Chapter 61: A Poor Discussion

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— by Vorex Mantipy

Joe moved his head a foot to the right and the store he was looking at just suddenly disappeared. He then moved his back to where it was before and could see the perplexing store again.

Joe hypothesized.

It all made sense to Joe now. The information he got from Cory was accurate. There really was a strange antique store on Eld Street between a bakery and an alchemist shop. It was hidden in plain sight before their very eyes. Except, calling it plain sight was not correct. The concealing nature of this store was complex. Even noticing anything strange about this place was difficult.

Only once you focus your attention, could you notice tiny details that are off about the location. And, those details were extremely small. Joe was a trained detective who could pick up on those small details and incongruities. He wasn't sure if the average person would notice those small inconsistencies and suspect anything strange. It explained to him why more than half the people he questioned around here didn’t seem to know about this place.

This store was so well hidden, that Joe was sure if he wasn't told where to look, he would have never found this place.

The difficulty in seeing the store didn’t feel like an optical illusion with perspective, but it also didn’t seem like illusion magic either to Joe. Which was confusing. The strangeness of finding this store could easily be explained away with illusions, but Joe didn’t detect any of that kind of magic.

When a mage identifies an illusion that may be at play, they can analyze the magic and understand how it works. However, in this particular situation, Joe couldn't do that. As a mage, he reached out with his senses to try and feel the aether that would have been used for a spell, but he felt nothing. He didn't sense any aether, which meant there was no magic being cast on this store to hide it.

Joe pondered to himself.

Mike: “What’s the deal with this place? I can’t feel any aether. Is there really no illusion magic obscuring it,” he said, echoing Joe’s thoughts.

Joe: “Maybe not. It might be some sort of complex illusion magic that can’t easily be sensed, even if you know it’s there.”

Mike: “Have you dealt with that kind of level of illusion magic before? Because this would be a first for me.”

Joe: “No. I’m just speculating. This guy is supposed to be incredibly powerful. So he might know some sort of illusion magic that we never heard of and can even hide aether. At least, that’s my best guess. Otherwise, I don’t really have an explanation of what's going on"

Mike: “I see…actually you’re probably right. You told me Cory thinks this guy is unimaginably powerful. So, I can see what you’re saying being the case.”

Both officers turned to look at the front of the store.

The shop had a sign on top that read "The Mystic Emporium." It had two large display windows with a glass door in between them. The windows had shelves filled with miscellaneous objects that you would expect to find in an antique store. The shelves were so tightly packed at the front that it was difficult to see very far into the store from the window.

It was actually a really normal looking store to both investigators. They would have assumed nothing about it, if it wasn't for the strangeness in finding it.

Mike: “So what’s the plan? Good cop bad cop again?”

Joe: “No. That won’t work this time.”

Mike: “I guess we don’t have enough info on that guy to play that off.”

Joe: “That, and I doubt he would respond well to me threatening him as the bad cop.”

Mike: “Those with power rarely respond well to threats. Assuming, Cory’s information about how powerful this guy is is true.”

Joe: “The info hasn't been wrong yet.”

Mike: “Hmm. So how do we proceed from here?”

Joe: “I’ll go in alone, and you keep watch and come running when I yell for you.”

Mike: “I don’t like that idea. If this guy is dangerous, you’ll need me right by your side.”

Joe: “We don’t know if this guy is dangerous or even hostile, but we do know that the Nighthounds are. They’re probably going to be informed by our recent actions and come around here soon. If that happens, we’ll need to flee. So, I need you to keep an eye out for them while I talk to this guy.”

Mike: “But we don’t know for sure…no. You’re right. We should assume that they notice our presence and take precautions.”

Joe just nodded at Mike.

Mike: “But, if that’s the situation. I should be the one to talk to this guy.”

Joe: “Why?”

Mike: “Do you seriously have to ask why?”

Joe: “Look, I’m not going in for a fight. I’ll play nice.”

Mike just sighed. He could see in his partner's eyes determination to pursue this course of action. Once Joe got like this, there was nothing anyone could say. Mike just slightly nodded.

