-Before the violet pillar rose in the sky-

Rylen pulled the trigger on his pistol, cutting the red mist with a blue pellet that knocked over a drake, hounding a fleeing man bearing a young girl. Rylen kept his gun fixated on the drake. “Cross the bridge and keep straight and follow the crowd to a shack near an alley. You’ll be safe there.” The beast worked back to its feet, its height twice his size. Rylen taunted it with a wave. “Cmon, big guy.” As the drake charged, Rylen fired a pellet to his side. A wind tunnel altered the pellet’s path, striking the drake by its side and knocking it over again. He stuck his pistol under its neck and fired, the body going still. “I suppose I’m in lucky that they split into smaller groups. Taking them out is hardly an effort. They were more organized in the beginning, now it’s just a free for all. Something must’ve happened or there was a change of plans with whoever is running the show.” The crumbling of rubble behind him stole his awareness. The father carrying his daughter marked in violet cuts neared him, nodding his head.

“T-Thank you!”

“Head to the shack, there’s no time to waste thanking me!” Rylen’s tone delivered an urgency through the man, causing him to leave without another word. I need to find the source of this darkness.

Rylen sprinted down the road, crossing over corpses, gnawed and crushed. Outcries entered his ear from a street over, prompting Rylen to bounce atop a building, then drop to the street. From there, he encountered a retreating group of pirates who shouted at him.

“Hey, common folk! You need to be goin’ the other way! Captain Peque charged us to give any strays direction towards safety!”

“No need to fret about me.” Rylen flashed his pistol. “I’m no common folk.” Rylen inspected the violet cuts across their bodies. What are these scratches? “Were there orders to look after those people too? I see you’re injured.”

“Yeh! Things have been hellish out here, but we can handle it. I had my men establish checkpoints, but they’ve gone silent since. Drakes have been swarming in considerable waves, but suddenly they’ve slowed. If we can’t spot anymore people in the next five, I’m getting my men outta here!” Howls resonated from around the corner of a main road. Three drakes trudged into the open, sighting them, and roared. “Ah shit! Everyone, form a line!”

Rylen strode back as the drakes charged, swiftly overtaking the pirates. He fired his pistol right, generating a wind tunnel that carried the pellet from right to left, swooping lower as it flew. It clipped the ground before reaching the pirate, diverting upward and straight into the jaw of the beast. Taking out a few shouldn’t prove much of a challenge than the last. An unforeseen shadow moved in the leftmost edge of Rylen’s vision, whirling him around with his second pistol on the tip of his finger and pointed it in its area.

Stalking from the shadows, a man showed. His hair was short on the sides and the center lengthy, but twisted in braids that shrouded part of the left side of his face. Behind him on his lower waist was a massive nodachi, its hilt the size of the man’s forearm. “Impressive aim. There are many with those kinds of tools, but lack the mastery to use them properly. Missing their shots when it counts.”

It’s him. I’m certain of it. But how could a man be the source of this much darkness? Rylen collected himself. “At least you recognize talent when you see it. Now if you don’t mind…” The hammer of Rylen’s pistol clang, firing a shot between the legs of a pirate and watching it angle up towards a drake’s head via wind tunnel. A flash of the second barrel reflected in the man’s dull eyes. A green pellet burst out, heading for the other drake overtaking a pirate, before green ether encompassed the pellet and swung it left, then back for the drake’s neck. Rylen whistled, the pirates staring at him in bewilderment. “Run to the rendezvous! Don’t worry about any drakes following!”

The pirate leader acknowledged, urging his crew with a wave of his arm. “We’ll do as you say!” The pirates fled the area in seconds, leaving Rylen and the stranger alone.

“Were they not with you? The drakes?” Rylen asked the man as he holstered his pistols. “I’ve never seen a bad guy sit around while I took down his minions. Then again, I’ve never seen a bad guy reveal himself before that either. Are we switching things up? Can we I just borrow some of that darkness from you and walk away if we’re doing that?”

