"Name?"
"Zaen Aurelia."
"Age?"
"21."
"…you're quite young to be here, son," the doctor replied. "Living a wild life, are we?"
"You can say that," Zaen chuckled, pointing at his face. "If it weren't for this, my life would be even wilder."
The small clinic was fairly empty. Only Zaen and the doctor were there. Even the receptionist was missing. His shoulder-length hair had been tied in a ponytail, while a strip of black velvet was wrapped around his eyes.
"Are you…"
"Blind? Yes. I was injured four years ago, and that left me like this."
"My apologies, that was rude of me to ask."
"No worries," Zaen smiled. "You get used to it over time. Besides, it gave me an excuse to work on my other senses. Using them is… easier. These eyes had seen things that I don't want to recall."
The doctor nodded and began scribbling something down.
"It's awfully quiet here today," Zaen asked, his fingers tapping his knees as if he were counting down to something.
"Yes," the doctor replied. "Let's forget about them and focus on you first."
Zaen nodded, and the doctor continued.
"You should be careful. A lot of STIs can't be cured these days."
"Whoa, do I have one?"
The ground trembled before the doctor could reply. Both men stiffened, fearing an earthquake, but it didn't happen again.
"Strange things keep happening today," Zaen mumbled, playfully wiping the invisible sweat off his forehead. "About those STIs—"
"We'll have to conduct tests for that first," the doctor said, getting out of his seat. "Hold my hand. I'll guide you through the process."
"That's awfully kind of you, doctor," Zaen smiled, lifting his hand for the doctor to grab.
However, instead of helping Zaen, the doctor leaned in, getting closer to his neck. The doctor's mouth opened wide like someone had ripped it apart, revealing rows of sharp, shark-like teeth.
The mouth was big enough to swallow an entire human whole, which seemed to be the doctor's intention.
However, just as he was about to chomp down, something hard got stuck between his jaws. The next second, Zaen shot out of his seat, kicking the doctor away.
The latter flew across the room, hitting the wall, yet wasn't phased by it. Instead, he got down on all his limbs, snarling at Zaen. Its clothes ripped apart, revealing a creature without a single skin cell on its body.
The creature's body was full of ulcers, with blood leaking out of them. Honestly, it was a good thing Zaen couldn't see, in the conventional sense of the word.
However, he did see the creature, although it wasn't an ordinary vision. All he saw was a line art of a humanoid figure filled with distorted television signals, the sign of an anomaly.
"Decided to reveal your true self already?" Zaen smiled, leaning on his walking stick. "And here I thought I would have to drag you out of that skinsuit."
The creature snarled and lunged at him. But the latter simply ducked, letting the creature hit its head on the wall across. It let out a yelp, reaching for its head, but before it could try to soothe the pain, Zaen grabbed its head with his free arm.
"Grr?"
"Don't look at me like that," he said, before slamming the creature's head into the wall repeatedly.
The creature's blood marred the cracked wall, but Zaen didn't stop, not till he had nothing left to grab. What used to be the anomaly's head was plastered all over the wall.
Dropping the corpse, he took out a handkerchief to clean his hands and walked out.
"Execution confirmed," he said, placing a cigarette between his lips. "Send in the cleaners to deal with the rest."
"Affirmative," a feminine voice replied. "Cleaners are on the way. Congratulations on your hundredth anomaly hunt, Agent Raven. Would you like me to submit the report on your behalf as usual?"
"It would save me a lot of trouble if you could."
"Affirmative. Codename HX-117, Designation: Skin crawler-B type, kill confirmed. Is that all?"
"Yes."
Just then, half a dozen people dressed in hazmat suits appeared before Zaen. They saluted him, only for him to nod back, and they headed inside. Within five minutes, they were out, carrying sealed containers before disappearing again.
"Clean-up complete, lifting the isolation barrier now."
Zaen leaned against the wall as the previously silent road turned overcrowded in a second. Even after three years of service, this sight still took him by surprise.
Two worlds, unaware of the other's existence.
Technically, only the humans were unaware of the constant threat they lived under. Although he never said it, he was jealous of their carefree life, one he once shared, but now it felt like a distant memory.
"Where's the next assignment?" he asked, crushing the cigarette under his shoe.
"There is none," the female voice replied. "Did you forget? It's the fifth Mist anniversary. We have a rare day off."
"So it's the holiday season, huh?" Zaen mumbled, tightening the velvet wrapped around his eyes. "I guess you'll want to spend the night then?"
"Can you lovebirds take your chat off the official frequency?" A manly voice boomed over the radio.
"...Sorry, captain."
"It's fine, and Raven?"
"Yes, sir?"
"You'd better use protection, or I'll suspend you!"
"..."
Zaen got quiet, but the voices on the other end kept bickering on official channels. After placing the in-ear comms device in his pocket, we walked away, using his trusty stick to navigate his way.
"What a way to get suspended," he chuckled, before smiling wanly. "Fifth anniversary, huh… It's already been that long since that day."
Distant memories appeared before him once more. However, none of them was pleasant.
It was a short film of his misery and pain. One that he had suffered every single day since. The day was also the fourth anniversary of the day he lost his eyes.
What was supposed to be a day of celebration turned into a lifetime of misery for him.