Sometimes...things get a little too complicated. Even the people, who one trusts the most, turn their back at times. When it's done for their own good, I call it betrayal. But when it's done due to their helplessness, I call it vulnerability.
-- from 'records of genesis' by George Watson

I

It was the day before William got chained by the troop leader from the illegal organisation. In a calm evening, after a short discussion, Charles left William at Rita's house and took his leave. With a smile on his face and a small bag in his hand, Charles walked out of the house and made his way toward his shop.

The time was of evening, the sun was sinking below the horizon and the working citizens looked like they were returning from their errands. It was a normal evening - for most of them.

"Charles," came the voice from his back, to which he stopped and turned around. The voice was that of Mateo, an old man formerly living near Charles and an uncle figure to him.

"Uncle Mateo," he said, after turning around. "It's been a while."

He smiled and said : "Indeed, I arrived in town this morning."

Charles moved forward holding his bag to his stomach and the old man joined him on his small walk. The crowd on the main streets was relatively less due to the working days, all one could see was people, who worked under the king or the civil workers returning from their duties.

"So, how is life on the outskirts?" asked Charles, breaking the silence.

"Calmer. Away from the busy crowd, decent enough."

"Sounds fine," he said. "at least for a retired person."

They walked further, casually talking over things which didn't matter much to either of them - just a way to get reacquainted before starting the actual conversation.

"How is Lenard doing?" Charles asked the old man while his eyes pointed towards the rods of the underconstruction massive bridge.

Hearing the question, the old man's face went down as he tried to pretend he didn't hear that. He looked back up and his eyes went towards the shop nearby.

"This owner redesigned his shop eh?" said the old man. Charles recognised the nervous ignorantness in his voice as the old man tried not to see in his eyes. He stopped at his place and looked at the man.

"Uncle Mateo," he asked with a curious face. "Is everything okay with Lenard?"

"Yes, he's doing fine."

"Your eyes say something else," Charles paused for a moment. "I don't recall, since when did my uncle started lying to me?"

The old man stood calm at his place. The tears in his eyes made him refuse to turn around and look at Charles. Wiping those few tears with his sleeves, the man turned around and looked at his curious face. His eyes filled with hope, trying to hide the emptiness within.

"People don't always lie because they don't trust one," said the man, in a slightly louder tone. "for some...it's their way to cope with the situation."

And Charles, unable to find the appropriate words to make the man feel better, only said, "I was only trying to help." His face, cold as ice.

The man sighed and walked towards him. He took a silent deep breath and exhaled it back out. With a calm expression all over his face, he began.

"Do you recall, Lenard was always willing to be a sorcerer?"

"It has been a dream of his since he was a child."

The old man paused, looking down for some moment and looked back up again. "Some days ago," he said. "you see...Lenard went for a walk with the animals. It was a calm early morning and his father, that stubborn, was out of town." He continued. "I was on my daily routine, all the daily stuff. I completed my work and walked out for a stroll just to notice, all the animals except the horses came back to the outhouse. Lenord was not with them and the animals looked disturbed. I was worried."

"What happened to Lenard?"

"After some time had passed," said the man. "Lenard came home with this...strange looking man."

"A man?"

"Yes, he was a bit taller and much stronger than Lenard. And he was carrying a woman, dressed in red, with some blood stains over her clothes."

A woman, dressed in red? Charles thought and he said, "Bloodstains on her clothes? Was she okay?"

"I thought, those people came with Lenard for shelter. I asked the man If I could treat her," said the man. "But the strange man, carrying her, refused me to touch her."

The women dressed in red? Charles kept thinking for some time and looked back at the old man.

"Lenord walked inside the house," said the man before Charles could complete his assumption. "he said, 'big father, I want to get stronger and help people. I'm going on a journey with this kind man for the same.' The man standing behind was quiet the whole time."

"So...you let him go?"

"That day, he did not come to ask," said the man. "He came to tell me his decision. I was able to feel the weight of his mature and confident voice. His father would have stopped him, but I failed to do that."

Hearing uncle Mateo's situation, Charles stood calm in his place. Not that he was worried about what Lenard has to go through to actually be stronger, he just felt sorry about how Mateo was looking at this situation. He walked close to the man and his palms went over Mateo's shoulders, trying to calm him.

