It was a mess that even she couldn’t fix. The Royal Huntsman were worthy of their names. If it wasn’t for her beloved rifle Ziba. She would have died under the hands of the Huntsmen. On the floor of the building she was on lies four of them. She was able to match them in skill with her precise shots and yet the cost of it came from the Magi to have been hunted down. One of the Magi that still breathed, begged for mercy. She raised her rifle, pointed it on the Magus, and pulled the trigger.

The Magus’s life slipped away. Whatever was left to the Magi that stood on their feet rather than die on their knees began to slip. Natalya held her left arm and took a deep cold breath. She wrapped a piece of cloth around her arm and inserted a five-round clip in her rifle and pulled the bolt. She slung the rifle around her shoulder. Her attention was to the equipment used by the attackers.

It looks like they are truly Imperial Forces. I’ve been told that the Imperial Royal Guard are dangerous, but these men wore the same outfit as the Holmians. No, she inspected the markings on their uniforms.  They are not the same, from what I can tell they were equipped to handle the Magi with their equipment.

She started to strip the dead off their belongings. She didn’t dare to feel horrible at the thought of looting the dead at the moment. Her life mattered more than the dignity of the dead.

Drum magazines, grenades that don't seem to look like a beer bottle, she took what she could from the dead and wore them. She was armed to the teeth after a looting, and yet she did not feel the tiredness.

My guns are strapped, the vest’s beaten, but I should be able to keep myself safe while I go back, Natalya convinces herself, sneaking into the shadows, and observing the cobblestoned street. When does it go wrong? I was just enjoying learning a few pointers, and yet suddenly they cowered at the toll of the bell. Guards should have been here, but it seems that the districts are isolated.

She kept herself in the shadows for an element of surprise, alternating form high to low cover, and made herself the smallest target possible while crossing the road. It sounds like they are here, she tapped the side of the submachine gun, and popped out of cover. She fired disciplined single-shot fire on the enemy that hit them in the coif of their armor. She had noticed that the enemy relied on fear tactics and this sense of fear to intimidate their opponents. They made themselves look big and bring fear to their opponents. Unfortunately, she had seen how they bled after they were hit by a loose round that she shot.

The gunfire shook the street. She could hear their heavy footsteps, and with that she plucked the grenade hanging off her belt and lobbed it to where the enemy was coming. A great flash happened and there was no shockwave or explosion.

It’s a blinding one, Natalya popped out of cover, and opened fired at the enemy. The enemy suppressed her with a pinpoint fire, while the rest started to move. She was prone on the ground, and aimed for the legs. The bullets only bent the shin guards and with that they started to move to her position. She let out a long exhale. Tapped the drum magazine and pulled the bolt of the submachine gun.

She fished out the grenade on her belt, threw it on where the noise was coming, and waited for the grenade to go off. The enemy however caught the grenade, and rolled it back. She quickly snatched the grenade and threw it directly to the enemy while barely avoiding their fire.

An explosion ran out and she felt her eardrums ring. She got out of cover. She pointed her weapon on them and started hitting them in the neck. She found the handling of the weapon stiff, the recoil bearable, but she had a hard time controlling where to shoot the weapon. Her enemies were obviously expertly trained veterans, and so she did not allow them any break. She moved forward while laying down suppressing fire. She managed to incapacitate two, and the other one remained on cover. She took cover. She changed the magazine of her weapon, and started opening fire, alternating her fire, then stopping, letting the enemy come out. The moment the enemy popped out, she emptied ten rounds on the chest, and three on the head.

They must be breathing, she thought to herself. She popped two rounds on their head to be sure, and exited the road. Checking her corners, slowing down, and not taking the big open road, she moved from cover to cover, avoiding any sight, staying off any easy to spot places, and navigating through the back alleys with the barrel of her rifle pointed to corners. She watched her back and crept through the neighborhood until she reached another space.

She stopped with a knee resting on the ground. Gunfire, didn’t react, screams, I don’t know what happened, but there seems to be a movement in that area targeting the Magi. If the others are right, then a great hunt for the Magi and Null is happening. I’ve been marked with death, however, anyone who’s seen outside is treated like one.

Natalya crept through one of the cars, pushed over a knife on the handle, and completely broke the lock, then she crawled inside the car, rigged the car, and started it. The sound of a car starting in this silence, it’ll attract their attention. Have to move, find a place to hide, shelter, abandon the car, and find a way to get back to the Ancestral House, the safest place in this city. She stomped on the pedal of the car, the tires screeched as she drove the car.

As expected, she managed to attract the attention of her enemies. She drove haphazardly, driving through tight corners, taking control of the steering wheel, keep her head low while she recklessly drove through the neighborhood. Natalya was calm. She had been through war that the sound of bullets either glancing the car or piercing through made her feel nostalgic. She couldn’t lose them on the open road, so she risked the car through narrow lanes, and tried to distract them. But in this Great Silence, she was one of the few who was running around in a car, avoiding the Huntsmen, and displaying great skill.

