RED LION

On the supermoon night of May 26, 2021, a shadow appeared on Rocker Street of Winterdell. There was a lingering eeriness in that area at night. The wolf's shadow turned into a man's shadow with the few steps it took towards the telephone booth. The man dressed in the long overcoat with its collar hiding his face entered the telephone booth. He pressed a few of the dialling pads of the metal phone without holding the handset and paying any money. In a moment, the person in the booth vanished.

The man was teleported to the front of a pub with a neon sign reading "RED LION." The moment he entered, it started raining. The pub was full of people from different walks of life. Everyone was busy drinking, gambling, and enjoying the night with their friends. Cigarette smoke filled the room, making it difficult to breathe.

'Welcome to Red Lion'

'Would you like me to guide you?' a young waiter wearing a white shirt asked. The man asked him to guide him to the room upstairs. Both of them walked past the gambling table to the staircase. As they walked up the old staircase, the creaking sound was muffled by the loud noise downstairs.

It was pitch black on the first floor. Still, they managed to follow the voices coming from the left corridor. As they approached the voices, the light escaping the small gap between the door and its frame lit the way in front of them. The young waiter left to go back downstairs. The man entered the room. Everyone stopped talking as they saw the door open.

'Hello! Wilfrid.''Welcome back. It's been a long time, no see.'

'Hey there,' greeted everyone present in the room.

The walls were off-white due to dust accumulated over the years, while a long old oak wood table occupied the centre of the room. Ten chairs were around the table for the guests. The room was not in good condition, and the poor lighting did not help. The pub was not in good condition, and the rooms upstairs proved neglected.

Wilfrid Motley was the name of the man who just joined the group present in the room. The seat for the head of the meeting was left empty. Seven people were seated at the table. Basil Wolfe, Louie Wheeler, Carl Schultz and Terry Hunt were on the left side. On the right side was occupied by Don Reyes, Roxanne Walsh, and Dawn Haynes. Wilfrid took a seat next to Ms Haynes. After Wilfrid settled down, everyone started conversing. The meeting had yet to begin, and the host had not arrived. Louie and Basil were busy talking while Carl was glaring at Wilfrid. There was tension between the two of them. Wilfrid was getting impatient as the time dragged on.

After fifteen minutes, the door opened again. An old man in his 60s wearing a burgundy robe came in. There was a moment of silence in the room. Now, the older man, Aldrich Carlson, occupied the seat of the head of the meeting. The meeting began.

'Hello, everyone!''Thank you for coming here on short notice. Today, we are here to discuss choosing the new head to be the leader of the Emerald faction. The seat of the leader has been empty since Terence Woolridge died and Paige went missing.'

Wilfrid and Don interrupted.

'We still need to find out where Paige is. The Emerald is still missing.'

'We cannot wait any longer. It has already been 20 years since Terrance died and his only daughter went missing,' Basil said.

Wilfrid was holding his anger throughout the meeting. 'I can not agree to this. The Woolridge family was responsible for the faction. They were the ones chosen since the beginning.'

'No one can handle the faction and harness the stone's powers.'

'We are not inferior to the Woolridge. We have prepared our successor since the Woolridge family tree ended with Paige. We can not wait around. There is no successor left behind as the whole family had no heir,' Carl smirked.

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