Chương 114: Fate or Choice (IV)
The old man burst out laughing and turned toward Kiyro with glee. "You are stronger than I thought."
"Excuse me?"
"You guessed my exact age. I was thinking a whole different number trying to fool your mind. You are highly gifted."
"Wait. I succeeded? You really are 349 years old?"
The old man grinned ear-to-ear. "Yes. It seems your friends are calling for you. I suggest you throw that stone into clean spring water or bury it deep into mother earth."
"Why? How are you 349 years old?" Kiyro was having a difficult time believing in the old man's words.
"Kiyro!" A female's voice called out towards him. "Kiyro!" More voices were heard from behind.
Kiyro turned around to see who was calling his name. It was Eve, Jack, Isabel, and Will, while Alex was closely following right next to them. "Kiryo over here!"
When Kiyro turned back to talk to the old man again, he was gone like before. "Where did he go?" He walked around looking for the old man where he once stood. But, no trace or evidence that the old man was even there was left behind. "How is this possible?" With uneven steps, Kyro walked around in circles, trying to piece what happened before him in a logical sequence.
"Kiyro. What are you doing?" Eve asked. She got up to him curiously, following his steps, trying to figure out what he was doing. "Are you okay?"
"Yea… I just...Never mind. Let's just get out of here before there is more trouble."
"Okay. We got a load to tell you too." Jack replied that he was fully awake and functioning normally.
"You okay?" Kiryo asked. The last time he saw Jack was on the floor unconscious.
"I'm okay. Just a slight bump on my head. It's nothing serious."
"We should move out now and find a safe place out of sight," Alex replied. He was antsy to get out of the college as soon as possible. "The police are coming. We don't have time to be talking here. Let's go. Act natural don't talk about the Quest."
Everyone agreed, followed Alex out of the campus, and walked five miles talking about trivial things like a normal student.
#####
Kiyro and his group were in a small coffee shop sitting in the corner. They were all tired of what had happened today. Each person had their own story that they were having a difficult time believing. They were hunched over, deep in thought, or sipping on their drink.
"What was all that about?" Jack broke the silence in the group.
"Which one?" Will asked, turning towards Jack, who was sitting next to him.
"The Quest. The murder. Everything." Jack's arms flailed wildly, accentuating his words. "Was it all a setup, or did we just dream all that?"
"Shhhh. Be quiet." Eve hissed. She did not want to bring attention to their small group. She tried her best to be small. "I don't want to be noticed." She mumbled underneath her collar that she raised up, hoping it would cover her face but failed.
"Let's do this one by one. Someone go first and tell us what you experienced. Maybe then we could decipher what is going on." Alex instructed. "I'll go first." Everyone attentively listened to Alex's story.
"Well…" Alex drummed his fingers on the table, "it just started out as a simple bump on the shoulder with another student. I said I was sorry, but instead, he got really obnoxious with me to the point where he swung at me first."
"Are you sure you weren't flirting with a girl?" Eve snickered. "That could be the main reason why you got swung at."
"Maybe." Alex winked and continued on with his story. "So eventually, Everything ended up in a quick fist fight. I won but was quickly settled by going to the principal office. The strange thing was that out of nowhere when I yelled enough from the annoying chatter, the desk, chairs, and even the principal and the guy was roughly pushed back into the wall. Instantly they were knocked out, and here I am."
"You jest. Really?" Eve asked. "You're not making this up, are you?"
"No. If I did, I wouldn't be telling you this story, would I? I believe only when I see it and experience it for myself."
"You're making it sound like you have gained some superpower."
"If I did, I would have been able to use it now." Alex sounded a bit peeved to Kiyro. He wasn't sure why.
"Well, I too had an odd experience," Isabel replied. "It's not as startling as Alex, but it was strange. While walking down the hallway, I would hear voices chattering loudly around me as if they were next to me. The odd thing was nobody was there. I was all alone."
"Well, you know that classes are going on," Jack replied. "That could be the source of hearing voices."
"No. It's not just that. I did open doors to the so-called classrooms. Not a single one had a student or a teacher in it. The voices actually got louder inside the classrooms than outside the hallway. That wasn't the only thing. I thought I saw shadows moving around in the classrooms as well. I thought there was a full classroom for a moment, but I was wrong. Nobody was present." Isabel accentuated the word nobody trying to get the point across.
"Then what happened next?" asked Jack. He was uncomfortable with what Isabel was saying. "You're not saying there was a ghost or something, right?"
"Yes. Then I met up with Will here."
"As Isabel was saying, we met each other in the hallway. I, too, heard voices, but the strange thing was that I heard someone calling my name. I swear it sounded familiar." Will's voice went into the distance, thinking about what had happened.
"Are you alright?" asked Eve.
"Yes, I'm sorry. I was saying. The voices sounded familiar and constant, as if they were leading me towards someone or something. I searched everywhere for the voice calling my name, but I couldn't find anyone. At first, I thought it was some kind of hallucination until I saw a figure dart through the hallway. She would call my name and then disappear. Just like that." He snapped his fingers.
"I see." Jack rubbed his chin. "Well, compared to yours, I would say half of us know what happened while the rest don't."
"What are you talking about?" Will asked, confused at what Jack was saying.
"He saying that we stumbled on a murder scene," said Kiyro. He wasn't too thrilled to tell them about what had transpired before them.
"What!" Will retorted out loud, making the people sitting around them turn their heads towards Will. Then, finally, he covered his mouth and whispered, "You serious?"
"Would I be lying to you guys?"
"How did that even happen?"
