.
“Master?”
Demonic turned around. She had been walking down the hallway toward her office to face the mountain of papers that awaited her. It was the female crow who shook her out of her head.
“What is it?” she snapped.
“Excuse me, but he’s here. We showed him into your…throne room.”
The crow hesitated to call it her thrown room. The damage her fights with Maion and Dolosus had done to her room made it one that desperately needed to be rebuilt.
Demonic nodded and rushed past her. She strode down the hallway to meet her appointment. Normally she would never agree to meet with someone face to face unless she actually knew the person, but this person paid a lot of money just to meet with her. It was money she couldn’t turn down.
She went into her room and swept pass the male crow and the stranger. The man had long brown hair pulled back into a pony tail, a little bit of a tan, and was wearing a buttoned down white shirt and blue jeans. It looked as if he tried to dress nice but it wasn’t a main priority. She ascended her throne and waved to the crows to leave the two of them. As they left, she clutched her paintbrush at her side. She was more cautious now and knew to watch herself when left alone with a stranger.
“You are Nemestrinus?” she asked.
He gave a bow, “Yes, ma’am, I am.”
“So what did you wish to discuss with me?”
“It’s very important, ma’am. You are in charge among a group of people with various…abilities, correct?”
Demonic nodded.
“Well, I am here to inquire if any of them are a wind and/or fire user.”
“That’s classified.”
“Please, I must know. You may be in danger if you are harboring people like that.”
Demonic’s hand tightened its grip around her brush as her thoughts flashed to Kat and Altojo.
“Listen,” Nemestrinus sighed, “I’m paying you a lot of money. The least you could do is tell me honest information. A while ago there was a fire that broke out in a city called Otakon in Japan. Just before the city was burned to the ground, witnesses reported seeing a tornado in the vicinity. The wind was feeding the flames; quite obviously man-made.”
“And how did my name get dragged up?”
“That’s not important. Now tell me what you know.”
“If you’re looking for Kat, you’re too late. She’s gone.”
“Where did she go?”
“First, tell me why you are looking for her.”
Nemestrinus gave her an irritated look, yet he knew he wouldn’t get anything out of her without giving something in return.
“She is in danger, this Kat girl. There is a man out there. No, not a man…a monster. He’s after a few certain people. People with marks on them that give them certain abilities.”
As he said this, he began to unbutton his shirt. Demonic wanted to tell him to stop, but she found it amusing. It wasn’t every day that a man willingly undressed for her. She had to admit he had a nice chest, but something drew her eyes directly to his left pectoral muscle. Where bare flesh once was, a strange mark began to sear its way onto his skin, as if an invisible pen were drawing it.
“I am one of those people,” he said.
“That’s an interesting tattoo,” Demonic said. She had only seen a mark appear like that on a person once before. It was during Kat’s first training session at the organization. A mark had appeared on her ankles, along with some translucent wings that seemed to excel her speed, agility, and jumping prowess.
“This isn’t a tattoo. It’s a mark of power. A mark given to four people in the world, one for each elemental force in nature. I have the mark of Earth. This monster has been searching for these four people for some time now. He desires these marks for his own power, and he plans on killing anyone who has one or gets in his way of obtaining one. I was nearly caught a few months ago.”
“What will he do if he gets his hands on these marks?”
“I have answered your first question. I know you know where to find the people with the fire and wind marks. Now tell me!”
Demonic paused for a second. She detested being talked to like this, but something big was going on. Whoever this monster was, something was happening and she needed to know if this was going to affect her at all, for good or bad.
“I don’t know where Kat is. She left a while ago and basically disappeared off the face of the earth. I do believe she may be the one you are looking for, though. I have seen a mark appear on her in that same fashion.”
Nemestrinus heaved a heavy sigh. He was so close to finding her, but Demonic truly did not know where Kat, or the others for that matter, ran off too.
“What about the other one? One controlled the tornado and the other one set the fire,” he asked.
“The one who set the fire is not the person you seek. She is someone who has been working for me her whole life. I know every inch of her and there is no such mark on her body.”
He face twisted into frustration.
“However,” she went on, “there was someone else who had fire conjuring abilities. His name was Altojo, but I’m afraid you are too late.”
“Too late? What do you mean?”
“He’s dead. He…passed away,” she said as she remembered assassinating him.
“Where is his body?”
“Why?”
“I need to check to see if he has the mark. If he doesn’t then I must move on and find the right fire user. If he does have the mark…” his voice trailed off.
“There is a cemetery not too far from here. Look for a tombstone that has no name or epitaph on it. Look to the tombstone to the right of it. His friends buried him there.”
“Thank you,” he bowed and turned to go.
“Wait,” Demonic ordered. “Before you go, tell me something. You said you have the Earth mark. Kat obviously has the Wind mark, and Altojo may have the Fire mark. What about water?”
Nemestrinus paused. He turned to look at her.
“Have you ever heard of a man named Geldan?” he asked.
“The serial killer?”

