"Good day, sir. What can I help you with?" A voice spoke to the man who had been focused on the newspaper in his hands. He seemed new in town in his tailored suit under the hot summer weather.
He lowered the newspaper and raised his head to look at the voice that spoke to him. "I came for you." His eyes spoke.
He was new in town and had a mission to accomplish. Find the seeker girl and locate the shadow king. He spent months trying to find her location before the enemy got to her.
What is this place? Earth? The ground smelled different, dry air mixed with the delicious aroma of pizza. A little girl walked past them, holding an ice cream cone. Pointing to what she had, "I want that."
In a flat, tired tone, she replied, "Ice cream. What flavour?"
A glance at her, he could tell she didn't know who he was, considering he had spent the last couple of months introducing himself to her through dreams. What was he expecting her to do, jump into his arms? Wasn't she the seeker?
"Whatever you give." It was going to be his first time taking an ice cream. He didn't know what flavors they came in. He wasn't a bit interested in the ice cream.
"I will be right back with your order." She said. She could sense his eyes following her. There was something about the way he looked at her; she could tell he knew something. She could swear that he was the man she had been seeing lately in her dreams, but only that the man before her looked much better.
She ran into the back room to speak with Tiffany.
"The craziest thing just happened." She whispered, trying to be inconspicuous.
Tiffany whisked the pizza dough she was working on, "Melissa, you know you are not supposed to be back here. Don't you have tables to wait for?"
"Tiff, it's urgent. One of the customers looks like him."
"Who?" Tiff asked, not raising her head as she rolled the dough into a perfect circle and poured some sauce on it.
One of the co-workers walked in, causing Melissa to stop speaking. Not hearing her speak forced Tiff to meet Melissa's gaze.
"Wait!" Realization dawned on Tiff's expression. "From the dream? That isn't possible. You really are crazy, girl."
"No, I'm dead serious," Melissa protested.
"You know you will be in so much trouble if the manager finds you here. We will talk about this later. Seems I'm the only one busy."
Melissa returned with his order and found him staring at the streets. He looked surprised that the sun could shine so brightly on Earth.
"Hi." She dropped the ice cream on his table.
He frowned. "It's different from hers." He turned towards where the little girl sat with her parents, pointing at the cone. The ice cream was already halfway consumed.
"No, it's not." Melissa clarified.
"But I don't have that shaping thing," he referred to the cone to which the little girl had her teeth dug into.
"Apologies, sir, yours is in a cup. I didn't know you preferred the cone."
He didn't know what he would prefer. He was just fascinated with the item.
"Oh! That is fine." his gaze fell on her shocked face. Something was missing in the way she stared at him. Her failure to recognize him. He envisioned the scornful laughter from the guardian of their worlds, Keiran, when he realized how accurate his prediction was. Kylian had advised him to meet Melissa physically, but he had gone against his suggestion and preferred harnessing the ability passed down from generation to generation in his bloodline by visiting her in her dreams. He cursed under his breath, realizing now how foolish his idea was. Time wasn't on his side; at any moment from now, the enemy would pounce on them. If care wasn't taken, the streets of Airodia would be covered in blood. An idea popped up in his head; he figured now would be the perfect opportunity to lure her.
"Hi, Melissa." He said, hoping she would be surprised and asking how he knew her name. But she appeared unfazed, for she knew her name tag was boldly fastened to the left side of her chest.
"If that would be all, sir." She turned to leave, and out of desperation, he grabbed her hands.
If truly she was the seeker, she could not deny the call to serve. He scoffed, it was nearly impossible to deny a call to serve once the details had been communicated to you. That was how he was commissioned. Using his index finger, he etched writing on her palm.
A sensation surged through her bones, and visions of a desolate place flashed through her mind. She hadn't looked at what he had scribbled on her palm, but she could hear the words in her head. Nobody knew about her powers, and she wasn't ready to reveal them to a complete stranger.
"What are you doing?" She pulled her hand away from his. Disappointment and horror were written all over his face. "If that's all, sir, enjoy your meal," she said as she walked away quickly. She ran towards the locker room for the staff, her heart drumming loudly in her ears.
