POV Main

I locked the door. Put curtains on windows from the side of building they could not see. Throw backpack and dog under the table. Found some equivalent of baseball bat. There was radio at the sink, so I checked its batteries and waited. Regretfully I couldn’t do much with the broken window, they would see me if I would try.

I heard them. They were talking. Not the most philosophical discussion they had, but I could pinpoint where they were. They even were trying to be silent at times, but quite fast they were out of caution. Leader tried to break the door. Loyal goon checked windows. Autopilot person sat and enjoyed himself. I was on the other side of door putting my weight to the blockade.

Even greatest of heroes can not win against numbers. I had big talk about it in the writing but then thought that DC and Marvel fans would eat me alive. Don’t eat me good folks.

So, what would Champion Michael from city of Purgatory do in that kind of situation? He had lots of acid and would spam attackers. My acid level was quite low.

Then one of them started to getting in through the broken window. I put radio speaker really loud and turn on the radio. Then started screaming and bluffed that I was calling police.

It worked. They were comical, as in Monty Python Olympics, running with so many mistakes and losing directions. I did not watched where they gone, I didn’t care.

I put dog on the table. I wired it to plastic bags which were taking its blood. I turned radio on manageable level of noise. It seemed that blood was not flowing if hospital bags for blood were not half a meter below dogs body. Yes, I was draining that dog blood. I bought that special plastic bags for blood, and some hospital equipment. I knew that earlier, when I was jogging with backpack it was looking little off. Lucky, Nordic walking is a thing and other varieties of unusual trainings.

Stone wanted one liter of blood but I was prepared to take two, because you never know. Well, I was no doctor. So, I really was no doctor and when I almost got two liters of blood dog started to spasm, silently squeak and died. Wow, that was unexpected. That was mistake coming from me. I shouldn’t be that greedy. Clean case would be to take blood and let them live. Anyway, it was not so clean anymore.

I took all my things back. Cleaned up my possible fingerprints. Sat dawn and breathed deep.

I was originally from rural part of the country. I saw death of animals already. Still, it was quite a shock, because normally animals die with good purpose. And here there was no need for death and questionable aim. I felt bad. But that moment passed. I decided to sink dogs body somewhere in the rainwater canal. I was doing it and not doing it. My attention and resolve was wavering.

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POV Alice

I told Mary everything. She said that she would help me. We decided on not telling anything to parents. It seemed that stone took some of my blood already because I felt very weak and fragile. It still needed 0,6 liter of blood. We could manage. It could take some time but we would manage. Problem was, how to do it without alerting parents.

POV Matthew

I was in the train to War-Saw. It seemed that we would meet at pub on Mokotov field in the evening. There would be at least dozen of us. Some even claimed that they have solution to sleep problem, but no one wrote what it was. We created group on web communicator named Ahriman branch. It seemed some of us were psychotic, but I understood that sleep deprivation was changing people.

POV Main

There is this coldness at late evening. At least in Poland. At least till the warming of climate will change it. In Poland proper house is a house in which you can comfortable live through winter. Trailer parks, summer houses and alike are not proper here. When coldness touches your bones through your body, it reminds you that you are part of the world and need to do some things to warm up. These which ignore coldness are lost to it.

I was on the brink of mental breakdown. I felt it. There was also this desperation to not lose the way of living I had. And whispers of stone. In that dark hour I almost could hear it being awake. I felt there was influence on me. And it made me angry.

I used my old mantra: “There are four that rule over your live; it is joy, sadness, fear and anger; use them aiming at survival and you will have good life; use them against each other to find balance and rule over yourself;” I repeated it a lot. It was working somehow.

There was this plan – I needed to sink dog’s body, left open gate, got back home unnoticed, judged the stone. That should be end of the story. Maybe psychotherapist after.

So, I put blanket over dog’s body. Took it on arms. It weighted a lot. Glanced over to check if I didn’t forget anything. Got out of summer house.

Do you remember when I said that homeless people run to somewhere. I lied. Two of them run, one was left behind. He was half lying few steps from the house. Cold air made him awake. He was staring at me and my load. I was in the hood and there was twilight, but in the city it is never dark enough. Still, I was not in the mood to kill human being, so I went further with my plan.

POV Homeless drunk

I soiled my pants. I didn’t move a muscle though.

POV Main

It took some time. I needed to watch out for night joggers and for safety I went by shadows. I was also not in a hurry because physical effort and coolness of air worked good against psychical strain. Maybe I just was afraid of stone.

In the end I put blood to fridge and went to sleep.

In the dream space he was feeling my frustration. He kind of enjoyed it, I could feel it. That was until I told him, that the blood is dog’s blood. He was angry and frustrated after. I told him, that after blood ordeal we needed to have long, serious talk. That was acknowledged. He needed more dog’s blood than human blood. Whatever.

I woke up at 03:30. Put stone to some pot, filled it with blood. Put pot in bathtube in bathroom. Barricaded door to bathroom and went to sleep.

In the morning I checked the stone. It was a lot bigger. There was no blood in the pot, a little of white slimy substance at the bottom. I touched the stone. Immediately I knew there was level up.