บท 10: The Keeper of the Archive
"Wow, this coffee tastes strong!"
Aodhan coughed and grimaced. He then got up from his chair to dilute his coffee with a lot of milk and sugar. Sitting opposite of him was Alric, who chugged the contents of his cracked mug as if it were water. As square as he was, he barely noticed Aodhan's complaints and instead focused on the news on his tablet.
"Oh wow, a Matriarch was found dead near her base and her Beta."
Aodhan raised an eyebrow. "That's the third matriarch to go down."
Alric looked surprised. "What?"
"A long while ago, before I migrated to The Underground, Sloth and her pack were killed. They haven't found her Alpha, though, so people were speculating some internal rivalries caused them to implode on themselves."
"Huh, I thought you couldn't harm fellow pack members?"
"Yeah, but the public doesn't know that." Aodhan shrugged and sipped on his heavily sweetened brew.
"What about the other matriarch?"
"The Envy matriarch had no pack, not even an Alpha or Beta. Supposedly a paranoid recluse nobody took seriously. She was found dead in her shuttle on The Surface. Investigators deemed it to be an accident."
Now Alric was listening. "That doesn't make any sense either. Why would a recluse be flying about in a completely different realm?"
"Who knows? All I know is that sooner or later, we'll be in trouble too."
"Hahaha, aren't we quite a big pack? How would we be in any danger at all?"
Aodhan shook his head. "You really have no idea how packs work, do you?"
"Fine, go on, explain, Dr. Aodhan." Alric rolled his eye and put his tablet on the table.
Ignoring his attitude, Aodhan placed his empty mug on the table and began pouring milk into it. "From the moment we become a pack member, we pour our life force into the pack pool. Whenever somebody gets hurt, they can just take it from the pool to recuperate. And once they're healed up, they return the borrowed life force. Obviously, the larger the pool, the more powerful this gimmick is." He stopped and enthusiastically grabbed the mug, spilling some of the milk all around. "The matriarch, as a succubus, feeds on this pool." He sipped from it. "Naturally, if she is severely wounded, she must feed more of the pool."
"Which means, if she keeps receiving fatal injuries, there will be nothing anymore for her to replenish."
"Precisely!" Aodhan downed the milk in one jug and flipped the cup upside-down. "Likewise, if there's no pool, she is just an ordinary mortal being."
"So, essentially, you are saying, whoever is interested in seeing the succubi gone, just needs to kill Fiera often enough, and we're history as well."
"Yep."
"Hallelujah." Alric buried his face in his hands.
"Anyway, we should be heading out to work now." As if he had never said anything depressing earlier, Aodhan got up with a big grin and deposited his mug in the clogged sink.
"What a great way to start the day." Alric sighed and inspected his new uniform. It consisted of a shirt and dress pants. Nothing out of the ordinary, but definitely an upgrade to the outfit from before. Unlike Alric, Aodhan disliked his new attire. His tiny body frame seemed to get lost in the oversized garment.
The two headed out, this time by day. Though there was not much difference to the night, after all, The Underworld existed in perpetual darkness. The only difference was that the streets were bustling with life. Neon signs in all colors shone so blindingly bright that no street lights were needed. Alric wrinkled his nose. Even though he had to call this place home, there just was no getting used to the stench of sewage mixed with heavy perfume and sweat.
As they made their way through the crowd, the billboards above them covered the news of the latest death.
"Seems to be pretty big news," Alric surmised.
"Well, there are only a small number of matriarchs, so obviously, her death will be in the headlines."
"Hmm." Alric stopped and stared at the news a while longer before Aodhan dragged him on. They were almost there when he noticed a commotion in a back alley. "Wait a second."
"No, Alric, we'll be late! I don't want to have a salary deduction!" Aodhan followed his friend down the dark narrow street with a loud groan.
At the center of attention stood a young female wolf. She was wearing an oversized sweater and a tight pencil skirt. Her glasses and the giant book she was clasping with both hands completed the stereotypical librarian look. She was surrounded by a group of lecherous men of varying races. Her back was pressed against the wall.
"What's going on here?" Alric called out, crossing his arms.
"Nothing you should be concerned about, Wingless One," one Fae barked, summoning some sparks in his hands. "Scram, or you'll lose more than those precious wings you once had."
"I think not. She's with us," Alric pointed to the tattoo on his cheek. Only now Aodhan noticed that the girl was a Pride pack member too.
One Feline hissed. "Doesn't mean much out here in the open!" He leaped and was about to strike Alric, but he grabbed the fist with both hands and brought him down, much to the surprise of Aodhan.
"Hey, why didn't you pull that kind of stunt when we were still assigned someplace else?!"
"Well, I'm not used to dealing with hellspawn, you know?" He casually stomped on the Feline to prevent him from getting up again.
"What's the diff?!" Aodhan retorted, summoning a shadow copy of himself. "Enemy is enemy."
"Now listen here, young man," Alric said, readying his fists for the next attack. "Hellspawn act and react vastly different to other sentient beings. People like this guy are much easier to read, I find."
The two had successfully garnered the assaulters' attention. Now the others were pissed. Cracking their knuckles or drawing a blade out of seemingly nowhere, the group closed in on them.
"Fantastic. I'm delighted," Aodhan continued complaining, sending his shadow out to cause mayhem.
"Come on, I know you love brawls." Alric dodged a knife attack and went straight for a punch to the gut.
"I don't need you to advocate for my interests, you know."
As the two continued bickering, the young wolf suddenly said, "I thank you, my comrades, for biding some time for me."
Everybody turned around in surprise. There she stood, the book floating at chest height. Both her eyes and her tattoo glowed green. She raised her hand, and the book opened, the pages flipping at a ludicrous speed until it came to a halt. "Spell number 3,540: Tree Roots." She then drew a symbol in the air that briefly glowed in the same green hue before dissipating into smoke. After a moment of silence, the ground began to rumble.
"What the- HELP!" The concrete beneath their feet began cracking. Then, thick tree roots pushed their way past the ground, wrapping themselves around the attackers' ankles, one by one. As soon as they had succeeded, they viciously slammed them to the ground repeatedly until they all were rendered unconscious.
"O-okay," Alric said, impressed by her magical talent. "I-I guess we weren't needed after all."
"Great. Just great, Alric." Aodhan dispelled his shadow. "Not only are we running late, but we're also doing so without proper justification."
The wolf tilted her head. "I am running late as well. Are you by chance the 'Heavenly Duo'?" Her eyes continued to glow.
"Uh, I guess that's what they call us here," Aodhan replied, slightly backing away. He reckoned she was not to be messed with, despite her innocent looks.
"Then it seems fate brought us together. I am Gamma Ming-Ji, Keeper of the Archives and your new supervisor." The glow disappeared, and she put on a sweet smile instead.
Ignoring those on the ground, she lightly trod the ground as if walking on air and led the way. The two quickly followed her to the Pride building, not wanting to be on the receiving end of her spellbook.
She led them two stories down into an extensive library. Shelves upon shelves with tomes, files, books, and anything in between took up most of the space. The atmosphere was rather depressing, with functionality ruling over style. At the opposite end of the room stood four very dusty desks with old tablet computers. It looked as if they had not been used for decades.
"Your job will be entering the data I provide you into our database. By hand." She walked over to one of the desks and blew the dust away. Everybody started viciously coughing.
Alric groaned and rolled his eyes.
"This almost takes me back to my first days."
"Then this should be a piece of cake." She got on her toes to reach and pat Alric on his shoulder.
"Indeed. Where's your IT department?"
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