The Heart is a Void: Ashes to Ashes

"They confirmed my report, and said that they were already on their way to deal with the Hashin," JoDark said circumspectly.

"Good to hear," Crucis replied in a similar tone. "So were you guys all from Kruxol before coming here?"

"Yes, actually," said Emmy excitedly.

"It's a shame what happened there. I miss the earlier place," Crucis said with a sigh.

"Yeah," Emmy said nostalgically, "All of those big, wooden buildings. It was nice, I learnt stuff there. Here in Kaxil, it just doesn't feel as meaningful."

"You're still high-level, no need to get discouraged," said Crucis. "Try to find some parties to run dungeons with."

"Sure. I'm an archer, but I can't get much practice cooped up in Kaxil. Do you think they'll choose me?" she asked pleadingly.

"You can strengthen your archery skills through crafting arrows," Crucis replied.

"Ah, that's great," Emmy said, "My boyfriend bought me a few things, including some toolset for refining arrows. I thought it was useless, because of the shops! I'd thank him, but he's a numpty and left me alone to finish his quests in Kruxol, name's Keene if you see 'im."

Crucis reflected that the corpses he had hidden in the mist South-West of Kruxol had still not been found. A secure hiding-place.

"Yeah, he bought her all that, now she's looking for another man," Blanche laughed.

"Oh, well, a boyfriend can be too distant, y'know?" Emmy said, flicking her jet-black eyelashes.

"Jo, where you going?" Crucis said, pointedly ignoring Emmy.

JoDark, who had begun to get up, sheepishly said, "Oh, toilets. They're on the right, just behind the bar. There's some newspapers nearby, automatically-generated by the game. You can read them if you're into that sort of thing."

"Well, worth a try, I guess," Crucis said.

He got up to approach the newspaper stands, as JoDark walked on past. Emmy and Blanche joined him. However, the group were all stopped in their tracks by a sound which sounded like screeching and wailing coming from the women's toilet.

"What's that?" JoDark said. "It's really loud from here."

The rest of the group left the newspapers be, and walked over to listen closer to this noise. Emmy looked alarmed, but also slightly curious. She leaned in to listen.

"Well, looks like you girls should check it out," Crucis said lightly. "I'll stay here, tell us if it's a ghost."

"Sure thing!" said Blanche, as her and Emmy ducked into the female toilet to check on this noise.

Did they find that it was the voice of a perv harem protagonist, who was crying and screeching at not being able to enter the story at this moment and try to sneak a peek at the females? Alas, no.

Soon, the sound quieted down, and Emmy and Blanche left the toilet followed by a frail, black-haired girl, who looked no older than 13, but may have been older - it was difficult to tell because her face was drenched heavily with tears. Screaming and crying makes people look much younger at first. Her curly hair was sprayed wildly to each side, and her face was stained with tears.

"This girl - Lucy? No, wait, Liu Zebao - said that she saw a man who sexually abused her a few years ago," Blanche said, "from what I got, she says he was, like, basically raping her."

"He did bad things, was bad. I cry every time," sobbed the young girl.

"A few years ago? That recent?" Crucis said.

"Yeah, she said it wasn't long ago, but she can't remember exactly how long because of the trauma," Emmy said. "She had accused him, but he hadn't been caught yet."

"Yeah, it's the guy hawking the white pride stones or whatever, named Darren apparently," Blanche said. "He looked like a creep."

Crucis turned towards the bar, but saw that this man had bolted as soon as he saw the girl, and was now racing towards the ruined old buildings nearby.

"He made a run for it when she showed up," Crucis said.

"Yeah, he ran away as soon as he saw her," JoDark said. "It must be him."

"Let's follow him! He's weaker than us, we can track him down," Blanche said with determination.

"Yes, he's heading for the buildings nearby," Crucis said confidently.

Emmy energetically rushed outside. "He's trying to hide in one of those old buildings," she said. "Let's go!"

Crucis recalled that some of the abandoned buildings had doors with keyholes, which seemed to be firmly shut. He walked over to the bar, and asked if it was possible to borrow the keys to these buildings. An NPC handed him a ring with three keys on it, saying that the central key unlocked the main doors to the building, the one on the right unlocked cupboards, and the one on the left unlocked doors inside buildings.

