At first, I was stunned. I looked at Cana and Indigo. They both have the same look of shock and confusion. I looked at Reina again who was still silent.

  "Everyone expected my dad to be the next Sempiternael," Reina said. "But being the head of communications between the top brass, Apolaki, and the other branches, people deal with Luca a lot. And they saw him follow grandpa's leadership as loyal as a dog. He didn't show any signs of dissension or even dissatisfaction with the current leadership."

  "Or so we thought," Dr. Yap said.

  "And since people are accustomed to and respect him, he used his popularity to convince people to join his cause. Some from the Virukidae, some from Untherinfil. But of course, this was done secretly, in hushed meetings outside Amihan Co. branch offices and headquarters.

  "But I thought your people were afraid of another massacre?" Cana asked.

  "They were, "Reina said. "That's why what made up most of his private army were the new recruits we've gathered over the years, those who did not have first-hand knowledge or lost loved ones to the massacre."

  "Surely your grandpa did something about him?" Cana asked.

  "He did," Dr. Yap replied. "Luca had people inside the Untherinfil, so his grandpa had us inside his. We could have killed him at any moment's notice."

  "So why didn't you?" I asked.

  "Because he was never a threat," Dr. Yap said. "We have the guns. We have the numbers. All this wouldn't have had happened if they didn't have the power of this thing you call Shade."

  "But don't you all have that power?" Indigo said. "Isn't that what you sell to recruit new members?"

  "That's what we thought at first," Reina said. "But last week, Azgarmoth seemed to develop a preference when it comes to who shares his power. Reina then pushed aside her hair draped over her neck, allowing us a clear view of a necklace she's been wearing. It was the familiar black sun and the twelve constellations cult symbol—the very same symbol of the amulet given to us this morning, just missing the chain that makes it a necklace.

  "It's the zodiac wheel, right?" Indigo asked.

  "Except everything is blackened," Cana added. "Even with sun."

  "Hence, its name," Reina confirmed. "Litten de Lamuoin—devourer of light. It depicts Azgarmoth, consuming the light of the celestials. And therefore, all life that came from their light."

  Cana shook her head. "And still you worship that thing?"

  Reina ignored the comment. "Only people attuned to Azgarmoth himself with his seal can call upon his powers."

  "And who are these "attuned" people?" Indigo asked.

  "Not many," Reina said. "And certainly, not Luca and his 12 loyalists."

  "At least that's what we thought," Dr. Yap said. "That's why when they attacked, there was little we could do."

  "It all happened too fast," Reina choked. "I was in my room, practicing my incantations when they came. Everyone was welcome to pay unexpected visits to the Sempiternael so I thought it was just another consultation or something so I didn't pay any attention to it. But then I heard shouting and screaming so I rushed out of my room and down the living room."

  "That's when I saw these people clad in black liquid-like substance, an appearance I know is not of this world," Reina continued, her voice breaking. "Luca saw me. Then returned his attention to mom and dad, and my grandpa—the current Sempiternael. I—he..." Reina broke into a cry.

  "We all watched her mother's head roll down the floor," Dr. Yap said, picking up where Reina left. Since it was obvious Reina can't continue the story anymore. "Luca then presented a choice for those who are her grandpa's supported: follow him or die."

  Dr. Yap then stop and turned to the crying priestess. "Would you like to take a break?"

  Immediately, Reina shook her head. "No," she sniffled. "Continue."

  "Very well," Dr. Yap said. Then she faced us again. "Unsurprisingly, many chose the bullet."

  "But you didn't?" Cana said with incredulity in her voice. "You killed her grandpa?"

  "Yes," Dr. Yap said. "The moment I was offered the gun, I grabbed it, pointed it at her grandfather's head, and pulled the trigger. In front of her."

  The steadiness of her voice as she tells the cold-bloodedness of it all as if she's just reciting a recipe from a recipe book makes our jaws drop. So I looked at Reina. I was expecting seething rage, foaming of the mouth kind of thing but surprisingly, she looked like she actually calmed down quite a bit.

