《The Void Beckons [Working Title]》


 Chapter 1: The First Hunt

    As Vincent watched the clock tick over to 3pm he rose from his bed. He stumbled through his dark cluttered room, not bothering to open the curtains. After feeling his way through the room, he went under the cloth in between the bamboo dividers that separated his room from his office. He then opened the office door that led to the rest of the house.


    ¡°Look who dares exit his cave¡± Shouted Vincent¡¯s son, Tod, from the couch across the house from Vincent¡¯s door.


    Vincent promptly ignored him and stumbled his way to the kitchen and prepared himself a bowl of cereal. He sat next to Tod as the TV blared, illuminating the entire main area of the house. Vincent finished his bowl of cereal and dumped the remaining milk into the sink, Vincent stared at it as it swirled around, slowly pouring down the drain.


    ¡°You ready for this thing?¡± Asked Vincent.


    ¡°I mean, I guess. I¡¯ll get Catherine,¡± responded Tod.


    ¡°Is she still asleep?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡±


    Catherine exited her room, and they all made their way out to the car, opening the trunk to reveal a sniper rifle, two pistols, and a Tommy gun. Vincent armed himself with the sniper and climbed into the driver¡¯s seat of their SUV. Tod and Catherine armed themselves with the pistols, Catherine also grabbed the Tommy gun and climbed in the back while Tod took the passenger seat. Vincent lit a cigarette and started the car, as they began to make their way towards their co-worker¡¯s apartment building.


    ¡°So, this person just signed up for the company online?¡± Asked Tod.


    ¡°You betcha, her name is Eiliesh, Catherine knows her apparently,¡± answered Vincent.


    The car slowed to a crawl in front of the apartment, as a pale redheaded woman rushed out of the apartment¡¯s doors and waited for the car to stop. She climbed in the back behind Vincent. Catherine handed her the Tommy gun she was holding onto, and they set off for their destination. Vincent parks the car in front of a building with a sign outside titled ¡°The Diamond Council.¡± A company that had always been ahead of everyone else in the universe in terms of technology. They had just perfected their Wormholes, finding methods how to use them as fast methods of transportation across the universe.


    Vincent and his group opened the door to find a plain white room with dozens of vacant waiting chairs and a single reception desk in the middle.


    Vincent approached the receptionist, ¡°Uh, Vincent, I have an appointment for wormhole¡­y¡­ stuff¡­?¡±


    The receptionist checked his list and nodded his head as he picked up the phone and notified the other end of Vincent¡¯s presence. After a few seconds of silence, he pointed the group toward the door to the left of the reception desk. The gang walked through and down a long hallway until they came upon a door with a person waiting outside who led the group into the room.


    ¡°Okay, so, you two take the first one on the list and me and Catherine will take the second one,¡± Vincent ordered.


    Tod and Eiliesh were up first and gave the coordinates of the first target on the list to the worker operating the wormhole machine. They were led through another door, and it led to an observation deck overlooking a large machine with a large empty circle in the middle about thirty feet in diameter. The machine powered up with sparks flying around the center of the circle, large pieces of machinery moving in tandem with each other, and a green liquid moving through tubes surrounding the entire machine. A large spinner moved inside the circle creating a gust of wind that sucked in the surrounding sparks to lead them into a circular shape and as it spun faster and faster the sparks formed a glowing border soon to be filled with a portal.


    Tod and Eiliesh walked down the steps and were loaded into a black bean-shaped ship with a windshield at the front made specifically to withstand the walls of a wormhole. They powered it up and it began to float 20 feet above the ground, directly in the center of the circle. The ship blasted into the portal, and they were immediately surrounded by a tunnel with a glowing substance colored pink, purple, and blue making up the walls in a camouflage pattern. This was Tod¡¯s first time actually driving one, he¡¯d done training before, but this was a lot more intense and faster moving than he had trained for as he made sharp turns through the winding tunnel.


    Tod slipped a little bit, and the ship crashed into the tunnel revealing a somewhat liquid texture to the walls but also making a loud painful searing sound. This ship was engineered to withstand the pressure and heat of the tunnels, but he thought it best to not try and test the heat resistance of the exterior of the ship. After about 10 minutes of travelling, the tunnel appeared to end completely with the colors all moving into a swirl. Tod slowed the ship as much as possible but couldn¡¯t stop it before it flew directly into the spiral.


    * * *


    Back at the Diamond Council Base, Vincent and Catherine were loaded into a ship and the coordinates were changed to their target¡¯s relative location. They were loaded into the same type of ship known as a ¡°Void Ship.¡± These ships are not only capable of traveling through the tunnels but also going through the walls and entering outside the tunnels into a place known as the void. The ship took off and Vincent flew it effortlessly through the winding tunnels as it too ended in a spiral, Vincent didn¡¯t bother slowing it down and went straight into the spiral.


    * * *


    Tod braced for impact or to be stuck in the void but upon opening his eyes he realized that the spiral was the end of the tunnel, he had made it to his destination. Tod landed the ship in a nearby parking lot, he and Eiliesh emerged from the ship, and she pulled out a device to more accurately locate the position of their target. They began towards the signal and approached a large town and began making their way through crowds of people trying their best to follow the signal when the pointer suddenly turned around. They immediately spun around and realized the device was pointing toward a completely normal-looking person.


    Tod looked towards Eiliesh for confirmation to go through with the murder. She nodded back. He pulled out his pistol and shot the man in the middle of a crowd sending everyone into a panic.


    ¡°GET THE THING!¡± Shouted Tod.


    ¡°I DON¡¯T KNOW WHERE IT IS!?¡± shouted back Eiliesh as she rifled through the dead man¡¯s pockets to no avail.


    She looked back at the signal and turned to Tod, ¡°We got the wrong guy...¡±


    ¡°Shit.¡±


    ¡°POLICE, PUT YOUR HANDS UP.¡±


    Tod and Eiliesh looked at each other not knowing what to do. Eiliesh jumped behind Tod and he ran behind her as they ran away, Tod was peppered in bullets as they fled, not doing any damage to him, each bullet sunk into his transparent cyan flesh and dissolved into the material. He shielded Eiliesh as her human body was much frailer than his. They ended up taking refuge in an old parking garage.


    ¡°Okay, we need to get the target, now,¡± whispered Eiliesh.


    ¡°How lucky are we?¡± Responded Tod.


    Eiliesh¡¯s questions were quickly answered when Tod gestured towards a man getting into his car who had a blue glowing object in his pocket. The man got into his car, shut the door, and started the car. Eiliesh had snuck in the back right door of the car as he was getting in and came up behind him from the backseat and wrapped a metal cord around his neck and began strangling him. He reached for his pocket attempting to grab the object they were attempting to obtain from him, she put one end of the cord into the hand that had the other end and used her now free hand to stop him from getting the object from his pocket. He went back and forth with different hands until finally both arms went limp, and she tied the wire around the seat.


    Eiliesh grabbed the object from the man¡¯s pocket, it was a light blue glowing orb that had the texture of magma with the glowing blue between the cracks in the brown rocks but felt cold to the touch. She climbed out of the car and crouched towards Tod, attempting not to draw any attention to the two of them. They crept out of the back of the parking garage and ran as fast as they could, not realizing that the police were searching the garage for them and began covering Tod again with bullets from the parking garage after realizing that they were fleeing.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    They got to the ship with the police hot on their tail and signaled the people back at The Diamond Council to re-open the portal to let them back through. The portal opened and Tod started the ship as the police watched on in fear, the ship then accelerated near-instantly to a couple hundred miles per hour and blasted into the portal. Tod got the ship through the tunnel, this time a lot easier, and as he approached the end, he didn¡¯t bother slowing down considering this time he knew it was the exit.


    * * *


    Vincent and Catherine exited their portal in the middle of a town¡¯s parade. They landed the ship on top of a building overlooking the parade. They got out of the ship and Vincent lit another cigarette and offered one to Catherine, but she declined. Vincent got the sniper out of the ship storage and set up the stand on the building and aimed down at the parade.


    ¡°Go locate the target, message me where it is,¡± ordered Vincent.


    Catherine walked down each flight of stairs until she reached the bottom, she began fighting through crowds trying to find the target. She fought through line after line until she finally reached an opening, a crowd of people watching something. According to a sign, the carnies found a stone with a glowing blue sword stuck into it, that had supposedly fallen from space into the rock, and they were costing people tickets to attempt to pull it out.


    Catherine attempted to message Vincent, but the cell service wasn¡¯t compatible with her phone, so she began to make her way back to the building fighting through bigger crowds, she was pushed onto the ground and struggled to get back up with the sheer amount of people. She finally made her way back to the abandoned building, running up each flight of stairs.


    She made it to Vincent, out of breath and barely able to utter the words, ¡°It¡¯s where the Sword in the Stone sign is.¡±


    He looked through the scope and saw that the sword had been pulled out. The person was put in front of several things to test it, they had sliced through fruits and farm animals.


    ¡°They used it already,¡± Vincent said dejectedly.


    ¡°Already? So, we can¡¯t just grab it?¡± Catherine asked.


    ¡°No.¡±


    Vincent readied the Sniper, ordering Catherine to go down and be ready to retrieve the sword. She fought her way through the crowds again and got to the front of the line of the sword-pulling competition that had already disbanded, she just wanted a quick way in. Vincent readied his shot and fired from the top floor of the abandoned building, and it went straight through the sword holder¡¯s head sending his brain matter flying everywhere after his head exploded coating the surroundings in blood. The crowds fled the area and made their way out of the building as police swarmed the area. Catherine jumped over the barrier, grabbed the glowing blue sword, and ran as fast towards the building as she could. By the time she got there, Vincent was already on the ship and waiting for her. She climbed in and they signaled The Diamond Council and flew straight into the portal.


    ¡°So, what do we know about these targets?¡± Catherine inquired.


