The Crooked Silhouette

Chapter 1: The Unidentified Identity

“It actually started around twenty years ago. There was an unidentified identity arrived at The Hollow of Cain, in the form of a purplish stone. It emits bizarre aura, as if it envisions itself containing horrendous energy which could turn the world upside down.”

            “It’s not that strong though. No one knows what the inside is.”

            “But I heard anything arriving at the Hollow of Cain once lived in The Earth. It’s supposed to be sent elsewhere because The Hollow of Cain is the worst place to be reincarnated at since The Angels said it was like a picture of The Hell. I’ve been in this world for 1000 years, and I could barely hear about anything there.”

            “Most of those stones placed in The Hollow of Cain were belonged to bandits, stealers, cruel ministers, country destroyer, and many more. But I’ve never heard one which emits such energy. It must be that was an untrue rumour.”

            “Perhaps.”

            The two-and-a-half-meter human-like creature of The Zodiac, Yagi, happened to pass by around two fruit sellers. They were talking about the hottest news hovering through the (that) world. It scared almost everyone in The Dimension as no one could break the mentioned stone in order to know whose soul it was caging.

            Yagi neatened his cloak – the clothes he wore each time he went out strolling in the town. It was to avoid people detecting who he was – to be exactly, what he actually was. His two-and-a-half meter height was enough to startle girls in The Dimension, let alone showing gracefully how his moderately bulky body looked like. He even hunched a little just to add more spices in his acting.

            “Hey, youngsters,” he accosted the two fruit sellers. They ceased chit chatting on the spot and turned to the big guy, “Could I have five kilograms of blue watermelons?”

            Their exchanged looks gave an idea to Yagi. He was fully aware of such response each time he interacted with anyone. Who else in The Capricorn Valley did not know the real identity of Yagi? He was the leader of The Capricorn Valley of The Zodiac. The Capricorn people had large and solid body statures, but Yagi the leader had the best of all of them. Even if he sat, everyone ought to look up at him.

            “Your Maj-!”

            “Shh! Volume down, will you?” Yagi hushed abruptly, cutting off the excitement of those fruit sellers, “I would like to purchase five kilograms of blue watermelons.”

            “Sure! Sure! Of course you can, Your Majesty!” the first seller said with hands opening up and eyes shimmering in delightful. “How could I say no upon Your Majesty’s short coming in my humble and timid shop? You are most welcomed here, Your Majesty!”

            “Oh, please! I’m just announced as the new King. It has only been four months, and I lack many traits as the best leader I should be,” Yagi blinked in embarrassment since he could not really brag around of his duty. It was not something to be proud of. Like The Human Superman said, ‘with great power comes great responsibility’.

            The second fruit seller packed up five kilograms of blue watermelons as requested by Yagi the customer. He handed The King his order. “It would be fifty Cash, but since you are Our King, we will just give it for free.”

            “No! Please don’t treat me like I’m Cash-less,” Yagi grunted, refusing to obey the offer. It was one of the benefits of becoming The King – the citizens would not get stingy to you no matter how short you have served them as The King, The Majesty, and so on. “Please take my money, since you are selling and I’m buying as a customer, not as a King.”

            “Please take it, Your Majesty,” the first seller bowed until he could stare directly to Yagi’s stripped slippers, revealing his big feet. “You may take it as our present. We, fellow citizen, have always respected you in many ways.”

            “Please, young man. It’s not that I’m rejecting you. I just want to be fair and square,” Yagi literally begged, “It will be different in the palace, but now I’m outside of it, and I’m just a mere customer.”

            “Places don’t say so, Your Majesty. You are still The King for us to serve,” the second seller insisted on giving the watermelons, “We hope you will have the sweetest watermelons in the town. Please come again if you like our resource.”

