Maledictus Ignis

Chapter 3: Dustin Fulgur

Dustin walked away from his friends, he knew exactly what he was doing, there was no shortcut this way, and he knew that. 

Looks like I'm taking the long way home.

Dustin thought to himself. 

He walked for quite some time, around 25 minutes, before someone came up to him out of the blue. 

"Hey, you." He asked.

Who the hell is this guy?

A man in a black hoodie came up to him, his face obscured by a mask that only revealed his eyes, and a small bit of his upper face, all Dustin could tell was that he was quite tall at least 6 feet, had dark skin, and it seemed like he was in a hurry.

"Um, hi? Can I help you?" Dustin asks nervously.

"Are you Dustin Fulgur?" The man asked quickly.

"Ye- uh.. no." Dustin awkwardly attempted lying, and failed.

"Where are Cole and Adrian?" He asked.

"I... Look, I don't know you and.. I don't have to answer your questions so leave me alone." Dustin stood up for himself.

The man began losing his patience.

"What? No I'm not your enemy, I need to get to them, their lives are in danger, and yours is too by extension, someone is looking for them and if don't get to them first... I just need to reach them."

For some reason Dustin felt as though he could trust him, even though he had no reason to, he believed him. Something about him was familiar but he couldn't place it.

"....Ok. They should be behind me, I've been walking for like 30 minutes though so it-"

The stranger rose his hand and a runic circle appeared around it and before Dustin could move the rune appeared around him and he was instantly moved to a bar. 

He could immediately tell it was nowhere near where he lived. The place looked somewhat run down, torn wallpaper, the roof had a small leak with a bucket under to keep the floor dry. The bar was filled with people, some of them even looked up and gave Dustin a wave and returned to what they were doing, not the least bit surprised that someone popped in out of thin air. 

"Wha- where..? I..." Dustin, completely astounded, couldn't even form a proper sentence.

A large man of average build wearing a standard blue barkeep uniform walked up to him.

"Ah a new recruit eh? That damn kid always sending people here without telling us." He says.

Dustin looks at him completely dumbfounded before mustering the courage to ask a question.

"Who... are you people?" Dustin asks almost not wanting an answer.

"Us? Were just a group of people with a common goal." The man said with his arms out suggesting he was talking about everyone in the room.

"Yes but..." Dustin looks around and notices everyone in the room looks.. strange almost every single one had some visible abstraction on their body, a missing eye, a strange mark, extra limbs, anything you could imagine.

"Why is everyone here so.." Dustin began.

"I'm gonna stop you there." He interrupted. 

"Everyone you see is here for the same reason, to take down one man, we've all banded together because we're too weak on our own." He explains.