ADVENTURES IN ASGARDIA PT. 1 - The Midnight Assassin!

Chicago, 12:00PM.
Light Snow, Cloud Gate.
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Cloud Gate was a strange place, the Humans thought that little round metallic thing was just a piece of art, when in reality it was a transporter for the different species wandering the heavens above. Meaning, Chicago was a social hub for aliens. So, that would explain why a creature such as The Composer was hanging around the square playing his Guqin. It was a tranquil scene, and many of Chicago's citizens were gathering around to listen to his wonderful music. The soft plucks caressed every ear in the square, and it brought the place to a dead silence.

Between each pause, you would be able to hear the wind howling. As if The Composer were doing a duet with Mother Nature herself. Even the hotdog stand guy was quiet, and pushed people away as if he were closing down for the day. Still, the sweet scent of fresh hot-dogs filled the air. It kinda clashed with the music, but no-one was complaining.

The Composer sat there, with his foggy jaded eyes staring off a thousand yards away. It was obvious he was blind. His white beard and mustache would flap calmly in the wind every now and then, he almost blended into the ground with his white gown. Of course, this peace wouldn't last long. He was apart of The Unity of Iron, and he was here on a mission.

Still, the music was nice.

      It was busy, people going about their daily lives in what seemed like a constant rush, never taking the time to look around them. There was no consideration for others, no time to pause and apologize for bumping into that poor old man with a cane, or that small child holding ice cream, or those people in a group. Of course, that was if people cared for the mundane, human lifestyle. Work until death, die overworked. For Preston, that didn't quite suit him.

      Rather, he was more interested in those who weren't human, or out-of-the-ordinary experiences that, possibly, involved those who were from the other side; maybe even something really unique, like aliens or something. Just the thought was enough to bring a smile to his face. It was how he'd come across multiple friends over the years, for better and for worse, and how he'd met possibly the most important figure in his life. Being able to summon demons with blood - and other sacrifices - was pretty cool.

      "Wait wait, hear that?" Reddish-brown eyes seemed to light up on he face of a boy - no, a full grown man - who was comfortably settled on top of the shoulders of an out-of-place figure with purple hair. The peaceful, oriental sound of the music that flooded the air was an immediate attention-grabber to the ever rambunctious Preston, who pointed his finger in the direction of the melodies. Looked like a cluster of people surrounding some street performer. "Sounds interesting! Wanna check it out?"

      He patted the figure below him on the head, giving him no time to protest. "Of course you do, who doesn't find weird shit like this in the middle of a huge city interesting? Besides, it's funny to watch street performers when they mess up! Remember the percussionist who didn't catch the stick? Oh! Oh! And that time someone tried to steal the money of that one dude with the violin, and the other dude punched him right in the face and knocked him cold? Oh oh oh oh oh oh! And I remember the time we saw that really cool person with that... wheel thing? The gymnast lady? That was exciting!" He continued to prattle on and on about random street performers they'd crossed over their years of travel. It wasn't until he'd hit about number ten on his 'this was exciting' list that he finally stopped, once more pointing toward the group of people surrounding the musician.

      "Hi-ho, Jaspers, away!"

Jaspers was a fan of Chicago. The tall buildings, all of the people, all the noise and smells and sights... it reminded him a lot of home. He had grown up in the capital, of course. It was close to the royal palace, allowing him to be trained by his king and mentor. Of course he never actually participated in all the hustle and bustle, he preferred to watch. Most Gateway Demons did, it was in their nature to watch instead of act. So where he was, quietly leading Preston along and letting the blonde boy take the lead, was perfect for him.

"I can tell we'll be going over there anyway, regardless of whether or not I want to." Jaspers's voice was calm and flutey, reminiscent of the music that flowed their way. There were so many layers to it, each one cascading around like a symphony. Like the words were being bounced along mirrors and overlapping. It was a voice that was incredibly easy to get lost in, to be too distracted by to understand the words. For a human, at any rate. For Jaspers's own people this sort of thing was the norm, and every sub-species had their own inflections. For mirror gateways like him, it was the reflection and overlapping. For tunnel gateways, it was a faint echo. For Jaspers's mentor it was the constant whispering in foreign tongues underneath every word.

