Chapter 1; Introductions
"Did you hear who won the game?" A young disheveled looking gentleman asked his companion who sat across the table to him.
The establishment they were in was a lovely one, the homely browns and aromas painting a comfortable and leisurely atmosphere, tables of people chatting and laughing, enjoying the evening and the end of their shifts.
"Which games?" The companion of the young gentleman questioned, taking an inhale of the smoke pipe in his hands, enjoying the calming feeling it propagated through him, sighing in relief.
The young man smiled excitedly, "The local riddle show, the one that uses the royal questions before the national airs". He seemed passionate about the topic, explaining readily.
"Eh? I don't care about that brainiac stuff", the older man replied, dampening the mood slightly.
The aforementioned gentleman paused, looking slightly disparaged, "How could you not!? Aren't you like some sort of detective or something?" The young man probed, trying to find the reason for his friend's disinterest.
"Private investigator", the older man corrected, shifting his head to look out the window, to enjoy the view. "I admit, the riddles are interesting but they usually don't correlate with real life work, my brother is usually more into that jabber", the man admitted.
"Is your brother a private investigator too?" The younger man questioned, leaning forwards in interest.
"Something of the sort", the PI said as he sighed in barely concealed disappointment.
"Something of the sort?" The man parroted, confused about the disappointment in the older man's voice.
"He… does investigate privately but, he's more so…" the man trails off, wondering if he should tarnish his brother's name in front of another man he's met just very recently.
"More so what?" The man asks curiously, urging the older man to finish his sentence.
The older man sighs again for what seems to be the hundredth time, before he goes for another inhale of the pipe in his hand.
"He's a nut is what he is" The older man finishes, exhaling the calming smoke.
The younger gentleman lets out a noise of confusion, wondering why the older man would think that of his brother.
"Why do you say that?" The younger man prods.
"Instead of taking on good contracts, the fool instead prefers to go for the ones of the paranormal sort", the older man explains, craning his neck upwards.
"Like ghosts?" The younger man questions.
"Like ghosts", the brown haired PI confirms, sounding disappointed. "And vampires, undead and whatever other mystical, weird and unheard creatures you can think of", he elaborates.
The younger man shifts uncomfortably in his chair, unsure of what to say. "Well–" he says before pausing, "has he ever completed any of these contracts?" The younger man asks.
The side of the handsome man's lip quirks downwards in displeasure before he answers, "yes".
He lets out a 'tsk', before he continues, "he's scamming his employers".
"You don't believe your brother?" the darker haired once again questions.
The private investigator grumbles in annoyance, "just because something seems or sounds impossible or unexplainable doesn't mean it's some sort of demon or ghost, it just means you're missing a piece of the puzzle, you just haven't looked close enough", the man rants, clearly taking pride in his own profession and feeling it to be blasphemed by his brother's 'profession'.
The private investigator checks his watch before getting up, "wasting my damn time, couldn't even get a bite to eat", the private investigator grumbles a complaint before walking away.
He walks to the coat rack at the door grabbing his hat and long coat.
As he puts on his apparel, he glances at the pipes lining the wall, "steam tech is getting advanced…" he comments absentmindedly, noticing that the revolution is gaining traction. Obviously it was a good thing, cheaper heating and the steam locomotives would be a game changer for the economy.
He slips his hand inside his coat and feels a paper in the pocket, something he himself had not put there.
He pulls it out, unfurling the folded paper, scrunching his eyes as he reads the content.
"Gonna be late -Z", he reads out in a quiet voice. He sighs as he notices his brother's handwriting.
"Goddamn it Zonner", is all he says as he puts the note back in his pocket, walking out the establishment, the doorbell ringing on his way out.
He breathes in, enjoying the cold air in his pipe warmed lungs. He looks off to the side, contemplating something. "Get home safely you idiot…" he mumbles before walking off into the distance, his beige coat fluttering in the wind, illuminated by twin moons in the sky.
———
A man bearing similarity to the private investigator from earlier walks quickly through a dark alley.
His fingers brush the wall harshly, the pads taking light damage as a miniscule amount of blood smears on the wall.
The man, lither in figure with younger features stops, looking at the spot where he smeared his blood.
"Looks like Harrow got my letter", he says to himself. He shuffles a bit as he wipes his fingers on his coat, the damage already healing at an unnatural pace.
He inhales deeply, as if calming his nerves. "Alright then", he says as he walks deeper into the shadowy alleyway.
The click clack of his boots seem to become the only audible sound as the noise of the evening people bleed away behind him.
He reaches inside his coat pulling out a six shooter revolver. He stops for a second and pops out the ammo holder, spinning it to hear the satisfying sound.
