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ARK Bearer Of Curse
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ARK The Bane Of Spectres
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***
"AAAAAHHHHHH!!"
I recognized that scream. Or rather, the terror that could have made that kind of scream. To this day, I didn't know what mother gifted me on my birthdays.
Those black boxes, whatever they contained, it connected to mother's gifts. As much as I was curious to finally understand what the gifts were, terror got the best of me.
But the box was already open. I had no choice. It's only a matter of seconds then I would once again, experience the memory of my birthdays.
I closed my eyes as I heard the rest of the boxes creak open. Almost simultaneously, I heard mother's voice.
"Happy birthday, Lucian."
"Happy birthday, Lucian.
"AAAAAHHHH!!!"
"Happy birthday, Lucian."
"Happy birthday, Lucian."
"Happy birthday, Lucian."
That greedy mind reader released all the memories at once!
"AAAAHHHHH!!"
Only then did I realize, it wasn't me who was screaming. I slowly opened my eyes, ready to face the memories that gave me Nightmares. But I wasn't the one getting haunted.
***
"AAAHHHHH!!"
I woke up to the wretched screaming just beyond the two-way mirror of the interrogation room. The dreamlike illusion or vision that I had earlier was still clear in my head. However, it was my instincts that brought me back to reality.
The neurological pain that I suffered. My paralyzed foot. The slashed arm. I was sure that my whole body should be twisting in pain, yet when I assessed myself, the only remnant from the battle was my adrenaline.
"They healed!" I exclaimed. No, I knew better. My injuries didn't simply heal. Like Sister Ann claimed, I made a full recovery.
"AAAHHHHH!!"
"Captain Buchanan!!" I could hear the screaming of the Captain and his archer subordinate outside.
Whatever happened in that vision, whatever evil or nightmare he unleashed from those boxes, they didn't want to get discovered. I understood that much. Mother's gifts would remain a secret. They saved me again, that's what I knew. What they were and how they did that, my guess was as good as yours.
"This is my chance!" I thought, remembering Ali. If my assessment was right, the Captain who specialized on tricks like illusion and mind reading must also be the one who erected the invisible barrier around Ali.
With my fully recovered body, I was extremely confident with my athletic abilities. I ran outside the door at the maximum speed my feet could handle. The two men were blocking the pathway but it didn't even slow me down.
Focusing the spirit energy on my feet, I continued to run and when I was about to hit them, I made a sharp turn. My feet hit the wall and before gravity could pull me down, I used the momentum to run on the wall. I could see the look of disbelief on the archer's face while he helplessly tried to aid his captain.
"What did you do, kid?!" He shouted but since I made it past them, I ignored him.
My priority was to save Ali. Fighting the archer would be unnecessary. Defeating the Captain, if you could call that winning, was sheer luck. When he explained to me how I was gonna die, I literally felt and knew that my life was on his palm that he could squish anytime he wanted. I believed surviving from that could even qualify as a miracle.
He could have killed me but he got greedy which led to his untimely demise. Which was uncanny. He was still alive, albeit screaming in pain, but I somehow knew that he was done for.
"Ali!" I shouted her name and as I got closer, my knees felt weak. I slowly reached my hand to her and when it passed the line where the barrier was supposed to be in place, I wanted to cry for almost losing her.
"Ali! Wake up!" I hurriedly yet gently shook her shoulder. She was clearly breathing but the events that night made me lose patience and rationality. When she still didn't awake from my tapping on her face, I was about to carry her then she spoke.
"Luc.. Arms", she could barely speak but she was still thinking about the mission! It made me furious that the criminal life shaped her like this. I swore once we got out, we'll live a more comfortable life with the Chief's money.
"Bad guy! Let's go!" I helped her sat up.
AAAAHHH!!
The screaming continued which startled Ali. Following her gaze, I saw the archer still trying to calm his captain down to no avail. I could only guess the sight had terrified her as she sat there frozen with her black eyes wide open.
"Ali! Let's go! We have to get as far away as possible from here! They're going to kill us!" I began to shout. I wouldn't normally shout at her but the circumstances required drastic measures.
My voice must have reached her. I saw her pupils dilate as she drifted back to her senses. "Let's go, Luc!"
"Can you walk?" I asked.
"Let's run, you silly!"