"Is that what you're worrying about?" he asked, to which the old man looked up at him. "I don't think you should worry about Lenard."

"Why would you say that?" asked the man.

"'cause I trust him."

"um..." Uncle Mateo paused. "Let's not talk about him right now."

"There's a reason why I trust him," Charles said. "Lenard is a brilliant kid, he always was. If he's determined to do something," he paused. "I'm sure he knows what he's doing. Trust your grandchild, just like I trust Lenard."

The old man stood in his place without uttering a single word, his eyes went back on the under construction bridge- just an attempt to not look in Charles' eyes. Calm, chilly winds blew across the area, making their coats wave in it. He looked down to his toes and back at Charles with a forced smile on his face.

"I guess you are right," the man said. "I should trust my grandson."

He said and stood quiet again. There was a smile on his face, but his eyes looked unsatisfied. There was emptiness inside them. Uncle Mateo loved Lenard more than anything in this world. Lenard was a world to him. Even the thought of living without him made his mind tremble and uncomfortable.The fact that he went away from him so unexpectedly made him downhearted.

"Charles," said the man. "Can you tell William about this?"

"Oh...I sure can, why so?"

Uncle Mateo looked in his eyes with a small, faint spark of hope rising inside him. A hope of convincing Lenard to come back to him.

"William is a Sorcerer, and a detective," said the man. "He might meet Lenard some time, maybe he can convince him to come back. Lenard always admired him."

"That does not sound--" Charles stopped his words and changed. "Nevermind, I'll let him know. Actually, you should talk to him. He'll be happy to meet you."

As Charles said, Uncle Mateo went quiet. His face revealed a sense of embarracement and guilt. Mateo refused to look back at Charles. And Charles, noticing the look on Mateo's face, understood the situation.

"Oh," Charles paused, "You already came across him...and avoided talking or even showing that you know him, just like every other person in the town."

"I...I'm." His voice broke in guilt. "I don't know why I did that."

"You were a father figure to him," said charles. "Did you, even once, thought of how he must have felt after seeing your reaction to his arrival?"

"I'm sorry."

"I need to leave," Charles said, with a bit of annoyance in his voice. "My wife must be waiting for me."

"oh, you should leave." the man said, still embarrassed. "Sorry for keeping you waiting."

"It's fine."

The old man took his leave. He walked forward, calm and quiet, as if his mind was lost in his thoughts. Charles controlled his emotions and got himself calmed. He stood quietly, kept looking at him going away.

'Say 'hi' to your wife from me, and sometimes come visit this old man, if you can.' Charles remembered the words, uncle Mateo used to say every time at the end of conversation. As he remembered, memories came rushing in his mind. He remembered his time with William and Mateo. Their trips to mountains and lakes. He snapped himself back from them and kept looking at the man, walking away alone until he faded away in the dusty environment.

Charles walked away from the place, toward his home. Many thoughts and old memories about William and Lenard ran inside his mind. He looked around, trying to distract his mind from them and walked further holding his bag.

Charles reached his area, just to notice that the cafe door was already unlocked. With a bit of anxious feeling in the corner of his heart, he walked close to the shop and observed the door lock. It didn't take him long to realise that the door lock was tampered while opening. Yet, the tampering was done with perfection, no other person would have guessed the difference.

The anxious feeling increased. He, without making noise, opened the door and walked inside, observing the shop. Tables were at its place, same was the case with chairs, nothing seemed out of ordinary. He walked upstairs towards his home. The door was opened and there was an uncomfortable feeling due to the silence in the building.

Charles opened the door and entered the house, everything looked fine. He kept the bag aside and walked inside.

"Honey?" He called.

No response.

"Honey?!" He called with a slightly louder tone.

The house was soaked in silence. There was no response, no shouting over, 'why was he late?' or 'why did he forget to bring bread?'

With anxious feelings increasing more and more, he quickly walked inside the house, searching for his wife. There was no one.

Soon, as he entered his bed, his body froze in shock. His eyes refused to believe the scene. He saw, there were words painted in red on the mirror, 'meet me under the bridge.'

