The Azure End

[Nayt]

The Azure End

Much had happened in the City of Shadows. In less than a month, organized revolts and disillusioned Fallen had visited the barely populated City--and even the Gartel experienced their fair shares of disasters. Many people, including Ersatzshad and Gartel, turned up dead with little explanation.

And all of it, Dr. Tyrian Sturm took with stride. In fact, he regarded most of it with a sort of busied complacency. Most things, for him, were examined from a bird's eye perspective, and it seemed that, for the most part, he felt there were more important things to examine than wayward angels and his discontent creations. As several Ersatzshad discovered, he was more often than not unreachable. Many reactions to such things as revolts were from other Ersatzshad rather than Sturm himself . . .

Shin Shiden had been involved with quite a bit of the mess that descended upon the Shadows, though. Because of his strange connection with Isac Hazker, it was fated that he'd be dragged into it, as well--but that was another tale, a story for another day.

_________________

Tyrian Sturm waited at edge of the city, between where cliffsides surrounded it and unused residences progressively clumped together.

Rarely did the medical doctor turned scientist leave his facility near the City of Shadow's radial center; he required an express purpose, and on this day, a day which seemed like night as any other day in the great city, he had that express purpose. He was there to meet someone. He gave the man little explanation or reason to come out this ways, a literal three hour walk from Sturm's facility, but he made sure that Shin Shiden would come. To create an insurance policy was not an option for Tyrian Sturm, it was a way of life.

_________________

"Almost there," Brenden remarked to Shin.

He always carried a tone that suggested he knew more than he was letting on, but for the most part, he wasn't particularly malevolent. More or less, Brenden was a mischievous figure; a kind of trouble maker who was just useful enough to keep around, despite the issues he caused.

Oddly, Brenden didn't don his usual coat. Instead, he wore fairly casual clothes: a button down shirt and a pair of black shorts. It made him look much like someone else Shin Shiden had seen in the city, someone he must've undoubtedly confused for Brenden.

"In fact, you should be seein' him any time, now . . ."

[Shin]

Shins time in the 'City of Shadows' was what he considered to be the worst time of his life. Nothing had seemed to go right for him in the past month. He had even gone so far as to have a seizure that had been violent enough to place him into a coma. Yes, nothing had gone right for the Azure Enigma.

Azure Enigma, Shin wondered if he could even be considered that anymore. He no longer carried wore the traditional coat that signified him as a member and other then Sturm his last contact with them had been with the Pink Enigma, who had been there to take his life. Shin wasn't sure what to think.

He was dressed in a common Cizokian attire, though the once lavish and rich garments were stained and patched in so many places that they couldn't be considered anything higher the peasant clothing. His hair was once again pulled back into a pony tail to keep the hair from his eyes, and like his clothing it was ragged and dirtied, in desperate need of wash.

What was perhaps the oddest thing about Shin. Odd if you knew who he was. Was the fact that the scabbard on his left side was empty. His ancestral blade was no longer in his possession, he had given it up during one of his weaker moments, a moment he was sure was his last. Of course he had been wrong and thanks to, or no thanks to a slug creature that dragged him all the way back to an infirmary.

The three hour walk to the place where Sturm indicated didn't bother Shin as much as the fact that he didn't know why he was walking all this way. Couldn't anything the man have to say be said in the privacy and security of his facility? Shin while bothered with this didn't let it get to him to much, this is simply the way Sturm does things Shin told himself.

During the three hour walk Shin didn't say a word to his guide, Brenden. Any attempts made at talking were simply ignored by Shin. It wasn't until Brenden told him that they were almost there that Shin gave the boy any attention whatsoever.

"About time." Shin commented as he peered through the darkness to get a glimpse of Sturm. Once he did Shin would make his way directly towards the Purple Enigma.

"Sturm." Shin said, it was as much of a greeting as he would give. He wouldn't bother to ask any questions either, Shin came to understand that Sturm would tell him what he wanted him to know and that Shin would have to trust in what he said. After all Shin reminded himself, it was him that came looking for Sturm and not the other way around.

