A DATE WITH DESTINY

Chapter 2

So as she lit a stove and pulled it close to her bed to provide her body with some heat no matter how little, she wondered what she would do tomorrow. Not that there was much to wonder anyway. Her life was rather simple and unfortunate. She had attended a fashion school in Nova city, hoping to start her own company eventually, but she had never graduated. She had been expelled due to a huge scandal she was involved in and in the end, her studies had ended abruptly.

With her limited skills, she could not get a decent job or earn a substantial amount. The only person who agreed to hire her was Marcy Diamond, the owner of The DM saloon.

Marcy 's business was small and it wasn't even thriving. There were a lot of successful fashion houses in Davat Valley and Marcy wasn't good enough at her job to be patronized by anyone.

Her life was almost as miserable as Sayisha 's, so she was in a foul mood most of the time. She was in her fifties, unmarried, dating a man twenty years younger, paying up loans she had taken and paying up loans her boyfriend had taken.

Marcy had no money to hire a qualified designer and she didn't need much help anyways. They only got a few big orders once in a while and Sayisha 's work was quite easy. She was never allowed to design anything of course. She Mended dresses most of the time. Sometimes trousers too.

Since there was never enough work, Marcy would sometimes accept jobs from male customers.

Sayisha knew what it would be like tomorrow. It would be like every normal Monday- dull, boring, cold.

She would sit at her sewing machine mending dresses until lunch time when Marcy would permit her to go out for a break. She would put on her coat and step out of the saloon. She would walk to The Walton's Bakery clutching the few coins in her pocket. Then she would wait until she was the only one left, then she would shamefully take out her coins and ask for the previous day's bread. She could even eat one from a week ago. It wasn't something she hadn't done before.

Thinking about the bread now caused her stomach to grumble in protest. It had been hours since she last ate. It had been months since she last had a decent meal. Most times, she lived on Junk food. Marcy always warned her about it, but what did Marcy know? She only ate to survive and that was that.

Her apartment grew colder and she buried herself in a sea of blankets shivering. She had run out of coal, so the stove she had lit did not last long. She began to shiver when the fire died out. It would have been easier if she could go to sleep at least. But she had lost even that privilege.

Although she tried her best to fight the cold, she knew she would be sick with a fever by morning.

She knew she would be stuck in bed with no one to nurse her.

Marcy would hire someone else when she failed to show up.

It would be an even colder day tomorrow. Perhaps it would snow even more heavily. But she would not be able to see the snow. She may never be able to step out of her apartment again.

She would have a fever and without any medicine, and care she would die. And then, her sorry life would be over.

She smiled stiffly. It was amusing that she had had to endure a lot in life just to survive and finally end up as a penniless Twenty two year old who had died of a mere cold because of she had been unfortunately stupid.

As the temperature of the room dropped even more, Sayisha was quite convinced that this was her end.

But for the first time in her life, she was wrong.

Tomorrow would not be a cold day.

Tomorrow, she would not be lying in bed with a fever.

Tomorrow, the misfortunes she had faced would become her past.

Tomorrow, everything would change.

Tomorrow, this story will slowly begin to create itself.

_____________*********_________

________ *********_____

In an unknown location, a grim looking man in a priest's robe stood in an underground room, hands clenched at his sides, his expression almost deathly as he stared at the empty bed.

" He's gone. Gone!" He said in a strangled voice. His face was growing so red that it seemed he would burst in fury.

Twenty years. Twenty years he had managed to keep Him hidden.

He had taken the risk of capturing a BaWyf female in order to perform the ritual that would seal His soul.

But the Kayondre was too powerful.

The spell could not last more than two decades. He knew that very well, which was why he had been searching fruitlessly for a BaWyf in order to perform a second ritual, but he had failed and the Kayondre he had had in his clutches was gone.

Twenty years and he had gained nothing just like his ancestors.

He had sacrificed alot in the past twenty years but he had gotten nothing in return. Only failure.

