“Ghady.”
A boy turned his head, he looked no older than ten. Beside him was an older woman, a maternal figure.
“O-oh ma’am… Did you get what you wanted?”
The woman looked at him with a hint of disappointment. “You can drop the formalities. I’d prefer if you'd just call me ‘mom’.”
Ghady hesitated, he looked down to the side, not making eye contact. The woman then looked at him warmly, her earlier disapproval melting completely.
“Sorry for not noticing it before. You must be cold.”
She took out something from her bag, a green hoodie jacket.
“Here. Sorry, it's the only thing I could find.”
The boy looked at the jacket as if it were the most beautiful treasure in the world.
“I-I… T-Thank you.” He was smiling with glee now, the earlier discomfort gone completely.
“Take good care of Svetlana, okay? She thinks of you as a big brother. And of yourself, of course.”
The boy looked at her with a rather confused expression, “And what about you? Everyone in the manor tells me to watch you.”
The woman just laughed, a bittersweet laugh, “I used to be a pretty fragile woman. Getting sick and getting picked on by my siblings.”
“I can take care of myself now. You don't have to worry about what others say.” She patted Ghady's little head.
—-----------------------
Ghady's eyelids opened slowly. He heard a muffled conversation.
He woke up in an unfamiliar place. He sat upright, beneath him a comfy bed. He scanned the place, and realized he was inside an infirmary. Across him, he saw the same blue haired boy from before. Next to the boy was an older boy whom Ghady didn't recognize. Both of them seemed to have woken up a while before him.
His head pounded.
A wave of confusion and pain crashed down him.
Then he noticed the other two wrapped in bandages all around. “Why… are we here?” he asked slowly, almost cautiously.
The other two turned to look at him. They hesitated.
“What should we do with him?” asked the older man.
The two must've been discussing something because then the blue haired boy looked rather perplexed before saying “If what you were saying is true, then we'll need his help.”
Ghady’s head pounded again. He understood nothing.
—----------------------
Kiri unwrapped the wrapper of his lollipop.
The three of them sat at a cafe, discussing some kind of plan.
“I still don't trust you, don't get me wrong.” Khale said to the other man who introduced himself as Ghady.
“But after seeing what you pulled back there… You might be a good addition if we want to actually prove this theory.”Ghady still had lots of confusion with everything that had happened, according to Khale and Kiri, the demon took over his body and caused a lot of trouble. It was still a lot to comprehend, especially after everything that had happened.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“What was the thing called again- uh, Cores? Can you guys explain more about it?”
“We cant-”
“Just do it…” Kiri cut him off.
“Fine. They're these small, orb like shape-”
“I got that part, what do they do?” Ghady cut him off.
Khale sighed. “They boost your stats. Like your physicality, and reflexes. They also grant special powers, obviously. My one, the Core of Weaponry, which is rather self explanatory.”
Ghady got intrigued with the idea. “They're rare, right? How many of them are there?”
“For almost every concept, there is one. Some are quite similar to one another.”
“Is there a Money Core?” Ghady had the widest grin on his face.
“Don't make me beat you up.”
“I was joking, yo.”
Kiri had a question, “How did you acquire your Core?”
“Well…” Khale interlocked his fingers. “I don't remember much. It was a blur.”
Both Ghady and Kiri noticed an anxious look on him. But they shrugged it off.
“Anyways,” Khale turned to look at Ghady.
“So, Ghady, you gonna help us with the plan?”
His smile suddenly faltered. He’d been thinking about it.
Finally, Ghady asked rather softly, “I don’t have a choice, do I?”
Kiri then joined in, “No. You do not. The deal is simple, you help us out, and in return, you won’t have to go to prison.”
“Think of it as a temporary alliance.” Khale added.
Ghady thought about it for a long time. After all, he had nothing to lose, nothing to gain.
“Alright.” He said after a long pause, “What do I gotta do?”
Khale and Kiri looked at each other as if they had accomplished something great.
“Alright. So, what we need to do is figure out where the curse will strike next.”
“Wait.” Ghady said, “I didn’t really get you guys in the first part either… What ‘curse’ again?”
Khale let out a huge sigh, clearly mad, but restraining it, “It’s the thing that I’ve been explaining this whole time. Creatures of darkness appearing around the city?”
Ghady seemed to suddenly remember what they were talking about, “Oh yeah. That. Uhm… Why is it important again?”
Kiri banged his fist against the table, “What do you mean why is it important? The safety of the people depend on it! I’ve seen it firsthand so I can vouch Khale’s theory about this ‘curse’”
“Right…” Ghady had a lot more questions than before, but now was not the time.
Kiri bit his lollipop then continued, “Anyways. I have a hunch.”
He took out a map of Porcupine city from his backpack.
“Yesterday. Aside from Ghady getting possessed by that demon, some other darkness creature appeared.”
“Possesed by a demon, huh? I still can’t believe it.”
Kiri ignored Ghady’s comment, “At that time, roughly forty-eight hours ago, a political event took place. Senator Johnathan Adams appeared in the backstreets, promising that he was going to renovate the place for the better if he was elected president.”
Khale sighed, “Probably some lies to keep the votes flowing.”
Ghady snapped his fingers, “So, all we gotta do is figure out when’s the next event and come forty-eight hours after that?”
Kiri shook his head, “Not exactly. The interval between the creature's manifestation isn’t fixed. At first glance, it seems random. However, after some research, I’ve concluded that they follow a pattern.”
He marks a spot on the map with a red marker, “Here, around a few months ago, an event happened in this auditorium with the speech of Senator Johnathan Adams’s presidential campaign. In that exact moment, what witnesses believed to be a massive fire broke out, forcing the event to be discontinued effectively immediately.”
Khale then added, “Except, that wasn’t a fire. It was a creature that no one noticed. How do I know this? Someone close to me was assigned to investigate the area by Azure.”
“What’s an… ‘Azure’? D-did you guys explain that before or?” Ghady asked.
They decided to ignore Ghady, “The timing is stochastic. You can only guess. However, then in the next event…”
Kiri plotted out another area with the red marker, “The creature appeared precisely twelve hours after the political event that took place there.”
“And the next one took forty-eight hours. Then back to square one.”
Khale understood what Kiri was scheming next, “So… All we have to do is go to the next event at the time that event starts, and catch the creature in the act?”
Kiri nodded, “Yes. And I happen to know where the next event is.”
He marked another spot on the map. A ballroom.