Advent - 1.3

Previous Chapter

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Life continued without any major disruptions for Morgan and her family. Sylvester’s quick recovery was attributed to Relic shenanigans and not questioned further. The burn had been rather superficial, after all. Only Hannah fussed a little over her boyfriend but that was to be expected. They suspected Morgan to be the source of the tea but avoided pressing her too much after she deflected the first few questions.

With the announcement of Brad being expelled for his actions, City College Norwich became a much calmer place. Not that it had been particularly wild before that but those who had flashy powers kept their hands close to their chests, not wanting to be the next in line. An additional lesson was set up for those who wanted to experiment with their Relics in a somewhat safe environment. It was voluntary and the teachers had oftentimes a worse understanding of the possibilities, ending up being taught by the students. Morgan and Hannah kept well away from it, citing lack of interest in talking about their detailed abilities. As did many other students. Sylvester was much more open, his house magic simple and somewhat weak still. He was only good at cleaning, really. And not even washing clothes. At least the dirt was disposed of when exposed to his magic.

This time of quiet was not common in the world. The rumours of killing being a way to level up increased and all across the globe, people with fewer inhibitions tried to prove it by experimentation. America had seen a slew of attacks looking like small-scale terrorism and even mainland Europe was not faring much better. The less developed parts of the world had less reliable information reaching all the way to Norfolk County but it didn’t sound great.

On the other hand, for every small act of violence, there were at least half a dozen people fighting back. Most attackers seemed to have forgotten about the fact that everyone had a Relic and met much more resistance than expected. Even someone spitting flames out of their fingertips could easily be clubbed over the back of their head by someone with a speed upgrade.

Morgan still wasn’t clear what had made her level up but simple use of the Relic seemed to suffice. Then again, unique Relics might work completely differently from the more common variants. She had thought to ask Sylvester but held back for the time being. That conversation was for another time when she was ready to talk about her Crooked Nose.

A little over two weeks after the initialization on a nice Saturday afternoon, the three friends sat on the grass in Chapelfield Gardens with some ice cream from the café in its centre. Hannah had gotten one scoop each of strawberry and raspberry. Sylvester stuck with the classic vanilla and stracciatella. Morgan decided to try something new, combining lime and chocolate of all things.

“That can’t be tasty”, Sylvester remarked, “I bet that’s one of the worst combinations you could’ve gone for.”

Morgan carefully slurped a drop of chocolate ice off the side of her wafer before it could try its luck with the ants.

“It’s actually not bad. The bittersweet chocolate combines nicely with the lemon.”

Another drop threatened to leave forever and she had to catch it with her tongue.

“I get that… No, actually, I don’t…”, Sylvester said, “Sweet and sour, okay, that’s fine, but that?”

Hannah silently enjoyed her ice cream while watching the discussion with interest.

“No, really! It’s good!”, Morgan insisted, “Wanna try?”

She held the wafer forward after making sure nothing was in danger of dripping off.

Sylvester shook his head vehemently.

“Get that away from me!”, he waved the hand holding his wafer, “I’ll stick to… Ah! Now you’ve made me dirty my shirt!”

“Better get that house magic upgraded so you can clean your clothes in an instant”, Morgan grinned.

“Yes, that’d be great!”, Hannah said, “If you do that, I might just move in with you!”

Sylvester shut down for a few seconds, just staring at his girlfriend. When the words finally caught up to him, she was already talking to Morgan.

“But really, I wouldn’t combine those two either! That’s just asking to get your taste buds torn apart!”

Morgan scowled.

“You’re one to talk. Going all red on us today? Wasn’t your favourite lemon?”

“What’s so bad about trying something new? At least I’m not committing a sin against gourmands all over the world!”

She superiorly continued licking her ice cream, the discussion won in her mind.

“Moving in?”, Sylvester asked, half-whispering. Hannah glanced at him. The movement was so quick, Morgan barely noticed.

“Did you watch the news, yesterday?”, the half-Asian asked.

“About the guy in Stonehenge?”

“Yeah, he’s gotta be insane, right? Who would sit down there with a waifu-pillow and not move for a week straight?”

“Probably some Relic weirdness. Maybe he’s the priest of cat-girls or something.”

“And then he just laid down and took a nap when the reporter tried to interview him. Who does that?”

