1 A dedication.

If not everyone, most of the people on Earth have a goal in their life. Some want money. Some want fame. Some want power. This hankering, this irresistible desire to have the thing you value the most has been etched into our core with such impeccable persistence that we could hardly dare to defy it. Sany Kubo's core had also been marked with one such desire, and it was this desire that had brought this eighteen-year-old girl to Vineta, a city which went by a different name a century ago.

"It was called Venice," Sany read from her guidebook. "Funny name," she said and looked around at the ancient, rickety buildings and dirty canals. "The name was changed three years after Genesis." She flipped the page. What she saw was an image of Vineta (Then Venice), and it totally blew her mind. It looked so grand and prosperous, and now the place reminded her of nothing else but gutters. It was crowded, dirty, and was infested by criminals.

Sany closed the book and shoved it in her little handbag, adjusted the violin case on her shoulder and pushed through the crowd on the sidewalk raised above the canal. The sky was getting dark, and the cold wind had started to tug at her short, black hair. She needed to find an Inn. Needed to find it quickly. She pulled out her purse and started counting her money. She only had thirteen bronze coins. She counted again, hoping that thirteen will somehow become fourteen. It didn't happen, instead, she stumbled upon a fast-food center where she bought a big sandwich, much bigger than her stomach needed. After making her sandwich vanish, she again checked the contents of her purse. Thirteen had now become eleven. Sany slapped her forehead, not lightly.

"Now I'm not going to buy anything at all," she told herself and continued her hunt for an Inn. She kept on walking. Crossed the canal on a small arching bridge. According to her book, an Inn was supposed to be nearby. She asked a group of old women who informed her that the book was right. There was a guest house near the center of the town. Sany started following their directions. A few minutes later, she happened across a small souvenir shop where a stuffed toy of a smiling, pink bunny caught her attention. And before she knew it, she was walking out of the store, with the bunny cradled in her arms and a coin or two less in her purse. She stopped short and looked down at the stuffed toy.

The little bunny smiled at her like your normal, everyday toy, but Sany didn't return its smile. She gave it a poker-face, a why-did-I-buy-you-look. The nonliving creature continued to smile. Sany continued to stare at its glass eyes with her close-slitted eyes. It smiled. She stared, and then abruptly her stare turned into a glare. She began squeezing the bunny's neck. How in the world did I waste my money on you? Sany thought. The bunny said nothing.

It just smiled.

And out of nowhere, someone ran into her, knocking her down. The stuffed figure flew out of her hands and went rolling toward the edge of the canal. The person, who had run into her, quickly stood up, apologizing, and grabbed her toy, gave it to her, and ran away. He didn't even offer to pull her up. She sat there wondering what in world had just happened. She lifted herself up and looked down at the toy. A whistle ran out of her lips. The pink creature was now smeared with muck, and the fall it had taken had ruined its tail.

The fact that Sany now couldn't return the toy made a vein pop up on her forehead. She grinned at the toy, and then slowly raised it over her head. "YOU PIECE OF USELESS TRASH!" She tossed it in the canal, waited for a second, heard a satisfying splash, and smiled. "Yes. Yes. Drown you monster. HMP." She fixed the purse on her shoulder and had just started stomping away from the scene when, out of nowhere, a hand dropped on her shoulder. Sany jumped a little and gazed at the person behind her.

What she saw was a man in his late forties, wearing all black.

"Ehh." Sany was not sure how to proceed. The man was a little shorter than her and had a really big nose.

"I didn't get to say sorry for bumping into you earlier," the man said.

"Oh, so it was you. Don't worry about that. I didn't get hurt." She started waving her hand up and down. "Nor did you cause me any financial loss, really. But do you have marbles for eyes, eh? You were lucky that the stuffed toy was not close to my heart," she said in a sweet voice, while a vein bulged and danced on her forehead.

The man apparently didn't notice the poison hiding behind the sweetness. "Yes. Yes. I'm sorry if I damaged your toy. I actually came here to talk about that particular thing. Could you sell it to me?"

