•Downtown•
The sun had barely begun to rise above the horizon when Alex had left the shop, his jacket pulled over the sling that his left arm currently resided within, so it would not get chilly as he headed into the city itself, the man thankful that is quiet, and yet he also found the quiet to be almost suffocating in a way as he walked down the sidewalk, past shops and houses, the writing and ornaments seeming to silently beckon him towards them.
Yet, the man paid them no mind, the fingers on his right hand fiddling with the cross that hung on a necklace around his neck, the metal warm unlike the air around him which was cold enough that his breath was visible in foggy puffs as he exhaled.
His eyes soon rested upon a brick building that seemed to almost, in a chameleon like way, blend in with the buildings around it, though what caught the man's eyes were the stain glass windows on either side of the entrance, the white painted door and trim around it contrasting against the red of the bricks around it, and the doors, which were made of a dark brown wood, little windows of the same stained glass inserted into the frames of them.
Alex walked up the steps, his hand reaching for and grabbing onto the doorknob and twisting, the door moving away from him, showing it was unlocked and he gently pushed it open, stepping inside and shutting it closed behind him.
•In the Church•
Alex's eyes wandered around, the interior bringing back childhood memories of the few times he went to church services, though, unlike the building back home, which could easily fit the entire population of the town, the old building had burned down during the 1960's, this church looked like could fit 100-150 parishioners, maybe more if everyone scooted together.
"..Ah, i see a lost lamb has found their way back to the shepherd and his flock, or perhaps your a wandering soul in need of guidance." A voice said, which made the man turn towards it, almost jumping as it caught him off guard.
Standing a good couple of feet in front of him, near one of the pews that sat in front of a set of stairs that lead up to the small stage, was a man with sandy blonde hair, wearing a white button up collared shirt with a grey suit jacket with matching pants and a pair of black leather shoes on his feet.
He looked to be in his late 40's, having some grey streaking in his hair, especially on the sides of his head, his skin dark and he looked to either be growing a beard or having just shaved as the younger man saw stubble on his face.
"Oh, i'm sorry, i hope i didn't intrude on anything, i was just walking by and.." alex tried to say but the man simply raised his hand to stop him.
"Do not worry my son, this house of the lord's doors are always open to those who are in need of guidance, and i can tell by layin my eyes upon you that you need to get something off your chest." He said, a soft smile forming on his face as he spoke.
"My name is father anderson, and may i ask what yours is?" He asked, placing a hand over his heart and doing a small bow.
"It's Alexander, Father Anderson, it's nice to meet you." he answered.
"Let us sit and talk, if that would be alright with you?" The man asked, which Alex nodded to as they went to one of the closest pews and sat, the soft cushion sinking as they both did.
"Normally this would be done in confession, but i'd much rather take a more face to face approach." Anderson said, the wood creaking as they both got as comfortable as they could.
"Take as much time as you need, the good lord is patient, as shall i be." He said, patting the younger man's shoulder.
Alex gave a nod, his right hand curling into a fist for a few moments before uncurling, repeating the pattern over and over.
Yuzuki was supposed to be his enemy, and yet the past couple of days had proven otherwise, especially when the older man could've let him bleed out in the car, but he instead held a cloth over the wound in his shoulder, and it was because of that that he survived long enough to get surgery.
"Father, have you ever, maybe, thought that what you originally thought someone was wrong and they weren't as..bad as you might have thought?" Alex asked.
The man felt the awkwardness of the question as he spoke, almost feeling like his tongue had twisted up in knots, but Anderson seemed to understand the question nonetheless.
"Ah, well, when that thought crosses my mind, I always look back to what was written in Colossians 3:12-14..."
"...Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." He finished.
The younger man smiled, knowing what the verse meant, remember his grandfather always told it to him when he was little, well, it was amongst the verses, anyhow.
And that wasn't including what verses his grandmother always used to tell him.
And, if he were being honest, he did want to give Yuzuki a chance, even if it were to blow back into his face if he were wrong.
But, he was willing to take that chance. After all, what was life without risks?
Alex let out quiet sigh, standing up from the pew and staring up at the ceiling for a moment, as if he saw something there.
"..Thank you father..i know what i want to do." Alex said.
Anderson smiled and stood up as well. "I'm glad I could be of help, Alexander. And if you ever need to talk about anything else, you are always welcome here." He said.
He walked out onto the aisle, heading towards the door that led outside, however something made him stop in his tracks and turn back around towards him.
"Father, are you running any censer's right now?" Alex asked.
"..No, i only burn incense for sunday service and funerals, why do you ask?" Anderson answered.
'If no incense is burning, then how come I can smell myrrh? Maybe i'm just imagining it.'
"Nevermind, father..um, i hope you have a good day." He said.
"I hope you do as well, and may the lord watch over you in your endeavors." Anderson said.
