The following week after Elena's first day was uneventful. She thought that after the encounter with the child-like Being at the apartment complex (Which Elena learned after was of the Toyol-variant of Unseen Beings), her daily life as a Mambang would get increasingly more exciting. Turned out that was an exception.
She still tagged along with Arif on patrols but it went mostly in silence. Occasionally, her mentor would indulge her questions about Unseen Beings, Dark Energy, and Pusaka though more often than not, he would dismiss her with a shrug or a cryptic comment, leaving her hanging.
With nothing better to do, Elena found solace in observing her mentor, trying to find nuggets of personality underneath his guarded exterior. She noticed that Arif's demeanor shifted when interacting with locals at the late-night road stalls or the cashier at the convenience store. His guarded expression softened, and he engaged in friendly banter, a stark contrast to the curt responses he often gave her. When he thought she was not looking, he would sigh long before staring into the distance, silently brooding.
The most surprising fact about this mysterious man with few words to say was that he had a sweet tooth, evidenced by the amount of gum he chewed and the amount of sweets he bought from the convenience store. That could explain his familiarity with the cashier.
Tonight was yet another uneventful night. It was already past three in the morning, they had finished another uneventful patrol, and Elena was struggling to keep herself awake. Even after a week, her sleep scheduling refused to adapt to her new routine and is leaving her in a state of perpetual jetlag.
"Urghhh…" Elena let out a loud groan as she stretched her arms above her head, feeling the satisfying pop of her spine. She glanced at Arif. He was leaning back in his chair, absently scrolling through his phone with a disinterested expression on his face. His body language was guarded, as usual, and he did not seem to be in the mood to talk. In fact, it would be a lost cause to talk to him tonight. He did more shrugging than talking during the patrol just now.
Elena felt another yawn incoming and tried her best to stifle it. Rubbing her eyes, she tried to stretch another time, hoping it would jolt her awake but it was futile. She needed a boost of caffeine.
She sat up from her chair. "I'm gonna get coffee from the store. You want anything?"
Arif's eyes remained glued to the phone screen. "Grab me some gum while you're at it."
"You know, all those gums will catch up to you one day," Elena quipped but Arif remained silent, his eyes glued to the screen. The corner of her mouth twitched in disappointment. A simple acknowledgment would have been nice, considering the favor she was doing for him. Elena shrugged it off, trying to ignore the familiar sting of being brushed off once again.
Elena wrapped herself in her black zip-up hoodie before leaving the office. The lesson from her first day was clear: dress for mobility, and always be ready for a fight. Unfortunately for her, she had not fought one ever since that day.
As she stepped out, the cool late-night air hit her face, in tandem with the signature Malaysian humidity courtesy of the rain earlier in the night. The streets of Dang Wangi, where the office was located, were eerily quiet except for the sounds of stray vehicles passing by.
The nearest convenience store was off their usual patrol route and would take around ten minutes of walking. Elena does not mind it, perhaps walking and the eventual caffeine will help her stay awake until she can pass out in the comfort of her bed. As she walked, her mind started to drift back to her first week on the job.
Over the past week, Elena gained a better understanding of how Tenang operated as an agency. Being a small organization, Tenang primarily relied on requests from individuals seeking assistance with Unseen Matters. These requests varied in nature, from dispelling love spells cast by Beings to clearing out places overrun with them. Elena couldn't help but chuckle when Ram recalled the time they were called to remove a mischievous Toyol that had taken up residence in an old lady's kitchen, causing all sorts of culinary chaos. On rare occasions, Bayangan would personally reach out to Tenang to subcontract specific tasks
Ram was in charge of finding work for the rest as business development. During the day, Ram manned the phone lines, fielding calls from potential clients. He also made frequent trips to Bayangan headquarters, networking with their agents and keeping an ear out for any cases they turned away. Those dejected people, desperate for help with nowhere else to turn? They were Ram's specialty. He'd swoop in with a sympathetic smile and a promise that Tenang could handle their problem, no matter how strange or dangerous. This method has been proven to be quite effective.
Joe had been absent from the office for the past week and was expected to remain away until the end of the following week due to a surveillance job.
"Surveillance gigs are a snooze fest," Joe remarked. "You're basically a glorified security guard for paranoid clients, waiting around for Beings that rarely show up."
Ram countered with a grin, "No risk, minimal effort, and still getting paid? Sounds like a sweet deal to me."
