Chapter 2

Leo walked into Ru's office, his mood light and jovial after his decisive victory in the Coliseum. The room was modest, cluttered with papers, fight schedules, and a few trophies lining the shelves. Ru, a middle-aged man with a receding hairline and a nervous energy about him, sat behind his desk. He forced a smile as Leo entered, his excitement clearly feigned, almost as if he were hiding something.

"Did I do good?" Leo asked, his tone playful but confident.

Ru nodded vigorously, his hands fidgeting with a stack of papers. "You did great, Leo. Really great. The crowd loved you."

Leo grinned, leaning against the desk. "I love fighting there. It's electric. So, about my payment…"

Ru's smile faltered for a split second before he recovered, reaching into a drawer and pulling out a wad of cash. He counted out a few notes and handed them to Leo, his movements hurried and awkward. Leo's expression shifted as he took the money, his jovial demeanor fading into disappointment.

"Is this it?" Leo asked, his voice flat as he stared at the meager sum in his hand.

Ru chuckled nervously, trying to play it off. "Yeah, pretty good, right?"

Leo didn't laugh. He just stared at Ru, his disappointment palpable. Ru sighed, running a hand through his thinning hair. "Look, Leo, it's all I can get you for this fight. I know I said I'd get you more, but it's not that simple."

Leo crossed his arms, his tone firm. "You promised me good money, Ru. This isn't even close."

Ru held up his hands defensively. "I get it, I get it. But you've got to understand, the big paydays come from big fights. Champions, main events. You're not there yet. You need to build your name, get the crowd hooked. Then we can talk about moving you up. Once you're fighting champions, the money will be enough to get your family out of the slums and into Nai City. But it's a process."

Leo's jaw tightened, but he nodded reluctantly. "Fine. I'll keep fighting. Just help me get a big fight."

Ru nodded, relief washing over his face. "I try, Leo. I'll try to make it happen."

Leo left the office, his earlier excitement dampened by the disappointing payout. He shoved the money into his pocket, his mind already racing about how to make more. He couldn't let his family down.

Meanwhile, back at Breon's luxurious mansion, Amani suddenly realized how much time had passed. He dropped the toy he'd been playing with, his heart racing as he remembered he needed to get home before Leo. Breon looked up, his face falling as Amani stood.

"I have to go," Amani said, his voice tinged with regret.

Breon's shoulders slumped. "Already? But we were having so much fun."

Amani gave him a small smile. "It was fun. I'll come back and play with your toys again, okay?"

Breon's face brightened slightly at the promise. "Really? You promise?"

"Yeah, I promise," Amani said, already moving toward the balcony. Without hesitation, he leaped over the edge, landing gracefully on the ground below. Breon watched in awe as Amani sprinted off into the night, his small frame disappearing into the shadows.

Amani made his way back to the slums, his heart pounding as he approached his house. He climbed through the window into the room he shared with Kelly, his movements quick and silent. Just as he was trying to pull himself fully onto the bed, he heard the front door open. Panicking, he let his upper body flop onto the bed while his legs dangled off the side, pretending to be asleep. Dirt marks from his feet trailed from the window to the bed, a clear sign of his late-night adventure.

Leo walked into the room moments later, his sharp eyes immediately catching the dirt marks and Amani's awkward position. He chuckled, shaking his head. "You're not slick, lil man."

Amani couldn't help but smile, his ruse clearly failing. He opened his eyes and sat up, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Leo sat down on the bed next to him, his expression turning serious.

"Where were you, Amani? It's late. You shouldn't be sneaking around at night. It's not safe."

Amani looked down, his voice quiet. "I was training at Ol-T field."

Leo raised an eyebrow but didn't press further. He believed Amani, but the concern in his voice was clear. "You're just a kid, Amani. Train during the day, okay? I don't want anything happening to you."

Amani nodded, his remorse evident even though he was lying. "Okay, Leo."

Leo's expression softened, and he ruffled Amani's hair. "I won tonight, by the way."

Amani's face lit up with excitement. "I knew you would! You're the strongest!"

Leo laughed, his earlier disappointment fading. "Yeah, I am. But hey, have you seen Xiao Yu? She wasn't at the house."

Amani shook his head. "No, I haven't seen her."

