Bodies in the sand[m]

[You had to see it]

Out of all the locales that he ever preformed a ritual on, Magus had to say the beach would always remain special to him. The only noises being that of his gagged victim and the slow, steady noise of waves. His torch illuminated the poor boys face as 4 others held him in place. 19 I think, thought Magus. The boy looked scared out of his wits. It was a wonderful night, he thought, and it could only get better He turned his attention to the 4 others. They all wore the same black robes and looked very eager to start. "Devoted followers" Magus said "there have been those who have questioned are actions but NEVER one of our own! He must be freed before his doubt spreads like the plague." He grabbed a mace from one of the cultist's. "However to be free is a blessing. THIS must be PUNISHMENT!" He yelled, quite confident his distance from any sort of civilization protected him. "We start with his legs." Magus said, raising the mace.

[Arclightning]

Kenalt hid behind a rock barely ten feet from the cultists. He has been hunting them down for a good week, after all, Magus was worth nearly thirty silver. As the cultist raised a mace to break the boys legs Kenalt stepped out from behind a rock and threw a bola towards his legs. Then he pulled out another length of chain that was half as long as he was tall, and was tipped with a wickedly curved blade. He swung it around once, twice, and on the third swing he gave it enough slack so that the blade tore out a black robed figures throat.

[You had to see it]

The cultist holding the boy's left leg went down clutching at his throat. Blood painted the sand red as the other cultists stared in shock. Magus however was tripped by the bola and fell. He looked frantically towards the dying cultist, before grabbing a knife and cutting of the mans finger. "Apologies brother" he muttered, quickly taking a bite of the severed ring finger. He immediately felt the effects surge through his body. He looked upon his would be killer and grinned.

[Arclightning]

Kenalt swung the chain around one more time before it crunched into another cultists skull and stuck fast. He quickly let go and drew his sword. His greatest weapon was his chain, but he still had to fall back on his sword sometimes. And this one was a thing of beauty. Long, slender, and expertly made. And he didn't even have to pay for it. Sometimes bounties give better rewards than just money. He smiled as the final cultist charged him Kenalt ducked to the side and stabbed the man right under his rib cage. As Kenalt was pulling out his sword out he saw Magus eating a finger of his cultist. Kenalt recoiled in horror.

[You had to see it]

The look on the killers face was quite amusing. It was the sort of face that he had seen on many of his victims before they were freed of there mortal shackles. The boy was sprinting away, having seen his opportunity. Not to worry, thought Magus, I'll find him later. Magus understood that despite the power boost he was still a sitting duck. He looked towards the torch and threw sand in order to put it out before spitting out the bloody remains of the finger and pulling out his black vial. He quickly drank the substance feeling his body merge with the the small patch of darkness created by the dead cultist. With any luck the killer would be ignorant of Magus's ruse.

[Arclightning]

Kenalt saw the boy sprinting away and smiled. His primary goal had been accomplished. Then he saw Magus suddenly disappear. He was shocked, but he has been told to expect this. His employer was the boy's father after all. Apparently Magus was hiding in a shadow. How this was possible Kenalt had no idea, but hey. Magic is weird. That's all Kenalt understood and wanted to understand. He cast about for various shadows, but that was hard when the entire goddamn beach is dark. Finally he found the extinguished torch and re-lit it. Once shadows sprang into existence Kenalt knew it was only a matter of time till he found his quarry.

[You had to see it]

The man wasn't leaving, thought Magus. This was bad, very bad, it meant he knew how his powers worked and that meant either this was the greatest tracker alive or... Someone had talked. Magus was distracted when he saw the killer light the torch. Magus calmed, he knew his time was not up yet, after all there was so much work to be done, so many to set free. He rose quickly firing red pain in the approximate direction of the killer. "Don't worry assassin, soon you shall be free of your bonds!"  he screamed.

[Arclightning]

Kenalt would have been caught full blast by the sudden blast if red lightning had he not been expecting it. Even so it still caught his shoulder and made his vision flash white got for a second.
"Gah!" He stumbled and dropped his sword.

[You had to see it]

Magus knew this was his best chance. He ran to the killer while getting a white vial out from one of his pockets. He opened it and threw the powder at his assailant's face. After this even the killer would consider death a mercy.