Instead of fear, Adrenaline rushed inside him. Without having another thought, his body moved and he rushed outside his house, jumped downstairs and after nearly a year, opened the garage shutter. He removed his bike and made his way towards the earlier seen 'under construction bridge'. His bike ran faster and faster, roaring all over the road.

As he reached the bridge, he left his bike on the road and slided down the slope on the river bank which led to the empty warehouse under the bridge, the only 'big enough' place under the bridge he could think of. As he reached the end of the slope, he stood up and made a run towards the old warehouse.

He arrived at the place.

It was quiet all over. From outside, there were no signs of human activity in the area. Old rusted abandoned cars were lying at the corner of the area, covered in dust. The gates were opened and there appeared a small opening in the main door. Charles quickly walked forward and used his strength to open the massive doors.

The rusted main doors opened with an irritating high creaking sound. The door opened, revealing several armed people, dressed in black from top to bottom, standing in a horizontal line. He walked inside.

"Where is my wife?!" He shouted.

None of the standing people answered.

"I was told to come here and meet," he said in a louder voice. "Now where is my wife?"

"We heard it the first time, dear." A voice came from the side. Charles' eyes moved towards the voice, noticing a woman, dressed in black and brown, sitting on the roof of a big truck at one side of the warehouse. She was a slim woman with a perfectly shaped body, brown eyes and not-so-bad voice.

The woman jumped down from the top of the truck and walked some steps forward, looking at Charles.

"You sure have a jacked up body."

"Where is my wife?"

"Oh calm down," said the woman with a soft voice. "let me have a look at you first."

"Stop babbling around!" Charles shouted, anger filling all over his face. "Where is my wife?"

"Your 'dear' wife is with me," said the woman. "Complete my work and you'll have her back."

"What work?"

"Help me catch the cursed child- William," said the woman.

"As if I'll agree with that," he said. "Find someone else, you imbecile."

"How dare you say that!" came a screaming voice from the sides and before Charles could realise, a bulky man came rushing towards him. Charles read his moves and backed off, grabbed his wrist and using his own momentum, twisted his hands and slammed him down on the ground.

Another muscular man from the crowd rushed forward towards Charles with an assassin knife. Charles evaded the attack and placed his raging fist on his chest, blasting the man some distance away.

"Oh! Now what do we have here?" said the woman in amusement. "Those were some really impressive moves."

"Why," said Charles. "Can a fellow coffee shop owner not be a sorcerer?"

That's enough. The woman said in her mind.

"You call this sorcery?" said the woman. "Let me show you what real sorcery is."

She said, and before Charles could realise, within a blink, she rushed towards him. She sliced her hand in empty air and soon, air pressure waves ran across the area, striking his body like deadly slashes.

Wordless spells? Thought Charles with a surprised face.

Before he could recover, the woman rushed closer and punched her knee in his belly, blasting him away on the walls of the warehouse.

Even for a sorcerer...this much strength? He thought. How can she be a human?

In no time, she walked close to him. She raised his face grabbing him with his hairs, made him look towards the whole armed crowd.

"Perhaps...this might convince you to work for me." she said.

She waved her second hand towards the people and some covered faces walked behind the crowd. After a while, the people came back in front, holding Charles' wife like a prisoner. Her lips, blocked with the white tapes and her hands, tied with strong chains. His wife looked in his eyes and tears came running down on her face.

"Get your dirty hands off my wife." Charles shouted. "Leave her alone."

"Calm down idiot." said the woman, tightly grabbing his hair. "The people holding her are women too."

"And why would I trust you?"

"I might be represented as a bad guy here...but, As a woman myself, I assure you, your wife won't be touched by any man." she said. "Now if you want to be with her again...get the job done."

"Why me?"

"After George Watson and that other woman, you are the closest person to him," said the woman. "Even in his wildest dream, William won't doubt you."

Charles was quiet. He was constantly looking at his wife whose lips were sealed by white tapes. She wanted to scream but she couldn't. Tears constantly came through her gorgeous eyes, running down her face. Charles could do nothing but stay quiet.

"I would have asked you 'yes or no'." said the woman. "But your silence already gave me the answer."

The woman left Charles' hairs, making his head collide with the ground. She walked forward towards the crowd and waved her hand. Following her orders, those womens took his wife away from the crowd.

