Chapter 3 – The Encounter

Where is this? Olen thought. He was in an unfamiliar place. Four walls surrounded him, and the room wasn’t too big either. It appeared that there wasn’t any door or whatsoever that he could leave. Bewildered, he searched around for any possible exits. When did I end up here, he thought.
He searched the walls, brushing his hand over any possible hidden switches. He was hoping for any secret exits. None.
I guess this happens only in the movies, he thought. After long efforts of pointless searching, he decided to give up. He sat down leaning himself against a wall. He stared blankly across the room, at the opposite wall. This is pointless… a dream? He hoped.
Upon “what it seem like forever” waiting, he shut his eyes.
Then, he heard a cry of help. Instantly, he opened up his eyes to see a young teenager kneeling down 4 metres in front of him. He stood up at once, then was shocked to see a black hooded man standing behind the teenager. His heart raced when he saw that the man was holding a huge scythe.

“Stop!” he yelled.

The boy’s face turned bloody, and Olen quickly rushed to him. But as he arrives near the boy, an invisible barrier threw him off his feet. He was too late. The black hooded man pierced the teenager boy with his humongous scythe and blood came gushing out through the boy’s stomach.

“No!!!” Olen screamed as he woke up from bed. Sweat was dripping through his forehead and brow, he was breathing hard. He observed his surroundings. The slightly familiar room reminded him that he was in the hotel room he checked in yesterday. He turned to his watch on the table next to him. It was 3.am. early in the morning.

So it was a dream, after all… he thought as he lay back down on his bed, wiping off his sweat.

But it didn’t felt like a dream to him. He remembered the teenage boy. He wasn’t anybody Olen could recognize but yet he felt something particular about him. His thoughts shifted to the black hooded man. A cold shiver ran through his spine as he pictured the black hooded man. It reminded him of the past, but that was almost 5 years ago.
He decided to forget about the dream and went back to sleep. But as he closed his eyes, the image of the hooded man kept appearing in his head. It was haunting him.


Somewhere else in New York

“Miss Woods, even though you mentioned it before, it cannot be done. I’m afraid that the decision has become irrevocable,” a young man in a business suit said as he relaxed on his luxurious black chair.
“I can’t believe it,” exclaimed a young, elegant, long-browned haired lady in front of him. She was standing up, with a tense look of her face. Both of her hands were tightly pressed against the young’s man desk. “I submitted the appeal the day before!”

“I understand that,” the young lawyer replied. “It appears that they really wanted the case to be closed. There’s nothing I can do about it,”

The lady was furious that she could not do anything about the judgement. Her face was drowned in anxiety and fear. As she was cursing her incapability, a thought of hope suddenly came upon her.
“Wait,” she said as her expression changed.
The man looked at her curiously, anticipating an idea.
“What if… I appeal to the senator?” she said. “We used to be friends when we attended law school.”
The lawyer looked at her, amazed that she had such connections. But, he couldn’t stop the disappointment he was about to give.
“I’m impressed. But, even though it’s the senator, the decision was passed by the High Court in Washington. Nothing can revoke it. The injunction cannot be passed, unfortunately,”
The lady was disappointed by his answer, but she already knew the outcome. Even she was at the end of her wits, but somewhere inside of her heart, she was still hoping for a chance. And now… he had only affirmed the inevitable.

“Well… I’ll just leave it to that if I were you,” the man advised. He turned to his drawer and reached out a set of documents, laying them on the table to be signed.
The lady could not believe that nothing could be done. She was racing through thoughts of possible solutions. It was not the time for her to give up. The execution day was only a week.
“Don’t mind me asking?” the man interrupted her trains of thoughts. She looked at him, distracted.
“Is he… someone dear to you?”
She shot a puzzled look at him. Surely he is important, she thought at the irrelevance of his question. Why would I be so concerned?

