Arcane: Painted Tapestries

Callian walked back up the wooden stairs, having finished his conversation with Powder and starting to feel a little anxious about how fast she was progressing.

She was too good. Maybe giving her that smoke grenade was a bad idea.

He opened to door, slipping through and striding around the counter to the main area.

The man hopped onto a stool, whistling for Vander who finished up what he was doing and watching as he strolled over.

Within seconds, Callian's usual was readily poured and slid towards him.

The masked man stared at his drink thoughtfully, prompting the barkeep to ask him what was bothering him. "I don't like that face Callian. When you thinking types make a face like that for that long you know something isn't right."

The large man pulled a pipe from his pocket, lighting it and throwing the used match away, crushing its glowing end underfoot.

"It's just something I've been puzzling over. I can't make heads nor tails of it." Replied Callian, taking a sip of his drink.

"Do tell." Said Vander, a sly grin worming its way onto his face. "You clearly want to."

"Well, if you're that interested. The puzzle is you."

Vander looked contemplative now. "How so?" He asked, taking a puff of his pipe and allowing the thick grey smog to leak out of his nostrils.

"Why do allow me near them? The children I mean. I certainly would not have if I were in your position."

For his part, Vander was somehow looking even more thoughtful himself, answering the question slowly. "It's just a gut feeling, telling me to trust you. I can't explain it further than that really."

'A gut feeling.' - how irregular.

Callian scoffed at the unhelpful answer, before suddenly freezing when he realised Powder had said the exact same thing when he asked her why she had called him 'Cal' for the first time.

Did it have any correlation? Or was it just a coincidence?

"Well then Callian." Said Vander. "Give me a reason I shouldn't trust you. It's worked out well so far hasn't it?"

What a foolish reason, thought the shorter man absentmindedly. He would never understand these emotional types.

Just then, the bar's door opened and a hush fell over the rowdy inhabitants.

A gigantic man strode in through the doorway, having to duck his head so he could enter without hitting it.

He walked up to the counter lazily, his dark eyes flicking lazily between everyone who was staring at him.

Most looked away quickly, with a rare few glaring back with either respect or hate.

The man leaned forward onto the counter next to Callian, looking down at Vander who stood across from him.

"Vander. I'm looking for someone." He said gruffly, eyeing the barkeeper's impassive face.

Vander stared at the newcomer through creased brows. "You know I don't condone that kind of business Adrian. Go looking for your man somewhere else."

"But it isn't a man this time." Replied the man, his brown eyes narrowing. "It's a girl. Short pink hair, about so high," He gestured just above his waist's height. "Your little girl, Vander."

To his credit, Vander managed to keep his cool, despite the sudden threat to his daughter's life. The audacity of this bounty hunter to come into his bar and ask him where Violet was after hinting he wanted to kill her was maddening.

The barkeep blew a lungful of bitter smoke into Adrian's face, making the man's eyes bulge out as he began coughing.

"What was the price on her head?" Asked Vander, his tone turning into a very dangerous one.

"A damn near ridiculous amount, even for who the target is. Enough to make going against you worth the risk."

Every Zonai in the bar stiffened up and froze in terror, their fur standing straight up on end.

Callian's glass fractured under his armoured fingers, a spiderweb of cracks spreading through the poorly made material within a heartbeat.

Every person in the bar went dead silent now, all of them looking towards Vander. Some in anticipation, some in apprehension. But everyone wanted to know what would happen next.

"Vander. Can I kill him ?" Asked Callian smoothly, removing his trembling hand from the glass he was holding; watching on as it fell apart into a wave of tiny pieces that spilled outwards onto the counter; the trace amount of red wine that was still left inside it leaking all over its surface.

"Not inside the bar." Said the Barkeep darkly. "Let's take this outside Adrian, what do you say?"

"Fine by me." Said the bounty hunter, turning around and glancing behind him before walking out of the bar.

Vander and Callian followed him outside, both men suppressing their own inherent expression of anger.

A crescendo of muttered whisperings echoed around them. Some laughing at the bounty hunter, some worried for Vander. It was a somewhat equal mix.

Vander was simmering with a silent rage. Someone had dared to put a bounty on one of his kids. He would find out who had done this. They would pay in blood.

Callian was barely holding himself back from tearing the arrogant man ahead of him apart. His blood was burning; shimmer-induced rage spiking through his usually calm exterior.

