章節 3: Smoke & Alicia Price

"T...There's a... tattoo on your neck." Caesar stuttered a little, unable to comprehend what happened. This was the same exact mark on his back, except a little smaller.

"A tattoo? What do you mean? I haven't had any tattoos on my neck! You must've gotten drunk from that cognac." Seth had replied to Caesar.

"No, no. It's the exact tattoo on my back! I didn't even drink any cognac!"

Seth turned around to Caesar. He read Caesar's expressions. His speech was slurry, sure, but his eyes gave no evidence of him being drunk. He didn't have a hard time walking, and he looked balanced. "You're... not drunk...?"

"Exactly! H-here, I'll show you..." Caesar immediately pulled out his phone, opening the camera and taking a picture of the mark. Though, for some reason, it wasn't visible on his screen. It was only Seth's plain neck. "Huh...? Its... not showing here..." He mumbled.

"Maybe you were drunk after all..." Seth sighed. " I could've been imagining it." Seth's hand hovered over his neck, before scratching it a little. He was making sure that there wasn't any swelling there. There wasn't, so it confirmed his thought of imagining the burn. "Anyways, I'll see you later-"

As Seth scratched his neck, he could smell the usual scent of the cigarettes he always smoked. A wonderful and tantalizing hint of the lethargic, mind-numbing feeling. At least for him. As pleasant as it was for him, it was also confusing. Right now, he wasn't smoking anything. It could be the smell of his suit, but this was too strong to be a fragrance. It almost felt like someone was smoking a whole pack of cigarettes behind him. Seth turned around to see the source of the smell, meeting quite the surprise in return. Seth could see thin strands of smoke flowing out of his palm. His hand itself was the source.

Seth's eyes widened, taking a few steps back as he saw the scene. "W-what's going on?" Seth closed his palm a few times, each time, more smoke would flow from his hand. The smoke intensified so much so that his own hand wasn't visible... or that's what he thought. "I... I can't feel anything..." Seth had lost all sensations in his whole, right hand. It was almost like his hand got severed from his arm. Yet Seth was so sure it still existed. Worried about what happened to his hand, he used his left hand to grab it. The result was unaccounted for. Seth's whole palm went through the smoke cloud. It confirmed that indeed, his hand was not there.In return, Caesar jumped back a couple of feet away. "It's... smoke...?"

Seth shook his head in denial. For him, it felt like his hands were being torn apart then glued back together each time wind came through. "H-hey, turn it back now, it feels like my palm is being ripped to pieces!" Seth backed up more, groaning a little at the pain. As he backed up, his back connected with the wall behind him. As he did, his whole body started to emit the same smoke, albeit a lot stronger. Smoke was rushing out of his shoes, below his armpits, from his neck, and a big majority from his torso. The smell was unbearable, it smelled like 20 packs of cigarettes, all being smoked at once. Similar to how his hand transformed, Seth's body was getting covered by the smoke. The cloud started moving towards one of the windows. 'Seth' went through the window, finally confirming that he, in fact, has become a full-on smoke cloud.

"Oh no..." Caesar was worried about how people will react to the smoke diety standing there. "Hey uh- Mac! forget about the cognac, I have to go in a bit. Good luck with the bar..."

"Oh... Okay! I found the cognac though..." The bartender had responded from inside of the storage room, his voice was hardly audible.

Caesar ran out of the bar and to the alleyways, which were empty and quiet.

Caesar saw Seth standing in the alleyway, more so a smoke version of him. The smoke remained compressed together, keeping the basic shape of a male figure. There were no details on the face, no facial hair, not even his clothes were visible. Seth had become a smoke cloud to his very core. It didn't even look like Seth could see or talk in this current form. Caesar wasn't sure if he could hear or feel any sensations either. Caesar started to approach the smoke figure. He did not know what to do, but he'll definitely have to stop it.

As he got closer, he was able to notice how the smoke was struggling to stay together. Any gusts of wind that wafted by were able to disturb the smoke. It reacted by immediately trying to get back together. It was almost as if something bad would happen if it separates too much.

It was obvious that another gust of wind was going to hit soon, and Seth didn't like that. For him, it felt like he was losing his body parts in a random order, which then get healed and severed again. It was not a pleasant experience. Wanting to avoid any wind, Seth ran towards the next closest building. He was transported through a vent that lead inside the library, where Alicia Price worked.

