Trickles of liquid inside the dripping chamber were soundless, as this silent evening. A distinctive air remained inside the solitary room, a similar atmosphere which has been smothering Haren all over the hospital. Unpleasant. The defeated was laying down motionless. All the wounds of struggles on his body were dressed and treated. His bruised face showed gloom, eyes closed with resignation. His hands were restrained by the wrists. Kôra was drowned in trance for his own good, safe and sound in watchful eyes of two familiar men of his.

"He kept screaming and attempted to attack people, they drugged him up. After that, he only talked a little," Keane explained solemnly.

"But his wound? Does he need a regeneration potion?" Haren repeated the same question he asked on the phone hours ago. The fatigue from his work hours had not been over when Keane called him.

"The stabs missed his vital organs, not even nicking an artery," Keane elaborated while pointing at Kôra's clavicle and flank. Negligent use of regeneration potion is often linked with many serious complications; its use is reserved to more fatal conditions. His pointing finger moved to the right lower quadrant. "The one here is deeper, a part of his intestine perforated."

Haren approached Kôra with a pitying face. The man gently held his hand, which the nephew responded by a grunt in his sleep. Letting go to not wake him up, he felt something within his hand. Nothing.

"They don't give him a seal?!"

Keane gestured Haren to turn the volume down before answering.

"We detect magical energy using magical energy," his explanation was answered with a nod. "Kôra's ability corrupts it. That's how he passes the detector gate at school with nothing."

"'It's dangerous," the uncle argued."What if he suddenly unleashed it? He can destroy spell papers in his normal sleep. We need to inform them."

"It's undetected," the fairy pointed out. "They won't risk it."

Interaction between magical items used on a patient, their own magical abilities, and their health status can stand on a delicate balance. Unnecessary magical application could deteriorate health to a fatal degree in some individuals; mainly to those whose problems are caused by magic use, or using magic for treatment. While statistically not being a high number, such a phenomenon has no discernible pattern.

Haren sighed in exasperation. "If nothing can detect it, emergency barrier can't form." He looked down to the standard-strength spell papers pasted on the underside of the bed, then to the monitor hanging on the wall above the bed. A green light blinked intermittently from it. "Not with these puny spells."

"I've put all the spare neutralizing spell paper you gave and combined them with those from Lady Yîfu." Keane pointed at the blank floor right under the bed. The name mentioned summoned a surprise in Haren's face. "She provided a stellar detector, a spare, and an excellent concealer; a brilliant system, isn't it?"

Haren stared at the tranquil blinking light of the monitor. The man touched the floor with his glowing blue hand. A series of glowing inscription revealed themselves to the incoming energy. It took less than three seconds to render him unable to use his ability as his glow faded. He looked at the monitor again; the blinking intensified and the light changed to yellow, yet no sound was triggered. As Haren walked away Kôra, his glowing hand was back in a lesser intensity.

He figured out that the system would form a magical barrier to contain Kôra's ability. As it was not connected directly to him; the health consequences were drastically reduced, while the seal would not be directly corrupted by his ability. It also disallowed outside magical activity and abilities to penetrate to some extent. If everything de-escalated, Keane must have been equipped with a master spell paper to disarm it. Haren smiled in relief and marvel, the spell paper system was such of a high craftsmanship.

"This is amazing. You're prepared," he praised.

"Thanks to the lady and you, I won't die first."

Taken aback by how Keane mentioned him, Haren put on a forced smile. "You have done your best, Keane," he assured. "If our position switched, we would've been dead."

"I did nothing," Keane brushed it off with a cynical grin. "He advanced faster than I predicted; in an unpredictable way."

"He?"

"This is just a warning; deliberate or not. Or maybe a bait."

"I mean do you know who he is?" Haren clarified.

"I don't, by his descriptions I only can speculate he's connected to Kôra's origin and biological parents," the man elaborated. Keane recalled the boy gave patchy information between bouts of unresponsiveness and depressive behavior, which matched to his description of the hanged man a day ago. "It's not like we exactly know any of those," he gave a disclaimer.

