章 41: Sky Haven Part I - The recruitment
Ryan knew exactly who the voice belonged to, which is what worried him.
"Aunt Denise, you didn't have to come in person to pick us up", answered Ryan, as he hugged his aunt.
Denise Avariz was average in height, but she had obsidian-black hair which flowed over her shoulders. She was wearing a neat, red dress with black flowery designs. The dress made her look younger than she was.
"Oh nonsense! You must be Rose?" she said, walking over to Rose and giving her a welcoming hug.
Ryan didn't even have a chance to introduce Rose properly. His aunt made sure to do most of the talking. She led them to her car, and after they packed the bags into the trunk, they drove off. It didn't take them an hour to reach Aunt Denise's house.
The house was a white mansion located at the end of a close. It was quite large, compared to the other houses in the neighborhood. Megapolis was divided into Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western and Central districts. Most residential properties were located in the Eastern district, while the Northern and Central districts were mostly for commercial purposes. The house Ryan lived with his parents was located in the Eastern district, a distance away from the mansion they had just arrived at.
"Please come in", spoke Denise, inviting Ryan and Rose. "You must be tired from the long flight."
"Not really. I need to take a walk", said Ryan, coming up with an excuse to leave.
"Where do you want to go?"
"I want to visit the place where our house was", he replied.
"But there's nothing there now. Ever since it was demolished by the meteorite, no one rebuilt it."
"I know aunty. I know."
"Okay then. Let me get someone to drive you there."
"No thanks. I'll walk", he declined the offer.
"What's going on?" asked Denise.
"Nothing. I just want some moment of peace and quiet. To be alone, that's all", he replied.
"So you want to walk from here? Do you remember the distance?" asked Denise, with a look of worry.
"It's okay aunt Denise. I'll get there", he replied with a reassuring smile.
Ryan walked out, leaving Rose and Denise looking at his disappearing back.
"Why does he just decide to leave? Also, he wants to walk a distance of almost 10 miles?" asked Denise.
"Honestly, I don't know either", replied Rose, shrugging her shoulders.
"Okay then, come, let's get you settled. You must be tired." She took Rose's bags, which were very few in number, and then went upstairs with Rose in tow.
Ryan walked out of the gate, and then looked in the direction where their house had been. After sighing, he took out his phone and made a call. When the call hung up, he started jogging towards the direction of the ruins. Seeing how he didn't have time to admire the view, he activated the Roc chasing the wind, and then sped up instantly. It took him a few minutes to reach the house. When he arrived, he was panting, almost out of breath. He stood for some time while catching his breath and then proceeded to walk to the gate. The black gate was closed, but that didn't deter him at all. He simply punched the gate, and it caved in. It couldn't withstand the impact.
'Okay. So I'm here now. Who am I supposed to see?' he thought, as he walked past what was once a fountain. The entire place looked like a jungle, due to a long time without being maintained. 'This place looks completely horrible. After the whole fiasco is over, I'm going to rebuild this place.' After walking around the ruins, he found a shadowy silhouette sitting under a tree.
"Took you long enough", began the silhouette.
"Well, I had to run all the way."
"Amusing. So tell me, why do you want to join Sky Haven?"
"There's someone I want to kill."
"Well, why don't you just go ahead and kill them?"
"I lack the opportunity to do it. That's why I think Sky Haven will give me that opportunity!"
The silhouette remained silent for some time. It then spoke, "Blue Rose commended you for tenacity, and strength. There are more opportunities outside of Sky Haven. As for the person you want to kill, obviously opportunities will present themselves. There's no need to join Sky Haven!"
"I wonder", spoke Ryan, with a darkened expression, "if I kill you, will that give me--"
Before Ryan finished speaking, a knife was put by his throat. He was too distracted that he didn't notice the person sneaking up behind him.
The shadowy silhouette was still sitting in the same spot. "You're not cut out for an assassin. You lack –"
BANG!! THUD!
"Hmm?"
