The Coming Darkness

"That's very true. I mean, if something were to happen to us who would look after the kids? I know they can probably handle themselves, but to get back to Japan on their own and explain the untimely demise of their teachers? That'd be crazy." There was some legitimate worry on his face as he spoke. But he tried to mask it and cover up with another question, "So, where are you from, you accent isn't from around the East-Asian area. French?" Although Marcus would be teaching a school of magic, he was quite educated when it came to cultures and languages. It came in handy when he left his homeland, stowed away on a ship, and trekked from Spain east-word into Russia. If you didn't learn there language, and fast, you didn't survive. So was the law of travel.

Ines frowned a little as she thought about this, "I do suppose that they would...though I haven't met all of them yet."

She then chuckled, believing the second half of what Marcus had said to be just a joke, "Ahaha, I suppose you're right, that would be pretty ridiculous. "

Ines's eyebrows raised in surprise, "Why yes, I am indeed French," she replied, "I was born in Paris."

The flock of crows sailed over the streets of New York like an omen. Seth held the ability to see through each of their eyes, making this a suitable hunting form. He and Faye were already briefed on who they were going to be up against, and their current condition. They were in the process of recovering from some kind of battle last night. Now was the best time to strike.

One of the crows managed to land on the windowsill to Marcus's room, scan the room, and leave. No sign of Enzo or Silver. Finding and killing Silver was Haimon's job. and Seth was going to leave him to it. Landing onto another windowsill, he spotted both him and Sasha in the room, then the flock of birds gathered at the entrance to the hotel, and the same black smoke started to cover the birds. It caught the citizens attention, as the birds reformed into Seth's original form.

Seth then walked into the lobby. Captain Azure and his men had already left, or else he would have been caught already. After noticing that Volitaire and Eos were gone, he decided to have a little fun, and walked over to a more secluded location, which was the maintenance room. There stood a surprised janitor.

"Who are you? This is staff only."

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Seth's body began to emit a distorted, eerie blue. "Y-you're a magic user!" The worker stumbled back in fear as he realized his fate.

"I need your skin."

"That's really interesting." Marcus gave Ines another smile before something at the window distracted him. "Weird, crows aren't usually in densely populated places like this. They are scavengers, but prefer to be in quieter areas, away from danger." He decided he wasn't going to put too much thought into it, even though it was really odd. "Bah! New York." With a chuckle he shifted a bit in the bed, sitting completely up now. "I think those pills have kicked in, I'm feeling a lot better now." He took another moment to examine the woman before him, and a bit of a dopey grin crossed his face, "Listen, once these wounds have healed a bit more. I'd like to take you out for coffee. There's a few places here I heard have excellent coffee and tea selections. We should check them out together. All because we're teachers, doesn't mean we can't enjoy ourselves."

He rushed through the massive herd of busy men and women walking about the pavements, looking in every building he could enter, and checked every alley he could. His worry began to climax to fear that she may actually be lost in this large city, where anything could happen. He went down one open alleyway, there were very few waste receptacles and objects on the ground. It made him think this spot is visited frequently, there was a cut out in the wall of a old parking lot. It was vacated but very spacious. Some unfortunate could call this his or her home. He decided to scan the place, hoping to find at least something that will lead him to her. "E.. I'm so sorry.. I lost you and can't find you. I can't even return to your brother until you're found. I'm sorry too, JD... I couldn't even keep an eye on her during all that chaos..."

Faye slowly traveled along the side of the streets in the shadows, looking back and forth to see if she could find what they needed before Seth. She always loved racing with him, even when he didn't want to. Whenever they separated, she found it to be like a game to see who could find their prey and kill them first. It was a thrill she got that made these tedious and simple missions exciting to her. After a bit of searching, she came across one being who seemed to be one of their targets. A boy with black hair and red eyes, yes, this was one of her targets - Though, she had forgotten which one. She grinned, thinking she had already won, considering she had him alone and cornered. She rose up from the shadow, creating a black circle below her. She slowly sneaked up behind him, and tapped him on the shoulder with her long, claw-like hands.

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"Excuse me, sir. I'm afraid you'll have to come with me." She spoke in an eerie tone of voice, with an equally nasty grin on her face.

He felt the unsettling chill as her monstrous hand touched his shoulder. He knew he had no choice but to defend himself. But knowing he can't use magic here, he couldn't use his more extreme abilities. "I can't cause too much of a commotion, but I'll have to if things get out of hand with her." He forced the gravity around him to push her hand off and faced her while sliding back in the shadows of the dark parking lot. "I'm busy. What do you want?"

The grin didn't leave her face as he slid back away from her and into the shadows. She figured one of his advantages would be in the shadows, but little did he know that the shadows was one of hers as well. She walked towards him, feeling like playing with your food wasn't as bad as everyone said it was. Other animals did it all the time, didn't they?

"Busy? Too busy for a little playtime with a lonely girl like myself? I just want to get to know you a bit, silly." She stood in front of him and got as close as he would let her, letting her skeletal fingers climb up his chest and to his shoulders, one by one. "Don't be so tense."

