Capítulo 15: Intrigue and Discovery
Lydia began to browse through the entire document. Many things and supernatural beings were mentioned, some even originating from mythology. No one was sure of their actual existence, but there was no doubt that something supernatural was behind it.
'It's scary, all the things this world hides...' The red-haired girl got chills.
'But it's instructive...' Lydia had read everything, and with her own experience of the blue fire she had witnessed, she knew which description best matched the azure and golden flames.
'Let's first set aside the Will-o'-the-wisps, they don't share the living and gentle nature I felt in the flames...' Lydia put her hand on her chin and thought, sorting the true from the false.
'Same for the Aztec Turquoise Lord, it doesn't match at all except maybe the color of the flames...' She decided as well.
Lydia continued going through the document, distinguishing what might be related or not as she went along.
'The description of the salamander, I'm sure there's no connection, it's just a supernatural creature that controls fire...' She turned the page and arrived at the next one.
'Same for Amaterasu, the black fire that burns without being extinguished... it has absolutely nothing to do with it.' Lydia continued flipping through the pages, pondering.
'The alchemical fire used in alchemy... no...'
'Hellhounds and their destructive fire... no...'
She went through several pages until she arrived at one where the title caught her attention.
'Sacred fire of the Phoenix...' She read the information on it. The phoenix's fire is a bright red and golden flame, capable of destroying and creating, killing and healing, representing the cycle of existence: birth, death, and rebirth. The flame symbolized life.
The color didn't match, but everything else did.
'Phoenix fire...' she thought.
------------------------------------
Landon was in the hospital, in one of the rooms, with an elderly man who had failing lungs, something Landon had healed, though with difficulty. The hardest part had been waiting for him to fall asleep.
'Phew...' sighed the boy as he left the room.
'That one wasn't easy.' Landon continued down the hallway, changing direction and stopping briefly before resuming his walk.
The boy walked as if everything was fine, with no change in his expression.
'Another one...' Landon thought.
Since he had passed through the hospital entrance, he had felt uneasy, like a gaze, but not exactly—someone had their attention on him, throughout the entire hospital. His Haki had repeatedly tried to detect the source but no result.
Landon had since acted as though he didn't know he was being watched. Whatever was going on and whoever was behind it, he let them believe they still had the advantage of surprise.
'Hmmm I only feel their gaze inside the hospital. It's possible it's something supernatural, like someone with clairvoyant abilities or a magic crystal ball, but I feel it's not exactly that...' Landon thought.
He had been almost constantly watched since entering, almost. There were a few places, a short zone between two corridors, for example, or a corner, where he no longer felt observed, leading him to conclude:
'Surveillance cameras...' But Landon was a bit surprised. He suspected there were cameras. He had thought of destroying them but decided not to, not wanting to deprive the hospital of its minimal security and protective measures... and the Barrow case had proven him right.
'But generally, there's hardly anyone at the monitoring station... why now, and why me?' he thought. It made sense that with sudden recoveries and unexplained miraculous healings, the hospital would start drawing attention.
'But it's too early, far too early, this shouldn't happen for months...' thought the boy, his green-gray eyes reflecting his concern.
'Oh well, whatever...' Landon continued doing what he did every day, and if someone became too curious about him, they'd unknowingly enter Landon's line of sight too.
The morning passed like this, healing new patients who couldn't recover on their own, while avoiding the attention of those around him, all the while pretending to ignore the gaze from the cameras he felt on him.
He left the hospital around noon, heading to a nearby restaurant for lunch.
'As expected,' thought Landon, the moment he left the hospital, he no longer felt the constant gaze on him.
'Let's see what happens next...' Landon headed toward the restaurant, a small smile on his lips.
***************************************
Night had fallen over Beacon Hills. Landon was still at the hospital, sitting at reception, silently observing his surroundings.
He had healed all the critically injured patients he had found, but only the wounded ones...
Landon had been looking for a way to get hired at the hospital as a janitor. He could simply go to a manager and talk to them, but he wasn't sure he'd be hired, and he needed to be certain he got the job.
'I can't take no for an answer. The best way would be to have a recommendation or some help from the inside,' thought the boy.
'Or maybe, a plan or trick that would ensure the position is mine...' Landon had already noticed there was a team of 5-6 people responsible for maintenance.
'If the team is full, I'll have to find a way to make a spot open up and then get the job, but also have flexible hours, working both night and day shifts. Not easy...' Landon was thinking about how he could go about it.
'Maybe the hero move? One of the managers encounters a slight danger or an unexpected situation on their way home, and I step in to save them...' Landon honestly wasn't sure if this idea was brilliant or terrible.
