Chapter 3: Roommate

Lately, everything has been chaotic

The new bubonic plague has spread to the rest of New York's counties despite the quarantine effort. People have taken up cats and poisons as countermeasure to the ever increasing rat population that carried the bacteria

Meanwhile, a mass series of killing has been occuring near where I live. Every night a person turns up dead with signs of injury indicating a wild animal attack, like torn flesh and claw marks on their bodies. Police's still stumped on their investigation

With 4,000 cases and 120 deaths as of the present, fear descends unto the community where I live in

I woke up in the morning by a text message from Grayson, saying that the publication for my book has been delayed because of the recent outbreak. It was bad news, since there won't be any source of income for a while

My entire morning has been filled with misfortunes when I saw a swarm of rats sweeping through the streets. I've gotten used to them now. Still didn't help the smell when I opened the window

The worst part is that the rats seems to have taken a liking to my house as their permanent nesting ground

"Get away from my psychotropic medicine, fuckers!" I roared and flipped the table ful of rats on their heels. They scattered in their wake, leaving behind several half-eaten tablets

"There's nothing left" I stared at the powdered remains with a bitter face. "Out of everything in this house, you could have eaten anything but this"

Well, alright. Fuck mental health, I'm not wasting money for another dose. The economy's going down with the rat outbreak and with it the price of food has increased. I haven't eaten for two days now and was already at my limit

With nothing to do all day, I turned to reading books for new materials.

After all, researching for the Ars Goetia had led me to many interesting knowledge in the occult

As a result I have now know a lot more about mystics, such as the mysteries they study and the principle behind them

For instance, ancient human used to have a universal school of thoughts that would later derive into Kabbalah, Merkabah, Christianity, and numerous other philosophy

Its name is "Magecraft", or formerly known as "Magicka" in the time of Solomon. The principle for said etymology is derived from "the Mystery of the World"

The philosophy argued that every principle in itself derived from the same source. Every source of knowledge only lead to one place that has existed since the beginning of time, known as the Root, which is a primordial record of everything in existence

Magecraft philosopher strive to reach the Root through enlightenment, and from it actualize the prophecies of attaining knowledge beyond the boundary of the universe

There were once people that believe magic is real and tried to stimulate mysteries in order to reach a metaphysical plane concealing omnipotent knowledge

"Since when will the plague end?" I sigh and grabbed another book "Oh well, it's not like I have nothing to do"

There were still some documents I have yet to read through

"Celestial Intelligencer", also known as "The Magus" by Francis Berrert. The "Testament of Solomon" by himself. "Codex Coemeterium" written by an unknown author after Ars Goetia was deemed as demonic literature by the Church

The deeper you dive into the magical grimoire rabbit hole, the more you realize they were just borrowing from Solomonic literature and Christian theology

I flipped through the pages. Time passed and it was noon when I put down the book

"The Magus" details several occult practices in it. There is one where you could summon a spirit of heroes from the past, or one where you can procure a wish-granting grail using solid gold

It was an informative read, especially for the part when it told you to concentrate your "Mana" to call forth a demon you want to make contract with

I only shook my head and put the book away. It's time to get something to stave my hunger

________

I planned to withdraw my money much earlier this week, but the bank already ran out of cash after a horde of clients demands a full withdrawal in fear of the outbreak

It reopened as of today, so I can still huy myself a burger. At least, that was the plan until I found myself in this situation

"This is a robbery!" Five men ressed in ski mask, black jacket and globes came in while holding their rifles at us

The masked man pinned me to the ground while his accomplice has their guns trained on the bank staff

"You've got five minutes to give us the vault's security number. Every ten seconds late and another head goes boom"

We usually doesn't have a lot of crime in this part

However, recently there has been a lot of robbery going on because of the outbreak's economic decline

"Hey you!"

I looked up at the robber

"Come here. Give me a blowjob?" He pulled down his pants and pointed his gun at me "Unless you eant to get smoked"

"Wait. What are you, gay?"

"I'm not a homo. I just don't want a woman to touch my dick" He turned to the female clerk "Yeah I'm talking about you. You should be ashamed to be born a female"

"I'm sorry. Did you just assume my gender identity?" The brave woman stood up "I'm a CIS neurodivergent gender fluid black male who underwent four sex reassignment surgeries and is a proud member of the LGBTQ+. Don't compare me to those straight white bitches"

"Grow the fuck up bitch. There's only two genders. One for a dick and one for the dick purse" He yelled and point his gun at her "You got contaminated with the gay virus!"

"What? Are you one of those incel on Reddit who rages at feminists compilation all day? I bet you followed Andrew Tate"

"Shut up. Andrew Tate is a God and a straight Sigma male!"

