karsev Epilogue of Part 1
A Past Closed Off
It is a shop that shouldn’t exist. Ancient and strange in regards to the standards placed by Changye. Videotapes, cassette tapes, and collections of lost media.
“Bro, you've been browsing for a while.”
“Your collection is unnatural. How do you even get past these off the Censors?”
“Trade secret.”
“Bring me this.”
“Okay, let me see. Wait, all of them? Why? Are you a big fan of the Pale Magus?”
“Always talk this much?”
“Chill amigo, I’ll have the tapes ready. Continue browsing, alright? We got some old media you can play.”
Old cartoons and even black and white media. Silent films and ghost tapes a shop shouldn’t have. Info hazard tapes have become common. Tapes informing people of the wrong information, leading them astray or straight to monsters. Reports even have them meeting ghosts possessing the tapes, leading to the watcher being killed.
Possessed items have become a reality and many men and women of this era suffer because of curiosity. The catalog ranges from the most common tapes to the most obscure ones. The door where the shop owner went is locked behind a thick metal door. Metal doors have a common weakness and that is their locks themselves are not good enough.
Placing a magnet on the local usually unlocks it. It’s cold and damp with stairs leading down. There is the sound of an air conditioner and through the staircase lights and the narrow passageways. Is an archive full of media kept in such a pristine condition. Phantom Archivists and Specterhunters who are mad about their collection of media that could kill them. How did this Archivist manage to run such a collection under Changye’s nose? Changye has a hard-on for censorship. Tapes get redacted all the time and unless you have clearance for it. No one is stupid enough to do this without having a backing at all.
“Yo, how did you get in, Amigo?”
“You have a lot of Phantom Contaminants.”
“Oh, so it’s that time again.”
The shopkeeper puts down the tapes he collected and placed them on the sorting table. He takes documents out and shows them.
“Hope you didn’t break my lock, bro.”
“Mav-locks like that are easy to break. You run a shop like this and you’ll make others misunderstand. How about you show them this instead of keeping it here?”
“Thought that as well. But you know how many morons who want to take a scan of my clearance? Anyway, since you are here for these tapes, I assume you want to know if this is the source, amigo? Too bad, tapes like this are copied and sold everywhere these days. You can’t contain this info now it’s been digitized and spread in the nets.”
“No, I’m here to confirm that.”
“Oh. So, uh, do you still want to buy them?”
Data matches and his clearance is authentic. Authorized by Changye’s Lower City Management themselves. You could say this shop is the data-dock for media like these.
“If you want to know, we also have them checked by Exorcists, you know? You want to run a business like this, you need to check in with church guys.”
“You have trouble? Anything?”
“Well, I don’t want any trouble so I might as well give you the log. Really, could have asked instead of breaking in.”
“I secured fifty testaments that give me enough jurisdiction to execute you. You’re lucky I’m the one doing this, because believe me, I’m the most reasonable.”
“Sure. I can believe you are. Seeing you ain’t shooting me.”
He enters his credentials and shows a log containing five years of data. It’s meticulously cataloged and has been sorted to show what happened as well.
“Break-in, contaminated tapes, and you even have twenty complaints here about your tapes having phantom contaminants.”
“For two years. We learned.”
The rest of the data is cleaned. There are only minor accidents and so far he has been questioned twenty-three times. Another look at the shopkeeper shows he has augmented procedures done to him. He has an army-surplus arms and two connection ports on the temple of his head.
“Guess you’ve been shot or two.”
“Not unusual in this city. Who doesn’t get shot at all in this city?”
“You’re so used to this.”
“Bro, when you keep being threatened like this. You’ll get used to it. Selling media like this comes with the threat and risk. It earns a lot, you know.”
There’s a server in the corner of the room, different from the servers and storage units in the basement. The shopkeeper’s gaze went alert, but he kept his cool and introduced the server.
“We get digitized media. Folks like buying physical goods again, but we have a collection.”
“Do you have any data on the same tapes?”
