"There's a place in Beijing that I need to go to first." Willow stated, "How good is your illusion magic?"
"It depends on what you want to become." Akira answered curiously as he poked his head out of her bag.
"How long can it last?" Willow asked.
"As long as I don't run out of power." The cat replied casually.
"Let me know when you're about to." Willow said with a frown.
"Why?"
"You'll see." She replied bluntly.
She took out the phone she had been charging and saw that the businessman had numerous missed calls and text messages. It only made sense since the man had lost his life a few months ago in January. The clerk's phone was the same as well. There were also numerous emails left unopened and schedules on their calendars. She didn't think that the clerk would use his calendar for his schedules either.
Well, it wasn't like as if all of it was unusual.
.....
After walking out of the hotel through the back door, she cautiously looked around as yesterday's events played in her mind. If she was right, the people those soldiers took had been affected by those worms and the culprit must be rather formidable to have mass-produced so many worms in the rivers. It was already pretty bad since China has always run their cities along the rivers. As long as there was water, the people would not have to worry about droughts in the past. Though it may be different now, there are still people who depends on the rivers.
She felt fortunate that all the waters she had consumed so far had been imported or was boiled. If not, it'd be hard to say that her demigod body would have still be unaffected by those worms. The thought of it sent shivers down her spine as she realized how close she was to death again during the past few months. The feeling reminded her that she still needs this life to fulfill her new goals.
She thought about it before understanding that she'll still need to return to get what she needs. With that in mind, she grabbed a stronger hold of the string to her bag and quickly made her way west.
The cold air stung her face as the clouds grew in the sky bringing along the sweet scent of water. She frowned as she recalled how weather can tell the future of somethings. With this in mind, she remembered the mark on her forehead. Even if most demigods won't recognize the significance of this mark, there is still a good chance that a few would, such as her teacher, and she definitely doesn't want to be caught in this predicament. Perhaps she should pay a visit to a beauty shop and find a waterproof rouge?
Guess she'll have a new stop today.
.....
The child he had contracted is a strange one. After showing her performance last night and ordering him around like a slave. It almost seems as though she purposefully forgot that he was a servant of a godly figure that she had contracted with. The child has a strange personality, almost too mature or too laid back for a woman her age. Then, there was times where she becomes completely honest or domineering.
However, there was always that glint in her eyes that doesn't match that of the characteristics she had displayed before him. Almost as though she knew something that others don't. Something secretive and makes Akira want to probe at it until he gets the answers out. The girl looked to have had something on her mind since entering Beijina like she wanted. If Akira had known that she would do something so risky, he'd have followed her sooner! Just not for the exchange of humiliation...
Now they were in an abandoned cosmetic shop with the windows crashed and the interior hardly intact to their surroundings. What Akira thought would be a day of amusement became a day of boredom with no thrill. Was the girl finally tired?
If that was true, then he had set up their contract for a greater loss than gain for he had, once again, been placed on minor duties on the sidelines. Well, it was probably for the better since the strong smell of perfume would make him sneeze.
"Okay, let's go." Willow said as she left through the broken glass door while kicking aside a rotting body that had slumped over blocking the doorway and picked up Akira.
Seeing that the servant of his had finally started doing her job, the cat was satisfied till he realized that he was then stuffed into the duffel bag like a bundle of dirty rags.
"Argh!" The cat could barely poke his head out of her bag, "What was that for? Some handling!"
"You want me to handle you gently while sneaking around?" Willow raised a brow and asked him into his head, "Are you still dreaming? Get your head back in and change the way we talk to each other before someone hears us."
"At least, don't just throw me in here!" Aki rebuked with a scowl scrunching his kitty face as he did as he was told before she could think about trying something again.
"Not like I can carry you in my arms out in the open."
"No, that's not what I'm talking about!"
Before they could continue with their arguments, Willow noticed the change of the wind becoming a little different as she could sniff the wind. She had been following a map she had looked over, but she didn't think that it would help reduce her time of travel to two hours from the initial four.
