Asher woke up to Mei patting his shoulder. The lights in the room were on, shining straight into his eyes. He groaned his complaints, but Mei kept at it.
"Gotta go to work now, 'kay? I'll come home a bit later than yesterday. Breakfast's on the table!"
Asher lifted his head just in time to see Mei rushing out. It seemed that he had slept more than usual; Mei couldn't eat breakfast with him today.
He checked his phone.
It was ten o'clock. He didn't know what that meant, but he assumed it was late morning.
Peeling himself off the bed, he wondered what he was even going to do today. It wasn't like he had anything particularly pressing to do.
He poured some milk into the cereal bowl beside his waffles, savoring them slowly.
'Hm... What should I do now...' Lazily browsing his phone, he soon found himself bored, as he had no new messages, and the Hana forum's topics were all mundane.
Suddenly, he remembered what Yun told him yesterday, something about making connections with other Offices. Asher had never seen an Office other than Yun's, so he figured that today he could find another, preferably stronger one.
Asher rummaged through Mei's room to find some normal clothes to switch into, but stopped at the last minute.
'I have my suit that I can switch into... Why don't I do that? [Fairy Queen]!' The smell of damp pine trees permeated the room as delicate wings sprouted out his back.
It was a bit conspicuous, but it really didn't bother him that much anymore.
Having spent hours as a little girl who looked like she narrowly survived a house fire changed his perspective. He simply got used to the gazes of other people, they didn't bother him anymore.
Minutes later, he stood at the bottom of the apartment. Instead of going in the direction of Yun's Office where he usually went, he turned right.
He had never bothered to go this direction. Everything he's seen so far was on the left of Mei's apartment.
The main streets were bustling with activity, but even after dozens of minutes of walking he hadn't seen a single Office.
He guessed that, like Yun, other Fixers stationed their Offices in the Neon Districts. They could make more business in the unsavory parts of the Backstreets, so it made sense.
Seeing as his search on the main streets were fruitless, he dove back into the alleys.
Instead of arriving at another street filled with shops, the alley opened up to reveal a flat area filled with factories and warehouses. Many of them were abandoned, but a few churned and rattled quietly.
Even though the atmosphere was ominously deserted, he couldn't hide his curiosity. The environment was so radically different. Rather than the cramped, multi-story buildings filled with activity and life that he was used to, this place was like a ghost town.
A few ragged vagrants scurried on the dusty ground. The moment they saw his gaudy outfit, they scampered away like inhuman beasts.
It appeared the homeless and criminal population had occupied some of the abandoned warehouses.
*BANG*
A gunshot echoed in the building behind him, followed by several others. Asher quietly synchronized with Sophie, erasing his presence in an instant.
The warehouse doors burst open, revealing a young man in black clutching his side. He was shot in the gunfight, fleeing for his life.
The man sprinted to the main streets, not even making a sound as blood dripped from his hand. The other people inside the warehouse did not bother to chase him.
Asher slunk deeper into the enormous industrial block, away from the conflict. He had no way to discern who was in the right or wrong in these situations, so he simply backed off.
Though in retrospect, probably none of them were truly innocent. But just like with Pete and his companions, it was a matter of circumstance. Many people turned to crime simply to survive.
He advanced further and further away from home. The industrial complex was massive, with a couple dozen dilapidated factories in it, each easily over thirty thousand square feet of space. Many of the warehouses were locked shut, obscuring their contents from view. Considering the shady atmosphere of the place, he held himself from breaking inside to check out their interiors.
Asher stopped in his tracks.
In front of him, guarding the entrance of the biggest warehouse he had seen so far, were two white-cloaked girls. Each girl looked exactly like the other, with pitch-black hair and ghoulishly pale skin. Perhaps they were twins.
Covering their eyes were black blindfolds engraved in silver and bronze, respectively.
He didn't know why, but their aura reminded him of when he first met Yan. They seemed to be guarding the entrance as they stood, silent as statues.
As he took a small step forward, trying to go past them, the twin with the silver blindfold tilted her head towards him.
Even though he couldn't see their eyes, he instantly knew that he had been caught.
"Who is standing ten feet past my left foot?"
The bronze blindfolded girl turned toward where her sister's foot pointed.
"A small statured female. Young, as we are. She smells like something." Her nose twitched, but she did not move from her place.
"Yes, like Miss Haruko. She is the Messenger assigned to this meeting?"
Asher blinked. They were conversing among themselves, ignoring him, but he guessed they were talking about Yan; Haruko must be her last name.
So it turned out that they were from the Index.
And what meeting was Yan going to have in the abandoned warehouse?
"Yes. Does the Messenger wish for that female to enter with her? Is this some sort of hidden message?"
"Proselytes do not have the capability of fathoming the thoughts of the Messenger."
"We are incapable of comprehending, yet something must be done. What should we do?"
"The scent is heavy and overpowering, like it was rubbed into her clothes. Let her through."
"The Messenger must be expecting you. She will arrive soon." The twins simultaneously gripped both doors, swinging them open with a creak. Asher wanted to correct them, but he was also curious about the 'meeting' that Yan has here.
