Chapter 1
The night,
Darkness covers the earth,
The silence that comes... Unmistakable,
"How pitiful it is that these humans have no idea what is to befall them". a humanoid figure with no face, wearing a loincloth on his waist spoke as he stood upon a church.
"Just say the word sire and this pitiful quadrant will be ours to harvest", two frail looking Sphinx cats, crawled out of a dark corner of the roof. One had green eyes while the other had blue ones.
Red eyes glowed from another dark part of the roof, "not yet...the north star has not peered to signify the strongest point", he said as he brought out a clear ball from the sack he carried. "Time".
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"And now ladies and gentlemen, behold... I shall proceed to make this young lady disappear before your very eyes...",
A loud furray of oohs and awwes filled the bar room along with the lights dazzling in RGB, the smell of alcohol and cigars filled the room and mixed in with that of gun powder. A typical magician, a young looking man in his late twenties, dazzled the crowd with his tricks and illusions, he had just picked a volunteer from the audience and placed her in a box.
"i shall now tap the box", which he did. "and presto amazo", he said as he opened it. The woman was gone and in that instance the crowd yelled in amazement and the magician took a bow before the curtains closed.
It was New York City, 2021, a friday night as typical as any. The lights hitting from different angles, the streets buzzing with street performers, the clubs and pubs filled to the brim, the casinos gaining money off their customers. Zoom in to Daves Den, a small pub off the street run by Dave, a tubby looking man, not too tall, always wore a vacation shirt and a distinct snort when he laughs. "haha! you boys are busting in more money than I could in the years since I started this business, the folks just love your act", he said as he was counting cash on a lounge chair. Next to him was the magician who had performed and a younger boy who looked like a teenager who stood behind the magician. They were all in a dim lit room at the back of the pub, guarded by two big fat looking men.
"Ever since I hired you, my pub has been the talk of the town!, Just keep this up and I'll be big enough to attain the role of Godfather", Dave said with a snorty laugh.
The magician and the boy had vague expressions of happiness, as though their looks were forced, "uhm, sir, its gettling late... and I was hoping we could get our pay so we could leave", the magician said. Dave looked at the magician for a moment and then laughed again, "sure kiddo...here", he said as he stretched some cash. "thats twenty dollars, you boys can split it evenly", he said as he lit up a cigar and blew it upward. The boy behind the magician was appauled, "but...", he said before he was interrupted by the magician. "thank you sir, you are always so kind", the magician said. "buut...", Dave said with a sly look, "There was a glass tray your brother broke, costs for damages, $5, we DID have a long night today so I had to use from tomorrows stock of drinks to give my cutomers so thats another $5 and the space where you keep your equipment, $3... and lest I forget, my wife, your 'volunteer', would like some compensations for pulling off such a 'wonderful' illusion, $2, which leaves you boys with $5, lucky lot you guys, just enough for dinner".
"thank you very much sir", the magician said as he held on to the $5 with a grip and a false smile. "we'll be leaving now", the magician took his brother by the arm with him into the street.
They both walked through the city, going through the buzzy ends, the hooker court and then the lot of motels before taking a bus into the deeper parts of town, away from the so called high life. It was a depressing sight, how quick the atmosphere switches from lights and the smell of alcohol and cash to the dark air filled with homelessness and poverty, a place they called their neighbourhood. They got off the bus and crossed the street into a convinient store, all this while they were both silent. They walked into the store and greeted the Counter man who seemed to be fond of them, he was Asian and looked frail and old but was a nice chap. "how work today?", he said with his Korean accent. "Always good Mr. Woo", the magician said before walking into the food isle.
"I can't take it anymore, why do you always do this?!", the boy burst out
"what do you mean?", the magician said with a subtle voice, not facing the boy but rather checking out the food.
"I mean you taking the crap that Dave serves you", the boy continued but was replied with the magician walking away.
"John, I'm talking here!", the boy walked after him.
"Will, you're causing a scene". The magician, whose name was John, spoke calmly to the boy, whose name was Will, all the while trying to pretend as though everything was under control but smiling to the few customers he saw.
"Don't tell me I'm causing a scene, you're just being a wuss", Will said in anger.
"Now you be careful how you talk to me bro", John said as he took Will by the hand.
"Don't freaking touch me!", Will yanked his hand out of John's
"we both know you're a coward who can't stand up to the abuse the idiot puts us through", Will continued
"Will you have to calm down..."
