Chapter 128
- Micah -
Evan stretched his arms, cracking his neck with a smirk. "Guess we're heading to that construction site, huh? Heard they've been working nonstop—day and night. Sounds like demon activity over time to me."
Josh's soulfire flickered faintly between his fingers as he rolled his shoulders, that ghostly cyan light glimmering like a trapped spirit. "Something's feeding them. I overheard from some people around the site that whatever's there isn't human productivity—obsessions at these levels would kill a normal person.
Baby adjusted the strap on her bag, her expression sharpening and focusing on the horizon. "We head there where the city's tallest cranes are. You can see them about the smog. Then let's cut their power."
Duke nodded at once, his tone grave but resolute. "The longer we wait, the more souls they feed on. Let's move out!"
I looked back one last time—in the direction Uncle, Kaysi, Becky, and Armaan stayed, waiting for our return. My chest tightened, but I forced my face forward. The air had changed again. I could feel it in my bones—a cold front like a storm rolling in the early spring to give life to new blooms.
Something felt like it was building in the air, and we needed to be ready.
The closer we got to the site, the less the city sounded like itself. The hums of traffic dulled. People spoke in low, frantic murmurs that never rose above a whisper. The smell of concrete dust and ozone thickened until it practically coated my tongue.
We turned a corner, and there it was.
The construction site we have been trying to reach for quite some time has been plagued by numerous setbacks. The site stretched across nearly four city blocks, wrapped in chain-link fencing and draped in tarps that flapped like torn sails. Tower cranes loomed above, half-swallowed by fog, their red lights blinking faintly in the haze like warning signals.
The entire structure seemed alive—breathing, grinding. Machines still roared from early hours to far late nonstop. Sparks spat from welding torches. Shadowed workers in hard hats moved jerkily at times. Almost unnatural precision—too fast, too mechanical, their movements synced to some invisible rhythm.
"Holy hell..." Josh murmured. "They're not even stopping to blink, almost robotic!"
He wasn't exaggerating. The men and women on scaffolds climbed like insects, their hands raw, eyes glassy, and lips moving soundlessly as if they were reciting some mantra only they could hear.
"I see now why they kept walls up all around this place while they worked," said James.
Evan found it. "They're running on fumes, but something's keeping them up."
Duke crouched beside a broken barricade, scanning the area. "Can you feel it?"
"Yes," I whispered. It's like the static in the wind is—pulsing!?"
Baby nodded. "The atmosphere's thick with spiritual interference. It's not a possession yet. More like a feeding field. The demon is saturating them with compulsion energy."
Josh's flame brightened, the cyan light rippling against the steel framework. "Soul resonance... Yeah, that tracks. Something down there is siphoning their willpower—keeping them driving like puppets. Somewhat like the crowd, I would go so far as to say."
"Then we cut the strings," Evan said, loading his weapon and checking the charge. "We already know what we are up against when it comes to mindless zombified people, like with the riot, so that we can be 10 steps ahead."
We slipped through a gap in the fence we had been watching. Once inside, the temperature dropped further. Every breath came out as mist. The rhythmic clang of hammers echoed like a heartbeat, and every hit vibrated through the ground as if it were being reshaped.
I could feel the air tugging at me—like it wanted to move on its own. The wind swirled tighter around my fans, responding to my unease.
"Careful," Duke whispered. "They won't see it the way normal people would. The closer you get to the core, the more we spread out to the demon's awareness."
We moved deeper among the half-finished concrete pillars. The walls were carved with symbols—construction marks, but sigils scratched by tired hands—circles, triangles, spirals—all etched with nails and blood.
Baby touched one lightly; her brow furrowed. "It's a pattern of devotion... but twisted. They're worshipping their work itself."
Evan spat. "Figures. Work the demon of obsession. Work until you die, never gaining anything and slowly losing more of yourself at a time, and call it progress."
A low hum rippled through the air. Somewhere above, the cranes groaned—and then moved. Slowly. Without operators in the cabins. Metal shrieked again, metal, as their arms rotated upwards.
Josh's fire flared instinctively, his body tensing. "Yeah, we've been noticed."
I took a breath and snapped open my twin fans, the air around me shuddering. The wind spiraled upward in a controlled vortex, scattering the dust. The currents whispered warnings—movement on the scaffold to our left.
"Up there!" I shouted.
A worker dropped from the shadows, landing in front of us. His eyes were hollow pits of black, veins faintly glowing gold under his skin. His voice rasped with static. "Work... Work... No rest... Must finish the foundation..."
Duke moved fast, pinning the man's arm. "He's not conscious."
Baby reached forward, her light spilling over him. "His soul's still intact, but his life force is nearly spent."
The man screamed suddenly, a sound not human. The sigil on his skin ignited, and his veins bulged as black tar seeped from his pores.
"Get back here!" Jost shouted, his flame bursting outward in a cold blue flash.
The man convulsed, collapsing as the ooze evaporated in the fire's chill. For a moment, silence returned—then the entire site answered to our commotions.
Every machine turned on at once.
Cranes swung violently. Power saws screamed. Sparks rained like fireflies as workers dropped tools and their faces turned toward us, their eyes glowing.
Evan gritted his teeth. "Guess we're on the clock now; let's knock their lights out!
I lifted my fans, and the winds gathered strength. "Let's take them out."
The storm broke in the clouds above.