2024-10-25 21:43:52Granny Gui shook her head “I tried to investigate but to no avail." She rubbed her temples "There are days when I saw traces of a spirit but all the searches yielded no answer.”
“Is this the first time you encountered such a spirit?"
Gui nodded frantically as her eyes scanned the space behind me. She was afraid the door would open suddenly.
“This is. Indeed it is."
She swallowed and then stammered, "I had a couple but the last few has been extremely stressful and ..."
"And what?"
"Violent." She said silently as the wrinkles on her lips looked more pronounced
"All unpleasant ones. I am unable to understand the reckless anger. I do not even know where the spirit came from. It is too powerful, I am just..I had to take refuge here.”
I inhaled. “Granny Gui, what did you see? Can you tell me about the form or characteristics?"
“You have not seen it, have you?” She lowered her head “Sometimes you do not need to see fear. You only need to feel it. I took so long to sense it. Useless me.”
“It is not your fault. Stop blaming yourself. You have done a great duty by serving this family.”
“I am sorry. I do not sound rational. It must be the trauma from all the attacks.”
“Could you…”
At this moment, she placed her finger on her lips and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. Then she looked to the door.
“Can you hear it?”
I strained my ears.
“I didn’t hear anything.”
Gui was irritated “Focus.” I shut my eyes and chanted my mantra.
I was deaf to the sound that Granny Gui was referring to. Usually, if there are supernatural beings, my senses will pick up sounds ranging from their breathing to their movements in the air.
I shut my eyes and breathe. Then I focused again and this time, I felt something.
I turned to Gui and nodded. She flapped her hands in anxiety
“What do we do?”
“Shall we investigate? I asked and held ready my Buki Brush in one hand.
“Be ready.” She warned, “I felt better with you around.”
Gui glided forward and opened the doors cautiously. Then she took the first step. I followed and quickly realized the corridor had now taken on a tone of dark green.
Using my golden brush, I scribbled a talisman on my hands and then executed a flipping action with my right hand, and instantly a roll of talismans, yellow energy, materialized in the air.
I commanded. “兵! Soldier!"
Instantly the roll of talismans obeyed my command, and in quick succession, they built a shield of yellow illumination around us.
The act caught Gui’s attention. Agape, she commented.
“I had not seen this before. You must be a powerful spirit master.”
“Powerful? You can repeat that after we get pass this one.”
I added as we paced down the corridor to the second-level living room.
It pains me to see Gui hobbled on and her difficult pace spoke of the pain she suffered. In the living room, I was dismayed to see the white orchids had turned into morbid grey.
“The Orchids.” I whispered. “It has changed colours.”
Gui nodded “From bright white to dull grey. The colours reflect the aura in this space whenever the spirit lurks, Master Adam.”
“Where you attacked here?"
“Yes, Master Adam. It happened when I was investigating the presence of the spirit.” Once we reached the living room “ This is where I was attacked last night.” She pointed to the space just next to the coffee table by the sofa.
“Are you able to control it?”
"I wished..." At this moment, I noticed Gui’s eyes widened. There was movement behind me and it came with a hissing sound.
I turned to see a dark tornado coming at me. Before I could form a protective shield, it knocked me off the ground, and within a second, sent me tumbling down the stairs. With every step I rolled, my emotions oscillated between anger and shock at the strength of the dark powers.
This is no ordinary spirit!
Straddled on the first floor, I quickly got up and tried to apply my powers. However, I was quickly pinned down again. I called out to my talisman powers.
"兵，急急如律令. Soliders to my command!"
They regrouped and formed the shield which I used to repel the dark force.
At this moment, it seems Gui was unceremoniously flung over the railing. She landed ugily like a sack of sand. I checked on her and found her eyes blue and cheeks grey. That is a sign of depletion in a celestial being.
“婆婆, Granny Gui,” I called out but she failed to respond.
Her spiritual powers have been broken as I felt her energy dissipating fast.
I placed my sword finger over her forehead and chanted the Kstigarbha Mantra.
Om Ah Kshitigarbha Thaleng Hum
Eventually she stirred.
"Thank you, Master Adam. However, I will not last long. I have to count on you now. This has been a good household but..."
"But what?"
She shivered and then shut her eyes for eternity. Gradually, her physical form dissipated and fizzled into the environment.
I bowed and chanted the mantra again for seven times, praying for her smooth rebirth.
I stood up and look around me. I am now alone, against an unknown foe.