Leo sighed, his concern returning. "Alright. Get some sleep, lil man. Goodnight. I love you."

"Goodnight, Leo. Love you too," Amani replied, lying back down as Leo tucked him in.

Leo then turned to Kelly, who was fast asleep in her bed. Her blanket had slipped off, so Leo gently covered her up before leaving the room. He walked into the second room, where Xiao Yu was supposed to be, but her bed was empty. Leo's frown deepened as he glanced at the table covered in blueprints, her absence weighing on him.

He left the house and went next door to his own home, where Aurora was already in bed. She stirred as he entered, her voice sleepy but warm. "You're back."

"Yeah," Leo said, stripping off his clothes and climbing into bed beside her. "I won. Got paid a couple of thousands."

"Awesome," Aurora murmured, her eyes half-closed.

Leo hesitated before asking, "Have you seen or heard from Xiao Yu?"

Aurora shook her head. "No, I haven't seen her all day."

Leo sighed, his worry evident. Aurora reached out, placing a comforting hand on his arm. "She'll be fine, Leo. She can take care of herself."

Leo nodded, though his concern didn't fully fade. "Yeah, you're right. I'll look for her tomorrow morning."

He yawned, exhaustion finally catching up to him, and spooned Aurora as he drifted off to sleep. Aurora stared at the wall in front of her, her mind wandering as Leo's breathing steadied.

The next morning, sunlight crept through the window in lazy ribbons, painting warm stripes across the rumpled sheets where Leo woke to find Aurora's side of the bed empty. He lingered for a moment in that space between sleep and wakefulness, stretching his arms skyward as his eyes adjusted to the morning light. The window offered a view of the day breaking over their neighborhood, the sun's early rays catching dust motes that danced in the air like tiny constellations.

From beyond his bedroom door came the soft murmur of voices, drifting in from the preceding room like a gentle tide. The familiar cadence of conversation, though too muffled to make out individual words, carried through the walls with a comforting domesticity. Leo found himself drawn to those sounds, to the promise of company and the morning routines that anchored their days.

As he stood there by the window, one foot still in the dream world and the other stepping into reality, the morning seemed to hold its breath, as if waiting for him to fully join the waking world and whatever adventures or challenges it might bring.

Following the sounds of life beyond his door led him to their modest dining space, where Aurora, Kelly, and Amani were already gathered for breakfast. They sat around a simple wooden table, its surface marked by years of shared meals and conversations. Five matching chairs, equally humble in their construction, surrounded it, a silent reminder of their small family unit. The room itself spoke of making do with little: an indoor kitchen tucked into one corner, while a few carefully chosen decorations attempted to breathe warmth into the sparse surroundings. These touches, perhaps a faded picture here, a small ornament there, served as quiet testimonies to their efforts to make this simple space feel like home, transforming their humble abode into something more than just four walls and a roof.

The morning's peace was broken by Amani's frustrated voice. "He's so annoying, he keeps picking on us with his buddies," he grumbled, taking an aggressive bite from the piece of bread in his hand. His young face was clouded with the particular kind of righteous anger that only children being bullied can truly muster.

Aurora's gentle "Oh?" encouraged him to continue, her eyes soft with concern as she listened to the young boy's troubles. The maternal attention seemed to open a floodgate, as Kelly joined in with her own grievances.

"Yeah, he's broken some of my toys and inventions," Kelly added, her voice carrying the weight of repeated disappointments. "I even made him one so he'd leave the rest of mine alone but..." She trailed off, the unfinished sentence speaking volumes about the futility of her peace offering.

Aurora's face darkened with protective instinct. "I'm sorry, Kelly. I'll look for his mom, or guardian and talk to them, OK?" The suggestion came from a place of caring, but Amani's immediate reaction showed it wasn't the solution they were hoping for.

"Nooo, don't!" Amani's protest burst forth with unexpected intensity. "I reported him and she did nothing! It just made him angrier and he bullied me even more!" The bread in his hand was momentarily forgotten as he gestured emphatically, his frustration palpable.

Something shifted in Aurora's expression then, her gentle concern hardening into something more dangerous. "Maybe I'll deal with him myself then," she said, her voice carrying an edge that hadn't been there before. It was at this precise moment that Leo stepped into the room, fully dressed, walking into a conversation that had clearly taken a turn toward vigilante justice.

