章 16: Dead Yet Alive
Alice was sleeping on her bed, when the doorbell rang quite loudly. Alice woke up with a jolt and looked here and there and then slowly walked downstairs and then towards the door. She looked through the window and saw Kevin along with Trisha and Elena were standing in front of her door. She sighed, "Why don't I have peace in my life?" She opened the door and said with a smile, "I was waiting for you guys only." Kevin rushed and hugged Alice and then kissed her cheek, "Don't you worry, dear. I will be the witness for you if Mr. Watwell drags you to court. In fact, everyone in college is in your support. Cindy's tyranny has come to an end." Alice gently released herself from his arms and said, "There's no need for that, Kevin. Mr. Watwell won't dare to make a big issue out of such trivial matters, not when elections are at the corners."
Elena smiled, "Whatever it maybe, but you really whopped Cindy's ass like a badass. She will remember this all her life." Alice mumbled, "I hope she doesn't remember." Trisha said, "Ryder's dead. He passed away this morning. I know I must be sad and wiping, but currently I'm not feeling any emotions. Is it normal?" Alice and Elena looked at her and Elena slapped her hard, "You are the one responsible for all of this. The physical and mental trauma that he endured because of you made him weak and sick. You killed him." Elena slapped her even harder. Alice caught Elena and took her to the sofa. Elena was crying madly and was cussing Trisha. Trisha fell on her knees and slowly tears started to fall from her eyes. Kevin said, "I am getting late for my bakery opening. Please, try to be strong." He patted Trisha's shoulder and went outside. Aliyah appeared out of purple smoke and said, "Your bitches again started to howl. They just ruined my sleep." Alice said, "Shut up, Aliyah. Ryder died this morning due to some unknown reasons." Aliyah said, "Well sad but he atleast got rid of this Trisha. She just made him a joke in front of everyone."
Elgin came inside the room in the form of a cat and started rubbing Trisha's feet with his warm body. Trisha kicked Elgin away and walked outside. Elgin rose and said, "That's rude." Elgin looked at Alice who signaled him to go. Alice looked at Elena and said, "Some things are not in our hands and love and death are two of them. Ryder loved Trisha more than his life and this love took his life. The frequent beatings and mental trauma weakened his body." Elena said crying, "I told you, I told Trisha, I told fucking everybody but no one cared." Alice asked, "Did you tell Ryder once?" Elena said, "It won't have matter anyway." Alice said, "That is your problem, Elena. If you had shown him love and tried to show him the toxicity of his relationship with Trisha, he would have survived." Elena said angrily, "It is easy for you to lecture me. You haven't loved anyone yet, so you don't know the dilemmas and complications of it. Ryder was never in her love, but had a belief that he can convert Trisha into someone who he can love. I was never even near his heart, let alone inside his heart." Alice sighed, "It has been always futile to talk with you and Trisha about sensible things."
Elena said crying, "No need to show fake pity on me. I don't need any of you anymore." She rose and went away. Aliyah looked at her and sighed, "Love is a blind man's game." Alice smiled, "That's why I like to keep my eyes open." Alice went upstairs and closed the door behind her.
Aliyah looked at Elgin and said, "People have become so fragile nowadays. They can't even bear a heartbreak while we fought with our hearts bleeding." Elgin smiled, "War and love cannot be mixed together. They are two very different aspects of a man's life." Aliyah smiled, "Yes, you are right. War is chaotic in nature but in the end it ends with tranquility either in a good way or bad way, but love, even it's peace is chaotic." Elgin said grimly, "You present yourself as so hard and brute in front of others like you never bothered about emotions in your life, but the closer a person gets to you, the closer your loneliness and misery starts to appear. King Alacapa never wanted to give you a militaristic upbringing but he was helpless because you were his only heir. The next in succession."
Aliyah smiled weakly, "Yeah. That's what our teachers taught us. A man must be strong and ruthless and a woman must be soft and compassionate." Elgin looked upstairs and said, "Alice is still quite young. Don't make her like you. Build up like a stone and being a stone is very different from each other." Aliyah smiled, "It's her destiny to put an end to Xao Chang and his evil spawns. If she isn't trained well, the war is half lost already. She might not become a person like me, but being as stiff as me is very neccessary for the survival of humanity." Elgin said grimly, "If you cannot do anything to help her, then it's up to me to make her happy." He disappeared in thin air. Aliyah sighed, "Of all of my friends, why did only Elgin stayed alive?"
Phantom was sitting along with Ralph near a small bonfire and was roasting marshmallows in it. Phantom chewed one marshmallow and said, "Decades have gone, yet the flavor still catches your tongue like the claws of a carb." Ralph smiled, "You are nothing like what Assayah described you. You are soft and well mannered." Phantom smiled, "Politeness is an acquired treasure and I have acquired a lot of it. Actually, I was a little barbaric on my first visit on Earth but Rachel changed everything, from my tongue to my heart. She polished it with love and affection and made a man out of me." Ralph said, "You frequently talk about Rachel. Why did you never tried to contact her?" Phantom laughed, "Contact on what? Telephone? I have been in seclusion for a decade. Far from any contact and concern. Anyway, she would have only suffered if I stayed with her." Ralph patted his shoulder and said, "I don't know what to say. I loved my wife very much and did everything I could do for her. I worked day and night as a bouncer, security guard, laborer and even a soldier in the military, but yet she cheated on me. She ungratefully threw away my feelings like garbage and ran away with a pastor. I admit that there were nights we had to sleep hungry, but I never let her starve. I don't know what is justice on this planet, but Assayah gave me the bangles of Kesha and I didn't even hesitated to kill my wife and her lover. Maybe it was the justice."