"The meeting is moved forward tomorrow because of this incident, we'll talk about this in detail," Keane informed, while his gaze pointed to the wall clock. "You have to meet Lady Yîfu at eight, and the visiting hour is almost over."

"I see," Haren noted, with eyes glued to Kôra. The uncle grabbed the side rail, unwilling to let go. "But who'll stay?"

"I will," Keane stated. "Things can get dangerous."

"You have nothing to defend yourself."

"I have my sword," he showed off the black ring encircling his middle finger. "And my coat," the fairy pointed to black outfit folded on a chair across from them.

Haren was staggered. This person had revealed more surprises than he expected; now the weapons are concealed as everyday items. "What?"

"It's made of finely powdered human bone charcoal." Keane waved his left arm, calling his coat to disintegrate before him. Another movement and it has formed the shape of a trench coat, slipping through its owner's open arms. The fairy then buttons up the fitted coat as if it were normal clothes, much to Haren's silent amazement.

"How about your job? Don't you have to work?"

"This is my only job."

Haren stopped his movement. "Why did you even choose this shitty job?" he mumbled.

"To have fun," the fairy answered with a playful smile. "Just like your brother."

The last part made Haren shudder. He tried not to overthink it, and washed his hand with antiseptic gel instead. The cold, the nauseating fragrance reeked with every rub of his fingers.

"Got the insignia with you?" Keane reminded Haren near the doorstep, which the man responded by showing his green metal accessory. "Great. Don't smash it again," the fairy joked.

"I never agreed to be a member," Haren repudiated. "And I doubt Kôra will." The boy got an insignia in white.

"Nobody has ever been asked if they agree or not," the approaching Keane said. His face-splitting grin exposed his otherworldly prominent fangs. Upon realization the fairy covered his mouth by a second. He went back with the same expression, only with a set of teeth that looked more human. "We stick together, anyway."

Behind the closing door slit, Haren still could not move his eyes away from Kôra.

»»-------------¤-------------««

Nine post meridiem. Keane rechecked the barrier on Kôra's room door by tapping his insignia on it. It had spell sealed in by the lady to merely activate or inactivate the barrier, the blue light meant it was installed properly. Everything should be sufficient, yet his chest was cold as if there was looming unrest. Just when the fairy tried to assess the premonition, his phone vibrated.

"For fuck's sake, Dianka!" Keane cussed before answering. "Hello?"

"Praise God, I'm worried about you," Diana said.

"Yes?"

"I hope you and Kieran are okay."

"Kôra," the brother corrected. "He's fine."

"Do you want me to take turn watching him? I'm not busy this week."

"I don't. Take care of the house."

"Keane." Diana's voice grew heavy. "I have a feeling something awful will happen, be careful."

It was probably the same intuition as him. "You too."

Keane heard a relieved sigh from the other side. "Irinka messaged me and—"

"And fuck her." The fairy's face turned sour in a second as he cut the line off. "That's all, Dinka? Fuck you too."

He exhaled. The pointless call had interrupted him in processing the looming premonition earlier. This time he did not need to think it through, it already a little too late. Aside from some people walking by, it was approaching; something was coming. The being detached his head for surveillance. As a part of his kind's ability, he has a wider scope of vision even in the dark. His amber eyes reflected a sheer orange glow while his scleras darkened, seeing everything in light wwith thorough details.

Far away crawled the unknown presences, Keane was in disbelief of his own visions. It was monstrous; some hideous creatures of incomprehensible shapes started entering the corridor of the neighboring building, or they might even have entered this building. He was too late to see where they originated from, but Keane speculated that they were summoned on purpose. A possibility was by someone using a prepared portal, yet that should trigger all the detectors and monitors. Most likely a more complex thing was at play, he deduced.

Noises of commotion ensued; door breaking, tray slamming, and many others afar. It was appended by panicked screaming and more disorder, then dropped into silence. Strange. Total chaos should have been the outcome, even when their cause of appearance could not be understood. He looked back to Kôra's room and furrowed his brows. This was urgent, no time to play detective about how and why.

The fairy pressed the both wings of his insignia, causing a pulsing white glow. On the phone in his right hand, an application activated. He touched a button to send an emergency message. Keane then calculated the size of the hospital hallway then examined his surroundings. He sighed in displeasure as he swung his arms or jumped with disappointment in his face. Too narrow.

