"Hey, Big Man!"Alex turned around"There he is, I was worried that I was going to have to repeat myself at least 10 more times before I got into that thick skull of yours"."Kid, look, I'm feeling pretty good today, and I don't feel like tearing this place apart with the whole burning down aspect, so if you tell me where the Keidran Igor was stowing are, I'll let you go scot-free, and nobody will have to know that you were apart of, this"."Are you still on about that""Yes." the tone of his voice now sharper, angrier."Look it's like he said, John made this crazy story to get revenge and you believed him, so as far as I'm aware, you just waltzed in here like you own the place, killed a man, my friend in cold-blood and are now burning down his property just for s***s and giggles"."Watch your tone, boy!, we are part of the Templar order, and we have the right to do anything under the guide of treason and insubordination, now I will give you one last chance, tell me where they are or face the consequences of your crimes".The whole room fell silent, with the only ambiance being the sound of burning wood...."F**k you".Alex immediately rushed towards Luke and grabbed him by the arm."For the crime of keeping Keidran in your possession illegally, you are hereby sentenced to death via any means deemed necessary!"Alex then threw Luke across the room behind the bartender station, knocking some of the bottles of alcohol down with him.Luke recovered swiftly, grabbing one of the fallen that hadn't broken bottles, hopped onto the counter and lunged towards the behemoth, catching him off-guard and smashing the bottle in his faceNow blinded, Luke moved in for a full-on assault, dealing blow after blow until Alex was against the wall."Come on Big Man, where did all that vigor go!"Eventually, Alex regained control, dodging a well-placed punch and tackled Luke into the public restrooms wall, causing the wall tile to break apart into sharp pieces"Get up, I'm not done with you yet"Luke immediately went back on the offense, thinking that he can be caught off guard again, but this time Alex was ready, blocking until he saw on opening in Luke's poor excuse for a guardAlex kneed Luke in his ribcage before he could make any further contact , knocking the wind out of him."Come on kid, now where's all your vigor"Before Luke could react, Alex started to beat Luke mercilessly, each blow coming with the sounds of anguish and bones cracking.Alex eventually got cocky, raising both his arms high above his head,Seizing the opportunity, Luke managed to roll out of the way and handstand kicked Alex straight in his jaw, knocking him to the ground"(I have to end this now)", Luke thought to himself, "(the fire could reach that back closet any minute now if the smoke already hasn't)"Then he saw it, a sharp piece of tile on the ground.Alex was starting to get up, panicking, Luke went for the offense again.But before being able to touch him, Alex grabbed Luke's head and repeatedly slammed it into the sink top until eventually breaking it, at which point he threw Luke against the broken wall, motionless.Exhausted, Alex steadied himself and went to leave, but then remembered what his brother said before."I need to make sure, or else Adrien is going to kill me"Alex walked over to Luke, getting ready to crush his skull in with a single blow to the head."Sorry kid, but you should have taken the offer when you had the chance"Before his fist could make contact, Luke managed to regain consciousness, dodging Alex's attack, and grabbed the sharp tile off of the ground."Wha-", but before he could finish saying the word, his throat was slit open, and both men collapsed onto the ground.Has Luke laid on the ground, flames and smoke filling the air, he saw Igor's burnt body.Blanking in and out of a lucid state, Luke thought about him."(He was a brave man, standing up for what he believed in, no matter who it was.)""(He was a smart man, hell, he tricked the grand templar who knows how many times for how long)""(He was a kind man, helping so many people that he barely even knew just because he knew what was happening was wrong)""(He was kind to me, even with my past)""(He was my friend, and now I'm going to let him down, just like everyone before him)"..."Hey, I know this looks bad, but you got to get up""you've got promises to keep "Suddenly, Luke regained consciousness, already standing somehow, and all the pain throughout his body subsided"How?" Luke started to walk out of the restroom and towards the family, chalking the sudden recovery to his adrenaline coming in late.Luckily, the fire hadn't gotten to the bedroom and the family was safe."<Hello, It's me, Luke, you can unlock the door>"Soon after saying this, the door unlocked and Luke came inside."<Sir, you're injured.>" said the male Keidran."<Look, that doesn't matter, I'll be fine, but what does matter is that of getting you and your family to the drop-off point>"The female Keidran asked, "<Sir, where is Mr. Igor>".Luke stopped in his tracks and thought about what to say"<Mr. Igor is no longer with us, and I'm sorry to be frank but we will be joining him soon if we don't hurry>""<now, let's get going before any more unwanted visitors come by to say hello.>"So Luke grabbed what he could, and they walked away from the burning bar.They walked towards their freedom, for the family, with the best possible meaning, and for Luke, the worst.He was back to square one, with only about 100 gold worth of currency and the deed to the bar, which could be heard collapsing in the distance.After walking for a while, they eventually made it to the drop-off point somewhere in between Lake Mead and Wolfwatch Tower, or what's left of it anywayA man was sitting by a fire cooking what smelled to be rabbit stew with a horse-drawn wagon stationed nearby for transporting refugees in secret.The man shot up, clearly scared out of his mind "Y-y-you there, what do you what" he raised a small hatchet that he had for self-defense."Relax, I'm not templar, even if I was, that hatchet isn't going to do much"He lowered the hatchet but still kept a tight grip on it "Ok, well that still doesn't answer my question""I'm with Igor, and I brought a family" apparently he hadn't noticed them until Luke brought it up."Well why didn't you just lead with that?" he then turned his attention to the family "<Come, sit, eat, your safe now>"After he situated the family, he continued to talk to Luke "so you said that you were with Igor, where is he"" {sigh}... I guess I should have said I was with Igor""Oh, o-oh my ..." The shock on his face was unprecedented.Luke left him to his thoughts and went to sit by the fire, and about 2 minutes later he followed.He had composed himself, but he still seemed pretty torn up about it "What happened?"One explanation later"And that's basically the plot synopsis""T-those basterds, mind my language""Don't worry, I don't mind""Well there's nothing we can do about it now, I suppose, at least he died for a good cause""Yeah, his last request was for me to get them to safety, so we're doing right by him""your injuries look pretty bad, are you sure you'll be ok""I'll be fine, I've been through way worse than this"Suddenly, they were blinded by the sunrise"Man, it's already morning""Still, I think you should get some rest, you've been going non-stop for 24 hours, give or take""Are you sure?""I insist, you've done enough, I can take care of getting us on the road""Ok, thank you."As soon as Luke laid down, he started to lose consciousness.Before he completely conked out, he looked at the sunrise and thought about Igor one last time"Thanks for everything, Boss."
