33. ASSURED FATE
//
1:48 P.M. // 11 - 2 - 2023 // Preservarium
Starring Serene Goldwin
Featuring Fanny, Dean Harvest, Avil Daniase, Junseo Park, Leslie and Cedrance Manamune
//
—EEEEEK, REEEEEEEK, REEEEEEK
My scrolling finger stopped in place at the article’s image. It wasn’t the Visionaire being at this year’s Winter Games halftime that surprised me…
—OOOOOOCK, OOOOOOCK, OOOOOOCK
“Serene? Are you even listening?” Fanny furrowed her eyebrows as I swiped the screen away. The screeching and chirping of bird monsters around the Preservarium was loud and constant, contested only by the noisy monkey monsters behind the glass wall. The sign read Baboom Baboon. The baboons themselves looked hilariously stupid, especially their long protruding nose and big stomachs in contrast to their skinny arms and legs.
“I wasn’t, no,” I confessed without missing a beat. “Sorry. I’m listening now.”
—OOOOOOCK EEEEECH OOOOK RREEEEEEK REEEEKKK OOOOOOCK
… but Red and Blue caught my attention. It felt like the things the 55th Serene had said were coming together before my eyes. First there was Dean Harvest, the target’s grandson of the very mission I was on. The Harbinger of Calamity. Who were these Harbingers in the first place? All research I had done into them had yielded no results.
Fanny grumbled, said something but was drowned in a cacophony of screeches, and raised her voice to a near yell. “I said, it’s 1:50 right now! I brought snacks, but that’s not enough for all four of us! Let’s g—”
—REEEEEEEEK
“—TO THE NEARBY CAFE!!” Her face then became a deep beetroot color as she looked past my shoulder, and I read her lips as she said, “Oh, Jun.”
I turned around to see a group of four coming from around the curve of the enclosure through the glass. Speak of the devil. Their green, blue, pink, and purple hair certainly drew some attention from the people around, but it was more likely the godly handsome aura that surrounded the four that made me squeeze my eyes shut. Even the monkeys shut up for a second before resuming their annoying ooocks.
“Hey, over here!” I hollered over the red-beaked storks and waved my hand into the air. Suddenly I was conscious of the hot pink parka and sweatpants I had on to combat the cold. What did my no-makeup makeup look like? Those same thoughts had plagued me this morning too. I saw him almost every day, so what was going on with my heart?
Ced visibly perked up when he heard my voice. I could only read his lips as he undoubtedly yelled, “Serene!”
Motioning to Fanny, who was still busy staring at the four, I walked up to them. Ced’s best friend Avil Daniase stood in the center of the group, dwarfed by the other three to an almost comedic degree. He looked like he was having a bad day.
Jun brightly smiled at the right side, saw Fanny, and nodded in her direction. She slightly nodded back, her cheeks rosy, and our other roommate Leslie to her left lifted her eyebrow to our fourth roommate Jessica, a girl in Criminology, who nodded in agreement.
Dean Harvest was also there, but looked like he was trying not to look at me and instead at the marble floor. Maybe he felt the pity in my stomach, but he glanced upwards. I tried my best to smile. Being near Dean made my stomach want to turn inside out. He returned an uncomfortable grimace to me. Did it show on my face?
Finally, there was Ced. Unexpectedly he took my hand, which caught me off guard. “Isn’t the hotel so nice?”
My breath was warm. “Yeah. Did you guys have lunch yet? Our group still hasn’t eaten.”
Jun seemed to be looking at our hands. An odd expression was on his face, his eyes drooping and the corner of his lips turning. “Nah, we—”
“Didn’t,” Ced intercepted, casting Jun a short look, “we didn’t. You wanna go?”
Geez, I wasn’t that dense. I pulled my hand away so I could check the watch, and his arm protectively went over my shoulder instead. A few eyes turned towards the hologram from around the room. Holograms watches weren’t common in Maine, and apparently phones were the way to go instead. “Well, what do you think is the better place? Blue Skies Cafe, Annette’s Brunch and Lunch, The Toga, Cafe Moderna…”
—EEEEEEEK! REEEEEEEEK
Leslie walked into the conversation, “Ooooor, what about Lalai? I heard there’s some really good French and Italian or whatever food there. I think The Toga is the same, so why don’t we choose one of those two?”
