The Four Broken Souls Of Atera.

by Sylif Daring Doo

Things change.

_______*Apartment 192, The city of Atera, 11:30 PM*_______

It was quiet in the apartment, the rest of the day had been pretty normal all things considered, Syrin had argued with Karak for a few hours about his decision to stop taking his medication.

Seth had tried to break it up before it could get physical and Shade was pulled into it once tensions had risen.

Much to Karak's annoyance, Seth had ordered delivery, deciding that it was best to avoid any added stress for the day.

And now the apartment was silent, Syrin had passed out on the couch, Shade and Karak went to bed for the night after placing Syrin in her room, and Seth was laying on her bed wide awake, she had her arms behind her head as she stared at the ceiling.

The dark room was comforting to Seth as she mended the headache she had gotten earlier, she took a breath and sat up.

Seth then stood up and walked to her dresser, she grabbed a pair of clothes and stuffed them in a backpack, she then closed the backpack and threw it over her shoulder.

Walking out of the room, Seth headed for the small bookcase by her chair and grabbed a pen and paper, writing a quick note on it, she left the paper on the small table and walked to the entrance, she unlocked the door and opened it, she turned the lock and then closed the door.

Seth left the apartments and took in a breath of the cool night air, she then started walking away from the apartments.

Atera was beautiful at night, the lights on the streets and in the shops kept the city lit while not being obnoxious, but it was also dangerous as gangs were more active at night.

Seth wasn't worried however, the gang that ran the slums were smart enough to leave Seth alone, on the condition that she left them be.

After a few minutes of walking, Seth turned onto Gorgon street, where she walked for ten minutes until she reached an old building with a large metal door.

Seth walked up to the door and looked around, seeing no one nearby she tapped the door four times, it opened up and she walked inside.

On the other side of the door was a unique part of Atera, it was a small pocket dimension that looked like a suburban neighborhood.

Seth walked forwards, she walked until she approached a small house with light green walls and a light brown wooden door.

She walked to the door and knocked, she waited for a few minutes until the door opened. "Come on in."

_______*The next day, 9:30 AM.*_______

Shade was in the kitchen cooking an omelette and bacon, he knew that Karak would be annoyed, but he was hungry now, and wasn't going to wait for the usual ten o'clock wake up call,.

Once his breakfast was done, Shade turned off the stove and sat down at the table, as he ate his breakfast Shade saw a note on the table.

He grabbed the note and read it. "Don't bother trying to wake me up today, i stayed over at a friends place, I'm going to be eating there as well, so don't save me any food.' The note stated.

Shade shrugged and returned to eating his food.

Once he finished eating, Shade set about cleaning up, it took about seven minutes to clean everything, and when that was done, he walked to the bookcase and grabbed a book.

Shade sat down on the couch and started reading.

Time passed and soon enough, Karak walked out into the living room with a look of shock, Shade raised an eyebrow at this. "Are you alright? you look like you've seen a ghost." He asked.

Karak said nothing as he sat down next to Shade on the couch.

Shade blinked and shook Karak by his arm. "Hey!" Shade said a little louder.

Karak blinked and rubbed his eyes as he broke out of his trance. "I uh......I have no idea what I saw, but I don't think I can forget it." He muttered.

"Well, Seth won't be here for breakfast, so don't bother trying to wake her up." Shade stated as he looked back at the book.

Karak nodded and rubbed his eyes again as he sat in silence.

______*a couple hours later*______

After breakfast Syrin had gone outside, saying that she would be back later, leaving Shade and Karak alone in the apartment.

Shade was simply reading when he heard the door being unlocked, he lowered the book and watched as Seth walked in wearing a black tee shirt and jeans, as well as a gray hoodie. "Welcome back." Shade said.

Seth nodded. "Yea." She replied.

Shade looked over and saw that Karak seemed to have returned to his state of shock. "What's with you?" Shade asked.

Karak took a breath. "Uh...nothing." He replied as he stood up and walked towards the small hallway.

