Oddity Specialist: Purgatory
Page 1
Oddity Specialist
Oddity Specialist: Volume 2 –
Purgatory
James “DragonMaster” Courneya
Chapter Listing:
Chapter 1: Mist
Chapter 2: Reset
Chapter 3: Hunt
Chapter 4: Disappearing
Chapter 5: Options
Chapter 6: Dreamer
Chapter 7: Purgatory
Chapter 8: Envy
Chapter 9: Greed
Chapter 10: Eden
Volume 2: Purgatory
Chapter 1: Mist
“Another normal day. I worked on one of my coding projects, went out for a walk, and came home. With nothing particularly special, or of note happening. A completely normal everyday life.”
“Oi, Quinn.”
The boy looks to the dapper man, sitting backwards in his chair, swiveling around, while spinning in circles. “Oh, and a part of that everyday life, is the devil himself, living in my body.”
“Yes, Lucifer?”
The man stops.
“I really don’t like any of this.”
“You’re still worried about that? I personally find the lack of oddities to be rather nice.”
“There has to be something going on. As long as I am here, the supernatural should be congregating.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Say, what would worry you more, as a fisherman. A completely regular day at sea, or one which has an almost unnatural calmness to it?”
The boy gets pensive.
“I understand what you’re saying. Clearly, something must be going on. Though, we don’t have a way of knowing what, or if it really is bad.”
“With your luck, I would find it safe to bet bad.”
“Hmm. And your luck is much better, then my own?”
“Please, I have the devil’s luck.”
The man gives a somber stare, before glaring back to the boy.
“For the time being, our lucks are intertwined.”
“Yeah.”
“Try not to pull mine down too much, will you?”
“Since the cause of all of this, falls on you, shouldn’t I be the one saying that?”
“Of course not, I’m the mastermind, your just my lacky, my Igor, my Robin.”
“Ah, then you must be the Joker.”
“You know, if that wasn’t my favorite character, I would be pulling out a crowbar, right about now.”
“Scary.”
He says in a monotone voice. The boy thinks to himself. “A Robin, and a Joker. Then I guess it’s time to talk about this, with Batman.”
The boy sends a message on his phone.
“Eh.”
Getting an instant reply, he looks somewhat off put.
“This could have waited for tomorrow…”
He begins to head out.
“What now?”
“We’re going to talk to Neri about it.”
“Hoo.”
He gives a dower frown. Walking down the street for a few minutes, leads onto a familiar road. A fist cuts through the air. Standing outside, is an intense girl, shadow fighting. Swiftly moving around, laying out hit after hit, with a fierce aura around her. “I’m kind of scared, to get closer.”
“Hey, Neri.”
The boy waves at the girl. Her eyes dart his way, with a force bearing out from them.
“Ah, Quinn, you’re already here.”
The girls usual wide, somewhat dopey smile crosses her face.
“Yeah…”
Quinn tries to ignore the demeanor shift. “The whole area feels different now.”
He takes note of what the girl is wearing. She has on, a Crop top, with MMA hybrid shorts, they have a black and purple color scheme. “That must be her MMA outfit.”
“Are you not cold?”
“It’s summer.”
“Hm.”
“So, you have some oddity news?!”
“Yeah, though, it’s only the start.”
“Well, spit it out.”
“It’s been over two weeks, since the last oddity encounter.”
“I know.”
“The problem is, apparently nothing substantial has changed with the energy. There should have been at least one or two events since the last one.”
“I see. Meaning something, besides us, is handling the oddities.”
“I’m not sure about that.”
“You said the negative energy hasn’t changed, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then that means, it’s following the same pattern as before. Resulting in the same general output of oddities. Sure, some variance could be involved; but that would be on a massive scale. Having such a stark shift, means that some tampering has taken place.”
“Oh…”
He glances back to see if Lucifer is out, which he is not.
“Do you think, we might have gotten a good oddity? One that beats up other ones?”
“If that was the case, I would think they would do that to eat them, and get stronger.”
“Hmm, keep in mind, that oddities aren’t inherently bad. They just are.”
“Yeah, okay.”
Quinn thinks back. “They do all share the common trait, of being a pain.”
“Alright.”
Neri seems excited, as she takes a pose to pump herself up.
“It seems we have an investigation on our hands. The case of, the lack of oddities!”
“y-Yeah.”
Quinn hesitantly pumps his fist up, trying to somewhat match the girl’s enthusiasm.
“To bad we don’t have any leads to go off of.”
“That would certainly have been useful.”
“Hey, can your oddity friend, detect spikes and general locations where negative energy accumulates?”
“Uhh…”
Quinn turns around, and blinks at the man. Lucifer, closes his eyes, raises his arm up, and flicks his thumb up.
“Yes.”
