The Unknown Medallion

\/\/\/ Captain Anintino Telrasi Fedrust stepped a perfect step back, and when he smiled at the girl, his teeth were sharp as points and his face was shifting to jut forward like an animal. His beard grew to cover his face and his flesh sagged, forming cheek flaps. His hands changed too, and he tossed his spear away. Crouching low, ready for any incoming attacks, he reached to his back, grabbing two curved swords. They had claws on the hand guards, perfect for slashing and punching.

Branthin, who was possessing of no supernatural senses, kept running. The spear hit him in the worst possible place. Directly between ribs, just left of his spine. He dropped to one knee, then once again drew out his needle pouch. He drew out his needles, then frowned. They both a had a slight tint, one blue and the other red. It was impossible to use a physical used needle for soul manipulation, and it was an even worse fate to be bound with a used soul needle than it was to be Halfbound. His blood drained from his face. He looked back at the fight, and whispered two words. "I'm sorry." Then he withdrew the last item in his pouch. It was a small disk with a hole through it. The hole wasn't in the center, it was from one side to the other, like a tunnel. He then took that same used soul needle, and threaded it through the space where his collarbones met. He let out a small gasp as he felt his soul slide away. But it didn't leave completely. Not yet. He drove the needle through the hole in the disk, the last motion of every Binder that knew they were dying. The blue glow poured out from the needle into the metal. And Branthin's soul flowed with it. Slowly he faded from this world, and all that was left was a see-through blue coin, worth more money than most men ever see in their lives. The hound tried to jerk away, but it wasn't enough. The knife drove into the socket. Not quite deep enough to kill it, but it was a near thing. Go get the commander, came the mental command. And so the dog ran. Fedrust swung the butt of the spear at the girl, and circled around so she couldn't give chase. Davian grabbed his sword. The captain would deal with the girl, so he turned towards the man who had just thrown away his weapon. Now all he had was a shield. Davian smiled. It took him a second before he actually got the expression. Well, he had to hope he could react fast enough to win the fight. And so he charged.

Branthin was an intelligent man, but no-one in their right minds would call him broad. In fact, he could easily be considered scrawny. So without the protection of his shield, he scrambled away. He turned half his attention away from Myrto, calculating distances. He turned, breaking into a dead run towards Headquarters. Davian stood up, dazed. Or at least he tried to stand up. His body moved sluggishly. The world was grey. So much grey. But he saw a few glows of color, very faint blue in the direction of Branthin, a green glow from Captain Fedrost that formed the shape of a dog on its hind legs. Their souls, Davian realized. He could see their souls. What was going on?

As if an unseen master was calling it, the hound leaped off the girl not caring what hair it tore. It didn't quite free itself, so the captain swung his spear but to break her hand free. Branthin jerked back to avoid the spear, but tripped, stumbling to the ground and jerking his shield to protect himself. "Well, this just makes me more grateful I had time to meet with you," he said, keeping the lie up, "I personally oversee the Investigative Squad, and we need all the men we can get. Of course," he added almost reluctantly, "the normal Guard can always use more men. I do not believe we have any open administration spots, but if that is more to your tastes I could always check."

Branthin twirled his club keeping his shield in between him and the man, then swung towards Myrto's head, but pivoted around at the last second, swinging towards Myrto's gut. It whimpered, just barely staying on top. The captain stood up, making sure to keep pressure on his neck and aimed a kick at her head.

...why did this happen?

The hound paused for a moment, then circled around to help its master. Knife and fist landed at the same time, parted flesh whispering and bones crunching. Then, as if seeing the future, Atadin rolled off right as the bloodhound landed. It snapped at the girls wrist, trying to stop her attacks. Branthin stood shakily. Watching the situation, he decided to try to take down the first man, who didn't seem to want to join the fight.

Man and dog howled in unison, the hound stalked back, preparing to lunge but wary of the spear, and the man twisted back from the knife. Snarling, he cocked his fist back to punch the girl. Unaware of the conflict, Branthin ducked forward to Davian. The lad was dying, he knew it. Davian was more than dying, he was quite nearly dead. "No, no, no. Please." Branthin scrambled, half remembered training, but in his desperate search for medical equipment, he found a pouch. He paused for only a moment before taking it out. "Not again." His voice quivered. He took two silver needles out of his pouch. He carefully threaded through the space where the collarbones met. It glowed blue, but it was faint. Too faint. "Break and bind it all, I'm not losing another one." He threaded the needle again. It glowed a little brighter. Again, still not bright enough, but the blood flowed out too fast, it would have to be enough. He slit open the boys uniform at the stomach, then threaded the other needle. Red, bright red. "Thank the binder." He then threaded at the chest, right next to the knife. The colors flared, then faded into him. Shaking, Branthin dropped his needles, sinking beside Davian. "B-Branthin, what's happening? Why is the world so grey?" Knowing that he had done the best he could didn’t help. It hadn't been could enough. Davian was now what the Binders called Halfbound. He would never live a full life again. And Branthin cried.

