JULY 22nd, 2014.

Kat and Seth pass through what feels like endless hallways and an uncountable number of doors, each still retaining their individual letters and numbers, defining them.

How many people even work here…? I bet some of them are for storage, or just unused. But still, why build them?

Finally, and that ‘finally’ cannot be stressed enough, Kat points to a large dual-door frame with two lamps accompanying the sides of the wall on each side and a plaque that reads ‘14th Supernatural Mitigation Company’ and below it, ‘MAIN OFFICE’. The door is slightly cracked open, and a white light passes through onto the floorboards below.

That’s a nice touch, when everything’s usually tinted orange.

Kat leads into the room first, opening the door and allowing Seth a view of the inside. It’s a medium-sized room— around twice the size of Liam’s office— surrounded by an array of shelving, mainly carrying binders and research files. There was one large wooden desk— again, similar to Liam’s office— a little way in front of the two doors, with a whiteboard behind it. The whiteboard itself contained various bits of scheduling and noting… a lot of it seemed relevant only to Yasu, so he only glanced at it for a moment before carrying on. Unlike the other smaller rooms, this one was lit up by fluorescent lights across the ceiling, and there were multiple benches at the side of the other three walls as Yasu sat on the second leftmost one. His suit coat hung overtop his head, on a dedicated hanger above the bench.

“You’re finally here. Took your sweet time.”

Kat rolls her eyes as she walks toward the middle of the room. Seth walks behind her, still admiring the room. It’d most likely be a while before he got used to interiors like this.

“Yeah, yeah… Liam held us up, like usual. What are we dealing with this time?”

Yasu pulls out his flip phone from out of his suit’s chest pocket, browsing through it.

“You aren’t dealing with anything, feline. I’m taking the rookie out on his own.”

“I swear, if you call me that one more…” She trails off, biting her lip and looking downward, “Wait, no, are you an idiot? He can’t go on his first request alone!”

She swings her arm toward me, pointing at me with it as she glares, frustrated, toward Yasu.

“Are you still an ignorant child? I’ll be the one watching over him. Unfortunately.”

Holding his hand out, Seth steps forward between the two.

“I’m fine with that,” he says, turning the open palm hand he held up into a casual thumbs-up. “I’ve got plenty of experience with detective work… do we know anything else about the spirit that’s causing trouble?”

Yasu scoffs, straightening his tie with one hand while turning around behind him and grabbing his coat off of the hanger, placing it across his shoulders while letting the sleeves fall down the sides of his arms.

“It’s doing a little more than just ‘causing trouble’. Multiple people injured, reports of high-degree burns… Unconfirmed, but our lines have been flooded with calls. Gatekeepers aren’t happy right now.”

He heads toward the door, moving past Seth without a care or paying him any attention. Throwing a glare at Kat, he silently orders her to stay put. Kat gives an angry pouting face in response but shrugs it off and walks over to one of the benches, sitting down and checking her flip phone. Seth watches her for a moment before turning and following Yasu as he heads out of the room.

“Pay attention to your surroundings or you might die. Reports are saying we’re dealing with an elemental… those aren’t fun. I hope you’ve got that pistol on you.”

Seth puts his hand over the grip of the pistol inside the holster at his waist, underneath his parka and covered by it. Though it wasn’t ever outright said, Liam had figured that Seth, with the vest and undershirt, fit the bill enough and wasn’t planning to require him to wear one of the standard black suits. That being said, Seth’s jeans were too ripped from the fight with Vain, so he replaced them with black dress pants that he’s currently wearing.

I’m glad my belt still fits these, but it does suck to see those go…

As Seth touches his holster with his palm, Yasu glances down and notices it.

“Glad I don’t have to scold you for forgetting your damn gun,” he says, pressing numbers on his flip phone in a call sequence before putting his against his ear as it rings. The ringing abruptly stops, and he begins to speak.

“Sankiva. The situation.”

…

“That bad, huh? How many?”

…

“Don’t call ambulances. Too risky.”

…

“...Yeah, I’ll take full responsibility.”

…

“Bye.”

Seth glances over, unable to hear the other side of the call, but picking up on just enough to warrant being concerned. Noticing him, Yasu holds his palm up and keeps looking forward with that same concrete look on his face as usual.

“Save it. You’ll see the mess when we get there.”

“...Alright.”

“And don’t talk more than you need to. I don’t need a polite rookie’s voice grinding against my skull.”