Crucis jogged out of the building, where he saw that Emmy, JoDark and Blanche were already on mounts. Emmy and Blanche had small horse mounts, perhaps due to being Leader and Vice-Leader of a small Guild named [Narcotic] which Blanche led. Blanche's horse also carried the young girl. JoDark only had a slow donkey mount. Crucis' [Coelophysis] easily caught up to these, as it ran across the flat grasslands.

Darren had already reached one of the buildings, a large, square-shaped wooden building, and locked the door behind him as he barreled in.

When the chasing pack reached the building, Blanche was the first to disembark. She tried the door.

"It's locked!" she said, followed by a barrage of swear-words.

Emmy walked over to try helping, and JoDark also began franticay shaking the door. The sound of low-pitched laughter, with a slight Italian accent, sounded out from behind the door.

Languidly, Crucis walked up to the group, brandishing the ring of keys.

"Oh, you prepared?" said Emmy.

"Yes, I picked these up just in case," Crucis said.

He intentionally used the key on the left, making a loud noise in the keyhole as it failed to turn. He switched to the central key, and as it turned the old door creaked open, revealing an empty square room in front of them. There was an open door up ahead, and a small locked door on the left of this room.

He let the others pass through in front of him.

"I heard him! He was scrambling around behind this door!" Blanche shouted, pointing to the door on the left.

Crucis could also hear the unmistakeable sound of someone's sword scratching the wall there.

"I think he's armed, be careful," JoDark said.

"Do you have the key for this?" Blanche asked Crucis.

"Yes," Crucis said, "Wait a second, and pay attention to his movements."

Sound advice on the face of it, but as the others turned away Crucis swiftly cast [Stealth Cloak], and used this opportunity to turn his key in the door's keyhole, locking it tight. He placed the key back in his inventory, then drew out a sword and used [Lunge] at Blanche's spine.

The blow dug into her back, and she let out a quiet yelp as she hunched down. Crucis used this opportunity to step up to Blanche with [Agile Step], and use [Slice] to firmly cut the back of her neck. This left a bleeding wound. He felt Emmy falling on him and trying to wrestle him off Blanche, so he kicked Blanche to the ground before roughly grabbing Emmy - whose STR stat was lower than his due to her archer class and lower level - and pulling her in between himself and JoDark. JoDark was attempting a big heave with his sword, but it instead collided bluntly with Emmy's cheek, making a bloodied bruise. She was down to 94% HP.

Crucis walked towards JoDark with Emmy in tow, and saw that Liu was trying in vain to open the door. As JoDark tried to find some way to attack Crucis without risking a hit on Emmy, Crucis backed him into a corner. Sensing that Blanche was dragging herself up from the ground, Crucis acted quickly. As he reached the corner, he saw JoDark preparing a desperate [Strong blow] at Crucis. Crucis smiled, then tossed Emmy down to the ground in front of JoDark and rushed the warrior.

JoDark tried to strike at Crucis, but unsurprisingly his wound-up blade got caught up against the walls of the building and the [Strong blow] fizzled out harmlessly. Crucis, however, struck deeply below JoDark's ribs with a [Lunge], then grabbed the warrior's sword with [Sword hold]. JoDark cried out in agony, and twisted down towards the floor on 60% HP. The air in the room was by now filled with a firm layer of black mist. Crucis drew his blade back, then struck the falling JoDark with an accurate [Overhead slash] to the back of the neck. The warrior fell heavily over Emmy.

Crucis turned towards Blanche, who was awkwardly trying to wear armour as she got up. She had been expecting a simple fight against Darren, but for a proper fight she would have issues without armour, since she was, like JoDark, a slow-moving [Knight].

"What's gotten into you? Have you turned into a demon?" she cried out, seeing that Crucis had turned into an empty black silhouette that resembled Darren, but with reptilian eyes and a faintly scaly mouth lined with teeth.