As Willow smiled, she lifted her head to see the surrounding city that had become familiar to her aside from the dead bodies that littered the corners of the roads and the gaps between the building most likely pushed aside by survivors. The once pristine tall skyscrapers now cold and glaring. the rails that once ran along the side of the concrete now broken and ground down to pieces. Clothing products that had once hung outside the shops with discounts were trampled to rags and pushed aside and tainted gray as the sidewalk itself. The once sweltering air had become cool and moist. The smell became clean. Cleaner than it had been when it was polluted by the harsh smell of tobacco or the mouth watering scent of street foods.
Now, there was none of that.
Only the faint whiff of the ocean that now covers her senses. The sky grew plenty with clouds making her suspicions become almost too plain to realize had been true. However, the sky had also reminded her of those days where she ran along the streets with the other children with their dusty clothing from catching the beetles to pretend to be their pet dogs or when she watched in horror when they showed her how to play with flies riddled along the pile of trash knocked out of the trash chute on the first floor as they pulled out one of the wings.
Thinking back, those days brought a lot of realities outside of her parents' doting environment. How hard the reality really was as a child as she watched the children watch with delight at the flies desperately hoping into the air trying to live amongst the trash before it could day the next two hours.
As she walked along the road in silence and caution, her eyes finally came upon a familiar intersection with a large shopping mall and the big black screen hanging off of the metal bindings to the building side. The once busy and panic stricken city that had lost its buzz had now become an abandoned city.
It was all hitting her again.
The dark sky of ashes. The shudder of the earth growing into a quiver then a panic. The once busy and concerned reality turning into a crazy and hectic trampede of human ants clawing for leave on boats and planes. The loss of any bit of civilization and order before it turned into a silent relic of buildings left undisturbed and many skyscrapers having lost half of their body to the earth.
Yet, amongst those that pushed and pulled her aside, she had stood there along staring onto the screen as everything that had occurred dawned upon her and, among her confusion, she had lost her life in the pouring lava and ashes. All she remembered doing was desperately looking a way home, not knowing for certain where she was till she made it to the rural side of Beijing. Even now, she can't remember where her place of death was.
Was she among the dying group of people trying to claw their way out of their own hell or was she left abandoned amongst the grass and dirt scattered across the ground?
Thinking this, she recalled those days when she first indirectly met the CEO of the company during a meeting.
As she made her way through the familiar streets carefully, she remembered bits and pieces of those days where she struggled to get into the company then gave up trying to properly talk with her coworkers who clearly disliked her for having been promoted so quickly. It was so obvious when and how quickly they changed.
Yet, everyone seemed just as enamored over their contributions to the company's dubious plans of mass producing medicine. She should've noticed it when they promoted her from assistant to doctor then surgeon. Why didn't she realized it when it had occurred?
She wasn't even interested when she first saw Elijah on the screen, so what was the difference meeting him in person? When she thought about this, many ideas came into mind. However, in the end, it didn't make her feel any different from those flies that were desperately trying to survive in their own hell created by the hands of others.
As she walked away towards her destination, the bitter smile on her face slowly formed a wide smirk as thoughts came to her mind. Even if she has yet to come up with any information regarding her family, that's not stopping her from completing her mission. If her actions had placed her whole family in danger, then she'll guard their graves for the rest of her new life if needed because it would've been her inability to reach them sooner than the fault of others. Just don't blame her if they dare to come back and mess with their grave sites as well. There was a reason why she reached to where she was in the past life, after all. However, with the lack of medicine and herbs, things would be more difficult.
As she tried to think of ways to hide medicine on herself, Akira's voice smacked into her consciousness, "Hey, you still haven't told me what you used on those soldiers last night."
Willow scowled in irritation and responded in confusion to his sudden question in silence, "Use what?"
"That small clay bottle." Akira said, "It knocked out that commander."
"Ah, him." Willow responded having almost forgotten about the guy, "It was something I wanted to test and that was the perfect time, so I just grabbed some stuff and threw them into a clay pot. Took me hours to get it to work, you know."
"Interesting." the cat responded with a smirk on his cat like face, "So, how did you know how to make this?"
"My teacher taught me it."
"Who is that teacher?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Does that mean you won't tell me?"
"Why tell?"
Akira didn't seem too happy to hear her responses as Willow could hear him breathe a tired sigh. It sounds as though he had finally given up as Willow continued walking with her partly heavy bundle over her shoulder. After seeing that the cat has gone silent, Willow continued forward. The air was getting cooler as the clouds began to become darker and more abundant.