CSC V3 Ch. 6

"You guys should go," Yamimura said. "I'll keep an eye on this guy until the cops show up."

We all looked down at the fallen serial killer copycat that Kyouko took down with both a lariat and a stomp onto his gut. He was right now pinned down by a ray of psychic energy flowing out of Yamimura's hand.

I looked back up and asked Yamimura, "You sure about that?"

Yamimura nodded and replied, "Yeah. Just go. You guys could get mixed up in more trouble if word gets out that the Community Service Club's sided with me. It was you guys who gave me the idea to use that Psy-Armor thing. If not for that, that guy could have caved my skull in, so I owe you a lot. Just let me deal with all that complicated stuff."

After exchanging looks, me and the girls decided to take up Yamimura's offer without further argument and scurried back home. 

Yuna and I didn't say anything to my parents about the incident. As far as they knew, nothing was out of the ordinary. I had expected capture of the Piper copycat to reach the evening news, but there was never any mention of him except for his last attack before Yamimura.

The next day when we met up with the rest of the club again after school was over, me, Yuna and Isaneko told the others what happened.

"Seriously?" Omoyo exclaimed. "Someone actually tried to off Yamimura? Is he okay?"

I shrugged and replied, "Well, he seemed fine when we left him."

"So the time has finally come," Mirai said, leaning forward in his seat, elbows propped on the table and hands together in front of his mouth.

Omoyo scowled disapprovingly at him and snapped, "This is serious, Mirai! Now is so not the time for your nerdy play-pretend."

Mirai frowned back in dismay and said, "I AM being serious. Deep down, we all knew this was going to happen eventually."

"Well, at least it's case closed now," I said. "No more Piper to worry about."

"Don't be too sure about that."

I whirled around in surprise and found a girl standing by the doorway. It was Soushu, our school's student council president. There should be no need to explain, but Soushu's also a member of the Soushu family, one of the town's big three political powers, and a psychic. She was one of the rare Omnikinetics, a psychic with all sorts of powers instead of just one like me and the rest of the Community Service Club.

"What are you doing here, Shoyu?" I asked.

"It's SOUSHU!" she snapped. "Seriously, when will you stop mixing me up with soy sauce?"

The answer to that question: another five years.

"Anyway," Omoyo cut in, "going back to Oota's question, what are you doing here, Soushu? And what did you mean earlier?"

"To answer your first question," said Soushu, "I'm here on student council business. Second, I happened to overhear your conversation about the guy that attacked Yamimura. It turns out, that guy's only a copycat of the Piper copycat. Yamimura was his only target and he was hoping to pin the crime on the actual Piper copycat."

"And how exactly do you know that?" Omoyo asked.

"I happened to overhear my father talk with someone in the police force about it."

"Do you have a habit of spying on your old man or something?" Omoyo asked.

Soushu looked displeased at Omoyo's question and retorted, "I was not spying. It was a complete accident, and it was my dad's fault for not closing the door to his office properly."

Feeling very dejected, I groaned, "Ugh! So it's still not over yet."

With a look of sympathy, Soushu said, "I feel your disappointment. That new Piper has caused the whole town to explode out of control. The only silver lining in this whole mess is that no one's actually died yet. But that can change if he isn't captured soon."

Mirai clapped his hands together and said, "Okay, that's enough with topics too gloomy for the average high schoolers. You said you're here on student council business, Shoyu?"

"Oh, don't you start too!" Soushu snapped.

I could see her veins throbbing on her forehead, but Mirai just laughed her off and said, "Sorry! Sorry!"

The apology did nothing to improve Soushu's mood and she growled, "I swear, if this starts spreading to the whole school, I will kill you, Oota!"

"Me!? What did I do?"

I thought I saw Yuna roll her eyes, but that could just be my imagination.

"Anyway," said Soushu, "about our business, it sort of relates to the Piper."

I sat up, alert.

Mirai's gaze turned sharp and he asked, "Now what could the student council think we could do about the Piper?"

"It's not what you think," Soushu said. "The student council wants to spread some flyers we made with tips on how to stay safe on the streets. I just came to see if you guys could help us with that. The more people we have on this, the faster we can get the word out on what to do and what not to do to everyone in school."

She lifted up a white cardboard box that had been sitting next to her feet and set it on the table with a grunt. The thud it made told me how heavy it must have been.

Omoyo gave the box a look and then said, "Forget asking, it looks like you guys already expected us to help out."

With a shrug, Soushu replied, "Well, it's not like you guys got anything better to do."

"Why're you looking at me while you say that?" I asked.

Her eyes rolled onto the smartphone held sideways in my hand. A simple humorous tone could be heard playing in a loop.

Yuna sent me a text message that read, "Were you seriously playing a video game while we were talking about violent criminals that are popping up right at our doorstep?"

"It's on auto-play," I told her.

"That's no better."

Isaneko lifted the cover off the box and took out one of the posters. After giving it a look, she went, "Aw, that's quite the cute blob monster you drew, Soushu. What is it supposed to be?"