When the silhouette looked up, Ryan was in front of it, with a knife pointing at it. Under the silhouette, was a hooded figure, wearing a mask. The figure stood up before saying, "Interesting. She also mentioned speed. However, you need to be able to notice your surroundings. Otherwise you'll be putting yourself at risk."
"Well, I'm immortal. I'll give you the knife. If you can kill me, then I won't be able to join Sky Haven. However, if you fail, then I'll join automatically!"
The figure laughed as if it had heard the funniest joke on the planet. "You're overestimating yourself too much. I don't see the reason to kill you. Here, meet me at this point in 3 days. If you're not there, you're automatically disqualified from joining Sky Haven", said the figure, handing over a card to Ryan.
Ryan took the card and looked at it. "I hav--", before he could ask the question, the figure was gone. 'I thought immortals were the only ones who could vanish into thin air. I guess I have a lot to learn then', he thought. He looked closely at the card. There was a riddle written on the card.
The three sons looking at the moon are destined to fall apart.
Ryan thought and tried to solve the riddle. He couldn't come up with the answer to the riddle at all. His phone suddenly vibrated, and as he unlocked it, he saw a message on his IRChat account. The message was from a person with username AllmightyZero7.
'AllmightyZero7? Who's this?' thought Ryan.
He opened the message, and it read:
I found out who the person is. You're definitely not going to believe this. Don't reply.
Ryan sighed as he looked at the text, the riddle and the ruins left from what was once his father's house. 'The three sons looking at the moon are destined to fall apart. What are these three sons? And what moon are they looking at?' He walked out of the property, and was considering what to do next, when he received a call from his aunt.
"Yes aunt Denise, what is it?" he asked.
"There's a package that just arrived for you. I haven't opened it yet. Rose said we should wait until you're here", said the voice on the other end.
"Where did it come from?"
"A company called Three Sons Inc. I've never heard of it", responded Denise.
Ryan's face lit up. "Okay, don't open it. I'll be right there!" Without waiting, he launched his movement technique, and then he left.
What he didn't know was, on a branch of a tree, there was the hooded figure from earlier. The figure smiled and then said, "He's quite resourceful. However, not being aware of his surroundings is his weakness." The figure then proceeded to take out a small device, and then he spoke into the device, "We have a candidate. Should I proceed to stage 2?"
There was static, and then moments later, another voice spoke from the device, "Proceed with caution. Don't spook them!"
"Noted", responded the hooded figure, with a smile.
Ryan arrived home and went straight to his room with the package. It was a small brown envelope. When he opened it, there was an invitation to an event being held at a place called Moonscape Hall, which was downtown. The event was taking place 3 days from that day. As he realized what was going on, Ryan smiled. Opening his phone, he contacted Peter while using another account.
3 days later -
Ryan dressed up in a neat suit, drove to Moonscape Hall using his aunt's car. The car was a Honda Civic, which was not too impressive. He wanted to buy a sports car, but decided against it. He didn't want to cause too much of a scene. Instead, he was wondering why his aunt was driving such a car in the first place. She could afford to buy any other car, but why the Honda? Was she trying to be like his father? He was known for his frugality, if one was to disregard his purchase of a private island. He also liked Hondas.
He pulled up to the hall, and as he got out, he handed the keys to the valet.
"May I see your invitation, Sir?" asked an old man standing at the door.
Ryan handed the man the invitation he had. The old man smiled gently before saying, "Right this way Sir." He led Ryan to a basement of the hall and as they arrived, Ryan realized there were 4 other people as well. Two of those people were female, and the other two were male. All of them appeared to be older than Ryan.
After the old man bowed and left, Ryan kept staring at one of the young women. She looked awfully familiar, but he couldn't place where he had seen the face before.
"Don't you know it's rude to keep staring at a lady like that?" asked one of the young men, approaching Ryan.
Ryan was about to answer, when a hooded figure just appeared behind them and said, "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. You have been chosen as candidates for joining Sky Haven. For now, you need to sleep, and then when you wake up, the trial shall begin."
Before anyone could ask what the hooded figure meant, gas started filling the room. Everyone started dropping down, unconscious.
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