Pedro

Chapter 3:The Declaration

Pedro was left thinking about the offer from two weeks ago as he lay on the sofa. "Seems magic was not lost after all. Just kept from the public eye," he thought. After his encounter with Maria, Pedro spent the rest of his week gathering information about the new norm of the magical people. He was a little intrigued about the changes that had transpired since the time of his era. The magical community was slowly declining as the years passed. The cause was unknown, but this presented a problem for those with magical gifts. Soon, discrimination started to rise, and the infamous witch hunt also began during the Dark Ages. To avoid extinction, witches and wizards built their shelters. They developed medicine to combat the decline of magical affinity for their people, though selective breeding was also implemented to ensure that children would inherit their parents' magical affinity.

Centuries passed, and the common folk forgot about the people with magic. This was due to years of magical folks trying their hardest to erase their existence from history. Statues, documents, artifacts, and those who knew were sworn to secrecy. The magical folks finally found peace for a few years, but a threat started to appear on the horizon. The blood of the demons evolved due to the breeding of different animals. Creatures like centaurs, vampires, evil spirits, werewolves, and many others arose and started to wreak havoc on Earth. Strange cases started to appear. Random killings began to happen. The people didn't know how to combat this threat, as it didn't show itself in the public eye. It stayed hidden, usually at night. Victims were usually found beyond recognition. Seeing as ordinary folks were the victims at first, the magical people stayed away, but that changed when they were being targeted too.

With a threat of this magnitude, the magical folks had no choice but to announce their existence once more, but only to those trustworthy enough. The government had sworn to keep their existence to a minimal degree to avoid mass panic, and in turn, the magical folks would help them combat this threat. And with that, the Exorcist Organization was born—an organization run by both magical and non-magical people that combats the unnatural threat.

His musings came to an end when he heard a knock at his front door. "Hmm? Who could that be," he thought. He got up and opened the door, and a familiar face came to greet him.

"Greetings, Pedro?"

Pedro blinked. "Maria? What are you doing here?" Pedro asked. "I came here regarding our earlier conversation last week. Can I come in?" Maria replied.

"Ok."

Pedro led Maria to the living room, and they made themselves comfortable. "Have you thought it out?" Maria began.

"About what?"

"About my proposal."

"Oh. Yeah, I have."

"And?"

"No."

Maria raised her left eyebrow. "Have you really thought it over?" Maria asked. "Yes," Pedro replied. "And?"

"The answer is still no."

"Why though?" Maria asked.

"Look, my reasons are my own, alright? If you have nothing more to say, just go."

"Please, I insist. I felt your power the moment you purged those two spirits. We need your strength. The creatures are getting stronger every year. There are not a lot of us to purge them. If this continues..."

"I'm sorry, but the answer is still no."

Maria was silent. "Fine." Maria slammed the door as she left. Pedro sighed after the incident. "Why don't they just leave me alone?" Pedro thought.

The next day, he was getting ready for work and was about to head out when he felt a presence outside the door. Hoping he was wrong in his assumption, he opened the front door and, to his disappointment, he was right. Facing in front of him was none other than Maria. She wore simple casual clothing. A yellow polo, gray jeans, and chunky sneakers. "Why are you here again?" Pedro couldn't help but ask. "Pedro, I insist that you reconsider your decision," Maria said. "I already said no, alright? Now, if you excuse me…" Pedro quickly left, leaving Maria standing outside his house.

Pedro made his way to the hardware store where he was greeted by his boss. "You're late. What have you been doing, boy?!" his boss yelled at him. "I'm sorry, sir. I got sidetracked because of this weird lady..." Pedro replied but was quickly cut off. "I don't care! Get to work! These products ain't going to sell themselves," his boss replied. "Yes, sir," Pedro sighed. He quickly went to work as dozens of customers had lined up for the day. Once the last customer had left, he was greeted by another one. He put on a smile with his eyes closed and said, "Hello, what would you like to buy?"

"Pedro, please reconsider."

Pedro almost screamed that time, but he would not admit that. Standing in front of him was none other than Maria with her usual blank expression. "What the heck are you doing in here? Didn't I already tell you? My answer is no." Maria still didn't budge, however. "What do you want in return? If money's the problem, we can give you a salary bigger than this one," Maria replied. "My ANSWER IS STILL-" Pedro was cut off when his boss saw him. "Pedro! Why are you yelling at the customer?!" Pedro grew agitated at this. "S-sir, this is not what it looks like," Pedro said. "Oh really? Then by all means please enlighten me."

"My apologies, sir," Maria said. Pedro's boss turned to look at her. "Pedro and I were just having a very important conversation."

"Well, I don't care, Miss, whoever you are. This is a hardware store, not a social store. If you're not here to buy my wares, then get out."

Sensing that this man couldn't be reasoned with, Maria backs away. Pedro let out a sigh as she finally left.

"I really hope that's the last time I'll see her," Pedro thought before he went back to work. His walk to his house is surprisingly calm. Maria didn't show up and demanded him to reconsider his decision. It was just quiet. After watching his favorite show, he went to sleep.

A sudden noise outside woke him up. Pedro checked the clock and saw it was 5:00 am. "What's with all that noise?" Pedro muttered. He got up and went out. Pedro saw a lot of movers, carrying furniture to the newly bought house right next to him. "Huh? But who bought this house?" Pedro muttered aloud.

"That would be me."

Pedro went still at the voice. "Of course, it would be you." Pedro turned and saw Maria staring at him. "Why would you go so far though? Do others get the same style of recruitment as you do? Man, I feel sorry for them if that's the case."

"No. Potential candidates will be given a summary of the Exorcist Organization. They will get given the general info of what our job is about, its salary, its risks, and many more. After that, it was up to them if they chose to take this job or not."

Pedro's left eyebrow went up at this. "If that's true then why are you still being fixated on me?" He questioned. Maria turned to her right. Her eyes gained a faraway look. "Throughout my career, I have never failed. Whenever they gave me something to accomplish, I always delivered it. There was nothing I couldn't do...until you came along," Maria looked at him, her eyes narrowing and a ghost of a smile was present on her face. "You gave me a challenge, you gave me a reason to try harder. For that, I thank you. You can refuse all you want but at the end of the day, I promise you, you will join us," Maria declared. Pedro didn't have a rebuttal to that. He was confused about either being impressed or angry at her declaration. Pedro couldn't help but let out a scoff at her.

"Big words right there, Maria. You would better not turn back on your words because my answer will never change."

"Only time will tell, Pedro.