Anticipating Above The City

“I just want to sleep. Sometimes you accidentally drift away. Though sometimes your mind remembers something urgent, and it tells your body to wake up right now. If only we could manually hit that trigger to wake up and sleep.”

The fog in Kitezh’s head started to fade away. She was regaining full consciousness. At the same time, she was feeling a rush of stinging pain.

“Ow! What the hell were you doing to me?!” said Kitezh, rubbing her body.

Kitezh removed the invisibility from both of them. She wanted to visually catch up to speed of what happened. She saw a lot of red marks all over her body. Kitezh gasped at the sight.

“You were half asleep from that assassin’s trap earlier. You don’t remember that? I had to wake you up somehow,” said Nadia

“And what was this ‘somehow’?”

“I sort of smacked you all over the place with my wand. You were still invisible, so I was hitting all over your body until I found a spot that worked.”

Nadia suddenly caressed Kitezh’s butt, which had some bruises on the exposed area. Kitezh suddenly jumped and squealed.

“Oh, so it was your butt I was spanking. That was the last spot I was hitting before you woke up. I’ll remember to smack you there next time you fall asleep, ohoho!” giggled Nadia.

“Shut up, you pervert sadist! Heal up all of this right now!” Kitezh yelled angrily.

“Sorry, Kitezh, I need to conserve my magic. That’s why I went for the more frugal approach,” Nadia said playfully.

“And which stupid idiot decided to waste their magic earlier on lifting up a girl’s skirt?” asked Kitezh.

“Look on the bright side. This method of waking you up was more fun!” Nadia said and stuck out her tongue.

“Grr, I hope we make it out alive just so I can enact my personal revenge on you.”

Kitezh brushed the short skirt she was still wearing from the tavern. She felt around her clothes like she was looking for something.

“You do have a point, though. I don’t have any weapons on me. You’re the real muscle, or magic, at the moment. We’ll need to make the most out of your wind attacks,” said Kitezh.

“Even with my wind attacks, I’m still not quite sure how we get this guy. We may be at higher ground than him, but he’s still a sniper who can climb up buildings. He might be agile enough to avoid my attacks,” explained Nadia.

Nadia and Kitezh looked at the exit in front of them. It led to the rooftop where the main observatory building was situated.

“The assassin clearly planned stuff here. Maybe he left some weapons or something up there,” said Kitezh.

Kitezh turned Nadia and herself invisible. They both walked out to the rooftop.

As expected of the tower’s height, they could see the whole city from above. Dark buildings and streets with the moon in the sky created a picturesque view.

The rooftop was a flat, circular top with a railing along the circumference. Right in the center was the large, light green dome of the observatory.

Kitezh and Nadia looked over the railing and looked down at the rubble from the building they had caused earlier.

“For an observatory, we can’t see very well from up here,” said Kitezh.

“But from down there, you can’t really snipe anyone from up here,” replied Nadia.

Kitezh and Nadia headed inside the observatory. Inside was dark with patterns of constellations drawn on the walls. Right in the center was a large telescope pointing up. The concave dome made the room feel more spacious.

“Mmm, MMM!” said a muffled voice.

Kitezh saw a man tied up on the ground. His mouth was gagged.

“Huh, so the assassin took care of the workers here. Maybe he knows something,” said Nadia.

Kitezh remembered the traps inside the tower.

“Nah, not falling for this one. I’m going to play 'action first, ask later' tonight, so…”

Kitezh turned the man invisible and chucked him down into the spiraling hall of the tower.

“He’ll live. We need like, what, 10 minutes to get this assassin,” Kitezh said nonchalantly.

Kitezh looked down the hall, as the tired up man tumbled down.

“Nadia, keep an eye on this entrance. Maybe the assassin plans on coming up here.

Nadia stood guard in front of the entrance. The only thing she heard were the whimpers of the tied-up invisible man echoing up the hall. Kitezh looked around inside the observatory, but found nothing.

“Of course, an assassin only needs what is necessary. There’s nothing for us to use,” thought Kitezh.

Kitezh went back out and met up with Nadia.

“Maybe the assassin gave up and went home,” said Nadia.

“No, I have a feeling tonight is his one chance to kill us.”

“I guess we’re just camping out here. The only way for him to get to us is if he climbs up the tower.”

BONK!

“Ow! Did you throw something at me Kitezh?” Nadia asked, as she looked down.

She saw a red gemstone on the ground. It was about the size of a softball. She picked it up and inspected it.

“You’re really not good at this invisible stuff,” said an unknown voice.

“Who the hell was that?!”

BOOM!

“NADIA!” yelled Kitezh.

“You realize I can tell where you are based on your voices.”

Kitezh took note of what she heard and did exactly that. She looked up. Someone was standing on the edge of the observatory dome.

It was a woman wearing a dark shirt, skirt, and leggings, which were appropriate for a night stalker like her. She had a backpack and a belt with pockets lined on it. She had a black eyemask. She looked like she was a thief for an adventurer’s party. Kitezh knew this was her assailant.

“How ironic. You tried to climb up here to escape me. Maybe you wanted to get the higher ground to kill me. And here I am, somehow at a higher level than you in the end, hehehe!” cackled the woman.

Kitezh looked at the ground. She saw parts of a scorched body. It was Nadia, lying on the ground. She attempted to get up, but she was seriously injured.

“How do you like these crystals? Or should I say, MY creation,” said the woman.

She held up a red gemstone, and yellow gemstone.

“These are not natural. They’re crystals I have alchemized. I call them redite and yellite. Not really creative, but they get the job done.”

She rubbed the redite and yellite together.

“Those barrels down there, and the one you chucked at me, was full of these two materials. They go together like a match and oil. If you touch them dry, they’re safe”

The woman chucked the redite on the ground.

“But if you give them a nice clack, you get a beautiful explosion!”

The woman squeezed the yellow yellite with her left hand. Her right hand made a pose like a finger gun. She “pulled” the trigger.

The yellite instantly disappeared from her left hand. It shot out of her right hand as if it were an actual pistol.

CLACK!

BOOM!

The yellite and redite made a large impact and exploded like a firework of red and yellow lights.

Kitezh, being invisible, and with the assassin monologuing, easily avoided the explosion. Though, the blast shook her to the core.

“Do you see what I have, Kitezh? I have powers like you. I am Jadwiga, the Pantomime Phenomenon!”