In a dim, lavishly decorated room, two people sat opposite each other. The room faintly smelled of expensive incense, it would've been relaxing if not for the bodies that littered the room.
"You people and your damn robes." The fancy man, draped in jewelry, swirled his wine with annoyance. "Have some decency and remove it while meeting me. I want to see the face of the man who beat my men up."
The robe of the Dark Hand Society was a special tool given to all members of the society. It suppresses traits by distorting the wearer's voice and covering their face in dark mist, unless they choose to reveal themselves.
"I came here because you wanted to hire me. What's with all the guards?" The black-robed figure replied with a low voice.
The fancy man set down his wine glass and sat up straight. "Tell you what, here's the deal. You, Fistbreaker, will protect me and my merchandise in London."
"And what will I get?" asked Fistbreaker, slowly counting using their fingers.
"I'll give you one Bound Artifact." replied the fancy man with a grin. He brushed his smooth blond hair aside before staring at the other figure.
The robed figure didn't respond and just stared at him in silence, after some time the silence almost felt suffocating. This made the fancy man uncomfortable and he sighed and raised his hands in defeat. "Okay fine, one Cursed Artifact, how about that?"
"Why hire a Dark Hand when the Merchant's Guild is right there?" The robed figure asked, genuinely curious.
The Dark Hand Society was a society made mainly for the sake of enforcing the line between humans, and the supernatural, but the upper echelon doesn't care much about what the members do in their off-time. So getting hired as a mercenary isn't an unusual task for them.
"That's not for you to know." The fancy man answered, flashing his confident smile.
The robed figure nodded. The fancy man wanted to shake hands but the robed figure just stared at it, he just clapped his own hand to avoid the awkwardness.
"We'll meet at the Europe Portal tomorrow. Be there at six A.M. sharp." The fancy man casually spoke as he admired the rings on his finger.
The robed figure stood up and left the room, casually stepping on the bodies, filling the room with groans and screams once again.
***
A young man finished setting the table, laying out baked sweet potatoes and a fragrant chicken dish sauteed with mushrooms he'd foraged earlier. A cat was patiently standing by the side of the table.
Knock knock! He smiled and rushed to the door to see a beautiful young lady standing outside. The pale artificial light that lined the ceiling of the underground cave cast deep shadows across her face. But the young man recognized her immediately.
"Alicia! Dinner is ready." He hugged her before helping her in.
They lived in a small house in the underground. It looked rough, like built by an amateur, but inside was spacious enough to house three people. The place was cozy and everything was clean and neatly arranged. The soft yellow light helped bring the place together. The table was made with roughly cut wood and sticks, and the chairs were different sizes.
"John, this looks good!" Alicia exclaimed, as she saw the dishes on the table. "Is Lucan home yet?"
"No, you came home first. If I remember right, he was supposed to be meeting with a client today, he should be coming home any time soon." As he said this, Lucan arrived at the door.
"Guess who's back!" He shouted, pulling off his robe and hanging it on the hooks behind the door, revealing a tight black shirt underneath. He also pulled off his gloves, revealing his hand wrapped in bandages, which he quickly began to unwrap.
While he was busy taking off his clothes, the two were waiting at the circular table, watching him busily remove too much stuff. "Seriously, what's with the bandages? The gloves should be good enough." Alicia impatiently spoke, tapping the fork on the table.
"You're not a boxer so you wouldn't know." Lucan didn't care to explain.
After a moment, the trio finally started eating. Alicia took small bites of her food, John stabbed the fork into the meat and into his mouth, while Lucan was shoving food down his throat with his hand.
"I'll be gone for a day or so, you two be good." Lucan spoke while licking his fingers.
"Ah! That means we'll all be separated. This will be the first time we all won't be together, John, you can take care of yourself now, right? I'll prepare some dishes for you later." Alicia exclaimed.
John looked at them and nodded. "I'll be fine, you can take your sweet time returning, just remember to bring me back gifts."
Lucan raised his eyebrows and looked at her. "Where are you going?"
"I'll be following Daydreamer to continue my training, I don't know when I'll return but I'll try to be back before we visit Korall Town." She explained concisely. "How about you?"
"I was hired to go to London, they'll be having a deal and they want protection in case the deal goes sideways." Lucan spoke while filling his mouth with potatoes.
Alicia looked at her brother in disgust at how he's eating, but tried to ignore it. "Did the person say who they'll be dealing with? They should have gone to the Merchant Guild for things like these." She spoke out of curiosity.
"I asked about that but the man wouldn't reveal any more details." Lucan shrugged and continued his feast.
Alicia's curiosity now turned to suspicion, "They wouldn't be dealing with cults, right?"
Lucan looked at her and nodded. "The Merchant Guilds don't deal with cults, but the Dark Hand Society doesn't care much, as long as they don't implicate civilians."
"Still, it's better to be careful when dealing with lunatics." She warned her brother to which he just nodded.
She then turned towards John. "Don't go anywhere near the center market. I heard a big shot will be visiting the market soon."