How dare this no-name filth endanger a future Champion.

He was going to make an example out of whoever had placed this 'hit'.

The gigantic bounty hunter pulled a massive, crudely forged broadsword from the ground outside of the bar. As primitive as the design looked, the weapon was still wickedly sharp, its cutting edge shining softly underneath the green glow of the street lamps.

Vander's eyes hardened - he hadn't stopped to bring his gauntlets. But he wouldn't need them.

Callian stepped forward, pushing Vander backward with a calculated force.

The barkeep's eyes widened in shock at being pushed back so easily by a man who looked barely half his size.

 "I will handle this." Said Callian, turning his glowing eyes towards Vander's surprised face.

The bounty hunter raised an eyebrow at Vander amusedly. He expected this small man to fight for him?

"Tell you what Adrian, if you can beat Callian here, I'll tell you exactly where the girl you're looking for is."

The bounty hunter's condescending smile widened broadly. "I have heard you are a man of your word Vander. When I crush this half-man I will expect you to hold up your end of the deal."

"It's as you said, I'm a man of my word."

Without waiting another second, the man swung his broadsword towards Callian, cleaving downwards from the right with a devastatingly fast diagonal slash.

If the attack were to hit the smaller man, his head and right arm would be severed from the rest of his body, killing him instantly.

The world slowed down around him as the shimmer in his blood ignited, sending him into what Callian referred to as 'bullet time'.

The detail in his vision spiked; he could see and focus on everything in his view. The sharp blade swinging towards him; the rough surface finish on the man's silver earrings; the way his pupils dilated slightly to focus in on him; and the empty market behind him, devoid of all but three people who were hiding out of sight.

It looked like the bounty hunter had cleared the area. Mostly.

Wide, so many openings in his stance. He could have killed the man on his first attack, but he needed him alive. Dead men told no tales.

The blade was halfway through its intended trajectory before Callian placed his left palm against the sword's flat edge; guiding it downwards into a slightly different arc and ducking his head underneath the blade itself, dodging out of its adjusted path.

He snaked his other hand under the man's muscled forearm and stabbed his armoured fingers into the man's cubital fossa, puncturing the tanned skin of his elbow with a sickly ease.

The bounty hunter would never be able to use that particular arm again.

Droplets of his red blood splattered outwards in midair, slowly falling downwards in the decelerated time.

He then dropped to the ground, darting behind his opponent and repurposing his now free left hand to stab through the back of the man's right and left knees with two quick motions; slicing the tibial nerves that governed his leg's movement.

Now having permanently crippled the man in three of his four limbs, Callian watched as the oncoming pain slowly registered on his face.

He stood up, pressing his small back against the man's own gigantic one, before his shimmer's final embers burned out, completely exhausted. He would need to let his blood cool down for a little bit before using bullet time again.

Half a second had passed.

The man screamed in pain, dropping his heavy sword to the ground and falling to his knees.

Vander's anger disappeared as he stared in disbelief at what had just happened.

He had seen Adrian swing his sword downwards and then… Callian redirected the hit, crippled his enemy, and then darted behind him; all in one blurry movement. His eyes could barely follow what had happened.

He watched as tears born of shock and pain streamed down the now crippled man's face, who was still howling in utter agony.

The bounty hunter's only functioning arm flailed around as he tried to grab at the smaller man behind him.

Callian turned around, grabbing the man's hair with both hands and curling his armoured fingers around the side of his head.

"Tell me who ordered you to do this, and I'll kill you quickly." Said Callian, his fingers slowly snaking toward the man's terrified eyes. He jerked the bounty hunter's head back, his metal boot slamming down onto the back of the man's mutilated knee.

He yelled in pain, his tiny sliver of resolve folding under the tortuous pressure bearing down upon his broken joint. His only functioning fingers spasmed in pain. "Brendern! It was Brendern. He ordered the hit. The girl f-fucked him up or something, I don- GAHH!"

The man screamed even louder as Callian slowly pressed the tips of both forefingers into his exposed eyeballs, the sharp armour sliding wetly into his soft flesh. He clawed at his eyes, unable to pry Callian's hand away from his face.

The pitiful man cried bloody tears as his assaulter looked up to Vander, who gave him a nod - confirming that he knew who Adrian was talking about.

