Chapter 2

The store bells rung to signify the arrival of a new customer for the day. The bright lights shun in Will's eyes as he lay on a couch in a lit room. The smell of food and frozen fish filled the air. He squinted at the sign above his head and then wiped his eyes with the back of his hand to read clearly, "Status Sardines," which were the words on the sign which apparently was a carton inside a fridge. He was lying close to a condenser of a fridge, which could explain the warmth he was feeling.

"Someones up!" Will heard a voice above him. It was John with another box of sardines.

"What time is it?" Will asked in a sleepy voice, "...and why are you carrying those?" He said again in a more serious tone as he jumped to his feet to get the boxes from his brother.

"Woah! Slow down there shrimp." John smiled lifting the boxes away from Will

"You really shouldn't be doing such heavy work after what happened yesterday." Will protested, trying his best to get the boxes from John, but to no avail due to their glaring difference in height. John laughed, seemingly enjoying his brother's antics.

"Just chill ok, it's not like I'm a vegetable you know. Yesterday was just stressful, that's all." John sighed placing the boxes down by the fridge. Will frowned, he sure as hell wasn't convinced but he decided to take his brother's word for it.

"Ah, Will, you awake!" Mr. Woo exclaimed, walking in with another box. "Think you can help this old man with a delivery?" He asked, placing the packages by the fridge..

"Sure thing Mr. Woo, anything for my favorite Cashier." WIll said as he bowed like a Judo Ka, to which John slapped him on the head.

"Ouch, what was that for?" Will yelped, clutching his head in annoyance.

"That's racist bro." John frowned, apologizing to Mr Woo before leaving the room.

Will took the boxes from Mr. Woo out to the back where there was a bicycle that the cashier lets them use for deliveries. He strapped and secured the boxes to the back of the bicycle and checked the list he was given to make sure he was on the right path.

"My first stop, the cat lady at the second street to deliver her milk", he said as he cycled forward. He usually loved going for deliveries in the morning because that was the only time the neighbourhood looked blissful. The morning signified a new beginning and the sun always looked so nice to look at in the distance. He also liked looking at windows, he believed that each window had its own story to tell, each building with its own stories.

He came to the first stop and greeted the cat lady and dropped off the milk to which she gave him a pinch on his cheek for being a cute young man; Will was not pleased by this. He immediately made his way for his other delivery, the orphanage which was close to the church. He cycled along the side walk to avoid contending with cars. Soon he came to the street which harbored the church, which seemed busy for some reason.

"I wonder what's going on", he said as he cycled closer. There was the police, the fire department and a few people around. There were building pieces on the floor which seemed to have come from the church. The reverend stood amongst the police to answer a few questions. As Will cycled by the interrogation he caught a glimpse of the Reverend who locked eyes with him in a very long and creepy manner with an emotionless stare, before reverting back to his normal self and carrying on with the interrogation. Will was creeped out and off minded so much so that he didn't pay attention to where he was cycling and almost hit a hooded figure.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry I...", he said as he tried to help the person up and in that instance, he and the person locked eyes. It was a pale skinned girl with the most glossy blue and red eyes he had ever seen. He was absolutely dumbfounded by her tender look and innocent face. She was almost the same height as him and had very dark hair. For a few seconds, Will found nothing to say but rather feel, a burning feeling within his gut. Just as he was about to say something, the girl reclined her hand from his and ran away. Will only looked on as she ran and cut into a corner and was gone. "A lot of weird stuff happening today", he said as he cycled toward the orphanage to deliver his package.

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"How could you have been so reckless?", a loud voice echoed through a hallroom accompanied by a fist being slammed on a table. It was a meeting being held in a large hall and a lot of high positioned council members were in attendance. They were 7 in number and they all had sashes on with different mystical animal crests on them and each looked old, except...

"Alexander!, How dare you raise your voice to your council members, do you lack regard for age?", said one of the female council members, she looked to be in her eighties, she was fair in complexion, had white hair and white eyes though she often covered them with a veil which had the silver crest of a white serpent on it.

