‘Then what the hell?’ said Hector. ‘One minute, they’re in danger; the next, they’re not; and the one after that, they’re in danger again?’
‘I don’t know. This shit never happened in Atreya.’
‘Hmm.’
‘Hold on,’ said Garovel. ‘I think I know what’s happening. It’s us.’
‘What?’
‘When we get close, the danger goes away. When we leave, it comes back. Why might that be?’
Hector’s eyes widened inside his helm. ‘The killer sees us.’
‘But there’s no one else within eyeshot,’ said Garovel. ‘So the killer is either spying on this family with cameras, or the killer has a reaper who senses our presence.’
‘...Or both.’
‘Yup.’
‘Great. What now?’
‘Well, we don’t really have time to just wait for this to play out, but obviously, we also can’t just leave these people to get murdered, either.’
Hector could tell where this was going. ‘You want me to go in there and talk to the family? They’ll flip.’
‘Even so, that might be the best option here. The whole family had the aura of death. Even the kids. If we wait too long and let them split up, then you won’t be able to protect all of them.’
‘Agh...’ And perhaps he was just grasping for excuses, but a question occurred to Hector. ‘What I don’t get is... if the murderer can see us but still intends to kill this family after we leave, then why does the aura of death go away? Shouldn’t it stay?’
That made Garovel hesitate. ‘You’re absolutely right. So THAT’S what was bothering me so much about this. I knew it was something.’
‘Maybe we’re wrong, then. Maybe it’s not us that’s making the aura go away.’
‘Agh, but I can’t think of what else it would be. Dammit. Mysteries are supposed to be fun. I don’t like it when they’re weird and unsettling.’
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
Maybe it's some kind of wide-area attack that Hector can shield people from using iron? But that wouldn't make sense, for some reason I can't put my finger on.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe its a psycho path with multiple personalities stuck between" to kill or not to kill"
ReplyDeleteWoa nice work George this is really hard to figure out
ReplyDeleteTypos:
ReplyDelete‘Hold on,’ said Garovel. ‘I think I know what’s happening. It’s us. (missing quotation mark)
You want me to go in [their] and talk to the family
The whole family had the aura of [the] death
I think that during their investigation, looking for the aura of death, Hector and Garovel will indirectly start something that results in the family's death. If they stop looking, they will never start the chain of events that eventually kills the family and the aura goes away.
ReplyDeleteGarovel gave a basic explanation of it in the very first chapter.
ReplyDeleteAnd all fixed now, thank you.
My guess is that its similar to the way that Electrum from Mistborn works. The weirdness arises from the interaction of making decisions based on the future and changing the future by making those decisions. When Hector showed up, the menace got scared and was going to attack somewhere else, so the aura went away. Then they left with no actual plan to return, meaning that the people were vulnerable again, so the menace decided to go again. Then they realized that the family was in danger again because they had decided to leave,so they came back and drove it away again.
ReplyDeleteDon't know why but I am thinking sniper. Someone using there power at its range limit would have a reaper or as an aberration can see them, and this attack is being stopped by a wall blocking him from being seen. It's a human killer. Easy as that. Reapers can see reapers or feel them or aberrations even through items at a good range.
ReplyDeleteWhat if they are the problem, like they wanted to do mass suicide or something
ReplyDeleteI think it means that something deadly is going to happen, or perhaps has a certain high probability of happening, unless someone who knows about that aura's presence takes steps to save them.
ReplyDeleteNext door neighbors don't have the aura. If it was a large attack, the range of death would be huge and everyone would have it. Was that what you were thinking?
ReplyDelete