Taking the hint, Seth stays quiet for the remainder of their walk. As they exit TWR’s building and head toward the sedan, Yasu raises his hand up, giving a notice to Seth.

“If anyone’s dead, leave ‘em. You probably know this, but Gatekeepers take the corpses and burn ‘em for fuel.”

Seth flashes back to when he was working his first detective job, having to sleep outside in an alley next to a burn plant. He’d smell the unmistakable stench of charred bodies regularly, and it would always burn his nose to the point where he felt he’d be sick. Always unable to sleep because of it… they were foul memories, as foul as the stench itself.

“Yeah… I already know,” he responds, too busy thinking about that horrid smell.

“What did I say? Speak when you need to, rookie. Otherwise, you’ll be out of air when you need it.”

Seth nods his head in a defeated response.

Sure, asshole.

He slides into the passenger seat of the car while Yasu turns on the ignition, backs out, and begins to drive toward the scene.

. . . . .

The clouds are a grim, greenish grey as they begin to approach the area that the rampaging spirit was reported in. As usual, they’re surrounded by commercial buildings and apartment complexes… the large companies never operate directly in the Outer Layer, as it’s far too crime-rampant for their security systems. Let alone their hiring budgets. As they get closer and closer to the scene, both of them spot visible smoke rising against the darker grey of the clouds… it’s hard to tell with the constant rain against the windshield, but Seth knew they were getting closer. Yasu did as well, beginning to slow the car and search around the area. There was no one around at all. The streets were empty, cars had been abandoned near sidewalks, their doors left open as the owners evidently left in a hurry.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Rookie. Copy me,” he says, as he takes off his seat belt and puts it back to the side, unlocking the door next to him. Seth followed his lead and did the same. As they continued to drive slowly through the man-made obstacle course of cars, the road in front of them began to burn violently on the horizon, a hot white flash of white being blurred by the rain before it.

Both Yasu and Seth go silent before Yasu barely, just barely, hears something whistling as it moves through the air.

“ROOKIE! OUT!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Yasu and Seth launch themselves out of the side doors, twisting and landing on their sides as they glance back toward the car, just in time to watch as a large flaming metal rod cuts through the middle of the bottom of the car. It explodes, sending Seth sliding backward against the curb of the right side of the sidewalk, as glass from the windows hits the ground around him, scattering around.

“Ugh… What the hell…?” he asks, holding his head and wincing in pain while trying to get a read on what threw the rod at them. In the distance, the rain distorts a view of a large red and orange form, not allowing Seth to discern what it is. He can tell, even from here, that heat radiates from his body as the air around it looks heavy… the visible waves silhouetting its figure are rash and heavy.

“Damn ghost… that’s coming out of my pay.”

Yasu’s standing beside the burning car, looking forward at the thing approaching the two of them. Seth pushes himself up, unholstering his pistol and gripping it in his right hand.

“What is that thing?” Seth asks, slowly making his way toward Yasu, always making sure to face forward toward the blazing mass in the distance.

“That, rookie…”

The figure makes its way past the cars in front of it, so hot that it melts the edges of the metal it passes by. As the rain falls on it, the droplets instantly evaporate, covering it in a cloud of mist that quickly keeps drying away as soon as it forms. Quickly, it reaches a distance where Seth can make out what it is if he squints.

Its body is large like a bear’s… no, even bigger than that, and it constantly, violently rages with fire spreading across almost every centimeter. Red and orange flow throughout it, as its fox-like body steps forward on four legs, darkening and scorching the asphalt with each step. The tail is split into two at the base, and the snout is defined by sharp teeth that point outward, like a living ceremonial mask Seth would spot at festivals and such occasionally. Its three eyes, positioned in a triangular pattern across the front of its head, pierce through even the fire around it as they glow a hot orange.

“...Is a fire elemental. Likely a Dynalt class. Keep your distance, or your blood will start boiling.”

The fire elemental slowly approaches the both of them as Seth holds his pistol tightly, never losing eye contact with the thing. It snarls at him as its lips curl inward and its brows lower, pressing against the center of its forehead.

“Humans…” it begins to say, still snarling and standing its guard, “...resilient creatures. And for what purpose…?”

It puts both of its paws parallel in front of it, snapping out toward Seth and Yasu as it continues to snarl.

“The two of you are no ordinary humans… I feel the pneuma you emit. Signers…”

Slowly, it stands flat on all fours rather than leaning back on its hind legs, taking on a seemingly relaxed body language.

“...Then, you know of our kind.”