“Someone insane”, Sylvester piped up, “He’s gotta get something from his Relic for being there. Wasn’t that his sister they interviewed after that? The one who said he hadn’t eaten since initialization?”

Morgan made a noise of agreement.

“But why Stonehenge? Shouldn’t he fly to Japan or something?”, Hannah asked.

“You’re only saying that because of the body pillow. Maybe he just liked it”, Sylvester said.

“The police should take him in. He’s defiling a historic place of mankind.”

“It’s a tourist hotspot, Hannah. Historic, yes, but there were people there all the time before”, Morgan said.

“Also, the plodders probably got their hands full with all the Relic stuff”, Sylvester supported.

“Yeah, everyone’s scrambling to figure out the secrets. The military is heads over heels trying to get ahead of the general populace.”

“Millions of pounds of taxes down the drain. How would they even verify the information they get from the bounty? It’s just completely crazy right now.”

Hannah looked contemplative.

“I guess. Still, I think if anyone can do it, it’s gonna be some government or corpo.”

“I just hope it’s not gonna be China”, Sylvester sighed.

“Or North Korea”, Morgan snorted, “That could be a real problem.”

“Nah, China has much more manpower. Probably a ton of high-level Relics. If they figure out the rules to levelling, they’re gonna be the biggest military power all of a sudden.”

“So, what do you think is making us level?”, Hannah asked.

Morgan turned to her and shrugged.

“Probably just using it, if I had to guess.”

“That’s definitely part of it but… Okay, I got a level before school even started up again but I haven’t gotten one since.”

“That might just be the level curve”, Sylvester said.

“That harsh? Nah, I feel like that’s not it. There’s gotta be more to it. And it can’t be killing. How’re you supposed to kill someone with house magic? That just seems unreasonable.”

“I feel you”, Morgan said, “But just using it is all we have right now.”

Just then, the voices around them got excited. The trio looked around and saw everyone staring at the sky. Following their line of sight, Morgan spotted the super-girl wannabe in her purple and orange suit hovering above and waving.

“There she is again. How come there’s nobody else flying over the city?”, Hannah asked.

“It’s a rare Relic. Not many people have something like it.”

“Also, if you believe the internet rumours, not many rare Relics are gonna be flight”, Sylvester said.

Some guy close to them cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted at the flying girl.

“What’s your name?”

From this distance, Morgan could just make out the smirk on her face.

“Avenger!”, she answered in a high-pitched voice, boosted by some speaker on her visor, before waving to the crowd and taking off to the east.

“Watched too much Marvel”, Sylvester remarked.

The girls giggled.

“Hope she isn’t gonna end up breaking half the city with her ‘heroing’”, Morgan said.

“Did you see that helmet? Looks like she got a new one. A little bit of Iron Man flair, if you ask me”, Hannah said.

The friends got back to more normal topics, talking about school and their teachers. Morgan was just finishing off her wafer when she spotted a strangely clothed figure at the end of the park. A man judging from the shape, clothed in black jeans, black trainers and a black jumper with a large white zero hand-painted on the front. The weirdest part was the ski mask and ski goggles he was wearing.

“Look, another hero wannabe”, she said to her friends.

They followed her eyes. Other people had also noticed the man and were muttering and pointing.

“What’s that getup? Looks really bland. Too broke for something better?”, Hannah asked.

The stranger looked around at the gawking people. His gaze slowly scanned the crowd, looking for something. He didn’t seem to find it and turned to walk along the edges of the park. Some people waved at him or called out and he answered with a dismissive nod. Sometimes. Morgan felt something. This was not right. He seemed off. But she couldn’t put her fingers on it.

The man walked a full circle around the park, his pace slow and deliberate. Whenever he walked by an entrance, his steps got even smaller. When he got closer to the trio, Hannah shifted nervously.

“Why?”, she whispered.

“What?”, Sylvester asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Why is his heart beating so fast? It’s practically racing.”

Morgan blinked.

“Something’s wrong”, she stated, “Let’s get out.”

The friends stood up with controlled haste. Morgan started for the nearest exit. She glanced behind at her friends and saw them following closely. Hannah seemed distracted by something. Probably her Relic. Hopefully, she was keeping track of the stranger.

