Static Reflections: Book 1 of The M... - Chapter 46: Chapter 46

After stewing in Richard's story for a while with Nick holding onto him, the hyena tried to cheer him up by playing some happier songs, even trying to make one up on the spot that would make him laugh. It worked. Nick was glad, despite feeling a pit in his stomach from everything as of recently.
Unexpectedly, Richard told Nick that he could stay the night and they'd go shopping for furniture the next day. Being as respectful as possible, the hyena opted to sleep on the
couch, claiming it would do just fine. Richard took extra time and care to make sure he really was comfortable before shoving off to his own bed to engage in an entanglement with sleeplessness.
Back on the couch, Nick messed with the green tie that he was still wearing. Well, I did it. I'm a creature hunter now and I can start helping Boris and him. But I can't help feeling shitty about everything that's happened. If our next case is like this, I'll lose my shit. He laid back, sighing. And then there's everything that happened to Richard. I can't believe it. I don't even know what to think right now, but I do know what to do. I'm gonna save them both. It's a lot, but I have to. I will.
"We have a lot to discuss today," Iwai announced, swiveling back and forth in his chair. "Before we begin, just remember this all comes from Catastrophe. Big stuff."
"Oh, boy." Nick rolled his emerald eyes, sitting in a chair beside Richard. "Can't wait."
Richard nodded. "We understand."
The old stag grinned. "Richard knows most of the information I'm distilling, so this is mostly for you, Nick."
The hyena looked at his partner. "Dick actually has something he wanted to tell you first, right?"
The raccoon sat up, straighter in his chair, taking a deep breath. "I'd like to continue being partners with Nicholas. I think I'm ready."
The deer's smile broke into a laugh of excitement. "Okay! Hey, that's great! I'm so proud of you! I knew Nick was gonna be a good match!"
The hyena blushed, his feelings for Richard coming through just a bit. "Heh. Yeah." Match.
Richard nodded, once. "I agree. He has been a great help to me and I think it should keep me going on missions. I'll be able to keep a level head with him around."
"Aww," Iwai tapped the desk. "Sounds like you too have really gotten close!"
"Certainly," Richard answered.
"Well, I'll definitely make it official right after this so you can continue going on missions together! Good stuff, men!"
"Yeah . . ." Nick looked down, fussing with the arms of the seat with his sharp claws. He still wasn't sure if he was prepared for the next case after what he'd experienced in the last one.
Iwai cleared his throat. "Alright, Nick. Knowing you, you're probably going to be angry after hearing this next bit of information."
"Depends on what it is, but probably, yeah," Nick shrugged.
Iwai moved his eyes around, bringing a hand over his mouth and stroking down the little tuft of fur on his chin.  "How do I even begin with this? Hm, well, you know about the Seven Deadly Sins, right?"
"Uh, yeah. I think so," Nick nodded, thinking for a moment. "Yeah."
"Did you know they have opposites? The Seven Contrary Virtues?"
"No, I didn't," the hyena blinked, adjusting in his seat and crossing one leg over the other. "What are they?"
"Humility against Pride, Kindness against Envy, Abstinence against Gluttony, Chastity against Lust, Patience against Wrath, Liberality against Greed, and Diligence against Sloth," Iwai listed off, counting on his fingers as he went to make sure it equaled seven. "Ha! The old man's still got it!"
Nick raised a brow. "Alright, and . . . ?"
The deer gestured to the animal beside Nick. "Well, my friend, you're sitting right next to Diligence there!"
Nick's head whipped to his partner, and he struggled to form words. "U-uh, what? Huh? How? What? Uh?"
Iwai placed his elbows on the desk and laced his fingers. "I'll explain in a bit. Let me continue for a moment. Just know that Richard is Diligence."
"When did this happen?" the youngest animal in the room asked. "And why tell me now?"
"My father gave it to me before he gave me away," Richard explained. "He was able to transfer it somehow. And when I became Diligence,, I then knew how to transfer it to someone else."
"That's why you enjoy working so much . . ." Nick whispered.