"Jamis." Said the woman, looking towards a muscular man. "You said you wanted revenge for your daughter's death...well here's your chance."

II

The eyes were dizzy again, this time, not because of a dream, but because of fatigue and pain, running all over the body.

'Wake up' 'wake up' many faint voices constantly whispered in his brain. His horribly painful body left him with no strength to think about the situation he was in. He looked around, just to see dizzy images and unrecognisable whispering sounds.

After the dizziness gradually faded, as William gained back enough strength, he pressured his eyes until his vision was decently clear. He noticed the blood, dripping from a wound on his arm, his arms were tied with chains, the other end of the chains was in the hands of the troop leader, who walked some distance forward. He was forced to walk forward and follow him, or he would be dragged behind them with those chains, wrapped around his arms.

As William regained control over his body, the two people, supporting him to walk left his arms and walked aside. The unmasked man, troop leader, turned around and glanced at him.

"I see you are finally awake," he said. "How was your little sleep?"

"What happened to me?"

"We will be soon reaching the border of the town," said the man. "See your town for the last time."

"I asked you something." William said, "What happened to me?"

"You'll know everything, kid," said the man. "Be patient."

"I said what happened to me?!"

As William shouted, the man furiously turned around and sliced his hands twice in the empty air. Following his actions, two air pressure waves came rushing in air and hit William's stomach. William crouched in pain until the man pulled him with the chains again.

"You are tied up in chains while I'm holding the other end of those chains," said the man, with a deep voice. "Know your place, kid."

"What happened to me?" Even after getting the hit, William still asked the same question.

"You wanna know?" The man kept walking. "Your so-called 'close friend' betrayed you and handed you to me. While I was taking you down stairs, something got into you and you got furious. There was a small squabble and I used my hand to hit your neck and calm you down."

William went quiet after listening to his answer. He didn't sound angry or mad at William anymore. William wondered and questioned himself whether the leader was angry at him anymore.

"Where are we going?"

"Away from the town."

"Can't you use a car or somethin'?" William looked at the man. "Walking all the way from the town was a terrible idea."

"It's not up to you to choose what transport we should use." said the man, with a louder voice. "We don't want anyone to track us. No cars or any other device."

"And yet, you still want to use your communication device?"

"Shut up!"

William zipped his lips and went quiet. He followed the troop leader and walked some distance behind him, what choice did he had anyway? Quietly, without making much noise, the troop of some fifty armed people walked forward on their way towards the borders of the town.

"You already know, I possess dark energy," said William. "Are you not scared that I might get frustrated by this thing and simply kill you?"

"I know what kind of person you are, William," said the man. "You never and will never just kill someone without reason. Bloodshed is always the last resolve you choose."

"If you know what kind of person I am," William calmly said. "Then, why am I still in chains?"

"Knowing what kind of person you are doesn't change the fact that, that night, because of your mistake, many people" he paused. "Including my daughter, they lost their lives. If only you had not interfered with that entity that night, she would have been alive."

William thought of explaining to him about how the devil possession works, but that would have just made things more worse. He leaned his head down and followed the people without uttering a single word.

Most of the time he was lost in his thoughts until a noise of gossiping and whispering increased from the front end of the troop. Jamis, the troop leader, stood in his place and so did William.

William's eyes, desperately, tried to get a glance at what was stopping the whole group of armed people. His sight was blocked by many heads of people in the troop, covered in black.

"What is happening?" Jamis said, with a louder tone. "What's stopping you?"

The whispering still continued and no one replied to Jamis' question. Jamis, with a little annoyed face, handed the chains to another muscular person beside him and walked forward, making his way through his people.

He walked in front of the crowd to see far away in the woods, there was a sword, standing vertically, stuck in the ground. For any sorcerer, it was not hard to see the enormous dark energy waves constantly emitting from the sword. Jamis pointed his gun and pressed the trigger. Many shots were simultaneously fired at the sword. Before it reached the weapon, bullets exploded with a loud noise, some distance away from the sword.

A counter spell field barrier, huh? Thought Jamis.

The troop leader, Jamis, turned and walked back towards William. He approached near him and angrily grabbed his black collar.

"Now what is all this about?" He asked in an angry face.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't pretend like you don't know anything," said Jamis. "What is up with that sword, vertically standing in the woods?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Lies."

