Chapter 8: VERSE & VEIL

Once Lars and Len were back in Angel's Snack, they immediately went to their room, took a cold shower and got changed. They were planning to isolate themselves for the rest of the night and just ordered a room service for dinner. However, when Len made the call, he was informed of a peculiar instruction.

"What's wrong?" Lars asked.

"Oh, they said the dinner will be served at the rooftop table. Apparently, it's already reserved for us."

Lars and Len didn't need to guess that it was Tirana's doing. They were reluctant of leaving their den but it seemed they had no choice. They could only hope that they do not encounter any friendly guests who wanted to share stories so they had to pretend like they did not just involved in anything remotely exciting earlier.

Despite their reluctance to go there, Lars and Len were quickly in awe of the sight at the Angel's Snack rooftop. The night view of Antares outskirts was mesmerizing with little lights in the distance sprinkled all over the dark landscape. Strings of colorful lamps stretched and dangled over the tables, radiating pleasant and romantic atmosphere.

Lars and Len seated themselves in a corner table as per the waiter's instruction, away from other guests. For a while they did not speak much, just reeling in the night scenery before them. Lars leaned his back on the chair and heaved a sigh, forcing himself to relax and not think of the incident or questioning it. He and Len exchanged a meaningful smile and raised eyebrows over it.

"Hello, sorry to keep you waiting."

The long - awaited Tirana finally arrived. She had changed into a flowing aquamarine dress with matching hijab. There was no hint of exhaustion or strain on her face.

"When did you reserved us this table?" Len asked.

"Oh, I just made a quick call earlier after I finished sweeping."

Lars shot up his hand and leaned in. "Hey, hey, hey... is it alright to talk about it here? This is a pretty public spot."

"Relax, if anything, it's good that we're seen together. I'll be your alibi for the whole day. Auntie Quinn is an old friend of my father's and I've had her to cooperate with us if the police come knocking. Consider this as my thanks for your help earlier," Tirana said.

"Yeah, about that," Lars started, "could you start explaining from the very beginning, and I mean the very beginning of what exactly are those things, who are you, why are you killing them, why are they here and all of that because I... I'm honestly so lost here."

"My goodness, calm down." Tirana said with a teasing chuckle while looking away. "I'll get to it, one at a time."

Lars was about to drill Tirana more to answer his piling questions but then a waitress appeared with their foods and a courteous smile. As she set down their meals, Lars was fixated at the cerulean purse Tirana carried with her and wondered whether she stored fantastical, dangerous items in there as well.

"Well?" Lars said, not a minute apart since the waitress left.

"Let me start by introducing myself properly," Tirana said. "My name is Tirana Al - Samarrai. I am an agent from VERSE, short of VEIL Extermination and Research Specialized Enforcement. It is a secret organization jointly funded by the United Nations to combat creatures like we just fought."

"And those creatures are called... VEIL?" Len asked.

"Collectively, yes. The name stands for Vandalizing Enigmatic Interdimensional Lifeforms. They are highly dangerous and completely unpredictable. We don't know where they might show up so VERSE had its agents stationed everywhere all around the world. Well, almost everywhere."

Lars placed his hand on his lip, contemplating. "What are they exactly? Aliens? Experiments gone wrong?"

"Well, I guess you could say they're aliens because they're definitely not from this world. But curiously, they do have physical features similar like the creatures of our world," Tirana said.

"How come?"

"Unfortunately, we don't know either. There are some hypotheses, but..."

Tirana was suddenly quiet. She sipped her jasmine tea and proceeded to dissect her meal, a plate of pan seared duck breast with port cherry sauce. Lars and Len glanced at each other but they stayed quiet until Tirana resumes.

"Anyway, we divide VEIL into two categories based on their sapience. The first is Chimera, mostly resembling animals with varying degree of intelligence, like the one we just fought. The other, much stronger kind is Prime Chimera. They are often humanoid, can speak and even think like we do, which is why they're the most terrifying to encounter."

