A clap of thunder covered the sound of Razel's arrival in the alleyway, haphazard awnings above barely sheltering him from the torrential rain. The buildings surrounding him only had a couple of floors, but the sounds of wind and ocean implied cliffs nearby. While the storm was certainly vigorous, it didn't seem particularly threatening-at least, not yet. The rime mage grabbed a few articles of clothing from a nearby windowsill and wrapped them about himself, making sure to cover his face before putting up his hood. He stepped from an alley into a dense, if uncrowded, square. Long entry tunnels kept out the rain regardless of which way the wind blew, each floored with a grating that looked to lead over the edge of the wall. Razel meandered over to it, passing only two others, both in similar levels of wrappings. He peered casually over the edge, nearly reeling from what he saw.
The sound of cliffs was that of the enormous settlement shooting out of the ocean's surface thousands of feet below. A dull glow trailed beneath the water to fade with depth, implying more levels further down. He spied another several such spires, all connected at different heights by interconnecting tunnels, sealed against the elements. Together the colony gave Razel the distinct impression of a bundle of sticks, bobbing in the tide-except, he noted, for how very stable it all seemed to be.
He took the opportunity to slip into the stairwell unobserved, suspecting that there were not many interested in observing in the first place - likely part of the reason it was chosen as a refuge. The sound of rhythmic beating against the air rang through his ears as another transport landed, releasing a throng of arrivals which swarmed his direction. He followed them into the complex, the stair descending the side of the tower, landing in the corner before continuing down the next wall along the next floor. Razel stopped at the first floor he came to, the cavernous room sectioned in some places, built out from in others, with the end result as unique as the many just like it countless levels below. He wandered for a moment into the light crowd, popping his hood back but keeping his face wrapped. The chitchat gently filling the air spoke of a pleasant existence, everyone preoccupied with either their latest whim or that of their friends. Razel noticed a dispensing machine at the center of the floor, a towering pillar piercing the structure so as to see to its needs.
The life here seemed idealized, with nobody visibly wanting or suffering. If the complex was as large as it appeared to be from the surface, it could easily support a full civilization, assuming of course there were utility facilities - which the pillar piercing the buildings clearly spoke to the existence of. Razel irritatingly looked around, noting that most 'Utopias' are both Anything But and also a source of a veritable haystack of possible specialists as the need for survival falls off and people are free to pursue their passions - leaving Kinva's ambitions as the needle.
"Well. Quite a place to hide."
Razel exasperatedly looked around, calmly striding towards another transit to a lower level. He followed what seemed to be a steady flow of traffic towards the elevator, countertimed against the same tide coming the opposite direction. Thanks to the large size of the transiting chamber, the wait was minimal, leading in short order to the second level. Visually, it appeared much as the first, with another elevator opposite this one. The switchback path into the depths seemed a constant feature of the structure based on the map plastered against the landing, giving Razel the impression of at least a hundred floors for this Canton alone.
"Who the fuck built this?"
He shook his head and wandered aimlessly, slipping seamlessly into the crowd as he groped mentally for some sort of metaphysical scent to follow. His thoughts as always began to wander, reflecting on the exhilaration of the last few days. A smile broke his stoicism as he swayed a bit to a remembrance of a beat, wondering if there might be value in his asking Twelve for another assignment with the hunters before quickly smashing all of that into a small mental box to be dealt with later if ever.
Unexpectedly, he caught a familiar smell - a literal twang in his nose, in sheer spite of his mental efforts. The smell threw his memories back to Ophelia's boudoir, a smell he may not know the name for but which he knew regardless. As casually as he could manage, he hoped against hope for a speedy resolution and turned a corner to bump into none other than the vampire in question.