In a strained voice, Soushu replied, "That was supposed to be a bad guy." 

I had a feeling that she drew that black blob thing herself.

Omoyo snorted.

Soushu threw her a dirty look and snapped, "Oh, like you could do better!"

"Yeah, I can, actually," Omoyo said.

Mirai cut in and asked Soushu, "When should we start?"

"Right now, if you don't mind," Soushu said. "Just put some up on the bulletin boards around the school. The rest can be passed out tomorrow in the morning or afternoon. Whichever's fine."

"Sure, we can do that," Mirai said. "Just fill out the request form and we'll be good to go."

"Thanks," said Soushu. "Oh, there are also some other errands I'd like you to run for the student council. The stuff's also in the box along with a note that tells you what needs to go where."

Omoyo made a face and asked, "Why don't you or the other council members do any of this yourselves? That's your own job, isn't it?"

"Now, now," Mirai cut in. "We're the Community Service Club, after all. Serving the community is what we do. We'll be happy to take on those errands too. Just add them to the request form."

"Sure," said Soushu.

"Great!" Isaneko exclaimed. She pulled out a piece of paper and handed it over to Soushu. "Just sign on the line at the bottom."

"Okay," said Soushu, pulling out a pen. "Let me just - Hey! This isn't your club's request form. This is an application form to join some kind of shady organization! Did you just try to trick me to sign up for a cult?"

"Oh, no," Isaneko said, shaking her head. "Not at all. It was a simple mistake. Honest."

She took out the correct form and handed it Soushu, who gave her an unconvinced look and said, "Somehow, I doubt it. But whatever."

After quickly filling out the form, Soushu handed it back to Isaneko and gave her phone a glance.

"I got other stuff that need to be done, so I'll be going now."

"Okay," said Mirai. "Stay safe out there."

Soushu replied back, "Sure. Will do."

She turned to leave, but then stopped and looked back.

Mirai gave her an innocent smile and asked, "Yes?"

"It's nothing," Soushu quickly replied. She turned again and this time, walked straight out the door.

"What was that all about?" I wondered aloud. It looked to me like she actually wanted to say something but changed her mind.

"I don't know," said Omoyo. "But something is definitely fishy about this request. The council rarely ever asks us to do anything, especially for errands that they should be handling themselves."

"Well, I'm sure our illustrious president has her reasons," said Mirai. "Anyway, let us adventurers sally forth and complete the quests bestowed upon us. I, the great hero, along with Omoyo the Berserker - "

"Oi, want me to hit you?"

" - I mean, Omoyo the Ranger, will take on the messenger quest and deliver letters to the overlords of our domain."

Translation: "Me and Omoyo will go bring the documents Soushu brought over to the teachers over at the faculty room."

"Oota the Defender, Isaneko the Mage, and Yuna the Cleric will take on the greater task of spreading the Prophet's Words of Doom!"

Translation: "Oota, Isaneko and Yuna, go hang the PSA flyers and posters on the bulletin boards around the school."

With our roles assigned, we all grabbed what we needed and split. While Mirai and Omoyo headed for the faculty room to hand the student council's stuff to the teachers, me and the others went to flyers onto the bulletin boards by the staircases. I did the heavy lifting and carried the box of flyers while the girls hung up the flyers.

We went from floor to floor without talking much. But then, while putting a flyer up on the bulletin board next to the side entrance, Isaneko broke silence and remarked, "It looks like Mirai's right when he said Soushu had her reasons to pawn off student council work on us."

Yuna and I paused. I was holding the sheet of paper to the board while Yuna was midway sticking a pin into a corner.

"What do you mean, Isaneko?" I asked.

Isaneko nodded to the doorway where a trio of boys loitered. I gave them a glance and then quickly turned away before they'd notice.

"Those guys are Yamimura's followers," Isaneko explained. "Our student council president likely wants to avoid any of her own followers running into them as much as possible, which is why any job that involves traveling around the school is being handed over to us."

"How come?" I asked.

Isaneko and Yuna gave me funny looks.

Yeah, thinking about it now, that was really a dumb question.

"Yamimura's underlings are pretty loyal ones," Isaneko said. "It's not obvious on the surface, but he's pretty good at bringing people to his side. You can imagine how upset they'd be if someone were to attack him, right? Let alone that the one who did it was the supporter of a big rival group. I can guarantee if they run into any Soushu supporters, which the student council is full of, there will be violence."

She added before I could say anything, "Worse violence."

I sighed and grumbled, "Just when you think things could not possibly get worse."

Slowly, but surely, the town, my home, continued to spiral out of control. It didn't seem long before it hit rock bottom. And what that'll be like, I dreaded finding out.

<== Chapter 5

Poem: Hypocrites

You, Dear Sirs and Madams are Hypocrites

You say you fight for Justice

You say you defend Family Values

You say you work for the Good of All

And yet, you hinder Battles against the Unjust

You interfere in Work to Uphold Family Values

Your Acts cause tears to flow from the Innocent

Tell me, Dear Sirs and Madams

Is it Justice to allow Murderers to roam free?