Shade shook his head and returned to the book he was reading. "So where's Syrin?" Seth asked curiously.

"She'll be back later." Shade replied.

With that, Seth walked to her room and went inside.

______*a few days later, 12:00 PM*______

Shade and Karak sat in their room, unable to sleep, eventually Shade decided to talk. "So what was up with you a few days ago, you looked like you were in shock?" He asked.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Karak replied.

Shade stretched and laid back on the bed. "Try me, I've seen a lot of strange things." He said calmly.

Karak sighed and leaned on the wall behind him. "I followed Seth that night." He stated.

Shade blinked. "That's.....creepy."

"Yea yea I know, but do you want to know or not?" Karak snapped quietly.

"Yes." Shade answered him.

Karak cleared his throat and continued. "I caught her sneaking out around midnight, she had a backpack on her so I decided to follow her, she went onto Gorgon street and then walked for a while before entering an old building with a heavy iron door." He said.

"Once inside, I realized we were inside a pocket dimension that looked like a suburban neighborhood." Karak stated as he shivered.

"She went to the door and knocked, it opened a little bit later and Ren was on the other side, I allowed my curiosity to get the better of me and I went inside before they closed the door."

Karak took a breath and continued. "I kept a good distance away from them, they talked about Seth's sister for a bit before walking into a bedroom." He stopped as Shade looked at him with a shocked expression. "Please tell me you didn't watch them have sex?" He pleaded.

Karak shook his head. "No, thank the maker, but I did see something just as strange." He stated.

"What exactly?" Shade asked, almost afraid to ask.

Karak looked up at the ceiling. "Well uh, you know how people have weird kinks?" He asked curiously.

Shade nodded before laying his head down. "Do I even want to know?" He asked himself in a whisper.

"I watched Ren grab a duffle bag, and then proceed to tie Seth up." Karak stated.

Shade blinked. "Wasn't expecting that." He muttered.

"The weird thing is Shade......I think she was enjoying it." Karak said, confusion was clear in his voice.

Shade cleared his throat loudly. "Alright then!" He almost shouted. "Good night." He stated as he got under the covers and proceeded to try and forget what he heard.

_______*the next day, 3:00 PM*_______

The four roommates were standing outside their apartment door, right now they were talking while waiting on someone. "So when is she supposed to show up?" Syrin asked.

Seth shrugged. "Any time now, just be patient." She said as she leaned on the railing.

Karak's right ear twitched. "Someone's coming." He stated.

Seth looked over at the rest of the apartments on the row, she spotted Ren exiting one of the apartments and smiled as the fox walked over.

"So why were we waiting on you?" Shade asked.

Ren handed Seth a pair of keys and looked at everyone. "You waited for me? how sweet." She said as she crossed her arms.

"Wait, so we just waited for ten minutes, just so you could give Seth a pair of keys?" Syrin asked with an aggravated tone.

Seth rolled her eyes as she pocketed the keys. "To be fair, I did say you didn't have to wait with me." She countered.

"Before we get into an argument here?" Shade cut in. "We should probably get going." He said.

Seth nodded and said her goodbyes to Ren and followed her roommates.

They were walking with Shade to his uncles restaurant, mostly as a curiosity, it wasn't due to open for a couple more days, and they felt it would be best to get an idea of what they were getting themselves into.

After walking for ten minutes, they ended up in the Scorpos district, the part of Atera that mixed the Slums with the Merchant district, when they finally reached the restaurant they noted that it was called Jinkap, which Shade translated for them, in short it was the Night Wolf word for Waterfall.

While Seth was curious as to why that was the name chosen, she didn't hesitate to follow Shade inside after he unlocked the door with his key.

Inside the restaurant was a white and blue tile floor, there were around thirty tables with six of them being six seats, the walls were a soft gray with light blue paint on the lower half, the tables were made out of a strong wood and were properly sealed so that they wouldn't damage easily from water or from other various means, the chairs were similar but had sturdy yet comfortable gray cushions, there was a long workstation with two registers, menus stacked in two different piles behind the workstation.

