System: A Travel To The Mages' Timeline

SIX

A silence suddenly filled the air. It was heavier than any darkness Hagel had ever known fell after the vampire mage's threat. The only sound was Mia's slight, painful sighs. He looked at his team—Jorin, Tycus, Ava. In their faces, he felt the same fear that gripped him and had some place in them, too.

“We are not leaving her,” Hagel said, his voice cutting through the silence as if it was piercing material. He knelt beside Mia. Her uniform was torn and dark bruises were already welling up on her neck and arms. Her eyes were wide, staring at nothing.

"The threat… one hundred humans…" Jorin stuttered as his hand shook on his weapon.

“Is a bluff designed to paralyze us,” Hagel interrupted, though he wasn't sure he believed it. “If we stop now they will win without a fight. Ava, Jorin, get Mia to the safe room. Now. Be swift and silent.”

They moved quickly, lifting Mia with care. She whimpered but didn't speak.

Hagel turned to Tycus. The new recruit’s face was white, but he stood his ground. “You said you knew these streets. I need you to prove it. Take me the fastest way to the old communications tower. Not the main road. The forgotten paths.”

Tycus nodded, a spark in his eyes replacing the fear. “I know a way. Through the under-streets. It’s dangerous.”

"Everything is dangerous," Hagel said, patting his weapon. "Let's go."

Afterwards, they moved away from the safe house, walking into a narrow alley that smelled of dry sand that had decayed. Tycus led with a surprising confidence, pointing at a rusted grate half-hidden by refuse. “Here. It leads to the old service tunnels.”

They dropped down into the shadows. Hagel put on a small torch light, its beam cutting through the dark aura. The tunnel was tight, forcing them to walk on a single queue. And the air remained just cold and still.

“Why did you join us, Tycus?” Hagel asked, his voice low. The question was partly to understand the man's body language, partly to keep their minds off the creeping silence.

“I was tired of being afraid,” Tycus answered from ahead. “I saw what the low-ranking vampires did to my neighbor. The city guard did nothing. The Contra Sangues were the only ones who fought back. I wanted to be part of that.”

"Fighting back just got more complicated."

Before Tycus could answer, a sudden noise echoed from a side passage. Hagel raised a fist, and they froze. Hagel peered down the tunnel. For a moment, he saw nothing. Then, a pair of deeply red eyes appeared very clearly. Then another, and another.

"What are they?" Tycus whispered, his voice tight.

"Not mages," Hagel murmured. "Scavengers. Drawn by the disturbance." The creatures appeared into the light. They were wildly hairless things with a great array of teeth in their mouths. They were corrupted beasts, not vampires, but deadly in their own right.

Then the lead creature advanced. Hagel didn't waste a bullet. He stalked to another side, and brought the butt of his rifle down on its skull with a fast crack. It fell, twitching.

“Don’t let them surround us!” Hagel commanded.

Tycus, with a wild move Hagel hadn’t thought him capable of, jammed a metal pipe he'd picked up into the second beast and slammed it into the tunnel wall. The battle was short, brutal, and messy.

When it was over, three of the beasts were dead. Hagel and Tycus were out of breath, spattered with unpleasant fluid. “You fight well for a… former suspect,” Hagel noted, wiping his face.

Tycus gave a boring smile. "The streets teach you things, Lord Hagel."

They pressed on, finally reaching a ladder that led up to another area. Tycus pushed it open slowly, surveying the expanse of land. “Clear.”

They showed up behind the communications tower, which was just the remaining part of a more prosperous time. The main door was shut, but Hagel knew of a maintenance hatch. He forced it open, and they slipped inside.

The interior was dark, filled with the hum of dead machinery. Hagel went straight to the main console. The power was down.

"The backup generator should be in the basement," he said. "Tycus, keep watch here."

Hagel finally located the generator room. It was old, but the fuel was stable. After a few tries, the engine got kicked to life. Lights flashed throughout the tower. He rushed back to the console, his fingers flying across the dusty interface. He needed to send a warning to the Highlands, to tell them about the vampire mages' threat and their new and logical strategy.

The screen rushed to life. STATIC. He adjusted the frequency. It was more static. Cold fearful feelings formed in his stomach. He switched to a local scanner, and a message, clear and sharp, cut through the noise. It was a voice he didn’t recognize, cold and automated.

“...Signal confirmed. Primary targets identified: Hagel Tydan, Ava Bobson. Secondary targets: all remaining Contra Sangues. Directive: Eliminate. The hunt is authorized.”

Hagel stared at the screen. They weren't being threatened, they were being hunted. Officially. He tried the long-range transmitter again. It was completely dead. Jammed. They were cut off.

A sharp whistle came from above. Tycus’s signal.

He ran back up the stairs. Tycus was crouched by a window, pointing. Down in the streets below, a number of creatures moved with a purpose that was not human. They were leek, armed with bladed weapons that glinted in the moonlight. They moved in perfect, coordinated silence.

"Vampire assassins," Hagel whispered. "Not mages. They must be specialists. They've tracked us here."

"How?" Tycus asked, his voice shaking.

“It doesn’t matter. They’re here.” Hagel’s mind was racing. The tower was a trap. They needed to get back to the others. He looked at Tycus. “We need to draw them away from the safe house.”

“How are we going to do that?” Hagel looked over at the communications console and then back at the hunters. A desperate, dangerous idea formed in his mind. “We'll give them a bigger target,” he said. “We'll make them think the whole Contra Sangue force is here.