Is it part of Family Values to spew Hate, Bigotry and Lies?

To rip Families apart and turn away Those in Their Most Dire Hour of Need?

"Nay!" Say Those of True Justice

"Nay!" Say Those of True Family Values

You say you are Good People

But Your Actions prove otherwise

It is Blatant Hypocrisy

The Acts of Villainy Most Foul

Actions Demons most welcome

Red not the Color of the Republic

Turned Red of the Devil, you have made it

Your Acts mirror that of a Fairy Tale from Space

The Acts of one called the Sith

Though not the Anti-Christ Himself,

Agents of Hell, you have Behaved

So you have done Before

So you do Again

And Fools are They who still kiss your feet

Fools are They who raise you to Thrones Undeserved

You create Eras of Darkness while claiming to make Eras of Light

You inspire the Ignition of Violence while speaking for Peace

You destroy What Makes This Land Great after vowing to uphold Them

And you hurt Those you promised to Protect

There is no Ifs or Buts about it

You, Sirs and Madams, are Hypocrites

Narrow Alleys Ch. 3

Chapter 3

The Pearl of Fate

A young man drove to his father's building, disgruntled to be awoken at One in the morning. The car he drove was a luxurious red sedan polished to a mirror shine, and the black suit he wore over a white dress shirt (no tie) was from an expensive tailor shop. His glistening shoes were also from a top-line designer brand. He also had a watch to go with the suit, but he forgot to put it on and left it at home because he was still groggy. 

The point was, he was rich. His father was a well-known Wealthy Man, making this young man a Wealthy Son.

Now just what could Father want so early in the morning? The Wealthy Son wondered grumpily as he waited for the traffic light to change from red to green. The clock on the car's smart monitor read, 1:54 AM. He took longer than planned on a "quick" shower before getting dressed.

When he reached the office building his father also called home, the Wealthy Son pulled up at the gate where an overnight attendant greeted him before allowing him in, and then circled over to parking space reserved solely for him and his father. After shutting off the engine, he got out of the car and headed straight for his father's personal elevator which would take him straight up to the penthouse on the top floor. The car locked itself with a honk as he walked away.

The Wealthy Son found his father sitting in his personal office wearing a deep frown on his face. Standing next to him was a young woman about the Wealthy Son's age, dressed in a plain black suit, the Secretary.

"You're late," the Wealthy Man said to his Wealthy Son, clearly displeased. "I thought I told you to be here in an instant."

The Wealthy Son apologized. "Sorry. There was some traffic."

His father scoffed. "Traffic, he says. You know teleportation magic. Why didn't you use that?"

"It slipped my mind."

Not a lot of people know this, but both the Wealthy Man and the Wealthy Son come from a family of sorcerers with magical powers. That's right. They had real magical powers, the kind that let them fly, control the four elements of Water, Earth, Fire and Air, and, of course, go from one place to the next in the blink of an eye no matter how far away.

"Hmph!" The Wealthy Man sniffed disdainfully. 

"Never mind that," the Wealthy Son said. "What did you call me here so early for?"

"The Pearl has been stolen," said his father.

The Wealthy Son blinked. "What?"

"You heard me, boy," said the Wealthy Man. "The Pearl has been stolen."

The Pearl has been in their family for generations and is a magical artifact used to bring them endless amounts of good luck. It was basically the reason the Wealthy Man and Wealthy Son were so rich and powerful right now.

"How!?" cried the Wealthy Son. "That should be impossible! There should be magical enchantments to keep people other than you away from the Pearl. I saw you perform the renewal incantations just last week myself!"

"The enchantments were erased," the Wealthy Man said bitterly. "The lightning must have struck the building and disrupted the flow of magic energy which led to the destruction of the enchantments."

"But the good luck we get from Pearl should have stopped something like that from happening!" shouted the Wealthy Son. "So why did it?"

"I don't know!" the Wealthy Man snapped. "But that's not important right now. What is important is that we get the Pearl back! Take a look at this."

He held up a white manila folder.

"What is it?" asked the Wealthy Son.

"Pictures from the security cameras of the thief," his father explained. "Clearly a career criminal. But not of the magical sort. I want you and the Secretary here to go find him."

The Wealthy Son frowned. "You're leaving it to me?" Even with his somewhat advanced age, his father was not the type to leave important matters to others.

"Believe me, boy," said the Wealthy Man, "I am not happy about this. I would take care of the thief myself, but with the Pearl gone, I need to keep a careful eye on the company to make sure it doesn't suddenly collapse. Or would you rather kiss that fancy car of yours good-bye?"

"Fine, I'll do it," said the Wealthy Son. "But don't you think it's excessive to bring the Secretary into this? Even if he has the Pearl, he is still just one thief."

