As they approached the outer boundary of the town, Nixon left their company. He told Aryu when and where to meet him, allowing slightly less time than Aryu would have liked to get the task done, but he knew the man was in a terrible rush and was thankful he got any time away from him at all. He was honest with him, having no intentions to run away from the deal and the creature he made it with, but was still leery of Nixon’s constant judging of him.
Also, the whole business of him not wanting to enter the town was just plain odd. So he’d made a deal with an old man not to return. So what? It wasn’t as if Nixon had anything to fear from him, so why not come and help? Aryu doubted the logic, but he agreed to Nixon’s terms and left with Esgona.
The plan of finding Johan, should he still be alive and at this destination, was revealed to Esgona as they walked. Expecting a fight again, Esgona only nodded in understanding and carried on.
The bar plan went terribly on the first try. Aryu by this point was doing nothing to hide his wings, his pack long since left behind in tatters. This fact, coupled with the edginess of the people in general, only ended up leading to shouts of “Stay out freak!” and “Don’t let him in!” Entry was going to be an issue for him.
After searching the town as best they could, Esgona and Aryu ended back at the bar to give it another try late at night. The crowd was no more hospitable.
Esgona, who up to this point had just tagged along behind Aryu doing little to aid his search, suggested he be the one to enter and see for himself. Aryu was out of places to look and agreed. Esgona likely couldn’t make it too far if he ran, and even if he tried, Aryu was likely to just let him go. Only the agreement with Nixon had him helping Esgona as much as he had. If Esgona made a break for it of his own accord, Aryu had never agreed to get him back.
He did come back, though, and with all the information they needed. Esgona had spoken with Ollie the barman, learned that a young man matching his description had indeed been there and had been bellied-up to the bar for the better part of the day. He told Esgona that Johan had left only a few minutes before their arrival.
Aryu was ecstatic to find out that Johan was still alive. Although he had faith it was true, until this moment he wasn’t one hundred percent. Eager to find him, Aryu had suggested he take to the air to cover more ground. Apparently, he had been pretty drunk and wasn’t likely to get too far in the dark in the middle of a strange town. Esgona regressed yet again, nodding in agreement with the plan that would see him go to one of the inns they’d passed and await Aryu’s return.
After climbing to the top of a nearby store and taking off over the town (an act that nearly caused a riot outside the bar), it only took a few minutes for Aryu’s first lead: the scream of terrible pain from a darker corner of the town. Upon inspection, he made out the shadow of a large man who seemed to be short an arm and who had apparently lost it recently, judging by the shadow of blood at his feet and the amount of profanity spewing from his mouth.
Seconds later came a deep grumble and an ear-splitting explosion from not too far away, down an adjacent street.
With a launch off a tall inn, he took off in the direction of the calamity and drew the Shi Kaze for safety’s sake. Only a few paces down the dark road he saw what he wanted to see more than anything in the world: the face of Johan, who appeared to be facing unseen assailants. He had only registered the scene in his mind, overjoyed at finding him, when he saw the closer of two men raise his arm and point what Aryu assumed was a gun at Johan’s face. Aryu folded his wings and dove with all the speed he could muster. Shi Kaze taking the lead, Aryu struck the weapon cleanly as he rocketed past, a perfect hit to the middle of the gun.
Despite all the time he’d spent with Johan, Aryu had taken little interest in his talks about ancient weapons and tactics, enjoying more the stories of battle rather than the weapons that fought them. Had he ever paid close enough attention, he may have recognized the weapon he struck for what it was. An Ark 1 was a weapon famous for its accuracy, ease of use, mass availability at the peak of its popularity and, of course, the uncanny amount of energy it could store during an attack, particularly the moment it was fully charged and ready to fire.
That much energy wasted no time escaping by any means necessary, be it by pulling the trigger, quick-draining the battery to avoid discharge, or perhaps being thrust into the wide-open spaces of the world when the gun that contained it was sliced in two by what was possibly the sharpest weapon ever conceived by man.
Though at full speed when he struck, Aryu was still blindsided by the sudden localized explosion and the deafening pop as it expanded until no more energy was left.
Johan was staring right at it when it exploded and was thrown backward by the many forces at work.
