advance/early chapters : p atreon.com/Ritesh_Jadhav0869
Huadu Gardens was one of those sprawling residential complexes that housed people like Wendy - the working poor who couldn't afford anything better in Northgate's expensive housing market. Today, the 37-year-old single mother sat hunched beside her daughter's bed, watching Lana burn with fever that had been raging for two days straight.
The child's father? Dead three years now. In this world, ordinary people died in accidents far more often than Russell's previous Earth. Natural disasters were bad enough, but throw in unpredictable pocket dimension breaches and demon attacks, and life became a constant gamble with terrible odds.
"Come on, baby, just get better," Wendy whispered, wringing out a pink washcloth with hands that shook from exhaustion. She gently wiped sweat from Lana's flushed face, noting how thin her daughter had gotten. Can't afford the good medicine, she thought bitterly. Can barely afford food some weeks.
"Dad... Mom..." Lana murmured in her sleep, tossing restlessly.
Wendy's chest tightened. When her husband died, she'd seriously considered ending her own life. The only thing that stopped her was the thought of leaving Lana alone in this cruel world.
Ding.
Her phone buzzed in the silent room. Wendy fumbled for it, squinting at the screen with tired eyes.
[It's almost eight o'clock. Where the hell are you?] [Don't even bother coming in today!]
Shit. Her supervisor. Wendy's stomach dropped as she realized she'd been so focused on caring for Lana that she'd completely forgotten to call in sick. Her fingers flew across the cracked screen:
[I'm so sorry! My daughter is sick and I forgot to request leave. I'm really sorry.]
The message sat there unread for what felt like hours. When her phone finally buzzed again, the response made her want to throw the device against the wall:
[Unexcused absence. 500 credits docked from your pay.]
Five hundred credits. Three days of wages, gone just like that. Wendy stared at the cold text until her vision blurred with tears she couldn't afford to shed. Her fingers clenched around the phone until her knuckles went white.
What choice do I have? she thought, letting her hands fall limply to her sides. People like her - people with no talent for cardmaking, no special skills, no connections - they were society's disposable parts. Nobody would care if they just disappeared one day.
The room fell silent except for Lana's labored breathing. Eventually, Wendy dragged herself to the tiny kitchen to prepare some thin rice porridge for breakfast. As she was scraping the pot clean - waste nothing, eat everything - her phone vibrated again.
She wiped her hands on her stained apron and checked the screen, expecting another nasty message from her supervisor. Instead, she saw an emergency alert that made her blood turn to ice:
[EMERGENCY: Unknown pocket dimension breach detected. All citizens proceed to designated shelters immediately.] [EMERGENCY: Unknown pocket dimension breach detected. All citizens proceed to designated shelters immediately.]
Seven years ago, a message just like this had taken her husband forever. Without thinking, Wendy rushed into the bedroom and shook her daughter's shoulder.
"Lana! Lana, wake up!"
Her daughter's eyes opened, glazed with fever. "Mom? What's wrong?"
"Pocket dimension breach," Wendy said, trying to keep the panic out of her voice. "We need to get to a shelter right now. Can you stand up, baby?"
The words "pocket dimension breach" cut through Lana's fever haze. She knew that's what had killed her father. The ten-year-old tried to push herself upright, skinny arms trembling with effort, but dizziness sent her collapsing back onto the mattress.
"It's okay, I'll carry you." Wendy didn't hesitate. She half-knelt beside the bed and pulled Lana onto her back in one smooth motion. Grabbing just her phone and keys, she headed for the door.
The hallway was eerily empty - most of Huadu Gardens' working residents had already left for their Monday morning shifts. Wendy jogged toward the elevator, supporting Lana with one arm while frantically jabbing the down button with her free hand.
"Come on, come on," she muttered.
When the elevator finally arrived at the seventh floor, the doors opened to reveal it was packed solid with people.
"Move it, lady!"
"We don't have room!"
"Get out of the way!"
The faces inside were twisted with fear and desperation. Before Wendy could even try squeezing in, someone shoved the doors closed again.
She turned and ran for the stairwell.
Seven flights down carrying a sick child would have been challenging for a healthy adult. For Wendy - malnourished, exhausted, running on adrenaline and fear - it was agony. Her breathing came in harsh gasps that echoed off the concrete walls. Lana, barely conscious, could only watch her mother's sweat-drenched profile blur past as they descended.
Don't stop, Wendy told herself as her legs turned to rubber. Keep going. For Lana.
Maybe it was maternal instinct, maybe it was pure desperation, but somehow she made it from the seventh floor to ground level in just minutes. She burst through the stairwell door and kept running toward the complex's main gate.
By the time they reached the gathering point, other residents were already organizing into groups for the trek to the nearest shelter. Wendy stumbled into the crowd, her lungs burning and legs shaking.
I can't keep this up, she realized with growing horror. If I have to carry her all the way to the shelter, we'll both die.
A poisonous whisper crept into her thoughts: Leave her. You could make it on your own. Everyone would understand - she's sick anyway, probably wouldn't survive much longer...
"No," Wendy said out loud, causing several people to look at her strangely.
Instead, she grabbed the sleeve of a young man standing nearby. "Please," she begged, "please help me. Take my daughter with you."
The man looked at her with suspicion, then irritation. "Lady, everyone's got problems right now. I can't babysit your kid." But as he tried to shake off her grip, he caught sight of Lana's pale, feverish face. Something in his expression softened. "Fuck it," he muttered, then said louder, "I can only take the girl. I can't help you too."
Relief flooded through Wendy so intensely she almost collapsed. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"
"Paw Patrol, come out!" the man called, and a massive Alaskan Malamute materialized beside him.
