Book 2 Chapter 11: The Dark Choices

Tristan

June 22, 2035, Earth Time, somewhere in Sicily

The wound was caused by a bouncing projectile; Tristan's body stopped most of the bullets, but not the ricochets.

"I must extract the bullet. It will hurt."

Before she could ask how, Tristan forced himself to think of her as a stranger, somebody random, and the protection offered to allies diminished. Caterina's body went limp under the mental pressure of his aura. Next, he projected a thin thread of darkness into the wound, wrapped it around the bullet, and pulled it out, replacing the first tendril with a second, wider one to cauterize the hole and stop the bleeding. Lastly, he took a health pill from his pocket, lessening the pressure of his Aura to make her come back to her senses.

"Swallow this," he ordered, patting her face until he found her lips.

"What happened?" she yelped.

Short-term memory loss?

"Swallow the damn pill! There was a gunfight."

"I know," she yelled. "You said you had to take the bullet out, and then I fainted. Where are we? Why is it so dark?"

"I sedated you with magic for a minute. We're outside the hangar, and this is my AOE. It's called the Dark. Please swallow the pill."

There was a nod, her chin hitting his shoulder, then a soft gulp.

"Fire at will!" the Tremor's muffled voice yelled.

The heavy machine guns from the two watchtowers fired. Caterina tucked herself into him, which was far from unpleasant. Even if higher in caliber, the bullets still hit the ground after the same distance: three feet.

"We have to leave. I'll carry you and run. The AOE will move with us."

"Marius might still be alive!" she said.

"I'll leave you at a police station and jump back for him."

"My cousin has the police in his pocket."

"I'll figure out something. We have to move before I run out of Mana."

"Is he dead?" a voice yelled outside.

"The AOE is still on, morron," Tremor yelled back. "Everyone, spread out. We'll surround him and go inside all at the same time."

"I'm not going inside that!" someone shouted, and a slap followed.

"If you don't go in, I'll kill you myself," Tremore promised. "He can’t fight us all. There are fifty of us and only one of him."

Theoretically, Tristan could have dismissed The Dark and used some shadows to teleport away. However, all it took to kill the woman was one bullet or a second of hesitation. He had to trim down the numbers before trying.

"Come," Tristan said, pulling Caterina by the hand toward the hangar, struggling to remember the layout and wiggling his tendrils around. He hit a beam with his foot, and his sensors found the box that contained his dagger, still on the same table, a thick metal one. He turned the table and made Caterina squat behind it, with the support beam in her back.

"Do you know how to use a gun?" he asked.

"Y-yes."

He searched for her hands, putting the gun in them after taking the safety off and chambering a bullet. "This is Mario's. Anyone who comes near you, you shoot. Bullets will work only for three feet, so make sure they're in range."

"What if it's you?"

"Don't worry, I'm bulletproof."

"Really? Is that—"

"Get ready!" Tremor yelled.

Tristan's decided to kill Tremor first. Another quake was almost certain to collapse the remaining structure, sending it crashing onto Caterina. It wasn't the kind of AOE to tell friend from foe, but the man seemed unhinged enough to use it nevertheless.

"Go!" Tremor yelled.

The hostiles stepped into his AOE altogether. Even if he couldn't see them, Tristan could feel their Mana. Only Tremor and two women had strong auras; the rest were mainly First Order. He anchored The Dark's center near Caterina, then jumped behind Tremor, stabbing him in the kidneys, spine, and throat, before throwing him down and grabbing him tightly with his arms and legs to prevent him from moving, adding all ten threads of Dark Telekinesis as ropes.

"What do we do now?" a voice asked.

"Help…" the Tremor gurgled, trying to fight back, twisting and stabbing Tristan in the chest in turn. Tristan answered with a couple more thrusts in the throat, cutting through the spine. Finally, the man's body stilled.

You have killed Tremor, level 66. You have gained two levels.

Put all points in Perception!

Perception 30>36. Ripple effect: Wisdom +1.

The sudden increase in perception brightened the surroundings. Now, the Mana blobs had shapes, and so did Caterina, waving her pistol blindly.

"What do we do now?" the man from before repeated.

"You die," Tristan hissed, jumping near him and plunging the dagger into his heart.

He moved to the next target, who was a First Order on the top spectrum, tough enough to fight back, grapple, and call for help. The man took ten seconds to die, enough for more foes to arrive, following the sound, and slash or stab Tristan and their own comrade a good number of times.

