The Last Dainv

Chapter 254

The group walked through the streets of Chinatown near Dundas Street and Spadina Ave. Gale pulled his hoodie tighter not from the cold, but from the ongoing stares they were getting due to Erin's bright blue hair that contrasted against Rachel's fiery red hair.

Ollie had left after everyone was finished eating at Fran's. Said he wanted to finish cleaning up his apartment and organize.

Having been away from his own home for years, he must've had a lot of stuff unlike Gale. A couple of T-shirts, a hoodie, and a pair of not ripped pants was all that was needed to live in the woods.

The quest now was to go find the magic powder dust that could be sprinkled on weapons to kill ghosts. Lily said the store was located in a place they called Chinatown.

Rachel led the way down Spadina Ave, hands stuffed in her pockets, walking beside Gale. Erin walked beside her, then Lily followed, flanked by the twins.

Walking by a vendor that had fruits and items out on the streets, Erin floated up to reach a shelf filled with books.

Immediately, Rachel pulled her down. "Erin! Not in public!"

"You are most annoying, fire woman," Erin said. "Floating requires far less effort than this needless trudging about."

Kyle, the tallest one, reached up to the shelf and pulled out the flimsy notebook that she wanted to look at. "You wanted to see this?"

Erin nodded, extending her hand out.

As Kyle gave it to her, Gale saw the cover. Unreadable Chinese as it was, it looked like a martial arts manual.

"The language used in this book is not the same one from your memories, Gale," Erin said.

"It's Chinese. Looks like some fake martial arts thing that'll teach you Buddha palm," Kyle said, taking back the book and putting it back on the shelf.

"10 dollars a manual. Sounds like a scam. Next thing you know, some old grandpa comes out of the book and promises great power and responsibility," Clyde said.

"Really? We should take it then," Gale said, already reaching for the book.

"Gale, no. That's a movie reference," Rachel said.

"Still amazed how you two can have non stop references," Lily sighed. "Do you guys just watch movies all day?"

"All night too, don't forget the night," Clyde said, pulling out a twinkie from his blue Canada Goose jacket.

Gale stared at it. That was probably the third Twinkie that came out of that jacket ever since they left the restaurant.

"Here, take one," Clyde threw one to Gale, catching it with one hand.

Both of them opened their wrappers at the same time and took a bite of the twinkie.

Gale still needed to ask where to buy Twinkies in bulk. Online sources said these things never expire and were calorically dense. In other words, the best kind of survival food there was. Even better than beast jerky.

"Come on," Lily nodded Rachel forward.

As they walked through the streets and deeper into Chinatown, the first thing Gale noticed was all the smells. Steamed dishes, roasted duck, and a sweet orangey smell mixed with pork.

Kyle's nose flared. "Man, I forgot how good this place smells."

"Fuck, I'm hungry again," Clyde said as he took another bite of his Twinkie.

"Seriously. How many Twinkies do you have in that jacket?" Lily asked.

"Who's asking?"

"Me."

"I got 14 more."

"How?" Lily asked, seriously baffled.

Gale's nose also flared, his eyes tracking the source of the scent. Whole ducks hung on hooks, skin glazed dark brown. He imagined his stomach grumbling, knowing full well he just had the biggest breakfast he'd had in a while. To his right, Rachel glanced at him and smiled.

"You just had breakfast," she said.

"I know."

"Still hungry?"

"It looks really good. I've never had it before."

"We can take one on the way back after you buy your ghost powder."

"Can you buy me one too?" Kyle asked.

"You have your own money. Use it."

"Figures. Gale always gets the nice treatment."

"Maybe after you learn some manners and not park on the sidewalk."

"Never. That's non-negotiable," the twins said.

"Fire woman. Purchase me a whole bird as well. I wish to consume it whilst I accompany this squad," Erin said.

"It's a duck," Lily said.

"The name is irrelevant. It is a bird."

Rachel grumbled. "Didn't you say enjoying food is a waste of time?"

"There is no harm in dabbling in frivolity during times of calm."

"Ehhh, that's the spirit," Clyde said.

They passed herb shops with jars of dried roots and mushrooms stacked behind the windows. A woman argued with a shopkeeper in Cantonese, but for some reason, the two aunties were smiling at each other. Not sure if that was an argument or not, Gale couldn't understand.

Erin stopped in front of a shop selling jade bracelets. She stared at the display, head tilted.

"Erin, come on," Rachel called back.

"These stones possess trace amounts of ether," Erin said. "Fascinating. Though the concentration is too minimal to be of any practical or combat use."

"Great. Now move," Lily said.

Erin resumed walking.

However, a man stepped out of the storefront just as she moved. The man's puffy jacket made his broad shoulders even bigger. Tattoos crawled up from his neck that looked to be mimicking fire.

Moving without looking, phone in hand while laughing at what the screen showed him, the man bumped into Erin, causing her to almost fall back. She caught herself from falling with telekinesis, also earning a wince from Lily and a facepalm from Rachel.

"Watch it," the man said. "You blind or something?"

