Ding-dong!
We rung the doorbell at the front of Henry's house. For a while there was no response. So we rung it again.
Ding-dong!
"Hello?" A man opened the door. It wasn't what we were expecting, as he clearly didn't look the age of 64.
"Hi there. Kyra Suthers, I'm with Melysia's military," she showed her ID. "We're currently undergoing an investigation, and we're here looking for a certain 'Henry Bautista.' I don't assume that's you?"
The man shook his head. "No. I'm actually his caretaker."
"Oh! Care to take us to Henry?"
He gave a hesitant half smile. "Oh, sure… Just right this way."
We were led into the home, a clear modern design. It looked as though a lot of money had gone into the wealthy style of the house. It wasn't surprising to me, considering Henry was a long-lived man most likely retired by now. He could even afford himself a caretaker.
"How long have you been taking care of Henry for?" I asked.
"About three years now I'd say. He hired me when he stopped working."
"Retiring at 61? Good for him," Cynthia said.
"Yes, yes. He felt tired at that age, hence, why I'm around. He's already been through so much in life, so I'm just here to ensure that the rest of it is smooth sail for him."
I smiled at the thought. How dreamy it seemed to be taken cared of even at an older age.
"Does he have a spouse?" Garren asked.
"Not that I'm aware of. He's never mentioned anyone else's name in the time that I've known him."
I got that idea as we walked through the house. You'd expect someone at Henry's age to have pictures hung up everywhere of the important people in his life. Childhood photos, wedding photos, family photos, and more. But there was none of that. I couldn't find any photos except for one. I saw it on a small plaque positioned by a flower vase on a glass table.
It was of a bright white circle in the middle of a night sky.
It looked just like something that had been described in the Talitem, the ancient scripture of the Menesism religion: the Moon, also known as the goddess MONA. It was known as a brilliant white circle that only appeared in the dark night sky. I'd always wondered how something similar to the sun could exist in the opposite of day, at night. In the current modern time, the night sky was nothing but black. But according to Menesism, back in the time when the Moon still existed, nighttime was brighter because of MONA's light.
I wondered if the photo was a depiction of the Moon from the Talitem scriptures.
"Is Henry a heavy believer of Menesism?" I asked the caretaker.
"Ah… I wouldn't know. He hasn't spoke much about beliefs to me."
"I see." I found it strange that Henry would have a single picture like that on display. It was especially odd considering his quote in the article, which seemed to express belief directly against Menesism.
[ "Back in my day, 'Heathen' was where true enlightenment could be found. Now, only half that truth exists in these half-assed places." ]
Noting this, it wouldn't make sense for him to own an image that represented the Menesism faith. It completely contradicted what he'd said in the article.
Soon, we all entered a small living room space surrounded by windows covered by opaque beige curtains. Against the walls were polished oak bookshelves with a variety of trinkets and collectibles upon their tops. In the corner of the room sat an old man in a luxurious reclined seat, noticing us as we walked in. It seemed to be Henry.
"Huh…?" He pointed at us. "Who are these people?"
"They're with Melysia's military. They're apparently performing an investigation and came here looking for you," the caretaker replied.
Henry looked at us strangely. "What did I do?"
"You haven't done anything wrong, Mr. Bautista. Don't worry," Kyra assured him. "We're just here to perform a little interview if that's okay with you."
He leaned forward. "Doesn't seem like I have much of a choice. What do you need to ask me?"
Kyra looked at the caretaker. "Would it be possible if we were left to him alone? The information we might disclose is private."
"No." The caretaker shook his head. He walked over to Henry and stood by his side. "It's my responsibility to ensure his comfort and safety at all times."
Kyra didn't know how to reply. She looked to Henry for his reaction, but he had none. "I'm sorry, but the information is private. We can't permit you to be here."
"Then make me sign a contract where I can pledge that the information you say in this room remains undisclosed."
The caretaker's persistence seemed to annoy Kyra a little bit. Before she could respond, I spoke in her place. "It's fine then. You can stay."
Kyra shot me a glare.
"It's okay," I told her. "The info's stuff that almost anyone can find if they try hard enough. It wouldn't hurt for the caretaker to know too. He needs to fulfill his responsibility, let's respect that."
Kyra sighed. "Okay. But it would help if the both of you keep the topic of conversation within this household."
"Of course," the caretaker said.
"I don't even know what we're talking about yet," Henry said.
Kyra began to speak. "Ok. So, Mr. Bautista, we're here to question you regarding a certain quote you expressed three years ago that was used in an article by Reagent Papers."
"Reagent Papers?"
"Yes. Does a man named Journey Sanders ring a bell to you?"
"Hm… No."
"He was standing at the corner of Exodia Street three years ago, and he may have reached out to you regarding a question about Menesism in this day and age."
Henry scratched his head. "I think I may remember that. Weird man he was…"
"Ok, great. Maybe if we show you what you said, a quote Journey had inserted into his article, you'll truly remember." Kyra pulled out the page where Henry's name and quote was written. She highlighted it for him before handing him the paper to read. He looked at it, his eyes squinting.
"Ah, yes. I do remember this. That man was spouting about Menesisim and he asked me what I thought about the religion ever since A.X.A. put it out there."
"Yes, that's right. In the quote, you mentioned the name 'Heathen.' From what me and my team have discovered until now, Heathen seemed to have been a place that existed during the Filtering, a period of time that we're aware you lived in. Can you confirm to us whether this 'Heathen' actually existed or not? And what exactly is this 'Heathen' to you?"
Henry's face lit-up ever so slightly. "Ah, I haven't heard that name in years… Heathen was a—"
Crack—!!!
Henry's neck suddenly snapped. He hunched over to the side as the caretaker removed his hands from the now dead man's head.
"What the..."
Speechless, we looked at him in awe of what he'd just done. The caretaker had just snapped Henry's neck right in front of us, killing him.
"What the hell did you just do!?!" Kyra's eyes were widened. She looked at Henry's limp body, whose jaw had been twisted to face the wall.
I stood paralyzed. So too did Cynthia and Garren. We were all shocked at what just happened. No one would have expected Henry's own caretaker to do that, so we all didn't know how to respond.
The caretaker looked straight at us with no response. I could see no remorse in his eyes.
"What did you do?!" I now yelled. I unsheathed a knife from my pocket. "Put your hands up! Back away from Henry!"
The caretaker raised his hands. "I had to…"
"What do you mean you 'had to'!? You said yourself you were responsible for keeping him safe! Why did you just kill him?!?"
"I had to…" The caretaker repeated it. "I had to."
"That doesn't justify anything!" I lunged towards him with intent to pin him to the ground. But as I did, the caretaker opened his mouth widely.
"Kly! Watch out!" Cynthia screamed. I realized as I was running towards him that his mouth began to open wider. In the flash of a second, thick unwinding tree roots burst out of his mouth and directly towards me, nearly puncturing my face if Kyra hadn't bumped me out of the way last second.
"Woah—!!!" Me and Kyra fell to the ground. Striking the other side of the room, a long tangled knot of wooden tree roots had impaled the wall, barely missing Cynthia and Garren who'd jumped out of the way. The roots came from deep inside the caretaker's mouth. His eyes rolled up as he untangled the roots and it shot back into his mouth.
We all realized in that moment that we were dealing with something more major than we'd expected. Our target of interest had just been killed by an unprecedented individual with a troublesome Fractal.
"Heathen. Order in chaos," the caretaker said.
All of our eyes widened hearing this.