“Alright. One last check before you head in.” My sister looked me up and down. “From top to the bottom. Go”
“Helmet, with complete covering. Check.” Motorcycle styled, the helmet flared out at the bottom, with some room in the front of my mouth. It had a visor, but it was glued to the helmet and could not be moved up. Safer that way. The black device cost about 10,000 euros total.
My hands roamed down to the top of my vest, going in and out of each pocket. Gum packet, Blue. About 1.2 million euros, check. Gum packet, Red. About 1.5 million euros, check. Injectable healing syringe. About 3 million euros, check. Flashlight, mundane. About 15 euros, check. I also flickered the one on the top of my helmet on and off, to check.
Roaming at bit lower, closer to my belt, I felt my baton. About 100 euros, check. Tazer, 1500 euros, check.
Ensuring I had everything, I felt over myself one more time, my hands going up and down the black fabric. Protective suit, 5 million euros, check.
“Good?” My sister asked.
“Good,” I replied. She handed me the most valuable item, a black umbrella, around a meter long. I opened it above me, the massive device capable of shielding my whole body from any angle. Shielding umbrella, 11 million euros, check.
“Now the gum,” my sister handed me two sticks of gum, one red, and one blue. I reached under my helmet, and placed them both inside my mouth, on each side. I began to buckle up the front of the helmet, attaching it to my suit, removing weak points. My sister, Myra went around me and did the back.
“Are you ready?”
My arms were quivering as I finished up the attachments, and picked up the umbrella.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
In front of me, stood a row of houses. Suburbs style, each house was its own little castle, in a row going up and down the street. One family or couple, or individual per castle. But no one was living there now, the houses had been evacuated.
I turned around. In front of me, stood one house. To the left and the right, stood the remains of castles which had lost the battle. Warped wood stood, like bones of behemoths burned to ashes. The house directly in front of me, was covered in a black, tar like covering, in a manner similar to how a house would get covered by a tarp when exterminators were cleaning up insects.
It wasn’t a far off metaphor. I was an exterminator, here to clean this house up, so the next person could live in it.
Well, I wasn’t the first. Insects don’t usually kill the people trying to get rid of them.
Ghosts, on the other hand?
That’s a different matter.
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My sister waved her hand in front of my face.
“Hello? Earth to Oliver. You okay?”
“Yeah… it’s a big moment.” My voice was a little bit muffled by the helmet along with the gum in my mouth.
“Anyway, as I’ve already said, you need to enter through the balcony on the second floor, since the first floor is blocked off,” my sister pointed to the balcony on the second floor, which was not entirely covered, but the doors on that part of the balcony were replaced with a steel door.
“Can you give me a lift?” I asked my sister. She nodded, and her arm stretched, like a rubber band, all the way up to the fence at the edge of the balcony. The grabbed it, and then lifted herself up onto the balcony. One on the balcony, she stretched both of her hands down to reach me, and then brought me to her with that same superhuman strength.
“Maybe after this, you’ll be like me”
“Maybe” My arms were quivering even more now. The other options were no powers, and death.
Stepping away from the edge of the balcony, I saw the door up close. It was a steel monstrosity, closer to a bank vault than something that belongs on a house. A large wheel with spokes acted as the lock. Myra began to spin it counterclockwise.
“You know the path? Second floor, first, then basement?”
“Yes.”
“You have the layout memorized?”
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“Yes.”
She pulled open the vault door. I stepped inside. The last thing I heard was a “Good luck in there!” before the door closed behind me.
I looked left, then right, and then—
Ducked the chair flying at me, from its position by the desk on the right. Then I watched as the desk began to lift off the ground
Oh shi— I was knocked to the ground by something that hit me from my right. The desk began to vibrate, as if storing up — I rolled forward as I saw it rocket towards me. It busted itself into pieces, the largest of which began to float off the floor again. Shit.
I began chewing the blue gum in my mouth, as a piercing wail began to haunt the house. Basement. The gums flavor burst in my mouth, a sweet blueberry that probably wouldn’t last.
As I moved towards the door, pieces of the desk accelerated towards me. The ones that hit me didn’t hurt, but caused the flavor of the gum to begin to dampen.
I burst through the open door, slamming into the wall on the other side of the hallway. I turned left, then right, and then sprinted forward, jumping over a short chair that had rolled out into my path. As I headed towards the stairs, I saw a kitchen knife float up past the railings. Vibrating intensely, it hummed with the wrath of a woman scorned.
I attempted to pull out my umbrella — My umbrella? Shit, other roo—
A resounding boom sounded as the knife flickered towards me. Even with the suit, even with the gum, I was sent flying back, the knife penetrating my suit and reaching towards my heart like a reapers scythe.