"Why shouldn't I raise my voice, I lost house members and you want me to be silent?", Alexander yelled in anger. He was a tall bulk of a man, his most notable feature among others being his chiseled jaw line underneath his pointed nose and glassy silver eyes. He carried a long mane of jet black hair that flowed down his shoulders and back but for the meeting he tied it into a manbun though some strands still fell to the front of his forehead. He carried his body with confidience, which is expected from such a body type, a wide chest span which was topped by a broad chest untop of a dozen rolls of abs which glissened under his tight black long sleeve bearing the crest of the Phoenix.

"We sent out our best scouts to snuff out the threat as soon as our sensors felt a disturbance in the ethereal plane and that goes for every house in this council", said another council member. He was a tubby looking man with a face full of beard and a bald patch in his head. Some of his hair were white while the others were ginger and with the last strands of hair on his head he fastened them into a ponytail. He wore an eyepatch which had the crest of a Beaver on it.

"I wasn't even informed of the decisions before it was carried out", said Alexander in another feat of protest.

"Well, not every information has to be passed by everyone if its for the betterment of the council and of the ethereal balance", said the female council member.

"Then thats a redundant operation of things in this office...", Alexander said with an obvious look of spiting dissapointment.

"YOU WILL WATCH HOW YOU SPEAK OF THIS COUNCIL, NEWMAN!", said the female council member.

There was silence in the room for a brief moment with all council members anticipating the next words to be spoken, until the silence was broken by laughter from Alexander.

"You finally said what you had been thinking", he said as he sat down on his chair. "The fact that I joined you all very recently and the fact that I'm this young, irks a lot of you, doesn't it. And there I say it as far as I can remember, my house has proven to be the top according to the records of Tournaments we have won", he said again with another laughter.

"Uhm, I believe what council member Obi is trying to say is that, there was no time to have informed the house lords before the scouts were dispersed", said the tubby looking council member.

There was murmuring in the room and then Alexander stood to talk, "I move that we adjorn the meeting so we can check on the scouts that did return and gather info".

"I agree", said the tubby council member. And with that, the meeting was over, the council members all stood and left the room one by one. Alexander left and made his way to his House's Compound. When he got outside the room, he took a deep breath, the meetings always take a tole on him, having to always face the older council members who have it out for him due to the fact that he is the youngest and often thought to be inexperienced.

He walked toward the door that led to his House's portal. He went past some paintings of other council members who had left their mark on the ethreal world, each persons name was gold plated above their portraits as a sort of hall of fame.

"So when are we having yours in this hall?", a feminine voice spoke behind Alexander.

"Well, you have to acknowledge my presence first before you can see my mark", said Alexander with a smirk. He turned swiftly to see his long time friend, Tisha.

"But Lex, we do acknowledge you... I mean a bold look as that is very hard to miss", Tisha said with a sarcastic look. She was a slender but curvy young ebony girl in her mid twenties. She had red hair which fell down to her sides though she did love to part it to the left side to cover her left eye and also because she was shy of her freckles.

"It's always a good feeling to see you, Tisha''

"Obvi, I AM a site for sore eyes", Tisha said with her ever so hot British accent and a gave giggle before she gave Alexander a hug.

"You seem to be leaving the Mansion?", she continued

"Well yes, this place sort of gives me mixed vibes, which I am not in for right now'', He said with a sober look.

"Mmm, I heard your top two didn't return from the mission last night", she said with a concerned look.

"Yeah, Apparently three of the top ranked from each house was sent out to the parts of the world that had a disturbance in the ethreal forces. So far only few of the sectors scouted yielded good results and that's the return of one member from each house who barely escaped which doesn't really mean a damn thing to me", he said with a bit of rage in his eyes and soon that rage turned to instant regret as he closed his eyes.

"I know how much you love every one of your kids, its never easy losing a family member like that", said Tisha while patting his back in an attempt to console him, there was a piercing silence in the room which was then disrupted by Alexander.

