The Deadman

Simone The Magus is a living legend alongside their Matriarch. A man who has continued walking this earth even after the end of what they call the era of myths.

He is the legendary Agent of CASE who was said to be from the bloodline of a wizard from a long time ago. He was a man who had faced demons, subdued the strong, and walked the current world with only his flesh.

A powerful mage that brings the storm with him.

That legend now stood before Elliot Dudman.

Ordered by the Matriarch to meet up with the living legend.

Tall, muscular, standing six-foot tall with a chiseled jaw and white hair that was like silver. He had heard that Lord Protector Simone had reached the age of 100 already and yet was still active.

“Lady Leona had recommended your name. They say that before you entered CASE, you were a runner?”

“That I am, sir.”

“What have you faced?”

“Ghouls and mutants, sir.”

“Have you seen a demon”

“Only once, but it was a lesser demon that took the form of a dog. I had managed to kill it by eviscerating it with a vibro-sword. I remember that to kill it, I had to drive silver on its brain and head.”

Simone grabbed his chin, “You do have a resistance to the pressuring effects from what I can tell.  I have read your dossier, but your talent lies in finding people. I hope that you’ve been informed.”

Elliot had already seen the info sent to him.

It was full of images of a cult-like gang being murdered within the same conditions. A slit to the throat that ended up with the victims choking to death. If it wasn’t for the details attached to the documents, he would even think that it was strange for this side of the world to care about the low–level affairs.

A wind blade and a seal that was used by the Enforcers back in the early days. It was included in their curriculum when they were given a potion of enlightenment by the Witches, but nonetheless was redundant unless they reach the level of a true mage that only a few of them were even allowed to reach. Elliot was at least familiar with the sealing spells and the bindings of light that they would regularly use on suspected criminals and cultists who would use a bastardization of magic to reach certain goals.

“Are we sure that this man isn’t part of the sin-eater cult?”

“My people have checked, but there are no traces. And even if they were, the sin-eaters have no reason to interfere with the activities of their pawn. Perhaps, they might have some dislike with the cult, but nevertheless there are cases where these two groups have allied and bonded. Maybe there are times where they have butchered one another, but the wind blade and the seals are exclusive to those who have learned from our side. Time has lost some information, and has caused certain discrepancies that misinformed people for the sake of secrecy.”

He nodded his head. Further analysis of the damaged power loader suggests that there might have been other spells used, but nonetheless the biggest evidence remained.

The seal that was marked on the power loader was the biggest evidence that they could get that this was done by a mage. Only those who reached the level of a mage could cast it.

“Hmm, it says in the docs that this person managed to leave no traces behind. A mage that is well-versed with technology and isn’t afraid to use it.”

Mages had this peculiarity against using high-tech because of the reaction. And although Elliot wasn’t a mage, he was allowed to use some trinkets made by the witches and some tools that allowed him to cast certain spells.

This man wasn’t tracked down.

He did not appear to be reckless and had infinite patience.

But most of all his actions didn’t follow certain patterns. There was no sign of conflict, no nothing that would point out the reason for these attacks.

It was indiscriminate murder based solely on the name of the cult. The worst part of these attacks that they were during times where there were no witnesses, and even if there was, this perpetrator had successfully evaded prying eyes and had made the perfect judgement on how to murder his enemies while asleep.

He has magic.

He has enough tech abilities to avoid technology.

And showed martial and stealth abilities that allowed this man to silently take care of his foes with efficient silence. Elliot doesn’t know what he can do with this information knowing that he was tracing down such a man.

“I’m not asking you to capture this man. I want you to find this man, try to get him to surrender, and then have the rest of your peers capture this man and be brought to questioning. Now, I am not questioning your skills and abilities especially with your Boss’s recommendation, but a mage is a mage. And you can see it for yourself that someone that operates like this would be able to tell that something or someone was watching him.”

Elliot is proud of his skills and abilities. He knew he was good and wasn’t afraid to show it. But when it comes to hunting mages, it was a different story. If you want to face a mage, and then capture said Mage, then you’d need the appropriate preparations.

“Can you do it, Mr. Elliot?”

“I will try, Elliot said. 

But this assignment needs time and patience. But if this man has a grudge towards the cult, and had been hitting their minor hideouts, then there is a chance that an attack directly to the headquarters of the Solar Temple  might become a possibility. The factions, and gangs of Lux City had been stirring the city with their deaths and might have caused a subtle reaction that turned the city to this improper state.

“I will take this job.”

“Don’t overdo it, young cub. I will not allow Leona to harass me if her cubs die. You know how  your Boss operates.”

And Elliot was grateful for that sensibility. If anything that was the reason that most of his comrades had been surviving. It was the insistence of their Boss to stay alive no matter what.

But there were times that the Boss had to make a choice as well.

To throw her cubs off the mountain and see if they could climb up.

