“Hahaha, yes, Claire is going to be happy to hear this,” said Glen with a mischievous smile.
Claire Alzee is Mr. Rozzali’s niece from his sister's side. She is the same age as me, 18, and one of the first people to help me when I got to Titan. Claire has a round face with semi-slanted eyes and a petite nose. Her hair is autumn red, and her body is excellent and healthy. She also has this girl-next-door vibe going for her.
I know she has been trying to move our relationship to the next level for about a year now, and she would be the perfect girl to start a life with, but I would not.
Like I said before, I don’t feel willing or ready to add anyone to my life at the moment. I do appreciate all Claire has done for me up until now, and for that reason, I have kept my distance. I do not want to damage our relationship as it is now by doing something I will regret later.
“Mr. Rozzali, didn’t we discuss this situation just a minute ago?” I said seriously while looking at him with troubled eyes.
Mr. Rozzali looked at me for a few seconds before sighing.
“I know we did, Daemon. I won’t force anything on you, but Claire also wants to watch the fight this weekend. I would feel a lot better knowing she is going with you instead of by herself,” he said with a concerned tone.
“I know how those places can get when they are pact. All sorts of rowdy and rough people show up to these events, and Claire, stubborn as a mule, will probably end up getting in trouble if she is by herself,” he continued.
I knew he was right. If you didn’t know Clair and saw her from afar, she looked like this beautiful, pristine flower. But once you got to know her, you quickly learned she was anything but a flower. Raised in a rough frontier town, Claire was tough and stubborn.
“Ok, Mr. Rozzali, I can take Claire to the fight, but only as friends. I cannot promise anything other than that,” I said as I stood up from the counter.
“That’s all I’m asking for, Deamon. I just transferred 1000 EIF credits to your account, so that should be enough to cover her ticket and some food if she asks for any.”
I quickly checked my bank account on my phone and realized I had a transfer for 1000 credits. Not having anything else to talk about, I promptly got up and headed for the door.
“I’m off, Mr. Rozzali; I’m heading to the fighting venue to pick up the tickets now since the fight is on Saturday, the day after tomorrow. I want to make sure we get tickets, so just let Claire know I will meet her here Saturday at noon,” I said, walking out the door. Glen and his dad watched me as I disappeared into the night.
“Dad, do you think Deamon and Claire will marry in the future?” Glen asked.
“As much as I want to see them happy together, that boy hides too many secrets. It will be difficult for Claire to break into his heart to help, which I think she can. But it will all depend on if Deamon allows it,” he said concernedly.
I left Invictus and followed the main street in town, which ironically was named Main Street, to the fighting venue, Battle Royale.
The BR was owned by the Shamae Family here on Titan. They were a very wealthy and prestigious family here in Serenity; they also had a contract with the EIF to televise EIF-sanctioned fights like this weekend. The venue was run by the oldest son of Mr. Connor Shamea, the head of the Shamea family here on Titan, Zane.
Zane was 25 years old and a spoiled, arrogant, and vindictive. He was raised with money, so he tried to fix everything with money. He was also head over heels obsessed with Claire.
He had tried to court Claire since she was 17, but her parents forbade it because she was still underage. But when she turned 18, he did everything he could to get Claire on his side. He bought her expensive gifts and even gifted her an expensive offroad vehicle. He also tried to buy her a house as a wedding present.
Needless to say, she declined all his gifts and made it absolutely clear to him that she was not interested in him as a partner, but that only made him more desperate.
I walked up to the venue and went to the window at the ticket office to buy tickets for this weekend's show.
“Excuse me, ma’am. I want to purchase two tickets for this weekend's televised fight,” I said as I stood outside the window, watching the older lady sitting across from me play a card game on her computer.
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After a moment of watching her click the buttons on her keyboard, she finally turned around to look at me with a gaze that said, “Good, Dammit, you're interrupting my game.”
“What area do you want the tickets in?” she asked, looking me up and down before snickering.
“It has to be a standing view because I don’t think you can afford a regular ticket, and I won't even bring up VIP.”
This wasn’t something new. Most people here considered me poor due to how I dressed and the fact that I rarely had money. But I wasn’t affected; I just smiled and answered her politely.
“I would like to purchase two mid-tier tickets and, if possible, in a private booth,” I said, grinning from ear to ear.
“Are you sure? You know those tickets are 300 credits each. Wouldn’t you be better off buying the third-tier standing-room-only tickets at about 25 credits each?” the clerk said in a pompous tone.
“I’m fine with the mid-tier tickets; please charge me for them,” I said, still holding my tongue, trying to remain courteous, but this lady was pushing it.
