Guests

A few days later…..

On a bed someone is lying, staring at the ceiling of the room, for days just lying and rolling on the bed. He only wears short pants without any other cloth attached to his body, his black hair that is quite long and disheveled, without knowing how many days he had not taken care of himself. Abelard only locked himself in his room after fighting the goat-headed devil.

He closes his eyes, opens his eyes, kept doing it over and over again, no matter how many times he had done it. From the corner of his round, dimly lit eyes, he seemed to be contemplating some things.

‘Devil.’

‘That strange feeling.’

Everything he experienced when he fought the Goat-headed Devil still echoing in his mind. His heart feels displeased with all those experiences.

“Huuahh… I should have caught that thing that night.”

Abelard wakes up from his sleep and sits on the edge of the bed, rubs his face a few times and then sighs. He stands up, stretching his whole body.

His feet step towards the door of the room, just wearing his shorts. The whole room was quite dark, even though he could use the lamp to illuminate the whole room, but he chose to be in a dark place.

Meanwhile, in the living room.

“So how long will it take them to get here?” Say Aahva.

“Don’t worry, they’ll be here soon enough.” Say Aimer.

Aahva’s face is a little tense, his tone is quite smooth. He has his hands on his knees, which are crossed with each other, and his body is slightly bent forward. Aahva looked a little tensed as he asked Aimer.

“Hey, I forgot to ask you this, but are you sure you’ll tell him about this?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re really a cruel man..”

Aimer puts on a relaxed face. His tone is also not much different from his expression. He sits leaning on the sofa. Both wear black trousers. Aimer wears a dark blue stitched vest with long sleeves. Aahva only wears plain white clothes.

“I know you never told him about your family, but you told your family about him, and now you’re going to bring them before him?”

“Huah… Aimer, it is time.”

“Hey Aahva!”

“Hhhmm? What?”

Aimer’s gaze lead on the side of the stairs behind Aahva, his eyes focuse on following the figure that had appeared walking down the stairs. Aimer nods his head at the figure. Aahva’s eyes tremble slightly, his body turns to follow Aimer’s gaze. Aahva understands Abelard is finally showing up.

“Aahh… Finally..” Say Aahva.

Abelard is walking into the living room in only shorts and no clothes, walk without saying anything, sit back on the sofa beside Aimer all of a sudden. His gaze towards the ceiling, just silent without saying a word from his mouth. There were several bruises and bandages on Abelard’s body. His breathing was normal, and he was quite relaxed.

Aimer and Aahva exchanges glances, both of them suddenly sit down nicely and turn their gazes to Abelard.

“Hey young Abelard… It seems the last mission really gave you a shit!”

Aimer’s tone rises and falls and contained a hint of sarcasm. His eyes continue to scan the wounds all over Abelard from top to bottom.

“Aimer, Stop that! I don’t wanna argue with you.”

Abelard’s voice is very low. The look in his eyes is a little dim. There is no visible anger or emotion that appears on him. He slowly turns his head towards Aimer. His dim eyes stare at Aimer and a moment later glance at Aahva.

“Aimer, I think If I’m not wrong. You told me about human type devil, didn’t you?”

“Eehh.. Yeah, why?”

Aimer’s eyes are a little rounded, his voice a bit difficult to get out, his face looked a bit confused by Abelard’s intentions.

“Could human type speak like normal human and it can think as if we, human?”

Aimer and Aahva’s backs get stiffened, their eyeballs get widened, Even their hearts stop beating for a few moments until their thoughts drifted into their subconscious. Aahva and Aimer exchange glances with their sharp gazes, which then return to Abelard, who was still leaning on the sofa and looking up at the ceiling casually.

“Hey Abelard! Perhaps I didn’t make it in time, was that devil..”

Aahva’s voice grows louder, his gaze at Abelard grows sharper, even as his body leaned towards Abelard without him noticing. Aahva looks very curious about what happened to Abelard a few days ago.

“Yeah… he could speak. I never met that kind of devil before, but He really gave a hard time as you can see now, all these wound…”

“Perhaps you two have something to tell me about human type? If so, Then I need to know everything about it!”

“And I hope you two are not joking or lying to me, please.“

His voice is very low, even as if he was sick. He sits, leaning on the sofa, and slowly, turning his gaze from the ceiling to the interlocutor in front of him. His eyes were still dim.

On the other hand, Aahva takes a deep breath. The sharpness in his eyes faded slowly. He is more relaxed than before. After seeing Abelard’s behavior today, his heart ached a little because he felt like he was a terrible master by letting his own disciple go through a lot of hard things the past few days.

