1 Parasite [1]

Kaid was standing behind the register, in his standard blue uniform, intensely watching the clock mounted on the wall across from him. He watched patiently as the clock displayed the current time--9:59 PM--waiting for it to change. Over these past few months this had become a habit of his because as soon as the time hit 10PM a peculiar serious of events would occur.

At exactly 10PM the doors to the small convenience store opened and in walked Mr. Vincent. A man in his late 90s who looked like he could die at any moment. The strands of gray hair clinging to his skull, his dark sunken eyes, the disjointed walk indicative of an injury from years prior, and his face that was permanently stuck in-between a scowl and a grimace all played into giving him an aura of destitute and utter pitty. But Kaid never paid any attention to these things, even when he first encountered Mr. Vincent 3 months earlier. What interested Kaid was how punctual Mr. Vincent was, always arriving at the store at the exactly 10PM Monday through Friday, continuously maintaining this regiment as if it was the only thing keeping him alive.

Kaid continued to watch Mr. Vincent as he went from one corner of the store to the other, grabbing the items he needed, and arriving at the register in exactly 2 minutes and 31 seconds.

'He's gotten faster', thought kaid as he noted how Mr. Vincent had shaved 3 seconds off of his usual time when he entered the store.

Kaid was slightly impressed considering how difficult it must be to maneuver in a body that looked like it was about to collapse at the slightest breeze. Mr. Vincents frail stature was made even more clear when he arrived at the counter and his frame was compared to Kaid's.

Kaid was certainly nowhere near the ideal body type with his average looking face and frail body size, the only thing of note being his stature of 6' 1" making him look like an overstretched twig. However, when compared to Mr. Vincent it wouldn't be a stretch to think Kaid was a supermodel. Despite being so close to Mr. Vincent that he could see every scar, wrinkle, and mole on his face, Kaid did not show any signs of disgust. To be quite honest his level of calm in the face of such a creature was rather unnerving. But then again that's just Kaid. Honestly, he couldn't remember the last time anything really affected him much.

His calm, tranquil, appearance did not convey his somewhat inhuman, apathetic, nature. This was one of the reasons he wasn't able to maintain his 3-year relationship with the woman who undoubtedly had the most love for him out of anyone in the universe. He didn't so much as blink when she broke down in front of him begging for any semblance of human emotion to be given to her. Her continued cries falling on deaf ears until she got tired of crying and decided to leave. Even thinking back to that day Kaid still couldn't muster up any feelings. But what did he expect when he couldn't even shed a single tear for his dead family.

Kaid would constantly flash back to the memories of his earlier years, watching as his home burned down with the mutilated bodies of his father, mother, and sister laid about, their faces forever twisted in grotesque silent screams.

June 3rd, 3335 of the [Gragarion] calendar. It was on that day that something inside him died. The memories were all too vivid even now but fortunately his emotions have long since died so he feels nothing. That's how he's been from that day on.

He didn't cry when he attended his families funeral, or when he was put into the foster system and had to leave his friends behind, or when he became the target of continued bullying at each of the seven schools he transferred to. No, he didn't even shed a tear when he botched his own suicide attempt at the age of 13 only noting his utter incompetence, or broke into tears when he became one of the only survivors of the April 5th, 3367 bombing of the space ship Artieus.

Kaid was a person who would inevitably be used by those around him and be tossed to the side when he was no longer useful. However, not only does he not try to stop this from happening but seems to encourage it because to him being able to feel anything is his ultimate goal , even if it's only pain and despair, and he's willing to do a lot of things to achieve it.

Now looking at the two men facing each other it becomes clear that these two men seem to share some form of kindred spirit. One with a permanently twisted outer appearance while the other a broken psyche. It's likely that Mr. Vincent sensed a form of kindred ship with Kaid which led him to eventually tell Kaid his name after interacting with him for 2 months.

"You've gotten faster", said Kaid.

"I've been walking more," said Mr. Vincent with a bit of pride in his tone.

Kaid then scanned his items and quoted the usual price, "It'll be 32 Credits."

Mr. Vincent then wordlessly pulled out a small transparent white card from his pocket and hovered it over the counter momentarily before taking it back once the computer had registered the transfer of credits.

Kaid always wondered how Mr. Vincent ended up with a white UII (universal individual identification) card. The only ones with a white UII card were those that were either slaves, about to become slave, or were in the process of figuring out how they're going to kill themselves since that was the only way they could get out of the shit storm they'd gotten themselves into. White UII cards were essentially a death sentence for any who had them since their access to many places were banned, they couldn't travel within or outside of the solar system, access to a lot of public services were limited, and they would find themselves being constantly harassed by the watch dogs of the empire.

Even then, Kaid didn't find any of this to be surprising or even remotely interesting. He himself at a point had a white UII card but ended up reversing it back up to a black card by dealing with the debt he accrued because he found it bothersome having to sleep on the back alleys of the red light district and not being able to take his weekly bubble baths. He could of even received an emerald UII card considering how much money and prestige he was earning at his previous job, but of course all good things have to come to an end. A very abrupt and violent end unfortunately for Kaid's case.

