Cats in a bird cage

In the dead of night when all was quiet we took our things and left this doomed village. Which is what I would like to say. Yet that is not how things turned out.

We managed to reach the forest around the village. Things were going well for us. We managed to find a hole in the fence they had put up around the area. There was almost no moonlight shining through the trees. We used the darkness to make our escape.

Gabriella went first and I followed right behind her. For a moment I wished there was more light so I could enjoy the view. I guess you have to be careful what you wish for. Suddenly a blinding light fell right on our position. They used a floodlight to find us.

We made a run for it.

There was another fence.

The ENCAGE agents surrounded us. They had guns. We did not.

We did the only thing we could, we surrendered.

Guess we'll be extending our stay here.

Caged In

“People of Saint-Alena, there has been an outbreak of an unknown virus. For the safety of everyone the village has been put under strict quarantine. We of ENCAGE are working hard on a cure. You will be expected to follow any orders that our agents bla da bla dee da.”

This was the message that was being broadcast all over the village this morning. It was in French and I wasn't fully awake so I'm paraphrasing. I had to translate it for Michael as well.

It just means our bus out of here won't be arriving any time soon. So we're trapped here for the time being. Which is a problem. We'd rather not be around for the Plague doctor's nonsense. We're gonna have to figure out how to get out of this pickle.

I'm not a fan of pickles, more of a cucumber girl.

Village of Saint-Alena

It seems my lovely partner started a blog while I was off investigating. Might as well introduce myself on this thing as well then. I'm Gabriella, the partner Michael wrote about.

He already mentioned us hunting a dying man shard. Which isn't totally accurate. The shard hunting is a later thing, there's some other stuff that needs to be done first. There is a certain shard killing weapon we need to get our hands on. The problem is that we have no idea where to find this weapon. So we'll need to find someone that can shove us in the right direction. Our best bet for this is a Fear like being called the Sneak.

Now the problem we face is that the Sneak, as her name implies, is terribly sneaky. She is impossible to detect for most humans. Our brains just seem to refuse to even register her presence at all. The only time this changes is when she gets angry. Bad stuff happen when she gets angry. It's only the few people who survive events like that who can detect her. Even then it can be difficult because she moves around a lot. Preferring to stay far away from humans.

Which, honestly, same.

From what I've heard she does like spending time in the Convocation's domain. Which we can't reach unfortunately. It's unknown why she goes there, I prefer to think she just really likes birds.

This might give you an idea how hard our goal is. We've been trying to find her for a few years now with no success. However, we're getting closer. She was seen near this village two weeks ago. Which is why we are here right now.

We won't be staying long however. Based on my little tour of the village yesterday I highly suspect Fear shenanigans are afoot. The few villagers I've seen were terribly ill. So the Plague doctor is our likely culprit. I don't plan on confirming that theory though. Tomorrow morning we leave.

However for now, Michael seems to be doing some silly dance. I think it's an attempt to seduce me. Unfortunately, it's working. I'll have to go do something about that.

A Deer in Moonlight

There are few things in this world that can kill a dying man shard. Unlike most of the other Fears however they are not impossible to kill. Granted one of the most common ways for a shard to die is by being absorbed by another shard. Though, it is by no means the only way.

However I will keep those other methods a secret for now. Wouldn't want to reveal our gun to the deer we are hunting. Now would we? No, that would just spook it and make it much harder to catch.

You're probably thinking by now, who is this pretentious asshole who thinks he can kill a Fear? Also why is his writing so annoying? I can answer one of these two questions. Choose wisely.

I lied, there was no choice. I'm gonna answer the first question. How dare you even ask the second one. My writing is fine, dipshit.

My name is Michael and I'm a shard hunter. Have I killed a dying man shard before? Nope. Then why am I so confident in myself? I'm not, I'm just covering up my lack of self esteem behind this wall of text.

I might lack self confidence but there is one thing I do have confidence in, my partner. Gabriella, who is currently gathering intelligence outside. We happen to be currently in a french speaking village. And my french is merde. My partner however is fluent in too many languages, including french.

Speak of the devil and she doth appear. Gabriella just walked into our room. Seems like she hasn't found much information. Not her fault. The locals seem to have locked themselves up in their homes. Hard to gather information when the streets are empty. Although that is information of its own, is it not?

Something seems to be amiss in this small french border village. We'll have to discuss our next move.