[Nayt]

Shin was actually cut off when he was in the middle of uttering Sturm's name. Brenden placed his hand on the man's shoulder whilst he was in mid-stride, to forcibly stop him and shift his attention. He reached into the pockets of his shorts and withdrew a small coin, about the side of a New Xexorian quarter, and placed it in Shin's hand.

"For your trouble," Brenden remarked with a shrug before letting go of Shin.

It was a strange looking coin, though. Although it might have been from a foreign currency, it was unlikely, just by virtue of the designs upon it. The heads side contained, in actuality, an etching of a lily, while the reverse side was an etching of a beach. It looked as though it once had color to it, color which had all but worn off in time, leaving the coin as nothing more than a steel colored, potentially useless unit of imaginary currency. Brenden didn't explain it, and would be unwilling to take it back if Shin tried.

If Shin would even have the chance. After all . . .

"Shiden," Sturm called out immediately thereafter.

His back was turned to Shin and Brenden, and he clearly hadn't seen the physical exchange.

"Do you know why you're here?" asked Sturm.

[Shin]

Shin looked down at the coin, it was rather unremarkable. His brow furrowed as he inspected the coin, almost as if he expected it to burst in flames or do something. When it didn't he looked back to Brenden and looked like he was about to ask what the hell that was about, fortunately for Brenden; Sturm spoke first.

Shin dropped the coin in his pocket without so much as a thanks, he was pretty sure that the gesture was supposed to be an insulting one be Brenden, but he simply didn't care.

Shin thought about this for a moment, there were things that crossed his mind but nothing of the sorts that would require him to walk three hours in a foreign environment. "No. Should I?"

There was a slight sneer in his voice as he spoke, the kind one might expect for a teenager, not a fully grown man. Shin either didn't notice or didn't care about his tone because right after wards he walked up to stand beside Sturm and try to look at whatever he was looking at, if anything at all.

[Nayt]

"You should, yes," replied Sturm.

Brenden remained behind them, standing with his shoulder leaned against an elevated porch. He was clearly interested in what was happening here, but not enough to get involved--or, perhaps he was interested in it so much that he wasn't involving himself.

Sturm stood with his hands stuffed deep into the recesses of his coat pockets. As per usual, he wore his Enigmas coat, albeit torn and adjusted per his liking. It was sleeveless, hoodless, and lacked a zipper or buttons. It was, more than anything else, a lab coat. An ebony leather lab coat held together by violet stitching. He still hadn't experienced a night of sleep, and by this point, with the bags under his eyes so dark, his skin so pale, and his face unshaven and hair unkempt, he looked dead.

"But it's not unexpected. Brenden told me of your general ignorance. Even when something is spelled out before you eyes . . ." Sturm turned his head to address Shin with a stern, almost disdainful gaze, ". . . you're nothing short of blind."

He looked away following this. This was the first time Sturm said anything overtly critical or perhaps intentionally offensive to Shin since the first time they met face to face.

With his eyes fixated upon the cliff, Sturm continued: "One might even argue that you and Exitus are one in the same."

[Shin]

Shin didn't really think it mattered if he knew or not, the fact was that he didn't. Though a grin did etch its way across his face when Sturm spoke to him. This was the first time Shin had heard Sturm say anything like that to anybody before, for some reason it was reliving that even Sturm could show some form of emotion, even if it was directed at Shin.

He took the insult stoically as he looked over the same cliff Sturm was looking at. He shrugged off the comment but kept the boyish smile. "I'm no Exitus...." Shin said, looking out the corner of his eyes at Sturm. "...not yet."

"What can I say, I am thick headed." Shin gave a laugh, obviously he thought he was funny. "But I am sure that you didn't bring me out here to talk about my dear friend Exitus or insult me. If I had to guess..." Shin paused to scratch his chin for a moment. "...I would say you brought me out here because it has something to do with the Enigmas?"

It was a simple guess, everything Shin was involved with in regards to Sturm had been about the Enigmas so Shin thought it was only logical to continue with that trend. But if he was wrong he was sure Sturm would stop wasting time and fill him and then continue on with whatever he had planned.

[Nayt]

"Yes," Sturm nodded, only to add: "You'd surprise yourself. You're more like Exitus than you know."

