Twenty-second day of Sat’xahr, 4043 AOT

Arbhur City, Zone-0, Wave 5

That night, Mary and Mark returned home earlier. The grim expressions on their faces spells it clearly, they are about to deliver the bad news. But before that they noticed an unfamiliar face in their house.

“Aside from grandpa, I don’t remember having another bearded man living in our house.” Mark comments while staring at Fred who is putting on an apron. He points at the unknown man. “So, what’s the deal with that guy?”

“Um… A guest?” Jad wears an unsure expression.

“Who picked up that bum?” Mary sighs wearily.

“He’s Lea’s dad.” Leika says softly.

“No.” Fred responds immediately.

“You’re really not her dad?” Romi tilts his head.

“I’m not. What’s with that look?”

“Well, I’m just thinking… Lea must look like her mother. Why would someone so pretty be with a bum like you?”

“Excuuuse me??!”

Jad laughs loudly. Brenda slaps the back of his neck.

“Let’s talk about this later.” Mary turns her sight towards Azalea. “Everyone’s tired and hungry. Let’s prepare dinner first.”

Fred volunteered to cook as courtesy to the owners of the house. He is surprisingly skillful in the kitchen. Brenda and Romi happily helped him while also learning a little by watching him handle the cooking tools. Meanwhile, Mary and Mark took turns to wash up to clean the accumulated dust and sweat away. Azalea seems to be unbothered while looking after and playing with Lei, Kou and Raichi in the backyard. Jad and Leika cleaned the dinner table before joining the others in the backyard.

Despite looking calm, the children are trying hard to pass this day as just another normal one. Unfortunately they have to face the grim reality. It’s as if they are being cornered and they are continuously losing their footing every passing minute.

The scent of the bird stew fills the dining room. They each took a seat and passed the food around. After making sure that everyone had their portion, Mark gestured and then they started eating. The twins are once again wearing a grim expression. They are internally trying to put words together so that they can deliver the bad news in a better way. The kids waited patiently for them while eating their fill. The room is filled with the faint sounds of utensils and occasional creak of some unstable chairs as the kids reach out for something on the table. Mary feels like every spoonful feels heavier and as time passes, the food becomes harder to swallow. The younger kids does not seem bothered by the heavy atmosphere. Fred and Azalea kept their silence observing the situation. Mark finally turns his sight forward.

“The bosses at work had a sudden change in attitude.” Mark’s tone is deep. “They’ve been inquiring about the family… or specifically my younger siblings. It seems like they want to take us in by becoming our guardian.”

“Wow! Those stinky geezers suddenly able to grow some compassion in their twisted heart, huh?” Jad mutters sardonically.

“What they’re after is very obvious.”

Mary looks down. “They must have already got a hold of the information about the reveils in our family. For now, they aren’t hostile yet… but they are starting to put some pressure and intimidation.”

“You’re not going to agree to them, right?” Brenda grips harder.

“Honestly… If we have no other choice, I might have.”

“We have exhausted our options… So…” Mark turns toward Azalea. “I don’t know exactly what you have in mind… Just like us, what can a child like you do?”

Azalea finished sipping a spoonful of soup. “I told you, I’ll help. Though, this will become really messy in the long run.”

“Great! So, what’s the plan? Should we beat them all up?” Jad energetically stands up.

“Hey, sit down.” Brenda tells him off softly.

“Sure, I can beat them all up.” She smirks. “I will take some time. I can track everyone who can be a threat to you and kill them one by one.”

“K-k-k-kill?” Romi almost bit his tongue while eating.

“This isn’t a topic for kids, is it?” Fred comments as he neatly puts down his utensils over his empty plate.

“Aren’t you a little too overconfident about that?” Jad raises a brow.

“I am a demon hunter. If I give my all into hunting them down, then I am confident that I can complete the job. But would that solve the root of this problem?”

Fred ponders for a moment. “Unfortunately, I can imagine her being able to actually do everything that she said.”

“What do you mean by unfortunately?” Brenda mutters crassly.

“What exactly is your plan?” Mary’s voice cracks.

