EVERGREEN RESIDENCE B

NEXOS, AETERNUM - 6:33 AM

Nick parks his car in the driveway of a modern suburban house. He steps right in front of the door as several blue lights start scanning him. The scan finishes, displaying Nick’s name and portrait as well as opening the door itself. Inside, Nick is greeted by the same woman in the polaroid, eating cereal in the dining room. She looks half-awake, wearing pyjamas with her hair being a total mess. One of her eyes is still struggling to stay open, but she still perseveres and looks up at Nick nonetheless.

“What the hell, Nick…. Why are you back so… early?” says the woman as she yawns the last word of her sentence.

“Do you want me to leave?” jokes Nick. The woman looks back at him, arms crossed, unamused.

“I’ll explain everything later. Is Luke up?” Nick says in a more serious tone.

“Yeah. He texted me that he’s already at Neverglow,” replies the woman as Nick removes his shoes and steps inside, entering a sizable living room with a flat-screen television attached to the wall.

“Then we should move along, too.”

“Just gimme a sec- I haven’t even finished my breakfast yet,” says the woman as she takes another bite of a half-consumed bowl of cornflakes.

“Did he say anything else?” Nick asks.

“Just that he was leaving earlier to cover his shift for the day,” the woman says as Nick stares at a nearby glass. The woman notices this, and asks him a question.

“Do you want some water?” the woman asks as Nick nods. She waves her hand towards the glass, making it levitate towards their water dispenser as it floats across the room, filling it before finally making it levitate back towards Nick. He grabs it and sits down adjacent to the woman. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and browses the internet. Several news articles greet him:

S-Rank Demon appears in Yundash! Entrance is barred for the time being.

Remembering the victims of the Great Lavian Earthquake.

The Demediom Project and its consequences.

Mass protest in Briken - 18 injured, 2 dead, 6 arrested.

Want to be part of the change? Join PALLADIUM, and help cleanse Lavia one demon at a time.

However there was one article that caught Nick’s eye and caused him to stop scrolling. It reads:

WARNING! Illegal weapon smuggling on the rise. Please report any suspicious activity in your area.

Nick shows the article to the woman, who remarks.

“We’re getting pretty famous, huh?”

“Right. We’re bound to have E-Drive on our asses soon,” Nick comments as he takes a sip of water.

“How long do you think’ll take ‘em before they find us out?” asks the woman as she continues eating.

“Could be as soon as tomorrow. But it’s not like they’re gonna do anything. They have bigger priorities than some measly arms dealers,” Nick replies.

“Who knows. We are breaking the law, after all. They could pull something to send a message to the public.”

“Like what? Execute us on live TV?” Nick asks.

“Wouldn’t put it past them,” the young woman replies as she finishes her bowl of cereal.

“I’ll go get dressed. You sure you don’t wanna eat?” the woman asks.

“I kinda lost my appetite after what happened this morning. Don’t worry, I’ll fill you and Luke in once we get to the greenery,” replies Nick. The woman nods and heads upstairs to get dressed. Nick stares once more at the headline before continuing to scroll onwards.

NEVERGLOW

LUTHERFORD, AETERNUM - 7:15 AM

Time passes, and the sun has finally risen, though partially concealed by several clouds. Nick parks his car near a sidewalk. An alleyway near the sidewalk is filled with graffiti; numerous skulls, a huge hourglass, a boomerang, and a ringed planet surrounded by purple clouds. Nick and the woman step out of the car, and walk towards a wide greenery.

Passing through archways with vines looping around them, the two arrive at a two-story flower shop. A canvas is located at the top, with a single word written in calligraphy:

NEVERGLOW

The two step inside, only to be greeted by the young man with flaxen hair, wearing leather gloves asleep at a counter with a computer and registrar. The two exchange glances before slamming their hands on the desk, creating a very loud thud. The man wakes up, drooling from his mouth, and looks up at the two, irked at his idleness. Nick proceeds to inform the two of what occurred earlier that day.

NEVERGLOW

LUTHERFORD, AETERNUM - 7:22 AM

“What? I thought that was the point of the wall; to keep demons out!” the man speaks, fully conscious now.

“It attacked us from underground, so maybe it crawled under the wall,” Nick replies.

“Huh. You’d think they'd have a failsafe for that kinda stuff,” the woman replies, referring to Palladium.

“It makes sense. Terminus is one of the most neglected places in Lavia,” Nick notes. Past the gigantic wall in Terminus lies the territory of North Lavia, which Palladium is much more focused on.

“But I thought Palladium got rid of all the demons there?”

