PURSUED

I had gotten some clothes to cover my naked body; a pair of jeans and a jacket, from Linda's supposed brother.

I was feeling queasy and exhausted. It seemed that gas used by the FBAC was rather potent. Even now I could imagine that if I had breathed it in directly through my nose, I would have been a goner.

That SUA would have killed me before I could do anything.

Right now we were in the cemetery and I stood in front of Linda's grave, facing the gravestone.

I remembered every minute detail about the ground where she had been buried, the soil composition and its slope.

It was all the same.

After Linda's death, I visited here regularly. It was the one activity that I could do which gave me false joy and immense pain at the same time.

Now I was staring at it while battling what this young man had said.

Could my Linda really be the vile creature he described her to be?

Honestly, if my body wasn't screaming in pain and weakness even now, I would kill him for spouting such blasphemy towards the one person who ever truly loved me.

I gathered up my strength and roared, plunging my hands into the soil!

I began digging like a maniac under the night's cool breeze.

The young man was standing behind me, nonchalantly watching me digging out the soil to uncover Linda's coffin.

My mind never stopped thinking as I dug. I was hoping and praying that her body be there and catch this fool on his lie.

After a full minute, my hands knocked against the hard wood of the coffin and I spread away the dirt to open it.

I gripped the fringes of the wooden cover and pried the coffin open with my hands until what was inside was laid bare.

My heart beat so fast I thought it would rupture my rib cage and set itself free.

In the coffin was ...

Nothing.

I felt the same way the coffin was inside.

Could it really be true? Was I chasing the wind this whole time?

I dropped to my knees.

"There you have it. Though I'm sure you'll try to find an excuse to not believe it anyway," the young man said. "We have no time for more dallying. I'm sure you of all people know how persistent your organisation is."

I drew in a deep breath and ground my teeth.

He was right! I wanted nothing more but to sit here and ponder, but remembering that team of bastards chasing me brought to my feet.

The young man smiled and patted my shoulder. The moment he touched me,  I felt a rush of energy replacing the fatigue and pain. My bones and flesh felt ready to destroy anything that stood in my way.

"Don't get any malicious ideas. This isn't the time to be fighting me. I fulfilled my end of the deal, bringing you here. We have to go now. Those guys have satellites right? We better get away from open spaces," he said and urged me to run.

I took one last look at the open coffin and followed him, running.

He was fast, and I felt like I was at my optimum strength again, being able to keep up.

"You seem so eager to convince me that Linda was a horrible person. Why?" I asked.

"Because I need you," he answered.

"For what?"

"You see, us Deviants are divided. When the Gifted and the Sorcerers decided to ostracise us, a portion of us decided to seclude ourselves away from the rest of the world and create our own community.

A community only for Deviants were we live in peace. The Mobius of Arcana, the Sorcerers even helped us with this. But.."

"There were those who were unsatisfied?" I asked.

"Yes. As Deviants we have a connection to Absodahl. Some of our own decided to seek help in...dangerous ways.

Night Spawn cannot exist in this world without a contract, and very few are able to contract Night Spawn anyway, especially High level ones. However, they crave to set foot on Eriss. Every last one of them.

My sister and her cult, have been searching for ways to let Night Spawn walk on Eriss," the young man explained.

This piece of information shocked me. Whether it was Linda spearheading or not was not important, just the thought of having those things walking in the world was scary.

Sorcerers usually made contracts with either creatures from the Spirit World or from Pseudo Hells; the realms surrounding Absodahl were one would find sackers, ghasts, demons and other vile creatures and mutants.

These were preludes to the real deal, which was the Night Spawn.

Very few incidents containing Night Spawn were known, but every one of them had needed high level combatants to deal with.

The Night Spawn faced a general restriction. They couldn't do as they pleased outside their own world, unless invited by contract. Even then, they couldn't last long unless they were outrageously powerful.

"If its something so dangerous why do you need someone like me? I'm too weak to handle such a thing," I said. "Report it to the Sorcerers or the Gifted Halls."

The young man laughed incessantly.

"That's funny, man. You want me to tell the very people that cast us away in fear, that some of us are trying to summon Night Spawn into the world?" he asked.

"You said the Mobius helped you."

"Sorcerers only transact when there is a benefit for them involved. In our case, the benefit was removing a problem from the general populace and into a far away place where we can be monitored."

I sighed. Telling them would probably result in being killed.

The only reason why the Sorcerers and Gifted don't eliminate them is because it won't stop more Deviants from being born. That and the grudges that will arise from such bloodshed.

We had covered a vast distance while discussing this. We rushed through alleys and in between buildings, keeping ourselves hidden from aerial surveillance.

After hours of running, we reached an outdated motel in the outskirts of a certain town and let ourselves into one of the unoccupied rooms. We kept the lights off and checked for electric devices.

After that we finally sat down and rested.

"Since you've been so discourteous as to not ask, I'll just introduce myself. My name is Alex," he said with a slight smile.

I remained silent and took in deep breaths for a while.

"You said I was a deviant. How do I get stronger?" I asked.

"Power hungry already. That's the attitude I need if you're gonna join me."

"I never said I'd join. Aren't there many of you who can help with this problem?" I asked.

"Unfortunately, no. There are others like me certainly, but if we make large movements with them, we'll attract attention from unwanted parties.

All I want is to shut down my sister's operations. After that, you can do what you want," he said.

"So you've known what she was up to all this time and just sat on it?" I asked.

"No. It was only until recently that I discovered her plans. She had many branches around the world.

I stumbled on one with some less devout members and 'politely' asked them about the cult. I have a location for the big ritual she was planning to do before I killed her."

We spent a few moments in silence as I pondered.

"So I can also make a contract with a Night Spawn?"

"Yes. The stronger your potential, the stronger the Night Spawn you attract," he said.

"I want a contract," I said with a hostile gaze which Alex responded to by shaking his head.

"Good then. We won't be doing that here though," he said as he stood and walked to the window.

I suddenly felt my hair stand on end and jumped to the right!

Something grazed my shoulder as I dived, leaving a deep wound, as if I'd been sliced through by a sharp knife!

I quickly rolled and rose to my feet and looked at the figure that stood before me.

It was covered in a heavy armoured suit with a feminine shape, also donning a helmet with a respirator attachment.

Damn it!

I cursed as I prepared to fight.

Then, I saw something that made my eyes widen.

I gritted my teeth and cursed loudly when I saw thick bolt of electricity lighting up the room from the window!

Several arcs followed and demolished the entire wall with a terrible explosion!

"SHIIIIT!!!"