"Nothing," he replied, tilting his head nonchalantly. "You seem to want to do what's good. Well, what are you good for?" His voice sounded slightly like what he recalled of Darren's voice, except delivered at a whisper with a faint hiss beneath it.

As he expected, she greeted his approach with a heavy [Flank Cut] from his left. He easily backstepped away with [Dodge Step], and saw Blanche become disoriented as his necklace's [Figure Blur] effect took hold.

In a burst of movement, he darted past her trailing blade and used [Agile Step] to get behind her right shoulder, then grabbed her in a [Chokehold]. She tried to shoulder charge backwards, but wasn't sure where Crucis was and instead rammed into a wall. He took advantage of this to drag her downwards, then used [Lunge] to stab fiercely through her right ear. She grew faint, and began to slump to the ground on 65% HP.

However, she still managed to elbow him fiercely, and JoDark was rushing in from the opposite side of the room. Crucis decided that the level 40 warrior was less dangerous. He tightened his chokehold before Blanche could sneak out, then switched his sword to a dagger. He felt a sting as JoDark's sword splashed bluntly against the side of his face, the sword awkwardly maneouevering around Blanche's body. It only took Crucis to 93% HP. He rode the blow and crouched down slightly to hide behind Blanche.

He fiercely stabbed Blanche with [Stunning Dagger] as she tried to move, and a fierce [Flank Cut] from JoDark accidentally sent her face colliding with the wall. Crucis used [Black Spot] to cut a gash through Blanche's neck, then ducked neatly to avoid another, more tentative blow from JoDark's sword. The chokehold was steadily sapping Blanche's HP. Crucis used [The Ripper] to cut the neck wound deeper, but saw that Emmy was also beginning to rise angrily. She was finding it difficult to prepare her large bow in this room, especially since JoDark's weight had made her arms numb and the black mist was making it difficult to aim.

Her and JoDark had spent much of the fight sputtering curse words and pleading for Crucis to stop.

JoDark pierced Crucis' left shoulder with a fierce [Lunge]. This reduced Crucis to 89% HP. However, Crucis grabbed the warrior's sword with the [Sword hold] skill, then shoved the crying Blanche aside and leapt at JoDark. At this point, the [Nightmare] effect was in full flow. Crucis easily aimed a [Panoramic Strike] into JoDark's neck, then placed a [Chokehold] on the startled warrior, tilting the warrior backwards as Crucis cut harshly high along the back of JoDark's neck with [The Ripper], leaving a large gash, then stabbed into the gash with [Silent Stab] and followed this up with a [Dagger Twist]. This part of the warrior's neck had now sunk completely into a bloody mess.

Crucis let the warrior sink helplessly to the ground. JoDark had only 4% HP remaining, and was bleeding profusely. Crucis had been closely monitoring Emmy's situation, but decided to make sure that JoDark was out-of-action before dealing with the archer. As he turned around, Crucis was struck by a slightly loose arrow shot at his elbow. It only lowered him to 86% HP. He flinched slightly, but activated [Speed Demon] immediately, blurring his location. As Emmy tried to follow the quickly-moving Crucis, she lost track of his location and fired wide. He moved in an arc and approached her from the right, leaping forwards to grab Emmy by the neck and smash the back of her head into the wall as his steps drove towards it. He used [The Ripper] to cut a deep, horizontal gash across her face. He then casually cut her bowstring in two.

Pushing her softly to the ground, he withdrew a sword and turned to face Blanche, who was bravely attempting to fight through the pain. As Blanche hobbled up, almost tripping on the dead JoDark, Crucis used [Agile Step] and easily struck her with a [Lunge] that stabbed through her lower chest and past the ribs. As he attempted to follow up, he found that Liu was adamantly clinging on to his left leg, determined to help with stopping him. Frustrated, he leaned down slightly and used [Slice] to cut a bleeding gash across her innocuous face, until in pain she was forced to let him go.