“You are interested in the Pale Magus too much. Forgive me, but I can't help but noticed your interest in it.”
“Clueless, are you?”
“Pardon?”
“We’ve orders from the Bureau about the tapes. I was prodding you if you knew or are you ignoring, but it can be both as much as I'm concerned right now. You’re up to speed.”
He checks his work computer and browsers through his email. Sorting through the emails, he found the notice.
“No wonder. Why though?”
“The Pale Magus is redacted. City doesn’t want people to know it exists.”
“Oh shit, you think the Magus got graded? He was destroying twelve demigoddesses right?”
“Correct. You know you can get in trouble for knowing this alone.”
“Damn info hazards man. Bro, are you telling on me?”
“Not my job. But I need your source. I want your tapes and copies destroyed. I want you to give me the buyers names, their locations and address.”
He hesitated. He taps his fingers on the table and thought about it for a long time before agreeing with a curt nod. Showing the lists of buyers and what their addresses were.
“I’m surprised you have them.”
“We need them to scan their ID's, you know? Better this way since if you don’t, then the Inquisition will fuck you over for not doing so. The fines alone aren't worth the hassle.”
“Anyone who discreetly buys them?”
“Prolly most of them. It’s easy enough to have someone buy the goods for you. If you want to track the tapes down, you have to find them all and confiscate the tapes. For real though, the Censors really are up their asses this time.”
“Can’t be helped. He got redacted. Even your tapes have already been redacted unintentionally in some way.”
“Lots of hassle for a ghost of the past.”
“It is, isn’t it?”
The list has the locations and address of the buyers. The shopkeeper sorted through his copies and deleted them. Incinerating the tapes relating to the Pale Magus without a single second of hesitation.
“That’s all, I think. If I find more I’ll have to make do. You want me to warn my fellow sellers about this?”
“Now you’re suspicious.”
“Bro, no offense, but we sell tapes for cash. Phantom contaminants are a thing, but fucking with Censors does us no good. Hell, some idiot might think they become highly-priced collections and might take risks. But we don’t wanna risk our livelihood for this.”
“Is that so?”
“Amigo, believe me when I say no one likes fighting so much. I earn enough from selling fixed tapes to bored idiots who have nothing to do. Ain’t going to risk my biz for one tape.”
“Smart man.”
“Common sense. The cost is too high for it to be profitable for me. I got some folks to feed, you know?”
After the data and copies have been deleted. The shopkeeper closes his shop down for today and leaves to get beer. Following the shopkeeper, he made no moves and went to eat noodles and drank beer before returning home to his condo without a fuss.
The buyers and the ones holding the copies are spread all over the city. Most of the buyers easily surrendered their copies and handed them without a fuss. Those who tried to sell them, get money for it were paid with a handcuff and a trip to a station. The source of the copies, where the shopkeeper got his tapes, is under the protection of a gang. Had to make short trips and convinced them to hand over the guy and get rid of the tapes. Threats were thrown and firearms were almost drawn, but was settled by sitting down. You don’t fuck with the Censors in this city. Phantom Contaminants aren’t worth their time and for them it was better if someone takes care of it before an Inquisitor finds out.
After negotiating with the gang in-charge of the copies. The visit was an easy task. The owner of the tapes where the copies came from did not hesitate to show where the copies are and produced a list of people who might be involved. He is sorting through the list with a dull-eyed stare. Hands mechanically moving.
“Why give them up?”
“Not good for business. If Censors are already searching. Better for me to hand them over. I don't get it though. Among the tapes available, I’ll say the Vortex Lady is more of a threat than the Magus. Her tapes contain spell-datas and they’ve been hounding anyone who got tapes of her. Lots of good cash if you find her tapes.”
The Vortex Lady is an urban enigma. One of those who you hear in the streets once in a while. She’s the kind who isn’t part of any association, but is highly priced for her abilities and one of the Enigmas.