"Time to deal with the nuisance", he says as he picks up his pace, the increment between each clack of his boots becoming shorter.
The shadows grow deeper the further he heads into the alley, the walls seeming to close around him.
Zonner exhales before narrowing his eyes, hoping to see through the pitch black in front of and around him.
He slows his pace and stops, noticing that the shadows have surrounded him completely, leaving him in some sort of void.
"So what are you exactly? Demon? Shadow being?" Zonner questions, his voice bouncing off of nothing.
He notes the time it takes for the echo of his voice to reach him, it was around 1.5 seconds so that would mean the area around him had expanded to around… 257 ish meters. He wasn't in the alley anymore.
A growling noise came from behind him. "Nice try but I've been in these situations before", Zonner says cockily, even as the hairs on his arms stand up, even as his grip on his revolver tightens.
Zonner's eyes darted around the black void, attempting to see any clue for him to discern what type of situation he was in exactly.
"I do know that you have an affinity to shadows at least", Zonner says, speaking to the being that was in the void.
His thumb and forefinger move up and down in opposing rhythms, making sure to make a clicking sound every second or so.
"Not the talkative sort are we?" Zonner asks rhetorically. "See beasty, I'm not exactly on a high level on my path so I'm pretty scared right now, why don't you come out and make it quick for me?" Zonner asks, the clicking of the revolver never stopping.
He wasn't sure what exactly he was dealing with, but he was sure that he shouldn't make the first move for now.
Zonner's lips pressed together, forming a line. "Why so cautious? You oughta be hungry, after all I've spent a week stopping anyone from entering this here place", Zonner reveals, hoping to incite a reaction from the creature in the void.
Hungry or crazed enemies were predictable enemies. Zonner would prefer fighting a predictable enemy, especially if they had this insidious of a power.
Another click of his revolver, no movement from either side.
Zonner takes a step forward.
Another click of his revolver, the echo comes back a moment later.
Zonner stands still, another click of his revolver.
Zonner takes two steps backwards, another click of his revolver.
Zonner takes two steps forwards, another click of his revolver.
Zonner takes a diagonal step, another click of his revolver.
Zonner steps back, then takes a diagonal step in the other direction, another click of his revolver.
Zonner raises his gun, stopping his fiddling with the bullet chamber.
He smirks, "there you are!–" "BANG!" He shoots before even finishing his sentence.
A pained gurgling, inhuman growl tears out of the unseen creature.
"BANG!" "BANG!" "BANG!" Before the creature can come into sight or try anything, Zonner fires out three other bullets, all of them making a tearing sound as they collide with the creature.
Zonner puts his hands together, closing his eyes. "I call out to you, all of whom reside in the kingdom beyond the sky, hallowing the land beneath–" the now confirmed demonic being screeches, "cleanse that which is unseen to me, view for me as I close my unworthy eyes–" the demon screeches at an even higher pitch, causing a stream of blood to start leaking out of Zonner's nose. "Bless that which is upon me so that I may satisfy your desire, especially for She who illuminates the unilluminable", Zonner finishes as he feels a warm feeling flow through him.
He grips the revolver in his hands tighter, willing the warmth to to and through it.
Zonner takes two steps forwards, clicking the revolver a final time.
He then takes aim and– "BANG!" fires, ending the perpetual ear piercing screech.
The shadows start falling away, like water flowing over a hydrophobic material.
Zonner keeps his eyes dead set on where he shot before.
As the shadows fall away completely, in front of him lies a disgusting, burnt looking gargoyle-esque creature.
Zonner starts slowly walking forwards, "Your void becomes bigger the closer your victim gets to you", Zonner pauses his movement. "If you start chasing someone, they'd have an impossible time escaping outta the alley".
"Good thing I put you down when I did, you wretch" Zonner says as he exhales in relief and turns back.
"SCRAAAAW!" The previously dead creature screams out as it lunges towards Zonner who seems to be caught off guard.
"BANG!" a bullet toes right through the supposed head of the demon, making it snap backwards as it falls on its neck.
Zonner's coat now has a bullet hole in it. "Great, not like every demon I've come across has tried to play dead before…"
Zonner had had his gun positioned behind him in his gun pocket, he wasn't going to take the risk of hoping to be able to turn fast enough.
Zonner looks up to see the pale glow of the twin moons, "midnight, a job well done I suppose", he says as he starts walking away.
"Really hope Harrow left some leftovers, I'm dead tired", Zonner says as he walks away into the now bustling city, not bothering to look back at the gargoyle's dissolving corpse. Holy magic has its uses.