The barkeep didn't look at all phased by the brutal torture he was all but condoning.

Something deep inside of Vander roared with a wave of primal anger and appreciation. The man kneeling before him had wanted to kill his daughter.

The world shivered unpleasantly.

"Where can I find him?" Whispered Callian cruelly, his teeth bared; digging his fingers deeper into the man's eye sockets.

"WESTSIDE, SOMEPLACE IN WESTSIDE I DON'T KNOW WHERE I-"

Callian's fingers jolted violently into the bounty hunter's skull and the man fell to the ground limply. A ghostly echo of a wounded scream dying abruptly on the bounty hunter's bloody lips.

He was dead.

Such a weak man wouldn't have the capacity to lie to him when undergoing that much pain.

"Shall I leave the body here?" He asked Vander, eyeing the stony-faced barkeeper critically.

The larger man stared down at the corpse impassively.

Someone had ordered a hit on his daughter. He didn't give a shit who it was.

Someone had known who he was, who he had been, and still ordered the hit. On his family.

His current reputation was not enough anymore. He had made too many empty threats over the years.

But he still had to protect them.

Vander remembered Felicia dying in his arms on that godforsaken bridge. Watching on powerlessly as his closest friend bled out, begging him to take care of her two daughters after she was gone from this world.

"Yes. This cannot happen again. Ever." Said Vander, the wooden pipe he had been carrying splintering under his massive palm. "I will take care of this Brendern - personally. For now, let this fool be left as an example of what happens when someone dares go after my kids."

The barkeep turned around, stomping back to the bar's door before stopping in the open doorway.

"And Callian, thank you."

—

Callian stared after the man, watching as the door slowly swung shut behind him.

He had not expected Vander to take this so well. A little resistance to his trademark brutality at the very least.

Was his Lady wrong about him all along? Had she just never seen Vander's dark side?

With how careful the man had been around him when they had first met; Callian judged such a thing to be entirely possible. After all, nobody wanted to show that side of themselves to the people they cared about; least of all to their children.

It was quite a bit late for that now however.

Still, it was quite unusual though - just like when Vander had decided to trust him early on as well. 'A gut feeling' - how irregular.

Wait.

Was the Arcane… doing that?

Ekko had warned him this might be a possibility, having once travelled across the timeline as well. Parts of his older friends' minds were likely bleeding over to the new timeline.

Nothing else made sense.

Powder's uncanny trust in him. Vander's trust in him.

Vander's uncaring nature toward his heavy-handed method of killing.

Callian brought up a hand, covering his mouth as the implications of this hit him.

Could it get worse? And happen with other people too?

…

Now wasn't the time to dwell on this. He had to deal with their eavesdroppers before they snuck off.

"You can come out from behind that pipe now; Mylo, Claggor… Violet." He said loudly, turning to face a large pipe that stretched up and over the building opposite him.

Callian heard muted shuffling from behind the hunk of metal, before Mylo tumbled onto the street, tripping over and hitting his elbows on the ground painfully.

"Fuck…" He cursed, getting to his feet and rubbing the now sore joints.

Claggor and Violet stepped out too, both looking very apprehensive.

He had just killed a man after all, in front of them too.

"That was… Adrian." Mumbled Claggor dumbfounded, taking a glance at the bounty hunter's ravaged body before wincing and looking away, going extremely pale.

"I'm unfamiliar with the name. Care to enlighten me?" Said Callian, now bending down to turn out the man's pockets.

Tch, nothing of value there.

Mylo opened his mouth to answer before getting cut off by his only female companion.

"He's a famous bounty hunter around here, never failed a hit before now." Muttered Violet, staring at the eyeless corpse that was still leaking sticky blood onto the stony pavement. "And you killed him without breaking a sweat. That speed was impossible."

Callian chuckled darkly. "Clearly not." He paused, looking back at Mylo who had begun a silent squabble with Violet over being cut off. "I would go and see Vander now if I were you. He'll have some business to attend to later today."

The three children shivered, remembering their adoptive father's stony face staring down unflinchingly as Adrian was tortured to death in front of him.

They had never seen him like that before.

The masked man noticed the group flinch backward as he approached. He didn't blame them.

"Go. Vander will want to make sure you're inside under his watch. I highly doubt the bounty was sent out to one person alone."