Do I go back or — Another knife was floating above the railings again. Back, back back! I rolled back, by the bedroom I entered, then sprinted through the door again, looking for my umbrella.
It floated, vibrating, and pointed at me.
I rolled forward, and moved the blue gum from the center of my mouth to the side, and began chewing the red gum. I attempted to grab my umbrella from where it was stuck in the floor, but instead it ripped its way out of its hands, floating to the other side of the room before pointing at me again.
I blew a bubble in my mouth with the red gum. My umbrella started vibrating. I pulled the bubble into my mouth, placing my teeth in a good spot. As the vibrating stopped in the split second before it fired towards me, I dodged. Reaching down to my umbrella popped into the ground again, it attempted to rip itself away from my hand, but I popped the bubble in my mouth, and then exerted the generated kinetic energy over the umbrella, counteracting the pull force. With my umbrella, I ran towards the door, and almost into the knife floating there.
I batted the knife out of the way with my umbrella, and it ricocheted into the wall as she attempted to fire it towards me. Left, then right, and back in the hallway. Dodge the chair — again, and head towards the stairs. I continued chewing the red gum, and blew another bubble and pulled it into my mouth. I vaulted over the railing, and just barely managed to bat another floating knife out of the way, instead of landing on it.
Landing on the stairs, I jumped from there to the first floor. I looked left, and indeed, the pathway to the front door was blocked off. Couches, chairs, tables, beds. The whole ceiling had been collapsed, rending a whole section of the house unnavigable. I looked left and saw floating kitchen knives.
Oh shit. I opened my umbrella, as the first flew began to dart towards me. The tough fabric barely flinched against the improvised weaponry.
A sharp crack sounded out as another went supersonic. I allowed myself to slide back, but the large majority of the force was diffused. I pushed a bit forward, and then opened the door on my left — to the basement. I closed the umbrella, so I could fit through the door, but another crack resounded, and a piece of my side was missing. Shit, shit shit shit. Ow.
As I moved down the stairs, hearing the other knifes fly by, I reached for where my healing syringe should be — and found empty space, some flesh, and a lot of blood.
You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.
I was on a timer now. Either win or die. There was no way I could escape this hellhole safely. I stepped of the final steps of the basement, I saw… not what I was expecting.
What we anticipated to be a ritual murder scene was actually a ritual sacrifice. A large pool of blood made a pentagram, around a bed in the middle. Suspended on the bed via metal chains and poles a corpse sat, head hung low.
Oh, and her heart was missing. A bloodstained hole remained in the left portion of her chest.
It was eerily quiet, down here. No vibrating of floating objects. No wailing. Even the humming of the appliances was off, since this house had utilities to it disabled. I struggled forward to her, kneeling on the bed in front of her. I took off my helmet. Kneeling on the bed, I leaned forward and placed her forehead against mine. And then I entered a different world.
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“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”
And they were right. White-hot rage was all that surrounded me, eating away at me. According to the file I read, she was murdered by her husband, who she married after 2 years of time dating him and being her fiancé. The murderer still couldn’t be found, and after seeing that ritual circle, I understood why: he was a warlock.
I moved through the rage, protecting myself with my will. The rage, attempting to infect me, invigorated me, but also attempted to eat away at my ego, to replace my goal. I used that invigoration to get to the center.
At the center, was a woman screaming. Her rage became more intense as I moved closer to the center of her psyche, but I finally got to her. I stood, silent, and she sat, screaming and weeping.
I thought for a few seconds, before I spoke: “I’ll kill him.”
She continued screaming.
“I’ll kill him, as cruelly as he killed you. I’ll pop his heart like a balloon, and then you’ll be free of this grudge. All you have to do is agree to help me. You have power, but cannot move anywhere. I can go anywhere, but have no power. We can help each other”
She continued screaming.
I kneeled down, and put my hands on her shoulders, and shook her violently.
“Wake up! WAKE UP!”
She finally awoke. The screaming stopped. Piercing blue eyes met mine.
“My name is Oliver Lux.”
She studied me for a moment, her eyes attempting to wean the secrets of my soul.
“From that Lux family?”
“Yeah. The ghostbusters one”
“Are you here to finish what he couldn’t do?”
“No, that’s not how the Lux family operates. On the contrary, I’m here to fulfill your last wish.”
“KIIIIIIILLLL HIIIIM!” a screech so loud it forced me out of her mind. But the deal was made. No longer was I mundane.
I staggered back up the basement stairs, and then up to the second floor. My vision wavered. Black crept in at the edges. Blood dripped down my sides, from where a piece of me was missing. But as I knocked on the vault door, and saw my sisters horrified face as I opened it, I took solace in the fact I won.