BXBX NOVEL Chapter 164 - First Thing First
The old man was cutting a banana tree a few meters away from the bamboo house.
He went to his side. "Old man, what\'s up?" he asked.
Terros looked at him and smiled. "Son, how\'s the world outside?"
"Peaceful and orderly, in short, everything is well," Graven replied.
"Good! How about your wife, did you already find her?"
Graven\'s face fell in sadness and despair. He released a troubled sigh. "Not yet, I\'ve been checking out two towns already looking for her and yet no sign of her. Besides my missing wife, I\'m also looking for my lady friend, she is like a sister to me, she was also missing," he said with a gloomy sigh.
Terros patted Graven\'s shoulder in sympathy. "Losing a sister and a wife, then facing a possible death? Three bad luck in a row. Wow, life really loves you my, son!" he said, sighing deeply.
"Yeah, my life is great!" Graven said with a tone of sarcasm in his voice.
Terros cut the banana fruit and separated it from its body and smiled. "I\'m going to make a boiled banana out of this..." he said casually.
"Are you done harvesting banana?" Graven asked and smiled a bit, the old man\'s life is so simple, while his life is complicated as hell.
"Yes, I\'m done here," the old man nodded his head.
Graven picked up the clusters of bananas and carried them on his back.
The men started walking towards the bamboo house.
After they arrived in the house, Graven went to the shade of the tree and settled himself on the bench comfortably which is made of acacia wood.
Terros proceed to the house, went to the kitchen, and put some water in the cooking pot, he adds the bananas and brought them outside under the shade of the tree where Graven was sitting comfortably.
Graven gathered some dry twigs nearby and put them in the make-shift stove made of three medium-size stones. He lighted the twigs with the fire coming out from his fingers.
Terros placed the cooking pot into the fire.
Then the men looked at each other.
"Is there any update about the sample of the black liquid?" Graven finally asked.
Terros sighed gloomily. "Nothing so far... that black liquid is mysterious and hard to crack. I\'ve been wracking my brain hard trying to find a way to study it but I failed so far, but it doesn\'t mean that I give up already. I\'m still trying to analyze it... don\'t worry... I will have a breakthrough sooner or later. I will crack its mystery soon!" he said confidently.
Graven sighed. Days passed by quickly before he knows it.
Soon, one month will pass and he and his men might suffer death before he can have the chance to locate Rebecca and his wife\'s whereabouts.
Terros saw the worried expression on his friend\'s face, yet he can\'t do anything about it. Some things can not be rushed.
Graven inhaled the cool breeze and roamed his eyes around the area. His eyes landed on the chicken hen and roosters finding food on the ground nearby. "Where is your lady friend?" he asked.
"Inside the house, in her room. She is working on the concoction that would help you bypass the concealing method that your brother is probably using right now to hide your wife and it might also become handy in finding your sister," Terros replied.
"Thank you, old man. And please extend my thanks to your lady friend for her help," Graven said.
"Don\'t mention it," Terros said and added more wood to the fire.
A few minutes later, the boiled banana is ready to eat.
The men eat the bananas in silence.
One hour later.
Graven rose to his feet and finally bid goodbye to his friend. "I\'m leaving... I\'ll drop by some other time," he said.
"Okay, sorry that you will go home empty-handed today," Terros apologized.
"No need to apologize, old man. Your sincere effort to help me and my men is enough to give me a sense of hope. I\'ll take my leave now, I\'ll visit some other time," he said.
Terros patted Graven\'s shoulder to console him. "Don\'t worry, you will see the light at the end of the dark tunnel, soon!" he said in a positive tone.
Graven smiled, a few seconds later, he vanished in front of Terros.
The old man picked up the cooking pot and brought it inside the bamboo house.
H went to the kitchen.
He transferred the boiled banana into the plate made of clay and put it in front of his lady friend, Veronica, who is already sitting on the chair facing the table.
The woman\'s eyes glowed. "Wow, my favorite, boiled bananas!" she exclaimed in glee and began eating.
"Eat more, there\'s still plenty in the pot," Terros said.
"Your friend already left?" Veronica asked.
"Yeah, but he will be back some other day. He\'s asking me about the method to bypass the concealing method and he also inquired about the black liquid..." Terros said.
