I’m Skylar, the most renowned medium in this region, known for helping souls lost to water find peace. One day, a tycoon walked in, demanding I retrieve his fiancée’s ring. I waved him off, “Find someone else. She doesn’t want me to do this.” Damien Thorne, the tycoon, chuckled, pushing me slightly. “You’re turning down money? Putting on airs, are we? Just retrieve a ring, what’s the big deal?” More and more people gathered, all condemning me for being uncooperative. “Clueless idiot. You have no idea who you’re messing with! You won’t be working in this city ever again!” Seeing the rising chorus of insults, I turned and waved them away. “Go on, get out of here. If you don’t, I can’t guarantee your safety.” The words barely left my lips when the crowd burst into laughter. Damien, leading the pack, snarled, grabbing my collar. “It’s just a damn ring! Why are you so difficult? Annoying!” “Worst case, something happens, I’ll take full responsibility! You don’t need to worry about it!” He claimed I didn’t need to worry, but the sudden, unexplainable chill wind that blew through me made my heart race. Because I knew, today, someone would definitely die here.
It was the days leading up to All Hallows’ Eve, when the veil between worlds thins and spirits roam freely. As the most sought-after medium in this area, I was unusually busy this month. Especially today, my head had felt heavy and clouded since morning. My intuition screamed that something was wrong. Sure enough, by evening, I received a massive offer from Damien Thorne, the CEO: five million dollars to retrieve a ring. But when I arrived at the scene, the lake felt frigid, an icy wind blowing right through me. I probed Damien. “Mr. Thorne, are you absolutely sure you only need the ring?” “Of course! Can you get it or not? Give me a straight answer, I don’t have time to waste with you.” “Retrieving the ring isn’t the problem. But anything else… that might be tricky.” I could clearly feel a resentful spirit lingering nearby, likely trapped underwater, its silent cries carrying an icy chill. Just as I tried to pinpoint the source of the sound, Mark, Damien’s assistant, grew impatient. “Seriously, are you a legitimate medium? You have zero professional courtesy! You don’t even greet Mr. Thorne, and then you ask all these weird questions? What’s wrong with you?” “Yeah, we’re all waiting to party with Mr. Thorne! If you can do it, hurry up and get to it! Don’t waste our time!” I hesitated because I feared Damien was hiding something from me. That wave of resentment was clearly directed at him. Based on my years of experience, a single glance was enough to confirm that the woman currently nestled in Damien’s arms was not his fiancée. I pointed to the diamond ring on the woman’s ring finger and asked, “Mr. Thorne, isn’t your fiancée’s ring already on her hand?” “Ha! Open your damn eyes! This is Mr. Thorne’s adopted sister! Our lady is vacationing in Australia right now, you think everyone has as much free time as you do?” “Ugh, are you going to retrieve it or not? If you can’t do it, just get lost! Do you really think we have leisure time to waste in this godforsaken place? Take a good look at yourself, you’re not even fit to breathe the same air as him!” Seeing the irritation on everyone’s faces, I sighed. It wasn’t that I didn’t want the job. But today was a particularly sensitive day. Any other time, I might have just closed one eye and retrieved it. But messing with the spirits near All Hallows’ Eve is playing with fire. One wrong move and it could cost you everything! I wasn’t about to risk a life on my watch. After all, this was crucial for my reputation, and I couldn’t afford to be careless. As I hesitated, a cold gust of wind suddenly swept past my ears, making my legs tremble. I understood. This big job today was likely out of the question. I shook my head. “Mr. Thorne, come back to me after All Hallows’ Eve.” “I’m afraid I can’t help you now.” The words had just left my mouth when I turned to leave, only to find a group of burly men blocking my path. “You’re not going anywhere until you retrieve that ring.” “My family is holding a wedding banquet the day after tomorrow. If you mess this up, I promise you won’t see tomorrow’s sunrise.” Damien said, picking up an iron rod from the ground. “I’ll give you two options: either you get the ring, and my wedding goes off without a hitch. Or, you leave those legs here as a wedding gift to me.” “Your choice.”
