Fiction by Crystal Mazur

Set in the world of Obsidian: the Age of Judgement by Apophis Consortium.

Hal finished up her drink and pounded the dirty glass onto the counter. After a night like this, she needed something stronger. She looked at the guy lying on the floor. About two minutes earlier she was questioning him about some Kultist ties she knew he had. She didn’t care for his answer. “Sorry about the mess Joe, I’ll clean it up on my way out.”

Hal dragged the unconscious man out into the alley after leaving Joe a nice tip. “Next time, you play along. I hate having to put a man in his place ALL the time.” She walked down the alley, taking the long way home. She always took different routes home, so nobody could follow her. Unconsciously she found herself wandering down a very familiar alley.

Hal sighed as she knelt down by the spot where her father was killed, almost 5 years ago. She had now spent her time trying to find the man who had killed her father in front of her; the one who had changed her path forever. Hal stood up and turned to walk away, finding a man standing in front of her. “Ayden!”

“Are you still insisting on hunting him down? This isn’t what your father would have wanted. He would have wanted you to continue helping humanity defend itself against hell.” Hal knew Ayden wanted her fighting with them. After all, they grew up together, even was in schooling together. When Ayden went off with the Spiritual Essence trainers, she was scared, and sad. That’s when Hal’s father started training her as a Mystic. He was very talented, and she was to carry on his knowledge.

That all ended with his death. “I am helping, by destroying the ones who take our loved ones away. The path of the Alter is what killed my father. Would you really want it to take me as well Ayden? We still want the same think, peace.”

“Not at the cost your life, or anyone else’s, it’s not worth that.” Ayden looked around the dark area quickly. He felt uncomfortable, and Hal could tell. “I’m sorry your father died, Hal. I couldn’t stop it, not at that time. You couldn’t either.”

Hal relaxed a bit. Ayden only wanted to help her, to guide her back to his righteous path. She couldn’t go down that way, at least, not until the one who had caused them both so much pain was gone. “I know Ayden, It’s just very har…”

Hal didn’t get the chance to finish. In a flash Ayden was at her side and covering her head in his arms. She could see shadowed barbs falling to the ground just inches from them. “What was that?”

Ayden straightened up and looked around. He spotted the small symbol written on the wall where they were standing before Hal did. “We have someone listening in. Did someone follow you?”

“What do you mean? That I’m being sloppy? Of course nobody followed me. It was probably you and your long flowing clothing they were able to track. What? Do you Essence people have your clothing provided?”

Hal walked around, both her and Ayden circling the area trying to find the source of their attacker. “Hal, do you think you can put off that superiority complex just a bit?”

Hal laughed. To her, this wasn’t a game, but with Ayden she was comfortable with him. Too comfortable, in fact. As she was thinking about them, a figure leapt from the shadows and landed, forcing Hal to fall to the ground. She could feel the tiny Box of Under blade sink into her shoulder. She cried out and pushed the figure off of her, only to be attacked again by him. This time she was able to roll over, but landed on her front, pushing the tiny blade further into her shoulder. The pain was almost too much for her to bear. She couldn’t see what was happening, but she didn’t feel anybody around her. She rolled over and looked to see what was happening. Ayden was trying to keep the cloaked figure from advancing on Hal again.

Unfortunately for Hal, he was too quick for Ayden and blew past him, pushing Ayden against a wall and knocking the wind out of him. He was again at Hal’s side. He reached out and pulled his hooked dagger out forcefully, taking flesh and clothing with. Hal dropped down to her knee again, and was able to look into her attackers face. He was only a child, but she knew he would kill her. He attacked again with his blade, this time scratching Hal across her face. Blood started dripping in her eyes, and it was getting very hard to see.

In a last ditch effort to catch him off guard, Hal went barreling toward him. No luck, he easily sidestepped and tripped her as she went by. She fell on her back, and she could now feel his boot pinning her down. “Your soul belongs to the Box, Miss Dantain. Are you prepared to meet your father? You put up more of a fight then he did. But you are both pathetic and weak.” He then plunged his blade again into her back.

Hal could barely see what was happening, but very quickly she felt his small body lifted off of her back. “Hal, lay still so I can heal your wounds.” Ayden was next to her. She relaxed a bit and felt his warm skin on her back. He then gently turned her over and healed her other wounds. “We have him. Thankfully I had backup waiting.” He held her for a second then quickly regained his composure. “I thought you were gone. Let me take you home so you can get some rest.”

“No, that’s alright. I don’t need you, or your back-ups help.” Hal was angry for letting this child get the best of her. She looked at him, his vacant eyes taunting him. “I want him dead”

“You know that isn’t going to happen with me. Anyway, I want to help you. We have a similar goal it seems. When you get better, look at this and get back to me.” He handed her a data pad. “And for my sake, please don’t die on me. I couldn’t handle that.” With that, he and his team lead their new captive off.

Hal could only watch him walk off. She wasn’t angry at him, but took it out on him. Sadly, she took the data pad and started her lonely journey home.

Tags | obsidian, post-apocalyptic