"What really happened?" Alex stood up from the bed and placed both his hands on his hips.
"I am about to read loudly the part about the god that has sinned when fire started from the book itself! I am not even able to see the name of that god." She said dejectedly.
Asher closed the door of the room, "So sire, you're not even allowed to know your own past from the book. It is I who only knows your name and history from the past, but apparently, I am not allowed to say those things as well." He looked at the hopeful Emily, she is hoping that he would at least tell the things to her. "And no, I am not going to tell the story to you as well Emily. I don't want to risk my time here in earth while the hell is not interested in eating my soul yet."
"What a bummer. We have no other choice sire. You really have to remember it by yourself." She started to pickup the vacuum cleaner and helped in cleaning the room as well.
"But how am I going to remember it? I can crack my brain all day but I am sure it will not just come down to me like a rain." Alex said as he sat down on his bed, feeling defeated.
Emily stopped what she was doing and stared at her master. "Sire. Sometimes, memories are coming to living humans by dreams. Even us, wondering souls can have dreams from the time that we were alive. Pay more attention to your dreams from now on. Or you can just leave everything to destiny." She resumed in cleaning the room. "Destiny will move by itself even if you dont do anything."
come to think of it, yes he just had a dream a while ago...in his dream, he was a boy standing next to his 'father'. "I had a dream a while ago, but I was dreaming on the part where the god of everything has given his blessing to the king of the night creatures. And I have dreamed of the little prince as well."
Emily leaned her face over Alex's face and asked, "Little prince?" She sat down on the bed next to him. Asher also stopped what he is doing and listened to his master. "The prince of the night creature. In my dream, he told me his wish."
"What was his wish?" Asher asked.
"He wants to walk in the light of godly realm, like how the gods do."
"Well, according to my memory when I read that book a long time ago, that was definitely his only wish." Asher replied.
***
The king of the night creature went inside his chambers as his servant followed him.
He poured himself a glass of wine from the coffee table, while looking at the dark, night sky. His chamber was designed after a victorian room. In the center of the room, there is his king sized bed with scarlet drape around it. On it's right side was the floor to ceiling window and the coffee table and couch. He stood in front of his window and he was feeling agitated.
"Master, do you really need to wipe out the whole school?"
"That was needed. That school was a lair of spirits and night creatures. I have to get rid of it." It is true though. When he went in that school, it's not just the wondering souls that are in there, there were also other night creatures that were lurking and some of them are inviting more night creature. So he had to bury it all to hell.
He needs to keep him safe. He wants to have him by his side.
But he has been living as a human for so long, he doubts he would just come to him with his open arms. Just when he finally found him alive, this would be his new problem. This thought made him more agitated and he needs to make a move soon. Because he doesn't know when that sly god of destiny will pull his strings once more to kill him.
He saw his reflection on the window and he stared on his red eyes. His agitation has made him lose control slightly of his powers making his eyes glow in blue and put a huge crack on his window. His servant was observing his master. A question crossed his mind...
'Will that god choose to redeem himself?' He needs to watch him closely.
The servant stared on the blue glowing eyes of his master, 'I have to protect master. Even if I have to hurt him.'
***
The following morning, Alex and his mother are in the dining room. Sitting seriously on the chair. His mother though, was not aware of the two other presence that was behind Alex. Emily and Asher are standing silently while the mother and son are thinking seriously.
"Somehow, even though she cannot see us, I feel awkward!" Emily whispered as she leaned closer to Asher. He plans to ignore her but she continued. "When are they going to speak? They have been staring at their hands for so long!"
Both Alex and Asher stared at her in warning. Emily composed her self and zipped her mouth.
His mother has noticed the movement that her son made. To her, it looks like he is seeing something that she cannot see from his back. She is hesitating to ask her son about this but she has to. She wants to do something about this because she might be the cause of it. He is blind, so he might be feeling something that she cant feel, or see. She took a deep breath and said, "Son."
Alex turned his head in the direction of his mother. "Do you...perhaps...hear things that I cannot hear?"
Alex stopped for a moment, "Why would you ask that?"
"Well, last night, I hear you speaking to yourself. You asked yourself 'what really happened?' then there was a burnt book on the floor..."
"Oh, you forgot to close the door last night!" Emily whispered to Asher. "I closed it afterwards! Shut up." He replied.
'Oh fck. How am I going to reason it out?' Alex thought.
"Just say that you are practicing some acting lines." Asher said.
"I was practicing some lines....for school."
"School? But your school was gone! Was it supposed to be for a play?"
"Ah, yes, it was."
His mother released a sigh of relief. 'I can put my mind at ease now. My son is not crazy.'