“Okay, I’ll tell you everything I know so far.”

“First, the devil that you fought that night was probably an ancient devil.”

“Ancient devil?”

“Absolutely, they are the devil race that already exists even when the first man is exist on this earth.”

Abelard pupils enlarge. The dimness in his eyes started to light up. His heart beat faster. For a moment, he looks at Aimer and turns his gaze back to Aahva. His face looked warmer than before, which looked dark and cold.

"Continue, tell me evertything!”

“It used to be a long time. In the past, where the first demonic hunter appeared, there were several devils who had the special ability to speak, think, change form, and even lived between humans. Until a lot of bloodshed because of human suspicion itself. But kinds of devils like that are very rarely found even in decades, so information about them is limited.”

“So that goat-headed devil is one of the ancient devils?”

“Maybe, but I still doubt about it.”

“What!? Why?”

“That was the general ability of the ancient devil, young Abelard! If about the characteristics of the ancient devils, until now we don’t even know about it.” Say Aimer..

“What Aahva wanted to say is the devil you face doesn’t seem like an original ancient devil.” Say Aimer.

“Come on, both of you! Don’t confuse me!”

“Alright, let me continue. The ancient devil might give his body part to the ordinary devil so he could have ancient devil abilities.”

“I see. Then, how many quantities of the ancient devils that the devil hunters already met?”

“So far, based on the information I got, there are only two ancient devils that had been seen.”

“Only two? You are sure?”

“Of course!, But based on old legends and written records left by the predecessors. There are five ancient devils that are on earth”

“Then where are the three left? “

“We still haven’t found where they are now, but one of the two ancient devils we know seemed like on moving”

“And Abelard! this is the outline of the ancient Devils. One ancient devil can kill hundreds of people per day.” Say Aahva.

Suddenly, there is an electric shock that is felt inside Abelard’s chest, his pupils enlarge from the shock. His gaze falls on Aahva as fast as lightning for a moment as he said that. He had just heard an unexpected thing.

“What!? Can you say it again!?”

“Like I said earlier, they could kill hundreds of people per day, so it’s likely that the devil you fought that night wasn’t one of the ancient devils.”

“Hhhmmm, yes, it might be true, but how about the two other ancient devils?”

Aimer and Aahva exchanges their glances, their eyes unchanged and still the same. Aimer nods. They both sit back on the sofa casually. And Aimer speaks up.

“Young Abelard… If you want to know about him, perhaps you can see him with me. Cuz he’s walking without stop on the earth. Without direction until now. We have tried to destroy him, but nothing worked so far. As if he wasn’t even interested in humans, so we couldn’t do anything else until now.”

“And the other one? “

“He was the biggest threat to this land a few years ago, hundreds of soldiers were deployed just to fight one devil, many lives floated, but in the end he retreated himself. And it looks like he has started moving again now.”

The atmosphere suddenly becomes silent, as if swallowed by the earth. The three of them cover their mouths as Aimer finished his sentence. Abelard’s gaze directed downwards, while the others had their gazes right on Abelard. Instantly a glint appears in Abelard’s eyes, a burning feeling rises in his chest, the pulse in his temple bones begins to beat rapidly. A very familiar feeling to Abelard, as if he was still fighting the devil he fought a few nights ago.

“Do you know where they are now, Aimer? their exact location?”

Both of their breaths stop for a moment. Their eyes get widened as their muscles get tightened all over their bodies. Aahva starts to feel a displeasing aura on Abelard. His natural instinct is starting to work. His hand pushes Aimer right in front of him.

“That’s enough Aimer! Don’t! Please don’t tell him!”

The voice begins to grow louder with each word that comes out of his mouth. Aahva stands up from his seat without his noticing. His gaze was as fast as lightning, glaring at Aimer sharply. Slowly, he turns his face towards Abelard. His eyes looked sad, wrinkles on his forehead started to appear. He sits back down on the sofa. Aahva slowly opens his mouth in a very subtle tone.

“Abelard! I don’t know what really happened to you before, but remember you’re too young!, ancient devil is not the type of devil that you can imagine.”

On the other hand, the two of them could feel their backs gripping. Their entire bodies were so weak that they couldn’t move. Their eyes are on Aahva in a circle. Either Abelard and Aimer were really surprised and didn’t expect Aahva to explode suddenly. Abelard actually can’t accept Aahva’s words, but when he saw Aahva’s face suddenly, he remembers if Aahva had raised him.

“Sorry uncle. But there is something really I want to make sure.”

“Remember about what you told me when we go to the Sufyan Forest?”

“About you want me to be on duty at another place?”