    ¡°All I know is that they¡¯re enchanted somehow and that we aren¡¯t allowed to use them, but according to the list, he said he put them in order of easiest to hardest to retrieve, so Tod and Eiliesh shouldn¡¯t be having much trouble.¡± Responded Vincent.


    ¡°Does using them do something to us?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    They both climbed into the back cabin as Vincent put the ship on autopilot. Catherine tucked the sword in between some cushions on a small couch in the back. She sat back on the couch and Vincent leaned up against the driver¡¯s seat until suddenly the door next to Vincent flew open. He was immediately ripped out of the ship and grabbed the track that the sliding door slid on to keep him from flying into the walls of the wormhole tunnel. Catherine was just to the right of the door and was grabbing onto the armrest for dear life.


    She managed to gain some courage and maneuvered herself around the ship, eventually managing to wrap her shoes around a bar on the ship across from the door and stick out her arm for Vincent. Vincent grabbed hold and pulled himself up slowly but the further he pulled himself up the more her shoes slipped from the bar, as Vincent grabbed hold of the couch to his right and let go of her hand, suddenly her shoes unhooked from the bar sending her flying into the tunnel walls, spraying out a black dust. Vincent looked on in horror. Her body would have no way of withstanding the heat and speed of the tunnel walls.


    Vincent climbed back up using the couch as support and slowly shut the door as his eyes welled with tears. He sat back in the driver¡¯s seat and drove it the rest of the way back. He approached the swirl of the portal and slowed way down to a crawl and slowly landed the ship back in the docking bay and it moved along on a conveyor belt ready for the next ship to land, Vincent grabbed the sword and sat down on a bench waiting to break the news to Eiliesh and Tod.


    Tod¡¯s lack of slowing down sent him flying into the glass of the observation deck and destroying many of the controls of the machine. Shattering the windshield of the ship, exploding pieces of the concrete wall off, and sending two workers flying back from the force of the ship crashing into the window. Vincent ran up, Tod was still awake and alert, but Eiliesh was unconscious.


    ¡°Vincent, where¡¯s Catherine?¡±


    ¡°Get out, we need to help Eiliesh,¡± Vincent said, trying to hide his grief.


    Vincent pulled out Eiliesh by the arms, ordering Tod to grab her legs. A worker carried out a gurney that they placed her on. After she was on the gurney the worker whizzed her out into the hallway and rushed her into a room with a red cross above the door.


    Vincent looked up at Tod and he spoke up, ¡°The door swung open.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Tod asked.


    ¡°The door swung open¡­ and she flew out.¡±


    ¡°How did that happen?!¡± Tod shouted.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. But I-¡­ by the time I looked over she was already gone.¡±


    ¡°¡­Oh my god,¡± Tod whimpered as his eyes welled with tears.


    Vincent took out his wallet and handed the worker eighty thousand dollars for the damages, and they left the observation deck. They then made their way down the hall toward the emergency room and sat on two white chairs adjacent to the door Eiliesh was behind. A doctor came out and explained that she only fainted from the shock and the impact didn¡¯t damage her. She quickly walked out from behind the doctor and was quick to ask where Catherine was.


    Tod explained what happened as they made their way out to the car. Vincent dropped off his sniper in the back as well as the glowing sword and Catherine¡¯s pistol then climbed into the driver¡¯s seat. Tod went to the back and dropped off his pistol, Eiliesh¡¯s Tommy gun, and the glowing orb. Eiliesh was already in the seat behind Vincent when Tod climbed in next to her.


    ¡°There was nothing I could have done,¡± Vincent mumbled to himself.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Tod was quick to answer in a tired tone in an attempt to end the conversation before it even started.


    Vincent spoke up, ¡°You two need to understand that.¡±


    ¡°I just want to go home¡± Tod replied as Eiliesh kept silent.


    Vincent continued driving through the desert, they watched the sunset as they approached their destination. They drove up upon a large black castle with brick walls, Vincent slowly drove the car across the drawbridge and was stopped at a booth.


    ¡°What¡¯s your business here?¡± The worker asked.


    ¡°I uhm- I have a meeting with The Void King to drop off some items he requested,¡± Vincent said sheepishly.


    ¡°Drive up until you see the sign and turn left, take this,¡± The booth attendant said as she handed Vincent a piece of paper with some gibberish on it.


    Vincent pulled into the parking spot in front of the castle and got out of the car, ¡°You two stay here, I¡¯ll be right back.¡±


    Vincent made his way up to the door giving the guard the slip he was handed at the booth. The guard led him through the winding halls until they reached a large door. The large door inched open and after about thirty awkward seconds Vincent made his way through to a large auditorium. On the far left there was an incredibly large chair facing the auditorium with a large television facing the throne.


    ¡°He¡¯s asleep right now so just leave the targets on the table next to the throne,¡± Commanded a guard.


    The size of the table was completely normal, and it was almost funny how much the table was dwarfed by the size of the throne. Vincent set down the sword and the orb and made his way back across the auditorium to the door. The guard led Vincent back through the halls to the front entrance. Vincent walked back to the car and pulled it out of the spot and made his way out of the castle.


    He began driving back through the desert for another hour with not another word being spoken between the three of them. Vincent rolled up to the house and before the car could fully stop, Tod hopped out and walked towards the house, unlocking and opening the front door and making his way inside. After Vincent parked the car, he and Eiliesh came out, he offered her a lit cigarette that she accepted.


    After Vincent lit his own, he began, ¡°You two did good out there¡­ I think, I mean you got the target and there¡¯s not much else I can ask for.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, thanks.¡±


    ¡°Y¡¯know, we have a room free; I can clear it out by tomorrow,¡± said Vincent.


    ¡°Are you serious?¡±


    ¡°What? You¡¯ve always wanted to move in with us.¡±


    ¡°Maybe some other time, I need to think about all this.¡±


    Eiliesh began to walk off into the night.


    ¡°You need a ride?¡± Vincent offered,


    ¡°I think I¡¯m good for tonight¡±


    Vincent put out his cigarette and walked back into the house. Tod was already in his room. Vincent made his way to his office, ducking under the cloth, making his way to his room. He stumbled through the crowded darkness, only illuminated by a flower bed filled with a dozen glowing blue flowers with black stems. Vincent laid down in his bed and began to drift off to sleep.


    * * *


    The Void King emerged from his chamber and peered down at the table to see the glowing objects. He sat down and looked at the screen overlooking the throne and saw an incoming call from an unknown number.


    The King answered the call and was greeted by a hurried and quiet voice ¡°What do you have so far, what does he know?¡±


    ¡°Chill out man, he doesn¡¯t know anything, he got the first two, nothing else, I think one of ¡®em died though.¡±


    ¡°Okay, good, this material these objects are coated in is incredibly limited, if these got into the wrong hands it could destroy planets. There is only a finite amount of this material, and we need to keep it out of the public eye.¡±


    ¡°Yes sir, I will call you with any updates.¡±

 Chapter 2: My Little Fugitive

    Vincent woke up at nine the next morning. No calls or anybody attempting to wake him up, so he watched it tick over to ten, then to eleven, then to twelve, and then to six. Vincent finally rose from his bed, maneuvering his way through the room, ducking under the cloth, and exiting the office into the main living quarters. Tod was in his room. Vincent decided at this point that they might as well hold off on their mission till the next day.


    He moved to Catherine¡¯s room and looked around, it was spotless and most of her belongings were shoved into her cabinets. Vincent shoveled the belongings into a garbage bag, Tod quietly opened his door and peaked across the dining room to see Vincent disposing of Catherine¡¯s things before withdrawing back into his room. After cleaning out the room Vincent moved back into his bed and sat out the rest of the night.


    At exactly seven the next morning Vincent sprung up from his bed and hurried through his room as fast as he could before bursting out his office door. He sprinted towards Tod¡¯s room and knocked to wake him up.


    ¡°I¡¯m not going.¡±


    ¡°Yes, you are actually! Be up in thirty,¡± Exclaimed Vincent.


    Thirty minutes came and went but with no word from Tod, Vincent knocked again to no response. After knocking for two whole minutes with zero response he exited the house and turned to see Tod¡¯s window wide open. Vincent immediately jumped into the car, started it, and accelerated as fast as he could. After tracing the path out from Tod¡¯s window to no avail and driving through every street in the nearby city with no sign of Tod, Vincent decided to just get on with the job.


    Vincent swerved through the city and pulled up at Eiliesh¡¯s apartment building.


    ¡°You weren¡¯t there yesterday,¡± Started Eiliesh


    ¡°Yeah, I figured we could use some time to cool off.¡±


    ¡°Where¡¯s Tod?¡±


    ¡°No clue, he just booked it. Just us this time. Unfortunately, he also destroyed our access to wormholes, so we¡¯re gonna have to jump ahead in the list till we get to one that¡¯s actually on this planet,¡± Vincent paused as he scanned the list, ¡°Which¡­ leaves us with¡­ target number five.¡±¡¯


    The car took off and they moved off the road back to the desert. Vincent was half concentrated on driving, the other half on the tracker for the target. The car suddenly spun around, nearly sending Eiliesh flying out the window. Eiliesh saw a green, saturated jungle up ahead that stood out from the dry empty desert. Vincent stopped the car at the edge of the jungle and they both exited the vehicle and rounded the back of the car. Eiliesh grabbed both the pistols and Vincent armed himself with the Tommy gun.


    Eiliesh led the two through the jungle. Immediately they were met with a strong wall of congealed vines, possibly man-made, Eiliesh promptly took out her pocketknife and began swinging it through the vines. The two continued their way through the jungle with Eiliesh clearing their path of any vines or leaves in the way.


    ¡°I need a minute, let¡¯s wait here,¡± Vincent uttered nearly out of breath.


    ¡°Jesus man, we¡¯ve been in here for ten minutes, have you not been training for this?¡± Eiliesh questioned.