Noticing the lack of hostility, Seth cautiously lowers his pistol down, tilting the barrel away from the elemental as Yasu glances over, the annoyed look in his eyes piercing daggers through Seth.

“Rookie, what are you doing?”

Seth looks downward, unsure of his own actions.

“I’m a detective… I don’t kill unless I have to.”

My job is to make sure the people alive stay that way, and to give the ones who weren’t so fortunate their closure.

The fire elemental widens its eyes by the slightest bit, turning its snout toward Seth.

“You there. Human. Are you here to kill me?”

Yasu takes on an emotionless, dead stare as he realizes the route that Seth will take. It’s obvious in his eyes… and Yasu couldn’t care less. Rather than stopping him, though, he stands and observes as Seth makes his choice.

“We’re here to answer a report. I don’t want to kill you if I don’t have to.”

Seth feels Yasu’s stares digging into his back, but he stays calm. He has no bias toward humans, nor does he have one toward spirits.

“Interesting… Unlike the others.”

Seth holds his arm forward, pointing at all the debris and damage around him with it, speaking loudly to be heard over the rain.

“What caused you to do… all of this?”

It didn’t add up to him. Why would such a destructive spirit be open to talking rather than fighting?

Something was wrong, something the report didn’t mention.

The elemental growled, sounding despaired. It was almost a whine, but not quite.

“I had failed… A small, frail girl… her parents had died after they requested I watch over her.”

It lowers its head, showing clear signs of sorrow and loss. It felt pain, and Seth knew just by looking at it.

“I attempted to care for her, but she was ripped from me by the fiends who took her parents… I have to find them. To avenge her, and fulfill my old signers’ wish as best I can.”

That’s why…?

Someone— no, a group of people killed a young girl…?

The fire elemental stares directly at Seth, pleading through its eyes. Seth can tell, even without experience, that it didn’t wish to fight them, but it would if they stood in its way.

“I ask of you… let me through. This is the last thing I must do before I die.”

What do I do…?

If I let it go, more people might get injured or die… I can’t let that happen, but stopping this… feels wrong.

Those people should die for that, right?

For killing a young girl?

It… makes sense, I agree with it, but I can’t move my body.

I can’t move out of this thing’s way.

Yasu scoffs, unimpressed, as he begins to step forward.

“Just like all the other rookies, huh? Here’s a lesson, Seth.”

Yasu holds out his arm forward with his hand outstretched, as his mouth begins to part. He stands confidently, challenging the elemental head-on.

“Sera. Constrain.”

Chains began to manifest themselves from nothingness beginning at the ground, with no particular flair or individuality to them… they remain dull, blunt, and functional, a proper reflection of Yasu himself.

“Listen up, rookie,” he begins to say, just as emotionally as he had been, “monsters masquerade as people. You let this thing go, and the next thing you know, your blood’s boiling against your organs as you slowly die, feeling it bubbling up all over your body.”

As the chains began to wrap themselves around the fire elemental, it snarled in defense. They melt away as soon as they make a full rotation around his body, and are replaced by another set that follows the same fate. It repeats, keeping the fire elemental still but never fully restraining it.

“These things aren’t people. Never. Do you think you’re being nice? Well, it’s a death wish. As far as you know, it could’ve killed that little girl itself. If she even exists.”

The fire elemental continues to snarl, snapping at the chains that attempt to bind its snout together as they melt.

“I suspected it… I was mistaken, even signers… the lot of you, you’re nothing different than the other humans!”

It jumps backward as flames follow it, spitting out all across the road around it. It almost creates a wall of fire as the spirit takes an attack position, getting ready to pounce on the two of them at any moment.

“I cannot allow such selfish creatures to live… I’ll never allow it! Never!”

It glares angrily at both Seth and Yasu, sending a look of murderous rage toward their eyes. Fire bursts out of its mouth and scatters onto the ground below it, covering more of the surrounding area in flame as the fire scorching the asphalt escalates into a flash fire. It’s as if even the air around the elemental burns dreadfully.

“Your kind… you have taken far too much from me!”

“Sera. Bind.”

Yasu glances back at me before chains rise from the ground and wrap themselves around both of his arms, turning into grotesque, makeshift gauntlets as he puts his left foot backward and puts himself into a ready stance.

“There it is. That hatred toward humanity. Get ready, rookie…”

He rushes forward, sprinting absurdly quickly toward the spirit. Seth, who was trying to fight it before, soon comes to the realization right before the two of them clash that the only option they have now is to fight.

“...It’s time for your first exorcism.”