Asyrienn

Chapter 5

Alicia squealed, jumping back a little in surprise. It was all too fast for her to catch up. Without giving much thought, she slid over to Caesar, pulling him behind one of the benches. "Hey! Caesar?! Can you still see me?!" She asked. She was repetitively, yet gently slapping his face to make sure he's awake.

"I-" Seth muttered, lost for words as the arrow struck. He quickly took ahold of himself. Caesar was struck, and they can't afford to be struck too. "We need to look for them!" Seth exclaimed, hoping that Alicia would be of any help. His head felt almost as if it was moving on its own, looking at all directions to spot the shooter. He didn't get a chance to see where the arrow came from, or where the archer is.

Alicia wasn't paying much attention to what Seth was saying. Instead, she focused on making sure Caesar doesn't die. She hesitated about taking out the arrow. It would only cause him to bleed more so... She tapped his face a few times "Hey, Caesar! Are you awake? Can you see me?" She repeated. Now that he didn't respond the first time, she was getting a little worried.

Caesar's vision was rather blurry, he could only see the faint outline of Alicia in front of him. "I... Y-yeah, I can..." Caesar replied, following with a grunt as he felt more blood seep out. His skin was starting to go paler and paler than it already was. Caesar raised his finger, pointing at a figure he saw scurry by on one of the buildings. "There... Over there..." He mumbled.

Alicia quickly turned around to where Caesar was pointing, but she managed to see nothing, was he... hallucinating? Regardless, she told Seth, who seemed to be searching for the archer. "Psst, look over there, Caesar said he saw him there last!" Alicia called out, realizing she still doesn't know this man's name. Well, she will ask him later, if they ever make it out.   Seth turned over to where Alicia told him, only to notice an arrow that's already flying towards him.

The arrow managed to cut Seth's neck. Though he saw it coming, and he managed to turn his neck into smoke before the arrow got deep enough to kill him. Seth turned his neck back to normal as the arrow phased through. Agh... there's still some bleeding, though. He covered his neck, trying to limit the blood loss. Wait... wasn't this where his mark was? Didn't Caesar mention that he also had one on his back? This archer... They're planning for something.

Seth watched his surroundings. He took notice of how Caesar was bleeding. Good thing the arrow is still there to stop some of the blood from flowing. There was still blood flowing from his neck, but it seemed to be toning down.

Behind him, were a few vents that lead to the roofs of some houses in the town square. There was something Seth could not ignore. He could clearly smell a scent of smoke, similar to the cigarettes he smokes. In a fast motion, Seth turned around to see what the source of the smoke was. He could see a lot of smoke seeping through the ventilation system. Seth took a few steps back, watching the smoke. It was... It was gathering up into a shape, a shape of a man. "Oh... Oh, you've got to be kidding me..." He mumbled. He could see some skin forming on the smoke cloud. Oh... this... this person has the same ability as he does...

What was the meaning of this?!

In front of the group, stood a young man of average height. He had black hair, dark grey eyes, pale skin, and thick eyebrows. He seemed to have just materialized from the smoke cloud. He looked down at his hand, stretching it a little, before looking up at Seth. "What a truly amazing ability you have, Mr Olsen. It was rather easy to get the hang of. " He said, shifting his hand into smoke a few times. He had a bow slung over his shoulder.

This was a lot to digest for Seth. Ugh... He shouldn't ask about that, though. He needs to take down this guy first. It was the top priority, at the moment. For now, he has to find a way to distract him until he knows what he's dealing with. He tried to act like what he saw wasn't that big of a deal. He thought that it might break the stranger's confidence a little. Seth nodded in agreement "Indeed, I found it quite easy to manipulate. Part of the reason I was able to survive that arrow." He said. Seth watched the man closely... he was so full of openings, but perhaps it was just a trap. His calm expression dropped into a rather serious one. "What do you want from us?" Seth asked.

Cyrus nodded to Seth. "Allow me to introduce myself-" He said, bowing down a little. "I'm Cyrus Letz. I'm here to attempt and make you join our side of the war. If you disagree, I will end up giving each of you a swift death. The choice is yours."

Seth smirked, pulling out his cigarette pack to light one... Oh... wait, he doesn't have it. It must've fallen from him when he transformed. Whatever. "So you start by attacking us? You really thought that was a good idea? Let me tell you, you're not doing a good job convincing us."

Cyrus pinched his nose bridge. This man was not really understanding what he wants. He figured explaining further should be easier. "We're not really desperate for you to join. Your chances of turning against us are astronomically high. My main goal here is to exterminate any marked ones that are outside of our group. I wasn't told to recruit you, I just gave the invitation as a sort of 'second chance'."

"A second chance?" Seth asked. "I'm not a believer in second chances, and I speak from experience." He said, getting into a combat stance. "You said you wanted to 'exterminate' us, yeah?" He asked. "Well, let me tell you this, it won't be easy." 

Cyrus sighed. "Let me tell you this—" He loaded his bow, ready to shoot. "If you don't surrender and join the Emperor you'll die here and now." He announced.