    Vincent interrupted his frantic breaths for air, ¡°I¡¯m here for direction and durability, not stamina, I¡¯m dyin¡¯ here man.¡±


    As they sat on some stumps in the woods Eiliesh was about to say something when Vincent quickly put his finger over his mouth signaling to keep down. Vincent directed Eiliesh¡¯s attention to the tracker, the pointer was spinning at a slow even pace around them, the target was circling them.


    Until the spinner suddenly stopped. It Pointed directly behind Eiliesh, the silence was interrupted by a loud slash behind her, sending her jumping forward toward the clearing they were waiting in. She unholstered her weapons and fired both pistols once at the woods behind where she was, which led to a deep guttural yell echoing through the woods. The woods went silent again.


    Vincent and Eiliesh were now waiting for the target to make the next move. The silence was deafening until it was interrupted by Vincent¡¯s phone ringing out. He immediately threw his phone, but it was too late and when he faced back toward Eiliesh there was another slash and the tree next to him had a massive gash torn in it. The gash had a glowing blue substance left in it from where the weapon hit. Vincent flew forward and pulled out his Tommy gun. Suddenly his eyes were met with a large creature. Its brown fur coated its almost human-shaped body, the arms were too long.


    Its jaw unhinged revealing rows of teeth as it lunged forward holding a massive glowing battle axe with the same magma texture as the orb. Vincent rolled out of the way of the giant beast, and Eiliesh began firing her pistols, sinking each bullet into the creature¡¯s fur making blood spurt out toward her. It spun around swinging the battle axe as it did, nearly taking off Eiliesh¡¯s head, but she managed to duck out of the way. Vincent began unloading his Tommy gun on the beast before it could strike Eiliesh with the axe.


    Vincent ducked out of the way when the beast spun around attempting to pull the same maneuver as Eiliesh, he wasn¡¯t as fortunate, the axe grazed his forearm. The flesh surrounding the wound was covered in a thick blue substance that started melting his flesh away. Vincent circled the clearing in an attempt to reconvene with Eiliesh who was at the other side, as he was running around, he continued firing his gun into the beast.


    Vincent came up next to Eiliesh while the beast was distracted and ordered her to come with him. They both moved behind the tree that was slashed initially and drew the creature¡¯s attention. They moved around the tree with the beast, circling it a few times before the beast decided to slice through it again.


    That cut through the tree severed it from the bottom and it started falling towards the beast. The back of the tree rocketed backward doming Vincent directly in the head while narrowly missing Eiliesh. The tree hit the target in the head knocking it out and as it continued falling, the tree fell onto the beast¡¯s ribcage causing it to collapse under the weight. Eiliesh grabbed the axe and sat down waiting for Vincent to wake up.


    After about ten minutes Vincent woke up and looked around confused.


    ¡°OH, YOU GOT THE THING!¡± Exclaimed Vincent.


    ¡°Mhm¡±


    Vincent looked through the woods for his phone and saw 9 missed calls from Tod.


    ¡°Oh my god, we need to go.¡±


    ¡°What happened?¡± Asked Eiliesh


    ¡°I think Tod might be in trouble.¡±


    They ran through the woods faster than before. Eiliesh was trying her best, but Vincent ended up getting about twenty feet ahead of her, considering she had to lug around the axe the whole time. Vincent got into the car and drove it through several vines and into the jungle towards Eiliesh so she could get in faster. They whizzed off to go find Tod.


    ¡°Did you call him back?¡± Asked Eiliesh.


    ¡°Straight to voicemail.¡±


    ¡°How are we gonna find him?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    Vincent paused while looking through his phone


    ¡°Wait, he left a voicemail¡±This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Vincent was met with a deep robotic voice on the recording, ¡°Vincent I presume, I know what you¡¯re doing, however, I know a lot more about this than you. You need to come to the apartment building that you just picked someone up from, eighth floor, room thirty. Before I go, I need to ask, do you really know who your employer is?¡±


    Vincent sat in silence for a moment, ¡°What does he mean?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t ask me, how should I know?¡±


    They continued driving when Eiliesh¡¯s eyes wandered to Vincent¡¯s arm, ¡°What the hell happened to your arm?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, the axe left some kind of residue, we¡¯ll deal with it later.¡±


    They swerved through the city, nearing their destination. Vincent and Eiliesh exited the car and Eiliesh handed Vincent one of her pistols before he tucked the Tommy gun away in the trunk. Entering the apartment building, they walked into the elevator and pressed the eighth-floor button, and it began to slowly rise.


    The two began walking down the hall until they got to room thirty. Vincent debated knocking but decided to bust the door open instead. After slamming his shoulder into the door, it broke open, he immediately brandished his pistol and aimed it into the room. He pointed around the main area of the apartment and saw nothing, no signs that anyone even lived in there until his attention was directed to a door.


    ¡°Wait here, behind the wall,¡± Vincent whispered to Eiliesh.


    Vincent opened the door as fast as possible and aimed the pistol into the room. Upon opening the door, he was met with another pistol aimed back at him. Vincent scanned the room quickly and saw Tod sitting against the wall to his right. He made eye contact with his son and Tod shook his head, telling Vincent to put his gun away. Vincent heeded his son¡¯s advice considering Tod knew more about this situation than he did and retracted his weapon to his holster.


    Tod¡¯s and now Vincent¡¯s masked captor began to speak, ¡°Good.¡± They too lowered their gun but continued to hold it and put their hands into a fig-leaf position, resting one hand on the hammer.


    ¡°Now that I have you both here-¡± Their speech was interrupted by a bullet fired by Eiliesh from the doorway. It sunk into the person¡¯s head, but no blood was excreted. The captor immediately raised their gun and shot Tod in the ribcage leaving the same blue residue that was on Vincent¡¯s arm. It didn¡¯t burn Tod¡¯s flesh like it did Vincent¡¯s, but it left a hole nearly 5 inches in diameter in Tod¡¯s flesh.


    ¡°A new friend, you too, take a seat,¡± The captor¡¯s voice was clearly altered by the mask, ¡°Got any other buddies I should know about?¡± Vincent shook his head. ¡°Good, so this is the gang trying to take us down? Y¡¯know we aren¡¯t all buddy-buddy to be fair, we just kind of bond over our addiction¡­ these weapons are more of a curse to be fair,¡± The captor looked around the room for a moment before continuing, ¡°So, what do you think the reason is that you¡¯re collecting these things?¡±


    ¡°The King. He told us to get these out of the hands of anyone because of what they do to the people,¡± Vincent answered


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t consider him a king to be fair.¡±


    ¡°The Void King, the ruler of the Voidlings?¡± Said Vincent.


    ¡°Oh my! He¡¯s using the highest tier of royalty as a mule. That¡¯s hilarious. Hold on¡­ but¡­¡± The captor paused for a moment, ¡°He wouldn¡¯t. OH. This isn¡¯t a mission just to collect these things¡­ this is for you.¡± They pointed towards Vincent, ¡°They could do this without you easily, but it¡¯s you, their mission is to¡±- The captor¡¯s words were cut off by a bullet flying through the window and carving out a massive hole in their head. The hole was coated with the same blue residue.


    Vincent immediately stood up and peered out the window. Across the street was a building but nobody was in any of its windows. After scanning outside for another moment to no avail he turned back to the body of the captor, he grabbed the gun that they were holding.


    ¡°Target number eight,¡± Vincent said as he picked it up.


    ¡°Oh, hell yeah!¡± Eiliesh said as she stood up.


    Vincent helped up Tod, who was struggling to walk due to being beaten, and the hole that, at this point, had healed to only be about an inch now. The three of them walked out with Tod¡¯s arm wrapped around Vincent, using him as a crutch. Vincent helped Tod into the car, and they began off towards the castle.


    ¡°So, my little fugitive, what happened,¡± Vincent said.


    ¡°I ran toward the city, and I was tazed and thrown in the back of a car that they knocked me out in with some kind of gas. When I woke up, I was in that building and he was already calling you on my phone.¡±


    ¡°Tod, that one little galivant around town put me, and more importantly you, in more danger than you could ever imagine. I have a target on my head and the people who¡¯re after me are going to take any chance they can get to get closer to me.¡±


    The car fell silent for a moment.


    ¡°So maybe next time don¡¯t do anything stupid, kay?¡± Said Vincent.


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    They arrived at the castle and Vincent handed the booth attendant the same slip he¡¯d been given before and they opened the gate before handing him back the slip. He parked the car, grabbed the targets, and approached the guard at the door, and handed him the same slip. The guard then began to lead Vincent down the hallways again.


    ¡°King¡¯s asleep, leave them on the table,¡± commanded the guard.


    ¡°I think I¡¯ll wait for him to wake up this time,¡± said Vincent.


    ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary.¡±


    ¡°No, I have a few things I need to discuss, tell the two back in my car that I¡¯m gonna be staying here for a bit, and tell them to get themselves home.¡±


    ¡°Sir I must-¡±


    ¡°No, it''s fine, I promise,¡± Vincent said as he took a seat across from the throne.


    * * *


    Tod looked out the passenger window as a guard approached the car


    ¡°Your driver is apparently staying the night here, needs to discuss some things with the king. He said you two should head home.¡±


    Tod shrugged, got into the driver¡¯s seat, and began driving away.


    ¡°Catherine was my best friend, when Vincent said he was looking for employees I volunteered her for the job,¡± said Tod.


    ¡°Yeah, I knew her too, she recommended me the job, we weren¡¯t very close though,¡± responded Eiliesh


    ¡°I just feel like if I hadn¡¯t brought her along none of this would¡¯ve happened.¡±


    ¡°And if Vincent didn¡¯t have a phone, you¡¯d be dead. You can blame yourself for anything with enough ¡°if¡±s.¡±


    The car pulled into the driveway of the house as Tod let himself out.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Eiliesh shouted from the car.


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Vincent told me there was an extra room?¡±


    ¡°Uhmm¡­ yeah. You need a place to stay?¡±


    ¡°A little bit yeah, my apartment isn¡¯t really the best place for me right now with all the police that are bound to be there.¡±


    ¡°Sure, I guess you could stay here for tonight.¡±


    Tod led her inside and showed her around a bit.