When she looked at the man, she saw he had almost reached where he entered Chapelfield Gardens. Morgan increased her pace. Only a few metres left, she thought. Then, Hannah yelped just as a wave of cold washed over the park. It emanated from the edges, especially the entrances and Morgan flinched back. With crackling and rumbling sounds, a wall of ice rose where the stranger had walked. It was especially cold near the entrances.

“What?”, Sylvester stammered.

Hannah was clinging to her boyfriend while carefully keeping an eye on the man. People were getting agitated. Someone was stepping close to the ice wall. He took a stance and punched it. With a pained scream, he pulled back his bloodied hand. Moments after, a spike protruded from where he punched and struck through his head. Silence washed over the crowd as a wave of terror claimed everyone’s hearts. Slowly, the spike retreated back into the wall. The body was dragged along until it touched the ice. Within a few slow and agonizing seconds, it slid down the deadly barrier. Then, a scream shattered the quiet.

Morgan’s head whipped around. The murderer was standing a few metres in front of his wall, a woman impaled by a stake of ice lying in front of him. Chilling laughter croaked from his throat. Then he whipped a hand around and shot another spike at a bystander.

Hannah’s whimpering brought Morgan out of her morbid fascination. She took her friend’s hands and started to run, pulling them along. The only thing on her mind was to get as far away from the madman as possible. The movement broke the people around them out of their stupor and, within moments, everyone was running.

The chilling laughter turned into full-fledged cackling as spikes of ice flit through the air. A few brave souls tried to charge the villain instead but quickly found themselves slipping or impaled. Then, a voice boomed over the panicked crowd.

“CEASE!”

Everyone looked up. Avenger was floating just above the ice wall opposite the villain.

“STOP YOUR WANTON VIOLENCE, CRIMINAL!”, she shouted.

Laughter answered her.

The villain stood alone between corpses, slightly buckling with each of his cackles. Then, he stood up with a sudden motion, stopping all laughter.

“You think you can stop me, bitch?”, he called, “Me, the great Zero? I will have to disappoint you!”

With a flick of his hand, two icicles shot towards Avenger. The girl dropped to dodge just barely in time. She touched down on the ice.

“Get away from the wall!”, Morgan shouted as loud as she could.

Avenger glanced over, then down at her feet. The next moment, she pushed off, quickly gaining height. Two spikes of ice shot after her soles just barely too slow to catch the flying girl. Her chest was pumping rapidly, her mouth half agape.

More cackling came from the villain.

“Nonono, please! By all means! Touch the Frozen Revenge!”

The hero’s mouth pulled into a thin line.

“I’m Avenger and I will avenge the innocent you killed today! Mark my words!”

As answer, another two spikes shot out. This time, she dodged to the side. Zero tried to hit her two more times before clicking his tongue.

“Cheh. If I can’t hit you, I’ll just settle with the rabble.”

Morgan’s eyes widened as the villain turned his attention to the people around. The mass of bodies was frozen in terror. Nobody wanted to touch the wall and get impaled and nobody wanted to be in the villain’s line of sight. Morgan hoped there was someone with an elemental Relic or something defensive for protection but as the spikes started flying again, nobody stepped forward. The crowd shuffled around, trying to get out of the way of the deadly ice. Sometimes it worked. Most of the time, someone was hit.

“Fuck!”, Avenger said. She had probably forgotten the speakers and the curse was broadcast to everyone. It only managed to increase the manic laughter coming from Zero.

The flying girl looked back and forth for a second before coming to a decision. Then she dove into the crowd and started pulling up two people by the arms. Of course, the villain would not let her be and fired at the hero. Avenger tried to pull up more quickly. Then, the spikes shattered mid-air. Another voice sounded out through a set of speakers.

“I got you, Avenger!”

“Robot!”, she exclaimed.

Morgan looked over at the new arrival. Just to the side, a guy hovered with a jetpack on his back. He wore simple armour that looked more like metal tubes cut into pieces and had a gun in each of his hands. One was long and had a sleek design, the other looked more like a normal handgun. His helmet was a weird combination of Robocop and Iron Man. A single wide visor glowing a soft red covered his eyes and a simplistic faceplate protected the rest lower half of his head.

“Just get the people out. I’ll distract the villain”, he said.

Avenger nodded and moved to comply.

