Freezing rain pounded the dark streets of Derry.
I didn't wander aimlessly and even with my telekinesis locked by the system, my [ Aether Core ] was still highly sensitive.
I could feel the cold, sickly trail of dark magic left behind by the speeding station wagon and the mutant baby.
I followed that invisible, rotten trail down Main Street until it pooled heavily around the back of a large brick building.
A faded poster on the brick wall read: Aladdin Theater.
I stopped at the heavy steel back door.
There was no lock on the outside.
It was locked from the inside and someone had barricaded themselves in.
' Let's see how much force a human body can generate.'
I placed my flat palm against the center of the heavy metal door and braced my boots against the wet cobblestones and pushed.
The thick steel groaned loudly.
I pushed harder with a sharp, CRACK, the heavy iron deadbolts on the inside of the door snapped under the pressure.
I pushed the ruined door open and stepped inside, letting it shut behind me to block out the howling storm.
[ Location: Aladdin Theater - Storage Room ]
I raised my right hand.
My telekinesis was blocked, but basic spells still worked perfectly.
"Lumos," I whispered.
A bright white light flared from my palm, acting like a flare and lighting up the cluttered room.
"Don't move! I'll shoot!" a panicked, rough voice shouted.
I slowly turned my glowing hand toward the far corner.
Two terrified people were huddled behind a stack of wooden shipping crates. An older, stocky man was standing protectively in front of a dark-haired teenage girl.
The man hands were shaking violently around the grip of a snub-nose revolver, aimed directly at my chest.
"Who are you?!" the man demanded, his finger trembling on the trigger. "How are you doing that with your hand?!"
I looked at the gun.
I could easily dodge a bullet with my Agility, but I didn't want to scare them into doing something stupid.
"I'm Vivan," I said calmly, keeping my glowing hand raised so he could see I wasn't holding a weapon. "And I'm just getting out of the rain."
I snapped the fingers of my free hand and a quick pulse of warm Aether swept over my body, instantly evaporating the freezing rainwater.
My soaked clothes were perfectly dry in a second.
The man stared at my dry clothes, completely bewildered.
He didn't lower the gun. "You're one of them. You're one of the freaks from the streets."
"Dad, wait," the teenage girl whispered, pulling on his jacket.
She peeked out from behind him, clutching a heavy metal flashlight. "He doesn't have silver eyes."
I walked over to a dusty sofa in the center of the room and sat down, making myself completely comfortable despite the gun pointed at me.
"If I was the monster you're hiding from, Mr...?"
"Grogan," the man swallowed hard. "Hank Grogan and I'm the manager here. This is my daughter, Ronnie."
"If I was the monster, Hank, I wouldn't have knocked," I said, my voice dead serious. "I tracked a trail of dark magic here and saw what happened on the street. I saw the station wagon, the possessed parents, and the little kid with the pacifier getting kidnapped."
Hank's face crumbled and tough-guy act vanished.
He slowly lowered the revolver, leaning heavily against the wooden crates.
"Matty," Hank whispered, rubbing his face with a trembling hand. "We tried to hide little Matty out in the lobby but he panicked and ran out into the rain."
"Because you're just normal people," I agreed.
"And what are you?" Ronnie asked, stepping out from behind her dad.
She stared at the broken deadbolts on the floor near the door. "You pushed a reinforced steel door open with one hand."
"I'm pest control," I said, leaning forward. "Listen to me carefully. Derry is infected and an ancient parasite lives under your streets. It eats fear, and it eats kids and it also took Matty."
I pointed a finger at the ground.
"And worse, it dragged me here and locked away some of my powers and I am going to kill it so I can break the temporal lock and go back to my home."
Hank stared at me like I was insane, but the glowing light in my hand proved I wasn't a normal kid. "How do we kill something like that?"
"I can hurt it," I explained. "But my telekinesis is not working and I don't know the layout of this town,So I need a local crew and people who know the streets, the sewers, and the buildings. You guide me, and I'll crush the monster's skull and get Matty back."
Ronnie's jaw set in a hard, determined line. "If you can actually save Matty... I'm in."
Hank looked at his daughter, then gripped his revolver tighter. "Me too. What do we do first, Vivan?"
Before I could answer, the room suddenly turned freezing cold.
Our breath turned into thick white clouds and the metal pipes above us groaned.
CLANG.
RIIIIP.
A heavy metal ventilation grate in the ceiling was violently torn away.
Thick, black sludge dripped from the open vent onto the concrete floor.
"It found us!" Hank yelled, raising his gun.
"Get behind me," I ordered, standing up instantly.
A massive, featherless bird dropped out of the vent.
It was the size of a large dog, covered in raw, pulsing meat instead of skin and Its neck was twisted upside down, and it had a jagged, bloody human mouth instead of a beak.
It was a scout.
A twisted nightmare sent by the Clown.
"Fresh meat," the bird gurgled in a crying child's voice.
Ronnie screamed and hank fired his revolver.
BANG.
The bullet hit the bird right in the chest and black blood sprayed, but the monster didn't even flinch.
The rotting bird lunged off its powerful back legs, aiming its sharp, bony talons right for Hank's face.
'Let's work.'
I blurred forward.
I grabbed the monster by its rotting throat right in mid-air and its heavy, fifty-pound body slammed into my forearm, but my enhanced physical strength didn't let me budge a single inch.
The bird shrieked, thrashing wildly and trying to bite my hand.
"You're ugly," I said coldly, staring right into its dead eyes.
I squeezed my hand tight.
CRUNCH.
Its thick spine snapped like a dry twig but it didn't die and sickly orange Deadlights magic flared inside its chest, trying to heal the damage.
The bird twisted its broken neck all the way around to bite my fingers.
"Burn," I whispered.
I channeled pure, uncorrupted Aether directly into my palm.
Blinding white fire erupted from my hand and the flames swallowed the bird instantly.
It shrieked in absolute agony as the intense fire burned away its rotting, cursed flesh, neutralizing the dark magic keeping it alive.
I dropped it to the floor and in three seconds, the monster melted down into a harmless pile of grey ash.
I casually shook a few white sparks off my hand and turned around.
Hank and Ronnie were staring at me, their mouths hanging wide open.
Hank slowly lowered his smoking revolver.
"Okay," Hank breathed in total awe, looking at the pile of ash. "You're definitely the boss."
I smirked, adjusting my jacket collar.
"Welcome to the club," I said. "Get some sleep and tomorrow, we hunt the clown so I can get back to my life."
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