2019-10-27: The Name of the Shadow
- Cutscene: Name of the Shadow
- Cast: Pearl
- Where: A blind alley on the Thames.
- Date: October 27, 2019
- Summary: After months of being followed, Pearl finally puts a name to the shadow that stalks her.
The members of Althena’s Guard, freshly arrived at the Thames, were gathered around a rusty, decrepit gear. They were tasked with fixing it. At Pearl’s touch, some plating fell from the gear. "I have no understanding of how this machine works." She said.
Minutes later, she had disappeared from the workshop entirely.
Instead, she made her way her way into a blind alley, some distance from the rest of the guard. A short, stout turtle like beastwoman was there, lighting a pipe, She turned at startled at Pearl’s approach. “Oi! Who’re yo-”
She didn’t have time to finish her sentence, Pearl striking her once in the throat with the palm of her hand, and then following up with a blow to the temple. The woman collapsed to the ground. Unconscious, yet breathing. Pearl stared down at her for a moment.
Pearl looked around, carefully, calmly. And then she thrust out with her hand and grabbed something- someONE that the eye couldn’t see, and slammed them against the wall of the alley. She was rewarded with a gasp of pain, and the fading of magic.
“I see. Light. I had wondered how you had stayed hidden.” Her voice was unemotional as she surveyed the girl that she held by the neck. The girls hands tried to pry Pearl off her neck, but the older martial artist wouldn’t relent. The girl tried to kick, and Pearl simply let her. It barely registered to Pearl. She simply noted the black garb that the girl wore. The messenger from Bevelle, then.
“I imagine he told you to follow me, yes? To notify him when I had succeeded or failed, yes?”
The girl continued to struggle, and Pearl tightened her grip. “Or if I had run away, perhaps?” The claws that Pearl wore on her hands dug into the cultist’s skin, drawing blood. “I cannot imagine that he told you to help me. He would never be so… generous.”
The girl’s breathing drew heavier, and her struggles weakened. Pearl asked a third question. “Tell me. Why did you interfere with that hellion?”
The voice that came back was quiet, and breathy. “...kill...you…” She wheezed, and Pearl blinked, just once. She released her grip enough to let the girl breathe. She sputtered and coughed, before getting the sentence out. “The master said that… He said that if I killed you, I’d take your place!”
A cruel smirk came up on Pearl’s lips. She released her grip on the girl’s neck and dropped her to the floor. “You interfered so that you could have the... honor, instead of a monster.” Pearl lets out a cold laugh. She had not laughed in some time. “And knowing now the difference in our strength, could you?” The girl’s response was a sudden kick aimed at Pearl’s throat, purple ki enshrouding it. Pearl leant back, and let it flow pass, before grabbing the girl’s leg and forcing her to the ground. Purple ki flowed through her free hand.
“I wonder. Is this for his own amusement, or does he genuinely believe you have potential.” Pearl couldn’t put it past her master to dangle such carrots in front of the ambitious students, even with the ever present stick of a sudden and brutal death.
“You understand that we are now on the Blue Star?” Pearl asks, and the girl’s eyes widen. “I wonder if even a planet away we are free of his reach?” The second question was rhetorical. Pearl dispelled the ki from her hand, and stood up.
“You cannot follow me from the shadows indefinitely. You will be detected sooner or later, and then I shall have questions to answer that I do not need.” Pearl’s tone is unchanging, but something in her demeanour has shifted. “And I will not let it be said that I allowed you to lapse on your training. Find yourself some clothes that will allow you to blend in.”
The girl looked at her incredulously. “Wait, what?”
“I will give you one opportunity. You may strike whenever you wish. But if you fail, I will show you the fate that awaits me should I fail. Until then, I will take charge of your training. Understood?”
The girl nodded cautiously. Pearl turned her back on the girl, and started walking. “When we have an appropriate moment, I will manufacture some excuse for you to be present.” Pearl paused, and looked back at the girl. “What is your name?”
The girl had not considered such a question. “...It’s Amy.”
Pearl nodded, and continued walking. Amy clenched her fists tightly, and prepared to channel to terrible ki of the Shadow Dragon Cult. But she didn’t attack. She stopped, and then abandoned her stance.
“Good.” Pearl didn’t bother to look over her shoulder. “You are learning.”
Amy looked down at the beastwoman on the floor. “And what’ll I do about her?”
“Whatever it is you wish. I do not care.” Pearl responded, and rounded the corner away from the alley.