Zero turned to the new adversary.

“Who the fuck are you?”

Just before Robot could answer, a double set of spikes shot towards him. The hero shifted his body and deflected the ice with his armour. Then, he trained his long gun at the villain and pulled the trigger. It charged for a short moment before releasing a blast of energy. Zero had already jumped away by the time it landed and the hero only managed to rip a hole into the park. A rather huge hole, Morgan thought.

Robot continued shooting at the villain, ripping holes into the grass. After the third dodge, he decided to aim between Zero and the crowd to drive the murderer away from the people. Morgan looked around. Still, nobody was trying to help the fight. Everyone was just looking on in a state between panic and fascination, while Avenger kept carrying people over the wall.

Then, Morgan had a thought.

“Robot!”, she called, “Can you blow up the wall?”

The distraction allowed the villain to land another shot. It glanced off the armour but not without leaving a scratch in the paint.

“Bloody Hell!”, Robot shouted, “You just don’t know when to stop!”

Morgan could see the villain’s evil grin even with the mask on. Then, his hand motioned towards her. One icicle came right at Hannah with a second targeting Avenger who was carrying another two people.

“Fuck!”, Robot cursed and aimed his handgun.

Two slight shakes of his hand were the only indication for projectiles being fired. The first picked the ice coming for the other hero out of the air, the second missed. Sylvester barely managed to shove Hannah out of the way and the spike pierced through his arm. His cry of pain rattled Morgan like nothing she heard before. Compared to this, the injury he had taken on the first day of school had been barely a scratch.

After a second of freezing in place, Morgan jumped forwards to pull her friend down. Hannah had her hands clamped in front of her mouth as another spike of ice punctured her torso, showering the others with blood.

“Hannah!”, Morgan screeched.

The girl staggered from the impact. Her hands fell towards the ice protruding from her chest. She poked and prodded it as if not believing its existence. The spike shifted slightly at her touch. She pulled carefully, removing it along with a coating of blood. When it was out of her body, she dropped the projectile like it had spit in her morning coffee. With a cough, she spat a glob of red onto the already crimson grass.

“Fuck”, she stated.

Morgan stared. There was a gaping hole right between the girl's breasts. The clothes were in tatters and everything was red. But no blood was flowing. Instead, it was as if a membrane of the red liquid had closed off the gap. It pulsed slowly as if from a heartbeat. Hannah closed her eyes and sank to her knees. Her boyfriend whispered her name, his own injury forgotten. The spike was still stuck in his arm. On hearing his voice, she half-opened one eye and gave him a soft smile before bringing a finger to her lips in a shushing motion. Then, she went back to whatever she was doing.

A loud bang ripped Morgan out of her increasing panic. She looked to the source, the frozen wall opposite of Zero. It had collapsed, a breach spanning a few metres opened up. Another electric boom sounded out followed by an explosion behind the mass of bodies still in the way. A shower of ice and dirt told of the remaining wall’s fate.

With the path open, the panicked crowd ran for their lives. Within seconds, only Morgan and her friends as well as a few other people too injured to flee were still left in the park’s remains.

“Come here you stupid mosquito!”, she heard the villain call.

He was currently spinning around himself in an attempt to target the flying hero.

“My name is Avenger!”, she shouted.

“Fuck if I care! Y...”

Whatever else he wanted to say was interrupted by the earth under his feet erupting much similar to the ice wall. The villain’s words turned into a scream of pain that quickly cut off and Morgan could not help but feel a tiny smirk of satisfaction on her lips. She caught herself, focusing back on her injured friends. Sylvester was looking at his girlfriend with tears in his eyes while she carefully patted his head and murmured soft words at him.

“I’m fine, Morgan”, she said without turning.

More shouting made her turn back to the heroes. Robot stood tall in front of a crater, behind him a pile of dirt tinged red. Avenger was angrily berating him while walking back and forth.

“What the fuck took you so long? And what were you thinking bringing that monstrosity of a weapon? Huh? Your non-lethal shit would’ve taken this asshole down much quicker!”

“We don’t know that. You said bring the big guns…”

“I know what I said!”, she screeched. The speakers were still on, “I don’t care what you made of it! Don’t go fucking lethal on the very first thing that goes wrong, you…!”

