Lowman's Circle

Time of day: Morning

Pierce

Pierce's nose twitched as his consciousness slowly returned. The fowl smell encircling him made it hard for him to want to breathe, causing him to peer through his squinting eyes due to sun creeping into his face. Where am I? He thought as he pushed himself up. The crunch and clanking of garbage met his ears. "The hell?" Quickly, Pierce jumped to the ground from the large garbage bin he was lying, or rather sleeping, in. As he brushed off the lingering debris, he looked around. "Since when did I get into an alleyway?" He thought back to what he was doing before his trash-nap, but nothing came to mind. "Of course. Can't trust my memory can I..." Pierce paused. He called Nexus's name but received no answer. Sighing, he picked up a piece of glass next to his foot and looked at his face. Both of his eyes were red, his own eye color. "I guess Nexus isn't around right now... Oh well." Tossing the glass aside, having no further use for it, he started walking toward the entrance to the alleyway. "Might as well see where I am."

Glow quickly made her way downstairs. As soon as she reached to open the front door, a stern voice stopped her. "Where do you think your going?" Glow turned to see her grandmother sitting casually in the front room near the door. The old cat wore a hard expression. "I'm goin' to Kwon's house," Glow answered simply. "No you're not," the old cat replied without even taking a moment to consider. “Why not?” Glow protested getting annoyed. It wasn't normal for her grandmother to act like this. Yashika usually didn't mind when Glow left the house. “You have training to do,” the old cat dictated. “I don’t feel like training today. I’ll do it later,” Glow said quickly. She pulled the front open ready to leave. Suddenly her grandmother pounced and shut the door in one swift move. “What the hell, granny?!” Glow snapped. “You will not be leaving this house today until you complete your training,” Yashika hissed. "But the training takes all day!" Glow protested. "Then I suggest we get started..." Yashika said making her way to the training room downstairs. "What the hell is wrong with her today?" Glow thought. "Grouchy old cat," Glow grumbled and reluctantly followed behind her grandmother.

Pierce

Breaking through the rays of sun blocking his path, Pierce stepped onto the sidewalk. He found himself in a city with clothing shops and restaurants lining the sidewalks and a busy street in between. The area was slightly populated with people going about their daily business. The area didn't look familiar to him at all.
Before journeying into his surroundings, Pierce looked down the sidewalk he was standing on to decide whether to go left or right. To his left, there wasn't anything of interest, a few shops and a street corner at the very least. To his right was pretty much the same thing, however someone caught his eye: a police officer. Thinking quickly, Pierce hid himself in the alleyway. "Why is a police here of all places? Just my luck. If he sees me without an overseer I'm screwed!" He peered around the corner to see if he was spotted.
"Are you okay sir?" The officer asked. He looked Pierce over slightly before giving him a suspicious look.
"W-well uh..." He stammered, attempting to give himself more time to think of what to say. "I'm- yeah I'm good." He held his breath.
"Are you sure? What were you doing in that alley?" Pierce paused as he analyzed the officer. The policeman didn't seem to recognize him.
"I don't know, taking a nap I guess... Hey can you tell me where I am?"
Ignoring his smart comment, the officer replied with "We're in Lowman's Circle. Are you not from around here?"
"Lowman's Circle?" Am I back in Griffen? I was just in District Z, how is that possible? And why doesn't he recognize me? Normally every cop knew who Pierce was in Lowman's Circle for safety reasons. Was this guy not informed?
"Yeah. You lost? I can take you to the station to help you out."
"No thanks!" He said quickly. The two stood in silence for a few moments. Confusion swirled around like a tornado in his head. What was going on? The name didn't match the place at all. Pierce knew that some areas could share the same name on a rare occasion, but he knew for a fact that there was only one Lowman's Circle. None of the other districts have a city named after it because it is the capital of a district. Something was off. As if coming onto something, a sharp pain flashed through Pierce's head. He flinched, which didn't go unnoticed by the officer.
"Are you sure you're okay? Here, let me take you to the-" Before he could finish his sentence, Pierce put his hand to his head.
I'm fine..." He paused, finally able to latch onto a stable thought. Looking directly into the police's eyes, Pierce asked "Where's the nearest book shop?"
The officer gave him a worried look and hesitated before answering. "It's that way, the way I just came from." He pointed to the right.
"Thanks..." Pierce stepped back out onto the sidewalk and hastened his pace to the book store. If what I'm thinking is correct, there's gonna be trouble in the near future.

