"I arrived last night and wanted to tell you, but you hung up and never called back," Mama Sarfowaa replied with a bit of an accent. "I called you a few hours later, but I was sent directly to voicemail. Did you forget to pay it? Or right, Alisha is the one who pays for our phone plan."
"You know I don't like any noise in the middle of the night, so now, I always put it on do not disturb, and I forgot to call you back," Zane explained.
"Phones can do that? You may have to teach ," Mama Sarfowaa said as she finished removing all the items from the bag. "I brought you so food. It should last you a while."
Zane looked at the food packages: banku, okro soup, fried fish, and shito. His mother was a traveling nurse, aning she often had assignnts at hospitals in other states. But even after traveling for hours to return to New York last night, she still took the ti to cook. Zane sighed as she looked at her clothes: "You should take a break." His mother was in her early 50s, the age at which she should be considering retirent. Yet, she still practiced such a demanding job.
"You know : I don't feel good if I'm not busy," Mama Sarfowaa said. "Oh, before I forget." She removed a necklace from her pocket. "It took a while to get the right material and conduct the blessing ritual, but I finally created this amulet for you."
Zane held the amulet, and the first thing he noticed was the cool sensation on his palm, followed by a unique sll he couldn't describe. The amulet was made of an unknown black wood, with sothing carved on both the front and the back. He had recognized them: the Aya and Bese Saka Symbols. As soone who is half Akan, he has seen the Adinkra symbols everywhere since childhood, so he knows them by heart.
The Aya Symbol, which resembles a fern, represents independence, defiance against challenges, perseverance against difficulties, and resourcefulness. anwhile, the Bese Saka — which looked like a butterfly wing — is the symbol of abundance, affluence, power, and prosperity.
"I talk to the elders back ho, and they say your spiritual tribulation will end soon, so wear this so that when it happens, you can receive all the blessings possible and not miss any opportunity," Mama Sarfowaa said.
Zane sighed. He wished he could believe in all that nonsense. Regardless, he has nothing left to lose anyway, so he slowly placed the amulet around his neck. Mama Sarfowaa nodded in satisfaction. She knew what her son thought about their spiritual practice. She loves and is very proud of him, but if there is one thing she's always been disappointed about, it is how he abandoned their traditions.
"Alright, I have to go, or else I'll be late for my shift," she said. "But honey, rember, you can still move back ho until you get back on your feet."
"I know," Zane nodded. She always says these words whenever she visits. After sending her out the door, Zane retrieved his phone to call his sister. The only reason his mother would spend so much ti cooking instead of resting was that soone blabbed about his interview and how terrible his situation was. However, as soon as he exited [Do Not Disturb Mode], he received a notification from Cash App about a $300 paynt from Alisha Jonhson, with a short ssage: "I know you're too prideful to ask, but this is for you to get through the week. You can also consider it as an apology for Sarah's behavior."
"You're safe this ti," Zane muttered to himself before texting her sothing else. Although he didn't an it, he also said he forgave Sarah. After taking care of his hygiene, Zane reheated the food and enjoyed a decent breakfast, the first in a while. During his al, he received a call from Juan about work at the shop, so he hurried over. Delight overca him when he saw more than three cars.
"You're here," Julio, a short Hispanic man about the sa age as Zane, said.
"Why are you so excited?"
"This is for you," Julio said before secretly slipping Zane a handful of cash.
"For?" Zane asked as he counted—a total of $250.
"Let's just say, the improvent you suggested for my car won big last night."
"Is that so?" Zane muttered. "I'll keep the money, but if troubles co my way because of you, I'll deny any association."
"You worry too much."
Zane ignored him and started his work. His station was on the back because the man or woman who ca for their car service usually stared at him or asked why he was doing such a dirty job with such a handso face. Although he could have lived off his face card, Zane always disdained to do so; he even refused it when Juan tried to use him as marketing to attract more custors. Finally, when the veil of darkness lood over the city, Zane left the shop.
'There is hope to make rent this month,' he thought while walking ho. However, his smile faded when he sensed the flip-phone in his pocket. A notification from his phone distracted him in ti, and imdiately afterward, another smile returned on his phone.
He was only looking at an Instagram Post of a middle-aged woman with fewer than 200 followers. The post was of her at a restaurant, holding a glass of champagne, with the caption: "Moving to New York."
"Finally," Zane muttered. His plan has been in motion for years now. First, he beca friends with Officer Martinez's son on Xbox Chat and had him download sothing that granted Zane access to most of the computers in his house. The next step was to use the dirt he gathered on Martinez and have him fired. This process was the most challenging since these cops like to protect their own, but Martinez was used to doing dirty things, aning he had a lot of skeletons in his closet.
Finally, Zane began to influence the entire family psychologically. Every once in a while, they would receive ads about life in New York and new beginnings. After months of playing chess, Martinez finally succumbed and decided to move from Boston to New York, trying to start a new life. "I'll see if you dare not tell the truth without all the power of a police officer," Zane thought with a sneer.
