They sat out there till dusk, before a group of four swapped with them. Vaut was amazed at the pure quantity of mages. He had expected to see one or two, but there were at least thirty walking through the halls. An amount that would normally draw attention, but people just treat it as normal. Not even giving this compound a second thought. Vaut couldn't help but wonder if there was a spell at work.
Vaut found his place within his bed, his eyes slowly closing shut, as the door slams open.
"Vaut buddy old pal." Lance kicks the bed slightly causing it to scoot. "It's time for your first mission as a mage." Vaut was slow to react, but he was already snagged by Lance. Lance pulled him from the bed and out the door. "There has been a new urban legend going around, about a void that pretends to be a shadow before allowing men whole. In cases like these we send junior mages, to not waste the time of seniors. That is why I will guide you as you eliminate your first fragment of the curse." Despite the dead of night, Lance still spoke in a loud joyous voice.
Vaut's legs began to hurt from the amount of rubbing, so he forced himself to stand. "I don't even know any magic yet." He complains.
Lance laughed. "Here." He hands Vaut a talisman. "Apply this to any low rank fragment and they are gonzo." He demonstrates by sliding his finger across his neck.
Vaut just holds it with hesitant hands. "What if I lose it?"
"Don't." Lance smiles. "Don't even think about losing it." The smile sent a chill down Vaut's spine.
They arrived in a less urbanized part of the city, bordered by rough houses made in a different era.
"When searching for fragments the best start is looking for signs of the curse." Lance explains. "Even just witnessing a fragment can put you at high risk of being corrupted, this corruption tends to spread like a plague. It isn't uncommon to find people like you, who can witness one or two acts of curse and remain human, but eventory even they will turn. That is why we cut it off at the root. No root, no problem."
"What if I witness the fragment?" Vaut asks.
"You won't, as long as you wear something to cover your eyes. It is only direct unobscured viewing of the curse that allows it to spread. So a thin cloth is enough to prevent it." He hands Vaut a thin blindfold. "Me, I got my mask here." Lance then preseads to slide on a fox mask.
They both stood there on the roof, gazing over the horizion. Vaut squints as he looks off into the distance. "Over there." He points. "Peaple are acting strangely."
"Oh wow your eyes are sharp." Lance complements. "I can't see anything at this distance and light level."
The two of them climb down, well Vaut climbed down, Lance jumped landing harmlessly on the floor. They then walked in the direction that Vaut had called out, finally arriving at what he saw.
A group of four men stand around a power line pole, each just stares dumbly up at it.
"Don't mind me sirs, but do we have a problem?" Lance spoke but no responds. "Seems I must eliminate the corrupted."
"Wait." Vaut grabs his hand. "How do we know they are not human?"
"Once the curse spreads there is no turning back." Lance pulls his hand free. "Keeping them alive to undergo proper tests is risking thousands of lives. Not a measly six." Metal flung out of Lance's fingers, piercing each through the heart. They slump to the floor soundlessly, that mindless expression still etched onto their faces. "I will call Red for disposal, so don't worry about the bodies."
They walk past the corpses, Vaut's hands trembling. "Will the fragment be around here?"
"It is possible." Lance nods. "Those corrupted might have been marking its territory, removal now is vital. In cases like this you would call in a senior mage, but you have me here." He points at himself in a cutesy manner.
"How many times do events like these happen?" Vaut shifts his gaze through the back allies.
"Both more and less than you think." Lance just calmly walks forward. "There are years when you won't even find a corrupted, then there are others where finding many powerful fragments is common. We work in a cycle of destruction and renovation, and it is us mages who allow the world to keep functioning."
"Oh?" Vaut's eye shifted faster as unease began to consume him.
They slipped past the outer line of houses and into the slums. Here countless people lived in tight cramped houses. The perfect place for something to spread.
"This might be more complicated than initially believed, I may have to call blue and green to prevent an outbreak." His gaze shifts to the ground in the distance where a vending machine's shadow rests. "Looks like we found our target, now go and eliminate it."
Vaut took a step forward before freezing, he couldn't rap his head around what he was about to do. Placing a talisman on a shadow was one thing, but this was a living, eating, devouring shadow. Something he had not imagined mere weeks ago. His parents died, he accepted that, even if it hurt, but how was he supposed to accept this? Was there anything he could do, was he even made for the world mages belong to?
"Vaut." Lance rests his hand on his shoulder. "You got this, I have faith in you, I always have."
Twelve years ago, on a bench alongside the river.
"Why are you crying?" A now much younger Lance leans over the bench at Vaut.
Vaut just sobbed.
"Come on man, tell me." Lance leaned in further with a grin.
Vaut looked up at the kid he didn't know, his eyes still wet. "My kite fell into the river."
"Thats it." Lance jumps up onto the bench. "Leave it to me, kite savor man."
The two of them spent the rest of the day searching the banks down stream, until they found the kite. It was just sitting there in a bundle of grass, as if waiting this whole time.
"See what did I say, when there is trouble I am here to save the day." Lance said with pride.
That was how they fist met, but they didn't meet again until two years later. When Vaut saved Lance from a group of bullies. Though with hindsight, Vaut can't help but feel he saved the bullies from Lance. They were inseparable after that moment, going through their school life together, there was never a time when they would have a different class. That fact also seemed suspicious now that Vaut thought about it. What are the odds that in eight consecutive years they would be randomly put in the same class? It had to be low even if there were two classes with each grade, but there were four.
Vaut's hands tighten. "Freinds for life, you really meant it."
"Well no shit Sherlock." Lance smiles. "We are BFF's after all."
At this moment all the fear Vaut had felt towards Lance seemed meaningless. He was not going to kill him, he was doing this all for Vaut.
Vaut shifted on his feet, the memory of the training replaying through his mind. He knew now what must be done. Breaking out into a sprint the shadow also moved sliding from its spot. Then it ran, sliding across the gound as if to escape, but Vaut wasn't giving up. His legs moved faster than they ever moved before, and when the shadow started climbing buildings so did he. Jumping from roof to roof. His body scaling walls with a little bit less than ease, but it was fast enough, he was catching up. The fragment knew this so it gave up its escape instead moving towards Vaut, and when it was about to swallow Vaut whole, he jumped flipping through the air, his hand just barely reaching the fragment, and a talisman slips out of his hand. He failed the landing, his feet slipping on the gravel roof and his back slams harshly into the floor. He could already feel the blood oozing down his spine, and yet a smile clung to his face. Where there was a shadow there was no more. Just a talisman stuck to the ground.
"Fuck yeah!" Vaut celebrates.
"You did good." Lance stands on the edge of the roof staring over everything. "Clean up might still take away, but you should head back."
Even well saying this, a pentagram appeared under Vaut causing him to vanish. Lance turns around gazing off at the man standing on the roof opposite him. His long white hair flowing in the wind. "Did you like my child?" He asks with mad eyes. "There is more where that came from."
The man vanishes from where he stood, leaving nothing behind to mark he was ever there in the first place.
"Traiter!" Lance hissed through clenched teeth.