The Secretary did more than just record keeping and checking the Wealthy Man's schedule. Her family had served the wealthy family for generations as bodyguards and even assassins. Even though she looked harmless, she mastered lots of deadly fighting skills and knew lots of deadly magical spells. She could wipe out a squad of elite soldiers solo if she wanted to.

The Wealthy Man, unable to contain his anger anymore shouted, "Fool! It is not just one thief! Why do you think we keep covering the Pearl underneath layer after layer of magical protections and force fields? To hide it! It's only because no one knew about it that our family has been able to control it for hundreds of years! But now that it's been taken out of those force fields, its power is out for all of China - nay, THE WHOLE WORLD - to see! Everyone from the wizards that dwell in the criminal underworld to the monsters that lurk in the shadows, to even beings who hail from other worlds will have sensed the Pearl. And they will come to take it for themselves. KILL for it if they have to!"

**********

And the Wealthy Man was right. From the wizards that dwelled in the criminal underworld to the monsters that lurked in the shadows of the city, to even beings who hail from other worlds noticed the power of the Pearl.

Among them was a wizard who controlled his own Triad. The Triad Leader was in the middle of counting his ill-gotten cash in his office when the crystal ball he used as a paper weight suddenly shined next to his face.

He gave the ball a glance and wondered aloud, "What's this?" 

Whatever he saw in all that light made him smile with a glint of greed in his eyes.

"Oh ho. Interesting. Very interesting."

He turned his attention to the back corner of the room where a Mummy stood. Like any mummy you'd find in a museum, he was bone-thin, skin turned charcoal and stone-like, eyes sunken in, and lips thinned so much his black teeth were forever bared. But he was not some ancient corpse. He was, in fact, still alive and still in his mid-twenties.

The poor soul was once just like any other average joe. But like many others before and after, he had been captured by the Triad Leader and turned into a mummy-like creature by the criminal wizard's evil magical experiments and had to obey every command whether he liked it or not.

"I got a job for you and the others," the Triad Leader said. "Something special that I can't leave to any two-bit goon on my payroll."

At about the same time, out on the streets a couple of blocks away from the Triad Leader's box-shaped building headquarters, a scrawny man in an ill-fitting business suit was stumbling his way home when he bumped into a young lady in a black leather jacket, white t-shirt and faded denim jeans. Both went crashing down with a "Yikes!" and an "Eek!"

"S-sorry!" the man stammered.

"No, I'm sorry," said the young lady. She was the first to stand up and helped the man to his feet. "Oh, is this your wallet?"

She presented the man with a brown leather wallet.

"Yes! Yes it is!" he cried out. "Thanks."

The young lady flashed the man a smile and replied, "No problem."

And then she started to walk away. But then the man cried out, "Hey! Wait! This wallet's empty! There should still be cash inside!"

The young lady stopped and slowly turned around to meet the man's angry gaze. Unnatural yellow light flashed from her eyes and she said calmly, "But sir, you spent all that cash already."

The man frowned. But then his face softened and he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Oh, yeah. I did, didn't I? Sorry about that."

With a sweet smile, the young lady said, "Oh, that's okay. Be careful on your way home."

"I will, thanks!"

The man and the lady parted ways with smiles on their faces and their backs to each other. The young lady's smile was especially bright as she counted the banknotes she had swiped out of the man's wallet.

She's actually really famous around town as a skilled pickpocket who gets away with stealing from lots of people everyday by using hypnosis to mesmerize and befuddle her victims, earning her the nickname the Hypnotist. But what most people don't know is that her skills as a hypnotist actually came from magic powers she inherited from her grandmother, a sorceress from Britain.

Deciding she's done enough "work" for the day, the Hypnotist stuffed the money into her pocket and started to head home when she felt a strong tingling in the back of her brain. Suddenly, the view in front of her was overtaken by the image of a great, big pearl shining like the sun with something wriggling inside of it. And then it was gone.

She had no idea what that pearl was, but she could tell that it was a big deal. She wouldn't have gotten a psychic vision otherwise. Her instincts told her that it was something magical and powerful. More powerful than anything she had seen from her grandmama. 

With that pearl, she thought, I could finally kiss this life on the streets good-bye. No more stealing. Just me at the beach, lying beneath a big umbrella with one of those bright-colored fruity drinks.

"There's no time to waste!" she exclaimed aloud to herself. "I need to go after that thing now!"

And then she turned around and started running, rushing past an apartment complex, where deep inside a meeting was held between people who looked anything but human. They were beings called Chimera, a mix-mash of different creatures or mutants shaped by the experiments of evil wizards, much like the mummies controlled by the Triad Leader.

The leaders of the Chimeras got together in a party room, sitting cross-legged on the floor. They were an assortment of different animals who were half-man and ladies. There was a man with the head of a koala bear with goat horns dressed in a classic-style gray tunic, a lady with an orange-furred cat's head and black-furred gorilla arms wearing a flowery purple shirt and a giant frog with a long, white beard who had on a three-piece suit with patched elbows. 

Standing in front of them was a wolfman wearing just a pair of jeans. He had arms so long, they touched the floor even while he stood straight.