"You seem to be incredibly enraptured with everyone we come across." He talked while he walked, not worried about Preston falling off of his shoulders. Instead of having his hands on Preston's legs, they were shoved deep into his coat pockets. "It makes me all the more eager to show you my home. Someday." A day that was very far off, Jaspers knew. Even if he got permission for Preston to enter his home, it was still a matter of getting him there. And making sure he didn't die should the air prove to be too toxic for the human.

At this point he wasn't paying attention to the man with the instrument at all, aside from registering the sound in the back of his mind. He was too focused on the man on his shoulders, and the conversation they were currently having.

The plucking came to a slow when the children played around his Guqin, threatening his musical talents by the sheer chance of falling on top of his precious instrument. No, he wouldn't have that. The Composer gave a good inhale through his nose before tilting his head to the side slightly. His long bony fingers slowly slid across the strings to cause a really loud screeching noise, afterwards, it stopped playing all together. His jaded eyes locked onto Preston and Jasper, as if he had heard them talking about how exciting it would be for him to mess up.

Then, from the side of his torso, came two more hands. They both stretched out and grabbed the children by the top of their heads. The audience took in a gasp, hmm, The Composer expected them to be a little less on edge about his arms. He turned his head towards the children and opened his mouth to speak. "Zuò xiàlái, nǐ zhège xiǎo qiàn fú màichōng!" (Sit down, you little runts!)

Then, a fifth hand came shooting out of the side of his torso and gave them both a good smack on the bottoms. Afterwards, he pushed them to a sitting position. Then, his normal hands clasped together and he pushed them outward, giving them a loud crack before his extra arms came back into his body. Then, he continued playing. Only, this time, his blind eyes were locked on Japser's.

The strumming grew more and more intense, having a loud and ear shattering strum every few minutes. Finally, his extra hands came out of his torso and they all strummed at the same time. Then, the most awful rip erupted from the people surrounding Jasper and Preston. The audience let out a blood curdling scream all at the same time, before suddenly falling apart as if they had been cut to bits.

Only, Jasper and Preston were unharmed.

The Composer then flicked his leg up, the giant Guqin shot up and stayed on it's side. It stood there in a perfect balance. Afterwards, more hands shot out of his back, and stretched out to push The Composer to a stand. Then, he flicked his regular arms and put them together, his large sleeves wrapping around his hands. The other arms? They went back into his skin.

All but one, that reached around his shoulder and twisted to touch his chin, then it flicked his beard up and retracted back into his back.

"I see you have taken an interest in my music..."

      "Mmmhm! And we're gonna do it - together! It'll be much better than this bullshit all the time, y'know. Street performers are great, but they have nothing on all of your kind! Remember the really cool demon I summoned not long after we met? He was the dude with that really aggressive familiar! I'd love to meet him again, those eyes on his arms were cool." Nevermind the fact that he was threatened and nearly killed by said demon. There was something just so nice about their presence. He felt as though he could be killed a thousand times over and still find all of them fascinating. Even Jaspers' voice was interesting. He'd met many demons since learning to summon - some better than others- and each one had voices like nothing he'd heard before. It was fascinating, their accents and inflections and patterns of speech.

      He focused once more on the seemingly-Asian man playing.. whatever that was. Like the children slowly making their way toward him, straying from too-busy parents - another thing Preston loathed about humans - in their play, he wanted to touch the instrument. There was something both perplexing and hypnotizing about it, and, if it weren't for the fact he knew Jaspers would tell him not to, he would have hopped right off of his shoulders and enjoyed himself. Besides, they were already doing it.

