Destiny Seekers

“Aren’t we on a bus right now?” a mortal woman touches my beautifully decorated pillar. “Is this a dream,” a mortal man pinches his cheek. “Nope, it’s not.” “Where are we?” another one is very cautious to his surroundings. Like usual, I, the host of this magnificent hall clad with purplish carpet on the floor, pillars decorated with golden lights that sparkle naturally as these mortals walk by, the ceiling having paintings depicting the creation of the Verse with one of them my maker to which I am indebted, the walls surrounding these hall are full paintings of the games I’ve prepared for these mortals, and of course like every temple of such beauty there is the altar to which lies my throne as one of the nine overlords watching over these mortals, playing with their destinies, and messing up the angels of heaven verse and the devils of hell verse, reapers of death verse and salvager of life verse, and essence beings of essence verse. They all do their jobs properly, by the way, but we have different approaches of turning up the fun. Technically, these gods of their own verses and we of ours cannot see each other. It is one of the rules of these gods to be blind in face of another god from another verse, unless of course in cases of extreme emergencies like wars between Supreme Beings and oh my, I’ve been talking way too much that I forgot that I have guests to entertain. Donning a white magician hat, a handsome mortal mask with blonde hair and blue eyes to hide my true appearance, a single lens (monocle) on my right eye to add spice to my mysterious look, white cape underneath a white gentleman clothing, white everything else that follows, and of course, my very special baton to which I walk with, “My name is Suoic Ipsus. If you reversed my name it is read as Suspicious. Father named me that mysterious name and as his creation, a destiny seeker, my father is Lord Exyd, also pronounced it as Exceed. Earlier this rainy morning, a public utility bus travelling normally in a mountainous road is about to fall down on sharp turn at the edge of a cliff. You people here right now should’ve all died if it weren’t for my meddling.” “So are we dead?” one of the mortal passengers asks. “Mortal,” disappointed, I walked towards the mortal who ask me that dumb question. “I just said it, didn’t I? Please don’t make me repeat what I said. This is one of the problems with mortals they are super dumb and slow.” “I was just asking,” the mortal passenger argues. “I was just trying to-” “Trying to process,” I sighed, “Yes I know that thinking of yours… mortals…” “Look here,” one of the passengers comes up to me, “there are children with us and women, and we have lives to live. Will you take us back?” “You know, mortal…” “My name is Robert.” “Okay, Robert,” I sighed so deep, “they say in your world that patience is a virtue. We gods say it too, but I don’t really have much patience tolerating your kind. Haven’t you listened to what I’ve said earlier? IF you GO BACK, you’ll ALL, let me stress that, DIE.” “Then what should we do in order to survive?” I can hear the others talking, but right now I am listening to Robert, “I’m glad you ask because right now… you folks are in a tight situation. You people are literally seconds before,” What part of the verse is this? The left part is the verses for death and life, the right part is for heaven and hell. So, right part, “before the angels or the devils take you to where you belong. Those gods are really not in good terms with us because this is what I do as another god. Anyway, let’s play a game~” “What do you mean play a game?” one of the passengers asks. “Are you f*****g with us? IS this all play to you?” “Of course this is a game,” I showed them my powers by producing electricity from my body in addition to making the golden lights flicker. “I’m a god, but not the ones you believe in. This is what I do as a god. I play with your destinies. Either you live or die, it’s up to the outcome of my game.” “So what happens if we lose?” a female passenger asks from the crowd. “Are we all going to die?” “Of course,” I laughed, “isn’t obvious why I brought you here? But, I’m a fair god. If you win in my fair game, you won’t be having the accident… if you win.” “What is the game?” “I want to play hide and seek,” I grinned. “I have huge garden out there and I would like all of you to hide properly. I don’t really know how my garden looks like now that it has been renovated last month. Last month’s contestants lost to me in hide and seek.” These are the rules: 1. You have thirty minutes to hide anywhere in the garden 2. The forest is off-limits 3. The first way for you to win is to STAB