"Its been three years and look at where we are, barely enought to eat, I stopped going to school and you're stuck here doing cheap magic tricks", Will's voice got louder, the customers were looking at their direction.
"Please Will.."
"This kind of thing wouldn't ever have happened if mom and dad were still alive",
There was a moment of silence, the only noise was that of the fridge behind the boys. John was about to speak then he grabbed his chest and slouched to the fridge before falling to the floor gasping for air. "oh my", Will said as he reached into john's pocket and pulled out an inhaler. John took a few breaths before stabilizing. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry", Will kept saying. The shop owner got John a glass of water to drink and had him sit on a chair. "I let you boys rest up", he said before turning to shoo away the customers that were looking at them. John drank the glass of water dry, Will just kept looking at John.
"four years, i've been blaming myself for our parents death. Every single day I kick myself hard for what I did... the magic acts I do are a constant reminder of my mistakes, so I don't need another lecture as to what we could've have been if they were still alive", John said with a sad face.
"I'm tired of the harsh reality we both live in too, constantly abused by Dave, barely enough to eat, cold nights... things we didn't worry about cus of them... you think I don't know, I miss them too!", John sniffled a bit and started to weep. Will hugged him by the side and also began to sniffle and in no time they were asleep.
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A bright light burst into view behind the sinister figures that stood on top of the church's peak, and with it came three human-like essences, that of a boy and two girls. They all wore regalias for battle, a purple jumper with a phoenix crests and each elastic black pants.
"I'd advice you cease and desist, cus WE, obiously, are here", said the boy. He was a blonde chap in his teen years, he had a few outlinings of tattoos on his neck and he had a smile on, showing no fear against the distorted figures before him.
"When will you perps ever learn that nothing actually gets passed us", said one of the girls that came with the boy, she also had blonde hair and green eyes and bore a strinking resemblance with the boy, she also had a tattoo outline across her forehead.
"I thought we were cloaked by erthreal magic and could not be detected", said the cats in unison.
"Yes... but we also need sacrifices for... Him", said the dark figure with glowing red eyes in the corner. "sacrifices?, what do you mean", asked the girl. "Don't you get it?", explained the faceless figure, "if we put ourselves on the notice by emitting enough erthreal energy, we knew the council would send a high rank trio of Dispellers after us, and the stronger the Dispellers, the stronger the erthreal energy within them, a tasty treat for...",
"whether you led us here or not, it doesn't matter, we are gonna kick your butts and despel you as soon as possible", said the boy with so much confidence.
"Mmm, as expected from the triplets of the head of the council", said the pair of sphinx cats in unison again. In that moment, the cats began to morph into bigger ones with more menacing looks each resembling sabre tooths and the faceless figures legs grew bigger and his joints seperated within the skin to give way for more legs till he resembled a giant spider. "we dont have time to watch them go far, lets put them down", said the boy. He made hand signs and his tattoo outlines became more defined even glowing in the color yellow. The girl also did the same signs and her tattoos also began to glow with a bright pink. Their sister didn't talk much, she also looked like them but has a dark color of hair and her skin was more pale than theirs. She also waved hand signals but she didnt have any tattoos or anything glowing except her hands. "Meat shouldn't talk too much, it makes you tense, though please... put up a good fight?", said the faceless figure in a more menacing tone. The cats launched forward at the blonde siblings while the faceless one thrusted one leg at the pale girl. The cats were in perfect sync, one struck struck a claw at the boy to which the boy created a mini forcefield to defend but the hit from the claw pushed him back a bit, his sister stepped in and created flames around her fist, about to punch the cat but the second one timed the punch and bodied the girl away, at the same time the other cat blasted a mini beam from its mouth toward her. The boy stepped in with another forcefield but was pushed back with his sister. "you both think you're standing against lower class ghouls?, how pitiful", said the cats as they walked toward the siblings while intertwining their bodies. "well yeah, thats why we underestimated you, but now it just shows that my sis and I, can go all out", in the instance, the boy reached into his pocket and threw a dagger at the cats which turned into a mini yellow glowing phoenix. One of the cats shot a beam from its mouth at the phoenix which caused an explosion, to the delight of the cats. From the smoke the girl appeared with two daggers which she threw, turning them into two phoenixes that intertwined bursting into a fire beam that blew the cats backword. Meanwhile, the spiderlike ghoul moved in a flexible manner dodging everything the