     Preston's glee only increased when he saw the hands protruding from the side of the strange man, a smile on his face, clear as day. It was like a small toddler in the face of a fuckin' candy sore. Jackpot was the thought on his mind. It was mingled among other such words, faint hopes lingering in the back of his mind at the idea of becoming friends with the strange man in front of him. Perhaps Preston was too much of an optimist, or maybe just a straight up idiot, but he felt confident. Even as a strange shriek erupted from the instrument as multiple hands reached its strings, or as people were chopped into chunks of dead human, he laughed. "It's a show, Jaspers. Just for us, too. He's looking right at you, isn't he?"

     Once the gore around him had come to comfortable silence, he heard the man speak, hands sinking back into his flesh. The human ran his fingers through the demon he was riding on's hair in thought. The music, huh? That music sure did some interesting things. He liked it - he liked it a lot. Call it his morbid sense of humor and curiosity, but he admired the way The Composer had quickly taken care of the annoying city rats around them. It was decided, then. There was only one response. He'd prompt more out of this man.

     "We're more than interested!"

The hairs on the back of Jaspers's neck prickled and stood up as they approached the man, a steady and sinking feeling of dread washing over him. Before they were even close the feelers on his hair started moving and curling up, trying to get a better read on the aura of magic that was surrounding the musician. It was unlike anything he'd felt since he was back home. The demons, ghosts more like, simply weren't up to par with the ones he was used to. But this man and this... intense aura surrounding him... that made Jaspers take notice.

"Grah'n..." His voice came out foreign, words of a language completely alien of that to any in this realm. It was a language he hadn't spoken since he'd arrived in this realm, something even Preston had never heard him speak. And that was his native language, the language of the Demons of his home.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Jaspers's eyes narrowed back at the man in front of them. Yes, it was a show. And it was undoubtedly for them, for Jaspers. But he didn't like the idea of that, and he didn't want to know why the man was so interested in them. He doubted it could be chalked up to that inane curiousity humans had with his purple hair. No, there was something different here. Something darker.

But Preston was curious, and Jaspers had to admit he'd love to find out more when the literal explosion of body parts happened. He was unfazed, of course, he'd seen far worse during his training alone. But his upper lip still curled back, some kind of territorial instrinct coming over him as the man spoke. "Yes... Yes I suppose we are."

The Composer gave a smile, and began to rub at his beard and mustache with his normal hands. As he did this, he would give a few nods in a deep thought kinda way. Then, he put his sleeves together, another hand came sliding out of his back and grabbed the top of his Gu Qin, then gave it a spin. Now, the strings were facing The Composer. He gave the face a good feel to see where the strings were, and made another hand come out of his back to begin strumming the strings.

"There you are." He said with a small cocky chuckle. The Composer stayed silent for a while, letting the soft strums give off the feeling of tranquility. Every now and then he'd pause, and you could hear Mother Nature singing along with him. As well as the blood from the dismembered rats dripping onto the concrete.

"Curiosity, often leads to disaster." He finally replied. "I'll answer three questions, no more, no less."

So far, if they were smart, they would realize that he was blind as a bat. Quite literally, in fact. Since he is using his harp as an echo-location device. As long as he had those strings attached, he would be a formidable foe.

      A new language? Immediately, his attention was back on his childhood companion. What was that? He'd learned many words, phrases, and snippets from Jaspers, but that had a weird sound he'd never heard in his life. Even going back to his early childhood, he couldn't place hearing the mirror gateway demon ever say something like that. It filled him with some mixture of excitement and.. was that dread? He seemed urgent in what he said, and the thought of that brought a subtle frown of concern to the human's face. If Jaspers was worried about something, it was worth worrying about. Still, he was approaching The Composer, due to Jasper's feet moving beneath them. It meant the man was worth walking toward, and he was going to be safe with his friend.