He turned back towards Blanche, but although she had fumbled her sword she still managed to strike him with a firm [Mordhau] to the shoulder, striking him with the hilt of her sword. He used the momentum of her blow and backstepped before she could lunge forwards with an awkward follow-up punch. The effort of the lunge left her back hunched over as she tried to catch her breath. However, Crucis used [Figure Blur] to mask his location, then leapt onto her back with his feet and clung onto her neck with his arms. Under the pressure, she fell face-first to the floor with a violent, blunt-sounding crash, as Crucis leapt off and landed lightly next to her dead body.

Approaching Emmy, he laughed lightly as she tried to fire her broken bow. Grabbing her in a [Chokehold], he forced her to the floor. He withdrew his [Vile Toxin Gas], and sprayed it over the wounds in her face, causing her to screech hysterically. This was quickly cut short as he tightened his [Chokehold]. He used [Stunning Dagger] to stab the bottom of her head from behind, then angled downwards and used a slow [The Ripper] to cut a thick gash through the back of her neck. She tried to let out a cry, but failed. He smiled, then used [Dagger Twist] to kill her as he withdrew his dagger.

Crucis saw that Liu was still wriggling on the floor, holding her face. She was only level 19, and probably too traumatised to have been able to focus much on playing the game.

He walked up to her casually, then grabbed her in a loose [Chokehold]. Her HP decreased slowly but surely. Propping her face against the door, he lifted her body above the ground while keeping it in a chokehold. She quickly passed out, on 14% HP. Crucis lowered her gently to the ground.

He walked up to the locked door on the left side of the room, and reached for the keys. He could hear the scraping of a sword behind the door, and expected an attack if he opened it. He unlocked the door, then held his sword out in a Parry [Ward] as he creaked it cautiously open. Once it had opened slightly, a sword flashed out from behind the door, but Crucis easily held up his sword and parried the strike against a neighbouring wall. As Darren's sword clattered against the wall, Crucis used [Sword hold] to grab it. He used a firm [Overhead slash] to strike the wrist of Darren's extended right hand, and the sword fell easily out of Darren's grip. Crucis let it drop to the floor.

Crucis threw the door open, and flourished his sword at Darren's neck. Darren stepped back in fright, and Crucis pressed forwards to keep up.

"Tell me the directions to the White Spiral Stones, or you die in pain like them," Crucis said, gesturing at the bodies behind him.

Darren was taken aback by this offer, but soon recovered his breath.

"Um, the directions. Of course. North from here, then North-East across the river until you reach a waterfall. Take some stone stairs until you are above the waterfall, then walk East until you find it. I happened upon the stone stairs, and I was curious if anything was there, this is what I found. I can show you more, if you'd like."

"Excellent. Thank you."

Crucis walked up to Liu, and saw that she was still barely conscious after the suffocation.

"Meet me outside once you're finished," he said to Darren, with a shrug.

He walked out of the building, closing the door, and hid in the space between buildings. He sent a message to the DeathGang members, saying that he was near this building, and had found a new companion to join their journey.

After a few minutes of occasional noise from within the building, Crucis received a notification that Liu was dead. He hadn't obtained much loot from her, but the rest of that group had dropped plenty.

"Hello. Darren, is it?" he said as he saw the black-haired man walking out of the building, wiping his hands of blood.

"Yes, sir," Darren replied. "Name here is Starfighter, but I am known as Darren. And you are?"

"Why would I tell you? But I will. I'm Crucis." Crucis saw that Darren had no Guild, and was generally a lone wanderer. He wasn't concerned about sharing such information, especially since Darren would learn his username from joining the same party.

"Alright. Do you have a Guild?"

"I have no Guild, but I have been running cover for - um, assissting DeathGang of late. I'm sure you heard of the war."

"Oh, yes. You were there?"

"I killed Arkyle."

"That's quite a claim. But I'll believe you."

"No need." Crucis navigated through his menu, until a book displaying a list of his kills appeared in his left hand. He leafed through this until Arkyle's name was displayed on the day of the war.

"Impressive. So did you kill the players in there? I think that they were pursuing me."

"I killed them all. They're dead, every single one of them. And not just the men, but the women and children too."

Darren laughed. "I could swear I've heard that line before."

Crucis sighed. "Starfighter, search your heart a bit, you should know this."