“I play a 7.” Liam said, picking a card from his hand and placing it down on the pile of cards in the middle of the table.

  Theo hummed anxiously, tilting his head back and forth as he stared at his own hand, debating what to play. He still had 5 cards, including an 8, and a 9. As both were higher than the 7, he could play either. If he played the 9, the odds were better he would win the hand and could start the next round, at which point he could get rid of the 8. The problem was if someone else beat the 9, and started the next round off themselves, the odds of him not being able to beat another card with his 8 were higher than if he kept the 9.

  “Can you hurry up already old man.” Decker moaned, looking up at the ceiling in exaggerated boredom.

  Theo scowled at Decker. “You can wait you little fox.” He said in an old gruff voice.

  Decker put his hands to his chest in mock offense. “Oh, that hurt Theo. There’s no need to be racist. Calling a wolf with orange fur a fox? You old people and your twisted, racist minds.” Theo shook his head at Deckers mock afront as his attention went back to his cards. Seeing as Theo wasn’t going to react anymore to his antics, Decker went back to complaining. “Come on already, we don’t have all night.”

  “We literally do have all night; we’re the night watch.” Theo replied.

  “Technically.” Decker shrugged, then pointed to Liam with a wry smile. “But we’re not even watching anything, Liams the only one even wearing his armor.”

  Theo looked over to Liam himself, raising an eyebrow as he took in the grey wolf wearing his full set of silver and blue knights’ armor, sans the helmet. He even had his sword strapped to his side, ready to fight at a moment’s notice. “Why are you wearing your full set? You look like a fool, like a green recruit.”

  “I just…” Liam started, a mixture of defensiveness and nervousness in his voice. “I’ve had this bad feeling all day.”

  “About what?” Theo responded, taking the 9 out of his hand and placing it on top the 7.

  “Oh, come on!” Decker complained. “You spent all that time just to raise by 2?” The old, black furred Theo growled at Decker, bearing his maw full of razor sharp, golden replacement teeth. Decker put his hands up in surrender, leaning back in his chair. “Sorry, sorry, no need to get all pissy about it.” He took a quick look at his own hand, took a card out, then placed it on the pile. “I play a 10”. Then he also turned to Liam. “So my knight in shining armor, did you have a bad dream or something?”

  Liam looked at the 10, then down at his own cards. He had four cards left, two 5’s and two 6’s. He frowned as he looked up at the pot of copper coins in the center of the table. “I think I might be fucked. My wife’s gonna kill me.”

  Decker waved his hand impatiently for Liam to continue. “That’s no different than every other day. You come in, we kick your ass at some card game, take your money and you go home. Then your wife yells at you, you swear to her you’ll stop gambling, then you come back in and we do it all again. What is different is you going full set in the middle of the base. What’s this bad feeling you’ve got? You sure it’s not a kidney stone?”

  “No, it’s not a kidney stone.” Liam sharply shot back, before his nervousness returned. “I’ve been thinking about Saige and her team, do you think they’ll be successful?”

  The question brought an immediate somber mood to the room. “Do you mean, will they be able to kill the black devil?” Theo replied.

  “Yea…” Liam softly said back.

  There was a long silent pause, as no one said anything, nor played any cards. Finally, Theo broke the silence. “I’m sorry son, I don’t think they will. I’m not quite sure why the king even sent them after him. We are but mere wolves, nothing more than sheep to a lucifer like him.”

  There was another long somber pause before Liam spoke up again. “Do you think he’ll come here?”

  “Who?” Decker said. “Shade?”

  “Yea...” Liam nodded.

  Decker put on his best reassuring smile as he placed a hand on Liams shoulder. “Mate, is that why you’re wearing your armor? Worried the black devil will come here? We may be mere wolves, but even he wouldn’t dare take on an entire base of knights on his own.”

  BOOOOOOM

  A massive explosion hit the roof, sending Liam flying backwards, slamming into the wall at the back of the room with a loud ‘oof’. “What the fuck was that?” He yelled, as he tried waving away the dust and smoke that now surrounded him. “Are you guys okay?” He called out, covering his mouth with his arm as he got back to his feet. As he looked around the room, his eyes went wide with shock as he found his compatriots, or parts of them at least. “No…. No….” He whimpered, as his eyes fell on the head of Decker, no longer attached to a body. His eyes then quickly shot around the room for Theo, but all he found were various body parts. Black furred arms and legs, but nothing more. “Noooo!” He cried out, but he didn’t have time to mourn.

