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The Scavenger Hunt (8 ) : Destiny City is hosting an annual scavenger hunt during the Star Festival to encourage people to get out and explore their city. The prize for turning in a completed scavenger hunt is a coupon booklet and a few free tickets to upcoming city events. Even if you aren’t interested in the prize, the scavenger hunt is specifically designed to take you through the city to showcase a few historic buildings, some art installations, and some of the city’s greatest accomplishments. While many of the places are familiar, during your explorations you come across a building you’ve never seen before--something that feels out of time. You’ve been in the area countless times before, so how did you miss this place? When you lay eyes on the building, you feel a strange timelessness and have the distinct sensation of being a part of something bigger. Briefly, you may see flashes of some distant past--a flickering memory that you can’t quite place or fully form. It’s hard to make out, but at some point in time you have the distinct impression of a faded figure taking your hand and telling you to do something. They sound hopeful and encouraging, like they really believe in you. By the time you blink, the visions are gone, the building is gone. The only thing that remains is a beautiful little garden and a plaque so faded that you can’t make out the inscription.
“You did it intentionally to upset us,” came through the receiver, a furious hiss that immediately set the hairs at the back of Indra’s neck on end. “For months and months, we never see you. Not for birthdays, not for Divali, not for Christmas. You did not even call your father on Father’s Day. What is it?” His mother demanded sharply. “You have no need of us now that you are an adult and can manage alone?”
Indra was silent as he paced slowly down the sidewalk after work, leading into a downtown shopping district. He always felt remarkably like a young child when he was on the receiving end of his mother’s ferocity. At least when he was in the right, his own temper quickly rose to dwarf any insecurities-
But that didn’t happen today.
“No, Mama,” he croaked out softly, voice low and tight as he struggled to come up with literally any moderately passable explanation. But there simply was nothing he could say to her, besides a muttered, “I would never want to upset you…” Which was true! Even on his most petulant days, Indra could recognize how foolish it was to have the goal of offending his feisty mother. "I have just been busy," he tried to explain. "It is difficult to make time. I am so tired..." He didn’t want his parents hurt.
Which was the crux of the problem.
Even when he was walking in a populated area, under a sky still lit with the evening sunset, Indra felt paranoid of anything around him. There were a scattered few groups finishing shopping expeditions, a few teenagers just hanging out on benches, cars driving down the road at unspecified intervals. This was what a normal evening should look like, and Indra should be content to close up shop and go home. He would have been, before any of this powered nonsense started.
There was a very slight pause on the other end. His mother's tone shifted indecipherably, still firm, unwavering, but a touch softer. "We will come to you, then. We will bring dinner and make sure you are properly looking after yourself."
Indra inhaled, held the breath in his lungs and tried to keep himself from the snappish refusal. It seemed like every time a streetlamp flickered, or the wind rustled up a piece of garbage, or a dog barked from behind a fence, he nearly jumped out of his skin- especially if he wasn’t powered up. As Indra, he couldn’t sense them; as Indra, he couldn’t tell when youma were looking for him.
Antisana couldn’t go see his parents, only Indra could, and if Indra led monsters into his family’s home… How could he justify it? He could hardly justify doing anything with anyone because of the fear of being ambushed. The youma ruined his life, ruined his relationships, ruined himself- He knew he wouldn't feel this way: exhausted, paranoid, lonely, distant- if he just... wasn't Antisana. It felt so unfair to think because he enjoyed his wonder while he was there, but a weekend visit every month hardly made up for the shambles the rest of his life was in.
"I am never at home, Mama," he tried to patiently explain. "I am not even home from work, yet." Couldn't go there, either. He didn't want his residence ransacked by Chaos' creatures.
From the other end of the line, though sounding more distance than his mother's voice, came another, “Jiyana, please, leave that boy alone, a’right?" His father snorted. His tone was amicable. Dean wouldn't take Indra's distance as a slight, and probably wouldn't ever show evidence if he was wounded by it. "Sometimes, a man's gotta do man stuff. He doesn't need Mommy harping on him all the time, ya hear?"
