Chapter Text
The streets of the city are bright and sunny, but no cars trundle along its cobbled roads, no pedestrians meander down the well swept sidewalks, for it is late into the sleep-cycle. Telestrata has never known the darkness of a night - not a true night, anyway. This is the land of triple suns, bathing all in a near-interminable shower of light and heat from their thrones above, never setting, and never abating, unless-
A cacophony of sharp bangs and crashes, accompanied by furious voices, shatters the city's peace. The commotion rises from a tidy and unassuming building on a street corner. A beat of silence passes before the door bursts open and through it the stumbling, battered body of a pale-haired man appears. Wounds crisscross his skin head to toe, and blood soaks his ragged shirt; some his own, some not. He takes a second to steady himself, tugging on the broken chain of a cuff around one wrist, but the steel ring holds firm. Just as he begins to get his bearings, squinting through the glare, a shout from behind sends him bolting down the road, his thoughts spinning with indignant rage.
You damn traitor! You monster! You're no better than me!
Only a block away, there is a toll-free phone booth, and it might be his only way out of a dire predicament. Reaching it will be a challenge, however. He feels the lingering effects of a poison in his veins, and the resulting dizziness of blood loss. Even as stone skin knits together the torn flesh and mends his broken bones, it cannot replace the blood already drained from his body. This is his blessing, this is his curse, there is no such thing as a fatal wound and he has endured hundreds of times before where others would meet their demise. To those who live without it, it must appear a form of immortality, but preservation does not come without a cost.
Barely a street away from his prison, the city starts to dim, yet not a single cloud drifts across the sky overhead. These are the tell-tale signs of an eclipse. This is the only darkness Telestrata has ever known.
Please. Not all of them. The Veil can have one - two for all I care - but please leave at least one!
Still the darkness only grows, buildings sinking into shadows, alleys becoming voids; he throws one quick glance to the sky and to his horror, he witnesses black sheets crawling across each sun in turn, racing to envelop them in totality. Never has he seen the Veil move with such eagerness, consuming light with such voracity. There is no time to dwell on the implications. By the time he reaches the phone booth, the numbers on the dial are hardly visible.
Nevertheless, he punches in the correct sequence, and waits. Only seconds later, the recipient on the other end picks up. Wasting no time on greetings, he dives right into his priorities.
"Rotham Street. I'm being chased. I need help, now."
The only response he gets is a sharp intake of breath, before stinging pain burrows into his shoulder and a hand snakes around his face, dragging him backwards, tumbling to the ground. His head strikes the cobbles, and sparkling lights bloom across his vision. At first he lies there dazed, but hearing the shuffling of feet brings his focus back; with a desperate flailing kick, he manages to knock his attacker's legs out from under them, giving him the chance to scramble upright and continue running. His only option now is to evade the assailant long enough for his allies to arrive.
Only a pinprick of light remains above, its amber hue providing just enough contrast in the world around him to make his way forward. Dodging down a narrow space between two buildings, he finally slows, then stops to press his back to the wall, struggling to smother each gasping breath. The dark might terrify him, but it could also hide him long enough for the others to reach the area, hopefully driving off his pursuer for good. Each second that passes drags on for an eternity. His breathing slows. His muscles relax. Even his mind starts to calm down.
Something heavy and blunt crashes against his chest, knocking the air from his lungs. The blow sends him toppling to his knees, choking, coughing, his lungs aching for air. Desperation kicks in, overpowering all pain and weakness; he scrambles along the ground, groping in the dark, but there is nowhere left to run, no way to escape.
Laughter echoes through the alleyway. "That stone you swallowed? That’s my eyes. Did you think I couldn't see you?"
With an unhinged ferocity, the assailant falls upon him. A cleaver severs his right hand, before chopping off his left leg just below the knee, rendering him unable to even crawl. A kick flips him onto his back, and now he sees a narrow strip of sky, a band of distant stars. It could have been beautiful. Light from a new source faintly illuminates the surroundings, a gentle amber glow pulsing from his chest in time with his frantic heartbeat. Eclipsing the stars overhead, the assailant looms, a single eye of gold skewering him with a look of pure malice.
The brief pause in the savagery comes to an end. He feels hands grasping at what remains of his tattered shirt, pulling it away before moving on to his skin, then flesh, and finally bone. A knife stabs and slashes, leaving his lungs so eviscerated he cannot even gasp in pain or scream for help. Or scream at all. The frenzied butchery at last reaches its intended target, the source of the warm glow, an organ pulsing with blood, fighting in vain to preserve his body. A heart, studded with crystals. His blessing. His curse.
The last cuts are precise, but no less painful, as the heart is excised and freed from its cage. A blood soaked hand lifts it reverently to the sky, the fingers clasping it tighter as it continues to beat. Motionless and weak, the victim can only stare up at what remains of that life, vision narrowing and thoughts dissipating into smoke. Just as focus shrinks to near nothingness, a different voice calls out down the alleyway, so distant now, yet, it is familiar...
"CAELUS!"
...and invigorating. The vaporous thoughts gather together again for a brief moment, long enough to form two words: Not yet.