Within Glassport City, on Kanton Street, among the several pedestrians on the neighborhood road, a young man dressed in jeans and a black shirt, with a rather handsome face, moved with swift steps.
It hadn't been hard for James to leave the hospital without anyone's notice. It wasn't like he was a criminal. No one knew his face and he had simply stepped out and taken a taxi home. Since the Iron Witch had decided to take care of his bills, he had no obligations to the hospital.
In particular, he had wanted to avoid the reporters who had been pooling and waiting for him. He didn't cherish the idea of being interrogated and getting his face plastered on TV and newspapers because he was rescued by a hero. If he were going on TV now because he had been appointed president of the country, that would be a whole different matter.
There was also the problem of the video, with Olivia's scheme latching onto his moment of fame. James didn't even let his mind go there.
All the worries of the world were pushed to the side at the moment for James. Stepping off the street, he pushed open a door and entered a shop, walking to the counter and immediately dropping a card on the table.
"I want to buy a dog."
The female behind the counter was surprised by his abruptness and she stood up.
"What kind of dog?"
James had initially thought to just pluck up some stray dog on the street, but fearful of accidents and mishaps due to the creature's poor health, he decided not to cheap out.
"A Doberman. I would like it if it were black."
He saw no reason to not go for the exact same creature he had been shown by the coin. James wasn't sure, but to him, what he had experienced was some sort of record, a high-level 3D ritualistic video being played for him.
James had a lot of questions about what he had witnessed, but beyond them was his desire to validate what he had seen. He let the flames consume him whole, his every thought aimed at the light that possibly waited for him.
"Do you want something common or high grade?"
"High grade."
"Age specification?"
"Give me one in its prime, and it should be male. Also, I would like something tame."
James hadn't gotten a glimpse of the gender of the dog used for the ritual, but given its purpose, he bet his card it was male.
"Okay, give me a minute."
The seller sat back down and tapped on her computer, and soon she stood back up and placed a picture on the desk.
"How about him?"
"How much?"
"Eight thousand cols."
James hissed within, but he didn't hesitate with his reply.
"Bring it. Also bring me a muzzle."
...
3:45 PM
Living in a single-room apartment with no roommates, James faced no hurdles in his journey to satisfy his burning curiosity. To create room, he had raised and pushed his bed to the side, locked his windows and door, and closed his curtains.
He had emptied the center of his room and had just finished drawing the ritual symbol he had seen back at the hospital. The Doberman was already placed in the center of the large symbol, its limbs tightly bound and a muzzle over its maw.
Just as he had seen, James lit up three candles and put them at the three corners of the circle. He placed a few more candles around the room, and barring the chant which the robed figures had been singing, he felt he was ready.
"Let me try again," he told himself, and immediately moved to the bowl that contained his blood and stained the red coin.
Just like before, the coin began vibrating and absorbed the blood. It rose into the air and then cast up the blue transparent screen.
James's problem now was that what the screen revealed was jargon he could not understand. It seemed like some sort of language, but the foreign words and symbols were scattered all over the place, with no order to their placement.
He stared at the screen, stumped, trying and struggling to make sense of what he was seeing, till the screen disappeared and the coin fell to the ground.
"Oh well."
Though he had lost all inhibitions, James had wanted to watch the ritual a second time, to make sure all was in order, but it seemed he would have to go by the lessons of his first experience.
Without hesitation, he stripped naked and, gripping a brand-new dagger, stepped into the triangle, moving to its center and kneeling beside the Doberman.
While James had asked for a tame dog, he found it odd how silent the creature had been since he began his preparations for the ritual, especially after he was done drawing the symbol, a diagram made with blood around the creature.
Even as he knelt beside it, holding the dagger, it remained silent, its eyes moving to him as they both existed in the serene world he had created.
James took in a deep breath, smelling the smoke which had begun filling the air. He looked at the flames on the candles around him, getting sucked into their red light for some seconds.
In his right hand was the dagger and in his left was the red coin.
Letting out the breath he had taken, James placed the red coin to the side, smearing it with some of his blood so that it hummed and floated into the air.
He ignored the screen which popped out of it and raised the dagger in his hand high.
At that moment, they all came crashing into his head. His fears of the mishaps that could happen were brought to the forefront of his mind, his consciousness screaming at him that he was about to end the life of an innocent creature.
James's instincts screamed at him with venom, repeatedly spelling doom for him if he proceeded, scenes of agony to come flashing before his eyes, but hey…
Whether through cowardice or despair, he had conquered the fear of death. Compared to that, every other consideration was trivial.
"Life transformed to power!" James suddenly shouted.
The dagger fell, cutting through the air, and without fail pierced through the skin of the dog.
The loud moan of the creature rang in James's head and its warm blood spurted out, soaking his hands.
He looked down at the creature which had begun squirming, miserably struggling to get to its feet, and with determination, he pulled out his dagger and stabbed it once more.
Just like the man he had watched, James stabbed the creature several times, blood spurting into the air and falling on his face, a mad roar leaving his lips, and then he stopped stabbing.
The creature had stopped moving, and from it small rivers of blood began rising from the holes he had made in its body, while grey miasma popped out from across its frame, rising into the air like tendrils.
The rivers of blood and tendrils of grey coiled around James like snakes, rising above him, their tips pointed down, and then they dived toward him.
From the corner of his eyes, Jaames noticed the red coin floating to the side, a red light shining from its surface and illuminating his form.