Indra didn't witness the ensuing whirlwind, just heard a clatter as the phone was jostled, quiet rumbles of words he couldn't make out- But he didn't need to. He was sure his Mama was letting Dean have it, snapping at him to stay out of it, if he was going to do anything less than back her up.
When Jiyana was back on the line, it was with a curt, "You should get more rest, then."
If only he could.
"I will try," he promised. And despite it being against his better judgment to lie, he added, "Maybe it will be less busy soon. I will make time to come over when I can." And it certainly was a lie. He didn't know when it would be over, didn't know when he would ever get respite from the youma-
He expected they would kill him first. And then he would be another among countless "disappearances." His parents would wonder how and why with no way to come to any resolution. Because he couldn't just tell them why this distance was important.
"Very well, Indra," she murmured, nearly a whisper in her defeat. "If there is ever something we can do, if there is ever something you need, we will be here for you. We love you so much. We miss you every day, even though you hardly live more than a few miles away..."
...Would it really be so bad, if they knew?
The worst that could conceivably happen was that they were already allied with the Negaverse in some way. If they chose to have him killed or ruined by corruption, at least that wouldn't besmirch his own conscious. Though it would probably be equally terrible if the whole war was news to them, and they became frantic with worry and as paranoid and restless as he felt- So that was probably why he couldn't admit to being in danger that was extremely likely to end his life in the not-so-distant future. He didn't want to bring them into something they had no control over. He didn't want to worry them more than simple absence caused...
He sighed. "I miss you, too." A slight pause, a second where Indra stepped toward the end of the building and took just a moment longer than usual to peer around the corner, surveying the area, as had become necessary. "I should get back to work," he murmured at last. "I will call again soon."
"Fine. I will bring dinner to your work tomorrow. Text me what you will have." The quick-second interval made Indra think she'd taken the phone from her ear and hung up quickly before he had the chance to refuse her, and she probably had, but she was back on the receiver in a second, adding an, "I love you. See you tomorrow," before she was gone for good. Indra didn't think he had the heart to argue, and it was difficult to turn down his mother's cooking...
He tucked his phone away in his pocket, and resumed the walk ahead.
This was safer than going home, safer than trying to settle down if he was just going to be ambushed. He really had had work to do today, though, and it was stressful trying to squeeze it in around the fear of being attacked. He wondered how much longer he'd be treading water for, before everything just drowned him.
When he refocused on his surroundings, it was to see- a house.
A house in this shopping area. Indra still wasn't too far from where he worked. He'd driven this road a countless number of times, and he didn't remember ever seeing something that was so obviously a residence here among all these shops downtown. Something unusual.
Regardless of how immediate the threat was- it was just a house!- his heart quickened. Indra's impulse was to power up, look around, feel for the aura he expected to be there. Anything, anything unusual seemed like it must be from the enemy. Youma could be massive: house-sized, maybe house-shaped. It didn't mater how unassuming the building was, and it was only a force of willpower that kept him from summoning his page weapon to become Antisana right then and there.
It was just a house.
Visions fluttered at the edge of his sight, making Indra feel even more suspicious. It didn't matter that the fading memories seemed pleasant. That could be one of their powers, couldn't it? Something to put him off guard, something to make him complacent. Indra stumbled backward in a hurry, putting several steps worth of distance between him and the strange house. He thought he remembered being here with a person- though he had no memory of this place. A little girl, though he knew no little girls, taking his hand and whispering something of encouragement.
He only wanted to leave.
The sensation dissipated as quickly as it had come. The faux-pleasant feeling, the memories of some person he didn't know, and the house itself, gone in but a blink. Only a garden lay nestled in between the various shops, unassuming and with none of the nearby scragglers even seeming to take note of it.
But it was much too late for pleasantness. Indra only felt on edge, and he set off at a brisk jog back the way he'd come, eager to put as much distance between himself and any inexplicable magic as possible.
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