Naked as the day he was born, Luckner planted his fists on his hips and scowled at the dirty alley ground.

“Fuck!” he yelled.

“Fuck!” he yelled again.

Then he yelled it a third time and a fourth. His [Zeal] flared up a little, but it simmered down just as quickly when he caught his breath in between his boisterous cusses. Then, finally, he fell silent. The fire in his chest died down into a tiny ember. Without that raging inferno, he felt intensely cold.

Maybe he wasn’t freezing. But in comparison to how he was boiling with enthusiasm and rage earlier, this sucked. His human half sucked. Perhaps he should’ve told Lylyth to take all of it and replace it with pure fire. But he figured he wouldn’t be human, or he wouldn’t have much of a will. He needed that weak part of him to exist like this.

“Great, I’m starting to think again.”

He had run after the goblins and got into this fantasy street fight because he hadn’t been thinking. It didn't matter if he had thought things through. He had been in the moment, burning with a second life, enthused by the passion for just doing. Just going. Whatever the fuck was really happening didn’t matter as long as he had gone after what he wanted, like a hungry dog getting after a juicy piece of steak. With that over with, he had to deal with the consequences. And the implications of… well… everything.

He had to wake up to reality.

So, what was reality?

Luckner rubbed at his face and massaged his temples. This was a lot to take in. Where should he even start? He could remember the date with Lylyth clearly. How he had died was a little sketchy, but he got the gist. He remembered the deal, and he remembered the fiery pain that greeted him as part of his rebirth. The goblins happened after that, and then his stupid fucking failure to complete the bond.

“Fuck!” Luckner belted. He didn’t know what was happening when he used [Mythic Bond] on Gixzha, but he had felt something good would come out of it. He was excited about it. But then the goblin met his spell with her demands. She wasn’t something that he could just take over. She was a living, breathing creature. An ambitious creature. And that was fine.

But then his weaker half had to remind him of his weakness⁠—his ex.

What if he had ignored it and said yes? Would the goblin complete the bond? What would it lead to next?

“Do I even know what I agree to if I bond with a goblin?” he asked. Maybe the goblin girl would gain more out of the deal than he would. For a moment, Gixzha sounded like the classical gold digger older men would warn young brothers about. Anyone could make a strong case for his freaking (that bitch) ex being one. But if that were the case with the goblin, Gixzha would have agreed to the bond without question.

“She was testing me,” Luckner said bitterly. “And I failed the test.”

He failed to fight the flying reptile and got killed. He was unable to make a convincing argument with the goblin girl⁠—who was freaking badass. He had to admit the fight had been scary but exhilarating. She not only tricked him a couple of times and laid on the beatdown with spinning kicks and more ninja shit, but she did so while holding back.

“And she called me pretty.” Luckner rubbed at the back of his neck, not sure how to feel. He did think that the goblin was attractive in return.

Damn, did that mean he wanted to get with her? Would that be the extent of bonding with Mythics? Just to screw them?

“Don’t you dare.” He pointed at his crotch. “I’m not in the mood for this right now. So don’t you dare budge.”

It budged a little, which startled Luckner some. He had really grown. “Do I even have enough blood for this?”

He wondered if this was part of the [Incubus] singularity. Combine that with his [Zeal] and his [Mythic Bond], and they all made it sound like he had turned into a monster-lusting pervert. Most of the fight was about getting his stuff back and the fun of dishing out some hurt… but Luckner sensed the brawl became something different when Gixzha appeared and showed off.

His upgraded friend budged a little more.

“Fuck off,” Luckner grumbled. “I should ignore you.”

He should get going, too. It was getting late now, and the city was darkening around him. He should avoid any more trouble and head back home.

It sucked that this whole misadventure cost him his clothes, his dignity, and time. Following those goblins took him out of Midrun, the middle section of the city, and left him in Westridge, the more inland part of the city. By the look of the graffiti on the walls, he was in the ghetto parts of Westridge. If he dug around a little, he might be able to find some rags to cover himself.

“Nah, I don’t care enough.” Luckner went down the direction Gixzha’s crew went. He was almost hoping to run into them even though he had nothing to say to her request yet. All that she wanted was a lot to take in for him. But the alleys were clear of her presence, which left him with nothing else to do but make his exit.

Luckner halted once he was out on the streets again. The tone of his worldview seemed to have shifted. While he was in that alley acting like a blaxploitation character ripped out of an 80s action drama, nothing else mattered to him. He had been a rocket of thrills, and the fiery side of his heart fueled his flight into the absurd occasion. But now, the real world was settling in, and whatever the hell was happening across the city was not as thrilled as him.