"Ehh?"

"The stuffed figure? Can I buy it from you? I'll give you 200 bronze for it"

"EHH!" Her eyes went big and wide.

"Okay, how about 300?"

"300!" She hurried to the edge of the canal and looked down. She only saw the churning, splashing dark water reflecting the crescent moon overhead.

"What happened? Is everything alright." The man came and stood beside her.

"I," Sany said in a tiny voice. "I threw the toy in the water."

"I feel like I heard you wrong. You did what?"

"Threw it."

"What?" His demeanor changed so quickly that it scared her a bit. "How could you throw a cute stuff toy like that?"

"Don't worry," Sany said in a placating tone. "I'll have it back in no time."

"HOW?" The man's feet had now turned into springs, and he was jumping all over her, with his red face. "How? You threw it, and it floated away. Don't tell me you are a black-apple user who can call it bac…" His voice got caught in his throat.

"Ehh...Sir? Did you see a ghost or something?"

He continued to look past her shoulder.

Befuddled, Sany turned her head and looked behind her. The stuffed figure was floating in the air and was moving toward her. Am I dreaming? Sany asked herself. She thought about pinching herself awake, but before she could do that, the toy came close to a lamp, and in its pale, yellow light, she spotted a red parrot carrying the toy. Her toy.

The parrot flew past them. "Excuse me. Excuse me," the creature said.

The man and Sany stared at it in amazement. Genesis had made a lot of impossible stuff possible. But what her eyes were showing her now was..."Weird," Sany muttered, and then looked at the man. His face reminded her of the 300 bronze coins. She cleared her throat. "... Shouldn't we follow it?"

The man looked at her. She looked at him, and they both broke into a wild dash. The parrot flew across the canal and went into a narrow space between two buildings. This forced Sany and her new companion to take a long detour. They had to search for a bridge to get across the water.

"We lost it," the man said.

"No, we didn't, look," Sany said and pointed at the pink bunny bobbing in the air.

They ran after it, but the creature disappeared around another corner.

"By the way, mister, why is that stuffed figure so important to you?" Sany asked.

The man was now gasping for breath. "Uh... The reason for that is too embarrassing for me to tell you. Don't ask."

"But—"

"Don't ask questions. I'll pay you a hundred bronzes more"

"Oh-okay," Sany said and increased her pace. She saw the parrot flying into a foyer and skidded to a stop. Looking up, she spotted a banner that read: Mrs. Kela's Inn. The short man stopped beside her and doubled over, breathing hard.

"Where did it go?" he asked.

"Inside." Sany started walking up the porch stairs, soon crossed the foyer, and found herself in a small lobby, her footfalls echoing across the marble flooring. Her eyes started scanning the room ahead of her, and she spotted the parrot sitting on the shoulders of a boy whose back was turned on her. The guy was apparently talking with an old lady behind the front desk. The woman gave him a key and he turned around and looked directly at Sany with his grey eyes. His hair was dark and unkempt, with some of it rolling over his brow.

"He has our stuffed figure," the man said, pointing at the guy.

Sany nodded and walked up to the guy. "Excuse me… That thing is mine. Can I have it back?"

"It's yours?" the boy said.

"Don't give it to them," the parrot said from his shoulder. "I found it in the river. It belongs to me."

"But I just bought it," Sany said.

"But it looks old to me," the parrot squeaked. "And Finders Keepers. Don't give it to them. I carried it all the way here."

"Hey, kid," the man with big nose absconded the boy. "I'll pay you. Just give back that toy."

The boy looked at the man. "No," he said.

"YOU…" The man rushed forward and tried to wrench the pink bunny out the boy's hand. But the guy didn't even budge. The man pulled the figure with all his might, but he seemed to have come ill-prepared for he failed to move the boy's hand an inch. A little bewildered, the man looked down at the boy's hands and gasped. Sany followed his gaze, and her eyes went wide. The boy's hands were shinning like a piece of polished steel. His hands had turned into metal.

"Oh," the man said, "I see… So, you are a black-apple user."