The library was quite small. It only fits four, medium bookshelves in, which are packed full of books. There was a desk next to the front door, only a few decorations on it, such as a few flowerpots. They had lilies, daisies, and poppies. On the wall behind the desk, a few pictures were hanged. The pictures were of one girl and two boys. The girl appeared to be older than the other to boys, while the other two seemed to be roughly around the same age. They all shared some facial features; pale skin, green eyes, and blonde hair. All around the trio were verdant meadows, and anywhere one would look, they'd see nothing but hills. In some of the other pictures, a small, wooden house was visible, but most of the details weren't. One of the other distinct features in the library was that it had a few vibrant paintings on the walls. Most of the paintings were of green, hilly areas, clear weather and lush green valleys.

Alicia was organizing the books on their shelves in alphabetical order. She was quite the perfectionist. The organizing is disturbed as she smells the scent of smoke inside of her library. She searched the area, trying to see if anyone was smoking outside. She found nobody outside, which to say the least, bewildered her. As she searched deeper, she could see a cloud of smoke seeping in through the ventilation system. "Ugh! Darned smokers!" Alicia exclaimed. She was annoyed, but there isn't much she could do about it. She simply went back to organizing her books, not caring much anymore. She could cope with the smell.

It wasn't until a few seconds later that she began getting worried. Too much smoke was accumulating inside, and the stench was horrible. It was like someone had thrown a piece of coal in her lungs. She stood up, opening the windows and hoping it would make the smell go away. To her surprise, it didn't.

Alicia was shocked to see the smoke gathering together into a... figure? Whatever this was, it wasn't normal. This wasn't some sort of sick trick. She had to investigate it. Alicia stepped over to a mop, grabbing it like a sort of weapon. She watched the smoke figure for any weird movements, but there were none. It stood there, seemingly unaware of its surroundings. Her stance collapsed as she heard someone burst open through the door. Alicia turned around, forgetting whatever the smoke thing was. She is met with Caesar, looking like he's searching for somebody.

Alicia and Caesar have established some history together in the town. Caesar was a type of person to read books often in his free time, so he ended up visiting Alicia's library a bunch. Eventually, the two got to know each other and became pretty good friends.

"Caesar! This... Smoke thing, what is it?!" She asked, stepping back so she was closer to the other normal human in the room.

"I... It's hard to explain, Alicia, but for now, step aside and I'll try to handle it." Caesar said. He didn't know how, but he had some ideas. "Do you have a fan?" Caesar asked. "He doesn't seem to like air being thrown at him. If we disturb him enough, he'll either die or revert back to normal, and I do hope it's the latter."

Alicia blinked a few times. This was all new to her. But Caesar looked like he knew what he was doing, so Alicia obeyed. "A... fan? Yes... I do." She pointed towards the ceiling, more so towards the ceiling fan that hanged down. "I'll start it up now!" After turning the switch on, the fan slowly started to spin. Eventually, the air started to circulate in the library.

"Quick! Close the windows! Don't let him escape!" Caesar exclaimed, running to every window and shutting it down. Alicia did the same, not understanding what Caesar meant. The air began circulating in the room faster and faster.

"There! He's about to get obliterated! Stand back!" Caesar exclaimed, hiding behind one of the shelves in case this guy exploded.

The air was circulating faster than Seth could come back together. Suddenly, the smoke forced itself together in the shape of Seth. The smoke compressed itself tightly, not a single strand straying away from the shape. Some skin started to appear, gradually, more and more of Seth's body would appear. All the smoke got sucked inside of the man, disappearing from the library. Only Seth was left standing there.

Seth held his head, he could see, hear, feel, and probably even talk too. He looked at his other hand, which was made of skin and not smoke. "I... What happened?" Seth asked as he looked around, noticing how he was in a library instead of a bar.

Caesar looked over at Seth. He's more than thankful Seth didn't die here. Though, if he were to stop the smoke from coming back together at all, he may have died. "Your whole body turned into a smoke cloud. You managed to get in here through the ventilation system." Caesar briefly explained. "It doesn't matter now, you're back."

In the corner of the room, Alicia stood there, looking at the back of her pale hand. "H-hey, Caesar, what's with this circle? It... burns." Alicia asked, seeming rather worried and scared.

The mark had made its way on the back of Alicia's hand. How will the two react to this?