*It was a few days after Faven’s Day and all of Brister was getting ready to ring in the new year. Jin had returned back home to spend the holiday with his family and everyone within Shadow Eye was doing their own thing. On the night before the new year in the outskirts of Brister a bar was loud with the rowdy sounds of laughter and music. The drunkards within the bar were all humans and partying to bring in the new year. One man with brown hair and a mullet was doing an air guitar while holding a pool stick. He wore blue jeans that were slightly torn on the right pants leg and wore a black biker jacket over a plain grey shirt. Some of the drunkards were mining their own business while those who watched him were cheering him on*
(Mullet Biker): Yeah, that’s how a human plays the guitar!
*Everyone around him cheers. He stops and takes his shot at the pool table sinking a ball into the hole. As everyone was enjoying themselves, the front door of the bar swung open and in walked Dust, wearing a dark grey coat, black pants, and a black snow cap. His hands were in his pockets as he walked in and removed his hat, getting everyone’s attention when he exposed his elf ears. Suddenly, everyone stopped talking and stared at Dust. Only the sound of rock music could be heard, and the slight creaking of the wooden planks on the floor as Dust made his way to the bar counter. Dust could see everyone staring daggers at him and wearing biker gear attire, but went about his business, ignoring them, and sat down on a barstool*
(Dust): Good evening. What’s your strongest drink tonight?
*Dust’s question was met with silence as the bartender, who was a middle-aged man with short grey hair and mustache with brown eyes, went about his business cleaning a glass mug with a rag*
(Dust): Oh come on. Bartend me.
*Once again Dust was met with silence and a dark-skinned waitress who had curly black hair, green eyes and wore a yellow shirt with black pants and shoes came up to him*
(Waitress): Read the sign, sug.
*The waitress points to a sign hanging on the back wall of the bar that read: No elves, demihumans, or merfolk. Only humans*
(Waitress): We don’t serve your kind here.
(Dust): Well now that’s a shame. I heard this place had some good drinks I wanted to try.
(Bartender): I suggest leaving. Before it gets ugly real fast. The last elf who came here misread the signals and now eats through a metal straw.
(Dust): Oh really? What are they feeding him? Porkchop? Ground beef? Veggie drink?
*As the bartender was getting ready to talk*
(Dust): No no no. I’m still going. Buffalo wings? Pizza? Salmon?
*The bartender reaches underneath the bar and pulls out a sawed-off shotgun. He points it directly at Dust’s face. *
(Bartender): Do you ever shut up?
(Dust): I can’t help it, I get chatty when I’m nervous. Just like you lose consciousness from a sucker punch.
(Bartender): What?
*Dust grabs the shotgun barrel with his left hand to move it from his face and then punches the bartender in the face where he loses consciousness and falls to the ground. The waitress screams as Dust grabs the shotgun and removes the shells before examining the shotgun*
(Dust): Yeah, mine is better.
*Dust then turned his attention to everyone else who were standing and slowly approaching him. The biker with the mullet was the first to approach him with a knife in his hand*
(Mullet Biker): You just made a big mistake.
(Dust): Have you looked in the mirror?
*Dust’s comment angered the biker who charged at him. Dust easily dodged the attack and drove the biker’s head into the bar counter. A second biker tried to attack Dust but he reached behind the bar and grabbed a whiskey. He smashed the bottle over the top of biker’s head knocking him out. A third biker then charged but Dust grabbed the rag the bartender was using to whip the biker in the face. This attack stunned him and Dust followed up with a punch to the gut before throwing the biker over the counter where he fell to the floor. Dust smiles at the rest of the bikers daring them to try and attack him. They of course oblige. They all charge at Dust but he jumps up to grab onto one of the ceiling fans. He gets spun as the bikers desperately try to grab him but keep missing. Dust manages to kick a few of them before he lets go of the fan and lands on the pool table. Using his wires he grabs ten balls and tosses them toward the bikers. He manages to nail ten of them before jumping down from the table where he gets kicked in the stomach and falls backward toward the pool table. A biker comes to the side of the table and swings down with a pool stick. Dust quickly rolls to the right to avoid getting hit but then another appears to swing down at him. Dust once again rolls to safety and flips back up onto the table. He then uses his wires to grab the two bikers and pulled them toward each other where they collided headfirst. Dust then grabbed the pool sticks as he jumped out the table. As three bikers came charging at him, he used the pool stick in his right hand to slip sweep the legs of the first biker. This caused the biker to fall to the ground back first where Dust thrusted the pool stick into the stomach of the biker, causing him to