“I know this is inappropriate of me asking, but…” the man said as he lowered his tone. “I’ve never heard you mentioned that whether he was your friend or family. I thought he couldn’t be your lover since I didn’t see you in tears when the decision was announced…”

The lady’s expression changed. She looked away, knowing he was right. Even she herself wasn’t sure what their relationship was. “It’s… rather complicated,” she answered.
“But…” she said as she looked at him. “I’m sure that we were more than friends,”

The man gave a faint smile as he heard that. He stood up and offered his hand.
“Miss Woods. It has been a pleasure working with you. If you require any help in the future, do give me a ring. I’ll stand by for you,”
“Thank you,” she smiled. “Don’t need to call me Miss. Woods, just call me by my first name,”
The man smiled as they shook hands. “Okay… Rebecca”
The lady lifted her handbag from the chair and helped herself towards the door.
“Maybe we can have lunch sometime?” the man asked suddenly.
Rebecca turned back, and smiled. “Yes, we can,”
A relieved smile appeared on the man’s face. He was happy that he managed to score this time.
As Rebecca walked out, he interrupted again, “I’ve heard some rumour though,”
The lady stopped on her tracks and turned around, intrigued on what he has to say.

“They say that the higher-ups are involved…” the man whispered.
Rebecca was amused to hear that. She looked at him intently, expecting to hear more.
“We both know that the session hearing was in the high court in Washington. The nature of that case usually wouldn’t involve the high court unless it involved a first degree murder,” he continued in a whisper.
“Yeah, I know” Rebecca nodded. “It is obviously suspicious,”
“Well…,” the man said as he slowly approached Rebecca. “There are only a few people that can pull the strings from behind.”
Rebecca positioned herself to listen properly. He whispered something into her ear.
A bewildered look appeared on her face. “You don’t mean…”
The man gave her a -I-don’t-know-but-maybe- look. Rebecca was shocked at his words. She never considered the possibility, and now it has made her more confused.

As she left the skyscraper building into the buzzing busy city streets, the words of the young lawyer echoed in her mind.
“I’ve never heard you mentioned that whether he was your friend or family. I thought he couldn’t be your lover since I didn’t see you in tears when the decision was announced…”

She thought about it for a while. She realized she never really had the answer to that question.
I didn’t cry… she thought to herself. Because I thought there is a way out… somehow
But then, she hesitated. A empty feeling hit her.
But who am I, to him…





Olen’s Old Apartment

Knock…knock…
Knock…knock… knock
Knock….knock

The door swung open. “I told you that I’m never coming out of this place!” a lady exclaimed.
Olen stood at the entrance, bewildered.
“Oh…” said Tricia to her relief. “It’s you… I thought you were one of those pesky people who were trying to drive me out,”
Olen shrugged.
“Well, come in then,” she said as she ushered him in.

As he entered, he was surprised to find the messy place from the previous night now organized and tidied. He was even more amazed that such a loud woman could be organized in that matter. “Coffee?” Tricia asked. Olen nodded at her offer. He sat on the chair at the coffee table near the kitchen where Tricia was pouring coffee.
“So, what brings you here?” she asked as she serve a cup of coffee to him. “I hope you’re not here also to persuade me to leave my house,” she joked.
“Nah” Olen shook his head, putting in some sugar into his coffee.
“Although I like the thought of it…” he said softly.
“What?!” Tricia exclaimed. “I can’t believe you said that! Even if you did stay here before, but the place is mine now! I bought it remember?”
“Calm down,” Olen said. “It’s just a joke!”
Tricia made a displeased remark.
“Anyway…” Olen said while sipping on his coffee, changing the subject. “I remembered I left something here. I was hoping to take it back,”
Tricia looked at him and in her deep thoughts, she said, “If you’re looking for your old clothes and those paper documents… I gave the clothes away and threw away the papers,”
“Oh not those…” Olen said, still trying to find words to describe the item he was looking for.
Tricia was already walking around the living room, slightly touching the displayed antiques. “Some of your antiques are still here. There are those which I threw them away. Well, they weren’t really interesting and in any good condition anyway,”
While the old clothes and paper documents did not matter to Olen, but when he heard that some of his antiques were thrown away, he felt his heart sink.
“It’s alright…” he said, trying to hide his disappointment. “More importantly…”
Tricia was gazing through some of the antique vases, wiping some dust of them when Olen approached her.
“Did you see a chain locket?” he asked.
Tricia was puzzled. She couldn’t recall anything of it.
“Well… that isn’t a good way to describe it, I suppose,” Olen explained. “It’s like a medallion…”
“A medallion? A chain locket?” she asked. “Those two are different things, you know?”

