Theodgar Müller walked away from the scene as fast as his ageing knees would allow. He could not believe what he’d just seen. That white short sword; there could be no mistake. But it was too early to celebrate just yet, as Theodgar had yet to learn about the identity of the owner of the blade.

The man crossed the thousands of kilometres separating him from his workplace in an instant, and hastily headed back to his habitation pod. It was one of many similarly dull half-buried husks of cement that littered the flatlands. Although these bunker-like houses did a decent job at keeping out the monsters, they also brought on a certain nagging feeling of dread to their inhabitants, Theodgar included.

As Theodgar pushed open the heavy airtight door of his home, he was greeted with a familiar minimalistic room, dimly lit by hundreds of runes engraved into the walls. It was only when he shut and locked the door behind him that he allowed himself a moment to breathe and collect his thoughts. With a well-tested certainty that no one would be able to spy on him in here, Theodgar sat on the edge of his bed and took out the piece of paper he’d taken from the heir of Namura.

The scribbled drawing was an ironic reflection of what Theodgar’s life had become after the death of Nathalie Dubois. That woman had been a symbol of many things, and a key instrument in ending the war. She was also an unfortunate victim of the system, not the ‘capital S’ System that had granted her nullifying powers, but rather the system that governed the minds and deeds of modern men. But he had no time to dwell on those thoughts once more. He had already wasted most of his day doing so.

Theodgar was faced with an impossible reality. The blade of Namura had belonged to Nathalie who would have passed it down to one of her children. However, he knew from a very reliable source that none of them had survived the accident.

“Dammit.” Theodgar swore in his mother tongue. He really should have remained in touch with Nathalie after her wedding. He might have known more then; he might have helped –

There was always the very unlikely possibility that the sword had found herself a new owner. But the blade was very temperamental and had many ways to dispose of those she deemed unworthy of wielding her.

Theodgar rubbed his fingers against the paper, taking a moment to feel its rough texture. As strange as it might have seemed, currently this drawing was his only way of uncovering the truth. Well, he could have done what he would have done back in the day and tortured the girl to get some answers, but he didn’t want risk harming Nathalie’s child, nor did he want to anger Namura. Perhaps it was finally time to start making calls and reforming old alliances, Theodgar thought. He had a friend, a man whom he was actually close with, that same man who had confirmed the death of their ex-leader and her children. He wouldn’t be easy to get a hold of, but he would be able to read through time and find out who the owner of the sword was.

There was a knock at the door.

“Just in time.” The old man muttered under his breath.

“Mister Muller, it’s about the incident from earlier. We’ve had a report about you using your powers without authorization.” A female voice spoke.

Theodgar folded the sketch back up, and put it away in a pocket of his vest. Leaning onto his cane, he slowly walked towards the door before opening it.

“Sofia,” He said with a cold smile. “Would you do me the honours of being the first?”

The middle-aged woman dressed in a business-like attire, having no doubt come to fetch him straight from her office, gave him a confused look.

“The first of what?” She asked, covering her chest with an arm.

“The first to die.” Theodgar replied with a broad smile.

Before she’d had the time to use any skills, or call for help, Theodgar brought his cane over her head and smashed it inwards, the same way one would kill an animal at the slaughterhouse.

Luck + 1

“Hey!” Someone called out. “What’s going on?”

“Those of you who are not true believers, run!” The old man called, his voice echoing off the concrete tombs that served as houses. “Unless you want to put your faith, and worse yet, your theory that we are all born equal, to the test.”

“I knew Adrian was wrong in trusting you!” Someone else called out.

Vines began to grow and twist around Theodgar’s feet.

Walls of Babylon

Radius – Self

MP - 5

Thin slices of quartz-like crystals appeared like a shield around Theodgar. For a brief second, they floated in mid-air, before falling onto the ground and severing away the vines. Then, they returned to their floating position, before disappearing out of sight.

Theodgar waited and watched as several people rushed into their houses or away. His position as head of international relations did grant him a few bonuses, and those who denied his authority were few and far between.

But they still ‘were’ and were eager to try their luck at taking him down. A jet of energy headed right for Theodgar’s head, but it splashed against the now invisible barrier and disappeared into the ground.

Radiance of the dawn

Radius – 10 meters/ self

Cost : 2MP/minute

Light rose from the ground, and spread in a circle around the old man. Anyone unfortunate enough to be trapped in this zone fell to their knees, screaming in pain, as their flesh began to burn and peel away.

Theodgar suddenly felt the urge to run away, as if the sight of his own skills frightened him to the core.

Resist

613 vs 31

Success

Counter?

As his senses returned to him, Theodgar shook his head and carried on towards his destination. He wasn’t going to waste 31 MP on ‘fear’ or some other similar low-level skill.

By the time he’d reached the ‘main street’ of this hamlet, the other residents had given up attacking him. Perhaps they thought that they’d be spared that way, or perhaps they’d understood how one-sided this fight would have been. Hence, the circle of light emanating from the ground promptly vanished.

The two guards in military uniform stepped away from the door of the community centre when they saw Theodgar approaching. The old man frowned, thinking back to all those times they’d ask him for ID before letting him in, simply because it was ‘protocol’. As he passed the guards, he whistled a short melody. It wasn’t needed to activate his skill, but it added flair.

Anshar’s call

Radius – 2 meters

MP - 2

The two guards suddenly turned towards one another, one aiming their gun, and the other their spear towards the other. Satisfied with this little preview of what was to come, Theodgar headed into the building proper.