“Then, couldn’t you go on patrol, to find potential oddity locations?”
Lucifer gives an unhappy expression.
“Tsk.”
“That seems, to be a yes.”
“Alright, then let’s go oddity hunting!”
“…Now?”
“Sure, when else?”
Quinn thinks about this info, for a short amount of time. “Oh, this turn of events is actually really good for me.”
“Then, where to?”
Neri looks around, and points in a random direction.
“That way.”
“I was expecting a more concrete place. Like the park, or something.”
“Spontaneity is the soul of adventure.”
“Then, let’s explore.”
“That’s the spirit.”
The two begin wondering around aimlessly. Quinn eventually turns to Lucifer.
“So, what will you do when you feel something?”
“I could kick you?”
“Hm, how about you politely mention it, instead?”
“I know. Oh, no… I sense, something… How was that?”
“I don’t even know how to describe that tone of voice.”
“How about we use a rating system?”
Neri states asks.
“Ah, yes I suppose that could work.”
He snaps his fingers twice.
“Take notes, helper boy.”
Quinn, begrudgingly, does as instructed. He opens his phone, when he does, his attention is grabbed, by a red and black app.
“This area is a twelve point four two.”
“So specific.”
“Every step it changes. I’ll let you know if it spikes.”
“Ok
ay.”
Neri points at the boy’s phone.
“This number is for the area; what type of scale is it on?”
“Infinite.”
“He says infinite.”
“No seriously.”
“I am always serious.”
“He’s not kidding.”
“Hmm, terrifying, and not comprehensible. Interesting.”
After walking a while, Neri seems to finish contemplating something.
“Nothing has changed with you recently, correct?”
“Not particularly.”
“Hmm.”
“Any changes with you.”
“I wish.”
The tone she used, perks the boy’s ears up. “That was, almost sad sounding.”
“I see.”
“Then, there’s not much to do, besides find that first clue.”
“Yeah.”
They continue on. As they do, Quinn gets progressively more antsy. “This is a good chance to talk to her… How do I do that again?”
“So, uh how has the MMA been going.”
“Good.”
Quinn waits patiently. “That’s it? How do I respond to that?”
“There are a few things to work on. I just haven’t been able to get focused on practice, quite as well recently.”
“Ah, my bad.”
“Oh, it’s not really a problem, per say.”
“Okay.”
“I just need to be able to practice instinctually.”
“Uh-huh.”
“In the ring I can do it, so it’s just a matter of swapping it over, to the practice side of things as well.”
“I both do and don’t understand.”
“That’s better than not understanding, at all.”
“Honestly, more of an understanding then I thought you would have.”
Lucifer states. “Both these comments seem so genuine, yet so hurtful.”
Quinn turns to Lucifer.
“How little do you think of me? Even though I don’t understand sports, doesn’t mean I would be completely lost.”
“I suppose, we do live in the age of information now. In your case, you’ve only lived in this age.”
“You shouldn’t doubt Quinn’s ability to figure things out, he’s really quite good at it.”
Neri states, staring at Lucifer. Quinn feels a bit taken aback, by the statement.
“I hate how she does that.”
“Why?”
“It feels like a blind person is staring at you.”
“I think that’s not something you should say, about blind people.”
“But it is accurate, is it not?”
“I don’t really…”
“Are you two, talking about blind people looking at you?”
“y-Yeah.”
“I got it!”
The girl seems pleased with herself.
“I also hate, when she does that.”
He waves his hand, in front of her face.
“Are you sure, she isn’t just tricking us?”
“I’m fairly sure, she’s just good at that.”
“Hmm. I’m still not sure, how I feel about that.”
“Huh?”
Lucifer disappears. “That line, felt different.”
After walking through the city for a bit, they get their highest score of forty-three point two-five.
“Do you see anything that seems out of place?”
Quinn asks Neri.
“Hmm, nothing yet.”
The two look around.
“You do know, just because it has a higher score, doesn’t guarantee it can manifest into anything?”
“I think we get that.”
Neri looks around. She then takes off and scales up a tree, jumping onto a rooftop.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking around.”
“I, uh; but why- up?”
“Something, like what we are looking for, could be at any altitude. Speaking of which, it could be underground as well. Do you see a sewer grate?”
“We aren’t going into the sewer.”
The girl pouts.
“Phfu.”
She then thinks about something.
“I guess, that is usually the worst level, so it’s fine to put that off for now.”
“How about, we push it off forever? We aren’t modified reptilian samurai.”
“That one was a bit on the nose.”
“I didn’t say anything about Italian cuisine.”
“Fair enough.”
Neri gets down.
“Oh well, guess that’s all we can do for now.”
“Yeah.”
“You know, it feels like we are beat cops, on patrol.”
“I guess so.”