Urban Enigmas have three fates. Succeeding into becoming a corporate stooge. Being a top dog of some syndicate or becoming part of some snuff film where they are used to generate income or harvested for their DNA to make.
The Vortex Lady is strange because she’s known to have cloned herself and has made puppets of herself. She’s a spell-caster who has been fooling demons and devils off their contacts and has been able to acquire loopholes. She has made spell-datas and have spread them, causing said devil to lose their mind and try to hunt her down in realspace, forcing EX-Graded Agents to eliminate the devil, allowing her to usurp the contracts the devils had and become a devilspawn. A dangerous lady of her own right and has been one of the few Enigmas who carries that title with actual threat and pride. The Pale Magus in comparison is lowkey and is only known by a few.
“It’s classified.”
“Oh well. Not that I can sell them now that the Censors are up for this data. I don’t know how you can recover the data, but there’s always someone who has the copy.”
“It’s alright. The priority is to eliminate the source in the first place. You cut off the source and then copies stopped.
“Wait, you don’t have to do this.”
“We’ve been looking for you. I’ve been looking for you. Really, you shouldn’t spread info like this again.”
The man cowers on the floor while begging for his life. And yet it did not hide the shift on his gaze, as if it was a well-practiced act of his.
“Please, don’t do this.”
“I have gathered enough evidence to implicate you. The distribution of data not approved by the Censors is a violation of your license and clearance.”
“B-but it was for sale! I didn’t even know about it until today!”
His head rolled. Face flat on the ground and neck so cleanly separated no blood came out. The rest of the tapes have been confiscated and it didn’t take long for a Censors team under the jurisdiction of the TCU to enter the shop and redact any data.
“Been a while.”
One of the Agents looked around the shop.
“Didn’t think you’re still doing this. Nice job. We’ll take it from here. Got everything settled.”
“Yes.”
And the last tapes of the Pale Magus are gone forever.
karsev So cheers for a new series.
Been writing this on Royalroad for a while now.
I will post the next part here soon
Anyway, if you are reading this.
Thank you and tune out for more updates!
karsev Epilogue of Part 1
A Past Closed Off
It is a shop that shouldn’t exist. Ancient and strange in regards to the standards placed by Changye. Videotapes, cassette tapes, and collections of lost media.
“Bro, you've been browsing for a while.”
“Your collection is unnatural. How do you even get past these off the Censors?”
“Trade secret.”
“Bring me this.”
“Okay, let me see. Wait, all of them? Why? Are you a big fan of the Pale Magus?”
“Always talk this much?”
“Chill amigo, I’ll have the tapes ready. Continue browsing, alright? We got some old media you can play.”
Old cartoons and even black and white media. Silent films and ghost tapes a shop shouldn’t have. Info hazard tapes have become common. Tapes informing people of the wrong information, leading them astray or straight to monsters. Reports even have them meeting ghosts possessing the tapes, leading to the watcher being killed.
Possessed items have become a reality and many men and women of this era suffer because of curiosity. The catalog ranges from the most common tapes to the most obscure ones. The door where the shop owner went is locked behind a thick metal door. Metal doors have a common weakness and that is their locks themselves are not good enough.
Placing a magnet on the local usually unlocks it. It’s cold and damp with stairs leading down. There is the sound of an air conditioner and through the staircase lights and the narrow passageways. Is an archive full of media kept in such a pristine condition. Phantom Archivists and Specterhunters who are mad about their collection of media that could kill them. How did this Archivist manage to run such a collection under Changye’s nose? Changye has a hard-on for censorship. Tapes get redacted all the time and unless you have clearance for it. No one is stupid enough to do this without having a backing at all.
“Yo, how did you get in, Amigo?”
“You have a lot of Phantom Contaminants.”
“Oh, so it’s that time again.”
The shopkeeper puts down the tapes he collected and placed them on the sorting table. He takes documents out and shows them.
“Hope you didn’t break my lock, bro.”
“Mav-locks like that are easy to break. You run a shop like this and you’ll make others misunderstand. How about you show them this instead of keeping it here?”
