Silas whistled "You're one lucky bastard, Kin. The Rhyle never ceases to impress."
Silas reached up and itched his left horn and said "How are they itchy?"
"The skin covering them in protecting the horns while they mature." answered the voice of Malachi in his head.
"Now, this is going back to when I was an Apprentice. You'll remember this, Master Gabriel."
Gabriel nodded and pulled out a cigar, lit it up and sat down to listen.
"It starts on an airship, just like this one...on the way to India..."
~~~
The low thwock-thwock of the propellers that drove the massive airship "Wind and Sail II" was the constant tune. Silas, with youthful energy in his eyes, looked out at the ground below pass by. His master, High Master Gabriel, watched his apprentice from afar. "Silas" he called and the boy looked towards him. "Come here."
In Gabriel's hands was a weapon, a rifle he had fashioned from steel and had expertly smithed. It was sleek and black with a wood finish grip. It had stylized flames along its barrel, it glinted in the noon-day sun. "This is for you, Silas. I've made it myself."
Young Silas hand the gun in his hands, caressing it, feeling its weight. "You will be great companions, Silas. This is what I'm calling an Arsonator Shotgun. The shot is filled with a volatile compound that flares up in open air. The shot from this doesn't just pierce flesh but burns it as well. Take good care of it, and it will never let you down."
~~~
India, the heat of evening in Delhi. The markets bustle in the evening light, the smell of exotic spices is in the air. Yet Silas is alone, in a building towering above the city where the lights flicker. He is in the belfry of a cathedral, tall and strong, his black fedora is new and his trademark leather duster coat is nowhere to be seen. His shirtsleeves flap in the wind. Footsteps sound behind him, he turns to see the girl he's been pursuing for two years. A wonderful Indian girl, whose grandfather and father alike had been Guardians, she was a Sangiunemancer who had a curious effect on Silas even without magic. Silas was stupidly in love, would jump through flaming hoops just so see her smile. "Are you coming, Silas?" she asked. He turned from the open arches of the belfry and followed her arm-in-arm down into the church below.
Something didn't feel right when they walked through the aisle. Silas just couldn't put his finger on it. Something terrible had been loose in Delhi, some great monstrous thing born out of a nightmare. The bodies it left were incised with precision, body parts aligned in a circle around the corpse. It was unholy. Silas stopped smiling and told the girl, Rajah, to get back.
Then he saw it, melting out of the shadows. It had the sleek head of a panther, and its hands were backwards...the palms facing out from the body yet the thumbs were forward. A Rakshasa, an man-eating Indian demon, a dark spawn creature and a servant of Set. It was dressed in black silks and it held two glinting daggers in its hands. It made no sound as it stepped towards them. Silas took a fighting stance, leveled his new Arsonator, and fired. The kick of the gun was strong...it hit the creature in the chest but it only burned the clothing. It whipped off the burning silk quickly to reveal the gleaming bluish metal underneath. Arcanian mythica, a metal of supreme strength crafted into the bulwarks and weapons of the Bladelings, Arcanian indigenous tribal species. It rushed at Silas, with a graceful step. Silas brough the gun up to fire again but the creature sidestepped his shot and grabbed the gun. They grappled a moment before the creature shoved the but of the gun into Silas' face...it his him square in the nose and hurt. Silas swung a fist and dislodged the creature. Rolling aside, he drew his sword.
It was a plain steel weapon, but it was strong and Silas was well trained. The creature smirked and said something in Acrypha. They danced around one another, parries and ripostes flying left and right. The monster was nimble, once or twice its blades neatly sliced so near Silas he gasped. Then Silas made a mistake, he changed his guard to an attack stance and thrust out at the monster. In what seemed like slow motion, the Rakshasa sidestepped and twirled around to the right side of the blade as it swished through empty air and brought both daggers down hard down Silas' back.
Silas crumpled in agony and swung blindly behind him. The creatures dodged and snuck into the shadows. Silas got up and looked around, blood running down his back. Silas held his communicator and said "Master, help!" before a dagger came flying out of the rafters and clattered across the ground. Silas held his ground, trying to follow the sounds of movement. Suddenly it dropped behind him and purred. Silas spun and slashed with his sword. It clanged so strungly against the creature's mythica bracer that it dropped its other weapon. Silas held his sword out and said "Surrender, you are disarmed."
It laughed and let out its formidable claws from its hands. Silas had a hard time keeping up with the creature's swipes. One after the other caught him, rending his flesh as easy as a hot knife through butter. Silas was weakening.
Then a rock bounced off of the creature's head. It stopped and rubbed the spot it had been struck and grumbled. Rajah had thrown the stone and had another one ready to throw. "Rajah, run!" shouted Silas. The Rakshasa grabbed Silas by the throat and tossed him aside, before bounding on all fours towards Rajah. Rajah ran as fast as she could, but the creature cornered her. Silas got up, his vision hazy from the loss of blood. He reached out with his magic and the two daggers clattered up into the air and with a flick shot out in a deadly shot straight at the monster. Then, the unthinkable.
The monster started to dodge, but Rajah used her magic. His muscles tightened, the creature was paralyzed. But it had moved far enough...as one dagger pierced the creature's side the other sailed through empty space...and right into Rajah's chest. Silas was mortified, he shouted "No!"
Released from the magic, the creature turned back to Silas. Just then, the door was kicked in. It was High Master Gabriel with a retinue of local militia. Gabriel released his thunderous Aeromancy out, and it struck the monster full force and flung it into the air where it hovered before falling down and striking the stone floor and crashing into the pews. It crackled with energy as it stood up, and again a blast of lightning tore into it. It burned and sizzled, its blood was boiling out of its nose and it raged furiously. It was pushed back and back before finally it was on its knees. Gabriel released the magic as it panted for breath and crumpled, then Gabriel drew his sword and stood. The Rakshasa looked up at his fate, then looked down and closed its eyes tight. The sword-stroke neatly severed the head where it plopped unceremoniously onto the ground.
~~~
Back in the room, Silas ended the story. "We couldn't save Rajah. She died there....I held her while she breathed her last..."
He swallowed the entire glass and said "So if anyone thinks I don't know what tragedy is, they better how they are behind bullet-proof armor because I will shoot them. Even half blind, i'll shoot 'em right int their fat arse."
Gabriel nodded slowly, "It wasn't your fault. You even sat with Doctor Freud and talked about this, we both know it wasn't your fault. It's something you need to let go of."
"It's part of me, I can never let go of the memory. I let Rajah down, I shouldn't have used my magic then, not like that. It was too dangerous..." tears were starting in Silas' eyes. Silas lowered his head "I'll never let anyone down again. Not you, Gabriel. Not mother, not my friends, not anyone. I've got the strength now to defend the innocent lives that I couldn't save before. I'm an Illrian Knight with the power of Perdition on my side, now the Darkness is going to feel our blades..."
"Be not eager for death, master..." whispered the voice of Malachi.
"Silas, you aren't invincible...and you can't hold the whole world on your shoulders. Help where you can, but don't sweat what you can't save. You can't save everyone, you couldn't save your companions on the train when it crashed..." said Gabriel, looking to Kin "Tell him he needs to stop blaming himself for something that happened when he was sixteen..."
