Gra Gryning

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


"I was able to get a lead on some drugs..."

Suburu looked up.

"Really?"

"Yes."

I pulled out a map with red X's.

"I've been watching the seven stars, for months now."

Subaru sighed.

"Working off shift."

I shrugged.

"Crime doesn't take a break so neither do I sir."

My boss chuckled.

"Ok...yeah I'm looking at this and it makes sense....let's do it."

"Sir?"

"You have always been a strait shooter kim, and your advice on the boat worked out so..I'm in..if we pull this off, I will have enough power to get you a promotion of sorts."

"Like what, sir?"

"There's a couple rookies moving down the pipe, I need someone to show them the ropes and though I'm supposed to use japanese officers for that..."

He sighed.

"They're...they're honestly just terrible. I want to instill some good habits in my officers. at the very least not have them act like a gang and ask for protection money."

"That happens?"

Subaru closed his eyes, his hands clenching.

"Happening? I've been trying to fire Moto over it for months now. Far as I'm concerned he deserves to be inside a prison cell, not wearing a badge. I think it's gotten to the point where I've given up on most of them Kim."

He opened his eyes.

"We need to start fresh, get some new blood in, train them up right and make sure that the bad apples don't spoil the bunch....also."

He looked at me with guilt.

"Yes?"

"I need a favor. You're good at your job and we both want to clean up the department. My gut tells me that the department is compromised."

I took in a breath.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean...I think some of my officers are working for other people, giving out information. The gangs, the army, the navy, the communists, the facists, even even the god damned Jayu. You're the only one I trust, keep this under your hat but..help me uncover them."

"There will be push back."

"I know...but if we're able to clean out the department then its worth it."

I nodded.

"I have your back sir."

"Thank you Kim.."

I heard a crashing sound. Both of us went to the window, outside we saw army and naval men fighting in the streets. Suburu narrowed his eyes and went to the phone.

"Break it up."

He slamned down the phone and looked at me.

"Sir?"

"It's been happening all over the damned city. The navy's blockading the port just to spite the army. It's insane."

"So they're fighting?"

"Over who gets the credit for the golem. And it's not just here, there has been fights all over town. At this rate they're not going to have a choice but to either act like adults and share credit or try to transport the thing through the mountains."

"I'm sure our men in uniform can handle this sir."

Subaru shook his head.

"Have you seen the army? They're staffed with crazy meatheads and the mountains are crawling with Jayu. You might as well just give the damned thing to them."

"Maybe we can help?"

Subaru's eyes opened wide.

"No..."

"Sir."

"No! this is an order do not involve yourself in this nonsense. These are not sane, rational, people Kim. The army, the navy....it's like they have gone crazy and it's just getting worse and worse. Stay out of whatever nonsense they have going."

"Do you honestly call this drama nonsense?"

"I am. If the military didn't have nonsense they wouldn't have any sense at all. Stay safe..and we will prepare for the raid."

 

[Cherico]

The Thule society


Hanz Webber

1971


If any one organization can be blamed for the sheer number of atrocities committed by the SS then the Thule society deserves the lion's share of the blame. But the organization was stained long before world war two.

The Thule society was born in the aftermath of the napoleonic wars. The wars ravaged the german states and, with travel to america open again, many german occultists, nationalists and curious decided to study the mystic texts coming out of the new world.

This interest in the mystic arts was strongest in magic rich Bavaria and the new Germanenorden movement was strongest here. The rules of the movement were simple: do not harm others, be polite to fellow practitioners, share your findings, be civil and do not try to summon demons or perform dark magic. The movement often had either government support for potential military advantages or enjoyed a government's blind eye.

But any movement will have people in it who are unethical and can not be trusted. One of these people was Walter Nauhaus. Walter was formally and permanently kicked out of the Germanenorden for numerous ethical violations in 1831 and handed over to the police.

While he was in prison Nauhaus wrote the ayrian manifesto. A 458 page booklet about the origins of the ayrian race, its superiority, the origins of magic and race theory.

It was all patently wrong, and all of it could be debunked by even amateur historians, but Nauhous was able to gather somewhat of a following. In 1837, when he was released from prison, he created the Thule society. The new society decided to base themselves on the island of Lindau to avoid the judgement and attention of the greater Bravarian magical society.

Lindau's community did have access to a small leyline but nothing like the network that could be found further north so they decided to focus on studying non seasonal magic and indeed specialized in it.

The society was obssessed with the fourth, and purposely lost, Qliphothic art and sent their agents to Compass to find out more. All they found were historical texts that spoke of the art as inherently evil and uncontrolable. But for the growing Thule society this was just a mark of how the phenix people were cowards, unable of the self control or power to handle the lost art.

During this time their numbers grew and, at their height, they had 250 people in lindau and 15,000 in the rest of Swabia. With the birth of a united germany under Bravarian rule came the Prussian invasion. Of the magical orders in Bravaria, only one sided with the Prussians who had invaded their state.

This was the Thule society and their treachery earned them scrutiny. The order was declared illegal, their members were forced to flee the country and once they fled their horrifying experiments were found, uncovering their atrocities. Being a member of the Thule society was made a capital offense and Bravarian magi hunted them down, no matter what country they fled to. With their crimes exposed, no one was willing to shelter them.

No one, except Prussia.

The magi of the thule society now numbered a mere 157 people. With what remained of their texts and research they were settled in the city of Stendal, their headquarters located across the street from the city hall and the statue of Roland.

There, the Thule society grew. They built secret dungeons in the countryside and under their headquarters, where they experimented on prisoners under the guiding thumb of their Prussian overlords.

With the merging of Prussia into greater Germany, Prussia pressured other regions to make the society legal again. For the most part they succeded, except in Bravaria which continued to make membership a capital offense even during the dark days of the second world war.

Under the Prussians the society grew and when the first world war came they delighted in using their corrupt powers against germany's enemies. With the end of the war the society had money, some amount of power and was looking for a partner.

They found this partner in the new nazi party. They used their money to bankroll them and help bring them into proeminance. In return the nazis favored them and their experiments. It was early in the rise of the nazis that the Thule society finally cracked the code of the missing Qliphothic art.

The art required you to successfully summon a demon and then have a subject willingly merge his ,or her, soul with the demon. This gave the subject mystic powers much more quickly than any other art, taking at most a day. It was also scalable and somewhat mass producible.

The Thule society offered this new process to the SS, who demanded a complete monopoly over this new power. The Thule society agreed, as long as they had more test subjects and sacrifices. This agreement made in hell blossomed during the war.

The Thule society managed and controlled the death camps that their SS comrades kept filled with fresh victims. Fortunately they could not beat the combined power of the civilized world and Nazi germany was defeated. The SS, easily identifiable with their black eyes, were executed to a man as were any thule society member that could be found.

So what of the evil fourth?

The fourth style, from historical accounts, allowed for brief berzerker feats of strength and speed. it also granted increased healing and durability, the ability to shoot blasts of black profane power and the use of other spells.

But this process had weaknesses. Places and objects of faith could weaken or even kill fourth users. Prayers also hurt them and weapons blessed by people of religious faith were much more effective then normal weapons. These weaknesses were exploited by various resistance groups during the war.

After the war the process was banned by the victorious allies and Merlin himself oversaw the process of making sure that every scrap of information on the details of the process was destroyed forever. To this day anyone who attempts to recreate the 4th is commiting an UN mandated capital offense and any practitioner is marked for death.

This, however, did not end the problems left behind by the Thule society. Their experiments in Stendal during the war had tainted the land and attempts to deal with the taint...and the experiments... failed.

After the governments of East and West germany gave the Soviet union permission to nuke the city, the populace was evacuated and, with UN approval, the tainted city of Stendal was destroyed. What dark things existed that prompted us to make that request is currently unknown, and I hope it stays that way.

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim

When I got back to my apartment, I noticed that the door was fixed. I pulled out my side arm and carefully opened the door. I looked out and saw a hooded figure.

"Introduce yourself."

"Dodo."

I sighed as the Jayu made himself comfortable on my best chair. He was eating some noodly dish. I closed and locked the door.

"I don't take bribes."

"This isn't a bribe, it's my punishment for the whole knife thing."

"Water under the bridge...So how did you fix the door? the germans kind of busted it up."

"Germans?"

I shrugged.

"Everyone's after the golem."

I looked around and found some cheap tea, I started brewing it.

"Seagull says you need to eat more fruit."

"I don't take bribes."

Dodo stared at me through the mask.

"I don't understand you."

I shrugged.

"There's not much to me, I'm just a cop in a messed up world."

He stared at me.

"So you became a police officer for the Jayu?"

"No."

I sighed. The tea smelled wrong but it was good enough, I sat down on a run down chair. He blinked.

"Then how did you...become... well?"

"There were corrupt cops, corrupt army officials, corrupt naval officials. People who thought they were outside of justice's reach. I managed to catch a Jayu, got a lucky shot. Could have arrested her. Instead I took her to my place, fixed up the wound."

"Found out who they were?"

"No I respected the mask. When she woke up, I had a gun, she had magic and I told her I wanted a deal. Took a couple weeks but we hashed something out. I agreed to be their spy, the girl gave me a massive magic tatoo which gave me some neat powers and gave you guys the ability to kill me at any time."

I paused.

"It was a fair deal."

"They can kill you at any time."

"There were people, nasty people, who needed to die Dodo, who needed to be punished. I didn't want those people to escape justice and the Jayu didn't trust me. They still don't, and they're right not to."

"Why not? you have been working for us for years."

I took a sip of my bad tea.

"Because I don't serve the Jayu, I don't serve the Koreans, I don't serve the Japanese, I work for my own cause and my own reasons."

"Family?"

I looked at the photo of my dead parents, Dodo looked at the photo.

"Revenge?"

My voice was tired and hollow.

"They died of natural causes. My parents were tailors, they made clothing. Mom died from the Italian flu, dad died from cancer. When I joined the academy the whole family disowned me. I had to watch my father's funeral through a pair of binoculars."

I took another sip of tea.

"I miss them, they were good people."

I nodded at the photos.

"So your entire family."

"They haven't talked to me ever since. When I joined the force, I betrayed Korea. When I agreed to work for, you I betrayed Japan. The only thing I haven't betrayed is my dream."

"Dream?"

I closed my eyes.

"A world where cops don't shake down store owners, a world where people don't live in fear of what the strong will do to them. A world were people live mundane lives without worrying that someone will hurt them or their children just because they can. A world where even the strong know that there are limits. A just world."

I sipped my tea carefully, ignoring the bitter taste.

"Maybe I don't belong in that world Dodo, maybe they will kill me for all my backstabbing or turn me away like a leper if that happens...I think I'm ok with that, as long as that world of justice exists. I think that's enough for me."

I opened my eyes. Dodo's head was down.

"Thank you for turning in the man who raped my sister...I didn't know."

"It's all right."

He sighed.

"It will be like that, when Korea is free."

I took a sip of tea.

"Why do you think that?"

"Because we will make it that way. We're heroes."

I sighed.

"Korea is not a country kind to heroes."

"Why do you say that?"

"Ever heard of Admiral Yi?"

"Saved korea from the japanese."

I paused.

"Everyone talks about that. What they don't talk about is that fact that he was tortured and punished for his successes on the battlefield. That he was stripped of his rank several times, tortured several times...all of the rewards and praise he got? That happened after he was safely dead."

I took another sip of tea and felt a sense of bitterness.

"When you treat your heroes like that... Well, when it matters, when it counts, people are not going to step up and be one. And when Korea needed heroes the most, none were there to be found."

"The Jayu."

"If you're a korean nationalist the Jayu get credit for being pretty much the only portion of korean society that didn't roll over and die, yes. But at the time of the annexation, they dominated a single city in Korea and they were far from the majority of that city."

I took a sip of tea and noticed that only the dregs remained.

"Maybe the Jayu will succede and create a free Korea. Maybe they will fail and Japan will rule us forever or maybe the Russians or the chinese will roll in and we will bow to new masters. Whatever happens, the old korea, the one you think so fondly of? It was rotten to the core Dodo."

"The people."

"The people are the only thing in this land worth saving. The goverment was terrible under the japanese and it was terrible under Imperial Korea. so, my advice? Let the old Korea die so that a newer better korea can live."

I drank the last dregs.

"Or ignore what I say, it's up to you."

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


"They're blockading us."

I could hear the raw rage and frustration in Subaru's voice.

"Sir we really should concentrate on the task at hand."

"Kim....they're blockading one of our cities."

"Cant we talk about this later sir?"

I looked at the building through my binoculars.

"They're blockading my city, our city, because of this stupid golem. I think I have a right to be angry. Now all of our trade has to go through the Jayu controlled mountains. Which means everything is going to be even more expensive."

I tilted my binoculars and noticed a 10% rise in the price of goods in the surrounding stores, there was of course a korean discount. There weren't very many times when my people could act out our spite and discontent, so when we were given a plausible opportunity we immediatly used it.

"Are we ready?"

"As much as we can be."

"POLICE!"

We started our raid, as did other police all over the city. I heard gunfire ring out and.

"DAMN IT!"

Machine gun fire came outside of the building, there was chaos as we broke.

"They have machine guns?"

Of course they had machine guns, the gangs actually invested in their people while we used pistols and shotguns.

"Sounds like a type 11 japanese machine gun sir, they probably got it from the base."

I pulled out my pistol.

"Kim."

"The type 11 is....it's a piece of crap sir. Notice the pulses? six rounds each pulse, a type 11 use a feeder box method. They have to reload every six rounds and those guns are prone to jamming. If we time our advance we can take em."

Subaru smiled.

"RELAY THE MESSAGE. MOVE FORWARD UNDER COVER EVERY 6th SHOT PEOPLE!"

We moved slowly under the cover of fire, too many of us wasted out ammo trying to hit gangsters under cover. I kept my gun holstered, and brought out my knife, I found a window.

"Sir."

"Kim?"

"There's a tree up there, leads right to a window. If I go in alone...I could surprize them."

My superior looked at me.

"Do what you have to but stay safe."

I ran side ways through back alley's and then ran to the tree. I used my ability to fly to make the climb look easy and fast. I didn't want to waste energy actually climbing. Then I took off my shoe and covered my hand with my sock. Thats when I punched the window out.

With that done I went through the window, my cheap suit got scratched up but I was undamaged. I saw the gangsters huddled around a machine gun as others loaded up a single truck.

"Cocaine."

Had to be cocaine, it was a favorite amongst army personal and factory workers. I looked around the walkway and found a gangster with a rifle on the high roof.