  "Can someone explain what's going on?" Indigo said what we haunteds were all thinking.

  "It was her grandfather's contingency plan," Dr. Yap said. "I was supposed to gain Luca's trust, no matter the cost, should unforeseen developments arise."

  Indigo was speechless, her mouth gaping open.

  “That’s horrible!” Cana cried.

  I looked at Reina again. She was no longer crying but she was still visibly sad.

  "Why do I have a feeling that she didn't know anything about it?" I said.

  "That's because I didn't," Reina sniffled.

  I can’t believe it but I felt a tinge of pity for the priestess of our enemy. “Surely there were other ways?”

  "It is easy to find fault," Dr. Yap said. "In hindsight. But when you are at the moment, you are not given the luxury of time. Any hesitation and Luca may grew suspicious of me, of us Church Guards. Our mission was to gain his trust. And I succeeded.

  “Church Guards?” Indigo asked. “What’s that?”

  “They are like our private security,” Reina said.

  “We report to the Sempiternael himself,” Dr. Yap said. “We are to protect him and his family and successors.”

  “Yeah, who’s we?” I asked. “Because they sounded like someone we might need right now.”

  “We are 12 in total,” Dr. Yap said. “Each with their own roles to fulfill. I, myself, am licensed emergency room doctor. That means I deal with life-threatening injuries in a fast-paced environment.”

  “Pretty handy in a shoot-out,” Cana said. “I expect will have more of this morning’s excitement tomorrow.”

  “Exactly,” Dr. Yap said. “And I’ve been with the family for 5 years now. Some were employed even longer.”

  “So that’s why you thought Luca might be extra suspicious of you?” Indigo said.

  “Yes,” Dr. Yap said. “You must understand that I had to erase any doubt Luca might have about us Church Guards. He knows we are loyal to the family. So to prove my allegiance to him, I couldn’t think of anything less that would have been convincing. That’s why when he ordered me to kill her too, I was able to convince him that we should use her as a blood bank instead, referencing his own plan. I argued that as the Reina, she spent more time communing with Azgarmoth than any of us so her blood should be able to call upon Azgarmoth's power more reliably than us."

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "Really?" Indigo asked.

  "No, that's just some BS I came up with thanks to her grandfather's teachings and research," Dr. Yap said.

  “So he believed you know?” Cana asked.

  “Not just me,” Dr. Yap said. “All them Church Guards. 2 of us are actively working as the second of 2 of his 12 faithfuls—Lucarians. Each of these 12 controls what is left of the Church, those who chose to follow Luca out of fear, or those who believe Luca is now the chosen one of Azgarmoth.”

  I looked at Reina. Her cheeks were red but they were no more tears.

  “Your grandpa must have been amazing,” Cana said. Which surprised me to see her comforting Reina when just earlier she was pointing a scissor at her neck.

  “Indeed,” Dr. Yap said. "The situation was so highly unlikely that we didn't think it would actually happen. But it did. Good thing her grandfather had the insight of securing multiple safehouses like this ahead of time," she said, looking around the place.

  "You mean this penthouse?" Cana asked. "If your grandpa bought this, wouldn't they know? Trace the receipt or whatever?"

  Reina cleared her throat. "My grandpa bought this under a false identity," she said. "If they've already known about this place and me still alive, we wouldn't be having this conversation in the first place."

  That's true. If this place was compromised, they'd long be dead before they even had the chance to make contact with us this morning.

  "All that supported my grandpa were killed with this newfound power," Reina said, blinking away tears. "A power not even I am capable of using. Throughout our organization's history, it was written that only Daniel Cruz, the founder and the original vessel, the one who saw Azgarmoth in the flesh, was the only one who had attained such attunement with the Primordial God that he was able to conjure Azgarmoth's power as if it was his own."

  "Luca and his followers having the same power as our founder is something that anyone couldn't have predicted," Dr. Yap said. "It is simply not possible for him to be able to achieve that out of nowhere. When not even our very own priestess can."

