{"id":840,"date":"2005-04-25T16:11:40","date_gmt":"2005-04-25T15:11:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.franchouille.fr\/shadowrun\/?page_id=840"},"modified":"2005-04-25T16:11:40","modified_gmt":"2005-04-25T15:11:40","slug":"hunter-and-prey","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.franchouille.fr\/testsr\/sr-inspi\/nouvelles\/hunter-and-prey\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunter And Prey"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"spoiler\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Cette nouvelle \u00e0 \u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e9crite par Tom Dowd en 1992. Elle fait suite aux \u00e9v\u00e8nements d\u00e9crit dans Universal Brotherhood<\/cite> et La Reine Euphoria<\/cite>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u00ab\u00a0Knight. . .\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

He looked up for a moment from the twin flatscreens inlaid beneath the plexiglass surface of the desk, and frowned slightly. Behind him, the sun cut through Detroit\u2019s fog for the last time that day and the city slipped into twilight. He sipped from a glass of pale gold liquid and waited. Nothing.<\/p>\n

He looked down and the numbers danced again. Profits, losses, credits, debits, balances forward and in arrears woven together in a four-dimensional matrix. Projections birthed from the financial mandala as<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0Knight. . .\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

He removed the thin, gold-framed glasses from his aged face and placed them gingerly on the desktop. Unburdened, his tired eyes scanned the room and settled on the shadowed corner across from him. He waited. Nothing.<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0Show yourself,\u00a0\u00bb he said, finally.<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0As you wish,\u00a0\u00bb said nothing.<\/p>\n

The corner\u2019s shadow became mist and flowed forward. It shifted, and silently extended a long and articulate part of itself into the room. Solid now, it clicked against the marble floor and found purchase. Another slim extension, hard against a nearby wall, dug in and pulled. Darkness entered from the corner and skittered against the floor. Slick and shapeless, it grinned.<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0Damian Knight. ..\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

The man stood slowly as it came, the pale color of his hair now matched by the skin of his palm pressed hard against the desktop. He licked his lips and nodded.<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0As good a name as any, I suspect.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0We all have many names, some truer than others. We all bear many faces.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0I doubt you came here to recite trite philosophies. What do you want?\u00a0\u00bb His eyes flicked to the room\u2019s other corners and then back to the dark form stretched before him.<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0You have spoken my question.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0Then the answer should be obvious: I want you to leave.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

The grin turned sly. \u00ab\u00a0But I shall not. Your tower is crafty and well protected, and I have spent much time gaining entrance. I demand my due time of you.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0Speak your piece and get out. I have no time for such as you.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

The darkness grew larger before him. \u00ab\u00a0But you have devoted much time to me already. Everywhere my children are hunted by your agents. My deepest nests burn in the night and my young cry their last.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

A smile touched the man\u2019s lips. \u00ab\u00a0Good.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

Blacker eyes in the darkness narrowed and it moved forward slightly, brushing aside furniture. The man stepped back. \u00ab\u00a0Do not taunt me, for I have not the patience and may slay you before I intend. Speak the ills I have done you, Damian Knight, so that I may wonder at my own foolishness.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

The man looked down for a moment at the numbers that continued to flash beneath the desktop. He touched the surface, and the screens dimmed and faded away. A light came on above him and cast his shadow on the desk. He looked up and faced the darkness.<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0You\u00a0\u00bbve done nothing to me, spirit.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0Then I have harmed your precious corporation. Have I weakened Ares Macrotechnology in some manner I have forgotten?\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0No. My only losses connected to you have been ammunition expenditures.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

A tendril of darkness lashed out over the man\u00a0\u00bbs head and struck the light. The fixture shattered and sprayed metal and glass across the room. Darkness swelled behind a flashing rake of teeth. \u00ab\u00a0Then why do you burn my nests?\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0Because you are.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0My spawn damned for simply being? Then likewise are you. For their essence I take yours.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

The man\u2019s eyes widened slightly. \u00ab\u00a0My soul is mine to give. You cannot take what is not yours.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

The darkness hissed. \u00ab\u00a0I am the form incarnate: all is mine to take.\u00a0\u00bb It lashed out and struck at him from every corner of the room. Blinding silver blocked the darkness as veins of white fire shot up through the marble floor and created a circle around the man and the desk. The darkness stepped back and black talons scratched brilliant sparks as they probed the borders of the ward.<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0Powerful,\u00a0\u00bb came the voice from somewhere in the darkness.<\/p>\n

