It was three-fifty in the morning, I was already out and about, taking Mint for a walk. If three in the morning seemed a little early for taking the dog for a walk in a city like Prospero, I’d like to remind you that I was presently an eldritch, vampiric, seven-foot tall, psychic, robo-demon. With all the abilities that implied.

Plus, though Prospero could get a bit “busy” at times, so long as you avoided the really sketchy parts of the city, things were generally safe.

In any case, Mint and I were out walking. Taking in the early morning air. It was no longer winter but the sun still took its time in coming. As a result, things were nice and quiet. The park we were walking in was ours and ours alone, if you ignored the spirits and occasional pixies that happened to be out there with us. The dark and cold kept people off the streets.

I paused to let Mint mark a tree. Beyond playing fetch, and the act of walking in and of itself, that was pretty much all she ever did on our little ventures. Sniffing the scent of animals that happened to pass through in the past and leaving a little something behind so others would know that she’d passed through.

Mint generally didn’t need to relieve herself when we went out. She was housed trained in the truest sense, in that if Mint ever really needed to go, she knew how to use a toilet. She could even flush and wipe. Bet you wish your dog could do that.

As Mint was going through the motions of a canine society, I felt something in the air change. The tiny hairs on the back of my neck and along my arms stood up. My pointed ears swiveled on their own as if listening for something. Most significant of all there was a blank spot in the akashic feed.

That was impossible or as close to impossible as the infinite possibilities of the cosmos would allow. It was one of the few things that actually ‘was’ truly impossible, death could be cheated, time could be halted and reversed, fate could be countermanded and circumvented.

Cheating the akashic was like cheating the tax records of a first world country in a sufficiently advanced society. Or like going on the web and expecting to ever truly being untraceable in a world where the internet providers had semi-sentient quantum computers watching their networks for them.

There was always a residue, there was always metadata, there was always evidence of one’s existence left behind, and the akashic plane itself was one of the most powerful computers in existence. It made my systems look like a hand calculator and was easily powerful enough to turn even the most disparate clues into a concise conclusion.

Thus I couldn’t help but feel intrigued.

One only went out of one’s way to hide things from the akashic plane when one was trying to act in absolute secrecy. This was something the more powerful gods and devils did when they were trying to plot against each other. This was something the most powerful immortals did when they were trying to scheme against the universe itself.

“Curious and curiouser…” I said. Smiling. Wondering if Margot and I would get a chance to be involved this bit of fun, or if this was just a private game, that someone was playing in some far off, hidden, place.

Mint barked to let me know that she was ready to move on. Using her teeth to tug on her leash when I didn’t respond fast enough for her liking.

“I hear you, Princess...I hear you.” I said. Allowing the little green dog to lead me on her usual circuit through the city.

*************************************************************************************************************

We got back to the apartment building around seven-ten. The sun was just starting to come up by that point. There was a familiar smell of coffee coming from the cafe on the building’s ground floor.

I decided to stop in and say hi. While officially the cafe didn’t open till eight, the owner and other staff weren’t shy about serving regulars who happened to be passing by. You just couldn’t order anything big till the proper opening time.

I sat down at my usual seat in the booth near the back. A familiar set of footfalls soon made their way to my table.

“Morning, Monty.” said Cassandra Neuville.

“Heya, Cass.” I said. I hadn’t seen her in a while. I’d been checking in and asking around and it seemed like she’d been

I looked up and saw her standing in her usual sweater and not-mom jeans. I frown as I saw that her arm was in a sling. A light blue sling that had me feeling guilty, up until my senses and akashic feed informed me that her arm wasn’t really broken.

“Playing lame?”

“Playing lame...Didn’t want anyone catching wind about my special abilities. Honestly, it ‘was’ a real wound up until a few days ago. I’m strong but my healing factor ain’t that impressive and you trashed me something fierce. Plus, I’m not sure how but there’s something about you that makes the wounds you inflict slower to heal.” said Cass. Nodding and looking faintly peeved.

“Yeah… Sorry about that. I tried to hold back but I’m not my strongest self either, so I didn’t really have too much leeway. It was the best I could do to avoid giving you some kind of degenerative disease.” I answered. Sheepishly.

“Eh, it’s fine. You helped me save the kids. So even with the broken arm, I’m still in your debt.”

“Ah, it was nothing.”

“No, Mr. Kaylan, It wasn’t nothing. You helped me protect those kids from harm and kept me from hurting anyone. Honestly, I think we both know that that’s not something that can be squared with just six months of me not collecting rent from you and that little roommate o’ yours.” said Cass. Her expression grave, her eyes red and watery.

