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ARK Bearer Of Curse
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ARK The Bane Of Spectres
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***
The day after meeting the Chief, I was basically involved in the anonymous thieves. Ali took me under her wing which I reluctantly accepted. She was a lot weaker than me. Even the Chief, I could have killed him if I wanted to but Ali's stares made me think twice.
Perhaps I wanted to keep my powers a secret. Fighting demons wasn't really something that I wanted, with or without powers. I was simply avoiding people's attention in case there would be another Sister Ann among them.
"Here, Luc", Ali said, giving a fresh pair of clothes. They looked worn out with some patches to cover the torn parts but it was clean.
"What's this?" I asked.
"Haha! What else could it be?" She laughed. "Of course, those are your new clothes. Well, not really new. I just patched up some old clothes."
"You sew?" I mindlessly asked, remembering the scars I saw from her hands.
"Uh-uh! That's why they call me spider", she smiled. "Anyway, you really stink. There is a working faucet on the ground floor. Go take a bath and suit up then I'll explain to you our first assignment."
Hearing the word assignment made me lose interest. At that age, when I heard the word assignment, I thought of homework and school.
"Are we going to school? I thought we were supposed to be thieves", I asked.
"Hahahaha!" Her laugh was more hearty this time. My ignorance must have really amused her. "No, you dummy. You're not a thief yet. You're my apprentice."
"Apprentice? That's the same thing as a student. And student's go to school", I argued, trying to redeem myself through a lecture of vocabulary.
"I'm not sure if you're smart or stupid. Haha!" She continued to laugh at me and messed with my hair.
Seeing Ali laugh like that gave me a light feeling inside. Everyone around me used to either suffer, or get angry. Even mother. Now that I thought about it, she only wore a smiling mask, but behind it was a woman in agony.
Agonizing in what, I wasn't sure.
"All right, kid. How about "mission", does that sound better?" Ali asked, and this time I got excited.
"As in Mission Impossible 20. I see, but aren't they cops?" I questioned her again, using a movie I once watched as a reference.
"You know what's impossible? Explaining things to you. Hahaha!" She replied. Perhaps I understood it from the start and I just really liked seeing her laugh.
"Go now, Luc. The Chief will be mad if we don't deliver on time", she said and I finally complied.
***
The perfect number for a group of thieves was four. Each member specialized in their assigned role, guaranteeing a 100 percent success rate. That was what Ali lectured me about.
"Because it's obvious that we're thieves if we move in a group of four", she said when I asked her why there were only the two of us. "Quality over quantity."
"What does that mean?" I asked, confused by her cryptic words.
"It means I prefer to have just one strong and reliable apprentice instead of many but weak burdens", she said, messing my hair. My heart raced hearing that.
The year quickly passed. With me and Ali, every thieving mission was a piece of cake. Be it money, food, or jewelry, we did every assignment flawlessly.
Finally noticing my skills, I also got to the good side of the Chief. Of course I could have done more with my powers which I chose to keep hidden.
But there were nights I had to use my powers.
"Let's go to sleep now, Luc", she said, tapping the mattress she was able to sneak out from a destroyed upholstery. I remember seeing her struggle just to drag it muddy.
"I'm still not sleepy. Go to bed now, you deserve this good night's sleep", I replied, making an excuse so I could stand watch.
"But.." She struggled to say. I couldn't tell if she was nervous or embarrassed, it was always difficult to read her expression other than her genuine smile. "I'm scared of the shadows."
So she was seeing it too, I thought.
"You're having that nightmare again, huh?" I said and she nodded. "All right, I'm gonna sit beside you while you sleep."
"You're not leaving and you're going to sleep beside me, too?" She asked, the pleading in her voice was obvious.
Pretending that I didn't like the idea, I scratched my head. "Again? Isn't the teacher supposed to look after the apprentice?"
"Please.. Lucian." Hearing her voice like that, even as a joke, I didn't reject her request.
"Yes, maam!" I assured her. With the times we spent together, she finally recognized and acknowledged my skills. When our responsibilities shifted and when she began to rely on me, I could not remember.
As soon as Ali fell asleep, I felt the cold brush my skin again. Oddly, there was no wind. It was supposed to be cold in the desert but this was differently chilling. The already dark place even got darker as the cold closed in.
However, I got used to it already. This wasn't the first night it happened. I stayed awake, keeping an eye on Ali, like I did almost every night. After a few more minutes, two shadow creatures appeared.
"They don't even have a solid form", I uttered. The creatures that plagued the night were black smoky figures that hardly maintained their appearance.
"Nightmares", I remember what the priest looking man said when he fought the four creatures, about a year ago, during the night of Sister Ann's ritual.
While these creatures didn't have the same appearance, I recognized their.. scent? No. I couldn't explain it but I had a gut feeling they were the same thing. Not demons or gorgons. But Nightmares.
I pulled my dark red dagger out. It was the same blade that struck my heart on that fateful night. Ali wrapped some cloth on it and using her sewing skills, made a grip to make it a proper dagger.
It certainly did not look like a proper dagger but it functioned like one.
The creatures quickly advanced to attack the sleeping Ali. Before they could reach half the distance, I approached them first. I quickly stabbed one of the Nightmares but given my short blade, I had to drag it around its body to create longer and enough damage to destroy.
It disintegrated and the other managed to get close to me, grabbing me from behind. But I had another trick that I only used in this kind of scenario. In a blink of an eye, the Nightmare grabbing me disintegrated from the dark green fire that appeared around me.
"Greek fire", or so I remembered what Sister Ann called it.
After destroying the second Nightmare, the light slowly came back, driving the darkness and the cold temporarily. I knew that the next night, or every other night, they would return with the Nightmares.
