Honestly, how I spent those hours, it wasn't at all jovial. It was way depressing and, honestly, I wasn't in the right mood to start it all. I was just a bit on edge. Certain I was somehow, somewhere gonna destroy something.
I looked at the teardrop necklace one more time and put it in my pocket again before I sighed.
Who should I start with? The child? The me... let's just take the closest.
"Althena," I called as I opened the back door of all networks even Thoth couldn't access. My phone screen went all black as a white line went on the screen: "Secure connection achieved, awaiting an order."
"Find me all information on the entity codenamed "nameless of the nameless," originating somewhere in Lumerian days and if ever I met him in the missing century. Also, activate D13 protocol."
"Acknowledged." Atheana wrote and the screen turned white again then went fully on.
Death's favor, here I go.
I walked into Subway restaurant and looked around. Right on time. She sat on the empty table in the corner and rubbed her feet.
Her exhaustion was slowly kicking in but having spent half her day standing, her feet were a bit more of a problem. But that didnt make me as worried as I was of her heart.
She massaged her neck before opening her wallet taking out adoption paper forms and signing a few of them. Once more.
As I observed her, I noticed, she was breaking. Telling her about the old guy would break her
I walked up to her as her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and put it on mute with a sigh.
"Hi," I greeted her with a smile. "I'm sorry I... your name is Hanna right?"
"Yes." She looked at me with a quizzical look, as if asking where I knew her name from.
"Good, I... this is going to sound crazy, but... some guy out there," I pointed out as I took out a hundred-dollar note and showed her. "Kind of gave me this hundred bucks to tell you, he would not suggest a cup of coffee. But if you were to choose it. A decaf would be his suggestion."
"Okay. That's all?"
"No. He..." I passed her the hundred dollar note. "He said a cup of coffee can also kill. Sleep... oh right. He said to buy sleep. Two hours I think. I dont know what it means."
She looked at it. Then at me.
I smiled as I saw a glint of her future but hid it.
Did she understand what I was saying? Tears filled her eyes as she held the money. The going rate for two hours at her little hospital minus a few cents.
"Who gave it to you?" She asked.
I thought of my reply. It could be simple. One of the homeless guys you've been buying coffee and breakfast for the last three years died and this was his only regret. His only last wish in this world. To pay you back.
But because he didnt have anything anymore, he couldn't. He froze to death yesterday in the tunnels and he is yet to be discovered. Thank you again Lyska. Your crazy weather killed someone good.
Oh, I can try to lie about it.
"Some old guy. I don't even know him, but he seemed homeless." I barely lied. "He couldn't get in here so he gave it to me and he left."
"Thanks." She said and ran out, leaving her papers behind. I took one more look at her papers and thought of that kid.
The one who's been crying in my ear this whole time and was yet to be discovered.
As I saw the adoption papers I knew were going to bounce on getting a young child with her personal history and finances I couldn't help but think, that child would be better off with her than dying. Guess, I'll have to save her.
I walked towards the bathroom door and used it to move to the kid's apartment rather than dissipating in the middle of a restaurant.
I walked in through the adjacent one and walked up to its owner who despite the afternoon warm sun, was fast asleep.
I measured my options as I looked at the sleeping woman.
I can control her like I learned in Agatha and Atlantis and use her to save the kid, which meant technically I wasn't directly involved.
Or I can be her.
Ew!
I almost puked at the thought of turning myself into her. But I hated controlling people. It was nasty.
But the two-month-old kid was busy sucking her dead mother's boobs and she was a few moments away from starving.
I contemplated shapeshifting into a Karen and acting like her. But my act could be seen through if I can't act like her. But I needed a Karen right now. Like pronto.
I started with a short dream in her head. A plausible future for the kid next door and as she twisted and turned in her sleep. I touched her ear, amplified the kid's weak cries, and made her hungry.
Discomfort in sleep and hunger. A recipe for grumpiness.
"Oh!" She growled and covered her ears with a pillow. But the cries didnt stop. They were just muffled out by a decibel and kept on.
She got up and I quickly moved to the kid next door.
