I Love the Nightlife...

*TAK!*

Hmph. Same old slabs... 

*TAK!*

Nothing ever changes...

*TAK!*

Except... The smell...

I've never been fond of this little town... People call it a city... But everything looks the same to me. Same bricks, same buildings, same streets, same old people... It never changes, the harsh light of day tends to shadow us all into an obscure mess of tone, in voice and skin.

"It's this fucking government"...

"Economic downturn..."

"Can't blame the tax-payer for this one..."

Everyone complains about the same things... As people did years ago. I've been walking these streets too long, you see. Yes, I know you can hear me - I don't care how... It's been a while since I've had such a captive audience.

Yes, I've been around for a while. I wasn't always here... In fact, when I was young, I did everything I could to get away from here... but what is it they say? "You've never been anywhere unless you have somewhere to go back to...", or something like that, read it in a book once.

It's quite rare for me to even get close to a book nowadays. Everything's digital. And my eyes are so full of sand and dirt, I can barely see. That's why I stick to where I know... I don't have to open my eyes... Then again, neither does anyone else.

Mind if I sit a spell? Well, it's all well and good me asking... You don't have a choice whether I sit or stand... Seemed polite to ask though...

Tell me... Who are you?

...Agnes.

Agnes. Lovely name. Your parents were traditionalists, no?

No. they were practical jokers.

...And I see their sense of humour was passed on to you... But sarcasm isn't that funny to a lot of people.

Seems as if you like it.

I'm not a lot of people. Who sent you to follow me? I've known you were there since Westbridge Way...

I can't tell you.

Hm... Then what CAN you tell me, Agnes?

I wasn't following you from Westbridge.

Really? I could hear the river...

West bridge Way hasn't existed for 83 years... After it collapsed.

Oh yes... What do they call it now?

Fairbanks.

Oh, yes... Since that's all that's there now... Too long ago... It was a nice bridge as well, I really should have remembered that the bridge was out long ago... I had to walk around it so many times...

How long have you been around exactly?

Hm... What year is it? 

2014.

Then... I'm not too sure. I made a note of it in 2000... But I lost the note, you see...

I do. Why haven't you washed the dirt from your eyes? You've walked by the river, surely you've-

I can't.

...Why?

It's a long story...

I have the time. It's your time as well.

...True. Well... I made it across the water in my younger years... In the time of kings... To Romania. True Romania. As it was and should be. I stopped a while in the court of the Gypsy King, rightful and active ruler of Romany folk... And I fell in love.

With his daughter?

No. His son. Vori. He was... Beautiful... Fairer than any maiden I'd seen before I caught a glimpse of him... I saw him from the streets, looking from his window... He seemed so sad... That is how I came to be his vassal. I promised his mother and father I could cheer the boy up...

Did you?

Listen. The hearts of man are fragile, I say. I can hear it in your voice, you're cold to the air. So distant from the world. You're smarter than the rest, to disconnect from it all. Needless to say, yes. I did bring joy to the Prince... We used to walk the endless paths of the kingdom, talking about everything and nothing... In time, he grew to think of me as a brother.

But not a lover.

Exactly. The time came where I couldn't keep it to myself any longer. I told him of my desire... He was flattered, but...

I get it. Very modern values for so long ago.

The King didn't share those sentiments. He cast me out, proclaimed me to be a demon, come to tempt the next of his line into Hell... And so... One of the few times in my life, I had to run.

Run?

I ran. The Prince tried to follow... But he was just as damned as I was... Buried alive. From what I hear... I didn't stop until...

...Until?

I'm sorry... It hurts to remember... Can you answer me this?

What?

I know who you work for... Or at least, I can guess out of the 4 people or persons who would want me... Why are you in their employ?

...I have... Power. I wanted to be in control.

And are you?

Yes. I can fully control my powers now.

...I don't think you are...

What?

You may be in control of yourself, your corporeal body... But are you in control of your spirit? Your soul?

...

I thought not. You're a tool of another man. Be it Callaway, Jakobs, The Bearers of Adfter, or Mr. Sion's latest incarnation of the Temple Guard.

...You're good, old one.

Please. I'm calling you Agnes. Call me Friar.

...Friar. Why don't you touch water?

Oh yes... I was cursed, child.

Cursed? By whom?

I stopped running... Blind from blood and tears. I was in the middle of a Gypsy camp. Luckily, Rivals to the King and his bands... I was looked after, taught secrets and lies that would help me. I was quite the trickster. I could animate the inanimate at one point... the highest peak of their trickery... But they wanted me to lead them against the King... I could run... Run like none they had seen... 

I see...

The same reason your controller has sent you to get me... He must think a lot of you...

...I-

I lead them into battle, of course. I couldn't say no. It was a massacre. Have you ever seen a legion of statues walk on the gates of a fortress? It's a real sight to behold... We raced up to the court of the royals... And there he was. The king. In battle with statues of his own family... The queen caught him in the guts with a broken rod of rule... and the Prince's statue... Broken, now repaired, beheaded his father...

So...

So. I was told to teach my gift to the NEW King. I refused, not knowing how, even to this day... They cursed me for my pride... I had no idea how it would manifest... Until I tried to cross the ocean... The storms... They kept me on the continent... so I explored every inch of Europe... And Africa... And Russia... Asia... But I had to come home...

Here?

Yes... The further away I got, the longer and harder the urge was to come home...

How did you get back?

Encased in Iron. I was forged into a block by a good friend of mine... He got me back home...

Why did you come back?

It's odd... At night, everything changes... The people, buildings, places... All so much more sinister, unique and filled with life... Some of which even you cannot see...

Why are you here?

Always walking... searching for the urge.

The urge?

The power... Deep, deeper than any of us can imagine... It lies below the city... Deeper and deeper each day... Hiding from the light, the darkness comes and goes with the rays above... The eye of heaven closes and the eye of the witch gives them passage to roam...

What?!

I lost my eyes to them years past... Too long ago... Iron kept me safe... the water tries to get me every day, it comes to me... So dry... thirsty... It'll kill me one day... Not now...

W-where are you going?

I have to keep moving... I pose no threat... Tell that to your masters, Agnes... I'm on old man... No shape to walk, but we have to... We all do.

Who is "we"?!

The Cursed...