“You know, we have plenty of those in hell. Surprisingly easy to bribe, and they often give into bias.”
“I think, I would be more comfortable not knowing that.”
“Come on, I’m not saying anything surprising. If that’s the case though, you definitely don’t want to talk about politicians, and the rich.”
“I feel like, we are getting into some generic territory.”
“Please, I haven’t brought up lawyers once yet. Did you know, they actually do have their own segment of hell?”
“No. How would I know that?”
“You see, that were just too many of them that were smooth talkers, and down there, that is the real power.”
“Noted, don’t go to hell.”
“Oh, come on, it’s a nice place to visit. Not to great this time of the year, but-”
Lucifer vanishes.
“h-Heh?”
Quinn looks around.
“What is it?”
“Uh, I’m not-”
Quinn feels a cold gaze, transfixed onto himself.
“…”
“Ah, you feel it as well.”
“…What-”
Neri places her finger over her lips, while still smiling.
“Okay.”
Quinn centers himself.
“You should teach me how to do that.”
“…I don’t know if I can.”
“Shame.”
Neri looks out, as mist starts flowing in.
“I guess, we can call it good for today.”
“Sure. We probably aren’t going to make great progress right away, anyways.”
The two start heading back. Quinn begins thinking, about what just transpired. “Why did he disappear? I still feel him inside of me. Perhaps, the reason has to do with an oddity? I mean, what other reason could there be? Could it be… Another demon? At that rate, couldn’t there be a bunch of different classifications of oddities, that might be interested in Lucifer? If that’s the case, we have to be on guard, for more then just the oddities that are created here. We also, have to factor in outside sources. I wish, I could ask Lucifer about what that might entail…”
Neri takes notice of the boy, as he is deep in thought.
“If there is an oddity back there, we’ll handle it.”
Quinn gets reinsured, by this statement.
“Yeah, okay.”
They arrive back at Neri’s.
“Well, I’ll catch you later.”
“Uh, yeah.”
Quinn watches the girl leave. “Should I just let her go off on her own? Though, what could I do to protect her, if something did show up?”
Quinn gets a serious glare. “Besides, if this thing is after Lucifer, it’s best to lead it away from her.”
The boy starts heading back home. “It’s misty out tonight.”
“…”
As Quinn is walking down the street, he takes notice of a man sitting on a bench. He has long white hair, and green eyes. He has on a grey wool beanie, a brown trench coat, a white button up shirt, worn out slacks, and old brown boots. The man is smoking a cigarette. As Quinn walks by, the man looks up and tracks the boy with his eyes. Even taking notice of this, Quinn doesn’t
think much of it. He keeps walking home. When he gets into his room, he expects Lucifer to pop back out; but he doesn’t. “… I guess, he won’t be back, for a while. Not like he’s really gone anywhere.”
Quinn feeling a little unease, eventually heads to bed.
“Wake up.”
Quinn opens his eyes, seeing a black pare staring right back at him. Lucifer is bent ninety degrees, hanging over the boy.
“Oh, your back; morning.”
Lucifer stands straight up, grabs Quinn’s blanket, and tosses it away.
“Ah, but I was so warm.”
“Up.”
Quinn rubs his eyes, and sits up.
“What’s up, why did you vanish yesterday?”
“There was something very dangerous there.”
“I see, that doesn’t explain it thoroughly, though.”
“I can sense energy, right?”
“Yes.”
“That includes, energy that has already formed.”
“Oh, so you felt that some energy had formed together there, already.”
Quinn finally waking up fully, ends up having his eyes instantly open widely.
“Wait, you stayed disappeared up till now. That means, it was tracking us, like the Dream Eater.”
“Indeed.”
“Why disappear, though?”
“To put it simply, killing intent, the type directed at my kind.”
“An oddity that kills oddities? Hmm…”
Lucifer narrows his gaze.
“What?”
“Nothing. That isn’t exactly incorrect, no matter what it is.”
Quinn taps his temple while thinking. “Meaning, that the subclasses of oddities, like demons, are still oddities, right? What type of urban legend, or belief, would hunt oddities?”
“When I felt the presence leave fully, I came back out.”
“Oh, I see.”
Quinn checks the time.
“Ehhh, it’s three A.M.”
“Indeed, three fourteen to be more specific.”
“I did not need to be more specific. Also, how do you know the exact time?”
“You get good at gauging the passage of time, as you experience more of it.”
Quinn continues to rack his brain, until he nods his head.
“In that case, I’m heading back to sleep.”
“Really?”
“What do you want from me? All we know, is that it’s a mobile oddity, and that it is either attracted to, or attacking other oddities. Until we find something else out, there’s not much to do.”
“Fair enough.”
Quinn heads back to bed. The next morning, the three regroup.