“Whatever, just choose something, I’m hungry,” Jessica added in with a long moan to prove her point. “Actually, Cafe Moderna sounds good. But if you want to go to Lalai, I think the deserts are pretty yummy. My sister took me there once to the one in LA.”
Leslie giggled, “Your sister? Her name’s Emily, right? I remember, she’s so pretty—anyways, how about you, Fanny?”
“I like Lalai as well,” Fanny said simply. We collectively nodded. To my right Dean and Avil were chatting each other up, but I couldn’t pick up on what they were saying. Avil rolled his eyes, then pointed to me inconspicuously but casually, then said something that made Dean nod slightly. Whatever.
“So it’s Lalai, then?” Ced cocked his head to the side. “I’ve heard of that place before. It was…”
“Ma and Paps went on a date there before, remember?” Avil butted in with an unfocused look on his face like he wasn’t actually there, and Ced nodded earnestly.
“Yeah, yeah, it was something like that.” His ears were a little red. Out of the corner of my eyes, I caught the three girls nodding to each other in almost-unison. Jessica mouthed something that looked like, “But how?”
I squinted at them. “Am I missing something?”
Jessica flinched, but Leslie continued unfazed, “Nah, but it’s so cute that Avil’s parents went to Lalai. On a date.” She looked at me and Ced standing next to each other, his arm over my shoulder, me absentmindedly searching for the directions to Lalai.
========================
Answer
Memory
Overtake
Will you use a Guide?
Yes//No
========================
N-no.
A huge blush overcame me. “T-then let’s—” I bit my tongue, “—f***!”
A few passersby looked at me with a funny face. Jun and Ced stared at me as Avil picked at his fingernails. “No, I mean… I—… I didn’t mean to say let’s do that, o-obviously, I meant… ughh—”
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“Lalai?” Dean tried innocently.
Leslie confirmed with great amusement, “Yes, Dean.”
//
??? // ??? // ???
Featuring Parker Glass, Trailblazer, Siren, ??? and ???
//
“Echo, Trailblazer, and Siren, there’s a new change of plans,” the boss said through the earpiece. “Dracula is joining you today.”
Trailblazer scoffed quietly, pushing himself a bit more upright on the tree branch. It was dark and quiet, with nothing more than wind going through the place. The nice view to the pier of the small city from up high elicited no emotions from neither Echo nor Siren. “Drac’s here? Aren’t we starting soon? This late in, he might as well f*** off and go suck on his pet pig’s blood again.”
“More importantly, why is he here?” Siren added in, her voice as rational and calm as was her regular timbre. “Didn’t you and Spy say something about dormant?”
The boss responded thoroughly, “Spy’s just told me that the readings are peaking pretty high right now around Maine, so there’s bound to be some Bellowing Fires investigation coming through. I’m just making sure you do your job properly.”
“Well, all three of our targets are under the same roof. Never thought it would be this easy after all these months. Betrayal and Wrath is quite an unhealthy distance between lovers.” Siren’s legs were crossed comfortably, balancing elegantly on top of the branch. Never once had she gotten caught looking cold with those promiscuous clothes on. It was somewhat a talent of hers to have the energy to stick to her apt theme.
“S***, these gloves are uncomfortable,” Trailblazer remarked, but no one paid him any mind.
A contemplative look filled Echo’s face as he watched the movements through the lightly tinted windows. “Bellowing Fires, huh? Can I swap my job with Dracula?”
“We need someone who’s a quick assassin for this mission,” Siren chided, “and you’re the only one who qualifies at this moment.”
“Flattery doesn’t work on me,” Echo grunted, watching the shadow in the gold of the window moving around.
“The Arc students are also coming soon. Make sure the assassination is quiet. Once the Bellowing Fires guild gets here—”
“Leave nothing, because nothing was there to begin with but scum,” he rolled his eyes, a smoky and black dagger appearing in his hands.
Darkened Shiv
Cost: 75 MANA
Cooldown: 4 minutes
A+ // Parker equips a phantom shiv that can only damage targets with mana. If a Shadow is nearby it also equips a shiv. The damage significantly increases if the target has proportionally less health than his own. A thrown shiv will gain the bonus damage regardless of Parker’s health. The cooldown refreshes when Parker becomes a Nightmare or a Reaper.
