The first chapter of 2021, here we go.


PLEASE FILL OUT A MISSING PERSON REPORT


The line on the phone rang on and on, just as it had been doing for the past several times Kent had tried. He sat in his chair behind the help desk at Infiscape, holding his cellphone to his ear while drumming his free hand on his lap anxiously.

"Hey there, this is Pryce Burns. I'm not available right now, I'm probably away at a mean game of Fortnite or something like that. Leave a message and I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible." The phone repeated for the dozenth time.

"Pryce, this is Kent again," he began, concern in his voice. "You haven't returned any of my calls recently; I haven't heard from you for a while now. I just want to make sure everything is alright. Call me back if you get this." He sighed, taking the phone away from his ear and slipping it back into his pocket.

He leaned back into his chair, the back folding under his weight.

Kent didn't know what to do, every time he tried to call his cousin the line fell through every time. While Pryce was a bit carefree and had a tendency to get distracted sometimes, this just wasn't like him. He would've gotten a call back by now, and the fact that he hadn't yet left Kent concerned about his cousin.

He stared up at the wavy glass ceiling, and at the clear blue sky beyond. Was his cousin somewhere looking up at the same thing he was? He could only hope.

Kent sighed deeply and sorrowfully. While he was worried about Pryce's wellbeing, there wasn't anything that he could do about it right now. He was on the clock, and he couldn't just take off suddenly over what might be nothing at all. What he needed was to clear his head, to think about something other than Pryce's situation - which was hopefully nothing.

But what exactly could he do to alleviate his thoughts?

He looked over the counter towards the main hall, where golden rays of sunlight shown down through the clear ceiling, impacting onto the floor below. It had been a slow day so far, with there being little in terms of visitors and tourists. He looked over to the waiting area, where there sat a lone elderly man with graying hair, as he stirred a cup of hot apple cider - but he seemed content.

Kent looked away from the hall, he obviously couldn't rely on a visitor with questions as a distraction. I do have some paperwork I need to get done, maybe I could use that? He pondered while looking at his desk.

And then his gaze fell on the small ukulele he had tucked away in the corner.

"Hmm," he murmured before readjusting the glasses on his face.

Leaning forward in his seat, he reached out for his ukulele and gently picked it up. Bringing it up to his chest, he carefully plucked at a couple of the strings, creating a soft tune that sung to his ears.

Making himself comfortable in his chair, Kent closed his eyes and began to strum at the strings. With each stroke of his hand, he weaved together a harmonious melody.

With the tune flooding into his ears, he let it take him away - transporting him into a safe place where the music took him over.

"When the dark falls, and all the heroes have fled. You can find hope, despite all senses of crushing dread." He sang softly, the notes parting from his lips making a sorrowful tune that inspired hope.

"When things seem bleak, and you feel all small and weak. When the world feels like it's crashing, and there are monsters around you thrashing.

"There's one thing that will keep you going, and that is the notion of knowing."

"There's a hero inside us all!"

"There's a hero inside us all!"

"When fires rage and towers fall, it may serve as an omen of darker days. When bridges burn and people cry, their sorrowful mourns reaching the sky. Just remember, there is reason yet not to weep, there is reason yet for our hope to keep.

"When evil rains down, upon our bloodied towns."

"But there's one thing that will keep you going, and that is the notion of knowing."

"There's a hero inside us all!"

"There's a hero inside us all!"

He began to ease up on his strumming, letting the tune grow soft and fade, as his voice grew even quieter.

"There's a hero."

"There's a hero...in us all.

As he let his song come to a close, sudden clapping snapped him out of his trace he had made. Bolting upright, he snapped his head side to side like a startled meerkat as he looked for the source of the noise.

Standing just in front of the help desk was a little young woman, about twenty to thirty, who was knocking on the window with a smile on her face.

"Hello, that was a very nice song." She said sweetly, her freckled face aglow from the shafts of light shining from above.

