Thread: Empire - City of Magic (Black_Out and darkest_fate)

Barely any of the suns residual light found its way down beneath the cover provided by the crumbling arched roof of the tunnel. The wind wormed it's way through the shadows while Zatanna settled her attentions upon her arcane efforts. It howled unnaturally when a particularly strong gust swept across the ridges of stone and piles of debris. The noise left traces of moans and other unintelligible murmurings that fooled the ear into making them real to the mind. She wasn't alone, of course, and amidst the deception of relative silence she could hear the stirrings of the limited number of occupants that existed in the dark refuge of this place. The flare of a lighter being flicked and the glimmering yellow flame that wisped into existence within moments of her spells utterance shed it's subtle wavering glow about her surrounds. The lighter tilted within the grasping ragged finger-less mitten that held it towards the wick of a large red candle that was mostly spent. Another hand held a crooked spoon over the newly formed flame that rose up form the candles sloped center and a dark poisonous liquid bubbled in the meager cauldron of the spoon. As a syringe, no doubt contaminated with repeated use drank up the foul narcotic substance the flame twisted and the light it offered shifted with the guidance of the wind, illuminating the one preparing to indulge in the addictive concoction. In the peripheral of the figure illuminated by the disjointed light, the shadows danced and swirled revealing the specter of a face, half lit in a chiaroscuro fashion. It seemed to stare into Zatanna's core, the expression one of chiseled ever present dread. But before those blue eyes of the young magician could adjust and refocus upon the image revealed to the side of the hunched over squatter who sat with his back pressed against the wall, it was gone. It's shape lost back to shadow, perhaps never really there in the first place. The candle hissed as the breeze bore past it, and as it was hushed upon it's extinguishment a mote flitted through the air across the breadth of the tunnels width. It drew the eye with it, drawing the compliant sighs of the addict as the needle sunk into his veins back into the relative obscurity of the dark. That small sparkling flicker of orange ember drifted past Zatanna and weaved it's way through the air past her and into a corridor that was partially collapsed. Like a lazy and stubborn floating bit of cinder it wafted out of sight beyond the concealing wreckage that hindered entrance further past what was once a doorway. The dim pulsing glow remained, fading to a deeper red that made what little of the tunnels walls that could be view beyond seem like a passage into hell. Her eyes attuned by magic took notice of another denizen of the tunnels meager expanse. Had she her choice in the matter, she might of opted to not be able to view the perversion of the disgusting man that peered intently at her. His soft grunts, exhaled gasps were wrought by the hidden gestures of his hand that was stuffed beneath his ill fitting trousers. Vacant eyes from his pock marked face stared almost through her while his cracked and perforated lips spilled drool down the mismatching layers of soiled and stained shirts that clothed his chest. The snapping sound of the lighter jolted above the mans eager-less and estranged sounding ministrations, her sight lost for a brief moment as it adjusted back into focus. Her brilliant blue eyes saw the man with the needle looking directly towards her with his arm raised and extended forward, pointing with his gaunt index finger towards the dark outline of the rubble strewn hallway. With her attentions absorbed by the gesture of the addict, the sounds of the vulgarity of the other vagrant shifted. Muffled noises that had the pitch of a panicked woman emerged in their place and seemed to issue from the hallway where the orange ebbing light faded away into the blackness and the ghostly muffled noises returned to the normalcy of the masturbating miscreant.