The Canephora Chronicles - Prequel 1

It had been nearly 5 years since Mr. Canephora Reynolds and Doc....two friends, sat together with that one last cup of coffee. Doc, of course, does not remember any of it as he had choose wiping off his memory of Boulevard 66 to escape the trap he found himself in.

Mr. Reynolds however remembers Doc very fondly to this day. While he sat across the Cellar Door, watched the rain patter over the window sill and reminiscence the friendship he forged with doc....he started to mistily recall how he himself had fallen into the trap of Boulevard 66 and its mysteriously gorgeous coffee - the best that there ever will be.

It was late October 1925, and the evenings had just started to be on the colder side. Mr. Reynolds, a young 27 year old man back then, was standing under the neon lights of the Lampost on Walker Street. He was an aspiring young entrepreneur and had just closed what he thought was the deal of his life. He rubbed his hands together to ail the chill of the evening and was craving a hot cup of coffee as he waited for the bus back home. Right that instant a strong, rich aroma of coffee created a sillage that mesmerized...."No," thought Mr. Reynolds sitting by the window now. "No, I was not mesmerized. I was Intoxicated, it must have been."

He was unable to control the urge to chase down the aroma and bury his taste buds into the cup it was coming from. The aroma lead him straight down a dark alley...but surely he should have known there could be no coffee shop in that abandoned alley. Surely he should have, but he didn't. And he set himself up for a wild goose chase running up and down the alley which started to seem more like a labyrinth before suddenly a wooden door flung open.

"Boulevard 66."

He walked in, having no control over his actions. He followed the aroma and was lead to a castle made entirely out of coffee beans. This time he really was mesmerized and somehow he knew he was going to order a really good cup of coffee inside that cafe. But he didn't know how dangerously good it was going to be! As he drank down it seemed the elixir of life was gliding down his throat. He lost all track of time, he wasn't even bothered by the fact that there were no humans in the cafe. He drank on....

....until a grandfather clock somewhere in the distance struck 12.

A hooded figure walked through the door. Reynolds couldn't see his face, but he was sure the hooded figure stared right at him as he spoke. He gave Reynolds the exact same options as Reynolds had explained to Doc.

Reynolds was so intoxicated by the taste of that heavenly coffee, wiping out his memory and never drinking that coffee again was not something he could accept. But he couldn't completely stay stuck for one whole year in boulevard 66. His entrepreneurship...his startup business...his ill mother...

He had to get out, and that meant he would have to pay the price - his soul.

And since then, his soul belonged to the Alpha (the hooded figure) of Boulevard 66.

While he did get to enjoy the best coffee in the world, he discovered the dirty secrets that Boulevard 66 was hiding...how the hooded Alpha was hoarding souls for whatever grand devilish scheme that was unravelling. He had discovered the secrets of how only boulevard 66 could produce the best coffee in the world and why no place could produce such good coffee....

He had discovered far too many secrets than he'd have liked to know, but as part of the deal selling his soul, a Hex was placed on him so he could never #spillthebeans....

Part 1
Part 2