Dive Bars and Bound Favors

Lucien Blackmoore stepped through the warped door with the kind of swagger you don't just wear, you earn. His coat, soaked at the hem, trailed a streak of city gutter across the sticky floor. The rusted hinge screamed behind him—a sound nobody inside even flinched at. Place like this, everyone was used to screams.

The dive bar smelled like regrets and grease—the kind of place that clung to your skin like rot and never let go. Inside, the air pressed down thick and humid, like the walls were sweating something sour. Buzzing lights overhead flickered weakly like they wanted to give out but weren't allowed. 

LEDGER UPDATE: Target — Cal Vinthar. Status — Active. Tribunal Agreement Pending. Primary Favor: Valthamur's Judicator Boon. Collection Route Prepared.

Lucien moved slow through the heat-thick room. Not cautious, but deliberate. There were eyes in the corners, twitchy ones that belonged to syndicate burnouts, debt-sick gamblers, and worn-out pacts looking for someone to blame. He gave them nothing.

A man at the nearest table shifted like he meant to rise, then caught Lucien's gaze and wilted back into his drink. Lucien didn't pause. He walked the path like it was owed to him, like the floor would rearrange itself before he had to lift a boot wrong.

Behind the bar, holo-signs stuttered through old deals and broken slogans. One blinked something in Old Vale. Lucien didn't care to look. A bartender with more scars than skin eyed him with hollow disinterest.

Kael Serpantwind was slumped on a stool at the far end, clutching a cracked datapad like it might rewrite the past. His glass was half-empty, hands slick with sweat, eyes staring through the counter.

Lucien slid onto the stool beside him like he belonged there. His voice came smooth but not soft. "Kael, my man. This place's a festering wound, but hey, I'm your salve." He thumbed the edge of the leather-bound Ledger, its runes flickering faint against his ribs. "Sign your name, you're mostly free."

Kael didn't answer. Didn't blink. Just stared.

Lucien leaned in, dropped his voice. "Mostly's better than dead. Better than waking up with a price tag behind your eyes."

Kael turned slow, voice like gravel soaked in regret. "Free? From what? The syndicate? The debt? Myself?"

Lucien gave a half-shrug. "From whatever's chewing at your spine. You still bleed a little. But the Ledger bleeds more."

Kael laughed. Short. Sharp. Ugly. "Everyone wants a piece."

Lucien nodded. "True. But I'm offering you the smallest cut."

He slid the pen across. It was unmarked, old. Felt heavier than it looked.

Kael hesitated. Then signed. The name dragged itself into the paper like it didn't want to come.

LEDGER UPDATE: New Mark Acquired. Soul-bond Initiated. Tribunal Access: Unlocked.

Lucien felt the thread snap into place. Another weight in the Ledger. Another favor owed. Another promise he might not live to keep. He exhaled slowly, let the edge of guilt brush his spine—but didn't let it settle. This was how it worked. This was how it always worked.

He turned his head slightly. "You'll feel lighter soon. Might not last. But it'll be real."

Kael glanced sideways, eyes bloodshot. "It gonna matter?"

Lucien smiled, but it didn't reach far. "Everything matters. Just not to the right people."

The door banged open behind him. Wind and wet slapped through the bar. Two enforcers stalked in, coats dark with rain, faces blank with purpose. Obsidian Veil. No questions. Just cleanup.

Lucien didn't move. Didn't blink.

The big one barked, "Where's the broker?"

Lucien turned, slow. "You're late. Deal's done."

They stepped forward.

Lucien didn't warn. He moved.

The slap-crack of bone on bone rang out as he dropped the lead enforcer with a twist of his wrist. The second hesitated. That was a mistake.

A kid burst from a booth. Threw something onto the bar. Paper. Torn. Inked in cipher.

Lucien grabbed it, familiar lines. Rushed, and wrong.

"Cassian," he muttered.

LEDGER WARNING: Unauthorized Glyph Detected. Recommend Purge.

Kael leaned in. "Cassian? Here?"

Lucien pocketed the paper. "He's everywhere."

A buzz stung at his ribs. LEDGER UPDATE: Informant breach logged. Cipher match: Drayce variant. Alert status raised. Potential proxy contamination.

He ducked through a side door, down a stairwell that wasn't on the maps. Glyphs on the wall shimmered.

He ran a finger through one. Whispered the phrase.

The veil opened.

Cold air, sharp and fragrant with soul-ink, dragged him through.

Entering: VEILSHADE.

Not just cold. Memory-cold. The kind that made you feel like a child in trouble. The kind that held your regrets up to the light and dared you to blink.

The tribunal plaza stretched out in front of him. Silent. Judging. Veins of spiritlight ran through the obsidian stones, pulsing with contracts too old to be spoken aloud. Banners above were etched with sigils that shimmered like oil slicks—living glyphs waiting to be invoked.

He moved toward the twisted silver tree.

Judge Taryn waited.

Her robes hissed softly as she shifted her stance. Her expression was stone-carved. "You're late."

"I'm never early," Lucien said.

He lifted the Ledger. It pulsed.

LEDGER UPDATE: Favor Accepted. Judicator Boon Approved.

Taryn watched him. "Why Cal?"

Lucien: "Because betrayal leaves longer scars."

Then the stone flared.

Cassian's cipher, burned in, then gone.

Lucien stared.

LEDGER PULSE: His betrayal breeds betrayal.

Taryn: "Was that his?"

"No. Cassian's stirring chaos."

"What's your play?"

Lucien stepped back. "Give him what he wants. Then burn the board."

He turned.

A rustle behind him. Tribunal scribes had begun to whisper—some in confusion, others in barely masked fear. Whatever Cassian had triggered, it wasn't isolated.

LEDGER WARNING: Market 7A — Collapse In Progress. Confirmed destabilization. Agents compromised.

Lucien: "He's burning souls."

LEDGER: You're complicit in his plan.

He gripped the Ledger.

"Then let's make him bleed."

Taryn's eyes narrowed. "You'd burn the balance?"

Lucien looked back once. "Balance was rigged the moment we stopped counting the cost."

He walked toward the mortal gate.

Paused.

"Sold him for a nod."

LEDGER PULSE: His trust stung. Does it hurt you?

Lucien stepped through.

Valthara heat hit him.

Smog. Flesh. Noise. The city alive and breathing like a thing that wanted something.

He pulled his collar up.

A Watcher drone passed overhead, red eyes glancing down. It paused. Scanned. Didn't stop him.

"Depends. Am I the villain?"

LEDGER: You're bound to me.

Lucien didn't argue.

He just got to work.