Olen couldn’t help but agree. “Well….yeah. But the item is somewhere along those line. Just imagine a round object that looks like a medallion but it has a chain around it that makes it look like a chain locket?”

Olen’s description sent Tricia deep in her thoughts again. Again, she could not recall seeing it anywhere.
“Umm…Can you be more specific? Where did you last place it before you went MIA?” she asked again.
Olen thought about it, and walked into one of the rooms. He frantically searched the pile of boxes in the room. Tricia entered, doubting the medallion was really there. She remembered she had cleared the store room of its mess before and organized everything into the boxes.
“I don’t think you will be finding what you are looking for,” she said as she lean against the door.
Olen was still busy searching. He was opening up boxes by boxes, his eyes searching the contents carefully for the medallion.
“I packed everything that was useful into those boxes,” she said, hoping to stop Olen from wasting his efforts.
“You said you threw some stuff right?” he asked. “Did you remember what you threw from this room?”
“Well… like I said earlier… I got rid of those old clothes and paper documents. I gave the old clothes away,”
That didn’t help Olen. He wasn’t sure where he placed the medallion. His vague memory only gave him a hint that he hid the medallion in some object.
“Anything more?” he asked again, still searching.
“I told you, didn’t I?” Tricia exclaimed. She was getting agitated. “Only your unwanted clothes and documents!”
It suddenly hit him. He remembered clearly now where he placed the medallion.
“You gave the clothes away? Every single one of them in this room?” he asked.
Tricia gave him a look. “Yeah, every one of them,”
Olen smacked his head upon hearing it. He swore in his thoughts.
Tricia looked at him, puzzled. “What?”
As he tried to regain his composure, he said, “I… hid the medallion in a jacket. It has a secret compartment,”

“Oh…” Tricia said, realizing that the jacket had been long given away. “Is it very important? A valuable object? Or of sentimental value?”

“Err…” Olen said as he composed his thoughts. “None of the above I suppose. An object of interest, I would put it”
Tricia felt a slight relief as she heard that. “Well… that shouldn’t be too much of a concern to you, right? After all, you didn’t took it with you when you left,”
She was right. It wasn’t of a sentimental value to him, neither did he know whether it was valuable. Olen questioned himself again on why he suddenly wanted to search the medallion so badly. Oh right… he thought. He remembered finding it from one of his missions when he was still in ACB. It was a particular object that he didn’t find the use for. But he kind of liked the design of it.
“Who did you give the clothes to?” he asked, suddenly.
Tricia was quite taken aback from his question. “I can’t really remember,”
“Well, please try to think!” he urged. She wasn’t too happy about it.
“I thought it wasn’t something important?!” she replied, agitated.
“Yes I know… But I need to find it somehow,” Olen explained. “Would you please… try to remember?” he asked politely.
Tricia gave a loud sigh. “I think I gave… your old clothes to the orphanage, some smaller sized ones to a charity organisation… and…”
“And..?”

