To Catch a Thief

From a distance, she looked as though a black star occupied the sky. It twas only when it fell towards the water that we realized it was no star, but an angel. We carefully approached, finding that the angel had been a girl. She had been tied to a piece of submerged housing, forced to fly just above the surface, lest she be impaled by three men's tridents. She caught herself as she fell, flying upwards just before the tridents could harm her.

The exhaustion afflicting her was clear on her face; the three men laughed as they watched her, black wings flapping helplessly, attempting to keep her afloat. What was it again? Ah, you called her a raven, right, Lunia? I was so entranced. Once the men became distracted by their wretched entertainment, I used the chance to attack, freezing them solid.

Once the girl tired, she fell toward the water. I reached out and caught her. She slowly opened her eyes. Once she saw my face, she asked, “ Are you the Spirit?” We both chuckled then, telling her our names. You had asked of hers, she told us then, “Uda.”

-Excerpt from the recovered journal of Absalon Ramorski.

♕♛♕♛♕♛♕

“Stop!” I call out to the thief running away.

“F*ck off!” The man screams at me, pushing several people out of his way.

“Eaah!” “Eeep!” The passersby scream out as they are flung to the side.

“Stop!”

“Grr.” The man steps towards a stall. “Yah!” He humps on the table, kicking over what look to be watermelons.

He reaches his arm up and grabs the tarp that hangs over the stall, and throws it towards me.

“Crap!” I reach for my katana on my left hip, drawing it.

Shiing

The sword is released into the air, slicing clean through the tarp.

“Just sto-” I begin to say as the tarp falls to the ground; however, what greets my eyes is not the face of the scaly man, but that of a fireball shooting towards my face.

“Crap!” I quickly move to cover my face with my arm, raising the cloak along with it. “Gah”

The fire hits my arm, feeling like a hit from a kendo sword. Unlike a kendo sword, the pain doesn’t stop at just the hit. I feel it as the fire burns away my sleeve and moves to the skin.

“Gaah,” I cry out in pain. Once the fire dissipates, I see my skin and the blistering mess it was made into.

‘Hiiro!” I hear Eris call out from behind me.

I don’t have time to stop or look back; the fire dissipated just enough for me to see the man running into a side alley. Not these stupid alleys again!

I quickly get to my feet and chase after them, entering the alley myself. Pain sears through my hand, the wind causing the wound to sting as I run.

The alley quickly turns a corner. I move towards the edge but stop just short and peer at the corner. I see an almost Identical alley, but this time it turns right. I continue on, doing the same a couple more times.

It almost feels like it's an infinite loop… What did Rika say? That you should always try going back to the starting doors or something?

My friend had once told me about the cliche of infinite hallways and repeating rooms.

The alleyways are bland, simple windows dot the walls; most are barricaded from the inside. The buildings themselves vary in color and size, but all follow the same basic architecture. The stone making up the floor is made of tiny rocks dispersed in concrete. The only outstanding detail is the weird lines of RGB light that line the walls. At least that lets me know I’m still in the city.

After 5 or so turns, I peer into another alley and see nothing but a dead end.

“Crap! Did he climb the wall or something?!”
“Nope!” A raspy voice calls out from behind me. ““Aag Ka Gola””

A large ball of fire is shot towards me again. I turn my body in a hurry.

My uninjured right arm quickly reaches for my katana. I once again unleash it from its sheath, the fireball colliding with the blade as I call out;

“Kiru!” A light emanates from my blade as it slices into the fireball and splits it in half. The two halves flying past me on either side and scorching the surrounding walls.

“Wha!?” The man steps back in surprise. “How?! A Pneuma?"

A Pneuma. I have no idea what the word means, but I do know what it’s referring to. Everyone in this world has an ability known as a Pneuma. The form and strength of this power range from person to person, though I hear it’s stricter for non-humans… One could have an ability like mine, being able to cut anything in half, or have slightly better breathing or eyesight.