BASE DAMAGE:
455 (+10% of target’s missing health)
EMPOWERED DAMAGE:
975 (+20% of target’s missing health)
“Good one, kiddo,” Trailblazer chuckled, making Echo scoff.
“Boss, you really brought the worst man possible for this mission,” he said under his breath. “Quiet isn’t how he does things.”
Trailblazer gasped with exaggerated offense, a smirk hidden beneath his sarcasm. “I can hear you, you know?”
“Quiet is your job, Echo,” the boss spoke into his ear. “Whispering is Siren’s job, and disposing of the evidence is for Trailblazer to worry about. Dracula’s job is the guarantor of the operation. Now, why don’t you all begin soon?”
“Understood,” Siren closed her eyes.
“Uh oh, she’s about to do the creepy thing again,” Trailblazer muttered to himself, half watching her from the corner of his eyes, and half watching through the window as Echo hopped to the ground with a soft thud.
Saint Corrupter
S- // ??? can Whisper in the mind of anyone within a distance around her. The Whispers are intensely persuasive and cause targets to hallucinate. The more targets she Whispers to, the less persuasive it is and the less they hallucinate.
WHISPER RANGE:
0.6 kilometers (0.37 miles)
Suddenly, the window was pulled open as Echo crouched beneath, the dagger in his hand eating away at the washing gold light that came spilling out.
An old woman poked her head through, the wrinkles on her face and the whiteness of her curly hair suggesting the impact of her age. Her chin had a couple folds, as did her arms as she pulled the curtains out of the way. The granny’s sagging body was loosely clothed with a salmon pink t-shirt even in the cold air as if it didn’t bother her in the slightest.
She spoke with a surprisingly loud and healthy if not a little bit croaked voice, “Pappy! Come ovuh, come ovuh, you must be hot roight now aftuh that bolognese. Ooh! Feel that breeze.” A cold air blew through, shaking the leaves in the trees but not enough to compromise the two still squatting on the branches. Her accent was thick and very Australian, nasally and held-out vowels that had a very satisfying touch at the end. The woman made it sound like life was a joy.
“Ma, Daddy, you feel that? Aw c’mon, get up! Pappy, bring Ma ovah, she looks like she’s havin’ a rough day. Sweety, me too, me too. Haven’t seen Dean in a while, reckon he’ll be he’ah bah Christmas? Ooh, I know you waitn’ too, Darlene,” she pulled away from the window and moved over to the right.
Siren could see the coffee table in the background, a sofa with a bearded man laying there, slightly drooling with a bit of tomato sauce staining his lips. He was dressed shabbily, as if not by himself. Then the view was blocked as the old woman stepped in front of the window again, this time with an arm slung over her shoulder belonging to another woman. The woman looked exactly as if the old lady had turned back time by thirty years, with less wrinkles and a distinctly bright green-ish hair not present on the old woman.
Those were the three targets.
Siren bit her lips, and then her eyes went completely blank with nothing but the whites showing as she entered a trance-like state. Her mouth began moving again, Whispering. Trailblazer said nothing as he glanced over to her.
“Pappy! Bring Daddy ovah, he needs some fresh air too, nawr? Ah, come on, ya bugger old man, you see me carrying Darlene here? Yes, you, bring James over, too! Get up, get up…” The old woman fussed for a bit longer before finally all four of the family stood at the windows, looking out into the distance, the forest beneath Siren’s and Trailblazer’s feat.
The night was beautiful. A few owls hooted, and other than a cricket here and there, all was silent. The city lights were on, sparkling behind the house, and somewhere to the right in the harbor there was a light cast across the water. This night, the moon was almost full in the sky, a slit of darkness covered in a place no one could reach to peel off. It was almost a perfect night.
"I'd like to see heaven one day," the old woman said to the wind under the weight of her haggard and unresponsive daughter. The old man beside her paid her no mind and only closed his eyes as he hummed a quiet tune, burdened by the man's weight. "Maybe that day, it'll be nice and cool like this. And when I do, you all better not come until you're nice and old like me."
"I wonder how Dean is doing," the old man responded, with a smile to no one in particular. The endearing senile couple rested against each other.
They smiled, eyes closed.
The haggard man and woman suddenly opened their eyes.
The boss hissed in their ears.
Trailblazer watched as Echo tightened his grip around the dagger’s hilt.