Ghosts aren't real. Ghouls aren't real. Spirits, monsters, no such thing.
There's always an answer to something odd or just not quite right.
How do you answer returning from death?
How do you explain coming back from the end? Where your life was meant to be over?
Things don't make sense like that. I was meant to be dead. I remember the feeling of life slipping through my hands. Grains of sand that kept me awake and thinking.
Then darkness.
Followed by light once again.
I wasn't meant to be alive, after what happened-
That's also a question. What happened? How did I die?
I wanna know…
I will know.
Without it, how else could pass on?
The bigger issue is how a dead man gets around. I'm not meant to be walking, much less across the country or to others. I had to leave, though. As I said, A dead man shouldn't be moving across borders, so getting out of Hong Kong was my first goal after walking up.
Hugo Ji Price, A man of foreign blood like me, although our ages are far off.
Why do I know that?
He didn't ask many questions, just nodded and let it happen. I gave him an abridged story of what happened. He looked at me like I was crazy while I went on about it. When I finally said, "I just need to get out of here!" His expression went from obvious doubt to an understanding stern look. " Don't expect this for free. You'll be working for me for a while." He said, following up with " So, what's your name?".
I never expected that to work so well. Maybe I knew this would happen? Maybe I knew this Hugo guy, I knew I could trust him with this. Even though he doesn't recognize me. My mind is like a haze, I know a lot but it's like my brain is suppressing it on purpose.
" I'm… I don't remember."
The aged man wrinkled his brow more than it normally looked, displeased with the answer. " You better get to that part quickly, I don't have much time left here."
" The US, right?"
I know more than I do. I just need to work it out slowly. I can get a name out soon enough. I just need another clue, another lead.
" You working for someone? You know so much and so little at the same time."
Being so vague like this might just screw me out of getting out of here.
" I'm telling you the truth. I don't remember a lot but I also do… It's hard to say."
Hugo's raising anger simmered lower into a calm. " All I need is a name. If you can give me that, No more questions. If you screw over, I'll kill you. If you lie to me, and I will know, I'll kill you."
After dying once, death is less scary than it sounds. Even if I ignore the already dead part, I feel like Hugo is bluffing. Not much weight to that, I just do.
"Give him a break, Sir, this wasn't how you tested me."
Without even a sound, A man had appeared from behind Hugo. From the way he addressed Price, This guy works for him. What does he even mean by test?
"If you want to be so lazy about it, I can do the honors."
Contrasting the harsh looks of his boss, his employee had a sleek, modern look. Unlike Hugo, who stood out in Hong Kong, His worker could blend in without becoming a blur in a crowd, his looks setting him apart. Easy to love or hate. Right now, I'm in the ' Who the hell is this?' camp.
"Genjo…" The Old man growled
The man, Genjo, had a smirk across his face.
" If you're so eager to slack off, go right ahead but that's all you're going to be doing."
Genjo leaned close to Hugo as he spoke lower in another language. I found it odd to wake up in Hong Kong but my thoughts were mostly in English, with only a few Cantonese phrases. As the two spoke and a few whispers slipped out, I started to understand what they were saying, It was mandarin. At most, I could understand a few words that continued to slip out. "Beat...three...Left…" as the whispers stopped.
"Let's go, no-name, Make this quick for all of us."
He just expects me to go with him? Maybe that killing thing wasn't far off. Hugo wouldn't be the one getting his hands dirty. Even so, what's so bad about dying twice? I learn some more about myself.
I feel like we've been walking for longer than we have. The sky is the same color as it was, if not a bit darker.
Genjo's stride broke into a stiff halt as three large men all piled out from a small unit on the left, all equally pissed looking. The one in the middle began to speak in Cantonese, If my theory is right, I should be able to understand him soon. His angered rambles to Genjo slowly devolved into something I could understand. It's actually easier to just translate it into English than anything else. "-re boss is too much of a coward to actually come and see us so he sends his peon and his little boyfriend too."
Genjo responds in Cantonese " All you had to do was listen to us. Now I need to finish up some business between you three and the boss. You could make this very easy, your choice."
The man in the middle walks up to Genjo, closer than anyone would like. " What if I say no?" He huffs. Genjo grows a smirk again across his face, akin to the one he had when I first noticed him. Genjo's eyes went bloodshot, His nails growing sharper and longer, and his hair turning a pale white. He reeled back his arm and jabbed the man's throat, bruising his windpipe. He falls to his knees, clutching his throat in a coughing fit. "I have two jobs for the night. Hopefully, You'll work with me, Deshi Kaye." The now transformed Genjo spoke through his sharpened fangs.
Deshi Kaye…
It's familiar...
The fog is starting to fade
"How do you know who I am?"
Genjo turns on his heels without a sound. " If I told you everything now, you won't make it out alive." He hissed from canines. Behind him, the two other men began their approach. " For now, focus on living again. Remember that feeling of your life and death." He said before leaping over the two other men with ease. " Now show me what you've learned!" Genjo shouts atop a building.
It feels like he's left me to the wolves. Or bulls in this case. My mind is still off but it's coming back to me…
Deshi Kaye. My father was from America and my mother from Hong Kong. Did I come here to meet her… vacation? Reunion? Still not clear…
Time feels like it's moving so slow. I know what to do…
The two men grew a green hue as they grew in size too. They weren't humans at all… It felt so cold. My instincts kept telling me this wasn't right but my instincts were also telling me what I have to do now.
"Guàiguǐ…"
My body was covered in deep-blue flames, as my ragged clothes transformed into a changpao. It felt just right on my body. This feeling is something I knew too well. I knew it exactly. My sleeves spiraled and morphed into different shapes. The left became an ornate blade and the right became a long spearhead. It feels like time resumed once again. I danced in between the 2 dangkang, slicing and dividing them to their knees.
" Does that feel familiar?" Genjo asked from the rooftops.
" We'll both get answers after this is over," I respond.
Genjo's smirk grows again as he leaps down from the roofs.
The last man still standing, the one Genjo had punched in the throat, stood up after a coughing fit. His body began to change as four large horns grew on his head.
" One more question won't hurt anyone. This one is easy. The big guy isn't human. What is he?"
" Zhuhuai. Maneater."