He used to have a name. She used to have a name as well. But so much time had passed by now and neither of them could even remember what they were. The cost of being watchers. They were warned that such tethering would bring them harm in some way. But seriously was that an understatement.
He did not have much of a choice in the matter to begin with, nor did he have any opportunity to negotiate the terms. His clan was hunted down and broken up. The deeds they used to do for the city were now used against them. And the leaders who once promised them safety and passage out of the city either failed or betrayed them.
He did not know much about her story. He just knew that she was in somewhat of a similar situation to his - she used to be in a clan, but she lost all places she could be and any other hopes of surviving in the city when her clan was torn down. Over the years she had only become more resentful and even hateful. Anytime some poor oblivious soul wandered into their area, she would actively seek them out, play with and torment them before actually killing them. He could only reason it was her way of venting. It was also a plausible theory that he would be subject to the same fate if the ritual that bound them here forced them to remain non-hostile to each other.
A point of consolation for him, and maybe for her as well, was that they had a nice station. It was a three-storey mansion in a quiet area of the Northern District mountains. Unlike many others he heard about, they had a pretty luxurious roof over their heads. Even after this many years of abandonment and decay, it was still a pretty good place to rest, meditate and ponder what life could be when he could finally get out of here after finding someone and tricking them into taking over for him.
The night sky grew darker than usual, even though there were no visible clouds above. The moon was gradually obscured, its light faded and became slightly red.
“Hey, woman.” He looked up at the sky and asked the corner of the giant mansion: “Are you seeing this? ”
“...what!?” The woman responded with a rather lazy voice, without acknowledging his question at all: “Don’t call me unless you have something important! Or do you see some fresh meat wandering in?”
“No. The sky became darker.” He picked up his two swords, one long, straight and thin, one short, curved and thick with a hook on its spine. “Something’s not right.”
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“It’s late at night, idiot.”
“No - this is different. It’s even clouding over the moon - something’s not right.” He narrowed his eyes as he gazed into the sky. Even when he had given his best, the sky was still fuzzy, and slightly foggy. He could not see anything, but the uneasy, creepy feeling in his mind intensified. “Get up, woman! Something’s wrong here! You can scream at me if I’m wrong.”
“Are you just too old to tell it’s night time?” The woman barked again, but she did sound more awake.
“No - something’s - ” The man was still trying to rebut the woman as per habit, but his words were cut short by the faces that manifested in the sky. “Wait - something’s definitely off here - did you leave something here that would impact the stability of the seals?”
“No. I’m not an idiot like you.” The woman finally made it out of her room and walked out on the second floor balcony: “What the - ”
More faces manifested in the sky. Right now everything around the mansion had become dark. Even if they tried, they could not see anything outside of the mansion’s fences. Anything beyond was just a blur behind a thick gray wall of smoke and ash. A sudden fog had surrounded them without them even noticing.
“Come back inside. Come inside!” The woman screamed at the man.
The man did not need this reminder anyway. He had already made it inside and locked the door behind him.
Through this many years of lack of upkeep and maintenance, some windows of the mansion were already quite worn. Lucky for them, none of them was fully broken. Only a few of them on the upper floors were loose from the corrosion of wind, rain and insects.
“Find the help alarm signal, now!” The man barked.
“Where’d you keep it!?” The woman shouted back.
“What the fuck!? You’re supposed to keep an eye on it!”
“Bullshit! You were!”
“Fuck you! It’s your responsibility!” The man bashed the wall and flung the carpet on the first floor to check on the vault underneath. It was a locked metal box. What was the combination, he could not even remember. “What’s the code to the safe!?”
“Who the fuck knows! Stop fucking around!” The woman was turning the rooms on the second floor upside down, throwing the chairs and desks against the walls: “Just find it! It’s a red talisman, how fucking hard could it be!?”
A silent shockwave blew through the entire mansion. Both the man and the woman were struck by a sudden vertigo at the same time. Meanwhile, the weeping sounds of a woman, a man and maybe some teenagers began creeping up from all corners of the mansion. Dark red handprints, tear marks and scratches began appearing on the walls.
“Please, stop.” A woman’s voice begged, weak, sniffling and heaving: “Please stop this. We haven’t done anything wrong. You can’t do this to us - you can’t do this to us - Please, stop - ”
“You can’t do this!” A man’s voice resounded in all the rooms: “We’ve done all the work for them - how many contributions and sacrifices did we make?! You can’t do this to us! You just CAN’T!”