The Perceptive Girl (1)
1028 Words
Nighttime. In a hall full of walls of candles, as well as creepy and evil imagery.
Several hooded figures witness an unconscious woman, lying on a flat bed, ready for her heart to be pierced by an intricate-looking dagger that is being held by a hooded man.
The man is chanting otherworldly words as he prepares for this ceremony of sacrifice, before he declares the following.
“In the name of our overlord Asmodahaka, let this sacrifice be our offering, as the end of days is near.”
And...
A stab can be heard, ending the poor sacrificial woman's life.
“This sacrifice is complete. Now, for our overlord's awakening to be complete, the sacrifice of a psychic woman shall be done post-haste! With that, everyone will bend to our indomitable will!”
The scene abruptly changes; as a girl wakes up, and she is screaming and gasping for breath.
“N... No... Why do I see this nightmare every week? What's more... I feel so powerless in stopping them. I wish... I wasn't born with this gift at all.”
She then forces herself back to sleep, trying to forget what she just saw.
It's a new morning.
I get to do my usual morning rituals and greeting my parents before I leave for work.
But before I can actually leave, I come across a somewhat disturbing news report.
“Our top story for today. Religious leaders all over the United States are threatened that some of their fellows have been assassinated by snipers in the past few days, and they even hired private security details as countermeasures. While the assassination patterns are similar, that is, the victims were done in by head shots from an elevated angle; investigators are still at a loss as to who carried out those assassinations in the first place, as pieces of evidence in the crime scenes were minimal and were often false leads.”
Thanks, news organizations. You've given a sour start to my day.
Meanwhile... in another corner of town...
The hooded figure also catches wind of the grim news of assassinations of religious leaders, and thus...
“Hmph. So some evil overlord wannabe's now attempting to steal the spotlight, huh? Alright, then. I'll help him this time. If I can lead him to someone who has the key to stopping that wannabe's literally diabolical plans... then it'll be all peachy, and I can have my share of good, clean fun back.”
She then shines the object, letting its powers do something more than just generating monsters.
The object then displays a picture of a young brunette girl who earns a living by fortunetelling.
“She's the one, alright. OK, Gjallarhorn. Please protect her at all costs.”
The figure then flees to parts unknown.
I'm on my way to the hospital when...
“Kyaa!”
I hear a cute gasp coming from a brunette girl as I unknowingly bump into her.
Yeah, one of those well-worn “meet cute” cliches found in romantically-inclined works.
Fortunately, we both don't tumble on the ground.
I try my best to not be furious at her for getting in my way.
“Sorry. I'm on my way to work.”
“Me too.”
“Oh. So where are you working at?”
“Over there.”
She points towards the direction of a hole-in-the-wall establishment.
“'Aurielee's Psychic Services and More?'”
“Yup. I work as a fortuneteller.”
“Oh. I don't believe in fortunetelling, but a job is still a job.”
“And you've got a quite nice job, too. You work at the nearby hospital?”
She takes a peek at my work ID.
“Uh-huh. Well, I have to go to work now.”
“You can meet up with me later.”
I can meet up with her? Hmm...
I think there's something within me that compels me to do just that right after work.
I have nothing else to do tonight, anyway.
“OK. Later, then.”
“Later.”
We then part ways, and we eventually get to our jobs as promptly as possible.
The end of the work day then comes, and I have to keep my word of meeting the fortuneteller girl.
I make my way through the usual commuting route until I come across the sign.
“Aurielee's Psychic Services and More”. That's the name of the establishment. It's found across the street.
The brunette girl readily greets me once I enter her establishment.
“Hey, you're the guy from this morning! Good afternoon, and welcome to Aurielee's Psychic Services and More. I'm Aurielee Metzinger, the sole proprietress.”
“And I'm Bernard Whitman, medical transcriptionist at Wenceslaus Vincent Memorial Medical Center. Nice to meet you, Aurielee.”
“Nice to meet you too. I guess... the dream I had last night was 100% accurate. It was about meeting a man who can stand up to an evil cult.”
“Oh... so you do have the gift of reading the future. Sure fits your job.”
“But it's also a curse. More often than not, I can see religious leaders being killed by snipers' bullets left and right in these past few weeks... It's all too scary...”
“Ah yes. I've also stumbled upon it in the news.”
“Good thing we are destined to be together... to put an end to the cult once and for all. Of course, I won't charge you.”
“Heh.”
“So let's get started, shall we? With my powers, I already know where the cult's headquarters is. It's at...”
But before she can divulge that useful piece of information...
I can hear some menacing footsteps approaching, as well as guns being locked and loaded.
“Watch out!”
I cover her as we hide behind a steel wall.
Seconds later, rapid machine gun fire showers the entire establishment, decimating everything in its path.
From a peep hole in the steel wall, I can spot the ones opening fire at us.
They are hooded men armed with machine guns, undoubtedly.
After they confirm they've “killed” their targets, they promptly flee the scene.
Once we ensure the coast is clear, we leave the cover of the steel wall, and we can see that everything in her establishment is a mess.
“it's them! It's the Serpent's Fruit cult! They're trying to kill us next because they knew we're getting to them!”
“Calm down, Aurielee. I'm the one destined to protect you, right? And you've dreamed that I'm helping you destroy that cult for good, right? I'll make sure both of these come true.”
“Yes!”
“So then... please tell me the thing you really wanted to tell me before that ambush happened.”
“Of course. The headquarters of the Serpent's Fruit cult resides in an abandoned fortress somewhere in Brighton Plains, which lies west of town.”
“Got it. Let's go, then.”
- Writer
