Chapter 1-  Death

Chapter 1- Death

Zosia looked at the map in her hands with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Damn, it was really the right choice to go on this tour." She laughed and followed the directions on the map dutifully.

Arriving at her destination, she looked at the building before her eyes and smiled, revealing her dimples.

The sight caused others to look at her and smile. Her smile brought a smile to other's face.

"Aish, look at how cute she is."

"Damn, she isn't just cute. Look at those long legs."

Ignoring the side talks, she stepped into the museum.

Her coming to the museum was not out of impulse. She had taken her time to sort everything out. To her, she needs a detailed plan for everything and her trip is one of it.

She had heard about the new goods that has been dug out from an Emperor mausoleum from a friend.

So, here she is. To help her friend transport it.

Though she had left that kind of work, her friend had asked her for her help.

Zosia decided to help and clear the debt she owed.

Mia had saved her ass once, and she was just going to do the same without disrupting her trip.

To the outside world, she is just a young girl with a clean family background.

It may be kinda cliché, but yeah, she is an orphan.

According to her master, she had been abandoned, and he did her the favor of raising her to be useful to him.

Coming out of her thoughts, she pressed a button on the elevator.

"Password" a robotic voice said.

She keyed in the password and more buttons appeared.

Zosia pressed the button with the number 13 on it.

Whoosh!

The elevator sped down.

The elevator seemed like it would fall before rocking itself against the wall.

Ding!

"Finally, you're here." Mia's voice came from the other side.

"Gerald, what the hell is wrong with your elevator? It's still withholding our Sia in it."

 Mia complained as she watched the elevator door slowly open.

"Gerald, would you call your damn workers to go fix the elevator. What kind of crap is this to call itself an elevator?"

Gerald shook his ear while using his other hand to massage his glabella.

"Mia, it's not even up to a minute…" the appearance of Zosia cut Gerald's words short.

"Finally, Sia you're here. You can't believe how badly…. I am so grateful you're here." She gave Sia a bear hug to convey her attitude.

"You are killing me." Zosia let out a grunt as she tried to breathed with the bear hug Mia had entrapped her in.

"Sorry." 

"It's Ok." after addressing Mia, she turned to Gerald.

"Hi Gerald."

"Hi!" 

"Alright, you said you need me for?" she looked at Mia, who had mentioned little to no details about their move, only mentioning that she needed her help.

Not mentioning what she was needed her for, and her coming, is something dangerous to be done in their line of work.

Was it trust? She didn't think so, but since it was something she could do on her way while going for a trip, she decided to give a helping hand.

"Sit down and have tea while I tell you what happened." Zosia nodded and sat down on the chair offered to her.

"Hmmm… This tea kinda taste awful." 

"Alright don't drink it, I thought it was quite sweet, since Gerald drank it without squeezing his face." Mia said, placing a freshly squeezed grapefruit juice on the table.

"Alright, can I see the stuff — Bleh!" Zosia brought out her tongue to show disgust at what she had just taken.

Gerald brought out a chest and opened it, revealing its contents.

"Wow, such a beautiful Gem." Zosia could not help but admire the gem that adorned the ring.

"Yup, so beautiful that we are not the only ones eyeing it." Mai said from the side.

Zosia frowned at her words, which made Mia think that she was frowning at the unexpected enemies. It was actually the opposite.

Zosia looked at the nail that stuck out by the side of the chest which had inadvertently pricked her finger.

Rubbing the blood on the chest, she took the leather like page.

"What is this?" Zosia looked at them to answer her, unaware of the token sucking her blood.

"Hmm… it does looks strange. Never mind that." Gerald said, while bringing a laptop.

Zosia dropped the token but not without touching the ring.

She did not touch the rest as she had a job to do.

=========

"It seems to be going too smooth. Mia, didn't you mention that…." She had yet to finish her words, when Mia shouted.

"Duck!"

Whish!

"F*ck, they planned to ambush us here." Zosia cursed.

"Zosia take this." Mia handed her a gun.

"Well, here we go again." Cracking her neck, she began firing.

"Mia watch my back." Receiving no response, she called out Mia's name again, "Mia… Mia.."

'What's going on? Why do I feel so dizzy?

Apart from the grape juice and the bitter drink I drank this morning. I haven't taken any other thing.'

Seeing her hand shake, she gripped the gun and turned her head to see if she could see Mia, but what she saw left her horrified.

"Why?" was the last word she muttered before being blasted along with the vehicle by the grenade thrown by Mia while giving her a cute smile.

Before she felt her consciousness completely disappear, she held the gun despite her shaky hands and shot at the incoming grenade, causing it to go off midway, reducing the impact, though it left her battered and almost at death door.

Biting the inside of her cheeks, she tried to keep herself awake.

========

"Do you think she is dead?" Gerald asked as he stared at the ruins. They had bombed her along with the enemies.

The enemies were small fries that they could easily handle, but without something to show for it, it might have been hard to deceive Zosia.

Only if they knew, they had actually deceived her more easier than they thought.

"She should, but it's best we check. Her tenacity is too strong." Her eyes flickered with hatred.

Gerald stared at Mia's back as she searched for her so-called best friend and could not help but sneer.

"She is dead." Mia bent down to check if the burned offering before her was still breathing, but couldn't get anything.

"How are you sure she is the one?" 

"Tsk, are you saying I can't tell the body of my best friend?" She answered, her tone filled with anger.

"The best friend you could not wait to kill." He retorted back at her.

"Let's go back. At least we have completed our mission," Gerald said. Not wanting to be here anymore, he took a step back and was about to leave.

"Gerald, don't also make the mistake she did. Did she ever think she could leave master side and see to live another day if not for master's mercy?

Don't harbor thoughts you shouldn't have." She warned him subtly and gave a wide smile. Skipping in her steps, she left the site.

"You are thinking too much." Gerald's eyes flickered for a moment. Nobody knew what thoughts were going through his head.

Zosia, who had crawled her way under the car regardless of the pain with her battered body, heard everything they had said.

"Is this really my fate?" She muttered to herself.

"Hey Gerald, the chest. Hope you brought the fake one? It would be a pity if we lost the real one." Mia's voice could still be heard from a distance.

"Yes, I did."

"I hope so, master doesn't mind losing another competent person under him."

While each of them were in their own thoughts or conversing, they were unaware of the bright light exuded by the chest in the booth.

Everything disintegrated and was absorbed by the ring.

The ring which had a silver and gold outlook in the form of a gradient color turned sleek black. The gem floated together with ring.

Mia and Gerald had left not bothering to return to check, letting Zosia breathe a sigh of relief but the relief was short lasting.

Tears fell like rain from her eyes soaking the ground.

The ring and gem which were floating appeared before Zosia , causing her to widen her eyes in surprise.

She couldn't complete her statement when the ring and gem pierced her heart bringing forth excruciating pain.

Her miserable scream echoed for a while before dying out weakly. She knew death would come one day but she never thought it would come this fast.

Zosia gave her miserable self, one last look and breath her last not forgetting to leave her signature smirk on her face before passing on.

"What a world." She spat out before leaving the world to where spirits go.