“If you want to change things, you need power.” She is smiling but her eyes are empty. “And there are different kinds of power. Surely, what you need is not this destructive power of mine. However, we can still use it to obtain what you’ll need.”

“Stop beating around the bush and spill it. I’m curious too.” Fred interrupts.

“I’ll hunt the demon Quia’el, then obtain the mining rights close to its territory as part of the rewards. There is a large deposit of pranite in those abandoned mines. By becoming a new supplier of pranite, you will have the power of money and economy. We’ll shift the balance of powers by creating a new one. ”

“That sounds funny, I almost thought you’re crazy.” Brenda blurts out thoughtlessly.

“I don’t really get it but that sounds incredibly boring.” Jad’s brows furrowed and his previous excitement turned into a frown.

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“That’s way too direct to the point! I think you’re missing a lot of details for that to actually work!” Mary raises her voice in disbelief.

“Don’t worry, I have already started making some arrangements.” Azalea replies with confidence. “Like this old guy, Fred.”

Fred clicks his tongue. “I haven’t agreed to anything yet.”

“He’ll take the role as your legal guardian. He’s a nice guy, you can trust him.”

“You aren’t even listening to me.”

“And?” Mark wears a skeptical expression.

“I will hand over the reward and rights to him. He will be the prez of the mining company and your legal guardian.”

“Aren’t you one-sidedly putting a lot on my plate?” Fred crosses his arms.

“Don’t worry, I already got some help for you. I have connections, you know.”

“And your plan is to start a business to compete with the Shilans? You want to get a steady footing in Surus, enough to limit the Shilan’s influence. It’s not a bad idea but it will take time… Though, it can solve the more urgent issues.” Fred looks at the children then continuous his speech. “The Shilan Group and the bigger organization behind them won’t just sit back and watch as you take over the influence in what they claimed as their territory.”

“I want to give Mark and Mary more time to think about it, but neither you nor I, have that much time to spare.” Azalea stands up taking her empty plate and utensils. “I’ll go breathe some fresh air outside for now.”

“Fine.” Mark reluctantly responds. “We’ll have a word with everyone first.”

“I’ll go smoke outside.” Fred leaves as well with his plate which he took to the sink before going out to the backyard.

“We have to fight.” Jad says softly.

Mary sits in silence deep in thought while Mark stands up and instructs the others to clean up the table first. Kou and Raichi immediately follows him while the other kids seems confused but are obedient. Mark glances at Mary who is still caught up pondering deep into the space. For him, it looked like a lot of tangled thoughts had been plaguing her since their grandfather passed away. It was Mary who mainly took care of him and watched him wither away. That experience must have influenced the decisions she made afterwards.

“There are things that we haven’t told all of you.” Mark states while the other are neatly arranging the plates. “It’s better to come clean now.”

“Why does it sound like you’ve done some unforgivable crime?” Jad forces a silly smile.

“I don’t like this. It feels very tense.” Brenda mumbles.

Romi gulps waiting for his brother’s next words. Leika patiently listens while holding Lei in her arms. Kou and Raichi does not seem to fully understand the situation yet they are staying silent feeling the tension around them.

“We are stuck in this lawless land.” He continuous with a heavy tone. “I’m sorry. We couldn’t keep ourselves from getting engulfed by the system. Grandpa did his best… he also tried to keep us all away from it.”

“It’s alright, Mark.” Mary’s low toned voice erupts. “It was me who decided and convinced you to take over grandpa’s role.” She looks ahead at everyone. “We were delivering Fairy Dust to different customers across Wave 5, 4, and 3.”

Jad slumps his back. “Well… I sort of noticed… but I couldn’t ask. How else are we able to survive here with the interest with the meager earnings we have every day? I’m not that dumb, but I don’t have to right to complain either. We’ve been together the longest. I knew you wouldn’t wanna talk about it… and I’m afraid to confirm it myself.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to be sorry.” Brenda responds with trembling voice. “Grandpa Alf… He died because of the effects of that fairy dust, didn’t he?”

“Well… grandpa was already old.”

“You don’t have to make excuses for them. I used to live in Wave 3, in an area infested by those junkies. I’ve seen how these adults gradually wither away by taking those.”

