1 Chapter 1: The Great One

"Curiosity killed the cat."

A common phrase that anyone should be familiar with, with a more than 400-year-old origin story.

Nowadays, it is used to warn people of the dangers of being inquisitive about anything that may or may not even get you into trouble.

And suppose you want to get even more technical with the phrase's meaning. In that case, you could say it's a warning or a cautionary proverb that advises anyone not to get too greedy in the pursuit of knowledge, whether intentionally, subconsciously, or unconsciously.

Of course, I thought this was just a phrase said for fun and not obviously something meant to be taken way too literally. I'm not always what others usually call a curious person in the first place, so even if I were to believe in such a phrase wholeheartedly, I wouldn't waste my time worrying too much about it.

After all, curiosity may have killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back, or at least that's what they all say. Cats are said to possess nine lives, so not all acts of curiosity come without some benefit.

But to be honest, I'm not one to believe in that kind of stuff either, so really…. It's all just nonsense to me. I mean, come on, cats with nine lives? What else? Santa exists, and we've all been tricked into thinking that we've been tricked when we were only just kids?

Anyway, the only reason I'm bringing this up is that to tell you the truth, something happened on the day of Halloween. Something that has stuck with me for a while now. More specifically, something very peculiar happened to me. Actually, even just describing it as 'peculiar' is but a vast understatement.

My memories of the incident are still a bit hazy, so I'm not able to remember everything with perfect clarity. Moreover, the things that I remember from that day are not the kind of things I will ever forget unless I suffered from some form of memory loss.

I guess you could say that it all started on a busy but very decent day.

It was the day in anticipation of Halloween. Everything was going exactly as I had planned it the day prior.

Wake up, get to work, cuss out my boss and my annoying co-workers, refuse to elaborate any further, then quit the job.

I was pretty fed up with my second job and its lousy environment at that point, and I was already making more than I had expected on my first job, enough to live stably and comfortably, at least by my standards.

Plus, my second job paid me minimum wage, and my boss was a trash human being who was about as competent as a particular female character of pink hair with a name that translates to cherry blossoms. You already know who I'm talking about.

The job, quite frankly, stank both literally and figuratively, and the conditions were worse than the time I worked at a shitty store called Walmart.

It's a very popular retail store where I'm from, especially for low-class folks like myself, not that I'm exceptionally broke or anything.

I only occupied this job for a little extra money, especially since I had recently planned on replacing something very important to someone I knew- a keepsake I held on to dearly. I wanted to continue the tradition of holding on to it in their honor, but it had gotten to a point where there were far too many detriments to justify using it.

Eventually, I decided that I was going to replace it. It's not like I was gonna dispose of it or sell it anyway. That being said, the decision to get a second job was, at first, something I thought I could use since it was also never a bad idea to be as loaded on as much cash as possible in spite of how overwhelming it was to maintain two jobs at once.

But I deeply regretted that decision and was profoundly pissed when I discovered that I would be paid additional funds from now on in my first job, more than I had expected. As a result, I could only hold on to my second job for a few more weeks after going at it for a mere month.

Going back to what I said earlier, the day was going by very smoothly.

As soon as I quit my second job, I spent time by my lonesome at my somewhat overpriced apartment. It was liberating not having to worry about overworking myself anymore and finally having a little extra time to do funner and more enjoyable things, like jackin-- I mean watching T.V shows.

That being said, life wasn't perfect. Despite feeling nothing but relief, I had other matters that were still in need of settling. Knowing that everything was fine for the time being, I couldn't help but feel lazy and stay relaxed on the couch, hoping to pull off an all-nighter in hopes of catching up on quite a few of the shows I hadn't yet finished.

There was no logical reason for something to go wrong at that moment. I didn't fully believe in something only half-true like Murphy's Law.

I was already having a pretty great day. Yet, despite feeling happy-go-lucky for the most part, I couldn't help but be infused with a subtle inkling that something terrible would happen shortly.

Luckily, the feeling wasn't anything too overwhelming, nor was it anything that was eating up at me and stopping me from enjoying myself at all.

Instead, I spent the entire night eating myself to sleep and crying out loud at one point because of how sad a specific season finale ending was for a great show I was nearly finished with prior to my late-night binge fest.

But despite feeling relatively safe, I still could not shake off that feeling from before.

I had to reassure myself every 30 minutes that nothing bad was happening, nor was there anything bad that was going to happen. And just when I thought I had gotten rid of such notions, they would find a way to occupy my thoughts and stop me from fully immersing myself.

What's especially ironic about the situation was that I remembered suddenly feeling that indistinct intuition as soon as the 31st of October rolled around.

At some point, I started comparing my situation to Rockwell's famous music video "Somebody's Watching Me."

Just the thought alone creeped me out.

The entire night did not go by without a few hitches, as in the midst of my worrying, I accidentally dropped pieces of my food on the soft but dirty ground of my apartment room. I did end up cursing out loud multiple times, but I persevered through it and slept after having spent 4 hours drinking soda and eating some decent leftover meals.

I figured I might as well buy some good old buffalo wings and pizza with some Coke, though I was a bit saddened by the fact that I couldn't eat everything I wanted. Then again, I couldn't afford to be even more overweight than I was now, so I could only do nothing but hold such feelings in.