  I looked down at my unfinished meal. There was a cold, pin-sized pain in my chest.

  "When did this all happen?" Cana asked. Her voice, soft, as if fearing saying the wrong thing.

  "Just last week," Reina said.

  "So recent," Cana said. I caught her looking at me. She immediately looked away. I looked down again and gritted my teeth.

  "There was no way for us to fight back," Reina said. "Till now, we still don't know how they did it. How they managed to get—"

  "It was me," I said. The pin-sized pain in my chest started growing and growing that I could no longer ignore it, forcing me to confess.

  "What did you say?" Reina said.

  Slowly, I raised my head and dared to look into Reina' eyes. "I did it," I said. "I was the reason they became so powerful so quickly. I'm the reason your grandpa and countless others—"

  "Vergil..." Cana said.

  "What's going on?" Dr. Yap asked Cana. "What's he talking about?"

  Cana composed herself. "We saw your founder. In the flesh," Cana continued. "Well, at least his head was."

  "What...?" Reina and Dr. Yap said. The disbelief in their voices cannot be mistaken.

  "Why do you act so surprised?" Indigo said. "Didn't you get information about this when they raided the bases last week?"

  "All we've got are locations, personnel and haunted files, the likes," Dr. Yap said. "Everyone in this city knows of the Shade, but Daniel Cruz himself? And what do you mean by "at least his head was?"

  Cana, Indigo and I took turns summarizing this past couple of weeks. Starting from the very first night that the Shade evolved up to Daniel's reappearance.

  For a moment, silence filled the air. Then the loud hiss of the kettle on the stove broke out. Dr. Yap stood up and went to the stove.

  "You saw him? Azgarmoth?" Reina was the first to speak.

  I nodded.

  "Seeing Azgarmoth face to face is a rare occurrence, even for members of the Apolaki, let alone the other branches," Reina said. "I myself, only saw him once. And it was in a dream."

  Dr. Yap returned with the kettle and mugs. "For you to be able to see him with your own eyes..." Dr. Yap said as he set the mugs and pour hot water in them.

  "You opened the seal?" Reina said.

  I lowered my head in shame. "Yes..."

  "Do you have any idea what you've done?" Reina said.

  Cana came to my defense. "You weren't there, okay? He did what he had to do with what he was dealt with."

  "I didn't mean to accuse or harass," Reina said. "It's just that... the sudden growth of Luca makes sense now." She was no longer crying. Her voice returned to normal. The only consolation of my confession is that the new information I've given seemed to distract her from her grief enough as she pieced the clues together.

  Dr. Yap turned to Reina. "So their ritual succeeded?"

  Reina just nodded.

  "Oh it did more than succeed," Cana continued. "It went ahead and killed all our friends and a lot of soldiers."

  "This is exactly what we had tried to prevent for years," Reina said. "You know firsthand experience what it's like to be haunted by the Shade. Now imagine an army of that?

  "But if he gave Luca and his followers his power," Dr. Yap said.

  Reina nodded. "Azgarmoth chose him as the new leader. Azgarmoth wants us out."

  The shame and guilt won't be going away anytime soon. So I forced myself to be more active. To do something useful.

  "But what about Luca? What does he want?" I said. "Because that could tell us why Azgarmoth chose him."

  "He wanted his vision to be realized," Dr. Yap said. "He doesn't agree with the current direction of the Cult. He said that this power is wasted on trying to improve humanity but thankfully he agrees that using this power to advance the Truth to all like our founder, Daniel, wanted is just as dangerous and unnecessary."

  "So that means that Azgarmoth wants his own Shade army in this dimension," I said. "Because Azgarmoth himself cannot cross—"

  "Cross through this dimension unless the seal is broken," Reina finished.

  "Or someone explicitly granted him permission," I said. "Like what Daniel said to us."

  "You know your stuff," Reina commented.

  "So you understand how serious the threat they posed?" Dr. Yap said. "You understand that only by working together can we stop them?"

  "Do we have a choice?" Cana said. "It's not like you're going to let us go if we've said no, right?"

