First Prophecy

"Good afternoon, Dr Cyrus," said Kang Chin as he stepped into Dr Cyrus's office. Again, this place is filled with a strong scent of roasted coffee and an earthy smell from the old books that blend mildly with it.

Krios looked extremely annoyed in his scowling face. "Who are you? Why are you here?"

Kang Chin couldn't find his composure for a while, standing still by the door as if he was frozen.

Alene make a dry cough and came forward, 'Your student of EC3039. He's here for some consultation. We are sorry, are you very busy?'

Krios looks at Alene and brightens a bit. 'It's okay, come in. Every student comes to me saying hello and how are you, all I want to say is yes, of course, I'm fine.' He looks at Kang Chin and smiles,

'You need to let me know what you want. Get to the point, so we don't waste each other's time.'

Alene could have rolled her eyes if she had a chance to do it. His sarcasm is way out of her threshold. Unfortunately, she couldn't leave the office because she promised to stay by Kang Chin's side like a nanny.

Then, Alene just sits there for another half an hour until Kang Chin is done with his consultation. Now that he is done with it but Alene is forced to stay after hearing Krios's voice sounded like a gramophone in her head.

Kang Chin looked a bit surprised but he didn't want anything to do with his mentor anymore, so he quickly took his leave from Dr Cyrus' office.

Alene remained sitting at her place, waiting for Krios to finish what he is busy at. Then, she receives a text from Kang Chin that says "Whatever the reason it is that he retains you, gambateh, Ally! We will meet you at the grocer."

Right, now what is she going to tell them why Dr Cyrus would like her to stay? He is neither her mentor nor lecturer.

Krios seems to have figured out what's going on in her head, he said as he swiftly added some comments in red on the paper: "Tell them the lecturers are assessing each other, so I need your feedback for Dr Olympus' class." As he finished, they hear a loud sneeze from next door.

That's Nileas.

As Alene sat in Dr Cyrus's office, she couldn't help but notice the neatly stacked boxes of papers and reports under the round aluminium table next to her, all facing the same direction and arranged by height, which made her wonder if Dr Cyrus was simply a neat person or if he had a touch of OCD. The bookshelf was crammed with towering tomes on economics and real estate, their spines creased and worn from years of use.

There are also three jars of coffee beans in the corner, neatly sitting next to the coffee machine. The white porcelain expresso cup is still covered with coffee stains. He must be a coffee addict, Alene thought. The glass jar with Robusta coffee beans is almost running out of coffee beans.

"How much coffee do you take each day?" Then she realizes she sounds like asking how much medicine Krios is taking, so she changes her words, trying to sound neutral: "I mean how much coffee do you usually drink?"

Krios's pen scratched furiously across the page as he jotted down a scathing comment, his eyes darting back and forth between the paper and Alene. 'Eight. Eight cups of espresso,' he said, but his voice is steady with no sign of the intensity he should get from that amount of caffeine.

It was only a question out of her curiosity and Krios ended it up perfectly with his blanc statement. The silence hung heavy in the air, like a thick fog that refused to dissipate.

Alene tilts her head and starts looking at the right corner of where she sits. Next to her is a round aluminium table that looked out of place in the sleek Muji setting of the room, the surface cluttered with stacks of papers and reports that towered like skyscrapers. What lies under the table? More boxes.

Alene is not sure if Krios is just neat or if he has got OCD. All of his stuff was so neatly laid out and quite eccentric. Even the boxes of papers and reports were stacked up to the same height facing the same direction.

"Now, speak." Krios finally stopped working, crossing his fingers and he rests his chin on his hand.

"About?"

"Anything that makes you worthy. You know how much your life depends on it."

"Right..." Alene tells herself to sort this out once and for all, she didn't have the heart to take in those vicious words. " 'Quest. The quest for wisdom and achievement. The road is rough, you blame no one. In the swamp of thorns, patience and discernment are what you need to not give in or compromise. You find comprehension between the critics, at where the light shines upon.'"