The heroine was at a loss for words. Rather than keeping up with the useless argument, Morgan decided to be productive and call the authorities. With a few words, she learned she was not the only one and help was already on its way. She sighed, tension slowly leaving her body. When her eyes found the blood seeping into her trousers, the first thought in her head was that it would be a bitch to clean that. She shook her head and refocused. Her friends were injured. Badly. She got to her feet and took the two steps to where they still kneeled in the crimson grass.

“You’re really okay, Hannah?”, she asked.

The girl turned to her.

“Yeah. Look.”

She pushed Sylvester away a little bit and showed off the hole still covered in a red membrane.

“The fuck is that?”, Morgan asked.

“Magic.”

“I know it’s magic”, she rolled her eyes, “What’s it made of?”

This time, there was some mirth in Hannah’s grin.

“Blood. Can’t you see?”

“So, you’re a blood mage, or what?”

“No! I’m not! I have a sensory Relic, remember?”

At this point, Sylvester piped in.

“Did you get some sort of regeneration upgrade, or what?”

“Nyes. Sort of. I…”, she looked over to the approaching hero. Both of them were checking on the injured, “We’ll talk later.”

“You guys alright?”, Robot asked as he arrived.

Morgan glanced at her injured friends.

“Sorta? We’re gonna need an ambulance but we’ll hold out for a few minutes at least.”

Then, he spotted Hannah’s injury.

“What the fuck… That doesn’t look alright to me.”

The girl in question smirked.

“I’ll be fine. Just need someone to bandage this within an hour or two.”

“Regeneration? No. That wouldn’t need patching that late. Some side effect?”

“Yeah.”

The hero nodded.

“Alright. What about you?”, he asked Sylvester.

“I… It hurts but it’s nothing compared to her. I’ll be fine.”

Robot looked at the icicle in his arm sceptically.

“No. You won’t. You need to get that removed and bandaged within a few minutes or you might get frostbite. Would suck to lose your arm. I’ll have one of the doctors rush here to help you as soon as they arrive.”

Just then, the telltale sirens of ambulance trucks met Morgan’s ears.

“Speak of the devil. Let me get to the other injured. You okay?”

He looked at her with the last words.

“Yeah. Didn’t get injured.”

He nodded and was off.

The next few minutes were almost as hectic as the attack itself. Doctors from at least three wagons rushed through the gap in the still-standing ice wall, Robot and Avenger pointing out the injured but alive people that needed help. With a few quick glances, the heroes were dismissed and told to stay back as treatment began. Shortly after, the first officers took a look at the scene of crime.

A doctor finally moved to Morgan’s group at that time and started fussing over her friends. She was dumbstruck when Hannah told her she had a full-on hole in her chest and needed someone to bandage it. Within seconds, a stretcher was brought but the half-Asian just stood up and started walking, an assistant rushing for support but not needed. Sylvester looked just as incredulous as the doctor when she refocused on him.

With more fussing and shouting, they got his icicle removed and the arm bandaged. Morgan looked on with a racing heart but knew there wasn’t much she could do at this point. For that, she would have to return home and start brewing some more potions.

A doctor approached and brought her out of her musing.

“Hey! You alright? Any injuries?”

She waved her hand in front of Morgan’s face. The girl in question blinked, focusing on the emergency nurse.

“Yeah. I didn’t get hit. Only my friends there.”

She pointed at the delirious Sylvester being carried away on a stretcher and the doctor nodded.

“Good. Let me check you over real quick, just in case, alright?”

Morgan nodded reflexively, already back in her thoughts.

She needed to make that Basic Rejuvenating Potion. It would heal Sylvester’s and Hannah’s wounds both. The spikes with a diameter of around two centimetres had torn into them but even this simple potion could fix that if combined with sufficient nutrients. Just as she was about to contemplate the recipes she needed, the doctor spoke up again.

“You’re looking fine. How are you feeling?”

Morgan blinked once more.

“Thanks. I’m good.”

“Good enough to answer some questions?”, she indicated a nearby officer that was eyeing the patients still being treated, “They want first-hand descriptions. Only if you’re up to it, though.”

Morgan thought it over for a moment and found no reason not to speak with the police. That would confirm her mental state to be fine and get her out of there and back home as fast as possible. She nodded.

“Sure. I can do that.”