"It's you who walked into me. Have you not the capacity to observe where you tread, or are your eyes decoration?"

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"The fuck did you say to me?"

"It seems your ears are also for decoration."

Two more guys walked out from the shop behind him, both with the same hard-eyed look and a fire tattoo by their neck. One even had colours on his tattoo while the other chewed gum loudly with his mouth open.

"You got a problem?" The man stepped into Erin's face. "Say that to me again, blue bitch."

"I possess no problem," Erin said. "You are the one who failed to observe your surroundings. This absurd display of strength shall not change that fact. The apology is yours to give."

Meanwhile, Clyde had already opened his phone, recording the whole thing and Kyle was watching the whole thing play out on Clyde's phone.

Lily and Rachel had gone a couple of steps ahead but looked back and saw the commotion. They immediately retraced their steps, pulling Gale back along with them.

The man stepped closer. "You calling me stupid?"

"The designation fits."

Rachel groaned. "Erin, stop talking. Ignore these idiots."

Clyde chuckled. "Oh man, this is great."

"Put that away," Lily hissed.

The man jabbed a finger toward Erin's chest and Gale felt something primal in his bones.

"Gale, use growl!" Kyle shouted.

Gale growled like a dog, loud and guttural enough that it made the three men take a couple of steps back. One of the men even fell on the floor and the other held his breath as if struck by fear. Even the crowd stopped in their tracks as though a weight pressed down on them.

"What the fuck?!" the first man said.

"Gale, no! Bad!" Rachel flicked him on his forehead, abruptly stopping the growl. The whole crowd and the three men resumed their breathing.

Kyle and Clyde burst out in laughter. Lily shook her head and Erin remained as emotionless as she had always been.

Rachel pulled at Gale's hand, dragging him along the streets, then shot a look at everyone else, effectively ending the whole encounter.

"Gale," Rachel said.

He looked down, not daring to reply.

"Gale," Rachel said with a stronger tone.

"But those three men were bad!" Gale said. Definitely they were bad. He did nothing wrong.

"Yes, but don't listen to those two idiots," Rachel said.

Kyle and Clyde were still laughing as they followed behind. "Worth it. Got everything on video."

"I don't know... I just reacted," Gale said. "And I can see you laughing too."

"Ugh..." Rachel looked away. "Yeah. That was kind of funny."

"The growl was a commendable defensive tactic against those brutes," Erin said.

"Those guys did look like they were about to piss themselves," Lily said.

"They did," Gale said.

"How do you know that?" Lily asked.

"Smelled it right off the air, I bet," Clyde said.

Exactly. Traces of urine permeated through the jeans into the air of the man who fell on the floor. Clearly, the men had no guts to back up their display of strength. Just like Yohan, but Yohan became a friend. Not these guys.

As Lily led the group, she stopped in front of an alley after a couple more minutes walking.

"Here," she said.

The group turned into the alley. Gale's nose caught the smell of rotting food and old grease. A dumpster sat halfway down, lid propped open. Graffiti covered the walls, layers of tags and throw-ups bleeding into each other. Blue sutras covered the walls, seemingly placed randomly.

They walked deeper. The noise from the street faded as if the world outside never existed. A signature of ether covered the entirety of the alley, similar to how Lily's sigil felt but different.

On the right side, almost hidden behind a stack of wooden pallets, was a red door. No sign. No window. Just chipped paint and a brass doorknob.

Lily stepped up and knocked. Three times fast. Pause. Twice slow.

Something clicked, and Lily turned the knob slowly before pushing it open.

"After you," Lily said, gesturing to Rachel.

Rachel stepped through first. Gale followed, then Erin, then the twins. The door shut behind them with a solid thunk, and the lock clicked in place once again.

[Warning: Spatial Anomaly detected.]

[User has entered Domain: I Unknowingly Inherited My Mother's Shop In Between Dimensions, But All I Wanted Was A Cozy Life.]

Gale noticed the area first. The inside no longer looked like something from modern Earth. Instead, it was filled with wooden shelves, things that looked like goblin arms and legs in jars, a troll head on display that he'd only seen in illustrations in fantasy books he read at night.

Various trinkets littered along the counter that gave off etheric signatures of varying degrees from Awakened all the way to Mystic on the counter.

A crystal ball also glowed with a dark green and yellow pulse that had etchings similar to Tomb but somehow more organic rather than robotic.

Behind the counter, a woman was reading a blank brown book. Her hair was one half black, one half white. She wore an outfit that seemed to fit a fantasy world more than modern Earth. An off white shirt contrasted with a dark green collar. White gloves that had buttons lined along the ring finger. A dark green skirt flowed down to cover her ankles.

Her signature was all the more unsettling. A faint signature yet paradoxically vast and deeper than anything he had felt before. Gale would have guessed she was a Mystic or an Arcane, but he'd never met one before to compare. The being before him had an even deeper signature than the Blue Moon of the Eclipsed.

The woman looked up from her book. The small crocodile on her lap with scales that looked more like closed eyelids caught some light that seemingly came from nowhere.

