「7」Awakening Arc: You Are A Sinful Man (Part 3)

LEON

I FROWNED at his words. “Excuse me?”

I barely noticed that Roark was holding my hand again, but this time, he was unfazed. “You’re an empty vessel, Leon. I can sense no life from you,” he announced.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked in confusion.

“This thing that is following you… I think it wants you,” he speculated. His grip on my hand tightened a little bit, worry was present in his eyes. “Everything that has been happening to you lately…” he paused for a while, slightly turned his head to my left and stared at something that I couldn’t see. “This thing is trying to keep you away from the people you know to this day. I can’t fully understand its purpose, but it also means no harm against anyone,” he revealed.

“Roark, the voice in my dreams said something like… something like… They are going to kill me!” I panicked.

“No, Leon,” Roark disagreed. “It’s a warning from someone who must be very close to you,” he clarified.

“Someone close? If you’re referring to my family then I no longer have that!” I half yelled. “My mother died early, and I know nothing about my father. All I have now are my friends, Alynna and Derrick, and my boyfriend — Sheldon!”

“The messages!” Roark exclaimed, it made me flinch. “One of your friends and some of your co-workers sent you messages on your phone, but you don’t recall reading their messages but then, it registers on your phone that you did. Now, they think you’re purposely ignoring them,” he said. “I know you can’t process everything that I’m telling you now, but you have to cooperate, Leon. This thing that’s following you is very strong. It’s literally eating your life away,” he warned.

“Roark, can you see it?” I asked him.

The man gulped, he looked back again to my left before responding, “Do you want me to describe him for you?”

“Him?” I frowned. “Go ahead,” I allowed. I was afraid, very afraid. But if I keep on holding on to this fear, I would never find out the truth.

Roark took a deep breath before talking, “He has the shape of a human. He’s tall, about 7 feet or more, and muscular. I can’t really tell if it’s his natural color, but he’s dark all over. He has some weird markings on his body, too,” he paused for a while, cleared his throat then continued, “He has two, big golden horns sticking out from both sides of his head. His eyes are glowing white. He looks expressionless, but his presence is very heavy. He’s inviting all sorts of negative aura, and that negativity resonates with you.”

“Hey, Roark… Am I cursed?” I asked with a terrified look on my face.

“Cursed?” Roark scoffed. “You can’t curse an empty vessel, Leon,” he elucidated.

“Why do you keep calling me an empty vessel?” I asked, a little bit annoyed.

“I am just stating the fact, Leon,” he retorted in a sarcastic tone.

“I have no idea about all of these so say it in a way that I will understand!” I retaliated.

Roark sighed in dismay. “This is not yet clear to me, but you have done something in the past, Leon. And when I say past, I’m talking about your past life,” he said.

“What did I do?” I asked. I was starting to get impatient.

“How I wish I could tell you, but this giant entity here is blocking me, Leon,” Roark informed. “Right now, he’s giving me a menacing look. He is telling me that if I keep sticking my nose any deeper than this, he’ll kill me.”

My jaw dropped. 「What will happen to me from now on?」 I helplessly thought.

“Please help me, Roark,” I pleaded.

Roark felt bad for turning me down after everything that he had told me. He let go of my hand and searched for something under his desk. I waited for him, then after a few seconds, he lifted a small wooden box. It had a lock, and Roark had to key to it. He threw quick glances at me, or rather at the entity beside me while he was at it.

He carefully opened the box, pulled something from it, and handed it to me.

“A necklace?” I asked in disbelief. The cord was made out of black leather. It had a dangling gold pendant that was shaped like a trumpet.

“It’s not just any ordinary necklace, Leon,” Roark said. “I found this necklace buried deep in the mountains of Mount Madja-as. When I first took hold of that necklace, I saw a vision of you,” he revealed, and he secured the necklace within my hands. “I believe that I was meant to meet you, Leon. This necklace might hold the answers to your questions. But, you have to find it out yourself.”

“Even so, I don’t know where to start, Roark. I have no idea about this past about me or anything,” I said with a problematic expression.

“Listen to the voices in your head. Don’t deny them,” he advised.

“How?” I asked.

Roark looked at me in the eyes, and squeezed my hands. “Listen to the voice in your heart,” he said in a puzzling way.

AFTER that, Roark sent me off. Now that I was aware that something was following me wherever I went, it felt like I no longer had my own privacy. It sounded a little weird, but it was like that for me.

「I wanna see Sheldon,」 I thought to myself, then I faced Roark to bid goodbye.

“I am sorry for doubting you. Thank you, and I hope I can see you again, Roark,” I told him.

Roark smiled. “It’s fine. I hope you find the answers as soon as possible,” he said. Even though he tried to look positive, his eyes were clearly lying. They looked frightened and bothered.

“Bye,” I uttered, and slowly turned my back to him.

“Be careful, Leon,” I heard him whisper. “He is not what you think he is.”

Due to the shock and amount of information that I absorbed today, I paid little attention to the last words that Roark stated. Never did I think that it held a big clue to unlocking the truth about my past.

「to be continued」