Far away in the frigid country of Russia, in the city of Moscow, a wild rave was happening in an old warehouse, with flashing strobe lights, pounding music, and a mosh pit of people grinding to the music. The heat was rising in the room and clothes were making their way off as alcohol was making its way in.
But the real action was going on outside. A door opened from the warehouse, leading to an alley. A guy and a girl stumbled out, both laughing hysterically and desperately trying to keep their balance. They stumbled a few steps down the alley. Then, without warning, the girl jumped the guy and pushed him up against the wall, pressing her lips against his. In a wild passion they kissed with their tongues ripping into each other’s mouths. Her hands stayed on his shoulders whereas his began to explore her body, starting from rubbing her back to making their way down her hips and finally onto her legs. He began to push her skirt back and up her leg, squeezing her thigh, until she slapped his hand. That didn’t stop him, though. His hands kept moving further and further into unseen territory.
“Stop,” she half whispered, half gasped as she pulled his hands away from her legs and put them back on her waist; then went back to kissing. “Mmm…mmm…mmm? Mmm. Mmm! MMM!”
A sudden chill came over her lips. It was freezing and she wanted to pull away, yet when she tried to pull away she found she couldn’t. She tried to scream, but couldn’t. Her lips were stuck. They were literally frozen to the guy’s lips. Her eyes flew open and her gaze was met by a cold, hard stare that was emanating from his grey eyes.
He squeezed tighter on her waist to try to stop her moving around. Her skin was getting colder as her core temperature severely dropped. Tears weld up in her eyes, yet they quickly turned to ice before they had a chance to roll down her face. Her movement became slower and slower as her blood slowly froze solid. Her organs shut down one by one. Her skin turned blue. Her eyes lost the light of life. Finally, she stopped moving and became still.
The ice between their lips melted and Geldan pulled away. He admired his work with the frozen statue. How often did a corpse stand on its own? It was just like all the others.
“You shouldn’t have been such a tease,” he coldly said, and turned to leave.

The gate to the graveyard clanged shut. The noise died in the eerie silence that accompanies all graveyards. Nemestrinus walked along the tombstones, reading the names silently to himself, until he came across one that had neither name nor epitaph. It was covered in weeds, vines, and moss, the grass around it was growing out of control. It looked like no one had been to that grave in a long time.
Nemestrinus kept walking toward the tombstone directly to the right of the unmarked grave. On the stone read the epitaph:

RIP
Altojo

A skilled fighter
A wonderful musician
A beloved friend

He looked down at the ground. In front of the stone was a huge hole. In the bottom lay a coffin, its lid propped open, and its contents gone. A whisper escaped Nemestrinus’s lips.
“Altojo…”

