Unsure of the message’s urgency, Daniel opened the door to his room and sprinted into the bathroom. He hopped into the shower, washing off his body. The scar was prominent on his left shoulder, and the tingling sensation caused him to flex in reaction to the water flowing over. He slightly massaged it, reaching and rubbing over the rigid area right on the shoulder blade.

  Bluish water flowed down to the drain. Daniel gave one look at his hand, and there was a pure stain on his fingers. No time to spare, he took a sprint in the shower and left after a minute. He walked to the bathroom mirror and tilted his back towards the mirror, seeing blue liquid painted around the stitched scar.

  In less than two minutes, Daniel was out of the bathroom with his clothes on and grabbed his phone and his watch. He left the room, and Lian opened her door. She was dressed up in Earth's fashion. Black jeans, black tennis shoes, a gray T-Shirt, and a black leather jacket. “What’s the hurry?”

  “Trouble at the house of a close one. Are you coming?”

  “Sure, let’s go,” Lian said, then followed Daniel.

  The two exited the front entrance and headed to the garage. Daniel opened one of the three garage doors. Behind it was a twenty-eighteen Ford Expedition. Unlike the Ford F-150 Raptor, the Expedition was tuned and modified. Bulletproof frame and wheels. The original 3.5L EcoBoost V6 engine was thrown away and replaced with a turbocharged 6.2L V8.

  Daniel grabbed a key fob in the garage and pushed the unlock button. “Get in,” he said to Lian.

  The two entered the SUV, and Daniel turned it on, driving out of the garage. He then sped. It was mentally wrenching as he lived in a large, gated community, and it was a safety risk to speed. He went over the thirty miles per hour speed limit, going fifty. Drifting to the gatepost, he halted and was growing impatient, waiting for the gate to open.

  Drifting out of the neighborhood, Daniel made a sharp right and drove straight to Colemond Highway One (CH1). His eyes sparked left and right as he sped, risking the chances of getting pulled over with a few miles left until reaching Mother Elaine’s district. With all luck, he finally made it to the exit. Descending on the off-ramp, he stepped on the pedal to get to the far-right lane and detoured into the open neighborhood.

  After he drove through a maze of uneven streets, Daniel reached the familiar territory and one left turn, seeing bright blue and red glaring light overwhelming in the distance.

  After walking a few steps, he saw two officers standing in the middle of the street, behind the yellow tape midair, labeling “Crime scene.” Parking alongside the curb, he and Lian got out of the Expedition, and the two cops ducked under the tape, confronting him at approach. A crime scene?

  They recognized him.

  “Sir.”

  “Joe…I was told something urgent happened, and I had to come immediately. So, what are the details?”

  Joe pointed to Mother Elaine’s house, and Mother Elaine, with her long, blonde hair flowing like a silken river, was standing outside on her front lawn. “A homicide inside.”

  Daniel turned to Joe, wondering if he was serious. The latter said he was, so Daniel and Lian went under the yellow straps. They walked through the police vehicles and ambulances. Something happened here, and it was like a trainwreck. A part of the street was decimated like a meteor strike. It was a deep crater, and a few houses around it were damaged. Daniel then looked at Mother Elaine’s house. Her house was an average two-story house. He thought it was very strange, then pointed to the left corner upstairs.

  “The rest of the house was fine, but why is there a mess up there?” He asked Lian, who was analyzing it too.

  She touched the edge of the crater. “The term you guys call foul play. This wasn’t a coincidence,” she said, and looked at the house’s second floor again. Lian also pointed to where Daniel had a moment ago. She kept her voice only for him to hear. “You see that clean cut.”

  Daniel nodded. “Good point…Now you mention it, if something this gigantic had damaged houses around except Mother Elaine’s—”

  “Our enemies must have been responsible for creating this mess,” Lian said with her arms crossed. She then walked to the front lawn. “See, look. A clean cut with no uneven ridges…And these symbols.”

  Daniel followed to get a better view. He sensed the surge of heat as he got closer to the wall. And he partially lifted his head and stared directly at the cut. It looked like an axe or some kind of blade had pierced through the brick and wood.

  A clean slice. But that wasn’t the worst thing. So, he headed to the front door, where he was met with Mother Elaine, holding a crumpled tissue in her hand. She sat in the living room, leaning near the fireplace and watching silently as the investigators conversed at the dining table. She saw Daniel coming inside, where she succumbed to his arms. He heard the sounds of tears muffled by his jacket and let her be while he stood. Her ragged husband came out from the kitchen, drinking a bottle of beer.

  Seeing him was a nuisance. Daniel quickly turned his focus away from that guy and asked Mother Elaine. “What happened? And where’s Ava?”

  Mother Elaine shakes her head, smudging his shirt. “Ava was…”

  Daniel was confused while Mother Elaine let herself off of him, pointing upstairs. She led him along the way to the front of the staircase, plowed by the marks of footsteps. He and Lian quickly marched up the stairs, meeting a couple of photo investigators taking snapshots outside of Ava’s room.

  “I got a bad feeling about this,” Lian whispered.

  “I have one conclusion on what might be behind that door, but I hope I’m wrong,” Daniel muttered.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Before you go in,” one investigator said in a fatigued voice, “put these on.” He handed gas masks to Daniel and Lian.

  After the two put on, Daniel prorated the doorknob and slowly pushed inward and barged through the gaseous haze, tampering with the entire room. Lian closed the door and demonstrated her qi for the first time by exerting it out of her body. The room was cleaned of the suspicious gas. Daniel unlocked the window and lifted it, letting the air recirculate. A few seconds passed, and the room was less contained. Hence, the two took their gas masks off.

