Old Syllo

A few days later and Gabriel found himself back at the port with the car parked alongside a crooked narrow road. Twilight was upon the sky and the main roads of the area were actually more with life than they were midday. His wrist was already free from its binds and he could use it fine, but it still bore some sort of residual throb.

"You know, this is kind of exciting," Anita muttered while bouncing in the driver's seat. The buzz along the coast echoed within the quiet alley.

Gabriel couldn't agree less.

From the shadows silent steps approached, an ominous change could be felt in the surrounding mana and Gabriel swore he could see the subtle glow of two red orbs.

A knock on the window earned their attention. A gaunt figure donned an oversized black hoodie and hair a deathly shade of silver. He gave a crooked smile as Anita rolled down the window.

"Syllo Rames at your noble services." A scratchy voice croaked, something wild was dancing in his eyes that made Anita gulp. Gabriel as well as beginning to doubt his trust in Clovis's resources. "I know I look very most crazy but, yeah I'm probably most definitely am!" The laughter came out like a dry wheeze.

"Boss…" Anita's voice was hesitant.

Gabriel sighed, Clovis did say the man was cursed, but this was far worse than the High Paladin would have imagined. Not many people understood much about Earth Curses, they were, for the most part rather rare, but the most infamous symptom was madness. Physically, the cursed would lose their coloring in their eyes and hair and eventually their pupils will glow a mysterious red. Most people lose all grip of reality before reaching such an advanced stage. "Let him in." He ordered.

The door clicked open and Syllo stepped in, "Mighty charmed, I certainly most am." He reached out a bony hand that Anita took hesitantly. "Let good old Syllo lead you the way. I'm happy to help I am, despite how I may look and seem."

"Erm, alright! Lead the way!" Anita's voice lifted unnaturally high.

His head swerved and twitched at the road, reminding Gabriel of a lizard. "Go right down this road will you please?" He leaned uncomfortably forward, chest straining the seat belt and finger practically tracing shaky circles on the glass.

They followed Syllo's instructions away from the main roads until buildings thinned into a quieter part of town. There were wider, stocky storehouses and factories here, and Gabriel had a good idea about where they were headed.

The entire time, Syllo would not shut up, he was even worse than Anita at being quiet and that was a feat.

"Cursed, I am! Old Syllo is." He cackled, "Time's a'ticking for this one it certainly is."

"Erm, then, why are you helping the Knights…if you don't might me asking?" the quiver in Anita's voice was further accentuated by the car jumping through potholes along the road. Gabriel wanted to tune them out.

"Family's dead you know what I mean to say, really? Possessed lot they were, demonic and all. You know how it is with those damn ARCs, the corruption eats you, you're addicted. And they say my fate is bad." There was that cackling again, "Mama was a good woman she was, you know? Using magic to take care of us brats she did. No talent, just those Oracle ARCs. She made some ol' jewelry is all. It was the only way, there was a lot of us back then, lots of us kids with mama but now there's just ol' Syllo there is."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear." Gabriel could make out Anita's awkward smile from the rear viewing mirror. "That must have been horrible…"

"Oh yes," Syllo nodded his head vigorously, that eerie smile still plastered upon his face, "All that light, snuffed out with only cursed me left. A tragedy in the truest form. No love from Solas is there, none at all for Syllo. Oh here here! You passed it there!" He cried with a wheeze, pointing and jumping in his seat.

The car swerved, in good old Anita-style driving as they turned around to pull up to a nondescript building in the quiet suburban parts. There were apartments lined up behind a small forested lot, sporting no lights to tell of life. To the west was a wide stretch of an empty street and a flickering gas station in front. While eerie, it was no different than at least a dozen of the same type of building they had passed.

"Righty this way!" Syllo singsonged as he hopped out of the car and skipped towards a side entrance.

Gabriel did not rush to catch up, willing to remain dignified even during this shady nighttime endeavor.

From the dim suburban lights that flickered from the road, the company name could be made out from the darkness, Infinite Shield with a cheesy generic logo slapped next to it. Anita took an uncharacteristically long time to look upon the building, head tilted and mouth set in a frown.

"Is something the matter?" Gabriel asked, snapping her out of her stupor.

