[Rien's POV]
When I woke up, the world was burning.
The dock was on fire. Great red-orange gouts of flame were burning the oil-slick planks and climbed all the way up the cranes and rigging. People screamed and fled while the shapes of grey sludge scythed through the chaos, cutting bodies down.
Sparks and embers spat everywhere and flames licked at my feet as I dragged myself upright, the heat searing my skin. My palms scraped against the scorched wood, and I wanted to throw up.
"Ah—ngh…" (I'm not moaning, shut up) I winced as a fresh shock of pain racked through my head. I glanced around. Wasn't I here with someone…?
Who was it again?
Oh, shit—Fritz.
I glanced around desperately, searching for their long, black hair as metallic fumes of smoke choked the air.
"Fritz!" My voice cracked. Heat pressed in from all sides. There was no answer—only the sound of bodies hitting the planks and dissolving.
The dock was quickly growing more and more silent as dock workers were silenced left and right. But where was Fritz? My chest tightened. Panic clawed up my throat as the air filled with blood and burned oil. I stumbled toward the stone stairs, boots slipping on melted pitch.
*PHUT—*
Something screamed past my ear. The air displaced with a wet snap. Through the haze, I saw a dark sludgeform squelch toward me.
"Fuck…"
I glanced around for anything to use before I remembered the weight in my jacket that dug into my ribs.
Right—I still had mother's revolver. I'd taken it when I left the house. I yanked it free, hands shaking, lined up the sights between the thing's eyes, and pulled the trigger.
*BANG!*
The thing stood there briefly before it burst apart, popping like a balloon and splattering to the planks like harmless goop. I swayed unsteadily on my feet and sucked in a breath—then pain exploded.
*PHUT—*
A beam of sludge tore into my left shoulder. I screamed, the impact freezing and burning all at once, my arm going numb as blood soaked through my sleeve.
"AHHHHHH!" I bit down on my lip hard enough to draw blood, struggling as searing pain wracked through my body. I turned to face another sludge-form rocketing toward me, but it suddenly froze as it was encased in a thick layer of… ice?
I shivered as a sheer cold flooded the air. I glanced around to see two figures dressed in black coats and top hats. White, glowing pages spiraled around them as they stepped onto the dock.
"Took them long enough," I mumbled. Then my vision tilted and went black before I fell heavily to the ground.
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[Inspector Aerel's POV]
Aerel arrived just as a gunshot cracked through the chaos. White pages peeled away from her vision as she arrived, boots touching down on oil-soaked planks that had frosted over beneath her presence.
She took in everything at once.
A girl held a still-smoking revolver with blood on her sleeve as a blazing jet of gray matter (sludge?) tore through her shoulder and she fell to the ground with a clatter. Several other sludge-like creatures nearby were slaughtering dock workers, sailors, and other wharf-goers.
Aerel narrowed her eyes. For now, assessing the situation could wait. She pulled on her pair of black gloves.
*Crack!*
She snapped the but of her cane onto the ground, and a glowing white circle spun into existence underneath her. Aerel turned to her adjutant.
"Casey." The inspector's voice was as flat as ice. "Go help the wounded."
"Y-Yes, ma'am!" Casey raced away.
Aerel whispered. "Eteindre."
The world froze as the arcane circle under her cane erupted outwards in a gush of wintry air. The dock went completely silent except for the sound of pleas for help.
The flames died mid-roar, and the sludge-creatures locked in place, frozen over, their grimy bodies encased in several thick layers of merciless rime.
*Clack, clack*
Aerel stepped forward, each footfall ringing sharp against the iced dock. She stopped in front of the creature that had been attacking the girl earlier.
Glancing at it, she recognized the shape of a bloodied top hat and badge, distorted and warped through the ice that had encaptured them.
"..."
Aerel went silent.
There and then Casey, though tending to the wounded with her healing spells, didn't dare speak a word. The inspector's adjutant couldn't help but shiver and duck away.
The aura Aerel was exuding was that of extreme fury, a primordial anger that most common alphas wouldn't be able to even hold a torch to.
Aerel opened her mouth. "Rupture."
The icy casings surrounding the monsters imploded, crushing inwards, long, jagged splinters of ice scything into the creatures inside.
One by one, in quick succession, the monsters burst, popping like grotesque grapes until not a single one remained. A badge, slick with muck, fell to Aerel's feet along with a large, strange, cylindrical shell not unlike a seashell.
Aerel leaned forward and picked up the badge, simply staring at it without a word.
Eventually, she turned her attention to the girl lying unconscious by her feet, clutching a revolver. Aerel's first instinct was suspicion, but seeing as she killed one of the creatures, she put it off.
For now.
She sighed.
Casey arrived quickly, laying a healing spell on the girl. Aerel stared at the girl's face. The revolver she held seemed so out of place in the hands of someone so young.
The girl seemed so fragile… an omega? Or beta?
Regardless, Aerel turned back to the wharf. Her hand closed around the grimy badge that she'd picked up earlier, gripping it so hard that it might've shattered if it wasn't made out of enchanted metal.
Why did the tainted witches make this attack? Did it have to do with the SN they were searching for?
…She had some things to look into.