groan out in pain before Dust delivered a kick to the face to knock him out. The second biker was next as Dust used the pool stick in his left hand to hit the biker in the groin area which caused him to scream in pain. Dust then lifted him up using the pool stick where crashed into one of the ceiling fans and then fell through a table on the way down. The third biker stopped in his tracks after seeing what Dust did to his friends and tried to analysis what he could do. Dust didn’t give him the chance as he charged toward the biker and swung the sticks as he ran past him. The sticks struck the bikers chest and face. Dust struck with such force that he not only broke the sticks but he caused the biker to flip through the air as he was struck and land face first on the floor. As one of the bikers charged at Dust with knife, Dust quickly picked up an empty mug from a nearby table and used it as a shield to catch the knife. Dust managed to break the knife in half with the mug shocking the biker. Another biker came from behind Dust holding a beer bottle, but Dust sensed him and moved out of the way with a sidestep and tripped the biker. This caused the biker to smash his bottle upside the head of the biker holding the knife who accidentally stabbed the other biker in the back with his broken life. As Dust looked around the room to survey the area he saw that all the bikers were either knocked out or lying on the ground in pain unable to fight. In Dust’s blind spot, the mullet biker had regained consciousness and quickly got up where he grabbed the shotgun on the counter. Reloading the shotgun, he was getting ready to fire at Dust before the gun was deflected upward by a mysterious man in beaten up clothing wearing a hat. The man was holding a rapier which he used to point the gun toward the ceiling. The man then used the hilt of the rapier to hit the stomach of the mullet biker and then delivered a chop to the back of the biker’s neck to knock him out. The man then removed his hat to reveal himself to be Leon in disguise*
(Dust): You know I had that, right?
(Leon): You were having way too much fun.
*Leon pulled out some cuffs and put them on the mullet biker just as the bartender was coming to and seeing what had transpired. When he saw Leon putting cuffs on the biker he quickly pieced together that he was a knight in disguise*
(Bartender): Oh thank the gods! I demand an arrest! Me and my customers were assaulted! And my bar was wrecked by this barbaric elf!
(Leon): Oh don’t worry. There will be an arrest, but it won’t be for him.
*Leon took out another pair of cuffs and put them around the wrist of the bartender as White Knights began to enter the bar and arrest the bikers*
(Waitress): What is the meaning of this!? We’re the victims here.
(Leon): Oh really? Possessing an illegal firearm. Refusing service to another race and threatening them. Not to mention all the illegal firearms you’re hiding in the back and supplying them to human supremist.
(Waitress): Wait, how did you-
(Leon): We’ve been staking out this place for days. We’ve got witnesses and recordings.
(Bartender): But, my customers.
(Leon): Oh don’t worry. They’re coming too.
***
*Leon and Dust were outside as the White knights began loading up their cars with the bikers. Some of them were trying to resist but couldn’t do anything to escape*
(Leon): Looks like you were right about this place. Good job getting Andy to talk and thanks for the assistance.
(Dust): Eh, it was nothing. I needed something to pass the time. Looks like you got things under control here, so I’ll be heading out now.
(Leon): Got a hot date or something?
(Dust): Something like that.
***
*Outside of Brister on a train*
(Train conductor): We are now beginning our approach to Brister. Please take your seats at this time. If you require assistance, please ask an attendant.
*In one of the seats sat a familiar individual. Smiling as she looked out the window*
(Lylah): At last, I’m finally here.
Author’s Note: Hello everyone! It’s good to be back in the Shadow Eye universe and continue the story. So I always like to start the volume with a fun action-packed chapter. I really think that sets the tone for what to expect in the volume, and I can always rely on Dust to get the ball rolling. This was originally going to be the first of a series of side chapters I had planned for the end of volume 4. The plan was to show what everyone was up to over the holiday break. Unfortunately, I only got around to writing Dust and Jin’s chapters. I couldn’t come up with any good stories for the other characters. So I cancelled the idea and decided to just use Jin’s chapter as an extra and Dust’s chapter as the starting point of the fifth volume. This might just be the second-longest continuous fight scene I’ve made in the series, next to Jade’s escape from Blood Moon back in volume 3. Don’t have any sources for this scene. I just wanted to see Dust in a bar fight and this was the story I came up with. However, it’s the ending that gets me really excited. Lylah is coming to Brister to see Dust. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Find out next week. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time.