I could feel a headache coming on. Cassandra was generally so irreverent and “whatever” about things that I hadn’t expected her to be the serious type who got emotional in moments like this.

I thought about the matter a little longer and smiled. Pointing at the menu I was holding.

“Nh, fine then. How about you tack on another six months and all the coffee I can drink and we can call it even?” I said. Purposefully being flippant to try and defuse the situation. Feeling very uncomfortable as I saw Cass grow more emotional.

She stared at me for a moment. Snorted and shook her head. Chuckling.

“So you’re one of ‘those’…”

“One of what?”

“You know…, A good man.” said Cass. Narrowing her eyes at me and smiling.

That got me laughing for real. Laughing so hard, tears started coming out of my eyes. Poor Mint didn’t get the joke so she started barking, wondering what was wrong. Which helped me calm down because I had to make the dog calm down.

I looked up and saw Cass was gone. A playback of my visual feed let me see that she’d walked away shaking her head and looking put off, which made me feel self-conscious and a little embarrassed.

I hadn’t been trying to hurt her feelings and honestly hoped I hadn’t offended her. I just couldn’t get told I was any kind of good without feeling an absolute sense of absurdity. A sensation a lesser being might mistake for despair.

I sighed and was about to go. Figuring I’d drop by later to give an apology, then Cass came back with a pot of coffee and two mugs and a strawberry muffin.

She poured me a cup and poured herself a cup then she reached towards the tray grabbed the muffin. It was still warm, fresh from the oven. She placed the muffin on the ground, on a paper plate, for Mint to eat.

“Uh… Hi, sorry about that outburst. I got a bit. I don’t know… Carried away?” I said. Suddenly feeling shy.

Cass just rolled her eyes at me.

“So twelve months of no rent and all the coffee you can drink? Is that really all that the lives of me and my family are worth to you?” said Cass.

“Huh? N-, No of course not… Your lives are priceless to me. It was just… I guess I’m not very good at taking a compliment. Or maybe it’s more like helping you out didn’t feel like all that big a deal for me, so it made me uncomfortable to see you make it into a big deal… I mean, what's the point of being friends with someone like me if I can’t do you a little favor every once in a while? I swear I didn’t mean any harm.” I said. Not really knowing what I was saying.

“You know what?… I correct my statement. You’re a good person alright, but you’re also a pain in the ass. Does that partner of yours know what she’s getting herself into ‘partnering’ up with you?”

I blinked up at Cass. My spirits falling even lower.

“I uh… I’m not sure. I kind of doubt it.” I said. Wondering when exactly the kaporka had gained an ability to read me so clearly. What was the point of being all enigmatic if people could still read you like a book? Was this the price I paid for hanging around so long so that the woman no longer saw me as a danger?

Cass smiled. Shaking her head and looking wistful as if remember a time long passed.

“Heh, well, it ain’t like you won’t try your best for her.”

I found myself feeling uncomfortable as the topic of the conversation changed. Wondering exactly what Cass was getting at.

“I think you’ll do fine. Just don’t go getting down on yourself. Getting together might be good for both of you, but only if you don’t do something stupid because you’re too busy thinking negative thoughts about yourself, Monty.” said Cass.

I shivered. Cringing on the inside as this tiny fifty-something year old ruthlessly found the sore spot of my eons-old self and poked at it with a sledgehammer.

“I’ll… I’ll try.” I said. Grinding my teeth.

There was an awkward moment, and for a second I considered just getting up and leaving, but for some reason I didn’t.

I think it was probably because I really liked being at that cafe and I knew myself well enough to know that if I left right then, I’d probably end up avoiding the place for months or even.

I wasn’t as shameless as I tried to pretend I was. If I got into my own head about the morning’s exchange it’d be hard to hang around Cass again. Which meant it’d be hard to hang around the cafe again.

If things got too awkward the cafe would no longer be a comfortable haunt for me. I was the kind of person that couldn’t stop being awkward about certain things once I’d started.

“Heaven only knows how many relationships, I’ve fucked up because I was too busy kicking myself for things I’d done in the past. So all I can say is you know...don’t do that. Or else you might end up being my age preaching to some twenty-something-year-old in your own coffee shop about how they shouldn’t push the people around them away.” said Cass.

Her words hit me a second time. Making me shudder. The sensation cold and cleansing and slightly cringe inducing. Cringe inducing, because here I was getting told things that people had been telling me my entire life. Getting scolded again, despite growing so old that the stars I grew up staring at, had all been long dead for ages.