He took a step forward. Twenty feet before them was the cliff. It, unlike the other cliffsides, did not extend up. The City of Shadows, for the most part, sat within a divot in the earth, surrounded by tall cliffs and sloping hills, all of which lead into the Limitless Shadows. This cliff, however, was not an incline, it was a drop. Sturm took several steps towards it, but didn't approach too closely.

"I knew who Exitus was," Sturm paused for only a moment, only to continuing narrating after a long breath: "And at one point, he knew who I was, and the work I was committed to behind the Enigmas's backs. Thanks to Usurii, however, he conveniently forgot that fact."

Sturm turned around at last, to face Shin. His eyes, for the time being, were shut.

"Yet it never stopped him from becoming a tool. Whether he knew it or not, he helped lead my men to their deaths," Sturm withdrew his hands from his pockets, "And when I discovered this, I attempted to cut ties with him early on, approximately before he met you--and yet, he continued, and alongside of him, you cut down everyone under my command. Everyone who trusted in me. You and Exitus, at the beckoning of Silver, collapsed our collective plot to overthrow the Guardians. And now, at the will of your commander, you stand here in my city."

He opened his eyes, then. The look on Sturm's face was one befitting a troubled man, one who felt as guilty as he loathed both himself and one particular source of the problem--a problem long since patched over, but not solved. The loss of his loyal few Enigmas wasn't a problem that ever could be solved. Shin had seen a speck of emotion before, but now he was a well of it. His brow was furrowed and lips curled up into a passive sneer. His expression was a pent up one; a contained loathing that he was slowly allowing himself to express.

Now, for whatever his reasoning might be, was the time to show his genuine displeasure with Shin Shiden's existence. Now, after nearly a month of looking him in the eyes with a complacent and hollow stare, and even going so far as to medically treat him at times.

"And I've kept you around for nearly a month," Sturm continued, pausing only to take in a deep breath, and at last ask the inevitable question: "Ask yourself, Shiden. Why would I do that?"

[Shin]

Shin took his comparison to Exitus as an extremely high compliment, the man was one Shin looked up to obviously. Perhaps it was because they were so much alike like Sturm said, Shin felt akin to the man almost like a brother. His smile could not stay however, at the mention of Usurii and her abilities he lost all emotion. She had done something similar to Shin in the past as well, although now she had done the opposite there was still a large measure of distrust there. Was there more she hid from him and he didn't know? It was possible Shin told himself though he tried not to dwell on it the thoughts still nagged at him.

"Enigmas are all tools Sturm. Either of our own design or of somebody else." Shin didn't hide the fact that he had been and probably still was a tool, even if he didn't know for what. His skill with a blade had come in handy more then one occasion within his meeting with Sturm in the forest up until now.

"You know, I have no idea." Shin admitted, though he knew Sturm wouldn't be surprised by the answer. Since when did Shin know everything. "You could have let me die, yet you didn't. You could have done many things to me, but you haven't. Which only leads me to believe that you have something you want me to do or fulfill. You are a hard man to figure out but one thing is painstakingly clear, you are willing to sacrifice whatever and whoever to meet this end goal of yours." Shin finished by loosely crossing both arms over his chest and staring right back into Sturms hollow eyes.

[Nayt]

"You are correct," replied Sturm gruffly. "Enigmas are not tools."

Sturm treated everything in a very utilitarian way, which may have suggested he wasn't being honest with himself--but so far, the only person he had blatantly ordered around like a mindless tool had been Shin Shiden. There was a distinct reason for this, too:

"But that is something I learned a decade ago," Sturm remarked. That, and his next addition, might have been shocking to many, even those he was referring to: "Emitt, Davon, Desmon, and even Exitus for a period of time were not tools. They were conscious, feeling beings--the same types of existence I strive to protect. They were all capable soldiers, they were loyal compatriots, they believed in me and my cause, and most important of all . . ."

He paused.

". . . they were friends."

_________

"Emitt, what are you doing?" Sturm asked with narrowed eyes and a knowing, regretful expression.

Emitt, the brown enigma, only pulled his hood up over his head. Yet even under it, Sturm could see Emitt's large smile. Emitt was a large man, muscular, and was one of few that actually wore armor underneath of his cloak, giving him an even burlier appearance. Yet still, the man had a smile that could make the sun jealous.

