Groud did his best to inch backwards through the pain as the figure approached him twirling his cane.
Tap. The base of the wooden cane that was soaked red in the blood of Tick stopped an inch below his face.
Groud looked up and the sun seemed to be swallowed behind the visage of this man, casting a wholesome shadow over his face.
" Nuh, Nuh Plue" Groud cried and cried and cried.
The man lowered the rim of his glasses revealing glittering eye sockets with Circular Diamonds. His eyes glittered in the light as he smiled even wider after lightly tapping Groud's stomach.
"How Dandy!"
Instantly the three bodies began to swell and swell before popping and turning into common rocks and stones.
The figure glanced at the stones and laughed before strolling back into the shadows.
At the gully James had managed to get the blood out of his overalls. However due to the poor water quality he was now covered in dirt and grime.
James sighed to himself as he examined his facade in the murky water. He felt a slight rush of fulfillment. His eyes now had a cooler sharpness to it. ' I don't feel as bad as I expected…I just took three people's lives and I don't feel bad? '
James wiped away his reflection in the water sending ripples across its surface. He placed his hands on his knees and stood up.
He looked around himself and surprisingly he was alone. No one was there to see him. James climbed his way out of the gulley and looked over at the horizon. The last spokes of the star were drifting behind the hill that housed the Kiln. The misty lilacs had drifted towards a deep violet signaling the end of the day.
'I have to check those bodies. I can't let anyone find out. They have to be dead.
James, like almost every criminal, made his way back to the scene of his crime. The alleyway was quiet and empty. James felt his heart sink.
Looking down the street only one or two pedestrians roamed the streets and most kept away from areas that were fully cloaked in darkness. James watched as a mother and her son skirted away from any shadows that seemed to creep under the setting sun.
" Come, come Shiki, let's get home now. Your fathers probably worried sick."
Shiki didn't seem to care about the encroaching darkness, his gaze firmly locked onto James who was lurking within the darkness of the alley.
" Mommy look, a poor man! He's dirty! Do you think he'll survive?"
The young boy's mother quickly glanced at James who was walking past and didn't say anything until she believed she was out of earshot, whispering to her boy.
" Don't talk about them like that, unless you want the God of fortune to taint our karma"
" What?" The boy said with an exasperated voice. " No, No, I want to be a Karma user like Juraman!" The young boy proceeded to make whooshing sounds but under the urging of his mother they sped off towards the residential district.
James once again turned his attention to the alley. ' What happened? Three dead bodies gone? What happened here?'
James once again did a double take. It seemed like no one had even seen anything. He expected this area to be sectioned off and some sort of investigation to be taking place.
'Could they be alive?' James began to think of what to do if they reported him to the firekeepers. ' How could they be alive? When my fist collided with his skull, I felt it cave in and…Oh shit, I just broke that guys Jaw, I didn't get to him because the fat one was about to scream. Fuck! '
James massaged his head and stamped his feet.
Cink!
James looked down at his feet. The earth which was coated in a light layer of ash seemed to be covering something. Crouching down, James dusted off the one near his feet and picked it up.
It was a smooth and multicolored pebble, like one you might find in a river bed. The pebble was an uneven mix of brown, white and red. Crouching down once again he dusted off a few more nearby pebbles and found they all followed a similar trend of colors, red, white and shades of brown.
'Pebbles? These weren't here before?' James decided that even if he was inattentive to his surroundings he should not have missed the sheer quantity of rocks lying on the floor. James stepped deeper into the alleyway. From what little he could discern. He noticed that there were three distinct piles of stones.
"What does that mean…It must be related to the bodies but how?" James searching for more evidence stopped as he heard voices heading in this general direction.
James carefully placed one of them in his pocket before heading back towards Ziggy's Shop.
A few seconds later a pair of firekeepers stumbled upon the alley. They were dressed in brown slacks and overalls resembling a firefighter.
They each held a lamp and one of them hearing something paused and flashed it into the alleyway.
The fire illuminated his young face. His hair was neatly trimmed and his eyes held a strong light in them, making his presence seem more firm than the average individual. His brown eyes scanned the alley way as the fire cast shadows on his frown.
The young man blinked a few times, waving the light around the alleyway attempting to illuminate something. He was just about to step foot into the darkness when his partner grabbed his shoulder.
" What? Do you see something down there Ethan?" Ethan flinched lightly feeling the hand on his shoulder and let out a deep exhale. He quickly glanced at his partner but didn't respond immediately, waiting for a few seconds.
" I thought I heard something moving. But I guess it's nothing. I might still make a report to the lodge about this though" Ethan reluctantly lowered his lantern and attached it to his belt.
His friend nudged him lightly and shook his head. " Make a report? Because you felt like you heard something but can't say anything about it? You'll be put on night duty if you act so jumpy. Just take things easy, rarely anything happens on the evening patrol. They wouldn't put Rank 1 Karma users in danger like that."
" Yeah, you're right, Corona." Ethan still felt as though he would be doing the right thing by reporting this but decided to listen to Corona. Although he wanted to be an upstanding firekeeper he wouldn't survive long enough to become one on the night shift.
Ethan lowered his head and clenched his fist. ' I can't be so weak…I have to increase my Rank so I can be like Fireman Juraman and protect the garden. '
Inside Ethan's stomach his karma lake began to boil. His karma had a light shade of blue like the atlantic ocean and karma began to leak out from his pores reflexively as he was thinking about his dream.
Ethan suddenly noticed something near his feet. It was a multicolored pebble. ' I wonder how they got here?The river is nowhere near this side of the Garden. Should I pick one up?'
