"Let's see what we got..." Priest said to himself, dragging the drawing board to the living room. He pasted the photo of Saima and her daughter, Oixaa, and wrote down the timeline of events.
*A Few Hours Before*
"Tell me Everything," Priest said to Saima, who looked not convinced enough to believe Priest. Because according to her real-life experience, the Gods never do one favour without receiving something in return and the myth of Priest was not a kind one in other Gates either. So, seeing the carefree Priest being shockingly humane, she became hesitant about her decision. But she still went on to share the details with him.
****
Saima's original home was 'First Gate' or, in other words, 'The Elite Ground of Perfects'. Saima was married to a high-ranking army general, Malith, as his second wife. For the outside world, she was a happy wife of a good-looking, gentle husband, but the world behind those walls of her house was cruel as hell.
Unknown to others, Malith was an egoistical sadist and an over-bearing abusive husband to Saima and Oixaa. Since Oixaa was a daughter of Saima's previous marriage, he never saw her as part of the family. And worst was how he originally saw her. Saima endured years of pain and torture for the sake of her daughter, but one day, the pain became too much to bear and got out of hand.
She ended up killing her husband, and the consequences led to her banishment to the Seventh Gate.
*Back to Present*
"And then she lost her daughter... Are you listening to me, Aalaf?" Priest asked Aalaf, who dozed off on the couch.
"Aalaf... Aaalaf!"
"Oh, fuck! Yeah, yeah... I'm here. Are we... Are we done?" Aalaf, clueless about what happened, asked Priest.
"Guess I should have chosen Maguire... Anyway, have you brought the documents?"
"Yeah... about migration reports and... profiles of the escaped convicts?"
"Yes." Priest sighed, saying no more.
"Father, may I ask something? When the higher authority asked questions about the Rotten Casket, you simply declined to answer and even warned them to stay away from the topic... Under your special request, the officers are restricted to deal with 'Rotten Casket' any further... We cannot question them anymore and no prisoners are allowed any kind of parole. And now the escaped convicts... What—"
"I know you are interested in 'Rotten Casket' more than anything... I mean, that's the purpose you joined the Defense—"
"This has nothing to do with my dad!" Aalaf snapped. "I know that fucking pig is also one of the convicts. But it's not because of my daddy issues, it is about people's safety! And..."
It was not too long before Aalaf realized what he was speaking about.
"So—Sorry, father... I did not—"
"Nah. That's okay. It's funny how you call me 'father' while calling your actual father 'dad'. Now back to the 'Case'," Priest returned to the main conversation, ignoring Aalaf's reaction like that was nothing. "Nearly eight convicts were managed to escape... Or allowed to escape... or helped by the other prisoners to escape... Shit, how to make it sound cool?"
"Father?"
"Yeah... These eight are assessed by some of our topmost and... also the only psychiatrists we have around here. These guys are hardcore psychopaths, Aalaf... What they are capable of is impossible to wrap around one's head..."
"Why is our department staying silent, then? We should catch these bastards."
"Yeah, that's what we are gonna do."
"But it's just us... two. We can bring the entire department... search the entire town—" Aalaf was stopped by Priest as he went on to explain.
"You know the crime grading system, right? Level-A for serious crimes involving other world entities which is basically left to me..."
"So, it's level-A... but it doesn't involve any other world — Are you saying, Ashes? They are bonded with the Ashes? So, that's why they are treated as A-Grade criminals?"
"No. It's far worse than that. Something that could shake off the entire balance in our temporary peace. It's better if you stay away from that 'knowledge', will ya?"
Aalaf sighed, shaking his head in confusion and denial.
'Why is the government neglecting such issues? Why Priest is the one who always does the heavy lifting? And why the fuck the government takes credit for it?' questions rolled inside Aalaf.
"Since all our recent dead victims were part of the 'Perfects' and Saima originally belonged to the 'Perfects'... chances are high that her daughter could have been kidnapped by them for their next ritual... And they are yet to be registered officially for citizenship, it is an easy cake—"
"How? I mean, how did they even get that information?" Aalaf grew frustrated since none of what Priest said made sense to him. It was more of how Priest connected these without proofs. But Priest chucked at Aalaf.
