A crispy wind blew past me. I gasped as I saw a flattering figure leaping down from the sky. The girl didn't bother to hide her wings. Her beautiful dark blue wings flattered with the wind she brought along. Her floating dress made her look more like an angel than a spirit.
I looked at Jebat. He was staring at her, his expression unreadable.
"Hello, Jebat," she said, lifting his chin with her hand. She was taller than both of us. "It seems you still haven't given up on me," she smirked and leaned, and whispered by his ear, "Right, lover boy?"
My mouth was agape as I couldn't digest so many things happening at a time. 'What does she mean by lover boy? Jebat likes her? She is kinda-' I checked on her once again, still my mouth wide open. "Also, who the heck will give up on you if you flirt like this?"
I gasped as I covered my mouth. 'Damn, I said it aloud.'
The girl looked at me. She then pushed aside Jebat and walked toward me, emitting an overbearing aura. I took one step back and she stopped on the track.
She suddenly smiled and said, "You've grown a lot, young master."
She gazed at me for quite a moment and smiled cordially. "But you are still so adorable," the next moment she sighed and said, "Sorry, I am late. I hurried up when I heard you returned."
"Um... have we met before?" I asked, knowing all along that she might be someone like Iyan.
However, her expression changed. She looked hurt, confused the next moment, and somewhat understanding. "I won't blame you. You were so little," she shook her head. Then she extended a hand and said, "Hi, I am Azalea. It's nice to meet you again."
Unknowingly, I also extended my hand. However, before I could reach her, Jebat stopped me.
"I think casting a charm on young master is unnecessary," he said, looking rather cold. "Don't you treat him as your child?"
"Oh, come on," Azalea grunted. "I was just tasting him. After all, I need to know his bottom line to teach him."
Jebat shrugged, "I don't think master Iyan will let you be Dean's teacher."
"Tsk", Azalea clicked her tongue and backed away. She nodded twice and said, "Lover boy, you know I don't take any order from anyone."
She again forwarded to Jebat, "Also, I met that master of yours. He asked me to take care of the young master."
She retracted her wings and kept walking backward while talking.
"I don't know why Iyan assigned you to this task. You are still as immature as ever. It's like all the training I gave you was in vain."
She walked further away then stopped abruptly. The next moment I saw Jebat, who was standing across me rush toward me. I flinched as a gush of wind blew past me.
"You Missed", Azalea's voice rang from behind. I turned my head just to see the woman sitting on a nearby tree branch.
"Jebat, you are too slow. It's as if I never taught you that speed is the most important thing in a fight", she leaned on the bark, one of her legs hanging, hands playing with some leaves, the slit of her long olive kamij highlighting her slender jeggings covered legs. Anyone looking at the scene will agree that she looked like a scenery. However, whatever she was saying was far from melodic.
I wasn't surprised by the fact that Azalea was Jebats' teacher, rather I was thinking why the hell was all these spirits acting so haughty? Is this their characteristic or something?
My eyes landed on Jebat. He was in a half-knelt position on the ground, his right hand still in a straight position as if he was trying to slap someone away. His face looked like it contained all the clouds of a rainy day. He remained silent for a while before dejectedly saying, "You used unfair means."
Azalea laughed out loud. "Come on, now. You can't call being a spirit unfair."
She laughed for a while. And with that Jebats' face become darker.
Azalea, "Ah, humans and spirits really can't fight using physical strength. This is why I asked you to emphasize mastering the controlling techniques. I tried my best to train you guys. But in the process, I was banned. Iyan had to..."
"You deserved it", Jebat said in a cold voice.
Hearing this, Azalea halted. Then she smiled, "Yes, I deserve it. After all, I was interrupting your sweet balance."
Jebat seemed baffled, "I... I didn't..."
Azalea sneered, "Didn't what? didn't mean that? You think that makes a difference?"
Jebat stopped talking. A silence followed.
Seeing Jebat all silent, Azalea heaved a sigh. She then said, "Jebat, teach the young master the way I taught you. First, demonstrate the Ukemi. you need to show them step by step."
She continued, "Let him do the moves once you show them."
Jebat slowly nodded his head. He faced me, "Let's practice."
This time Jebat demonstrated all the Ukemi; back break fall, side break fall, front break fall, and forward roll break fall one by one and step by step. I followed him attentively. After half an hour or so I mastered the first three techniques but I was still struggling with the last one.
Jebat was struggling as well. He corrected me a few times.