If he aimed his weapon, if he had a lot of training, a lot of men would have died today. Some of them might have even been good if lazy men. I pulled out my knife and held it in my sock covered hand. I walked silently towards him and grabbed him. He struggled but I slit his throat.

"IT'S ALL LOADED UP. LETS MAKE A RUN FOR IT!"

I noticed that the truck was covered in crates holding drugs. They rushed towards the truck and got inside. I frowned and jumped down from the walkway onto the truck as they floored it.

I looked at the truck and cut the ropes holding the drugs, sending the crates down the city streets. I knew this was probably just a small amount of their actual supplies but I had to get this poison off the streets.

"Come on."

I kicked the last crate off and then the truck stopped suddenly. I had been so focused at the task at hand that I wasn't paying attention, I barreled off the truck and slammed into a wall. Things started getting dark and a few gangsters got out.

"Its a pig...He...that's most of our supplies..."

"We have a sack. Bring 'em to the boss."

I lost conciousness as they put a sack over my head and tied me up.
​

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


Every part of my body hurt as I was manhandled into some building. They tied me to a chair of some kind.

"Are you ok?"

"Doo....we lost the drugs."

"Do you think I honestly give two shits about the drugs? The drugs are business. You, my men, you're family. Fuck the drugs as long as you're all free, as long as you're all alive, that's all that matters."

Doo Han Gim, god it was him. The single best street fighter in korea maybe even the world. No matter how hard we tried we could never catch him.

So they sent in the army who also failed, then they sent in judo masters, karate masters, boxers and some times...

Some times the crazy bastard would take them on and he won, he always won.

"It's not all bad we managed to save the machine gun Doo."

"Did you lose anyone?"

"Not any of ours, we got away clean."

"Thank the heavens....if you ever have to choose between saving our people and stuff, always choose our people. Stuff can be replaced but you can't replace family, you got that?"

"Yes sir."

"So who is this?"

"The pig who caused us to lose the drugs...."

"Well let's take off the sack."

My eyes burned as the light hit them. The sun hit Doo, almost making it look like he had a halo around his head.

"Korean..."

His voice was filled with loathing.

"If you were japanese....I would just beat the shit out of you and leave you in the streets, but I really, really hate traitors."

He spit on the ground and looked at me with disgust. I held my face firm.

"I serve the law."

Doo laughed bitterly.

"Those laws..."

He looked up at the ceiling.

"Oh that is rich.....you mean the laws by the people who rape our women? The laws from the people who throw ink onto girls hanbok's because they think its funny? The people who deface our monuments, the people who burn our books?"

"And that gives you the right to steal?"

He punched me, hard. My head turned and I looked at him defiantly.

"THEY'RE STEALING OUR CULTURE! THEY'RE STEALING OUR LANGUAGE, OUR IDENTITY, WHO WE ARE! When my people steal? We steal from the japs, we steal from people who sell out their own. We don't steal from good people."

"So the drugs are just a way to relax then?"

He punched me again.

"You know what? I didn't start out as a criminal...I didn't learn how to be one from Koreans. If I'm a criminal it's because the japanese taught me very carefully how to be one. Before I took over these streets, before the seven star gang took over these streets."

He waved over his hands.

"It was all owned by the Yakuza. If they committed a crime in korea they got away with it. Murdered someone, they would get away with it? Raped some girl, didn't matter how young they were by the way, they got away with it. Pigs and the Yaks worked together hand in glove."

I could see his rage.

"When Japan came here, they didn't just bring their selfrightous holier then thou bullshit, they didn't just bring technology and science they borrowed and stole from the west, they brought their crime, they brought their criminals."

He loomed over me.

"It took me years, working against both the yaks and their pet pigs but I kicked them out of the country, our fucking country. The seven stars have removed the Yaks from Korea. It took all of our blood, our tears and our sweat to do it but we did it. What have you done Piggy?"

I stared into his eyes, saw his complete earnestness and honesty.

"Watched you replace Japanese gangsters with Korean ones."

I expected another punch, instead he shook his head.

"You sound like the fucking Jayu, oh you can't do it this way, you have to free Korea this way, it's all principles, principles, principles and no fucking action. You want to know a secret? They have been out there for years, decades, and all they managed to do was control some mountains no one gives two shits about."

I saw his rage.

"How long is korea supposed to suffer? How long are we supposed to be tortured? How long are we supposed to let our people get fucked in the ass? Maybe I'm not doing things the pretty way but at least I'M FUCKING DOING SOME THING!"

He took a deep breath.

"This all of this? This is about getting jap boots off of our fucking necks."

"And selling drugs to people does that how?"

He loomed over me his eyes filled with murder.

"Korea will be free by any means....necessary."

He looked around.

"Put the bag over his head, we're going to dump his ass into the bay, drown him."

"Why sir?"

"Because this fucking animal doesn't deserve the honor of dying on korean soil."

"Boss."

"Yeah Beom-soo?"

"I have a coffin."

"Yeah I know Beom-soo. By the way that was completely unnecessary, all you had to say was I'm loyal to the cause. Buying your own coffin was completely unfucking necessary. This operation isn't a fucking death cult, I want my boys to live."

"Well it's about the same size as him."

"Shit....yeah I see what you're saying Beom-soo, fucking hell that's poetic....yeah stuff him into a coffin."

I felt them unhook me from my chair and I was placed into a coffin, still tied up. I heard the nails slam into the coffin. As I waited in the darkness all I could think was.

I wished I used the restroom before the raid.

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


Every part of my body hurt as I was manhandled into some building. They tied me to a chair of some kind.

"Are you ok?"

"Doo....we lost the drugs."

"Do you think I honestly give two shits about the drugs? The drugs are business. You, my men, you're family. Fuck the drugs as long as you're all free, as long as you're all alive, that's all that matters."

Doo Han Gim, god it was him. The single best street fighter in korea maybe even the world. No matter how hard we tried we could never catch him.

So they sent in the army who also failed, then they sent in judo masters, karate masters, boxers and some times...

Some times the crazy bastard would take them on and he won, he always won.

"It's not all bad we managed to save the machine gun Doo."

"Did you lose anyone?"

"Not any of ours, we got away clean."

"Thank the heavens....if you ever have to choose between saving our people and stuff, always choose our people. Stuff can be replaced but you can't replace family, you got that?"

"Yes sir."

"So who is this?"

"The pig who caused us to lose the drugs...."

"Well let's take off the sack."

My eyes burned as the light hit them. The sun hit Doo, almost making it look like he had a halo around his head.

"Korean..."

His voice was filled with loathing.

"If you were japanese....I would just beat the shit out of you and leave you in the streets, but I really, really hate traitors."

He spit on the ground and looked at me with disgust. I held my face firm.

"I serve the law."

Doo laughed bitterly.

"Those laws..."

He looked up at the ceiling.

"Oh that is rich.....you mean the laws by the people who rape our women? The laws from the people who throw ink onto girls hanbok's because they think its funny? The people who deface our monuments, the people who burn our books?"

"And that gives you the right to steal?"

He punched me, hard. My head turned and I looked at him defiantly.

"THEY'RE STEALING OUR CULTURE! THEY'RE STEALING OUR LANGUAGE, OUR IDENTITY, WHO WE ARE! When my people steal? We steal from the japs, we steal from people who sell out their own. We don't steal from good people."

"So the drugs are just a way to relax then?"

He punched me again.

"You know what? I didn't start out as a criminal...I didn't learn how to be one from Koreans. If I'm a criminal it's because the japanese taught me very carefully how to be one. Before I took over these streets, before the seven star gang took over these streets."

He waved over his hands.

"It was all owned by the Yakuza. If they committed a crime in korea they got away with it. Murdered someone, they would get away with it? Raped some girl, didn't matter how young they were by the way, they got away with it. Pigs and the Yaks worked together hand in glove."

I could see his rage.

"When Japan came here, they didn't just bring their selfrightous holier then thou bullshit, they didn't just bring technology and science they borrowed and stole from the west, they brought their crime, they brought their criminals."

He loomed over me.

"It took me years, working against both the yaks and their pet pigs but I kicked them out of the country, our fucking country. The seven stars have removed the Yaks from Korea. It took all of our blood, our tears and our sweat to do it but we did it. What have you done Piggy?"

I stared into his eyes, saw his complete earnestness and honesty.

"Watched you replace Japanese gangsters with Korean ones."

I expected another punch, instead he shook his head.

"You sound like the fucking Jayu, oh you can't do it this way, you have to free Korea this way, it's all principles, principles, principles and no fucking action. You want to know a secret? They have been out there for years, decades, and all they managed to do was control some mountains no one gives two shits about."

I saw his rage.

"How long is korea supposed to suffer? How long are we supposed to be tortured? How long are we supposed to let our people get fucked in the ass? Maybe I'm not doing things the pretty way but at least I'M FUCKING DOING SOME THING!"

He took a deep breath.

"This all of this? This is about getting jap boots off of our fucking necks."

"And selling drugs to people does that how?"

He loomed over me his eyes filled with murder.

"Korea will be free by any means....necessary."

He looked around.

"Put the bag over his head, we're going to dump his ass into the bay, drown him."

"Why sir?"

"Because this fucking animal doesn't deserve the honor of dying on korean soil."

"Boss."

"Yeah Beom-soo?"

"I have a coffin."

"Yeah I know Beom-soo. By the way that was completely unnecessary, all you had to say was I'm loyal to the cause. Buying your own coffin was completely unfucking necessary. This operation isn't a fucking death cult, I want my boys to live."

"Well it's about the same size as him."

"Shit....yeah I see what you're saying Beom-soo, fucking hell that's poetic....yeah stuff him into a coffin."

I felt them unhook me from my chair and I was placed into a coffin, still tied up. I heard the nails slam into the coffin. As I waited in the darkness all I could think was.

I wished I used the restroom before the raid.

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


I walked into Subaru's office still wet, still drenched.

"God, it looks like you have been through the ringer."

I shrugged.

"Got caught by the seven star gang."

"How did you escape?"

I shrugged again.

"They used cheap ropes and the car they put me in was old, and had some sharp edges. I was able to cut through most of it before they threw me in the water. After that, well... adrenaline took care of that. It was dark and I got lucky."

I cracked my neck.

"Well, did you guy get that poison off the street?"

Subaru stared at me.

"You almost die and your first thought is how the raid went?"

I shrugged.

"Crime doesn't rest sir."

Subaru shook his head.

"But you are. One week mandated vacation time because damn son."

"Sir, I can still."

"This isn't a request. Even the best officers get burnout if they push too hard, and I've looked over your record. Out of everyone here, you've taken the least amount of vacation time."

He pulled out my folder.

"And I want you rested for when I promote you to detective."

I blinked.

"What...but, sir, you know Koreans are not allowed."

"There's a loophole."

I blinked.

"If I adopt you, you officially become japanese."

I was stunned.

"Sir."

"It's happened before and I talked to a lawyer about it, my side of the papers are signed."

I felt a sense of profound guilt, but I put it aside.

"Why would you do this sir?"

Subaru looked at me with tired eyes.

"I smoke a pack a day."

I stared at him.

"So?"

"I've been doing that since I was young. I'm in my 60's now. It caught up to me."

My stomach sank.

"Sir."

"Lung cancer...it's inoperable with mundane medicine."

I felt a sense of panic.

"So we call in a magi."

"Qlipothic arts can't fix cancer, imported potions can't fix cancer. The only people with a proven track record of curing it are winter seasonal magi with very specialized training."

He paused, his voice full of emotion.

"And not very many schools teach that. The nearest group of people who can cure me are the damned Jayu."

He slumped.

"And I will be damned before I go to them for anything. I may hate what my country does, I definitely hate the damn military and their increasing madness but I'm still japanese and I'm not a traitor."

I put a hand on his shoulder.

"Sir."

"I want you to take over when I die, take over the station."

"You can't be serious sir, I'm only 24 years old."

He opened the file.

"Started the academy at the minimum age of 16, graduated top of his class. You have 8 years of experience at this station. You have seniority right now."

I took that in.

"That's not possible. There has to be someone who has been here longer then me."

"Bussan is one of the hardest posts in the empire. Gangs, communists, Jayu, every one hates you. You add up all the police, all the stations in the city, and we lose 10% of our cops every year."

He paused his eyes tired.

"Some times it's injuries, some times people die and a lot of people have died. Practically everyone is trying to get transfered out as quickly as possible. Some get fired for being so corrupt that I can finally sack them and of course a lot of people quit and retire. And this station... we've been hit the hardest."

I nodded.

"I know sir."

"When I die...I'm going to put in a last request...and have you take my place, I have that much pull at least."

He got up.

"Go home, get some rest, when you get back you will be a detective, and I will have a partner for you."

"Really?"

"Yeah good kid, fresh from the home islands."

"What got him sent here?"

"Stopped a japanese officer from raping a schoolgirl while drunk. Said schoolgirl's father was navy, the attempted rapist was army. So when his corpse was found strung up near the naval yard? well, kid was sent to us until it boils over."

"Insane."

"It's been getting worse and worse Kim. They're completely out of control and delusional and, mark my words, sooner or later those idiots will poke someone who can fight back. And then we will all be doomed."

He closed his eyes.

"But back to the task at hand. You're taking a week off, that isn't a request."

I nodded and got up. The other officers stared at me and I suddenly realized just how many of those faces were new, just how many old ones were gone. It was the realization of just how much time had passed.

8 years. 8 years on the force and out of every one I knew at the station I was the only one left. I had been so focused on my cause, on what I had been doing that I didn't notice. Or maybe it had happened so slowly It crept up on me. I remembered so clearly being a rookie and now? Now I felt old beyond my years.

I wandered through the streets, tired. As I got home to my apartment, I took off my coat, my suit.

"Don't stop on my account."

I remembered that voice.

"Swan....I thought you left the city."

She lounged on my best sofa. Everyone took my one good chair, the Jayu were infurating that way, but it was ok when Swan did it.

"It's been a year now hasn't it?"

She nodded.

"Came to help with the raid."

I gave her a salute.

"How did it go?"

"The army no longer has the golem."

I smiled.

"Great, you must feel fantastic."

"No, we don't. Because, when we got there, someone else had already taken it and we don't know who has it."

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


"So the Jayu don't have the Golem."

"Right."

"And the army doesn't have it."

"Correct."

"Shit."

"Exactly. If you had listened to the radio, you would know that the army has officially declared martial law and that the curfews start tomorrow."

Swan looked at me through her mask.

"By the way, where the hell have you been?"