I now understood how she was able to read me. It was because, despite being very different people we were also very similar. Similar enough that she could fill the gaps in what I showed her, with things from her own life. It didn’t help that I was probably sharing a little too much about me and Margot’s relationship.

Whatever… It was what it was.

“You know I’m actually older than you, right?” I said. After a moment of silence.

This disclosure was followed by another long awkward pause. During which Cass poured herself a cup of coffee. Stirring in a lot of sugar and cream.

“...Really?”

“Yes.” I said.

“You have a license, or something, to prove that?”

I snapped my fingers and my state ID, with the picture that was taken by the players league when they set up my legal identity in this world, dropped down from thin air.

Cass picked it up and read the details.

“Well, I’ll be damned… What kind of age is four question marks surrounded by brackets supposed to be?” said Cass. Her dusty-blue brows rising into her hair.

“Apparently that’s the default they gave you if you can prove you predate this universe, or at least were around before human civilization was a thing.” I said.

She looked up at me and slid the id back over. Then she took a sip of coffee.

“Well, my statements still stand. Just because you ain’t as young as thought were doesn’t change that.”

I rolled my eyes at her, loosing a breath as all the tension within the conversation vanished like smoke.

With that all the emotional weight gone from the conversation. Cass and I still had plenty of time to kill, so we ended up spending that time amiably talking about nothing.

For the rest of that hour, we talked about safer things. Lighter things. Shooting the breeze until it was time for Cass and her staff to seriously prepare for the Cafe’s morning rush and time for me to go upstairs to do whatever it was I’d planned for today.

******************************************************************************

Unlike its fellows within the country, one could argue that the New York state had hardly been affected when the earth grew in size following the ENE event. Yes, a portion of the city had been flattened by giant monster attacks but those were quickly rebuilt thanks to the country’s friends from beyond the stars. Who relied on the city’s role as an economic and cultural hub.

The big apple, the gleaming core of the state, had remained static and largely unchanged. Instead of being expanded, New York city was surrounded by various copies of itself from alternate realities, and a chaotic black sea. Both the altered-city, and the sea, were covered by thick low hanging clouds. Turning New York into a city of perpetual fog.

Within this city of fog lay the headquarters of Umbral Record Keepers. An organization that naturally held strong ties with the Cat Sith Corporation as was the case for all of the world’s biggest power players.

Only those in the know would be able to tell the difference between the organization’s buildings and all the others that lay within the city. Most of the bases even rented out space to fitness centers, franchise cafes, and generic offices as a cover.

The truth of the building’s true intended use could only be seen by heading downwards into the buildings’ depths. In the lowest sub-basement of one such building, there was a prison. A small holding-facility that the organization used for sealing away troublesome cases that they couldn’t allow to roam freely but either couldn’t or wouldn’t want to risk trying to terminate.

Within one of the numerous holding cells, of this prison was an old man. He had only one eye. His arms and legs had been cut off. The stumps bound by caps made of a rare metal that was enchanted to continually cook the old man’s flesh and cauterized his wounds, to keep them from regenerating.

The old man’s mouth was bound as well. Gagged with a ball made of the same rare metal. A ball that had to be routinely replaced to keep the old man from biting through the gag.

Though the prison was supposed to be airtight and inescapable, it was impossible for a prison made by mortal men to be truly unbreachable. Thus it was that on a certain day, a single gnat was able to crawl down to the old man’s cell and whisper a single sentence in the old man’s ears.

After the old man heard what the little insect had to say. He bit through the metal ball binding his mouth. Then he sat up and began to laugh.

The old man’s laughter grew louder and louder, and deeper and deeper. His laughter sinking through the concrete and still till finally, it started off a seismic chain reaction that eventually lead to the total collapse of the building he was being kept in, and a partial collapse of the streets beyond. When the organization rushed to investigate this issue, the old man and several of his fellow inmates were nowhere to be found.

The publicness of this whole event, lead to the Umbral Record Keepers being partially outed to the public, and thus forced the organization to go dormant for a few decades. Which was just as well, because it was very likely that the beings that escaped their custody would come looking for revenge.

The American government, and its myriad patrons in the supernatural world, were forced to deal with another headache. With the US’s Department of Supernatural Affairs, and the Department of Homeland Security, left wondering exactly what new madness was taking place.

This borderline catastrophic event was far from the only noisy thing that happened during that single week and the mortal powers-that-be within the country were finally starting to grow ‘concerned’.

Though things weren’t so bad that the country’s leadership feared another endless night was coming, having everything happen all at once with the other immortals of the world keeping mum as to what was going on, was quite troubling.