"Look, Dean. Place your hand in the same alignment as your front feet... straighten your other leg...
And use this area to roll forward..." He pointed out the area from his right elbow to his back.
I just nodded and proceeded to another set of practice. After a few more tries, I was almost there. Almost...
All the time, Azalea examined us from that tree, grinning. She waved her hand to us, signing us to continue the session. Almost one hour later, I finally mastered all the falling techniques. Just as we stopped, Azalea came flapping her wings showing how satisfied she was.
She even praised me, "You are better than many humans. You know these techniques take at least three days for a human to master. But you grasped it easily."
She stretched her arms. With a yawn, she said, "Now, as you are done...
Jebat, step aside."
She closed the distance between us with a few steps and said, "I need to check Dean's bottom line."
A smile spread her face. This time Jebat didn't interrupt.
Azalea placed both hands beside me as if she wanted to hug me as she looked right into my eyes. For some reason, I couldn't divert my eyes. As I kept looking, I felt a scree noise in my head. There was an overwhelming feeling. I felt the air close up to me. As if I was deep in the sea, falling deeper every moment.
The scree noise got louder. And I started to smell all kinds of smells/fragrances.
All these feelings became so intense that I started to pant, however, couldn't even move a finger. I didn't know how much time had passed, I felt I will die suffocating if I don't do anything. With great effort, I slapped away Azalea's hands and closed my eyes. All the noises came to an end. And I collapsed to the ground from exhaustion. I was already exhausted from the practice and what happened just now was too much, so I couldn't help but faint.
Isaac was roaming around in a busy street, following a famous writer who wore a disguise. Normally, when someone like Isaac stands out wherever he goes walked in a crowd, every eye would be on him. Therefore, he needed to wear the most common clothes and went through trouble to make himself four inches shorter. When he looked in the mirror, he began to hate the elders. After all, they didn't allow him to just invisibly follow the writer and intrude into his house later on.
"Damn," he cursed once more when he almost lost the writer twice. This new height was not helping at all.
The writer suddenly walked into an alleyway. Isaac almost ran to catch up with him. He (the writer) walked fast. Now, as they were in an alley, the possibility of Isaac following became highest. Fortunately, the alley was small and led to an expensive residential area. The writer seemed brazen as he walked, maybe thinking about something.
Isaac followed him to his building. At the entrance, he called security and hypnotized him. He couldn't think of any easier way. When he was inside the building, the elevator was already up on the 5th floor.
'Convenient' Isaac thought. Of course, it was. It would be too obvious that he was stalking if Isaac got into the elevator with the writer.
The elevator finally stopped on the 11th floor with a 'Ding'.
Isaac called the elevator and went up to the 11th floor as fast as he could. He had no idea why the heck the elders appointed him for this and in such a way. He didn't even know what the hell he was supposed to do after following the writer to his apartment. This was the third time he was asked to follow someone. But before, he could use his power, this time, however, he was not allowed to. The elders went through as far as putting a blockage on him.
When Isaac got off the elevator, he heard a loud 'bang'. His instinct told him something was wrong.
The 'bang' was followed by several 'thuds'. Isaac dashed to the door following the noises. But then he remembered that his power now is not enough to intrude. So he started to draw an array. In the meantime, the loud 'bang' and 'thud' turned into 'scree'. When Isaac finished the array, all the noises stopped.
Isaac entered the apartment with a bitter taste in his mouth. As he suspected the whole apartment was painted with blood. Even as a spirit, Isaac was startled. The fresh scent of blood made him nauseous.
Ignoring his disgust, Isaac dashed to the bedroom in a search of the body. Some dripping blood got into his body.
He found the body in the kitchen. Well, frankly speaking, it was not a body but some parts which looked like ground meat. The torso, head, left leg, and left hand were brutally axed down but still stuck together. The intestine spread through the wall making the scenery unbearable.
What remain intact was the face! It was the writer!
It seemed the killer wanted to reveal the victim's identity. Or maybe didn't have the time.
Isaac contacted the elders and told them every detail. The elders said they are sending someone to inspect.
Isaac searched everywhere. The killer seemed to enjoy killing. But to be this fast at killing and escaping, of course, they couldn't be a human. Even if he/she was a spirit, he was a really strong one.
On the leaving room, where the killer might have attacked first, which was barely discernible as an elegant leaving room, Isaac found a really tiny feather.
He smiled bitterly as he put that feather in his pocket.
"What a showy character! Doesn't even bother to hide the wings," he muttered.