I glanced at my reflection in the lake, then hardened my resolve. I pulled out a simple, aged coin on a crimson thread and turned to Damien. “Mr. Thorne, do you have a picture of Miss Hayes? I’ll need it.” “Pffft! So much fuss. With your amateur skills, you dare call yourself the best medium in the country? Aren’t you afraid of getting laughed out of town?” Damien didn’t ask further. He immediately pulled a casual photo of a woman from his wallet and casually tossed it in front of me. Before I could even pick it up, the woman in his arms frowned, her voice a sugary whine. “Damien, you’re secretly keeping photos of Evelyn from me, Brittany? I’ll punish you! No saying you’re tired tonight! You have to dote on me until I’m satisfied!” “Alright, alright, anything for my little darling. I’ll make sure my greedy little kitten is well-fed.” At his words, the same people who had just been yelling at me to get out of the city suddenly understood, cheering them on. Leaving me with goosebumps all over. But the next second, when I clearly saw the face in the photo, cold sweat broke out on my back. “Your fiancée… she doesn’t seem to have a complete soul. I can’t sense any consciousness in her.” At my words, several people looked at me with disdain and mockery. “Retrieving a few bodies and you think you’re some kind of deity? Do I look like I have a complete soul to you? Just spouting superstitious mumbo-jumbo, wasting our time.” “Damien, she’s been trying to scare us with all this hocus-pocus from the start! It’s so annoying! Since she’s so convinced there’s something weird in this lake, why don’t we just throw her in and see if she’s still so stubborn!” Damien listened, and a hint of playful amusement actually crept into his stern expression. I instinctively turned to run, but just as I did, several burly men grabbed my arms, pinning me in place. They dragged me in front of Damien, and then, a burning slap landed across my face. “Open your eyes and see! Whose turf are you trespassing on! This entire city is mine, Damien Thorne’s! Where do you think you’re going to run?” Then came another two brutal slaps, leaving stinging red marks on both sides of my face. Just as my head spun, and I was about to pass out from the burning pain across my entire face, the next second, a powerful sense of suffocation flooded my chest. “You’re the city’s best medium, aren’t you? Today, I’ll make an exception and let you retrieve yourself!” They grabbed my hair and forced my head underwater. The icy cold lake water choked my windpipe, making it impossible to breathe. Rage surged through me. I suddenly ripped free from the thick arm and snapped, “Do you have any idea that trespassing on someone else’s forbidden ground will cost you your life?!” “Since good advice can’t save a doomed soul, tonight, you’re on your own! Your life or death has nothing to do with me! Just don’t come begging at my feet when things go wrong!” Laughter boomed through the forest like thunder. The male assistant, Marcus, pointed a finger at me. “How arrogant can you be? You messed with Mr. Thorne! You might just end up dead in this city tomorrow, and no one will even bother to pick up your corpse!” Seeing Damien’s contemptuous and dismissive expression, I sneered. “Oh really? I’m more worried Mr. Thorne won’t live through tonight and *I’ll* have to retrieve *his* body.”