He grimaced and warped away to a balance beam nearby, his red eyes pierced through the dark. "With all the occurrences as of late, I highly doubt you want to play the way you falsely advertise. I don't have time for you." He put his hands in his pockets and started to walk out the lot.

"How dare you just walk away from a lady like that. Talk about a rude boy," she commented as she sank into the ground, and rose up again before him, blocking his path to escape. She frowned, grabbing him by the neck and pushing him back into the wall behind them, keeping the tight grip on his neck. "I want to play, so we're going to play, boy. I don't care if you have time or not." The grip tightened as she leaned into him, speaking directly into his ear. She brought her other hand up and lightly brushed some of the hair out of his face. "My, what pretty eyes! They remind me of mine." The nasty grin she had before came back.

He giggled and dissipated into a black mist. Out from the shadow under them Volitaire sprung out with a rising roundhouse under her chin. "You play with shadows too. As much as I detest hitting a girl, I'll have to swallow my pride."

Faye stumbled back a bit and cracked her neck back into position, causing a rather loud popping noise. God, it was annoying when people did that. Her grin had vanished and a much more irritated look was on her face now. "Oh, you'll need more than that to beat me." She threw her arm out, extending her long fingers out in random directions. After a few seconds, one could see particles joining together to create a very large sword. Something she often heard from her food before she sliced them up was, "How can you carry something that large?" and she was waiting for this stupid boy to say the same. She casually swung the sword over her head, letting it rest on her shoulders and walking towards him again.

"You remind me of Nightmare. Big hand, large sword.. You just need armor and a void for a stomach." He watched her swing the sword, he felt a little worried, but wasn't too fixated at the weapon. "Melee isn't a option for me here. That large sword would just swat me away, and with her being able to swing it with such ease it wouldn't be any sort of problem to her. I may just have to stay back. I have a few ideas." Black runes spiraled down his calves and into the ground. They slithered through the shadows and went by her. "Though, I'm somewhat curious to how observant she is. Those runes aren't really that visible in such a dimly lit area. Those will just be a small backup or set up for things to come." He sighed and let loose a few shadow bolts, flicking them out his hand like he's tossing throwing knives.

Seth consumed the man with black mist, leaving only his skeleton clothed with the janitor uniform. He gained the thoughts, intelligence, and memories of the staff member. Just another trophy for his collection. In his mind were the memories of all of his victims. From birth till death. He contained knowledge that would revolutionize the world, yet he shared it only with Darkness.

He left the staff room, now knowing the locations of all the rooms, and less-used maintenance corridors. Enzo's room was housed on the top floor, and that's where he was going to go. He made his way to the stairs, and, after seeing them empty, flew up them with his shape shifting ability.

Once up onto the top floor, he caught sight of Maya. Enki and Kenji had moved elsewhere, and he decided to start his hunt off good. So that's Sun. He emerged from the shadows and starting walking up behind her. A long, black steel blade formed where his hand should be. "And you just obtained your flame, too. A shame." Seth said before slicing horizontally at Maya.

Blood splattered over the wall in a line, and a small thud was followed by an even louder and harder thud. Seth stood over Maya's decapitated body, his sword reforming back into his now bloody hand. "Pathetic. Are all of the guardians like this?" He asked himself.

Ines frowned, "Strange indeed...why in such a large group...?"

However, the woman shook it off; perhaps it was just a rare occurance from time to time. Listening to Marcus's proposition, Ines's head immediately began to race through thought after thought.

Should I say yes? Why is he asking me this? What's happening? Ahhh, I don't understand....

Finally, the woman nodded, "Mm, alright. It's important for teachers to know each other well after all," she said with a smile.

A thudding sound in the hallway jerked Sasha awake. Instantly the girl jolted up out of her seat, shaking off the thought as to why she was so close to Enzo. She opened the door outside, and saw a bloodied figure- presumably a man, standing over...a decapitated Maya. Sasha's mind instantly went blank, and it took her a second too long to process this new information. Maya...was dead?

Maya is dead.

A low growl sounded out from deep within her throat, "...you...who are you?"

"You think you can fool me with those silly things? Pathetic." She sank into the ground again and rose up behind him, slicing the sword up at his back as she rose.

Sasha's appearance caught Seth's attention, and he smirked. Another kill. He knew that he was in the lead when it came to the head count. Faye was probably toying with her targets.

Without answering, and without warning, Seth raised his hand towards the girl, and hundreds of moths shot out of his hand. Meanwhile, Maya's body was sinking into a black mist that screamed 'Darkness' all over it. Once it was finished, there would be no trace of her body.

He kept a stoic face. He knew those who called their opponent down on their skill is nothing better themselves. "Who said I was fooling you?" He spawned his sword and blocked the rising strike. He used his spatial power to back up the defense, making it a little easier on himself. The weight of the sword would have probably overwhelmed him. "I'm guessing this is when the real battling begins, hmm? I would assume so, it's been nothing but havoc since I came to this decrepit country." His black aura rose and lashed out tendril at his foe, going over and under her sword.