'I could maybe use force in the worst-case scenario, but intelligently...' Landon thought about grabbing one of the managers and showing them his powers, making them believe he was a fire demon who could burn them alive.
'Burn them alive unless they hire me as a janitor at the hospital...' The boy grimaced slightly.
'That would probably be a weird threat.' Landon sighed and dismissed the thought.
'I'm really starting to get tired of hiding just to do the greatest good...'
Landon slouched in his chair, emotionally drained.
'What am I doing here...?' he thought.
'In a new world with powers I was given, why me...?' Landon wondered. He hadn't asked for anything, and now he found himself here, with his real identity stripped away.
They had taken his memories, his personal life. The only names he knew were Marco, the source of his powers, and Landon Kirby, the name of this body that didn't belong to him.
He didn't know his real name, his first one, the one that belonged to him. The truth was, he didn't know who he was...
'Who am I, really...?' Without knowing why, they had taken him and brought him here, leaving him with a fake name but no real identity.
Landon wasn't just only alone; he was lost...
An ambulance arrived, the sound of the sirens pulling him out of his thoughts.
'Maybe work awaits me...' he thought, hoping it did, not wanting to fall back into his thoughts.
By chance or misfortune, the person who had come in had a serious enough injury. He sensed through his Haki that some organs were cut and ribs were broken.
'Strange, it seems like he was stabbed with a large blade...' Landon wondered if someone had actually attacked the injured man with a sword...
"Rafael, it's going to be okay, stay with me." A brunette woman followed closely behind. Landon recognized her as the nurse he had operated with in the elevator.
Landon sensed the injury was serious, but with urgent care, he could recover without a problem. His attention was elsewhere, though, more interested in someone—rather, in someone.
Behind Melissa, her son Scott followed. Both of them accompanied Rafael to the elevator.
"Mom, how's it looking?" Scott asked, looking at the injured man, bloodied on the stretcher...
His father, who had decided to come back into his life, had been hurt because of him, and he felt worry and guilt...
"He hasn't lost too much blood. He's going to make it..." said the mother. There was a bit of worry in her eyes, but she didn't let herself panic.
Scott let out the breath he had been holding.
"Scott, what were those things..." his mother began. Scott looked around and led her to a secluded corner of the hallway.
He looked around again and saw no one paying attention to them, unaware that the boy in the hoodie leaning against the wall with his head lowered, standing relaxed with arms and feet crossed, was listening to them.
"Mom, the shadowy ninja things you saw are called Onis. They're not human but made of black smoke, and they can emerge from the shadows anywhere. We think they only appear at night..." Scott explained softly.
"Shadow ninjas? Really...? Whatever... why not at this point. Do you know what they want?" Melissa asked, beginning to believe this town was becoming crazier with each passing day.
"They're looking for something among the supernatural beings of Beacon Hills, or rather someone who might be possessed by some sort of evil spirit: the Nogitsune," the boy explained.
"A demon spirit that possesses people?" Melissa quietly repeated to herself.
After a few seconds, she looked at her son.
"Scott..." she said softly, her eyes almost pleading.
"Mum, don't worry, we'll be careful..." Scott looked at his mother, placing his arms on her shoulders, speaking softly, trying to reassure her.
"Scott, stay out of this, let Derek handle it, or the Argents..." Melissa said to her son, almost pleading.
"Mum, Derek is no longer an alpha... and Chris is no longer a hunter..., on my side, I have Stiles, Lydia, Allison, Isaac, and the twins..." the boy argued, but he quickly realized that none of his words had any convincing or reassuring effect on his mother.
"Mum..." Scott began seriously.
"I can't just stand by and do nothing, people will get hurt or killed... if it's not me, who else will do it..."
Melissa looked at her son and realized that he was now a man...
Everything he had gone through lately, all the conflicts and trials in which he had eventually come out victorious...
Melissa looked at her son, knowing full well that he was going to be right in the middle of the conflict, at the heart of the danger... she sighed.
"Just be careful..." Melissa finally said.
"Don't worry, mum..., I'm a true alpha and I'm not alone..."
Scott left his words, kissed his mother on the forehead, and headed for the elevator.
'Hmmm, Onis, and an evil spirit possessing people...' Landon was still in the same spot, arms crossed, back against the wall, lost in thought, meditating on the revelations he had just heard.
'I see now, it wasn't after me...' Landon thought that the person or people watching him behind the cameras were probably the same ones whose consciousness had appeared in one of the Onis before they vanished.
'But that's probably not the case...' Landon came to this conclusion; the one who was interested in him likely had nothing to do with those Onis. He thought for a moment before shaking his head.
'No matter, I'll be ready for any surprises.' Landon moved on.