"Got captured by the seven star gang, they threw me into the ocean."

She stared at me.

"You're kidding."

"No..I'm not."

I sighed.

"It's been over a year since we last talked, I thought seagull was my handler now."

"I'm not here as your handler Kim, I'm not allowed to be your handler anymore."

"Why not? What did I do to get the Jayu angry at me?"

"You didn't do anything Kim, this isn't your fault."

"Did you mess up?"

She flicked her hair.

"I didn't mess up either...not exactly. I'm emotionally compromised and I know it. I took a break and I'm still emotionally compromised. There are rules about contacts and handlers and I'm not sure I can follow them."

"Like what?"

After my shitty day I didn't feel like even more drama.

"You're not allowed to sleep with your contacts."

I blinked..

"Oh..."

"Yeah."

We looked away from each other.

"It was just one time, the Jayu can't be mad about a single incident."

She sighed.

"It was more then one incident and you know it. And if we kept working together, there would be more incidents. What we did over there."

She pointed at my bedroom.

"Was simply the last straw. Handlers are not supposed to sleep with their contacts, they're not supposed to hug and kiss their contacts and they're definitely not supposed to fall in love with them."

I felt struck.

"It's my fault...a younger woman, a man with authority I should, I should have controlled myself better."

"I'm a year older then you Kim."

I blinked.

"What?"

"I'm a year older then you, so can you do me a slight favor and actually talk to me?"

"About what?"

"About us Kim.."

"What is there to say. You left the city, it's been a year. That more or less spells out your intentions."

"Jayu orders, they had to send in another handler, and I had to go through a year long cooling off period to make sure my feelings are real."

"And?"

"And Seagull cleared you and my feelings haven't changed."

"I can't support a family on my salary."

She chuckled.

"What?"

"I'm a witch Kim. Making money isn't exactly a problem for me, and anyway I make plenty under my official cover."

"Which is?"

"Fortune teller and Palm reader."

"It isn't legal for koreans to use magic."

"I simply pretend to be a fake who's pretending to be real."

I closed my eyes.

"That sounds overly complicated, and I should tell you all of the reasons why it won't work."

"And?"

"And I can't, because I missed you Swan. But can we please table this until after this crisis is over?"

She nodded.

"Fair enough, no romance until the Golems case is dealt with."

She gave me a hug and sniffed.

"You probally should go get a shower."

I sighed.

"Yeah I probably do, I will take it now."

She nodded.

"Oh by the way I used up all the hot water."

I took a long look at her tight black outfit.

"Not a problem, I need a cold shower...probably a few of them."

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


I woke up to the smell of rice and the feeling of warmth in my arms, I looked down below at Swan as she cuddled in my arms. After the shower...I think It might have been a stress thing. The risk of almost dying, the after effects of adrenaline... The door creaked as it opened and I stared at Seagull.

He looked at me in my bed, saw Swan next to me with her mask off. I felt a sense of worry and fear. There would be conquences for this, for Swan. I put my arm protectively around her and then.

Then he nodded his head and gave me a thumbs up and closed the door. Swan yawned in my arms and looked at me.

"I'm sorry."

She kissed me on the neck.

"Why? I had a good time last night, and I missed you."

"Seagull knows."

"Well yeah. I told him about the last incident and I told him about my intentions."

"We were supposed to wait until after the case was over."

She smirked.

"No, you wanted to wait and I had a very convincing counteroffer."

She kissed me again.

"I missed this."

"How? this is the second time."

"No Kim...I miss us, this thing we have. I miss us."

She hugged me close.

"Seagul...um caught us...in bed."

"What did he do?"

"He gave me a thumbs up and closed the door."

She looked at me and laughed. I smiled as I took in her warm brown eyes and shiny black hair. I couldn't help myself, I joined in. She gave me another hug.

"Come on, let's get dressed. I will make breakfast, an actual breakfast by the way, not just rice and fix up some coffee."

"You're being very domestic for a Jayu."

She hugged me.

"Don't get too cocky, you're cleaning the plates."

I got out of bed and started getting dressed while Swan watched.

"Not going to get dressed?"

"Hmm, I'd rather enjoy the view."

She smiled and waggled her eyebrows and I couldn't help but blush. Then she got out of bed and traced her fingers over a scar.

"That's where I shot you."

I closed my eyes, my memories returning to the raid.

"This bullet has a name on it, your name, we are going to hit you with it to draw off suspicion."

I blinked myself back to the present.

"My shoulder still aches a little."

"I can kiss it and make it better you know."

I smiled.

"Tempting."

I kissed her and put on my undershirt. I found seagull waiting for me at the table, Swan walked out dressed and headed into the kitchen.

"So....Swan.."

"Isn't your handler anymore, there are rules in place Kim...but we're not going to stop her from seeing you anymore, we're not heartless."

I blinked.

"Eggs...I ran out of eggs."

"Swan brought some."

I looked at Seagull.

"So you were evaluating me."

"If it helps, you passed."

He leaned back in his chair.

"How? I'm not exactly a good person."

"You don't drink, you don't smoke, you don't gamble, you don't blow your money on whores, you don't abuse people for the hell of it and you're in so deep that if you betrayed Swan you would be executed anyways. Actually, as these things go, you're better then most."

He shrugged.

"It was a nice way to spend my vacation."

I blinked as two cups of coffee were put in front of us. Swan traced her finger around the rim of the cup and sauntered off.

"Vacation...managing a spy network is vacation."

"I'm a lot higher up the Jayu food chain then I look Kim."

"Really?"

"Yeah, most of the time I'm doing diplomacy outside of korea. After this business is dealt with I will probably be sent on another mission."

I took a sip of coffee and let it's warmth go through me.

"Columbian?"

"I wish. The japanese tea industry banned the sale of coffee in korea ten years ago."

I blinked. I didn't even know that was a law.

"No one enforces it, obviously. But we grow coffee in our mountain bases and our agents sell it in the cities."

"How?"

"It's a more hearty variation that Ankor Park brought back from Compass."

I nodded.

"The first Korean Magi."

"One of the first magi, period. There's a room in compass dedicated to the first class of 1337, Merlin drew a portrait and built a statue of him. It still rests in the first class memorial room."

Seagull leaned back, pressing the cup to his mask and drinking the coffee through it.

"I don't know much about him."

"Ankor? He was a great man. He built the first school of magic in Mokpo and accepted people from all walks of life. Within a couple generations pretty much everyone in the city knew how to use magic."

"Bet the king didn't like it."

Seagull sighed.

"No, he didn't. But magical goods became our biggest export to China, so they made rules. Magi could only live in south Jeolla, only do business there. It was a way of containing us, controlling us and we shrugged and ignored it. As long as they left us be, what did it matter?"

He took a sip of coffee.

"Then, of course, the Japanese knocked and all of the forces that were supposed to defend the korean people, defend our traditions and our cultures? The buddist temples, the scholars, the government, our monarchy, our military? They just surrendered without a fight."

He put down his cup of coffee.

"And when we were asked to do the same...."

"You decided to fight."

"Yep. The japanese didn't like that, they burned Mokpo to the ground, killed our friends, murdered any family members we had who remained behind and we fled to the mountains and we have been fighting them ever since."

"Not as many of you guys as there used to be."

Seagull laughed.

"Quite the contrary, the number of magi in Korea exploded. People didn't quite see us as properly Korean before the occupation. The occupation turned us into an institution. Korean Magi outnumber Japanese ones at least 3 to 1 and that's with them using easier to learn Qlipothic magic."

"Really...so why haven't you, um."

"Won? We have more high quality magi but they have more people, more planes, more tanks, more ships, more guns and a whole lot of collaborators. Kicking them out is probably going to take generations."

For some reason that made me slightly depressed.

"Really."

"Well, unless Japan picks a fight with multiple great powers at the same time but not even they are stupid enough to do that."

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


I woke up to the smell of rice and the feeling of warmth in my arms, I looked down below at Swan as she cuddled in my arms. After the shower...I think It might have been a stress thing. The risk of almost dying, the after effects of adrenaline... The door creaked as it opened and I stared at Seagull.

He looked at me in my bed, saw Swan next to me with her mask off. I felt a sense of worry and fear. There would be conquences for this, for Swan. I put my arm protectively around her and then.

Then he nodded his head and gave me a thumbs up and closed the door. Swan yawned in my arms and looked at me.

"I'm sorry."

She kissed me on the neck.

"Why? I had a good time last night, and I missed you."

"Seagull knows."

"Well yeah. I told him about the last incident and I told him about my intentions."

"We were supposed to wait until after the case was over."

She smirked.

"No, you wanted to wait and I had a very convincing counteroffer."

She kissed me again.

"I missed this."

"How? this is the second time."

"No Kim...I miss us, this thing we have. I miss us."

She hugged me close.

"Seagul...um caught us...in bed."

"What did he do?"

"He gave me a thumbs up and closed the door."

She looked at me and laughed. I smiled as I took in her warm brown eyes and shiny black hair. I couldn't help myself, I joined in. She gave me another hug.

"Come on, let's get dressed. I will make breakfast, an actual breakfast by the way, not just rice and fix up some coffee."

"You're being very domestic for a Jayu."

She hugged me.

"Don't get too cocky, you're cleaning the plates."

I got out of bed and started getting dressed while Swan watched.

"Not going to get dressed?"

"Hmm, I'd rather enjoy the view."

She smiled and waggled her eyebrows and I couldn't help but blush. Then she got out of bed and traced her fingers over a scar.

"That's where I shot you."

I closed my eyes, my memories returning to the raid.

"This bullet has a name on it, your name, we are going to hit you with it to draw off suspicion."

I blinked myself back to the present.

"My shoulder still aches a little."

"I can kiss it and make it better you know."

I smiled.

"Tempting."

I kissed her and put on my undershirt. I found seagull waiting for me at the table, Swan walked out dressed and headed into the kitchen.

"So....Swan.."

"Isn't your handler anymore, there are rules in place Kim...but we're not going to stop her from seeing you anymore, we're not heartless."

I blinked.

"Eggs...I ran out of eggs."

"Swan brought some."

I looked at Seagull.

"So you were evaluating me."

"If it helps, you passed."

He leaned back in his chair.

"How? I'm not exactly a good person."

"You don't drink, you don't smoke, you don't gamble, you don't blow your money on whores, you don't abuse people for the hell of it and you're in so deep that if you betrayed Swan you would be executed anyways. Actually, as these things go, you're better then most."

He shrugged.

"It was a nice way to spend my vacation."

I blinked as two cups of coffee were put in front of us. Swan traced her finger around the rim of the cup and sauntered off.

"Vacation...managing a spy network is vacation."

"I'm a lot higher up the Jayu food chain then I look Kim."

"Really?"

"Yeah, most of the time I'm doing diplomacy outside of korea. After this business is dealt with I will probably be sent on another mission."

I took a sip of coffee and let it's warmth go through me.

"Columbian?"

"I wish. The japanese tea industry banned the sale of coffee in korea ten years ago."

I blinked. I didn't even know that was a law.

"No one enforces it, obviously. But we grow coffee in our mountain bases and our agents sell it in the cities."

"How?"

"It's a more hearty variation that Ankor Park brought back from Compass."

I nodded.

"The first Korean Magi."

"One of the first magi, period. There's a room in compass dedicated to the first class of 1337, Merlin drew a portrait and built a statue of him. It still rests in the first class memorial room."

Seagull leaned back, pressing the cup to his mask and drinking the coffee through it.

"I don't know much about him."

"Ankor? He was a great man. He built the first school of magic in Mokpo and accepted people from all walks of life. Within a couple generations pretty much everyone in the city knew how to use magic."

"Bet the king didn't like it."

Seagull sighed.

"No, he didn't. But magical goods became our biggest export to China, so they made rules. Magi could only live in south Jeolla, only do business there. It was a way of containing us, controlling us and we shrugged and ignored it. As long as they left us be, what did it matter?"

He took a sip of coffee.

"Then, of course, the Japanese knocked and all of the forces that were supposed to defend the korean people, defend our traditions and our cultures? The buddist temples, the scholars, the government, our monarchy, our military? They just surrendered without a fight."

He put down his cup of coffee.

"And when we were asked to do the same...."

"You decided to fight."

"Yep. The japanese didn't like that, they burned Mokpo to the ground, killed our friends, murdered any family members we had who remained behind and we fled to the mountains and we have been fighting them ever since."

"Not as many of you guys as there used to be."

Seagull laughed.

"Quite the contrary, the number of magi in Korea exploded. People didn't quite see us as properly Korean before the occupation. The occupation turned us into an institution. Korean Magi outnumber Japanese ones at least 3 to 1 and that's with them using easier to learn Qlipothic magic."

"Really...so why haven't you, um."

"Won? We have more high quality magi but they have more people, more planes, more tanks, more ships, more guns and a whole lot of collaborators. Kicking them out is probably going to take generations."

For some reason that made me slightly depressed.

"Really."

"Well, unless Japan picks a fight with multiple great powers at the same time but not even they are stupid enough to do that."

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim



The three of us looked at the assembled maps, lists and names.

"So who took the golem."

I looked at the list.

"I know the Japanese navy, at least well enough to know that if they had it they would be bragging about it openly by now."

Seagull nodded at my words.

"Good point that doesn't narrow things down that much."

He looked at the map.

"The americans?"

Seagull shook his head.

"I doubt it, the country is pretty isolationist right now, entire pact is with them on that. They also have more magi than pretty much anyone on the planet. A war golem isn't enough of a prize to be anywhere close to the risk."

He closed his eyes.

"Their portion of the western district is being searched anyways, because american owned businesses don't have any choice but to serve nonwhites or there will be trouble once they get back home. But the chance of them being the culprits is pretty small."

We looked at the map.

"Belgians have the motive but they don't have any known agents. The people who have agents in the city who could pull it off are the germans, the chinese and the Russians."

He pointed north.

"The Russians pulled off the initial theft so they're going to want it the most. The chinese might be scattered into a bunch of feuding warlords but they have agents and whoever gets that golem gains an edge against their rivals."

"Who do you think did it seagull?"

"My money? It's domestic. I know the seven star gang wanted it, I know the communists wanted it, I know the anarchists wanted it and I know that we wanted it."

He took a sip of coffee.

"Worst case Senerio is that the Communists stole it."

I stared at him.

"Not the anarchists."

"The anarchists are the best case Scenario. we can negotiate with them, they can be reasonable. The Communists though are a problem and we do not want them to get stronger."

"Why not? You all hate the Japanese."

He pointed at the map.

