Blinding Dark

Fearing the worst, Mikos drew his dark grey shawl up over his lower face, wincing as a piece of his stubble caught on the fabric and pulled, tugging his hood low to preserve his identity from the throng of passers by on the street he had just pulled out of an alley onto. He had been waiting for over an hour, and decided it was time to move. Forming a wisp of power around his thumb and forefinger, he prepared an eldritch bolt just in case the deal had fallen through with the informant.

He slowly made his way through the street, not bothering to move out of the way of the random shoppers lining the path, jarring into the shoulders of more than a few. Through a gap in the crowd, he saw Kail, his partner, talking to a figure in the shadows, their outline and long hair the only things he could make out at this distance in the dark autumn evening. Seeing no sign of danger, he slowed down, not seeing any urgent need to complicate the already tenuous situation by adding another player into the mix.

Leaning against the nearest wall, a giant light green abomination by the name of poundland, he reclined on one leg and watched his more diplomatic partner at work. Kail was around 5'8, with ash grey hair tight to his scalp and pulled back into a short ponytail. He was wearing his usual black overcoat, white vest, baggy black jeans and combat boots. Clean shaven as usual, his otherwise hard and masculine appearance shattered by a baby face with youthful green eyes the shade of an evergreen.

Ever since the awakening, and their fateful meeting, Mikos and Kain had been partners in crime, striking and blasting their way through hordes of Darklings, Changelings and a myriad of undead. 4 years ago a cataclysmic event through the world into chaos, a shockwave of power and chaos cascading across the earth with resounding effects for all of mankind. The dead rose, creatures born of legend awoke and a small percentage of the human population "awoke". around 5 to 10 percent of humanity suddenly and inexplicably started to show symptoms of inner power, which now after so much time manifests itself as, for lack of another word, magic. These powers were individually based, and individually scaled, from individual to individual. Two people could control flame, but one could burn hotter while the other could burn longer, or brighter. Powers could be trained, or learnt, but everyone has one instinctive power which naturally grew without any kind of learning. Mikos' natural ability was an entropic field, which destroys everything caught inside it. he could only create a small cloud, around the size of a large fridge, or a small blast of destructive energy strong enough to melt through steel. In contrasting fashion, Kain could create an electrical field surrounding his body, which he used either as a shield to stop incoming bullets, knives or fists, and a few powers, and to empower his punches and kicks with a devastating stunning shock. Mikos had been training Kail to manifest his power into a thrown bolt, and Kail to mikos an entropic shield, in their spare time, to varying degrees of success. Many a laugh had been shared when Kail set himself on fire with a spark, or Mikos burnt himself with his own shield.

They had met 2 years into developing their powers, and 3 years after the cataclysm, when they were both captured and kept in stock by a particularly powerful Wight to eat. After a month of incarceration, they had used their abilities to overpower and defeat the undead, free the dozen other captives and flee, and had been inseparable ever since. After they fled the dungeons of the wight, they bonded as battle brothers and vowed to hunt down every nightmare and creature that housed itself in britain, to spare others the fate they had almost endured. In the last year they had both almost died a dozen times, from wounds sustained at the teeth and claws of ghoul, ghast, changeling, stalker and the dreaded soul blade of a darkling, which had entered kail an inch from his heart.

Having spent a tour in the military, Kail had broad shoulders and a muscular physique, preserving his health since his discharge. Mikos came from a far less physically demanding background, being a software designer shortly before he could destroy things literally with his fingertips. Mikos was around 5'7, with broad shoulders but a slim physique, striking a small outline stood next to the imposing Kail.

Mikos had light brown hair, reaching just down past his neck but higher than the bottom of his shoulder blades, which he either wore tucked behind his ears or in a ponytail. On this day, it was freely hanging. He wore a dirty brown leather jacket, open, with a dark green hoodie underneath, and a black shirt and grey scarf under that. Trouser-wise, he wore black combat trousers with green and white Vans, torn slightly on one heel. He was moderately attractive, with handsome features and deep green eyes, a slightly lighter shade than Kail's.

Watching through the now-thinning crowd, Mikos saw a flash of movement, and knew something had gone wrong. Now panicking, Mikos threw himself through he crowd, knocking down several people, but he didn't care. He didn't have time. He had to get to Kail.

Finally reaching the shadowy corner where the two figures once stood, panting from the exertion of crossing 50 yards of people, Mikos found he was too late. Dread and sadness washed over him as he gazed at the bloodied corpse of his companion, and his eyes brimmed with tears. Fucking Fucking Fuck, he said to himself, his voice shaky and filled with regret. He was too slow, he should have been closer, or met the informant with Kail. His usually stoic composure shattered by this sudden turn of events, he regained his composure, clearing the foggy haze from his eyes with his sleeve, and examined the corpse.

Kail had a hole straight through his chest, larger on his front and narrower at the back. some kind of pointed hammer or maul? a chunk of flesh was missing from the upper part of one forearm, and the bottom part of another, where he had clearly tried to throw his shield up to intercept the blow, and the faint smell of burning flesh, so he had managed to get it powered on, but it wasn't enough to hold the blow back. No human could withstand his voltage without being knocked unconscious or burnt to a crisp, so that was out of the question.

Checking his coat, Mikos found Kails 45' handgun, still in its holster, chambered with silver bullets to make up for his lack of ranged spell abilities. He unfastened the gun from his slain friends back, vowing to blow away whoever did this. He did not have time to mourn. This was just one more monster he had to track down and kill, both of them having long prepared for this day, he came to realise just how desensitized to the whole event he was, for though he felt sad for his slain companion, in his heart he knew killing the demon who did this was far more important than breaking down and crying.

Questioning his humanity, Mikos bound the large handgun quickly around his chest, not bothering to secure it properly, just wanting it hidden from any prying eyes. Kissing Kail on his bloodstained forehead, Mikos rose quickly and bounded to the other side of the alley, where the figure had darted off to. Knowing nothing about the informant, he looked instead for anyone looking suspicious or fleeing the scene. This street was less crowded and though he could plainly see every angle of this open arena, no sight of any adversary could be seen.

"bastard." Mikos whispered out loud, letting out a deep sigh. Upon taking in a new breath, he felt his hand burn. Swearing loudly, garnering a few odd looks before people walked on by, Mikos realised he had not cast away the nimbus of destruction he had prepared earlier, and that it had slowly grown and melted away a patch of skin on the palm of his right hand. He flicked the thick grey and dark green swirling cloud-like substance to the floor, burning an oval shape into the concrete.
Today had not been a good day.

Reaching the flat they had called home, he slid the key into the lock and opened the door just a crack, disarming the trap they set incase of intruders, a simple line of iron thread leading to the trigger of two shotguns aimed at the door, one loaded with salt and the other with silver buckshot. The iron thread was to stop spirits and the spectral undead, as they could not pass through ferrous metals, and the salt was to wound and slow undead, while the silver shot to decimate anything living or otherwise, giving the partners time to wake up and appraise the situation. The block of flats they lived in was barren, only 3 of the 10 flats occupied, and none of the ones on the same floor as theirs. Glancing sadly at Kails bed and his side of the room, an array of weapons and personal memorabilia, Mikos set to the task of resetting the trap, set the 45' on Kails desk and collapsed onto his own bed, the day and the emotional trauma finally catching up to his slender body. Bitter sleep swept into his head, bringing dreams of dead friends and of dark futures, and tales of the past.