"So...what did you tell him?" the woman asked while munching on the soft and sweet boiled banana.
"I told him that we are working on it and he extends his thanks to you for your help," Terros replied.
The woman smiled. "Tell him that I will certainly find a way to help him, and I\'m working on it day and night. Soon, it will be ready for him to use," she replied.
"Good!" he murmured. "How about the mysterious black liquid, do you have any idea how to solve its mystery?\' he asked.
Veronica shook her head. "I\'ll focus on the remedy of the concealing method first because it\'s much easier to do compared to that mysterious black liquid. The best way to observe the liquid is when the harmful effect already attacked the men, then we will be able to analyze what can be done to counter it. I\'m pretty sure that the cursed king is wise, he won\'t prematurely eliminate the people that will be useful to him in the long run. I\'m pretty sure that he won\'t kill Graven and his men right away... so for now... let\'s not torture ourselves in solving the mystery of the black liquid. Let\'s just focus first on the problem that is easier to solve," the woman elaborated further.
Terros smiled and gave her a thumb up. "I like your way of thinking, you\'re making sense!" he said.
Veronica smiled and continue devouring her favorite boiled banana.
Meanwhile, a thousand miles away.
Graven was hovering in the air... above the town of Quingullan in his invisible mode.
He was hovering above the market where people are milling around... looking at the merchandise sold by the stores and stalls, he was hoping to spot his wife and Rebecca.
He spends thirty minutes hovering above the market trying to detect the women\'s scent.
A few minutes later, he sighed wearily \'coz he can\'t detect the women\'s scent anywhere.
He left the place and went to the location of the church. He arrived on time when the people are exiting the church... going home. He scanned the faces of the people below... negative... no signs of his wife and Rebecca.
After the rest of the people attending the mass already exited the church, Graven left the area going to visit the other areas of the town where lots of people are loitering around.
He will continue finding the missing women from morning to night and only return home if he already combs the whole town.
There\'s still a lot of towns to visit, the list is endless.
Hours went by.
Nighttime come.
Graven was still checking tirelessly each of the houses in his invisible form.
It was already midnight when he finally gives up on finding the women in this town.
There is only one house left and it was located fifty meters from the rest of the houses.
He flew towards the last house and entered through the open window on the second floor.
He entered the vacant bedroom and took his leave passing through the door when he heard a commotion in the next room. He entered the bedroom and saw blood on the floor and there are about five men inside the room, a woman was lying on the bed, her hands and feet were both bound by a rope and tied to the bedpost, her mouth was gagged.
On the floor, lies a wounded man, fresh blood oozing from the wound on his abdomen due to the knife used by the man in front of him. All the men wore a black mask on their faces, their eyes are the only thing he can see.
One of the men discarded his lower pants and underwear and climbs the bed and straddled the woman.
The woman\'s eyes widened in horror, fear, and disgust shimmering in her eyes.
Graven moved in lightning speed, delivering a deadly knock-out move on the men\'s neck. He grabbed the man straddling the woman and throws him on the wall. He proceeds to cut the rope that bound the woman using the knife that magically appeared in his palm.
As soon the woman was freed from the rope she rushed to her husband\'s side and screamed aloud. "HELPPPPPPPP...HELPPPPPPP...SOMEBODY HELP ME...MY HUSBAND WAS STABBED!!!"
She began sobbing hard, her hands already soaked with blood.
When she looked around the room, the men wearing black masks were already gone.
She can\'t imagine or remember who cut the knife from her feet and hands, it happened so fast that due to extreme shock... things didn\'t register clearly in her mind.
She runs to the next room to check on her teenage daughter, she felt relieved that she was safe, sleeping soundly on the bed. She went back to the master\'s bedroom and attended to her husband\'s wounds while screaming for help.
Meanwhile...
A hundred meters away from the house, in the dark area where the wild bushes were growing abundantly, Graven looked at the men in disgust, he might be of a demon and vampire lineage, ironically, some humans are eviler than him. He set the unconscious men on fire with the flames coming from his hands, no traces of guilt can be found in his eyes.
The men woke up to the extreme pain eating their skin, screaming for help.
One hour later.
The men were reduced to bones... Graven left the area going back to the house where the slaughter happened and saw several people inside the house.
The woman finally got her help.
He left the town going home.