The air inside Drunkie's Bar was thick with the scent of sweat, stale liquor, and the faint metallic tang of blood old and new.
Riven's hands trembled. It was subtle, almost imperceptible, but it was there. Fear. Worry. Two emotions he rarely let surface, yet now, for the first time.
He stepped quickly, toward the boy who had called out to him.
He recognized the boy immediately. His stomach clenched with unease. It had been a few months since their last meeting. He remembered, he saved the boy from a pack of Specters had overrun the his hideout.
Specters.
They came in two forms mindless and intelligent. Both were deadly in their own right.
The mindless ones were primal hunters, driven by an insatiable need to feed. They had no tactics, no purpose beyond devouring the living. They were drawn to the weak, the lost, and especially those who didn't understand the world they had stepped into like young Exodites.
But the intelligent ones… they were worse.
They could think. Plot. Adapt. Some walked among humans, indistinguishable from the living until it was far too late.
He knew them well, especially those from Kaven Town. And worse still, the ones from the Callin Clan.
The boy, about sixteen, slight brown skin, short puffy black hair, and pitch-black eyes stood rigid. Covered by a brown cloak looked slightly frayed, black combat pants and shirt dusted with sand. He clenched his fists so tightly his nails dug into his palms, but he didn't seem to notice the pain.
I should have stopped them. I should have helped…
His jaw trembled. I'm so useless…not even able to protect the one closest to me.
He looked at Riven, tall, strong, the kind of man who could tear through the room for those without hesitation. He wished he could do the same.
Riven took a slow breath, trying to calm himself. "Jonas… what do you mean?"
Jonas swallowed, his voice barely above a whisper. "Riven… it's my sister. They took her."
The words sent a cold spike through Riven's chest.
Sarah.
Riven remembered her warm laughter, the way she'd patched him up when no one else helped. She had always been there, always smiling, even when things got bad. "You break, I fix," she used to say.
Now… she was gone.
His fists clenched. I should've done more when I was here. He looked at Jonas, But he couldn't blame him he hadn't been ready. Neither of them had been.
"Who?"
Jonas glanced toward the far corner of the bar, where a group of blue-skinned men sat, the same Riven question about before. "Some of them," he murmured. "I saw them yesterday… when they took her."
Riven's gaze snapped to them, a glare formed as his muscle on his face.
'Them. Again.'
He was about to move, his body coiled like a predator ready to strike, when a voice cut through his rage.
"Riven. Stop!"
Mira.
It was Mira, who sat at a nearby table, her arms crossed, eyes sharp with warning.
Riven steps stopped, his chest rising and falling. He turned to her. "They took her, Mira. Why are you stopping me?"
Mira met his glare without flinching. "And if you charge in now, you'll cause a scene. Put them on guard before we even know where she is."
"I'm not waiting while they…"
"You will wait," Mira cut in sharply. "Because running in blind gets you nothing. You think this is the first time… I've seen someone lose their head and get everyone killed?"
Riven gritted his teeth. His entire body burned with the need to act. "I won't sit here while they do whatever the hell they want with her!"
He had seen Jonas more than a ally, seeing how he is no that his sister is gone he was angry.
"And you think I'd let you? But we need information first. You storm over there, and you won't get a damn thing except yourself captured, too."
Jonas's spoke up. "Riven… she's not the same big sister you remember. She was getting better her medical skills, her alchemy… She was making a name for herself… Maybe that's why they took her."
He hesitated, then forced himself to continue.
"She wasn't planning to join any group, but she wanted to push her abilities further. She must've realized what they really were after a day. She left. And then…" He swallowed hard. "The next day, they came for her."
Jonas looked down, his nails digging into his palms again.
'Even after everything Sarah went through, even after everything Riven taught me… I froze up. I couldn't even help save her.'
"Then they'll regret it." Riven said heavily.
His gaze flicked back to the men in the corner, already deciding which one to break first.
"No. Not here. Not now," Mira said firmly.