"Leo!" Amani's voice burst with excitement at the sight of his older brother. The transformation in the boy was immediate and complete, all traces of his earlier frustration vanishing like morning mist in sunlight. In his eyes, Leo represented everything he dreamed of becoming: a man of strength and principle, whose confidence wasn't merely worn like a cloak but earned through actions that commanded genuine respect. The admiration radiated from him with an almost physical intensity.

The room's atmosphere shifted with Leo's presence. Aurora's face softened into a gentle smile, while Kelly maintained her characteristic reserve. Her serious demeanor mirrored that of her role model, Xiao Yu, as if she had learned early that excessive joy was somehow unseemly. The contrast between the two children's reactions was striking, one bubbling with hero worship, the other wrapped in studied stoicism.

"Aye lil man, how are you this morning?" Leo's warm greeting matched his brother's enthusiasm, his smile genuine and fond.

"I'm good," Amani replied, his attention briefly returning to his bread as he took another bite, though his eyes kept darting back to Leo as if to ensure his hero hadn't disappeared.

Leo's attention spread evenly among his family. "Kelly, how you doing?" he asked as he moved toward Aurora, his voice carrying the same warmth but tempered with understanding of Kelly's more reserved nature.

"I'm okay," came Kelly's measured response, neither inviting nor deflecting further conversation.

When Leo reached Aurora, their morning greeting was sealed with a kiss, tender but brief. "Good morning, Love," he murmured. Aurora returned his greeting softly, her long-sleeved t-shirt rustling as she moved, the fabric carefully covering every inch of her arms.

As Leo settled into his place at the table, reaching for bread from the central bowl, a note of concern entered his voice. "Still no word from Xiao Yu?"

"Nope," Aurora answered, her tone suggesting this wasn't entirely unexpected. "She was supposed to make breakfast today but I couldn't find her so, I did."

Leo's "Hmm" carried a weight of decision. "Alright. I'll go search for her in a moment," he declared, tearing off a piece of bread.

True to his word, moments later Leo stepped out into the morning proper, turning left onto the street. The world beyond their door presented a stark contrast to their humble but orderly home. The road teemed with the usual morning bustle, a chaotic symphony of life in motion. People threaded their ways through the crowd, some accidentally splashing through mud puddles that dotted the uneven ground. The air was thick with the buzz of flies, drawn to rotting fruit peels scattered along the roadside. Occasional gusts of wind sent torn iron sheets into reluctant motion, their protests echoing through the street as they bent against their intended form, creating a metallic chorus that seemed to underscore the morning's growing sense of unease.

Two houses down the road, Leo spotted a neighbour of his. "Will, good morning," he called.

"Morning, Leo," Will replied, his gaze flicking to the cracked pavement before him.

"Where you headed to?" Leo asked.

"Uhh, work, my dear friend," Will said. "Gotta put somethin' on the table, you know?"

"Of course," Leo said. "You're looking great, man."

Will's head dipped slightly. "You mean I look clean." He scuffed the toe of his worn work boot against the concrete. "It's alright," he added quickly, a small, genuine smile touching his lips. "I'm honestly glad I am. No more booze, no more crystal for me. Just work and family's love, and that's worth more than any high."

Leo smiled back. "I'm happy for you, man, and I'm sure your family is grateful for it."

Will nodded. Leo paused, then shifted the conversation. "Listen, while I've got you...have you seen Xiao Yu, since maybe…a day ago?"

"Uhh…yeah, actually," Will said. "I saw her talking to Miven yesterday at his shop just up the road. But that's all I know."

"That's good enough, thanks, man," Leo said, and with a nod, he continued on his way.

Leo's search led him to a weathered storefront with "Miven's Shop" written above in faded letters. The hardware store stood as a testament to practical necessity over aesthetics, its walls bore a patina of dust, and hairline cracks spider-webbed across the veranda's floor. Yet there was a sense of care about the place, a certain pride in maintaining what could be maintained.

Miven himself was hauling boxes into the shop when Leo approached. The shopkeeper's middle-aged frame, complete with a comfortable belly and arms dusted with hair, spoke of years spent in manual labor.