Arif shrugged, conceding the point.
When there were no requests, the team would either catch up on their records, scout for new work or conduct patrols. Arif, in particular, seemed to prioritize the patrols above all else. Elena still had that Mambang Manual to finish but it had proven to be a tall order, considering how dry and dense it was. Arif relished that fact, using it as a convenient excuse to not teach her more.
Frankly speaking, she was bored. Elena wanted to do more.
She took a corner around a 24-hour restaurant when a prickle at the back of her neck snapped Elena out of her thoughts. "This feeling…" She looked around, trying to pinpoint the source of that sensation.
Ever since Arif's comment on how she was not ready to be a Bayangan agent until she could sense Dark Energy, Elena had been trying to hone that skill, learning to read subtle signs of nearby Unseen beings. She did ask Arif about it but his advice was annoyingly cryptic and frustratingly vague.
"It's not like smelling," he had said, his eyes distant and unfocused. "It's more like tasting a specific ingredient in a soup. You don't always know what it is, but you know it's there."
And that specific ingredient is unpleasant, often eliciting a spooky sensation at the back of her neck. Maybe Arif was right with that analogy. Could've said it directly though.
Elena took careful steps forward, wary of the intensity of the sensation she was feeling. It felt like the sensation had gotten stronger as she stepped forward, meaning she was on the right track, leading her down a narrow alleyway. The shadows seemed to lengthen as she walked and the stench of old garbage whiffed into her nostrils.
"What is it with Unseen Beings and dark alleys?" She chimed into the dark.
And then she saw it. Perched on a ledge, its form eerily illuminated by the glow of a distant streetlight, was a spider-like Being with eight long, spindly limbs. Rather than claws, there were unsettling large human-like hands at the end of each limb. Its face, if it could be called that, was a flat, white mask, devoid of features save for a crazed, grinning mouth that seemed to stretch from ear to ear. Elena definitely could 'taste' that sensation well now.
In a heartbeat, Elena's body snapped into her fighting stance, muscle memory taking over. Her feet planted firmly on the ground, her center of gravity low and stable, her eyes gazed into the Being fully alert. It had not acknowledged her presence yet, its faceless features staring out onto the streets below it.
"Hm…it seemed harmless for now." Her stance relaxed slightly, knowing it was not an immediate threat. The thought of coffee and gum was gone from her mind as another thought appeared.
"Things have been slow though. Maybe I should fight it. Get some practice."
Elena hesitated, her eyes darting between the Being and the other side of the empty alley, back towards her walk to the convenience store.
"What am I doing?" she thought, a sudden wave of uncertainty washing over her. "Arif would probably scold me for even considering this alone." But the memory of his dismissive attitude and the endless hours of boredom flashed through her mind.
"But…I have been doing things alone anyways…"
Elena sized the otherworldly creature on the ledge out. Like most Beings, it looked intimidating, especially with the creepy grin on the unnerving blank white mask. Size-wise, it is smaller than the long-tongued Being back in Bangsar which Elena took down three of them. Also, it's larger than the Toyol Being she fought last week, so it would not be as agile and fast.
Elena's lips curled into a smirk. "I think I can take it. Get some practice and do a coffee run at the same time. Then Arif can finally be impressed with my work and get him to teach me better." Her smile faltered. "Though the paperwork might need to be pushed to tomorrow…"
Elena slid back into her fighting stance, determined to fight the Being. She closed her eyes like she always does to summon her Aura. Elusive as ever but after a few seconds, the familiar burst of fiery indigo energy enveloped her body.
She opened her eyes, glowing with the same otherworldly energy, focused on taking down the Being in front of her.
In front of her?
Elena's heart stopped. The world ground to a halt around her, colors and sounds bleeding away until there was nothing left but the Being, its spindly form now mere inches away. When had it moved? She hadn't seen it, hadn't heard a thing. But there it was, close enough to touch, those long, twitching limbs reaching for her. Close enough to see the way its grin stretched wider, to see the glint of something hungry and cruel like the eyes of a predator.
Eyes? Wait, this Being does not have those red eyes.
A chilling realization hit her hard in the span of a fraction of a second. She had underestimated the situation.
***
Back in Tenang's office, Arif gazed up from his phone, sensing something amiss.
"I forgot to tell her what flavor of gum I wanted."