A loud, stinging slap, mixed with cold water, struck my face. The man spit at me viciously. “You must have a death wish! Don’t you know? The last person who was this arrogant disappeared from the face of the earth!” Taunts echoed from all around, everyone’s eyes mocking me as if I were a joke. “Forget tonight, Mr. Thorne could just lift a finger right now, and you’d rot in this water, and no one would ever know!” “You’re seriously out of your league, messing with someone like Damien! You’re either crazy or have a death wish, and you clearly need to be taught a lesson!” “She even dared to curse Mrs. Thorne as a corpse! Does she even fear death? Let’s see if she’s still so sharp-tongued after spending a night soaking in this lake!” Damien walked directly up to me, grabbed the back of my neck, and shoved me back into the water. “If I don’t see that ring within an hour, you’re not going home today.” If he didn’t care about his life, I wasn’t going to stop him. I nodded. “Fine. Let me get out first. I’ll find that ring within half an hour.” Suddenly, a heavy punch landed on my head, completely blindsiding me. Damien sneered, “Who said you could come up to look for it?” “I gave you a chance earlier, and you didn’t take it! Now you’ve lost all dignity, and you’re worried about appearances?” Several burly men shoved me deeper into the water until my feet no longer touched the bottom, only half my head floating above the surface. Damien roared with laughter from the shore. “Now, get your ass down there and find it! Don’t come up for air until you do, or I’ll beat you every time I see you!” He then threw the iron rod at me. “You’ve wasted so much of my time! Did you think I was some soft touch, easy to deal with? Today’s your lesson, so next time you see me, you’ll know your place and stop making a fool of yourself!” The iron rod hit me squarely on the forehead. Already weak and exhausted from the prolonged ordeal, I was now utterly drained and couldn’t exert any strength in the water. Soon, I sank under the pressure to the bottom of the lake, where it was pitch black, and I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. Thanks to my early training, I could still breathe and exhale in the deep water, but this method would only last for an hour at most. If I couldn’t get to shore within the allotted time, I might truly die here. As I was momentarily lost in thought, a murky darkness suddenly appeared before my eyes. Then, a wave forcefully pushed against my back, propelling me upwards. When I opened my eyes again, I had been washed ashore by the lake water. The crowd gathered around me, puzzled. “Skylar, where’s Mr. Thorne’s ring? You dared to come ashore without finding it? Don’t you want to live?” I coughed several times, expelling some water from my windpipe, and replied in a hoarse voice, “That ring isn’t at the bottom of the lake. It’s on Miss Hayes’s ring finger. You should tell Damien Thorne to ask her for it.” “That’s hilarious! You must be out of your mind from drowning, huh? If the ring was on Miss Hayes, why would Mr. Thorne bother wasting his time with a charlatan like you?” “If you can’t find it, just say so! Otherwise, if we *do* find the ring at the bottom of the lake, you’ll be paying with your limbs! You’ll be too late to beg for forgiveness then!” I brushed off the mud, struggled to my feet, and looked at Damien. “Miss Hayes is no longer among the living. Find an auspicious day to let her rest in peace.” “Are you out of your mind?!”
“Skylar, are you insulting my intelligence? Do you think I wouldn’t know if Evelyn Hayes were dead?” Brittany purred, trying to soothe him, “Damien, don’t listen to this bitch’s nonsense. Evelyn even posted on Ins yesterday, sharing her happiness. How could she suddenly be gone?” “She’s definitely just making up excuses, a fraud who can’t find it and just spouts nonsense. How pathetic.” After Brittany’s comforting words, Damien’s tense frown visibly eased. “You say Evelyn Hayes is dead? Where’s your proof?” “Just spouting baseless nonsense in front of me, do you know what the consequences are?” He lunged forward, grabbed my collar, and brutally threw me into the mud. “I told you, either leave the ring and you walk away, or I break a leg as an apology.” “But you not only failed to find the ring, you’ve been spouting ridiculous claims and wasting my time. This isn’t something just one leg can account for.” I stumbled back a few steps, swallowing hard. “I’m warning you, don’t mess with me.” Before I could move, two burly men in black immediately stepped forward, pinning my arms, one on each side, forcing me to my knees in the mud. My knees hit the gravel, a searing pain shooting through me. I looked up, glaring at him, my voice trembling. “Damien Thorne! Your end is near! I advise you not to celebrate too soon!” He merely slowly raised his hand, looking down at me condescendingly. “Break her leg.” The iron rod sliced through the dim air with a cold glint. The next second, an intense, shattering pain exploded from my right leg. I gasped, desperately trying to crawl towards the lake. But Damien grabbed my hair, pulling me back. “Trying to escape? You were so tough just now, weren’t you? Where’s this retribution you spoke of? I don’t see it!” He bared his teeth and roared with wild laughter in the wind, “I’m telling you this now, Damien Thorne! In this entire city, no one who dares threaten me has been born yet! What the hell are you, trying to challenge me?!” “Cut out her tongue!” Before I could react, a furious gust of wind suddenly whipped through the trees. Splinters of wood mixed with small stones flew through the air, scratching the man who was walking towards me with a knife. Everyone exchanged glances, falling silent. “Mr. Thorne, this sudden chill wind in the middle of the night… it feels too eerie.”
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