The moment the jeep halted in front of the 6th house in 7th Lane in Riverdale, the jet black Rolls Royce Sweptail also halted a couple of meters away. Getting down from the jeep, Atticus went inside along with Morpheous and Eva.
"Does the little one carry any power?" asked Lazarus without even looking at the person whom he was asking the question to.
Remial immediately switched on the iPad and looking at the application screen in his hand which gave out the thermal pictures and state of charges data, Remial shook his head in negation and said,
"She just has a flux inflow which is also waning out. Nothing more than that. Nothing unusual about her."
"Forget that! What are they trying to do inside that house? Why are they going to this house with professor Atticus Lincoln?" asked Athena as she craned her neck outside.
"How do you know about professor Atticus?" asked Remial in surprise.
"I have read his books and papers. The field that he works on is very interesting. Probably he is the only human who actually believes in the existence of supernatural, but unfortunately, he has been tagged as professor MadCow in your realm. There is no respect for real talent in here. Such a shame," said Athena with a lament in her tone.
"Oh, the people in this realm believe only in science and you won't believe, there exists a set of people who do not believe in the existence of God altogether. We call them atheists here," added Remial.
"If your information exchange is over then I would like to know what is he doing with the only man who believes in the supernatural," and saying that Lazarus got down from his car and walked towards the house. Remial and Athena followed suit and joined behind him.
As they peeped standing behind the main gate they saw that Morpheous went straight towards the swimming pool area. That was a window of opportunity that they had been looking for and grabbing that they went inside and hid behind the living room wall as no one was there outside the foyer.
They wanted to know where he was from, they wanted to know what had happened in other realms and how he came to Midgard, who else came along with him?
Remial had been monitoring the electrical charge distribution pattern across Midgard for years and years and had found a sudden surge the night before in Riverdale area.
At that same instant of time, Athena also had landed in Midgard as the portal had opened.
So canceling his treaty meeting at Geneva, Lazarus flew straight back to the city. The way he suddenly left without attending the meeting left everyone astonished but no one dared to question him for he was the one whose voice ruled the world.
Whenever and wherever he went, followed a cavalry of men. But today he escaped the fleet of Cadillacs and steered the wheels of the car himself. So Remial, who had been serving him since ages knew how important it was for his master to defeat this man, as leaving all his work aside, his majesty was hiding behind the walls along with him, just to be able to know the real identity of that so-called chosen one.
The three now waited patiently but always eager to serve his master, Remial tiptoed and raised himself a bit so that he could see what was happening inside.
"These two didn't come alone. There were others," he heard the words of Atticus.
The moment he heard about the presence of others, the strands of hair on his skin started to stand up. Lazarus and Athena also heard about it but stayed calm and stood still, with their backs leaning on the wall.
"Calm down!" whispered Lazarus as he could see Remial getting a bit edgy.
"How can I calm down? If Lord Vulcan and Lord Morgana are here, then how are we going to fight them?" saying that Remial tiptoed again and saw a female plugging in a flash drive into the television and seeing the video on the screen, he understood that it was the video from last night. He knew that Morpheous was still in search of his allies and there was no way that he was going to let that happen.
Even though he was an angel, he was a fallen one. He had no source of having the essence and he knew that if a fight happened, then he would be the first in line to perish. Given that he too had a corrupt soul like his master, he decided to remove any hint or trace possible using which Morpheous could reach out to others because the best way to fight him was to get him stranded alone.
So using his powers, he started reversing the charges in the circuit of the television. He wanted to send a surge of charge to wipe out the contents of the flash drive. But all the colored pixels slowly started getting destroyed instead.
And he heard the female scream,
"Didn't you guys see that!"
Remial couldn't understand how a mortal person could see what he was doing. He tried to look through the window again, to see what had happened inside. But just when he was about to do so, he felt a sudden pain in his head. Flashes of fire, flesh, and blood were all that he could see and unable to bear that pain, he broke off the connection with the circuit board of the television and leaned against the wall.
He was panting heavily.
