She dragged him through the Veil, pulling on his massive forearms with her petite, long fingers with suprising strenght. Luke was not sure if his lack of resistence was caused by some magic of hers, his own weakness or just him being tired of it all.

  She seemed fanatic, but determined and with a purpose. Too bad for him, that purpose was not so clear from his perspective.

  ?Why are you doing this?” that question weighed heavily on his mind.

  ?Huh? Not telling! Not your business, mister!” Without breaking her stride, she babbled without even turning back to him.

  A scowl formed on his face.

  ?What a bitch....” an almost inaudable whisper escaped his mouth, almost.

  As they passed into the Real and she was dragging him through the parking lot, into the club, she shook her arms and made him tumble into the car, sprawling him on the hood of it.

  ?Hahaha!” Her joyous laugh resounded in his ear as the coldness of the hood of the car dragged across his face. After a pause lasting a second, his face started stretching against the hood as she dragged him forwards, his body sliding onto the pavement, dejected. All of this to the ringing sound of her laughter.

  Pushing himself off the ground with his free arm, he shuffled behind her, until they reached the entrance of the club.

  “Two entries, please!” she gleefuly exclaimed with a smile so radiant on her face that it seemed to overshadow the neon lights themselves. Ofcourse she ignored the line of people that was waiting to enter, she simply side stepped them to reach the entrance. The two man at the front did not like that.

  “Ay you tall ass bitch, get back in line and know your--” the sentence could not be finished as a backhand fist crashed against the mans jaw, ripping it loose from the socket and spraying his friend with blood and splinters of enamel. His friend barely managed to catch him before his friend hit the pavement head first, his body loose and unresponsive, eyes glazed over, distant.

  Luke looked down on the two, and wiped his fist on his pants that were already covered in grime and filth, his eyes piercing, focused, challenging the responsive of the two to say another word, make another move.

  “OY! NO FIGHTING OR I'LL... Oh, hello Luke, please, please, come in.” The bouncer almost bowed down to greet him which made Olga'theru laugh out loud. Grumbling under his nose he passed by her and stepped into the building.

  “My knight in shining armor, what a gentelman you are.” her seductive whispers gave him goosebumps, and he qickened his step so his ear is as far away from her lips as possible. Back stiff as a board, and ass clenched tightly, marching on like a soldier.

  Her laugh bounced off the walls, filling the tunnel with a pleasant, warm harmony, that was quickly washed away by the blasting waves of club music.

  This ruckus, this chaotic enviroment, somehow, made him feel more at home, calmed him down even more so than her words. As if she could hear his thoughts, she punched him on the shoulder as she cought up to him.

  Carelessly pushing apart the crowd of people, with ease that brought look of suprise to the groups he pushed away with one arm, he made his way towards the bar. The barmaid, Maja, the same one he met on his first night in the club, started preparing his usual as soon as she saw him, ignoring other clients.

  Within few moments, a coller filled with ice, two big bottles, one with burbon and one with orange vodka was waiting for him with one glass resting in between them.

  As soon as he reached for the cooler, he felt a slim arm wrap around his shoulders and the suprisingly cold body of Olga'theru resting on his side.

  “What, none for me?” she yelled through the noise, Majas eyes wide in disbelief. She looked at him puzzled, eyes asking hundred questions at once.

  “ehhh...One more glass for my companion, please, Maja.” he grumbled as he shrugged off Olga's embrace. She did not take offense, simply clapping her palms in joy.

  Maja seemed stunned, and roboticly bent down for another glass and added it to the pile.

  With a nod of thanks, he quickly turned back and made his way towards the staircase behind the bar to avoid the crowd and use staff only entrance to the top floor.

  As he walked in silence, Luke wondered wheather Majas reaction was justified, and if he should really start talking to people, especially women again. He was almost hurt by that.

  Somewhere in the middle of walking up the stairs, the cheerful woman pulled on his shirt, he turned towards her with eyebrow raised.

  “Look!” She pointed at his feet, he was standing one step above her, she really needed to learn about personal space.

  “What?” he asked confused.

  “You are now as tall as I am!” after saying that she started cackling again.

  Luke turned beet red, and turn on his heel, not dignifing that with any comment which made her laugh even harder.

  *Jesus, God, Gods, please give me a life or death fight, it's easier than handling this woman*

  After what Luke expierienced as eternity of shame, they finally reached the top floor, he waved at the guards near Baldies office, and they too seemed shock at the sight of his companion coming out from the shadows behind him.

  *what the fuck?*

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “You really don't hang around women much, don't ya?” she seemed puzzled.