Corona nudged him again.
"Mmm" Ethan audibly grunted. " What?" Ethan looked up to find two fire keepers standing in front of them.
" Hey, What are you two doing?" The one that spoke was holding a fireaxe with symbols etched into it.
Looking at this man Ethan recognized him as the Evening patrol leader. Firekeeper Farod. Farod had a blank expression. One that most men would recognize on their father. A silent judging. Farod's hair was cut low and his beard was neatly trimmed.
Farod stood just shy of six foot two and was wired with thick muscles and veins that looked like miniature tunnels under his skin.
The other was a young lady holding a lantern that burned a lilac flame. She was the Deputy Patrol leader Firekeeper Dixy. Dixy had a much more amenable temperament. Her brown hair was tied into a bun and she smiled at the two young firekeepers on patrol.
Dixy was rather thick due to her wide hips and her huge thighs. However, most of her thighs were thick lean muscle. She looked no weaker or feeble than Farod who stood next to her. Her shoulders were also broad and coupled with her thick forearms intimidated the likes of Corona who could not break eyecontact. Dixy didn't seem to mind as she stared right back at Corona with her hazel eyes.
Seeing them not responding. Farod took a step closer and repeated. Ethan glanced at Farod's hand and his fingertips had lost their color as he was squeezing the hand of the axe. ' I asked you two a question, what are you doing?'
Ethan was just about to open his mouth when Corona blurted out. His back was straighter than Italian cypress. " We heard a strange noise and stopped to investigate FireKeeper Farod. However we did not find anything SIr! We were just about to continue our patrol."
Farod didn't respond and looked towards Ethan. Ethan thought for a second and nodded, not saying anymore. 'Even though their presence here is weird, I don't think it's enough to get in trouble for. '
Seeing Ethan nod Corona let out a sigh of relief.
Farod eased his grip on his axe before glancing down the alleyway. Farod looked towards Dixy and signaled for her to look at it.
Dixy quickly stepped into the alley way and held out her lantern. The lantern was seemingly specially crafted as a small piece of coal was burning at the bottom which ignited the wood in the chamber creating a cool lilac flame.
The flame danced as she held it up. Dixy noticed the scattered stones on the ground and her brows furrowed. She glanced at the lamp once more and seeing no reaction kicked one of the piles and held the lantern closer to it.
" Still nothing." This time Dixy said what she was thinking out loud. Farod glanced at the two; his voice was just as grating as when he first addressed them.
" Evening patrol has been shortened. Night patrol is taking over early. Three workers of VVV's have not reported back to their stations. This industrial district will be under lockdown for the night. Head home."
Corona's eyes beamed as he got the all clear. " Yes! Firekeeper Farod."
Ethan simply nodded in response but kept glancing at Dixy as she held the lantern to the stones. Ethan still felt that something was wrong but couldn't put his fingers on it, he watched as Dixy scattered the last pile of stones and shook her head.
She quickly stood up and headed back towards the three men. Dixy turned to Farod and spoke in a relatively even tone allowing the two juniors to hear. " The stones seem fine. There was no reaction from the lamp, but were rather far from the river so it's rather unlikely that three distinct piles of stones were placed here for fun. "
She gestured to the piles. " From what I'm guessing it's related to the three workers, How? I'm not so sure. It could be a ritual of some sort requiring the stacking of stones, it could also be related to a cryptid that has some form of karmic ability that can mask their presence, with the remnants of this ability being the manifestation of river stones and lastly it could also be a human with an Alchemic karmic ability or a Karma nature belonging to Manifestation"
Farod listened attentively before responding. " No reaction from the lamp could also mean that this happened more than a day ago but with the coincidence of three people going missing that is unlikely. It being a ritual is unlikely as well, there would have been some trace of karma here. I think it being a cryptid or a human is most plausible. "
Dixy thought for a second and gave her assumption. " The starfall incident might have caused some shift in dynamic within the Silent Forest, causing originally inactive cryptids to become more active."
Dixy turned to Corona and Ethan who were both in awe of their investigatory work.
Ethan couldn't help but think. ' Is this the level that all senior firekeepers are at? I was able to tell something was off with the rocks but they came here and with no evidence were able to come up with multiple theories on what may have happened.'
Corona's thoughts followed a similar trend.
Dixy smiled. " What do you boys think?"
Ethan looked at the alleyway and thought for a second. " I think that it is most likely a cryptid. I don't see much motive for a person to attack or kill anyone working for VVV's unless there was a personal agenda against the triplets, and as of right now the Garden is dependent on them for transport and maintaining our outposts while the shuck attacks are going on. It would be stupid to attack them. Kind of like biting the hands that feed you. They are also the biggest employers of regular people in the Garden."
"Hmm" Dixy thought for a few seconds before responding. " Hmm a good analysis but there are a few holes. Even without a direct motive against VVV's there could be a general hatred for regular humans and with VVV's being their largest employers it's not unlikely that these three were attacked or killed. I also hear that they were also rather nasty when it came to women."
Farod interjected. " We've done enough teaching. It's time to go. We'll make the report tomorrow and have it posted on the notice board. Were either looking for a human or cryptid that has a karmic ability related to stones"
The pairs then separated heading their separate ways.
James had already left the scene and through scattered word of mouth on his way back he had learned that the three workers were missing. He clenched the stone in his pocket as he stepped up towards Ziggy's shop. ' I wonder who did this?'
The sign read. " ZIggy's One Stop'