"Hey, watch where you're-"
His eyes went wide as Razel's reflexes kicked in and found his fingers slipping into the flesh in Kinva's neck as he slipped between spaces, shunting the both of them into a pocket realm weighing heavily on Razel's sparks, seemingly precluding another 'walk away. A large tower in the center of the clearing in the bubble was quite obviously the anchor establishing this small offense against the natural order, and Kinva wiped blood from his neck as he stood and stumbled his way into the gate in the wall surrounding the structure. Razel merely smiled and thought for a moment, before snapping his fingers and flaring the space above them before it crackled and resolved into a metallic sphere, whose surface ignited before rising above the tower to pulse and flare on command-in part to act as a source of extra power, but mostly as a loudspeaker. As a secondary precaution, he pulled a lock from his pouch and activated it, adding a second level of prevention to the place before reveling in the chance to quite simply fuck this guy up.
"'EY, YO, KINNEY!"
Razel continued to manifest his materials as he heckled, working and taunting in equal measure.
"DID YOU REALLY THINK I WOULDN'T HEAR ABOUT YOU? DOUBT I WOULD COME AFTER YOU?"
He wiggled his fingers with more flourish than strictly necessary, coalescing his witchbane orb and anchoring it to his right hip. He shot out his right hand, wrapping his fingers around the shaft of the staff that grew from the void cut by his intent.
"YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN RIGHT HAD YOU NOT INVOLVED THE DRAGON."
His robe shimmered as the fabric grew darker and darker before eventually giving up on reflecting anything at all. The freshly grown staff shimmered in the unnatural light, whistling as it sliced through the air and settled in Razel's various poses.
"I KNOW YOU'VE READ MY FILE, KNOW MY PREFERRED METHODOLOGY, SO...ANY REQUESTS?"
A muffled scream drifts through the tower, part unintelligible curse and part half-serious reply.
"mudafuggin-CRY LITTLE SISTER!"
Razel snorted, scoffed, then laughed rather deeply.
"Oh, man, I honestly don't know what I expected. Alright, whatever. Fuck this guy."
He cleared his throat before answering in kind.
"NICE TRY, BUT NOPE! WHAT ABOUT THIS INSTEAD..."
A soft chant echoes through the space as Razel starts to stride toward the tower.
"OH WHY AREN'T THEY DOING TOMORROW'S NEW DANCE STEPS, THE WAY THEY USED TO YE~ESTERDA~AY~"
The tower was miserably defended, strictly physical and easily displaced. No beasts rose to meet him, and no traps lay in wait on his approach to the front door. Razel was visibly disappointed. He reached to the door and threw it open, a hail of fire and stone greeting the doorway but sliding harmlessly past him as his protectives ensured it merely destroyed the entryway and doormat.
"I'VE ONLY WANTED ONE THING AND THAT'S FOR SU~U~URE~"
The first floor of the tower was more what he had hoped for, yet still woefully inadequate. Literal fireworks shot at him, harmlessly slipping around his form as the various other defenses did much the same. The singe threat on this floor, a reasonably decent autoturret, unfortunately had no way to address an individual's items and as such fell far short of its designed goals as Razel simply walked up to it, reached out, and wrenched it from the wall as its continued volleys were magically forced away from his form.
"YOU'RE LOOKING AT AN A~ACE~!"
He strode with confidence up the stairwell, casually pretending to bat aside defenses as his witchbane did the work on his behalf, enabling his dramatic tendencies. The next floor at least had creatures to slow his ascent, even if they fell one after the other as an afterthought, offering nothing but a buffer of time. Razel spun his staff in a flourish of confidence, dropping foes to their knees as he strode past them and ascended with a press of vocal triumph.
"YOU'LL BE THE FRONT PAGE RAGE OF THE AGE, JUST WAIT AND SE~E~E~EEEE~"
With minimal resistance he stepped up the spiral stairs along the wall of the tower. The top of the structure was simple, bare, and host only to Kinva himself. The vampire, clearly furious, was having none of it.
"Shut the FUCK up!"
"Ooooh, bolded! Nice. Alright, just for you."
The music stopped, leaving only scattered moans and wails as well as the crackle of a few small fires. Kinva twitched in anger, stepping forward and challenging the interloper.