  "Oh, you're free to go whenever you please," Reina said. "But where will you go? You coming here without being caught by them is already a miracle. If you think you'll do fine on your own," Reina gestured towards the door. "There's the door."

  Cana held her gaze. None of them budged a bit.

  "Okay," Indigo said. "If you planned on cooperating with us, then why not just come forward?"

  "You mean like when I did and you shot me?" A familiar voice said from behind. I clenched my teeth and hold my breath. The chair beside me got pulled and a guy sat down. "Food, nice."

  "I believe you've met," Reina said.

  At this point, I can no longer delay acknowledging his presence.

  "Hello. Again," was all I could say.

  "Hi," he said in a monotone voice. Then he turned his attention to his food.

  "Thank you," Cana said. "For bringing Indigo here."

  He just shrugged. "Orders are orders. Didn't think you'd be coming here."

  "Of course, they're coming," Indigo said. "They knew I was here."

  The guy eyebrows furrowed. "No, they didn't. They left you and run—."

  Reina slammed the table. "Rustia!"

  His eyes popped wide. "What?" he asked in an innocent voice. Then he looked at me. Then at Cana.

  "Oh, they didn't tell you?" he said, I assumed, to Indigo. I don't know how she took all that because I couldn't bring myself up to look in her direction.

  "B-but..." Indigo stammered. "Why else would they be here then?"

  Cana started to explain everything. The whole truth of how we got here. And why we're only here because our plan to make use of the city hall's resources to get back to Biringan and Major Coleman was no longer doable.

  "You left me..." Indigo said. "You abandoned me. Unconscious and injured. You wrote me off as dead!"

  The intensity in her voice shook my entire being. I dug my nails on the underside of my chair, expecting her to chew us out even more.

  "It can't be helped," she said, looking down at the table, no longer shouting. The sudden change in her behavior made me forget about my guilt and shame so instinctively, I turned my head towards her.

  "You've got no choice. I was unconscious. And bleeding. I'd only slow you down." She said almost in a hurry. She seemed like she was saying that more to convince herself than to assure us.

  "I need to use the bathroom," she quickly added. Reina and Dr. Yap didn't even have the chance to tell her where it is. She just stood up and left, walking to one of the hallways and into the room where I'm sure there's not a bathroom inside, because that was the room where we first saw her for the first time—the clinic room.

  Reina cleared her throat. "So, are we in agreement? Are you willing to work with us?"

  I nodded. At this point, my mind could only think about Indigo. How wrong we've treated her.

  "Yes..." Cana said, blinking back tears

  "That's good to hear," Reina said. "We'll get you back to Major Coleman. We'll leave first thing in the morning."

  Very eager to want to change the topic as fast as I can, I asked a stupid question. "Why not now?"

  "At night?" Reina asked. "When they could use the Void? You know this."

  "So guns in the morning," Cana said, her voice threatening to break. Clearly pretending that that entire interaction with Indigo did not just happen. "Shades in the evening."

  "Shades with guns," Dr. Yap corrected. "They can and will still use guns."

  "Do you still have any questions?" Reina said.

  Cana and I shook our heads.

  Reina sighed. She must have noticed how deeply bothered we were by the situation. "I don't have the slightest idea on what you should do but talking to her seems to be a step in the right direction."

  "You've ever abandoned your friends to save your life?" I said out of spite because she makes it sound so simple, so obvious. But the simplest things are usually the hardest to do.

  "No," Reina said. "Because I was supposed to be dead, remember?"

  That made me look up. "Right, sorry."

  "Just go to her," Reina said. "She's still alive, isn't she? I can't say the same thing about parents and my grandpa."

  We didn't give her an answer and let silence take over.

  "Well, if that's all then," Dr. Yap said standing up. "Whatever you planned on doing, you better do it fast. Because we'll need her to come with us tomorrow morning."

  And with that, Reina and the other cultists went about to do their own things, leaving Cana and I alone on the most daunting task I ever received yet since this whole Haunteds thing started—making up with the person you've left for dead.