"Miven!" Leo called out.

The older man's face creased into a slight smile. "Leo! Good morning kid," he returned the greeting with the familiar warmth of a long-time neighborhood fixture.

Leo got straight to the point. "Good morning, aye so, I wanted to ask if you'd seen or spoken to Xiao Yu recently. I've been looking for her and I can't find her."

"Xiao Yu...yes! I spoke to her yesterday, hasn't she returned?" Miven's question drew an internal eye roll from Leo.

"I literally just said I'm looking for her," Leo thought, maintaining a neutral expression as he asked aloud, "Returned from where?"

Miven set down his box with deliberate care, as if buying time to organize his thoughts. "Yesterday she came over here to get a tool that was supposed to have been delivered about a week prior, my shop of course being the pick up point but the merchants never arrived." He paused, his expression growing concerned. "When I told her about this, she said she'd go near the edge of the eastern border to investigate. Thought it might be bandits, now I warned her but she didn't listen to me and just left."

"Eastern border huh? Alright, later man," Leo's casual response belied the sudden tension in his shoulders.

"Be careful kid! If she hasn't returned it's for a reason!" Miven called after Leo's retreating form. As he bent to retrieve his box, the older man's voice dropped to a frightened mutter. "It could be bandits, or worse, those..." The unfinished thought hung in the air like a curse, and a visible shudder passed through him before he hurried into his shop.

Leo's mind raced as he walked, trying to convince himself of Xiao Yu's safety. She was strong, he knew that. Stronger than most, by far. She could handle herself against ordinary threats. Bandits? She'd faced worse. But the thought of bandits triggered another, more unsettling possibility. What if she'd encountered someone stronger?

The mere possibility sent a tendril of fear curling around his heart. His walk became a jog, then a run, then something else entirely, his superhuman speed manifesting as he flew through the slum with preternatural grace. Buildings blurred past him as he ran, his enhanced abilities allowing him to cover ground at an impossible pace.

The eastern border beckoned, and with it, the promise of answers, though whether they would be the answers he wanted remained to be seen.

The slum's eastern wing gave way abruptly to the border zone, where civilization seemed to crumble into dust. Here, at the edge of their world, an abandoned settlement stretched out like a skeleton picked clean by time. The houses stood in various states of decay: some nothing more than demolished walls reaching toward the sky like broken teeth, others cobbled together from iron sheets that clung to their frames with desperate tenacity. The ground itself seemed dead, parched and barren, as if it had forgotten the touch of life.

Leo's heightened senses suddenly sparked. "There!" The word escaped him as he turned right, responding to something that existed in that strange space between seeing and sensing. He darted forward, only to be greeted by a new assault on his senses, the unmistakable stench of rotting flesh that made his nose twitch in revulsion.

"What're you doing here?" he called out, turning left to find Xiao Yu perched atop a shattered wall like some urban gargoyle. Her Asian features were set in their characteristic mask of stoicism, dark eyes regarding him with an almost predatory stillness. The contrast between her composed presence and the decay surrounding them was striking.

"Huh, you always cheated in hide and seek didn't you." Her voice carried a hint of amusement beneath its cold exterior. "Always saw us even behind walls." With fluid grace, she descended the seven-foot wall, landing as softly as a cat. "Hello Leo." The words emerged with practiced indifference, as if she hadn't been missing long enough to cause concern.

"Yu," Leo's face softened into a smile, relief overwhelming his earlier anxiety. Without hesitation, he stepped forward and pulled her into a hug, pressing her against his chest. Xiao Yu neither resisted nor returned the embrace, she simply allowed it, accepting this display of affection as one might accept a change in weather. After all, such gestures were simply part of Leo, and their friendship had long since accommodated his warmth against her cool demeanor.

When Leo stepped back, concern returned to his features, his nose wrinkling slightly. "What're you doing here? And what's that smell?" The questions hung in the fetid air between them.

"Come on, I need to show you something." Xiao Yu moved past him with purpose, her 5'8" frame still dwarfed by his height but carrying an authority that had nothing to do with physical stature. Her stride was measured, deliberate, suggesting whatever lay ahead demanded their full attention.