“Darkness? I hear Talion refer to it similarly, but Nomu says others things. Speaking of those two, it’s interesting that you make light of a trend that seems awfully common with one of my masters. Their reasons would be justified if they felt these minions were disposable. Though, as they are drakes, I would consider none of them to be honorable opponents, for they are mindless beasts and nothing more. Those who have a reason to fight should be on the front lines, not those who turn their back on battle or fight without purpose. A warrior’s heart follows battle and wherever they walk, there is a new battle to be won.” He scraped his nails across his opened vest.

Avoiding the question, are we? Rylen smiled, tilting his head to the side. “We see eye to eye. People who don’t want to fight shouldn’t be forced to, but the world isn’t that simple. Violence happens with no one’s consideration except for the one who caused it. Be they man, woman, or child. Inserting one such as myself… I’ve fairly never been expressive about honor, mostly because I find myself outnumbered, or fighting inhuman monsters. Not that I’m complaining. It’s my job.”

“You’re selling yourself short. From your brief display, I can see you have a code and there is honor in following that. Defending those weaker than yourself, avoiding conflict if possible. You carry yourself far better than these pirates and one could consider that a triumph, their reputation a poor reflection of man itself.” The man stretched his arm in a circular motion. “Unfortunate, however, that this conflict is unavoidable. The masters crave something in this city and they have tasked me to rake the streets until I find it.”

“I’m wholly aware.” Rylen rested his hand on the grip of his gun. “There was no way we could bypass this, with how hastily your kind mobilized…” Rylen paused, knocking on the top of his head. “That was rude, sorry. I’m not sure how to address you. Clearly, you’re a distinguished man living amongst dragons. However, with dragons on the brink of extinction, I can simply presume you’re one of the Elder ones? I know shape-shifting wasn’t very frequent amongst those who weren’t of Elder status.”

“Nu-uh.” A relaxed smile spread across his face. The braids on his head swayed as he motioned his hands forward and back. “We both have secrets to withhold. I can identify by your ether that you’ve been around what I’m seeking. But I think that I have more to get from you. In which case, I propose a transaction.”

“Not an Elder, huh? That complicates matters, but now you’ve got me excited!” Stars glistened in Rylen’s eyes as he leaned forward. “No need to explain further. I accept your trade with the request you tell me what you are!”

“Now I’m coming to regret us meeting like this. If I had the decision after winning, I’d spare you. But all in my way must die until the masters say otherwise.” The nodaichi on his back crashed onto the ground as he slid the black blade inches out of its sheath. “However, their goals will not stop me keep me from a thrilling battle! Survive Elf, and you’ll get your answers. All I request from you is a respectable battle.”

Rylen pointed one of his pistols and kept his eyes on the man. He dug his empty hand into his pocket, clutching the transparent pellet in his palm. “I’m game! Want to settle any ground rules? No transformations? No shocking tricks like fireballs dropping from the sky?”

“What you see in front of you is what you will get, Elf. Trickery in combat is a deliberate form of disrespect that I cannot forgive. Should you choose to take this route…” He rested his hand on the handle of his weapon. “I’ll bury you in the soil like the mole you’d be.”

Screeches pierced Rylen’s ears. The man unsheathing his blade partly from its sheath. As the screeching ceased, the man lunged forward. Rylen watched as the uncovered blade closed in on his neck, cognizant that evading backward would still end with him getting smashed by the colossal weapon. He’s lively! Rylen pulled the trigger, the pellet in his gun flying for the man’s head. A slight bend of his opponent’s neck evaded the shot, the blade still heading for Rylen. A wind tunnel of ether seized the pellet, swerving it around to clash with the sheathed end of the nodachi, and deflected the attack. Hastily, Rylen tossed his gun into the air and reached into his pocket, driving several pellets into his mouth. He kicked the man in the abdomen and boosted himself into the air to catch the pistol, before he fired, spat another pellet into the chamber and fired again. His opponent twirled with the momentum from the deflection, using it to swing the blade in front of himself and intercept both pellets.

“A cleaver maneuver. Had you not deflected my blade, we’d both be seriously injured.” The man said, stretching his neck and arms.