“…and I think some clothes of your size to a hobo…”
Olen was bewildered. He never expected hearing that. “You gave my clothes to a hobo?!”
“I intended to give them to another charity organisation but I passed by a hobo on the way!”
Olen felt as if a huge weight dropped on him. There was no way he could find all the clothes now. “Are you sure you gave clothes of my size to the hobo?”
“He was looking rather miserable! The other clothes didn’t seem to fit him. I was just being a good Samaritan!”
Olen knew he couldn’t blame her. He was only frustrated at the possibility of the hobo making any fortune off the medallion if discovered. He would then never be able to trace the location of the medallion.
“Thank you,” he paused. “I apologize for my inappropriate outburst,” he said as he head for the main entrance.
Tricia followed behind. “Wait,” she said.
Olen looked at her, puzzled.
“You are going to look for it, aren’t you?” she asked.
“Yes, every single alley, “dodgy areas” in this city,” Olen answered.
Tricia thought for a moment. She took a deep breath and looked directly at Olen. “I’ll come with you,”
“What?!” Olen said, shocked.
“Well, if you are going to look for it, I can help you identify the hobo!” she exclaimed. “After all… I feel partly responsible for giving your clothes away…” she said as her voice softened.
Olen gave her a unbelieving look. “There isn’t any hidden intention, is there?”
“No! I’m genuine!” she defended herself.
Olen hesitated. He didn’t want to trouble her. Bringing her along would be a burden, he thought.
“I just want to help. I won’t be any sort of burden!” she said, somehow knowing his thoughts.
Olen hesitated again. But, then he managed to make up his mind. “Well then. Let’s go,”


11 p.m. – KingCross

A dark sleek BMW stopped in front of the large plaza. A woman got out of it, and observed her surroundings. The plaza had closed, and the area was deserted. Dim lights from the street lamps lit the pave way that the woman was standing on. She took a deep breathe and whispered to herself, “I think it’s somewhere close…”

Nearby, Olen was walking through an alleyway with Tricia struggling to follow behind.
“Are you mad? Haven’t we searched enough for today?” she yelled. She was panting hard, and she was amazed with how she managed to follow him the entire day. She counted that she would at least visited more than 25 alleyways and dodgy places. But, above all, she wondered where on earth he got the energy and determination.
“I didn’t ask you to come,” Olen stopped, turning back to Tricia. “I told you I would search the entire city,”
“Freak…” she swore, softly.
“What?” Olen pretended to not hear and approached her.
“I’m tired to say it!” she exclaimed. Olen gave her a look. He somehow guessed that she would curse him under her breaths.
“Well, I’ll take you home now. I’ll get a cab,” he said as he walked off.
But, as he moved away, a sudden shiver hit him. He stopped immediately in his tracks.
“Whh..at?” Tricia asked, recovering from her exhaustion.
Olen did not reply. He merely stood there, silent.
“Olen…?” she asked, puzzled.
It can’t be… Olen thought to himself.
Suddenly, he turned to Tricia and said, “Remember the KingCross plaza we passed? I want you to run back there,”
Tricia was shocked by his words. “What?!” she exclaimed, unbelieving her ears.
“Go back there now, please. I don’t have time to explain,” Olen urged.
Tricia was puzzled. But she could tell that he wasn’t joking by the tone of his voice.
Then it came again. Olen felt a striking fear. An aura was close by.
It’s close! he thought. “Go now!” he yelled on impulse.
He left Tricia behind, puzzled and scared. She had slightly felt the aura too, and now she was trembling.
Olen paced along the street. His heart was racing fast. It had been a long time that he had ever felt this fear. It wasn’t the same fear he had when he had faced the fallen angel during his first day at New York. This great fear he was experiencing, had only been amplified with the presence of Tricia. It would be disaster if she was involved.
How is it possible that a liberated demon could manifest itself here… he thought to himself in disbelief.
As he closes by the source of the aura, he touched the cross on his belt.
“Truth…” he muttered as he threw his hand upward. A shinning light flew upwards to the air from his belt. It materialized into a sword. Olen grabbed the sword swiftly in mid-air as it dropped to the ground.