"This is the soviet union, this is us. The communists take their marching orders from Moscow. You think Moscow is going to allow a magic empowered korea near its borders?"

He paused.

"I've talked to communists, dealt with them and they do not share power Kim. They want it all, they're willing to do anything to get their little worker's paradise and they do not care who they step on to get it. A communist korea isn't going to tolerate the Jayu, or anyone else for that matter."

"How can you be sure about that?"

"We read their mail."

I blinked.

"What?"

"We know where all the communists dead drops are so we read their mail. They already have plans to kill all other resistance groups, we have found lists of every one they plan on sending to reeducation camps and we have found the maps of locations they plan on using as mass graves."

Seagull paused and I nodded.

"I take it they're planning on killing me too?"

"If it helps it's not personal, they're planning on killing all of the collaborators, not just you."

"That's really comforting Seagull."

I looked at the list.

"I'm going to investigate the seven stars. I don't know nearly enough about the communists to even start an investigation about them."

"Sounds good to us, we will do our own investigations. And, Kim?"

"Yes?"

"Keep your head down. This is going to be a rough one."

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


The problem with stake-outs, the real problem with them besides boredom, is the daydreaming. The memories and other junk inside your mind that bubbles up while you're doing nothing but looking through a pair binoculars waiting for someone to do something stupid.

"Ever meet any one interesting, Seagull?"

"Theodore Roosevelt a couple times."

"Really."

"Not very many state leaders are willing to meet with us, Teddy was. He was a good man, I respected him. Also met Wilson."

"And?"

"Edith confused me for a servant and asked why a slant was in the building. Her husband Woodrow was also a gigantic jerk, if slightly less racist then the president was."

He paused.

"I didn't care for her."

"Current President?"

"We haven't bothered with Hoover, pretty much everyone in the Jayu is convinced that this whole depression thing is going to sink him like a stone. No one wants to risk being associated with that. We have been putting out feelers to the democratic party though, seeing if anyone has any anti-japanese leanings."

"And?"

"No luck. As far as they're concerned domestic problems take full priority and the china lobby hasn't been helpful at all. As far as they're concerned as long as no one is attacking china, they don't care."

"So we're on our own?"

"Pretty much. The japanese actually have a pretty ideal situation going for them. They have Manchuria as an allied buffer state, the soviet union is focused on the west. China isn't united and they can play the warlords off against each other."

"What if they try to conquer Manchuria."

Seagull turned his head.

"That's no going to happen."

"But if they did."

"If they did they would lose their buffer state and that puts them right on china and russia's doorstep. That means they're going to be forced to spend more of their blood and treasury and be forced to spread out their forces. That gives us more of a free hand and they know it."

"But if it happens?"

"We deal with fewer patrols in the mountains, that gives us more time to work on special projects."

"Ok. Taking it from there, what if they invade China."

"Why would they do that?"

"Resources."

"Japan's all about quick limited wars, they do not have the people or resources for a drawn out conflict and they know it. There's no decisive victories to be had in china, just long drawn out quagmires."

"But if it happens?"

"Any plan that relies on your enemy being an idiot is a bad plan kim."

I smiled.

"The Seven star gang leader is on the phone now. You have the tap ready?"

I smiled as we listened in.

"Doo?"

"Yeah I'm here, did you find it?"

"No we didn't. By the time we got there the army had moved the thing, and then they lost it."

"Crap....do you think it was Jayu?"

"Don't know, they're not talking."

"Lets just hope it isn't the fucking commies. As bad as Japanese shit is Russian shit is even worse, and I refuse to let that shit ill-sung take over our country."

"You met him boss?"

"Fortunately no, he's currently off hiding in Russia like the fucking coward he is, unfortunately I've read his poetry and it's."

"Boss."

"It's 12 kinds of horrible. Seriously if he's in charge? at best we're all going to be forced to read that crap and reading it once was torture."

"So marching orders?"

"Have our boys search the commie's fucking everything."

"What if it's the anarchists sir?"

We heard laugher.

"What are they going to do? Start a drum circle? Try to infuse the golem with the power of weed?"

"It's possible."

"You know what? If the anarchists have the Golem, they can keep it. The story alone is worth it. But seriously search the commies. liquor them up first but if that doesn't work rough em up. We can't let them have it."

"Got it boss."

I looked over at Seagull.

"This is really bad."

I nodded.

"Let's hope its the anarchists."

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


I woke up to the sound of a ringing phone.

"Kim, we have a problem."

"Thought you wanted me on vacation."

"I do...your new partner arrived and got himself in trouble."

I sighed.

"What did he do?"

"We had another 'comfort girl' incident."

Fucking hell.

"I thought you said he was a good egg, Subaru."

"He is, he tried to stop three soldiers with his baton....I need you to pick him up from the hospital and walk him through things."

I sighed.

"The girl?"

"Got away unscathed, thank god. The last thing we need is another incident."

"Did you talk to the MPs?"

"First thing we did. They tried to press charges but one of the three is related to."

"Someone in the brass. Let me guess: daddy got him and his buddies a transfer."

I heard a sigh.

"Mark my words Kim, if we lose Korea it's going to be because of shit like this...point is, I need you to pick him up."

"So he's fine? Guess the army wasn't too rough on him."

"Oh...oh no, they messed him up. Dislocated back, broken arms and legs, cracked ribs, they put him through the ringer. But when we did the raids we got lucky, found the seven stars stash of healing potions. Had to work out a deal with the hospital to get them to administer it properly but the kid's fine now just...just teach him about how things really work ok?"

"I will take him to breakfast in the western district."

"Thanks Kim."

I hung up and got dressed, I walked out of the house and towards the hospital. When I rang the bell the nurse looked at me, I flashed my badge.

"Here for the rookie."

She sighed and a slighly short and thin Japanese boy... no, a man, just a young one, looked at me. He bowed.

"Yuki Ohashi."

"Just call me Kim. We're pretty informal here on the mainland."

"Yes Kim sensei, I mean Kim."

I shook my head and waved him over, he followed me.

"So where are we going?"

"Western district, the good Japanese restaurants don't serve Koreans, the good Korean restaurants don't serve japanese and Nobody wants to serve cops. So your only hope of a decent meal is in the western district."

"I heard they don't serve asians."

"Most don't but a few places are owned by Americans. They don't get a choice, they have to serve every one."

We walked briskly till we got to the district then we stopped at my prefered place.

"Good, it's opened."

Cerial killers, they specialized in breakfast, owned by some Yankee from Chicago. We didn't know much about him only that he had to leave the country for reasons. I didn't pry.

"Mystic Charms, two bowls."

It was cheap, affordable and tasted decent enough. Yuko looked at the bowl.

"Where are the chop sticks?"

"You use a spoon."

I took a bite and let some of the sugar wake me up.

"Ok...what are these things?"

"Marshmellows, Clovers, pumpkins, snowflakes, suns, compass's, wizard hats, and phenix's. It's all part of a complete breakfast."

He took a bite.

"It's ok."

"This place is called Cerial killers, they have 20 kinds of cereal from the united states you can mix and match varieties, it's ok and it's cheap. They serve other kinds of breakfast, those are not cheap so save those meals for special occasions."

I took another bite.

"I have problems with milk."

The server nodded and went into the back and brought out a pill.

"For lactose intolerant."

Yuki looked at me and I shrugged.

"It comes up, a lot. Go ahead they're complimentary."

He swallowed the pill and I took another bite of my cereals.

"So, after this, we're going to walk around town and talk about how things work here in the colonies. And we're also going to figure out how you can avoid having another incident."

Yuki nodded and took another bite.

"Thank you sir."

"Don't. I'm going to spend my vacation running you through a lot of training and that is not going to be fun."

"I understand."

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


"So where are we going?"

Yuki followed me like a Puppy.

"To the motorpool, I have to give you an actual idea of what you're going to be dealing with."

It was best to get this over with as quickly as possible. I went into the motorpool and flashed my badge. The pool was owned and directed by Mr. Yamada and he was notably stingy with the vehicles, even for japanese officers.

"I'm not letting you have one of my cars for a joyride."

"We have a rookie."

"So what?"

"I'm taking him to the Yokai garden, give him an idea of what he's actually going to be dealing with."

The man blinked.

"You know that's dangerous right?"

"I'm also requesting some guns if we get unlucky."

The man sighed.

"Right...I'm going to wire the base and get some anti requisition forms for you. Take care."

He walked off and we sat down.

"Anti requisition forms?"

"Sometimes someone in the army will get a bee in their bonnet and decide to take the fight to the Jayu without informing their commanders. Sometimes they get the brilliant idea to do this by requisitioning someone's car."

I paused.

"Eventually the governor general made this illegal because they kept ruining people's stuff and it just made everyone angry. But we're not civlians so, whenever we leave with a police vehicle, we need an anti requisition form so the army doesn't pull their guns on us and steal our patrol cars."

Yuki stared at me.

"Then how do you do police work?"

"Well we used to use horses, and buggies."

He sighed.

"So you modernized then."

"Um, no. The army just requisitioned all of the horses years ago, most of our vehicles are stuff that the yakuza used before they got wiped out. Let's just pray we don't get a french car."

"Why not?"

"Yuki ever driven a japanese made car?"

He nodded.

"French cars are even worse."

Yuki cringed at my words we waited and we looked up.

"One anti requistion form and...you're getting a 1924 renault NN."

I cringed.

"Don't you have anything better?"

Yamada looked at me.

"The city is under martial law, if I give you something better you know damned well they will try to take it, form or no form."

I would like to say Yamada gave us that car because he hated koreans, I would love to say he did it out of bigotry but...at the end of the day I knew he was right.

"Give me the keys."

He tossed me the keys and we walked to the motor pool. Yuki looked at the car in question.

"I thought the french were artists...this, this."

"Believe me as ugly as this car looks...it actually is much much worse."

We went into the car and I sighed as I tried to turn on the ignition.

"Come on."

After the seventh try the car got moving, we drove slowly through the streets. Everywhere we went we saw soldiers kicking down doors, breaking windows and damaging property.

"See that?"

"Yes?"

"If I ever catch you trying to conduct a search like that, I'm going to tan your hide."

We drove forward.

"Name three things they're doing wrong with their search."

Yuki watched as a piece of furnature landed on the ground nearly hitting a soldier on the ground.

"Public endangerement comes to mind, destruction of property, and assault."

I nodded, and we watched as children fled from the army.

"That's the legal way of looking at it, now look at it from a practical point of view. Smashing property like that is loud, it alerts all the other people that you're on the way which means they're going to find better hiding spots or destroy incriminating evidence. Throwing someone's stuff outside the window risks hurting your fellow officers on the ground. And on top of this you're making sure that people are less likely to work with you in the future."

We drove onwards and watched as the army went through homes, businesses, everything.

"Mark my words if this keeps up we will have another riot."

"Won't people be too scared to fight?"

I looked at Yuki.

"If someone hates you more then they love their own life then fear stops working."

We drove to the city limits and were stopped by police.

"Police."

We both flashed our badges.

"Doesn't matter, the city's under martial law we need to requisition that car."

The man's breath stank of cheap alcohol.

"We have anti requisition forms, we are legally allowed to shoot and kill you if you try."

His friends got up and pulled out their guns.

"Really?"

I pulled out my side arm and aimed it at his head.

"Before your friends kill me I guarantee you will be dead."

There was silence, then Yuki spoke up.

"I understand why you want to steal this car, it's a Renault made in France itself."

"That car is french?"

"Yes."

I saw a visible look of digust cover the faces of all three soldiers.

"A Renault."

"Yes."

He visibly shuddered, waving his hands.

"Carry on officer."

"But dont we need a car for a joy ride?"

The man turned around.

"Not a Renault, never a fucking Renault, those things make a woman's dry like sand."

We drove off and left city limits. Yuki stared off into the distance.

"It worked."

I sighed.

"I know but."

The car's suspension hit a rock and we smashed our heads against the ceiling.

"But we're the ones in this car, so did we win?"

Yuki held on for dear life.

"Good point sir."
​

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


We stopped near a mountain and got off the road. Yuki marveled at the large number of flowers that seemed to cover the whole area. Meanwhile, I looked for rocks and When I found one, I picked it up and put it in a napsack.

"It's beautiful."

I picked up another rock.

"That's the Geumjeongsan mountain."

I picked up another rock.

"It's...it looks like its completely covered in flowers."

"Yeah it does."

"It's beautiful, just stunning."

"People put a lot of work into the mountain into planting those flowers."

"I believe it."

I nodded. I finally had enough rocks.

"I... I wish I had a camera."

"I know the feeling. Believe it or not those flowers will continue to bloom even in the dead of winter, when every thing is covered in snow."

"Amazing."

I took a rock out of my napsack.

"I know, it seems magical doesn't it?"

Kim nodded.

I threw a rock at a nearby sunflower and then it exploded, Yuki flinched as we felt the heat of the blast.

"That's because it is, This mountain is where Jayu territory starts, beyond this trail is the territory they control."

Yuki's eyes were wide open.

"Land mines."

I threw another rock another sunflower exploded.

"No, we call this area a youkai garden. All those flowers you see are part of a mass enchantment that turns this whole mountain into a killing field."

I threw yet another rock and yuki winced as arrows covered the road infront of us.

"How."

"Magic is all about communication. Runes, sign language. Even potions is about what the ingredients mean conceptually."

I paused and threw another rock at an obvious patch of flowers, we heard a roar as a plant golem came out of the mass of life. I pulled out my side arm and aimed at its head as Yuki stared at it.

"Do you know that flower language is a thing?"

I shot the golem as claws formed from its hands.

"Its called floriography. Think of it as a form of cryptography, a way to communicate a message just with flowers. There was a real craze for it during the victorian era in europe and america."

I aimed my gun and hit the monster in the head, it kept coming at us.

"Thing is, the phenix? They had something similar. It was always an obscure type of magic but they had it and when Ankor Park came back to Korea he brought those secrets back with them."

Good it was close. I hit a sunflower and it blew up, this destroyed the plant golem. it's head landed near our feet, yuki stared at it in shock.

"The Jayu...they had over a hundred years of isolation to master it, and they are good at it. We didn't pay attention in the early days of the occupation. I mean, honestly, it's a bunch of flowers right? what damage can you possibly do with some flowers."

I reloaded my side arm and put the remaining bullets in my pocket.

"Turns out? You can kill entire armies with flowers, you can make places impassible, the army has to bring in flamethrowers every year just to clear space, they use defoliants, and lots of other methods but those flowers keep growing back like clock work."

I cracked my neck and holstered my weapon.

