It was around 6 p.m. when I returned home.
My dream adventure was like a nightmare of walking more than 15 Kilometres.
My phone was on the verge of dying so I had to sprint at my full speed for the last 2 kilometres because of which I was covered in sweat even with the sun about to set.
"You sure took your time." Irina greeted me at the entrance with her arms crossed.
"Can you make up a lie for me? I don't think I have any energy to do that."
"You'll have to listen to my one request then."
"Deal." I sluggishly walked past her.
I had literally no recollection of what happened after that.
It was like a fever dream, I remembered things as images. Images of me in the bathroom, an image of me eating something in the kitchen, then that of my bedroom and lastly talking about something with Irina.
The next day this nightmare continued with constant pain and muscle soreness in my legs.
That was probably the most I have walked in my entire life.
I don't know what Irina said but things didn't turn out weird because of my trip yesterday. Rather my family seemed really supportive of me going out like that for once in a while.
And as usual I locked myself inside my room after my parents left for their work. Some thoughts still haven't left my mind. All those clues were meant to lead me to the key in the car but it wasn't there.
I could rack my brain and come up with guesses like someone else took it or Irina just wanted to send me on a traumatising walk but only assumptions could be made without any proof.
There was still something that was bothering me in the journey, the weird scribbles on the map were clearly CB, OR and LL.
CB was most likely initials of Chandler, Irina however did not fit for any initials unless she was lying about her name.
Considering she was the one to pass me the card it makes it hard to think she is one of the three people.
And the most probable suspect for taking the key were also the owners of the initials of L.L. and O.R.
*Click* The sound of my door unlocking came and Irina came inside.
"What the..."
Thinking back she opened my locked drawer when we met that night and my room's door last night as well.
"So what happened yesterday?"
"Are you really interested?"
"Not that much but yeah."
I raised my hand holding my phone. She took it and laid down on my bed while I just opened the topmost book on my table and started reading it.
"Why are there pictures of the shop's employees?"
"..." I did not reply.
Swiping one by one, she started watching the video of the old store while I continued to ignore her.
She eventually got bored and picked a book from my shelf and started reading it.
Does she want something more from me? I could only think that.
Also a little privacy please. Now I know what being in a relationship feels like... How did she even open my locked door?!
I wanted to say many things but I kept quiet and continued.
After a while Irina suddenly said -
"It's time, dress up".
"What?"
"We're going on a date, as you promised yesterday."
I stared at her for a bit and glanced at the clock - [1:46 p.m.].
"We're going to meet somebody at 2, right?" I asked.
"Indeed"
"Why?"
"You can call them my friends, they are people from Freedom."
"Freedom?"
"There are three major groups among people who have supernatural powers. First is Order, they are a branch of police who deal with Relics, like the one from the robot faction."
Robot... Faction?
"Second is the Revolution, they are the terroristic force trying to antagonise the government so that they can take control over the world. They are like monsters who move by their own beliefs and impulses."
Monsters? What kind of book did she read just now?
"And the last group is Freedom, who just want to live like any ordinary person while they benefit from security or get money by joining the third group with no heavy restrictions on their lives. Just like the superhuman party."
The book she read just now was the book I got from a close friend named Clay, thankfully now I was sure that I would have never finished it.
"Also just a reminder, that all of these supernatural abilities are used by Relics, you can think of them as magical wands."
"So... this meeting will help me somehow get close to Chandler's death?" I asked.
She slightly bowed her head in agreement and left my room.
After leaving the house together with Irina, I had realised it, the trauma from yesterday had not completely vanished. The heat of 2 in April's afternoon for two days was more scary than I thought.
Other than heat and pain, what bothered me more was Irina, we were walking really close while holding each other's hand.
Irina was wearing light clothes and had changed her hairstyle, she looked really amazing and honestly if I wasn't aware of her true nature, I would have easily fallen for her by now.
"Is holding hands and me going to that place really that important?"
"Didn't you promise you'll do whatever I asked?"
"Can you at least leave my hand, my palms get sweaty really quick."
"It's ok, I don't really mind."
No, but I do...
At a glance we really did look like a sweet ideal couple, holding hands in the middle of their date but the truth couldn't be further apart.
Irina has some mysterious ability which can kill me at any time without leaving a single hint of evidence behind, and that Irina was taking me to an unknown place. I was keeping my left hand free in order to quickly separate us or fight.
But of course even in case of resistance I was not strong enough to actually achieve something with it.
I was scared of Irina, not just her supernatural ability but also her personal abilities.
She had been able to lie, deceive and act on an unbelievable level, her social skills were also on par with Chandler. And all of this evaluation was just after watching her for a day.
She was able to get close to my family without raising any suspicions and finally her looks and acting could have seduced any man in minutes.