"How did you find me?!"
"Carefully."
Kinva narrowed his eyes as Razel simply grinned and kept on.
"Not that you made it difficult, of course. Tell me, how hard did you have to work to get the files on me? How recent were they?"
The near-imperceptible twitch of his face told Razel the shot had hit its mark. To his credit, Kinva made next to no other tell as he played the dumbest he could without imitating a disability.
"Man, I have NO idea who you are or why you're after me, but if you want my spark you'd better be ready to take me prisoner, 'cause-"
"If you feel like telling me, then do, 'cause I intend to dislodge your sense of self from your solid self shortly."
The blatant vampire glared to the vampiric in denial and tried his best to stand tall.
"I don't know-"
Razel raised himself to his full height and cracked the sky with his sphere high above, searing through the walls of this pocket reality while simultaneously shunting said power straight through his own sense of self. The immediate and clearly choreographed flare of his own capability was impetus enough for Kinva to continue.
"-why I didn't bother to come to you in the first place, I clearly could have found the scaly guy faster with your help-"
Razel smiled as he shook his head.
"Nope. Next?"
Kinva stumbled against the wall he had just backed in to, looking hurriedly over it and the drop beyond before looking back to his enemy and remembering his own regenerative capability.
"Please...I didn't mean to...the fall..."
Kinva looked over the edge to try and sell the lie, but Razel simply raised an eyebrow.
"Would be inconvenient. Fuck, are you really that new? How did you get access to my info with this level of subterfuge? I'm offended after the fact."
Kinva scowled and stood up, facing the Inquisitor with his full, if lacking, height.
"Fine. You want me to level with you? Then I-"
"YES. Yes I do."
"-...then shut up and let me continue."
"Go for it."
"-...I saw what you did to MaCrun. He was a friend to me, and many others. After she lost you then nearly lost us finding you, I decided to make sure you were lost in order to secure the future of our colony."
"It'd be noble if you hadn't been a dick about it. How does Bolas factor in to this?"
"How better to get your attention than to track his release?"
"That's a heavy gamble."
"That clearly paid off."
It was Razel's turn to scowl. He clicked his staff against the floor for emphasis before continuing, locking his gaze with his quarry.
"Did you find him?"
Kinva gulped and twitched, offering no reply nor psionic clue - merely a panic and fear for his life. Razel's eye twitched, and Kinva nearly convulsed in reply. Instead he managed a string of disappointing words.
"I tried - so many places, I tried - but he kept his own home hidden. Like you did. Like we all should, I guess. But there were hints and clues, implications of places to look among the places he'd been. You should know, as a hunter. There are too many points. Entry, exit, revisit, all of it. holes in the block we all travel."
Razel merely crossed his arms, maintaining a smug neutrality as he subtly urged Kinva to continue.
"You found me first. simple as."
Razel watched him for a moment before smiling to himself and calmly taking a step forward.
"This is true. I suppose with everything that has already been done in your crusade, we can't help but acknowledge our issues thus far, work past them, then try to work for the best outcome of our whole multiverse, which in no way involves the Dragon. Fair?"
Kinva scowled now.
"You don't get to decide who is allowed to travel the planes or not."
"And you do? He's already sealed himself where he is. Is it your place to free him?"
"Is it your place to ensure it is not?"
Razel twitched, and in that moment managed to freeze time, swipe his staff, cleave Kinva's skull from his spine, glare harder, and then watch as his face fell with his head and his body collapsed over the edge of the ramshackle tower. Razel walked up to the quickly fading corpse, grasping and dragging the face to his own as he re-iterated his point.
"You will be born again, but in no way should you forget this - to endanger the whole for sake of your own is in all cases a failure, and do not be surprised if you find yourself quickly disposed of by reality itself in those circumstances."
Kinva's quickly fading consciousness rolled his eyes to Razel's in confusion.
"In short, don't be a cock."
Razel tossed Kinva into the air, the now corpse's eyes fading into oblivion as their meat crashed into the ground below.