"Silver's agent is on his way," replied Emitt.

"I know that," remarked Sturm as sternly and disapprovingly as he could muster.

"I'm going to hold him off."

Sturm shook his head. "No--no, you aren't. Your orders are to stay with the rest of us and retreat back to Oblivion. It is non-negotiable, Emitt . . ."

"Sorry," Emitt replied sincerely as he took a step back, "I've never disobeyed orders, not once in my tenure with you--but I have to, today. If he collects Exitus and catches up with you, you'll die."

"An acceptable risk."

"Not to me," Emitt shook his head quickly, "Besides . . . you're the only one that can pull this operation off, remember? You're the only one that can save the world."

_________

Sturm let out a sigh. It was very rare to get anything of an emotional reaction from him, let alone an admittance of emotional attachment, but it was the truth. He at least something resembling an emotional attachment to something shy of a dozen human beings and hundreds of Ersatzshad. While it was possible to sacrifice a handful of people for the greater good, or accept their willingness to sacrifice themselves for that greater good, that did not entail a complete lack of care for them. Every life that ended for the sake of his purpose were lives he refused to let go of. They would not be lost in vain.

Nor would they go unavenged.

"Shin Shiden, you are nothing more than Silver's rusted blade. You are his mindless puppet," Sturm stated, not as an accusation, but as a fact, "You always have been. Knowing this, ask yourself again: why have I let you live this long?"

[Shin]

Shin let out an audible groan, bringing both hands up to rub his face as he pondered the question again. Shin really didn't know, certain things simply passed him by, obvious things to others but not to him. He looked at Sturm again and merely shrugged his shoulders.

"I really don't know Sturm. If I'm a puppet then...." Shin didn't really have anything to say here and so he left the sentence unfinished.

"How do I not be a puppet? It seems no matter what I do I'm somebody's puppet." Shin sounded defeated as he spoke, being a puppet was not new to him. Ever since he met Sturm he felt like he had been being lead around on a leas and at first it didn't bother him, because his goals had lead him in the same direction anyways.

[Nayt]

"I would tell you," Sturm nodded, "Were you anyone else. But I've no obligation for your happiness. If anything, I'm obligated to end it--and you. Death, I imagine, will be a suitable answer."

Shin didn't get it. That was fine, though. That was what Sturm expected from Shin, really. As Shin said himself, he was kind of a dense guy. Kind of was ten different kinds of understatement, though. For once, though, Sturm was perfectly content to answer Shin with detailed explanations. It was a first, really. He didn't seem to be holding back, either, either due to a clear loathing of Shin Shiden or a feeling of obligation, after leaving so many questions unanswered. As a scientist, he could feel such an obligation.

"Which was exactly what I intended to do when I first heard of your arrival. I had Brenden bring you to me . . ."

Brenden, still a ways behind them, watching casually, lifted his right hand to wave at them.

Sturm continued, unabated: ". . . where I planned to kill you. But then I wondered: why would Silver send someone to me he knows I would kill on sight? Someone who was inexplicably powerless? Silver wants nothing more than to vanquish any threats to his goals, and he cannot afford to simply throw away his only tools--and you, Shiden, are helpless, yet he sent you nonetheless. Until I understood, I had to let you live."

[Shin]

"Kill me?" It was a shock to Shin to say in the least, the man had had his opportunities of that Shin was sure. His facial features showed his shock clearly but his body momentarily tensed as if he was preparing for Sturm or Brenden to attack him at that moment.

How could have Silver sent him? Shin didn't get it, had Silver known Shin would flee from the Pink Enigma and somehow end up here? While that part confused him to no end he let it slide by and focused on the here and now.

"So, I am a threat to Silver and he sent me like a lamb to the slaughter. But because you didn't understand at that time you let me live...and now that you understand..." Shin thought it was pretty spelled out right now. Sturm planned to kill him. Yet... something didn't exactly fit, something else was nagging at Shin.

"You just didn't figure this out just now, and it would be a lot easier to kill me in your installation. Or do you hate me so much for killing your friends that you wanted to do it in person?"