“Do you honestly believe that, Luke? They’re just padding achievements to make them seem more impressive,” replies the woman, annoyed at Palladium.

“Hey, come on Celeste, I’m sure it was just an oversight.”

“You said 15-feet long! How the fuck could they have missed that?!”

“Zack and I missed it too. Listen, whatever the issue is, Zack’s reminder was to stay away from the Grata border for the time being,” replies Nick, calming Celeste down.

“Great. So we’re stuck here managing this flower shop. Just what I wanted to hear,” Luke says sarcastically as he lays back defeated on his chair. Celeste turns toward Nick.

“When’s Zack coming back? The transaction should be over by now,” Celeste asks Nick.

“I don’t know, but there’s nothing to worry about. You know he can handle himself.”

“I-I know but like… On the off chance that Palladium double-crosses him…”

“That is NOT going to happen,” Nick assures Celeste.

Chimes ring as the entrance door swings open. An old lady walks in. She looks towards Luke, who is managing the counter.

“Excuse me young man, do you happen to have any carnations in stock?” asks the old lady. Luke looks over to Nick and Celeste sitting on the couch ahead of him.

“Uhh, just hold on a sec ma’am, I’ll check our stock real quick,” says Luke as he turns on the computer. A few seconds pass as Nick and Celeste both receive notifications of a message in their group chat. The message reads:

wheres our carnations

On the fourth shelf, dipshit Celeste replies through her phone. Luke was fully aware of where the flowers were; he merely wanted to test their knowledge.

“We have some! What colours do you want? And how many?” asks Luke.

“Oh dear, my daughter loved the pink ones. I’ll take two, if that’s okay.”

“Two pink carnations- coming right up!” says Luke as he stands up from the counter, reaching out to get carnations from a shelf nearby. He opens the shelf, revealing a beautiful array of flowers. Purple, white, red and yellow carnations are present, but he retrieves two pink flowers. He hands them over to the old lady.

“That’ll be 85 dies.”

The old woman hands over three coins, two of them containing the symbol “40”, and one with the symbol of “5”.

“Thanks, and come again,” Luke says as the old lady leaves the shop. Nick and Celeste look at him with smirks on their faces.

“You’re pretty good at this,” Nick says, poking fun at Luke.

“Shut up, man. My shift’s over now; it’s your turn to take the wheel.”

“What? You’ve only had one customer!”

“Hey, I’ve been here all morning! And it’s not my fault the flower business is dying. E-Drive’s replacing everything with their tech nowadays. I mean, can you believe it? Holographic flowers?” says Luke as he joins the two on the couch, sitting on the arm. He grabs a remote and turns on the TV situated in the corner. An action movie plays in the background, to which none of the three pay attention to.

“I kinda get it. Real flowers just die in a few days. But those holos last forever,” replies Celeste.

“But the real thing is just different. When flowers no longer exist, people will regret ever replacing them with technology.”

Celeste ponders for a bit as Luke continues.

“It’s why my parents started this business in the first place. They grew sick of all the artificial shit E-Drive’s been shoving down our throats.”

“Hence Neverglow.” Nick replies while rolling his eyes. Luke was very proud of Neverglow, substantially due to it being his family's legacy. It was, however, the nth time he explained the origins of their shop, a tale hammered in Nick and Celeste's brains after being constantly reminded.

“Exactly. Nobody maintained greeneries and plants began to die out. Hell, it’s beginning to happen with pets as well. People really think a bunch of lights can replace sentient beings,” Luke states disappointedly as the movie shows a man and his robotic dog attacking other people.

“So I say fuck ‘em! Fuck Eternal Drive, the shit that they dish out, and whoever shills for them,” Luke continues.

“...You’re right. Fuck Eternal Drive,” Nick agrees with Luke as he smiles. Celeste reflects on Luke’s words regarding artificial beings, remembering the old lady just moments before.

“You guys hear what that old lady said?” she asks as Nick approaches the front desk.

“Yeah. Loved,” Replies Nick, emphasizing the D.

“Damn, I didn’t catch that…”

“It’s awful. No child should die before their parents,” Nick states as he sits behind the desk. Celeste looks outside to the billboard promoting holo-flowers.

“Do you think one day… we’ll be replaced, too?”

Before anyone can answer Celeste’s question, a loud static sounds throughout the room as the three turn their attention to the TV; the movie playing was replaced by sudden, flashing images of protests and the mass demediom breakout from fifteen years ago, ending with the collapse of the original Eternal Tower. A masked man wearing a brown hoodie appears on-screen.

To Be Continued...