    ¡°Is your chest gonna be okay after being shot like that?¡± Eiliesh asked.


    ¡°Probably, I dunno,¡± Tod said before he opened Catherine¡¯s old door, ¡°This is the room you can stay in for tonight.¡±


    ¡°Okay, thanks.¡±


    * * *


    The Void King emerged from his chamber again, being met with an empty room aside from the glowing axe and gun on the table. He sat in his chair and dialed a number not saved in his contacts.


    The phone rang for a few seconds before being quickly picked up, The Void King was met with the same hasty voice, ¡°Updates?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, they got the fifth and¡­ I think¡­ eighth target¡­ yeah.¡±


    ¡°Okay, any casualties?¡±


    ¡°Not on their side, apparently your buddy was up to some stuff.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Target number eight almost spilled the beans so to speak.¡±


    ¡°Who got ''em?¡±


    ¡°Target twelve. Is there anything else you need?¡±


    ¡°Uh, nope, that¡¯s it.¡±


    The call hung up immediately after. The king sat back in his seat, seeming somewhat relieved.


    ¡°Who was that?¡± Vincent said from the darkness.


    ¡°OH MY GOD!¡± The Void King yelled after being startled, ¡°You scared me.¡± He paused, ¡°That was none of your business, why are you here?¡±


    ¡°Target eight told me some things about you being a mule and apparently working under someone. And unless it wasn¡¯t what it sounded like it seems like target eight wasn¡¯t completely off base.¡±


    ¡°It''s none of your business what I do with these things,¡± The Void King said in an annoyed tone.


    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re totally right, other than how Target Eight told me that this wasn¡¯t about collecting the weapons, this is somehow about me¡­ wait¡­ was that The Diamond Council Leader on the other end?¡±


    ¡°No. It wasn¡¯t,¡± said The Void King abruptly.


    ¡°Well, I was told you could easily get these weapons some other way, so unless you wanna have a little chat with me, maybe fill me in on a couple things, maybe you¡¯ll have to get them some other way.¡±


    ¡°Vincent, get the hell out of here.¡±


    ¡°If I leave without answers I¡¯m never coming back.¡±


    ¡°This isn¡¯t up to you.¡±


    ¡°Have you forgotten who I am? You¡¯ve heard the stories of me, no? If this is a threat, you clearly don¡¯t know who I am, where I¡¯ve been, and what I¡¯ve done,¡± Vincent said while making direct eye contact with the king.


    ¡°Are you threatening me?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I am.¡±


    ¡°Fine, you want answers? I¡¯ll give you answers,¡± said The Void King as he rose from his throne, towering over Vincent.


    * * *


    Vincent exited the palace and began walking home through the desert. He walked for hours but eventually made it back to his house. Opening his office door, he stumbled through the room, over the desk, under the cloth, and through his dark room yet again. Collapsing in his bed, he stared at the ceiling, he looked down at his arm, still burning from before.


    Vincent rose from his bed and made his way to the bathroom, he¡¯d grown numb to the pain at this point but when he ran water over it, it stung more than it¡¯d ever stung before. He used a towel to pull the slimy substance out of the wound, after removing about half of the substance the towel began to fall apart so he had to replace it. The feeling of the towel scraping against his flesh was almost pleasant once he got used to the pain again.


    After cleaning off all the slime and practically disintegrating three towels. He made his way to the kitchen and bandaged his wound that was previously only skin deep, which was now about one inch into his arm. Making his way back to his bed, he began to stare at the ceiling until morning.

 Chapter 3: Target Eights Office

    After the night Vincent had, there was no hope of sleep. He stared at the ceiling for hours until the sun rose, he exited his room and began to make himself breakfast. Looking down at the bowl of cereal, for a moment he debated whether or not to eat it, but simply left it on the counter. The phone rang and Vincent ran across the house to answer it.


    ¡°Vincent, we have some things to discuss,¡± spoke the voice on the other end.


    ¡°Save it, you owe me. I need a ship, now.¡±


    ¡°Vincent-¡±


    Vincent interrupted, ¡°Bring it to my house in five, full tank of gas. Have your surveillance team watch the house, make sure nothing happens.¡±


    The other end hung up and Vincent began waiting for the ship to arrive. A large metallic ship quietly landed about twenty yards away from his house. Vincent charged towards the ship, sure to close the door as quietly as possible.


    Arriving at the ship Vincent met a worker, ¡°The surveillance team will be watching the house.¡±


    ¡°Good, let me into the ship.¡±


    The worker led Vincent to the controls of the personal ship. It had a small lounge area behind the control area, almost similar to the void ship but larger and boxier. Vincent kicked the worker out of the ship and started it up, shooting his way up into space. He began to make his way toward the coordinates of where Target Eight was supposed to be located before they¡¯d kidnapped Tod.


    * * *


    Roughly three hours after Vincent left, Eiliesh woke up, she made her way around the house and noticed nobody was awake. She cracked open Vincent¡¯s door and shouted his name to no response. She crept into his claustrophobic office, shelves coating the walls filled with various trinkets and tools. She moved the cloth between the dividers and shouted Vincent¡¯s name louder into the room, but again, no response.


    Her curiosity took the best of her, and she moved into the room. It was similar to the cramped office, with shelves coating the walls, but some shelves were hanging from the ceiling. Including one shelf just above eye level containing a flower bed, the contents of which illuminated the room just barely enough to be noticed. Upon standing on her tippy toes and peering into the flower bed Eiliesh rushed out of the room, ducking under the cloth, and sliding over Vincent¡¯s desk, before slamming the door behind her.


    Upon closing the door her eyes met with Tod¡¯s ¡°What were you doing in there?¡±


    ¡°I was looking for Vincent, he isn¡¯t here still.¡±


    ¡°He has a bowl of cereal here, and he left some kind of burnt cloth in the bathroom,¡± said Tod.


    ¡°The car is still here,¡± Eiliesh noted.


    ¡°So, he was here, but where did he go? The door is unlocked, what if he was kidnapped?¡± Tod asked.


    ¡°He did say there were people after him for some reason.¡±


    ¡°We need to go find him,¡± Tod said before they ran out the door and hopped in the car. Eiliesh followed closely behind but grabbed a pistol from the trunk, then got in the passenger seat.


    * * *


    After roughly five hours of flying Vincent landed in a desert. He crept out from the driver''s seat and planted his foot in the sand. As he looked up all that was visible was a desert that stretched as far as the eye could see. Looking down at the tracker he saw that the specific coordinates were directly west, so he set off in that direction.


    Three hours of walking later he was almost at the coordinates when he stepped down and the ground under him felt hard and hollow. He stopped in his tracks and knelt down, wiping sand away to reveal a wooden trapdoor below him. Opening the door, he was met with an old dirt tunnel leading downwards, cobwebs coating the entrance and walls of the tunnel. He climbed down the nearby ladder and dropped into the concrete room at the bottom.


    The room was barren except for a desk with a button, left unlocked from the last time it was pressed. Vincent approached the desk and pressed the button, hearing the sound of stone grinding behind him. He turned around to see a small tunnel just big enough for him to crawl through. He kneeled down yet again and began to make his way through the tunnel.


    It, however, wasn¡¯t just a tunnel, but a large system of winding confined corridors, a maze. Wandering through the tunnels reaching several rooms, all empty, recently cleared out due to the lack of dust that would¡¯ve been kicked up from the raggedy unfinished halls. Target eight clearly left in a hurry and removed anything they owned. Vincent finally found a room glowing down at the end of the path. As he got closer, he heard a noise of rustling coming from ahead, causing him to unholster his gun.


    Vincent stood up from the tunnel, aiming his gun around the office he¡¯d just found himself in. There was nothing alive or dead in the room. His gaze moved to the other end of the surrounding area; pages of newspapers pinned to a bulletin board. ¡°Two universal protectors killed, one paralyzed for life, supposed traitor suspected,¡± read one of the headlines. Target Eight had been keeping track of Vincent for years and years. He knew more about Vincent than maybe anyone else; every bit of Vincent¡¯s life was pinned with pieces of newspapers and printed documents.


    Vincent turned to Target Eight¡¯s wooden office desk, on the desk was a note, ¡°I am being followed, they know what I''m doing. Vincent, you''re the only person who could be reading this who I need to tell something. Target Twelve knows you''re here. I have connected details, I know something. Kane is alive. You need to find him and get answers. Vincent, Target Twelve is capable of killing you whenever he pleases. He will toy with you, follow you, make you constantly look over your shoulder. He¡¯ll kill your family, your friends, everyone you ever talked to. Whatever you¡¯re being paid isn¡¯t worth it, trust me. Find Kane, get answers. I need to talk to you face to face before he finds out what I know. I wish I could tell you more, but I must go.¡±


    A loud scrape echoed from the tunnel as Vincent looked up from the note. He looked around the room and retreated into a closet to hide. Two loud clacks echoed through the room as someone exited the tunnel. Bone-like clacking echoed through the hall every step they took. A tall figure blocked some of the light entering through the crack of the closet. The color of the figure was the only thing visible to Vincent, a dark, cyan-colored flesh, the same species as Tod, a Belvod. Vincent thought to himself, the clacking sounds reminded him, it wasn¡¯t just a Belvod, it was the king.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Suddenly Target Eight¡¯s office desk set ablaze, burning anything Vincent could¡¯ve investigated. The clacks returned through the tunnel, scraping against the edges of it off into the distance. The fire sprinklers triggered, killing the flame. After about five minutes of silence, Vincent exited the closet to see the damage. Everything was gone, either ashes or wet mush.


    Immediately the lights went off, shrouding Vincent in darkness. A scrape and clack came from the tunnel yet again. Before Vincent could react, he was sent flying back into the closet, cracking the louvre blades and sending the wood shards into his back. He climbed to his feet and immediately as he levelled the ground, he was shoved from the side into the concrete wall next to him. The force shattered his shoulder bone and created a small crack in the wall.