"Uh, thank you." He blushed softly as he fidgeted softly in place. "I-I didn't realize anyone was listening." He stammered meekly.

"I walked up when you were about halfway through, I would've said something but I didn't want to interrupt you." She said.

"Well, that's- that's very thoughtful of you." He blushed again.

"Now," he cleared his throat. "Did you need any help?" He asked the freckled-faced lady intuitively.

She nodded her head. "Yes, I do. Do you know if there are any tours today?"

"I don't believe so," Kent questioned as he broke contact with the woman and turned to his computer. Pressing a few keys, he navigated to the Infiscape home page and checked the time and date for tours.

"Okay," he said reading the text. "Tours are held on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, from noon to three P.M. Does that answer your question?"

The Lady gave a resounding sigh as she folded her arms in defeat. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess that does. I don't think I'll still be in town by Monday." She muttered to herself

"I'm sorry that things didn't work out how you wanted." He offered helpfully.

"Me too," she agreed. "Well anyway, thanks for the help." She said as she turned to leave. "I appreciate it."

"Your welcome," he called out as he watched her exit the building into the cold.

...

Kent walked up to the Halo ring motel where Pryce had been staying. A chilly breeze of crisp air blowing past him as he stared at the run-down venue.

After he finished at work, he tried calling his cousin again, only to receive the answering machine once more. So donning his orange turtle neck sweater that somewhat resembled the one worn by a certain member of a certain gang. He decided to go out and check on Pryce to make sure everything was alright.

Kent approached one of the run-down buildings and inspected it with a critical glare - it was a dump. Between the chipped paint, and disgusting walls and floors, it was a mystery to him how this place was still a working establishment. Honestly, from just looking at it - he wouldn't be surprised one bit if it was haunted.

Shoving his distaste for the motel aside, he got to searching for his cousin's room.

He walked down the aisle of doors taking note of each of their numbers as he passed. If he recalled correctly, Pryce had said that his door was number eighteen, while Kent was currently in the upper twenties. He started following the doors in order of which the numbers dropped - he started at twenty-seven, now he was at twenty-three.

Coming up upon door eighteen, Kent waited a minute before knocking as he attempted to catch any sounds from inside. When he didn't hear anything, he proceeded to knock on the door.

Nothing.

He knocked again.

Nothing.

He gave it a third go, except this time he banged on the door instead of knocked, hoping to get a reaction this way.

Nothing!

Moving over to the window, he peered through looking for any sign of movement or activity. But just like before, there was nothing: there were no lights on, the tv was off, and the room was silent - it was just...baren.

Kent backed up in confusion.

Where was he?

On the way over here, he had hoped that the reason for Pryce's quietness was nothing at all. Maybe he simply got his phone wet or something, Pryce had reasoned to himself. But seeing no sign of him at his motel room - he was becoming less and less sure.

There was NO way, that Pryce would just leave town all of a sudden, and not tell Kent. His cousin was the biggest Spyro fan he had ever met; he was crazy over that series. He wouldn't just pick up and leave without telling him; not when he was in the place of his dreams. He wouldn't do that...

...Right?

Kent turned his head in the direction of the motels front, where the office was. He didn't think that Pryce would check out willingly - but maybe he should still check.

Crossing the road, he hurried over to the office and, opening up the filthy door, let himself in.

This was a mistake! He gripped to himself as he gagged on the air; it was foul and putrid - how Pryce had put up with this when he checked-in, he had no idea.

Holding back the bile that was rapidly forming, he quickly walked over to the counter and got the attention of the obese man working here.

"Excuse me," He asked politely, through stifled breaths.

The man simply cast an expressionless glace Kents' way.

"Um," Kent continued when the man didn't say anything. "I was just wondering if anyone had checked out of room eighteen recently, if that's, not too much to ask?"

At Kent's request, the man gave an annoyed sigh, sluggishly moving from where he had been, he moved over to the computer and taped a few keys. After a few seconds, the man turned to him and gave a resounding "No."