"Again," Yashika commanded.
"Goddammit, granny! I'm tired of this!" Glow complained snatching off her training helmet and throwing it to the ground. Yashika created a new exercise for Glow to work on her sixth sense. Glow was to find her way through a maze and avoid rocks being pelted at her while wearing a helmet. The blind sound-proof helmet was used to disable Glow's main two senses: sight and hearing. Glow would be forced to rely on her sixth sense to guide her during the exercise, but failed to make her way through the maze after three tries. "How do you expect to become stronger if you simply give up?" Yashika said losing her patience.
"Cuz' this training is bullshit! I quit!" Glow said walking to the door that led upstairs. Once again Yashika and her swift feline speed beat Glow to the door. "You will not leave this cellar until you complete the exercise!" the old cat hissed; ears pulled back, fangs bared and glaring red eyes. She appeared feral and almost threatening in the moment. Glow stepped back a little intimidated by her, but then she remembered the menacing feline was was her grandmother. "What the hell is wrong with you today, Granny?" Hearing the concern in Glow's voice made Yashika regain her composure. "...Forgive me. I am not myself today," the old cat said turning her back on Glow. The young neko didn't need her sixth sense to tell that something was bothering her grandmother. "What's wrong?"
"...Something is...coming..." the old cat mumbled- mostly likely to herself rather than Glow.
"What?" Glow asked confused.
Yashika snapped back to reality, realizing Glow was still there. "I'm going to the garden," she said suddenly. "You are not to leave this basement until you finish training. Understand?"
"Yeah. Yeah. I gotchu', Granny," Glow said nonchalantly.
Yashika made her way upstairs and disappeared behind the door.
Glow waited a few minutes after she heard her grandmother go outside before she herself went upstairs and quickly snuck out the front door.

Pierce

Pierce slowed his pace as he entered the bookstore. The thought that reappeared in his mind made him want to rush, but he knew he couldn't draw attention to himself if what he was thinking was true. He already felt like everyone was staring at him, he didn't have room to do anything over the top yet.

As he stepped through the doors into the air conditioned room, a cashier welcomed him while also giving him a funny look. Pierce said 'hi' and looked around the store. It looked similar to the bookstore he normally went to with Annabell in Griffin, yet the set up was different. There was a small cafe area in the back and a few small tables placed around it. The smell of coffee and new books filled his nostrils. Before Pierce could continue walking into the store, the cashier continued to talk to him.
"Is there something I can help you find?" she asked.
Before answering, he contemplated taking her up on the offer. He was in a hurry, so it would make sense to ask. "Where is the history section?"
She answered "over there" as she pointed to the left side of the store. "Looking for anything in particular? I can look it up here."
"I'm good, thanks." Breaking from the conversation, he hurried to the left. The cashier watched after him, puzzled.

As he walked through the store, he noticed that the books were placed neatly on the shelves and not strewn throughout the floor like at his bookstore. It was odd, yet nice to see it clean. Some kids were sitting on stiff looking sofa chairs in a reading section to his right while their parents shopped around. Toddlers roamed the aisles as their older siblings chased them down while adults silently browsed for interesting books. It was an overall peaceful place, and yet Pierce felt ill at ease.

Upon arriving at the history section, he skimmed the shelves for what he was looking for. It didn't matter to him what type he picked up, he just wanted something remotely similar. The shelves were filled with books of all sizes, containing the history of the world as well as the place he was in currently. After further inspection of the material, what he was looking for was not there. Scratching his head, he turned to move to another aisle. After skimming that aisle he peaked at another. Not finding what he wanted, he circled the shelves. "Damn! It shouldn't be hard to find..." On the outside of one of the bookshelves, he found what he was searching for: a map. Grabbing it, he snatched it open to look at the geography of the world. He paused. Not to his complete surprise, the contents of the map were unfamiliar. Instead of the map showing the names and places of the seven different districts of the world, it showed a mass of land with the title 'The United States of America'. The map showed sections of land with different names on each part. He sighed heavily. "So that bastard didn't teleport me to another district, but to another world. Just my luck huh..." He neatly folded the map and returned it in its proper place. Pierce scoffed as he turned around. "Now what?"