"This isn't your style Sturm. What do you want from me?"

[Nayt]

"And that would not be Silver's style, either," replied Sturm, "If you are a tool of Silver's, you are not a threat to him, nor will you ever be."

He didn't, however, remark on what his style was in particular. People often had a bad habit of developing a predisposition about a person. Shin, who knew Sturm only by what he outwardly displayed, knew nothing of the workings of the doctor turned scientist's mind.

"From you, I wanted inactivity. In a relative sense, that is what you provided. Now, I want little from you," Sturm shook his head, "The eradication of a threat--and revenge, if that's what you'd like to call it."

While he may have been a bit insulting, patronizing, and downright hateful, Sturm hadn't actually been all that aggressive in this "discussion." He seemed perfectly capable to maintain a calm and collected attitude. It was one of Sturm's greatest traits. Even in the presence of the man that slaughtered his companions, he could keep a straight face and entirely evade thoughts of immediate action--thoughts and urges that might have entailed tearing Shin Shiden in half with his bare hands, or providing him that lethal injection he had in mind almost a month earlier.

He was remarkably calm, indeed. Even when declaring his notion of revenge, he kept his hands in his pockets and spoke with progressively waning malice.

"Your inactivity allowed me to find out why you're here--and, incidentally, why you've lost your power," Sturm remarked outright. He trailed off with that, though . . .

[Shin]

Shin stood there for a long moment, this time he was actually weighing is words before he spoke them. A very uncommon trait for the Tenken who normally just spoke his mind no matter how foolish it made him appear. In this case Shin didn't see himself as a superior, like he did with everyone else, he actually felt....inferior in front of Sturm. A feeling that reminded him of his father. Shin visibly shuddered.

He still wasn't sure if Sturm was going to kill him or not. To Shin it seemed like the man wanted to, but Sturm wasn't the type to let personal feelings get in the way if there was something else in mind and there was no reason for Strum to be telling Shin all this if he were going to kill him.

Fifteen to twenty seconds passed before Shin finally spoke. "I thought it was just due to that trick I pulled against the Pink Enigma." Shin said honestly. That teleporting trick hadn't been he used before and so he thought of this as a side effect of using it, had he been wrong?

"Well, you going to tell me why I lost my abilities?" Shins inability to use Chi was detrimental but even without it he was still an incredibly potent swordsmen, however, at the moment he didn't have his sword which simply made him an incredibly fast man who would be good at little more then running away.

[Nayt]

"The beauty of man is its never-ending quest for knowledge," Sturm began a cynical statement, one he may have originally never felt strongly about, but now, after his tenure as a scientist, was a guiding aspect of his life. "Especially when it pertains to himself. He will seek this out, even if it means dancing in the jaws of his enemy."

It was, indeed, the words of a cynic--but in Sturm's life, he'd been given all the reason he needed for cynicism. He'd seen the best and worst of everything, by this point in his life, and knew most things as necessary evils. Humanity, for example, had become a necessary evil to him--one he wished to maintain, on his own rational terms. Humanity, for all its good--its families and innocents--was as evil as it could be hopeful. Humanity was where people like Shin Shiden could exist comfortably. Humanity was a place that could rear such men.

But, of course, not everyone in the world was Shin Shiden. There were good people out there, which left humanity as nothing more than a necessary evil. Those like Shin Shiden, men who hunger for nothing else beyond killing and death, would simply have to be dealt with on an individual basis.

"Icsorue planted within you a device. This device, I theorize, melted within your system like a drug. Because of this, you've lost your powers," Sturm replied at last, "You have become a spiritual vacuum--and you have been for some time, ever since that battle. Your body absorbed all the controllable spirit within itself and the world around it, and will not stop until it can contain spirit no longer."

"Symptoms of this include seizures, which are much more common as you progress into later stages of the "disease." At the height of the disease, your body will absorb its own soul, whereupon you will die. And upon death, there'll be nothing else keeping the floodgates closed, and all the absorbed spirit will flow out explosively, effectively destroying your body and everything around it."

"Which is exactly why you're here," Sturm concluded, "Silver sent me a time bomb, set to go off either when I killed it, or let it live for too long . . ."