"Thank you for help." He said, nodding his head in acknowledgment before hurrying out the door.

Back outside, he took a deep breath of fresh air. Well, that was an agonizing waste of time.

Kent really didn't know what to do now, Pryce didn't answer any of his calls, he wasn't in his room, and he hadn't checked out.

Figuring the motel as a dead end, he opted to leave this dump and go search for his cousin elsewhere.

He came up upon a dark blue suburban parked at the edge of the parking lot away from other cars. He stepped up to the car and stuck the key in, turning the lock and opening the door. He had gotten this car from a guy on Craigslist about a year ago, one who, judging by the smell that was in the vehicle when he first got it - led him to be half convinced that the previous owner was either a drug dealer or a mafia enforcer.

Getting in the car - which he had long since cleaned, along with a couple of air fresheners for good measure - he started the engine and pulled out onto the main road.

He soon found himself driving slowly along the roads and back streets of Angel Springs, aimlessly wandering the town as he looked for his missing cousin.

Where are you, Pryce? He groaned internally as he drove down roads bustling with people and dragons. He made sure to carefully scan as many faces as he could, in hopes that one of them would be Pryce - but every time it was somebody else.

At one point, he drove past a food truck in an empty side lot that was serving humans and dragons alike, and he wondered to himself if his cousin could've gone there.

He has to be here somewhere. Kent told himself, he had been wanting to come here ever since the dragons had shown up, so it made no sense for him to just leave, no he had to be here.

He kept on driving through town, spotting dragons here and there, while not once seeing any sign of his cousin; he must have been driving for about an hour already, and still nothing.

As he made a pass down a side street, something that Pryce had said to him previously came to his brain. It had been on that one day at Infiscape, his cousin asked him if he'd seen anything weird, and he called his cousin back the next day to talk about it.

I had heard some rumors floating around, and I was wondering if you had noticed something. Pryce's words replayed themselves in Kent's head, as he began to put two and two together.

Are you sure, you haven't heard anything? The memory of Pryce said.

Kent replayed those words over and over. Now that he thought about it, that was the last time the two of them spoke before he lost contact.

Pryce wouldn't just leave Angel Springs, not after he just got here...but what if something else had happened?

"Pryce, what've you gotten yourself into?" Kent asked himself worriedly.

And with that, he immediately changed direction and headed for the police department.

...

Kent parked his car just outside the local police station, stepping out, he looked ahead at the big building. A set of stairs led up to a set of double glass doors where people could exit and enter. Police cars were parked all over the area, some directly in front of the station, and others further back at the edge of the parking lot.

He made his way up the steps, doing his best to stay calm and composed despite the nervous feelings tugging at him.

He came up upon the large glass doors that led into the station, there were actually two sets of doors, not just the expected one. In the months since the dragons had appeared, many establishments that were big enough to support them had remodeled to included bigger doors for dragons to enter. The doors were set up so there was a large one for dragons to use, and then there was a door within the door meant for humans.

Opening the smaller door, Kent stepped into a large diamond-shaped room, with hallways branching off at the corners to other parts of the station. Off to his left was the supervisor's office; the chiefs on his right. Directly across from him was the administration desk, the lobby just off to the side of it.

People and officers milled about the room, going about their work, or bringing in suspects for processing.

Sitting at administration was a blonde-haired woman who was going over some documents at one of the computers there. Walking up to the desk, Kent got the woman's attention.

"Excuse me?" Kent asked, prompting the woman to look up at him in response.

"Yes, may I help you?" She inquired.

"Um, yeah you can." He placed his palms flat on the counter. "I'd like to report someone as missing." He declared.

She nodded her head at him before upping up a drawer and rummaging through it. "Okay," she said, pulling a sheet of paper out of the drawer. "If you'll fill this out then someone will be with you shortly."

She gave him the paper and a pencil. "You can stay here and fill it out, or you can do it over there." She said, pointing to the lobby.

Taking the stuff, he gratefully thanked her and made his way over to the area indicated.

