"So, where are we going?" Elix asked, his eyes still on the road but his ears are attentive to the two women in the car. He volunteered to be their driver for the trip. Beside him on the front seat is Fina and on the backseat is where Ashnah is, her head popping between Elix and Fina as she leaned forward.
"Ashnah, you should pull back and secure your seatbelt," Fina scolded her.
Ashnah smiled sheepishly and withdrew. She secured her seatbelt as what Fina instructed.
"We're heading to one of the high-esteemed elders of the organization. He just landed from Europe and woud like to meet you personally. He's your defendant as per Arnold," Fina begin to explain.
"Am I right to assume that you're talking about Elder Hugo Antonio?" Ashnah guessed.
"Right on spot," she confirmed.
"But I thought he's one of the strongest persons in the org? Does he have a gift belonging to the weaker bracket too?"
"No. He is with one of his men who has a gift belonging to the weaker bracket. He himself was gifted with wisdom and knowledge, he might have some answers to our questions--especially concerning both of you."
Ashnah sent Uncle Arnold a message, checking how he is and Melanie.
They were silent on their way, each absorbed with their own thoughts. Ashnah stared outside the window but her thoughts are in disarray. He sighed silently, feeling the dread of the fast occurences. Her thoughts treaded to what happened to Melanie then to Elix.
Her hand involuntarily rose up to her chest as she felt the pang of pain. Their unpleasant memories flashing on her mind at that very moment. They flashed too fast yet it didn't hinder on how it was able to inflict the pain on her, emotionally and mentally. She blinked away the tears forming on her eyes. Yet she's not able to get out of the current trance she's trapped with.
'What the heck is happening?' She felt fear creeping on her chest. She blinked once more to hopefully get out of the trance. But everything went blank. She couldn't hear anything. The dimension she's in slowly broken down to pieces and she was faced with the familiar scene--a very old one to be exact.
***
It was Christmas. A season where families gather around the house with overflowing food on the table that they only prepared for this occasion. Yet gathered around the table were only her Uncle Rodney, her grandparents, her mother, and her sister. Her grandparents are in their room as they discussed some matters that they don't want them--their grandchildren--to hear. However, Ashnah is already aware of the huge scandal that their family is currently involved. For a highly respected and conservative family, having an affair outside marriage is already considered a huge blow. The members of the family are currently in turmoil.
The night of twenty-fourth of December is still young but an agonizing one. Uncle Rodney and their mother had a brief talk just a while ago. It was something Ashnah wouldn't even want to get the gist of. She took her step up their staircase, then strode towards their room. She caught her mom packing some things on her huge backpack.
"You're leaving?" She asked, wanting to stop her from what she's doing.
"Yeah, I will be back tomorrow, but right now I'll need to go. Your Uncle Joker will be here any minute now." She kissed her on her forehead.
'He's not my unlce,' Ashnah would like to protest, but those words were stucked on her throat. Her emotions were manic. Tears would like to flow from her eyes to display her agony and frustration for that very moment. However, what she feel is not enough to break free from her ties of resepect for the elders that she has been taught for her whole life. If she breaks down right now, their grandparents and uncle will be hating her mom, making her suffer more than her situation has done. She loved her mom so much and respected her family a lot that she would do anything within her grasp to keep them together. She held her emotions and decided not to let herself cry.
Joker, Ashnah's mother's boyfriend arrived but he didn't come in the house. He just waited in front of their closed gate. Nobody inside the house dared to open the gate for him. Her mother went on her way out. Ashnah followed behind but was only able to settle herself on the sofa, looking outside the window as she her mother ride off the motorcycle with her lover. She tried stopping her emotions and thoughts fromg going array but failed miserably.
Uncle Rodney, whom she didn't know sat beside, held her shoulders and pulled her sidewards for an embrace. Tears roll down her eyes as the last straw of her emotions finally zapped.
'Ah, this is embarrassing.' She thought to herself, thinking about how weak she looks right now.
Unlce Rodney--seeing how her niece's emotions going berserk while trying to rein it in and finally was no longer able to stop it from breaking free--couldn't stop himself also from tearing up.
'It's Christmas and yet...' Ashnah couldn't stop her tears from flowing as her agony slowly turned to anger.
"Ashnah!" Fina screamed.
Ashnah was finally able to get out of the trance. She was sweating profusely.
"What happened to you?" Fina asked, caressing her cheeks, trying to check if she's finally fully awaken.
"I-I didn't know. W-What happened?" She said in her hoarse voice. Her throat felt so dry. "Can you please hand me your waterjug?" She asked Elix who is too worried and at the same time relieved that she's finally conscious.
Elix handed her his waterjug. Not much were taken from it's content, she noticed. She chugged down the ice cold water and quenched her thirst.
"I've called you multiple times but you weren't listening. It seems you were in a trance. What happened?"