“Tch, you humans are so f*cking annoying to deal with-” The anthropomorphic lizard says to me, lifting his arms up. ““Aag Ka Gola””, ““Aag Ka Gola””.

Two smaller fireballs shoot towards me. I slice the first quite easily, it having the same fate as the previous one. I jump to the side to dodge the second, which follows right after.

“Gah, just die already, f*ck*r!” The man steps to match my position. ““Aag Ka Gola””, ““Aag Ka Gola””, ““Aag Ka Gola””.

The man calls out thrice, three balls of fire blaze towards me like meteors.

“Hiyah!” I swing my sword at one, cutting it in half. The second one misses me, and I slice the third. “Just stop, you won’t hit me again!” I step towards him.

“We’ll see about that F*ck*r!,” ““Aag Ka Gola”” A massive fireball streamed for me, scorching the ground underneath it.

“It won’t work! Kiru!” I once again slice it in half. But rather than another fireball, a simple stone is thrown at me. “Kiru!” I shout once again, my sword shooting through the stone-

Klang

A hollow sound rings out as my sword collides with the stone. It had sliced halfway through before stopping. I struggle to stop the sword from swinging back towards my face.

“Aha!” The man calls out.

I look at my katana, the stone falls to the ground, leaving a large ding on its blade.

“You-!” The katana had been the first gift I had gotten in this world. After a month in this world, I helped solve an incident, which is how I met Eris. To thank me they made the sword to my specifications. It's one of the few connections to home I have!

“Don’t get cocky, Asshole! I’ve figured you out!” The man says, picking up another stone. ““Aag Ka Gola”” he says once again, but this time as he throws the rock. What can only be described as a small meteor is shot towards me.

“Hk!” The stones he’s throwing aren’t simple stones, but rather chunks of concrete. The concrete of small stones interspaces amongst cement. I dodge, realizing my advantage has been completely taken away.

He figured it out so fast! How?!

My ability has one weakness: the ability to cut anything, but only one thing at a time. What constitutes one thing? The Arch-bishop said it depends on the things “Soul”. Are those objects’ parts wholly for the same purpose? If yes, then it's one. But if the object has multiple pieces working for different goals, then it's two. Though a person is considered one… I shake my head to not think about it.

I am able to dodge the first meteor firing at me, but a second appears seconds after. It shoots towards my chest, slamming into the small steel chest plate I'm wearing. Heat assails my face, my skin feeling like it's going to melt off.

“Gaaaah!” It hurts! It Hurts! It Hurts IT HURTS!
“Gahagahagaha! You cocky bastard, you ain’t no hero!” The man's words echo through the alley, resonating with the pain I feel in my chest and arm, creating a cacophony of pain and embarrassment. “Gaha, I know what I'm gonna do to ya. I ain't got much time to play, but I'll make it work.” The man says, grabbing my katana off the ground and lifting it above me.

“Hiiro!” I hear a shout from behind the man. Eris appears from around the corner. “NO!”

The sword is brought down towards me.

I had a good run, didn’t I? A couple of months in another world, haha. I'm sorry, Mizuki, Rika, Mai, and Hitoshi. I won’t see you again. I'm sorry, Katsumi, I really do love you. Kiyoko, I'm sorry I couldn’t take care of you. I’ll apologize to Dad when I see him. Mom…

As if hearing my prayers, an angel descends into the alley. No, not an angel. It's black, pitch black.

The black angel collides with the man's cheek. I hear a crunching sound as the man's body violently spins like a Beyblade. He flies into the wall hard, causing it to crumble under the impact.

The black angel stands over me, through the pain, and my vision blurring, I catch only a glimpse. Deep black hair is cut at the shoulder. Their skin is pale, nearly white, and their face is distinctly Japanese. It’s almost like it's-

“M-om?”

Remember, you're my Hiiro.

Those words ring out in my head as my consciousness fades.