Taming the Beast [China]

[Nox]

Nox knew exactly where he was going. When he had to be there. He made sure he wasn't dressed like he had been while doing his surveillance. No big coats just his t-shirt. The air was chilly but the power wrapped around him and he wouldn't be drawing up on the source newly, he'd just come into the vicinity with the power wrapped around him. Still known, but not suddenly.

And it didn't really matter in the long run. He'd be inverting his weaves anyway. Though dying of a heart attack now might start to cause suspicion, though he wasn't in Beijing so maybe not. Could suffocate the man... Maybe he'd use that for the next one.

The docks were filled with people. It wasn't hard to blend in. The egotistical false god didn't even look at him when he stopped in front of his podium, but a smirk did form on the man's lips. He knew Nox was there.

Nox watched as the man drew upon the power and sent waves of earth and air into the ground, spirit followed with a little fire and water. The earth began to shake as he spoke. People cheered. Some ran for cover. Nox didn't understand the words he said, but it didn't matter.

He inverted a flow, carefully wove the delving weave and sent it at the man causing the earth quake. Nox found the vital spots around the heart and plugged them with air. The power flickered and faltered as the false god clutched at his chest.

People ran to his side. People shouted. Nox assumed they were calling for a medic or a doctor or whatever they screamed in Chinese for help. Nox watched in mock panic. He stared in fear like the others.

The dying man looked at him. His eyes full of recognition now that he understood. The light faded in his eyes as the man tried to communicate but no one understood they only tended to him. No words left his mouth, he could only stare and try to speak.

Nox stayed and watched as the paramedics arrived. When the police came they pushed everyone back and Nox went without hesitation. Watching death had never been easy as a kid. The horde on the other hand relished the kill. It wanted more. Needed more...

[Nox]

The bus trip back was difficult. The smell of other bodies, the warmth of the too crowded bus, everything made Nox anxious. It wasn't just the stimuli, but the horde in his head. It needed more, wanted more. He should have eaten before he left but he hadn't. Should have done a lot of things before he left the port city. But he wanted gone -- and he had places to be.

The message from the Ascendancy's people was deleted and trashed. Nox half expected it to blow up in his face like in all the old time movies. Sage would kill him if that happened. Not that his hacker friend was tired of giving him things. He did it often enough.

He tried his best to focus on the man he was supposed to be hunting next. The horde's darkness drew him in deeper. And Nox needed a different distraction.

Nox opened his wallet and looked at the unanswered message from Raffe. He sighed. He didn't send another message but scrolled back to happier times. Saw pictures shared, cute flirtatious moments in words. The pangs of guilt pushed through the darkness. The horde understood the pain even if it didn't understand his reasons for it. They wanted pain and suffering, and this wasn't what they wanted they took it.

It at least left room for Nox's mind to think.

A message pinged on his wallet. Jacob and his lot sending him his next mission.

Irony would have it... the same mark.

Seemed the Ascendancy wasn't the only one who wanted this man dead. But then a god was a god to the Atharim and they were probably only alerted because the Ascendancy had noticed. They had eyes and ears everywhere. Classified or not. Seems he was just going to be everyone's godling assassin. He was starting to wonder if he cared at all that he was killing people like him. Did it matter in the long run -- as long as they weren't innocent kids. He drew lines in the sand a long time ago -- well maybe not a long time ago. It wasn't too long ago he was killing kids and rapists. Not long at all -- just felt like a life time ago with the lost memories now coming back. He hated himself more and more with each new memory. The horde pushed and pulled on those memories pulling at his monster inside.
He was a fucking monster.

[Nox]

Nox did his best to meditate on the bus back to Beijing. He had tried to occupy his mind with work but that failed. His little plants reminded him of Raffe and that sent him down a spiral. And he was too tired to wield the power of the gods to even attempt to practice inverting weaves. So lost in the sounds on his wallet, the music played, and Nox focused on his breathing.

In, two, three, four.

Hold, two, three, four.

Out, two, three, four.

Hold, two, three, four.

The same ad nauseum until his mind was calm, his body relaxed and the horde was pushed to the outer edges of the void inside. The power hovered on the outside of his vision, ever present, ever guiding. The slick shine of the horde was a reminder that he had to fight them every day of his life so he ignored its call too. Just focus on his breathing.

The bus arrived and Nox climbed off grabbing his things. The streets were busy and he was starving. His work could wait while he fed the beasts inside -- all of them. He was getting pretty good at finding what he wanted with a limited vocabulary. It was easy once he knew what to look for. Things weren't all that different from Moscow or back home.

[Nox]

The Atharim dossier on Sheng Ch'en, the government official that both they and the Ascendancy wanted dead was limited to just a name, a potential issue. The one that came from his newest handler had much more detailed information. They weren't going to rely on Nox to figure it out. The proof was in the report. The people who had been influenced by the man. The causes he'd funded. He was making a bigger ruckus now that General Sing was dead as well. The two were connected in some way.

It didn't matter to Nox as long as their was proof. It never occurred to him that maybe they just both wanted him dead because he was a channeler. But he seemed a natural thread to the CCD at the very minimum, and that's where he called home. The only people he cared about were there. He had no one else left.

No amount of dallying was going to make this job any easier. The biggest challenge was going to be finding a way to kill the man and not make a scene. He had a wife and kid. Nox didn't want to make this mor trouble than it was worth.

He wasn't opposed to breaking and entering. And still there was the subtly of his gift. Staging a break in would draw attention. Nox didn't want that anymore than he wanted the man to die publicly. Decisions were harder to make when you were the one making them.

It took several nights before Nox was able to plot the man's death.

It was simple yet the most complicated thing he'd done todate. Weaving illusions was one thing, weaving them in the shadows made it better, but there was only a handful of times he could actually get into the man's house. And there was no guarantee that he'd be able to pull it off.

It was a long few days as he planned. And felt even longer as he stood in the shadows of the Master bedroom behind a carefully crafted illusion. As long as he didn't move no one would know. The weave was inverted and tied off. No one would know he was there as long as he didn't move.

Three house passed and Nox wove a cone of silence over himself, his stomach rumbled. The horde grew hungrier by the minute.

When night fell Mr Ch'en and his wife came in frisky and wanton. Watching wasn't exactly his thing but he couldn't leave. Couldn't join in and he wanted to at least let his wife have one last good memory of her husband before he passed into the afterlife.

Hours into the night they slept soundly and Nox wove a new weave one he could maintain while moving but hid him still from whatever cameras left unfound in the room. He wasn't going to be too careful. He wove the power of the gods and stopped the mans heart. He died peacefully in his bed with little more than a gasp as his last breath left his body.

It was harder sneaking out. He'd have to wait till he could use the security changes and other personnel changes as his cover. Nox had no choice but to wait.

Silent and hungry Nox waited the night out. And when the shifts changed Nox left his shadows and the building with no incident.

There was a beast inside to feed on so many levels and Nox went in search of whatever he could to feed it. The darkness grew with each kill with each passing day he away from home. This was not the way he wanted to live.