Meeting

Rosebank Rd. The Shasha's House.

The landlord dropped by this evening to announce some changes to rules for the tenants.

According to him, his wife had decided to name the house after their daughter Shasha. As an appreciation for keeping the house clean, the landlord decided to waive the rental for a month.

Cheng Yang and Kang Chin stood there listening with full respect, which does not commonly happen. You could tell they are trying to express their appreciation for the one-month waiver.

When Alene comes home from all the hiding of the hunters out there, she was exhausted and surprised at the same time. She stands before the newly painted blue door with a red twig wreath hanging on it. She was all dazed by how fast the world could evolve on its own.

2 hours ago, she found out Krios Sethos disguised himself as a professor at the university.

2 hours later, she finds herself standing right in front of the house she rented, which had a makeover within her absence for only half a day.

"I need to pick up my pace." Alene soliloquized as she opened the door.

"Well, hello Alene! I have some great news for you and I am here to pass you a message from my wife." The landlord welcomed her return and share some gossip he heard down the street. He is a chatterbox himself but he complains about how much his wife talks and how and how eager his wife is to see her again soon.

As she listens to him, she saw Cheng Yang and Kang Chin behind the landlord, showing her fist pumps as a motivational sign.

It finally ended after half an hour when the landlord receive a call from his wife, he was asked to pick up some groceries in Asda. "Remember to visit her, you calm her nerves better than any doctor." said the landlord before he closes the door.

"God, it ended!" said Kang Chin with relief. He looked more exhausted than Alene after seeing her suffer.

"I never realize how talkative a man could be. He should feel ashamed for blaming his wife for that. He really knocks her off the champ." Cheng Yang slaps his cheeks as he walks to the kitchen, trying to keep himself awake. "Jeez, he is one of a kind! Way more powerful than any textbook I have encountered in my life!"

"Need a punch?" Kang Chin asks with his fist ready by his side.

"Save it for yourself. You need that to win that ten chips you lose last night."

"... You are a cruel bastard."

"Who stands by your side all night long even when you are losing? Who's the real bastard now?" Cheng Yang takes out a bag of seafood he got down the street. "Now, go and wash the rice and vegetables for me. When you are done, set the table."

Kang Chin didn't fight back on that. He just chuckled and do as he was told.

Alene raised her eyebrows as she watches their interaction in the living room. She can sense the corner of her mouth quirked up like a fool. They looked like newlyweds preparing for dinner. It looks rather pleasing.

"Ally, are you good for seafood?" asked Cheng Yang. He managed to pull out all the heads and innards of the squids in minutes. Now he is ready to wash the mussels as well.

"Yeah, I am. Uhm, I had to go out for a meeting, do you mind saving a portion for me? I can heat it when I get back."

"You are going out? Of course, it's a yes, we finally see some progress!" Cheng Yang seems happy like a proud father. "I will save some for you, but I'd worry that Kang Chin will steal it for supper."

"Ya right, I don't take supper!"

"Baby, stop talking back at me."

"..."

Alene went back to her room and opened the Scroll of Ethos, a few lines of words appeared on the thick brown papyrus surface of the scroll. The words look as if they are floating on the paper, with a dim mould green that makes it readable in the dark.

'Alert at heart. The unforeseen changes your plans. Routine makes your ignorance, shading you from miracles, blinding you from surprises. Open your eyes on treasures ahead, which shine upon your coming days, with prosperity ahead. '

Well, the scroll is right about the unforeseen changes, the alertness can be justified as well. Now, where did the surprises and miracles come from? Could it be the waiver of a one-month rental? You are such a naive scroll, thought Alene.

She must have blended in the crowd for too long and that causes the scroll to reek of mundane.

- - - - - -

Chemical Building.

Alene hurried to the Chemical Building. The campus looks deserted even before sunset, and most of the doors are shut. The only door to access the Chemical Building is through the Science Technology Faculty and you need a special access card to enter after 6 o'clock.

She managed to get in before the semi-lock system is active.

It is the first semester, so everyone is still enjoying their ice-breaking or warm-up session in the union building that is one block away. You can see the beaming lights from the window but it's dead quiet in the corridor here.

She took a deep breath and turn left into the narrow walkway.

At the end of it is that infamous Laboratory 1 that is almost abandoned by the lecturers due to poor maintenance of equipment. It is sandwiched between two buildings and it has no window at all. The laboratory seems empty, she thought as she opened the door.

A man in office attire is sitting at the right corner table of the laboratory, right at the blind spot of the viewing glass. He has a well-sculpted physique and olive skin exposed under the folded sleeves.

Alene walked a little closer, thinking that she might have seen him somewhere. His lightly styled short dark hair and aquiline nose look very familiar.

"Excuse me, I am looking for someone," said Alene.

The man raises his head, looking annoyed. "Please take a seat."

Alene froze for a second. She wasn't sure who he was at first but she recognizes his voice almost instantly. She must have lost her memories after seeing him in his office. He is Krios Sethos.

Alene recalls that he is very good-looking but all she remembers is those pairs of eyes that were so beautiful yet deadly.

She sits near the entrance in an uncomfortable posture while looking at Krios Sethos. She can feel the cold sweat in her palm, she just can't sit still.

Krios is trying to finish checking on the last paragraph of a literature review submitted by his student. He could sense her uneasiness even from far, like a rabbit hesitating for an escape. He frowned a little, trying to ignore those little movements not far from him.

It went on for half an hour. Alene couldn't take the tension anymore and she is up to leaving the laboratory for some change of air. Then she saw a faint light wrapping the door, like a layer of gooey liquid.

"I wouldn't touch it if I were you." Krios finishes typing the last line of comment, closes his laptop and looks straight at her. His eyes are sharp as always. "Unless you plan to end it here. "

Alene pulls her hand back instantly as if her hands were burned.

"Why would you plan to leave if you had already made your mind to see me?" Krios said with his arm crossed over his chest.

"Well, you looked busy so I thought I could just walk around until you are done with your work." Alene tries to explain herself. Then, she saw Krios packing his things into the cross bag in grace.

"I know Nileas let you off last night. I didn't stop him because I'm interested in the Scroll of Ethos. Now, what's your plan?"

"Plan? I... I don't have a plan." said Alene. She wasn't lying at all but she regrets not rephrasing her words to make a more official reply. What she could read off Krios' face now is anything but polite and respectful.

Krios utter with a sigh, looking rather helpless. It was the same way Nileas reacted when he thought Alene was being ignorant. "I don't know why... I believe what you said. A girl with the title of a third-rate hunter escaped to the western boundary, walking around the crowd without a plan. I thought you were luring the enemy but I was wrong, you're an idiot."

"Excuse me? What?"Alene clenched her fist, offended by his statement. That's enough, she thought. She somehow felt boiling hot, something is burning from within, raging to breakthrough.

Krios continues to add on: "And now you are planning for a suicide." He walked toward Alene as he watches her stepping back with a gesture ready to pounce. He lifted his finger in a swift and tap on her forehead.

A cold sensation pierces through her forehead, it runs down her vein like liquid, smooth and soothing. Alene was startled and gained her consciousness back, bewildered by her reaction before. She nearly breaks the seal she put on herself.

"You can't even control your emotion. One that fails to take control never master the skill as a spell caster." Krios returns to his seat but hasn't given up on lecturing her, as if she was one of his hopeless apprentices.

Alene is calm now but still offended by those defiant words she considers vicious. She snarled at him: "Then show some respect by stop calling one a ditch rat!"