"I said, I don't know." William said in a louder voice. "And If it was my trick, don't you think I would have escaped by now?"

Jamis stood quiet, hearing William's statement. Anger was still boiling inside him. He pretended to ignore the stares of the people around him, turned around and walked back to the front of the troop.

"We are at the border of the Zora. In front of us we see the beginning of the cursed region, guns will be useless from here on," He shouted, looking at the sinister sword standing in front. "Remove your blades."

Following his order, without wasting any moment, all the people in the group turned their guns backward and removed their blades. Some were actual swords and some little longer than normal knives, assassin knives. Mostly used by agents in SIMI.

Jamis, leading the troop, walked forward tightly holding his blade. Most people were frightened, looking at the sinister looking sword, emitting the dark energy waves. But at the same time, looking at Jamis, leading them, there also were some people who walked bravely, no fear lurking around them.

But, as they approached closer to the sword. The background around them glitched for a short moment, splashing many colours in their eyes and the sinister sword disintegrated in the air. People got closer to each other trying to understand the situation.

Not sooner had they realised, they got themselves into a trap, an intense QI spread all around them and soon, a woman dressed in black suit came out of the bushes. She, without wasting any moment, rushed towards Jamis with the same sinister blade.

Jamis, reading the situation, predicted the move and blocked her attack with his long knife. The strike impact created an air pressure making Jamis move from his place and collide with the tree behind. Looking at their leader on his knees, people backed off in a defensive position.

William couldn't help but realise the movement and fighting style of the women was strikingly similar to that of himself. Her QI, which is unique to every individual, was familiar to him and reminded him of only a single person.

"How in this world--"

"Not the time, William."

She perfectly landed back on the ground, near William, and looked back at Jamis.

"How dare you intrude in our matters?!" shouted Jamis as he stood up from his place. He grabbed his blade again and rushed towards the women.

Out of nowhere, Rita appeared at the place from the sides, her body went swooshing from near the woman's arms and her scythe went for Jamis' neck. Again, reading the situation, he used his blade and blocked the attack. This time, the impact was much stronger and Jamis was blasted on the tree.

"This one is for chaining William!" she said, shouting toward the man.

She walked back and used her spell to break the chains. The chains disintegrated in small particles in air. William rotated his wrist and summoned his blades. The man stood up from his place and looked at the people around.

"People," He shouted. "Don't forget who we are. Don't forget why we are fighting." he shouted louder. "The cursed child is a threat to humanity. We are fighting for humanity, we are fighting for our families."

He shouted louder and louder. William observed, there was a sense of hope and audacity rising inside people's eyes. These people were blinded with revenge inside their eyes. They didn't see how William saved the whole Capital that night, the only thing their eyes saw was, their loved ones were killed by the devil and William himself possessed the devil's QI.

The women in black looked down on the ground and looked back at the angry people.

I wished it didn't come to this. She thought.

As all the people marched towards the three of them, the sword in her hand disappeared and the woman got on her knees. Her eyes and fingers shone dark crimson red. She placed her palms on the ground and spread her fingers.

"Dark Arts," She spelled, "Words of the lilith!"

Her voice whispered and then roared all over the area. Following her spell, a dark red translucent wall appeared around three of them and within a blink disappeared, spreading all around them. With a high frequency irritating sound, the red wall exploded. William opened his eyes, only to see that everyone except them three and Jamis were no more. Except the troop leader, they all disappeared.

The woman walked forward and unmasked herself. William stood some distance away from her, his body froze with his shocked face.

"what...how are you here?" he asked with a surprised face.

"Saving you...like always."

"William," added Rita. "she said she knows you."

"I know him really well, Rita." said the woman and she looked at William. "Will you not introduce me to her, William?"

"That's not the point--"

"Introduce me, Peanut."

"Who is she, William?"

William paused for a while, looking back and forth at the woman and Rita."Let me introduce you to my Cupcake," said William, mocking the woman. "This is Maya. My sister--"

"Big sister." Maya interrupted.

"Yeah, yeah. My 'big' sister," William corrected. "The oldest and strongest among four siblings, including me. The original owner of the 'words of lilith'. And the person, who I was told, and convinced, is dead...was dead."