The sound of rubble and pebbles being moved filled his ears, just as much as a headache filled his head, and soreness filled his whole body.

  His head was splitting apart, the worst hungover he ever expierienced seemed like a holiday destination to him right now. His mouth was parched, and his skin was as sensitive as a babys bottom, and the ground he was apparently being dragged on gave him the feeling like wiping that bottom with sandpaper.

  He scowled and tried to curse but he slurred his words so much even he didn't know what he said.

  His eyelids were so heavy he could not even try to open his eyes right now, the back of his head was scraping on the ground as somethign was pulling him by the legs.

  He heard a female sighing quietly, and suddenly left the embrace of earth.

  Only, after a moment of weightlessnes, hit against a wall with his back and land on his ass.

  He was bound, now he could feel it, something coiled arond him, with his hands behind his back and legs bound tightly to each other, he could not move an inch.

  He decided to wait, and try to feel out his body. Even his senses were clouded by the headache, his powers and thoughts seemed sluggish.

  ?Exhaustion of Will” he rememberd. From the books, the explanation for what happens if you overuse your powers and it somehow dosn't kill you. Memories started flooding back, flashes of the last moments he was concious, the lady, the poor excuse for a fight. The madness and havoc before it, and the shame. Shame, that radiated so brightly within. He decided to wait, pretend to be unconcious untill he recovered somewhat.

  ?Come on now, even if I didn't specialize in Mental Magic, that pulse of shame and regret could light up the sky, I know you are not sleeping, big guy, wakey, wakey.”

  ?FUCK.” resounded in his mind.

  Groggily, he tried to open his eyes, they did not seem to want to cooperate with each other, and they were against working in tandem. One slugishly opened, the other shot open fully just to close back again.

  He could hear her giggling. As his head was doing rounds around his shoulders, he registered his mouth was open and drooling. Clenching his jaw tight helped to clench his eyelids. With a bit of a struggle they both opened, almost at the same time.

  Chuckling that increased in volume resounded in his ears as his head tried to find the source of the noise, which was not easy as his vision trippled and swam around at random.

  His head swiweled to the right and there she was, her lithe form sitting atop of a car parked next to the club, they were still beyond the Veil, as the viscera from his hunt and the damage he wrecked on the landscape was strawn all around them. She sat there, over him, curiosity in her eyes like a little sparrows. Her pinkish cheeks were highly pernouced as she smooched her mouth in contemplation.

  The silence was broken by her smacking her lips and straightening her back.

  ?Are you with us?” Her voice seemed to cleave through the air. It shocked him and sobered him up.

  In response, he started shumbling, trying to tear down his bindings. It was her whip, the oily shadow given form wrapped around his legs, and bound his arms to his torso, his wrists were tighly knit together and each of his fingers was bound and bent in a diffrent position.

  No hand signs or sigils he could use.

  Wiggling like a fish thrown out of the water, he thrashed around for a moment. She just looked at him with pity and ridicule.

  ?Really? Do you think I'm going to eat ya or something? Do you want me to take a bite?” She clacked her teeth after her question, suggestivly inviting him to say yes.

  He wobbled around even more vigorusly, trying to break the bindings.

  ?Jejuniu, you're no fun, you know that? I told you, I know how to find the Twins...I think.”

  That stopped his trashing. He still avoided looking at her, he already knew it would enchance the effect she had on him. Whatever magic she used, just the visage of her was enough to make his heart tremble.

  ?Oh? Is someone finally calming down? Are you interested in what I have to say? Hmmmm?” her playful words were taunting him, almost derivative yet he could not bring himself to be offended by them.

  He nodded his head once, barely, but it seemed to suffice for her.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  ?Good boy!” He scowled at that and tried to curse.

  ?Shh, shhh!” She shushed him. Scowling at her, he tried to loosen his restraints, trying to not show what he is doing, he started breathing heavily, his lungs raising up plumes of dust around him, his whole body swaying with each movement.

  ?Wow, what a set of bellows you got, huh? Now, listen, I need you to-”

  CRACK!

  A loud noise resounded, and while Luke's face was still unchanged, both were clearly aware that he just broke something in his hands while trying to dislodge his fingers from the bindings.

  A pause followed, and the quiet of the night seemed almost piercing.

  CRACK, CRACK!

  ?ARE YOU FOR REAL? YOU BIG, DUMB, GORILLA YOU! STOP DISLOCATING YOUR FINGERS WHILE STARING AT ME!” Thumping her feet, she came closer to him and lifted him into the air by his bindings, his legs dangling freely as he face got closer to his, noses almost touching.

  ?Now, you fucking listen, I'm runing out of patiance. I will release these bindings if that will make you actually listen to me, don't attack me, and I won't do anything to you. JUST. FUCKING. LISTEN. Allright?” to that, Luke slowly nodded his head, barely as he didn't want to headbut her by accident.

  ?Ehhhhh....” She released a long, tired sigh, and the bindings that were tightly around him seemed to turn to live snakes, they writhed and slithered across his body while quickly returning to the shadow in her sleeve. Immidietly, he dropped from the air, and landed flatly on his feet. His head felt wobbly, and he stumbled back a bit untill he could rest against the wall of the building.

  Taking a few seconds to reorient himself, he straightened his posture and looked directly at her, anticipating another assult on his mind.

  ?Good boy!” no magical assult came, yet these words made him cringe enough to feel hurt.

  ?Don't make me regret this!” she wiggled her finger in front of his face. His eyes followed it and he barked out a laugh. Pushing himself of the wall he passed by her and started shakily making his way forward. Trying to loosen his body and bring his will to focus.

  ?The Twins, spill it.” She couldn't see how even just mentioning them made his face contort, but she could hear it, she could feel it.