[Arclightning]

Kenalt ducked the powder but only succeeded in getting some powder in his instead of mouth. Then they came. The people who railed in their cells, or in their graves.  The guilt he was never sure if he felt welled up in an instant. He cried out and stumbled over, then proceeded to craw pathetically away until the sand became wet underneath him. But over all of this was a color. The color of something that made him what he was today.

Blue.

[You had to see it]

He loved these moments. When a victim had reached lows they never thought they could. Magus leisurely strolled to the crawling form. He picked up the mace from earlier, testing its heft.

"Made a real mess of things didn't you? And for what, money?" He smiled.

Well somebody needs to be punished, thought Magus. "I'll start with the legs" he whispered, raising the mace.

[Arclightning]

Kenalt felt the fear and guilt course through him. It burned and seared like fire in his veins. But over it all was the color blue. Deep and dark, like the ocean. Suddenly a knight stepped through the haze. It was a knight. The knight that had made him who he was, who had hunted his only true family down and killed him. He was a figure who danced around the edges of his nightmares. And right now he was standing over Kenalt with a mace raised. Kenalt sprang up just as the mace came down on his toes. His toes went numb for a second, then felt like they were made of hot coals.
"Ahhh!" He screamed before stumbling back and fumbling for his knife.

[You had to see it]

"Don't worry, soon we'll all be together" said Magus

Despite the boots he felt the water move and flow as if it were as excited as he was.

"All you need to do is STOP MOVING!"

He brought down the mace even harder this time, aiming for the kneecap.

[Arclightning]

Kenalt stumbled back as the knight spouted his mad rantings. He finally managed to pull his knife from his belt and stumbled back. The pain in his toe was a candle flame compared to the wildfire of fear that coursed in his heart and seemed to suffocate him. But as the mace came down old instincts kicked in and he stepped to the right, on his injured foot. Suddenly a spike of white hot pain shot through his leg and he floundered, trying to stay on his feet. But every instinct in him cried for action, every impulse drilled into him from a life of combat screamed for an attack. So as he fell back to the sand he threw the knife, but badly, for it hit hilt first into the Knights helmet then fell in the sand.

[You had to see it]

Magus was surprised the killer wasn't begging yet. Most he had encountered would be at this point. He appeared to be looking for something, perhaps a worthless holy symbol to pray to false gods.

"You don't have anywhere to go, the only god is you and me,now please just stay still and receive my ble-

The knife hit his skull with a dull thud as the hilt bounced off his head."GAH- FUCKER!" He clutched his forehead and swore again. Why wouldn't he want mercy,WHY?

[Arclightning]

The only thing holding Kenalt together was his revived hatred for the knight, the one who killed his only family and turned him into a machine hungering for revenge. But the knot in his chest was coming untied, the haze becoming clearer, and the Knights armor seemed to be loose and thin, and it was slowly turning darker, almost black. Kenalt furrowed his brow in confusion. Armed only with his fists Kenalt jumped at the knight, hoping to pull off his helmet and break his face in.

[You had to see it]

The killer jumped at Magus, toppling him to the ground. Why would this man keep on attacking? All the money in the world wasn't worth this! The killer pried at Magus's jaw as if attempting to rip his head off. The affects must be wearing off, thought Magus. He brought his hands up to either side of the killers head and fired off the Lightning.

[Arclightning]

Kenalt only managed to pull off his visor and punch the Knights face before lightning shot into his brain. Everything went white with agony, he felt like he was being drowned,burned, and whipped everywhere. He screamed like he had never screamed before and fell backwards into black.

[You had to see it]

Magus quickly shuffled back from the killer to get to his feet, one hand pointed at the still form, the other clutching his broken nose. The killer was out. He looked for his mace before a thought came into his head. Did this man still deserve freedom. He had just made an attempt on Magus's life and had freed 4 followers before there time. Not only that but there was still the boy to worry about. If he made it to civilization who knows what holy secrets might be told. He took a finger from 3 of the cultist's before heading off in the direction of the boy. It would be up to the killer to explain away the corpses on the beach should anyone come looking. It would be up to the killer to make it home on injured legs and if he did see the killer again...well who knows? Perhaps Magus might finally show mercy

[Arclightning]

Kenalt woke up in pain. His legs were alternating between numbness and the sharpest pain of his entire life. He sat there on the beach, gathering the will to move. He barely croaked out a whistle then sat back, spent. The bushes rustled and his horse came trotting out. After a few tries he managed to crawl into the saddle, grit his teeth, and ride back to the village where his employer was waiting.