He turned towards his left and saw an angered face of Lazarus. His brows were clouded and so he understood that it was him, who had induced that acute pain. It was him who had made him see nothing but gore. He understood that it was a punishment for probably something that he should not have done.
It was a punishment that was going to be etched in his memory forever, branding him till eternity.
"He knows we are here!" said Lazarus and stormed out and Remial and Athena followed him silently even though their heads turned chaotic.
This mistake was going to cost them dearly, but how high the penalty would be, wasn't known to anyone. Drinking his anger, Lazarus immediately started his car and sped away. He was not the sort of a person to be scared of anyone, but he was also not the one who would deliberately put his feet in the mine, just because he knew that nothing would happen.
He was a man who didn't like probabilities or what-ifs. He didn't want to have a loose end. If he was going to fight him, then he was going to fight to win it.
Rattling in fear Remial didn't dare to say a word and all that prevailed inside the car was silence. He just wanted to erase the drive, but he wasn't sure what happened inside.
"What happened there, Lazarus? Why do you think he knows that we were there? Just forgive Remial, he was trying to help you" asked Athena.
"Forgive me, master! I was just trying to erase the drive. I don't know how they could see that on the screen," said Remial, with his head hung low.
But Lazarus drove in silence. How could he tell them that it wasn't the mistake of Remial, but his own?
Almost about to faint, Natasha held on to Atticus and mumbled,
"What is happening? Why can't you see what I saw?" But seeing the blank face of Atticus, her face turned white because that meant it was only her who saw the weird darkening of the television screen.
Atticus was trying to pacify her, but it was all going into vain.
Morpheous looked at her panic-stricken eyes and he knew that either she was going to faint or weep. So he moved close to her and said,
"I think you should just sit down!"
But instead of listening to him or his concerned gesture. She was angered and just when she was about to spout out the words that she intended to, she saw the flicker of blue in his eyes again. It was the same shade of blue that she had seen that morning.
Even though he had explained that it was a normal thing, she wasn't convinced. Not then, not now!
Taken aback, she silently retreated to the sofa and sat down. She was unable to understand why all these things were happening to her. Why her family of all?
There was no point in fighting the paranormal now. In her head, the best way to stay safe was to retreat. Leonard was also away and she had no way of helping herself and her family. She knew it was him, it was definitely him. The way he looked at her, the way he told her to sit down, the way his eyes spoke, it was him.
He was the one who was making her see things. But instead of charging that man, her own father was trying to pacify her. If his theories were right, if he was a man from the past, then probably he was from a time where dark things happened.
Trying to tame the unequal throbbing of her heart, which was now beating visibly and audibly, she took a deep breath. Soon her anger prevailed over her astonishment and when it did, she looked at him and asked,
"What do you want from us? Just take whatever you want and leave us alone! My father is an innocent man. He has nothing to do with what happened to the comet. He is a frail old man. Just look at him."
"Natasha, please! This man means no harm," said Atticus and turning towards Morpheous he said,
"Tell her Morpheous. Tell her everything that you have told me."
Morpheous gazed at the floor for a moment and then with a visible resolve in his face, he looked up at her, and said, "I will."
"I will leave this place right this moment!"
Then looking at Eva, who was unable to grasp what was happening, Morpheous went close to her and gently tapped on her shoulder, in an attempt to wake her up from a daze.
Perceiving his intentions to depart, Atticus said,
"Where will you go back? Do you know how you would go back to the kingdom of..."
And before Atticus could finish his sentence, Morpheous said,
"I will find my way back. You do not have to worry," and saying that he hugged Atticus and said,
"Thank you for nourishing our hungry souls," and saying that he looked towards the window for a moment and then tapped on his back and left. But before leaving he unplugged the flash drive silently from the television and walked out.
That was the only way to ensure the safety of that household and the people who lived there. The less they knew, the better it was for them.
Daniel rushed to get some water for Natasha but Atticus stood there looking in the direction of Morpheous, wandering what twenty-seven meant.
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