"What kind of proposition?" Ginger watched the woman before her carefully. A tense feeling lay thick in the air around the room, and the lack of lighting gave an ominous feeling.

"What say you become a member of GHOST? You have nowhere to go," the woman began to walk around the room, her steely eyes never leaving Ginger's face, "no family, no money to your name, what other option would you have besides prison?"

Ginger was caught off guard. She sat in complete silence except the tapping of her nervous foot and the sound of her shallow breathing. Lucas and Micah said nothing, although both noticeably tensed at the proposal. She wasn't wanted here.

"I think... I'll have to refuse your offer, miss..."

"Head Mistress." She stopped circling the desk and swiftly sat back in her seat, a strained look was evident behind her eyes, "Its a shame, you have real potential. If you ever change your mind... our doors are always open."

They wouldn't let Ginger leave. At least, not until sunrise when curfew ended. So now she sat in an infirmary room. A healer treated her wounds carefully with magic. She was a small lady, not much presence in a room, and Ginger felt she could snap her in half with just her pinky. The woman's face reminded Ginger of a bird.

"Please stop fidgeting, this is not an easy wound to fix," The lady had a small and shallow voice, Ginger hardly heard her.

"Sorry."

The lady looked up, her face a little too close for comfort, and smiled tightly, "It's alright to be nervous. New place, new people, we have the advantage over you if push came to shove," Although her wording was strange, Ginger didn't feel as put off as she should have been. Her sharp green eyes gave off a very calm aura.

Ginger tapped her foot on the marble floor while absentmindedly looking around the white-washed room. She noticed an entity in the corner.

The creature was mostly a silhouette- an inky form against the cream walls, with a childlike physique. Black feathers created a soft appearance around its body. Its white eyes caught Gingers briefly before shutting them once more. The lady working on Ginger's leg seemed to notice her gaze.

"That's Erabora." She shot a look over her shoulder before quickly looking back at her task.

"Oh."

The lady smiled briefly. A clock on the far wall chimed softly, it was midnight now. "Alright, finished." As the lady stepped back, wiping her hands together, Ginger looked closer at her leg. The skin was still red and puffy, and she could just barely feel a stinging sensation. "I wasn't able to fix it fully, it was a really bad burn, but it should heal easier now. You may not feel anything near the center of the burn, but I was able to fix the nerves on the edges."

"Okay."

Ginger looked back up at the bird-faced lady and gave an emotionless smile. Ginger could now see her nametag that read in bright gold letters, Robyn. How fitting.

"Remember, our doors are always open."

Ginger looked back at GHOST's main entrance where Lucas and three other members she wasn't familiar with, stood. She turned and began to walk off the premises alone. The slight limp in her leg reminded her of Lucas' funky walk.

It was an hour after sunrise, birds were flying high above buildings singing lovely songs. People were busying about, getting their wares ready to sell. The stone road was still cool from the night chill, and many flowers in gardens had yet to open back up. Far on the horizon, dark clouds gathered together.

Fiddling with her hood, Ginger examined a card in her hand. 1876 N Walloware St., Median Sector, Kuumythia. An address she would likely never visit. Robyn had given it to her but never specified what was at the location.

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Sticking the card back into her pocket, She continued walking leisurely down the street. Back on the main road, it was much busier. Bodies flowed like water through the streets, pushing this and that way with no thought behind their movements. Ginger stuck to the outskirts of the road walking aimlessly.

She glanced around nervously, she hadn't eaten since yesterday, she didn't have much money left at this point. With this sector being the home of GHOTS headquarters, it would be a better idea to find a small, quick job and earn a couple of coins, rather than stealing. Ginger hated the idea of working.

Someone bumped into her, drawing Ginger out of her thoughts. Turning, she watched a snivelly-looking man race past her. He was rambling to an equally depressing looking young man who wore glasses too large for his weasely face. Something about a General. It wasn't any of her business, so Ginger carried on, grumbling under her breath.

When the streets became too crowded for Ginger's taste, she slipped between two buildings into a narrow alleyway. It was damp and cold, and hard stone snagged at Ginger's skin as she shimmied her way along the mossy walls. Seconds passed before she reached an opening into a larger backstreet. It smelled like eggs and dead animals. She scrunched her freckled nose while treading past tall buildings reaching towards the sky above.

Faster than Ginger could blink, a body swept past her, snatching something from her person. She turned sharply to the small figure, a young boy wearing rags, who now carried her pouch of cards in one hand, and a rusty pocket knife in the other.

"Hey!" she lunged for him, her stiff hands grazing his face as he rolled away like a drunkard. While she landed on her face, he jumped up to run. He didn't get far, Ginger threw a rock at the back of his knee, knocking him back to the dirty ground. His face splashed into a mucky puddle and hit a rock buried beneath. Ginger staggered up and hobbled over to him. "You have something of mine," she snapped, her voice sounding rough and aggressive.

Ginger forcefully rolled him onto his back. He had her pouch clutched tightly to his scrawny body. He was muttering under his breath, a faint whisper, as she tugged the pouch from his bony fingers. Before she could even stand up straight, a black mass of a tail thwumped into her gut, propelling her back into a wall. Her head cracked against the bricks and the world began to sway under flickering lights. Can't I ever get a break?

Squinting hazy eyes, she studied what had struck her. It was a large bloody mass of tangled limbs, eyes and bones melded together in a rotten mess. A putrid smell wafted from its large frame, and numerous black, beady eyes gazed in every which way. Its foot, at least what Ginger suspected was its foot, lay heavy on top of the little thief's face. She couldn't tell whose blood it was oozing between the creatures foot and the boy's face. The little thief scratched desperately at the creature's leg.

It was an Abomination. A creature torn apart in The Artery, an interdimensional gate of sorts. Very few can enter when they please and leave unscathed. They're highly aggressive and extremely dangerous. Abominations don't appear to have much intelligence, and can't recognize its own species- it'll attack anything that breathes. It was abnormal to see an Abomination this size this deep in Kuumythia. The fact that its even in this sector is astonishing. And of course, I had to run into it.

Ginger pushed her legs against the slimy ground, slowly sliding up the wall. Each movement left searing pain in her head, but she didn't feel like dying today. Fumbling with her pouch, she touched each card as if it were some antique left to her. Each had a feeling- an aura about it. Small voices calling her to be used once more. In the span of just a few seconds, she whipped out her selected card lined with gold and slashed it against her arm, creating a streak of gold against her tan skin which slowly bled into the shape of ancient-looking runes.

She threw her arm out, face up. Large, angry flames stretched from the runes on her arm reaching for the Abomination in a spiraling motion. The flames latched onto the Abominations rotten flesh, eating away at it quickly, a burning smell drifted from its body as it screeched an unholy sound. Ginger manipulated the main body of the flames around the creature by twisting and turning her arm. She flinched with each scream the creature let out as it desperately tried to extinguish the fire.

It wasn't long until only a single leg remained. She kept the flames gathered at the top, not allowing them to burn any more flesh. Ginger stood from the wall, her head feeling like a dead weight underwater. The sounds around her were muffled, and her legs were stiff as she walked. Ginger approached the leg wearily, eyeing the boy beneath it. He didn't move at all. She nudged the foot off his face, which landed beside him with an unpleasant squelch. The flames devoured it in an instant before going out completely with a flick of Ginger's wrist.

She looked at the sky with tired eyes. She dropped to her knees, no longer able to carry her own weight. She could hear small footsteps behind her, but her head was too heavy to move. Eyes rolling back into her head, she passed out before falling face-first beside the little thief.