"Life is always so unpredictable, isn't it?"
"The more you live, the more you know how it works in mysterious ways."
"No one can predict what will happen next."
"One moment, you'll be happily savouring the taste of the ever-changing flavour of happiness, and the next, you'll be thrown into crimson hell amid scorching heat, sizzling you, your thoughts, and your mind."
"In the end, it's still life, but always unstable."
"One thing is certain: there will always be a price in exchange for what is bestowed."
Dev stood in the middle of the highway with broad shoulders, gazing at the rising sun that had spread most of the shine on the concrete beneath, both his hands in his pocket.
"What was that? I didn't understand."
"I forgot; you're dumb."
"You need practical lessons,Let me give you one."
Before Alex could say more, he felt weightless, and then something invisible surrounded his body. The next moment, he was experiencing a mind-bending thing.
At the far end of the road, the highway concrete and the place he stood both seemed to compress, like an invisible force grabbed those two points, reducing the distance between them.
Dev took a step, and vroom, Alex felt his surroundings blur, almost like he sat within a high-speed car made of nothing but glass. Swish...
One step of Dev covered the entire mile long path ; in the second, they entered a town, and in the third step, they stood in front of a house, the same one he remembered from his feeble memories.
Thud! Alex landed on the ground. He struggled to regain equilibrium, feeling dizzy and blurry.
"Now then, this is your first mission."
"To exorcise a spirit, always remember spirits have reasons to be connected or be in the places they are... sometimes it's a grudge or unfulfilled wishes."
Alex understood what this person wanted to do, Dev had to adopt him or, to say, pick him up from a highway, giving him a mission.
This is a recruitment test to be his student, or maybe he is just overthinking.
He wishes it would be later. How does this Dev expect him to exorcise a spirit when he doesn't even know a thing about the ritual?
Almost like reading his thoughts, Dev said,
"Don't worry, first it will be your invocation ritual.there still some min are remaining. "
He pondered, "How many minutes are still there?" At that moment, he recalled the auspicious time. Considering his activity at 3 am when he woke up, he peeked into the basement after 10 to 20 minutes or so.
With an unknown spirit, he meant to say that his auspicious time started around 3:40. If his time was the longest, it would span 3 hours, meaning from 3:40 to 6:40.
The freshest time he could remember was 5:40 in the chat, reducing half and more hours of talk between Dev and home. Coming here, the time would be 6:10 or something. ..
Click, the door opened up, revealing a blond man with dark circles around golden eyes. Heavy expression, shoulders hung low—it was Thomson.
The first thing Alex expected was for Thomson to greet the guest politely.
However,
"What the hell, why are you here?" Thomson stood with irritated expressions, assuming a defensive stance as if on high alert. It was clear he didn't like Dev's presence.
In response to Thompson, Dev acted as if he had just met an old pal of his. He waved his hand toward him and said, "Tom, fancy meeting you here. Let me introduce my student, Raser, your youngest brother." A broad smug smile on his face, mocking Thomson.
"No, not in a million years, that's never gonna happen."
"That already happened. Anyway, you and I both know it's not the time for a reunion. How about we let him perform the ritual? In the meantime, we both catch up."
"You are not welcome here... Raser, go to the basement." Thomson wanted to confront his little brother and ask him why he ran away, almost ruining a fateful opportunity. But the company he had brought was unusual.
Alex also understood one thing: his so-called brother and Dev both have some bad blood history together. But considering the current situation, probably because of this auspicious time, they decided to keep calm and finish the ritual.
He entered the house with an unknown strength resolved in his mind. He had neglected learning about spirituality after just coming into this world and had paid the price for his late reaction and adaptability. He didn't want to repeat that mistake again.
Although the notion of sacrificing eyes, heart, lungs, and limbs sent an uncomfortable wave through his psyche, he told himself that they were already dead.
To tell the truth, he was also afraid. Just moments ago, Impact had warned him about incoming bad luck in his life. He wanted to be ready for it.
There was also a feeling now in the back of his head ever since he had met Dev—an uneasy sense.
Click. The heavy basement door swung open, revealing a rectangular shape made of white powder at the ceneter,in every corner, body parts were scattered. Upon closer inspection, they appeared inhuman organs
_That's relief they are not human body part as I previously imagine. _
Inside this rectangular was a circle, it enclosed but wasn't touching the edge of the square, leaving some gap so the sacrificial ingredients could be placed.
Inside the circle a triangle was present its corner touching the circle's periphery.
"Just wait, Raser. Do you think you'll walk away after that stunt?" Shilla's voice echoed as she came out from the dark.
Of course, Alex understood what she was talking about—it was a reference to the event when he had punched her abdomen and kicked her head.
"I mean, can you blame me? It was to pay back of the slap you landed."
His gaze shifted from Shilla's stern expression to the mysterious symbols carved in the basement ground.
Previous when he confronted this scene he was afraid and not in mind to perform the ritual but now..
_Why am I feeling calm?_
Maybe it was the surreal nature of the day, or maybe because he had learned and witnessed more in this world – from talking with the boys to the highway encounter, and lastly, meeting Dev.
Or perhaps it was the anticipation of something greater lurking in the shadows, waiting to unfold.