Having put his card back into his pocket Mr. Vincent then grabbed his items and left the store without uttering anything else.

'10:03PM, it'll probably be 7 to 9 minutes before they show up', though Kaid.

A few minutes later at approximately 10:11pm a group of delinquents walked into the store with the usual air of arrogance and abundant bravado, the ringleader being a tall blonde half breed called Viper. Although Kaid had never heard anyone mention anything about his race it's definitely clear that Viper was a mix between a human and Alterion due to the characteristic blue irises that would fluctuate in color depending on the given energy output of the individual and the tall domineering presence that could only be rivaled by that of Giants.

Although Viper was certainly a sight to see Kaid never really paid him any attention, in fact he rarely paid any attention to the group of delinquents opting instead to stare at the clock and see how long it took for them to loiter within the store before ultimately leaving for the underground night raids.

"Hey Kaid, how about spotting me a few credits?"

Kaid took his eyes off the clock monetarily to acknowledge Viper's question before ultimately returning to the clock.

"Don't you have a crimson UII card? Why ask me?", asked Kaid not really interested in the request or the response to his question.

"I can't use my card. My dad found out I've been betting on a few of those underground raids, so my cards been deactivated for the past few days. Tell you what, give me about 100 and if I win anything I'll pay you back and give you half," said Viper.

Kaid of course knew this was a lie, at least the part about him getting paid back, but paid it no mind instead seamlessly pulling out his black UII card and handing it to Viper without taking his eyes of the clock.

Although it seemed as though this whole interaction was voluntary everyone knew that this was far from the case since the moment Kaid refuses Vipers request he would later find himself being beat to the point of losing consciousness by unknown assailants on his way home from work. He had learned that the hard way 6 weeks prior. Honestly the multiple hospital trips due to his initial disinterest in abiding by Vipers requests were not the reason he decided to comply. Instead because he was getting attacked so often he found himself not being able to meet his mandate of weekly bubble baths and as such found it acceptable to yield to viper and his underlings.

After a few moments Viper handed Kaid back his card with a cruel smile on his face before motioning to the rest of his crew that it was time to leave.

'10:31PM, it seems they're taking their time today', thought Kaid.

After the delinquents left Kaid was left in utter silence except for the ice machine and mounted TV next to the clock which he now diverted his attention to.

{"...it's been truly quite the scene these past few days. Our solar system has never seen this much activity since the [Noratic Wars]. As we have previously mentioned members of the group Leviathan have been dispatched within the 5 planets including our very own in order to track down and capture the rank [RS-01] beast Seval," the male anchor reported.

"I will admit I feel better knowing that the Leviathan corps is helping out with the capture of the beast. Luckily the members are all royal knights and the even the leader, rank [RS-02] Donavon, has decided to join the hunt. Although the location of the beast is still unknown I'll certainly be sleeping better knowing the Leviathan corps has the situation handled," said the female correspondent.

"I certainly can't agree more with you Marian. Luckily based off of the information the empire has released we know that the Seval is still in it's infant stage so it's unlikely to cause the usual amount of damage caused by high ranked monsters"

"We're truly luckily in that regard. I certainly remember when the rank [R-08] beast Retar attacked the Elven world Tera. It managed to destroyed half of the capital city overnight before it was finally captured. When looking at the case of the beast Seval it's certainly becomes clear how dangerous of a threat it is especially considering it's rank," commented Marian.

"And for those of you at home who aren't too familiar with the with the ranking system of beasts hears a quick refresher. The ranking system is faily simple with beasts being categorized from rank [R-01] to [R-09], then followed by those from rank [RS-01] to [RS-09]. Of course theres also the rank above that [RSS] but the instances of such creatures isn't really known to the empire or the whole federation. Having said that I think it's now made very clear why this looming threat is being taken so seriously. If the Sovel is allowed to mature before it's captured we could very well be going into a planetary crisis."

"Unfortunately, that is the cold reality we've been facing this past week but luckily there is hope. If any of you have any information about the beast's location we highly encourage you to reach out to your local Order Regulation offices. However, under no circumstances should you approach it," said Marian.

"I certainly couldn't agree more. Please reach out if you have any information. Moving on from that story I have to wonder if this matter will cause any issues in regard to celebration being held in honor of the first prince's successful expedition into the dark worlds?"

"I certainly hope not, I've been looking forward to the celebration all week since rarely--}

Kaid diverted his attention back again to the clock barely even paying any mind to the information he just received. He now fervently stared at the clock to the clock, watching the minutes and hours pass by.

--10:47PM--10:55PM--11:39PM--1:02AM--2:59AM--

Kaid snapped out of his trance as the doors to the convenience store was opened and in walked a fellow coworker, coming in for their shift.

Kaid took on last glance at the clock before he prepared for the end of his shift and start heading home.