'But still, that boy: Scott, is really something...' Among all the revelations, what interested him the most was the boy's behavior—selfless and noble, traits that are rare.
'If we were in the world of One Piece, Marco would have loved him and invited him into Whitebeard's crew...' The boy smiled at the thought.
'Even though he seems naive, he's not gullible or inexperienced...' Through his Haki, Scott exuded a mature aura, a strong confidence in his beliefs and determination.
'What a peculiar boy...'
Landon decided it was time to leave, he left the hospital and headed home.
---------------------------------------------------------
At the same time, a young boy was lying on a bed, his closed eyes trembling for a few seconds before opening, waking up from his sleep.
Stiles took a few seconds and looked around, remembering that he was in one of the hospital rooms.
"Hmpfhh..." he took a breath and got out of bed, put on his shoes, and left the room.
Stiles closed the door behind him and looked down the hallway, which was being used by a few patients and nurses.
"Melissa" the boy called out, but she wasn't there.
Stiles decided to go look for her, he was feeling better now and wanted to go home.
'She was right, all I needed was sleep,' the boy thought with some relief, as he had feared his condition was due to something else...
Stiles started walking through the hospital corridors.
'She's probably at reception...' he concluded as he headed there, knowing he needed to talk to her before leaving.
He walked, shielding his eyes; the lights were bright, and the surrounding noise was loud, his senses were being assaulted.
"Fouhh..." Stiles stopped and closed his eyelids, taking a deep breath to calm himself, repeating the exercise for a minute.
He opened his eyes and looked at his hands, which were still trembling. He looked at his reflection in the window beside him and saw his pale face and the dark circles under his eyes.
'I'm feeling a bit better…' he still felt irritable, though less than before.
'I should go back to the hospital room,' he thought, it had been 2-3 weeks since Stiles had slept so well.
'What's the point of going home...' He didn't want to return home only to suffer from insomnia again most of the time, and for the rare times he managed to sleep, he would be greeted by unpleasant nightmares that were hard to shake off, not to mention the anxiety attacks that could hit him at any hour, day or night, and the constant feeling of urgency, the sense that something terrible was about to happen...
Stiles hadn't been living the most pleasant part of his life for several weeks now, and today he finally had some respite, he wanted to stay as far from home as he could for now.
He made up his mind, turned around, and returned to his room.
Clearing his mind and focusing only on his breathing, letting his steps guide him.
"Fouh..." he exhaled.
"Ouhh..." and inhaled.
Little by little, he forgot about the environment around him and focused solely on his breathing, the minutes passed, and he felt relaxed, calm.
He no longer heard the disturbing noises around him or the blinding light...
the minutes passed like this, before he realized
'Hmmm, it really is peaceful.' Stiles came out of his thoughts and looked around him; he was in a large, dark room, with some stretchers and other tools around. It was one of the hospital's storage rooms, located in a secluded corner of the hallway.
"But what..., how did I get here?" the boy murmured, looking around.
He took a few steps back and turned toward the door, but stopped in his tracks.
In front of him, a masked ninja stood with his head lowered, black mist escaping from him. He lifted his head, and Stiles saw a mesmerizing yellow-green light emanating from the two holes in the mask.
A metallic wing-like sound rang to his right, and he turned to see another being on his right, and another on his left.
Without saying a word or wasting a moment, they grabbed him by the shoulders, preventing any escape.
"No, He..." Stiles began, but the Oni in front of him stepped forward, placing his hand on his cheek, holding his face as he gazed into the boy's eyes.
Any words Stiles wanted to say were stifled.
The Oni was about to inspect Stiles' mind.
But the Oni stopped dead in his tracks before even starting. He looked down at his chest, where an arm had pierced through him. He looked at the source and saw that the arm belonged to the frail young boy in front of him, whose eyes held nothing but calm indifference.
He withdrew his arm, opening the palm of his hand to reveal a brilliantly glowing yellow-green insect. "Stiles" looked at it for a few seconds before simply closing his hand, crushing it.
"Stiles" turned toward the two beings behind him...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scott walked through the corridors until he found Stiles in the storage room. He entered the room and saw his friend alone, standing still with his back turned.
"Stiles, man, everything okay?" the boy asked his best friend.
Stiles straightened up and turned around.
"Yeah..." the boy said calmly.
He was a little confused about how he'd ended up there, but he didn't pay much attention to it. At the moment, he felt good, relaxed, in control.
He walked over to his friend and patted him on the shoulder with a smile.
"So, what's new?" Stiles asked as they both left the room together.
Scott started telling him everything that had happened over the last two days.
Neither of them noticed the few small insect wings glowing on the floor, shining for a moment before finally fading away...
Estado de energía semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Piedra de
Poder