***
"But why do we need to steal arms?" I asked the Chief when he gave us our next assignment. The look on his face said he didn't like me questioning his decision, but he gave me an answer.
"Because we're going to become a bigger gang with arms", the Chief replied. I noticed Ali's expression getting worried, then she spoke.
"Gang with arms? I thought we're thieves. I didn't sign up for murder", she said. The way she sounded wasn't eight but eighteen years old.
"What you signed up for is doing my command in exchange for shelter, food, and protection", the Chief said as he approached Ali. For some reason, she looked shaken from the closing Chief which was unusual for her.
The Chief put his hands on Ali's shoulders and caressed them. I twitched. Somehow, the way he touched her looked oddly familiar. No matter how much I wanted to be mistaken, I couldn't be with my eidetic memory.
"Relax my dear spiderling. We're not murdering people. We are just leveling up from thievery to robbery. Even someone as weak as you can be powerful with arms", the Chief explained, his face leaned closer to Ali which gave me a burning feeling.
As I clenched my fist to suppress my rage, the image of that memory flashed in my brain. "Sister Ann", I nervously thought. The way the Chief touched Ali, was the same way Sister Ann touched the children she abused!
"Don't you want to feel powerful? Or are you satisfied with what you are now? I'm fine either way. You have unique talents and I'm willing to protect you as long as I keep you in service-". Whatever malicious thing the Chief was whispering to Ali, he didn't finish it.
I quickly grabbed Ali and pretended we're in a hurry. In my peripheral view, I noticed the Chief threw me an angry look but my act of innocence was impeccable.
"Come on, Ali. It's time to go to that place we scouted. I'm sure the guard is even snoring now", I even joked which made the whole thing more convincing.
We managed to get out of the ring leaders room. Ali was speechless but she had that usual smile. Only this time, I was able to read that it wasn't true.
If possible, I would want to escape with Ali from this den completely. But without the thieves' protection, we're traipsing the warzone. We're as good as dead people.
Later that night, I prepared myself and sharpened my dagger.
"Luc.. will you sleep beside me again?" Ali asked. She tried to hide it but I could sense the desperation in her tone.
"Yes, but first I'll stand watch so I can kill your nightmares before they haunt you", I assured her as her eyes shut and she drifted to sleep.
***
"I told you, Chief, you should pick the fruit now. Hahaha!"
"Idiot! It hasn't fully grown yet. It's best to have little by little taste and only eat it when it's ripe."
"I see. You can still get a good price selling her after you've taken her."
"Are you blind? That kind of beauty? I will never sell that! HAHAHAHA!"
The laughing of the ring leaders was the hissing of snakes. As soon as the third guy entered, I followed his shadow, making me invisible to the Chief and his right hand.
"Chief! The spider is asleep, and Lucian isn't around!" The guy I was following reported, unaware that his shadow was actually me.
"That's what I'm talking about. It's play time-".
BSSSHHKK! The Chief's talking was interrupted by the gush of blood from the guy's neck.
"What the f-", the Chief's right hand exclaimed but before he could stand up and pull his gun, my dark red dagger slit his vein, killing him instantly like the other guy. As his body fell to the floor, I broke the little bulb they used to light their gambling table.
"AAAHHH!" The Chief screamed like the coward he was. Only my silhouette was visible to him. He didn't know what came to his men. And he didn't know what's coming for him.
"W-Who are you?! W-What d-do you need?!" He asked hysterically. To see the Chief stuttering in fear was something that I always expected.
I slowly advanced to the cowardly ring leader. Purposely building the terror that he would never forget even in the afterlife.
"There's a box of cash on the floorboard! T-Take it! Just spare my life, please!!" He screamed in desperation. "O-Open it! I'm not lying", he added when I didn't flinch.
Now that's something that caught my attention. We could really use cash when we ran away from this place. That was a bonus parting gift. In the end, the sorry excuse of a Chief was of use.
I turned to the direction of the floorboard. As I knelt down to open it, I could feel the sinister smile of the Chief behind me. That was expected for a craven.
COCK! I heard his gun click.
"Die you f***ing bastard!" He roared insanely as he fired on me.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Dodging his line of fire didn't sweat me. I was right. The cowardly Chief never fired his gun before. And I counted five. As I emerged from the shadow, the Chief's eyes widened to the recognition of my face.
"Lucian you f***ing bug! What the hell did you do?!" He screamed, as if he was still the one calling the shots. His gun was pointed to my forehead just like the first time we met, as it would be the last.
"I came to take your worthless life", I said. This time, I pushed my forehead to the gun. "Pull the trigger. Come on, see if I care."
The Chief remained still. His only movements were his uncontrollable shaking. His eyes reflected mine, and I could see the dark green spark that brought terror to his spine. It was easy to read his expression. Utter disbelief, that the weakly looking bug, supposed to be expendable, was here to take his very life.
For him, it must be forever, but a minute passed and he could not pull the trigger. He must be a coward, but he wasn't stupid. Seeing how I killed his lackeys, he understood he wasn't looking at a normal child.
"Sister Ann was much scarier, even when not in her Gorgon form", I declared.
Soon after, tears and snot were flowing from his face as he laughed, losing his mind.
But I wasn't satisfied that this monster simply would lose his mind. After all, I came to take his life. So I decided to meet him in between.
"AAAAAHHHHHH!" The shrill sound of the Chief's screams shook the ruins as my dagger cut the thing he didn't need between his legs.
***
I casually walked back to where Ali was and sat beside her. Ironically, I knew that no other danger would come that night for her but I stayed awake. I leaned closer to her ear and whispered.
"No more nightmares, Ali."