  “Not ones like you, at least.”

  “Oh, baby ,there is no other woman like me.” He turned around before he could be fully hit with her wink.

  He got close to the door, and started knocking in specific spots, and using specific finger knuckles, murmuring pre-set incantation. The staff was warned not to enter by any means, under any pretext. Baldie told them Luke was insane enough to rig the place with boobie traps, and after the last days of his visible insanity and anger, mysterious dissapearings and bloody and torn visage when he came back, no one wanted to check Baldie on that claim.

  Good for them, otherwise they would die the moment their hands pressed on the door knob.

  With a hiss only magically enhanced could perceive, array of offensive and intrusion sensitive inscriptions shut down, flashing the construct for a brief second in the air as the magic loop stopped and receded into the walls, marred with scarrs of scribbled down runes and sigils.

  “Huh, interesting piece of work you got there, didn't take you for an Inscriber.”

  “Because I ain't.” he just left it at that, no need to reveal where he got them or how he learned.

  “Huuuh?” she made this weird noise of being curious, but left it at that.

  Luke entered into the flat, and she followed suit, stopping at the doorframe as he made his way towards the chair and plopped on it heavily.

  “Oh...wow, I don't know why I woulnd't expect this but this place is such a trash heap”

  He looked at her with disintrest, already unwraping a cold burger from the foil, he motioned at her with his head to sit at the bed.

  She cheerily waded through the trash that was littered along the floor, and dropped her body onto the mattres. She sank in there, with her arms spread, wider than the bed itself was, a deep exhale followed as she snugled herself into his messy covers.

  For a moment, no one spoke a word, Luke was aching all over and just stuffed his face with as much food and drinks as he could, sloppy and undignified.

  Finally, the tall woman said something.

  “You know, you are quite the asshole”

  “What the fuck? How am I the asshole here? “ his voice rose in disbelief.

  “I told you my name, Olga'Theru. And still you have not said your name to me. That's like the most basic of manners” She stared at him with focus unrivaled.

  “I told you, my name is Luke” he answered with his mouth full.

  “Your mortal name does not count, what is your True Name. The one you were born with, or given at birth? The one you hold claim over. You know how pitiful it is of me to even ask?!” She seemed genuinly upset.

  “Erm...My real name is Luke, that is the name I was given at birth...” And suddenly, his posture straightend “When I was born... as a mortal...” the last part was almost whispered.

  The reaction it brought was unexpectged, she shot up from the bed, her long torso looming over him as her palms wrapped around his cheeks, still stuffed with burgers.

  “WHAT DO YOU MEAN, BORN AS A MORTAL?” almost screaming at his face.

  GULP.

  “Well... it's quite the story...” And so, Luke proceeded to narrate the last year of his life to her as she clutched him in a vice grip, staring deep into his eyes and shaking his head occasionally like a gambler shakes his dice. As he finished, she finally let go, arms spread in a dramatic flare as her back hit the bedsheets again.

  “WOW...just, wow...” she needed to process it all, after a while, when Luke finally stopped stuffing his face with food and was somewhat full, she asked.

  “So...are you actually a mortal? Born a mortal? Not dragged through the Veil by rights of initiation?”

  “Yeah, didn't you listen to what I said?”

  “I did, you asshole, but that means you still don't even hold sway over your name, how can you wield so much power unguided? How can you even be?”

  A vacant stare pierced into him, to which he responded with a careless shrug.

  “Who the fuck knows, I just roll with the punches.”

  She facepalmed herself. Loud enough to make him wince.

  “How... How the hell did you survive so far?”

  “By the skin of my teeth?”

  Another smack resounded. A moment of constirnation passed.

  “So... You are... new to all of this?

  “Kind of? Like I said, I was tought by some... people? Things? I know some stuff, but I also know almost no mortals were naturally introduced Beyond the Veil in the last 300 years and I can expect that I've missed out on some knowledge, so....what's up? “

  “... what's...up? You big dummy...” Theru seemed almost on the verge of crying.

  “...What do you know about local power structure in Poland?” she asked after a moment of silence.

  “What, you mean like mayor, wojewoda and the president?” he tried to joke around but her silent glare made him shut up.

  “Not much, not really, I know there are families who hold sway over their own terretory and businesses, there was a council I was not introduced to in the City of Hundred Bridges, and I know that most places are mostly allowed to self govern if they follow the rules set on top by the King and his menagerie of idiots.”

  “Idiots?”

  “That's what I was told.”

  “Well, that is about as barebones answer as you I could have expected. What do you know about families or lineages?”