    Vincent aimed his gun upwards and began firing into the darkness. Each shot lit up the room just enough for him to see a tall silhouette getting closer to him, moving faster every shot. Eventually, Vincent paused his fire and it fell silent. Suddenly Vincent flew into the charred remains of the table and was dragged up against a wall with someone behind him and an arm wrapped around his neck.


    ¡°Vincent.¡± A deep raspy voice echoed through the room, ¡°You know who I am, I know who you are. You are afraid of me; I am not afraid of you.¡±


    ¡°You should be,¡± Vincent muttered, attempting to intimidate him.


    ¡°Do you feel that metal circle on the side of your head? That is a gun. That is the item you''re trying to retrieve. I can kill you right now. Thus, my lack of fear, one sudden move and everything you¡¯ve worked for is gone.¡± They sat there for a few seconds before Target Twelve spoke up again, ¡°Vincent, do your job, don¡¯t look for answers, don¡¯t look for any deeper meaning, just do what you¡¯re being paid for, and everything will go well for you, if you are as capable as it is said.¡±


    The arm unhooked from Vincent, and he crumpled to the floor, letting out a sigh of relief. The lights flickered back on, and the room was empty yet again. Vincent breathed deeply for a few minutes before returning to his feet. After looking around the room once more he saw that there was nothing he could use for answers. He had to follow the only lead he had, Kane, The Diamond Council Leader.


    Vincent crouched down back into the maze. Roughly 5 minutes into the tunnel Vincent heard a tapping noise, he drew his gun and pointed to the corridors next to him. With his gun still drawn he made his way deeper into the tunnel system, hoping he was getting closer to the exit. He heard yet another tapping, this time turning and moving towards it, pointing his gun into the empty tunnel ahead.


    Suddenly there was the sound of fast heavy footprints approaching from behind him, sending him spinning backwards to see. His eyes met a creature, similar to a human but with horse legs and a large hook it was dragging against the wall. The creature was entirely hairless, and its mouth unhinged to reveal two rows of sharp teeth. The creature lunged at Vincent and its sharp talons ripped his shirt as it sent him onto his back.


    He aimed his gun towards the creature¡¯s face as it pried into Vincent¡¯s stomach with its claw. He fired, leading the creature to yelp and run off into the tunnel system. The click from its throat came from behind him again, tackling him, he fired at the creature and hit its stomach but it seemed to have no effect on it. The wound on its eye where Vincent fired was almost healed over already. He aimed for the head again this time and as he pulled the trigger, all he heard was a *click*.


    Vincent bucked his knee up into the creature¡¯s torso sending it over him. Vincent ducked through the tunnels away from it as fast as he could. He then heard more heavy footsteps from behind and his ankle was grabbed causing him to crumple to the ground. Vincent felt a sharp pain from his back, the creature had dug its claw into Vincent as it¡¯s scream echoed through the tunnels.


    With the creature¡¯s claw still lodged in his back he swung around sending the creature into the wall next to them. Unlodging himself he booked it through the tunnels and finally saw the exit. He jumped in extreme pain for the ladder, grappling on three steps up. He climbed as fast as he could but near the top, he saw the creature climbing behind and about to grab him when he sent his foot into the creature¡¯s face. The creature hit the ground and sent out a loud growl, it jumped to its feet and began climbing the ladder just as Vincent stepped out. The creature leaped and its claw landed in the sand as Vincent swung the trapdoor down on the creature¡¯s claw, shattering it and revealing a fleshy red substance inside.


    ¡°What¡­ What was that?¡± Vincent said, incredibly out of breath, before crumpling to the ground. He had several large multiple inch deep gashes in his stomach and his back had a giant piece of flesh torn out from the scuffle. He looked up into the sky as his eyes slowly shut.


    * * *


    Target Three sharpened her blade. She gazed around the abandoned tavern she¡¯d set up refuge in. Climbing to her feet and shoving the knife in her pocket, she stepped out into the sparse town. Target Three made her way to the large castle overlooking the city, upon opening the doors, she was greeted by a large hall. She walked through the hall approaching the main large archway at the end. Through the arch, there was a room, where the Mayor of the town sat, whom she approached.


    ¡°What is your business here?¡± The Mayor inquired, getting no response.


    ¡°What are you- what are you doing?¡± He questioned yet again, with no response.


    Target Three¡¯s pace simply got faster the closer she got.


    ¡°Guard, help this person out of the establishment,¡± The Mayor commanded.


    The guard approached Target Three and grabbed her arm, causing her to swing out the knife and slash the guard¡¯s shoulder. He jumped back and unholstered his gun, telling her to drop the knife, again with no response. She got closer to him, step by step, finally before she could reach him again, he fired his gun, and it plunged into her stomach. She continued towards the man without even slowing down or seeming to notice the wound.


    Each step she took blood spurt out of the wound. He fired again, nothing. After firing for a third time, he aimed for the head. As she noticed where he was pointing, she lunged forward with the knife, screaming. He pulled the trigger and a bullet sunk into her head causing her to collapse on the guard, and the knife to sink into his upper arm, causing him to faint. The simple slash on his shoulder had grown three inches deep already.


    Three other officers entered the office, getting the body off of the guard. They grabbed the fallen guard, who was for some reason unable to stand. As they lifted his back, the guard¡¯s left arm melted off and hit the ground. It had a blue glowing substance coating both the stub where his arm once was and the area of the arm that¡¯d been separated. The guard lifting him dropped him and shrieked. The wound lower down in the arm with the knife still in it started growing. The wound had grown to be five inches wide in that short time and the upper arm melted a separation from it and the forearm. The substance continued eating away at the man¡¯s body and the remains of his arm.


    The knife clattered to the ground as all the flesh around it melted, leaving it unsupported. They got a gurney from the office¡¯s nurse to lift the guard. They lifted the guard out to the ambulance and placed the knife in a plastic bag. Another gurney came to lift Target Three, but halfway out Target Three rolled off the bed. Target Three stood up, the large entrance wound in her head still very present. The workers stepped back as she lunged towards one of them and started clawing their face while she screamed.


    She had revealed the skull of the head when she turned to the other worker. The worker ran as fast as they could but Target Three caught up to them in a matter of seconds, tackling them, and plunging her fist into their stomach. She climbed to her feet and spun around slowly with her eyes closed. When she suddenly stopped, and charged back into the mayor¡¯s office where her knife was still in the bag. She tackled the worker with her knife and plunged both her hands into their skull, prying the two halves of the head away from each other. She reached over and grabbed the knife and collapsed with it still in her hand.

 Chapter 4: I Thought You Were Dead

    ¡°Where would he have gone?¡± Eiliesh asked Tod.


    ¡°Do you think he went to deal with a target alone?¡± Tod asked.


    ¡°That seems like the best place to start.¡±


    Tod handed Eiliesh the list from his pocket.


    ¡°The third target isn¡¯t on this planet; we need to find a way to get to that one.¡±


    Tod brought them to a ship rental place, they bought a ship with coordinate tracking and soared off to the planet Target Three was on. They landed in the center of a small ghost town.


    ¡°Okay the coordinates should be over here,¡± Eiliesh said as she began walking deeper into the town.


    They arrived at a tavern, Eiliesh unholstered her gun and began pushing the door open. All each push resulted in was a large crack coming from the side of the door. They rounded the building and found another entrance already open with a bloody handprint on the door. Eiliesh went in first pointing her pistol around looking for the target. A trail of blood led behind the bar counter that she followed back.


    ¡°Eiliesh, are you sure you should go in there ahead?¡± Tod asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    She peeked around the corner behind the bar and saw a pool of blood with bloody footprints leading to the other exit from the backroom, she spun around, and Tod was gone. She peeked out from behind the wall and saw Tod being held with a knife on his neck with Target Three behind him. Eiliesh pointed up her gun at Target Three¡¯s head.


    ¡°Let him go or I¡¯ll shoot.¡±


    Target Three chuckled from behind Tod.


    ¡°I¡¯m not joking, let him go.¡±


    Target Three pushed Tod away and onto the ground. The whole room went silent, Target Three still holding her knife, Eiliesh still aiming directly at her. Target Three suddenly dashed towards Eiliesh swinging her knife up into the air. Eiliesh quickly changed her aim and fired at Target Three¡¯s hand, sending the knife flying towards Tod. Target Three paused her sprint and turned back, letting out a shriek, but before she could do anything Eiliesh fired a shot into her head, sending her onto the floor. Target Three wriggled on the floor, Eiliesh sat on her stomach and plunged the back of the gun into Target Three¡¯s head.


    Eiliesh stood up with her face coated in blood sprayed out from Target Three¡¯s head. She put out her hand for Tod which he grappled onto, and she lifted him up. He held Target Three¡¯s knife in his hand as he handed it to Eiliesh.


    ¡°Why did you aim for her hand instead?¡± Tod asked.


    ¡°She was laughing when I aimed at her head and seemed fearless. So, if headshots didn¡¯t affect her, it would be knife versus gun, and me not knowing how to kill her. Alternately, if I shot at the knife either way its her, defenseless, versus me and my gun.¡± Eiliesh answered boastfully.


    Eiliesh¡¯s moment of victory was interrupted by a loud creak coming from the other end of the tavern. She and Tod spun around to find Target Three¡¯s body missing.


    ¡°We have the target, we need to just go now, something isn¡¯t right about her,¡± Tod said.


    Tod busted open the door that previously tried to use but was blocked from the inside. They then made a run for the ship. Eiliesh climbed inside and Tod followed closely behind as they shut the door. Tod ran to the controls and booted up the ship. It began to soar up into the sky when Eiliesh noticed a strange sound coming from the back area. She went into the room behind and saw a window broken open. She ran for the main cabin where Tod was but as she made her way to the door an arm grabbed her leg and dragged her deeper in.