Len gulped. "There are things like that too?"

"Yeah. Thankfully, it's either there aren't that many of them or they are very reserved. I never encountered one myself so I don't know how they'd look like."

"If they're pretty much like us, humans," Lars said, "is there a chance to make peace with them? or at least tame the animal kinds?"

"That, I don't know. There are researches to tame the Chimeras but nothing seemed to get through them. We can't even dissect to study them biologically because they're made up of this pure, alien energy."

Lars immediately remembered of the silver fireflies that dissipated from the monster's body. For reasons he couldn't understand, his heart was pounding when the image of it flashed. Lars instinctively reached his necklace to hold.

"How's that even possible? Then what are they hunting for?"

Tirana just shook her head. "I don't know as much. It's almost like they're only designed to kill and destroy everything. They do eat, but research has found that they didn't do it for survival, but to literally accumulate energy and getting stronger. They can live for years without consuming anything. They're total monsters, through and through."

The table went quiet. Tirana proceeded to eat and both Lars and Len followed suit. Despite the heavy talk, it did not ruin the appetite of any of them. Lars' first bite of his seared ribeye with shitake mushrooms promptly reminded him that he was starving for the past few hours.

"That's a lot of I - don't - knows, by the way," Len said as he munched.

"Well, what can I say? That's why the E in VEIL stands for Enigmatic," Tirana said, smiling dryly.

"I suppose you don't know either about this whole necklace - sword thing going on with me, huh?" Lars said.

"Unfortunately," Tirana said. "It looks similar like magic, but based on your reactions, even you didn't seem to be aware of it too. Besides, based from my experience working with magic, that energy of yours doesn't feel like one either."

Len was almost choked on his chicken wing when he heard that. "Wait, hold up! Magic actually exists?"

"Why, of course," Tirana said, rather casually.

Lars could only smile wryly upon the answer. He wanted to bring up about the voices and the fact he was mysteriously resurrected, but he refrained. Lars knew there was something - or rather, someone, who was responsible for what happened to him. He was craving for this answer so he was quite disappointed that Tirana couldn't give it to him.

The remainder of the dinner was spent on Tirana sharing her experiences hunting the Chimeras and the kinds she had encountered. By the time she finished talking about a particular Chimera with mantis body and lion head, all the plates were clean. The table went quiet again, this time by satisfaction of being full with good meals.

"Alhamdulillah, I'm so full," Tirana said. She got up and pulled something from her purse. It was an old modeled, disposable phone, presented for Lars.

"What's this for?"

"In case we need each other," Tirana said. "I'm sorry I can't explain everything to both of you right now. But I'm very much intrigued with that necklace thing of yours. I'll see what I can find out about it."

"Oh, thank you," Lars said, "and for yesterday too. You saved us, didn't you?"

"You're welcome. And don't worry about the dinner, it's on me. A suitable price for you two to not tell anyone about this little adventure we had, no?"

Lars smiled. "Our lips are sealed, and besides - "

"Who would believe us?" Len finished.

Tirana smiled at their response and left, her dress flowed by the blowing wind. Lars and Len went back to their room shortly after. There were no more words being exchanged. They were safe, full, and still processing a particular piece of information mundane people wouldn't know. They just wanted to sleep it off.

When Lars and Len laid their backs on the bed, they didn't immediately fell asleep. They were staring at the ceiling, each still wondering whether it was all real or not, despite already provided with explanations.

Then, Lars thought of Tirana. He was reminded of how she was fiercely fighting and risking her life to kill a monster that could've hurt innocent people and she did it all on her own, anonymously. In a way, she did save his life too, Lars thought.

Lars remembered of the look in Tirana's eyes as she fought. They were brimmed of resolve, the look of a hardened warrior willing to sacrifice her life every day despite no one even know what she did for the world. He held out his necklace and began to wonder whether he could do the same.

"Oh yeah, that's right," Len muttered, destroying Lars' train of thought.

"What is it?"

"I forgot to ask what's up with her singing in the dark yesterday."