Augury huffed, staring at their phone as they read the news. They were on their stomach laying on the couch, kicking their feet absentmindedly. They blinked away from their screen to see that the sun had finally risen. They stretched and sat up as they yawned.
"Someone's sleepy." The annoying voice of their brother, Walter, was not what they wanted to hear first thing. Their pouty face made him chuckle as they sat up. "Don't give me that, you can still sleep more if you want." His mischievous grin hid the worry his eyes gave away. Augury's frown deepened as they watched him stroll into the kitchen to poke around for breakfast. A thought crossed Augury's mind,
"You didn't work out today?" They asked with a tilt of their head.
"I just went for a light jog, we have a raid today so I need to be at full energy." He responded not bothering to look up from the fridge.
"So I get the house all to myself?" Augury chided. He stopped what he was doing and looked up at them, the smirk they had prompting an 'oh really?' face from Walter. They stuck out their tongue and turned away. They snuck a peak at the breakfast he was making, debating whether to steal it, before ultimately plopping back down on the couch to continue scrolling on their phone.
Augury's eyes glanced over every word, scrolling past the flashy thumbnails and colors the news used. They stopped. Lingering on the dark title hidden amongst the colors, without any other information tagged with it.
[Do you want to stop the cycle?]
They looked back at their brother, their eyes returned to the screen as they clicked the link, assuming it was an ad. The page took a second to load, taking them to a browser and spinning aimlessly for a minute before erroring out. The 404 message annoyed them. They clicked back to the news and kept scrolling, not noticing their brother sneaking up on them. They screeched as he tickled their foot, it felt like kicking bricks but Augury didn't care as they angrily sat up. Walter laughed to himself, setting the plate of food he had down for them on the coffee table. It was an aromatic yogurt bowl, he eventually returned with his own oatmeal and sat on the floor across from Augury. Augury greedily ate their food with a childish smile; Walter taking every bite with an equal amount of oatmeal, raisins, and berries.
"Are you raiding an A-class dungeon?" Augury asked between bites, covering their mouth when doing so. Walter looked up from his meal, hesitation in his response,
"Yeah, we're doing two back-to-back, so I'll be gone for at least a week. Will you be alright without me, Aug?" Walter took a careful bite once the question passed his lips. Augury blankly stared at him, finishing their food.
"Yea, yea. I know how to function as a person!" Augury huffed as they jumped up and dropped their dishes in the sink. "You don't need to worry about me so much, if anything I should be the one worried. My big brother loves traipsing into dangerous dungeons! " That comment made Walter smile, which satisfied Augury. Walter finished his meal, wishing Augury a good week, and left quickly.
They plopped back onto the couch to play a game to fill the silence. A pop-up showed up on their phone.
Package? What package? Augury looked up confused and carefully looked out of the house's peephole. No one. Not anyone Augury could see, anyway. Carefully they unlocked the door and cracked it open. No one. Not a single soul outside. But there was a package. Dirt brown and cardboard, ordinary, safe. They picked it up, it felt light. They shook it, it rustled but they heard nothing else. It didn't smell like anything and it didn't have any identifying marks on the packaging. They shrugged, deciding it was weird but not a bomb.
They took it inside and sat it down on the kitchen counter. They fished around for a pair of scissors in the numerous cabinets and drawers the kitchen had. Eventually, they got a pair of kitchen shears and decided to use them. Carefully they opened the top of the box, removing the paper filler from the box, and they saw a compass. It was unremarkable, white with a gold trim around the back. The magnetic needle in the compass spun aimlessly. 'Weird' Augury thought as they picked it up.
They blinked. They stopped mid-step halfway out of their house. They looked around, they hardly remembered walking out—why were they even leaving? They looked down at the compass in their hands. Their eyes squinting as they realized it was pointing off into the woods. They shook their head and walked back inside. They tossed the compass onto the kitchen counter and grabbed their phone. They tried to look up anything about this weird compass. Not even using every keyword they knew to describe it worked so they then clicked back to the news. Nope, the weird post was gone, and so was the strange message. They glanced back at the package. That compass compelled them out of the house, so where did it want them to go? They didn't want to find out without their brother around—actually, they wanted to just give it to him and forget this ever happened.
Yet they found themselves staring at the compass. The warm white casing surrounding the crystal glass containing the magnetic needle looked so pretty. They took a forceful step back, they dragged their head away but their eyes lingered on the compass. They breathed out a long, heavy sigh, grabbed the compass, and walked out of the house. They hardly took a moment to grab their shoes, leaving their phone on the couch.