Her annoyance only grew with his silence. She rolled her magnificent eyes, a gesture of pure exasperation. "The mental asylum people aren't doing a good job," she grumbled to herself, stepping around his statue-like form. "They are really irresponsible with their patients. First that weird couple arguing about interdimensional tariffs, now this guy?"
She was already several feet away, but with their preternatural hearing, her every word was crystal clear.
As she disappeared into the crowd, Dutch and Karnix turned to stare at Fàfnir, their mouths slightly agape. Did their stoic, irritable, human-despising leader just… fall for someone? And a human, at that? One who had not only rejected him but had essentially called him a deranged escapee? The shock on their faces was profound.
While Fàfnir stood grappling with the seismic shift in his reality, his face flushed with a confusing mix of indignation and that stubborn, lingering possessiveness, Ravâ returned from scouting a location.
"I found an empty public restroom. I can work there," he reported, then blinked, taking in the scene. "What did I miss?"
Karnix turned, a gleeful story on his lips, but Fàfnir's voice, cold and sharp as a whip crack, cut him off.
"Nothing. Just Karnix fooling around as always," Fàfnir dismissed, his mask of cold command slamming back into place. "What did you find?"
"Oh. Okay," Ravâ said, easily accepting the lie. "I wasn't able to pinpoint the Egg's exact location, but I found several areas where its aura was strongest within the last 48 hours. The trail is fresh."
"Then we have ground to cover. Let's go," Fàfnir commanded, turning to leave, desperate to outrun the memory of caramel eyes.
His path was immediately blocked. Three human females, dressed in scanty, glittering fabric, stood before him, their eyes raking over his form with lecherous intent. The rest of his team found themselves similarly surrounded.
"Hey, handsome," a blonde woman purred, boldly wrapping her hands around Fàfnir's large bicep. She squeezed the solid muscle and let out an appreciative sigh. "You are so big and strong. Mind taking me home for the night?" Before he could react, she placed a palm on his chest and slowly, deliberately, dragged it downward toward his belt buckle.
Disgust, pure and unadulterated, twisted Fàfnir's features. He was bound by his code not to harm weaker beings, no matter how repulsive their advances. He grabbed her wrist to fling it away, but the woman misinterpreted the gesture, interlocking her fingers with his with a giggle.
"You are so bold!" she blushed, a contrived, bashful act. "Most guys aren't as forward as you." She then flung her entire body against his chest, wrapping her arms around his torso. "I like it."
The situation was spiraling. Dutch was using his sheer size as a deterrent, standing as an immovable object, while Karnix and Ravâ were floundering, their polite refusals doing nothing to deter the amorous women. What should have been a simple exit turned into a frantic, hour-long game of cat and mouse, the four powerful warriors from another realm being hunted through the streets by groups of women with a pronounced height fetish.
It took them over four hours of evasive action to finally reach their destination: a cluster of derelict, abandoned apartments in a forgotten corner of Queens. The silence here was a welcome relief, broken only by the distant wail of a siren and the skittering of unseen pests.
"Are you sure this is the right place?" Karnix asked, eyeing the desolate street and the skeletal remains of buildings with deep suspicion.
"Affirmative," Ravâ stated, his voice firm. "The Egg's aura was traced to this exact location approximately seventeen minutes ago."
"He's correct," Dutch rumbled, closing his eyes and drawing in a deep breath through his flared nostrils. "I can still scent it. Faint, like a ghost, but it's here. We have to act fast."
Fàfnir nodded, all business once more. He pulled a smooth, palm-sized blue jade stone from his pocket. Its surface was etched with intricate, swirling markings that pulsed with a faint, inner light, a language of power not of this Earth. Clutching it to his chest, he closed his eyes and chanted a string of guttural, foreign words. The stone flared, glowing with an intense azure light. He dropped it to the ground.
A thick, blue mist erupted from the jade, whipping around in a miniature cyclone before dispersing to reveal a large, iron-bound chest in its place.
"They will have sensed our presence by now," Fàfnir said, his voice low and dangerous. He and Dutch bent down, throwing open the lid to reveal an arsenal of otherworldly weaponry. Swords of various sizes, their blades etched with the same markings as the jade stone; heavy, spiked clubs; elegant bows and quivers of black-fletched arrows; strings of throwing knives; wicked-looking whips; and spherical objects that could only be bombs.
Fàfnir selected a longsword, its hilt adorned with a large blue gem that seemed to hum in tune with his own heartbeat. "Let's retrieve the Egg before they have a chance to run."
"Um, I believe it is already too late for that," Dutch said, pointing a thick finger down the street opposite them.
Four figures, clad head-to-toe in black, were spilling out of a building and sprinting down the street with preternatural speed and agility. Their auras were a perfect match for the one they were chasing—definitely not human.
"Go after them!" Fàfnir barked.
Like hounds released from a leash, the four of them gave chase, their powerful legs eating up the pavement. This was it. The fate of their world hung in the balance.
The escapees reached a forked road and, without breaking stride, split into two pairs, each duo disappearing down a separate path.
Fàfnir and his team skidded to a halt at the junction.
"Boss?" Karnix looked to him for orders.
"Karnix, take the right! Dutch, the left! Overtake them, subdue them, but do not lose them! We need to know which group has the Egg!"
The two warriors surged forward, their forms blurring with speed as they vanished into the gloom of the two streets.
"Ravâ!" Fàfnir turned to the albino. "I need your eyes up there!" He pointed to the rooftops. "Find their potential exit routes. If one of them has the Egg, they'll be heading for an extraction point. Now!"
Ravâ didn't hesitate. He leaped towards the brick face of the nearest building. As he did, his fingers elongated, the nails hardening and curving into sharp, black claws. His legs bent into a powerful crouch, and with terrifying grace, he scuttled up the vertical surface, avoiding windows and wires, until he disappeared over the ledge of the roof.
Alone for a moment, Fàfnir turned back toward the abandoned building from which the thieves had emerged. His gut, a primal instinct honed over centuries, was screaming at him. Check the building. Something is inside.
He sprinted back, taking the crumbling steps two at a time. The entrance door groaned in protest as he shoved it open. The lobby was a graveyard of shattered glass and debris, which crunched like bones under his heavy boots. The air was thick with dust and decay.
He needed more. He needed the enhanced senses of his true nature.
He closed his eyes, centering himself. "Ignis draconis, revela veritatem," he whispered.
A ripple of power went through him. The skin at his temples and neck tightened as patches of hard, crimson scales emerged, shimmering like rubies in the dim light. His ears elongated to delicate points, and with a soft, sharp sound, his fingernails thickened and curved into wickedly sharp black claws.
He was no longer just a man. He was something more. Something ancient and strange.
He was a Dragon-Scion of the Aethelgard, and he was ready to hunt.