So he walked inside, the twins leaving him in darkness as they shut the door behind him.
The twins once again stood motionless, but one of them couldn't keep her curiosity to herself. She rubbed the black fabric on her blindfold, chafing her face as she spoke.
"Sister, the Messenger said to not let anyone else in. Should we tell her about the girl inside?"
The other twin tilted her head.
"Messengers are higher order beings. This must be her plan. She merely did not want to tell us lesser Proselytes."
Her sister nodded her head sagely. It made perfect sense to her.
...
Asher stumbled alone in the dark warehouse. Not a single sound could be heard; there was no one else in there beside him.
On the opposite side of where he came from was another set of doors, presumably where the other people would enter.
Who was Yan going to meet in here?
'Probably not someone law-abiding, that's for sure.' Dust swirled in the air as he stepped gently on the cold concrete floor, using his phone as a flashlight.
The longer he stayed there, the more he realized he had made a mistake. Yan certainly didn't want him, a Fixer, to be here. Why else would she choose to have a meeting in an abandoned warehouse?
And the only reason he smelled like her, the reason the twins let him in, was because he... had contact with her yesterday; it was a complete accident!
How could he explain to her if she saw him in here?
The doors on the opposite end shuddered as its lock was torn away, causing him to flinch.
Asher scaled up the wall in a fraction of a second, balancing on the supporting beams above the center of the room.
He could hear chittering noises from outside, and the scraping of what sounded like nails on metal.
"Gamma, Beta, stay outside. I'll check first." A frigid, monotone voice entered the room. Asher observed the appearance of the newcomer from above.
A man in a drab grey straightjacket peered into the warehouse, his arms bound horizontally. A pure white mask covered his face.
His upper body was fastened tightly, but the outfit hung loose around his legs, allowing him to walk unobstructed.
The only openings on its porcelain mask were for two black eyeholes. Soul gazing holes that seemed to be able to see through everything.
Just from looking at the man, Asher felt apprehensive like never before.
The man exuded an aura of carnal hunger. Not like it was purposeful, it was just an integral part of his nature.
The man walked away to report to his companions Gamma and Beta, his posture straight and elegant, almost somber. The binding straightjacket seemed to repress the malice that threatened to burst out of his body.
"It is safe to head inside. The meeting begins in thirty-seven seconds, the Messenger has not arrived yet." Insectoid chittering responded to his voice.
"How much longer must we eat Sweepers? Taste disgusting."
Asher dug his finger in his ear, wondering whether he heard incorrectly.
"Because we must spin more silk? Nightly feast." The other two voices, Gamma and Beta, spoke strangely, with cut off sentences and awkward wording.
Their leader was far more articulate and cold.
"The Index gave us such Prescript. Let us enter."
'What the-' Asher's breath seized within his throat. Aside from the normal-ish middle one he saw earlier...
The three of them wore the same type of straightjacket, and each had on the same mouthless porcelain masks. Their bodies were all an unnatural greyish color, but they could not have looked more different.
The one to the right was over two meters tall, its limbs and neck spindly and stretched out. Its straightjacket wasn't fastened together, revealing its stomach.
The thing's entire stomach opened like a mouth to reveal a set of bloody, jagged teeth, each tooth the size of Asher's hand. Its slate-grey intestines hung loosely from its body, and arm-length centipedal appendages sprouted from its throat and inside its stomach.
The one on the left trudged forward with an intense backward lean. Both its mask and straightjacket were cleanly cut in half, along with its body and head.
Its flesh opened outward, and hundreds of small sharklike teeth were embedded in every inch of its exposed flesh. There were no traces of organs, brain matter, anything. All of its red, pulsating flesh was covered in teeth the size of a fingernail.
"Must eat Sweepers? Agree with Gamma, taste disgusting." The split one was named Gamma, and the spindly one was named Beta. Asher still didn't know what the middle one was called.
"The silk we produce does not discriminate against ingredients. Don't worry, we will eat softer Fixers later." The leader was more restrained, but its aura betrayed its true desire. Primordial hunger permeated the entire building.
Asher shivered.
'W-What does Yan want from monsters like this??'
They stopped bickering as they stared at the opposite door.
With a creak, it opened, and Yan stepped inside. The twins did not enter the warehouse with her, still guarding the doors from the outside.
Yan and the three creatures wordlessly approached the middle of the warehouse.
Although Yan was a dozen inches shorter than the shortest of them, she did not lose in presence compared to them.
At least, when compared to Gamma and Beta; he couldn't sense any presence from the middle one at all.
Yan's face was more serious than anything he had seen from her before.
"Morning, Alpha. Gamma. Beta." She bowed slightly.
"Greetings, Messenger." Alpha did the same out of respect.
"Messenger? Hello." Beta quivered as its gaping mouth salivated.
"Tastier than Sweeper?" Gamma leaned toward her, chittering hungrily. It only stopped as Alpha shook his head.
And so the meeting began, with Asher lying precariously on the beams near the ceiling, carefully glancing below him.