“A rainbow in the sky pales in comparison to the one in my hand on payday.”
- Escai Kanno, Actor (173 PA)
“Prian police! Freeze!”
As the rest fled into the night, the black-cloaked man straightened. Logan could not see his face, but the shadowed hood turned towards him. He shivered to see the shrouded man’s loose, easy movements. They were smooth, unconcerned. Even faced with two Prian officers, weapons drawn, he was not frightened. This man did not fear death. He feared nothing.
Beside Logan, Lieutenant Zachary Reginald gestured to the younger officer, pointing two fingers to his left. Flank him. Logan nodded to his partner and began circling slowly. Reginald whistled to Maria. The fan-tailed tawny falcon launched herself from Reginald’s gauntlet and circled high into the clear, cold Prian night.
The man in the cloak looked up to watch the bird. He pushed back his hood, finally revealing his face. The man, the criminal, Logan and Zachary had been hunting down, seeking out for almost a year now. Logan felt almost disappointed. They knew him only as the Emberguard, but it was a title, not a name. With such a frightening reputation, he had been certain the man would be one of the barbaric rim world races, some kind of fairy, but he was just a human, like the two police officers that hunted him. In the dim moonlight, Logan could just make out the beautiful, subtle stripes on his face and curly green hair that marked him a Mirran. There was a steely hiss, strangely muted, as the Emberguard drew a long nanosword from under his dark cloak, briefly revealing the red robes he wore beneath.
“Put up your weapon! Stand down!” Reginald demanded. The Mirran smiled and Logan shivered again.
“Who are you to deny me, little men?” the Emberguard asked with an icy laugh. “I am the hand of nothingness itself! I fear no man, for I have been enlightened. You, too, will find peace when I rip life from your clinging hands.”
“He’s mad! Take him down,” Reginald ordered. Logan raised his Talon and aimed. The Emberguard raised his sword, smiling and laughing, and charged.