Wendy understood immediately. The dog could carry Lana, but not a full-grown adult. She carefully lifted her daughter onto the animal's broad back, smoothing down the child's sweaty hair with shaking hands.
"Listen to this nice man, okay?" she whispered, forcing her voice to stay steady. "Do what he says when you get to the shelter."
Lana nodded weakly, confusion clouding her fevered eyes. "Mom?"
"You're going to have to be a big girl now," Wendy said, pressing one last kiss to her daughter's forehead.
The crowd began moving toward the shelters, a river of frightened humanity flowing down the street. Wendy managed to keep pace at first, but exhaustion quickly caught up with her. Her steps slowed, then faltered, as the main group pulled away.
From her perch on the dog's back, Lana's young mind began to grasp what was happening. "Mom!" she cried out, stretching her arms back toward the growing distance. "Where are you going?!"
The man carrying her felt his throat tighten. Taking the kid was already pushing his limits - if he stopped to help the mother, they'd all end up dead.
Wendy's pace slowed to a stumbling walk, then stopped entirely. For the first time in years, she felt something like peace. At least Lana had a chance now.
Heavy footsteps thundered behind her. The kind of sound that made buildings shake and hearts stop. When she turned around, a massive antelope demon with glowing red eyes was charging straight at her.
In the distance, Lana saw the monster bearing down on her mother and tried to struggle off the dog's back. The man held her down firmly. "Don't move," he said through gritted teeth. "Or your mom's sacrifice means nothing."
He didn't dare look back. None of them did. They all knew what was about to happen.
Suddenly, the man slammed into the person in front of him, who had stopped dead in their tracks.
"Don't stop!" he yelled. "Keep moving!"
"There's demons ahead too," the person replied, voice shaking with terror.
The man's heart sank as he looked forward and saw creatures with blue skin and burning eyes blocking their path. The crowd began to panic, people scattering in different directions only to find more monsters waiting.
"Why are there so many?"
"Are we all going to die here?"
"Where the hell are the cardmakers? They're supposed to protect us!"
As fear turned to anger, a voice cut through the chaos - hoarse, overlapping, definitely not human: "Stay put. I'll be right back."
Back at the complex entrance, Wendy had closed her eyes and was waiting for death. The antelope demon's rancid tongue slid across her face, leaving a trail of acidic saliva that burned her skin. She could feel its hot breath, smell the rotting meat stuck between its teeth.
At least Lana got away, she thought. That's something.
Just as the monster opened its massive jaws, a cold female voice rang out:
"Telekinetic Grand Circulation!"
A whirlwind of psychic energy enveloped Wendy instantly. The demon's razor-sharp teeth scraped against the invisible barrier, throwing off showers of sparks. Confused, Wendy opened her eyes and turned around.
What she saw nearly stopped her heart.
A massive black and red creature sat on an ornate throne not twenty feet away, carried by several figures in dark robes. The monster's head was a nightmare of horns and glowing eyes, but somehow Wendy felt no fear looking at it. Standing beside the throne was a beautiful woman in a dark green dress - clearly the source of the protective barrier.
Before Wendy could process what was happening, the robed figures moved. In the blink of an eye, she found herself standing next to the monstrous throne, still alive and unharmed.
"A... cardmaker?" she asked hesitantly.
The creature's voice was a low growl mixed with electronic distortion: "Yeah. You're safe now."
Hearing confirmation, Wendy felt the monster transform from terrifying presence to guardian angel. The overwhelming relief of survival hit her like a physical blow, and she would have collapsed if one of the robed figures hadn't steadied her with a surprisingly gentle touch.
The monster was Russell, of course. After receiving the emergency alert, he'd raced through shadow space to reach the civilians before the demons could slaughter them. When he'd first appeared to help the crowd, some people had actually tried to run away from him. His Arrogance form wasn't exactly reassuring to look at.
The woman who'd saved Wendy was Fubuki. In a crisis situation like this, there hadn't been time for Unohana's longer incantations.
"Hell Storm!" Fubuki called out, her voice carrying deadly authority.
Wind erupted on the empty street with supernatural fury. The howling gale picked up chunks of concrete and twisted metal, spinning them into a devastating cyclone aimed directly at the antelope demon. The creature's agonized screams echoed off the surrounding buildings as the debris storm tore through its hide, leaving wounds deep enough to expose bone.
Even after that brutal assault, the demon was still standing. Russell sighed, his distorted voice carrying disappointment. "Can't one-shot it, huh?" Fubuki's defensive power was incredible, but her offensive abilities had clear limits. Still, attacks like that barely drained his mental energy, and more importantly, it had provided perfect cover for his next move.
While the demon staggered from Fubuki's assault, a petite figure in white and blue had approached its flank. The creature looked down at what appeared to be a young girl making chopping motions with empty hands, and something like confusion flickered in its predatory eyes.
A moment later, those same eyes were spinning through the air as the demon's severed head hit the pavement with a wet thud.
Artoria stood calmly beside the headless corpse, still holding her invisible blade. The antelope demon had never seen her sword because it wasn't there to see - Fubuki had created an artificial version of the Wind King's Barrier using her telekinetic abilities. Russell had suggested the technique as a test, and today marked its first real combat trial.
Results: extremely promising, Russell noted with satisfaction. Having Artoria fight with an invisible weapon was a massive tactical advantage.
As the demon's corpse crashed to the ground, the crowd behind Russell finally seemed to understand what they were looking at. Not another monster, but their salvation.
(End of this chapter)
PLZ THROW POWER STONES