The cloth would seem suspiciously… soggy for some reason. There wasn’t any kind of liquid on it, it was just soggy on its own and if Kye was to try and squeeze it, nothing would come out.
Another thing worth noting was the texture of the cloth. It was mostly smooth but parts of it, especially those on the corners, were rough and harder than the soft centers.
There was dry blood on one side of the cloth which was covering some sort of symbol. Until the blood was to come off, the symbol can’t fully be seen.
"I wonder…" Kye turned and started back towards the research building door that he'd just come from. Hopefully Chris was still there and would be able to help.
…Giant sea monsters, people threatening you, killer robots, deadly sickness, curses, little fire demons, giant ice demons, moderately sized earth demons, assassins, being thrown into a black hole, aliens, being hunted down and killed…
The door Kye would come to was the backdoor. As the Research Building had several entrances and as many exits, it’s hard to keep track of which one you go through.
As Kye would approach the building, a figure in a blue hoodie opened the door and raised a brow at him.
”Something I can help you with?” he seemed oddly as friendly as Chris was, if not a bit more as he didn’t have a metallic crow mask covering his face. He had a small lollipop in his mouth. He had natural straight black hair with black irises. Both of his hands were in his pockets, nothing was worth further noting.
"Yes actually, or at least maybe you can help me," Kye noded holding up the cloth, "I met an odd, and honestly shady person not far from here. He suddenly vanished, but this piece of cloth was left behind. I was wondering if you, or someone you know, could help me identify it and maybe get some more info on him."
The man took the cloth into his hand and looked at it a bit before nodding.
”Yeah, I can help with this no problem. Come in first, I’ll need to go to my office to work on this. Or if you have somewhere to go instead, come back in half an hour or so, I should be done by then” the hooded figure said, moving the sweet around their mouth as they spoke. He was quite genuine with his tone.
"Thank, but I think I have some other thins I would like to check out. I will try and be back here in about a half hour or so," Kye decided giving the figure a nod. "Before I go though, my name is Kye. May I ask yours?"
”Hm? You can call me Conziac, or Con, whatever you’d like to” the figure said before he closed the door. Now Kye was left outside the building.
(I’d imagine you have somewhere you want Kye to go?)
(Yes I do.)
Kye turned and started looking around. He'd noted three different possible places to go, and one of those looked like a garden of some kind. And that was where he wanted to check next. Something was kind of bubbling in him. There was not a lot he remembered about his mother. But one thing he'd never forgotten was her love of her garden. It was possible that he might find her there.
The imaged suddenly flashed in his head again. He bit his lip and tried to ignore it. Forcing himself to head towards the gardens.
The Lost Gardens that Kye was headed towards was quiet and clean. From the distant, it seemed like a field of flowers had appeared in the middle of the dried land around it and was able to sustain their lives in such conditions. It looked like the gates of the Gardens were opened and that no one was inside at the time.
Adara grabbed Matthew and attempted to pull him away, straining at the effort. "Who the hell are you?" She growled, her face annoyed.
An explosion hit in front of the two as the figure brushed the smoke away.
”The name’s Jake, I know, nothing fancy—” they said as they got out a dagger from their knee sheath.
”—It’s only fair you give me your name sweetheart, what is it?” the figure said in a flirty yet sadistic tone, clearly asking Adara as he moved closer to them.
Adara shrugged, reaching for her knife. "It doesn't matter, really. I'm just another nameless soul here." Her knife wasn't in her sleeve, and she glanced around for it, finally seeing it on the floor a few feet away. She cursed. She'd have to go through this "Jake" person to get it, and she could bet, by the way he was holding his knife, that he knew how to use it. And there was the problem of Matthew…
Matthew was skeptical as to having Adara take the offensive side… alone. He saw her expression and looked pass this new figure, finally spotting the knife. His eyes turned a glowing green as a vine appeared from the ground just beneath the knife, twirling around it as if the vines were going to throw the knife.