***
Without turning our heads back, Ali and I hastily got out of the station. We needed to go as far as our feet could take us. Those people, whoever they were, would never sit back and accept their defeat. I bested two of them, maybe even killed them.
In the criminal world, the payment for life was life. That much, I knew. And since I had taken two, I feared they would come after mine and Ali's.
"Luc! I thought we're going far away from here?" She asked while we ran. I was holding her hand as we go and it felt like I was even dragging her.
"Yes! Keep running, Ali!" I shouted when I noticed she was slowing down. The urge to carry her was really difficult to resist.
"Luc!"
She called again but my mind was elsewhere.
Luc!"
I was still worried those men would follow us.
"Lucian, stoooop!!" She screamed.
It startled me that she screamed. Apparently, I was ignoring her calls. I stopped right away, letting go of her hand.
"What?!" I tried to control myself from getting mad.
"Lucian! Why are we heading back to the ruins?" She asked.
I purposely took this road to get back to the ruins and grab the money. If we wanted to get away from here, we needed that cash.
"The Chief's money. That's our only ticket to get out of this place." I replied.
"But the act!"
"What act?"
"The mission! I told them where the ruins is!"
I twitched. Yes! The mission. Ali's role was always to perform an act that would distract the target. It's usually by posing as a scared little girl, just like tonight. She was supposed to distract them by asking them to escort her home.
"If we go back there now, they will just follow and catch us!" She said, but I already considered that. Damn, it was really difficult to make a decision.
The predicament was to run away to nowhere without the money, or get back to the ruins to grab the money and risk getting found, most likely killed, too. With the building pressure, I almost suggested that I could just go to the ruins alone while she waited to the abandoned house where we're supposed to meet, but I remember that guy Cecil. I wasn't sure if he was still alive.
"The arms.. Did you get the arms?" She asked.
"Yes.." I reluctantly replied. Until now, I still did not like the idea of stealing those arms. While it's true that it's dangerous to travel the strip unarmed, the warzone could never hope to be half as bad as what we experienced tonight.
"Then let's go get the arms", she decided, turning to the other road that would lead to the abandoned house where we're supposed to meet after the mission. I never told her I left it there but it must be my reluctance that gave it away. Ali always had an unusually keen intuition.
"What? But we need the money!" I tried to argue, but I had no choice but to follow her as she already ran at full speed.
***
It only took a few minutes to reach the abandoned house. We were at the corner of the street. As we turned, I pulled Ali behind a post. The destructed street was the aftermath of the battle that occurred and seeing that there was no sign of that Cecil guy, I knew he was alive.
"Tch! This is bad, Ali. Let's just go back and get the money", I whispered. Convincing Ali when she already made her mind was impossible. However, it was the least the I could do. Forcing her was something that I would never do.
"Luc!-" I covered her mouth before she could give away our location. I gestured for her to lower her voice. Only when she nodded confirming she understood, did I pull my hand away.
"Luc.. You've been on edge all night. What's going on?" She asked.
I had the urge to laugh in madness. What's going on, she asked. Should I tell her I killed another man or at least attempted to?
"Nothing. These men.. They are dangerous. I just want us to get out of here as soon as possible", I replied, keeping the supernatural things a secret. Myself alone getting involved in that stuff was enough trouble.
Ali looked at me intently. There were times I dreaded those deep black eyes of her. Whenever she looked at me directly to my eyes, I always felt she could see through me. Until today, she had the keenest intuition that I knew.
"There's something you're not telling me, Luc", she assessed which was spot on.
Damn, this girl was good. Lying was never an option before her. Silence was the only thing that I could ever show her. It's not like I could tell her that there were people who could use magic and that demons were real.
"All right. If you're not gonna tell me, then let's finish this job", she said, running to the abandoned house.
"Wait!" I exclaimed in a suppressed scream.
Sh*t! I almost lost her and just got her back. There was nothing I could do except to follow her.
And my biggest fear happened.
Things happened as if they were in slow motion. Ali was about 10 meters away from me. When she was about to make a turn to go into the abandoned house, a familiar stature jumped from the wall opposite to the house.
The shadow of this man was holding a dagger which was the only thing illuminated by the moonlight. It was the same knife that cut my arm.
That Cecil guy was like a patient hunter who waited to ambush his prey, and this bastard was about to kill Ali!!!