Author notes: This one is a little late (I forgot to post it yesterday!) but the next chapter will be released in 2 – 2.5 days.
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In the Lucky Star Motel, a run down establishment with cheap rooms, the pair of agents from the Department of Homeland Security were having breakfast.
The room had two beds, each with a bedside table containing a few snacks and a telephone, and a couple pieces of furniture whose age was apparent. There was also some storage units with vases, magazines, or other small memorabilia. A holographic tv screen hovered just off the wall opposite the beds, playing the morning news.
There was a small bathroom directly adjacent and a kitchenette near the entrance in its own small alcove, along with a basic dinner table that folded down from the wall.
The bald man who introduced himself as Agent Mason was secretly monitoring the parking lot outside the window, his eyes following people who came and went, whilst Agent Patterson scrolled through the internet on a thin old computer with some plain buttered toast beside him.
“Scott, I can’t find anything on what that creature who was with the private investigator is, not a damned thing!”
“Hmm? Have you checked the European lore?”
“Of course I have! But there are so many variations, there is no way to identify its species based upon its appearance. It may even be using some kind of illusion to mask its true appearance and just appears human.”
“…Maybe. What of the private investigator, Thomas Smith?”
Even whilst asking these questions to his partner, his gaze never left the world outside of the window for a moment.
“You are too cautious, Scott, can you not come and help me investigate?”
“Being cautious has not only saved my life countless times, but yours too, Sean.”
“Tch. Anyway, this Thomas Smith is a bogus identity. He bought the property where he currently runs his business a year ago, but has no registered credentials or licenses to act as a private investigator. In fact, he has no high school records, driver’s licence, or anything. It is all completely blank, as if he has never been anywhere and never done anything.”
Senna was at school for the day, so Thomas was conducting the investigation alone.
Locking the front door to his business, all that could be seen was an ‘Out to Lunch’ sign hanging on the inside.
The main street of the suburb, which had the official name of Sunset St, was busy with people having brunch or just coffee. Small tables and chairs were set up along the side of the footpath and even on the side of the road outside some of the cafes for extra seating.
All kinds of goods were placed in stall alongside the shops or hung from ceiling baskets. Small virtual displays showed daily specials or the store’s own advertisements. Other played the news or some small channel that usually contained content related to their shop.
Hover cars came and went along the road seemingly endlessly, whilst more advertisement boards hung from the sides of buildings to target drivers. Seatbelt safety, check your antigrav actuators to prevent catastrophic malfunctions, and even a more recent popular one that was inviting people to go to a Giovanni Star Hive orbiting Venus for the ideal tourist destination.
Thomas stopped and watched the video showcasing the tourist attractions and various amenities and activities one could do.
“Damn, if I ever traveled to one of the hives, those feathered bastards would undoubtedly cause my ship to explode and leave me stranded in the middle of the solar system.”
Continuing down the road, Thomas eventually reached a small store with multiple trinkets, charms and dream catchers handing on the inside of the window.
Inside was just as cramped, the shelves displaying items tightly crammed together and cabinets with countless small draws stacked haphazardly. Everything could be bought here, from good luck charms to small machine parts. It was truly and odds and ends store in its purest form.
“Oh, Dzomas, you are here. Zat evil daughter of yours is causing drouble for me again!”
The aged voice of a woman in her early 60s spoke from behind the counter, the thick French accent accompanying it giving away her origin of birth.
“Aveline, my mademoiselle, don’t be too hard on her, she’s just a little girl.”
“I have zold you I am a madame, not a mademoiselle. You vill make my ‘usband sad again, Tom.”
“Don’t be like that, you are still so young and pretty. How about we elope together?”
“Sweet vords won’t get you out of trouble, Dzomas.”
Despite her words, the innocent grin on her face indicated that she was definitely in a good mood, and that his flattery was successful.
“What can I do vor you today, Dzomas?”
“I need you to do a ceremony to find the owner of an item.”
“Is that zo, hum? Vwat kind of person is missing?”