“From my perspective, combat is a battle of vitality. ‘How long can you last without getting hit?’ That is the mentality of someone who prefers a long and healthy life.”

“Agreed. Battle is everlasting, and thus a warrior’s endurance must be just as sturdy. It can be years or months, days or hours. The anticipation of death being a breath away makes me feel truly alive.” His blade suddenly erupted into a dark flame. Covering the sheathe. “Finally, I can cut loose after so long! And you, my deserving foe, will be the first to experience my strength under my new title! Naago, the Wings of the Dragon!” Naago darted at Rylen with an overhead swing.

With a sidestep, Rylen narrowly dodged the attack, catching a flare of ether around the blade. He skipped back, giving up the chance for an open shot, his attention locked onto the violet fire that settled now that he’d stepped away. Intriguing. This may be my sole chance for a stable energy. I have to keep him swinging.

Naago’s next attack was a precise slash that would have taken Rylen’s head had he not ducked under, leading him to tip the blade into the ground and propel himself over it. He saw the shine of Rylen’s pistol barrel, causing him to reach behind his back and expose a blade of violet flame. The pellets clanged out, Naago using the dark blade to consume them. Naago touched the ground in front of Rylen, dispelling the dark blade and grabbing onto his gigantic weapon. With every swing of the nodachi, Naago’s sword screeched. Naago’s range of engagement increased with every attack as the sword’s sheath extended further and Naago’s ferocity increased.

I need him to reveal that darkness again. Rylen shot left, spat another pellet, then shot right. The wind tunnels capturing each pellet, sending one to the side and another in the air.

Naago swung a horizontal slash before twisting into a vertical slice, disrupting the wind tunnels. Naago paused, realizing Rylen had vanished, feeling a pressure against his temple. “Don’t think you’ve won!” The sheath erupted in a violet blaze. its outburst snatching Rylen’s attention. Naago twisted his body, stretching the violet ether in a circle around him, leading Rylen to slip away to a distance.

Rylen rolled the transparent pellet from his palm and snatched it between his thumb and index finger. “It's now or never.” Rylen drew a deep breath. “I didn’t think you'd keep me on my toes like this! I’m thinking I should’ve taken a nap today!”

The violet ether formed a haze around Naago. “Hah, admit that I have you cornered!”

“You’re gonna have to make me do that.”

With both hands gripped on his weapon, Naago pulled back for a swing. The blade gathered the mist, radiating the uncovered portion of the weapon. Naago followed through with a heavy stroke, summoning a black wave of fire, drifting through the air toward Rylen.

That’s it! With a sleight of hand, Rylen slotted the pellet into his gun, a violet energy shrouding it and altering its color, then fired it into the wave. The gun recoiled, bursting apart in his hand, leaving Rylen in shock. The projectiles crashed, persisting in the air before them momentarily before being assimilated into the pellet, then collapsed to the ground. Rylen’s head bobbled to the pellet, and back to Naago, who was now bent on his knees. Suddenly, a violet pillar burst into the air over Morath. Its presence causing tremors in the ground, followed by terrible howls in the air.

“Wanna call this one a tie?” Rylen asked as he gawked at the pillar.

A cry reverberated through the skies, widening Naago’s eyes. He pressed his sword back into its sheath and wandered away towards the pillar.

“Where are you going?” Rylen asked. “Is it a tie? Can I still know what you are?”

“They have summoned me. We will have to carry out our duel another time. Besides, finishing you here would mean there’s one less capable foe in the world. Should we meet again, I look forward to a battle at your strongest.” Naago drifted into the city, disappearing as he turned the corner.

As Naago left, Rylen quizzically investigated the pellet. Its glow, radiating. The pellet itself, quivering. “Incredible.” His awe ended, a ringing in his ear restoring him to reality. “Go ahead… The people turned… into Wyvern?! Alright, I’m heading back. By the way, Leora. That plan of yours I found something to make it a sure shot. A catalyst to take the place of the broken piece of Ygg.”