It didn’t take long for the car to be ragged. She had to kick the windshield open and mounted the submachine gun on the front, taking potshots on anyone trying to cage her. It was only when she drove through an uneven dirt road, and almost broke the tires that she was able to escape. She thought to herself that it would at least buy her time if they thought she crashed the car, so she plucked the safety pin of a grenade, leapt out of her car, and made it crash through one of the concrete barriers, which was followed by an explosion.

She crawled out of the area and moved like a snake on the grass. She didn’t dare to leave any tracks and hauled her weapons out. When she was a few blocks away from the crash. She moved sneakily, made herself small, and skulked around the dark. It was then that she noticed that she was getting close to a little community.

She hid herself at the single sound. She knew that after the Huntsmen gathered around the car, and tried to identify if there was a body in the explosion. They would follow. Natalya stopped. She looked around. It looks like I am on a coastal road. This should be the main road leading to the heart of the city—

Her thoughts were cut off as she felt the sting of a bullet hitting the back of the vest she wore. She immediately laid on the ground, just next to a sturdy rock, and held her submachine gun. She returned fire and tried to find the enemy. The enemy didn’t come close, and stayed a comfortable distance. Back hurts, but I’m alive. That matters more, Natalya thought.

She returned fire, and kept a mental note of her ammunition. The enemy didn’t move from the cover so she laid down a suppressing fire, moving to a sturdier cover, and staying patient, popping out when she could and returning fire.

It quickly became a standstill. She expected her enemy to make a mistake and yet the enemy certainly had the patience of a marksman. Knowing this, she didn’t dare to hesitate any longer, and gathered what little she could muster from her Imperator’s Mark and turned the tide to her favor.

The cover that the enemy was hiding broke into pieces. However, before she could move, there was a quick gunshot fire that almost tore through her head. The enemy laid on a prone position, and kept the rifle he carried.

Natalya expected a shot to come, but seeing that it didn’t. She conjured another trick, trying to distract the enemy. However, it was then that she noticed that the iron mask that the enemy wore had been ripped out.

She knew the face.

It was like a cruel joke that she couldn’t even fathom.

“I see that you have been busy.”

“I was,” the person in front of her didn’t look kindly. Though she had seen the way this man looked at people, this was the first time that she saw a deadly look on Mavin Tomas’s face. “I see that you were a Magi.”

“And I see that you were hunting us down.”

“Were you a Magi?”

“Only recently.”

“I see. Can you…show me your mark?”

What if I say I don’t want to?”

Mavin Tomas glared. He held no emotion other than the perpetual frown plastering his face.

“Show me.”

He raised the rifle barrel.

Natalya wanted to keep the mark a secret, but decided to show it. Seeing the mark on the back of her left hand, Mavin Tomas’s face was filled with despair. “The Imperator’s Mark,” Mavin said dully. “It seems that you possess the mark.”

“Do you know what it is?”

“I do,” he said painfully. He let his weapon slung on his shoulder and approached Natalya with that same sharpened look. “It is a mark that allows greater power. A mark to have been given by Kismet to mankind in hopes they could push back. I only have one thing to ask you, Natalya Wilde. Do you wish to rule the Magi and Null?”

“So you know what it is?”

“Do you think I would spend the night hunting down people if I wasn’t informed on such matters? Now I ask you, Natalya Wilde. Do you wish to rule as an Imperator of the Land?”

“I do not wish to.”

“I see,” he nodded his head. “They say that those who have mark have the blood of the Whitefall flowing through their veins. The Tomas and the Whitefall had always been different, and that we specialize in fighting the absurd. The mark signals the start of another era. My forefathers wanted to prevent such an era from happening again. Judging by the visibility of your mark, it seems to be gathering energy over this city, causing such an effect that could harm those who are near. Natalya Wilde, I will ask you again, are you truly not interested in wielding this grand power?”

“I don’t.”

Mavin nodded. He took a step forward with his dulled eyes. He reached out to her cheeks and when he finally held, slammed his forehead against hers, knocking her back, and giving her quite a concussion. He slammed his foot on her chest, and pulled a hiltless saber from his waist.

“The Imperator’s Mark is a powerful brand, however, the Tomas Family have been prepared for its return, and now I shall fulfill the duties of my family and truly end the era of those who still clings to the powers of the mark and the bloom. The price that will be paid is the mark on your hand and since you don’t want it…then I shall get rid of it.”

He held his saber above his head. Natalya struggled to get his foot off her chest and yet he mercilessly pressed his foot down and brought the saber down on her left arm. Her scream resounded throughout the night, as the saber’s edge severed her left arm from elbow area down to the fingers.

Natalya pulled herself together, trying to understand. However, Mavin Tomas peeled the mark on the back of her severed arm and chanted words she did not understand.

The earth groaned at every word he spoke.

And like glass shattering into fragments, she felt the sudden loss to the connection she had been attuned to.

No, the connection of energy that that she was attuned to was simply vanishing and all of it swirled and gathered to the hand that he severed from her.

Mavin Tomas mercilessly shattered the Imperator's Mark.

End of Book 1

karsev

Thank you for reading this far! The next part will start after a break.