1 The City and a Murder

"Tell me what happened here. In three sentences."

Maguire said to the officer in charge at the crime scene while the forensic team was working to find some extra clues.

"Her name was Meredith, 21 years old. She was stabbed to death with a rusted dagger straight into her heart. There are signs of repeated stabbings on various parts of her body, but there are no signs of resistance. Her flat is also clean as new except for the spot she died. No missing items, so it's not a robbery", the officer concluded.

"I asked in three sentences, man, Jeez... it's bloody Monday after all," Maguire sighed and stretched his arms in tiredness.

Meredith, the young girl, was lying on the floor in a pool of blood but disturbingly smiling.

"She wasn't on any chemical stuff, was she? Kids these days tend to ruin themselves with such things... She was left dead with a smiling face and there are multiple stabbings. Does she enjoy it or what?"

Maguire kneeled to see the body from up close. There were some black-colored powder-like particles on the blood around the body. Maguire wore his gloves and slowly reached his hand towards the particles.

The lights in the house began to flicker, the cameras brought by the forensic clicked photos by themselves causing camera flashes across the room, and mild chattering of a demonic voice began to arise echoing in the room. Nobody had any clue about what was happening and succumbed to fear quickly, since the room was slowly getting ice-like cold and dark as the shadows expanded and covered the entire room. The scary demonic chattering also gradually got louder. But Maguire maintained his calm amidst these abnormal activities till his fingers were only a few centimetres away from the blood. The dust on the blood spiked and jumped to reach his hand like iron sand reacting to a magnet scaring the hell out of Maguire, forcing him to jump away and fall on the floor.

The particle fizzled down and returned to its previous state. The room temperature returned to normal, and the sunlight returned to the room.

The entire crew was completely freaked out, leaving them shivering and panting.

"What was that? What's happening? ", said one of the forensics panicking and hardly breathing.

"It's the ashes of the damned, " Maguire said to himself with shock and surprise mixed with a heavy dose of fear written all over his face.

The Officer in charge panicked on hearing the word and an unknown fear grabbed him.

"Ashes? No. It's Level-A crime, sir. Maybe we should take this to—"

"No!" Maguire shouted at the officer, but every single person in the room also wanted to say what the officer was about to say. "They have to take this to... him", was that sentence. Seeing everyone concerned and scared, Maguire decided to end the day.

"Okay. we're done today. Everybody go home, "said Maguire while quietly dragging the officer to a corner to speak with him in private. The officer in charge tried to convince him about the protocol.

"Sir, please, you need to understand—"

"Don't... Not him, officer! Not that blood-thirsty disgusting creature. We should never depend on the likes of him," said Maguire, exploding in anger but quiet in tone.

"Do you understand Officer — what's your name again?"

"Aalaf, sir. And yes, I understand, " said Aalaf, nodding his head, but frustrated.

Maguire collected all the information regarding the murder from the forensic team and left the apartment with an umbrella.

The rain was heavy like always. The seventh district is very famous for its certain aspects. One of them is that the rain never stops until the sun sets in the west. The city barely saw the actual sunlight, as it is always covered by rain carrying dark clouds.

Maguire was watching the sky while the glittering tiny drops of water from his umbrella make their way to his cheek.

"It never ends, huh? The rain nor the crime"

Maguire's phone vibrated. He took it to see, and it was a message from his wife.

"Come back home on time. It's your sixtieth birthday and your daughter is also turning eighteen. Don't dare to be late on such a day"

Maguire smiled and put the phone back in his pocket and waved his hand towards a mini taxi - a common taxi but very small in size and cheap in price, and also tediously slow.

"Bradpul Street," said Maguire to the driver and entered the taxi. Since it takes nearly two hours to reach his home, he closed his eyes to have a short nap while also reminiscing his memories during the war.

Maguire served in the great war of superiority which was a war among nations that also involved dangerous experimented subjects such as ghouls, vampires, and other superior beings called "The Sleeping Gods" brought to life through science but ripped off of their free will and used as weapons by the humans to fight their war.

The war went on for eight years and Maguire was eighteen when he served and twenty when the war ended. Even though the world was relieved that the war ended, the aftermath of the war was horrendous and Maguire settled in such a place that suffered the most due to that awful aftermath. The sound of the bullets, the visuals of the massacre, the fear when he faced him—

"Sir? The destination has arrived," said the driver, waking him up.

"Hmm yeah — wait. This is not the place... and who are they?."

Maguire stepped out of the taxi and found himself in the worst place, he possibly could imagine - the fallen tower, a destroyed part of the town with ruined buildings, shattered vehicles, and broken parts of a twenty-foot-tall tower.

Two men clad in white cloaks grabbed Maguire. They punched him hard on the nose and took some blood from the bleeding in a small capsule. They then tied his hands and kicked hard on his leg, thus breaking the bone of his lower leg, leaving him yelling in pain and kneeling in front of their master - A tall broad-shouldered man hooded and covered his face with a mask came close to Maguire and sniffs his head.

"He smells fine. It's already late, and the sun is set. Find a rusted metal and do the ritual. The ashes selected him."

Maguire understood that the ashes in the crime scene reached him because it chose him and the girl died because it previously chose her which means he also awaiting the same fate, but for what reason was still unclear to him and he had very little time to figure it out too.

