After the fittings and short lesson on how to properly activate the sigils in his new jacket, Daniel found himself surprisingly at ease. The Midnight Bazaar had begun to feel less like a strange dream and more like a weird version of Times Square at night-if Times Square was run by monsters with exquisite taste in magical merchandise.
Astrael clapped him on the shoulder. "Now that the shopping is out of the way. Time to introduce you the delicacies of the supernatural world Specter. You haven't lived until you've eaten food meant for beings who don't technically need to eat."
They turned a corner and approached a glowing stall that shimmered between a tent and a structure made of living crystal. A thick aroma filled the air-sweet, savory, spicy, and something else. Colour.
The sign above read in three languages: "THE GILDED PLATE - Cuisine of the Forgotten Pantheons."
A smiling vendor with six arms and eyes like melted gold greeted them. "Welcome! First-timers eat for free!"
Daniel took a seat at the curved counter, next to Lina who was already nibbling on what he could assume to be a glowing honeycomb.
"What is this?" Daniel asked, examining the strange menu.
"Dreamfruit jam," Astrael said, pointing to a blue spread. "Harvested from the that grow between mortal sleep and death. Helps calm the soul"
As Lina was poking a gelatinous cube that let out a happy hum. "This one taste like childhood joy," Astrael said as Daniel was about to ask how that was possible she cut him off saying "Don't ask what it's made of." Daniel thought, "The less i know the better."
Daniel who had ordered a flaky pastry filled with something warm and smoky. As he cautiously took a bit into it his eyes widened.
"This...is incredible."
He leaned back let the joy of his new favorite snack sink in, finally relaxing for the first time in what felt like weeks.
Until everything changed.
A thunderous crash echoed down the stone pathway.
As the world looked to have slowed down from the perspective of Daniel, Astrael and Lina who was still nibbling on the glowing honeycomb.
Screams rippled through the market like a wave.
Suddenly, a blur of charcoal smoke and muttered whispers tore past their table. Tables overturned. Lanterns shattered.
A creature-twisted and half- formed barreled through the bazaar with a relic clutched in its claws.
It resembled a melting humanoid, pieces of other people's features moulded together like clay.
Every step it took left an oily trail behind it on the cobblestones floor.
A vendor shouted:
"Sin Echo! It stole the Triodos Amulet!"
Astrael stood immediately.
"Everyone OUT OF THE WAY!"
"Daniel," she said, pointing at the creature, "this one's on you. Go!"
Daniel leapt to his feet, his new coat flaring around him.
"What's a Sin Echo?!"
"An echo is what you get when you combine humanity's sins- wrath, envy, betrayal- that's given form," Astrael shouted as she sprinted behind him with Lina tucked under her arms. "They're unstable and dangerous. and that amulet its got it's claws on is Triodos Amulet."
"Tri...what's Amulet?" Daniel said.
"Triodos Amulet" she said as she looked at Daniel who had a blank look on his face.
"Triodos Amulet, also know as the Amulet of the Crossroads was made by Hecate the Greek goddess of magic, witchcraft, the night, the moon and crossroads." she said jumping of a vendors shop, " That amulet can see possible futures. if it escapes into the mortal world_"
But Daniel wasn't listen anymore. The Sin Echo had just darted into an exit gate disguised as a subway stairwell.
"Dammit," he growled and took off.
he chased it up the and burst out onto a busy Shanghai street.
As Daniel still in a brief seconds of disbelief got his self back together and continued to chase the creature.
No one around him noticed the oily footprints or the grotesque creature using the sides of the buildings like a walk way. Mortal eyes couldn't see.
But Daniel could.
The Sin Echo snarled, its form like a melting wax was dripping down the sidewalk, scattering pigeons and minor spirits alike. As it took a bit out of the building to launch an attack towards him to attack.
Daniel turning to his spectral form, blurring his body to so he could phase through the attack, and shot forward.
"Stop!" he roared.
The chase was on.