“A young boy, still in high school. The is a mother who has become completely obsessed and is relying on us.”
“I will do my zest, Dzomas, but I am not young anymore. It will zost.”
Thomas pulled out a small pile of bank notes, totaling 1,000C and handed it over to her. Aveline quickly pocketed the credits before shuffling out from behind the counter. She took a quick peek outside before closing the metal shutter on the shop and leading Thomas towards a small room in the back of the store that the public don’t have access to.
“Come, come,” Aveline ushered him into the room with a brisk hand gesture.
Thomas entered a dimly lit room with a large table and some empty furniture surrounding it. The elderly woman didn’t waste any time and begun placing candles and incense sticks around the room in a practiced manner.
A small wooden bowl was placed on the table, within which was placed a handful of vintage silver coins and a piece of charcoal.
Thomas then handed over the basketball, which she took into her seemingly frail arms.
“Your talents never cease to amaze me. How exactly does this work?”
Aveline placed a finger to her lips and indicated for him to be quiet, before softly stating, “Zilver can always find its way home. You had best know, dzis isn’t a precise art. It will be very vague.”
“That is enough for me.”
Aveline placed the basketball on the table and spread her arms with her palms up. One by one, the candles silently lit up and incense begun burning. It almost appeared to be witchcraft, but what she was actually using was life energy.
The elderly woman was a spiritualist, a type of person with an inborn disposition towards spirits, and was often passed down the family tree. These people would naturally and subconsciously absorb the spiritual qi within the world and convert it into what was known as positive life energy, but was generally just referred to as life energy.
This energy was then used in various rituals and talisman creation. Due to the nature of the energy, it was very effective at repelling spirits, dispelling curses and creating protective talismans. Many supernatural creatures also had a weakness to this energy, especially those with dark or evil dispositions.
Various spiritualist families also passed down their own secret literature of their arts and techniques from ancient times to their successors within the family, leading to each spiritualist having specific strengths and weaknesses, with nobody being the same.
Aveline was no different, being born and raised in Châteauroux where spirits and supernatural creatures were more common, and learning to control her energy and inherit her family skills from her grandmother, a spiritualist that was already semi-retired at the time.
Thomas could feel the energy that filled the room through his soul. It was not particularly powerful, but it was filled with the feeling of life that caused him to avert his eyes in guilt. He was someone that was no longer considered a part of the living, yet he used his own power to override the natural laws of the universe and return to the living world which no longer welcomed him.
Aveline’s eyes moved under her eyelids, as if she was looking around for something, yet the two sat in complete silence.
The candles flickered as a ghostly draft seemed to circulate around the room, before eventually settling down into tiny flames on the wicks. The silver coins and basketball on the table showed completely no movement however.
Eventually, Aveline opened her eyes and broke the silence.
“Dzomas… the soul of ze owner of this basketball is no longer in zis world… I’m zorry…”
Thomas had a downcast expression at the news and sighed in resignation. His inner thoughts flew back to the realm of the dead, but he knew that there was no way to find a new soul in the endless landscape of the realm of the dead, especially as the soul itself would not know who it was during life.
“…Aveline, can you check for a body? I want to at least be able to bring something back to his mother.”
“…Very well.”
Aveline adjusted a couple of things in the room and performed the ritual again. The results however were exactly the same as the first one.
“The body of ze owner of this basketball is no longer in zis world… or so it appears.”
Thomas’ brow rose and he broke into a smile as he commented, “For the body to be completely destroyed… that is very uncommon, especially for a missing case. If he was killed, the body would just be disposed of.”
“Oui, zat is the case. Either the body and ze soul are gone, or…”
“Or?”
“It is unlikely, but, zey could be in a location my powers cannot reach.”
“You can’t call someone if they are somewhere with no reception, after all.”
Thomas chuckled to himself whilst the elderly French woman rolled her eyes before hurrying Thomas out of her store so she could resume business.
He was at least feeling more positive that there was no dead body to be found, which was a clue in itself. He just had to track down the missing kid’s tracks and search for any power hotspots or other supernatural areas in the area.
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