The younger man smiled, heading out of the church and back outside, before he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone with his good hand and went through his contacts, seeing Yuzuki's name amongst them, remembering that the older man had written it down for him at the airport in japan, and pressing the call button, hearing it ring for a few moments once he held it up to his ear.
"...Greyson? So what do I owe this conversation? Also, why the hell are you up this early?" Yuzuki asked.
"Could say the same to you, but let's skip the semantics, shall we?" Alex answered, and he swore what sounded like a chuckle came from the other end.
"Taking a page from my book, are we?" The older man said.
"..Anyway, i wanted to ask if you wanted to grab a coffee sometime, when we're both off the clock so to speak." he said as he began to make his back towards the shop, noting the streets were beginning to gain traffic as more people were waking up.
Yuzuki seemed to be considering Alex's proposal, as it took him a good minute or two before he finally answered.
"When are you free exactly?" They asked, shuffling noises coming from the background of the call in Yuzuki's end, which to him sounded like books and papers being moved.
"Anytime, really..i mean i've got a busted shoulder so i doubt another talisman hunt is in my future for a while." Alex answered.
Another couple of minutes of silence went by before Yuzuki said anything, more sounds that the younger man swore were books and papers being shuffled around being heard.
"How about in a couple of days, if you're not busy then that is." The older man said.
"Sure, where do you want to meet?" Alex asked, smiling softly as he entered Chinatown proper, knowing he wasn't far from Uncle's shop.
"..There's a coffee shop on Vallejo Street in North Beach i've found recently, they sell espresso, if that's your cup of tea so to speak." Yuzuki answered.
"As long as it's coffee, i'll drink it." The younger man said.
"Figured as much." The older man said.
"Anyway, i'll meet you then. And be careful." Alex said.
"...You too." Yuzuki said as they both hung up.
The young man put his phone away into his jeans pocket, continuing to walk down the street, and once he was at the shop, he headed inside.
•Inside the Shop•
When Alex stepped through the door into the shop he called home, the smell of coffee was the first thing to hit him, at first he thought it was odd as he usually made the coffee in the morning, Uncle always telling him it 'kept his ancient heart beating, though he remembered he hadn't put any into the machine before he left.
For a moment the man thought Jackie was back, though he then remembered he wouldn't be back till either tomorrow or the day after.
If he had to guess, he would say it was Uncle that made the coffee, and it also did not surprise him that the man was up this early either.
He headed to the back room, slipping off his jacket and laying it in the chair as he passed it, not having a need for it since he wasn't outside.
Upon peeking into the room, he learned his guess was correct, as he saw Uncle sitting at his desk, a cup of coffee next to him on one side, and on the other was the talisman tracker, though when Alex layed his eyes onto it, he felt a chill go down his back.
"Uncle? What are you doing up this early?" The young man asked.
"Uncle is doing research on Talisman Tracker. It is behaving weirdly." Uncle answered.
The younger man raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Behaving weirdly? What do you mean?" Alex asked, entering into the room and going to stand next to the desk, reaching out for the tracker so he could examine it for himself.
However, when he wrapped his hand around it's handle, a ghostly purplish blue aura seemed to form around it for a few moments before Alex yanked his hand away while letting out a yell of pain, the aura having crawled onto his hand and transformed into purplish blue flames.
"MY HAND IS ON FIRE!" The young man yelled as Uncle, acting quickly, grabbed a beaker full of what Alex assumed was some kind of liquid chi spell, given that uncle had a powdered form of it on hand, and he grabbed his wrist and dunked his flaming hand into it.
"Uncle was about to tell you not to touch it!" The older man said, as Alex let out a groan of relief as the fire was immediately snuffed out.
"W-what the hell was that, Uncle?" The younger man asked as Uncle grabbed a first aid kit off of a nearby shelf, grabbing bandages out of it as well as burn ointment, but also grabbed a small amount of the same chi spell powder that he used on the box containing the rat talisman.
"A very dark chi spell." Uncle answered as he combined some of the chi powder with the same amount of the ointment, and rubbed it into his hand before wrapping it in the bandages, but in a way that still allowed him to use it.
"There are dark chi spells?" Alex asked as Uncle finished wrapping his hand up.
The older man got up and walked over to one of the nearby shelves, his eyes scanning the spines of the books that were set into them, before he reached his hand up and took one off of it and walked back, setting it on the desk and opening it.
"Since time immemorial, there has always been a sense of balance. Where there is darkness, there has always been light to shine through it, however, it is because of light that we have darkness for it to shine through.."
"..So, where the light shines, it always creates shadows?" Alex asked, which earned him a flick to the head.
"Do not interrupt Uncle! The older man said.
"..Out of these forces came two beings. From deep within the darkness crawled demons, and from the light were formed angels, and both were tasked with keeping the balance within the spiritual realm."