"One of the reasons, yes," Richard nodded.
Iwai hummed. "Mmmhm! And we couldn't tell you all of this until after you graduated, on Catastrophe's orders. Who knows why they do what they do, right?"
"Tell me about it," Nick leaned on his fist, frowning.
"There's more, though!" Iwai continued. "Not only is Richard Diligence, but we were so excited when we found out that you were Patience! Honestly, we were worried Regis might give it away during the second half of the tour. He was so excited."
Nick gawked, then stood up, quickly. "WHAT?! I'M WHAT?!"
"Patience, like I just said," Iwai responded, taking his hands back.
"What the fuck?! How!? And why didn't you tell me?!"
"We were under orders from Catastrophe that all information on this case is classified until you graduated and were licensed," the stag told him.
"What fucking case?!" Nick shouted, causing Iwai to gesture at him to calm down. The hyena put a hand to his forehead, shaking it in disbelief. "How the hell did I become . . . Patience, or whatever? What does it even mean?"
"It means we have two out of the seven Contrary Virtues," Iwai began. "And that you have some abilities to be discovered, along with Richard. Assigning you both cases will help you to continue to discover them so we can use them in the biggest case we're running right now."
Nick slowly sat back down, frowning. "Did you know I was Patience, Richard?"
The raccoon looked down. ". . . Yes. I saw it in your file when Iwai told me about you. And when we met, I felt an energy from you."
"So that's what I've been feeling this whole time!" Nick threw his hands into the air. "And what 'biggest case' are you talking about?!"
Iwai's smile dropped, becoming very serious. "We call it The King Case. And it is the most difficult case anyone who is in the Mortal Guard can work. Unfortunately, you two get the brunt of the situation by basically having no choice but to be on the case since we absolutely need you to stop King."
"King?" Nick raised a brow.
Iwai sat back in his office chair, and it squeaked as he sighed heavily. "A long time ago, we had a member whose name was King. He wasn't just part of any one Sect or two. He was what we call a Jack. That means you're in all ten Sects besides Catastrophe. Well, King had a lot of problems with the system and the way we do things, and then on one of his cases, he must have gotten some info from someone because he started going on and on about merging the Other Side with the Mortal Realm and all that junk that would cause the world to end if it happened.
"One day, King caused a scene in the Plaza, trying to defer members to his side. Animals watched, but no one seemed to want to join based on the ramblings of a mad man. It did spark unrest within the organization, which spread all across the rest of the Prostasias in the world. People found out that the magic is made from creature blood and since the Soul is used to summon magic, King made animals aware of the consequences of using dark magic like this."
"King escaped very cleverly, taking things like Retrieval Tablets, Prism Pistols, and books from Scribe Sect with him. No one was able to catch him or erase his memory. It was a nightmare for us. They sent a large population to investigate, and Truth Sect was on high alert for any information about us, so much so they had someone write a book called the Mortal Guard so that way when Mortals searched it up, they only got results for that."
"But there was nothing. No leaks. For years, animals forgot about the whole King fiasco until members began disappearing from the Mortal Realm. A creature was also able to get into Prostasia, killing members in their residences. We believe that creature and King are connected, somehow. Richard, mind if I go on about your past? I won't go into detail."
Richard raised a dark hand. "I already told him in detail, don't worry. Just be careful."
Iwai nodded. "Well, we had a group of youngins drafted for the Timeline Travel Sect and this mission, Richard being one of these kids. His situation was the beginning of King's true hostility toward the Mortal Guard. When Richie came back from the alternate timeline in that state and explained what had happened, we knew King was doing something he didn't want us to see."
"Then, investigating it further led us down a rabbit hole of mystery. Clues were left but never showed the whole picture in the end. One fateful day a few years ago, there was a mass suicide within this Prostasia that we call the Wave of Self-Immolation. King had even left a message: 'Consider this a warning.' Needless to say, the event shook up the entirety of the Mortal Guard across the world. Not only was there an anti-magic campaign, but now there was also a push for a Sect that would help people deal with their health complications after missions. Thus, the Trauma Sect was born."
