A Tale Beyond Destiny

Chapter 35: Danger (Caliana)

“What is happening?” I asked Connor as I stood up from my seat too. I could still see the way Connor’s expression changed into a troubled one, as though he had never anticipated for something like this to happen at this kind of time. “What is the meaning of that siren?” I followed him behind when he did not answer me and just went out of the meeting area to go somewhere I really did not have any idea on where it was.

I was about to open my mouth to ask him once again, but I was taken aback when I saw that he looked at me with a chilling look on his face that almost made me want to shiver. It was enough for me to back away from him, but I stopped myself from doing so because I knew that he did not mean any harm. Whatever the reason why he had that kind of look on his face, I knew that it was something else other than what I had on my mind.

Though the moment that he finally told me what was happening, my heart sunk as I felt so nauseous when fear started to creep up into my heart, and into my mind. “It is a siren indicating solely for a warning that Leonel Briar had finally stepped foot on this world,” he explained that made me stagger back at him as I started to think of the life that I once left behind.

I could not help but to feel the fear that I always had when I was still in the palace. I could not help but to think that it would not take long for him to take me back to the life that I badly never wanted to have. I could not help but to think that this would be it. I would never really be able to run away from him. I would never really have a chance to completely turn my back to the way I was. I would never really be able to leave the life that I was bound to have.

I knew it might sound so absurd, given that I was here in the organization and I knew that they would do anything to protect me, to protect everyone, but then again, I could not help but to think that we were bound to lose. I could not help but to think that whatever we do, it would just be the same. My Father would take his power. He would succeed, and everything, everyone, would fall down on his feet, begging for their lives.

I knew how strong he was. I knew how intelligent he was. I knew that he would manipulate anyone who would decide to stop him from what he wanted to have. I knew that he was bound to be so cunning, as though he already knew that there was someone who would decide to interfere with all the plans that he had for this world.

I could not help but to fear that we would never be able to do anything. After all, even though Connor did tell me, I knew that they did not anticipate this moment. I knew that they were shocked too. I knew that they never expected that my Father would come into this world this fast, as though he already knew that someone was waiting for him to make a move, and he had decided to surprise them, for real.

And I think that is what has been happening right now. I think that everyone was taken by surprise that he was already he. I think that they never expected something like this to happen, this early. I think that they never really knew that my Father would make a move like this, and I should have known because I knew and witnessed how cunning he was.

He was like a person who would be ten steps ahead of a person who wanted to challenge him to do something. I knew that he had initiated a plan that would take everyone by surprise, and I should have told that to the Organization, instead of just acting as though I was listening to them. Instead of just giving too little information, which I think, as of this moment, was too useless, because we initially thought that we would take this battle on our own world, to stop the people from witnessing something that we all knew was too impossible for them to be true.

“Caliana!” I woke up from my sudden panic attacks when I heard a familiar voice call my name. I shook my head from side to side as though I wanted to wake myself up from this sudden anxiousness, because I already knew that there was nothing good that would happen if ever I let myself get drowned by my own fear. I looked at Connor and saw the worried look on his face, but I could also see the relieved look on his face, as if he had feared that something wrong would happen to me if I was never able to get over my sudden nervousness. “Are you alright?”

I nodded my head at him, reluctantly, because I knew that I was really not that alright. I took a deep breath as I tried to calm myself down.

Then, I answered him, “I am alright,” though I already knew that he was not convinced of that because of how my voice had trembled because of fear. “I… I just cannot seem to shake off the fear that suddenly crept into me because of what you said. I… I suddenly remembered that time when I was still in the palace and he…” I was not able to continue what I was saying any longer when I felt him envelop me in a tight hug, as though he knew that I needed it as of that moment.

“How I wish that I had taken you away from that palace when I had a chance,” Connor said, and that made me shed a lone tear, because of the sadness and the guilt in his voice when he told me that. “How I wish that I should have really waited for your Mother to accept my proposal when I said to her that the both of us should ran away from Leonel. I should have forced her to come with me, and carry you alongside her.”

I stiffened because of what he said as I tried so hard to process what I had just heard from him, though the moment that I was finally out of his grasp, I could see the smile as though he was saying that this was not the right time for the two of us to have this kind of conversation.

“Let us focus on Leonel first before I finally tell you everything, Caliana,” he said in his low voice, as though he really did promise that he would tell me everything that I did not know about once everything was settled, even for just the meantime.

I took a deep breath as I tried to focus my attention on what had been happening as of that moment. He was right, after all. We first needed to focus on my Father before we would have a topic like that. I also did not think that I would be able to take it, if ever he would try to reveal something right now. My mind was already spiraling because of all that had happened these past few days, and I did not really think that I would be able to comprehend if he ever would decide to reveal everything that I did not have any idea before.

I did not think that it would be alright for me if ever I had another thing that I would endlessly think of. It would never be in favor of the situation. After all, we all knew that my Father’s sudden appearance had surprised us and we needed to do something, to think of a plan, in order for us to be able to stop him from doing anything to this world.

I nodded my head at him as soon as I knew that I was already calm and was ready to participate in the discussions of the plan again. “Alright,” I said as I agreed with what he told me. “Let us focus first on my Father, then promise me that you will tell me everything, Connor.”

I knew that he was hiding something. I knew that there was something he still did not tell, and he was afraid to do so. I knew that there was something in the way he looked at me as though he was longing for something, or rather, someone, and I guess that I already had a hint about it, though I also knew that I needed to confirm it first, because I did not think that something like this had happened before. And if it ever really did happen, I did not think that I would be able to take the pain that I would feel for him, and for her.