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My eyebrows raised in sharp inquisition."No wonder you are in Singapore."Kelly flashed an evil smile. I understood her too well.“I needed your tool.”“Which one?”She bent over and helped me to my feet."Which one?" I repeated“I had an assignment in Singapore. There is spirit on the loose and had created some havoc.”“Let’s talk later then," I said.“ Thank you." "I hadn't agreed." I said, "I have this assignment.""What’s this transition about?” “I suspect there is a source of grievance. I think my hunch is right.""That will mean..." Kelly was cut off in mid-sentence.“Look, people! I am sorry to disrupt your disciple lovey-dovey catch-up chat, but can I know what happened?” It was May and her face was strained. Whenever she is stressed, I am irritated.“I am sorry…” I said, "Our conversation is part of my investigation."“Then please share with us.” She demanded.Ah Mui had brought over a huge cup of warm water. I had been drained and felt dehydrated, so I grabbed the drink.
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I turned around and found myself looking at the voice's owner, walking down the corridor towards us with a confident sashay. She is tall and walked with confidence. Her long and wavy hair projected an air of easy confidence. Closer up, she had a beautiful oval face with an impeccable complexion that seemed to have just received some sunshine. I am luckily half a head taller, still.Despite the displeasure on her face, she was pleasing to the eye. One is compelled to be civil in front of the lady. “May I know what is going on?” she demanded as she stood looking at us all.“Hi Mavis.” Uncle Hock called out dropped his mop and walked over "Good to see you back home."“Uncle Hock, what is happening here? It is such a mess. Who are these people?”She gesticulated and looked around “Where is Daddy?”“Your daddy has gone to the condominium at Sentosa. He is not feeling well.”“Still upset about Claudia’s passing?” Mavis saidThen she turned in my direction and looked at us. “Who are these
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As Marcus Chua flashed a pointed finger at me, Visnu hastened to explain“Dr Adam is a faculty at the National University. He majors in sociology.” Visnu looked at me and winked. He has been our trusted partner. We have worked with him on some unique cases where traditional forensic methods fail to solve but his methods worked.”“Unique cases?" Marcus looked at me questionably.“Yes, Dr Adam is a credible authority in exorcism and quite a track record. I think he will be very helpful in our investigation.” Visnu added. Marcus looked unconvinced but I stepped in with a question. “Wouldn’t you like to know what happened last night?” I turned to John Chua.“I heard from Hock that you had done something?” He asked. “Yes. There was a ritual.”“Ritual? Dad, you paid for this?”The comment earned a frown of reproach from John Chua and I knew I had to jump in“Mr Chua graciously allowed us to conduct the session and it was a successful ritual. The process was an eye-opener.”“Eye-opener?” M
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Kelly understood intuitively what I meant“Like when I need to climb that big tree in our temple grounds,” she asked, with glee glowing on her cheeks.“Like we used to do when we were kids,” I said.Saying she placed one foot on a shelf and held her hands out as a leaping platform. I took off my red jacket and flexed my muscles. Oji Hasegawa said “Don’t break my shelves or cupboards. It is very expensive.”“I will not. Rest assured, Oji”Oji Hasegawa returned to his seat and sat down in comfort.Without battling an eyelid, I ran and stepped on her palm. At that moment, she gave her hands an upward thrust and I threw myself upwards. Using my powers, I propelled myself towards the kite and stretched my handsHowever, just as I reached, the kite darted off with a glimmer. In the flash, I lost my balance and fell backward. At the nick of time, I managed to grab the corner of a cupboard to steady myself but it was too late. The grip was slippery and I had a bad landing on my hip. The sh
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I took a deep inhale and pronounced my intentions. “I would like to borrow the Kanji from you.”Oji was unfazed and said in a deep voice ‘The Kanji?”I nodded, waiting for the icy rejection. Oji leaned forward and then smiled. “Do you think you are here to borrow a pair of pants?”“I am sorry if I sound too impetuous?”Oji Hasegawa began pacing in front of me and stopped within inches of me, face to face.“You young Onmyojis behaved like you could do things with ease. There is no respect for rituals. You think have the powers to behave as you please.”“I did not intend to offend. I am sorry.” I bowedOji Hasegawa shook his head “Remember to show respect for tradition, and show regard for the other realms,”“I will bear that in mind.”“Borrow the Kanji? For what purpose?”“I know I may sound rude to come here uninvited...” I continued with my courtesy but Hasegawa replied curtly, cutting me in mid-sentence.“Reason?”“We needed to help us solve a mysterious death. There has been evid