"Well, I don't believe they are gone, I just need to make a trip to the site where the fight took place and gather information" Alexander said.

"So a mystery case with Alexander", Tisha quipped while doing a wave in the air like they do in showbiz.

"Yes and I will get to the bottom of this even though the council doesn't want to do anything about it", he said with new conviction. He gave Tisha a hug and went on his way toward his house's portal door.

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She sat across the bed from a teddy bear which had one of its eyes taken out. It was old and ragedy and smelled like wet cloth and cotton. It was the only odd looking thing in the moderately sized room.

She got up and walked up toward the bear and lifted it up to her chest and gave it a tight hug like her life depended on it before slouching beside the bed in tears. Her dark hair falling forward hiding her face, one thing she was always inclined to do when she was faced with hard issues. Lately, it seemed everyone around her always left, be it by their own volition or by accident. It began to seem true that all she was, was just a bad omen that needed to be avoided at all costs. The self loathing thoughts clouded her mind and the rain fell through in the form of tears from her heterochromic eyes to her pale red cheeks.

"Uhm, can I come in?", a familiar voice said from the door. It was Alexandar with a coat and a sash bag across his chest. "I knew I'd find you here", he said as he walked in but was stopped by the girl who was stretching out a palm and then poiniting to his shoes, while using the other to clean her eyes. "hehe, you kids are always keen on keeping shoes outside", he said as he removed his boots and placed them next to the girl's little shoes. He walked in and took a look around the room. It was a typical kids room, there was one bed in the middle of the room near the window which also housed a dalia flowerpot. Beside said window was a shelf that had books, action figures and some drawing stationery which included a sketch pad that had an unfinished drawing on it. On one end of the room was a picture of a teen pop band and the other had a painting of a glow in the dark night sky.

"Mmm, your sister really knew how to decorate", Alexander began, then he looked at the girl who was already getting watery eyed again. He rushed toward her and knelt down trying to hold her hands but she hugged him tight instead with her arms wrapped around his neck.

"I know, I miss them already too", Alexander consoled her. "But you have to understand two things, its not your fault and they aren't gone, at least this time THEY aren't", Alexander said to the unwavering girl. "I'm heading to the site to investigate, and I'll make sure I get them back, I promise.", he continued while gently caressing her back. There was a brief moment of silence before the clock in the room chimed to signify the stroke of eight which was dinner time in the house.

"I guess its time to chow...", Alexander was just about to stand when the girl held him back. "What's wrong?", he said as to which the girl replied by pointing at her head. Alexander knew what she meant and immediately touched his forehead with hers. This caused his vision to switch to hers and in an instant he saw a few images of a boy the girl had met earlier who hit her with his bike and noticing a distinct feature in his aura.

"Oh my, that boy just now he...", Alexander took a brief pause to look at the girl who was gazing at him. He then went to pat her on her head. "Good work", he said before carrying her on his shoulders and walking toward the dining area.

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"What if... the only way to handle a closed door it to have a talk with it, cus communication is key", Will said with so much glee and then looked at John who was having exactly none of it . They were both on their way back from another Night at Dave's Den and had just gotten off the bus on their way to the Convenient store. "You think those kinda jokes are what Dave's Den needs?", said John with a sly laugh. "You're just jealous cus I'm the funny one", Will replied. "That explains your lack of refined brilliance", John shot back and made a run for it to which Will chased after him. They had both gotten a few steps closer to the shop when John stopped and began to cough a bit. He reassured Will that it was just a slight cough and nothing more as they walked into the shop. They could hear laughing from the counter and they saw Mr. Woo having a few laughs with a figure wearing a white coat holding a Crucifix in his hand.

"Oh boys you just in time, especially you Will", Mr. Woo said to the boys. "Yeah we were caught up by Dave's Antics, weren't we Will?", John said as he looked to a Will that had been silently staring at the visitor in front of him.

The reverend.