Joe stood up and started walking forward. Making sure to maintain the angle he was looking at the strange store, so as not to lose sight of it. As he approached, he looked at the sign above the door to the emporium.

Joe thought to himself.

Joe did another look over at the store, but still didn’t notice anything particular.

Despite the banality of the store in front of Joe, there was a slight hesitancy. Something was telling him not to enter. It was his instinct, somehow more profound than it ever had been. It was like something beyond himself was trying to pull him away from here.

It gave the senior officer pause. But, he pushed through it. He was close to something, he just knew it. Joe already believed it was too late to turn back now.

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With a deep breath, he pushed the door open and entered inside.

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The inside of the Emporium was much bigger on the inside than it appeared on the outside. Another oddity about the store John was living in that he couldn’t explain. However, anything to do with Onyx was unexplainable for the man from another world.

Another oddity was that the size, decoration, arrangement, furniture, and even entire floors constantly change on a daily basis.

It was just yesterday that there was an additional level to the main store that people could climb up to through some nearby stairs. But today, that second level and stairs were gone. The Mystic emporium went back to having a single main store floor.

Thankfully, the random changes like a second floor were rare and almost never happened when John had customers. Most of the rearrangements that occurred, he could easily explain away to the people who came to the Mystic emporium. It would be a lot more difficult to explain away adding or removing entire floors of a building.

John on this day was sitting at the back of the store. He was at his usual table, one of the few pieces of furniture that didn’t seem to change much from day to day. There were a few things in the store that didn’t randomly move around or change design. His bed and the table he was sitting at were two of them.

John was reading a manga from his original world called: Ninja Wars. It was a story about a young boy who would one day become the greatest Ninja and prove he was not a nuisance to everyone that mistreated him in his village.

John let out a sigh as he finished reading his manga.

John: “Hmm, guess I’ll have to wait for next month's release.” he said as he turned the final page of his issue of Ninja Wars.

Famed to be the longest running manga series, Ninja Wars continued to release monthly even after twenty years since John came to this world.

One of the limitations of the ability to manifest things was that it had to exist somewhere. As a result, John just couldn't see the next issue of Ninja Wars until it was written and published back in his original world. This limitation that John discovered, made him think that there was a really good chance that whatever entity that brought him to this world might be grabbing things from other worlds and placing them in the store.

John then sat there thinking if there was something else he wanted from his original world when he heard the sound of the store bell ring out, signaling someone opening the front door. He looked up and saw an older man with a fedora, trench coat and tie walk into the store. The man gave John very strong film noir vibes from seeing him.

John excitedly thought.

John was excited by a new customer, but he hid his excitement. He instead pretended to read his manga and not notice the man entering. He was trying to hide his interest in the new customer, as to make himself more approachable and avoid coming off as overbearing. He expected the man to look around a bit, but he walked right to John.

Man: “Excuse me. Are you the owner of this store?” he asked as he approached John.

John: “That I am. My name is John Li. How can I help you Mr—” he said, expecting the man to introduce himself.

Joe: “Joe Striker,” as soon as he said that, his eyes widened in surprise and he started to look confused.

John: “A pleasure to meet you, Mr Striker. What can I help you with? Are you looking for something specific?”

Joe: “Oh, um. I was looking for information on curses.”

John: “Curses?” he said, surprised at what was being asked.

This was a first for John. No one has ever asked him about something like this.

John didn’t fully understand how magic worked in this world, but he imagined that curses in this world had similar connotations to his original world. A hex to bring misfortune upon others. Something that could only be used for nefarious reasons.

It then begged the question to John on why this man was looking for this kind of information.

John: “Now, why are you looking for info on such a thing?”

Joe: “It’s for something important.”

John: “And that important thing?” he said, trying to coax a concise answer from the strange customer.

Joe: “It’s… an investigation.”

John: “Investigation? Who are you exactly?”

Joe: “Um, an investigator?” he said, clearly hiding something.

