Eternal Undying Chronicles

Chapter 84 Esper Trio

The night was bitterly cold by the docks, where the only light came from a few flickering, dim streetlights and the occasional glint off the ocean's surface. The darkness felt oppressive, hanging heavy in the air like a thick fog.

The docks were eerily silent, save for the distant lapping of waves against the hulls of rusting ships and the occasional creak of old wood. Stacks of crates loomed like silent sentinels, their shapes barely distinguishable in the gloom.

The air carried a faint scent of death and decay, a sickly-sweet odor that no amount of industrial-strength cleaning chemicals seemed capable of erasing. The place felt forgotten, abandoned to time and the elements.

A tall, dark-skinned young man stood near the edge of the docks, his eyes scanning the shadows warily. His buzz-fade haircut was neat, contrasting with his rugged surroundings.

He was lean, his build suggesting a mixture of agility and strength, and his sharp eyes gave away his alertness. His clothes were functional, a black leather jacket over a plain white shirt, jeans that had seen better days, and scuffed boots that hinted at a life on the move.

"Hey, Petra, did you find anything yet?" he asked, glancing at the young woman beside him.

Petra had dirt-blonde hair that fell messily around her shoulders, her green eyes sharp with focus as she knelt by a stack of crates. She wore a dark hoodie and jeans, the kind of outfit that allowed her to blend into the shadows effortlessly.

Her small frame and youthful face made her look almost out of place in the grim environment, but her eyes held a depth of experience that belied her appearance.

Petra sighed, clearly frustrated. "Shut up, Caden. Psychometry isn't magic. I need to find the right stuff to touch," she muttered, her voice tinged with irritation as she continued to search the area.

"Yeah, I hear you," Caden replied, his tone equally annoyed.

"But we've been here for an hour. First, you say you found a trail of a monster, and then you lead me to an abandoned building in the docks. And this place stinks," he complained, wrinkling his nose at the pervasive odor.

Petra rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up. My [Mind Burst] ability is too cool to fail. I just need a clue."

"[Mind Burst]? You just copied my esper name and added 'Burst' to it," Caden retorted, crossing his arms. "My [Mind Force] is way cooler. I mean, useful telekinesis versus your lame Psychometry? No contest."

Petra shot him a glare. "Shut up and let me focus. I didn't come up with the name, remember? It was the white coats in the lab who gave us our esper names. And keep talking, and I'll make you relive your traumas with my power," she threatened, her voice low and cold.

Caden backed off slightly, raising his hands in mock surrender.

"I apologize for my outburst... do as you please," he muttered, deciding it wasn't worth pushing her any further.

"You better be," Petra said.

"I take it back, your powers are useless," Caden taunted, a smirk forming on his lips.

As they continued their bickering, the air around them seemed to ripple, and a young woman with brown hair appeared out of nowhere.

She had piercing blue eyes that sparkled with intelligence, and she was dressed in a pair of long jeans and a jacket that was a few sizes too big, giving her a slightly disheveled look.

Despite her casual attire, there was an air of confidence about her, something that made both Petra and Caden instinctively stand a little straighter.

"Guys... I finally found you," she said, her voice tinged with irritation.

"You had one job, and that was to buy groceries. Now, I find you guys at the docks, and why did you only send a text? You could've at least called the rest of us," she scolded, her eyes narrowing in annoyance.

"Oi, Christina, sup girl?" Caden greeted her, attempting to sound nonchalant but failing miserably.

"Ehh... blame Petra. It was all her. She saw some claw mark in an alley and decided to touch it, saying she saw visions of a blonde girl taken by some monster."

"Shut up and let me focus!" Petra yelled, her patience wearing thin.

Christina sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she forced herself to stay calm.

"Right, whatever. Just hurry up and find something useful, this place stinks," she ordered, clearly not in the mood for their antics.

"Yes, ma'am," Caden and Petra replied in unison, their tones half-joking, half-serious as they fell silent.

