Entry 01
“Many a man would turn rogue if he knew how.”
My name is Dukran, and you probably don’t know I exist. I run odd jobs for people, but a specific kind of odd job. I’m the person people call when they need a little extra “oomph”, or when the law just isn’t enough. Normal people would consider me a rogue - I do people’s dirty work for them, at a cost. I like to think that I’m the people’s true will.
I have one assistant, Hawk. Or at least he wants to be called Hawk. He informed me that this assignment has potential to have a big payout, but would also require a lot of effort. This is an assignment from one of those corporate fatcats, so this could be quite literally anything - I’ve had all sorts of missions from them, but they usually deal with rival companies. But with this being a big payout even for a corporate type, this assignment is far too valuable to say no to, regardless of what it is.
The meeting place appeared to be of the CEO’s choice. I don’t like it when my customers choose the locations for our meetings. I’ve had traps sprung on me before because of it. As I opened the metal door, my first look at the CEO was certainly not what I expected. I was surprised when my client was a female. On top of that, she was unnaturally tall - taller than myself - and I was also startled to see her in something resembling business casual attire. She turned away from me when I entered the room.
“I assume you’re my customer?” I said, slowly moving forwards.
“You’re Dukran, then? Let’s get down to business. You can call me Melissa.” It was immediately obvious to me how Melissa became the CEO of this company. Her presence was overbearing.
“Business is what I’m here for,” I replied while moving forwards, attempting to assert myself.
“You must know about that allegedly abandoned building on the edge of town. My company has an interest in purchasing it outright, but we were looking for someone who could give us a proper inspection. You can’t always trust the officials,” Melissa said, looking at her fingernails more than at myself.
“I know the place very well. Rumours are wild about that building. I’m not the type to believe them myself. Surely this building must be important to you if you’re willing to pay so much for it?” I was leaning on the desk at this point. I was really trying to get her attention.
“Very important. The building, as well as its surrounding area, is everything we need to expand our business.” Melissa said, finally looking up at me. I could see the passion in her eyes.
“One of the rumours must have really caught your attention to offer up so much cash. Please, tell me more” I had finally caught her attention, so now I was trying to gather information.
“There’s rumours of the building not being truly abandoned. Normally this just means the standard low life, but people are saying there are weird creatures in there. I need someone who can deal with them.” Melissa was giving me exactly what I needed. I could tell this to Hawk later, when we began our search.
“I’m not afraid of a few rumours. I’ll do the job.” I was very confident in my ability to perform - after all, it’s just an abandoned building. It can’t be that hard.