"What was that I saw?" "Am I dreaming?" She pinched herself. "What was that thing he did?"
She looked down at her palm. The words he had scribbled were in bright gold. The words were not written in English, but she understood their meaning. What worried her was not the fact that it was written in a foreign language, but that she knew exactly what it meant.
A single word that meant "help".
"Why is he asking for my help?" How did he know she was going to understand this? She didn't even know this part of her ability. She ran back to speak to him. He could explain a lot to her, especially the questions she has had for years.
He watched her run away after he scribbled help on her palm. He was confused. He thought she was the seeker. How come she didn't comprehend the ancient language of the seeker? He walked out of the premises, disappointed, and looked up at the brilliant sky in the summer light. The place was stuffy, and a young boy walked past him in shorts and T-shirt with beads of sweat on his forehead. He looked down at his buttoned-up suit and tie and wondered why he had chosen this outfit.
Keiran has let him down again. She wasn't the one. He had wasted three months, not counting the last three years he tried denying the call to serve. Or the months he spent looking for the true seeker, but this time around, Keiran was one hundred percent sure she was the one. Perhaps that was why he had been reluctant to meet her physically.
"She isn't the one, Tarius." He said, matter-of-factly, while speaking with Kieran from afar, utilizing their extraordinary mind-to-mind connection. Before the creation of humans, this was the oldest method of communication in Airodia. But after the creation of humans and expatriates from Airodia had visited Earth, they came back with oral communication as a gift.
He waited a few seconds before receiving a response from Kieran over the same channel.
"She's the one," replied Kieran. "The last surviving seeker from the greatest seeker clan of peace. The enemies are closing in on us, so get her to open up. Before they get to her, we need her. Their mercenary, according to word on the street, is now on her. Use all means at your disposal to apprehend her right now."
"She doesn't understand the language of the seeker," He argued.
"She is first, human before Airodian. Now is the time to get her before it's too late".
Pedro let out an exasperated sigh. He was perplexed as to why she was necessary in the war against the Talaticans, given that they had successfully held them off for three years on their own. Everyone in Airodia looked forward to him as the savior who would defend them from the Talaticans, and he would die first before seeing Airodia collapse.
He turned around and walked back down the path that led to the eatery. He contemplated what was easier to say, "Hello, I'm Pedro, Airodia is in dire need of your help". She would think he was crazy, but not as crazy as "You are the seeker we need to save Airodia from extinction." She would call him crazy and put a knife through his chest. Who wouldn't? he thought.
By right, she was the savior, but for some strange reasons best known to the fallen ancestors, he was asked to take up the chosen position of the savior and find the last surviving seeker. He laughed at the ridiculousness the first time the news was broken to him. At that time, he was strongly in love with Rosie and refused to take up the responsibility. Agreeing to be the savior meant leaving Rosie, and he wasn't about to do that, but one's love for his home holds greater value than one's personal ambitions. It was the curse of service in Airodia. Denial of this indicated rebellion to the cause, and one would be immediately consumed by the Dar spirit just like the Talaticans.
She hadn't seen where he was seated by the window close to the entrance.
He couldn't have gone far. She thought. As determination swept over her. She didn't mind; she was still on duty and dashed out through the entrance. Stepping outside contemplated whether to take her left or right. She finally decides to take her left in search of him. Hoping the route she took, she would be able to find him. She saw him some meters away from her. She stopped when she realized he was walking towards her. Perhaps they had a lot of questions to ask each other. He clearly didn't look like someone in need of help. When he caught her staring at him, he stopped abruptly. If she was standing there, then there was only one explanation, and a knowing smile crept around the corners of his lips.
"Hello, Melissa." His lips remained pressed, unmoved, while the words reverberated through his mind.
Melissa heard him; his voice had a different sound when he spoke to her now. She didn't see his mouth move, and he was still far from her, yet she could hear him loud and clear. She wondered if hers was different, too, using the same means. She could hear him, but could not reply through the same means. Rather, she would use the very means she's known to have used all her life.
"How do you know me?"
Pedro's smile broadened with the realization that she was indeed the seeker.