If we actually engaged in a violent situation in public, I would just be branded as a sociopathic person in the best case scenario.
"Shade, I know I look good but you can stare at me all you want when we return home."
I looked at her for too long.
"Yeah, I'll do that." And I looked ahead while I shrugged off her comment.
"Most probably you were thinking of how dangerous I am, right?"
Also, she can read minds.
After walking for a while we entered a cafe and Irina walked to a table with two men and a woman already sitting there.
"Sorry I'm a little late." Irina started speaking.
"No it-" The man who was replying to Irina got a stunned look as he saw me, and not just him but the other two were equally surprised.
Excuse me, am I wearing my shirt inside out again?
"What do you want?!" One of the men stood up and yelled.
He looked completely enraged and he clenched his fists like he was ready to throw a punch at me.
What surprised me more was the lack of reactions from the staff there, the place was near empty and the scream was quite loud but the staff behaved as if they couldn't hear or see us.
"Calm down, it is not that scenario. This person is Shade Lucifer, someone who was close to Author."
And a nonexistent threat... Also what's that scenario?
No one calmed down hearing her and the woman asked -
"Why is he here?"
"It's a long story."
Saying that, both of us sat with them and she started explaining the events of two days ago.
She started from suddenly receiving a message from Author to perform a certain request and meet me on the 25th when she found out he had actually died, how after meeting me she started living in my house and finally that Author was leading me into something big.
I noticed but didn't interrupt how they referred Chandler as Author in their conversation.
Another thing that caught my attention was the tone in which Irina talked. She usually talked in a sweet innocent tone with everyone while using her roundabout and annoying tone with me.
Now it was obviously different, her words lacked emotions, it was authoritative and delivered in a cold direct voice.
They were all listening closely when she suddenly said -
"And he is also the first user of Relic of Fate."
"Wait, the same Relic that Author told us about?" - Guy 1
"Relic of Fate? She never told me anything about it though!" I thought while munching down the food that was already ordered.
"Yes, Author had actually known about Shade for years but he waited for his death and asked me to make Shade meet with the Executives." Irina answered.
"This may not be the most suitable time but there is also something we wanted to show you about the Hunter's case." - Guy 2
"Is it related to the recent uproar in public?"
"You should see this." saying that Guy 1 sent a video to Irina's phone.
We both were sitting next to each other so it was easy for me to take a glance.
The video was a normal live blog of small streamers when suddenly the camera focused on a man in the background and soon a metal wire floated and wrapped around that man's neck.
It may have been just a coincidence but I had already seen this video before, this video was included in an online article I read a few days ago. I thought this was a well edited fake video but now it seems otherwise.
The man was strangled to death and only a few people alongside the cameraman noticed this.
The supernatural ability Irina talked about, seems to be different from person to person.
"This video and articles related to similar cases were soon deleted from all over the internet platforms by Order, it seems they have become more active since the Day of Apocalypse."
I had many questions that I wanted to ask but Irina who was sitting beside me already knew that, she grabbed my right arm strongly and looked ahead as if signalling me to stop from asking any questions or even getting involved in it at all.
She looked really angry, her eyebrows lowered and she glared ahead with an annoyed cold expression attached to her beautiful face as if she would burst any second now.
I calmed my curiosity and silently heard their conversation about these cases.
Their conversation went on a little longer where they talked about some sort of financial plans for a group and a complicated rivalry between a few groups.
I wasn't really interested in getting involved in their business and was completely unaware of what's going on so I just calmly fed myself with their information and food.
The less I know the less I'll think about it.
After they completed their discussion, all five of us silently left as if we had never met each other before.
"What do you want to ask, keep it quick." Irina suddenly said that in the same tone.
"I forgot because I was busy eating... Or perhaps you want me to lend an ear to you?"
I guess I can act modestly and read the atmosphere for once, also it looks like she'll really attack me if I say something wrong now.
"There is someone who is killing people with their Relics in public, that is also the reason that now I don't want you to get involved any further."
"Scary but how do they identify if a person has a Relic or not?"
"We have our IDs made by the Government System."
IDs? Like spies? Or maybe more like tags for terrorists...
"So if I'm not identified wouldn't I be classified as a normal person?"
"Yes, so you don't have to worry much for now."
"Then I'll just not show my Relic to anyone else, not like I know where my Relic is. Also what about the police? Will they be involved in this?"
"Yes, as I've explained before, the special branch of police, the Order may get themselves involved."
"So any leads on the killer?"
"No, they just call him 'Invisible Hunter' for now."
She still looked down and walked as we both walked back while maintaining some distance to each other completely opposite to before, if someone saw us right now I would definitely get accused of doing something unpleasant to her.
I was also a little confused about the sudden development and didn't want to dive much deeper but it was better to grasp the situation I may be getting sucked into.