"Yeah, I also think so. I'm not able to determine how. It's probably stress," she answered, trying to think of the root cause. She may have daydreamed before but not to this extent. Ashnah thought that her previous incident with Melanie might have affected something inside of her. Her guts tell her that there's something grander than that simple trance yet she's not able to pinpoint it yet.
"Are you sure, Ash?" Elix inquired, not yet convinced of her explanation.
Ashnah nodded, not ready to discuss yet with anyone what she saw in her trance.
***
Jin's jaw tensed as he walked the patio of the Matsunaga Mansion. He flew to Japan as soon as he received an overseas call from the clan leader's secretary, Sato. Jin knew it would be more than that. The Matsunaga Mansion is sitting at the foot of the Mountain Fuji hidden by the lush of the forest. Its structure was well maintained in its old fashioned design. Floors still in tatami mat. The doors and windows are shoji. There was a large clear pond with kois. And through the silence of the day, the clanking of the bamboo against the stone as water rushed into it can be heard echoing. The fresh fragrance of the spring with slight aroma of tea can be smelled as you enter the area. It can be considered as a solemn place to many. But for Jin, it is a placed he doesn't want to be in. For him, it's a place that could stip him naked to the core should they want to do it.
The Matsunaga clan is one of the oldest standing elder council members of the organization. They are great in producing the mediums being used by the gifted warriors in their spiritual battles in the warped dimensions. However, one thing that the Matsunaga clan has been hiding from the organization and the rest outside is the existence of their princess.
Himeko Matsunaga, the hidden daughter of their clan leader, born from his late wife, Keiko. Aside from the princess's security, her given gift manifested from wisdom is also considered dangerous by many people. Himeko Matsunaga have the ability to hypnotize. Her ability to hypnotize has been deemed by many as demonic due to the strength of her hypnosis. No one till now was able to get out of her hypnosis.
Jin is one living proof of the strength of her gift. He was placed under her spell back when he was just barely able to speak. It was deemed as an accident. Himeko was barely ten years old. Yet she was able to hypnotize him, a toddler, to be an honest knight of the Himeko Matsunaga, pledged for an eternal loyalty and honesty. Thus any question asked will be answered with the truth that his brain acknowledges. This incident also gained him another name in the organization as the "blabbermouth."
They reached the Kaisho, the meetng room, of the Matsunaga Mansion. Jin sit in seiza position--knees are bend and legs folded underneath; the tops of the feet are on the floor. The attendant announced his presence. Someone from the inside relayed the permission to his entrance. As soon as the sliding door opened, he bent in greeting.
"Greetings to the Clan Leader." Jin greeted.
Through his keened senses, Jin was able to determine the number of people inside the Kaisho. One of them is the princess. And the others are the high-esteemed clan members. Jin's jaw tensed, realizing his hunch about their reason for calling him back abruptly was right.
He wanted to ran away but knew he couldn't. His body froze in just the thought of it. He lost the strength on his legs.
"Jin, what made you want to disobey my orders?" Himeko Hime ask, her spiritual force plucking her tie of hypnosis on him tighter that he almost passed out. Anger flashed on her eyes for his attempt on disobedience.
"It was out of fear, Himeko Hime," he said, which is a vague truth.
Himeko smiled abit. The tie of her hypnosis on Jin loosened. For strangers, her smile may seemed docile, but he knew better. She's pleased to know it was out of fear that he's trying to run away from them. "Say, why do you want to ran out of fear, Jin?"
Jin's lips pursed in a thin line. Himeko's gazed sharpen as she turned again to Jin, waiting for him to answer her question.
"Himeko," The clan leaders, Toshio, called out coldly to her daughter. "We are not here to test the validity of your gift."
"Otousan," she answered nervously to her father. Gone is the haughty smile on her lips. "It is not in my intention to. I'm just putting Jin in his place. He seemed to be hiding something from the clan."
"Silence. Using your given gift here in the meeting place without my permission; have you forgotten the Clan's conduct?" Nobody in the room dared to utter a word out of respect and fear of the clanleader.
"I apologize, Father, the fault is mine," Himeko panicked, she bowed towards her father, begging for his mercy.
"I will decide on your punishment once I have finished on the matter that we're going to discuss." Toshio turned to Jin.
Jin was able to relax since Himeko's power withdrew when she was exchanging words with Toshio. "Now, before we proceed, let's hear any news from the organization." He called for his daughter, a que to squeeze any information from him. "Himeko."
"Yes, Father," she began executing her hypnosis on Jin.
Jin on the other hand tried to hold on this time, not wanting to say any information that relates to Ashnah. Himeko's spiritual energy squeezed him from the inside, pushing him to obey her every word, answer her every question. His refusal inflicted an agonizing pain akin to being choked and being bruised allover. He gritted his teeth yet in the end lost his consciousness on their spiritual battle.
****