Alex was about to say something again, but stopped himself as he did not want to get finger flicked again.
"..however, unbeknownst to all, a single demon and an angel were working together to create a new realm for their newest creation, a being made from clay, who was given the name Homin-"
"That's latin for Human. So wait, a demon and an angel created us..?" The younger man asked, again getting flicked by Uncle.
"Do not interrupt!" He said.
"However, they knew the other demons and angels would try to harm not only themselves, but their creation, should they ever discover it, so, perhaps against better judgement, they granted him some of their power."
"Time passed with relative peace, but Homin grew lonely, and pleaded with his creators for a companion. So, they resolved to give him one, crafting her from the same clay he was born from, but to make sure she was perfect, they took a single rib from him, and used it to complete her."
Uncle seemed to skip a few lines of text, at least Alex assumed he did, before he began to speak again.
"..As the angel and demon feared, their brethren soon found out about their endeavors, and instead of destroying them where they stood, they were banished from the spiritual world to spend the rest of their days in isolation, and neither demon or angel spoke of them again."
"They were sent to the mortal realm.." Alex said, which the older man nodded to before he continued reading.
"They watched their creations grow, becoming old and joining back with the earth they were born from, their descendants carrying on the magic that was gifted to them, and teaching those who would lend an ear to listen..however, their children grew distant from each other, one following the light, while the other descended into the darkness."
"I can assume that these children became the first good chi and dark chi users in existence?" The younger man asked, which Uncle nodded to.
The older man then closed the book, getting up with it and setting it back on the shelf.
"..I better go tell Shendu about the tracker, maybe he could find out who cast the spell on it.." Alex said, heading out of the shop and to Section 13.
•Section 13•
"You seem troubled, mortal." Shendu said as he noticed Alex entering the vault.
"Yea about that..the talisman tracker is..well it's not usable anymore." The man said, the vault door closing behind him as he spoke.
The demon's eyes glowed brightly, Alex backing away as fear of what it did last time filled him, however, they returned to normal after a few moments.
"What happened? Did you break it?" Shendu asked, though his voice was strained as he spoke, showing he was..well at least upset.
"Oh come on, just because i get hurt sometimes doesn't mean i'm accident prone, and no, i didn't, it's been cursed by some kind of chi spell." Alex answered, huffing quietly afterwards.
This seemed to pique the demon's interest, as their eye's glowed again, the television they were watching was turned off, the remote being tossed off to the side.
"Can you give me specifics?" Shendu asked, his voice still sounding strained, though not as much as it was earlier.
"Like what? I don't know magic that well, Shendu, i'm not like you or Uncle." The man answered.
The demon huffed in annoyance before speaking. "I mean what did the spell look like, and what did it do?" It said.
"Well, this ghostly purplish blue aura appeared around it for a few moments when I grabbed it, and the next thing i know my hand is on fire, but the fire was the same color." Alex explained, even showing Shendu his bandaged hand.
"Ugh..of course they would try to bother me, even from the netherworld.." the demon said, annoyance very noticeable in his voice.
"Who are they?" The man asked, taking a few steps towards him.
Shendu seemed to growl, at least, that's what he thought the sound was that came from the demon's mouth, and it made him back away out of fear again.
"My dear siblings, mortal." The demon answered, though he said the word 'dear' with what sounded like pure venom in his voice.
"You..you have a family?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Don't you have one?" The demon said, his tone of voice back to its usual manner, though the man swore he could still tell there was some annoyance in it.
"Of course, but i had no idea that you did, you never talk about them." The man said.
"They aren't worth the wasted oxygen, Alex." Shendu said, his eyes glowing brightly
"Oh come on, Shendu, they can't be that bad." Alex said, crossing his arms.
"Clearly you have never met a demon sorcerer before, then." The statue said.
"I met you." The man said, flashing a soft smile at him.
"By pure dumb luck." Shendu said, his eyes glowing again.
"Either way, it still counts." Alex said.
"..Whatever you say, mortal." The demon said, before the man began to leave, the vault door opening for him and stepping through it before it closed once again.
Alex let out a quiet sigh, turning back towards and setting the palm of his hand against the vault door, the quiet of the corridor on either side of him, much like earlier, was almost suffocating.
His mind was buzzing and swarming with questions, especially so given what he had just learned, which was enough of a bombshell on it's own.
The man knew he wouldn't get any answers from Shendu, he had made that clear enough, even if he didn't say those exact words, the message was clear enough.
Perhaps Uncle knew something, if not him, then surely one of his many books did, and he was willing to do some reading even if it meant an all-nighter.
He shook his head and quickly walked down the corridor away from the vault, the suffocating feeling fading as the man did so, getting into the elevator and heading back outside.
'I just need to take a quick walk to clear my head, that's all.'