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When we reached the given postal code, we were met with a row of shophouses without any clear indication of the specific address we were looking for. When Kelly was about to give up, I had noticed something. I squinted my eyes to be sure and, when I was, told Kelly about it. I pointed to the display facade of the shop in the middle of the row which seemed to be well lit.“Toys? Adam, what are you telling me?"“Look at that.”I pointed to the Daruma Doll that perched on the highest shelf of the shop's facade. Daruma Dolls are quite easily found in Singapore though it is not common and the ones at department stores are regular wares from the factory - presentable as home decor but are not endowed with powers.The one that caught my eye is as big as a football. To any amateur, it looked just a display set but to me, it looked different. There is a conspicuous dot on the forehead of this Daruma Doll and most importantly it was wooden. In my sect , only the highest Onmyōji gets to dot th
Chapter 48
er witnessing Aminah's frailty, we decided not to continue our interrogation. I executed a prayer of serenity that put her to rest. After she slid into a slumber, we left. We walked out of the ward and headed down to the carpark. Kelly took over the wheel. She had quite a way with cars and had a penchant for racing on the roads. In the past, I had genuinely feared for my safety but somehow reached my destination, safe. This time, as I needed time on my own, I took the back seat. My head was brimming with thoughts as I tried to digest the information mess in my mind. As our vehicle exited the carpark, back onto the street level, we passed by a red Mercedes GLA. The polished exterior and the glimmer of newness captured my mind. I was pretty sure I had seen it before. However, my mind captured something else - the driver.It rang a bell but as we were already about to join the main traffic, I did not ask Kelly to pause to investigate but I made a mental note to follow up on it. I sa
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I summoned my ‘qi’ and mastered the movement of the energies. “I need help.” She cried. The agony in her heart-wrenching vocals drummed in my heart.“Breathe, Aminah! ” I commanded, "Breathe and look at me." I said " Her eyes widened as her grip on my hands tightened. Instantly, in my body, I felt a surge of energy travelling up my veins. I tried to fight it but the strength of that force grew. This is the power of the dark spirit. I inhaled and used my internal powers to control the darkness. However, it slithered Images begun to form in my mind like a series of files have being downloaded onto a laptop - the mansion, the rooms, the Chuas- John, Marcus, Mavis, Jonathan, and the lawn with its towering trees. In rapid succession, I saw the images of the pictures on the walls, the children playing on the lawn and in the drawing room with its furniture and the street outside the mansion. Then there many more and I felt my mind working at a feverish rate to digest them until there was
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Every nerve in my body was charged as I hopped onto Visnu’s car. I was eager to talk to Aminah again. I owe her an apology after my rash act. More importantly, she is key to unlocking information that may help the investigation. The journey to the hospital was swift with Visnu behind the wheel. Kelly sat at the back, anticipation written on her radiant face. She has that dauntless vibes that infects you and gives you that boost. Her strength and independent streak can be attributed to her upbringing and training. At the hospital, we found Aminah warded in a single ward on the twelfth floor. It was a thoughtful arrangement knowing the trauma Aminah has experienced. There was a policeman stationed outside the ward to assist, and he swiftly snapped to attention upon seeing Visnu.As we were about to enter, Visnu held onto the doorknob, looked at me and asked.“How do you want to do this?”I sensed his reservation and immediately understood his concerns."I promised I will be careful i
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“You promise.” Visnu’s stern look made me uncomfortable and I repeated my promise“Thanks, Adam. We know you are working hard to uncover the truth.”"Let me share my findings?” I said looking down at the pad in front of me. “My transition last night yielded two key findings. Let’s talk about Mavis Chua. I had planned to start with her because I needed a family member to assess the predisposition of the spirit. It was a correct decision as the spirit did not attack her.”“Only you?" May askedI nodded “I suspected the spirit could be a member of the family who is long deceased.""This is sounding ridiculous," May remarked as she eyeballed Visnu. I bit my lips."Who are you suspecting?" Visnu asked"The most likely one would be the deceased Mrs Chua," I replied"The mother?” May added, skeptical and continued “Mother? You suspect the mother is unhappy with Claudia and came back to attack her?”Visnu asked. “Looked there may be some animosity or can you provide some causes for that nas
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We never found a satisfactory answer. The best way to find out is to visit the columbarium. Though it was past midnight, every cell in my body called for action. However, I knew that was not possible.After we wrapped up our discussion, I headed to the showers. There was a certain humidity from the action and I felt sticky on my back and arms. As I stood under the showers, thoughts of the mansion flowed into my mind. I worked out the possible scenarios when there is an attack by a supernatural entity. A resident spirit in the residence or neighbourhood? Or it could be a spirit sent by a family that was unfriendly to the Chuas? Could there be another spirit that is deeply unhappy with the Chuas?As I turned off the tap, the steam from the hot water bath cleared but my mind remained cluttered. After I dried myself, and walked out to the corridor, I was treated to a symphony of whistles and snorts. Kelly has fallen asleep. She told me she had a hard day. What had she been up to in the