He returned ho in a good mood, now that Operation Bait had been successful. Zane went for his daily run and, after showering, added a few items to his investigation board before checking Weibo. His account was not yet banned, so he sent a few more ssages before applying to more jobs. Finally, he rested for the night after reading for a few hours.
Dinsion Tower:
A humanoid creature dressed in a two-piece black suit and a long red jacket, with two horns and lizard eyes, walked into a room where a human woman — dressed in a blue magical robe — awaited his arrival. "Lord Drakken," the woman saluted.
"I've cleared all my assignnts, so what's the aning of this assignnt?"
"You were ordered by the higher-ups for this mission," Nua calmly explained.
"Higher-up? How high are we talking about?" Drakken asked. Only a few people can bypass his authority and force a mission on him, so depending on the answer, he might be able to get out of this situation.
"Sage Firenz asked for you personally."
Drakken imdiately straightened up. "Why didn't you say so sooner? Show the details." He sat at the table, and with a wave of her hand, Nua manifested a screen with tiny writings. "The dinsion is called Earth or Terra, and we've already completed the initial preparations."
Drakken focused on the screen. "A population of nearly 8 billion? Demon Lord Shakurri is about to have a feast."
"Not if you do your job properly."
"Oh, co on, with the bit of ti we have, all the suffering I expect to exist in their society, there is no hope for these people. Even I can't make miracles," Drakken shook his head as he continued reviewing the information.
"Hmm? Why is this world so vast? Is this a mistake?"
"No."
"You're kidding ? Such a scale is probably on par with the Abyss Dinsion. And at least, the abyss is inhabited, but you're telling only one planet has life on it?"
"We have verified multiple tis, but it appears the uniqueness of this dinsion is its enormous size."
Drakken was speechless, especially after reading the part that this world primarily contained matter and dark matter, both considered low-level dinsion energy; in other words, a lot of useless things that took up space.
"What is the mana situation?"
"Everything is set up," the woman replied. "We've activated all the leyline nodes and ensured enough mana for the early stage."
"Mana is not leaking, correct?"
"We've used their atmosphere to ensure it remains on the planet."
Drakken nodded before continuing to read. He needed to understand their situation before designing a training plan. As little faith he had in this dinsion, he still had a job to do, especially since the Sage asked him to partake in this mission. Regardless of success or failure, Drakken knew he would be rewarded as long as he did his best.
"Hmm? They have a low-level magical civilization?"
"Used to," Nua explained. "From our investigation, a gate from the Astral Plane opened in this world thousands of years ago, releasing a decent amount of mana, to the point of even creating magical leylines. Unfortunately, even before we arrived, most of it had already dissipated. However, the humans in this world did create a brief magical civilization surrounding egregores, with so of its power and legacy having lasted until the present."
"That's sothing. I'll ask Gufker to join the team."
"He's on his own mission, and the tower can only provide one Great Shaman."
Drakken looked at her. "Is this mission important or not?" Why would the Sage order him to take this mission and not give him the best resources?
"I don't know," Nua shrugged.
"Tell honestly, did we get anything useful?"
"They gave us the Soul Crest."
"That's more like it," Drakken nodded as he finally had sothing he could work with. The brief overview of Earth's situation took him only five minutes. Of course, that was not enough for him to understand this world and plan for their survival. So, Drakken tapped the table, and a vast amount of information was directly transmitted into his mind, containing detailed accounts of Earth's history, every culture, religion, language, geography, economy, and sociopolitical issues.
"What an interesting dinsion," Drakken uttered. "They are not a purely logical type that rejects all religion and spirituality, as the other science and technology dinsions I've t. More importantly, based on the variety of their arts, architecture, music, and other aspects, creativity and ingenuity are truly ingrained in their society."
"Really? They don't look any different from any other humans in the endless dinsion sea."
"That's why you've never successfully saved a targeted dinsion," Drakken said casually, which made Nua's face turn red. After learning the type of society this dinsion has created, Drakken had so ideas for training these earthlings.
"By the way, who activated the Law of Resistance?"
"There is no confirmation, but rumors have it that it's True God Lurien."
"Him? That would make sense. He hates the Demon Race with a passion, but Heaven does not want to fight the Demon Dinsion after the last battle," Drakken stated before sneering. "However, if Shakurri becos a Demon King, do they think they will have a choice?"
Nua frowned as she glanced at the dangerous glint in his eyes. "I must remind you that our Dinsion Tower is a neutral faction, so don't you dare try to lure the Gods to fight the Demon race to save this dinsion. Since Lord Lurien chose to remain anonymous, you must respect his choice."
"Are you ? How can you know what I'm thinking?" Drakken calmly said. "Anyway, summon the team."
Nurous light projections appeared in different seats of the table. After everybody saluted Drakken, he imdiately started the eting.
"First order of business, we will imdiately start the first shift. However, you need to raise the minimum selection age from 16 to 20, and the maximum from 25 to 30. Secondly, you…"
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