Glow carefully shut the door behind her and she snuck out of the house. She looked around to make sure her grandmother was nowhere in sight. She relaxed a little but was still alert. Using all of her feline power, she quietly sprinted away from the house. Once she turned a corner she slowed down and started walking. Her cell phone buzzed from receiving a text message. She looked at her phone seeing that Vik sent her a text:
“U were taking 2 long so we already left 4 Haji's”, it read.
Glow’s ears pulled back out of disappointment that her friends left without her. She had to admit she wasn’t patient with others either so she couldn’t blame them entirely. She would’ve done the same thing. Glow took a moment to reply to Vik’s message:
“I see how it is. just gonna go to Haji's Kitchen without me”.
Vik replied within a few seconds: “LOL ain’t nobody got time 2 b waitin on you".
“Grandma wouldn’t let me leave so I had to sneak out”
“Damn u gonna b trouble when u get back”
“IF I come back u mean”
“LOL u bad”
“I’m walkin now so I’ll b there in a min”
“KK”.
With that Glow plugged her headphones into her phone and put in her ear buds. She always needed music whenever she walked somewhere. Either it made time go by faster or it pumped her up and made her walk faster. Haji's Kitchen was a fifteen minute walk from her house, but with her music, Glow could make it there in about five. Glow couldn’t hear anything but the loud distorted guitar blasting in her ears. Then she heard something else. It was a high pitch shriek that cancelled out her own music. It sounded like a siren. Glow removed her ear buds and looked around. She didn’t see anything at first, but after a few seconds the source of the high pitch sound came into view. A fire truck with an ambulance following close behind it rushed towards her. With the speed the two emergency vehicles were going, they rushed past her within seconds. “Somebody’s in trouble,” Glow thought to herself. She continued walking and put her ear phones back in. A few moments later her music was overshadowed once again by more sirens. This time four police cars sped by going in the same direction as the ambulance and fire truck. “I just can’t have any peace today can I?” Glow thought aloud. She looked in the direction the cars were heading, tempted to see what the trouble was. Vik and the others wouldn’t appreciate it if she just blew them off. She decided against it. Investigating the commotion in town would have to wait.

Pierce

Unable to think of what to do entirely, Pierce found a couch to sit on near the manga section. He was tempted to browse, but he found it pointless if he couldn't buy any. If the world he was in wasn't his, the currency would most likely be different. Having nothing else to do, he instinctively checked his phone. As he shoved his hand in his pocket to fish for it, a thought popped into his head that disturbed him: he didn't write in his journal. He quickly slammed his fingers on his journal app and pressed a few buttons to see his latest entry. He normally didn't fret too much over missing a day because the majority of his entries consisted of the same thing: school, homework, training, ect. What made him anxious was the fact that something significant happened, and he couldn't recollect any of it. He didn't know if the events that transpired between the time he was in District Z and now were documented, which made him nervous. If they weren't, then he'd have no way of knowing what happened to him because he didn't expect his memories to return at all. He'd be stranded here because of the disease that plagued him. Frowning, he looked at the last entry that said that he had posted the journal almost 2 days ago. He quickly skimmed through it to see if anything could give him a clue to what happened. It explained what happened that day, but nothing related to the situation. There was a name that he didn't recognize off of the top of his head, but paid it no mind as the description did not warrant more investigation. Unable to find anything of use, he created a new entry and started to type what had happened thus far. Even though he knew he didn't have time to waste on it, the documentation of the events were so important to him.

As he pecked away at the screen, two teenage boys wandered into the manga section, fan-girling over some new volumes of a specific manga. He payed them no mind despite how loud they were. After they found what they wanted to read, they sat in the sofa chairs and started to read. After a few moments, one of their phones rang, which they answered. After a short, astonished conversation ensued, the boy hung up and looked at his friend. He informed him about who called and what was happening, which made Pierce stop typing.
"What do you mean monsters?"
"I mean what I said! She said that weird looking monsters and even people are wrecking the town!"
"I don't believe it. She's messing with you."
"I have never heard her voice so shaken before... She's telling the truth. We have to stay here or get to a safer place. The monsters are in the direction of both of our houses."