The hound whipped its head to the side, but spear still smashed through its teeth. Luckily, that put spear in the bloodhounds mouth and gripped tight. Fortunately, the captain's panicked charge turned his body so the knife could only slightly dig into his leather gambeson. It sill gave him a nasty cut, but the dual pain of the spear and knife just drove him further into a battle rage. He kept charging and jumped forward trying to crash into her. Branthin, Davian's partner, seeing Davian on the ground, ran forward with his shield raised to protect him from any attacks.

"Do it, I dare you, come after me and get your throat turn out. Or even better, run away, and Vix gets to 'accidently' tear yo-" He grunted in pain. "You *not nice thing to call someone*." Davian mumbled senselessly. The captain panicked, charging the girl. Finally, Davian's partner got closer, and started analyzing the scene.

Davian sucked in a breath, stumbling back. A not quite animal bark sounded, and a bloodhound jumped onto Myrto's back, attempting to pin him down. Another man that Davian, who's vision was starting to grow stars, charged forward with a short spear in hand. He pointed it at the attacking girl, saying, "If you want any chance in the Broken Hells of living, you'll let go of him, put your hand behind you head and get on your knees. Davian's partner came running over, obviously slower than the other man.

"Hey, it's okay, I don't want to hurt you." That was what you were supposed to say, right? And then they let you take them in and the smart people deal with them. For some reason, Davian doubted it would be that easy.

Davian looked up. Had he heard something up ahead? He paused listening but didn't hear anything else. He dismissed it and searched the closer bushes, but it was more cursory with each one, hurrying to where he imagined the sound as coming from. Finally, he arrived, but looking around it he saw nothing. Disappointed, he began to move on, but he saw movement in the corner of his eye. It was slight, but not the natural stirring of the bushes. He turned back to look more closer, and saw a pair fighting in a clump he had barely looked at in his hurry to reach his perceived target. Unfortunately, his lack of training caught up to him, and he let out a victorious shout, alerting the two.

Davian turned around the corner, scrambling to not lose him, but he was gone. "Break it all!" What was he going to tell Darund? That he hadn't been able to catch some random gambler who was probably drunk? That wouldn't do, Davian stepped forward to investigate. He would have been able to see the man if he had gone straight, and there weren't any turns up ahead, so slowly but thoroughly he checked the bushes.

When the sunlight glinted off of the red spear tip, the majority of Davian's mind quieted. Some stupid parts tried to come up theories, but he pushed them aside, sprinting to catch up. Suddenly, he wished for a Metalbound's enhanced legs. He constantly wished for the powers of the various Bound, but could never choose just one. But he was making ground, slowly but surely.

Davian stumbled back, nearly bowled over by the running man. Why is he in such a hurry? Just as he thought, a man came out of a tavern shouting. Seeing the guards, he yelled, pointing at the fleeing man, "Hey, he just stabbed me. Go catch him!" Davian looked to his partner. Well, his partner who made sure he didn't mess up for the next month while he got started. "What are you waiting for? Go catch him." The graying man leaned against the wall, a bemused smile dancing underneath his well trimmed beard. So, Davian started running. Of course, those thoughts that always plagued his mind, racing without a care in the world. How did they even know this man was telling the truth? What if the other man was running for some unrelated reason, and this guy just thought it was funny to make the Guard chase after him. So Davian yelled after the fleeing man, "Stop in the name of the Cou-!" He cut off. Who was it in the name of these days? There was no way Captain Jarmin would let that fly. "In the name of the City Guard." That worked, right?

"Hmm, yes. And who are your people? Judging from the accent, not one of the Civilized Nations?" There was no way that this man, Valence, was from one of the Nations, but it was best to get a truth and a lie to have something to base future interactions on.

Atadin pondered at the accent. Was this man from outside the Civilized Nations? Travelers were common enough in Coulforrin, back before Vithankre had taken power, though those from outside the Nations were always rare anywhere. People had been nervous for a while, and were just starting to trickle back in. "I like to meet the new recruits when I have the time, but unfortunately my schedule doesn't allow for it. Today I was already interviewing a recruit for the Investigative Squad, so I figured I could interview you as well." He lied with the ease and efficiency of a man that got his money from a government that kept its purse strings tight. "Now tell me," Atadin gestured to his own eyes, "how are you Bound?"