"You criminally underestimate me, kid."
Aalaf was perplexed. "You asked for me... And you are not making any sense."
"Let's take our 'Meredith' [Vol-1-Chapter-1]. The victim whose death led Maguire to be chosen by the Ashes... She was one of the 'Perfects' or if you want to be exact... 'Ex-Perfect', she was disowned by her family for being in a relationship with a boy belonging to the lower class... The boy was beaten and put into the hospital while she was disowned and kicked out." Priest paused for a second as a small memory wave disturbed him. Priest cracked his neck, took a deep breath and continued.
"The depression and the suffering led her to be chosen by the 'Ashes' and she was sacrificed by the people behind the 'Laughing deaths'..."
Priest drew the illustration of the case on board.
"But Maguire was not depressed in any way... At least that's how it looked like. But he had his share of struggles, too. He was chosen because they knew he would come across as a hurdle for their plans. Now, back to the other case [Vol-1-Chapter-2]. A man and a woman. Died because they ate each other off to their death. A case of the 'Ashes'. The ashes intoxicated their mind and triggered an aggressive reaction of anger and homicidal thoughts which led to their deaths..." Priest continued further.
Aalaf was seeing all this with widened eyes as he cannot fathom how much the Priest have investigated while his department of 300 officers hadn't done a thing other than protecting VIPs and celebs.
"For your info... the man's name was 'Jay Kole' and the woman's name was 'Richara', a sex worker. Jay Kole is none other than the boy who was loved by 'Meredith'. While he was in the hospital, her girlfriend was killed but it was informed as a 'suicide' since she killed herself but by the manipulation of the 'Ashes' and we cannot disclose THAT to the public, can we? Aalaf?"
"Yeah... Yeah. We can—Sorry, we can't. "
"So, her sweetheart's death pushed him to the depths of the darkness... I would like to continue, but... you are clearly not in a mood to listen, so I'll just conclude with the necessary info for you. Negative emotion. The ashes thrive by feeding on their victims. So, grieving people are potential victims... And I prepared a possible hit list [Vol-1-Finale], but that's not important now, so let's go. We have a teenage girl to save."
Aalaf's doubts cleared a bit. "So, it is the Ashes that makes the decision?"
"It was the entity that they follow. Someone who can see everything and know everything... But for now, yeah, it is the Ashes. They somehow deliver information regarding these victims and then sacrifice them..." Priest made himself clear to Aalaf.
"Read the reports. See which escapee's profile matches with kidnaps and has something to do with young girls... We will check on their frequent hideouts."
Aalaf nodded and opened the files to do what he was always best at - profiling. Priest went to his small and shabby wardrobe to change to his usual clothes; the coat suit.
While these two carried on, things took a sinister turn on Saima's end.
*Kristilla Lodge - Saima's Room*
Saima entered her room and slammed the door to close in a hurry. Her hands trembled with the keys. She sweated heavily even though the climate was usually cool as ice in Seventh Gate.
"She will be fine... She will be fine... Darling, you will be fine..." she mumbled to herself, hysterically.
She zipped open her bag to take her tablets and swallowed them in a single gulp.
"You will be FINE!" she said with a strange demeanor as her shadow slowly deformed into a mysterious creature and expanded, covering the entire room. The shadow appeared in physical form like a tar liquid and forced its way into Saima's mouth. She screamed, but her screams got muffled by the creature.
Saima felt like her body getting ripped into pieces; Pain drilled into her nerves; she felt like her eyes getting gouged out as the creature rolled and multiplied in size within her.
But in that dark black room, the screams and her agony slowly burst into maniacal laughter.
******
While Priest and Aalaf, cracking the mystery, Saima encountered a strange fate.
Who was Saima talking to? What is the creature has to do with Saima? What happened between Aalaf and his dad? How deep, the Priest's knowledge truly is?
Next time on Dragon ball—Sorry, The Devil under the Name of God!