Pierce stared at them as they talked. Those monsters weren't monsters, but demons. When he was transported to this new world, he must have had company follow him. What he was thinking was true. Slowly lowering his phone, he focused his mind on the world around him in an attempt to do a general search of the demons' auras. To his dismay, he found more than he thought he would. Sighing heavily, he stood up, saving his entry. The teens stared at him as he did so, wanting to say something, but didn't. Their eyes followed him as he left the aisle.

Glow finally made it to Haji’s Kitchen. She saw her friends sitting at a booth.
“It’s about time!” Kwon said his mouth full of French fries.
“You can’t rush perfection,” Glow said sitting down next to her friend Vik. Kwon and Juro sat across from them. Kwon was eating a large order of cheese fries while Vik had a burger and Juro just sat looking at his phone.
“You know Shika is gonna come looking for you when she realizes your gone,” Vik said.
“Oh well,” Glow said taking one of Kwon’s fries.
“Dude what was Granny, tripping about?” Kwon asked.
“She had me doing some stupid training. She said I couldn’t leave the basement until I got it right,” Glow answered.
“She’s being pretty brutal today, huh?” Kwon asked.
“Yeah. I don’t know what the fuck her problem is,” Glow said taking another fry.
“Guess today’s just an ‘off’ day,” Kwon remarked.
“Today’s crazy man. Some crazy shit’s going on right now,” Juro said not looking up from his phone.
“What’re you talking about?” Glow asked.
“Some news report said there’s a terrorist attack happening right now downtown. They got the national guard, police, fire department, and the swat team tryna’ handle it,” Juro answered.
“Shit they had to call the whole squad,” Vik remarked.
“I did see some police cars and an ambulance when I was walking here,” Glow said putting the pieces together in her head. “I thought about going to see what was going on.”
“Dude you can’t just go downtown just be see some action! It’s too dangerous!” Kwon exclaimed.
“You know I live for danger,” Glow said confidently.
“This bitch is crazy,” Juro laughed.
“Well if you end up going downtown, I’m not letting you go by yourself,” Kwon said.
“You guys are both crazy,” Vik said.
“C’mon it’ll be fun,” Glow exclaimed nudging Vik.
"Alright fine," Vik grumbled caving into Glow's demands.
“Shit y’all can get killed if you want to,” Juro said.
“You’re comin’ too!” Glow commanded.
“Fuck no I ain’t!” Juro argued.
“Yes you are! C’mon!” Glow stood up grabbing Juro. She dragged him out the booth and led him to the door. Kwon and Vik just looked at each other and followed Glow out the restaurant.

Pierce

Walking through the small groups of people and bountiful shelves filled with a variety of genres, Pierce opened the door to the men’s bathroom. His original intention was to exit the store and deal with the demons like he always did, but a thought crossed his mind on his trek out: why was he going? Up until a few days ago, he actually had a reason to get up and fight the demons for the greater good. This reason was Annabel. She was the one that made him take action; it wasn’t of his free will. If what really happened in the world was what he was thinking, Annabel was not here. During his evaluation of his surroundings, he didn’t sense any familiar human auras at all. It only seemed that demons were pulled in with him as he did sense some familiar demonic auras.

After handling his business, he walked over to the sink to wash his hands. He briefly looked up at himself in the mirror to notice that his right eye wasn’t red anymore, but yellow. “Nexus?” Pierce called. There was silence.
“…Hmm?” He yawned.
“What happened?” Manifesting himself, Nexus gave Pierce a confused look.
“What do you mean ‘what happened?’ We-“ he looked around. “Why are we in a bathroom? Weren’t we…”
“You don’t remember either?” A paused. “The only thing I know is that we were teleported to some new dimension by that blue-haired freak. We’re in some place called the United States of America.”
“Teleported? You mean… Ah…We were running from Zane when he created some type of black hole. We got sucked in…”
“Zane? Who’s that?” Nexus gave him an almost disappointed look. He remembered seeing that name in his journal, but he didn’t know who it was.
“You referred to him as the ‘blue-haired freak’.” Pierce stared at him blankly. That name didn’t ring any bells to the actions of the guy he was talking about. In fact, thinking about it more, he couldn’t even remember any significant details of this ‘Zane’ aside from his hair. This never happened before. “Anyway,” Nexus sighed, “would you be so kind as to answer my second question?”
Thinking back, Pierce retorted “Why do you think? There are only so many things you can do in a bathroom.” He was slightly irritated at the fact that he lost a part of his memory again. Who knows what else he lost.

