The One, The Other

The person who stood at the front door was a tall woman, she draped a white hood around herself that reached below her knees and covered most of her body. Even though her face was hidden, Achilles could still tell that she was a beautiful and seductive woman.

She slowly walked towards the counter with calm footsteps that echoed throughout the store, each of her movements was filled with gracefulness and elegance which would draw the attention of any being.

As she arrived closer and closer to the counter, the scent of lily started to thicken in the air around Achilles but was not uncomfortable like the smell of heavy perfume, on the contrary, it was quite soothing and soon a wave of nostalgia suddenly hit him.

His mother, back when Achilles was still a child, used to grow a small garden in their house, she would always take him there after a long day to show him the lilies that she had planted. He would sit in her lap and listen to her talk about lily, her favorite flower.

Unbeknownst to him, a tear started to slide down his left cheek as he muttered quietly:

"Mother..."

The woman seemed to notice his reaction as she turned his head in his direction and said in a polite but cold voice:

"Excuse me, are you alright?"

Achilles snapped out of his trance as he looked at the woman who had a few strands of silvery-white hair visible underneath her hood then shook his head slightly:

"No, no. I'm fine."

He shifted his eyes away from the woman back to the paper bag, he started scanning the bag with his dimensional ring. The paper bag began disintegrating into white sparks and flew inside the ring. After a moment, the package was completely gone, he couldn't help but marvel at the sight:

'So convenient...'

"Boss, I'm here to take my package."The woman's melodious voice sounded out again which unconsciously drew Achilles back to her.

The owner took a look at the receipt that was displayed on the hologram by the woman's watch for a while, then said:

"Give me 3 minutes, I'll be back shortly."

The man came back behind the store, leaving Achilles and the hooded woman alone at the counter. Just as the former was about to leave, the latter spoke once more which halted his footsteps:

"Are you also here to purchase some equipments to go outside the city?"

Achilles lingered for a moment, then said fleetingly:

"Not really, just buying something for a friend."

"Are you from around here sir?" The woman kept asking her questions which made a small frown appear on his forehead for a second.

'What's up with this girl?'

"Sort of." He answered curtly.

For some reason, his instinct kept telling him to keep this conversation as short as possible. He couldn't really point his finger at the reason why but decided that it was best to listen to his inner voice.

"May I know your name?"

"...Stephen." He lied without a change in his expression.

"Stephen huh...I see...nice to meet you Mr.Stephen. Do you want to go somewhere and have a chat?" The woman said still with a polite smile on her face but there were some hidden emotions behind that smile, Achilles was not sure what it was.

"No thank you, I'm busy." He decided to end the talk right now and get out of the store.

He moved to the door and just as he touched the handle, the woman spoke mysteriously:

"Life is such a tragedy, don't you think so?"

Achilles didn't respond and simply walked out of the store, the bell rang out as his figure slowly got further away, until it could no longer be seen.

A while after Achilles had left, the shop's owner returned with another paper bag in his hands. He put the bag on the counter and asked the woman puzzledly:

"I thought you'd come by tomorrow to get your stuff, why did you suddenly come here today?"

The woman looked at the man for 2 seconds, then turned her head back to look at the door of the store. She said without turning her eyes away from the door:

"...Some stuffs happened."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The door to the shop opened which made the bell ring slightly. A woman wearing a white hood calmly walked out with slow and graceful footsteps. The voice of the owner could be heard as he sent words of gratitude to his customer.

The woman walked through the bustling street filled with people while drawing many eyes on her. She didn't react much to this since this was something she was already familiar with.

She soon got away from the busy street and arrived at an alley where a limousine was parked there. She arrived at the door and sat in the passenger seat, the driver greeted her in a respectful manner:

"Welcome back Ms.Evernight."

The woman who was being called Ms.Evernight only nodded her head slightly without saying anything. As soon as she tied her seatbelt on, the car quickly drove off into the sky.

Ms.Evernight opened her digital watch as it displayed a camera footage, she rested her left hand on the door as she looked intently at the holographic screen while not moving her eyes away for even a single inch.