  “Oh, someone survived the explosion?” A cold voice said from above him.

  Liam slowly turned his now terrified gaze upward. In his shock, he hadn’t noticed that the room within the base they were playing cards in, now no longer had a roof. Floating in the night sky above the room was a large dragon, with two red horns, red eyes, red wings, black scales, and wearing all black armor. “Shade. Night.” Liam whispered to himself with a gulp, as his hand slowly went towards his sword.

  Shade smiled and tilted his head like a curious cat eyeing its prey. “Oh, the mouse wishes to play, does it?”

  Liams breathing grew rapid as his mind raced at what to do. His bad feeling was right, Shade was here, attacking the base. But this was no time for victory laps, he was in huge danger. He couldn’t take on Shade Night, but could he run away? What about Knights honor? “Fuck honor!” He said, moving his hand away from the sword, and taking off in a sprint. He plowed right through the wooden door that led out of the room, splinters flying everywhere, not even bothering to attempt opening it.

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  Shades smile turned to a frown as he watched the wolf run off. “Not even a mouse. No, a cockroach. Nothing more than a bug trying to survive. Run away cockroach. Run, run away.”

  “Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck!” Liam kept repeating to himself, as he barreled through the halls of the base, not even sure where he was trying to go. Where could he run to? Where could he hide? Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding! The alarm bells on top of the base began to rapidly chime as screams could be heard from all around. “It’s him!” One said. “Get everyone up, to arms!” Another called. The chorus of screams and alarm bells formed an almost orchestral tune with the loud booms from rapid fire explosions rattling the base. Liam struggled to keep his footing, tripping and falling numerous times from the constant mini earthquakes Shades unrelenting attacks were causing.

  After falling, then picking himself off the ground once more, he found himself next to a window. He took a quick look out the window that peered into the courtyard used for training at the center of the base. Shade was there, floating high above the ground in the middle of the courtyard. When light from torches being lit appeared in windows around the base, he would shoot a ball of exploding fire at them, like it was nothing but a game. Liam cusped his hands around his mouth as he leaned out the window. “Stop lighting your torches, you're giving your position away!”

  Shade turned and looked at the window, then smiled. “Oh, there’s my little cockroach.”

  Liams eyes went wide, and he took off running again. “Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, why did I do that?” He pushed his way past screaming maids, and screaming servants, all like him, running aimlessly through the base, but when he passed by a screaming and running cook, he had an idea. “The kitchen, it has cabinets large enough for me to hide in.” He ran down the corridor, down two flights of stairs, hooked a left, then a right, then went down another set of stairs, before throwing the door at the bottom open. The kitchen was empty, evidence of either late dinner, or early breakfast being made strewn about the room. He ignored that though, his eyes darting around, desperately trying to find a cabinet he could fit in.

  They fell on a large metal cabinet at the back of the kitchen. The meat locker. A metal, mini closet like container used for storing and keeping meat cold. He sprinted over to it, threw the door open, then squeezed his way inside, stuffing himself between a hanging body of a cow, and a pig. He hid away in the locker for what felt like hours, as the number of screams from outside slowly lessened, along with the number of explosions. Finally, silence overcame the base, with the only noise being the automatic alarm bells still ringing, but he dared not to move. He stayed perfectly still, trying to be as silent as possible, but when he heard slow and steady footsteps make their way down the stairs, his breathing grew rapid and heavy. He could hear the sound of cabinets opening around him, then cupboards, and finally, lockers. The doors to his hiding spot flew open, and his eyes met the blazing red eyes of a dragon.

  “There you are my little cockroach. Hiding away in the kitchen, how apropos.” Shade said, with a devilish smile plastered on his face. He reached his hand into the locker, grabbed Liam by the neck, and dragged him out, then held him up in the air.

  Liam desperately kicked and clawed, but Shades grip was unrelenting. “Please, please, you can’t!”

  To Liams horror, at hearing his pleas, Shades evil smile only grew bigger. “Does my cockroach have any last words?”

  “Please, I have a family, kids!”