  “Nothing much either, bloodlines sharing some ancestry or skillset, patreon deity or school of magic, sometimes not connected by blood per se, more by purpose. Clans and such. I know they wield some crests that allow others to recognize them, and I know me not having one is suspicious, just as you are without one on your person, so what's up with that missy?”

  She seemed a bit uncomfortable, but after biting her lip, she answered what Luke would guess was truthfully.

  “I wasn't born a mortal, my kind dosn't form from a lineage, we spawn/manifest in specific conditions. I am more akin to the creatures from Beyond the Veil than a mortal. If you heard something about Fey's, that's something you could most closely tie me with.”

  “Huh, and you don't get any issues because of that? I was told to pretend I'm a banished free lancer if anyone asked.”

  “I woulnd't say I don't get any issues, this realm and it's people are extremely xenophobic, and racist.”

  “Yeah I fucking noticed”

  “Yeah, and my kind has a bad history in the magical circles.”

  “What even are you?”

  “Huuuuuh, what am I indeed? Is me being a pretty lady suddenly not enough for you?” and she started laughing.

  Luke knew that she won't answer, so he moved on.

  “Why did you ask me about the families?”

  “Oh yeah, why did I?” She puckered her lips. “I guess I wanted to probe you a bit, get to know you, if our little task is to succeed I will need to get to know you real good...”

  A moment of silence passed.

  “All right, why?”

  “Grr, you are no fun!” She smacked her palms on her thighs in fake anger.

  “I will need to invade your mind.”

  “NO!” Luke stood up in definement.

  “Calm down you big baby! I know you won't let me... so easily, we will need to get to know eachother. For now, I just need to get to know you, and you need to adjust to me being close. I can see how much of an issue that is for you already.”

  He looked at her with eyes full of suspicion, but decided to hold back and accept this trade, for now.

  “So, what will you invading my mental space do to help us?”

  “Well, do you know how your Void powers work? Or the others too? The mental? That hot, pumping blaze that beats within your chest?”

  “It wrecks some shit properly.”

  “...Jesus... you are serious, aren't you?” she seemed more and more distrought at the perspective of their cooperation with each sentence exchanged.

  “The fact that you did not blow yourself up or killed in any other way with you power is just a miracle.”

  “Technically I think I died at least once when fighting the rat, and I did explode myself when I fought the frosty natzi guy, I just ignored it.”

  “...holy fuck, this is going to be bad for both of us” a mask of fake cheerfulness dropped for a moment, making his eyebrow rise, and just as quickly as it dropped it was on her face again, firmly.

  “Your powers, most powers actually create a conduit, that's the basis of using curse magic for egzample.”

  “Oh yeah, I was told not to do that, with how tainted with Void I am, it could warp the reality between me and the conduit and burn out the owner of the conduit into a monster.” he said absentmindedly, like remembering a piece of trivia.

  “...yeah, sure, so, continuing, your powers, both of them, Chaos and Void, think of them like ink. Your usage of them is like using a paint brush, the ink stayes on whatever you make contact with. Conceptually, you mark them. Whether you are a flame user, and you leave them burned, a sword user, and a cut festers after your blade infused with intent, or even a mortal simply caring deeply about someone, it leaves a mental trace upon their loved ones that stays there, for a time. There are many things that influence it, and it's all dependant on the kind of “mark” you have painted them with. With time, the paint dilutes, becomes covered by other paints gathered from their lives and mostly fades away...but, while it is fresh, it is possible to trace the tapestry of reality in search of the marked, droplet after droplet, it is possible to reach them...”

  “...so we can find the children?” he asked, a fain ray of hope shining through.

  “No, I already tried, they are already stashed away in a place that's seperate enough of this realm that all traces leading to them were wiped clean.”

  Luke's cheeks tensed as his jaw clenched. His fists tightened and fingers dug deeply into palms, eyes piercing the floor in silent anger and shame.

  “BUT, you left a much stronger mark, a combined spotch of ink so bright, and so dark that it radiates with enough power to track it for a long time to go, and probably from a distance of a country away with enough preparation.”

  He looked at her, a silent question hung in the air.

  “You marked him, the Crow kindapper, tainted him with your Void infused bullet, and bathed him in hate and killing intent almost palpable, even now I can feel the embers of it burning within you, waiting to burst into flames, to consume him.” she smiled.

  “And yes, we can use it.” She stood up.

  “And yes, I can find him, we can find him.” he stood up too, facing her as she extended her palm to him.

  “If you agree to let me help you” and her eyes glinted with cheerful facade, a mask that contained a threat of violence.

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