Though the moths surprised Sasha, she had been ready for an attack from the moment she spotted Maya on the ground. Sasha whipped up a shield to block the oncoming slaughter of moths, but she had done so but a second too late. A large portion of the moths hit the side of the girl's body, sending her reeling into a wall.

"Shit!" she choked out, coughing a little as she attempted to stand up again, water condensing around her.

Seth walked past Sasha, no longer interested in her, he left her laying to the side. He entered Enzo's room, and saw him laying in the bed. Lifting his hand once more, A portal big enough for the bed to fit, opened underneath it, taking Enzo with it into the portal. "Now I won't have to worry about you for a minute." He turned around and faced the door again, expecting Sasha to have been behind him.

She saw the man walk into Enzo's room. Sasha frantically scrambled to her feet, and dashed into his room, just in time to see Enzo being swallowed up by a portal of some sort. Instantly, Sasha's emotions went wild, "Enz-" she started to scream, but realized that it would show weakness, and instead opted for snarling, "What did you do with him?!"

The water around her separated into the usual spherical pattern, but instead of only a few, there must have been at least twenty surrounding the emotion wrecked girl by now, "Tell me!"

At this, the orbs began to spin wildly, faster and faster, ready to richoche off of the walls.

Seth grew annoyed by her questions. "I don't have to explain myself to you." He replied with calm but obviously annoyed tone. He was unconcerned with the water spheres around her. His hand reformed into a sword, still tainted with Maya's blood. "I won't waste any time killing you."

She snorted, "Kill me? I don't think so." With that, the spheres launched themselves all at once towards the unknown man, unleashed to kill.

With Seth's readied blade, he sliced through most of the spheres, and ducks under the rest. He dashed straight for Sasha, and kicked her in the stomach, which sent her back into the corridor. "A guardian without their flame is like a chicken without a head." He said as he walked out of the room.

"You could say that," she replied, letting the tendrils go right through her sword, seeing as it was a shadow anyways. "You know, shadow and shadow only makes more darkness. I'm sure our boss would love to have you on our side." She stuck her hand out in front of her, palm up, and let a small black ball form. As it grew, you could see a little red light in the middle. She wondered if he, having similar magic to her own, would recognize such a thing. Her grin came back as the ball grew, giving off enough light to show off how red her eyes really were.

David had heard the commotion and came to see what was going on. He saw Sasha come flying out of a room, and that she looked like she was a bit beat up already. It was then he saw a strange looking boy walk out, a blade covered in blood in his hands. David's eyes grew wide, and he reached into his pockets. Lucky for him, he had remembered to put them in his pockets this time, and he brought one out, throwing one as hard as he could at the side of the strange boys head. "Hey, didn't your mother ever teach you it was bad to hit women?" He stood in a battle ready pose, waiting to dodge whatever attack this guy might throw at him.

Without looking, Seth caught the knife in his other hand, and sighed. "Do any of you actually spread out at all?" When Maya's memories were consumed, he knew how much they stuck together, through the good times and the bad. It only pissed Seth off further.

He tossed the knife into the wall on the other side of the corridor, and then looked back at David. He seemed like a random person. No magic, no rings. Who was he? "And who are you, exactly? Bahh, I don't care, i'll kill you anyway."

"Guh!" Sasha crashed into the wall, coughing up blood as she did. The man kicked hard. "Fucking..bastard..." she choked out, watching David come to her rescue. Sasha was grateful for his help, and it gave her a little time to get to her feet again, though not enough for her to start gathering water around her.

He watched the sphere glow, he was impressed how much of a deep black it was. He put his hand forward, his black aura rose like a murky fog, thick and sinister. His finger tips were like sharp blades. The black was deep enough to believe you could dip your entire hand in it. "Our powers are alike, and I am impressed by yours. But, unfortunately I made my decision. After all, what could Darkness do for me? What does he do for you?" He let his aura die down off his hand. "But, I want to leave here and go back to what I was doing. So can we wrap this up?" His eyes turned black and his cornea's glow a brighter red than before. He quickly traveled through the shadows, sword in hand, his aura picked up around it and trailed with his swings he lunged at her.

Jacen returned from a brief walk around the neighborhood. He didn't see anyone standing outside which put him on notice.
Wasn't gone that long and no one is out here? Something's up...
He ran into the hotel on the lookout for David and Silver, wondering where they could've been. He heard a ruckus and posted up against a wall and peeked over. His search came to an end when he saw David squared up with someone wearing a high collared coat. ...I would come back to a fight. David could probably use some help...and whoever that guy is...doesn't know I'm here. Gotta do something.
Jacen peeked around the corner and saw a chandelier above the enemy, and quickly put two and two together. He rolled out of the corner and shot two bolts, slightly delaying the second. The first was traveling towards Seth's head at a rapid pace while the second aimed for the chandelier. This video game shit better work...if not, I'm gonna have to rumble.
His bolt connected with Seth's head and drew his attention.
"What th-"
His second did its job perfectly as it brought the chandelier down on his head.