      Preston was no fool, despite his childish nature, and picked up immediately on the fact that the man was blind. It was apparent in what he said. Beyond that, the blond wanted to know how he found them. Was it that there was a hidden gaze, or a part of whatever sort of species he was? And he seemed to be one of those dickheads who wanted to answer things precisely how he was asked. Three questions, then. He hummed thoughtfully in the back of his throat, clambering himself off of Jaspers' shoulders after a moment. With only three questions, there was little information he could glean out of the guy. At least, on his own, that was. He shot a russet-eyed glance at Jaspers.

      "What species do you belong to, specifically?" Preston immediately offered. "The other two questions can go to him." As many questions as he did have bouncing around in that brain of his, he knew he'd end up wasting those three golden opportunities on random bullshit. It wouldn't do having nothing to gain from the conversation. The level-headed Jaspers was a better fit for feeding Preston's curiosity, anyways.

Jaspers's eyes flickered over the man's form, and then to their surroundings. If things got ugly he needed to figure out a way to use the environment to his advantage, considering Preston was here. There was no doubt in his mind that, if he could go all out, this man wouldn't stand a chance but... That was the thing. He couldn't go all out. The thought made his scowl deepen in frustration. Not towards Preston of course, he couldn't resent the boy for that, but it was still a pain to have to pull his punches every single time he got in a fight.

"You're too kind." It didn't take long at all, however, for Jaspers to regain his composure and his tone slid right back into a pleasant, polite one. He waited until Preston had slid off of him before he bowed, right hand folded over his waist, left hand outstretched behind him, and both legs straight with his right one forward. A traditional bow, for his people that was. Then he straightened up again.

Preston's question was a good one, Jaspers had to admit that. It was one that Jaspers himself would have asked. If he could find out this man's species he could get a good idea of his identity and abilities, and maybe even abuse the law if it turned out the man had used a gateway demon to come here from his own realm. That part was a long-shot, since Jaspers couldn't quite recall a species like this man, but everything had to be accounted for here.

The Composer listened to Prestons words and gave a slight nod. A toothy grin slowly forming from ear to ear. (not literally) It was obvious by this facial expression, that he was indeed going to go by the way the questions were worded.

"I belong to The Unity. Although, I am not a Unity."

Then, he began to laugh so hard that his shoulders shook. Yes, that was quite funny. Like lemmings to the sea.  It was apparent they would have to word their questions wisely. Then, his laughter died down when Jaspers called him kind. Was that what this was? All The Composer was doing was playing games with the two.

Well, he would have to take the compliment for now. He stayed quiet for now, and waited for the last two questions.

The Unity, but not a unity? What kind of cryptic shit did that mean? Preston frowned as he stared The Composer down, leaning against the gateway demon to the left of him.

What was The Unity? Was it some kind of organization? But a Unity? All of this sounded interesting, but he was mocking them, laughing in their face. In a way, he knew that that was fine. It was natural for someone of higher power - or believing they were of higher power, anyways - to mock a human and a demon that didn't look like much of anything special.

Still, it left a bad taste in his mouth, and he sighed, trying to sift through the rapid questions in his head that were being raised in regard to The Composer. Either way he looked at it, he'd just waste their time by asking anything. He elbowed Jaspers in the side a bit. His questions.

The... The Unity? Jaspers's brows knit together as he tried to process that. He'd, surprisingly, heard that name before. His mentor had mentioned it a couple times when teaching him about the various realms his species had footholds in, even if it was something so small as being a figure of mythology. He didn't know what they were specifically, and he didn't know what the man was talking about when he said 'the unity, but not a unity' but it worried him.

"Why have you taken an interest in us?" Was Jaspers's first question. He was trying to pick ones that would give him a good idea of what was going on here, but he didn't want to rush into it either. He wanted to make each move calculated and careful, using all the information given to him before making another move. That was how wary he was being of this man, and he showed it by placing a hand on Preston's arm and moving him back, behind Jaspers.

"Zexenuma spical, moxt anon, esel dout lowan geou confn resoneo loupon toladaf di udoka geou lamith." Again, there was that foreign language, but this time Jaspers's eyes were locked onto the man's face, studying his eyes and facial expression to see if there was even a hint of recognition.