            Yagi let out a long sigh. These young men did not seem to give up at the moment. He fished out his purse and shoved fifty Cash to them, as a sign that he, too, would not just surrender at commoners. He was not acknowledging their good deed – He just wanted to be the fairest of all, after he heard the elders from his own bloodline who were assigned to be The King acted cruelly towards the citizens. He disliked it too much to the point he hated their dignity as the royal family. Once he has become The King of The Capricorn Valley, he wished of transforming the mind of his own people, especially those who was hurt by his father, the former King.

            “Are you guys afraid of me?” Yagi’s brows curled upward. “I could not apologize even more after what my ancestor has done to you guys. I hope you guys will always trust me without any slight of fright.”

            The fruit sellers again exchanged looks, and again Yagi saw it. Being the son of the famous Hot-blooded King was a disadvantage to him. He happened to be The King because it has been 10 years after The Hot-blooded King disappeared without any sign to trail, and he was the one and only son that famous King had. The Zodiac men were foretold to have one or two offspring in a family – making more than that would cause instability of The Dimension, since no one could reprimand a marriage – even The Angels.

            “We are sorry that we’ve caused you discomfort,” the second seller bowed a little, hiding his face. But Yagi witnessed the shivering shoulders. “We don’t mean to hurt you, let alone to despise you. All of us know how you are towards us. However, the past really left marks in most of us. We’re sorry that we don’t mean to show you our hatred towards the previous Kings.”

            Yagi’s eyelids drooped. He acknowledged all those repugnance. He had no power to demolish those critical memories in everyone. He had only one choice as the new King of The Capricorn Valley – to prove his worthiness and to treat everyone nicely. His warmth was one of his perks and he would not let it diminish just because he was The King.

            “You don’t have to feel sorry for what my ancestors have done to you guys. I could only promise you my faithfulness towards The Capricorn Valley. Even though you said you trusted me, I don’t think all of you accept me whole hearted. Hence, I must do something to regain your whole trust back,” Yagi said with a very composed expression.

            The Yagi that they recognised was too different to the previous Kings. He was a very kind-hearted Zodiac with a very superb masculinity and behaviour. The Yagi that they felt at ease to talk to did not show any sign of transforming into the selfish and wicked Kings like his father, grandfather, and the ancestors did. Nevertheless, he was right – not everyone could accept him as The King no matter how nice he was before. As to regain the faith among the citizens, proving his worth was the only option.

            Yagi shoved the fifty Cash to the fruit sellers. Their smiles have long faded and eventually replaced by worrisome look. He curved a very honest smile he could have portrayed in his lifetime. He was not pretending though.

            “By the way, young men,” Yagi returned to the main point on coming to the fruit shop, “Do you happen to know what is the myth of the unidentified identity that has been rumours to people in the town?”

            The first seller hesitantly picked up the fifty Cash Yagi has handed to him. The second seller blinked, realizing that he and his partner have probably mentioned it out loud hence causing The King to drop by and do some interrogation. He peeked his friend by the eye tips and slowly shifted to The King. “It’s about an unidentified identity arrived at The Hollow of Cain. All of us are fully aware that any stones arriving from The Earth will land whether on The Paradise of Abel or The Hollow of Abel. The unidentified identity did land in The Hollow of Cain, but somehow rumours said no one knew what the content is.”

            Yagi frowned, literally picturing his misunderstanding to the revelation, “So where are the stones supposed to come from? Plus, what makes the content unknown?”

            “The stones contain souls of The Human who died on The Earth. So, when the souls have landed either at The Paradise of Abel or The Hollow of Cain, they will be reincarnated depending on the situation or the sin,” the first seller butted in, bragging up his knowledge as well, “The gossiped stone has landed there around twenty years ago, but since it has not even cracked, it is said to be the most bizarre incident ever occurred there.”

            “Plus,” the second seller really wanted to show off, “the rumour also stated that since the stone was there, it has caused some missing creatures,” he hunched over the counter, and murmured close to Yagi, “I bet the vanish of Your Majesty’s father is caused by it too. It’s just that we know nothing about the reason he left the palace to begin with.”