The air was thick with smoke. Random pedestrians were running in panic or walking briskly with fear apparent on their faces. A staccato of gunfire sounded off across the city. More followed after the first burst, which Luckner found a little worrying because the second set of gunfire came from elsewhere in the city. More gunfire from various spots of the city echoed far and wide enough to reach his minute position.

“Shit’s going down,” Luckner said.

“Boy, what are you doing out here naked!” yelled a woman from her second-floor window.

“I got robbed by goblins,” Luckner said.

“If the world weren’t going all to hell, I would think you’re on something. Wait right there.” The woman disappeared into her apartment unit. Then she returned and tossed down some stuff. “Used to be my grandson's, but he doesn't come around here no more.”

Luckner put on the basketball shorts. They were a little tight, but they would do. Then he slipped into the sandals. Another tight fit, but again, they would do. It was all way better than nothing. Hell, he was in luck that she was so kind to him.

Heart-fire flaring, Luckner appreciated the older woman’s gifts as much as he appreciated the first time his ex had sex with him. An extreme comparison, yeah, but that was how badly he appreciated the handout.

But damn, now that he thought about it, he could see how his ex was dangling sex like a carrot to a donkey back when they first got together. Back when he could’ve left that relationship because she wasn’t a good girlfriend.

Shit. The writing had been on the wall this whole time.

“You okay, boy?” she asked.

“The world might be going down the dumps, but I’m still hung up on a girl that cheated on me,” Luckner said.

“Shoot, boy, these hussies come and go.” The grandma shook her head. “Move on. Get you another girl. Lord knows I need to get on up and find myself another man. I don’t know when the end will happen, but it could be soon.”

Luckner, who had some experience with the great beyond, was a little shaken by the idea of returning there again. That onset of fear didn’t rile up his [Zeal], so it stayed inside of him like a heavy stone.

“Thank you,” he said, waving her goodbye. “When I come around this way again, I’ll treat you to some coffee or whatever you like. It’s on me.”

He meant it. She didn’t have to give him anything. He seriously felt touched by her kindness. It balanced the weight of dread inside of him.

“Don’t let no hussie do you dirty, you hear me!” she yelled after him. “You’re a good-looking young man, I’ll tell you. Oh, if I was fifty years younger...”

The rest of what she had to say fell in the background as Luckner made his way home. His mind was a buzz of considerations. He pushed those aside, for now, to pay attention to his surroundings. Westridge had always been dangerous, even before the Mythics. Now it felt like he was in a warzone. The damage wasn’t heavy. Yet. But he could see multiple growing fires that brightened the night sky with orange light.

People were going to start looting soon if they hadn’t already. Maybe not tonight if everyone was aware of the National Guard being active, but it would happen quickly. That would lead to violence, he figured, and not just between humans and Mythics. People were all sorts of violent on their own. He would know since his Dad had been violent on occasions.

Luckner stopped on the sidewalk across from the ritzy cafe Lylyth had taken him to. It was one giant ball of fire like the others burning away across the city. Shit had to be bad if first responders had ignored this. At least the building had the corner to itself while in one of the gentrified spots of Westridge. It was a few blocks away from his place on the borders of Midrun. His neighborhood was alright economic-wise, not too impoverished, but not that fancy like the rest of the muddled communities in Midrun.

“If I want to find Gixzha again, I guess I’ll have to search through Westridge’s ghettos.”

Luckner grimaced. Did he really want to find that goblin again? He would have to if he wanted to correct that failed attempt to bond with her. But did he genuinely care to? Or more importantly, could he get past the wounded half of his heart and do as the elderly woman suggested: move on and get another girl.

“Wait… would [Mythic Bond] lock me in with just one Mythic?” Luckner wondered. “What are the benefits to it? Would it make me stronger?”

There was so much about him, this so-called Circle System, and what that all meant to the wider world that he needed to examine. Hell, he really should look at [Flame Up] closely to see the range and limits of that spell’s ability. Maybe he could’ve used it better than as a cheap gimmick⁠—as effective as it was at that moment. 

Before he could ponder any further, a blast of gunfire sounded around the corner. Men were screaming unintelligibly. Luckner couldn’t see what was happening, but he imagined people were dying right now.

What he did hear that was telling were the sounds of something heavy clomping across the asphalt. Like hooves. Then he heard a noise that was the mix of a man’s battle cry and something feral. That was followed by meaty crunches, more death screams, and fewer rounds spent.

Eventually, the gunfire and death screams fell silent. The monstrous clomping continued. It started to sound closer.

Luckner hurried the rest of the way into Midrun and left Westridge behind him. He had brushed against death too many times today; it was time to get indoors.