The lady spoke first. "We sensed a great power unlike anything we've seen before."

"This power," said the frog man, "could be our chance to make our greatest wish come true."

The koala man spoke last. "We have chosen you, our strongest fighter, to retrieve that power. We are trusting you with the future of our people. Can you do it?"

The wolfman gave a solemn nod. "Yes," he said. And then he promised, "I will do whatever it takes. But what is this power? Do you know?"

All three leaders nodded and the lady answered, "Our fortune tellers, divination masters and psychics all call it . . . the Pearl of Fate."

**********

"The Pearl of Fate . . .

"Long, long ago, there was a dragon with the power to control destiny. Anyone blessed by the dragon would find true love, have their dreams come true and make fortunes that set them for life. Truly, he was a dragon of good luck, and powerful enough to make nations rise or fall.

"But even a creature of such power was not immortal. And eventually his time came to an end. But before that happened, he put all of his power into a singe pearl. That is the Pearl of Fate."

The huge green-skinned man, over ten-feet tall with wild, wavy red hair around his face like the mane of a lion had his head bowed and his left hand wrapped around his right fist as he listened to the many voices speaking as one that came from a tree that was ten times bigger than him. This man would later be known by a certain Girl as a Giant.

He and the tree were in a grand hall, in a huge temple made entirely of white marble atop a mountain high up over a sea of puffy clouds.

Voices continued to speak from the tree as its pink cherry blossom-covered branches swayed rustled against a gentle breeze.

"Anyone with control over the Pearl of Fate would instantly find themselves with endless good luck. But it is more than just an effective good luck charm. The Pearl of Fate holds immense power, as great as the dragon who created it. In the wrong hands, it could bring disaster to countless people. Evil could rule the world with that power. That is why the dragon passed the Pearl onto his most loyal and trusted followers who protected it for generations in this very temple. That was until a thief showed up and somehow managed to steal it.

"For centuries, we have searched for the Pearl of Fate. But we were never successful until now."

The voices paused, but the Giant remained silent.

"The Pearl of Fate is on the world of Earth, in a nation that is twin to our Zhao Empire. It is called China. Like what happened with us hundreds of years ago, a thief managed to steal the Pearl from its current owners and is running around with it, unaware of the power it contains and the dangers that come with it. You have been chosen to find the thief and bring back the Pearl."

"Yes!" shouted the Giant. "It shall be done!"

"Be warned, Honorable Warrior," said the tree. "You will not be the only one chasing after the Pearl."

Large bubbles flew out from the tree's trunk. Each showed images of people. There was the Wealthy Man, the Wealthy Son and the Secretary in one bubble. There was the Triad Leader and his mummies in another. Yet another had the Hypnotist. And one more had the Chimera. Many, many more bubbles flew around them showing many, many more people.

"Your mission will not be a mere treasure hunt," the tree continued. "You are going to war."

<== Chapter 2                                                                                Chapter 4 ==>

Narrow Alleys Ch. 2

Chapter 2

The Thief and the Pearl

Within a tower of polished glass enduring a heavy barrage of rain as lightning flashed and thunder clapped over it, one young man in dark blue overalls and a baseball cap slowly trudged through a dimly lit hallway, passing room after room while pushing a yellow cart that contained a bunch of cleaning supplies and a big bin filled nearly to the brim with trash. From the opposite side of the hall, came a slightly older man with a heavier build and dressed in a black suit with matching necktie, his heavy footfalls muffled by the gray carpeting. Attached to his ear was a white, plastic wire that coiled down like a spiral into his shirt. 

The man in the overalls tipped his cap to the man in the suit. The man in the suit nodded back in response. No words were exchanged as they passed each other by. There was just the constant pitter-patter of rain hammering against the windows through the many doors of the hall and the squeaking from the wheels of the cart.

As quickly as the men met, they parted ways with the man in overalls going one way while the man in the suit went the other.

There was a burst of static from the man's earpiece followed by a third man's voice asking for a status report.

"All clear here," the man in the suit replied. And then he continued on with his patrol.

Once the man in the suit was gone, the man in overalls breathed a sigh of relief and continued on his way. Once he reached the end of the hallway, he pulled back his sleeve a little to check the time on his smartwatch. With a few swipes and taps, he switched out the time for another app and then stuck his hands into the trash-filled bin and yanked out a small, black backpack, scattering crumpled-up tissues and paper all over the floor.

Ignoring the mess he made, he slipped on the backpack through one loop and slipped through the door leading to the emergency stairs. He hurried up as fast as he could, unwilling to waste any time while knowing that the security guards monitoring the cameras would have surely seen his unusual behavior and raised the alarm. Even now, he could hear feet pounding up the stairs over his own.

"Blast!" he cursed. "They're faster than I thought." They sounded a lot closer than he expected.

He doubled his speed, going up one flight of stairs, and then two before reaching the door into the next floor. No surprise, his badge failed to unlock it. The black box on the wall did beep when he swiped the white plastic card over it, but the door wouldn't budge.

