Allan pulled up to the guard tower in front of the parking terrace in his refurbished obsidian Ferrari F430 Spider. As the gate lifted, Allan revved his engine a few times. The guard held his thumbs up in approval as Allan screeched past. The man likely hadn’t heard the purr of an engine in years, considering they weren’t made anymore.
Allan smirked to himself as he circled up the ramp to the upper levels of the structure. After climbing out of his car, he ran his hand along the sleek contours and curves in admiration. She was his pride and joy, and his greatest fear was that he might miss a payment and risk her repossession.
Though it had taken several years to develop, today Allan would finally nail down his biggest securities contract with Mr. Demyan. The residual income to follow would get him back on track and he could give Lily the kind of life she deserved, assuming he still had a chance with her.
I can’t just give up. Maybe she’s just not ready to get married yet?
With the massive debts he owed, he needed this contract to get him out of this rut.
It’s not like I’m lying to her. There are just some things she’s better off not knowing.
As he parked, his thoughts returned to Jason’s troubling message.
So he’s stumbled across some disturbing information that involves one of my firm’s clients? What would be so disturbing that he would need to speak with me in private after years of silence?
Curiosity getting the better of him, he made his way to the elevator. Buckingham Fountain was only a few blocks away. As he crossed the street and entered Grant Park, he could see the first rays of sun beginning to reach into the sky. The lights of the city still glowed behind him as he approached the lit-up fountain.
The park was eerily silent. Not even the snore of a vagabond disturbed the early morning air. Despite the silence, he couldn’t help but sense that he was being watched. It didn’t help that his microchip had fried, otherwise he’d have been able to scan the area for any signs of life.
Cut it out. You’re being paranoid.
He continued through to the center of the park, briefcase in hand. Just past the bushes to his right, he detected a slight movement. Stopping in his tracks, he stared into the dark.
“Hello?” he stammered. “Is that you, Jason?”
Silence.
Shaking it off, he continued at a brisker pace toward the fountain. The visions of the previous night were coming back to haunt him. Almost every night this past week he had felt trapped as he struggled to escape from similar nightmares.
He made it to the fountain without incident and circled around the grand structure. The center spring shot high into the air and sprayed upon the cascading turrets. Light fell on the carved statues of fish and jumping seahorses that stood out from the water. Not too far ahead, he identified the silhouette of a man sitting on a bench closer to the lake.
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Allan approached cautiously. “Jason?”
The man stood. “Jason won’t be joining us today.”
Allan recognized the cane and slight limp in the man’s step.
“Mister Demyan?” Allan stammered in confusion. “I thought we were meeting in a few hours?”
Timur cocked his handgun. “I’m afraid we’ll have to postpone that.”
Allan threw up his hands in shock and staggered backwards, “Wha-”
Out of the corner of his eye, to his utter horror he saw a body lying on the ground in a pool of blood.
Jason?!
“What else did Jason tell you?”
“He didn’t... didn’t tell me... didn’t tell me anything.” Allan blurted out.
“I don’t like people who lie to me.”
“All he said... he said that one of my clients...” Realization dawned on him. “You?”
“That’s what I was afraid of.” Timur sighed as he aimed his handgun at Allan’s chest. “It’s a shame I have to kill you now.”
Allan’s eyes went wide. “Wait!”
But it was too late. Allan heard the hiss from the silencer and his body was thrown backward by the piercing bullet. He sucked in a rasping, painful breath as his hands covered the gaping hole in his chest. He lay on the pavement, gasping for air, when he became aware of a silver aura surrounding him.
Still conscious, Allan looked up in horror at the sickly green light emanating from Timur’s horrendous eyes. The pain was excruciating, and his breathing slowed with each rasp. From the tip of the pistol Allan saw a spark as another bullet fired in his direction. He closed his eyes, awaiting impact. He heard several more bullets pop off, and yet Allan didn’t feel them pierce his body.
“Impossible!” Timur shrieked as he emptied his clip until he heard the audible click of unsuccessful attempts.
Allan opened his eyes to find multiple spinning bullets hovering in the air just inches from his face.
Am I in a game? Did my HUD glitch out again?
When Allan registered Timur’s confused expression, the bullets clacked to the ground as the silver aura of light surrounding him dissipated and the pain in his chest began to recede.
None of this can be real!
Timur tossed the gun aside in frustration. He raised one arm toward the rising sun and aimed the other at Allan. The green glow of his eyes burned brighter, and with a flash, a beam of white light burst from his extended fist in a similar manner to the Ice Monster he encountered last night in Conquest. Allan shrieked in pain with the searing of his flesh.
As the smoldering heat washed over him, Allan felt a different kind of warmth emanating from his core. An aura of silver light ballooned around him, shielding him from the inferno blasting from Timur’s fist. The excruciating pain subsided and he stopped screaming. Timur however began to shriek in rage.
The blinding light stopped flowing from Timur’s fist, and he instead raised both hands high in the air. All around them shadows began to stretch and grow. Several tentacles of darkness reached out from behind the bushes to Allan’s left. The shadows had taken tangible form, and the dark appendages grabbed Allan by his ankles.
Voidspawn?!
Allan screamed in terror, kicking uselessly against his attacker as the tentacles dragged him into the heart of the shadow. His stomach dropped as he felt himself falling into thick darkness. He tried to scream, but he couldn’t find his voice.
He landed with a violent thud on a thick floor of concrete. He shook his head, feeling disoriented in the large dimly-lit chamber fitted with a mass array of plumbing. Wandering around the chamber were about twenty cloaked men.
They turned their attention to Allan’s crash landing, all bowing humbly when Timur appeared from out of nowhere.
“Rise!” he shouted, pointing at Allan. “We have a problem.”
“Who is this, Your Holiness?” one of the cloaked men said.
“An abomination,” Timur seethed. “Take him to a cell.”
Rough hands seized him from all sides. Allan struggled against the overpowering force as he was dragged deeper into the chamber. He tried to scream for help, but his voice was cut off by a massive hand clamping over his mouth. He thrashed about, and bit the hand as hard as he could.
He felt a loud crack hit the back of his head, and a searing pain followed. That was the last thing he remembered before he was knocked out cold.
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