"Anyway, there was a mail that came in yesterday afternoon. But you were cooped up in your room, so I plan to give this to you in the morning. I cant read it though, it was in braille."
Alex got out the paper and touched the braille to read it. He felt his mother's eyes on him anticipating what was written on the document.
"It says that because of the incident in school, all of the seniors were sent a diploma and was declared by the principal as graduates. That is all."
"Oh, okay. I'll go cook breakfast for now. How would you like your egg done?"
"Uhm, anything mom. I'll go look for a job today. We only had eggs and rice for a few days now."
***
"Sir, do you need sun glasses?" Asher asked while he is looking for clothes that he needs to wear for his job hunting.
Alex just got out of his bathroom. His hair was dripping wet and he removed his towel covering the lower part of his body and used it to wipe his hair. "No, I am the blind type that does not need glasses."
"AAAAAAH" Emily shouted while covering her face. Alex and Asher went on alert.
"What! Why!" Alex asked.
"Sire! Your snake is hanging down! Cover yourself for your sake! Oh my god!"
They were both dumbfounded but nevertheless, Alex covered himself unconsciously.
"Wtf dimwit. You are dead! Seeing a dangling d*ck doesn't matter!"
"You don't understand! I died a virgin! I have never seen that thing before!" She said behind her hands, her voice sounds muffled.
"Uuh...I need to get dressed, maybe you can go out for a while? But I am covered now."
Emily removed her hands from her face and indeed, the magnificent lower half of her master was covered. She blushed thinking that it was magnificent, something that was expected of her master. "Yes....I will go out and check the vicinity for any lurking..." She remembered how it looks like once more. "uhm...lurking things." 'My gosh it was so huge!' she thought.
Alex felt that a presence has left them. "Didn't know wondering spirits still get conscious about this." He started dressing himself with the clothes that Asher has found in his dresser.
"We were not. Before we met you, we are just watching and silently passing through the students in your school. All of the wondering spirits are like that. Numb of senses, has no care whatever we saw, we were like that until it is our time to be eaten by hell. We do not have any attachments to the living the longer we stayed in this world."
Asher gave him his pants. "I see. But you guys seem different." Alex said as he wears the pants that he received.
"We met you. The warmth and light of your pure soul made us feel human. I am sure you have heard this from other wondering spirits as well. But your light is enough to make us remember what it was like to feel the sun on our skin. Maybe because you are the reincarnation of that fallen god. But we are all glad to be graced by your presence, sire. And that is the light that we all want to protect at all cost."
Asher tried to brush his hair while Alex was doing the buttons on his shirt. "We have failed to protect the lives that was given to us, and we will only realize the value of it once it was gone. To us that still lingers, your life is our second chance to be alive, our little salvation to the hell that we made for ourselves."
Somehow, this made Alex happy because he is now more aware that his presence was so important to them, it makes him want to protect his own life at all cost. It made him want to be alive because what he said is true. You will only know the value of life once you have lost it, just like things.
But sad at the same time because he is now aware that there were humans who wants to escape their reality by slowly wasting their life away or killing themselves. Sometimes, humans are also selling themselves willingly to the night creatures just to have a little bit of power than the rest. Thus, resulting in regret, sadness or anger, and their soul will be lost forever.
***
The three of them sat on the floor of his room and the news paper was sitting in the midst of them.
"So, you want a job that doesn't have reading test or physical exam?" Asher asked.
"Yes, because I do not want to reveal that I am blind. I failed to ask for advice about the best jobs for the blind and all of the things you mentioned to me from the news paper are all normal jobs for able people."
Asher and Emily crossed their arms in front of their chest. "Sire, what about maintenance job? Uhm...let's see. Are you perhaps, interested in being a janitor?"
"But they might do physical examinations, they might find out master's secret." Asher reasoned out.
"That is true.." Alex seconded.
"Well, do you have any other suggestions? Because as I see it in here, all of the jobs listed in this news paper might do a physical exam." She said as she paid attention for the jobs that Asher has encircled since last night.
"Red district." Asher blurted this out as a joke. He cant think of any other options and laid defeated on the floor. Emily stared at him seriously. "Well, in the red district, they wont ask for your educational background and they certainly wont do any physical exam. Though some things in there might be illegal, you can be hired as long as you can do the job. Plus, we are going to be there to guide you, not like they have protective barriers. This is not Edo era." He reasoned out, but without knowing, Alex has seriously considered this. He is quite confident because aside from his companions, he also has his heightened senses that will help him in his work as well. Though if he is going to work in a bar and if he needs to mix drinks, he wont be able to do that because he cannot see. People will freak out if they will suddenly see the mixers and drinks floating in the air. He can work as a waiter, or a janitor in there.