However, he expected this to happen and pushed the blue button in the middle of his smartwatch's screen. The black box beeped again and the door's bolt snapped.

It should be obvious at this point, but the man in overalls was actually a Thief disguised as a janitor. And he, of course, was in the building late at night to steal something.

The Thief pushed the door open and then slammed it shut. While pressing his back hard against it to keep the guards out, he swiped a finger across his smartwatch's screen and then pushed the red button that appeared. His action triggered a computer program that cut the power, shutting off what little lights remained on during after hours and plunging the whole building into complete darkness.

And not a moment too soon. Almost as soon as the lights went out, the security guards arrived and tried to get inside. The Thief could hear them hammering their fists against the door, yelling and swearing. He wasn't sure who they were yelling at. It could be him or each other. Either way, it didn't matter.

The power outage had triggered an automatic lockdown, bolting almost every door in the building shut, which meant that the guards were trapped in the staircase. They had only two options: wait for someone to get the power back on and unlock the doors, or cause a fire that'll cancel the lockdown and get every door to open. It was unlikely they'd do the latter, but it was just a matter of time before someone on their side that was good with computers took back control of the building.

Using a small flashlight from his backpack to light his way, the Thief ran passed a single elevator for the building owner's own private use and rushed over to a metal gate polished to a gold sheen. Just past the gate was a door which led into what the building's owner called home.

Unlike everything else in the building, both the gate and the door were analogue, meaning no electronic gizmos needed to open it. Just a good, old-fashioned lockpicking kit which the Thief had brought with him.

He made short work of both the gate and the door with a pair of needle-like tools chosen from a set and was soon inside a huge room full of expensive-looking vases, statues and paintings. One side of the room had a bunch of leather chairs and sofas around a giant TV set and glass coffee table. The other side had doors leading to other rooms. One door was left open to expose a marble-floor bathroom with a teched-out toilet and a black-stone shower, leaving just four left to choose from. All this just further showed that the building's owner was a very, very, VERY Wealthy Man.

Can't tell if that's unlucky or not, thought the Thief. In some Asian countries, the number four can be an unlucky number because local word for it sounds the same as the local word for death. There were four closed doors, but five doors in all.

There was also a big, black bookshelf on another side of the sitting room with some small stone statues placed in gaps between

I'll just start with the closest one and go from there, he decided as he took off his shoes before stepping into the home. His goal was the Wealthy Man's personal office where he knew a safe would be that contained a whole lot of cold, hard cash, among other things.

As the Thief hurried over to check the first room, lightning continued to light the night sky while the storm continued to rage outside. Bolt after bolt reached down from the clouds to try and touch the world below. One was successful and struck the top of the glass tower. Its energy spread throughout the building through cables like poison through veins.

Thankfully, no one was hurt or even touched by the electric shock. No one even noticed it. Not even the one person alone in the top floor, the Thief.

He was in the middle of picking the lock of the first room because, of course, it was locked. A loud creak noise startled him and he whirled around to see the bookshelf swing out like a door swings open. And that was because it WAS a door.

Behind the bookshelf was a box-shaped room, about the same size as the bathroom (which itself was pretty big) with a single white light shining down on a glass display case that sat atop a podium carved out of polished dark wood.

That room's not part of the floor plans, thought the Thief. Clearly, the room behind the bookshelf was a secret one. I wonder what could be in it. And why did the door just open on its own? Could it be because of the lightning?

That was actually a good guess. But what the Thief didn't know was that there were no electronics that kept the room locked. What did seal the room were magical enchantments and spells that had been erased by the lightning as it passed through the home.

Suddenly, the Thief's watch beeped.

"Blast!" he cursed. "Out of time."

He needed to get out now, but he had not yet gotten what he had come for.

The Thief took a look around at the doors, none he ever got open, and then at the secret room. Whatever was in the room must be really valuable if the Wealthy Man's gone to the trouble of installing a secret room for it. It may not be what the Thief came for, but it was still better than nothing.

Choice made, the Thief abandoned his search for the office he had come to raid and dove into the secret room where he discovered the display case contained a white pearl. A big, white pearl, perfectly round in shape and as big as a baseball. It laid dead center atop a purple velvet pillow and appeared to have a glow of its own pushing back against the white light.

Behind the podium, out of the Thief's sight, the last of a string of Chinese words peeled off and faded into dust like ashes in the wind.

Impressed by the pearl's shine, the Thief let out a low whistle and then dropped his bag on the floor. He dug inside for a black suction cup tool with a hand a blade, which he stuck onto the face of the glass case. 

As he stabbed the blade into the glass and turned the hand, he thought to himself, Good thing I thought to bring this compass glass cutter just in case.

After setting aside the piece of glass he cut out, the Thief stuck his hand through the hole into the case and grabbed the pearl. It felt pleasantly warm in his hand and for a moment, he was captivated by its shine before a clap of thunder snapped him out of his stupor.