I inches my hand toward him

The next moment, I yanked his dick downward

The surprised bank robber didn't have time to react before he was forced to kneel to accommodate the pain in his genitals. I flipped him over with my other hand and took his gun

"Hey, uh, do you mind holding that straight white male hostage while I go and take care of the rest?"

"You go and slay, buddy" The ungendered woman winked at me as she stepped on his balls. I heard a loud pop and a scream

I raised my gun and went inside. The robber by the entrance is the only guard while the other four takes the heavy job

Another one would be the driver waiting outside if we want to go by what I've seen in action movies

"Hey cover for me. I'm taking a piss" I heard one of them said so as he headed toward the toilet. I silently followed after him

Yellow streams of piss flushed down the urinal before him. The robber sighed in contentment as I sneaked up on him. A pistol whip to the head rendered the man unconscious

I took his ski mask and jacket before zipping them on. I didn't take his piss-soaked pants for obvious reasons

"That's a long piss, buddy" I was stopped by the two robbers. One of them smirked at me "You're not him, are you?"

I shot him in the head before he could react and pulled him toward me, spinning on my feet as I used the robber's body as a shield

A hail of bullet pierced through him as the man screamed. Blood spattered on my clothes, but I paid no heed to them as I hooked my arm under his armpit and fire in response

The remaining gunman seems to be more experienced as he rolled behind a pillar. Marbles were shot off around him, until a cloud of dust have obscured our vision

I tried to pull the trigger once more, until I realize the chamber is empty. My panic rose as I saw him charging toward me

God damn it. God damn it all to Hell

Something in me switched. They ran through my body like electric currents. Begging me to take action, to release them

I heard screaming and the air smelling of a strong iron. The thought of me being dead passed by my mind

Seconds passed as I reopened my eyes.

What greeted me is the grotesque sight of the previous robber laying there dead, torn apart. Blood spattered the walls, the ceilings, and the floor in a grisly display

I stood there in silence. My mind trying to come up with what I'm seeing. I questioned if this is a hallucination I've had

A million possible explanations ran through my mind, all coming to one conclusion: No matter the reason, he is dead

"Oh god. It's happening. It's happening again" I mutter and closed my eyes "It's not me. It's not my fault they died"

I turned around and rushed to the vault where I know the last robber is hiding. The door slammed open to the color red

The last man is dead. His body laid there swarm with rats burying themselves in his ribcage, gnawing at flesh and bones with their small teeth

I looked at the hundreds of rats scattering about with something akin to horror. Realization had struck me

The plague, the mass killing across the city. They were identical to the stories of the demons I wrote in my book

Ars Goetia. 72 of them. Aamon, Vengeance. Bellial, Lordship

A deep, suddering breath escaped me. My mind is swirling with incohesive thoughts. How and why they are real.

Somehow, the demon I wrote have came into existence. Not as a manifestation of thoughts, but actual entities who can influence the real world just as human did

A plan began to form in my mind

There wasn't much to do. Police will arrest me once they've seen the murder scene. My best bet lay with these things

"Stop" I looked at the mouses halting in their track "Scatter. Create as much distraction as you can on the outside"

With excited chittering, they rushed across the tiles. Hundreds, if not over a thousand of them, like an army whose general had commanded to give the charge of their life

"Aamon" My voice is deadly calm as I called the other demon's name. Something moved behind me "Eat the bodies"

Ignoring the squelching sound that echoed in the empty room, I pulled on my mask and carried the bags of money outside

Outside the back entrance is a black van waiting for me. As expected, the escape driver is situated here

"Took you long enough" He said without looking at me

I threw the money on the van. Bags upon bags, possibly hubdreds of of dollars were loaded. Once I was done, I took off my mask

"Wh-what? Who the fuck are you?" He didn't have time to react as a foot from behind kicked him out of the car

"Aamon, eat the fucker"

I drove away with the money as chaos ensued behind me

_______

It was nigh time. The room's light flickered every now and then as I stare at the bags in front of me

Five million dollars

The money could last me for years without frugal spending. It is a life-changing amount that I couldn't wrap my head around

I don't have a TV, but now the program would probably be talking about the ongoing plague, the serial killing, or the recent robbery

And I am responsible for all three

"Fuck it. I'm too tired to deal with this" I rolled on the floor and closed my eyes, feeling my body relaxing considerably

A black shadow cast over me. Its blood red claw touched upon my skin, before retreating and draping something over me

It was warm...a blanket perhaps? I touched upon the fabric, feeling the leathery, stretchy texture. It was quite warm. Aamon must have made it for me

For a demon, he sure make a decent roommate. It almost made me forgot to question my sense of reality after that revelation from today, that demons exist

_______