New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Unbeknownst to the group of four heroes, who had most likely just saved the city from a massacre beyond anything it had ever seen, a young adult with a camera caught everything on tape.

The man had been hiking and had inadvertently wandered close to the hospital’s private grounds. So when the fight moved outside and into the forest, they almost swept the man into the conflict.

Luckily for him, the combat stopped moving close to him, and he got his phone out to record the whole thing. The man almost thought for a moment that a superhero movie was being filmed with a new generation of VFX.

Once he had caught everything on camera, he hurriedly walked away from there, not wanting to get caught filming a movie as it was being filmed. The fines for that were enormous, and he was way too broke to pay those.

As he fled the scene, the man opened the news, to see if anyone had heard about a movie being filmed in Montreal, to see what set he had stepped on.

He found nothing about a movie being filmed so close to the city, but as he scrolled across the various news sites and podcasts, he found something that piqued his interest.

An article named ‘Ghost Rider in Bois-Des-Filion’ caught his eye. Since that was where he currently was, it made him curious.

Opening up the article, he looked at the images and the small article. His stomach dropped and cold sweats dripped down his back.

The first image was one of a person with a burning skull as a head, but the image after was that same person, with a complete face. Looking at the photos, he could see a big resemblance to the person he had just seen fighting.

The same person who had burst into flames, revealing a short and pudgy purple demon-looking thing. The same demon-looking thing that had just been beheaded in a second.

As he looked at the images of four other people chasing the first one, his sweating got worse.

“This is madness! There is no way this fight wasn’t VFX’d. How could anyone throw fire, or even change appearance? This makes no sense.”

He started typing furiously on his phone, cursing the poster, saying he was taking something fake, and calling it real for attention. But when he sent it, so many answers came his way, saying they had seen it too, and this article was legit.

The man put his phone away, darting away from the area. He didn’t want to find out if it was the truth, and would rather live in his ignorance.

***

David, inside his hidden home, had just finished packing his stuff for the expedition later that day. So he browsed the news one last time before going to bed and resting.

As he flipped through the many news networks, podcasts, and other media, he found the article about the demon. His eyes widened.

“This isn’t possible. There shouldn’t be demons in our world yet. They aren’t connected enough yet.”

He read through the article, found the location of the sighting, and then looked at the images. Recognizing four of the faces in the photos, David growled to himself. 𝘰𝑣𝘭.𝗇𝓔t

“I hope they didn’t let it escape. Demons are way out of our league for now. I hope it didn’t fully release itself.”

Closing the media, he turned and went to sleep. His brain zoned out the news rapidly, with him being severely sleep deprived.

He only hoped he wouldn’t have an additional issue on his hands. A loose demon meant a lot of bloodshed, and a difficult hunt to catch it, and the prospect of killing a fully released demon wasn’t on the table yet at all.

***

When the time arrived to leave for the airport, Jack left his office. He was planning on joining the pair on their trip, wanting to see with his own eyes what the world was becoming.

He had heard the alarms in the facility, but when he took news from his assistant, Guo, the man told him they had handled it and everything was back to normal.

He had told him, however, about the damages that would need to be addressed in the underground facility, as well as above ground. Since money wasn’t an issue for Jack, he shrugged it off.

Going back up to the facility, where Guo had said Alexander was resting, Jack walked to the room, expecting to see him already up. But when he got there, what he saw made him frown.

On a bed, Alexander was laying down, livid, almost as pale as a ghost. Kary was by his side, holding his hand, a soft smile on her lips.

“Why is he still sleeping? He knows we have to leave shortly. Wake him up.”

Kary jumped in surprise, hearing the voice behind her. Turning her head to see who it was, she was surprised to see Mr. Boudreau.

“Alex will not wake up for a while. He’s drained what little mana he had, and his body shut down. I don’t expect him to be up for another four to five hours. Wait. You said you were going with them?”

“That is quite unfortunate. Then I guess I’ll have him loaded into the plane unconscious. And, yes. I am going with them. Did you think I was going to lend them my jet and not go?”

Kary frowned.

“No. But I somewhat expected a man your age to stay away from danger.”

“You misjudged me, Ms. Deveille. I often caused danger in my younger times. I am not afraid of much.”

She looked at him with a critical eye. Kary’s father had once been in the military, but only as a reservist.

So she wasn’t very good at spotting military people, if they weren’t in uniform.

“Is there enough room for me? I don’t want to let Alex go in this state, without me.”

Jack looked at her. He could have said no, but the emotions she was displaying seemed genuine, and he was a softie for love.

“Of course, Ms Deveille. I’ll report an additional passenger to the pilot right away. Do you have your things ready?”

Kary stepped aside, revealing two bags.

“I took the liberty of using your assistant to get our things from the Penthouse. I hope you don’t mind.”

Shaking his head, Jack responded.

“Not a problem. Although I am surprised he accepted to do anything for anyone other than me.”

“I called in a favour he owed Alex.”

Raising an eyebrow, Jack wondered when Alexander had curried favour with Guo. But it wasn’t his place to pry.

“Well then, let us get en route. I will have nurses cart him up to the limousine.”

Kary got on her feet, nodding in acknowledgement.