She gave up crying and tried the boob once more. Nothing came out even after a minute of furious sucking.
She tried to grab the boob with her weak and tiny hands but she couldn't. She just balled her fists and pressed the boob.
She cried again screaming, Hungry! Hungry! While her mother lay lifeless next to her.
Of all the cruel fates time and the loom of fate could weave, this was terrible. I turned the heat up next door and Karen shouted, "Check the baby would you! Aah!"
She started cursing as she went to her door. She opened it and came to the front door of the apartment and knocked hard on the door.
The child cried louder as she searched the room telepathically. But it was just... heart rendering. She was just a human. And humans when they were made after the golden ones, telepathy was cut in their DNA code. But all the residual of it was small and just a pack of junk in their chromosomes. They could use it but it wasn't a huge radius.
All she could do was search for her mother and she was with her. She couldn't extend it further than how far her toes were from her head.
She grew hungrier and all she asked for was to be fed. Nothing more.
To be held.
I amplified her cries to Karen who banged on the door harder than before. She gave up after four knocks and went to the security station.
The kid gave the boob another try and tried to bite it. The only thing she could do to get the milk, but she didnt even stir.
She was dead.
I remembered Eun Tak's cries when her mother got hurt and she was about to die. She begged me to save her and her mother, promising to protect her after she was born and a strong woman.
I gave in and made the infant formula from her drawer and switched the breast with the baby bottle.
She grabbed the bottle and sucked on that bottle like she was never ever going to again. Or someone was going to take it from her hands.
I... " snapped my fingers", easier to say to change her diapers and ease her discomfort before I left. Knowing she was going to pee on them in a minute and empty her bowels before long.
On my way out, I removed the key from the keyhole and burnt the soup that was on the stove to trigger the smoke detector and make sure the kid was found without actually causing a serious fire or suffocating the kid.
I remembered the intern and searched for her. I found her in her room, scared shitless and holding her pillow in a small corner.
She saw me the minute I walked into her room and shrank even further into her corner. I frowned. She buried her face into her pillow.
Was she really afraid because of the judge? Damn him and... I frowned and looked into her head. She wasn't like a judge so looking into her was as easy as pie.
My heart stopped as I saw what she saw of me. My true form. The judging saint. The form I had during the war, or that of which every time I wanted to threaten a god I took.
A giant who couldn't fit in this room but was crouching. I looked almost like the Grim Reaper in games- a black-cloaked and hooded being with a giant scythe. But instead of the darkness, I was wearing fire. And breathing fire.
I stripped the aura of its weapons and cloak. Revealing a knight-like form I had beneath the cloak. But I still was intimidating. Maybe that's an understatement.
But if she saw this form, then the judge... did she see him too? I picked her memories and saw the judge. No in his true form but... I've seen him before.
His towering mountain aura. Like an army of hydras marching into battle. I've seen it before. My chest hurt as I wondered where it was. It wasn't yesterday or days before. Two hundred years ago in Acadia? Maybe. But it was after the god wars and definitely during his runts. Maybe during the midnight wars but I think he used a sword.
I felt the pain of the carrier as his brain blew apart. It was the same pain in my chest.
"Hi." I greeted her and she went even further into her corner. Like any further was possible. "You have beautiful eyes," I said trying to be a little bit brighter. Works on kids, but twenty-year-olds?
I heard her sob silently. And caught something like an aura or fire burning her eyes. The fire that seemed undeniably looked a lot like mine. But who was she?
I looked at her and focused deeper into her life code but all i saw was nothing. Like I saw nothing in Tiyane.
I stepped back from her room and watched her for a second. She stood there in a corner crying alone. Maybe i should just... i stopped my trail of thought and my fingers from snapping.
If she saw through... I took out the phone and made a simple note. "Get Bailey a counselor and look into her life."
I left then, in search of any information I could find on the nameless. I started with the palace directory but there were no files related to the nameless and the one I sent Shay to retrieve was locked by the Grand Saint and was forbidden to be touched.
I did it anyway but they all remained unreadable.
I gave up and went to find the ancients and ask them what the nameless was, leaving my body behind at the farm.