    The nails of the hand dug through her pants and into her legs, a second arm reached up a gashed her stomach. She kicked into the darkness and made the arms let go, giving her the chance to run up and bang the door before Target Three grabbed her and swung her back yet again. The Target stuck three fingers on each hand into Eiliesh¡¯s mouth and began tugging on the skin of her cheeks, beginning to tear back the flesh. Suddenly, Tod burst through and fired five shots at the Target.


    ¡°Grab onto something,¡± Tod said calmly.


    As Eiliesh grabbed onto a support beam the cargo door swung open, sending all the boxes off into the sky as well as Target Three. Upon closer inspection she was hanging onto the edge and began pulling herself up. But before she could Tod swung the door closed, catching her upper arms and pulling both of them into the closing door. Her arms were completely separated from the body once the door closed and Eiliesh climbed back to her feet and looked at Tod. She waddled over and sat down in the passenger seat and Tod took over the controls again.


    * * *


    Vincent¡¯s eyes creaked open and he immediately saw a white light beaming into his eyes, causing him to immediately shoot up. A hand rested on his chest to ease him back down.


    ¡°Hey, you¡¯ve been out for a while, our scouts found you.¡±


    ¡°Where¡­ where am I?¡± Vincent said.


    ¡°You¡¯re at the closest Diamond Council branch to where you were before.¡±


    ¡°So that¡¯d be¡­ Branch 76m?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­ Yeah, so you really are as smart as everyone says,¡± the nurse replied.


    ¡°Where¡¯s Kane?¡± Vincent said, ignoring their statement.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Where is he?¡±


    ¡°Did you¡­ forget...?¡± The nurse said confused.


    ¡°No, I didn¡¯t forget anything, where is Kane?¡±


    ¡°One moment, I¡¯ll be right back,¡± the nurse said before he exited the room for roughly five minutes before returning. ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s been notified of your meeting request and he¡¯s on his way.¡±The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°Good, I need to talk to him,¡± Vincent said.


    ¡°Okay, he¡¯ll be here in roughly ten minutes, I¡¯ll leave you here, if you need anything just press that red button right there,¡± the nurse said while pointing to his left, Vincent didn¡¯t even bother looking.


    Vincent turned his head to watch the clock tick over exactly nine minutes. He sat up and turned his whole body to the right to stand up. He looked down and saw his entire torso was coated in bloodied bandages. He winced as he climbed to his feet, he crept out of the room and made his way into the main room. The room was very modern with windows overlooking the planet Vincent was just on, out of the room were tunnels of varying length leading to more rooms, similar to an ant farm. People in suits were in the room, doing various tasks in their cubicles.


    Vincent turned his attention to the front door that had a bulb suddenly glow above it, the door to the airlock was opened. A blonde, tall man stepped through the front door.


    ¡°Vincent!¡± He shouted as he approached Vincent with his arms open. Vincent backed away from Kane¡¯s attempt at a greeting.


    ¡°We need to talk in your office,¡± Vincent said seriously.


    ¡°Alrighty then,¡± Kane said as he made his way to his office.


    Kane took a seat at his desk, ¡°It¡¯s been quite a while, can I get you a cup of tea?¡±


    Vincent took a seat facing Kane¡¯s desk, ¡°No it¡¯s fine I just-¡±


    ¡°Right, what was I thinking, you¡¯re more of a coffee man yourself, eh?¡± Kane said as he pressed a button on his desk, ¡°So, what can I help you with?¡±


    ¡°Alright, lets start with the first thing, since when were you alive?¡±


    ¡°Ah, well I was brought back a few weeks ago, I just wanted to do a fun thing to surprise you with my resurrection!¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Well, I got the Void King to contact you and then at the end I was going to surprise you, Target Eight wasn¡¯t completely lying when he said this was all for you.¡±


    Vincent went quiet for a moment, taking note of this information, ¡°So that¡¯s why you chose me, to kill two birds with one stone, surprise me, and get your items back.¡±


    ¡°Yes, exactly, and you need to understand- oh wait, there¡¯s your coffee.¡± Kane stood up, walked across the room, opened the door, and handed Vincent his coffee, Vincent knew this was just going to be a waste of time.


    ¡°YES, where was I?¡± Kane said as he sat back down, ¡°These items were only ever held in one branch, the 01a Branch, they¡¯re forged of a very rare material. Many millennia ago, we had our workers collect every fragment in the universe and they forged it into weapons. Only after they were forged into their most powerful form did we find out what they do to the body.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, what¡¯s that all about, if they use it we need to kill them, why?¡±


    ¡°These tools are like a drug, the moment you use them you become obsessed with them, you¡¯ll do anything to get your hands on them if they leave your grasp. And the moment they¡¯re used for their purpose, as weapons, it activates a bond. But killing them is merely stalling them¡±


    ¡°Pardon me?¡±


    ¡°Vincent, they become, for lack of a better word, zombies. They will hunt down their weapons, killing anyone who stands in their way.¡±


    ¡°What am I supposed to do?¡± Vincent said, slightly alarmed.


    ¡°We don¡¯t know yet, you need to collect all of these as fast as possible and bring them to the ship before they find you.¡±


    ¡°You realize how stupid that is? You made me and my son go out and basically put ourselves up against unkillable monsters for¡­ what, a surprise?!¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have made you do this if I didn¡¯t know you¡¯d be fine, we¡¯ll figure something out.¡± Kane said affirmatively.


    Vincent paused for a moment, sipping his coffee, ¡°¡°Sword fell from the sky¡± said a sign at a target¡¯s coordinates, is that what happened to Branch 01a?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, the Belvods blew it up after the invasion, sending everything flying out into space, which is why you¡¯re on a so called ¡°fetch-quest¡±.¡± Kane answered.


    ¡°So, you were shot in the head, and then exploded, how are you alive again?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know, my men found some sort of ancient spell, I don¡¯t know any specifics, but the important thing is I¡¯m back, and I¡¯m here to help.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re fucking with me,¡± Vincent said suddenly.


    ¡°Pardon?¡±


    ¡°This is all so stupid, is this all you could come up with?¡±


    ¡°Vincent¡­ I don¡¯t¡­ What are you-¡±


    ¡°A surprise? You¡¯re lying.¡±


    ¡°Vincent, I don¡¯t-¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m done, I¡¯m leaving, I¡¯m gonna get the job done, I¡¯m gonna get my money, and then I¡¯m never going to hear from you again.¡±


    Kane went silent. Vincent slid the cup of coffee off the desk and onto the carpet. He stood up and let himself out as Kane sighed. Vincent patted his pockets and felt his keys as he entered the airlock. Vincent crept out onto a metal plate serving as a driveway for ships. A gravity modifier on the ship kept his feet stuck to the artificial ground, yet didn¡¯t provide him with any oxygen. He took out his keys and pressed a button, a few moments later his ship arrived, and he climbed inside.


    Vincent landed back at his house and made his way inside. He sat down on the couch and stared out the window waiting for Tod and Eiliesh to come back. After about thirty minutes of sitting and waiting Vincent saw a figure approaching far down the road. He squinted and quickly walked into his room, grabbing a pistol, he was paranoid after what Kane had told him. Returning to the window he noticed the figure was gone, Vincent held his spot at the window waiting for any other signs of movement, the silence was interrupted by a loud consistent banging coming from farther inside the house.


    He opened the storage room door, that also had a back entrance, as he opened it the banging stopped, and the back door was wide open. Vincent aimed his gun inside as he stepped in, each step more dread overtook his mind. Until he was about halfway in the room, he was pulled back onto the ground by something behind him. A foot rocketed towards his head, but he rolled out of the way in time. He grabbed the leg that¡¯d just attempted to cave his head in and yanked it as hard as he could, causing the creature¡¯s legs to split.


    He fired his gun into the side of the creature¡¯s head, making it fall onto the floor. Vincent stood up as fast as he could and was about to leave the room when it grabbed his leg with such force it separated his ankle from his leg, causing him to scream in pain. The creature climbed on top of Vincent and slammed its fists into his back. He threw his elbow back and stumbled to his feet. He limped out the front door as fast as he could, each step completely engulfing his leg in pain. He fired at the figure behind him, it fell to the ground again.


    He saw the jeep approaching the house, he waved his arms as he tried his best to run. Eiliesh was in the back seat, she bust out the back window and commanded Tod to open the trunk. She leaned around and grabbed the Tommy gun; she leaned out the side and began firing at the creature chasing Vincent. Tod stopped the car when Vincent was at the door, he climbed in, and Tod sped towards the creature. He hit it head on, sending it under the car, Eiliesh fired her gun behind them as Tod continued towards the house.


    Tod parked the car right by the front door, he opened his door and rushed over to Vincent. He helped Vincent to his bed.


    ¡°Just¡­ Just rest here for the night, we¡¯ll get you some help in the morning,¡± Tod said.


    ¡°Tod¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Thank you,¡± Vincent said.


    ¡°Oh¡­ uh¡­ well you¡¯re welcome, I mean it was mostly a team effort, Eiliesh did-¡±


    ¡°I mean¡­ everything.¡±


    ¡°Oh... well¡± before Tod could respond Vincent was already out cold. ¡°Shoot, Eiliesh.¡±


    Tod rushed out and saw Eiliesh crouched over the body. He sprinted towards her.


    ¡°This is him,¡± Eiliesh said, puzzled.


    ¡°Who?¡± Tod asked.


    ¡°That tattoo on his shoulder, that outfit, that build, he was the person I killed for our first mission.¡±


    ¡°What? How?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, his head is basically mush now, no coming back from that.¡±


    ¡°What do we do?¡± Tod asked.


    ¡°I say we sleep on it,¡± said Eiliesh.


    ¡°Just leave him here?!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, so what, he comes back, we leave in the middle of the night, just make sure the alarm system is armed.¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­¡± Tod said.


    They made their way back to the house and went to sleep, there wasn¡¯t any disturbance that night.