Failure and Disappointment.

" The Kayondre has escaped," He informed Lord Hanva when he walked into the room an hour later.

Lord Hanva was the fifth Duke of Elsham. If there ever existed a man who was as calm as water, it was no one but this man.

If he was surprised by the Red priest's revelation, he did not show it.

He was a very intelligent man so of course he had thought ahead. This was nothing unexpected, so he failed to be disappointed.

The Red priest however was different. He had failed too many times and now, he was desperate __ desperate enough to do what he dreaded the most.

"You must clean this place up. Its been ages. It has a stench now,"

Lord Hanva as usual did not bother commenting on the matter at hand and this did not please the Red priest at all. However, he still managed to keep his tone polite when he spoke.

" If the stench bothers you, I shall be sure to send the servants down here to clean........."

Lord Hanva tilted his head, sparing the Red priest a glance.

" The servants are not allowed down here. Their knowledge of the existence of such a room will only trigger their curiosity. This is your mess, so you should clean it up, "

The Red priest was boiling inside but he dared not oppose the fifth Duke_ the fifth in line to the throne of V country unless he wanted to be ripped apart by Lord Hanva 's second who was standing just a few feets away from them. He was not very close but he was close enough to hear every word uttered between the two men.

" I understand, My Lord. However, I think we ought to do something about the Kayondre's disappearance,"

" He is gone" Lord Hanva replied, his voice calm and dull. He smiled lazily, lifting a hand to push away the few locks of golden brown hair that had fallen over his eyes.

" One can not possibly chase a kayondre. That would be a foolish move,"

The Red priest knew that this was an indirect warning from the Duke. He was not to act rashly. He was not to chase after the Kayondre .

He was warning him not to even think about it.

"We do not necessarily have to chase him. We can trace him by using the Blooder. We could.........

" That is not an option," Lord Hanva said sharply. For a moment, a strange conflicting emotion flashed in his eyes but it vanished almost instantly.

" The Kayondre must have decided on his new identity already. Even if you see him, you would not know him. He would be in front of you and you wouldn't even know it"

"But if we use the Blooder.......

" He let you capture him," Lord Hanva faced him saying. He chuckled at the shocked look on the Red priest's face.

" I'm sure you must have known too. You have no special powers. How could you have gotten a Kayondre so easily? It was his will. Now that I think about it, he may have been using you all this time,"

The Red priest tried not to glare at the Duke. He wondered if this was all just a joke to him. Was he playing around just for the fun of it?

Sometimes, the Red priest wanted to believe that was the case, but when he thought about what the Duke had done to his own Nephew, he knew he was wrong.

So, what do you suggest we do, My Lord?" He asked, lowering his head.

Lord Hanva sucked in a deep breath and stared up into space. It looked as though he was contemplating his answer, but the Red priest knew better.

Lord Hanva always planned ahead.

He had already made his decision a long time ago

" You shall continue your search for the BaWyf," When he finally did speak, the Red priest stared at him with mouth agape. " The BaWyf?" He echoed, " But we don't need a BaWyf if we've lost the Kayondre. And we just lost the Kayondre,"

"The BaWyf Will be our link to the Kayondre. The pain of a soul sealing Ritual is impossible to forget. The Kayondre must unconsciously want revenge on the BaWyf who caused him so much suffering...."

"She's dead already.......

"She is dead, but it's not impossible for him to find another one to vent his anger on. So, we will locate the BaWyf first before the Kayondre finds her. Afterwards, we shall use her to lure him back to us," Lord Hanva explained.

The Red priest merely modded. It sounded like a very good plan, but it wasn't a smart plan, which caused him to wonder if the Duke was playing a game with him.

It would have been easy if he hadn't spent such a long time looking for an existing BaWyf and failed to find one.

But he knew he could not find a BaWyf.

And Lord Hanva knew too.

The Kayondre had rested for twenty years. Now, it was time to execute his plans.