This “Jake” person did not seem to notice this action though, for he stepped closer to the two as he spoke:
”You know, for someone who looks like a woman I’d expect you at least have some manners…” he said, opening his arms as he spoke.
Matthew tapped Adara’s shoulder, motioning a subtle jumping action with his fingertips. Though limping, he was able to maneuver towards the man in front of him.
”You say that yet you can’t afford to have some gentleman manners yourself…” he had one hand behind his back, counting down from
Three…
”Oh why you little—“ the man started to charge Matthew with his knife.
Two…
The Knight managed to dodge the attack despite his limping state.
One…
The vine which twirled around the knife threw the weapon towards Adara, barely missing the attacker’s head.
Adara let out a choked laugh, her heart pounding. When she noticed him counting down, she carefully started to back away. When the knife skimmed past her, she jerked her head away in time, although it scraped against her ear.
"Seriously," she said, scowling, her finger reaching up to touch her ear and coming back red, "I think Matthew is right. You don't have any manners, do you. Haven't you heard? It's not nice to hit a lady." Her blood started to boil with the familiar rage of fire, and she lowered her hand.
The figure who called themself “Jake” cursed and gave an annoyed expression before they jumped up to the ceiling, jumping down again to try and slice Adara.
She danced out of the way, grabbing his arm and pulling him forward to kick him in the stomach.
The attacker coughed when Adara kicked him.
Matthew came behind the figure to pull him back and smack his head against the wall, breaking both the wall and the gas mask the figure was wearing.
”You wanna finish him off, or do you want me to do it?” Matthew asked quite calmly, holding the figure by his neck.
"You can," she said,waving a hand. "I'm rusty at the moment. Plus, I want to see how you do it."
Matthew shrugged and let his cat escape from his coat. When the cat landed on the attacker’s body a blue cloud came out of this “Jake’s” body. With that, when Matthew released the body’s collar, the body fell onto the floor; motionless and lifeless.
”Good boy” he picked the cat up and ‘booped’ its nose as the animal stood on his shoulder.
(Question Matthew’s procedure?)
(What’s with the Cat?)
She blinked. "Um… you have a cat in your coat. Why?"
”Oh, him?” he stroked the cat’s back once.
”He’s a Soul Gathering pet, basically a creature whose ability is to suck the soul out of unconscious entities when given the command to do so” the Knight answered as the cat purred.
”He’s a friendly boy, so don’t worry, his name’s Kohaku, by the way” he introduced the cat as it jumped from his shoulder to Adara’s.
Jonathan looked down and thought of something. He turned to Cassius who was walking towards them.
”So she’s like his royal highness, right doctor?” the childish figure asked.
”Similar, but to a different level—“ the doctor patted the kid’s head ”—his royal highness is inferior compared to Hinata here” the doctor said as the kid’s eyes lit up.
”Wow! Really! Can you tell me more about your experiences? Like… how did you meet Mr. Matthew and all that” the child was excited about hearing all this new information.
(note the emphasis)
Hinata was going to say something about Cassius saying someone was inferior to her, but let it slide, too caught up in remembering how she met Matthew. There was a soft smile on her face.
"I was on vacation then too. Most of the really exciting things seem to happen then, for some reason. If I recall correctly…" Hinata trailed off, lost in thought.
"…That's a thing?" She shook her head and stroked the cat, although she was hesitant now that she knew what he could do. "Um… can he just do it to Knights and spirits, or everyone else?"
”I think that was just days before you met me… Matthew was still working as a Knight then and had a mission in your realm, I think…” the doctor brought up. He tapped his chin in a thoughtful manner but forgot a lot of the information. Again though, who could blame them? It was decades ago after all.
Matthew laughed a bit under his breath before shaking his head.
”He can only do it to sinful souls, those who have caused problems or have committed crimes but most importantly, those who I don’t find worth keeping alive” he explained as the cat yawned and slept on Adara’s shoulder.
Hinata chuckled softly.
"Yeah, that's how it went. I remember being a bit peeved that he was there. Still, we became quick friends after that was sorted out."