Krios's face twisted into a scowl, making her feel uneasy and she could hear her own stomach twisted with anxiety. 'What? I didn't make it up,' Alene said, her voice rising slightly in defence.

'I don't doubt it,' Krios replied, his tone dripping with sarcasm. 'You couldn't write such a thing. Now think about it, if you come to me with a weekly general prophecy, should I also treat you in general like the refugees in an asylum?" Krios made a gesture and dropped a half-apologetic, half-mocking shrug.

This is a real demon. Alene prayed silently in her heart to his excellency Gong, hoping for some kind of intervention. However, what answers her is a silence so profound that it chills her to the bone.

----------

River Aire. Crown Residence.

Nileas's hands flailed in the darkness as he stumbled blindly through the apartment, trying to walk his way to the study relying on his memory. He said in surprise, 'It's unusual for you to lock yourself up.'

Despite the immaculate order of Krios's living room, there was no obvious place to put a stack of files - no empty surfaces or tucked-away corners. It was as if the room had been designed to discourage clutter of any kind.

Five stamens of the glazed lantern in the study room gave off a soft glow, which looked as ever-changing as the Milky Way from a distance. The reflection of light on the whiskey glass glittered when the lantern swung in the action of the wind.

The man behind the lantern was as still as a marble statue, his features chiselled and unchanging.

"I've had enough!" Nileas gave up on his adventure and turned on the light, then found a pile of scattered books under his feet, neatly folded, but just enough to get anyone to trip over. He was in luck that he is careful.

"My dear Kony, you want to get me killed."

"Turn off the lights. I need to think."

"Yes, yes, fine..." Nileas yanked the curtain open with a sharp tug and strode back into the study, then pushed the blocks of books aside with his feet, before turning off the light again. "Éla, what's with all this? Going home before seven, it's not you."

"Shut, Neal..."

"You say nothing to me, you share no secret with me. It makes me feel bored and sad at the same time. I was wondering if it's time to ask you if you want to get something to eat, but it doesn't feel right. You're not my wife, and you're not my pet." Nileas keeps blabbing as he makes his way to Krios and squats down beside him, "Brother, our relationship is like a husband and wife, the platonic type."

"What are you talking about?" Krios turns to him, raising an eyebrow in dissatisfaction.

"Hey hey, so you heard me talking." Nileas guffaws with his signature hyena laugh, then he got up and walked out of the room. "I'll take the food out and have some. Please continue to enjoy your meditation."

"Reheat it when you are done," Krios said casually.

"Not your servant."

As Nileas makes his way to the kitchen, the study fell into silence again. The moonlight spills its silver glitter into the room, outlining Krios's beautiful jawline. His olive green eyes are embraced by a layer of mellow blue, gently dancing in the night light.

Krios's mind raced with thoughts and possibilities as he pondered over the enigmatic prophecy. What did it mean? And who was this other version of himself that he needed to find?

The room was filled with an aching tension as he sat there, almost uncomfortable with the silence that engulfed him. He found himself staring at the flickering candle, its light casting dancing shadows on the walls. The soft glow was hypnotic, a gentle reminder of the unknown path that lay before him.

With a determined sigh, Krios's mind snapped back to focus. "A test of wisdom and achievement..." Krios's voice drifted off into a whisper as he stared out the window, his eyes lost in the distant horizon.

The prophecy woven by Alene, like a labyrinth of mirrors reflecting distorted images, obscured the truth Krios yearned to uncover. It felt as if he was stumbling along a fog-drenched path on a moonless night in the heart of London, his senses muddled and his direction uncertain. But a glimmer of realization shimmered within his mind, illuminating the elusive revelation—he was not a complete being and he knew this all along.

Krios's mind returned to the enigmatic words of the prophecy, it held the wisdom of its creator, intimately acquainted with both the past and the future.

He needs to get "himself" back again, he thought.