"That's terrifying."

"So, now that you have seen this, you need to understand something. They don't just use those flowers here, they use them in the city. Sometimes to kill collaborators, to kill their enemies. So rule number one, never ever accept a bouquet from any one."

I turned towards him.

"Not even from a sexy girl, oh who am I kidding especially from a sexy girl, Jayu love using that tactic."

Yuki's open eyes lingered on the face of the monstrous flower creature.

"Never accept flowers from strangers."

"Never accept them, period. Jayu can impersonate people you know with illusions. If someone offers you flowers, always say no even if it seems rude, even if it seems heartless. Never accept flowers."

I grabbed another rock and hit another sunflower which blew up.

"Or that could be you."

I let Yuki take it in and opened the door for him.

"Now come on, We're going back to the city where it's safer."

"Yeah....on it."

He was silent during the ride back to the city, his eyes open as he nervously looked at the flowers that surrounded us.

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


"The car died."

Yuki stated the obvious.

"It's a renault, of course it died."

I sighed.

"We're going to have to push it."

The two of us pushed the car, the sun beat down on us as we did so.

"Sir."

I looked over at Yuki.

"With all due respect...I think I hate this car."

I smelled some thing on the wind and shook my head.

"We're going to be able to go down hill soon, we can use the momentum to get the rest of the way to town and then once were there we can gun the engine again."

"You think that will work?"

"It's possible the engine just overheated."

Yuki shrugged. We stopped pushing the car and got to the doors then we looked at the city and saw the fire. Yuki and i looked at each other and then at the fire that was consuming a good chunk of Busan.

"Sir?"

"Yes Yuki?"

"Why am I not surprised? I should be surprised, I should be shocked but I just feel this sense of."

"Resignation?"

"Yes."

"You're in Busan, that feeling is perfectly normal."

We opened the car doors.

"So we're going to ride downhill into a city that's on fire?"

I shrugged.

"You can't let a little thing, like a city wide fire, get in the way of doing your duty as an officer Yuki."

"I understand sir."

We gave the car a final push and got inside. The car moved slowly downhill as the smell of smoke got stronger. When we got to the bottom the car slowly moved until we saw some sailors waving a red sign. I reluctantly stopped the car slowly until we got to them.

"The city is under martial law."

I flashed my badge.

"I know."

"Oh sorry officer go ahead."

I tried to gun the engine and it continued to sputter and die. The two sailors looked at me.

"You got any tools?"

We got out of the car and opened up the back seat.

"Tojo...go watch the road while I help the officers out."

"Got it."

We saw a tool box and the sailor opened up the hood and looked at the engine.

"God, who designed this thing? the whole things a mess."

Yuki looked at me and then at the sailor.

"The french."

The sailor rolled his eye.

"Should have known. Ok the problem you have is a vacuum leak, the issue is the throttle rod right here. It's cracked but, even if you fixed that, it's too small to do its job long term."

I nodded.

"I just got this from the motorpool, you think someone messed up a fix."

"No...looking at this engine, it looks like this was manufacturer's problem, not a faulty fix."

He sighed, and looked into his pockets.

"What are you doing?"

"There's this new unit, 731, run by this guy Shiro Issii. My ship helped transport them to the mainland. They were a mixed group. Scientists, magic users and other."

"Yeah?"

"Well anyways, I helped one guy with his luggage, didn't talk much but none of them talked much, and he gave me this thing here."

He pulled out a wand and pointed it at a part of the engine, I watched light flow out of it.

"Only works once a day but it mends things if you know how it works."

"Sound like a nice man."

"No...no that whole group...there was some thing off about them about all of them with all due respect officer, they gave me the creeps."

I looked at the city.

"So what happened? Someone object to the search?"

The sailor bowed his head in shame.

"Wish I could say it was the koreans. No what happened was, when the army declared martial law the navy argued that they should help out or at least have influence which the army."

"Didn't want."

The sailor nodded.

"So that's been going on in the background while the army's been acting like a barbarian horde. We ignored it until they trashed a navy bar."

I felt a migraine form.

"Let me guess. The sailors and the army men fought."

"It wasn't the majority of us but yes. And that caused a fire which made the commander pull out his guns and threaten to use them on the city if the fighting didn't stop."

"Did it work?"

"Last time I checked. I was brought in to act as a guard and they were talking about cutting the city in half with the navy patroling one side, the army the other."

I looked up at the sky.

"When did the world go insane?"

The sailor sighed.

"It's not this bad everywhere, Formosia's actually pretty nice and so is most of the home islands, and the army caused most of the damage sir."

"So you're saying the Navy was the good guy in this affair."

"Our rioters are currently in the brig, their rioters are patroling their half of the city. Look the army...you have dealt with them. All of the enlisted men are conscripts from the back end of nowhere. Hell, half of them can't even read and their junior officer corps think they're living in a samurai movie."

He shrugged.

"It's true our idiots helped cause the fire and I apologize for that. But at the end of the day, we actually have standards and the army."

"Doesn't."

He nods.

"Right, so um. Since I helped with your engine, can I have a favor."

I narrowed my eyes.

"Depends on the favor."

"Some of the army guys have been going to our bars and causing trouble. So, if you see one heading our way, mind telling him to go somewhere else?"

"I will take it under advisement."

The sailor smiled.

"Great. Oh by the way? That isn't a permanent fix, you're going to need to replace the engine with one that isn't um...horrible."

"I will tell the motorpool. I thank you for your aid."

I bowed to the sailor and he bowed back and then yuki and myself drove through the charred city blocks to return the car. I blinked at the sight of a mixed army and Navy work crew.

"They're litterally drawing a line in the middle of the city."

I watched as they spread out a line of wet paint.

"Sadly Yuki....this might be an improvement."

 

[Cherico]

Ralph Essen


I looked at my calculations again.

"Ready to jump to another world?"

I nodded at Liam.

"Yeah, I'm ready for the next jump."

"So where are we going?"

I looked at the maps.

"When I was in zone I got a contact from the polish ministry, they were willing to do me a favor."

"What kind of favor?"

I sighed.

"They put me through to the south african and Rhodesian governments and they're willing to help us to bolster their reputation with the solar community."

Liam stared at me.

"You know they're evil right?"

I sighed.

"I know."

"South Africa."

"Litterally nuked their own people and Rhodesia forces people to get married at gun point. Believe me, I know that both of them are fucking evil. But we need a summer mage to hold back any radiation, a good one, and they volunteered."

Liam sighed.

"So it's a choice."

"Arieal or Umbrial, we're either dealing with the roadies or the bores."

Liam closed his eyes.

"So our choices are god awful theocrats or genocidal assholes."

"Pretty much."

Liam sighed.

"You do realize that the roadies are insane at best and that the bores are fucking evil."

"Thems the breaks Liam, I kind of want to avoid cancer."

Liam tilted his head.

"Lets go to Ariel. The roadies are, for all their faults, slightly less evil than the bores."

"Great."

I slapped my hands together and the world shifted. We looked up and saw the turquoize orb in the sky, the faint rings in the distance.

"So that's uranus...you know I think it's fitting that we put all of the assholes around it."

I frowned.

"That can't be true there are six countries orbiting Uranus, I mean sure South africa and Roadisia are bad, but there's... um."

I thought about it.

"Angola."

"Brutal dictatorship that chops of the hands of political enemies."

"Mozambik."

"A milatary junta, composed of people who collaborated with the portuguese facist government, who still does public executions."

"Namibia."

"Their dictator funded brutal guerilla movements in Botswana, angolia, south africa, Rhodesia and Zambia in order to undermine those countries so they could conquer them. It failed but they killed a lot of people."

"Liberia."

"Best of a bad lot, the Amero-Liberian minority treats the native tribes like second class citizens and used mass sterilization against native tribes during the 20s and 30s. They were so thorough that the Krawn people no longer exists in the country but hey... At least they put the whole genocide thing in the past right?"

I sighed.

"Look lets just pick up the agent and get out of here ok? I don't want to be here any longer then you do."

"On that subject we are in complete agreement."

 

[Cherico]

Ralph Essen


We sailed slowly to port. I decided to give myself a promotion.

"This is Captain Essen, we are here on solar business."

I waited for the radio to get back to me.

"We're going through the messages, we will have people meet you. Anything to declare?"

"Magic users and some weapons for self defense, we're not moving cargo so feel free to keep it on lockdown."

"Understood, how long do you need to stay in port?"

"Just long enough to pick up an agent and then we're gone."

"Um...we have some trouble."

"What kind of problem?"

"A inquistor of the department of religious values wants to talk to you. It's strictly a run down on the rules but since you want to be gone soon it won't be much of a problem for you. Also I'm sorry but our port can't handle large ships and."

He paused.

"Never mind, we have visual. You're free to come in."

"Is the port new?"

"We used to be a landlocked country before the rapture."

I nodded.

"Good point."

I sailed forward and docked my ship. I waited and then a man with brown coco skin walked towards me. He wore a white outfit and had a golden cross on him. I looked at the purple flags with golden crosses on them lapelled to his jacket and then I noticed his too wide smile and warm chocolate skin.

His eyes were blank and unblinking, and he grabbed my hand.

"Welcome to Rhodesia, may Jesus Christ bless your journey."

He squeezed my hand just a little too hard, the hand shake lasted just a little too long and his eyes stared into mine just a little too long.

"Um, god bless you too."

"Ah good. son the rules. We're a christian country so please watch your language.We are also all children of Jesus Christ, so racial slurs are banned here."

"That's progressive."

"I know."

His head tilted, his eyes a little wide.

"We take that policy very seriously. If you do use a racist slur or use a racial joke we will use corporal punishment to correct your behavior, there are no exceptions to this rule."

He gritted his teeth, still smiling just a little too wide.

"I hope you understand."

"Got it, If I run my mouth expect to be socked in it."

The man waved his hands.

"Oh no, we wouldn't do that, the head is much too vulnerable. We would cane your rear end, back and legs."

I looked to the side at Liam.

"Good to know."

His head tilted the other way.

"But like I said, we value the racial harmony that god wanted all of us to share and know that straying from his holy message leads to bloodshed and death. So please note that if you try to stir up racial conflict we will kill you."

"Good to know."

"If you spread the word of the Antichrist, we will kill you."

"And that is?"

"Communism of course, silly."

I felt a distinct sense of dread.

"Also the only spirit allowed in here is the holy ghost and those approved by the lord Jesus Christ, aka wine. Other spirits will result in fines."

"And other drugs?"

"Cigarettes and Potare legal but any drug that causes people to be more agressive or lose sight of Jesus's message of peace will result in."

"Corporal punishment?"

He nodded his head.

"You're a very smart man sir. But like I said we are a christian country that follows Jesus's message of racial peace and harmony. We are a forgiving people because Jesus teaches us to forgive but if you try to disturb that harmony."

He loomed over me, his smile vanishing.

"There will be consequences."

I nodded.

"Um...I'm just here to pick someone up and then leave."

The man nodded.

"Oh yes, brother Thomas has already been contacted and is right on his way."

"Great, um we will just wait right here on the ship, and um pray to the lord?"

The man gave me a thumbs up.

"Great...oh and if any of your shipmates do not know the message of the lord Jesus Christ."

He pulled out a bible.

"Be sure to give them this, thank you for coming to our country and may Jesus bless you."

I nodded my head, my gaze drawn to the large side arm attached to his hip.

"God bless you too."

I took the bible and inched back slowly to my ship. When we were certain the inquistior was far enough away I looked at Liam.

"Well, that was terrifying."

He nodded in agreement and walked away. We waited in silence on our deck and then a black man with short cropped hair walked down the dock. he was dressed in a business suit and like the inquisitor also wore a cross.

"You are brother Thomas?"

The african man nodded.

"I am here to help you yes? I am sure the soviets destroyed the world because they were the gleeful minions of satan and the antichrist but it is useful to know what excuses and lies they told themselves so we will not allow those mistakes to happen in the future."

"Welcome aboard brother Thomas."

He nodded smiling.

"Glad to be aboard, may Jesus Christ bless our holy mission."

He walked onto our ship and we sailed away. Brother Thomas had a rictus grin as the small town vanished in the distance. Then he turned to us and visibly deflated.

"Let's get the fuck out of here."

"Um brother Tomas."

He took off his coat and shuddered.

"It is tom Yes? Get me the fuck out of here, those people are crazy and I want out you understand?"

"Can do."

He took off the dress shirt and sighed in relief.

"And please tell me you have whiskey? The only thing I've been able to drink for years was that horrible watered down wine."

"It's in the hull, in the fridge."

"Thank god and um, thank you for getting me out of that shit hole."

He walked down and Liam and I shrugged.
​

 

[Cherico]

Ralph Essen


"So...what made you volunteer for this?"

Tom savored a glass of Jack as he closed his eyes in thought.

"To get away from the government of course."

Liam nodded.

"I'm so sorry. If Mugabe had won maybe this whole mess could have been prevented."

Tom stared at Liam like he was an idiot.

"Did you grow up in Rhodesia?"

"No."

"Have you studied Rhodesia?"

"I read a few newspapers and."

"And they taught you nothing. These newspapers, those reporters, they are self righteous shills yes? They get out of the school and think they know better than everyone, that they can judge anyone. That they must fight the man."

Tom massaged his temples.

"You go out, you wear T-shirt with Mugabe's face like he is some rock star, you act like he was some kind of saint. He was not, he was a greedy man that fucked us all."

Tom paused.

"Tell me, what ethnic group was Mugabe from? And do not say african. Come on, if you studied my country so well you should know this yes?"

Liam looked away.

"Shona. Mugabe was a shona, they made up maybe 14% of the population. As for me I am from Nebelli, we are around 4% of the population or were before Mugabe started his war. You know why he started it?"

"To free the oppressed africans who were suffering under white oppression."

Tomas laughed and laughed hard and then stopped.

"This is what he said to reporters who would eat it up yes? What he said to rich liberals who want to look the cool yes? What he said to naive college students who have nothing. It is lies, the only thing Mugabe cared about what himself."

Tomas took another sip.

"He had good intentions?"

Tom shook his head.

"No he did not, he was a greedy, smallminded man who did not think. He looks at Ghana? the whites, the colors, the arabs they are kicked out and africans get the property, get the money. He sees this in Nigeria, he sees this in Kenya, in Tanzania, in Zambia and thinks to himself I too can become a very rich man."

Tom poured more whisky into his glass.

"What he does not see is that the government, they saw this too. And the white, the arab, the indian he invites them in, makes their numbers larger. Most go live in the city, they out number us, but Mugabe thinks they are weak he goes to soviets and gets guns, gets many weapons."