She had never cared for Sarah the way Riven did she had seen how he was with her, despite already having someone else. But Mira does like Riven.
I have to help. He is my first member, the one who had always been there when I needed him.
"We need to move smart," she continued. "We find out who gave the order, where they took her, and how we get her back. No wasted moves."
"Fine. But if we don't move fast enough…" His gaze flickered to the men again, his voice low and cold. "I will." Riven exhaled.
Jonas rubbed the back of his neck. "Look, I get why you're pissed, but maybe we can find someone who knows more—
"I already have…They're sitting right over there."
Jonas followed Riven's gaze to the men. "Look, I'm all for getting answers, but those guys? They don't look like the talking type."
Mira sighed, rubbing her temples. "They will if we do it right." She glanced at Riven. "No blood. Not yet."
'Rushing was never good especially when it can also cause the death of people you know i can't have make the mistake also…even with planning anything can go wrong.'
"Then let's hurry," Riven muttered. "Because every second we waste, she gets further away."
Mira nodded, satisfied. Jonas let out a slow breath, tension easing just a fraction.
But Riven? His mind was already set.
When the time came, nothing would stop him.
Sarah had always been close to him. He had believed in her potential, seen her healing talents flourish, watched her step into a future of her own making.
Especially, matching her already opened personality. And now someone had taken that future away.
He wasn't as close to Jonas, but he had trained him, helped him for Sarah's sake. And for Sarah's sake, he would bring her back.
"Intelligent Specters are worse. They are the ones who think, plot, and adapt. Some walk among humans…so which is those men." Riven muttered.
…
In a dark metal silver room, sat on a cold, metal chair, she was handling vials before her. faint glow of the chemicals inside reflected off the walls, illuminating her focused expression. With each careful twist of a vial, her eyes narrowing. The mixture in her hands began to bubble, and she smirked.
The door rattled as footsteps echoed outside. Her gaze flicked toward the sound, her heart quickening. 'Not yet...' she thought, her mind already racing for the next move. The door creaked open.
…
Back in the prison.
Aiden's body hung limp, being carried by the strange men through the endless halls of steel and shadow. Cells lined both sides of the corridor, stretching so far that the end was swallowed by darkness.
Inside the cages, prisoners dorn stained white jumpsuits stared out with hollow eyes. Some barely reacted, as if too broken to care. Others watched him like vultures, their gazes sharp, predatory. He even spotted creatures…twisted beings like the ones that held him in cells to.
This place is a graveyard…I just have bide my time maybe Mira will notice or I have find my own way out like I always have.
Aiden clenched his fingers. Weak. Too weak. But that didn't mean helpless. He had escaped worse before.
There all look so hopelessly..will I become worst if I stay here to long.
There multiple prisoners that tried to escape and how the building looks to him it seemed impossible…In fact most of then stopped cause the impossible of it.
Just, add the presence of Marvin walking through keeps then silent even some knew of the other man they called just being eyed..
For the past two months, a name has spread like a whispered curse throughout the prison Marvin. No last name, no history, just that single word. To those who have seen him in action, it carries only one meaning: inescapable doom.
In fact, most lose there will to escape after seeing what the prher man is willing to do to them if they did. Despite having many so many people missing this place was barely know to the outside or not at all.
This whole place was like hell for all prison and like abide most who enter doesn't know its depths and reason for the capture.
'What really the use of having us here…focus for the first day I will find of what happening them try to escape.' Aiden reflected.
After changing into the gray prisoner uniform, Aiden locked up.
"505, this is the room. Go in." The other man said, then the creatures pushed Aiden in and locked the cell gate. There were other people locked up here were mostly Exodites, drunks, and homeless awaiting whatever they were captured for.
In the prison cell.
"A cellmate…great."
Infront of him was a tall muscular body man, low cut short black hair laying on a steel bed. He wasn't happy nor ok, as he glared at Aiden.
He looked at the bald brute. He had saw the attacks on other cellmate in the cell. Morever this is his first time captured in a small space becoming a prisoner.