“Thought that as well. But you know how many morons who want to take a scan of my clearance? Anyway, since you are here for these tapes, I assume you want to know if this is the source, amigo? Too bad, tapes like this are copied and sold everywhere these days. You can’t contain this info now it’s been digitized and spread in the nets.”
“No, I’m here to confirm that.”
“Oh. So, uh, do you still want to buy them?”
Data matches and his clearance is authentic. Authorized by Changye’s Lower City Management themselves. You could say this shop is the data-dock for media like these.
“If you want to know, we also have them checked by Exorcists, you know? You want to run a business like this, you need to check in with church guys.”
“You have trouble? Anything?”
“Well, I don’t want any trouble so I might as well give you the log. Really, could have asked instead of breaking in.”
“I secured fifty testaments that give me enough jurisdiction to execute you. You’re lucky I’m the one doing this, because believe me, I’m the most reasonable.”
“Sure. I can believe you are. Seeing you ain’t shooting me.”
He enters his credentials and shows a log containing five years of data. It’s meticulously cataloged and has been sorted to show what happened as well.
“Break-in, contaminated tapes, and you even have twenty complaints here about your tapes having phantom contaminants.”
“For two years. We learned.”
The rest of the data is cleaned. There are only minor accidents and so far he has been questioned twenty-three times. Another look at the shopkeeper shows he has augmented procedures done to him. He has an army-surplus arms and two connection ports on the temple of his head.
“Guess you’ve been shot or two.”
“Not unusual in this city. Who doesn’t get shot at all in this city?”
“You’re so used to this.”
“Bro, when you keep being threatened like this. You’ll get used to it. Selling media like this comes with the threat and risk. It earns a lot, you know.”
There’s a server in the corner of the room, different from the servers and storage units in the basement. The shopkeeper’s gaze went alert, but he kept his cool and introduced the server.
“We get digitized media. Folks like buying physical goods again, but we have a collection.”
“Do you have any data on the same tapes?”
“You are interested in the Pale Magus too much. Forgive me, but I can't help but noticed your interest in it.”
“Clueless, are you?”
“Pardon?”
“We’ve orders from the Bureau about the tapes. I was prodding you if you knew or are you ignoring, but it can be both as much as I'm concerned right now. You’re up to speed.”
He checks his work computer and browsers through his email. Sorting through the emails, he found the notice.
“No wonder. Why though?”
“The Pale Magus is redacted. City doesn’t want people to know it exists.”
“Oh shit, you think the Magus got graded? He was destroying twelve demigoddesses right?”
“Correct. You know you can get in trouble for knowing this alone.”
“Damn info hazards man. Bro, are you telling on me?”
“Not my job. But I need your source. I want your tapes and copies destroyed. I want you to give me the buyers names, their locations and address.”
He hesitated. He taps his fingers on the table and thought about it for a long time before agreeing with a curt nod. Showing the lists of buyers and what their addresses were.
“I’m surprised you have them.”
“We need them to scan their ID's, you know? Better this way since if you don’t, then the Inquisition will fuck you over for not doing so. The fines alone aren't worth the hassle.”
“Anyone who discreetly buys them?”
“Prolly most of them. It’s easy enough to have someone buy the goods for you. If you want to track the tapes down, you have to find them all and confiscate the tapes. For real though, the Censors really are up their asses this time.”
“Can’t be helped. He got redacted. Even your tapes have already been redacted unintentionally in some way.”
“Lots of hassle for a ghost of the past.”
“It is, isn’t it?”
The list has the locations and address of the buyers. The shopkeeper sorted through his copies and deleted them. Incinerating the tapes relating to the Pale Magus without a single second of hesitation.
“That’s all, I think. If I find more I’ll have to make do. You want me to warn my fellow sellers about this?”
“Now you’re suspicious.”
“Bro, no offense, but we sell tapes for cash. Phantom contaminants are a thing, but fucking with Censors does us no good. Hell, some idiot might think they become highly-priced collections and might take risks. But we don’t wanna risk our livelihood for this.”