Tom took another sip.

"He thinks to himself, if I kill enough of them they will surrender they will run, then I will take everything and make myself and my friends very rich. The problem is this, the people he's fighting? They are people with nowhere else to run. They control more money, they have more people and they control all the industry and have all the magic and all he does is make them angry and scared."

Tom looks down at his glass.

"Rhodesia was not a nice country before the war, this is true, but the african was allowed to vote, allowed to go to school, allowed to have business. If you did not cause trouble the government would let you be, hell many africans were a part of the government. It wasn't like south africa they wanted to make a deal."

I leaned in.

"What happened?"

"Mugabe wanted war, he used assassinations, torture, guerilla tactics and he was very good at it. He killed all of the moderates, all of those people who wanted to make a deal, now there were only evil men and...and maybe that is why my people supported the regime."

We stared at him. Liam spoke up.

"Why?"

"There were two parties yes? the regime's christian identity party, or CI party and the nationalist front or NF. And the NF's platform? Kill all of the africans, chop chop with their heads. CI talked about jesus yes? much less scary, so we vote for them.The very last vote, very last election we ever had and they won."

"And now you live under a theocractic dictatorship, so why help them?

Tom nodded.

"The regime has a rule yes? Everyone marries outside their race until we are all roadies yes? Well you have until you are 21 and if you do not choose, government chooses for you. So I was just out of magic school and they collect us all in a room."

He paused and took a drink.

"One man, a shona, gets up and says he will not pollute his people's genes with white babies. A white boy gets up and says the same. They argue very loudly and the inquistors come to talk yes? They take them to the back and we hear two gunshots."

He swirled his drink.

"The inquisitors come back, they are covered in blood yes? Ask us if anyone else has a problem with this. Me, I am terrified so I give them thumbs up and say."

He took another sip.

"I have always had a thing for red heads, yes?"

He laughed and then sighed.

"That is how I met my wife, Katrina. We have three children and the government brainwashes them, but If I succeed in this mission we get our own island yes? So I volunteer. Well that and I get away from the crazy."

"They can do that?"

"The government has entire planet, they are very generous with land for those who toe the line yes?"

He took another drink, and Liam looked at him in sympathy.

"I'm sorry you got saddled with some horrid woman."

"Oh no, that is not the case, I actually really like my wife."

Liam blinked.

"But."

"Yes, it is true we were forced to get married against our wills.Bbut we were two lonely and scared people and we made it work. She is a good cook, a good mother and makes me laugh. I like my wife, I like my family. The government I like not so much but at the very least If we are very far away from them I can keep my family safe yes?"

"So they."

"They control you through your children, through fear, through violence and bribery. You go to church on sunday, you pay your taxes, you avoid talking to people and maybe they leave you alone. But the inquisitors are always out there, always waiting...It is horrible but at least I was not murdered yes?"

He took a final sip.

"You are now out of whisky, we must fetch more, yes?"

 

[Cherico]

Ralph Essen


I stared out at the waters.

"So what now?"

Lee sat next to me.

"We collect the last person for the year and then we head to the earth that was, after resupply."

"Where are we going?"

"Mokpo, Korea. I have a friend there, she was a Jayu during the Sino indian war."

The clouds parted, reveling the light of jupiter in the night sky.

"Welcome to Harpalyke. it's been named New Korea. it's... just easier to say it that way."

I saw lights in the distance.

"You could ask for someone more skilled, someone better."

I shrugged.

"I know but Sue....Sue's motivated and I know that she will have my back."

"How do you know that?"

I closed my eyes.

"During the Chinese invasion the communists killed her father, she and her sister were forced to sing to get by. They performed for american, commonwealth and korean troops."

I paused.

"Some guy felt bad for her, he was a marine."

"And?"

"And their family was pretty close to the front, it was close to the autumn equinox and he offered to intiate the whole lot as autumn magi to give them a better chance?"

"And?"

"Only Sue took the offer, guy was a serious student brought all of his school books with him in a bag of holding. He gave it to sue, all his knowledge, all of his notes."

"And?"

Lee leaned in.

"He died. Sue learned english and became the family bread winner, they were the Kim sisters, way she told it she was some kind of star. I never heard of her but she kept learning magic, kept practicing, used her money to study the arts both magical and martial."

I paused.

"She managed to get approval to fight in the sino indian war, my ship helped transport her unit around India for a couple years."

"And?"

"And then she killed a Chinese General, the koreans gave her something called a Taegeuk medal and she went back to music."

I looked at the glowing lights of the city.

"I lost contact with her after the war, but she's one of the most dangerous women alive and if we're marching into hell I want her by my side."

We floated in and were greeted by a patrol boat, my hands flashed and I understood them.

"Why are you here?"

I pulled out a scroll and showed them, the two coast guard stared at each other.

"You're here on the old bird's business?"

I nodded.

"He wants to find out why the world ended. I'm collecting a year to figure it out and I fought by someone's side during the war."

I hoped I spelled the name correctly as my hangul was terrible, but the men nodded.

"She's doing a show in town."

"Good."

We sailed into port and waited, a car arrived to pick us up and drove us quickly through the streets of Mopok. Every where I saw Snow flakes, autumn leaves, glowing suns, and bunnies the symbols of the season in korea. As we drove on the city became seedier and seedier.

The clean cut men were replaced by teenagers with mohawks and I saw more grafitti. My eyes translated the scrawled messages. Some of them were names, some of them were declarations of love, dirty limerics, cuss words and declarations of gang territory.

We finally stopped at an old bar, left the car and walked up to the bar. I paused and stared at a detailed piece of street art, freshly spray painted on the walls.

The wall showed a Jayu walking through an atomic blast holding a infant in his arms, the blast throwing his coat forward. Underneath it was a message.

"We will endure this too."

I shook myself out of my revery and pulled out some Won, I paid the cover charge for the four of us and walked into the dingy club. I saw passed out office workers, men chugging beer as if it contained some great mystery of life and on stage I saw her.

"Sook Lee."

I nodded my head and went to the bar tender, I pulled out my official letters of introduction and gave him some phone numbers to call. At first he rolled his eyes and then he called the number. His eyes widened in horror and he looked at me.

"I am sorry sir, she will sing her last song soon. Please have a seat. Food, drinks, whatever you need is on the house."

I nodded and sat down.

"It's been great singing to you tonight, back during the 70s this was a hit song, I call it. It snows."

The music played her voice was haunting even through the translation spell.

"It snows, Lonely window, Continue it snows."

Her face shone with emotion.

"Was It a dream? Then our promise, Affectionate words, It was a dream."

She span around slowly, floating off the floor, giving her words extra power.

"Burning love, We enjoy together, Season of love, Even if you leave."

She landed and belted out pure emotion.

"AA AA AA"

She regained control of her emotions.

"Burning love, We enjoy together, Season of love, Even if you leave."

She took a breath her voice raspy experienced.

"AA AA AA."

I closed my eyes, taking in the words.

"White tears Flowing on cheek, Night is deep, it snows, it snows."

Too soon the song ended. There was polite clapping as she bowed, the bartender went on stage he whispered into her ear and she nodded.

"I would like to thank all of you, fans are valuable things. That there are fewer of you today doesn't make that any less true, thank you for coming to my show."

"And that was the great songbird of war, Sook Lee!"

She walked off the stage and sat at my desk.

"Essen, didn't expect to see you again."

I shrugged.

"Somehow this rock managed to avoid sinking."

She chuckled.

"It's good to see you, you were a good comrade, but I take it that this isn't a social call?"

I nodded.

"I'm taking a year of Magi into russia, we need to find out why they ended the world."

She blinked.

"Because they're evil."

"I at least want their excuse Sue...but if your career comes first I understand."

"I'm in."

I flinched.

"What?"

"My career is dead, when the 80s came so did new wave, punk, Micheal Jackson. There just isn't any room for an old songbird like me."

"It will be dangerous."

She smiled.

"I'd rather go out in a blaze of glory then fade into the night."

I nodded my head and put out my hand.

"Welcome to the team...any thing you need?"

She looked up.

"I need to fetch some things and for you to take me to America. There is someone I have to meet in oregon."

"That's fine, say what ever goodbyes you need to."

I looked at the others.

"If you have unfinished business I will be glad to help you deal with it, we might not come back from this one, so make those requests."

With those words she grasped my hand and shook it. Her hands were small and delicate and looked far younger then they should but I felt the power in that handshake and felt comforted by it.

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim



I walked with Swan though the charred and damaged portion of the city.

"You really know how to treat a girl Kim."

I sighed.

"I mean really the ambiance is fantastic, 10 out of 10."

"Swan, I want to check some thing out."

"And that requires me to walk through the burnt and damaged part of the city again?"

"Again?"

"Keeping the fire from spreading took every agent in the city."

We walked forward.

"HALT."

I pulled out my badge and a soldier stared at me.

"Police duty, I was asked to help find the bodies of the deceased."

"That explains you but."

Swan put her hand to her forehead.

"I am madam Vermont, I sense bad vibes from the wrongfully killed. Their spirits speak to me."

I sighed and took the man aside.

"I'm sorry but the family pressured me to bring her with me on the case...I should have said no but when a grieving mother is asking you to do some thing."

Swan's eyes rolled back into her head as she waved around some crystals and made odd sounds.

"It's just easier to deal with it."

"Korean's are forbidden by imperial law from using magic."

"OH SPIRITS SPEAK TO MADAM VERMONT. FILL ME WITH YOUR WISDOM!"

I stared at the soldier who grimaced.

"I have been dealing with that all night."

He looked up and sighed.

"I...yeah, really?"

"Really?"

I shrugged.

"But at least she's pretty and."

The soldier fumbled through his pockets then gave me something.

"Um, what are you doing?"

"Look officer? Speaking from personal experience, never stick it in the crazy. My wife is obsessed with fortune telling, numerology, spirits and all of that garbage. And, let me tell you something, that kind of crazy does not have an off switch so."

I stared at it.

"This is a condom."

"It's too late for me, I got her pregnant I have responsibilites now, and a job as far away from japan as possible. But you're still young."

He put his hand on my shoulder.

"If you have to do it, use protection and be careful. This place is spooky as hell."

"I um...will."

The soldier walked off and Swan walked next to me, smirking.

"Really Madam Vermont?"

"If it sounds anything like the mystical mythic west people eat it up."

I looked around the area.

"What are we looking for?"

"If the communists have the golem they're not going to be able to keep it in one place. they're going to need to keep moving it around and the best place to hide it is somewhere safe, some place where no one would be able to look for it."

I looked around the ruins and tried to think like a communist.

"So what do you need me for?"

I thought about what I learned about magic what I learned about scrying.

"They're going to have limited funds, limited resources, but they're going to have safe houses."

"We have checked their known safe houses, as far as we know every communist in the city has gone to ground."

I nodded.

"Precisely, think of it this way. I've read their speech, seasonal magic is a tool of the bourgeoisie, that kind of nonsense, that leaves an opening for the quilpothic arts."

Swan stared at me.

"The quilpothic arts have a whole lot of problems, it's slow, it's limited, you need foci. There's a reason why the phenix stopped using it."

I nodded.

"Which means that any base they use for magic is going to be either their big one or ad hoc. I need you to scry for me."

Swan sighed.

"You know, there are a litteral ton of anti scrying methods. it's not that difficult to throw off a search and."

"Scry for water."

She blinked.

"What?"

"You once told me that water could throw off a scry for a person, for a thing and do so pretty easily."

"Yes because water represents change and fluidity and scrying, because of its very nature, looks for fixed things. It's why scrying was useless for hunting submarines during the great war."

I nodded.

"So we don't search for people, we don't search for buildings, we search for water."

Swan nodded and closed her eyes, she brought out a gem and chanted in static under her breath.

"Got something. it's faint."

"Let's go."

I followed her through the dark soot covered streets, until we got to an industrial building. I stopped and brought out a hankerchief.

"What are you doing?"

I noticed a small out of place piece of brass, I wiped it down, and studied it.

"hmm."

I brought out a coin and unscrewed it and lifted it up slightly reveling a hammer and sickle. I looked up at the ruins.

"A safe house...we didn't know about this one, how did they keep it secret?"

I shrugged and went inside, from the looks of it the place used to be some kind of bar deep in the industrial part of town, the part of town that got hit hard by the riot.

"Water?"

Swan closed her eyes.

"It's everywhere....how?"

I looked at the damaged floor boards and grabbed a chunk of loose metal, I scrapped it up and Swan stared.

"Pipes."

I nodded.

"Cover a floor with closed pipes full of water, no one would notice. It could be done easily, cheaply."

I looked around the building.

"Good."

I saw a bookshelf, there were other ones but this one...this one was still intact, I walked up to it and knocked.

"And that's?"

"Its painted to look like wood but it's not wood. It's metal, probably iron."

I moved the bookshelf over and we saw the walkway. The two of us walked down the spiral staircase and into a large open room, there we stopped.

The first thing that hit us was the smell, the horrible horrible smell. The second thing that we noticed were the decaying bodies of the dead, and the complete lack of fire damage, and the dizzying smell.

Swan's hands moved, the smell faded and she sighed.

"This rooms protected against fire and heat."

I got on a knee and checked one of the corpses.

"It wasn't the fire that killed them."

"The rooms filled with carbon diaoxide, they forgot to ward it against smoke."

She walked around.

"This is...this is every communist in the city, some of their friends, their families....they brought every one here when the fire started."

I nodded my head.

"So this is it the communist party of busan, lets search the place."

We separated from each other until I found a half finished letter.

"Havent found the golem yet, it's probably in Jayu hands, we will search for it after the fire has been dealt with."

I noticed a man on the floor.

"Found some thing."

I noticed him cluching is throat the pained look of fear on his face, swan froze.

"That's the leader of the communist party in the city."

I gave her the letter.

"They didn't have it either."

She nodded her head.

"Then...then it has to be someone else doesn't it?"

I nodded.

"We're right back were we started, what now?"

Swan closed her eyes.

"The commies were never our friends, they sabotaged quite a few of our missions, they were a pain in the ass to work with and wanted to throw us all into mass gaves if they got their way, and were self rightous assholes on top of it."

She paused.

"But they still fought against the japanese, so we will make sure they get a proper burial."

I nodded.

"Good...I will go talk to Subaru about this in the morning, have your people get rid of anything incriminating."

Swan nodded and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Be careful out there, my gut tells me things are going to get pretty damned crazy."

I stared at the corpses.