The Thief quickly stuffed his glass cutter and the pearl into the backpack, taking the glass piece he cut out with him with no time to get rid of it, slung the backpack over his right shoulder and then hurried out of the room. The pearl continued to glow in the darkness of the bag with something snake-like shimmering inside of it. But the Thief didn't notice and ran across the sitting room to the front door, slipped his shoes back on and closed the gate behind him.

Suddenly, all the lights flickered on, loud bells and horns rang and blared overhead, and the Thief heard a loud bang come from across the hallway, followed by a man shouting, "GO, GO, GO, GO, GO!"

The Thief didn't even have time to spit out a curse word when he saw the security guards frantically rushing towards him. He turned and yanked open the door at his left and went inside. There, he found the only escape out of the building: the trash chute.

As he pulled the stainless steel flap open, several hands flew into the room and reached out to grab him from behind. The tips of their fingers barely brushed against the Thief's backpack before he slipped headfirst into the funnel that normally swallowed a rich man's garbage and he fell down screaming.

The plan was to slide through the trash chute feet first. Then he could slow his fall with a parachute he built into the backpack. But there was no way he could use that parachute now that his head was what pointed downward. He had to pray that his landing would be a soft-enough one. It was the only thing he could do with what little seconds he had left.

While he did that, the pearl's light got brighter.

Down below, a sun-tanned middle aged man was pushing a huge, green steel dumpster that was filled to the brim with black garbage bags, most of them filled with crumpled-up pieces of paper, napkins and tissues. He was moving the trash outside to be collected by a garbage truck and happened to pass by a certain chute when something came falling down.

The man didn't see what, but he thought he heard screaming followed by a loud, "Oof!" as something landed into the dumpster. He looked up and called out, "Hello? Anyone there?"

He didn't see what fell down and the dumpster was too tall for him to see inside without climbing up. After waiting awhile and getting no answer back, he chalked the scream up to his imagination induced by a long day (and night) of work and resumed wheeling the trash outside while grumbling to himself how the power outage was making him take some overtime work.

Meanwhile, the Thief laid on his back, hands cupped over his mouth, eyes popped out in disbelief.

That was way too close for comfort. He had seen the pavement beneath him and thought he was a goner. If that dumpster had been a second late, he'd have gone splat.

Not long after the dumpster was taken outside, a garbage truck appeared. Just as the huge, gray vehicle lifted the dumpster up, the Thief leaped out and jumped into the truck's container bin. He scrambled as far back as he could to avoid getting buried alive and then sat down with a sigh while leaning his back against the grimy steel wall. Flies buzzed around his face and ears, but he was too tired to do anything about them. And no surprise, the garbage around and beneath him stunk bad.

He looked up at the sky which had finally cleared up as the storm ended and sighed again. And then he turned away, unaware of a bolt of red lightning that streaked above him and disappeared into the top floor penthouse he had just burgled.

Once done collecting trash, the garbage truck drove off. It exited the driveway and joined the flow of traffic on the road headed east, eventually making a stop near a neighborhood full of old houses and narrow alleys.

<== Chapter 1                                                                            Chapter 3 ==>

Narrow Alleys Ch. 1

The Pearl of Fate in the Narrow Alleys

Chapter One

The Giant in the Ghost Quarter

Our story begins in a city of the country of China.

Behind a wall of shops and restaurants with big colorful billboards and flashing bright lights was a stretch of houses packed tightly together, many stained gray and black by time. They formed a maze of narrow, crooked alleys and roads with just barely enough room for a four-seat car to navigate through and around. Oftentimes, such cars would honk their horns to warn others of their presence.

In one particularly old house lived a little Girl and her family. 

The Girl was unusually quiet for a child her age. In fact, many people around her doubted that she could talk at all. Even her parents wondered from time to time. Her father, by the way, worked as a hotel security guard while her mother worked at a restaurant located at a downtown shopping mall.

One of the Girl's most favorite hobbies was exploring the narrow alleys around the neighborhood. In fact, she loved it so much, despite the intense heat of the summer day, she was strolling outside instead of loitering at home in the comfort of air conditioning like her adult Big Sister, lying on the couch while staring intently into her smartphone.

The Girl walked past house after house, made turn after turn while hearing the occasional car honk and shrill cry of a speeding moped over the sound of her slippers' slapping and shuffling on the concrete ground, enjoying the overall quietness as she slowly spun her pink umbrella over her head. She had brought the umbrella to protect her skin from the sun's harmful rays and as a precaution in case of a sudden downpour of rain. Sometimes she would glance at the map on her smartphone to make sure she wasn't lost.

As she made a turn out onto a road that overlooked a long patch of green farmland down the hill with murky bodies of water, a loud, deep man's voice boomed out from the three-floor house behind the tall wall next to her, speaking in Mandarin. It sounded like a television commercial for a vitamin drink.

A mosquito buzzed near the girl. As soon as she saw it, she immediately clapped her hands over it. If there was one thing she could not stand, it was mosquitoes. It was to the point she had to exterminate any and every of those annoying parasites on sight. Her strike was successful and she quickly cleaned her hands with a disinfectant wipe, which she balled up and put away in her pocket to be disposed of later before moving on.