“I know… just…” Mary clasps her hands harder. “That damn thing, it just hastened the progress of his already weakening body.”

“We figured it didn’t simply start like that.” Mark adds while patting Mary’s back. “There must have been a reason why he took it. We finally understood the circumstances a few weeks after we took over his job.”

Mark recalls the events when they started working for the local syndicate. On their first day, they were toured around their route and introduced to their usual customers. Their bosses and co-workers seemed very accommodating. Around the first week they became familiarized with their route and customers. Usually they would be done in the early afternoon and report back to their bosses before returning home. Some time in their second week, their workload was increased. They added some new customers that are not too far from their usual route. It was just a little but they had to increase their work hours. By the third week their work load was increased again which reflected on their increased time of deliveries as well.

Since then, every week or two, their number of deliveries increased. It was not much of a problem at first since they get paid for the number of deliveries which is helpful in their poor financial situation. However, as more months passed, not only do they come home later and later, Mary and Mark eventually have to split up in order to cover all the deliveries. They did raise the problem to their immediate boss, asking if they could keep the current workload as is. The boss only replied with, “Your concern will be raised to the higher ups.” But then that did not change anything as their workload still continued to increase.

After raising their concerns several times and getting the same response, they knew that the bosses has no intention to be lenient with them. They were perplexed why they are little by little being worked to their limit. Now, they started coming home after the sun has set. One of these days, they might even end up needing to come home at midnight just to accomplish their quota. That was when they noticed this same pattern back when grandpa Alf was still alive. Then, the offer came.

“You look more and more tired.” One older co-worker approached them after they finished reporting to their boss that night. “Come on, since we’re in the same business…” He takes out a sachet from his pocket. “You know, you can have some of this.”

“That’s…” Mark recognizes the powder in that sachet as it is what they have been delivering these past months.

“Right, it’s FD.”

“I don’t think we need something like that.” Mary strongly rejects the offer.

The man clicks his tongue. “You don’t need to be concerned about its costs. Anyone working here can avail their daily those for free.” He puts the sachet back in his pocket. “You gotta think it over. Imagine being able to boost your strength and speed. The bigger your quota, the bigger your pay. You can pay your debts in no time and live an easier life in the future.”

Thinking that way is short-sighted, but they cannot say those words out loud.

“I don’t think we need it at the moment.” Mark responds as he grabs Mary’s hand. He speed up his steps taking his twin with him.

“What a bunch of sorry brats.”

So that was how they were able to convince the others to use FD as well. This syndicate pushes them to the limit and then sets a trap they cannot easily get out of. Even if they manages to pay their debts faster by earning more using that illegal substance to enhance their performance, their bodies will gradually get addicted to it. Eventually, they will grow tolerance, craving larger doses every day. Then, that small sachet will not be enough to satiate them. In the end they will be forced to buy it from their bosses. The day will come that whatever they earn will be used to pay for more fairy dust as their health falls into slow and painful deterioration.

All this time, they were barely hanging on a rotten rope.

∞×∞

Fred steps out into the backyard. He looks around before lighting a cigarette. He puffs. He looks around again. The yard is dim with the little illumination coming from the slightly open windows and the stars. Azalea is nowhere to be seen. It did not seem like she is intending to leave the house tonight given the situation. She cannot have gone far. He walks several steps around the backyard and that is when he noticed something on the roof.

He looks up after puffing his smoke. “How’d she got up there?” He takes a few steps back before running forward, leaping up the roof. “Hey, did you notice?”

“Mhm.”

The night is silent, but beyond that shadows are lurking.

“They’ve surrounded this place.” He adds.

Fred stares at her back, waiting for her to respond. It seems like she is blankly staring far ahead. That small back, the silhouette of a child.

“They’re just here to keep watch.” Her tone is flat.

“Do you have a plan in case they make a move tonight?”

“We should take turns staying up to guard the house. Of course, you’ll take guard first coz I wanna rest a bit.” She stretches her arms while yawning.

“Well, after everything you’ve been doing, you sure need some rest.”

She slightly tilts her head. “I’ve been doing?”

“You went and scouted that demon this morning, didn’t you?”

“He, he… You seem to notice a lot of things.”