After venting years of pent up emotion for this particular moment, I allow myself to fall back on the couch, letting out a bitter laugh.
After years of self damnation, the laugh came out with a sigh of frustration and relief. For a moment, I felt like I'm better than everyone.
I grabbed the coffee on the table, took a sip and spat it back.
"Blegh... It's stale like a graveyard puddle."
I set the mug on the table. My gaze falls to the book once more. The blood-ink is drying on the pages. Looking back, I don't know why I chose that sentence to write first. It's like the words just popped inside my mind.
I picked up the book. Tracing the now dry blood-ink on the page. After a momentary bliss of pride. I kept thinking to myself. 'What now?' Sure, I've made progress after all these years. But I know that even if it's the end of me, it'll not be the end of my research.
I must think of the next step, I must..
Then, a soothing voice whispered in my ears. A shallow sound that can barely be heard, sending a shiver through my spine. I tried to make something out of it, and look for the source of the whispers.
I looked around the room to find any clues, but found none. Then, a clear whisper lingers in my ears. 'Come.' The voice said.
"Come, and see the world unrevealed before you."
"Come."
The voice is soft and weak, but clear enough to the naked ears. I immediately know where the whisper is coming from. I opened the window, and I was right, the voice is getting clearer. I quickly grabbed my bag and stuffed the gospel alongside the quill inside the bag.
I rushed out of the building, searching for the direction of the whisper, ignoring the noise of the bustling city. I recognized that the whisper came from the south and ran towards that direction. As I run, the voice keeps getting clearer and audible.
I ran for a couple of meters until I stopped in front of a park. The whisper can be heard clearly. I started walking around the park, looking for the source of the voice.
Then.. my eyes landed on an old playground. I remember it now. I used to go to this park when I was a naive child.
I approach the playground. The familiar slide, the rusting swings. It's just like I remember from my childhood. Nostalgia hits me right in the guts. I trace the slide with my fingers, as if wanting to go back — back to where it all began.
Suddenly, my eyes landed on something that doesn't belong — or perhaps, someone.
At that time, it felt like time was frozen in place, as I laid eyes on the figure in front of me. He is a man in a black robe, holding what seems to be a book in his hand.
The man closes his book, and turns to me with a smile.
"Hey."
He greeted me nonchalantly as he stood up and walked up to me until we're just a few centimeters away.
"I've been waiting for you, Frienzi Escoffier."
I raised an eyebrow at the mention of my name. I didn't know the guy, yet he knows me. Is he a friend, or a foe with a woe?
The man observed me with critical eyes. A wicked grin playing on his lips. Finally, the silence was broken.
"I've been looking forward to this encounter. My name is Reynald Lionheart. Call me anything you like."
He then starts circling me like a prey, his gaze never leaving my figure. I stand still, waiting for him to make any sudden movement.
"Relax, I'm not your enemy. Unless.. you wanted me to be."
His threat hanging in the air. I cross my arms above my chest. At that moment, I saw the book he was holding, it's identical to mine and I knew I couldn't mistake it for the same copy.
"The book. Where did you get it?"
He raised an eyebrow, it seems my question piqued his interest. He leans in closer, until I can smell the scents of his black robe, its smell of lavender and other things I can't quite grasp.
"It's a family heritage. But that's not important. Let me ask you this — do you know what you're holding?"
I think for a moment, torn between wanting to tell him the truth or to not trust him. What should I do?
I nodded.
"A blood sucking beast that feast on human blood. As far as I'm concerned."
The man smiled before letting out a dry humorless laugh. He then turned to me with a serious expression.
"This is what the folks in white called.. Gospel of Nyx. It's a book with mystic power, but you already know that don't you? Blood for knowledge."
He leans back against the slide and pulls out a box of cigarettes. He takes one out and puts it between his lips lightning it with a lighter.
"But that's just the little price we pay for a greater good. Sometimes, you need to sacrifice your own being to change what have been—"
He throws the cigarettes on the ground.
"—fated."
The gound cought on fire immediately after the cigarettes touches it, spreading aggressively like a wildfire. I shield myself from the sparks using the back of my arm. My eyes narrowed as I saw him just standing there amidst the spreading chaos.
"After all.. everything in this world is.. fleeting."
The fabric of reality cracked and shattered into pieces, as a faint glow of white creaks between the cracks.
Then.. a big explosion, consuming the past, present and future. I was blown away into nothingness, like a stone in nihility's domain. My body drifted into the empty space without destination. My vision was getting blurry, like a swimmer in a deep ocean.
Then.. a hand reached out to me, I quickly grabbed it as it pulled me upwards, towards what feels like a wormhole.
When I finally emerge at the end of the bottomless pit, I look at my surroundings. It's.. strange and otherworldly. It's a world I have never seen before.
"Is this..?"
I looked at the man who pulled me, it was him again.
"My friend, welcome. To the fourth dimension — time."
He offered his hand to me and helped me to stand on my foot. I look around the vast ocean of stars, it's everywhere and nowhere.
Without saying a word, he started walking, expecting me to follow. And so I do. I follow closely behind him, afraid if I were to lose someone in this uncertain domain.
"Why did you bring me here? What are you scheming?"
I asked while keeping up my pace with him.
"Perhaps because we are the same. Two people in a vast world of probability."
He then came to a halt, as he turned his face fully to me.
"What lies ahead will be the answer that will favor both of us. Go and seek, and you shall get."
I looked at the endless path before me, what kind of answer is he seeking? And what of mine? Ahead is a path of no return.
—Penning a new chapter...