Ravi couldn’t have looked more like a foreigner if he’d tried. The wide roads of the Holy City Torbinas, teeming with life and vibrancy, felt like a page straight out of a story book. A soft pang of nostalgia he had no right to echoed through his heart. Along with a keen edge of anger, as equally unjustified, that even in only a few short years the streets would be sacked. Nevermind that in his time it was gone and done, in this time he felt betrayed on the city’s behalf.

“Where do you go?” Hakyeon’s voice drew him back, startling him slightly, eyebrows raised high on his forehead. “When you get that far away look in your eye, where do you go?” Since Ravi’s ‘big reveal’ his two traveling companions had kept to their own company. He wasn’t sure if that was because they didn’t believe him or if they were wrestling with his prediction of their deaths. Either way, he hadn’t found reason to disturb them. If it’d been him, he was sure he’d have wanted time too.

“It’s not important,” Ravi offered a small smile and shrugged. They had more important things to be focusing on. Namely their needle in a haystack hunt for the defense codes of Arxist. Not to mention he was going to be keeping his ear to the ground for news of the supposed Necromancer in the city. But it was a big place, and finding somewhere to start was going to be the hardest step. “Sorry, so, thoughts about where we go from here?”

The three of them stood in place, shrugging as the crowd around them surged forward. “How about a little more information on this Lieutenant Jung we’re hunting? After last time, I think that’s important.” the Knight crossed his arms over his chest, an expectant and slightly annoyed look on his face.

“Well, you could have asked.” Hyuk huffed, raising his hand to tap at a small circular metal plate just behind his right ear. From under his hair a beam of blue hard light half circled his face at eye level. Seemingly searching for something, he stood still as his natural talents went through the motions of searching the database he was in. “Let’s see, where are you? Ah, there you are!”

Hyuk reached up again and manipulated the small disc again as a small 3d hologram shot out from the blue beam visor. The angel shown wore the same military style jacket as the one Ravi had seen in Stenyae, his wings were white and folded on his back. The man had a slightly pointed face, almost boyish, and silver hair that just barely brushed his eyebrows. Definitely not the kind of person that Ravi would have assumed was a decorated member of the military.

“And you couldn’t have found this sooner?” Hakyeon scowled and scrutinized the man in the hologram, as if he were committing every detail to memory.

“Like I said, you didn’t ask.” Hyuk pouted and transferred the hologram from the HUD display to a hand held pedestal before shutting off his visor. “And it doesn’t matter anymore, can’t go back and change it.” He shrugged and handed the portable device to the silver haired man. “Guess we go asking around for him. I mean, I could try and hack their camera network but I’ll need a hub and a guard and some really good luck and honestly we’re a bit short on all of those.” He didn’t much fancy his chances hacking the cameras on the fly in the very heart of Angel territory.

“Well, I guess asking around is better than nothing.” Ravi smiled at them both, he hoped it was encouraging. He had the distinct feeling they were going to need all the support they could get

“Do you at least have a full name for this mysterious Angel?” Hakyeon sniped, arms still crossed over his chest.

Hyuk scrunched his face into an annoyed look before shaking his head. “I told you already, it was just Jung. You know, believe it or not, most people don’t want their names getting out there in illegal black auctions!” The fact that he was annoyed with people not wanting to give full name rather than the fact that there were black auctions spoke volumes about his priorities.

“We could try taking the holo to the personnel office, get an ID for him.” Ravi offered helpfully.

“Cause that worked out so well last time.” Hyuk scoffed but shrugged, “whatever works I guess.” He flung out his hard light map again, the system having updated itself to show Torbinas’ map. The captial was a much larger city than Stenyae had been, and nearly a quarter of it seemed to be the military district, smack dab in the middle. Trailing a finger over the light lines, Hyuk traced a path from where they stood toward the center of the city. “If we go through here, Tynin Row,” a small side street seemed to wind past buildings, avoiding the crowds of the large streets, “then we should be able to get there without risk of getting lost.”

