[Fall – Sureal]

“I hate this food and I already feel like I'm stickin' out sore.”

Jennings exclaimed from within the Coldroast Diner. Penny looked out the window pane and shared a smile with Poni as the sun beat down on the visible desert landscape.

“Let's leave this and keep moving.”

Penny sighed. They arose from their seats and walked away from their feast, approaching where Poni had been tied up. Jennings noticed a piece of paper tied to his horse’s back leg. He bent down to pick it off the floor as Penny and Poni stopped to take note.

“Daddy says hi.”

Jennings read the note aloud.

“The first note we got from a stranger was more of a warning, not gaming like this here. I don't think this the same messenger running aloud about being watched.”

Penny looked on with a dazed, clueless look.

“So- who's it from then?”

The group gestured around in a form of pantomime. After Jennings relented his surveying of the area, he tilted his hat forward and shared an epiphany.

“It's not going to stop until...I stop it.”

[Fall – Later that night]

The moon's glow pierced the foggy night as Jennings and company stayed within a local farmer's barn for payment. Stacks of hay provided sufficient padding for Penny to snore repeatedly throughout the night. A lost wolf's howl echoed through the eventide and found a way to awaken the sleeping female companion. As her eyes crept open, she was surprised to find that the sun had not yet risen. The new day was further off than her early morning expectations and any remaining rest should be her main priority.

As she lifted herself up to gain a better view of the barn surrounding her, a slight adjustment interrupted her sleep. Her eyes met the wide awake Jennings near the sizable, paint-chipped barn doors. In every direction around where he knelt in the moonlight, large amounts of blood had escaped their host's bodies and now sat piled upon each other with gruesome wounds evident. It showed the aftermath of the events that occurred while she slept soundly, four Agist bodies lay motionless in the pile.

Breaking the silence, Jennings added his outlook with a wickedly curious tone.

“Why- won't they stop coming? He never learns. That man gave up on learning years ago and now he doesn't know that I'll kill every single person that stands in my way...”

Blood dripped from his obscured hands. Penny didn’t know what words she would be able to add to the remark. Her arms pulsed with primal sympathy as she reached out in a failed attempt to catch the weight emanating from Jennings' shoulders. He stood to his feet from his slouched posture and made his final declaration in the smoggy night.

“I'm going to try something different, I'm going on the offensive.”

[Fall - Boythe]

Days passed and the waves of continuous foes began to wear on Jennings' eternal spirit. However, unlike the start of the pursuits, he instead listened to rumors bouncing through towns. After isolating any shadow Agists he'd find along the way, he’d gather any useful information- and payment.

Whether it was the result of an ice shard being lodged in a vital artery, or a quicker demise signaling their last breath, each enemy was given the same finale.

Some memories of altercations with the shadow Agi blurred together in an unpleasing, muddy mental concoction. The last words of so many formerly promising Agists had fallen upon deaf ears to end their final mission. Jennings wouldn't allow himself to experience pity towards them, even if they were as lost in their mental journey as he was at one point. Aimless was an understatement. Sympathy was not a skill that Jennings had an interest in just yet.

On the following night while Jennings sat awake with his legs crossed, smoking a tightly-rolled cigarette with his back against the current night's shelter. The breeze took the smoke released from his exhales almost as fast as they appeared. Listening to the crickets sprinkle their sounds into the void of night produced a faint vibration of rejuice in an area of effect.

Soon the shifting darkness produced a new shadow Agist who remained silent and motionless in front of the man on the run. Mute, but immersed, the pin-striped black mask that reflected quality was steady fastened. Jennings fixed his attention on the concealed warrior, before he abruptly disintegrated into countless shards of shadow and reappeared behind Jennings, striking him with an unexpected blow to the back of the head. He stumbled forward, wanting to properly anticipate the deceptive fighter’s next move.

Successful on his next try, Jennings blocked the next flurry of punches thrown from this Agist and stood his ground a few steps removed from where the attack began. A retaliating Jennings shot several fist-sized balls of ice at his standing opponent, landing a solid hit on the left shoulder of the attacker, throwing him off-balance temporarily. Expecting that very result from the beginning, Jennings changed the ground underneath the unnamed Agist to a sleek sheet of ice, sending him falling to the floor on his back. Trying to capitalize further, he lept into the air and created an ice block to surround his slam, but the Agist sunk into a dark area generated on the floor beneath them both, avoiding it and once again appearing a short distance away.

Now kneeling on a single knee, the man punched directly into a flat black sphere of Agi aura immediately in front of him. Jennings wasn't prepared for the hurling fist about to collide with his forehead, opening a decent-sized gash. Wiping the blood streaking down his face, Jennings looked back at his enemy and pulled his gun from his belt while it glowed an intense shade of blue. Firing two shots toward the Agist but none of the bullets found their mark as they vanished into small black Agi spots the exact size of the propelled ammunition.

Once again oblivious to the shadow Agist’s methods, Jennings found himself leaning on his right, while the intruder revisited his grappling from the left. From the tangle of limbs obscured by shadows and falling, steaming ice, a shove sent the fugitive's hand upward at the ceiling, creating more debris. Then, swinging him by the closest arm, the masked man sent J.J. careening into the nearest wall. Jennings met the wooden wall with the brunt of the force.

Jennings shouted in pain while the attacker maintained his quietude, seemingly unfazed. The battered outlaw returned to his feet while supporting his injured shoulder. A gleam of what Jennings believed was apathy became visible behind the culprits mask. The Agist lunged forward at Jennings quickly, but failed to realize he had made a vital error in this fight.

With Jennings now aware of which direction he'd be coming from, he raised his pistol once again and fired a resounding shot. Believing it to be an non-Agi effort, the shadow user falsely predicted it's trajectory as the bullet Jennings had fired now had dozens of ice copies hurling at the same target. A streak of three bullets landed across the man's chest, noticeable damage had been applied as he fell onto his back once more. Neither fighter knew what was coming next. Jennings took a deep breath and prepared to gather information.

Just before he bent down to meet his new captive, the previously diverted blast that was sent upward had melted slightly off the ceiling, meaning the sharp spike of ice that was on the roof fell straight on top of the grounded fighter, impaling him square in the heart.

Stunned for a short second, Jennings knew instantly what the outcome was for yet another shadow Agist working under Isiah Bahr. He did seem to falter slightly with his reaction speed, but that thought for another instance in his mind. Succeeding with yet another well-deserved cigarette, Jennings strolled up to the body and bent down beside it before he grumbled as the new cigarette fell from his agap lips and straight into the bloody chest wound before it could even be pulled.

“Bastard really brought the worst outta’ me.”

Checking the unidentified man's pockets, he extracted a small piece of paper with a familiar writing style on it. This caused Jennings heart to skip and his voice to verbally thrum through the words as he read it aloud to himself.

“New lesson from old man Fujeh. Do not miss it as it's of utmost importance...love...Dad-.”

A simple glimpse of Jennings terror-filled expression was enough verification that he'd been delivered a delayed blow. Not able to control his actions, his hand moved to uncover the mask on the deceased individual. Slowly peeling back, he removed the mask and revealed the dreaded news. Jennings had killed his half-brother Isaac Bahr.