There were also various decorations on the walls, some paintings of various landscapes, some sea shells in various spots, and what appeared to be a waterfall painted onto one of the walls, they watched as a tall wolf with black fur and yellow eyes walked out from the kitchen area, he didn't seem too happy but he seemed to cheer up a little bit upon seeing the four.

"Shade!" He greeted warmly. "Good to see you kid." He said as he gave Shade a hug.

"Good to see you too uncle Denol." Shade replied.

Denol looked at the others and looked at his nephew. "And I assume these are your roommates?" He asked.

Shade nodded and the older Night wolf walked over to them. "I'm glad to meet you, Shade tells me that one of you is a chef?" He asked curiously.

Karak nodded. "I am." He stated.

Denol shook Karak's hand. "Well, I'd be glad to have you if you want to work here, what about the rest of you? any experience in a kitchen?" He asked.

To everyone's surprise, Seth raised her hand. "I didn't know you were a chef." Shade stated.

Seth shrugged and placed her hands in her pockets. "First, no one asked, secondly, assistant chef, nothing major." She replied.

"Well, if your interested, I could use another chef." Denol said calmly.

Shade raised an eyebrow. "I thought you had another chef?" He asked.

Denol sighed. "Emil came down with the flu unfortunately, and I can't in good conscience have only one person to cook for everyone who comes in to the restaurant." He replied.

Seth nodded and sat down in a nearby chair. "It's a good thing I need a job, so yea, why not." She said.

Denol looked at Karak. "And you? are you interested?" He asked, curious as to his answer.

Karak nodded. "I will warn you, I haven't cooked like this in a while, so I may be rusty." He replied.

"It's a good thing we have a few days to prepare then, follow me and I'll get you both up to speed on everything you'll need to know." Denol stated.

Syrin stayed with Shade as Seth and Karak followed Denol to an office. "You look tense." Shade observed.

"Last time Karak was in a restaurant, it was on fire." She looked at Shade. "I'm not sure how he'll handle working in one again." She added.

Shade nodded and sat down. "True, but don't forget that he has us here to help, me and Seth will keep an eye on him for you, so stop stressing yourself out so much." He said.

Syrin looked at Shade. "Let them know I went back home." She said before walking out.

______*fifteen minutes later.*______

Syrin sighed as she walked up to the door of one nine two, she knew in her heart that this was something that Storm needed to experience for himself, but she was hoping to avoid this. "Maybe I'm just being selfish." She whispered as she opened the door to the apartment.

Syrin closed the door and rubbed her eyes, she took a breath and walked over to the couch and levitated a book over to read.

Just before Syrin started to read however, she noticed something odd that she didn't see when she came in, there was a large brown duffle bag in Seth's chair.

Out of curiosity, Syrin stood up and walked over to it, she was about to open it when she heard a door open, she lit her horn readying to cast a stun spell, she saw that Seth's door was open, but the lights were off.

Syrin cautiously approached the door, just as she got closer, she saw someone familiar walk out of the room. "Ren?" She asked, stopping her spell. "What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I was going to the bathroom." Ren replied casually.

Syrin sighed. "Don't you have your own apartment for that?" She asked.

Ren nodded, but then she blinked and examined Syrin's confused face. "Seth didn't tell you did she?" She asked.

"Tell me what exactly?" Syrin asked.

Ren walked to the living and grabbed the duffle bag. "That I moved back in." She stated.

Syrin blinked in surprise as Ren placed her bag in Seth's room. "Oh." She muttered quietly.

Author's Note:

And here's another chapter, and at this point you may be asking yourselves, why is he throwing in another roommate? when the story title CLEARLY states FOUR, not FIVE?

Here's my answer, Ren is an important character in the story, but not necessarily a primary one, she will be used often, but she may or may not replace someone later on, the reason for me saying that is to avoid spoilers, cause I LOATHE them!

Anyway! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!