Old

Author: Seth

"Stop reading so much into this. Just because you're too lazy to make sure your heir is up to scratch doesn't mean I am."

Silent steps across moonlit rooftops.

He adored the night. It was like a familiar cloak that fell over him, hiding him from prying eyes. Eyes that, admittedly, probably weren't even there to begin with.

Not, however, the case on this night.

"For someone skulking around in the dark, you sure are loud."

He barely even registers his hand grabbing his quarterstaff, it's second nature now. Spinning around he levels the polearm in front of himself in a defensive position. No scything blade of electricity, his composure hasn't been completely shattered.

 "What's it to you?" He asks the silver haired figure that emerges from the shadows in front of him.

The figure laughs. It sounds faintly familiar, but he can't place it. The voice sounds slightly feminine, but the figure is one more suited to that of a boy.

"Well it's so embarrassing, watching someone so inept trying to sneak around, making more sound than a wounded elephant. It almost hurts." The – Boy? Girl? He can't tell – laughs again, though with a hard edge to its voice this time. "I can't stand it."

A momentary glint of metal in the moonlight is all the warning he has before sparks erupt in the night air. His assailant's katar screams as it grinds across his staff and he has to jump back hurriedly before the second one swoops into his gut.

"Then go somewhere else. No one's forcing you to be here." He growls as he counterattacks, jabbing his stave forward in a lightning quick thrust.

"Oh, but there is." The girl – He's almost sure it's a girl; even through the poor light he can see that the figure has no Adam's apple – parries his blow. "There is someone forcing me to be here, and what do I find when he finally arrives but that he's barely even competent at stealth. You can't blame a girl if that makes her a more than a little annoyed."

Ducking under the re-directed staff, the (now confirmed) girl leaps forward, attempting to disembowel him once again. It takes every bit of his innately high reflexes to let go of his weapon and spin out of the way. Coming out of his spin he slams his palm into the passing girl's back, blowing her forward with an extra strong burst of electricity as a parting gift.

He doesn't go in for the kill though, doesn't want to. Not this night. He has enough spectres haunting him as it is, no reason to add to them.

"I have no idea what you're taking about." He warily retrieves his staff, but doesn't return it to his holster. He knows the false security that comes with a downed enemy well enough by now. "I didn't force you to wait around on this rooftop all night. I've never done anything to you, I don't even know you."

A gurgling laugh erupts behind him and the purple eyed girl pulls herself to her feet. He's going to have to reconsider the amount of juice he puts into his attacks, she shouldn't have been able to stand up.

"Yeah, but I know you." She grins, the pale light of the moon glinting off her teeth.

"You're passable I guess." The silver-haired girl sniffs, putting away her katars. "But you'd better make sure you improve by the time we see each other again." She gives him an odd, unreadable look. "You've got a path to follow. A… duty; older than time, and if you haven't the decency or the capability to honour it I will hunt you down and end you myself. Are we clear?"

Her mysterious look vanishes, replaced by a mischievous grin. "Not that I wouldn't be hunting you down anyways."

Before he has a chance to ask a question, utter even a single word, the girl has already hopped off the roof, into the shadows below. He doubts he'd be able to track her down.

"What the hell was that all about?" He murmurs to himself, trying to piece together the cryptic words his fellow night time wanderer had given him.

"A… path. Old as time." He turns on the spot, taking in the city around him. Urban rooftops bathed in half-light and shadow, as far as the eye could see. "Is that what this is?"