The man shrugged. \u00ab\u00a0It suffices against such as you.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0Such as I will feast on your soul until the last cycle falls.\u00a0\u00bb The black eyes and grin reared over him and dark limbs grew from the shadow to grasp the boundaries of the ward. Everywhere they touched argent fire danced along their length.<\/p>\n

The man shook his head. \u00ab\u00a0I think not. If you were truly as you would have me fear, this ward would not slow you. You are no avatar.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

The eyes narrowed above him. \u00ab\u00a0You know nothing of the names you wield.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

Now the man grinned. \u00ab\u00a0I know more than you think. While you are less than you claim, I am more than I seem.\u00a0\u00bb The man\u00a0\u00bbs features turned liquid and ran from him, the carefully styled silver hair growing long, black, and shiny. The creased, aged face smoothed and sharpened and his dark brown eyes shifted to piercing blue.<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0Ah. I named you wrong. No matter, I will have your soul and then that of the man you pretended to be.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

The man shrugged and let the now too-big suit jacket fall from his shoulders. \u00ab\u00a0I say again, you are no avatar. You are no incarnation, insect, merely another true form sent to destruction at your master\u2019s bidding.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

The talons tightened, and the ward strained, white and black energy arcing about it to form a geodesic dome of power over the man. The spirit\u2019s grin grew. \u00ab\u00a0Then I will have your heart, mortal, to give to the newborns so that they may know the taste of human early.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0I think not. You will, in fact, find the situation even worse than you begin to suspect.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0Defiant to the end\u00a0! Sweet will be the taste of your lifeblood. Banter on, mortal, this ward of yours is soon no more.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

The man spread his arms wide and looked up at the spirit. Black and silver lightning danced just beyond his reach. \u00ab\u00a0The ward is not mine, and so protects you from me more than I from you.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

The spirit laughed, and a high, sharp, cracking tone began to grow. \u00ab\u00a0Who are you, child of the earth, to stand against one such as I?\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

The man brought his arms together, one held straight out, the other touching the first at the elbow in a well- practiced, fluid gesture. Power shifted and grew around him. \u00ab\u00a0I may be born of this earth, spirit, but that is not where I have been of late.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

Part of the ward gave, and a black limb gouged into the floor within the circle of light. The spirit\u2019s chitinous, ebony body slammed against the circle as it began to buckle. \u00ab\u00a0Many of your kind wander the greater planes, I feast on them often.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0Wrong realm. Knight suspected something would try to kill him, so the corporation brought me down to protect him. Magic is so much easier here.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

The ward shattered, raining white sparks down around the man. The spirit\u2019s legs caged him and its impossibly grinning face came closer to the man. \u00ab\u00a0Magic is easy for me everywhere. There is nowhere I am weak.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0Nowhere on the Earth, perhaps, but what of above it?\u00a0\u00bb The man pulled his arms toward himself, and held his palms parallel. Power flowed inward, cleanly, from everywhere around him. A light grew between his hands.<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0Your tricks will avail you not, human, I am power incarnate.\u00a0\u00bb The spirit reared again.<\/p>\n

The man laughed. \u00ab\u00a0I\u2019ve shaped power among the stars and danced with hearts far darker than yours.\u00a0\u00bb The spirit fell upon him, a wave of darkness pierced by a shaft of light brighter than a hundred suns. \u00ab\u00a0Taste what I have learned.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

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Document cr\u00e9\u00e9 \u00e0 l’origine par Tom Dowd<\/strong> et publi\u00e9 sur shadowrun.fr<\/a> le lundi 25 avril 2005 par J\u00e9r\u00e9mie Bouillon<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Article mis \u00e0 disposition sous licence Copyright FASA<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cette nouvelle \u00e0 \u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e9crite par Tom Dowd en 1992. Elle fait suite aux \u00e9v\u00e8nements d\u00e9crit dans Universal Brotherhood et La Reine Euphoria. \u00ab\u00a0Knight. . .\u00a0\u00bb He looked up for a moment from the twin flatscreens inlaid beneath the plexiglass surface of the desk, and frowned slightly. Behind him, the sun cut through Detroit\u2019s fog […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":198,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-840","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.franchouille.fr\/testsr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.franchouille.fr\/testsr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.franchouille.fr\/testsr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.franchouille.fr\/testsr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.franchouille.fr\/testsr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.franchouille.fr\/testsr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/840\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.franchouille.fr\/testsr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.franchouille.fr\/testsr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}