Soon, morning came, and with it came the effects of waking up with a groggy brain and a body that refused to get up, or so I thought. Contrary to what I believed was gonna happen, I had woken up feeling refreshed and ready to go, as if I had finally gotten the type of sleep I had longed for.

Usually, I got mediocre hours of sleep that left me wanting to knock myself out every time I woke up, but there was something different about getting up after having slept soundly.

'So this is the power… of a good night's sleep.'

I checked the time on my now fully charged phone while I was still on the couch, and as I expected, I really did get a decent amount of sleep.

Before falling asleep earlier, I had, out of habit, checked the time on my phone, as I always do, then right after I woke up, I made sure to check the current time as well.

'10:25 A.M. So that's about 7 hours and 35 minutes. Not bad.'

I smiled to myself. Immediately afterward, I thought about what I had to do for Halloween and mentally prepared myself as I lamented over some of the preparations I had in mind for the whole day. It was bound to be a fun day, after all, even though I needed to go to work, still.

However, as soon as I stood up from my recent slumber on the couch, I suddenly felt an intense sense of anxiousness, which left me with goosebumps and chills down my spine, like ants crawling down the back of my neck.

I felt a familiar emotion I hadn't felt in years since I was a kid.

'What the hell is-'

Out of nowhere, the door to my apartment abruptly shot open, and a person with a male body appeared before my eyes, with an unreadable expression and a tall but skinny figure, enough to easily outsize me.

My sofa was a bit close to the entrance of my apartment, so I got a pretty good look at the bizarre individual. This was someone who I had never seen in my life.

"What the fuck!?"

I screamed out in panic and in utter terror over the current situation as never before had someone with such bizarre clothing akin to a Uto-Aztecan, or Aztecan for short from centuries ago, showed up to my apartment with a menacing gaze.

Because the figure was wearing a rather perplexing mask, I couldn't quite make out their countenance, though I could see the color of their eyes, which I thought wasn't possible for anyone to have without contacts.

'Is this a new form of trick or treating!?'

Before I could think more clearly about the matter, the weird individual who glared at me with their fiery red eyes shouted in what appeared to be the English language in a surprisingly real American accent. No, it was 100% American.

"At last, we meet together, The Great One! It is an honor!"

The weird person shouted in an energetic tone. Their voice was neither deep nor too high. It almost sounded like a teenager was speaking to me.

However, as much as I wanted to respond, I had no words for what was happening, nor could I formulate sounds as the only thing I could do was stare at the Aztecan-looking individual with eyes wide open and my jaw dropped to the floor.

I was stupefied.

A thick and tense atmosphere surrounded the air around us, and I was struggling to figure out who the hell it was that had appeared out of nowhere.

My heart was beating at an all-time rate, and despite having just had a good night's rest, I was somehow left with a throbbing sensation on my forehead. The kind of sensation akin to having had only a couple of hours of sleep.

After what felt like an eternity due to my extreme apprehension over the current predicament, the individual once again voiced their words. This time, his tone was quieter but more firm.

"I am sorry to say this, Great One. But I'm afraid this will have to be a necessary… mishap, I should say. Please don't take it personally."

"Huh…?"

I whispered in an almost inaudible tone. At that point, I was scared shitless at the sight of someone with a bizarre attire, a bizarre mask, and a bizarre demeanor bursting into my room. It's funny because the door wasn't even opened through brute force, as such an act was unbefitting of the masked individual's slender build. Instead, it was more like the door was opened, kind of... casually, like how someone would open a door if they were in a rush to go somewhere.

"This might sound like a threat, but... remember that what can go wrong will go wrong. Please prepare yourself."

"Excuse m--"

Before I could finish what I was saying, a series of muscle spasms engulfed my entire being. I was once again left with not only a sense of fear right when the lanky person came into my apartment but also an indescribable feeling of utter agony-- the likes of which I have never experienced.

Thankfully, it didn't last long, as the pain left almost as soon as it came. Even so, I was grimacing as if I were still suffering, and before I knew it, I was on my knees, ready to pass out at any given moment.

"Once again, I do apologize. I even remembered to tone down your body's pain receptors so you wouldn't feel nearly as much pain as you originally would have from such a potent substance. Thankfully, it seemed as though I had been worried over nothing. When we meet again, I will have much more to tell you. Until then, rest tightly, Great One."

"Substance? Pain receptors? The Great... One? Just what in the hell are you… talking…."

However, before I could ask any more questions, I suddenly felt my consciousness fading in and out and my words slurring. Soon enough, my vision faded along with it, and I had once again fallen asleep.

But before I fell asleep, I was able to make out most of what the peculiar individual said.

"Good luck, The Great One. Or should I drop the formalities and call you by your real name, Rae Piste? Regardless, names are just names. We shall..."

Alas, I could not hear everything, as I was left helpless, lying on the ground with no way to defend myself.

***

The bizarre individual walked out of Rae's apartment building after closing the door but not before they noticed a strange and abhorrent odor coming from Rae.

Nevertheless, the Aztecan-looking individual continued to walk until their figure quickly disappeared into the distance in the corridor outside Rae's apartment.

Unfortunately for Rae, his door wasn't locked, as he was now lying on the cold ground, left to sleep like a moronic baby.