“Is that so?”
“Amigo, believe me when I say no one likes fighting so much. I earn enough from selling fixed tapes to bored idiots who have nothing to do. Ain’t going to risk my biz for one tape.”
“Smart man.”
“Common sense. The cost is too high for it to be profitable for me. I got some folks to feed, you know?”
After the data and copies have been deleted. The shopkeeper closes his shop down for today and leaves to get beer. Following the shopkeeper, he made no moves and went to eat noodles and drank beer before returning home to his condo without a fuss.
The buyers and the ones holding the copies are spread all over the city. Most of the buyers easily surrendered their copies and handed them without a fuss. Those who tried to sell them, get money for it were paid with a handcuff and a trip to a station. The source of the copies, where the shopkeeper got his tapes, is under the protection of a gang. Had to make short trips and convinced them to hand over the guy and get rid of the tapes. Threats were thrown and firearms were almost drawn, but was settled by sitting down. You don’t fuck with the Censors in this city. Phantom Contaminants aren’t worth their time and for them it was better if someone takes care of it before an Inquisitor finds out.
After negotiating with the gang in-charge of the copies. The visit was an easy task. The owner of the tapes where the copies came from did not hesitate to show where the copies are and produced a list of people who might be involved. He is sorting through the list with a dull-eyed stare. Hands mechanically moving.
“Why give them up?”
“Not good for business. If Censors are already searching. Better for me to hand them over. I don't get it though. Among the tapes available, I’ll say the Vortex Lady is more of a threat than the Magus. Her tapes contain spell-datas and they’ve been hounding anyone who got tapes of her. Lots of good cash if you find her tapes.”
The Vortex Lady is an urban enigma. One of those who you hear in the streets once in a while. She’s the kind who isn’t part of any association, but is highly priced for her abilities and one of the Enigmas.
Urban Enigmas have three fates. Succeeding into becoming a corporate stooge. Being a top dog of some syndicate or becoming part of some snuff film where they are used to generate income or harvested for their DNA to make.
The Vortex Lady is strange because she’s known to have cloned herself and has made puppets of herself. She’s a spell-caster who has been fooling demons and devils off their contacts and has been able to acquire loopholes. She has made spell-datas and have spread them, causing said devil to lose their mind and try to hunt her down in realspace, forcing EX-Graded Agents to eliminate the devil, allowing her to usurp the contracts the devils had and become a devilspawn. A dangerous lady of her own right and has been one of the few Enigmas who carries that title with actual threat and pride. The Pale Magus in comparison is lowkey and is only known by a few.
“It’s classified.”
“Oh well. Not that I can sell them now that the Censors are up for this data. I don’t know how you can recover the data, but there’s always someone who has the copy.”
“It’s alright. The priority is to eliminate the source in the first place. You cut off the source and then copies stopped.
“Wait, you don’t have to do this.”
“We’ve been looking for you. I’ve been looking for you. Really, you shouldn’t spread info like this again.”
The man cowers on the floor while begging for his life. And yet it did not hide the shift on his gaze, as if it was a well-practiced act of his.
“Please, don’t do this.”
“I have gathered enough evidence to implicate you. The distribution of data not approved by the Censors is a violation of your license and clearance.”
“B-but it was for sale! I didn’t even know about it until today!”
His head rolled. Face flat on the ground and neck so cleanly separated no blood came out. The rest of the tapes have been confiscated and it didn’t take long for a Censors team under the jurisdiction of the TCU to enter the shop and redact any data.
“Been a while.”
One of the Agents looked around the shop.
“Didn’t think you’re still doing this. Nice job. We’ll take it from here. Got everything settled.”
“Yes.”
And the last tapes of the Pale Magus are gone forever.
karsev So cheers for a new series.
Been writing this on Royalroad for a while now.
I will post the next part here soon
Anyway, if you are reading this.
Thank you and tune out for more updates!
