In Close Encounters, seven Words created the universe, but misused The Words can destroy everything. Each Word lets its Speaker rewrite a physical law in the area near them - for four hours. During that time, guardian monks from China quest to locate and kill the Speaker whose ignorance might unmake the earth. Eric must escape the assassin hunting him, recover his car, and help Mary and Walt.
Previously, Eric Rock, a bookstore clerk in Portland, Oregon, learned the power word AmJukJa from his grandmother and it erased gravity around him. While weightless, he tried to help Gran by 'borrowing' Logan Castro's drug money to save her house. Instead, Logan thinks he's been robbed by his partner, Garth, the bookstore owner.
Walt Herrera, Eric's buddy, helps launder Logan's money. At Gran's urging, Eric goes to San Francisco to lead the monks away from Portland. Eric buys a car in San Francisco to do his part converting the 'borrowed' money, but the car is towed. Eric finds an unexpected new friend in waitress Mary Jepson. Unfortunately, Jian Zhou, an assassin monk, finds him.
I was having the worst day in a long string of worst days. Growing up on the streets in the middle of monster apocalypse put a lot of things in perspective - however, meeting one of these creatures personally was the crown jewel of my bad luck. He stalks, he claims, he does not understand...
Trigger warnings:
abandonment, abuse, assault, gore, death, injuries, murder, poverty, rape, self-harm.
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A more realistic take on a relationship featuring interest from an inhuman element. It's not rosy, it won't be smooth, there's no instantaneous affection. As such the story is barely even a romance - there's struggle, ambiguity and things going from bad to worse on an express train. All that said, there will be semblance of a happy ending.