[Disclaimer: If you are looking for Ghouls in the chapter... it's in the second half]
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"I need you to be a Selector once again... for a new mission—"
"Oh, Please... I'm not strong enough to go through it once again, sir," Rishi pleaded Maguire, bowing down. Tears ran down Rishi's cheeks.
"No! Sir, please... don't bow for me, you're a senior... You don't need to be afraid of anything this time... We even have Chief on our side—"
"I was honest and... just doing my... duty. I paid the price... I got enough," Rishi sobbed. Maguire felt guilty as Rishi grabbed his mop and walked away, cleaning the floors.
Maguire threw his hands up in the air, frustrated. Rishi opened the training hall, the same place he once held his head high and trained young officers.
Rishi was an honest high-ranking cop leading his own team during the early days of Seventh Gate and Maguire was his protege. Even though their age gap wasn't so big, Maguire truly considered him as a senior and idolized him. After undergoing a surgery for his damaged spine, in a car chase, Rishi left the job and took a position as a trainer for young officers and a member of the 'Selection board' for recruiting officers.
But one incident changed his life forever, and the consequences forced him to take a much lower job as a janitor at the same Defence Force headquarters where he once served as an officer.
"Hey, Mr. Rishi!" yelled Fred, the current selector and trainer for the Defense force's young soldiers, playing basketball with his students.
"Oh, hey Freddie," Rishi avoided looking at Fred directly and continued wiping the floor.
Fred smirked and threw the basketball at Rishi, hitting his head.
"Whooh! do you guys see that? Aware of your surroundings, heighten your senses... You might think, you got off, but you should not relax, not even for a sec—" the ball returned back to Fred, hitting the back of his head.
"Oh, sorry Freddie... thought, you might catch it," Rishi apologized and continued to mop the floor. The students held their laughter, and some even giggled, covering their mouths.
Infuriated Fred, grabbed the ball again and threw it with full force against Rishi. This time Rishi dodged it. But not obviously. He moved like he was mopping the floor, not lifting his head away from it, but moved, so the ball would miss him.
Rishi again put on an act that he really didn't know the ball coming at him and picked up the ball to give. Fred stopped him.
"Come at me... Come on Mr. Rishi! Pass against me," Fred challenged him.
"No need at all," Rishi shot the ball from his place, out of the court border, not even moving an inch. The ball went straight to the basket.
"Teach the students well... you punk," Rishi broke out of his act, smirking. Back to his joyful look, he picked up his mop in style and continued mopping the floor. Jobs may change, the position may get lower, but the fighter's spirit always stayed inside him and Maguire knew it too well, and now even saw it with his own eyes, secretly from the door.
"I can't believe that he fooled me back there...You must be the person, Mr. Rishi. I will do anything to bring you back," he muttered to himself.
Back to Priest and Diana, they both were in a car, reaching the 'Aquashore' - the coastal area and Harbour of the Seventh Gate.
"Why are we taking the sea route, isn't that dangerous?" Diana asked, carrying a large bag of 'safety materials' and dressed in a yellow jumpsuit resembling her favorite actor.
"Nunchuck is the only missing item from your look," Priest trolled her.
"Shut up," Diana blushed.
Both of them picked a boat to travel to 'The Well' which was in the 'Grey Forest' - the mountain forest of the Seventh Gate.
As said in the History Lesson (Refer to the Auxiliary Volume), Seventh Gate was originally an island previously known as 'Devil's Triangle' or 'Bermuda Triangle'. Ships and airplanes that entered the triangle never made their return. The nature and landscape of the triangle remained a mystery until the refugees cast away from their lands after the Great War found it and redeveloped it into a city for their living, before getting enslaved by the Cults and ditched to live in the slums near the developed city.
But what the history book didn't mention was only 70% of the entire island was developed into a city while the remaining land still remains as a mountain forest. And in such a forest, there remains a big well that paves a path to an underground cave, where the human subjects used in the War were living hiding from the world and kept as a high-level secret from the people of Seventh Gate by the government.
"Taking the sea route is risky, but no one ever returned from the 'Grey Forest', by taking the land route, so..."