***
The sun finally rose high in the sky, but the light couldn't reach underground. The ceiling adjusts the intensity and brightness of the sky to copy the sky outside, but it couldn't copy the grandness of the sun.
John woke up, still groggy, and stretched which woke up the gray cat beside him. "Good morning Ash! Finally, a day where I have some time for myself. First on the agenda, seeing the pretty sky."
He rose up and left his room, he immediately saw the paper on the table.
'Don't go doing anything dangerous. There's some food in the fridge, you can just heat it up if you're too lazy to cook. Eat your veggies and take a bath daily. Check your phone regularly, I'll be sending updates. We'll be back as soon as possible. Ps. If you do get in trouble, I left the gun under the sink. Don't listen to Lucan and don't go anywhere that you'll get in trouble, remember what I told you.'
There was no name on the paper but he knew who wrote it. The elegant handwriting contrasted by the rough and shoddy ones told him everything he needed to know.
He put down the paper and started preparing his breakfast, he also switched the TV on to watch the weather report while eating.
'Today is Friday, August 13, in the blessed year of 2051. Expect a light drizzle moving through the center region of New America later this afternoon, but most areas can look forward to clear skies and warm sunshine. It's a good day today folks, have a pleasant morning.'
John quickly cleaned himself up, and took a quick shower. He also didn't forget to feed Ash before leaving. Soon, he was walking down the streets of the desolate and abandoned bunker.
The outskirts of the Black Market lay in the ruins of the underground bunker. The underground bunker was a huge cave underneath where they basically built a new town that people could live in, save for the massive ceiling lined with lights and huge metal walls, it could pass off as a normal city.
The central region of the underground bunker was refashioned to be used as a black market, The Black Market, as it's connected to all the Black Market in the world through the use of portals.
There were thirteen total Black Markets in the world, three in New America, three in the Eastern Republic, two in Eurafera Union, two in the New Federation of China, one in Oceania, one in the Middle East, and one in Iceland.
John dodged all the cameras in the area. He once tried to sneak out of the underground bunker to see a meteor shower but the camera caught him and they immediately informed Lucan that quickly ran to drag him back.
Ever since then, John has been quietly taking notes of where the CCTVs were stationed, he's been close once to getting out of the bunker, but when he was getting on the elevator, Lucan was already standing there with his arms closed. He never knew how he was caught, but now that Lucan was out of town, he knew that this was his chance.
Leaving the underground was easy. No one usually cared if you stepped out. But getting back in? That was another matter. Entry required a clearance badge, and John's Level 1 barely counted, just enough to get into the underground, the local market, and a few mundane shops.
After a series of acrobatic moves, darting across rooftops and abandoned balconies, he finally reached the edge of the bunker, and pressed the button to call for the elevator.
When suddenly someone tapped his shoulder from behind. He froze up, wondering if he had been caught once again. His body felt rigid and his blood ran cold. "I was just trying to check if the elevator is working." He tried to bluff his way out.
"Hmmm~" The voice behind him sounded amused. "Take me with you then."
This voice sounded unfamiliar to John, and woke him up from his deep freeze. He slowly turned around to see a girl around his age. She was dressed fashionably, a loose bomber jacket, a crisp white polo underneath, black shorts, clean white shoes, and a baseball cap to finish it all off.
She seemed to be from another world. Although John lived comfortably with the help of Lucan and Alicia. The girl exuded an aura that just spoke of royalty. It wasn't how she stood, or how she spoke, or even how she dressed. Just by standing, the pressure mounted on him.
He stood frozen. Curiosity clawed at his heart like discovering a treasure for the first time, followed by an unfamiliar emotion, one that didn't seem his own.
"Hello?" The girl waved her hand over his eyes. Her action woke John up from his reverie.
"Why do you want to follow me?" John squinted his eyes and asked with suspicion.
"I saw you sneaking around, and I just wanted to see what you were gonna do." The girl just shrugged her shoulders, and entered the elevator that just arrived.
She stared at him, as if saying, 'Aren't you gonna enter?'
John shook his head and just followed soon after her. The minute-long elevator ride was filled with silence, John didn't want to talk to her, and the girl clearly didn't care.
The elevator soon arrived at the surface, exiting in an abandoned building outside. John stepped out to see rubbles and a city overrun by nature. But this scene was enough to make him feel awe.
"The outside is so beautiful." John exclaimed, as he admired his surroundings. The sun shone high in the sky and illuminated the place.
"This is what you came here for? This place is rundown. I admit this is a good place to hide the black market, but there's nothing good up here." She looked around in dismay, seeing him in such excitement confused her.
"You don't understand, living underground for seven years, cooped up in that gloomy place will drive anyone crazy. I can't go anywhere, I can't even explore the place." John complained.
John slowly walked around and explored his surroundings, seeing animals that didn't exist inside the underground, like the birds and squirrels. He took everything with delight, he felt like his world that was dull was now full of colors.
As the girl followed John wherever he went, the elevator began to rise again, and moments later…
A bell chime broke the silence. The elevator arrived at the surface.