The Composer gave a smile and began nodding some more. "Aaaah, it appears you have opened a gate to some more knowledge." He said in a sing song tone, the strumming grew quicker and more violent. This was far bigger than the both of them. "Forged from Iron she purifies us with her blood." He said while slowly lowering the Gu Qin with an almost too careful motion.

Then, he crossed his arms behind his back. "That, is the calling I answer to. And, at the end of this day, The Unity of Iron is a name you will never forget!" The Composer held out his hand, feeling the wind kiss his wrinkled flesh. It was with this question, asked by young Jaspers, that other questions will be answered. "You don't belong here, Jaspers." How did he know this guys name? "And you don't deserve this power, Preston!" Shit, he was EXPECTING them. "My duty, is to sift the chaff from the wheat. You're tainting this universe with your presence, demon. And you!" His hand shot out and pointed at Preston. "Are the cause for his presence, and must be punished by full extent of Unity law, for committing this heinous act! You both will be killed like a dog, in the middle of this square! Your bodies will rot, and be shown to each Hub inside of Asgardia! You will be purged, in order to purify the mother of Unity!" It was hard to take this seriously, what, with his Chinese accent.

He brought his hand to his facial hair and gave it a good stroke. Then, threw his head back and let out a maniacal laugh. When he was done, he looked in the general direction of the two. "Your "expressions" amuse me, are you prepared to be slaughtered like the filthy inbred pigs you are!?"

With the excitement building up, he almost forgot about the last question. He was, however, a man of his word, and if reminded, would answer the final question.

"A bit cryptic, huh.." Preston's gaze immediately fell to the hand lightly gripping his arm, and he followed Jaspers' silent instruction, ducking behind him and peering out from behind his shoulder. Who was this dude, thinking he was better than the two of them? Still, there was this lingering awe over him. How had he killed those people so quickly? What did his instrument do? Could he possibly be someone they'd become allies with?

      That dream of being allies was quickly crushed when the man spoke up again, answering his demon companion's question. Don't belong here? He subconsciously clutched onto the jacket adorning the gateway demon's figure, but the smile on his own lips soon crept back up. It seemed today would be more of an adventure than Preston had initially anticipated. The dude was a nutcase with multiple arms who killed people with music. He liked the idea of permitting Jaspers to let loose for a bit.

      The accusing finger that pointed in his direction was warmly welcomed with a pleased grin, in total contrast to Jaspers' concerned attitude. "Punished? I wonder.." He only laughed in response, like a giddy child right before receiving a gift. He wanted to know what this guy could really accomplish. Besides, Preston felt safe at his friend's side. Jaspers might not have looked too impressive, but he was on hell of a demon. Every time the human heard about his home, about his mentor - the fuckin' demon king - he was astounded. His best friend knew the king of demons personally; he somehow doubted this over zealous idiot would manage to do much to him.

      "You can slaughter us after something else!" With that grin still fully intact, he took a slight step out from behind the taller man, pointing right back at The Composer, like he was playing a game. "You still owe us a question! Don't get wrapped up in the moment and go forgetting! You're already bein' kind of a dick, we don't need to get gypped out of information on top of it."

There was none of that realization that Jaspers was looking for, no sign that this man knew even something as simple as his language. No. Instead this man was batshit crazy. But at least he was giving Jaspers information, far more information than he had asked for. A government... a government that was hunting them down... Oh dear, that both sounded like an incredible bother as well as... well, more interesting than what he'd been doing up until then.

Preston earned a small smile from the demon when he prompted the man out of the other information, but the attention was fleeting and quickly returned to the man. He was beginning to come to the realization that he would have to kill this man, but before he did he could at least get some more information. And the man had prompted the perfect question for him to ask.

Actually, he had to suppress a smile. This man was obviously knowledgeable about the both of them, but his knowledge seemed to end at the obvious. Or obvious to someone with that amount of magical power. "Yes. Preston is right. We get one more question." He slipped one hand out of his pocket, curled into a loose fist and dangling at his side. "So answer me this, skav. How do you know my name?"