Aimer’s eyes get widened, his mouth gaping like a giant cave located in a forest. His thoughts begin to float in his subconscious where various thoughts collected. Aimer was suddenly shocked by the news that was completely out of his mind. He couldn’t just stay still.

“Wait Aahva! It’s still too fast for him. Think about it once again!”

”Besides, didn’t you just forbid me to meet him with them? What if he’ll meet them without our acknowledgement?”

His normally relaxed tone of voice and sounded sexy, twisted up and down with an overflowing emotion.

Calmly, Aahva stretched out his right hand with his palm facing Aimer. Slowly, his voice comes out with a normal tone and really sounded like him.

“It’s okay aimer, this time let’s test him. Is he really ready? Besides that, he won’t be alone on duty. Don’t worry, it is not the place where they are.”

"Listen up, Abelard! I have a better solution for you. If you are able to complete this quest, count this as your worthiness.”

“Alright, I’m listening.”

“Ordinary devils who have eaten the body parts of ancient devils will gain more power. Look for such devils! If you find it, make sure you tell us and let’s test your skills against those devils.”

“That’s all?”

Abelard and Aahva’s expressions remained the same, no reaction. On the other hand, Aimer has his wide eyes that keep glaring at Aahva, his mouth keeps shaking, his breathing irregular. He seemed to be depressed by the two people in front of him. Aimer’s mouth slowly gets opened and his voice almost comes out, but gets caught in his throat when Abelard suddenly stands up from his seat.

“Do as you please!”

Abelard’s feet start to move, as well as do himself, who turns away from them. Just as Abelard was about to leave the place, he heard something.

“Hey! I hope you don’t have any business today, Cuz I have some guests for you. I think you would like it when you see them.”

“What?”

“You heard me?”

“Where they are now?, How much longer they would be here?”

“Well… Perhaps about three hours, and perhaps they are inside the train right now.”

“Okey then! I’ll be back in three hours.”

Abelard steps and fast, up to the stairs. Slowly, his figure begins to disappear from view. Instantly, the atmosphere becomes silent when the sound of a door slamming through the room.

“Aahva!”

”Hhhmm…?”

“Tell me! Have you considered everything before? Why didn’t you tell me before?”

His voice is neither loud nor soft, but his tone is quite hard and pressing. Aimer’s gaze is very sharp, which was aimed at Aahva. His breath is heavy, along with his jaw tightened. Aimer really couldn’t believe what he just heard.

“Well… friend. You know you will never agree with that, but trust me, the bad things will never happen.”

Aimer’s heart was beating so fast. Fear begins to grow from within his heart, creeping towards his mind.

“Aahva! Don’t blame me if one day bloodshed would occur because of your decision.”

A smile appears on Aahva’s face. His eyes are sparkling like glass in the morning sun. There is no obvious reaction from Aahva. In fact, he just sits nicely while leaning on the sofa.

Meanwhile, A young girl with long, flowing hair in a braid that circled around the back of her head, her hair is slightly blonde brown, she is sitting pretty in the train. Her bright blue eyes are staring at the train window that separated her from the outside world. Her cheeks are a bit chubby with a slightly wide forehead. Her fresh red lips seemed to make her charming. She wears a long dark blue skirt that covered all her legs and topped it off with high-heeled leather shoes. Her entire upper body was covered by a dark brown fringed dress with a scarf around her neck that covered her chest.

“What are you thinking about? You’ve been staring at the window ever since we got onto the train, not usually like you.”

In front of her, a middle-aged woman with blonde hair looked at the girl in front of her with so much attention. She was wearing the exact same clothes as the girl. They looked almost the same, even though their hair and faces looked a little different. Others would have thought they were twins.

“Not much, mom.”

“Oohh really? Then why do you keep pouting like that? I don’t even see the little girl who usually talks a lot”

“Maybe she is a little stressed out. Sis, she has not seen his father for a long time, and now suddenly she has a pretty heavy task.”

Beside the woman sat a middle-aged man who’s the woman’s younger brother. His hair is also blonde. He wears an all-black suit from a suit, pants to shoes. He is a little taller than his older sister. His eyes were clear, with thick eyebrows.

“Shut up! You are my biological brother, but you always side with your brother-in-law.”

“We’re on the train. It’s not good to fight with each other besides that. We’re almost at the station.”

“Jane, your mother is right. You look so different today. Why don’t you share what’s on your mind with your uncle?”

“It would be better if you shut your mouth!”

Those two siblings exchanges glances for a moment, their eyes both clear. It seemed that they were quite surprised by the young princess, who was in front of them now. Moments later, the train stops at their destination.