  Ding…. Ding…. Ding…the alarm bells continued blaring, a chorus for Liams final moments. “LAST CALL!” Ding… Ding… Ding… Ding.

  “Oh, if I had a coin for every time someone said that, right before I killed them.” Shade replied, taking a red dagger out from a sheathe around his waist, then slowly raising the point towards Liam’s throat.

  Ding…. Ding… Ding… Ding… Ding. “THIS IS LAST CALL!” Ding… Ding… Ding… Ding.

  “Please! No, please!” Liam yelled, but he could only watch as the tip of the dagger slowly made its way to his neck. Right before it reached him, he let out one, final, “Noooooooo!”

  Bam!

  “Huh, what, huh?” Shade said, as he jolted back awake, head snapping to attention.

  “This is last call.” The bartender in front of him sternly said, taking his fist off the bar top he had just punched. The bartender was an older elf wearing a tuxedo that didn’t match the back-alley aesthetic of the interior, nor its patrons. He also had an absolutely marvelous handle bar mustache that Shade had been debating if he could pull off, and with every passing drink, he thought he just might be able to.

  “Oh.” Shade groaned, waving his hand. “Yea, sure, I’ll take one more.”

  The bartender frowned at the egregiously intoxicated man in front of him, but turned to the shelves behind him and grabbed a bottle of whiskey, as well as a glass. He stared at them for a moment, before sighing, and placing the entire bottle of whiskey in front of Shade. “Here, just take the whole thing with you.”

  “A bottle for the road? Don’t mind if I do. Cheers.” Shade replied, lifting the bottle in the air, then uncorking it and taking a swig.

  The bartender nodded at him, then started to walk away, before turning back. “I know people don’t actually care about advice from some old bartender, but I’ve seen others like you before, and I can promise you, whatever answers you’re looking for, you won’t find them at the bottom of that bottle.”

  Shade shrugged. “Only one way to find out, right?” He said, then took another swig. The bartender sighed again, then started to walk away again. “Hey, bartender!” Shade called out, and he turned back around. “What do I owe ya?”

  “Oh, right.” The bartender replied, then turned and looked around the shelves at all the empty bottles Shade had somehow managed to drink. He peered over his shoulder at Shade, wondering how he had managed not to pass out. Hell, screw pass out, how was he still alive? The man sitting at the bar was a human, at least he thought. He looked like a male human in his mid to late 20s, with messy medium black hair and dull green eyes. While the bottles he had downed were all the lowest of the low, closer to acid then actual quality alcohol, he had drunk almost a dozen of them in less than 4 hours. “I don’t know, call it 50 coppers?” He said, turning back to Shade.

  “50 coppers?” Shade replied, getting off his stool in front of the bar. He drunkenly swayed back and forth a few times before grabbing onto the bar top to regain his balance. “I don’t know if I have 50 coppers.”

  The bartender sighed once more. “That’s what I was worried about. Just…” But before he could continue, Shade placed something on the counter.

  “Would this work?” He asked.

  The bartenders’ eyes went so wide, they threatened to pop right out of his skull. “That’s…. that’s a gold coin.”

  “Yea, there all I have.” Shade replied, oddly despondent.

  The bartender slowly moved his hands to the coin, almost reluctant to even pick it up. When he finally did, he held it to one of the few lanterns hanging from the ceiling in the dimly lit bar, and twirled it around. “Its…. real.” He said, then looked back to Shade. “I don’t have change for this.”

  “Its fine.” Shade waved dismissively. “I don’t need change, I don’t need any more coins, I’ve got plenty.” He then raised the bottle of whiskey in salute to the bartender one more time, then turned and stumbled his way through the now empty bar, and out the front door.

  The bartender looked back down at the gold coin in his hand, completely baffled. A young blonde female elf, also wearing a tuxedo, came out through a back door that led from the kitchen to behind the bar. “Grandpa, I finished cleaning the….” She stopped short, her eyes widening as well as she saw what he was holding. “Is that a gold coin?”

  “Yes….it is.” He replied, his eyes not moving from the coin.

  “How did you get that?” She said back. “Did someone pay with a gold coin?”

  “Yes, a human did.”

  Her shock only grew at that. “A human had a gold coin? How, who was he?”

  The bartenders head slowly moved back up to the door Shade had just walked out of. “I have no idea.”