The night was darker than usual. Clouds have filled the sky, blocking out most of the moonlight and leaving the world to slumber in blackness. Practically the citizens were quietly lying in their beds completely unaware of what was transpiring in the streets. Their dreams have long carried them far far away from the troubles of everyday life.

Clive sighed and took a sip from his portable mug. Although his coffee, blacker than the night itself, was enough to keep him awake, it never fully replaced the need for a good night's sleep. As he saw the lights slowly disappear from more and more windows, he wished for nothing else than to drop into his own comfortable bed. Unfortunately, it was impossible. He had a job to do and under no circumstances could he leave it to the guards. This night was important. This night, he would finally catch the culprit.

A panicking man appeared around the corner and headed right down the street towards Clive's station. The detective smiled and finally stood up. The cold roof was very uncomfortable to sit on, so any chance to go and stretch out was a welcomed one. He watched as the criminal kept getting closer and closer, and when the distance seemed just right, the detective finally sprung into action.

He reached into the satchel attached to his belt and pulled out a single small metal ball, which he then gently tossed into the air before sliding down from the roof via a rain gutter pipe. As soon as the detective dropped down onto the street, the running culprit stopped. The sight of a man in a black poncho, which was menacingly flapping in the wind, terrified him more than the guards he had been running into all night long. He quickly turned around, intending to run back the way he came from, but two guardsmen were already approaching from that direction. Trapped and scared, he decided that taking on a single man in relatively regular clothing will be much easier than fighting two spear-wielding and armoured soldiers. His eyes, therefore, snapped back to Clive and he drew a dagger, ready to kill the detective should the need arise.

The silence of the street was interrupted by a quiet "ping!". A faint flash of light appeared above the criminal's head as clive's magical metal orb fell down into the man's head. Just as the light magic appeared on the projectile, all light had fled the man's mind. He dropped his blade and soon after, collapsed to the floor.

Clive went to pick up his little orb and sighed. "Up all night for this? Man, I should really get a new job," he mumbled his complaints to himself and took another sip of his coffee.

The criminal did not know for certain what happened. By the time his consciousness returned, he was already restrained, with two guards carrying him by his arms and Clive walking in front of them.

"Hey!" He almost immediately called out to the detective and began thrashing around. "What's the meaning of this?!"

"Spare me. I know what you're gonna say. That you are innocent, blah blah blah. If you keep talking about nonsense, I'll just knock you out again. We know you've been working with the demon who set you free from prison. You should've seen us coming sooner or later."

The man quieted down, much to Clive's delight. The last thing he needed with such a long night ahead would be an argument with a criminal.

"So, should we take him to the cells here or straight to the transport?" one of the guards asked.

"It doesn't matter," Clive answered and yawned.

The guards exchanged confused expressions. "Doesn't matter? Sir, you should have some official information, no? Does the monarch wish for him to be imprisoned here or elsewhere?"

"What the monarch wants doesn't matter." Clive's words were getting more and more concerning. One of the guards immediately knew something was off. He drew his sword, without letting go of the prisoner.

"What is the meaning of this? Are you not Clive Featherfear? Are you not here by the request of the monarch?" The two guards stopped.

"Of course I am," Clive replied, not turning around. "But my aim, for now, lies elsewhere."

"W-What is that?!" the criminal shouted, immediately grabbing the guards' attention. They both turned around and faced a great shock when they saw countless little dark hands pulling the man down into a pool of black magic.

"Clive!" the men shouted and dropped their weapons, pulling with all their might to help get the man out of the magic's grasp.

"Back away, boys! Or you'll be sucked in!" Clive yelled at them and kicked their feet, forcing them to let go and fall backwards. As the guards dropped to the ground, their armour rattling and clinking against the stones, the culprit disappeared into the dark pool, which soon closed up after him.

"What the fuck was that?! one of the guards shouted.

"Apologies, boys, but you're gonna have to head back to the barracks on your own. Tonight, I have a much bigger fish to catch."

The poor burglar truly had a rough night. First, he was robbed of his consciousness by Clive's spell, and then, without any explanation or reason, darkness claimed him and dragged him god knows where. He was not even sure what was going on anymore. The pressure of the dark magic was intense as if his whole body was wrapped in endless chains. He did not feel himself move or be transported in any way.

Finally, the dark veil lifted from his face and he could see at last. Although this return of sight was relieving, as soon as he managed to have a proper look around, panic returned once again. He was sitting tied down to a chair in a seemingly empty warehouse. In front of him was another stool, occupied by something he wasn't sure was even human.

"Are you Tanim of Turzic?" the creature asked, slowly raising its head. The brim of its black stetson had finally been lifted just enough for the criminal to see its face. Or rather, to see the absence of it. What sat over the man's head was a mask of darkness, with sharp teeth and glowing eyes. It did not take long for him to find out what had just happened.

"A-Are you– AAAAAAAAAARGH!" the man tried to ask a question of his own, only for a light-blue sickle to appear out of nowhere and pierce straight through his shoulder. When he blinked, the creature was no longer sitting in its chair but was now standing above him, holding the weapon.

"Are you Tanim of Turzic?" it asked again, as calmly as if it was just asking for directions to the nearest general goods store.

