Demon Lord Shapeshifting System



Harker looked at the thing inside the box again, just to make sure. It was an urn. One designed with repeating patterns of tiki-like figures with fire on their heads. The small painted tiki totems had their mouths wide open as if screaming in pain.

In the middle of the urn was a name painted in that same vermillion red. 

'Howard Jones'.

Harker thought this must be some kind of sick joke. Yes, he hasn't heard about his father in so long. But he came back from that visit in LA, and he also went on a trip to Oregon. He had heard his voice in the calls just three days ago. 

So what's inside couldn't be his father's ashes…. could it?

He opened it to check. There were ashes, but they were very few. It barely reached half of the urn itself. 

Harker then remembered that his dad's legs were amputated because of a construction incident. Or at least, they said it was 'work-related'. Harker never knew the exact details since his parents won't tell him, but….

His mother did say that site that Howard worked on had combusted into flames not long after he got into that accident.

Harker realized that there was also a piece of paper hidden among the ashes. He gingerly reached out and read it:

[This is your father's. He did not take it before, but I'm returning it to him now. The way he was headed, it's likely that the rest of his body would find itself inside this urn soon. Or at least, that is what Pele believes. I don't know where he is, but you can ask her.]

"Pele?" Harker furrowed his brows. 

The way he phrased it made it clear that the ashes in this urn were from Howard's legs. So did he lose it from a fire? Or did this Pele just collect it like some creep, burned it, then placed it in an urn?

Who is this Pele anyway? 

Harker had to search for some person again, and he doesn't even know the last name. But with all the references to burnings, Harker can't help but be reminded about that client that keeps asking for wooden works depicting fire. 

He spent that night looking into his father's things for any way to find that client's name and address. It seemed that ever since his father started hunting all around America for who knows what, he had abandoned his woodworking gig as well. All his materials were in disarray and left collecting dust. 

But Harker couldn't find any contact list. He tried searching Howard's room too, but there was still nothing. 

When the children got home, he got them some Chinese take-out so he could keep looking. They watched TV as they ate some noodles. Still, Samuel couldn't help but be curious on what his brother was up to. 

"Should we really allow Harker to ransack Dad's room?" He asked the two. 

"Let him. Dad's always gone anyway, he'll probably leave again before he can notice." Chloe said, pressing the remote to switch channels. 

Samson just wolfed down his food. "I've always wanted to look into Dad's things too."

Samuel sighed. Neither of them seemed to care, and so he took it upon himself to go upstairs and ask Harker what he was looking for. 

His brother seemed very focused on his task, and he had to repeat himself twice for Harker to hear him.

"Oh…. I was looking for Dad's contacts list. I need to know who's the buyer of this certain piece." 

Samuel rubbed his chin. "Which piece?"

Harker showed him the unfinished wooden carving of what seemed to be a burning tree. 

"This one. I asked Chloe for help, but she also couldn't find it. And I don't know of anything that this person might own, so…."

So he couldn't use his sister's clairvoyance. If he knew what this 'Pele' could be wearing, or what she looked like, he could have had Chloe search for her.

Samuel took the painting. "Hmm….. Dad seems to not like working on this particular art piece very much."

Harker stopped opening and closing drawers, and turned to his brother. 

"Really? How can you tell?"

"I don't know. It just felt like he didn't like working for the client. Because she would end up burning it anyway. She just enjoys burning things."

Something struck Harker like a quick flash of lightning.

If Chloe had something special going on about her…. What are the odds that it's the same with the twins?

Sometimes, Samson would talk to Samuel even though he wasn't there. And sometimes, Samuel would touch things and wear a weird expression on his face. There was one time where he touched a stray puppy, and suddenly knew that it was owned by someone from the Greek neighborhood nearby. 

And he was right, the dog was owned by a Greek woman. He could just know things by touching them. 

"Can you tell where the woman is?" Harker asked.

Samuel shook his head. "No. I can only tell what Dad's thoughts were while creating it. He mumbled something about his client tormenting the South East Asians…? I don't get it. He just said 'First volcanoes in the Caribbean, now forests in Indonesia. I'm tired of making memorabilia for her destructive dalliances.' "

Harker did remember this woman commissioning a carving of a volcanic eruption before. And he did remember a Caribbean Island experiencing a devastating eruption in 1995. 

But besides that, he understood how his brother's skills work now. 

Samuel can see the past of what he touches. That was why he could tell what their Dad was thinking or mumbling about as he worked on the piece. 

He put his hand on Samuel's shoulder.

"I'm going to show you something weird, but don't panic, ok? It's not Dad's. I mean, it's Dad's legs, but he's still alive."

He handed the confused boy the urn, and looked at him expectantly. "Can you tell me what you see? Was this urn owned by a woman with fiery hair?"

Samuel focused on the urn. "Yeah…. Yeah, I think so."

"Good, good." Harker kneeled by his side now, his eyes burning with this passion for the truth. "Do you know where she lives?"

"I…. No. But I can see her speaking to someone. She bought the urn from this man." Samuel tried his best to focus on what he was seeing from touching things. 

"He's…. He looks old. Probably in his 70s. He has a tall nose, gray hair, a suit….. I think…. I think he's a teacher. I can see them talking in some kind of principal's office. Talking about how this urn was made from clay that was mixed with the remains of a meteorite that burned on its way here—"

"He's not a principal. It's Headmaster Holmwood." Harker said. 

"Headmaster who?" Samuel raised an eyebrow. 

But Harker was now sure. Not only was his father long connected with the supernatural…. So too was the Holmwood family. 

Or at least, Headmaster Holmwood was. There was more to this old man, and he needed to find out what it was. What ties him into all this. 

The question was: Does Artea know about this? Or was she just as in the dark as he was towards the history that adults hid from them?