Some of the blobby creatures were probably on his way, which Keane hissed in frustration for missing the moment of their appearance. They acted like hungry mutts sniffing for food. To Keane, those beings looked like gigantic piles of melena and must be even uglier once they were close. The biggest one's head dragged to the ceilings and broke the lamps; some pieces of its head dropped and reintegrated as they hit the sprinklers. Its twelve stringy legs undulated, owing the gargantuan its steady approach.

Keane took off his trench coat. It collapsed into a mass black powder, which he sent to disable nearby sensors and security cameras. A swift sweep muffled the beeping sound without any warning as it broke. After that the ever moving wave of carbon dust encircled him like a living wave of a curtain, providing an ease of attack and space of protection. Such as when one of its legs attempted to reach him. The fairy teleported his head to Kôra's room, this way he can assure his safety better while keeping the advantage of keeping enemies at bay. His head and body can be apart to some distance, while keeping both fully functional.  Keane's headless body positioned in a guarding stance, while the ring on his left middle finger glowed red. The jewelry disintegrated into its very substance; blood, charcoal, ash, and fat. The components started to form a line of a shape, molded into a hilt of an enchanted longsword which grew to its blade.

Started from the biggest one Keane attacked. Using the condensed bone charcoal as a slight leverage, the fairy gained enough height to be equal with the creatures head. He launched himself five meters forward, with his charcoal footing manipulated like a spring that immediately broke. Other portions of the charcoal propelled and stayed around him. With one swing he sliced it. The sword passed like a hot knife through butter, it glowed in dark red. After its destruction, the creature fell apart. All melted into a watery crimson substance.

He used the wall as a footing to change his trajectory, deflect himself, and swept the smaller ones behind from above. With such adroit and nimbleness, they did not have time to counteract. A wave of crimson rain ensued, Keane use his charcoal to shield himself as it splattered. Quickly it evaporated into a fading mist, and stripped his white shirt of its red specks.

After a clumsy landing, Keane squatted and checked on his body. So far the liquid had no detrimental effect on him or his ability. There were two antidote potions of varying strength in his pocket if anything worsened. Meanwhile he searched for any trace of the being he could observe. Everything evaporated too fast and there was not enough light for a decent photograph. The fairy opened his phone again to send a message, reporting the way it was.

Perhaps for now, he could take a break.

Until he heard footsteps.

Footsteps, multiple wet footsteps were approaching with different paces. Keane promptly closed his phone and stayed on guard while kneeling. Staying still in the smoke screen of amaranth, the silhouette of a headless man. Running past him were three disoriented people looking for safety guided by the phone flashlights. One even carried a smaller person in their arms with IV attached, another one seemed to activate a spell paper on their run judging by the faint blue light.

"I saw a headless corpse, the monsters are probably nearby," Keane heard someone say as they distanced themselves from him. Her voice was shaky, almost crying. "Why is nobody here? When will the help come?! Call them! We all will die!"

"They put the call on hold, Mom," a young man answered in the same unease. "Probably the city is also. . ." His voice faded as they moved farther.

Keane walked back and retrieved the remainder of his charcoal. He wandered around in this peculiar stillness, avoiding blood-stained debris and torn uniforms near the nurse station. Some room doors were destroyed, Keane promptly slashed a goat-sized creature that lunged upon him from one. All empty, even the intact ones. Have not the monster caused enough and equal chaos for everybody to get alerted? Or were they too efficacious leaving few survivors to act? How did they even kill? Keane questioned the unusual scenario. So far, there was nobody and no body except him.

Back to his head with Kôra, there was no notable occurrence except a stench of sulfur from the outside. From a faint scream coming from where the family ran to, those things were still or became more of a threat. They were running around, materializing out of nowhere. The mist started to infiltrate inside, he heard another noise. Keane thought of activating the barrier on the door.

Same with those people who called for help, Keane had never faced this situation before. Unlike them, he was not helpless. The help will hopefully come soon for them, as he lifted his sword and helped himself. And only for himself.