She turned back into the maze of narrow alleys and walked past a house with two elderly men having a loud, boisterous talk in the courtyard about the good old days, speaking in the local form of Cantonese.

Eventually, her feet took her to an even quieter area, the so-called Ghost Quarter. Houses of the Ghost Quarter were long abandoned and completely devoid of life. Well, maybe not completely devoid of life. Sometimes the Girl would spot a cat napping atop a wall, or a stray dog pass by. And there were always birds chirping somewhere out of view. 

Naturally, the houses of the Ghost Quarter should be more dilapidated than the houses that still had people calling them home. But honestly, the girl didn't see any difference between the abandoned houses and any other old house in the neighborhood. However, the Girl's parents always warned her to stay away from Ghost Quarter, believing it dangerous because of its neglected state.

"There could be an accident, and no one can help you," her mom often sternly told her and her sister. "You could fall in a hole, or a house could fall on you. Wild animals might bite you. And don't get me started on the vagrants!"

Despite her parents' warnings, however, the Girl explored the Ghost Quarter numerous times. She always stuck to the roads and never went into any of the properties, invalidating their fears of an accident. Most of the abandoned houses were sealed shut at the gate anyway. She also never had any problems with the animals in the neighborhood. In fact, even the foulest mood beast would instantly stop growling when it saw her and lay its head for her to pet it. 

One time her school friend saw that, he asked her, "Are you some kind of holy lady or something?"

The Girl could only answer with a shrug.

As for vagrants, she's never seen any in the area before and doubted one would show up. And even if one did, Big Sister taught her a move that was a surefire way to keep her safe: a peace sign to the eyes.

Pak! Pak! Pak! There was just the sound of the Girl's slippers slapping the pavement over the rustling of leaves in the gentle wind as she traveled through a long stretch of road. But then, as she passed by a house that was missing its front gate, the peace and quiet was shattered by a chorus of loud rumbling noises that ended with a crash.

"Eek!"

That scared me! The Girl thought as she put a hand to her chest while staring through the gateway towards the two-floor black brick house.

But the noises didn't stop there. There continued to be heavy tumbling, followed by what was unmistakably a very annoyed man's voice cursing at his misfortune.

Remembering her mother's warnings, the Girl thought, Oh no! Vagrants! I need to get away!

She turned to leave. But then, there was another crash, followed by an agonized, "Ow!"

The Girl stopped and looked back at the black house beyond the gateway. It sounded like the man inside had gotten hurt. 

Concerned, the Girl walked towards the property and stepped into the courtyard. There were blankets of green moss all over the pavement which was cracked at several places. Clusters of weeds sprouted from the cracks, standing tall and proud to show how long it's been since the property had people on it. 

There was another loud crash from the house followed by a man angrily spitting out a curse. His voice was gruff and deep. The crash also caused the house to shake, unleashing spurts of dust. Wood from the house let out a worrisome groan, reminding the Girl of her parents' warning about houses that could fall on her head and smoosh her into paste like a bug.

Having second thoughts, the Girl debated whether to turn around and leave or not. But before she could make a decision, the pair of wood doors that had remained shut for decades suddenly fell off their hinges and hit the ground with a loud -

BANG!

The Girl should have gotten a full view of the inside of the house. But she didn't get to see much because of something big and shined gold against the sunlight curled up at the doorway. 

No, wait. It's not something, but some-ONE.

Slowly, the big shape emerged out of the doorway and straightened up to reveal itself to be a man. A really big man. The biggest man that the Girl had ever seen before. Standing straight, he was maybe more than a dozen feet tall. His head easily reached the house's second floor window. He may as well be a Giant from myths. Not only that, he wore glittery gold armor that made him look like a soldier from ancient times. Along the length of each forearm, there was a thick, metal slab.

Disgruntled by whatever happened in the house, he grumbled sourly to himself while rubbing his head. "Blasted ceiling. Why'd they have to make them so accursedly low? And of all places to land, it had to be the stairs!"

The Giant had his back to the Girl as he complained and swore. It wasn't until he turned around that he noticed her staring up at him with her mouth hung open. 

With a good look at his face, it was clear to the Girl that the Giant was not human. For one thing, his face was all green like jade stone. Wild, wavy red hair rung around his face like a lion's mane. And he had a pair of fangs jutting out of the corners of his mouth, curved down like the trademark of the saber-toothed tiger.

Silence fell around Giant and Girl as they looked at one another.

Thus began for the Girl, the first of many strange, fantastical and impossible encounters that unknown to her would affect the flow of a great big battle over a powerful, magical item.

But what is this powerful, magical item? How did the battle over it get started? And why was it taking place in the narrow alleys of one little Girl's hometown? 

To answer those questions, let us rewind time to just a few days prior during a night of rain, thunder and lightning. 

                                                                                                       Chapter 2 ==>