A moment later, they stood before a half-demolished building. Flies buzzed in and out of broken windows, drawn by an overpowering stench, the cloying, sickeningly sweet smell of rotting corpses, only far more concentrated here. Xiao Yu's face remained impassive, but Leo instinctively covered his nose with his hand.

"In here," she said, stepping into the building's gaping maw. Leo followed.

The scene inside was a tableau of horror, a testament to brutal violence. Dried, almost black blood smeared the walls, mixed with patches of something that looked like dried flesh. Deep claw marks raked the surfaces. The floor was even worse. Torn clothing lay scattered amongst chunks of rotting flesh, human fingers. Leo saw an eyeball, its vacant stare seeming to accuse him. Everywhere, blood mingled with the claw marks.

"What the…?" Leo choked out, his eyes almost watering from the combined assault of the smell and the sheer, visceral horror of the scene. He felt a tremor run through him. His heightened senses were part of the problem, everything she experienced he experienced ten fold.

"There's more," Xiao Yu said, her voice flat. She turned and left the building, disappearing around a corner. Leo, reluctantly, followed.

The corner opened onto a narrow alleyway. A trail of blood and small, almost pulverized chunks of human remains led away from the building, as if something had dragged its grisly meal, leaving a trail of crumbs. More claw marks scored the ground alongside the trail. Maggots writhed in the decaying flesh, and flies buzzed lazily above. Interspersed with the gruesome detritus were tools and materials, and bags full of merchandise, tossed aside as if in a frantic escape or a sudden, violent interruption. The contrast between the mundane items and the surrounding carnage amplified the horror.

The scene before them struck Leo like a physical blow. His eyes widened as he took in the carnage, mind struggling to process what he was seeing. "What happened here? Bandits?"

Xiao Yu's chuckle cut through the air like a blade, sharp with sarcasm. "You're funny." Her voice carried no trace of actual amusement, only a cold kind of patience, as if explaining something obvious to a child. "No Leo, you're smarter than that. Bandits wouldn't massacre people like this, and besides, these are merchants, if bandits killed them, they'd have taken their merch. Instead, it's all here lying on the ground." She gestured at the scattered goods with clinical detachment. "Whatever killed them was more interested in them than their merchandise. I call chimera."

"What? Shit!" The word 'chimera' hit Leo like ice water. His deep voice remained steady, but concern etched itself across his features even as he fought to maintain his composure. "But... they don't come this close to us."

Xiao Yu's eyes remained fixed on the ground, her voice matter of fact. "Well yeah, but it's not like it's never happened. Besides, there's overwhelming evidence that it was in fact chimeras or a chimera that did this. The claw marks and the missing merchants yet their shit's still here." She spoke of the horror around them as if discussing the weather.

"We should... we should tell the Chief," Leo said, his gaze still locked on the grim tableau before them, shock threatening to overtake his usual collected demeanor.

"You are just on a roll today, aren't ya?" Xiao Yu's sarcasm cut deeper this time. "What's that lap dog going to do?"

Leo's worry broke through his restraint. "He's going to know, we don't have a choice. If this is in fact a chimera we have to act fast. Tell everyone, find a way around it."

"Well, we can't just blurt it out," she countered, finally injecting some strategy into their exchange. "It'll cause chaos and dismay. I mean, we weren't even born the last time there was a chimera attack, and yet people talk about it like it was the end of the world."

"You're right, we gotta approach this right." Leo conceded, though his conviction remained firm. "Still, we have to tell the people."

"Anyway, found what I was looking for." Xiao Yu held up a hardware tool with casual indifference, as if they weren't standing in the midst of a massacre. "We can go."

Her nonchalance sent a chill through Leo that had nothing to do with the carnage surrounding them. He'd long since grown accustomed to her emotionless nature, but watching her move through this scene of horror with such detachment as if the dead meant no more to her than the scattered merchandise stirred something unsettling in him. Her complete disconnection from the gravity of their discovery felt almost inhuman, a reminder that beneath her familiar exterior lay depths he might never fully understand.

The morning's simple search for a missing friend had unveiled something far darker a threat from their world's shadows that threatened to shatter their community's fragile peace. As they prepared to leave, Leo couldn't shake the feeling that a storm was coming.