One of his skills was literally called [Simple Future Sight], there was no way he would ever be able to fight someone like him with his current stats. Even if he could claim his [Lost Stats] he'd only have a higher maximum [Health Points] and [Dexterity]. His only hope in a fight against him would be to claim his [Lost Stats] and then also accept a mission to further increase his stats. He wasn't going to claim those [Lost Stats] never mind also accepting a mission, so there was quite literally no way for him to win in a fight against this Brother Shade. If they fought, he would definitely die, and his progress with Talyndra would reset, and he really really didn't want that to happen so soon after making some progress with her.
Brother Shade: I didn't say you could speak.
Abel: What's this all about? Are you some kind of religious zealot?
Brother Shade: I'm not a zealot.
Abel: Really? You seem the type.
Brother Shade: Nor am I here to listen to your needless prattle.
Abel: Shame. I was hoping to distract you-
He wasn't going to win, that much he knew for certain. But considering what he suspected he knew of what this man would do to him, he had to try and fight back anyways. There was always a small chance of victory. He steps to the side and tries to kick Brother Shade, but he catches Abel's foot, and hits him over the head with a Fabricated metal bat, knocking him over onto the floor. He felt himself being dragged as he lost consciousness. It was worth a try, now he got to die under the sun again. Yay...
-Talyndra-
Following the blood trail as far as she could, she ends up seemingly in the middle of nowhere when the trail runs out. An endless expanse of dust and sand at the very edge of the city itself.
Talyndra: Either he stopped bleeding, or they put him in something...
She tried Blazing some of the blood. She was a doctor by trade so knew blood well enough to re-Fabricate it if need be, and she had known and helped Kaelen for long enough to know this was definitely his blood. Or at least the blood of someone with similar blood to him. But considering the facts, it was probably his.
Talyndra: Maybe whoever it was began Blazing his blood from here? Or knew skin well enough to Fabricate some on him and stop the bleeding.
She looked around for any further signs or clues of where-ever he could've gone. She had managed to escape the festival grounds it had gone on that long. The outskirts of the town never really had anything in them, all of the interesting buildings and shops were centralised in a relatively small amount of space compared to the size of the actual city, but even then she had found her way to the point where she was pretty sure she was completely out of the city. If there was any clue at all, it would've been visible in this kind of place. Maybe she could ask around, find out if anyone saw anything suspicious. She doubted it, whoever this was likely would've gotten rid of witnesses.
Talyndra: Nothing... No other signs. There are just too many ways to hide or stop blood. There's nothing I can do... I've lost him…
-Abel-
When Abel opened his eyes he thought at first that he hadn't opened his eyes. Until he realised-
Abel, surprised: There's... There's no light? Where am I?
He was on a chair, his hands and feet bound. He immediately tried to Blaze the chair only-
Abel, shocked: Huh?
Brother Shade: You'll find you're completely unable to Blaze anything.
Brother had come into wherever he was. Or maybe he was always there and only now just decided to talk? But seriously, how could you have no light somewhere? Even in a room with no windows at the darkest part of the day some light leaked through the cracks in the walls. He suspected the walls he had known were just not the best quality, but also this world's sun never set, so perhaps they had been forced to find a material that completely blocked out all light. Abel had never been in absolute darkness- Or at least not one this dense. It was strange, he was lost in them. A world where eyes didn't matter. Truly lost in the shadows for the first time in his life, Abel was horrified. He had definitely been right, this was what would lead to him dying under the sun, he was already bound to a chair, all he needed was the gag and then to be thrown out into a desert.
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Brother Shade: Most people aren't aware, but you can only Blaze or Fabricate something in the light. It doesn't have to be much, even moon light would work-
It wasn't impossible that he was lying, but considering the context he doubted it. It was a fact he'd have to bear in mind, it may come in use later.
[Notice: Skill gained]
[Vision, Level 0 (+1) -> Vision, Level 1]
He had been stressing his eyes enough to gain- or rather regain the [Vision] skill, and could now, just barely see something, moving in the dark- No. It wasn't moving in the dark, it was the dark. This was no normal darkness, it was the ability of [The Sigil of Shades], it had to be.
Brother Shade: Here in the dark, it's just you and me. No Blazing, no Fabrication. Even if there was light you wouldn't be able to do anything, allegedly the symbols carved in that chair prevent alteration in internal Lux. But I don't trust carved Sigils much so I made sure to do this as well just in case.
A Sigil could be carved into something and still work? Curious. He'd have to test that one out sometime.
Brother Shade: Do you have any idea how much Lux you get from Blazing a living breathing human being?
Abel: Not really.
Brother Shade: It varies on the person of course, but on average? 400,000 Lux.
Abel: What? That's a ridiculous amount! There's no way that that's true!
Masked Man: Oh but it is! Or at least that's roughly the correct amount. And that's not even including the inherent Lux everyone keeps stored nowadays. If I was holding 500 Lux and you Blazed me, in theory you'd get 400,500 Lux total. Enough to craft most half decent Sigils.
How does one even craft a Sigil? He was only aware of two, his own, [The Sigil of Resurrection], and this man's, [The Sigil of Shades].
Brother Shade: And the best part about this? The general public aren't aware of Sigils. You have no idea what I'm saying, do you?
It seemed it was time for him to start lying in hopes of getting out of this situation.
Abel, "scared": N-no... You're going to Blaze me, aren't you?
Brother Shade: Not personally, no. But you will be being Blazed. Just after a bit of extra preparation.
Abel, "scared": Why are you telling me this?
Abel: Memory. You can Blaze memory. The more and the more interesting the memories, the more Lux you get from Blazing them. Just by talking to you I'm-
Abel: Fattening me up like for a meal...
Brother Shade: You get it. Now, be good. We need to get outside of the Perimeter before we can prepare you properly.
Abel: Perimeter? Perimeter of what?
Brother Shade: Just a few things to think over.
When the man stopped replying to him, he assumed that he had left. Why was it that he didn't hear the masked man enter or leave? He wasn't still in the room. Or at least Abel didn't think he was. There must be a way out of the room that doesn't involve the opening or closing of anything. But if that's true was it something that he could access?
Abel: Maybe there's a trick to it? A phrase? -Not that I'd be able to guess it.
Maybe Talyndra would save him? They had gotten slightly closer in this Save State, and she was friends with Kaelen. Not that she would know where he was. No matter how much he hoped, there was no way out of these shadows. It seemed clear to him that he was doomed to face his fate, burning up under the sun once again.
Abel: Well this isn't going to be fun.
He decided to just give up. Let the shadows consume him. If he allowed them to swallow him whole then he wouldn't be lost. Not really. You can't be lost in the shadows if you accept your position in them. Seconds passed. Then minutes. Then hours. Then he lost track. Time just passed in the shadow with no light for him to use to be able to guess. Just the dark.
Brother Shade: Time's up.
It seemed his time to die was here. Again.