Unlike the waiting area back at Infiscape, this lobby wasn't anything to gawk at. While the waiting area at his work had amenities such as tv, a snack machine, and a beverage station, the one here didn't have any of that, just a few chairs and a table.

Sitting down in the lobby, he took the paper he was given and looked it over. It was asking basic and essential questions: gender, name, height, etc. As well as more specific details, such as when they were last seen and where.

Taking the pencil he was given, he began to fill out the questions that the form asked, describing Pryce's appearance when he last heard from him and anything else it asked.

Now that he'd filled out the form, all that was left was to wait for someone to meet up with him. But a quick glance at all the busy activity currently going on the station told him that it might be a while before anyone came out to speak with him.

Picking up the form, he set it next to him before fully laying back in his chair, he had no idea how long he might be here, so it seemed to him that it was best to get comfortable.

...

Kent was wiped.

First, he had hours of a slow workday, doing practically nothing aside from sitting around in boredom with almost no-one to talk to. Then, once he clocked off of work, he wound up spending a good portion of the day visiting a run-down, garbage dump of a motel. visiting a foul-smelling office that would put a public restroom to shame. And driving all over town, meticulously scouring the streets as he tried to locate his cousin who had seemingly gone missing.

Then, he went to the police department to report him missing, where he was instructed to fill out some paperwork while he waited for someone to come help. Well, he filled out the paper as he'd been told, but he wound up waiting far longer than he had expected. He ended up waiting around the police station for about an hour, with no-one coming to speak with him till long after he showed up.

But of course, he couldn't really blame them. Taking a look around the station, he could tell that they were very busy. They were up to their shoulders in work; swamped with so much stuff that it was hard to keep up.

Eventually, however, somebody did come to help him.

Finally, a tall cop came sauntering up to him, an aura of authority coming off of him. Handing him the report, Kent told the officer everything he knew about what happened with Pryce, such as how prior to disappearing he'd been acting strangely, and mention rumors he'd heard.

After that was done, the cop took all the information he'd been giving and thanked him, promising that they'd do everything in their power to find Pryce.

With their helpful reassurance, Kent was able to leave the station with an alleviated conscience. But despite the words of the police, he still felt worried and concerned over the fate of his missing cousin - and he could only hope that the police found him safe and sound.

By the time he found himself outside the station, the daylight had faded considerably - the bright blue sky, transitioning into oranges, purples, and blacks of the night sky as the sun sank below the horizon of the mountains.

Feeling the weight of his long day pressing down on him, Kent decided it best to call it a day and head home. Getting back in his car, he started up the engine and pulled out of the police station parking lot.

Driving back through town, the streets and sidewalks were far less busy now than how they were in the middle of the day. Neon signs on storefronts were lit up, street lights were coming on, bathing the small town in a multi-colored glow. At this point, only a few people - and the odd cheetah or Skywing - were still out and about, staying up late as they took care of business or just having a night on the town. The rest had gone home by now, to loving families, warm fireplaces, and a nice, comfy bed - something Kent intended to retire to as well.

Pulling onto a small culdesac filled with condos, he parked his car on the edge of the street. Getting out, he walked up the third condo on the right side of the road. Approaching the door, Kent went to pull his house key from his pocket but paused when it wasn't there. Calmy, he checked his other pocket, thinking it must be in that one - but again there was nothing. By now, he was starting to get a little worried, his house keys didn't seem to be on him and that posed a problem.

Returning to his car, he opened the door and began to meticulously search for his keys. He checked between the seats, on the floor, and places he could have set it down and forgotten, like the dash and console. He even checked on the ground outside his door, fearing he may have dropped it.

But the key was nowhere to be found.

He leaned back into the driver's side seat, slouching down as the weight of the situation came to hit him in full. His keys were gone, and that meant that he couldn't get into his house.

This was just great, first, his cousin went missing, and now he lost his keys.

He took a deep breath.