It was as good a plan as any. With nods all around they set off, making a cut through the crowd toward an opening between tall stone buildings. Unaware that more than one pair of eyes had been on them. A lone figure perched on the spire of the city gate watched as the three boys slipped out of the square. “Found you.”

Tynin Row may have been a short cut but it was by no means short. Echoes of “my feet hurt” and “carry me” kept them company along the modestly sized road. Tall building shot up either side of them, almost too high, relegating the sky to a narrow strip of blue overhead. Of course when your race all had wings to fly about, the height of a building ceased to be a problem.

“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” Hakyeon had taken to casually leaning against Ravi, and the chronomancer was beginning to realize that using normal travel methods was probably out of the norm for the void knight. But with tensions a little raised they’d all agreed, even Hyuk, that they were better to stay on foot, nice and non threatening like.

Hyuk rolled his eyes and turned around to walk backward facing them as he did so. “This will spit us out right at the entrance to the military sector, and have we got there yet?” He didn’t wait for a response, “no, so no more pointless questions please.” Ravi reached up to pat Hakyeon’s head, more as a method to pre-empt to coming retort than to comfort. But it seemed he was even too tired for a full retaliation, just muttering a grumbled complaint under his breath in Hyuk’s direction.

“Why don’t they have transportation hubs?” Hakyeon whined slightly, pouting, “In Adamrah we’d have been there by now. They have carts that can take you anywhere in the city, even though we all can jump through the void, we think about the people visiting.” He said it all in a tone that conveyed just how much he felt Arxist was superior to the 3rd Holy Empire. “Isn’t that thoughtful? Isn’t that nice?”

“In the Network we can just program a vehicle to take us where we want.” Hyuk said in the same slightly superior tone, though it was obviously meant to mock him.

“Other people can’t go to the Network,” Hakyeon sniffed once and rested more of his weight on Ravi. “And Adamrah is clearly more beautiful than this place and the network. You can’t even see the sky here.” He glanced up toward the towering buildings once more fretfully. “In Adamrah you can always see the stars and the Moon, all you get here is stupid sunlight and buildings, bleh” Of course, the country of perpetual starlight, the sun must have been harsh on the knight’s eyes.

“Ah, don’t worry,” Ravi’s back went ramrod straight at the sound of a slightly familiar distorted voice joining theirs. There was no mistaking the slight grind that seemed to underlie the tone, “when I’m done with you, you won’t be able to see anything.” Turning with Hakyeon still on his shoulder, Ravi knew who he would see.

The cyborg from Stenyae stood behind them, giant maul dug into the ground and he was casually leaning against it. Ravi could see that he wore the same black outfit he had in the previous city, the slash in the chest from the angel still there. But what showed behind the material wasn’t what Ravi had been expecting. Unmarred flesh sat pristine where the deep cut had been. Gone were the sparking wires or the dribbling line of blood.

“You three left our game before I could finish killing you.” He held up his finger and wagged it back and forth like they were naughty school children. “That wasn’t very nice of you guys.” Somehow mentioning that trying to kill people wasn’t very nice either didn’t seem like a good idea. “I had to chase you all the way here.” The red haired cyborg pouted. Ravi sincerely hoped Hyuk was working on hacking him again, though he was beginning to doubt Hakyeon had the juice for another fast escape. “But now at least I can finish the job.”

With an ease that still boggled Ravi’s brain, he watched the man heft the massive hammer and begin to walk toward them. “Hyuk…” Ravi muttered under his breath, suddenly feeling the strain of Hakyeon’s weight as he tried to back them up.

“I’m trying,” Hyuk hissed back, the yellow glow around his fists and eyes started softly. “There’s something different in his hardware. I’ve got to work around it. Hold him off.” There was an obvious strain in Hyuk’s voice as the cyborg continued to step closer undeterred. Ravi did not like their odds against the large maul in such a confined space. It’d be like swinging for water in a lake, not hard to find.

“Nuh uh,” again their attacker used an almost playful sing-song like voice despite the distortion, “according to my calculations, you’re going to be dead before you can get through my new encryptions.” Ravi gauged the distance, a few more feet and they’d be within range of an attack.