    * * *


    ¡°Sir, you have an incoming transmission.¡±


    ¡°Send it through,¡± Kane said.


    The screen in front of Kane lit up, ¡°Earlier this morning Vincent ordered us to keep an eye on his son, while we were doing that¡­ well¡­ we have something.¡±


    Kane sat up, ¡°Did you find a body?¡±


    ¡°Yes sir, we already have it tied up and on its way to the closest branch, 73c.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m on my way.¡±

 Chapter 5: Sit Still Please.

    Tod woke up the next morning. There was the sound of clattering coming from outside the door. He creaked it open to find Vincent, who¡¯d already prepared an entire two-course breakfast.


    Tod burst out his door, ¡°What are you doing, what about your ankle!?¡±


    ¡°Eh, it didn¡¯t hurt when I woke up. And for what I¡¯m doing, I felt bad about leaving you guys yesterday, so I made breakfast!¡± Vincent said excitedly.


    Tod¡¯s gaze pointed towards the dining table where Eiliesh was sat.


    ¡°You saw his ankle last night, it was completely dislocated, this is just normal?¡± Tod asked Eiliesh.


    ¡°Eh, I didn¡¯t have to make my breakfast, who cares.¡±


    ¡°Come my dear boy,¡± Vincent said in a joking voice, ¡°Take a seat, by your dear ol¡¯ pops.¡± He said while patting the chair next to him incredibly quickly.


    After they finished breakfast they readied for the mission, but as they got in the car Eiliesh remembered, ¡°Wait, Vincent, drive up to the body from last night.¡±


    ¡°What, why?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s the same person me and Tod killed on our first day.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­ shoot...¡± Vincent Said Dejectedly, ¡°He wasn¡¯t lying...¡±


    ¡°Who wasn¡¯t lying about what?¡± Tod asked.


    ¡°Kane, about the zombies¡­¡±


    ¡°Kane?! What do you mean?¡± Tod questioned.


    ¡°He¡¯s alive, I forgot to tell you, also they apparently become unkillable monsters after we kill them.¡±


    As they drove up to the body Eiliesh chimed in, ¡°I dunno man, that seems pretty killed to me.¡±


    ¡°Huh¡­¡± Vincent said before they continued off towards The Diamond Council branch they¡¯d visited and also nearly destroyed on their first day. They unloaded the gear from the truck and continued inside.


    Vincent approached the counter again. ¡°I got a call this morning, the portals are working again?¡±


    ¡°And you are?¡± The receptionist asked


    ¡°Still Vincent.¡±


    The receptionist picked up the phone and notified the other end of Vincent¡¯s presence.


    ¡°Take a seat there.¡± the receptionist said as he gestured towards a set of chairs.


    After a few minutes Vincent and his group was escorted down the hall back towards the wormhole room. Greeted by the same worker to put in the coordinates. There was a pause, ¡°Oh, uh yeah, 35¡ã42''14.7"N 139¡ã33''27.8"E.¡± Vincent said to the worker, watching them put in the coordinates.


    ¡°Hey Tod, this time we¡¯re all going together.¡± Vincent said.


    ¡°Yeah, I figured.¡± Tod responded slightly annoyed.


    ¡°And I¡¯m driving.¡±


    ¡°Thanks, I get it.¡±


    They climbed into the Void Ship and the portal ahead began powering up. Tod took a seat in the passenger seat.


    ¡°Hey buddy, why don¡¯t you sit in the back, Eiliesh has had less accidents this close to the controls.¡± Vincent said.


    Tod sat up and shoved Vincent into the side window as he climbed into the back. With the portal fully powered up Vincent started up the ship and it began levitating. As soon as Vincent was given the go ahead, they were rocketing off towards Target Four. Suddenly Vincent¡¯s phone rang. Vincent picked up while still twisting the ship through the wormhole.


    The Void King spoke on the other end, ¡°Vincent?¡±


    ¡°Guilty as charged.¡±


    ¡°Target Four is still alive.¡±


    ¡°You betcha.¡± Vincent said.


    ¡°Well too bad you didn¡¯t get the holder earlier, because they moved up the list to number ten.¡± The Void King said.


    ¡°What? How?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t know man, I guess they got stronger. But yeah, that¡¯s it.¡±


    The phone hung up and Vincent sat in silence for a moment.


    ¡°So, you guys ready to get Target Ten?¡± Vincent said.


    ¡°We¡¯re going for Target Four?¡± Tod said confused.


    ¡°Yeah, well our buddy graduated apparently and it¡¯s too expensive to back out now.¡±


    The ship neared the end of the wormhole, all the colors spiraling into the center. Vincent blasted through into the sky of their destination. Vincent landed the ship on top of a grocery store.


    *Bing*


    Vincent¡¯s phone was alerted.


    ¡°Man, I am popular today!¡± Vincent said


    ¡°You¡¯ve arrived.¡± Is all the message said.


    ¡°Well, someone is watching us already.¡± Vincent said


    ¡°God, we just landed.¡± Eiliesh said annoyed.


    They climbed a ladder down from the grocery store and began towards the exact coordinates. They followed the tracker Vincent held into a forest.


    ¡°Oh no, not again.¡± Eiliesh said.


    ¡°Relax we still have a bit to go.¡± Vincent said.


    They continued through the forest until they reached a train track covered in thick vines, presumably abandoned. The coordinates were just up the tracks it seemed like, so they walked along the rails, certainly easier than through the shrubbery. They finally closed in on the coordinates, an abandoned, rundown train. The second Vincent stepped one foot into a train car he was met with another,


    *Bing*


    ¡°Too slow.¡± Read the message.


    ¡°They aren¡¯t here apparently.¡± Vincent said.


    ¡°So where are they?¡± Eiliesh asked.


    ¡°Best bet is to just continue on the train tracks.¡±


    They continued down the tracks. They found a deer on the tracks; it was on its side. Vincent got closer and its head had a diamond shaped piercing through its skull. They kept following the tracks.


    *Bing*


    ¡°Warmer.¡±


    They kept going until there was yet another,


    *Bing*


    ¡°Stop moving, right now.¡±


    ¡°They told me to stop moving.¡± Vincent said, turning to his group.


    ¡°Turn seventy degrees left.¡± Another message said.


    ¡°How are they even messaging you, we¡¯re in the middle of a forest.¡± Tod asked.


    ¡°No clue, but its our only lead.¡±


    They continued into the forest, following the directions the messages had given them. Until the happened upon a large, abandoned building, looking to be about four floors tall. Vines ran up and down it, every window was broken.


    *Bing*


    ¡°Meet me on the third floor. Come alone. I want to talk. Leave the other two on the second floor.¡±


    Vincent showed the other two the message and they crept through the building. It had large garbage bags piled up in the corner, the only thing coating the floor was dead leaves. The population of leaves grew fewer as they walked up the stairs to the second floor.


    ¡°You two wait here.¡±


    ¡°But Vincent-¡± Tod said.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡± Vincent said unconfidently.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know that this is the highest target yet.¡± Eiliesh chimed in.


    ¡°At the first sound of gunfire, you two head up.¡±


    Vincent began up the stairs. He was met with a hallway at the top. Only one door at the very end, as far away from the stairs as possible, was open. He approached and crept inside.


    A hoarse voice echoed through the darkness, ¡°Close the door.¡±


    Vincent followed the instructions.


    ¡°Lock it.¡±


    Vincent thought for a moment and twisted the deadbolt.


    ¡°Are you armed.¡±


    Vincent gulped, ¡°Yes sir.¡±


    ¡°Good, sit.¡±


    Vincent slowly stepped towards where the voice was coming from, hoping a chair was hidden somewhere in the darkness. His leg tapped a wooden object, after feeling it a bit he took a seat.


    ¡°Are you seated?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I am. By the way, what with all this fanfare, who do you think you are?¡±


    ¡°I am¡­ The Immortal,¡± the voice spoke.


    ¡°Ah, I get what¡¯s going on here.¡±


    ¡°Vincent, these weapons, are-¡±


    ¡°A curse, an addiction, whatever, yeah I know,¡± Vincent said


    ¡°VINCENT. LOOK AT ME. LOOK AT ME AND TELL ME YOU SEE ANYTHING LEFT.¡±


    A light flickered on, causing Vincent to shut his eyes, but upon then adjusting to the brightness he saw a human¡­ what <i>was</i> a human. The eyes were sunken in and dried out. The jaw was completely ripped off, along with a bruise along the entire left side of its neck. Vincent looked at them, concerned.


    After adjusting his mood, Vincent spoke up, ¡°Yeah, no need for a name or anything, everyone with the weapons is the same, basically immortal. Only thing special about you is how ugly you are.¡±


    ¡°Sit still please,¡± They spoke.


    The target keeper rose from their seat, holding a stick, the end of which was obscured by the table. They rounded the table and placed the tip of the spear on Vincent¡¯s neck. He flung himself back, slamming his head into the ground.


    ¡°What the hell are you doing,¡± Vincent asked.


    ¡°Don¡¯t make this more difficult than it has to be.¡±


    They swung it and Vincent jumped back, it still slashed his shoulder. He was up against the wall. Target Ten approached and placed the spear up against Vincent¡¯s neck. Vincent pulled out his gun and shot the stick of the spear. It splintered and flew up into the air. Target Ten caught it with their other hand and swung it around, slashing Vincent¡¯s cheek. He breathed in as blood spurt out of the wound, it was outlined in the same blue slime from the axe. Target Ten kneeled down.


    ¡°Vincent, you should¡¯ve found business elsewhere.¡±


    They placed the tip of the now halved spear on Vincent¡¯s chest. He pushed it into Vincent¡¯s chest. It sunk in, hitting bone. The pushing continued and was followed by a swift cracking noise from inside Vincent, causing him to scream in pain. They continued pushing the blade into Vincent¡¯s chest. Until it hit another bone. Another crack echoed through Vincent¡¯s body. Until it stopped at the wall. They swiftly pulled out the blade from Vincent¡¯s chest.