"But what does all of this have to do with the Seven Contrary Virtues?" Nick asked, genuinely interested in the entire conversation by this point. This was the animal that had completely screwed Richard's life up, after all.
"Right. Well, the Mortal Guard's Some Creatures Are Still Animals Initiative was already active by this point. We make deals with sentient creatures that can communicate with us and convince them to work together with us while providing them with a home and a good purpose. We don't force them if they haven't been causing trouble. If they are, it's either that or--" Iwai dragged a finger over his neck.
"Anywho, it was by this account we found our way to the Alistair's, a cat family who run a simple bookstore somewhere in Austin, but who also are keeping watch of a very powerful book, The Grand Bestial Tome. Within this book, the most powerful spells and information is gathered. Magic that would be more than illegal across the universe. If it fell into the wrong hands, there's no telling what could happen."
"Simon Alistair is the current guardian of the book, and he was turned into a vampire not long ago, which means he'll be able to watch it for as long as we need. We've been working with him for a long time now. He's a really nice guy if you ever meet him."
"Look at me; I'm getting off track! My point is, in that book, it's stated that Seven Deadly Sins will be fused with the God of Destruction, and the world will be born anew under his watchful eye. We believe that, based on the information gathered over time, King wishes to fuse with this God and combine the two realms into one, which would destroy life as we know it."
"And the Seven Contrary Virtues are the only way to stop it," Nick sighed.
"Exactly."
"Fuck . . ." the hyena shook his head. "Of course, it can't ever be easy."
"Nope!" Iwai coughed for a few moments, clearing his throat afterward. "Our goal is to find out as much information on this as we can while you two figure out your powers and go on cases to improve your skills further."
Nick leaned back in his seat and looked at the ceiling. "This is just great. All I wanna do is save Boris, but now I have to save the world, too? Literally trash."
"Nicholas," Richard spoke up for the first time in a while. "We can do a lot of good with this."
"And what, Rich!" Nick said, snapping his head to look at him. "You're telling me you didn't wanna be on the front lines but are fine doing this?! And knowing your situation, I'd be fucking terrified of King! What if he pulls something like that again?!"
"Calm down," Richard chided. "There's no need to get worked up." His eyes flicked to Iwai. "I am . . . concerned, yes. And I don't really want to do it if I'm candid. But my instincts tell me we don't have much of a choice. We're two very rare animals."
Nick snuffed. "Yeah, well. I don't think that means anything and is totally unfair if I'm being honest."
Iwai nodded. "Take some time to think about it. You're already assigned to this case, after all, so we're not waiting for a yes or no."
"How lovely," Nick hissed. "So glad they're throwing me into this bullshit."
Iwai coughed and cleared his throat again, loudly. "There's someone I want both of you to meet. Creature hunters always work with Spellcasting Sect members on cases, so I want to introduce you both to your magician."
Nick whined. "This is a lot of info . . . ."
"You can come in!" Iwai called to the door, and it opened slowly, Nick's eyes widening and jaw dropping at what he was seeing. In the door entrance was a mouse, dressed in a similar design to the two creature hunters. His jacket was gray with a pink armband, the undershirt black, pants brown while wearing the same gravity boots. Only, under the sleeves of his jacket, he was wearing something that the hyena knew was highly typical of this particular animal.
Two white-and-purple-striped arm sleeves covered his arms, going all the way down to halfway up his palm, the rodent's pink thumbs sticking out of holes on the side. The mouse's face was heavily pierced, and he possessed a bullring on his tiny pink nose. His pupils were relatively small in the whites of his eyes, and as always, there was a playfulness there.
When he saw Nick, his smile widened into a grin from ear to ear. "Nicky?!"
The hyena still couldn't comprehend the information that was just dumped on him like a bucket of ice water, let alone seeing this animal again. "Adrian?!"
Richard tilted his head. "You know each other already?"
Nick swallowed. "We have . . . a history, yeah."