The doctor waved the expectant officer over.

“She’s fine?”, he asked.

“Yes. Don’t push too hard, though!”

The policeman took the reprimand with a dismissive nod and turned to Morgan.

With a few questions, she retold the experience of the last ten minutes. It really hadn’t been any longer than that, she realized. Morgan was entirely truthful in her answers but decided to avoid mentioning it was her who called out to Robot. That might just get her into trouble. With a few encouraging words, the officer thanked her and moved on to someone else.

When she left the still mostly encased park, another doctor started fussing over her. At least the police had formed a perimeter to hold back reporters and onlookers. After being held up for a few more minutes, Morgan thought she could finally make her way back home only to be stopped by the approaching form of Avenger.

“Hey, you good?”, the heroine asked.

“I’m getting that question a lot today. But yes. Thanks for the help.

“That was good thinking back there to blow up the wall. It didn’t even come to me with all the action. Say, what’s your Relic? Or, if you don’t want to tell, do you think it could help out? Like we did?”

Morgan raised an eyebrow.

“If you’re thinking I’m going to dress up in spandex and try playing hero, then no. Not interested.”

The girl looked down at her costume.

“It’s not that bad, is it?”, she murmured, “You don’t have to use spandex! I just grew up with all the comics and movies and wanted to be like them!”

Morgan smiled softly.

“That’s fine and all but I don’t think I’m cut out for this sort of thing. Today was more than enough for a lifetime.”

“You really don’t want to? Oh! I know! Robot, come over here!”

She turned around and waved her companion over. He was preoccupied with three officers berating him for something but when he turned around and walked over, they refrained from stopping him and followed instead.

“What’s up?”, the Iron Man knock-off asked.

“You got another one of those transponders?”

“Sure?”

He glanced at Morgan before a panel on his jetpack opened and he pulled out a small object looking suspiciously like an earbud.

“Here you go.”

“Thanks!”

With Robot occupying the officers once more, Avenger turned back to Morgan.

“Here, take this. You can listen in on our comms for a month before the battery runs out. You can even talk to us if you want!”

“I’m not sure I do.”

“It does track location, so I get it but… Please? You’d be a little closer to what we’re doing and maybe you’ll change your mind?”

“Now I’m pretty sure I don’t want that.”

Avenger looked like she was about to beg on her knees.

“Just for a month. You can leave it at your home and listen in when you want to. And it only sends audio if you put it in and activate it with the mental command.”

Morgan sighed.

“Look. Here’s the thing. I don’t want to be a hero. I don’t want to go around constantly throwing myself into danger. That’s not for me. Just leave it.”

Avenger quickly looked around. When she found nobody within a few steps, she leaned forward conspiratorially and whispered in Morgan’s ear.

“I can even pay you for it. We really need some help. We’re just not trained for this.”

She carefully pushed the girl away.

“There is probably someone here who has enhanced senses from their Relic that just heard you”, she said.

“See, that’s just what I mean! You’re so good at this!”

“I just use my brain.”

“Ouch. Kinda true, but ouch.”

“Are we done here?”

“Please just take this. We can talk details later, okay?”

Avenger looked to be on the verge of tears. Morgan shook her head and took the transponder.

“I’ll talk to you but if I don’t like what I hear then, I’m gonna trash it.”

The hero smiled.

“Thanks. That’s all I can ask.”

Morgan rolled her eyes and made to leave. She could not wait to get home. An officer stopped her three steps later.

“Miss, are you with them?”, he pointed at the heroes.

“No. Never met them before.”

“Do we have your statement?”

“Officer Roads took it earlier.”

The policeman nodded and confirmed her claim with his radio.

“You’re good to go. Probably want to throw those pants in the trash. Blood doesn’t wash.”

“Um, could you tell me which hospital my friends were brought to?”

After getting the information, Morgan found her way to the bus. She got some glances in the bus at her blood-soaked trousers but the news must have already made the rounds on social media since most of the looks were pitying or asking if she was fine.

That was a question she ran through her mind a few times on the drive. Was she fine? The answer was a resounding yes. Her friends had survived, the villain had been punished. And she knew how to help her friends’ injuries heal faster. All the blood was mostly just a side effect. She had been confident it was only a question of time. Now, how could she get rid of the heroes and find the time to make her potions?

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