The Dead King

Travis and Marin both ran, slamming open the doors of the tavern, and hitting the street as they took off. As they put some distance between the icy event and where they were, Marin could hear voices echoing behind him.

“Hey!”

“What happened?”

“What’s going on in there?”

A few of the poor denizens outside and around the tavern had watched the two of them fly out, and then proceeded to peer inside to see the icy statues of what were once partying people. It didn’t take much longer for a few of these people to start pursuing them.

“Hey!” They yelled from behind as they ran to catch up to them.

Travis looked over his shoulder to see them, realizing the two of them had not gotten off scot-free from Marin’s stunt.

“Damn!” He yelled. He looked over to Marin. “Why did you do that?!”

“I didn’t have much of a choice,” Marin responded as they kept running. “Dealing with one meant dealing with the others, and I -”

“You froze all of them! I can’t believe that. You froze – damn, how did you do that?!”

Travis was impressed finally. He would’ve had more time to reflect on that, if he wasn’t dealing with the potential of being apprehended at the moment. Travis had more than a few run-ins with the law, and getting caught again would spell his demise. He couldn’t get caught.

If the guards saw him and this shady masked man running from a crowd, that would certainly cause them to give pursuit as well. He needed to get away – really get away, and that would involve the use of his element.

He didn’t want to leave Marin behind, though. After a few thoughts, however, he realized if Marin was so skilled with his own element to pull off a move like he did in the tavern, would the masked King have any issue keeping up with him?

He thought not.

“We’re taking a new route. Keep up with me!” Travis declared. He jumped to the left, and a burst of flames erupted from the bottom of his shoes. The thrust from the fire launched him high into the air, heading straight for the roof of a crummy building.

His feet hit the roof, which caused the shingles to break off in the spot he landed, due to the dire need of replacement these buildings were in. Immediately after, an explosion of fire ruptured behind his back, causing his body to be propelled forward at a great speed.

It was an effective tactic to getting around in great time, using the explosions a fire elemental could make to launch his body in a given direction. It was effective, at the cost of being quite dangerous. An explosion too close would easily dissolve one’s clothes and skin as well. Too far, and no movement would happen. Travis had mastered the perfect distance he needed to make it happen.

Upon landing on the next roof, Travis turned his head to see what had become of Marin. Satisfyingly, the crackling of ice could be heard as Marin rode a forming bridge of Kinetic Ice towards Travis’s location. He had predicted correctly that Marin could keep up.

Perfect. As of now, they would get away from the roaring crowd that gave chase. None of the common rabble had any sort of elemental ability, and even if they did, it would be trivial at best. There was no way they could traverse the route the duo had taken.

Travis continued jumping from building to building, perfectly timing and distancing his fiery explosions. Marin skated his icy bridge that formed in front of him, and rapidly dissolved behind him. This went on for a while, before they approached the wall that divided the districts of Tarenfall.

They landed on a final roof, Travis stood there catching his breath, while Marin effortlessly stepped onto the roof from his ice right behind him.

“That outta be far enough,” Travis gasped, years of chain smoking finally catching up to his ability to breathe properly.

Marin arrived to the side of Travis, and looked behind where they had ran from.

“They weren’t quite pleased with my actions, were they?” Marin asked.

“I mean, I wouldn’t have been either. You killed all those people!”

“Killed? Oh no, no. I didn’t freeze their bodies, I coated them. With ice that should wear off in maybe half an hour,” he explained.

“Oh thank God.” Travis produced a pocket watch out of his jeans that had been attached to a chain on his belt. He estimated how much time they had left before they thawed.

“They’ll definitely be shivering though. It’s not exactly an amusing experience, being trapped in ice. I’d imagine they’d all enjoy a hot shower.” Marin smiled under his mask.

Travis turned to face him. “You’re crazy. One crazy dude. Who are you really?” He pocketed the watch.

“I mentioned I was a wizard.”

“I’m started to understand what that title means. I’ve known a few snow cones, but you’re the first I’ve seen to pull off such a move as icing everyone in a tavern. Must’ve been fifty people in there. Probably more. Did you get the chefs in the back too?”

“I’m sure I did,” Marin responded.

Travis’s shaky hand pulled out a new cigarette. The events that had unfolded in such a short amount of time warranted a new smoke.

“At this point I don’t doubt you’d be a decent force against the Scarlet Eye. I wonder if they knew who they were messing with,” he talked in between breaths of smoke, aiming to regain his composure.

They stayed on the roof for a while longer, conversing as they stood watch, seeing if anyone had managed to catch up with them. As time passed, it was becoming apparent no had done so. Travis asked again where Marin had come from and if he had a base of operations somewhere in the city.

Marin named the street on which Eisen lived on. Travis knew exactly where it was, due to living in the city for so long. The two brought themselves back down to the ground, and Travis began heading towards their destination. As they walked, they did their best to try to bring as little attention to themselves as possible.

On the walk back, Travis expounded a bit on his life here in the city, and how he knew the Scarlet Eye so well. He had parents that were apart of the organization, and both were eventually killed from some misunderstanding. Since then, Travis had dedicated his time to secretly sabotaging the Scarlet Eye, and making some coin doing so. It hadn’t taken him long to hear Marin loudly rambling in the streets about his stolen item earlier that day, and he had seized the opportunity for a new job.

“Do they know about you?” Marin asked.

“Yes. They just don’t know who I am. I stay concealed when infiltrating their hideouts, and I can handle any encounter with them fairly well. I’ve mastered a slew of fire element skills that directly counter their agility based skills. It’s worked out well for me,” Travis explained.

“Have you ever thought about destroying their organization entirely? Avenge your parents?” Marin added.

“And ruin my one source of income? Nah. I’m avenging my parents every day by lifting their stolen goods from them.

Besides, where one falls, a new will rise to take their place. Tarenfall is lacking major law enforcement. The cycle would just continue.”

“I see.”

They continued to travel, passing street after street, until Travis directed them to take a right. Finally, Marin began to recognize where he was. Eisen’s house was at the end of the road.

“We’re nearly there,” Marin mentioned.

Travis was curious to see where Marin had been held up at. There was no inn near their location, so he began to wonder if he had an acquaintance living in the city. Perhaps he had even rented out a location for a longer-term stay.

“You’re in a safe spot, I can tell you that,” Travis noted, seeing as they were nearing a corner of the city’s wall. All the houses on this street were secured along the stone brick border.

Near the end of the road, Marin swung open what was left of Eisen’s metal rod gate. Through a narrow passage, Travis gazed at the spooky house before him, studying the messy plot of land it resided on.

Despite his vast knowledge of the city and all its housing in the slums district, Travis must’ve missed this one. It was so tucked away, it was easily passed over. He became impressed yet again, shocked Marin had secured such a hidden base of operations. The run down home and trashed lawn would also deter any thieves or hooligans, making it the perfect place to be left alone at.

“I will apologize on behalf of my host for the appearance of the place. I didn’t exactly have much of a choice when I first came here,” Marin said as he approached the patio.

“It’s actually a smart move,” Travis stated.

When Marin grabbed the door knob, Travis expected him to swing the door open in a traditional manner. Instead, he watched as Marin grabbed the other end of the door, and lift it up from the frame it rested on.

“I’ll have to explain that one too,” Marin briefly mentioned. He sat the door out of the way. “But first, there are a few people I’d like you to meet.”