The woman with the strong Mana was a mage. She threw a fireball, and it engulfed the pile of struggling bodies. There were countless screams. Tristan managed to free himself while the attackers died.

"Caterina! Shoot in front of you!" Tristan screamed as a shape had managed to advance to the center of the AOE.

Caterina fired three times, not enough to kill the woman, an awakened bruiser, but enough to allow Tristan to come from behind and stab her in the throat.

You have killed Dana the Fists, level 63.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

There was no level-up now. From what he could sense, there was only one more awakened, the mage with the fireball, waiting prudently at the edge of the perimeter, a new projectile in hand.

"I'm here," he whispered, jumping in front of the Mage and wrapping his arms and Dark Tendrils around her. He tried to stab, but the dagger was in a bad position and delivered only a cut on the arm.

The woman instinctively released the fireball at point-blank range. Tristan intensified his bear hug, breaking her back as the fire washed over both of them. His skin sizzled, but so did hers. Her Constitution was clearly not as high as his; Tristan's was buffed to over a hundred and fifty by Nocturnal and being on Earth, and his Endurance to over a hundred by Kill Streak.

You have killed Jenny the Flame, level 68.

A third tier, and it dies so easily? Maybe glass cannon…

Level up x2.

Perception.

Perception 36>42. Ripple effect: Wisdom +1.

His sight was perceiving everything around him like through a starry night, maybe even with a full moon. Frightened by the woman's screams, the rest of the attackers started to run, bumping into each other, and worse, going inward instead of outward.

So, Awakened can feel the AOE's shape, but mere Orders can’t.

Caterina shot another foe dead, a man. Her gun then clicked empty, attracting the enemy's attention. Tristan jumped in front of her.

"I'm here; all is under control," he said. "Stay down."

"Thank goodness," she sighed.

"Sorry, wrong way," he said, slashing a throat open, then plunging his dagger into someone's chest.

The blind running around started again, and this time, the attackers were killing each other as well. Tristan let them be, finishing off some isolated targets here and there. Some had swords or knives, but their strength or skills were weak; the hits barely nicked him. A few Third Orders managed to find the exit and decamped, screaming.

Checking the AOE's timer on the HUD, Tristan noticed it was under three minutes.

"The magic users are gone, but there are still the guards outside. We have to move and kill them before my AOE expires. Take my hand."

Squeezing his eyes, Tristan tried to get some bearings from the vague shapes he was seeing outside The Dark, then pulled Caterina toward the closest tower. The machine gun started firing, but for naught.

Fifty-five strength plus thirty-five percent buff… Around seventy-five, right? Let's see.

Puffing, Tristan sheathed his dagger and grabbed one of the legs of the watchtower, trying to pull it out of balance and turn it. He pushed with his legs as much as he could, and it was still not enough. Then Caterina arrived to the rescue, adding her own strength, and that addition, even small, helped. The tower began to lean, falling with a loud crash. Catching on the ladder, Tristan's left hand was violently snatched forward, the shoulder pulled out of its socket. The guards screamed for a few seconds, then stopped.

"Thanks," Tristan heaved. "You're stronger than you look."

"I go to the gym thrice a week," she bragged. "Are you OK? You don't look… err… in good shape."

"You can see in here?"

"Barely. My eyes got used to it at some point, yes."

Definitely magic potential, maybe darkness affinity.

"Let's do the second tower… Ah, don't bother; the guards are running."

Cars were speeding out of the compound, and people were running, all avoiding the AOE.

"Thirty seconds left. We hide in there."

'In there' meant another hangar, with bunk beds installed everywhere. The Outworlders' quarters, now empty. Tristan left Caterina inside and went out to assess the situation. The sun was burning hot, without the cover of The Dark. A pilot in uniform got out of a plane, ran toward a convertible, started it, and drove out of the base in a loud noise of screeching tires, staring at Tristan with hallucinated eyes.

"What, I have something in my teeth?" Tristan yelled.

He was sure he looked horrible. His clothes were all but gone, his skin was covered in blisters, and he had a knife in his chest—Tremor's. He let it be because he could support his badly twisted left arm on it.

"Caterina, you can come out!" he yelled.

"Coming," she shouted, appearing a moment later.

"Was it your first fight?" he asked, because her attitude was a bit off. She was shaking, but frowning with a firm expression.

"Y-yes?"

"You're a natural. Let's check who's still alive. Hey, if someone's alive, scream," Tristan yelled, stepping into the half-collapsed meeting hangar.