When reminded about their last question, he gave a loud scoff. It was obvious he wanted to get this done and over with. More info on useless chaff, whatever. He'd be quick and to the point about it.

"The Universe told The Unity, and The Unity told us..." Wait, did they not know? Oh, that's fucking funny. He let out another laugh and flicked his beard again. "You don't know? You f-hoo-hoo-hools!" He chuckled while talking, then a ton of arms came out of his back and sides as if he were showing them the worlds around this one. "The Universe of Asgardia is our mother! Unlike your filthy realm, ours is alive! You being here makes her hurt emotionally! And your mirrors wound her. Your species is a mere parasite compared to what The Mother of Unity has created! And that... Ignorant cretin of yours, is too much of a liability to The Unity. Destructive! What do you expect from fat headed humans?" He then gave a phlegm infested spit towards the general direction of Preston.

"I can't wait until we finally be-rid of those pigs in Suman clothing! Homo-sapiens should have been dead by now, the only thing keeping them alive is their superior beings. Here me well, boy!" He spat again, talking to Preston now. "If you had ever left Earth, you'd've been a slave to Sumans! At the end of the day, i'm doing you a favor by destroying your miserable life, here. And. Now!"

Then, he let out a musical sounding scream. It was hard to notice, but once he let out that scream, his head turned slightly towards Jaspers and Preston. Ah, yeah, he was blind. He was looking towards them in a slightly off direction at first, until he let out that scream. Now? He was staring at them dead on.


An arm stretched out from his side and grabbed his Gu Qin from the farthest bit away from him, then he pulled it towards him. This made it fly up in the air, doing a ton of spins while it flew. While this happened, he had taken a few steps toward them in a running fashion. Then, he bent his knee as if he were sitting down in a chair, and used his other leg to cross over his thigh. It was a table! And his harp landed perfectly on that table made of flesh.

"Hear the Blade of Gu-Qin!" He shouted in a singing fashion, before strumming the cords in a fast, but soft manner to start off with, using us normal hands at first. Then, more hands began to come out of his sides while the song picked up in speed.

From the front of the harp, came a Musical Staff with the specific notes he played popping up on it. The staff slithered around the two like a snake before collapsing on itself. It twisted around them, and went high up. It was like they were inside of a tornado. Then, it expanded and produced an image. It was like looking into a portal, or rather, a window. It was painted, like that Japanese wave art. In this painting, they could see a grass landscape surrounded by a lake. An island! On that island, was a cherry-blossom tree. It's pedals fell softly against the grass, covering the area around it in a vibrant pink.

Then, he would strum HARD. This caused the picture to slice, as if a blade had cut through the gorgeous painting. Then, he would strum hard again, and again, and again. More and more cuts sliced through the portal. The folds fell, and they would be able to see the spirits of samurai, an entire army of them.

If they had a keen eye, they would notice some of the people that The Composer killed in that very square in the far back.

Then, the strumming got faster and faster. The army began reaching out of the portal, struggling at first. Their hands trying to grasp at Jaspers and Preston. Then, he strummed really hard again. And again. More portals began to surround them.

Strum, Strum, Strum! The portal shattered, and they all faded. Glass literally fell onto the ground around the summoner and Gate Way Demon. Had The Composer conjured up something terrible?

STRUM!

Jaspers would definitely see it coming, it shimmered in the sunlight, something had come from his harp!

The ground between them began to warp, then, slices formed around the warp. They grew in numbers, and they were slicing the ground fast.

It felt like a life-time for the blades to come, and when they were a meter away, they shimmered again.

Preston and Jasper would see it for a few seconds, the army of the dead was charging at them with their weapons ready. Crying out a war cry. They looked rotten, and a few were even skeletons. Their armor dating back to thousands of years ago. If The Composer had killed them all, then it would be apparent he was as old as he looked. And, a skilled assassin.