 

***

 

Taking the time of such an important person made Elliot worry. He left the Sanctuary of the Lionheart and passed through the checkpoint of the city.

The first place he went to was the warehouse where the power loader was stored. He arrived in the front of the warehouse, and waited for anyone to chime him in.

“Oh, you’re the officer, right?”

“I’m Detective Elliot Dudman,” Elliot showed his ghost badge on the person.

The one who opened the door stared at the badge. “Ah, no problem here then.”

Elliot assessed the person, “No love for Netics?”

“Oh, they always ask that. I mean do people just mutilate themselves for fun? I only want to do it unless I have to.”

“Guess you haven’t worked in factories then.”

“Yeah, I heard they force people to get cyber arms for better efficiency. Robo-arms are efficient, but they still tend to make a mistake now and then. Ah, let me open this for a second.”

The man in his mid-twenties pushed the door of the warehouse to the right.

“Here’s the power loader.”

Elliot circled around the machine. He noticed that the seal-mark was gone.

“This isn’t it.”

“It is, at least, what the PD said.”

“You sure?”

Elliot showed a pic to the person.

“No marking like this.”

“Oh, the cleaners probably fucked it up. Wait, I can double-check.”

The man pressed on his smart glasses and called his superiors.

“Said that it isn’t the one he’s looking for. This is the power loader from that junkyard, right? Yeah, Gu, how come they put this shit into Uncle Pei’s warehouse anyway? Oh, of course Uncle Pei would allow them to take a space in this warehouse.”

He ended the call, “It’s the same power loader. We have the logs here and I think you can check the footage over there to see if anyone tampered it.”

Elliot checked on the security footage of the warehouse. He requested access to the storage space and rewind back to the time the power loader was placed in the storage. Watching the footage, fast forwarding, he saw no one enter the storage area for days.

Perhaps it was tampered before being stored here?

“Who delivered this here?”

“Don’t know. Probably a towing service. Hmm, if this is important I can ask Gu about it.”

“Sure.”

The man made another call. After waiting for five minutes, the man ended the call, and asked for a direct link to send some files.

“I got here the contact information of the towing service.”

Elliot dialed the contact information. He asked a few questions and questioned the towing service if they saw anyone change the chassis of the power loader.

“Nope, don’t remember anything like that, Ah, but the damn thing had blood on it, so they probably scrubbed it after getting it cleaned. You know how sterile the PD here can be. Can’t have a plague start or something. That all Detective?”

“Yeah.”

Elliot palmed his forehead. He just had to believe that this was the same power loader. He examined the power closely and found the wind blade scars.

“It really is.”

“Must be one hell of a weapon they are using.”

“You could say that.”

Elliot ran his fingers on the scar. He had seen what a wind can do to a machine and the horror of it when used against a person. It was a practical spell that could be used to tear through thick sheets of metal.

The durability of the power loader shows. The thick chassis armor and the reinforced glass was cracked by the mage. Technology could do the same, but to do this with nothing more than speaking words of power and a twist of the hand made it more dangerous.

Elliot had always wanted to reach that level of power. And the only way to do that was to rise the ranks, show your potential, and be granted the relics that will help you step into becoming a true mage.

It’s a dangerous world and knowing what happens behind the scenes has given Elliot the resolve. He wouldn’t miss this chance to prove himself and find this loose mage.

“It’s not going to be easy,” Elliot muttered.

The mage he’s looking for had enough guile to cover his tracks. A Mage who was able to take down so many cultists without being detected. This power loader was the only clue that they have. And it wasn’t much to begin with. This city has an unwritten rule of minding your own damn business, and trouble was everywhere.

“The guy might check this out.. Should I go to their headquarters? I think I can manage to wait and then let the Sir know if something comes up.”

The place had many gangsters and factions. Like a boiling pot with all the bad ingredients placed inside.

“Anyone that comes here?”

“Well, I don’t usually do this. Gu’s out so I had to watch this shit for him. I can call the boys if you want to know.”

“It’s fine. I need people to keep guard and make sure that this power loader isn’t tampered.”

“Oh, about that, someone from Corpsec might recover this. It’s their equipment and they want it repaired instead of salvaged.”

“Can they wait?”

“Nope. I heard that they’ve been hounding the LCPD. Probably afraid that it might take them more time to recover if another gang war breaks out.”

Elliot groaned, “Can you contact me if they show up. I'll send you a link.”

“Sure.”

The person accepted the link.

“Yeah, what was your name?”

“Robert Oswald,” he said.

Elliot checked his CIN-chip’s profile information and nodded.

"This will do. Call me when they take it and if some asshole's trying to get of the evidence."

"See you around, Detective."

He left the warehouse and accessed the information that he had purchased before coming here. It seemed like he needed to stake out.

“This is going to take  some time.”

Elliot lamented as he scowled at the salty rain  cleansing the city of Lux.