            Yagi lowered his gaze, contemplating with his inside. His father, the former King of The Capricorn Valley, was one of the Most Cruel King among The Valley Kings. Even The King of Leo Valley is not as brutal as theirs. He could kill people on the spot if he was irritated by that one person. He could do whatever it took just as to fulfil his own self-centred desire. He had followers, but none of them was willing to go with him before he mysteriously left the palace and went missing. For ten years, The Capricorn Valley was run by the Ministers, who were almost as ruthless as The King.

            “Where is The Hollow of Cain you’ve mentioned?” Yagi whispered so that those around the shop did not hear them.

            The first and second sellers paused before one of them replied, “It’s said to be at The Forest of Eve. But no one really knew the exact coordination.”

            The purchase turned out pretty good for Yagi. He could smile in satisfaction while walking back to the palace. At least, his decision to exit his comfort for mere two hours that morning was not in vain. He obtained something profitable to him, however he was so sure that his plan on finding his father thus disclosing the secret of the stated stone, would be denied by his mother – the Queen of Capricorn Valley. She was almost as kind as the son, but she was gifted with strategically excellence. She might seem sweet and demure, but she would not seem so when she was pissed off. The scariest part of The Queen was that she could kill too – she disliked those who blocked her way. On top of that, she was super protective of her son Yagi.

            “Dear Your Majesty.”

            Yagi stunned a little but immediately calmed down. He turned to see his official secretary, Ruri. Ruri was his cousin, but he had an ill-intention of snatching The King position away from Yagi. Nevertheless, Yagi could not let it slide since he was the sole son, and Ruri literally was not the righteous one to be The King. Frankly, Ruri was just as lucky because Yagi still took him in as his secretary even though he was fully aware that Ruri was attempting on defeating Yagi in the game of throne.

            “So you do learn etiquette,” Yagi smirked at him. Before, Ruri was so hard to accept others’ words, and he tended to just approach or barge in to the room. “Is there any issue running on today, Ruri?”

            “There should be one issue, or to be more precise, one meeting to attend to.”

            A long sigh escaped from Yagi. He turned his back facing Ruri, who Yagi has sensed his irritation, “Where do we need to attend to today?”

            Ruri cleared his throat, ensuring himself to declare much better, “The Angels will hold a meeting between The Zodiac. All 12 Zodiacs will be coming, this 2 post meridian.”

            Yagi glanced at the clock. It was just 10 ante meridian, so he had plentiful of time more. “All right, I’ll be coming.”

            “They said to come alone, Your Majesty. So I will not be around throughout the meeting,” Ruri added while avoiding Yagi’s cold stared later, “I hope you do take notes in the meeting. It sounds much important than any other stuffs before this.”

            He could not help but to propped his chin. “I agree with you,” Yagi pouted, “A meeting by The Angels should be around 9 ante meridian to 12 post meridian. 2 post meridian is… ridiculous.”

            Ruri nodded slowly, “Probably it’s something unrelated to your assigned job, Your Majesty. I assume so.”

            Yagi, too, nodded, agreeing with Ruri. “Thank you for your information, by the way,” he began walking to his bedroom.

            While waiting for 2 post meridian, he laid on the bed to soothe himself down. Before he submitted the plan to The Queen, he should have created the best scheme. Nevertheless, he himself was not a war person himself – he did have a very solid body stature and was an outstanding warrior, but he would not use it for war. He has acknowledged from the experience of his ancestors – foes who fought against them immediately fled soon after they saw the whole troop. Even though The Capricorn folks never used sophisticated machines like The Gemini people, they relied entirely on physical abilities and their fighting spirit.

            “Should I gather everyone who had a very uncanny disappearance? But how?”

At this point, Yagi had the urge to contact Kings of other Valleys. He could be obtaining one or two of the Kings who had almost the same incident as his. However, he heard the previous King left alone without others’ company, which slimmed his chance to recollect other victim as him. Plus, the staffs of The Royal have been keeping in touch with The Kings of other Valleys, but up till that day, none of them have ever heard of the whereabouts of The Most Cruel King. He stared at the ceiling above his head as he thought.