Okay. Don't panic. He told himself. Calm down and think, retrace your steps. Where could I have left the keys at? He then started to recount his day. Alright, first I got out of bed, showered, and got dressed. I hung around my place for about an hour before I left, and I made sure I had my keys when I did so - so that rules out me having left them behind.

Then, I stopped at the Grub and Go for a quick bite to eat; ordered some bacon and eggs. Still had my keys then, I felt them when I reached for my wallet to pay for my food.

He recalled.

Then after leaving the restaurant, I arrived at work to start my shift. I went into the employee's lounge to get into my lab coat, so I opened up my locker and...

He sighed in despair, letting his hand drop into his lap.

Then I put my key inside because I didn't want it on me right then.

He knew where he'd left his keys.

They were at Infiscape.

...

After restarting his car and pulling away from his home, he made the journey of driving all the way back through town to his workplace. Pulling up to the Infiscape headquarters, he brought his car to a slow halt in the parking lot.

He stepped out into the empty lot, an eerie silence permeating the air as he stared ahead of him. Infiscape was completely dark, its front being cast in shadows from the lack of light. The surrounding areas weren't any better, the parking lot was empty, and any nearby buildings had since been vacated, leaving them completely dark as well. All in all, the fact that there were zero people and no light only made the place seem dark and foreboding - like something sinister was lurking just beyond the shadows.

Gathering up his courage, Kent approached the dark building. Fishing a key out of his pocket, he unlocked the front door and quickly entered, closing it behind him.

If he thought Infiscape looked spooky from the outside, it was even more so on the inside. Darkness plagued the halls, casting everything around him in shadows that looked as if they were reaching out for him. Gastly streaks of moonlight pierced through the wavy glass ceiling, coating the building in a spectral like glow.

He quietly made his way down the hall, passing by the help desk as he made his way towards the lounge.

His footsteps echoed throughout the building, eerily piercing the silence of the empty halls. Kent felt cold chills creeping down his spine at the lack of people around. During work hours, he'd notice that a portion of the Infiscape staff would sometimes disappear, occasionally for hours at a time. Whenever this happened, Kent always found it to be kind of spooky, as if the people working here were suddenly dusted. But at this hour, in the dark and absolutely no people whatsoever - it was way worse.

Spending no more time than he needed here, he turned down a branching hallway and came to stop a door labeled lounge.

Within the lounge, it was pretty much what you'd expect, chairs and couches were provided for employees to rest, there were a couple of vending machines and a water jug. Along the back wall was a row of cabinets and a sink, as well as a fridge and microwave for workers to put food in. At the wall closest to him, was a set of lockers - which within one of them were his house keys.

Turning on the light, Kent walked up to the third locker at the end of the row and turned to enter his combination - three left, twelve right, and another nine right. The locker popped open with a soft click, allowing him to access its contents.

He had a few things put away inside his locker, such as papers, a couple of lab coats, a can of body spray, and a thing of breath mints. Looking around, he spotted the keys he was searching for behind the body spray. Reaching his hand in, he brushed the can aside as he grabbed his keys out of the locker before closing it back up with another click.

Pocketing the key, he was about to exit the door when his stomach suddenly gave off a growl. He brought up a hand and put it on his gut, it dawned on him that he hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast. In his haste to find his cousin, he hadn't found any time to stop and grab a bite to eat, so he wound up going most of the day without any food.

His stomach growled again, this time a little louder. His cheeks went hot as he sheepishly blushed at himself, he'd feel a bit embarrassed if there had been anyone else here to witness this.

His stomach gave another sharp growl, and he found himself feeling silly at having forgotten to eat anything - well, to be fair, being worried about someone will probably do that to you.

His stomach growled a fourth time, saying loud and clear that it wanted to be fed. Still standing in the doorway, he turned his head and looked over at the fridge, he did have something put away in there, and while he'd wanted to save it for lunch - now seemed like as good a time as any.