A few moments later, Petra's eyes lit up. "I found something. It moved into the abandoned building over there. Come on, let's check out the clues. This might be our lead to find what that creepy robe guy asked us for," she said, her voice filled with determination as she led the way toward the dilapidated structure.

The building loomed before them, its walls crumbling and covered in dirt, windows shattered or boarded up. The stench of decay and chemicals was stronger here, almost overpowering as they approached the entrance.

Christina's stomach churned, bile rising in her throat as she glanced around at the remnants of the carnage. The cleanup had been haphazard at best, leaving behind a macabre tableau of broken machinery and dark stains on the floor.

"What the hell happened here?" Christina muttered, her voice trembling. "From the looks of it, someone tried to clean up, but there were just too many deaths, and they did a sloppy job."

They pressed on, their footsteps echoing eerily in the silence, until they came upon a gaping hole in the ground. The concrete around it was jagged and cracked, as if some enormous force had torn through it, revealing the churning sea below.

Petra knelt by the edge, placing her hand on the ground. Her eyes glazed over as a vision took hold of her mind.

"There was a battle here," she began, her voice distant. "Monsters... and another creature... a shadowy figure. I can't make them out clearly. It was trying to protect the humans, killed the monsters.

But then... something worse came, something horrible. He fought it, but it defeated him. He made this hole in the ground in a fit of rage when one of the monsters killed a woman... I can't get all the details... too much time has passed... But he took the blonde girl with him, and a little girl, and they dived into the water."

She clenched her fists, frustration and helplessness washing over her. "I can't make out their faces..."

"Calm down, Petra," Christina said gently, though her own nerves were frayed. "If they jumped into the water, they might have survived."

"Or they died from the cold water," Caden added, ever the pragmatist.

Petra shook her head, her features hardening with determination.

"I doubt it. The shadowy figure was strong... I just need a clue, something that belongs to any of them..." She gritted her teeth, frustration evident in her voice.

"Will a strand of hair work?" Caden asked, his gaze fixed on the hole in the ground.

"Yeah, but where are we supposed to find that? This place has been cleaned up," Christina pointed out, skepticism lacing her words.

"They didn't clean up the hole," Caden replied confidently. He waved his hand, and with a slight exertion of his [Mind Force] ability, a barely visible strand of blonde hair floated up from the darkness, illuminated faintly by the dim light.

"Wow, you really have sharp eyes," Petra said, her surprise genuine.

"Too bad he's blind to the really obvious things," Christina muttered, her frustration clearly personal.

"Hehe, looks like it's [Mind Force] for the win," Caden bragged, a grin spreading across his face.

The girls ignored his self-congratulation, their attention focused solely on the hair. Petra took it carefully, her hands trembling slightly as she touched it.

Her eyes fluttered closed, and she spoke in a hushed tone.

"I can see her face... but she was unconscious the whole time. The shadowy figure was after her... it was trying to protect her."

Petra glanced at Caden, her brow furrowed in thought.

"We need to find her. Maybe we can get a clue about who or what was here, and maybe find those magical nets... netta things..."

"Not netta—it's nexus," Christina corrected her, exasperation clear in her voice. "And we don't even know what they look like."

"He said we'd know when we see it," Caden added.

"Still, that doesn't make it any easier," Christina muttered, clearly still on edge.

"For now, let's go back. We have a clue—we can track down the blonde this hair came from and see if we can figure out what that shadowy thing was," Caden declared, determination in his voice.

"Our freedom and lives depend on it. The outside world is too nice to give up without a fight."

"Agreed," Christina said, her voice firm.

Petra nodded, her resolve solidifying. "Let's go back, regroup with the others, and get to work."

"We can get Ping to do a DNA test and access the results through his security clearance," Caden suggested.

They turned and headed back through the dark, ominous halls, ready to face whatever challenges lay ahead.