"Lily," the woman said. Her voice carried an accent Gale couldn't place. Something European but old. "Welcome back. It has been some time since your last visit."

"Witch Moura," Lily said, stepping forward. She gestured to the group behind her. "I brought some friends today. This is Gale and Erin. The others you already know."

"The annoying ones," Witch Moura interrupted, her eyes landing squarely on Kyle and Clyde. "I remember these two quite well."

Kyle grinned and nudged Clyde. "See? We made an impression."

"Probably from our handsomeness," Clyde said.

"No," Witch Moura said. "I was correct the first time. Annoying. Very annoying."

The crocodile on her lap opened one yellow eye, and all the other 30 eyes on its back opened as well, fixed on the twins. Its tail swished once against her skirt before settling back down and closing its eyes.

Rachel leaned against the counter. "Good to see you again, Moura."

Witch Moura nodded. "Good to see you too, Rachel. How's your classes?"

"Doing well. Kind of. Missed the last half of a semester, but it's fine. No biggie," Rachel said.

"I'm glad it's going well, partially. I also see the two new faces are also healthy," Witch Moura said, closing her book with a smile. "What can I do for you today?"

Kyle leaned against a shelf displaying preserved hearts in jars that had circles tattooed all over their surface. "Hey, where's that Chinese guy? Walked in here through Chinatown expecting to see my favourite employee of yours."

"Vacation with his wife to Austere. Sadly, you missed him just by a day."

Gale looked at Rachel. Then back at Lily. "Aren't we in Chinatown anymore?"

Rachel turned to him. "We entered her realm through that door. It's a being of the Void and can be at multiple places at once. Every door leads to this shop."

"Oh." Gale glanced back at the red door they'd come through. It looked normal. Chipped paint. Brass knob.

Analyze.

[Cutey PuffPuff]

[Stage: Resonant]

[Description: An entity found in the depths of the Void along the city of Uucliddin. These beings can exist in multiple spaces at once and connect spatial anchors to one designated point. Puffpuff likes to sleep.]

Erin stood by the door, one hand extended. Her fingers traced along the frame's edge, running over the wood grain as if she were petting an animal.

Two eyes opened on the door's surface.

Yellow. Vertical-slitted.

They blinked once, focusing on Erin's hand. Then again, slower. Moisture gathered at the corners, making them look wet. Like they were about to cry.

"Erin!" Rachel said harshly. "Stop bothering her and just come over here!"

Erin didn't move. Her hand kept tracing patterns on the frame. "Fascinating. Using beings of the Void for such creative practical utility is unprecedentedly unheard of. This being was deemed useless for its easily destructible vitality, small stature, and non-combat use. I have taken note of such practicality as you Earthlings would call 'it is locked in'."

The door's eyes followed her hand movements. A soft whimpering sound came from somewhere deep in the wood.

"Erin!"

Witch Moura sighed. "Please do not make Puffpuff cry again. It takes hours to calm her down."

Lily went over to Erin and pulled her away from the door back to the group.

The door's eyes slowly closed, though Gale could still see the wet tracks running down the wood grain.

Witch Moura sighed. "I would very much like to return to my reading. So. What do you want?"

Lily stepped up to the counter and cleared her throat. "Do you have any more ghost killing powder?"

Before anyone could blink, a leather pouch materialized on the counter between them. It landed with a soft thump, sending up a tiny puff of ghostly silver dust from its mouth.

"Five gold pieces," Witch Moura said.

Lily didn't flinch. Instead, her expression was a mask of utmost seriousness that Gale hadn't seen from her before. Even more serious than how she looked fighting the Proctor.

"How about three gold pieces plus a piece of artifact from a rift we just came back from?" she said.

Witch Moura's eyes narrowed slightly. "That depends entirely on the artifact. Let me see it first."

Lily glanced over her shoulder and gave Clyde a small nod.

Clyde reached into his Canada Goose jacket. The same jacket that had produced at least five Twinkies in the last hour. Or maybe four. Honestly, Gale lost count, and he said there was 14 left in there. But this time, he pulled out something different.

A small square panel. The same metal panel they found in the warehouse near the power plant of the Tomb, but cut into a 5x5 cm square. Etched lines ran across its surface, somehow still pulsing with the same light it had back in the rift.

Clyde placed it on the counter carefully.

Witch Moura picked it up with both hands, turning it over slowly. This time, it caught the attention of the crocodile.

"Fangfang looks interested," Witch Moura said as she put the panel in front of the crocodile. It took a sniff of the panel once and then nodded its head at her.

She smiled. "Three gold pieces it is."

The panel vanished. One moment it was in her hands, the next it was gone. No flash. No sound. Just gone.

Lily reached into her pocket and pulled out three coins. Pure gold, each one perfectly round and stamped with a large letter "A" that looked handwritten but definitely stamped. She placed them on the counter one by one, disappearing as they touched the counter.

Then her gaze shifted to Gale. Fangfang's head turned as well, all 30 of its eyes now fixed on him.

"FangFang seems to have taken an interest in you," Witch Moura said. Her smile widened slightly, showing teeth. "How about a fortune telling?"