Quickly closing the gap between him and the fridge, he gripped the handle and pulled the door open. A blast of cold air assaulted him as he began inspecting the various foods on the stained and crusty shelves.

The fridge was filled to the brim with food and drinks that his fellow employees had brought for themselves. Brushing past items such as bowls of pasta and week-old Chinese food boxes, he reached towards the back of the fridge where the food was often neglected and untouched and pulled out a fresh sub-sandwich covered in plastic wrap.

Setting the sandwich down on one of the tables, he stepped over to one of the vending machines. Examining his desired snack, a bag of Cheetos as well as the price and number, he put some cash into the machine and pressed the buttons corresponding to the cheesy snack item. The small bag fell to the bottom, where Kent then put his hand through the flap and grabbed it.

Heading over to the soda machine, he did the same thing there.

Setting the bag of Cheetos and a can of sprite soda down next to his sandwich, he pulled up a chair and started eating.

Biting into his sandwich, he quietly ate his food, letting it fill his empty stomach after his long day. He would periodically take a sip from his soda or a Cheeto from the bag, popping one in his mouth before returning to his sandwich.

As he sat there, food in hand, he tried to enjoy his meal, but the stressful day he'd had was still fresh in his mind. The police had said that they'd do everything they could to find his cousin, but what if it wasn't enough? Kent wanted to believe in them; wanted to believe that they'd find Pryce, but he still found himself being worried. He was afraid that they wouldn't be able to find him; afraid that something bad had happened to Pryce and that they would never know.

He knew that those thoughts were just him imagining worst-case scenarios, but he couldn't help shake them, no matter how hard he tried. Part of him wanted to go out and try to search for Pryce himself, but he wouldn't know the first place to start, and would likely wind himself up in some trouble - so he opted it would be best to leave it to the police and let the professionals do their job.

Sitting there, sulking in his worried thoughts, he absent-mindedly brought a Cheeto up to his mouth and bit down.

CRASH!

Kent sat up straight, dropping the Cheeto in his hand as he became alert. A loud metallic clang had suddenly sounded out of nowhere, startling him.

"What on Earth was that?" He wondered aloud, discarding his food as he got up. He cautiously approached the door, the direction from which the strange sound had originated.

He stepped into the door-frame, casting his gaze down each end of the dark hall.

"Hmm?" He grunted to himself. That was odd?

That sound had definitely come from out here, but upon first glance, nothing seemed to be wrong. He couldn't see anything that had fallen or any kind of activity that could've caused it. So what-

Crash!

The strange sound went again, although not as loud as before. Kent turned his head down the direction it had come from. He couldn't see anything still, so he deducted that wherever the sound was originating, it was bouncing off the walls and echoing itself all the way to him.

Following the direction the sound came from, he quietly made his way down the dark hall. He kept his eyes and ears on alert as he walked, the sound would repeat itself a couple of times, but never as loud as the first.

Crash!

Following the echos, he found himself at an intersection in the hall, he was about to continue heading straight when there was another metallic clang down the other corridor. At the end of the hall was an open door connected to a stairwell, from which sounds of commotion flowed out freely.

As Kent slowly descended the stairs, he could begin to hear the sound of voices talking amongst each other, echoing from some room at the bottom of the stairs.

"This is all your fault!" One of the voices groaned irritably at the other as Kent descended the steps.

"My fault? How is it my fault? You were the one driving the forklift." The other voice objected to the other's words.

Reaching the bottom, Kent carefully peered out the open-door. There was a large concrete room on the other side, with steel beams, large containers, and a massive ring in the center of the room.

This must be the portal that Infiscape opened. He speculated to himself.

As he ogled at the big portal in the room, he took notice of a small group of individuals dressed in all black, clambering around a forklift with fallen crates around it. The group seemed to be collecting the crates in order to put them back on the forklift. As they did that, Kent noticed that they seemed to be upset about it, directing their anger at one man in particular.

There was a man standing next to the forklift looking down in shame as his cohorts berated him.