Demonic burst into the room. The crows screamed and popcorn went flying through the air. She waited for them to gather their wits about them. The male crow grabbed the remote control and turned off the horror movie they had been watching, and then joined his sister in bowing.
“I have an assignment,” she said, “for each of you.”
They looked up at her with both shock and surprise etched on their faces.
“For each of us?” the female asked.
“You mean we won’t be together?” the male asked.
“No, you won’t,” Demonic sighed. “I know you two never separate. You always stick together in your missions, which is good. I mean, that’s how I made you. Unfortunately, these particular missions must be completed post-haste and so require you two to be in different places. We can’t wait around for you to get back from one before you start the other. There just isn’t that much time.”
The crow exchanged glances. Usually Demonic was very clear, short, and concise with her directions. She often preferred to give her assignments out in writing just so there wasn’t any confusion. This time, however, she was circumventing her words. They both knew there was something particularly special about these two missions and, whatever they are, they had better complete them. She looked at the female first.
“You were the closest here to Kat than anyone else, correct?” she asked.
The female crow nodded her head.
“Your mission is to go find Kat and bring her back here.”
“Kat?” the crow protested. “But I thought we let her go? Why do you-”
“Because she is in danger and my heart bleeds for her,” she responded, over emphasizing the sarcasm on the last part.
“How am I supposed to find her? When we tracked her when she left with the others, all traces and trails led to dead ends. That was when they were fresh, two years ago. Any lead on her whereabouts now will be long cold.”
“Then get some new leads,” Demonic said and turned to the male crow. “Your mission is to track down a certain man. Have you ever heard of someone named Geldan?”
He shook his head.
“Of course you haven’t. You should really pay attention to the news more often. Geldan is someone very important right now, and I need you to bring him here.”
“Ok…” the crow said, thinking there had to be more.
“Geldan’s last known whereabouts are Moscow, Russia. The problem with finding him is that many people, the police included don’t know what he looks like, or if Geldan is even his real name. He’s been eluding them for so long.”
“What? But the police records are the first thing we usually check when we try to locate someone. If they don’t know-”
“Silenece!” Demonic said, raising her voice for the first time in what seemed like ages. The crows closed their mouths and bowed their heads.
“What is wrong with you two?” she asked. “Normally when I give you two an assignment you happily execute it immediately and without problem. Now what is with all these questions? Have you lost your touch? Your nerve? Your edge? Stop me when I guess it.”
“It’s not that,” the female crow started, “it’s just…”
“We usually don’t get missions this difficult,” her brother continued. “You’re not giving us any leads or clues on how to find these people.”
“And it’s a little unnerving that we have to be separated and complete these at the same time,” his sister finished.
Demonic rubbed the sides of her head.
“This is your job. This is why you two were made. There are no better people than you when it comes to locating targets. Figure it out,” she said and folded her arms. It was quite obvious the conversation, as well as the movie, was over. The two got up and went to leave them room. As the male crow passed Demonic, she grabbed his arm and held it with a strength that did not match her body. In his ear she whispered, “Not you.” His sister looked back as she reached the hallway. Somberly, she closed the door and walked down the hallway to go pack her bags. Demonic stood the male crow in front of her and stared him straight in the eye.
“I said I wanted your sister to find Kat because she was close to her. That’s not completely true.”
The male crow’s face betrayed his confusion and curiosity.
“I specifically wanted you to track down Geldan…because he is a serial killer; a serial killer whose victim pool is predominately female. I couldn’t risk losing her, so I chose you for the task simply because you are a boy and he wouldn’t take much interest in you. He has some form of water power, and from what I heard about the way is victims have been found, a power over ice as well. Be careful.”
It was the first time she had ever said “be careful” to someone. It was the first time she showed any sign of concern for the safety of her creations. Was it because she had so few creations left? Or was this Geldan guy really that dangerous? The male crow couldn’t figure it out, but he knew the answer would come to him eventually once he reached Moscow and met the man. How he would do that, he still had no idea. But at the moment, his primary concern was getting out of the room and away from this new and unfamiliar side of Demonic.
She let go of the grip she had on him and he quickly left for his room. He and his sister pack their bags in silence. It was obvious what Demonic told him was in confidence, and he didn’t want to worry his sister. Once he was done he hugged his sister, perhaps for the last time, and left for the airport.



Owari

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