"We just stumbled upon it. Jack here had to go toward the smeared blood on the ground. Didn't you even think it was a red flag not to go?" Kiyro asked directly towards Jack. He was curious as to why Jack had gone towards danger. He expected Jack was an intelligent man that would not go head first into a possibly dangerous situation without thinking.
"I saw someone," Jack replied. He folded his arms and leaned back on his chair.
"You saw someone? Who?"
"My mom."
"Hold up. You said you saw your mom in a college school. Don't you think that's a bit far-fetched to go towards the direction of the smeared blood?" Kiyro was baffled entirely at Jack's answer.
"She's dead."
"I can't-" Kiyro stopped, "Come again?"
"I said my mom passed away a year ago from lung disease. I couldn't believe that my mother was there. But I couldn't help it. I was confused and followed her. Upon arrival, I saw the dead bodies lying on the ground, and then all I saw was white." Jack raised his hands behind his head, massaging where he was hit. "The next thing I knew Eve was next to me telling me to get up. Everything was a complete blur after that. We somehow made it out here waiting for all of you guys. Kiyro would know the story after that."
Kiyro sighed. It was finally his turn to tell what had happened throughout the ordeal. He didn't want to believe it, but Everything had happened so quickly that it felt like a dream. "Eve and I met halfway through the Quest, and eventually, she told me something interesting. A vision that became a reality. Everything that she told me, she described it perfectly to what she saw, but not what came after."
"It was almost like Deja Vu," Eve shuddered at remembering Everything that played out.
"What was it?"
"Scarlet paint that was smeared on the floor, but she was off. It wasn't scarlet paint but actually blood. Jack met with us and suddenly disappeared. We found him unconscious on the floor. What was even more startling was finding a man in all white with a mask on his face."
"Is that all you remember?" asked Alex. "Was there anything else?"
"Yes. It seems the masked man has some ailment and a silver cross in his hands. What he did next was a bit strange. He prayed for the dead before us and said it was the artwork. I don't think he saw us as a threat and instead let us live."
"Did you get to see his face?"
"No. I was too busy trying to fend for our lives to get a glimpse, though I did get a good swing. He escaped like a rat and disappeared. Eventually, I ended up outside with you guys."
"You know it's a miracle that none of us died," Eve replied. "I thought the killer would kill us too."
"He might," Jack replied.
"Damn it, Jack, do you have to state it like that?" Eve angrily replied. She was getting uncomfortable with the conversation.
"Look, I'm just saying. He saw all our faces. We didn't see him. So that's a problem in itself."
"He's not going to," Alex cut in on their conversation, halting their small bickering and worry.
"How do you know this?" Eve asked.
"You would've all died at that time in the hands of the pro-assassin, but you didn't. Why do you think that?"
"I'm not sure what you are getting at."
"He let you guys live like Kiyro stated. What he came to do was to create art. You didn't see his face nor know who he was, even though he saw yours. It means you were not his target and not worth his time."
"But wouldn't it jeopardize him?" Eve asked.
"On what account? You will tell the police that you saw a man in a mask and possibly get yourself revealed by telling the cops? Think. Once your name is known by the cops, you're labeled. Till you have definite proof, it's best not to reveal yourself and get in trouble or worse, killed."
Eve gulped. She was shaking in worry.
"Don't worry; he won't be back to get you guys," Alex assured them.
"How are you so sure?" She asked. "It almost sounds as if you know him or something. Do you?"
"No. These are just theories with the highest chance of him not attacking."
"How high is this killer's chance?"
"1%"
"That's at least 1%. So that's still something we need to watch for."
"We'll be fine for now. I want to ask all of you, did your Real-world Quest complete?"
"Yea. Why?" asked Jack. He fiddled around with the straw of his drink. "Did you succeed, and suddenly your Alive gear got almost hacked into?"
"Yours too?" Kiyro asked with surprise. He didn't expect them to have the same problem as him.
"Same here," Eve raised her hand. "Then, after that, something stopped the so-called Devil's Virus from infiltrating our gears. What was it, Angel's vaccination?"
"Same," Isabel and Will nodded their head to Eve's statement. They leaned in closer, hoping if possibly one of them knew the answer.
"I got the same thing as all of you. I'm guessing none of you know what just happened," Alex asked. Kiyro noticed that Alex was more talkative today than usual.
Kiyro thought about telling them about Angel's Quest, but something stopped him in the back of his mind. It was like an egging feeling that told him it was not the time. He was more curious about the Angel quest than all of them, but from their reaction, it seemed they did not know what an Angel vaccination might even be.
"What a day," Eve sighed and flopped backward onto her chair, "I think I'll just go home and rest up. There were just too many things that happened today to take in."
"I'm with Eve," Isabel replied. "Let's go for today. Maybe we'll have another quest together soon." She smiled at Kiyro.
"I hope so too." Kiyro gave her a warm smile.
"I'll see you guys in-game or possibly another Real-life quest." Will got up and waved goodbye. Both Isabel and Will left the coffee shop.
Jack got up next. "I just got a phone call from my business partner. I need to go for now. I'll call you later, Eve. See ya guys around." He got up and picked up a call that came in.
Kiyro, Alex, and Eve sat silently without a word. They, too, were thinking about the day.
"I'll be going as well. I'll give you guys a call later," Alex got up and left in a hurry.
"You should go too," said Kiyro. He took a sip of his drink and placed it back down, "I'm waiting for a ride. I just sent Anna a message to pick me up here, unless you would like a ride too?"
Eve thought it over and shook her head yes. Both Kiyro and Eve silently drank while waiting for Anna to arrive.
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