"You're so dead!" Remarked one of the man's companions snidely.

"Yeah!" Another man chimed in. "I wouldn't want to be you when the Leader finds out about this.

The downcast man looked at the two definitely, seemingly about to butt heads with the other two, when a third voice interrupted.

"This all happened because of you." A gruff-looking man said accusingly, a long crate in his arms. "If you had been watching where you were going, I wouldn't have to have swerved to avoid hitting you with the forklift.

The first man joined the conversation once more, a dire tone in his voice. "You better pray that this doesn't delay the delivery. If the dragons complain about it being late, it's all on you."

"We better all pray that the delivery isn't late; if it's not received on time, the leader will punish all of us, regardless of who's fault it was." The gruff man said seriously.

"Yeah, if it's late, the cult leader will have our heads. Rember what happened to the last person that angered him?"

"Yeah, I heard that he gave her to the dragons, told them to do what they will with her whatever that means."

"Realy? Because what I heard is..."

As the group continued to talk amongst themselves, Kent backed away from the door, his interest in the group fading as he digested what he heard.

Cult? What cult? And who this leader they're talking about? It all made no sense to him, but if there was one thing he could make of it - was that it sounded suspicious.

He was suddenly brought out of his thoughts when he heard a commotion coming from the portal room. Poking his head through the door, he saw that the group had finished putting the crates back, and had gone to watch the now active portal with interest.

The portal had plunged the room into a red ominous glow, making everything look like it was bathed in blood as the portal rippled and crackled. As the men and Kent watched, an object began to emerge from the portal. It slowly passed through the red energy field, revealing it to be another forklift loaded with more crates. The new forklift came rolling out the portal and up the ramp.

The new forklift drove up right next to the other one and stopped beside it. The driver - a cheetah - dismounted the driver's seat and got off the industrial machine, then one of the supposed cult members took his place.

Once he was down, the cheetah walked up to the gruff man and began to speak with him in a stern voice. "What's with the hold-up?" He questioned as he indicated at the forklift that had yet to move. "Why hasn't the cargo been moved to the trucks?"

Upon the cheetah's confrontation, the previously gruff sounding man quickly adopted a nervous air about him. "Oh. It was nothing, just a small problem, some of the stuff fell and we had to clean it up...no big deal?" He said, anxiously rubbing the back of his neck.

Kent couldn't see the cheetah's eyes from where he was, but he could imagine that they were probably giving off a look just as stern as his voice as he looked the man over.

"The shipment had better not be late!" The cheetah said finally. "I'm sure you don't need to be reminded of the punishments you'll receive if it is?" He said ominously to the man.

"N-no! No, sir, we-we haven't forgotten!" The not-so gruff man shakingly affirmed.

With those final words, the cheetah turned away from the man, seemingly content with what he'd gleaned as he made his way back to the glowing red portal. Stopping at the threshold, he cast one last, stern look at the small group before passing through the gateway, the glowing veil of energy dispersing as soon as he was through.

Once the cheetah had left, the man he had been speaking with started barking orders out at the other men, telling them to get moving - albeit after he'd gotten a chance to recover his gruffness that he'd lost. At the man's orders, the two forklifts began to move towards a large door, the group following close behind as the cargo they had was carried outside.

Once the coast was clear, Kent cautiously tailed after them. Approaching the large door where he last saw them, he found himself at the base of a big ramp that led up to the ground level. From here, he could hear the sound of loud engines rumbling, the people above offloading who knows what onto them. Quietly, he began to crawl up the ramp in front of him towards the commotion.

He knew that this probably wasn't a good idea, but after everything he'd heard about this mysterious cult, he couldn't just ignore it. He thought about what Pryce had said to him last, how he'd been hearing strange rumors floating around. He'd told his cousin that he hadn't heard of anything going on, that he hadn't heard of these rumors his cousin was talking about. But then, Pryce went missing, and just shortly after talking about these rumors of his. And now, after everything he'd heard from this group, about cults, and mysterious cargo deliveries, Kent was finding it harder and harder to ignore. He'd previously thought that Pryce's rumors had been nothing, but after everything he'd heard tonight - he wasn't so sure anymore.

