"She works with Vlad," Kita says, eyeing the store owner.

"Her?" Raya asks, glancing over at the lady as she hosts a few clients, smiling at them with her gold plated teeth. "How do you know?"

"Those boxes. Vlad had a supply room filled with them in Canyon City,"

"Hmm," Raya responds, glancing between the boxes and the store owner as she presumably devises a plan.

The bell of the front door dings, drawing their attention away from their discovery. They turn their heads to see a guard has entered the store. He's breathing heavily and has his rifle in hand- he's probably one of the four that were chasing them.

They both turn their heads back to the shelves of flowers ahead of them, analyzing the plant life but constantly peeking over their shoulder to track the guard as he walks towards the till. Their headscarf should keep them unrecognizable if he doesn't see their faces.

"Hello there, officer," The store owner greets him heartily. "How can I help you?"

"Sorry to bother you, Ms Eeve," The guard says politely- who'd have known these guys have a shred of decency in them. "Have you seen any suspicious individuals recently?"

"Do my guests seem the suspicious type to you?" Ms Eeve asks, raising an eyebrow and frowning at the guard.

"N-no, Ma'am," The guard stutters, "I do not mean to insult your clients, I-"

Ms Eeve walks over to the guard too meet him in the centre of the room. Her high-heeled shoes clatter against the floor with each step she takes as she approaches the guard in frustration.

She steps up to him and lowers her voice, and whispers to him.

"What is she saying," Kita asks under her breath.

"I don't know," Raya answers.

"Everything is in place, Ma'am," The guard says loud enough for them to hear.

"Excellent," She says, turning to walk back to the till. "Leave my store,"

"Yes, Ma'am," The guard nods before raising an eyebrow and glancing over at Kita and Raya, who suspiciously turn their heads back to the shelves.

Shit.

The guard looks back at Ms Eeve, opening his mouth to say something but then looks back at the scarves of Kita and Raya. Then chooses to exit the store instead of causing a commotion in Ms Eeve's store.

"We need to see what's in the back," Raya says.

"Yeah," Kita grunts.

They both walk over to the till, queuing behind a few clients. Once they reach the desk, Ms Eeve glances at the both of them before asking, "Did nothing take your fancy?"

"Actually, we'd like to see what's in the back," Kita says.

Ms Eeve smiles, "Excellent, make your way through the door," She says, pointing to a door behind her. "I will join you shortly,"

They both nod and walk to the door she'd pointed to. Once they pass through it they enter an empty room with another door at the other end. A private security guard is seated in front of it, with a much higher-quality weapon on his lap as he reads a small book.

He glances up at the two of them, raising an eyebrow before closing his book and rising to his feet. The man is like a giant, muscular thumb- his body towers over Kita and Raya as he straps his gun over his shoulder. Shaking the floor with the two steps he takes to cross the room.

"I'll have to conduct a search," The guard's deep voice rumbles.

"Uh, ok," Raya says, raising her arms. Kita follows suit and the man pats them both down. Drawing a blade from Raya's pants.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The man scans the inscriptions on the dagger and admires the silver handle with patterned bevels at the grip.

"Nice blade," The man says. "It will be returned once you exit,"

"Thanks," Raya says as he proceeds with the search. Finding nothing else, he moves on to Kita, who has nothing on her.

"You'll leave your bags here," The man grunts, "They will be returned once you exit,"

They both nod and remove their backpacks. Leaning them against the wall as the man removes a ring of keys from his pocket, and unlocks the door.

It swings open and the man gestures for them to enter, "Happy shopping," He says.

They step into the dimly lit room to find a single table in the centre. It has a small, three-level stand in the middle that showcases twelve different coloured tablets. All lit by soft light within the table below.

Each section holds hundreds of tablets of the same colour. Each one of them is transparent, their hues appear as tinted glass with a glow passing through the centre of them- As if they each hold a star within them.

Kita can feel a pull from them. It's subtle but noticeable. She feels the need to eat them- she just knows they'll feel great.

"What are these?" Kita asks.

"They seem to be medicine," Raya says, walking around the table.

"They are beautiful, aren't they," Ms Eeve says, as she enters the room. "Quite mesmerizing," She chuckles. "We've spent a very long time perfecting the dosage of each of these pills. You see, each one is a perfect blend of ingredients that have required much struggle and pain to create. But, the sacrifice has allowed us to create the next stage of humanity,"

She takes one of the pills from the stand, holding it up into a beam of light from the ceiling. The light passing through it brightens the glow in the centre of the pill. "I call them. Evolution,"

"So they are medicine," Raya says.

Ms Eeve chuckles. "Medicine is an archaic technology,"

"Then what are they," Kita asks.

"Immortality," She responds, dropping the transparent blue pill into Kita's hand. It's warm to the touch. An energy lies within it that she feels more drawn to now that it's so close.

"It calls to you, doesn't it?" Ms Eeve asks, with a grin on her face.

Kita looks at Ms Eeve and then drops her eye contact. Discomforted by the read Ms Eeve has on her. She puts the pill back onto the stand and says nothing.

"Sounds too good to be true," Kita says.

"Death is a curse we've only just broken," Ms Eeve responds.

"How much is it?" Raya asks, picking up one of the pills to hold in the light.

"Seven hundred and fifty thousand coin,"

"For the rack?" Raya asks, startled by the price.

"For one," Ms Eeve smirks.

"How many does someone need?" Kita asks.

"They would only need one every fifteen thousand rotations. With it, your body will be capable of healing itself under any circumstances. It will stop ageing, and revert one's body to its prime,"

"This can't be real," Raya says.

"Buy one, and find out for yourself," Ms Eeve quips.

"Most of you clients can make such a purchase on a whim?" Kita asks.

"Not all of them," She responds, "It is a new product. One that will take time to prove itself,"

"Unfortunately, we aren't quite ready to spend such an amount," Raya says, "But we may return once it has proven itself,"

"very well," Ms Eeve nods. "But be prepared to pay more than triple the original price,"

"Triple?" Kita stammers.

"It is a miracle drug," Ms Eeve chuckles, "The current price is nowhere near its true value,"

"Then we will prepare ourselves," Raya says, "Thank you for the display,"

"It is a pleasure," Ms Eeve says, gesturing for the two of them to exit the room.

They collect their bags in the next room, and Raya receives her dagger from the guard. Ms Eeve escorts them to the front door of the store. Before opening the door, she bows.

"Please, come back anytime,"

"We'll be waiting to hear news of the miracle drug," Raya says.

Ms Eeve smiles at Rayas comment before looking into Kita's eyes. Locking in an intense, momentary glare before she adds, "You have wonderful eyes,"

"Uhh," Kita stammers, "Thank you,"

"I'd love to add them to my collection," Ms Eeve chuckles as she opens the door.

Kita awkwardly chuckles without responding as she makes her way out of the store. Raya follows behind, passing one last nod of appreciation to Ms Eeve.

As the door closes behind them, four guards step out from the passing crowd with their rifles raised.

"Hands in the air," The guard from earlier yells out.