The Spectre

Chapter Eight - The Assassin With A Scar

After having recruited Boron to their ranks the team now had 3 members, it was unclear how many team members they had to have but they would know for sure once they had found the right number. and so a few days after that whole incident with Boron they set out on a journey to a town in the middle of the desert in hopes of encountering anyone interesting while they were there. Rumours had it that it was a town with a very interesting set of individuals though no one knew much about it since most people would not say anything more about it and those who did go there seemingly disappear without a trace. So naturally, Ivana wanted to go and see what was up with this place, Boron was very sceptical about this idea as he was sure that they would not return either, "better safe than sorry" he said. Strycore seemed indifferent on the idea, one would expect for him to be at least interested in the disappearances but he just did not care much about the whole thing and was ready to get moving on this adventure, and so the decision was up to Ivana and Boron who ended up on the agreement of going as long as Boron gets accompanied on his next silver coin hunt. they agreed and then the next day they set out on their journey. Ivana was the one who led this trip with Boron following closely behind and Strycore was right next to him with a good covering his face. the trip would take 2 days and so they hurried forward and kept their pace.

12 hours into their journey they reached a small village called Sephor, they stayed here for an hour to refill their water and food supplies and also to get some extra supplies for the journey in the night. once they finished they headed on with their journey but Ivana started feeling that they were being followed, she kept going on as usual and she still had the same feeling and so she looked back to try and warn Boron and Strycore but the moment she turned around they both nodded at her to signal that they knew what was going on. Ivana stared at Strycore and winked at him, which Strycore instantly recognized the meaning off and stopped moving while the two kept going forward. once they were 20 meters ahead of him he unleashed a great wave of fear all around him and walked back to see who it was but when he got there he found no one at all, immediately it occurred to him that the person was no longer behind them but in front of them now so he rushed forward to find Ivana unconscious and Boron struggling to catch his breath.

Strycore went towards Ivana to see if she had any wounds on her but found none expect that she had no pulse at all, he helped restart her heart and she woke up in a shock as if she did not even know what had just happened to her to all. She got up and they went to check on Boron who was feeling a bit better now and he too had no physical wounds on him at all which made absolutely no sense considering the condition he found them in. they set up camp in the clearing in the woods to the side of the path and they rested up there for the night. in the morning when everyone had finally gotten to a stable condition they started to discuss what exactly happened. Ivana explained that what happened to her was instantaneous and the only thing she remembers is a sharp pain in her chest and then everything just went dark. Boron, however, had a different story to tell, he explained that the minute Ivana collapsed he surrounded himself with coins and that the coins in front of chis chest all cracked and got destroyed by some strange invisible force, in that split second he looked to where the attack came and saw a person on top of a tree with a mask on and in the next few seconds another that same force was sent to his chest again but he usually keeps his seal there and so it absorbed some of the attack and that was why he did not get knocked out completely. "I was just lucky, that person could have put me in the same state as Ivana," said Boron and then turned to Ivana and said, "I knew this would happen by the way, you and your enthusiasm nearly killed us". "You aren't dead yet right? so shut it, you will live," said Ivana and then continued to say "why were we the only ones attacked? the assassin could have stayed to finish off Strycore as well but he didn't and that concerns me". Strycore took off the hood and answered "the reason the assassin did not attack me is simple, because she knew exactly who I was and knew the consequences of attacking me". they both looked back at him with intrigue and shock, Ivana said "wait, did you just say "she?" how do you know its a girl that attacked us?". Serious as always Strycore replied to her with a stern expression "yes it is indeed a girl that attacked you two, only one person in this world has that kind of power and her name is Katerina 'Kate', also known as Quake-sight Kate" he continued to explain "as to how I know her well that's very simple, she used to be a friend of mine back at Coralyte when we were still in training. she and I were both expelled from the program and since then she left the city and never came back". Boron and Ivana were both surprised but they finally had clarity, they knew exactly why Kate baited Strycore to remain behind while they went forward, and the answer was that she knew about Strycore's unusual fear-inducing powers and that the only way to avoid them was to not be there when the power is unleashed

What was the purpose behind this attack they wondered, and how were they going to possibly defend themselves against this power if Boron's defences were nothing next to her power. One thing was for sure though, strycore was the perfect person to combat her since he knows who he is and perhaps how to stop her as well.