A myriad of bright embers flew by like fireflies in the night as countless thoughts ran past Lucian's mind.
'Stussy…'
The bloodied headphones Aurora carried in her hand belonged to his bratty co-worker and friend, Stussy. Was the blood on the headphone's surface hers?
Turning his head towards the burning pub, Lucian thrusted himself forward in a sprint, but before he could throw himself into the massive bonfire, he was yanked back.
"What are you doing?" snapped Aurora, clutching his collar with strength that didn't suit her figure.
Lucian fought to escape her iron hold, "Let go, Stussy might be trapped in there!"
Contemplating something in her mind, Aurora sighed and asked jokingly, "Hey, kid. Do you want to see a magic trick?"
A puzzled expression appeared on Lucian's face, quickly replaced by a look of pure awe as Aurora raised her arm towards the burning Dragon's Den. Her fiery eyes lit up as the world around them took a golden hue and the scenery transformed.
The large crowd of onlookers surrounding them began moving in reverse!
Slipping their phones back into their pockets in awkward, reverse motions and walking backwards at an eerie speed. The raging flames undertook a similar effect. Incandescent flames, once intense and ravenous, swirled in reverse and shrank. It was only when the birds—soaring through the night sky, flew rearwards that Lucian began to grasp what was happening to the world around him.
All around Lucian, the world seemed to be moving in reverse.
The feeling was surreal. For the first time, he was witnessing the power of an Ascender. Aurora's confident smile and her lustrous right eye were engraved into his memory as the eternal moment that only lasted a few seconds came to an end.
Before them, the Dragon's Den stood in all its tumultuous glory. Lucian couldn't believe his eyes as Aurora released her hold of him. In a whole new light, Lucian watched her enter the pub with an expression of pure admiration.
"D-Did you turn back time, Miss Aurora?" asked Lucian, following behind her with stars in his eyes.
"Something like that," she answered promptly.
A pungent stench entered their nostrils as they entered the silent establishment. Lucian's eyes instantly fell on the pile of corpses on the wooden floor—marred corpses of customers as if a wild beast had unleashed its fury on the poor drunkards.
"However, I'm not all-powerful," Aurora added as she approached one of the bodies, rolling them over with her boot, "I'm of the Mage class. I specialize in time magic. I'm just a glorified television remote, though. I can pause, fast-forward, and rewind time in a certain radius at my own discretion, but the dead will always be dead."
Scanning the bloody scene, Lucian considered her words for a moment.
Firstly, Aurora had revealed to him her Talent class. Every single Ascender fell into one of the eleven classes: Warrior, Healer, Mage, Gunner, Knight, Assassin, Archer, Beastmaster, Summoner, Oracle, and Engineer. Their class corresponded to their Desire and gave them set roles which complemented their Talents. Lucian trained hard his whole childhood, hoping it would lead him to a combat-oriented class like Knight or Warrior.
Secondly, Aurora gave him a simple explanation of her Talent. Her manipulation of time had its limitations. It was capable of freezing something in place and of accelerating and reversing the flow of time. Still, it's incapable of performing a miracle such as bringing the dead back to life.
Thirdly, was her transforming into a child earlier, her rewinding time for herself? If so… Just how old was the person in front of him? Lady Kuro may have had a valid reason for calling her powerful…
"The ones that did this are aware of my presence…" Aurora forced a laugh as her fists curled up.
Lucian raised a brow, stepping over another marred body in the fearful search for Stussy, and asked curiously, "What makes you say that? Is all this truly the work of the Skull gang?"
"It's either they're a bunch of lucky rascals, or a certain someone gave them explicit instructions on how to bypass my rewind skill," said Aurora through clenched teeth. "You have cameras here?"
"Oh, yes!" Lucian jolted up and kicked open a door behind the bar counters. He had nearly forgotten about the surveillance system of the Dragon's Den, which was powered by etherite crystals.
Projecting the screen onto the wall, which displayed the recent recordings of the various areas of the establishment. Aurora quietly observed as Lucian selected the latest one and played it back for them.
The recording opened with the bar's familiar liveliness. Drunkards danced on tables, and illegal substances were being exchanged through discrete handshakes. Lucian's eyes locked onto the orange-haired Stussy, who was refilling the drinks of the inebriate customers whilst moving her waist to the songs playing through her headphones.
The bar's atmosphere was the same as when he had left, but the scene quickly changed when a group of men in black suits with white skeletal designs entered. Drunkards and scum alike put their stupor on hold to stare at them.
'The Skull gang really did come?' Lucian narrowed his gaze at the last member who entered and increased the volume on the projector system.
Their attire was different from that of the others, indicating their higher position, and they wore a black cape with a strange mask of two skeletal hands covering their mouth. Their eyes were shut tight as the black-gloved person lifted someone's drink and clicked it as if preparing to toast.
Clink! Clink! Clink!
"Alright, alright, parties over," he said sluggishly. "It's 2 AM. Go home already, you vermin."
This caused an uproar amongst the drunkards and the company surrounding them. They stood from their seats and raised the weapons hidden within their attire. Bar fights in Stonekeep were as common as murder cases in Stonekeep, going to a place like the Dragon's den armless could very well cost your life.
The person leading their group dropped their head low in disappointment, before shaking their head and adding, "I was woken up for this. I swear on the Moon, you pricks don't want to do this."
A fearsome threat, but to the drunkards of the Dragon's Den, fear was an emotion one threw aside once intoxicated.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
At that moment, the group of Skull gang members were riddled with bullets from head to toe, but before they could fall to the ground, their bodies twisted and convulsed.
The tight-eyed leader let out a long sigh before finally opening his eyes, revealing cloudy, white eyes—a sign of blindness. In a deep voice, he ordered, "Sic 'em."
Skeletal creatures that resembled dogs of bone shot out from their bodies and started attacking the shooting drunkards, paralyzed by fear. The skeletal dogs were the size of alpha wolves and attacked with fearsome intelligence. Disarming an attacker whilst the other dog would strike at their head.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Shots fired in succession, but their mundane bullets couldn't penetrate the dense bone. The bar was promptly filled with fearful, painful screams, and fresh blood splattered all over the walls. Like horrors escaping a nightmare, the bone dogs tore limb after limb and sank bloody fangs deep within flesh. Chaos ensued as drunkards ran in fear, desperately trying to escape the beasts rampaging in the pub. Bullets were continuously fired without any precision; the lives of unlucky souls that happened to be in the line of fire were snuffed out like flames.
The blind leader simply walked forward as a massacre was taking place all around him and stopped in front of the bartop where Stussy was hiding beneath. With a slow pattern, he knocked on the bartop, tormenting Stussy, who was hurriedly unlocking a wooden box with silver engravings.
"Hey… Hey! I know you're down there. You're the infamous Lady Kuro, right? Under Skirk's orders, you're coming with me."
Lucian's eyes narrowed towards the projected screen and blinked cartoonishly despite the severity of the situation.
'He really is blind…'
Standing up with a jolt, Stussy aimed a double-barreled shotgun towards his head.
"Who's asking?" she queried, trying to keep a somewhat calm facade.
"Pardon my manners," he apologized, like the environment they were in warranted proper conversation etiquette, "My name is August. The Skull gang's second-in-command. I've been entrusted with taking you to Skirk by force, but unless you comply—"
"Eat shit," Stussy interjected before pulling the trigger.
Bang!