"I'm pretty sure you're right about that."
​

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim



I sat alone in my apartment as the night was killed by a red sun. The wind had kicked up the ash during the night and the morning sun bathed the world in a blood red light. The sky reminded me of yellow cigarette stained teeth and I waited as the sun rose in the blinds.

"It's hard to belive they're all dead."

I looked up as seagull entered through the window.

"Were you able to remove everything that was incriminating?"

He nodded.

"Yes, there were lists, names of other sympathizers in other cities, of other resistance groups in the cities. Thanks for the heads up, it's all been cleared out."

He sat down and I sipped a cup of tea.

"I'm going to make some coffee, want any?"

"No I have tea."

Seagull shrugged and I made the phone call, I was still in somewhat of a daze as I gave the location of the dead, of the mass grave. The dispatcher sounded horrified but he relayed the information.

I sat in my chair and took another sip from my now cold cup of tea.

"You're not shaken up by this."

Seagull sat down on one of my chairs.

"No, I'm not."

"They're all dead."

The words cut through the gloom like a knife.

"I know."

"And you're not upset."

"You never had to deal with them on a personal level did you?"

"No."

Seagull took a sip of his coffee.

"There were a few good ones, people who actually wanted to help out, I will admit that but they were always the minority. No, my problem with them, with the communists goes much deeper than that. In fact, to be honest, I hate them more than I hate the japanese and I hate them very deeply."

I remained silent and let those words sink in.

"And I hate them for a reason. The anarchists are, let's be honest, fuck ups. But they're well meaning fuck ups. The marchers annoy me because they think you can reason the japanese off our land, which won't happen because japan is not led by reasonable people, but they really honestly do want to help."

He took another sip.

"The Japanese, I dislike for obvious reasons. The open hypocrisis, the corruption, the craziness, the brutality and their attempts to squash everything korean but their tyranny sleeps. There are lines they do not cross because they simply do not care."

"And the communists do?"

Seagull nodded.

"Oh yes, they very much do. They say they're about helping the working class, that they care about the proletariat, but in actuality? They don't and pretty much every communist I have met has actually been pretty rude to workers, to the people who make their food, to the people who make the world possible. At best they treat them like stupid children to be led around by their superior communist comrades."

He leaned back in his chair.

"They don't care about Korea, they don't care about the poor. What they do care about is the rich, about satisfying their sick feelings of envy. About tearing down every one and every thing greater then themselves. Communists do not care about people Kim. They care about power, they care about control and they care about inflicting pain to satisfy their own cruelty."

"You think that?"

"I know that. Our agents have visited and traded with the people in the gulags, communists have no loyalty to their own people, to those who fought suffered and died for them. They gladly turn on anyone who becomes remotely successful and destroy anyone who rises up in turn. It's an inherently parasitic belief structure, one dedicated to destroying their hosts."

He sipped his coffee.

"So, no. I do not weep over their loss, Korea is better off without Illsung and his band of crazies."

 

[Cherico]

Anarchist Ukraine 1918-1939

Anton Ostrovsky


When Russia surrendered to the central powers Poland officially called for, and managed to get, a separate peace, something that infuriated germany especially when the united states entered the war. The war weary allied powers accepted Poland's request for a separate peace, as they were eager to not have to face polish magi on the battlefield.

Now outside of the war, Poland was newly free, had a ton of german equipment and their enemy was in the midsts of a civil war. Eager to never be invaded again poland cut deals with countries that had been newly freed from russian rule. They created the eastern pact.

It was a military and economic deal where all powers agreed to fight as one if any party was attacked by Russia. Polish policy being as it was they didn't care what kind of government you had, as long as it hated the russians.

The eastern pact included Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, the Ukraine and Poland. At first many people did not want to include the Ukrainians. The anarchists had been armed, by the germans reluctantly and the poles willingly, because of the war against russia but after the war neighboring countries had to deal with the fact that an extremist ideology had taken over the country.

But for the poles the most important thing was that the Ukraine was yet another buffer state against russian agression and that they hated the soviet union. So they were included in the alliance and thus had trade partners and a connection to the rest of the world.

At first the anarchists tried to have everyone live in a moneyless anarchist commune. This did not work very well and the anarchists were forced to bow to reality. In the end they decided to limit the power of the central government as much as possible, create an extensive bill of rights and maximize freedom any way they could.

The government that came out of this was disorganized and weak, and some times this caused economic problems, but the Ukraines total lack of laws relating to drugs, gambling, prostitution and other vices made it a vacation spot for wealthy individuals and bohemians.

With its friendly open atmosphere and slowly growing economy many writers, artists, and intellectuals fell in love with the country. When the soviet union invaded Finland and other eastern pact countries in 1925 the world watched as the eastern pact dealt the soviet union a crushing blow, sending them back into Russia without any territorial gains.

It's likely that without the second world war the Ukrainian anarchist state would have either been forced to organize itself into a normal country or collapsed. But it did not die a natural death.

In 1939 Germany and Russia, under facism and communism respectively, invaded the eastern pact countries. The nations involved fought valiantly but were crushed between the two war machines. Soon after Germany would turn on the soviet union and world war two continued on.

When the war ended Russia killed Ukraine's former leadership and instituted communist rule. Ukrainian refugees, and the images created by writers and authors, created an image of an idyllic paradise destroyed by the soviet union. The united states and other western powers, who had held the anarchist state in contempt before the conquest, helped this myth continue as a way to undermine international support for the soviet union.

As a result of these factors anarchists around the world grew to loathe the soviets and anarchist political parties, which would have been an oximoron before the freestate existed, joined anti communist coalitions.

After reading through the primary documents, I have come to the conclusion that our view of ukraine during this period is severely over romanticized. Ukraine was a flawed state and had a lot of problems. It's only in its death that it became the martyred paradise it is viewed as today.

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


"So, um, the car's doing better now."

One of the advantages of being an adopted Japanese was that I now had access to the motorpool, the bad news was that I was stuck with the renault.

I sighed and stopped the car to let it cool down.

"It's over heating again."

I sighed again and let the car rest again.

"So...why were you out there, aren't you supposed to be on vacation?"

I thought about it.

"Technically this whole golem business is a military issue but we captured it in the first place, I want to know where it is out of professional pride."

Yuki nodded and looked outside.

"All of those people dead."

I shrugged.

"It's ironic. If they had been outside instead of huddling together for safety they probably would have lived."

I stopped the car.

"You did good on the shooting range today, but remember."

"My greatest tools are my words."

I nodded.

"Most problems you have as an officer can be dealt with using only your words, professionalism and politeness solve a lot more cases than guns do."

I turned the key and let him off at his appartment.

"Thanks for the advice sir."

"Stay safe, and try to get in some more training."

"I will."

With that I drove off. It was towards the end of the day, summer was ending, the world was getting chiller and the oppressive heat that covered the country like a wet blanket was fading away. I went towards the local catholic church.

It was run by a korean, Father Park. There were a million Parks in Korea but he was the one who ran the holy see's operations in Busan and I wanted to talk to him. I stopped the car and walked in.

A man looked up from his bible.

"Officer Kim?"

"Father Park."

"I want to talk to you in private."

The priest's eyes narrow.

"Whatever is said in the confessional is sacred."

I sighed.

"I'm not looking into any of your living members, there was that incident during the fire."

"Is this about the communists?"

The father's voice was remarkably controlled but the corner of his eyes tightened in anger, it was slight but I had been around enough cool customers to see it.

"Yes, I wanted you to tell me what you think caused that incident."

"The good book says that those who wish to save their lives will lose it, and those who risk their lives for the Lord will be saved. It is tragic that innocent children died, it is tragic that innocent family members died but if they had helped during the fire they might still be alive."

He paused.

"I will of course be willing to hold services for the dead."

He was hiding something.

"There are rumors that Jayu were fighting the fires."

The father pulled back his sleeve revealing a freshly burned arm, it looked fresh.

"I was a little busy with other matters officer, my flocks needs come first, I hope you understand."

He was stonewalling me, my gut screamed it.

"I thank you for your time, father."

"I wish you the best officer."

I went to the car and moved it out of view, and then I waited for night to fall when it did so I used the cover of darkness to get onto the roof of the church, I looked for a way in and found an open window.

Then I waited carefully, my eyes peering through the darkness.

"Father Park, the officer?"

"Was hunting Jayu. He's gone now, which means we have to deal with the problem that has arrived on our doorstep."

The other priest nodded.

"The only way to destroy that problem is with magic, you and I both know that."

"Which is why I asked if your contacts in the order of saint patrick have come through for us."

"The church understands that threats to the community, like the one we're dealing with, have to be dealt with as quickly as possible, to both protect our communities' children and prevent someone from falling into mortal sin."

They had the golem, they were going to destroy it.

"So?"

"Our contact from the order will arrive past midnight. Any calls you need to make, make them now."

I waited in the darkness as the two priests split up. It was boring, it was dull but a man knocked on the door like a madman and I almost jumped.

"Father."

He looked...skeevy. He was a thin man, with a pencil mustash and a look about him that reminded me somehow of a rat. He looked panicked.

"The cure....you have it, right?"

"We were able to contact someone who could fix your problem. You know this will be difficult, right?"

"These feelings....these desires are wrong, tainted and evil. Please, Father, you're my last hope. Every day I'm afraid I will give in to this weakness."

The man put a hand on his shoulder.

"You have been twisted by the devil, my son, but we have tools to fix things but it will hurt."

The man nodded, shaking.

"Whatever suffering I go through it will be worth it sir."

"Good."

He sat down.

"We will pray together then."

The two of them knelt and prayed. Another knock happened and the door opened. I saw an older man with thinning hair, in a green robe.

"Father Abe."

He walked up to the men and brought out a cross.

"Is this man the afflicted."

"Yes sir."

The priest looked at the ratlike man with wary eyes.

"Touch the cross."

He did so.

"Did you harm any child."

"No."

"Did you act out your sick impulses."

"No."

The man nodded.

"You speak truely. It is good that I got here before you fell to temptation."

He opened up a suit case and started drawing on the ground. The other priest came in and the rat man was led into the circle. They prayed in latin and the circle glowed and the rat man screamed in agony for what seemed to be ages. And then the light of the mystic circle died.

"Son?"

The rat man was helped up, there were tears in his eyes.

"I'm free."

He hugged the man in green.

"I...Finally I don't desire children, I'm free."

He was crying openly the priest in green hugged akwardly.

"Thank me by dedicating your life to Christ's words."

"I will, just... thank you. Thank you."

I suddenly remembered the reason why I betrayed the force, the former director of our department.

"There was a cure."

I didn't know that, I thought he was just a mad dog that needed to be put down, for everyone's sake, for the children's sake.

"He had a choice."

I felt sick to my stomach as I left the church. They didn't have the golem, I knew that now, but the knowlege I had been given only made me angrier than when I started.

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


Yuki held out his baton.

"Sometimes you need to use violence in the street, sometimes a gun is too much, your baton is the step in between, let's practice."

Yuki was good, skilled.

"Kendo?"

"My father sent me to a dojo."

"They did a decent job."

Decent but not perfect, I tripped him with my legs.

"In the real world though, people fight dirty."

I helped him up and we spared again. The kid had potential, he was actually more skilled then I was, but I was faster then him and tougher then him. Even using that magically enhanced speed briefly allowed me to get in hits that I probally didn't deserve to land.

I looked at the clock.

"Well it's over."

We sat down and drank some cold water.

"You're doing better."

"Thanks."

He looked over.

"So you think the economy will get better?"

I shrugged.

"People said that 31 would be the year when things would finally turn around, but it hasn't happened so far."

I sighed.

"Any idea when it will end?"

"None, but I don't like it. When times get hard, people get hard yuki."

I got up.

"Come on, I have a hunch."

"About what?"

"The golem, we're going to a place in the western district."

"Where."

"Fritz."

He got up and we went inside the Renault and we drove in silence. Fritz was owned by a german, one who had an idea of how the new government thought.

"Huh."

"Yeah?"

Yuki flipped through a paper.

"There was an incident in Manchukuo."

"Really?"

"Yeah, there was an incident of sabotage on the South Manchurian railway, chinese dissidents according to the paper."

"Really?"

"Yeah, they're ordering a full invasion, some guy Lt. Suemori Kawamoto saw the entire thing."

The name sounded familar.

"Well, this is probally a good thing. Gets the worst of the army out of here so they're not making things worse."

Yuki nodded as we drove onwards to Fritz. When we got to the western district we stopped. There were swastika flags proudly displayed outside of the shop and a small line of people.

Then I spotted a man with some of his face covered in metal. His limbs were metal and he looked far younger then he should have. We walked up to him.

"Mr. Jagger, we are here to talk to you."

We pulled out our badges and he nodded.

"In the back room?"

"That would be fine."

We followed him to the back room and sat down.

"What do you want to know about?"

I took a breath.

"There was a recent theft, we have reason to belive the nazis were behind it."

He frowned.

"Me and my people have already complied with police demands."

"Different group of nazis, sir. They came with the ambassador."

The man's eyes narrowed.

"Did he wear a black outfit?"

"There were two and yes, one of them did."

"With an SS sign on it?"

I nodded.

"Then apparently officer, we have an alignment of interests, me and my men are at your disposal."

I blinked.

"Excuse me."

"If the SS are involved, we will help you to our utmost ability."

I took a breath.

"Why you're all nazis right?"

The man chuckled but I heard an undertone of anger and betrayal in that laugh.

"Once upon a time there were two groups of Nazis. The SA, the group me and my men were with, and the SS the group that betrayed us, killed us. Me and my men barely got out of the country alive."

"Is that why you moved here?"

He nodded.

"So what is the difference between the two?"

He smiled.

"Principles. The SA was more tolerant of various lifestyle choices, wanted to give more to the community. The SS just cared about power, they were of course backed by the damned Thule society."

"Thule?"

Fritz shuddered.

"They're...and old group in Germany, they're a prussian organisation and they have an history, a bad one. The Bavarians still have a kill on sight order for any Thule operative who visits there."

"So they're bad people?"

"The worst. human experimentation, killing children... During the great war, they unleashed a lot of bad things..."

He shuddered.

"So what made you move here?"

Fritz closed his eyes.

"We needed to go some place far away, beyond the grasp of the SS. A place where there was honor."

Yuki nodded.

"And, of course, the first rule was no jews. The place had to follow that rule, of course."

I leaned in.

"You think the SS would do such a thing?"

He got out of his chair.

"I don't think, I know. If you need our help, we are there for you."

"We will keep that in mind."

