Poison City

“‘Some’ omens?” Gloria sighed with a frustrated yet helpless shrug: “Can you tell what it is? Do you have a way to tell? And see where they came from?” 

“If you’re thinking they come from the coffin with that poor boy who got burnt, I’d tell you it’s likely.” Gyuu Park sighed: “And, uh, I actually don’t know how to see where the omens came from. Believe me, if I did, I’d not be here. And you wouldn’t want to learn that skill.”

“And I think I know why already.” Gloria shook her head with a wry smile: “It involves learning about the forbidden arts of tampering with Qiyun and karma, huh?”

“You’re correct. Maybe one day if I retire, you can take over this temple.” Gyuu Park smiled: “And aside from the forbidden art involving Qiyun and karma, there are always other options. Finding out what the matters were with that body, for example, might help you clear things up.” 

“But if the bad omens really did come from that body, looking into it will inevitably lead me to more potentially omen-rich things and places.” Gloria shrugged again.

“And that is a risk you’re going to have to take, if you are trying to figure out where they came from.” Gyuu Park shrugged back: “And, before you ask this, there is no talisman that will reveal bad omens nearby. I can teach you how to make Ethereal Eye Talismans if you’d like. It takes a while to learn though.”

“I - I’ll think about it.” Gloria sighed: “It’s not that I don’t want to, but you know I - ”

“You’re still a temp watcher with no ritualistic or clergyship certification from the collective. I know.” Gyuu Park laughed with a hint of frustration: “I wish I could help you with that. But you know I don’t have the authorization to train you. Not yet anyway.”

“And good luck with that.” Gloria sighed then looked up at the night sky. The moon was out already, along with some of the brighter stars. “Geez, I think I need to go now. Thank you very much, Gyuu. You’ve been very helpful. I’ll let you know if I find anything.”

“And I’ll update you if I find anything from the old manuscripts.” Gyuu Park tried to stand up, but his legs were wobbly from all the alcohol he drank: “Welp, my mind and my brain both work, but my legs won’t. So, uh, see you next time! And be careful on your way home!”

“Alright. Drink plenty of water tomorrow, it helps with hangovers.” Gloria laughed out loud as she walked to the door: “Take care as well. I’ll bring some tea instead of drinks next time.”

“Later!”

The wind was chilly in the night and outside of the Fragrant Chrysanthemum Temple, as if an invisible wall was separating the weather outside from the atmosphere inside. Sometimes people question if the temples in the South-Eastern District were even worth keeping around, and it was times like these that made Gloria dismiss the questions. The street lights were flickering, along with the chirps of insects, everything seemed quiet but tinged with unwanted surprises and dangers hidden underneath.

A peculiar smell tingled Gloria’s senses when she was on her way to a nearby bus stop. It was rotten, sour, salty, and reeked of palpable hate and despair.

Gloria hesitated for a brief moment. Then she activated her Qi on her eyes. She immediately started seeing light gray particles swarming in the air like flies, only not in groups but somewhat evenly dispersed in the air, distance wise.

Something was clearly off, she had not seen anything like this before. Nor had she read or heard of it. Right now she was already some distance away from the Fragrant Chrysanthemum Temple, and it would take her some time to actually go back and ask for Gyuu Park’s help.

“Fuck.” Gloria still decided she could not just stand by. The particles seemed to become much more dense when she traced them from a certain direction. So she let her Qi run through her whole body as protection, and slowly creeped toward the direction where the particles became denser.

The particles grew denser and denser, eventually Gloria felt as if she was surrounded by hordes of mosquitoes and flies. Everything around her became blurry. The street lights along the road flickered more and more frequently and fell into darkness for longer periods the closer Gloria got to a crossroad.

At the crossroad, there stood an electrical substation around the corner. But right now, the metal fences around it seemed to be almost completely torn down. An obviously luxury car appeared to have crashed into the substation, damaging some of the machinery and structural parts. What was more was that there were a few other vehicles around it, with symbols of a local electric power company “S&S Corp” on it.

“Shit!” When she got closer, she saw a few people in glow suits lying on the ground, not moving. If it weren’t for the fact that there were visible dark smoke that formed into long winding and moving tendrils around them, she would have assumed they were down on the ground because they were electrocuted.

Whispers and murmurs of faint voices echoed in the air, some far away, some close, and some seemingly just right by Gloria’s ears.

“I don’t wanna drown… I don’t wanna drown…”

“Help us! Help us! Help me! Please!”

“I can’t get out! I can’t get out! Let me out! Let me out!”

“Where’s the assistant? Where’s the security! There’s water everywhere!” This time, Gloria heard a familiar male voice, echoing right in her head: “We need to go! We need to go!” Then a familiar female voice resounded: “There’s too much water! The ship’s going down! Find something to float! Find something to float! ”

“I found it! I found it! Gloria! You climb on top! ” The male voice echoed again, but somehow further away: “Gloria! Gloria! Just swim out there! Swim! Your mother and I will catch up!”

“Daddy!” Gloria broke out of the flashing imagery in her head right when she heard her own voice.

Men, several of them. She couldn’t tell the exact number due to the bad lighting. All of them were in glow suits and uniforms. All but one were lying on the ground with horrified expressions on their faces, bloated, wet and covered with aquaweeds and foul smelling tar. 

She had come too close to the scene, much closer than she was planning or ever willing to. And when she checked on herself, she found that some of the dark tendrils made of dark smoke were wrapped around her wrists and ankles. She looked around, then up - there was a blood red arch in the night sky, flickering, gradually dimming.

“Shit.” Gloria cursed. Qi exploded from her body after a quick push, and the tendrils were blasted off her. All the alarms in her mind were blaring as loud as possible, she needed to leave, as soon as possible.

She tried to move, but something pulled on her left ankle.