Emilia froze the moment she heard Diego's voice. She felt her heart sink into her stomach and a new wave of fear washed over her. "Diego!" Emilia breathed as she turned to face him, her eyes bulging in surprise. Her face had turned white—as if she had just seen a ghost—but what she had seen was worse than a ghost. "Hey, Emilia," Diego said casually and went to put his arm around her shoulders as he turned to face Andrew. Sweat had broken out from every part of Emilia's body as she stood under Diego's hold. "You know you've done a very good job sweetheart," Diego said to Emilia, peeling his eyes off Andrew and resting them on Emilia while he pinched her cheeks playfully. "I never would have known that it would be this easy for you to make Andrew trust you completely." He said, the slick smile still on his face. Andrew's words were stuck in his throat as he looked from Diego to Emilia. "She's a great actor, you know." Diego's gaze fell on Andrew whose insides were burning with rag
It had been more than two weeks since Andrew had gone missing and Lisa's distress was growing as the minutes passed. She grew restless overtime, she couldn't take it anymore—patrick was keeping her back from going to report the case to the police—leaving her only with empty promises. Lisa could not tell if her husband was alive or not but she wanted to trust her gut that Andrew was still alive wherever he was. The whirring noise from the air conditioner accompanied her sobbing, adding to the solemn environment. "Madam Lisa!" Lisa shot her head immediately—staring in the direction of where she had heard the sound of her name. She sniffled her tears and wiped them from her eyes with her handkerchief she held feebly in her hands. "Patrick, any news?" She asked as she stood up to her feet. "I—i'm afraid not yet." Patrick responded nervously as he walked into the house. The scowl on Lisa's face deepened. "You know that I won't accept that for an answer, Patrick, tell me that you kn
Patrick felt his heart sink into his stomach as he read through the text message. His fingers began to vibrate—his eyes glued to the message on the screen. 'My speculations were right!' Patrick screamed inside his head. He looked around the grand living room as if expecting anyone to rush toward him and grab his phone from his hand. He quickly slipped the phone back into his pocket and began to make his way out of the house. Lisa came down just in time to see Patrick making his way hurriedly out of the house. "Patrick, where are you rushing to all of a sudden." Lisa inquired, a frown on her face as she descended the stairs. Patrick spun around to see Lisa approaching him. Lisa couldn't sense that something was off. He was actually so strangely and despite the cold temperature, his clothes had been soaked in his own sweat. She had barely left him for ten minutes to grab her phone from her bedroom. "Uhm, I'm sorry I can't wait anymore, I have to catch up with something." Patrick s
Patrick tried making his way around the scattered items on the floor. He didn't have the time to pack them up so he just decided to get started with his work immediately. The deep feeling of dread resonated deep inside of him as he sat in front of his computer, shoving the books that laid carelessly on his feet away so he could stretch his feet without disruption. If Diego could break into Andrew's house and kidnap him without being noticed and even had the time to wipe out part of the CCTVs footage from the night showed how advanced Diego was in his game. And if he could track down Patrick's number and demand for a Ransome from him instead of Andrew's wife meant that Diego also had every detail about him and he could be in grave danger. Patrick tried to submerge his fear, turning on his computer. He waited impatiently for the computer to reboot before he hurriedly typed Diego's name I to his search engine. Multiple names appeared on the screen but they were all decent people who
Andrew made his way through the labyrinthine-like corridors, beckoning to the voice that called out his name repeatedly. He stopped to listen assuring themselves that he was moving towards the right path where he could hear his name emanating from. When he was sure that he was headed in the right direction, he continued in his tracks, making his way in the dark, with the images in his head being his only leading light. After a mile of endless walking, Andrew didn't seem to hear his name anymore. "Where are you?!" Andrew asked and then paused to process what he had just said. He didn't think that he was asking the right questions. "Who are you?" Andrew finally asked after a moment of thinking. Everything seemed to go at a slow pace, including time, he felt that he had just walked for about an hour when in fact, it wasn't even barely up to a minute. "Keep walking dear child, we are just over here!" The voices echoed through the walls causing Andrew to fa on his feet, trying to bloc
Andrew heaved as he trudged forward, awakened from his sleep. "What the hell was that—what candle was father talking about?!" Andrew asked himself before he looked around, only to realize that he had been dreaming. He looked down at his hands. Everything felt more real. In the dream, it felt as if he had floating across the floors as he walked. He shook his head and fell back onto the cold floors, resting his arms under his head as he stared at the ceiling. The whole dungeon was still encroached in darkness. He could still hear his parents' voices echoing in his head and it caused his head to ache. He remembered the last time that they had visited him—they had mentioned something about him possessing supernatural powers and all he needed to do was to unlock them, but how was he supposed to do so? It all felt surreal to him; Valkyron—and the fact that he possessed powers that he didn't know about. "This doesn't sit right with me." He said as he sat back up and dragged his knees t
Andrew heard the men walking away and stood up with caution so his movements wouldn't make any noise, thereby attracting their attention. He still tried to process all that he had just heard, it was a hard pill to swallow; that Alec wasn't the one he should have been focusing his attacks on rather it should have been Diego but how was he supposed to know that Diego was working with Alec and he was a serious threat than he realized to himself and his family. He remembered that he had heard them talk about a deadline which was the end of this week. Andrew wondered exactly what they meant by "giving a guy till the end of this week to get the money." Were they talking about him? Andrew couldn't tell if he was the one they were talking about but he remembered that Diego told him that he was going to get some amount of money from him. Andrew's worries increased as the minutes went by. His mind was in turmoil and he didn't understand what was happening around him any longer, it all seeme
The cold dungeon walls pressed in on Andrew like a vice, the silence was heavy and equally suffocating. Exhaustion gnawed at him, but the rage and helplessness kept him on edge. Andrew didn’t bother to lift his head, but the voice came anyway. –Master, there is more to this than you think.– Andrew’s jaw tightened. "What now? What could you possibly tell me that will make any of this make sense?" Valkyron’s soft blue glow pulsed. –I want to talk about the dream you’ve been having. The one with your parents... where they are still lying unconscious in the hospital.– Andrew’s head snapped up, his heart skipping a beat. His eyes bulged with disbelief. "How do you know about that dream?" –I know, Master, because everything that happens to you—your thoughts, your dreams, your fears—flows into me. I am your system. I am part of you.– Andrew’s breath grew shallow. The dream had haunted him for weeks, leaving him with a hollow ache every time he woke. His parents, still lifeless,