Phantom smiled, "You have only told me your side of the story, but what if things were different on your wife's side of the story? I'm not blaming anything on you, but love is a strange thing and it never stays the same. Her love was not with money as she ran away with a pastor who certainly is not very firm in terms of financial stability. Her loneliness devoured her and the light she searched in God turned into love for a pastor. She lost her heart the most when you returned home in a paraplegic condition. She chosed to sit on pastor's lap than to sit beside you all her life. She was pregnant when you killed her." Ralph asked, "How do you know that?" Phantom smiled, "I have the power to see back in past." Ralph asked, "What else does you see?" Phantom said, "The love and misery in her eyes the night when she eloped. She kissed your lips one last time and disappeared in dark." Ralph started crying and Phantom patted his shoulder and said, "She loved you more than anything. She just didn't wanted you to feel useless when you would have seen her sitting next to you in torn clothes and starving." Ralph said, "Take back these bangles. They have ruined my life." He threw away the bangles and it landed on Assayah's feet who picked them up. He looked at Ralph and said, "Disrespecting these bangles will have dire consequences. Your wife won't return if you renounce your power. Wear them."
Ralph said angrily, "Never. I'm a monster and I deserve to die sitting and shitting in this cursed wheelchair." Assayah threw the bangles and it automatically got connected with Ralph's hands. Assayah smiled, "Your hatred empowers these bangles, Ralph. You cannot escape your fate. Xao Lin has chosen you for a purpose and you have to fulfill it no matter with your interest or not." Ralph looked at Phantom and said, "Do something." Phantom said, "You choosed it with your whole life and now you cannot escape from it. Only death can release you from this curse." Assayah turned towards Phantom and said, "Kayuba wanted to meet you urgently. Bacca's health is a little unstable nowadays and Kayuba wants you to find the spear before Bacca goes into deep mediation."
Phantom said, "You always come with bad news, Assayah. That's why I don't like your arrival." Assayah said, "You can hate as much as you want, but Kayuba doesn't want to lose the seat to Kenchi and Kenchi has started contacting with the Agents of Death for quicker results." Phantom sighed, "They are a group of undead mercenaries who works for expensive gifts." Ralph asked, "Why are you so scared?" Phantom laughed, "Not scared, a little amazed. Kenchi contacting Agents of Death means only one thing that he has promised something very valuable to them. He is a very clever man and I'm sure that he won't risk something too valuable, but yet their leader, Gongamtei won't leave without anything less valuable than the spear." Assayah smiled, "Leave the politics to us, son. You concentrate on finding the spear before Gongamtei snatches something from the Monastery's treasure." Assayah disappeared into red mist and flew away. Phantom took a long breath and said, "I hate to say it to you, brother. But, you have to keep these bangles, both for finding the spear and fighting those cheap sluts."
Alice, Elena, Trisha, Principal Shepherd and other members of the college were present in the funeral ceremony of Ryder. Ryder had few people on his family side and only his uncle and old grandmother were present. The priest sprinkled holy water on Ryder's dead body and then started mumbling holy words from the Bible. Trisha was sitting quietly in the pew chairs and has leaned her crying face on Alice's shoulder. Elena was on the other shoulder and Alice was looking plainly towards Ryder's casket. Principal Shepherd came near them and sat beside them and then said, "The young generation has no value for their lives. They spend it on baseless and harmful habits and obsessions instead of studying and making a good human out of them." Alice looked at Principal Shepherd with a little anger but decided to stay silent. Elgin came inside the room and sat in the back of Alice and whispered, "Aliyah is calling you outside. She has something to tell you." Alice said grimly, "Tell her that it can wait. Leaving the room will be an insult to both the deceased and the Church." Elgin said grimly, "It is for the good of all of us. Aliyah has some big news about something." Alice sighed, "Fine." Alice rose and walked towards the exit, when Elena caught her hand and said, "Don't go away, Alice. I need you with me. I don't know what will I do now? I'm feeling breathless now."
Alice pulled her outside and said, "Have some fresh air, Elena. I will come in a few minutes from the bathroom." Alice hurriedly went away and entered the bathroom. Aliyah looked at her and said, "I have something to tell you." Alice said, "Be quick. Elena is getting hyper." Aliyah said, "I saw Gongamtei in the Church a few minutes ago." Alice asked, "Gongamtei? Who is that?" Aliyah replied, "Gongamtei is a mercenary. An undead mercenary and seeing him in a funeral ceremony is not a good thing." Alice asked, "But if he is so bad for the moment, why don't you catch him?" Aliyah said grimly, "Because he is like air. Catching him is not possible without a vessel that means we can only capture him when he is in someone's body." Alice was about to say something, when screams and sound of people running started to echo all over the Church. Alice ran towards the room and saw that everyone was running here and there and the next sight made her pupils bigger. She saw Ryder was standing there looking at everyone like a newborn baby. Alice went near him and touched him to ensure that it was not a dream. The touch sent shivers all over Alice's body and she fell a few yards away on the ground. Alice looked at Elena who was standing like a statue and Trisha was lying unconscious on the ground. Ryder walked near Alice and said, "Nice to meet you. I'm Gongamtei." Alice and Aliyah both felt shivers running all over their body, as Gongamtei slowly walked outside the Church....
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