  After a little breather, Daniel and Lian saw Ava lying on the bed. She was facing to her right, which was away from the door. Daniel called her name a few times to no avail. When he walked to her bedside, there was a foul smell. It reached his nostrils. Lian, who was a few steps away from him, smelled it too and grimaced.

  "She's dead, Daniel," Lian said.

  Daniel put his finger on Ava's neck and checked for a pulse.

  Nothing.

  He forced himself to hold his running tears. Facing her lifeless face, he observed the layer of blankets, finding a dark, heavy puddle of stain. “Oh, my lord.”

  He reacted in horror to her lifeless body before noticing a wide blood trail matching the wooden floor. The trail made one curve when it turned right at the corner of the bed frame's footboard. It headed straight to the closed bathroom door. He found a spare napkin on the desk and rubbed it on the surface of the knob, rotating it clockwise. Lian followed. The same haze came rushing out, partially striking Daniel’s eyes. He kicked the door fully, letting the haze out of the bathroom. Lian fired a shockwave blast into the bathroom, dispersing the haze.

  Daniel barged inside the bathroom and found the shower glass enclosures were all tempered in blood. With the napkin in his hand, he opened the shower door, and an individual in black, who was hiding inside, flew at him.

  In a quick millisecond, Daniel grabbed the cloaked individual by the torso and threw him to the sink. The countertop was obliterated, and water burst from the broken pipe. Bits of porcelain were all over the floor. The latter leaped back up, and the two exchanged punches. Both crashed into the shower, shattering the glass and tiled walls. The cloaked individual towered over Daniel, strangling the latter's neck.

  Daniel outstretched his left leg and struck at the guy's left side repetitively. His enemy's grip weakened, and Daniel charged forward and gave a hook to the face. “Payback motherfucker!” He grabbed the individual's neck, throwing him out of the bathroom.

  Lian joined the brawl, and she summoned her katana and stabbed right to the cloaked individual's chest. She pinned him to the wall and partially turned to Daniel.

  Daniel looked at his hands. It was red, which was strange. The cuts and bruises he got from the fight were blue. He walked towards his attacker as his mouth tasted a surge of sour blood.

  Qi came out like wildfire from Daniel's hand. He didn't do that. However, he tried to follow what he remembered in the book. After a few tries, he was able to suppress it to the point where he could control it. Lian briefly smiled and turned back to the guy she pinned. Part of the purple wall was painted with the latter's blood.

  Daniel went up to the individual and tore off the cloak with his qi.

  Lian erupted. "Xavier?! Are you kidding me? Is this what you are doing?!"

  "Impossible…You shouldn't be here," Xavier muttered as he was drooling blood. He then turned to Daniel. "And you. Who taught you magic?!"

  Daniel intently shrugged. "I don't know. Why do you need to know?"

  "Answer me!"

  "Nah."

  "You—"

  Lian forced her blade harder, lifting Xavier higher. "You will answer us, and I just stabbed your heart. One more interruption, you die. Do you understand?"

  Silence.

  Daniel took a few steps back, and he removed all the blankets from Ava's bed. He and Lian were confronted with such disgust and horror. “What the fu—”

  The two grimaced and looked at Xavier.

  "What the hell is wrong with you?" Lian yelled.

  "I went through assassination attempts…and now this?!" Daniel grunted. "You really know how to cross the damn line. Since you and Lian knew each other, I assume you are from Raal, too. Who the hell are you teaming up with?"

  "Answering it will solve nothing. It's inevitable. We will come and make Earth our new Raal, whether you like it or not. Starting tomorrow, Earth is going to get its first taste."

  Daniel processed what he was about to do. He grabbed the blankets, put them all back on the bed, and covered up Ava's deformed body. There was one spare pillow next to her, so he put it on top of her face and lifted the blanket to cover everything.

  Daniel walked up to Xavier. "You see. I had goals in my life. A life of peace and a lifetime resolution, and I have been working on it for the past few years, building it up," he said, then pointed at Xavier’s face. “I’m already one step ahead of you on Raal refugees. They will come, but not your way.”

  “Do you really think you can tell us what to do?”

  Lian grimaced, gripping the hilt of her katana. "You did your part. Too bad you’re on the other side."

  Silt

  "Bastar—"

  Daniel didn't look away until most of Xavier's blood leaked out. Lian then let her right hand off the hilt.

  "Now what?"

  "I don't know…" Daniel said. He pulled out his phone and called Joe.

  "Hello?"

  "Joe, I need you to order everyone to clear away from the site immediately."

  "Yes, sir. Is something wrong?"

  "No, but we are packing it up, right now. And for y'all's safety, every one of y’all must be cleared from the house now."

  "What about the—"

  "Did I make myself clear? Clean up and leave. Also, if I find any of you telling the press, you're fired."

  The phone cut off, and a minute later, Daniel heard footsteps rampaging beyond the door. Lian pulled out the katana and disabled the barrier. Xavier's body collapsed to the floor.

  With some idea of qi control, blue flames erupted from Daniel's body as he put his phone away. He pulled all the connected plugs from the outlets, leaving them exposed in the open. Afterward, he set Ava's body on fire.

  He went to one of her drawers, taking an unloaded Beretta 92. Two shots were fired at the two outlets. Daniel then fired flames from his finger and grabbed Lian out of the room. The two sprinted and jumped to the first floor. At a quick pace, he reached Mother Elaine’s hand, grabbed her, and headed to the back of the house.

  There was one problem. Daniel was sprinting frantically. He couldn’t slow down since this was his first time moving faster than a bicycle. All three braced themselves as they crashed through the back door, landing in the small backyard.

  Kaboom!