    The door slammed open and Eiliesh opened fire with the Tommy Gun at Target Ten. Each shot twisted the target holder¡¯s body slightly until they crumpled to the ground.


    ¡°Vincent, get over here,¡± Tod shouted.


    The only noise Vincent could make was short gasps. Tod rushed in and dragged Vincent away as Target Ten stood back up. It held the spear and charged its hand back, ready to throw it. Eiliesh fired a shot and blew off Target Ten¡¯s hand. They shrieked as Tod finally finished dragging Vincent back. He grabbed a weapon he¡¯d hidden in the car. A compact grenade launcher. Target Ten dashed towards Eiliesh, unphased by every bullet she fired. Tod aimed and fired. A grenade flew through the air and lodged in the target¡¯s exposed throat hole.


    The target stopped moving. Tears began to run down their cheeks as they fell to their knees. Their head instantly exploded as their hands hit the ground. Pieces of their brain scattered, and the pieces of grenade lodged themselves in Eiliesh and Vincent¡¯s bodies. Target Ten¡¯s body crumbled to the floor, arms and legs spread out. Eiliesh put her hand over her abdomen, pierced by shrapnel from the grenade. She sat down with her legs up. Tod pulled out his phone and dialed emergency services.


    The ambulance arrived, carrying Vincent and Eiliesh to the hospital, with Tod behind in a police car. Several hours later Tod was called, Vincent was able to be visited.


    A doctor spoke up outside of Vincent¡¯s room. ¡°He had a corrosive material coating his wounds and he was impaled through the chest. After removing the corroding material, he began healing incredibly quickly though, he should be fine to talk to.¡±


    ¡°You checked his ankle for damage?¡± Tod asked.


    ¡°Yeah, no signs of any damage.¡±


    Tod entered the room.


    ¡°Tod! How¡¯s Eiliesh?¡±


    ¡°Her lung was punctured, she¡¯s in critical condition.¡±


    ¡°Oh my god,¡± vincent said, he stood up, ¡°Where is she.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s in the operating room, sit back down, you need to rest.¡±


    Vincent took a seat back on his bed. Until a noise came from his bedside-table.


    *Bing*


    ¡°Nice try,¡± read the message.


    ¡°What? No, this isn¡¯t possible, you guys killed him, right?¡± Vincent said.


    ¡°Yes, we exploded his head¡­ oh shoot.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°We didn¡¯t grab the spear.¡± Tod said, shaken.


    ¡°Does that even affect it?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    *Bing*


    ¡°You got the wrong guy,¡± Said the message.


    ¡°No, how? He had the weapon,¡± Vincent said.


    The doctor stepped in, ¡°It¡¯s time for the patients to go to bed, you can sit in the waiting room if you want.¡±


    Tod exited the room; he sat on the benches. After an hour of waiting with no update about Eiliesh, he dozed off.


    At exactly three in the morning Vincent rose from his bed. He stepped past the other sleeping patients and opened the window. He dropped into the grass and shut the window. He bolted through the forest until he was far enough from the hospital. Vincent pulled out his phone, ¡°Let¡¯s get this sorted out, you know where I¡¯ve been, meet me where I landed my ship.¡± Is the text Vincent procured, a blip sound pierced the silent forest as it successfully sent. Vincent began back towards the building; it was the only landmark he knew how to get back to the ship from.


    He climbed up the ladder on the wall of the grocery store. There was a figure already there. It wielded a spear, even though all Vincent could see was a silhouette, he still saw the diamond-shaped tip of the spear.


    ¡°Drop it. Let¡¯s do this. No weapons.¡± Vincent shouted


    The spear clattered to the ground.


    ¡°This is the real you?¡± Vincent asked.


    The figure looked down.


    *Bing*


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Upon looking up from his phone the figure was already progressing towards him. Vincent started running, the target matched his pace. They stopped. Illuminated by moonlight. It was the same person he¡¯d seen in the building.


    ¡°You died.¡±


    ¡°It was a physical projection in a false body.¡±


    The figure threw the first punch, a hook into Vincent''s stomach. Vincent grabbed their arm, attempting to fling them downwards, he failed. They slammed their fist onto his back, sending him clattering to the floor. They jabbed their hand into Vincent¡¯s stomach. He kicked them in the side, causing them to fumble sideways. Vincent rose to his feet.


    The Target met Vincent¡¯s eyes yet again. They charged towards him and Vincent elbowed them in the neck. They fell to the side. Vincent took his chance and kicked them in the stomach. They rolled over and jumped up, they charged towards Vincent and gave him a hug.


    ¡°Wha-¡±


    Vincent confusion was quickly cleared up when he felt a cold pain in his back. He headbutted them and they fell back, holding their spear. They ran towards him with it, and he grabbed below the blade and twisted it out of their hand. He threw it off the edge. It was like a switch flipped in the target¡¯s head. It jumped at Vincent, plunging its fists onto Vincent¡¯s chest repeatedly. He lifted up his hands and grabbed them by the sides of their head. A swift twist of his arms and the body collapsed on him. He shoved it off and brushed himself off. The head began twisting back around. Vincent leaned down, placing his hands on the side of their head yet again. He twisted it backwards and began pulling it towards him. He pulled until the head unlogged from the body like a doll. He placed it on the ground and raised his foot above it, planting his foot directly into the skull.


    He stepped out of the caved-in head and looked around. He noticed the spear Target Ten dropped at the beginning. He stumbled towards it and noticed it was a fake, as he suspected. He walked over to Target Ten¡¯s headless body and grabbed the spear.


    * * *


    Vincent arrived back at the hospital and woke Tod.


    ¡°D-dad?¡±


    ¡°Did you just call me dad?¡± Vincent asked astonished.


    ¡°What happened to your clothes?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ went shopping, come outside with me, I got something.¡±


    They went outside and Vincent pulled the Diamond tip of the spear out of his pocket.


    ¡°How...? How did you?¡±


    ¡°Not important.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it is, what¡¯s going on. You¡¯re doing these crazy feats, healing in record time, what¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡°Tod, I got the target, that¡¯s what¡¯s important,¡± Vincent said, trying to brush it off.


    ¡°Tell me.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not from where I told you I was.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m technically not from a planet, I spawned in like a¡­ heaven¡­ version of purgatory¡­? It¡¯s hard to explain. Point is, I¡¯m durable, that¡¯s it.¡±


    ¡°OH MY GOD, THERE HE IS!¡± Shouted a police officer.


    ¡°Oh crap¡­¡± Vincent said.


    The officers that were looking for Vincent helped him back inside the hospital. After the sun rose a doctor came out.


    ¡°Eiliesh is going to be fine, we¡¯re going to have to keep her here for a few days though,¡± said the doctor, ¡°meanwhile, these detectives want to have a word with you concerning what happened.¡±


    * * *


    Kane stepped into the Diamond Council branch. ¡°Where is it,¡± He asked an assistant.


    ¡°Over here, sir.¡±


    They led him through a few corridors and then he saw in the observation room. Target Three, missing her arms.


    ¡°Where are her arms?¡± Kane asked.


    ¡°They¡¯re most likely still on the ship that chopped them off,¡± the assistant answered.


    ¡°What¡­? Never mind, Can I inspect?¡±


    ¡°No need sir, we¡¯ve already scanned everything.¡±


    ¡°Is it dead?¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°What killed it?¡±


    ¡°After the one-week period without having its weapon, it keeled over.¡±


    ¡°So, is that how we kill them?¡± Kane asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s the only way that we¡¯ve discovered. It¡¯s comparable to a parasite.¡±


    Kane¡¯s phone started vibrating, he picked it up, he was getting a call from ''Unkn0wn number''.


    ¡°Excuse me I need to take this.¡±


    ¡°Did you see what Vincent did?¡± Spoke the voice on the other end.


    ¡°No, I can¡¯t say that I have,¡± Kane said in an overly cheery voice.


    ¡°I can¡¯t fight him, not after seeing that.¡±


    ¡°Unfortunately, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s arrangeable!¡± Said Kane, in the same cheery voice.


    ¡°Get somewhere you can talk.¡±


    Kane excused himself to his office.


    ¡°What did he do this time?¡± Kane asked.


    ¡°He twisted their head off with his bare hands.¡±


    ¡°So, you¡¯re just going to wuss out of all our precise and specific planning?¡±


    ¡°I don-¡± The voice on the other end was cut off.


    ¡°Shoot him, that¡¯s all you need to do, its not that hard. Man up. Get it done,¡± Kane said in a stern tone.


    ¡°You don¡¯t get it, if I die, all my people will be without a leader.¡±


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t care less. Grow a pair,¡± Kane said before hanging up the line.


    Kane sat in his chair, alone with his thoughts. Until a knocking came from the door.


    ¡°Enter.¡±


    A random worker walked through the door and sat down in front of Kane¡¯s desk.


    ¡°What is your business here?¡± Kane asked.


    ¡°Sir, I have a complaint, and I don¡¯t think I¡¯m safe reporting this as HR.¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­ Shoot.¡±


    ¡°This person is relatively high in the order of power.¡±


    ¡°Go ahead.¡±


    ¡°You killed my dog,¡± said the worker


    ¡°Excuse me?¡±


    ¡°You did it just to send a message, didn¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Leave my office,¡± Kane ordered.


    ¡°You paid a man to shoot my dog.¡±


    ¡°Emerald Council?¡±


    ¡°You self-righteous asshole, you¡¯ll get what you deserve.¡± He said as he swung a sword out of his holster.


    It sliced along Kane¡¯s neck, up to his forehead. Kane jumped back in his chair and pressed a red button under his desk with his foot. A turret shot the worker in the stomach, and they dropped the sword. Kane picked up the man¡¯s sword. Turned it on the man and plunged it into his heart.


    ¡°Scum.¡± Kane said as the light faded from the man¡¯s eyes.