And so he couldn't help but ask himself...

...Could these guys have something to do with Pryce's disappearance?

Peeking over the top of the ramp, he found himself at the back of the building, where a large row of semi-trucks - around fifteen to twenty of them - all stood parked and waiting. Over next to the nearest truck to him, he could see the group with the two forklifts offload the cargo they carried on to the semis. Once they were done, they closed the back door on the truck, and the large group dispersed as they went and got into different vehicles.

As Kent lay there, he watched as the many trucks roared to life, pulling away from the building and getting onto the road, heading away from the town as they disappeared in the night.

...

Early the next morning, Kent quickly rushed into the police station, the events from last night still fresh in his mind. He knew that it was very likely that the police wouldn't take him seriously, and with his crazy story of cults and mysterious cargo, he wouldn't believe himself either if he hadn't seen and heard it all with his own eyes. But despite this, he still had to inform them of what he saw, despite that it would make him look crazy - they had to know.

As he made his way up to the administration once more, he noted to himself that the station was practically empty at this hour - aside from a couple of officers here and there. There were also two people ahead of him, standing at the front desk as they spoke with a man there.

The people in front of him were a man and a young woman, they both stood at the administration desk, urgency in their voices as they tried to convey something to the man on duty.

"You have to listen to us!" The woman said, her clothes covered in old oil stains. "We're trying to tell you about a murder!" She stressed urgently.

A murder? Kent thought in alarm, who'd been murdered?

"Yeah!" The big man next to her replied. "A murder commented by a dragon! I know it sounds crazy but we have proof; the whole thing was caught on my truck's dashcam - a dragon killed a woman and then ate her!" He looked to his companion. "Maddie, you have the recording, right?"

As the woman apparently named Maddie brought up an old bag, Kent had been given barely any time to process what the man had said before the large set of doors suddenly flung themselves open.

From the wide-open doors, a dragon with crimson scales came waltzing into the station with her head held high. She walked towards the administration desk proudly, a scruffily looking man hanging from her teeth by his sweater. Opening her mouth, she let the man fall several feet to the tiled floor before pinning him to the ground with her foot.

"I found this piece of scum trying to steal a purse from a little old lady!" The dragon said as she looked down in disgust at the man. "But luckily, I was there to intervene, so I stopped this crook and brought him to you."

As the dragon recounted her story to the officer, Kent looked over to the other two and saw that they had gone deathly silent at the dragon's arrival. He could overhear them talking to each other in hushed voices, their eyes locked on the crimson dragon. "I think it's time to go." The man said to Maddie. "I'm not sure it's a good idea to continue talking about you know what, with a dragon here?"

Maddie nodded in agreement. "I was thinking the same thing, lets go."

Kent watched them swiftly leave the scene, their reasons for doing so, not lost on him. He knew what conclusion they came to, they were talking about sensitive information involving dragons, and had to leave when one showed up; it also applied to him as well, because it probably wasn't a good idea to talk about a secret cult in front of a dragon.

And so, after debating it in his head for a few seconds, he decided to follow after the pair who'd just left.

Opening the doors and stepping outside into the morning air, he quickly spotted the two of them about to get into an old truck with a large dent. He quickly rushed over to them, calling out before they had a chance to get in.

"Hey," He began once he had their attention. "What did you say about a dragon killing someone?"


So, I realized something while I was writing this chapter, apparently, I had been misspelling the name of the town they're in. I was spelling the town as Angle Springs when it was really supposed to be Angel Springs. I just can't believe I missed something like that, it's supposed to be Angel, as in a holy deity with a halo, not Angle, like something that's used as a mathematical equation.

The town is named Angel Springs, not Angle Springs - Angel Springs.

Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter, and as always don't forget to review, favorite, and follow.