third sibling threw at him, she shot lightening bolts and light beams but the faceless one meandered his way through. In an instant, he crawled to a nearby wall and shot some substance from his mouth, which the girl dodged. The substance fell to the ground melting it. "it seems as though you don't speak much, but no matter, I will hear you scream as I pour my acid down your eyes", said the spiderlike ghoul. The girl reached within her bag and threw some pellets at the spider which exploded into gas causing the ghoul to jump back in fear. When the smoked cleared, the girl jumped toward the spider but was caught in a split second, he laughed in triumpth as he squeezed her body which in turn exploded into a bang of light. He yelled as he covered his eyes trying to regain balance, in that moment the girl attacked him again but he stabbed her with one of his legs causing her to burst into a bright light again causing him to recoil again in shock. As he looked closer again he saw four dopplegangers of the girl, "hmm, light clones, you really are the elite chosen... but, that is the exact reason I have to show that I am worthy of the position chosen by, HIM!", as the spider ghoul said that, his lower half got hairier and began to take a more defined spider shape as that of a tarantula. He manifested spikes out of his hand and began to run toward the clones of the girl which all manifested fire balls from their fists and began to throw it at the ghoul which brushed them aside. In one motion he stabbed two clones which instantly burst into light and went for the other two which threw more fireballs at him. He dodged them and shot a web from his mouth which caught one of them by the throat, dragging her to his mouth which he melted with his acid causing her to burst into light. In the instant the ghoul was distracted, she waved her hand in a circular motion which created magic markings on the air from which she drew out a tiny sword and lauched herself at the ghoul. She was fast and was able to get some cuts in his leg but he shot webs and acid at her leg and face. She was able to dodge the acid but got caught by the web to the floor. The ghoul then proceeded to stab her on the ground in delight. "Pathetic..", as he opened his mouth to burn her with acid, she burst into a beam of light again for she was just another clone. The spider looked around for the original and noticed there was something off about where he stood, after deciphering the situation he jumped and tried to web himself into a corner just as the ground below him exploded. "Clever human, you were using the clones as a distraction while you manipulated the light to hide your presence and weave a helio spell under me", he said as the girl came back into view by manipulating the light again. "haha, you were still too slow for m...", as he was gloating he felt a pain underneath him. Two of his legs has gotten destroyed, "minor setbacks", he said as he spat out blood, then he shot the blood infused acid at her again which she dodged easily. Meanwhile, her other siblings seemed to be dominating their fight, hitting the cats with a barrage of fireballs and phoenixes. "lets wrap this up", said the boy as it looked as though they had cornered the cats. The siblings began a sealing spell which caused their hands to glow and the cats to recline in fear. The spider ghoul wanted to help them but was met with more clones. It looked as though the humans had won, until the bell in the church began to ring. This made the environment begin to distort a little and in a brief second the human world switched to something darker and creepy before it switched back again causing the sealing spell to halt and the human's powers to deteriorate, all the girls clones fades away and the humans fell to the ground. "He is closer", said the red eyed figure that was still in the corner of the roof. The cats grew stronger and they developed red stripes which glowed and the spider ghouls regrew its legs and began to roar. It appeared that the ghouls went berserk, the cats ran toward the blonde human and slapped them at the feet of the figure in the dark. He manifested the glass sphere again and began chanting erthreal spells which made the ball to suck in the energy from the siblings. The spider ghoul picked up the girl and was carrying her toward the glass sphere. her head was hazy but she could see what was going on, she had to save her siblings. She grabbed a glass dagger from her bag which had some liquid in it, she was then put on the ground and made to watch as her brother and sister were drawn into the glass sphere. "You may have seen yourselves as powerful souls but those are only power sources for our mission to come", said the cats as they and the spider ghoul laughed maniacally. In that instant, the girl stabbed the spider in the hand, bursting the liquid in his blood and causing him to growl in pain. She tried to conjure up spells but she couldn't, the split second she was pulled into the dark plane had reduced her erthreal essence. The cats were about to slash her but she dodged both swings from each cat, then she pulled out a pellet from her bag and threw them to the ground causing a smoke bomb. When the smoke cleared, the girl was gone. "Little twat laced the smoke with ammonia to throw us off her scent", the cats said. "Not to worry...", the figure in the dark said as he held the sphere with two little lights in it