~ Yet time does not stays still - III ~

Hummer and I walked through the village at a set pace, as the sun was at its Zenith and the white mud houses were extremely bright to look at. Alas, we both squinted our eyes and shaded our foreheads with our palms.

The streets were empty and a slight dusty breeze was blowing through, carrying a strong summer heat and dessert dryness.

There were scarce palm trees around the houses, but no major water source or even any oasis was visible around the settlement.

"You feel anything? Like a prickly feeling which makes you eager to scratch at?"

The description sounded awkward, however he wasn't talking crap, I did feel something itching inside my body, like an anxiousness to just hurry up and do something.

"We are close enough to the evil spirit that haunts this village, reason why we have such strange instinct within."

I nodded, and we turned around a soft corner, where I could actually see the dark smoke like mist, smelling like rotten eggs.

I wasn't left curious for long, since as soon as we stepped in the narrower alley, the shocking sight of several spider like shadows sitting on the webs crawling eerily around in the alley met our eyes. I did not know what was more startling, their presence or the alley which stunk like the worst rotten stuff I could ever smell.

I almost vomited out my food just by the smelling the stink. "What is it?!" I cried, muffling my nose and mouth to keep away the smelling fumes.

"They don't eat humans, but they poison water sources and even invade inside the house like parasite, sucking positive energy and luck away into their sacks. It is extremely harmful to children who are still not immune to parasite, it can easily make them sick all year out."

"Is that why the village is so desolate?"

Hummer nodded, as we stepped back a bit in case the spiders attacked?

"We need to burn them with fiend fire or seal them. I can ink out a spell, you just have to chant, that way, sealing won't be difficult."

I almost nodded when I remembered a deal I made with Xi Ken, I still remembered that conversation.

**

"If I take you as my disciple, reasoning being that my aim is to show you the path of good and undo the evil in you... these fools would believe me."

"Y-You can do that?"

"I will give you my word," He promised boldly, his voice as melodic as an angel's for me.

"Then," I hesitated, "I can trust you aren't taking advantage of me right?"

He replied even if a bit late, "I will not deceive you, but you have to keep your promise."

"Fine, what is it?"

"You will only chant what I ink down for you."

**

I wondered if I chanted what Hummer inked, would Xi Ken be mad? I silently cursed that deal, how would I explain Hummer of my situation??

As if noting my dilemma, Hummer huddled closer to me, his face bunching up in an annoyed look, "Why are you hesitating? Are you afraid?"

I gulped, "What if I tell you that I cannot recite or chant, whatever… I can't do that if you do the inking, I can only chant what my master writes."

Hummer at first was slightly puzzled at my rejection, but I watched awed as those set of wide eyes suddenly widened to an unimaginable size, almost popping out of their sockets.

"W-What did you say?" he asked in alarm, his face paling like the moonlight, as the glow on his cheeks withered to a dull hue.

"You heard right, I cannot chant because of some reasons…"

He shook his head, his palms coming up to hold me still by my shoulders, his height shorter than me but almost seeming like a giant's, the keen light in his eyes was set ablaze by some inner…. Desire?

"You said you can only chant what your master inks? Am I right?"

I nodded, a bit uneasy with all the questioning. What was he up to?

Hummer started to breath irregularly, his entire face morphing into an expression which frightened me, there was eagerness, betrayal, anxiety and more complex issues which I couldn't get a hold of.

"What are you-"

���What are you to him, to the ink master," Hummer asked me, his eyes looking eager and almost quivery.

I felt flustered, repeating mechanically, "Neither his partner not his slave."

A pause.

Then Hummer blew up, "This cannot be! Are you seriously telling me that?! Why would he…" then he became incomprehensible, his words were slurred and skipping all over the place.

"You should pay attention to those spiders, they are staring at us now," I mumbled, gaining his attention by nudging him around to take a look at the hoard of crawling spiders, they almost looked offended. What, were they expecting us to start screaming?

Hummer slapped my hand away and kept stuttering the words, 'why', 'how', 'what'.

He seemed to have gone into great shock.

I pouted, "Can you please pay attention my friend?"

It took him a few more minutes to finally catch up to the present scenario, and the first thing he said to me was, "You are lucky."

Well I didn't think so but it would depend on what he was taking into context, if it was finding Xi Ken that made my luck, or if it was something else.

Anyhow, before I could even think of anything to retort with, Hummer raced up ahead in front, and as if in a trance, he took out a brush from his robes, which had a silver tip and quite an intricate wooden stick. With a hurried movement, he started to write on the ground of the alley, the brush already dipped in ink, and murmured something under his breath. I thought it would take time for the words to activate, but the ink distorted as soon as it was written and I saw the spiders erratically trying to escape the alley, the alley which looked a little bit strange, almost brighter and more cheerful.

"This is a charm effect, it does not require time to activate," a bold voice softly told me from behind, making my entire body rigid as I instinctively moved away from the person invading my bubble.

It wasn't Xi Ken, I was sure, but this person had a bit of a similar vibe to him, his long pale hair silver, and his skin a delicate beauty. The narrow eyes and straight nose made him look even more… arrogant. Overall he was almost sinful.

"You are? How do you know what I was thinking?" I was mindful of not being too strong with my question, but also nor too nervous.

While Hummer I saw, had eradicated the entire lair, and I could no longer smell the stink or even see any dark crawling thing around.

Although I was happy we could leave, I was bothered with who the uninvited guest was.

"They call me Yu Ken, he he he" he giggled, his smooth voice one tone higher than a male's, "are you called Ra Ven?"

Ra Ven… why did the name sound so ancient from his mouth… but wait… did he s-say Yu Ken?

!!!!!!!

I took another step back, finding Hummer and pushing him towards Yu Ken. The silver haired man was now snickering behind his red coloured fan, the robes and jewelry all blood red. Even his ear ring was red.

"Um, are you here to meet… Xi Zuen?"

When he heard me, he ignored the gaping Hummer in front of me and in a blink pulled me out of hiding, and stood before me, his fan softly moving in his hand in habit. He narrowed his eyes, "Xi Zuen huh… but aren't you a bit pathetic?"

"Even pathetic people are cute," I blurted out, noticing how the fan paused for a second, and his eyes twitched, before he reverted back to his smiling devil appearance.

"Ho~ so you can talk."

"Seems like it," I replied in monotone, my insides freezing. Xi Ken! I shouted in my mind, Why is this guy here, isn't your junior a… demon figurehead??

'(T~T) I want to cry. I feel like I am going to be bullied nonstop from now on', I thought sadly.