Despite the pain he is in, Allan lugs Pori out of the alleyway onto the main road, his face beading and dripping with sweat. He grips his sword very loosely, it could fall out of his hand at any moment, but he pushes to get Pori out to the open.

As soon as they get out there, they see ambulances and government vans turning down the street, which then pull up to the curb. Out hop a handful of medics to tend to the injured fighters. Despite not even being touched, medical assistants swarm her looking for cuts or bruises.

“Are you hurt madam?” “Are you hurt?” One of the nurses dangles above her like an insistent gnat.

“I’m fine, thank you,” Pori tries to shake them off.

At the edge of the crime scene, a pair of government workers dressed in the cliché brown trench coat and fedora hat hold up their badges, confirming they are with the Supernatural Investigation and Hunting Organization.

They come over to Pori, and introduce themselves as Agent Carrie and Agent Lowell. They then begin talking with her and Allan about the confrontation.

“Did you get to them first, Allan?” Lowell asks.

“No, it was actually the girl here,” Allan replies. “They seemed to be targeting her. They were already cornering her by the time I showed up.”

Lowell turns to Pori. “Is this correct, miss?”

“Yes, it is,” Pori says with tears still running down her face. “They … they got my friend.”

Allan interjects, “she means that they ‘beamed’ him. So it is still possible he’s alive.”

“He’s right, ma’am,” Carrie bumps in, “as a matter of fact, do you have any possessions of his by any chance?”

“I don’t,” Pori says, “he usually doesn’t take that much stuff with him when he goes out.”

“It can be anything,” Carrie responds, “anything he owns, or that you associate with him.”

“Well I mean…” Pori fishes out her phone. “... he gave me this cell phone for my birthday last year. But what is this for?”

“We may have a way of locating Adrian using your cell phone,” Lowell says. “And it’s not by using online maps.”

Pori chokes a bit, “H-how?”

“Would she be allowed to accompany us back to headquarters?” Allan queries.

“Yes. We’d just need to take her in the escort van,” Carrie replies.

“If you come with us to the SIHO headquarters downtown,” Lowell says to Pori, “we may be able to show you how to find out where your friend is.”

Action Pact

The Invasion

Story by Connor Perry

Demon Hunter

6

A few blocks over, the Supernatural Investigation and Hunting Organization Headquarters stands as one of the tallest buildings in the entire city of Lefton. It is the center of all operations for the organization on the local level. It is also inside this building that they have a lot of knowledge on the supernatural, usually kept from the public for their safety, but the secret of the occult is starting to become less of a secret, as is with the example of Pori right now.

On the 2nd floor, Pori is standing in a fortified room with Allan, as well as a few of some of SIHO’s other members. They are there in the hopes of possibly being able to recruit a new hunter into their ranks.

Cassini stands closest to Pori. He has curly blonde hair and wears a pair of thick-framed glasses. Supervisor Kim Naia wears a dark green work uniform with a black dress shirt. She has a quiver shaped pouch strapped on her back containing a bo staff. Supervisor Jundam Joel wears a dark gray suit with a black jacket, has purple hair, black pants and work shoes. Jared Narmoy is a regular Hunter sporting a gray shirt, blue jeans, and a belt containing a couple of firearms. Lastly is the Local Manager Lucia Merker, who overlooks the operations of the supervisors. She’s wearing an official SIHO uniform, but seems to be missing a few layers due to not being in action currently.

“So … Poriyander …” Lucia looks through a report of the encounter Pori just had, “... you wish to become a Hunter?”

“Well, not exactly,” Pori says. “It’s just that I was told you guys would know how to use my cell phone to find my friend.”

“Her friend was beamed by one of the demons,” Allan clarifies. “He got her that phone, so we’re speculating on whether it can be spiritually activated.”

“Ooooh, yes yes that makes sense.” Lucia says. “Cassini, take a look at it and see if you can find any residuals on it.”

“You got it.” Cassini borrows the phone from Pori. He holds it with both hands, and closes his eyes. Within just a moment, a blue light seems to encircle the phone, shocking Pori. “I can sense a residual other than yours on it, miss. It’s possible this could be your friend.”

“How did you do that??” Pori wonders intensely.

“It’s something called spiritual energy,” Kim says, “it’s the primordial material that your soul is constructed out of. With proper training, a living being can wield this energy, and even use it to fight.”

“Like for real?” Pori questions. “Like this is a real thing?”

“It is,” Allan replies, “it just isn’t very well known throughout the world.”

“And as Kim said,” Cassini interjects, “it’s possible to utilize it in a bunch of different ways. For example, I use my energy to read people in a multitude of ways. I can pick up on their residual, which is energy we leave behind everywhere we go. I can detect people’s emotions, and in certain cases, I can predict their movements.”

“It has many applications, depending on the person,” Lucia says. “One such usage is known as Energy Heightening, which is what we hope to accomplish today.”

“I see.. So how does that work?” Pori asks.

“Basically we will need to use your spiritual energy to increase your friend's energy residual. Due to your connection to your friend, it will be easy for your energy to mold itself into the image of your friend’s spiritual energy.” Lucia pauses to take a breath. “The ultimate goal here is that enough energy accumulates within the phone that it will begin to synergize with your friend’s soul wherever they may be, and we will be able to use the direction of the force of attraction to locate him.”

“I think I get it,” Pori stutters, “it’s like I’m remaking his energy or something?”

“Yeah,” Joel steps in, “and we would be able to teach you how to.”

“Really?” Pori jumps up.

“We could,” Allan says, “you would just need to join SIHO first.”