“OK, if you can’t afford to pay for them, I ‘m going to have security throw you out for wasting my time,” she answered as she punched in some numbers into the keyboard before finally saying, “The Total for the tickets will be 600 EIF credits. How would you like to pay for this?” She looked at me with total contempt.
“I’ll do a bank transfer,” I said, to which the clerk passed me a piece of paper with the bank transfer information on it. I quickly opened my phone and inputted the payment information.
After hitting send, a ping could be heard on the clerk's computer screen for a few seconds, signaling that a payment had been made.
“Well, I'll be dammed; it's true what they say, even the sun shines on a dog's ass once in a while,” she said as she finalized the sale.
"How fucking rude of this lady!"
“Here you go, two mid-tier tickets with a private booth. I need your partner's name to add it to the system. That way, when they check in, the name is already registered, and they don’t have to wait in line,” said the clerk, a little impatient. She was desperate to return to her computer game.
I thought nothing of it, so I said, “Claire Alzee.”
Instantly, the clerk’s eyes grew wide as she repeated the name,
“Claire Alzee, you say,” she said in disbelief.
The change in her face was night and day, but I didn’t care. Whatever her problem was, it belonged to her and not me, so I wouldn’t meddle in something that didn’t pertain to me.
I took my tickets and turned around, leaving the office. It was already late in the evening, so I had no plans to return to the house on the outskirts of town. I quickly found a place to get dinner and ordered it to go. Soon after getting my dinner, I went to one of the three local hotels and got a room for the evening for 25 EIF credits.
“Alright, I’ll settle here for the night, and tomorrow I’ll go back to scavenging before going home,” I told myself as I sat at the small table inside the room I had rented. I ate my dinner and proceeded to go to sleep.
The next day proceeded as all the other days. I went to the military dump site, scavenged for old hardware, and then went home. I still had the leftovers from yesterday's meal, so that was my lunch during the day.
On my way home from the dump site, I decided to take a slight detour from the usual path I took. I wanted to see if I could hunt for some wild fruits or vegetables to eat. I walked a few miles to the southwest from where I was at the dump site, seeing little but grass, a few shrubs, and small trees.
“Hmm, there seems to be nothing out here but grass and shrubs,” I told myself after spending more than an hour exploring the southwest area.
“I guess this should be far enough. I don’t think anything is out here,” I continued as I scanned the area around me. There was nothing out of the ordinary.
After checking for a few minutes more, I decided to head back. I quickly turned around and started walking back the same way I had come.
About 20 minutes into walking back, I heard it—the noise.
It sounded like whining.
“What the hell is that?” I asked myself as I kept hearing the noise coming from my right. I kept quiet and kept my ears open. Maybe there was something else, or the noise would stop, but it didn’t. After about 10 minutes of continuously hearing the noise, I decided to look for the cause of it.
“Let's go, D; let's find out what the hell that noise is,” I told myself, trying to pump myself up.
I started walking toward the noise, and the whining did not cease. In fact, it became louder and more pronounced.
After another 10 minutes of walking, I hit a small hill; the noise seemed to be coming from the other side. I climbed the small hill, and on the other side, it opened into a small ravine that dropped about 150 feet down. At the end of it was a small pond.
Next to the pond was an old tree. It branched up about 100 feet, and the trunk was as wide as ten people put together. The noise was coming from the other side of the tree.
“Holy Shit, I never would have imagined finding this picturesque landscape here,” I told myself as I descended the ravine. The area was lush with vegetation and giant trees, quite a contrast to the area on the top side.
As I walked forward, I kept looking for any life, but to my surprise, none was around. This seemed weird, but at the moment, I was more interested in what was making the noise than the absence of life in this area.
As I got closer to the pond, the giant tree came more into focus. This thing was huge, regal, and breathtaking, with a majestic feel. I could feel a strange feeling coming from it as I approached it. Something I couldn’t explain, something familiar but distant.
A few feet from the tree, the whining stopped.
“Hmm, what's that?” I asked myself as I walked around the tree, only to see what looked like a rug of white and black fur lying on the grass next to the tree.
As I approached the rug, the noise came back. But it wasn’t whining anymore; it was a growl this time.
Grrrr, Grrrr, Grrrr
I stopped after hearing the low, snarling noises ahead of me. Suddenly, the rug lying on the floor started to move. It shook before a head with ears appeared from the left side. It was facing away from me, so I couldn’t tell what I was looking at when suddenly, it stood up. I could see it now; it was a wolf-like Creature.