"Huh?" Anita looked at him with wide eyes before her brows furrowed, "I just, hm have this weird feeling."

Gabriel didn't get a chance to ask her about it because Syllo's voice was shrill-like in its call, "No time to waste! No time to waste!" He repeated like a broken toy.

"Right!" Anita immediately regained the bounce in her step and rushed towards the now open side door.

The hallway they entered was creepily narrow, with only the light of an emergency exit sign and the red of glow of Syllo's eyes to brighten up the place. While Syllo was unperturbed by the lack of lighting, it took a moment for the knights to adjust.

The echo of their footsteps enveloped the entire space. Syllo, now up ahead of them was no longer burdening them with his endless chatter but instead went on to muttering gibberish to himself.

"Hey, what about the cameras and all?" Anita whispered excitedly.

Gabriel shrugged, "Our friend Syllo's advanced stage of Earth Curse is already disrupting their security devices." Those with Earth Curses were like a beckon of constantly active Earth Magic, which is known to disrupt mana and Sky Magic. Since magitech relied on mana-conducting magicite to function, those with advanced curses would often interfere with modern devices. However, often didn't mean always and there were times where cursed individuals could interact with magitech like any other person. "If that fails then I suppose I could force something out of the Knight's legal team. Perhaps toss together a warrant of sorts."

Anita blinked, a grin stretching her features, "That's called abuse of power, sir."

Eventually, the hallway opened up to an office area that looked like any other. Rows of cubicles filled up the space, decorated with books, files, cheap office computers, and little personalized photos and post-its.

Anita coughed, "Don't they," She wheezed, "Air this place? Because my goodness!"

The air was definitely stale, and while Syllo laughed at Anita's struggles, Gabriel ran his hand along the topside of a desk. His fingers collected a thick layer of dust.

"Not there, you silly silly, this is all a lie. A wonderful stupid facade. We came here because of the long way, they don't usually come here no, but we had to, from that door. No one likes that door but old Syllo."

There was no point understanding his ramble, but they had little choice but to follow his exaggerated beckoning motions, down another hall across the office area. They were lead towards a set of emergency stairs.

"Usually they use the elevator you see," Sylllo explained, "But they won't give me the keys they won't!"

Two stories underground they reached a locked set of doors. The security lock on the wall suggested they needed to input a code and scan fingerprints. Neither of the knights expected their guide to start slamming down on the device.

"What are you doing!" Anita cried, as the screen lit up blue then red then back to blue. Gabriel held out his arm to hold her back.

"Wait." He commanded.

While Syllo laughed manically, the alarm surprisingly did not sound despite his savage actions. The device crumpled beneath his fist and soon the doors creaked open reluctantly. Syllo looked back at them with a wild grin.

"What in Solas just happened!" Anita's hands flew over her mouth.

"Earth Magic always has a strange way of affecting magitechnology." Gabriel surmised, following after their off-kilter into a wide echoing space.

At first, there was put darkness that greeted them, no mundane lights to trickle in. "Anita." Gabriel ordered for her to call forth a small floating flame, just enough to give form to the large crates that filled up the place.

"Wow." Anita said in awe.

Syllo's hum grew more and more distant as he wandered through the maze of crates, "Oh it comes, it does the plague it does."

Gabriel decided to ignore him, instead, he focused on the new discovery. With Anita's flame hovering above, he pried open one of the crates. The lock clanged against the floor, followed by a loud creaking sound. Without even seeing the contents Gabriel could already feel the heavyweight of corrupted mana saturating the air.

The items within bore many different shapes, from little silver rings packed in small boxes to weaponry haphazardly tied together, but Gabriel knew that each and every one of them was etched with the same magical function.

These were all ARCs. Of course, to be made in such bulk and cheap quality would only mean one thing, illegal ARCs that didn't follow safety regulations.

"I guess this is what you call jackpot, huh?" There was excitement in Anita's hushed voice.

From one of the stacked boxes, Gabriel unraveled a small necklace from cheap packaging, a nauseous feeling washed over him as the ARC's power interfered with his resonance core. If a regular person without a resonance core were to use these illegal ARCs, they would become more and more prone to becoming possessed by demons over time. Which is not only life-threatening to themselves but also a great danger for those in their vicinity.