Miraculously, the hangar structure was mostly intact. Of the fourteen people at the meeting, there were eight still alive, Marius included. The teenage sisters, Dragon and Zappy, were nowhere to be seen. The short mobster was dead. The old lady was on the last legs, her chest under a heavy beam. Tristan rushed to help, but it was too late. The woman gurgled: "Vote… Cati…" then her head collapsed to one side.

"She said she votes for Caterina," Tristan said, closing the woman's eyes.

"If we vote for her, Pippo'll come after us," somebody said.

"He'll come anyway," Mario said. "I vote for Caterina."

"I agree, but only if this guy stays around. How many bodies are there, two dozen?" a man asked.

"More than fifty," Tristan said.

"You're definitely worth the money you charge," Caterina said.

"May I have a word with you two?" Tristan looked at Mario and Caterina, putting some distance between them and the group by leaving the hangar.

"How much if I want to hire you long term?" she asked once they were outside.

"This is not about the money. If you take that job, I can't guarantee your safety. Those guys," he pointed back, "are not a church choir. They can't be trusted. Crime is anything but order. It's perpetual infighting and treachery."

"I know all of them," Mario said. "I vouch—"

"You also knew Pippo and didn't think he was a danger. How many people work for them? Tens? Hundreds? How long before someone is bought and slips her some poison?"

"What do you suggest?" Caterina asked.

"Plain and simple. If you don't want to wear a target on your back all your life, let them fight among themselves, and do something else."

"He's not wrong," Mario said pensively, after taking a deep breath. "The best thing is to ask the boss to continue ruling from prison. Come work with Eliza's father and me, running logistics for the alien world."

"If you work with Mario, I could protect you for free," Tristan said. "The cost will be covered by the Protectorates."

"Meaning?"

"The state running the portal between Earth and the Realm."

Caterina lowered her eyes, shifting weight between her feet. "Truth is… this is not how I imagined things would go," she repressed a gag, looking at the bodies lying around. "Maybe you're right…"

"The Don still can run the family from prison," Mario said.

"Then let's give them the news," Caterina said. "Thank you, Tristan. It's good advice."

"Get them to the other hangar; that place could fall apart any second. I'll watch the perimeter," Tristan said.

As the group moved, Tristan carried an office chair outside and let himself fall onto it, his eyes closed. His regen was reduced by twenty-five percent, and it showed. He waited until the police left to check his notifications.

MAIN QUEST update: You have eliminated a MAIN TARGET and, by your actions, you have persuaded another MAIN TARGET to stay on the good side of the law. MAIN TARGETS cleared: 4/10.

You saved the life of Caterina d'Orsinelli and ensured she reached a position from which to change her famiglia into a force for good.

You have leveled up x 8 to level 70 and have 24 free attribute points to invest.

+10 points in all stats. Third-Tier breakthrough. Class evolution is possible; please check your choices.

You have looted a bonded weapon, Tremor's vibroblade. Infused with magic, this blade feeds on surrounding Mana to emit high-frequency vibration, ignoring 50% of all defenses.

Tell me about the evolutions.

You have access to three possible evolutions.

Dark Captain: Leader specialization. You continue the Dark Knight's path on a superior level. One point in your stats will represent x3 the value of an average human. New Skill: Dark Banner. Once planted, you cannot move your The DarkBanner anymore, but within your AOE, your enemies will have their stats halved, and your friends theirs buffed by 25%. Has the potential to evolve to increase the debuffs or buffs. Prioritizes: Intelligence.

Dark Champion: Close combat specialization. One point in your Body stats will represent x4 the value of an average human. Mind and Spirit values will remain unchanged (x1 and x2). New Skill: Dark Cleave. Any melee attack executed within The Dark will instantly kill any enemy lower in tier than you. Has the potential to evolve, spreading the damage to up to 3 targets.

Void Knight: Add more magical elements to your repertoire. One point in your Spirit stats will represent x4 the value of an average human. Body and Mind stats will remain unchanged (x 2 and x1). New Skill: Dark Void. Your AOE transforms into a pocket universe acting as your personal domain. Nothing can break in or out, and only your magic will work inside. The Dark Void will always be centered on you and will move accordingly. Has the potential to evolve Gravity AOEs to hurt your enemies.

Hm… So, with the last one, I can trap enemies and take their magic away. Won't work so well against pure physical damage, though… Yet… It's also invulnerable to external attacks and offers mobility. Okay, Void Knight it is.