my back by surprise 4. The second way for you to win is to be able to hide for at least three hours 5. If I find you, I stab you to death 6. You can only use the sharp objects within the garden to stab me “He’s going to kill us if he finds us!” “No, but we’re going to kill him if we find him.” “I don’t want to die!” “Just relax. If you panic, we will really lose.” “Lose~ and you die~ Win~ and you live~” I started singing to sound like a psychopath. “Once the door opens~ the hiding will begin~” Judging from their expressions, they are feeling disgusted, terrified, paranoid, and uneasy. I’m seeking for a mortal with a destiny that I’m unable to beat. If one of these mortals has that destiny… that’s impossible. Nobody can beat me at my game~ Suddenly, the door opens wide. I just sat down on my throne as I waited for them to leave and hide. “The door is opened, let’s go and hide!” “Where are we going to hide?” “I’m going to hide deeper in the garden.” “We should split up. If we hide together, we’ll be easily killed.” - Ω - Ω - Ω - “It feels like I’m bored waiting here. What am I gonna do? Let me think of the stabbing weapon that I’m gonna use. This is the best way to alleviate myself from getting bored. Oh never mind that since thirty minutes is almost up… in three… two… one… I SHALL USE MY TAIL~” The way I was made was to look like dragon dragonfly. A carnivorous dragonfly beast like me will now make his first step outside the door. My garden is very long and very wide. If I were to go out, the first things that I would see are eight statues made of rock lined up in horizontal line. These statues are 6 feet apart from each other. It is very easy for them surprise attack me unless they choose the right statue to hide. Beyond those statues is a maze garden. Of course I, myself, have no idea how to traverse this maze. If I ever find the exit of this maze, I would find the forest and I know that it could’ve claimed a few deaths already. Finally, it’s also designed to be forever dusk to have a darker feel as the light is being taken away by darkness as seen at the mountains way pass the forest. As the huge doors close, I hear someone gasping for his breath. “Y-you are m-monster…” Blood trickling down from his chest where the tip of my tail is lodged in, he drops his knife. Of course I knew that some of those mortals would definitely hide behind these huge doors. Right now, it looks like only one of them is stupid enough to hide and killed. “One down,” I grinned as I whipped off the bloodstains from my tail. I don’t wanna get my white outfit stained, “41 to go. Ah as expected, some of them violated my rules by moving beyond the forest. 34 to go~” I heard somebody flinching when I pierced through the heart of my first victim. I believe that my next victim is hiding somewhere behind those statues. Aside from my tail, my baton also has its fair share of stabbers together with the knife of my first kill. “There are at least six of you hiding behind one of each of the eight statues,” I grinned. “I will allow all six of you to come out and stab me.” One by one, they decided to come out from their hiding place. It seems like they’re eager to kill me. They are prepared for the worst. However, I want to spice things up for them~ “Remember what I told you earlier? Only a backstab can kill me~” It looks like they are ready. As they surround me, I can’t help but to feel sorry for them trying to gang up on me. However, a game is a game and I’m letting them fight for their life. Their destinies are on the line of course~ With I don’t know what to call it… maybe anxiety, the first stabber lunges his knife to me. I immediately jump high above the ground doing a backflip to free myself from being surrounded. As soon as I land, I swiftly stab the back of the one in front of me. It’s a fatal one and as I release my knife from its chest, the mortal begins to bleed profusely. The others are in shock, with my tenacity. As I taunt them to come at me, one of them decides to flee giving me the chance to throw my knife like a dagger and hit the escapee at the back of its head. In response, the others charge at me… only to meet their very demise. - Ω - Ω - Ω - “It’s pretty NICE,” I cleaned my collected knives. “I never even used my tail to kill them. With that said, 28 more to go~” This time, I ventured through the maze. The entrance of the maze is also its exit and it is at here in the left part. However, if there is somebody over at the side of the entrance, then I need to pierce through this wall and kill it immediately. After piercing through the wall at my right, I realize that I there is nobody there and I even have to check my tail if there