A loud cracking sound startled both of them, Gabriel whipped around and Anita yelped. Syllo's insane laughter traveled with running steps and thunderous booms. Gabriel immediately rushed out of the crate and drew his sword, only to be greeted by the veil of darkness that sat upon the entire warehouse. He clicked his tongue out of annoyance and followed the small sparks that lit up, both within the labyrinth of crates and atop on an unseen railing that overlooked the entire space.

Shouting and footsteps surrounded them and Anita was rambling off a string of confused complaints. "What's even going on, sir?! I can't see a thing!"

"Be quiet." He scolded before running off towards the chaos, following the disjointed cackling of a madman.

Rounding the corner he could make out the glow of Syllo's red eyes, clothes rustling and stomping. There was someone else in the fray, that was about as much as he could make out, but it was too difficult to really see what was going on. He summoned a quick bolt of lightning, hardly powerful enough to do damage, but enough to light an area for just a split second.

Gabriel wasn't even sure what to make of what he saw. Red coated everything, soaking into the fabric of Syllo's hoodie and an animalistic grin that stretched his lips. There was madness in his eyes, and dagger lodged deep in his abdomen. If he cared or even felt the intrusion he made no signs of it, madly grappling with a woman dressed in red and black, the emblem of a firebird etched upon her sleeve.

Gabriel clicked his tongue, frustration gripping him as the fight continued in the darkness, "Anita, hurry up!"

"Erm, sorry! Coming!" He could hear her stumbling, the glow of her flame, slowly illuminating the space as it hovered in the air.

But her footsteps did not come alone, even with the low light, Gabriel could feel something or someone approach. Teeth grit, he instantly activated his resonance core. A zap of lightning came alive in his veins and the world slowed, allowing him to dodge the edge of a dagger with pinpoint precision.

His sword instinctively came up, catching metal. With a single powerful strike, and lightning buzzing in his veins, Gabriel shoved his assailant away, their body crashing into a nearby crate.

"Boss! Are you ok?" Anita's voice approached before a sharp yelp followed, more stumbling around and the sound of blades clashing, "Get off of me!"

But Anita was a trained knight and could no doubt handle herself, she wouldn't be Gabriel's assistant otherwise. So, Gabriel turned his attention to the mess that was Syllo, who somehow managed to catch his enemy's throat in his jaws.

Gabriel instantly called forth his magic, bursting towards Syllo's side. He grabbed Syllo's shoulder but it was too late. A gargled cried pierced the entire space. A fountain of red, sprayed from her throat, splattering as far as onto Gabriel's face. Syllo looked up at the High Paladin, eyes wide and glowing. With lips painted and grinning, he was akin to a clown, all shreds of humanity gone with the Earth Curse that brewed and combusted in his body. Gabriel swore and pulled his hand away as though he'd been burned, his wrist flaring up with searing pain.

"Some help here would be much appreciated!" Anita called, "He's going to get away!" Gabriel was able to make out his assistant trying to dislodge her sword from a wooden crate it was caught in, the sound of fleeing footsteps already becoming distant. He wanted to roll his eyes.

"Leave it."

"Are you sure, sir?" the tension in Anita's shoulders instantly eased.

"Yes." He answered, eyes scanning the where he remembered leaving the body of his own attacker, which now lay empty. While it would have been nice to have a living prisoner, he wasn't willing to risk chasing after them now. "We have more than enough on our hands."

"For the love of Solas!" Anita instantly jumped back as her eyes fell upon the gruesome scene that Gabriel stood beside after lighting the area up with more spheres of fire. There was a wet sound as he stepped away. The woman that Syllo fought lay in a mess of blood, her clothes showing claw marks and tears but nothing was more disturbing than the chunk of flesh torn away from the gash in her neck. Syllo sat slumped against a crate, decorated with equal amounts of red, his eyes though, were now dark and vacant.

While Anita fretted over the gore and the mess, complaining about the paperwork that undoubtedly awaited them, Gabriel turned his attention to the woman's arm, and the bird sewn into her sleeve.

Where had he seen this before?

However, he couldn't quite summon the exact memory of the logo. Giving up, Gabriel took out his phone and called headquarters. It was going to be a long night.