"Yeah! Yeah! I am!" the man cried through his tears and let out yet another loud scream as the creature pulled out the sickle with a single sharp movement.

It then crouched down in front of him, to be roughly at the same eye level, and placed its index finger against the mouth of its mask. "Shhh! If you make too much noise, it will attract the guards. If the guards come, our time will be up. When your time is up, I will kill you. Do you understand?" it spoke as if talking to a child.

"Mhm! Mhm!" Tanim mumbled, trying his best to stay quiet.

"Good. Now, tell me, where can I find Ruundanedai."

"He s-said you will come."

The creature moved at an almost inhuman speed. Tanim let out a quiet yelp as he felt it place the tip of the sickle against the end of one of his nails.

"You will either tell me, or I will tear that nail off. Now, where is Ruundanedai?"

"You will not find him like this." Clive's voice came from the entrance to the warehouse. Both the criminal and the creature turned their heads towards him. "Please, relax, relax, I am not here as a guardsman," he said, holding his hands up.

"Clive fucking Featherfear," the creature mumbled and stood up. The mask around its face slowly parted and the darkness sank back into its long dark hair.

"Glavas, you've changed a lot, you know, old friend? Took me a while to find out it was you. At first, I just thought that all those dead folk were victims of a travelling serial killer, but then I recognised one of the faces. They weren't just regular victims. These were all the demon's people. And there was only one person who would actively hunt them. It didn't take me long to find out why. I sent a letter to Skinscale and got a reply that explained everything. Glavas, I am so sorry. I know this must be a terrible feeling."

"What do you want?" the elf asked calmly. "Have you come to arrest me?"

"No. I have come to see my friend."

Glavas' hand slowly raised, pointing with the sickle at the man tied in the chair. "He is your friend?"

Clive smiled. "No. He is." He pointed directly at Glavas.

"Me? Clive, why do you keep lying to yourself?"

"I'm not. You're–"

"We've met twice. Once, we killed a man together and then you came to my home and suggested that my kids and I should hide in a place where the demon ended up reaching us regardless. Where is that friendship you talk about? Which of these two events made you think that we are friends?"

"Because I said so. I chose to be your friend and that's that. Do I need a better reason?"

"You should reconsider. People around me face an ugly end. You'll die if you keep getting close to me."

"I can take care of myself."

"Everyone says that. They never can."

"I heard about the dragons, Glavas. Dar–"

"DON'T!" He yelled at the man. "Don't speak about them! Ever."

"Fine. Okay, okay. Let's switch topics then. The weather is nice, no? Did you eat any new meals lately? Ooh, what's up with those new matching tattoos on your hands?"

Glavas' body suddenly dissolved into a sea of glass-like shards. Within seconds, Clive found his neck surrounded by the sickle's curved blade.

"I'm warning you," said Glavas. "If you've come only to irritate me, I will kill you where you stand."

"Sorry. I wanted to get your mind to a different state. Not exactly what I imagined would happen, but hey, you're thinking about something else now, no?"

Glavas growled and lowered his blade. He headed back to the tied-down prisoner to finish his interrogation.

"So, what exactly do you hope to achieve here?" Clive asked.

"I want information about Ruun's whereabouts."

"And you hope to get them how? By tearing this guy apart, limb by limb, until he tells you?"

"No, of course not."

"Ah, that's a relief."

"If you tear off their limbs, they almost immediately go into shock, lose consciousness, or bleed out. If you want them to talk, you have to start small. Fingers, ears, nails, that sort of stuff," he said while slowly sliding the sickle over the mentioned body parts, much to the horror of his whimpering victim.

"Wow... You seem to know a lot about torture for a hunter."

"I learned by doing." Glavas placed the tip of the sickle against another of the man's fingernails. "So, will I get my answer now?"

"Glavas wait!" Clive tried to stop him.

"I will not stop, Clive. I need to get my kids back."

"I know, I know, but if you think he will tell you anything, you are mistaken. They all hold Ruun in great admiration. They will never betray him. You should know that by now. I was following the string of your murders. Eight people and no information. You think this one will be any different?"

"Then what do you want me to do?!" he yelled back. "Do you want me to just give up?!"

"No. I want you to come with me."

"With you? Where?"

"Too Ruun's hideout."

"You know where it is?"

"Yes. I found out a couple of days ago and so I started looking for you."

"Why didn't you tell me right away?"

"Because I wanted to see if there was anything left of my friend. I wanted to know that Glavas the serial killer hadn't already killed Glavas the monster hunter."

Glavas lifted his sickle off Tanim's finger. "How much will this information cost me? What conditions do you have?"

"Just one. You stop this rampage. No more kidnapping people. No more killing."

"You think I will be able to get my kids back without killing any of the assholes that took them?"

"Obviously, if the situation will call for it, then I can understand. You know far too well what I mean. I want you to stop being... well, this!" he gestured over all of Glavas. "I need to know that after you get your kids back, you won't go looking for vendettas and make killing your hobby."

"Fine, I can promise you that," Glavas said after a moment of silence and reached for his holster. He pulled out his gun in one swift motion and fired a single fire blast right into Tanim's leg. The man screamed out in pain, his cries echoing through the warehouse.

"Don't give me that look, Clive. I kept my end of the bargain. He is alive. That's what you wanted. Now, tell me where my kids are."