Chapter 6

"God you must be new forgetting your cart like this!" the man said visibly angry.

'Thank god... he didn't notice' I inwardly thought as I quickly apologized, "I'm so sorry sir I'll quickly grab it and be on my way."

I received the cart and walked out with no further hiccups. Now to plan out how to get this scroll. I brought the cart back to where i retrieved it and thought further on what to do. The best plan I could come up with was a bit of a dangerous one. But, it had to be done. I walked around the floor a few times and quickly planned my escape in case anything went wrong. Then, as I walked towards the wall, I reached out with the palm of my hand and pulled.

BEEP…BEEP…BEEP…

'Shit, I forgot just how loud these fire alarms are,' I inwardly cursed as I waited in one of the janitor closets, occasionally peeking at the room I would soon be entering.

Finally, he walked out of the room and followed the crowd down the stairway, towards the entrance to wait for the fire department. Meaning, I had about ten minutes before they realized someone pulled the alarm.

As the last person on the floor made his way down the stairway, I quickly walked towards room 523 with the keycard in my hand. I swiped it in front of the scanner and green flashed showing it was now unlocked.

I entered the room and made sure to turn the padlock, preventing anyone from entering after me. I quickly searched the room. I checked the drawers, cabinets, and even behind the paintings. I will admit that last one was greatly influenced by old movies I used to watch when I still lived with my parents. But, even after checking all these places I still found nothing.

Then I remembered a show about a stalker that was made in the 21st century where the stalker hid stolen items in the ceiling in the bathroom. 'Well I did check the paintings, might as well check there too.' I walked into the bathroom, stood on the toilet, and lifted the ceiling panel.

"Yes!!!" I just couldn't help cheering when I found the scroll, along with a stack of gold coins. I stuffed the coins in my pockets without counting them and hid the scroll in the only place I could. My pants. I quickly left the building the same way I arrived, the fire escape.

I can't believe I actually got away with it, I quickly made my way to my sister down the alley in which we lived.

As I found my sister still in the same helpless state she was when I left, I felt happy knowing I took the extra risk all to help my sister. I made sure to tell her I found a bag full of coins and a scroll in an alley somewhere, to keep her from worrying. Although, when I said scroll her eyes visibly lit up. She asked to see it, to which I obviously obliged.

I pulled the scroll from my pants and held it out to her, while she had a weird expression on her face. I just smiled wryly as I waited for her to take it. She reached out to take it, and as her fingertips touched the scroll we both disappeared from that spot.

As we were blinded by a bright light, we appeared in a giant open white space.

"Where are we?" Phoebe voiced while looking at me nervously.

Just as I was about to answer saying I had no idea someone else did. "Welcome to the shop creator!" The voice sounded overly enthusiastic.

"Who's there? Why are you hiding? And what do you mean shop creator?" I looked around trying to find the source of the voice, but no one was there.

"I am a System known as Jericho… the scroll you found was in fact a deed to my store which can lead to you accumulating unknown wealth and power. In order for it to take effect and bring you here two people must touch it at once. You both, are now co-owners to my magic shop."

"Then why didn't it activate sooner when the boney guy grabbed it from the other in the alley?" I couldn't help wondering why it chose us.

"What did you say?!" Phoebe couldn't help looking at Alaric with a look of pain on her face.

"Um… I mean… Sorry," I knew I had been caught in my lie as I hung my head down.

Thankfully, Jericho interrupted, "In order for the scroll to activate, two living people must touch it… the "tall man" known as Kane had killed the other before grabbing the scroll,"

'Shit! Phoebe looks pissed,' I inwardly thought as I noticed Phoebe glaring at me, with a hint of sadness.

"Now you must each choose what facility you wish to have in your store. Since there are two of you, naturally each of you will pick one. Then you will be the main person in charge of your choice,"

KOUGH…KOUGH…

Phoebe began coughing as a bright light surrounded each of us. Before I could question anything, all the pain in my body from years of malnourishment was gone. My stomach felt fuller than it ever had, I couldn't help having a smile.

Unfortunately, this was the calm before the storm. My body felt extremely hot as each part of my body began growing, becoming more toned. But, this wasn't the worst part as my skin began falling from my body as it was slowly replaced by stronger, healthier skin. Black substances were secreted from my body, as I began looking towards Phoebe who seemed to be experiencing the same thing. Finally my head felt like it had been hit by a train as I passed out from the pain.

{Analyzing host data… link created with host Alaric}

As I woke up hearing these words in my head, I looked to Phoebe who had just woken as well. As we looked at each other, a set of words appeared in front of my eyes.

{Host Alaric, please choose your store facility}