Chapter 32: [Chapter 32 – Calm before the storm]
The gangsters had been quite shocked by the powerful burst of power showed by Xeno. This was mostly because they were not of the warrior branch of the system, using a gun was not that hard, but they weren't really physically strong. They did not possess the necessary reflexes to actually follow the movement that Xeno did with his tail, as such they perceived it just like a blur.
In the next seconds, they regained a stable state of mind, and surprisingly, other then the long cut on both floor and wall, no one had been really hurt. The thugs were quite a bit surprised by this. From living in their kind of environment, that learnt that the ones who held true power, the strength to fight, would rarely spare the likes that provoked them.
Yet they couldn't know that Xeno either didn't feel anything about Suren offenses and he didn't want to remain a second more near Ilenia.
Anyway, only now the gangsters just realized that this very alien and his two minions had already escaped, leaving without a trace.
In fact, this had been Xeno's objective since the start, he didn't want to cause a ruckus in the restaurant or hurt any of these rank three individuals. He just scared them and silently left the place. Now he had to simply go back to the hunting grounds and aim to upgrade his rank to the third level.
[Ilenia's POV]
I have been working at the 'fatty thigh' for a few day already. It's a kind of mixture between a restaurant and a pub, however this one is quite different from most. As it is mostly frequented by thugs and criminal bosses, my work here is to simply soothe them with my body. It doesn't sound that hard, yet once you present yourself before them, almost naked, embarrassment and insecurity come out spontaneously. In this days I have learned that this is truly a good job between the ones for the inhabitants of the slums, as the tips offered by the gangsters are quite good, you just have not to worsen their mood.
Today, however, something happened. I had a rather strange and creepy encounter with a warrior type of ranker. This strange alien had initially just made his way towards our table. I initially only had caught an ounce of his shadow, however I soon realized his real height of almost three meters. Compared with a little girl like myself, he was a true behemoth. Furthermore he was a really strange and spooky creature, not that I have never seen strange aliens living between us celidres. Yet his face was almost blank, having only a mouth filled with sharp teeth, every so often a drop of saliva would drop on the floor corroding it's metal. His overall stature wasn't skinny, as he didn't have an ounce of fat but was still packed with a dense musculature. His skin was pitch black as the abyss, behind it strange rainbow colored veins pulsated in a myriad of colors.
He finally stopped in front of us and quickly coiled what seemed to be tendrils around me, I was scared and terrorized. Even more once he started to talk inside of my mind, I was about to piss myself. However he talked about a topic if was very sensitive about, as such I tried to held firm. The alien talked about my deceased brother, he told me he owed Inea something and gave me a pouch full of coins. I wanted to know more, as siblings we held each other dear and his death had been quite a shock for me. Unfortunately his tone was really stern and unemotional, he just said what he had to, not hinting or saying something about my brother's death. He must know something and I need to discover what. Yet as I was about to demand an explanation, the gangsters had tried to make a move on him. A few seconds later, the alien was suddenly gone, leaving behind the startled thugs.
I won't stay put, even if by putting myself in danger, I'll get to him no matter the cost.
[Back to third person narrator]
At the same time, inside of a well enclosed and isolated room, stood a long oval shaped table. It had many chairs around it, yet only about ten individuals were currently sitting. There were both middle aged and old celidres, leisurely sipping on teas and various beverages. They mostly dressed with fancy white robes, excessively glistering from an unjustified lucidity.
To quite the murmurs and continuous sipping sound, is probably the oldest celidre you could ever find in all elkatra. He had long white hair and beard, his skin was of a deeper brown rather then the classic olive colored skin of most celidres. Lastly his face full of wrinkles cleared any doubts about his elderly status.
"Silence everyone! We are here to speak of an important matter!"
Actually his words carried their weight, he was the head of one of the two merchant factions of the empire, and they were his subjects.
However in the next seconds an arrogance voice interrupted this new gained quietness.
"We know why you have called us here, you old fox. Are you really that eager to distract our attention, calling the meeting just because of a little rat that is simply killing low leveled criminals?"
The one that just spoke was the youngest, his short speech carried both arrogance and hatred.
"Delar! How dare you say that, I have enough evidence that this is all your fault! That monster is the result of the mess you made on the mines, I call this karma. Yet you are part of our faction, I am responsible for your actions as well."
Indignant for the boldness Delar had showed, but at the same time Luse Almar was even more worried about his position inside of the faction. Currently Delar was the leader of the sub-faction that had been formed against his leadership, they were toward more of a radical and aggressive side. They started to hate the forgiving and honest policy of their uncle, this group was gradually gaining more weight inside of the faction. They wanted to hire more warriors and begin a type of commerce dirtier. Delar and his loyal ones began to rebel with little acts, killing all the orphans picked up by Luse was just one of them. Obviously Xeno had happened to be one of their targets, since Dacid is actually a member of this sub-faction. Furthermore there have always been bad blood between the two of them.
Now the old Luse was trying to show his determination, he was trying to say that he was capable of using violence to defend the faction. He was not such good hearted and naive old celidre. At the same time, he would distract for quite a while all the gossips about his slow decline. Also the forces of the faction would alter their activities and focus on the given hunt, delaying Delar's plans.
"Ha! What bullshit is this karma of yours! Your are just taking advantage from the situation. It is true that some criminals he killed where making some business with us, but hiring true ranker warriors would cost us even more. Furthermore you are opting for violence only because the alien looks more of a monster than a sentient being, otherwise you wouldn't have the guts to actually do it.
I think you are just wasting our time, I am going."
As bold and rude as he might seem, Delar was holding power almost equally to Luse. The actual proof of this was the fact that the other eight representatives of the faction didn't neither stop him nor speak if not asked to.
"Then I propose to vote, I have already contacted three capable warriors that could be up for the task. Raise your right hands if you accept my proposal."
Soon after six hands had been raised, Luse's included. A few drops of cold sweat started to fall from his old cheeks, the votes were almost equal. Luse realized how much his opponents had spread their influence inside of the faction. He absolutely had to kill the creature that came back from the depths of the mines, it being Xeno or not.
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