Chapter 014

Alvin took the container in his hands and gulped the whole potion in one go. As the potion slid down his throat, his body felt ice cold. His mind started wandering involuntarily thinking about all the great assassinations, fights, and adventures he had. Every cell in his body felt like it was squirming. He could only perceive a deep red everywhere. Suddenly, he felt as if he was floating. He started hearing a buzz somewhere, and was slowly blacking out. Suddenly, it felt as though he was doused with ice cold water. Everything else faded, and a familiar box came into being in his mind. It was the small red box he had gotten yesterday, the rumoured treasure of the Hunter Pathway. He focused on the box, and every other distraction faded.

"Is it time?" he heard a young voice.

"Yes. Now his spirituality is most active, fusing with the potion. He definitely has no conciseness now. If we get a negative answer now, that means he is telling the truth. It would also mean that we have a serious problem with the Iron and Blood Cross Blood. You only have time for one question, so make it short" he heard a reply, from a voice he could vaguely identify as that of Gordon.

Then, he felt as if a tube was inserted into his being. He then seemed to see a huge blurry figure, who asked him, "Did you lie at all during the conversion with Gordon of the Red Gloves?"

Alvin almost instinctively blurted out yes, before he caught himself and said no.

Then, he slowly started to perceive the world again. The image and the question just asked turned increasingly blurry.

"I guess congratulations are in order. You just became an official Beyonder! How do you feel?" asked Gordon.

Alvin regarded himself with interest, using a mirror on the wall. He did not look significantly different from before, but his hair was a deeper shade of red than before. His eyes seemed to glow with a reddish lustre. Other than that, he looked exactly the same.

Alvin then regarded his surroundings. His sense of smell, sight, and hearing was significantly enhanced. Also, he could feel that he was stronger than before. He looked around the room, and could see traces of people who had been here before. While there was nothing to be seen with his sense, he could feel the places they had touched, how they were seated, how walked, and such other details. He could even differentiate traces of different people.

"I feel great. Better than great. I feel awesome" said Alvin excitedly.

"Well good for you" said Gordon.

"Is the change to my eyes permanent sir?" he asked.

"You don't have to call me sir. You should call me captain instead. And no. It's a sign of overflowing spirituality. It will fade soon. In your case, I think it will last about 2 hours" said Gordon.

"Yes captain" replied Alvin, jumping around in place to feel the difference in strength. He then quickly drew and unholstered his revolver and tried out the coordination of his body.

"Well, that's that. Sequence 8 of this Pathway is called Provoker. The church can provide you with the formula and ingredients provided that you have enough funds. It usually takes a long time to be prepared for the next Sequence though. You might be slightly faster.....but anyway, that's far into the future. Now, let me tell you somethings you should know" said Gordon.

He then sat down, cleared his throat and said, "There are estimated to be around 3000 Beyonders in Backlund. Only a third of them belong to official forces. Unless they do so thing particularly horrible or attention grabbing, we close one eye towards them. So there is no need to report every Beyonder or Beyonder activities you come across. You are supposed to write a report weekly to me. You can mention any rumours which you think I should know about in the report, but primarily it is for me to ascertain that you are still sane. You should mail the report to 171, Redling Street, North Borough. Address it to Will. I will receive it. You can also send some urgent incident reports or happenings to me in the same way. If it is something truly urgent, visit the Saint Samuel Cathedral, and show your Nighthawk informant badge to the priest in a confession booth. Then, wait in the park outside and relax on a bench for a while. I will come to you soon. If I need to contact you, I will send you a mail from Will to your house if it's not urgent, and send someone to the bar to look for you if it is. In case you are not in, you should give me a code word to give to the person here. Different code words will differentiate the degree of seriousness. We should set the codeword after" said Gordon.

"And finally, I want to tell you something important. Let me make it very clear that I do not expect to loyally serve the Nighthawks. You are in for the protection and benefits. But it is fine. If you can help us, you deserve what you get. So I don't expect you to tell me everything that's going on. I know perfectly well you are going to hide stuff from me, and even dip your fingers into some grey areas. And I accept that. But let me make two conditions that you have to follow very clear. One, you cannot misuse the name of the Evernight Goddess anywhere, unless it is to identify yourself in front of official Beyonders after you are caught. Secondly, I don't care about any petty crimes, but if it is something major, you are required to inform me. Any unknown organisation, powerful individuals, massive groups of people, and other such obvious tells are something you must inform me at all costs. Is that clear?" asked Gordon.

"Yes captain" said Alvin.

"Very well" said Gordon patting Alvin's shoulder. "I instilled a powerful spirit attack on you. It can only last for about 6 hours before fading, but it will autonomously burst out when you are threatened. It's insurance in case something goes wrong. Now, I will also go into hiding. Stay behind the counter. Let's see if they contact you again"