  ?How do you even know what happened, huh? Are you with them? The ones who took them...” The air seemed to haze over and tremble, as the silence dragged on after his question, the tensions returned with doubled force. A spark would be enough to ignite another apocalyptic exchange.

  ?Ehhhh, of course not you dummy, why would I come to you if I was? I saw the havoc you caused, and did some digging, I' ve been on their trail for some time now. The Blitz, their producers, that's how we met in the club, I was looking for more info back then, untill stuff went...wrong. I did not expect that The Blitz may interfere with my skills.” The air calmed down with her words. The crisis was averted. For now.

  ?They've been kidnapping people for a long time now, The Blitz is just next part of their plan. I've been looking for them for years now, they circled the whole Vovoidship looking for victims and only recently did they finally focused on one spot, at the same time they released the Blitz they got more cocky, and stopped hiding as much. Not that they are easy to find now, they are still like smoke and slip between my fingers whenever I try to catch them.”

  She took a few steps closer to him and poked him with her pointer finger, the polished nail digging into his back muscles.

  ?And then you popped up, like a mashroom after the rain, puff, out of nowhere, and you come in guns blazing, cracking skulls, so well camuflaged if it wasn't for your skills in combat I would never have thought of tailing you. I can be quite sneaky if I want, you know, but I lack the patiance, I was about to go on my merry way, but then, you had that dream, and boy was that something I did not expect. Your first night in the club, after your little talk with their boss. I don't know what you dreamed of, but the amount of mental energy projected... it rang loudly, like a churches bell, the vividity of disgust and the physicality of regret was too strong to be emitted by a mortal, and so I took a closer look at ya.”

  She grinned as she walked around him, monologing, her heels crunching the ground beneth her.

  ?And what a sight you turned out to be, and how annoying at that! The way you use your powers made it impossible for me to stick close, when you were doing your experiments you almost ripped me out of hiding at least three times!” she exclaimed in awe and joy.

  He frowned at that, he had no idea he was being watched. He was periodically spreading his awereness and training his Perception, and infused the surroundings with his Will while spellcrafting, he should have found her. His eyebrow rose as he looked at her in new light, she had previous chances to take him out, but she didn't. He will need to work on that, but she deserves to be listened to.

  ?So I bounced, I hopped away, a girl got a life you know, I just peaked at your plans periodically and gathered intel from you and your little mortals. Peaked beyond the curtain, not the shower one though, I wanted that to be a suprise” and she winked at him, actually making him feel embarassed a bit.

  ?So I planned to trail you once you intercepted the Delivery Man, but oh boy, did I not expect all that to happen, I... I should have reached out earlier, offer my help, maybe then the Twins would be...” her voice trailed off into quiet.

  ?No” he interrupted her with steel in his voice, and for the first time, met her gaze, looking directly into her pearly eyes.

  ?What happened, happened. It was me who failed them, not your absence. We need to get them back, I need to get them back.” his fists were clenched tighlty as his declaration was made.

  ?We, or you with some of my help at least. I think I know how we can find them. I spent some time going over the Ruin you left, and correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you Void Tainted?” her question was one he truly did not want to answer.

  A scowl plauged his face. He was warned what the answer to that question may bring, in many cases execution on the spot, disdain, hatred and disgust. His kind was not welcomed. At best, it may be tolerated.

  But he had to weight his options, she must have some idea of it if she is asking, and if her knowing the truth may help the kids, he should make the decision.

  ?Ehhhhh...Yes, yes I am.” he admitted with a tired sigh.

  ?Huh, you are a bit more coherent than what I expected from the tales, and despite how fucked you are, your body is in good shape considering...you know.”

  ?Yeah, I know, so how will this help you, help me?” he tried to focus on the subject.

  ?This, my little mad knight, explains the havoc you left in the air between the buildings before you kissed the ground.” she said this as she walked closer to him and booped him on the nose. He was baffled beyond belief and flabbergasted at that action.

  ?And this explains that weird signature that seemed to trail of in the direction the Raven escaped. I can't follow it myself, I don't have the senses for it and me trying to absorb it ended in making me perform a magical lobotomy on myself or the Void would corrupt me in moments.”

  Her smile blossomed again.

  ?But you? You are the owner of that signature, and you are already fucked up by the Void, so you should be able to trace it, trace the contagion you spread!” She clapped her palms as if to announce her genious, full of pride she was.

  That stirred something within, he almost wanted to grab her by the shoulders, start shaking her, making her tell him how to do it now.

  Now!

  But the moment passed, his eyes lost this dimness, he knew not to get his hopes up. If it was so easy, he would be doing it already.

  ?How? I think I already did it once, but it wasn't on purpose. You need to tell me how, how to do it?” desparation seeped into his voice. This plea came out much more pitiful than what he planned, but it came from truth, and true will it carried.

  ?...” A moment of silence passed, and she threw her hands into the air.

  ?No idea!” she chirped.

  Just as veins popped out on his forehead and a deep breath settled in his chest, ready to transform in to a myriad of curses and explicit critisism, she interupted him with another boop on his nose.

  ?Yet! I don't know how to do it YET! It's new, something I have not stumbled upon yet, but I believe it lies within my realm of competence, so we will need to do a little testing, a little experimenting, spend some quality time together” as she finished her smile turned to a warm, promising one.

  She was really starting to get on his nerves.

  ?Are you up for it?” question spoken in almost a whisper.

  ?Yes.” Determined, loud and forcefull, his answer resounded in the air.

  ?Yaaay! Time for some fun!” She grabbed his tired arms and dragged him towards the Klub, hopping joyfully as he wondered what the hell did he get himself into this time.