As the three of them were preparing to kill him, Maguire was racking his head on how to escape. But the time was running and the new dagger of his death was ready. The master was chanting something gibberish, and all three were looking at the sky.

"Damn it. At least tell me the reason why are you guys killing me?" Maguire yelled in frustration.

The master heard him. He dropped his hands down and walked towards Maguire. He came close to him and aimed the dagger at his chest.

"To wake him—Huh? who is there?", the master turned around as he felt interrupted by an unknown presence.

The dagger was only a few inches away from Maguire's heart and if it was not for the 'interruption' he would be dead already. Maguire turned back to see what it was, but nothing and no one was around. But he got a clear view of the master.

'This guy is blind as fuck! And sensing presence, huh? Some daredevil shit. Maybe it's a cat chasing rats. That could have been caught on his radar or is it—' Maguire's inner thoughts stopped as soon as he knew what was going on.

'Not him again...'

The two servants picked up their weapons - a sword and a Nunchuck.

"What happened, master?" one of the servants (Nunchuck) asked. The master ignored him and continued to look around, tracing the presence.

"A sword? He has one too, " Maguire chuckled but was also annoyed as he was going to get saved by the man he despises the most.

"Someone's on the building. At the top. I think it's a guy—What? Move! He is crazy... jumping from that height—"

*Bang* The ground cracked. A 'Man' clad in a black two-piece suit with a white dress shirt and shining black boots carrying a wooden Katana on one hand and a red-coloured umbrella on the other landed on the ground from a three-story building; comfortably.

"Seems like you're having a lot of fun, Mr. Maggie"

"Don't call me like that," screamed Maguire in anger.

"Hey, some school kid has arrived here... to save his sugar daddy it seems, haha," the servant with the sword laughed at him.

"Attack him!", yelled the master at his servants.

"Cliche Mister. Awfully Cliched..."

The Man left the umbrella on the ground and within a blink he quickly went past the servants like a flowing wind and came close to the master, startling him. He slammed the master's face with the katana, which sent him flying towards a rusted car, shattering it — along with the master's spine.

Maguire watched the ultra-fast slam down with a horrified expression on his face.

"Is he alive? Will he be alive? Hey, tell me. I heard the loudest crack I could ever hear in my life and that too from one's skull... maybe it's a spine. Look at me—"

"Don't worry, he'll be okay. But he won't walk or talk for the rest of his life. And you should blame the car for that... partially," replied the 'Man' calming and terrifying Maguire at the same time.

The servant with the sword realized the gravity of the situation and bowed down, surrendering, but the one with the nunchuck was not smart enough.

He ran towards the man fiercely to attack him. The 'Man' threw his Katana towards his hand, which completely sliced off his arm, leaving him screaming and bleeding heavily. Maguire ran towards him to help while the 'Man' did not bat an eye and walked past them to take his Katana back.

"That puny little kid, uhh... chopped my arm, aah! hey, you town people hire teenage assassins too huh?... God!"

"Teenager? who is he referring to?" the 'Man' asked in curiosity, while also being offended. The servant looked closely at the 'Man' and understood.

"Oh... I see... then it's you. You're the—"

"Okay, stop it right there. I'm tired of these awestruck reactions to my not-so-surprising identity... got it? So... Wait. Why is he sleeping now? Is he dying or what? Hey!"

Maguire ignored the 'Man's' tantrum over the guy going unconscious and called the higher office immediately. The defenders and medical corps arrived and took the injured criminals with them along with confiscated "ashes of the damned".

Maguire reported everything to the inquiry officials and was given a ticket to the mini-size portals for one-time travel; because of his broken leg.

"Are you not going to join your family? It's already late... Anyway, give this to your daughter," the 'Man' handed over a small gift-wrapped box.

"Lucky that these guys cannot bring guns to our town or I would be dead already..." he said to himself before turning his face to the 'Man'.

"Gift, huh? You know that my daughter has a huge crush on you, right? And I find it really disgusting."

"I'm like a grandpa to her. And this is a gift from that grandpa. Say this to her. Say that she cannot date her grandpa—"

"That actually sounds even more disgusting—"

"Just take the gift and give it to your daughter, Maggie... And take care of the leg too," said the 'Man' tying the katana to the belt wrapped along with his hip while murmuring to himself, "I should definitely buy a scabbard."

He then walked away from Maguire to continue his duty to watch over the city for the rest of the night. 

Maguire watched the night and the 'Man' in silence.

'One monster guarding the village while the lambs silently sleeping in their peaceful night. But I still cannot bring myself to like him. The Priest.... who gave him such a name, though,'

Maguire lit his cigar and opened the mini-portal to join his family for dinner while the 'Man' — the Priest disappeared into the darkness of the night; to do what he does best - Protect.

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*Later* (Epilogue)

The night neared its end, and The Priest was lying on the rooftop with headphones plugged into his ears, hearing some old vintage songs, but a single thought kept disturbing him.

'To wake him— Who would that be? Who is the fellow they want to wake?'

The sun slowly arose, while the doubt stayed still in Priest's heart.

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Rewrites! On the Way for the rest of the chapters, too!