Choir of Moths

Chapter 4

 "Seriously? That jackass is still giving you issues ?" Derrick sat leaned back in his chair, his boots on the table. After his two clients had paid for whatever Derrick had given them and departed, he'd decided to close his shop a bit early. The two had done a bit of dusting and tidying up before locking the front door and retreating to the back room.

"Always has, and probably always will." Malik had his head leaned back, staring up at the ceiling. The thought of having to deal with Elias for the rest of his life caused a slight headache to form. He reached for the glass cup on the table and took a long sip from the brown liquid inside. The taste of the alcohol caused him to grimace. "Some things never change. Like how you never have anything good to drink." Derrick raised an eyebrow skeptically before taking a long sip from his own glass.

"It tastes fine to me. Must be a drink for big boys." He looked at Malik with a mocking frown, to which Malik responded by rolling his eyes.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, he was with someone," Malik added after taking another sip from his glass.

"Well yeah, White Coats roam in twos," Derrick said uninterested.

"I know that. But this wasn't a normal officer. He had a hood on, so I couldn't see his face. And I got this weird vibe from him too, like a chill up my spine, but deeper. Does that even make sense? It also doesn't help that he nearly knocked me off a roof with some rime magic."

Derrick moved his feet from the table to the ground and leaned forward with curiosity in his eyes.

"A hood? Was he wearing a ring ? A silver or gold one ?" The question caused Malik to raise a skeptical eyebrow at his friend.

"I don't think so. He was wearing gloves or something." He was hoping the slight lie wasn't clear on his face. Telling his friend that he couldn't bring himself to look away from the ground during his encounter with the mystery man wasn't a truth he wanted to share.

Derrick leaned back in his chair again, this time blowing out air in a long hiss.

"Not sure, but sounds like a paladin. Last time I checked though, paladins didn't just stroll about the city on patrol." The words floated around Malik's mind, sending another chill down his spine.

"If the guy I ran into earlier was someone as important as a paladin then what were they doing strolling around with a power-abusing headcase like Elias? They're basically elite magic super soldiers right?" Malik found himself asking the question to Derrick, but he also found himself scraping for an answer. From everything he knew or had seen on TV, they were elite officers of the Silk Temple, usually deployed during times of unrest that involved heavy magic use. Lullaby had one of the lowest crime rates of the Icon Cities so what use did a Paladin have there?

"Do you think they called in the paladins because of that stuff that went down in Marianas the other night? Those fights? They said someone was going around using solar magic...flame magic. " The sentence hadn't fully left his friend's mouth before Malik let out a long dismissive sigh. "What? You haven't heard what happened ?"

"No, I have. Do you seriously believe every rumor you hear or forum post that you read? His friend's eyes looked upward in thought for a split second before returning their gaze to Malik.

"Of course, I don't. But...what if there was evidence? A video ?" Malik was about to voice his skepticism but Derrick held up a finger to stop him, as he slid his hand in his pocket and pulled out his phone. After a few moments of swiping and tapping something on the device's screen, Derrick held out his hand, offering his phone to Malik. Malik looked from the device back to his friend and Derrick urged him to take it. He did so and when he looked down at the phone, a large 'play' icon stared back at him. He tapped the symbol and a video blared to life. It was shaky camera footage, appearing to be taken on some street corner. Several groups of people stood around laughing and talking. The person capturing the video was recording some young women staring into the camera with varying poses and seductive faces. As the man complimented her, a large part of the laughing and commotion turned to yelling and screaming. The cameraman turned to see a flare of bright teal emit from somewhere down the street. Suddenly a figure with a slight purple glow around them ran into the view of the camera but was sent sprawling to the ground by a projectile that was the same teal color as the flare Malik had seen seconds earlier. As the person filming turned to run, the last thing Malik could make out was a dark figure approaching the man on the ground. After some seconds of the video being nothing but the recorder's feet running it ended, and the large 'play' icon returned.