Around their feet a sickly red fog began to spread. “H-how did you know I’m a chronomancer?” Ravi had always been prepared for the world to fall apart around him and eat him, but getting crushed by a cyborg had not been on his expected ways to go. “How did you find me?”

“Ravi, we have to go…” Hakyeon muttered into his ear, clutching his arm even as he stepped back with him. “I can’t… there’s no where to portal us to that’s far enough away.”

“That’s telling,” but the cyborg giggled a little and tilted his head just so, Ravi could swear he heard grinding sounds coming from within him, his steps slowing to a halt. “How about this, if you live then maybe I’ll tell you.” Another giggle, he even brought his hand up to cover his mouth, it seemed like such an innocent action, “that’s the joke, you’re not going to live.” The grinding grew louder as he raised his maul, lining up his strike.

For the first time Ravi noticed the red fog that seemed to have coated the ground, nerves prickling just at the base of his neck. It seemed… very unnatural, and very unsafe. “What the ?” Something like alarm rushed over red headed cyborg’s face as his body lifted from the ground, joints straining at odd angles.

An eerie laugh echoed inside the red fog and had Ravi reaching for his rifle. “Well that’s new,” a deep voice rumbled as a man stepped from the shadow of one of the buildings. He held a wicked looking cane with a needle sharp point that seemed to be glowing the same red as the fog. A wicked grin graced his face, white teeth bared in a snarl that masqueraded as a smile. His black hair covered his right eye, but the other was something Ravi had only read about in books. A perfect white orb with a black ‘X’ through the middle. There was indeed a necromancer in Torbinas. “A dead man walking.”

One of the cyborgs arms began to strain and flex back into it’s proper shape, a look of extreme concentration on his face. “We should get out of here.” Hakyeon whispered in a low tone pulling on Ravi’s arm.

“I’ve almost got him shut down, just a little more,” Sweat was pouring down Hyuk’s face as what seemed like little yellow electric arcs crackled around his hands. “Then we don’t have to run.” Ravi wasn’t so sure, despite the ‘smile’ their timely savior didn’t look exactly friendly.

“Let. Go. Of. Me!” Ravi watched as the red headed cyborg struggled against tendrils of thick red fog, working his body back into a manageable shape. The necromancer’s smirk turned feral as the red light pulsed from his hands.

“That’s a necromancer…” Hakyeon’s voice waivered, his fingers still clutched tight into Ravi’s sleeve, “we really, really have to go. We have to go right now before it’s too late.”

“I need answers from him,” Ravi swallowed thickly, telling himself that the way his legs were shaking was just fatigue.

“Almost there…” Hyuk grunted before a blinding flash of light burst from his eyes. A loud crunch reverberated in the tight space as the cyborg’s body fell to the ground in a heap.

“No!” with wide eyes Ravi stared at the prone form, “I was serious, I do need answers from him!”

“He’s not dead, just powered down. All of the main processing was way behind a firewall, I could only make a little chip in it. Easier all around to just shut down it’s power.” Hyuk shrugged panting for breath.

The same creepy laughter reminded them that they weren’t alone. “Oh, he’s dead, believe me, I’d know.” Hakyeon flinched slightly at the dark humor. “But he’s been dead for… a long time.”

“Thank you, for your help,” the void knight bowed awkwardly, a less than thankful look on his face, “now, we need to go, this instant.” He glared at both Ravi and Hyuk as if daring them to defy him.

“Can we take him with us, the cyborg. I mean.”

“You want to have him near us when he powers up?” Hakyeon’s voice almost went shrill.

“I’m not letting this one get away.” The red tendrils of fog were back, lifting the body of the cyborg as the necromancer offered another crooked grin, “If you want answers from it, then you can follow me.” He made a snapping sound with his teeth that had Hakyeon jumping back in what Ravi would have called fear, “That is, if you dare.” He laughed again.

“Ravi, don’t,” but Hakyeon was already giving his warning to Ravi’s back as he followed after the chuckling man. “Ravi... “ Hakyeon whined and glanced at Hyuk who shrugged and offered his hand to the knight. Taking it, they both followed after them.