really is blood. Realizing this, I move on inside the maze. Mazes so high like that even with my jump a while ago I would’ve only reached half the height are one of my specialties in elevating the anxiety of these mortal creatures. I can hear them… their heartbeats and their breathing. I can feel where I need to go… One by one, screaming for their lives. I don’t care if they are women and children. I’m way higher than them anyway. Of course, I’m not actually killing them. This is just their thoughts. Once they return back to their original world, they won’t even remember a thing here, a very convenient way for me as a destiny seeker. This is my forte anyway… seeking destinies of those about to die in a vehicular accident. I even remember the time when I played with people whose cruise ship’s about to encounter a fatal accident. I’m talking way too much again, am I? How many have I killed? I’ve killed 27 already. That means it’s just one more to go. Where is the mortal target? … … … That’s strange. I can’t feel its fear. In fact, I can’t even sense him here. Where is that mortal? I check their database just in case. So it’s a mortal male. All of sudden, I heard some movement to my left. It seems like the bushes moved. Maybe somebody is here waiting for me. However, I am too intelligent enough to know that I am being lured in that direction. Therefore, the target is approaching right behind me! Without any hesitation, I happily throw all the knives I have to my right side. Feeling the thrill, I even lunge my tail. To my surprise, nobody’s there. For the first time, I can feel my own heartbeat. With pulse raising, and breathing hastened, I swiftly charge to my left and mercilessly dart my long tail to spear my target. “Shot of luck” As I heard those words, I felt something, “WHA-” I can feel it… a sharp object hitting me on my nape as it exited on my throat. Coughing out blood for the first time in my life, I instinctively shake off my mystery attacker. Hearing a thud, I turned my tail to the direction to somehow hit my target. As I turn my eye to see if my tail would hit its mark, I see it… the mortal’s arm with his bloodied right hand… crossing his fingers and doing a lateral rotation (supination) as if turning a key to unlock a door. “Destiny’s Coil” I was so sure that I hit him, but he was able to catch my tail instead. What is going on? “I win,” he looks at me as he throws off my tail. “You’re not a sore loser, aren’t you?” “Who are you… what are you?” “I’m just a regular mortal…” he spreads out his hands. “So let me go back to my world for us to live.” “You cheated!” I yelled. “You used something I didn’t even know!” “I wasn’t the one cheating,” he smirks. “It’s you… with that monstrous tail of yours and those skills you’ve got. You’re a god and I’m a man. I win-” “Go home and die!” I swiftly moved my tail to stab him… but he disappeared. “You lost, brother,” Ara Kuneida appears from the darkness, “So I gave him the prize of escaping a destined death. Although…” Ara Kuneida, my younger sister, is also a destiny seeker. She’s in charge of those who are destined to cheat. Unlike me a gentleman, she wears black daring clothing. Her hair is long and black just like her eyes. She wears a golden necklace with our emblem as the destiny seekers hanging proudly over her petite chests. Her height also makes her look younger than a teen, but trust me when I say this but as gods, aging is ignored. She’s not the main problem here though. Let us not Segway ourselves just yet, because she has to continue her sentence!” “Although… what is it?” I asked her as I gauge the knife off my throat and regenerated my wounds. “… He would’ve used that power of his to survive the impending crash even if you would’ve succeeded in killing him.” She looks at the database, “What’s his name?” “He’s definitely is not Robert,” I searched for his name and found, “@#$%^&@#$%^&… confidential… redacted… data expunged?” “This is interesting,” she grins. “He definitely wants us to play with him. What should we call him?” “Only his alias is visible. For now, let us call @#$%^&@#$%^& as his alias, Mr. X.” - Ω - Ω - Ω - “They might be looking for my name as of this moment. It should be fun to mess with these beings for a while. No really, I should be thankful to them. I can already picture how I could’ve survived the cliff if the accident really occurred. Alright, thanks for putting up with me again.” “@#$%^&@#$%^&, be careful.” The lady’s voice on the other line of the call warns, “You’ve already gotten quite a lot of their attention.” “I’m just a human… mortal, like you people call me.” “But you’re not just any human…” “I know,” he grins. “I am Mr. X~”