Claggor nodded understandingly, pushing Mylo and Violet forward towards The Last Drop. "Cal? Thank you - for helping Vander back there. I don't know if he could have beaten Adrian alone."

Callian had no doubt Vander would have beaten the larger man into the ground, even without his heavy metal gauntlets. But if it meant that the tall boy would finally start to open up to him, then he would gladly accept his misdirected gratitude.

"You two go on actually." Said Violet, glancing at her two friends meaningfully.

Mylo looked nonplussed at her request, while Claggor stiffened before nodding slowly. She knew what she was doing, probably. Callian wasn't out to hurt her at least - that much was clear.

The two boys walked on without their elder sister, giving Adrian's bloody corpse a wide berth before disappearing into the bar.

Callian turned and began walking past Violet, intending to leave and return to his Eastside hideaway.

"Wait!" Called Violet, running to catch up beside him. "You're small, like me."

Ugh, he could see what was coming.

"How do I fight like you." She said, swallowing hard and looking up at him as he walked on uncaringly. "You killed Adrian in seconds, your size didn't even make a difference."

"I have better things to do with my time than train a girl who can't even wrap her hands properly." Said Callian, referencing the girl's poorly bandaged fists. "And you call yourself a boxer?"

The teen gritted her teeth, fingering the loose wraps covering both of her hands. "Then teach me how to wrap them properly."

"No."

He couldn't make any drastic changes to Violet's overall competency, not until the timeline allowed for it.

"But why? I don't want to be weak anymore; I need to protect them. I could be so much better than all of them. If only I were born a man." She burst out, the frustration within her tone born from something far deeper than momentary jealousy. It was birthed from years of pent-up frustration, a decade even.

Violet had watched as Claggor slowly passed her in weight and height, despite being substantially younger than her.

She saw him on her training machine, holding himself back and allowing her to claim almost all of the high scores because he didn't want to make her upset. The difference in their strength was just too much for her to bridge with more experience.

It wasn't fair.

A stinging sensation built up in the corner of her eyes. She couldn't keep suppressing this sense of inferiority slowly growing inside of her.

But now she had met someone just like her. He was small too, looked down upon by everyone who met him.

And yet he wasn't weak.

He was strong, unbelievably so.

She wanted that power. No, she needed it.

"Please." She whispered shakily, hesitating before grabbing at Callian's cloak as he walked away, stopping him.

Callian glanced towards Violet, his eyes burning with a heavily restrained malice. Salgi leaked from his eyes and bore into her own, freezing her in place.

The girl's gaze hit the floor, completely cowed by his murderous killing intent.

"Listen well Violet. I'd like to let you in on a very important secret I learned when I was about your age."

His scarred lip curled upwards; relishing the power and meaning contained within the words that were about to leave his mouth. Silco had such a way with words. *

"You see power, real power, doesn't come to those who were born strongest; or fastest; or smartest. No. It comes to those who will do anything to achieve it. You, I'm afraid to say, do not have that kind of resolve."

The pink-haired teen's shoulders shook, her knuckles whitening as she slowly turned her face up to meet him.

His gaze softened slightly, perhaps this truth was a bit too heavy-handed for the teen to handle.

Her eyes however, burned with a maddened determination, shrugging off his Salgi and boring her blue eyes into his own.

A flicker of violet flashed across her lightly coloured irises, shocking Callian into retracting his killing intent.

Impossible. It was happening with her too?

"Well." He said thoughtfully. "I stand corrected girl. Perhaps you do have potential after all."

Her gaze did not waver under his admittance. "So?" She asked, looking up at him with an unstable expectantly.

"If you can find out where I reside in Zaun and catch me while I'm there, I will concede that you may in fact be worth my time and effort."

Violet glared at Callian. "A test? But how is this going to test me, I'll just follow you around."

A wicked grin spread across the masked man's face. "Will you now?"

He blurred out of her vision, darting behind her and disappearing out of sight.

She whipped around, staring behind her at the now-empty marketplace.

"Fuck." She muttered, shaking her head in dismay.

A small grin wormed its way onto her face a moment later however.

Callian was still a greenhorn when it came to navigating the Undercity, only having been there a few weeks at most.

She was going to pass this little test of his and make him teach her.

One way or another.

—

*I had so much fun writing this. I mulled over whether to add it or not but ended up doing so. Perhaps some of you will realise what him knowing this implies.

—

(Total word count: 3518)