            He was about to nod off as the door was knocked thrice. It was soft at the first three times, then there was a five-second pause before another three times of knockings with more power, were heard. Yagi startled a little before he sat by the bedside and made his way to the door. He swung it open to witness Ruri standing before him.

            “Oh, hey. It’s just you,” Yagi rolled his eyes and sighed. Of all people, he wanted to be the least interactive with this cousin of his, yet on that day Ruri was super diligent in work, “What’s the matter now?”

            “The Angels have just sent us a Morse code,” Ruri totally ignored the indignation Yagi has transparently proved in treating him, “They told you to get ready by being there one hour earlier.”

            “One hour earlier?” Yagi could not help but to ogle, “But why?”

            “They didn’t tell the detail. But from the behaviour,” Ruri piped down, “I guess it’s something big, or something that will happen in the future. Sooner or later – whether it brings us good or instead – we don’t have any idea until the meeting.”

            Yagi scrunched his face, disbelieving the news. The duration of the journey was not the problem since he would just need to teleport to The Angels. The main reason he was shocked by the reminder was that The Angels have never left such reminder all these while.

            He gulped. “Ruri, you may be right. There is something happening. It could be unpleasant,” he commented as his eyes fixated at the latter’s shaking pupils.

            Yagi could not even stay still since Ruri has told him about the reminder. Ruri was a very mischievous Capricorn, but he would not say Ruri was deceiving him. Despite the hatred in Ruri’s deepest heart, he was the type to pay the most attention to his job – for sure it was well shown during his determined ambition of getting the throne of The Royal instead of Yagi, and from that keenness, Yagi took him as his secretory.

            Right at 12.30 post meridian, Yagi prepared to depart by teleportation – there was no other way to move to The Angels unless teleportation, yet only The Royal of each Valleys could do it. Even so, those who were capable, were not allowed to go there for sightseeing. Yagi arrived right at the entrance of the meeting room – with a six-meter height door, and bricked wall surrounding it. For the first four months serving as The New King, this was the first time Yagi has ever stepped into The Angels – he has only overheard of it from his father or the grandfather. He confirmed his destination when he saw The King of The Aquarius Valley; Mizugame, and The King of The Pisces Valley; Uo.

            “So The New King of The Capricorn has safely landed!” Mizugame fathomed his hands as if he was welcoming Yagi. “Welcome to The Angels!”

            “You shan’t be the one greeting him, Mizugame,” Uo squinted at The King of Pisces, “Your carefree is what makes you the least trustable.”

            Mizugame pulled a pout as he was numerously being told of the same thing again and again each time he attended a meeting between The King of Valleys. He was not acting childish or such – being positive and happy was his biggest trait and he definitely would not just let it fade away. Furthermore, he was The King – even if The Angels did not assign him anything as claimed by Uo, he had The Aquarius Valley to take care of.

            “We should not be snobbish to newbie,” Mizugame patted Yagi’s shoulder.         “Yeah, right,” Uo muttered almost to himself but it was still audible to Yagi and Mizugame.

            Their short introduction was disturbed by another King arriving by teleportation. It was The King of The Libra Valley; Tenbin. Tenbin took a glance of Yagi before he shifted away from the group, leaving questions to them regarding his attitude. Mizugame informed Yagi that among The King of Valleys, Tenbin worked the longest. He has not dethroned himself for 7,500 years and had no sign of resigning for the time being. He was their senior above all Kings, hence it was clear that he knew The Kings the best compared to the other twelve Kings.

            He glanced at Mizugame before he warned with stern tone, “Mizugame, please be more serious in today’s meeting. I don’t want to see you even slumping.”

            Tenbin was about to walk away as Yagi accosted him out of the blue.

            “Good afternoon, and sorry for bothering you, Tenbin,” Yagi stumbled before he proceeded, “Could I know what the meeting was all about?”

            Tenbin, again, shifted his eyes from Yagi’s sight before he replied, “The purplish perplexing stone of The Hollow of Cain has cracked. He was the one demanding this meeting today, not The Angels.”