There was silence for a few moments. All that could be heard was the pecking of Pierce’s thumbs on his phone as he took it out again to continue documenting his day’s events and thoughts. As he did this, Nexus started to sense fluctuations in demonic energy. He gave Pierce an annoyed look. “It seems like you forgot to mention something to me…”
Without looking up, Pierce nonchalantly said, “Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you something. Demons seemed to have been teleported with us.”
“Okay smartass how about telling me why you didn’t mention it.”
Clicking off his phone and putting it in his pocket reluctantly, Pierce looked Nexus in the eyes. “Because I don’t care.” Nexus seemed very caught off guard by this. To top it off, Pierce exited the bathroom, showing his partner in crime that he didn’t intend to continue this particular conversation.
“Pierce wait! How can you not care?” Nexus followed him out of the door and caught up to him as he made his way to the exit.
“Look, I’m not obligated to do anything for these civilians. No one’s here to tell me otherwise either.” Some kids stared at Pierce like he was crazy as he walked by. Even though he didn’t care, he decided to direct his thoughts to Nexus. Because Nexus was invisible to everyone else aside from Habiki, he spoke aloud.
“You’re joking right?”
“Do I sound like I’m joking? What’s the point in me saving people, if I can even call them that? The end goal here is to find a way home. That’s it. Why waste my energy?” Pierce thrusted the door to the bookstore open, making it screech. He then turned the way he came. As they walked, both fueled with irritation, they passed by people with animal ears and tails. Some even seemed completely covered in fur. Pierce didn’t see this when he was speeding his way to the bookstore.
“Then why are you going this way huh? If you don’t care to get involved, why are you headed toward the commotion?” Nexus stared at Pierce, waiting for his answer.
“Because,” an eerie smile crept across his face, “I want to know what it feels like to kill of my own free will.”
Pierce’s speed walk turned into a stride as he strutted down the sidewalk, fantasizing about the feeling. With the short time he actually had to think earlier, he decided that if he wasn’t able to get home, he wouldn’t have a problem living in this world. He’d do everything in his power to get back, but wouldn’t be bent out of shape if the means to get back were non-existent. He’d miss everyone, but if it couldn’t be helped, it couldn’t be helped.

Nexus stopped walking to stare at him. Pierce seemed mildly different from his normal self. It seemed that this newfound liberation was showing his true colors. He was going to have to keep an unusually close eye on him until they got back home or they found Habiki.
“What if the people here see you partake in the killing? If I know anything about you, you have an ulterior motive. They’ll drive you out.”
“This place is gigantic. If I can’t stay here, I can go to another place. There’re even islands and other land masses around this one.” It didn’t seem like Nexus could change his mind easily. As much as he didn’t like it, he’d have to let him do as he pleased. He didn’t have the power to stop Pierce yet. Looking at Nexus with that same sinister smile, Pierce reassured “I know what you’re thinking. Indiscriminate killing isn’t my preferred style.” Despite his tone, Nexus didn’t believe him at this point. “Besides, I’m not looking for a fight if that’s what it seems like. I’ll mind my own business. I’m just curious is all. As long as I’m not spotted I-“
“Pierce!” A rough voice roared. “That lap dog’s here too!”
“Shit” Pierce and Nexus snapped their heads toward the annoyance. A group of demons were standing at the mouth of an alley way, staring with hatred. Some took on human forms while one was in his true form.
“It looks like that bitch Annabel ain’t with ‘em either!”
“You lost pup? Huuuh??”
“Can’t function without that whore can you?” The pestering and sneer remarks continued as the two stood there in silence. Nexus shifted his eyes toward his host. To his dismay, his ominous smile turned into an expression of frustration and severe irritation. His eyes stared down at his prey as Selena and Syen started to materialize in both hands. Pierce could take the rude banter toward him, however aiming it toward Annabel was a completely different story.
“Struck a nerve? Huh kid? Whatcha gonna d-“ A bullet struck the demon’s forehead, silencing him. Chucks of flesh burst through the back of his head along with the shattered bullet fragments, landing on the demons behind him as the victim fell to the ground. The monsters collectively stared at the culprit in shock. Amusement emanated through Pierce’s teeth.
“You low lives think you are above me huh? Let me aid you in your reassessment of the situation.”