Connor immediately nodded his head at me before he finally led me into the department where they have been monitoring some unusual movement and behavior in this world. It was being led by one of my Father’s previous trusted men, and I found out that he also left Asphodel for the same reason as Connor: they could not take his ever-controlling nature and his desire for power and they knew that he had planned something evil, which was why they did not hesitate on leaving him behind, and never come back.

The moment that we took a step inside of that department, I was already met by a deadly glare from one of their agents, luckily, though, Connor was fast enough to shield himself between that agent and me, or else, something not so good would happen, and I already knew why she was acting like that. I already knew why she had that kind of expression on her face, and so, I decided to look away from her as I did not know what I had to say to her.

“It is all your fault!” she said to me, as she gritted her teeth before she grabbed her hands in my direction as though she wanted to badly hurt me, but Connor did not let her do anything. “If it is not because of you! If it was not because you joined this organization, then something like this would not have happened! We would be able to prepare ourselves, not the other way around!”

Connor immediately gripped the wrists of the agent that had been shouting at me, before he looked at me with his apologetic gaze, though I just decided to look down because, somehow, I could not shake off the thought that I might really be one of the reasons why my Father was already in this world. Even though I knew that it might sound so impossible, given that they knew that I was just hiding somewhere in Asphodel, I could not help but to think that they somehow knew that I was here, and that was the reason for them to make a move, this early.

“Let go of me, Sir Valentin!” she shouted once again as she tried to remove Connor’s tight grip from her wrist, but he did not let her do anything. Instead, he even held her tighter as though he did not plan to remove his grip from her, not until she was already calm enough and realized that what she had been doing was wrong. “Can’t you see that she was the reason why the plan suddenly f*cked up? Can’t you see that they planned all of this so that we cannot protect this world from them?”

“Enough now, Lady.” James, one of the Valentin Organization’s higher up, finally stood up from his seat as though he could not take her shouting any longer. I almost shrank away from him when I saw how deadly his stare was at the agent that Connor was still holding. He even moved near them, and that was the moment that Connor finally let go of her hands and the agent did not do anything as she backed away from James. “We all know that what you have been saying that moment is not really the truth.”

If Connor’s expression earlier was enough to make me shiver, this time, when I heard how James talked to her, I immediately wanted to run away because I was reminded of how my Father’s voice would go cold whenever he was talking to me over something that I knew was right, but he still insisted was wrong. I was reminded of how his voice would turn into that kind of tone, as though it was enough to kill me with his own words.

Connor must have seen the way I backed away from the scene once again, because he immediately came to my side and tried to calm me down one more time. He even said to me that I should take a deep breath and not let this scene get the better of me, and I did just that because I did not want to cause them trouble any longer.

I could still hear the way he talked to her, but I tried my best not to get affected by it. I tried to tell myself that he was not my Father, and he would not do anything to me, unlike what my Father would have done in the past. I tried to make myself calm down, even though I knew that it was pointless, because my mind started to swirl with thoughts once again.

“We all know that we did not know when he would finally move, Agent.” He looked around all of us, and I saw how the other agents who were present inside this department had agreed to what he had said to her. “We all know that we have been planning to attack him on our own world, but let us be honest with ourselves.” He looked at that agent once again, and I saw how her eyes shifted as though she did not want to meet James’s cold stares. “We did not think of the time that he will finally enter this world. Isn’t that the reason why we have been monitoring the portal? Because we did not know if he had already made a move, even before we had made ours?”

The agent looked down even more as she whispered, “I know that. Everyone knows that.”

“Then why are you blaming her?” he asked as he looked at me, and I knew that I had not imagined the way his eyes softened as he looked at me, as though he also knew what I had experienced in my own home. He looked away after a brief second once again, before, finally, he said, “She also did not know that something like this would happen. She ran away from her own home, from the palace that she thought would be the safest place for her, and it was all because of him, because of her own Father, because of Leonel.”

I knew that most of the agents did not know that was the reason why I was there, so I was not shocked when I saw her snap her head towards me with her eyes widening as though she could not believe any of that. It was as though it did not even cross her mind.

“Do not ever blame anyone just because they have connections to our sworn enemy, Agent,” he said, before he finally turned his back and returned to his seat in front of the large screen where numbers and locations were flashing. “Above all, you did not even know her past with our enemy.”

That was the moment that the agent finally looked down and never said a word any longer, though she did not walk away from the room as the discussion finally started. Connor also moved away from me, when he made sure that I was already alright, and I assured him that I would try my best to listen to their talk, as he walked in front of the screen too.

I saw that he scanned all the places that were flashing on the screen, before he finally looked at the person who was trying to pin point where my Father is, but my heart pounded when I heard that he let out a sigh as he shook his head as though the situation was worse than we had expected.

“We cannot locate his true location as he kept on moving from one place to another,” he explained as he typed some words on the screen, and that flashed too many places that I personally did not know, but I knew that it was the places where my Father had come. “But for almost five minutes now, he had come to a certain place, and to tell you the truth, he is still there.”

“Where is it?” Connor immediately asked, and I saw how he hesitated for a moment as though he did not want to tell him. He even looked at me as if I was connected to that place, and that made my heart pound even more.

He did not have any choice but to tell Connor where my Father was because he saw how he looked at him, intently. He let out a sigh as he started to type some words again, and my heart sunk when I saw the location that he was talking about.

It was Caleb’s Company Building, and I knew that he was still there, given the time of the day.