He stopped on his tracks and saw his opponent. The demon had human like hands while the legs resembled of a bulls. The demon was relatively huge, and it had a disfigured bull-like face. It eyes glared with brimming fire.
“A fire element liberated demon,” Olen whispered to himself. “This isn’t going to be easy,”

The demon saw Olen, and grinned. “Cross bearer…” it said with a dark low pitched echoing voice, groaning.
“Tell me,” Olen said as he pointed his sword at the huge demon. “Why are you allowed to appear in your true form here?”
The demon laughed at Olen’s words. “Allowed? You’re pathetic!”
Olen was taken aback from the demon’s remark. He was cautious as well, as he had not fought these kind of demons in the past 5 years.
“It only took a matter of time before the balance was broken! After all, you humans helped in the process!” the demon continued.
Olen heard in disbelief. Us humans?
“Are you confused? I’m not surprised. Humans are a foolish creation of God anyway.” The demon laughed.
In an instant, Olen appeared in front of the demon, striking his sword at the still laughing demon.
But, the demon already saw through his move defended the strike with its bare hands. Olen jumped back, aiming for another strike. He aimed at the demon’s hands.

But, a spiritual barrier suddenly appeared and prevented him from moving onwards.
Coward… Olen cursed in his thoughts. I guess its time to use it…
He focused a high proportion of his spiritual energy unto his sword.
“Murasame,” he muttered, as he gently moved his finger along the blade of the sword.
The sword materialized into a longer, refiner, and thinner blade. Olen swiftly swing the materialized murasame around. Perfect… he thought.
“Interesting…” the demon said as it observed the newly materialized weapon. “I see that your sword can change elements. I assume that would be a water elemental katana?”
Olen did not reply and speedily charged at the demon. He thrust his murasame at the spiritual barrier, cleaving in slightly.

“It’s useless…” the demon said as it instantly disappeared. Olen anticipated a deadly punch from above and swiftly dodged. The demon missed and its fist slammed on the ground, blasting off flames upon impact. Olen’s murasame reacted and a water ripper was formed around it. He defended the oncoming flames with it and the water on the murasame evaporated upon impact.
“Though my flames cannot affect the realm of the living, but it can affect you, a half-spiritual being,” the demon said as it regained its composure.
Olen realized the extent of his words, and immediately dodged the flames charging from behind.
But it wasn’t the end. The flames appeared to have a mind of its own. It turned back 360 degrees and charged at Olen again.

Holding his murasame straight with both hands, Olen formed a water barrier. As the flames burst upon impact, the water barrier dissolved and splashes of water landed on the paved road.
Olen panted, as he had used a considerable amount of spiritual energy to form the water barrier. The demon merely laughed at his weakness. Without resting, he used more energy to speed up his movement as he charged towards the demon. Water splashed as his murasame clashed with the spiritual barrier. Olen instantly took another stance, and thrust his weapon at the barrier, this time cleaving all the way in. The barrier broke and dissolved.

“Impressive…” the demon said. “But, that was just the beginning,”
Without warning, Olen was hit on his stomach. He didn’t notice the attack and coughed out saliva on impact. He dropped to the ground, gripping his stomach in pain.
Forcing himself to stand up, he managed to notice an ugly deformed fist striking at him. He barely defended the attack with his murasame, and got thrown off the ground. He lost his grip on his murasame, and it landed on the ground away from him. Olen landed on the ground hard, screaming in pain.
Damn…he cursed. I can’t lose now… he said as he tried to gather his spiritual energy to recover himself from the blow. His eyes glanced at his murasame, which was 5 metres away from him.
Olen crawled on the ground, stretching his hands to reach for his murasame until the demon’s hooves stepped on it.
“You’re pathetic,” the demon mocked. “I can’t believe that this is what the Almighty has done in response! This is all too pathetic!”
Olen was silent. His eyes was focused on his murasame. His hands were still stretched out.
Wham!
He was kicked by the demon’s hooves.
“Useless. Useless!” the demon said as it repeatedly kicked Olen.
The stitching pain Olen was receiving was slowly becoming numb. His vision was becoming blurry.

Until, he heard a familiar voice.

“Grace!” a woman yelled from somewhere. The demon turned to see the interrupter. A cross earring on the woman’s right ear glowed…

To be continued…