"Can we go to the red district now?" Alex asked.
Asher stared at him with a dumbfounded face. "Sire, I just want to let you know that I am not serious with my suggestion. I am not going to let you work in the red district, not only because some transactions in there are illegal, it's going to be like you are inviting death on your feet. Dangerous people are often found in that place..." He sighed and tried to think once more of better words. "Sire, serial killers can be found in that place."
"He is right sire." Emily considered this option as well, but she changed her mind after hearing his reasoning. Alex understood where their worry is coming from. But he is confident that he can survive.
"But I have the two of you. You can hold things in the house right? Like my clothes and the glasses or water pitchers?"
Emily and Asher stared at each other, clueless about what he is thinking. "uuh, yes. We can hold those things. Wait. Don't tell me you want us to protect you using water pitchers?"
Asher's face wore a poker face with her train of thought. "Or rather sire, you want us to carry a knife? since we can hold those mundane things, you are thinking as well that we can use and hold a knife?"
"Yes, you are correct Asher. That is what I am thinking. So, we could proceed in looking for a job from the red district. But for your peace of mind, we will carry a small knife, enough to protect me. How's that?"
Asher and Emily stared at each other then back at Alex. "That is fine. But you have to put the knife in a place where I can easily pull out in case of emergency."
"Wait, why do we have to ask master to carry the weapon? Cant we just carry it by ourselves?" Emily asked.
"No, dimwit. Because it will look like a floating knife next to master."
***
The life in the red district starts at 8 o'clock in the evening. According to Asher, if they are going to look for a job in the red district, it is best to look for it at sunset. Some employers are still sleeping in the morning and they go to work in the late afternoon.
Most of the establishments in the red districts are brothels, bars, cheap food restaurants and some loan sharks. This is where the illegal drugs and other substances were brought and ordered. You can also find different kinds of people in here, drug lords, politicians, students etc. But you will never think that a blind man will come and visit this place. This is definitely a lair of short pleasure, sin and happiness.
The red district is a two and a half hour drive from his home. they arrived at the place at 19:30. Asher has guided them in one of the gay bars and he is currently sitting in the manager's office. Asher and Emily are standing behind him. "He's into it!" Emily commented after checking out his room decorations. The office is a little small. There is a small, black couch on her left and next to it were stacks of papers, maybe 5 meters from the couch, you can see the rainbow colored table where the boss was sitting behind. At the wall behind the boss, there were posters of men, probably they were the dancers of the bar. On her right is a lamp and a few bondage toys like cuffs, gag ball, the thing that you put in with a fluffy fur, whips and other stuff that she didn't want to focus on. She blushed upon seeing those things.
Asher kept the composure on his face but for some reason, he also felt uncomfortable after seeing the things on the right side of the room. "Yes, I know he is into it. You don't have to say it to my face."
"So you said you are looking for a job and you are open to being a janitor or waiter?" The boss himself is chubby and he has stubble on his chin. Probably stands at 5 feet and 9 inches. He is wearing a big, floral red shirt. His white hair is balding and his brown eyes have malicious intent. His voice is deep but you can hear that he is trying to keep his voice on a thin and higher tone in an attempt to imitate a woman's voice.
"Yes sir." Alex replied.
The boss was staring at his face. He placed his chin on the palm of his right hand and stared at his blue eyes. On the outside, Alex looked like he is staring directly to his eyes. The boss was captivated by the beauty of his eyes so he said in a slightly authoritative voice, "You have beautiful eyes...Makes me think of what it looks like if you are tied up."
Alex, Emily and Asher felt the hairs at the back of their neck stand up. Even if the later two are dead, they certainly thought they felt it. An unknown repulsion has crossed the three of them, specially Alex. He knows that he was taught to be a submissive person when it comes to plays like what he is suggesting. He is not innocent on those things anymore. But aside from repulsion, he also felt a cold chill travel in his bones, making his muscles stiff. He unconsciously lowered his eyes like a submissive.
The boss felt delighted with his reaction. Amusement has lit up his brown eyes and he decided, "I am going to hire you as one of the waiters. One of my men will tour you around before the night starts. He is going to be your companion for a while until you got used to the job." The boss stood up from his seat and leaned closer to him. Asher was about to get the knife that was sitting at the back of Alex's pants but he paused when he saw that he just lifted his chin up. Alex is still looking side ways and refuses to set his eyes in the upward direction. "Look at me." The boss said in a seductive voice.
Alex lifted his eyes on the direction where the boss' eyes feels like could be. "Call me master Raven from now on."