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


"There's been a serie of murders lately."

I looked at the photos, they were gruesome.

"Who do you think did it?"

Suburu sighed.

"No one knows but whoever did it, they're targeting poor people, homeless people, mostly women and children."

He winced as another photograph was laid on the table.

"I want you and Yuki to take care of this."

I nodded.

"What if it's military."

Suburu sighed and brought out two envelopes.

"The riots cost the navy and the army some political points back home. With the war coming up they do not have the resources to handle a riot right now, so we have official dispensation to 'handle it'."

"By 'handle it' you mean?"

"Kill them. This is an official letter of execution. We, of course, need to prove that a service man did it but there won't be a trial, just an execution on the spot if possible. Preferably resisting arrest."

I blinked.

"It's that bad?"

"No, it's just that the brass have bigger priorities right now and the junior officers want glory in battle more then they want to defend someone's else honor. Bushido can be a remarkably pragmatic belief system when it benefits you."

Yuki frowned.

"Bushido doesn't allow people to murder innocent people on a whim, it's."

Suburu raised his hand.

"Any ethical or moral system is going to be garbage if it's practiced by complete assholes."

Yuki frowned, closed his eyes as if deep in thought and then opened them.

"I'm sorry for speaking out of turn Sir. I understand what you mean."

Subaru laughed and then coughed.

"We will turn you into a proper officer yet. Well, get on it."

I looked at him.

"Any clues?"

He pulled out another photo.

"All of the victims had a swastika cut into their flesh."

I frowned.

"Nazi's?"

"No we went to Fritz, none of the germans did it."

"How can you know that?"

"Because they were all in naval containment, being questioned about the golem, at the time of the murders. All of them were being watched and were locked up. It's not physically possible for it to be them."

That made sense but...

"What about the other germans?"

"The ones with the diplomat?"

"Yes."

"I assumed they went with him...but at the party I heard they were splitting off somewhere, I thought it was in china...this is worth dealing with if it's them...handle it."

"Sir, that could cause an international incident."

Suburu looked at me with haunted eyes.

"I just found the bodies of three dead children, international politics and face is worth nothing without justice. Handle this, make sure you have the guilty party of course, do a proper investigation but handle this."

I took the case files and got up.

"Oh."

He pulled some Keys out and tossed them to me.

"Sir?"

"The Renault died, we're scrapping it. These are the keys to a Lincoln k convertible roadster."

I blinked.

"A city up north had a massive Yak bust, I traded some healing potions we got on another bust for it. Damned thing took forever to get to Busan but that's your official ride."

I smiled.

"Thank you sir."

The two of us walked out and saw the new car.

"It's yellow."

I smiled.

"Yes but it beats the hell out of a Renault."

We both nodded at my statement and got into our car.

"Come on Yuki, we have a murderer to catch."

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim





I looked at the map of the murders.

"What do you see in common Yuki?"

He looked at the map.

"The murders are in a circle."

"Good but look at the location of the murders."

Yuki stared at the map.

"I'm not seeing it."

I took out another map, one made out of plastic, and placed it over the first one.

"This is the map, the murders are all taking place in the Yeongdo-district."

"So?"

I overlaid another map.

"Most of Busan doesn't have any leylines, but as you can see Yeongdo island has three small ley lines that converge right here, on the border of cheonhak and yeongseong."

I took the third map off.

"Now look at the city's water and sewage systems."

"They all lead to the mainland."

"Yes I know, that's because the Beljeonso power plant and waste water treatment center is located on that island."

"So."

I smiled.

"Back during 1880 to 1890s there was an attempt by Korea to catch up to the rest of the world. The Belgeonso was created with this in mind, it takes seawater from the ocean and turns it into fresh water, it also takes sewage from the rest of the city and cleans and purifies it before sending it to the ocean and on top of that it provides Busan with all of its electrical power."


Yuki stared at the map.

"How does it do all of that?"


"Magic, they brought in a team of over 500 magi from the western part of the country to build it. The thing produces 2000 megawatts of power every minute, that's why we have so many factories here."

Yuki nodded.

"If magic can do that why isn't it not used more often?"

"Because you need to be able to trust people with magic and most governments are not comfortable with the idea of having their people be able to throw fireballs. Plus it took 20 years to complete the Belgeonso, it was a very expensive project and it took time to create and get just right."


I smiled.

"But it worked and because of all that care it basically requires zero maintenance. But that's where the problem is."

I pointed at the incomplete circle.

"I think we're dealing with a ritual circle of some kind."

I flipped and showed images of the dead.

"And I think we're dealing with Nazis."

"We already investigated the Nazis."

"I'm talking about other Nazis, they work for some organization called the Thule society, magic types."


Yuki stared.

"I also think there's a chance they're the ones who stole the golem, if these murders are ritualistic ones then maybe they're doing this to find a way to teleport the golem back to Germany."

Yuki frowned.

"So all of this is happening because of that blasted Golem?"

I nodded.

"That might be the case, and from the map we see that they're moving by the sewers and water systems, so they're hiding there."


I paused.

"It's going to be dangerous. Cramped, easily trapped, tunnels with an obvious magic user involved."

"Are we getting help?"


"Yes but not the police. We are spread too thinly as it is so I don't want to risk the lives of my fellow officers and the army would just make everything worse."


Yuki nodded.

"So what do we do?"

"We fight fire with fire and Nazis with Nazis, I'm going to contact Fritz and get a group together and then, when we are ready, we will storm the city's tunnels and get our killer."


Yuki smiled.

"And justice will be done."

"Exactly."
​

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


"This all of your men?"

I counted them. 10 people in all, with me and Yuki that made 12.

"Most of us died during the night of long knives, I saved as many people as I could."

I took in Fritz's words. Most of them were younger men, Fritz and another man were the oldest.

"I hope you said goodbye to your girlfriends."

Fritz chuckled.

"What?"

I felt a slight sense of confusion and then I noticed Fritz holding the other older man's hand.

"This is Hans."

I looked at the two of them.

"Oh...um I thought the nazis were um."

"Not the SA. The SS and the other branches were corrupted by the zionist conspiracy. Such things were accepted by the Greeks and by the Romans, before the jews got their tendrils into aryan european culture. It's one of the reasons I joined the SA. To purify our country and go back to our roots, where relationships between warriors were accepted and celebrated."

I held back the comments about hypocrisy, and that you need to give tolerance to receive it. I needed bodies, not value judgements.

"Then I wish you two the best."

I walked with yuki and opened up a manhole.

"So they're."

"Yes."

"That's really gross."

He looked disgusted.

"Yuki, that isn't constructive."

"But."

"But nothing. We need their help and if it's between consenting adults then I do not care and have much bigger problems to deal with."

"Isn't there a law against that?"

I stared at Yuki.

"I kind of think selling drugs to children, sexual slavery, assault, theft and numerous other crimes take priority. Learn to pick your battles and always remember : start with the worst crimes and worst offenders first."

I removed the manhole and we went into the depths of the sewer. The first thing that hit me was the smell, the god awful smell. We had all barely gotten into the sewer when I held up my hand.

"Trap."

The moonlight was faint and it was dark in the sewer but my eyes were sharp enough to see it. I grabbed the grenade on the ground and used my knife to cut it away, disarming the primitive trap.

Fritz looked at the gernade.

"German, used one of those during the war, recognize the trap too. We used them in the tunnels and counter-tunnels in the western front."

He chuckled.

"Looks like we're going to have a reunion of veterans of the great war."

I looked ahead into the darkness.

"Well, I hope your friend's hospitality gets better.Because so far the atmosphere is terrible, the food is shit, and his manners are terrible."

Fritz shrugged.

"Then we are clearly dealing with a prussian, no manners at all with those barbarians."

I shrugged and we moved forward into the tunnels of the city.

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


We walked through the pitch black darkness, huddling together for safety, before I saw a shaft of light and a man in a black uniform using a ladder to get down. I smelled fresh blood as he turned and looked at us and I saw his pure black eyes.

"STOP, IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!"

I brought out my gun and then barely dodged a ball of fire as it headed towards us. I heard screams and the smell of burnt flesh, the nazi ran and those of us who were not injured ran after him.

I grabbed yuki's hand.

"Sir."

I looked him in the eye.

"Let them go first."

Yuki frowned but he complied. My suspicions were rewarded with the sound of traps going off, the sound of men getting injured, wounded and killed. We continued to run forward and then we saw a door open, Fritz put a mechanical arm through the opening of the rapidly closing door.

The door stopped and he pushed it open, allowing the three of us to look into a secret hallway. He stared forward at the opening.

"Need to get something."

He opened up a backpack and brought out a machine gun which he then attached to his crotch. I stared at him.

"That doesn't look like a good idea."

"It will be fine, I will show these swines the power of german engineering."

Yuki stared at the man's crotch gun.

"Well I bet they will nazi that coming."

I stared at Fritz and he at me. Then we both stared at Yuki like he was an idiot. Fritz interrupted the silence.

"Did you get that out of your system? Do you feel clever yes?"

I shook my head and walked forward, Yuki walked next to us.

"Oh come on, that was hilarious."

"Puns are ze lowest form of humor."

"Oh come on don't be a sour kraut."

I sighed and walked next to Fritz.

"Oh come on, like you can do better."

Fritz turned around.

"Very well, I tell you traditional German joke."

We stared at him and he said nothing. He continued to say nothing.

"That was it."

"You didn't say anything."

"That's because there are no german jokes. We are serious people yes, now go."

I ignored yuki's grumbling as we continued onwards to find our enemy.

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


We walked through the inside of the building and I frowned.

"Swastikas, lots of swastikas."

They were here, everywhere around me I saw glowing blue swastikas. Fritz touched one.

"No, this wasn't them."

He studied the glowing markings.

"Then who was it?"

"The Korean magi. Those who made the central. You see while the swastika represents lots of good things for humanity like luck, hope and other good things. In the runic language it.."

"Yes?"

"It's used to process waste."

I stared at him.

"What?"

"It means shit in runic. These symbols are about processing the waste and turning it into electrical power."

I stared at him.

"Why does it mean that?"

He sighed.

"The phenix cloaca kind of looks like one if you squint a little."

I stared at him.

"So the symbol of your country is a dead race's asshole."

"COMPLETELY DIFFERENT CONTEXT!"

We continued forward, trying to track our killer. Then we walked into an open area and the bald man from the party sighed.

"This is a really bad time."

"You are under arrest for the murder of."

The man sighed.

"Hanz, I told you no murders."

"But I was bored."

The man shook his head, and I studied his circle.

"And we also want the golem you stole back."

The man blinked.

"I don't have the golem boy."

"nonsense."

"No, Really. I'm using this circle to find the blasted thing and I haven't had a bit of success."

"You don't have the golem?"

The man nodded.

"That doesn't excuse the murders that you ordered your minion to commit as part of your dark ritual."

The older man sighed.

"That wasn't my doing boy. That was all hanz."

The big Nazi shrugged.

"I wasn't conducting a ritual."

"THEN WHAT WERE YOU DOING?"

The man smiled.

"I wanted to make a smiling face, one made out of murder."

I stared at the black eyed Nazi, the older man shook his head with exasperation.

"Still, you two are under arrest."

The old man cracked his neck.

"Hanz? Handle this."

The old man started putting on belts and clothing. Fritz smiled, ran out and thrust out his hips. Gunfire roared out of his crotch and then he winced in pain and fell to the floor.

"Bad idea, bad idea."

Yuki rushed out with his gun and fired at hanz. His bullets seemed to almost bounce off of him.

"Aura. Fall back."

I grabbed hanz by the collar and pulled him backwards. There was an explosion of black fire, a nimbus of black fire around Hanz.

"You...you do not get it, I was better than you, superior to you, even before my blood was purified."

He threw black fire, I dodged it and pulled fritz away.

"Yuki, GET BACK."

"I can take him."

Yuki dodged and reloaded his side arm. I tried to think.

"Bullets are not working."

"Probably has a charm against them, you need another way to attack him."

I blinked.

"You can make yourself bullet proof?"

"Not forever. Enough bullets cut through that enchantment."

Fritz unscrewed the machine gun from his groin.

"I'm sorry your men are dead."

"heh, they're alive. All of us came with healing potions. I guarantee they're hurt but all of them should be alive."

He loaded the gun.

"How did you get."

"Sign the right forms and you can get anything. Any idea of how to stop him?"

I remembered the crucifix.

"The charm against bullets, does it work on knives too?"

Fritz laughed.

"Nope.."

I brought out my knife and took out some wire, there were sticks nearby.

"YUKI, MAKE A CROSS. RELIGIOUS STUFF HURTS HIM!"

I threw the make shift cross at Yuki and he grabbed it with his off hand before rushing out.

"In the name of god, I."

Hans laughed.

"There is no faith in you boy."

Then his fire rushed forward. I felt a sense of rage as my partner was burned alive in front of me, I screamed and brought out my badge.

"FAITH? YOU WANT FAITH? I BELIEVE IN THE LAW! I BELIEVE IN JUSTICE AND YOU ARE GUILTY OF SEVERAL COUNTS OF MURDER!"

The fire rushed at me and sputtered out in front of my badge. I inched closer to him as lightning flew from his finger tips. Stone, ice, acid, all of it sputtered and died in front of me and Then I was on him. I stabbed him in the throat, he tried to punch me and screamed in pain as I continued to hold my badge.

"IN THE NAME OF THE LAW YOU WILL DIE!"

I stabbed him over and over again and he just regenerated. Periodically my badge touched him and he would scream in pain again. Then, finally, the Nazi fell down, wheezing. I crouched down.

"Out of magic? Surrender."

He brought out his lugger and pressed it against my forehead.

"This still."

The roar of machine gunfire rang out and Hanz hit the wall, I watched as he was turned into swiss cheese. Fritz looked at me.

"It works a lot better when it's not attached to your groin."

I looked at the old man.

"You know you're under arrest right?"

The old man shrugged.

"It seems to be that way. Can I tell you a secret?"

I glared at him.

"Admitting something?"

"Hmm not really. it's just... when I hold this briefcase? My weight equals to a prime number...bye."

The man vanished and I glared hatefully at the wall. I looked at Yuki's dead body.

"Yuki was my partner, I'm grabbing his body. I need."

"The SS man's body. Even if we were enemies, we were still Germans. I will grab his."

We walked through the sewers with corpses on our backs. As Fritz guessed I was wrong, his men were limping and in pain but they were still alive. We walked back to Bussan's mainland with a murder solved and the guilty punished.

But, somehow, it didn't feel like a victory.