John was becoming suspicious. Something about this man didn’t feel like any of the customers that he’s tried to help in the past. Almost everyone who entered through that front door for the first time had a deep sense of sadness to them that John could feel. Many of them seemed like they were tethering on the edge. He wasn't getting any of that from Joe.

The question being asked was also somewhat alarming. John didn’t know if he could manifest information about curses, but he wouldn’t even try to see if it was possible. He could see nothing good coming from it. And, a person asking for such information made John curious about their intentions.

John: “Right… What kind of investigator are we talking about?”

Joe: “Do you know anything about curses? Specifically, deadly curses.” he said, ignoring John's question.

John sighed at the question.

John: “If I did, what would you use that information for? You know nothing good could come from such things.”

Joe: “You do know something then. Please, I need to know about deadly curses and how they work and who could invoke them and—”

John raised his and gestured for Joe to stop speaking.

John: “You didn’t answer my question. What kind of investigator are you? The research kind, criminal, private, or something else?”

Joe: “Does that matter?”

John just gave Joe a look of disbelief at the statement he just heard. The lengths this man was going though to be obtuse was starting to annoy John.

John thought to himself as he quickly rubbed his temples.

John: “OK, look. You walk into my store, start asking questions about curses and refuse to tell me anything about yourself. How do you think a normal person would respond?”

Joe: “Well, this isn't a normal store.”

John: “...fair point.” he said, having a hard time rebuking the remark.

Suddenly, John realized something.

he thought to himself.

He remembered that Joe said he was an investigator. Joe also looked the part of an investigator in a noir film, but John didn’t want to assume. However, if he did, John had one idea of what kind of investigator he might be.

John became wide-eyed as he suspected that one of his fears in this world might be coming true. An investigator for tax evasion. Ever since he opened up shop here, John had never paid any local tax. It made him fearful that one day someone from the government would show up and start harassing him for payment.

Tax collection agencies were frightening in his original world, he could only imagine it being even worse in a world with magic. John was becoming tense.

John: “Are you from the government?”

Joe paused as he thought about something before he finally admitted it.

Joe: “Yeah. I’m part of the criminal investigation unit here in Graheel.”

John quickly relaxed once he heard Joe wasn't the kind of investigator for taxes. But, his mood still started to turn sour from hearing he was a criminal investigator.

John: “Oh, so you are a cop,” he said, sounding unimpressed.

Maybe it was from the horrible things the cops from his original world did to him, or possibly from his countless interactions with people on the east end who have a very unfavorable opinion of the police, but John really didn't like cops. It was impossible to not detect disdain in John's voice once he realized Joe was working for the police.

John: “What do you want?”

Joe: “Information on curses.”

John: “Why?”

Joe let out a sigh

Joe: “I'm working on an investigation that involves them. I need to know about deadly curses as part of the crime I'm trying to solve.”

John narrowed his eyes at Joe as his suspicions heightened even further. He believed what Joe told him was a lie.

John silently thought to himself.

John: “And… why did you come here for that information?”

Joe: “There were rumors floating around about this place, so I followed them here.”

John pondered.

John remembered hearing stories from his own world of unscrupulous cops tricking people into admitting to crimes that they didn't commit. They would use that as a bullshit reason to arrest innocent people. He was starting to believe that was what might be happening right now.

John thought. Jumping to a conclusion due to his suspicion and previous bad experience with police.

John: “Well, those rumors were wrong. I can’t help you.” he said, trying to shut this conversation down.

Joe: “You clearly hinted you knew something a few seconds ago.”

John: “No. I was telling you what you’re asking was—”

Joe: “I don’t believe you.” he said interrupting John mid-sentence.

John: “What?!” he said, surprised by what the man in front of him just said again.

Joe: “You clearly know something. I don’t know why you’re hiding it, but I need to know.”

John: “I told you. I don’t know anything.”

Joe: “I need to know about deadly curses. I need to know how they kill people and who could use them.”

John: “How many times do I have to tell you. I don’t know anything about curses. I’m not a mage.”

Joe: “I still don’t believe you. This is important. I nee—” was all he said before being cut off by John.

John: “Sir, I think you should leave.”