"Yeah, I get it," Diana sighed as she continued looking at the night sky as Priest drew the boat to the forest. Suddenly a thought crosses Diana's mind.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure... If it doesn't disturb me driving this boat..."
"Why there was no mention of you in the history books? The pages about the 'Lost Population' and half of the development chapters about Seventh Gate were burned..."
"Because the Cult didn't want it... There was some questionable portrayal of me in those books... So, pretty much what I did in the war and how the apocalypse averted were burned. The credit for saving the world is not theirs or those 'Six Gods'—"
"You mean Seven?"
"No, it's Six. Don't include me... and we have arrived."
Priest steered the boat to the small beach connecting the forest and the sea. To their surprise, Ulf - a hunchback probably aged between 12-15 was waiting for someone. And that someone was 'them'.
Priest slowed down the boat and both of them stepped into the land surface.
"uoY tusm be rM.liveD," Ulf asked, leaning on a stick.
"What the hell was that?" Diana was perplexed.
"Hey, Ulf! lleW... ekat su ereht," Priest informed him.
"Mr.Priest! not you too—"
"Chill. It's just the reverse of what we speak... it's easy—"
"No, it's not"
"It is."
The three entered the forest, where they were greeted by various Ghoul animals surrounding them.
"Hey, is that a tiger? Why half of the skin in its head was—"
"deyaceD" Ulf answered her doubts.
"He is saying 'Decayed'... They are a specific race of animals... spawned by the Cult's experiments. Their face will remain decayed. Only eating the flesh of their own kind can relieve them from that pain... but only for a few hours."
They reached the 'Well' which was covered by a large net with several banana leaves placed on them.
"rM.liveD, luferac no rouy yrtne (Mr.Devil, careful on your entry)," Ulf warned him and lifted the net, and fell into it.
The Ghoulimals (Ghoul Animals) together, bowed down to the Priest.
"Why the hell are they bowing to you?"
"I'll explain to you later... now... uh," Priest hesitated.
"What?"
"The well is nearly 600 feet deep. So, probably the survival rate for you to land is nigh... So..."
Diana held her laughter and nodded her head, chuckling.
"You want to carry me. I get it. Here you go," she opened her arms, inviting Priest to carry her.
"Yeah, sure," Priest lifted her and inhaled a deep breath.
"Don't touch my butt"
"I didn't. Stop trolling me. Here we go... 1, 2, 3," Priest jumped into the 'Well'.
Diana, initially nervous, screamed right next to Priest's ear as Priest rotated himself in a way, that his face was pointed to the land. Fearing she was going to get smashed, Diana tightened her grip on Priest and hugged him tightly. The wind blowing her face was terrifying her.
"The ground! The ground! We are gonna reach it! I'm gonna die!"
Priest threw Diana in the air, shocking the hell out of her. For once, she even believed Priest was betraying her.
"What? is that all a lie, father?"
Priest somersaulted in mid-air, landing perfectly on the ground, but the land cracked with giant shock waves in the impact. The cracked pieces of the soil erupted above from the ground as the Priest opened his arms and caught Diana right on time before she gets her head smashed.
Diana's female hormones kicked in for the moment and she felt so attached to Priest and safe in his arms.
"Why do you always say the most romantic thing only by calling me 'Father'?"
"What? No, it's not romantic. It's just... Just don't say it to anyone," Diana blushed, turning her face away from him.
"Sure. Now, you can leave my arms... It's hurting already."
Realization hit Diana, and she quickly got out of Priest's arms, avoiding meeting eyes with him.
"Why did you throw me?"
"To avoid friction. Didn't you see what happened to the ground? The impact would have broken your spine," Priest chuckled. Diana felt a strange happiness inside.
"Welcome!... Humans"
"Oh, finally! A dialogue without a reverse gear," Diana felt relieved and turned back to the speaker.
An army of Ghouls greeted them with bow and arrows, stone swords, and rifles aimed at them.
"Lower your weapons!" Nnij, the emperor of the Ghouls, ordered the soldiers.
"Oh, seems like a misunderstanding," Diana felt relieved.
"I don't think so..." Priest muttered realizing his suspicions were coming true.
Nnij licked his lips and grinned.
"We shouldn't harm our foods..."