After leaving the Strength Titans this afternoon, Zac headed back home.
It was only his second day of martial arts training. Still, he was already quite excited about his future prospects of controlling his special powers.
He didn't even notice the time passing as he got home and began to meditate.
An hour, two hours, three hours would pass, and the end of the afternoon would slowly arrive. But for Zac, who had been meditating all the time, the time had passed in the blink of an eye.
Amid his deep meditation, he felt as if something inside him had crackled, and then, out of the darkness, a bright world appeared in his subconscious.
Even with his eyes closed, he could see his surroundings in a very special way. He could feel the electric current flowing through plugs, and at the same time, he could see that the air around him was forming a complex electric structure that made it seem like there were spider webs everywhere.
Through this electric web, he was able to perceive all things in his surroundings, from the electric to the non-electric essences.
The expression on his face changed as a naive child's smile appeared in his eyes and mouth.
As he unconsciously moved one of his fingers, he felt sparks of energy coming out of it and heading toward one of the outlets near him.
His heart began to beat faster, and he lost some of his concentration, soon causing several electrical items around him to stop working as they should.
In the middle of this moment, he felt letters forming in his mind as he watched them form a message box for just five seconds.
He read the strange message addressed to Amy's email address.
[From: elliskai.fdu@DNS.com]
[To: amysmall123@DNS.com]
[Date: August 10, 2032, 11:22 AM]
[We need to meet today. The boss isn't happy with your performance. You'll have to do this if you want to keep your job.]
The moment he read this, Zac opened his eyes and looked in the direction of his sister's computer.
He didn't know if what he had just seen was real, but when he saw the email addresses of his sister and her boyfriend, Kai Ellis, as well as today's date, so he couldn't help but think that it was true.
He didn't think much about looking at his sister's computer and going over there to invade Amy's privacy.
Amy's computer was also used by Zac, so he quickly went to the DNS inbox and logged into his sister's account, which he knew the password as she used the same password for every social media account she had.
"This is serious!" He stood up from his chair and clenched his fists, not knowing whether to be impressed by his uncanny ability or worried about this email between Kai and Amy.
But he soon began to worry about Amy because she seemed to be in trouble.
Amy worked in a store in a dangerous part of the city, a place where she had gotten her job because of Kai.
Zac quickly grabbed his things and left his house, heading to that place to look for Amy and see what was happening.
As he left his house, some men in a car in front of his apartment reacted to his movement, with one of them quickly getting out of the car and following him on foot.
"Where this brat is going?" One of the men in the old, beat-up car asked.
"He spent the whole afternoon here after leaving the gymnasium. Maybe he's hungry and wants to get something to eat?" The person behind the wheel suggested.
"Let's hope so. The boss wants us to solve this problem tonight."
"Don't worry. He's not the type to stay out all night. Wherever he goes, he'll be back in time for us to accomplish our goals."
...
Sometime later, Zac left the subway and went to the store where Amy was supposed to be working in a poor part of Walney.
He didn't want his sister to know he was snooping into her life, so he didn't approach her directly. Instead, he put a medical mask over his face and a hat on his head and walked into the contraband store as if he were just another customer.
A sales clerk approached him, but he said he was just looking.
After a few minutes, Zac ran into a problem. His sister wasn't there!
'What happened? Has she been fired?' He worried.
His sister had to constantly go to the doctor and buy medication because she had a rare degenerative disease that, if left untreated and not closely monitored, could progress and put her in danger.
If she lost this job, her situation could deteriorate rapidly!
Her condition was under control for the moment, but that was only temporary.
Zac thought about it and left the shop, picking up his phone and dialing Amy's number, feeling very worried.
...
Meanwhile, in another area of Walney, Amy had just left the hospital where she usually monitored her condition.
Next to her was her boyfriend, Kai, a guy with a scruffy beard, an appearance that would make anyone think he was around 30, and short red hair. He was younger than that, but perhaps his genetics or lifestyle made him look older.
"My situation is getting worse," Amy commented to Kai as she picked up her phone and saw that Zac was calling her.
Seeing her ignore the call, Kai asked. "How much longer do you have?"
"About six months. Maybe less." She said with a serious look, but not too bad.
As much as she told Zac that her condition was under control, the truth was that without special treatment costing over 100,000 Lunar Pennies, she wouldn't have much longer in this world!
She was earning less than 2,000 Lunar Pennies a month, even though she was doing a lot of extra work with Kai's help, which wasn't even enough to pay all of her and Zac's bills.
Kai listened to her answer and didn't show the reaction that someone who had feelings for someone else would show after such news. Apart from the fact that he already knew that her condition was getting worse, he had no deep feelings for Amy.
Amy was just another one of his girls!
Losing someone as beautiful as her would be a shame, but that wasn't enough to make someone like Kai show feelings.
"That's enough for you to leave a savings account for the brat Zac." He said as he lit a cigarette. "That is, of course, if you're willing to do what I suggest. If you prove yourself to the boss, you'll not only be able to keep this fake job but also scrape together a nice sum to leave to the little prick."
Amy clenched her fists, aware of what Kai's perverted boss wanted from her.
But she didn't have many options. Since she had already worked in this man's occult business, she wasn't a fool who didn't understand the reality of these services enough to be offended by the proposal.
"Can I have a day to think about it?" She asked as they walked towards Kai's boss's club.
"You can think about it until dawn. After that, he'll want an answer."
"That's enough." She replied just before they entered a place where naked women danced for customers willing to pay for their services.
Amy didn't work in a shop in a dangerous area of Walney, as Zac thought. That was just a facade for her real job!