Troublesome

***LEI***

Dr. Skye's proclamation of being my future sister-in-law kept running in my mind even as I waited to fall asleep. True, Artemis and I had been dating for a year but marriage had not yet crossed my mind. Besides, the both of us were at the peak of our respective careers so it would be a little hard to suddenly announce our relationship and decide to get married, especially on my side.

Guardians had become sensational ever since we debuted and it was normal for idols to not be married for quite some time.

'I wonder how Artemis feels about it.'

With that in mind, I finally fell asleep.

It was in the wee hours of Friday the next day, four o'clock to be specific, when I woke up because of a scream. I immediately jumped off my bed and headed to where it came from, the living room. When I got there, I was surprised to see Calvin, Blake and Kai lying on the floor, unconscious.

"Hey guys?" I called.

I walked closer to where they were, when I suddenly felt a presence behind me. I immediately ducked and threw a kick to whoever it was. I saw a man in black clothing with a familiar spider-lily crest on his left chest.

"The Sect?"

With the assailant unconscious, I took my time to observe the room. The glass windows were broken, the curtains were in tatters and there were lots of broken furniture in the room.

'How did I manage to continue sleeping in such a scuffle?'

"Lei?"

I turned around and saw Artemis with a dagger in her hands. She stood beside me and checked my body.

"Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

"I'm fine. What happened?"

"They happened." she pointed at the unconscious man in front of us.

"How did the Sect find us here?"

"I'm not sure, but they arrived sometime after three thirty. Thankfully I was in the kitchens and saw them. The others came afterwards."

"How did I sleep through all that?" I asked.

"Probably because you were very tired. Well, with everything that happened. Anyway, those three were our first casualties. They're just knocked out and will wake up later."

Chen suddenly came running to us.

"Guys! The Codex of Souls is missing!"

""What?""

***

The sun had already fully risen up when Artemis and I reached Mandaue City. According to the man we apprehended and interrogated, his companions who took the codex had a base in Mandaue City. And so, Artemis and I were sent to retrieve it.

Meanwhile, the others already headed to Daanbantayan, the northern most municipality of Cebu Province.

"The spell can only be done in certain conditions and in a certain place. Here in Cebu, the closest one would be in Chocolate Island in Daanbantayan." Dr. Lesfar said that morning. "We will head there first and do the preparations. You guys head to Mandaue and take the codex back."

"Okay."

"Remember, you have until six o'clock tonight to bring me the Codex of Souls. All constellations of the twelve zodiacs are only visible in the night sky from six thirty to ten in the evening, but the peak of the full moon is at nine so we only have a few hours at most. If you haven't returned by then, it'll be too late. Tim and Dean will forever be in the curse they're trapped into."

After learning about it, a few others actually volunteered to retrieve it, but Dr. Lesfar voted for me and Artemis to go. She also said something about needing their help so nobody really argued.

Using the man from the Sect as our guide, we reached a construction site.

"I could feel the codex's magic signature around here." Artemis said.

I looked around the area and felt suspicious. For a bustling area in Mandaue City, everything was suspiciously quiet.

"Are you sure it's here?" I asked our captive who was sitting beside Artemis in the backseat.

"Yes, I am sure. Our base is inside the construction site!"

We stepped out of the car and were about to head inside, but men in black clothing suddenly started emerging. The man, whom we took with us, suddenly kicked me on my side and ran towards his companions.

"It's a trap." I heard Artemis mutter.

"No kidding." I stood up and healed the spot where I was kicked.

"Not all of them have auras though." she commented. I noticed that her eyes were bright gold. 'She's using True Sight.'

"Then I suppose some of them are just normal humans who work for the wrong guys."

Without even saying anything, like the stereotypical villain monologue, they all attacked. Without using Advos and Artemis not using any magic, we fought the enemies charging at us and only knocked them out. Well, some of them were normal humans after all. But they kept coming like their number was endless.

"Lei! I can no longer feel the codex's presence in here!" Artemis yelled.

"What? Where is it?"

"It's on the move."

She suddenly grabbed my hand and we made a run for it. Artemis led me to a maze of roads, streets and alleys until we reached the edge of the city, on an empty street.

Gunfire suddenly echoed in the empty street and I saw men assembled not that far from us with guns in their hands. Our pursuers also arrived and started shooting at us as well, as we ran across the road and hid behind a building.

Shots were still fired at our directions despite being out of sight. Artemis suddenly pulled out a box from her inventory and placed it in front of us. The box contained four pistols of the same model and a few magazines of bullets.

"How are you at shooting?"

"Are you seriously asking me that?" I growled.

She just shrugged and gave me two of the pistols and a few magazines at my disposal. She started shooting at our enemies and so did I. I noticed that Artemis seemed to be enjoying it though.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing. It's just that, you seem to be enjoying this. Even though we're in danger."

"Psh. We've been through worse. And besides," she continued shooting at our enemy line. "I missed the feeling of having a gun in my hand. I had only been using magic lately."

"And it's probably a good idea to use it now."

"I guess."

Artemis stored her guns back in her inventory and immediately casted a spell. "Tornado."

The wind picked up some speed in a circular motion. And just like the name of her spell, a tornado was formed at the edge of then enemy lines and started sucking up our pursuers.

"You could've done that in the first place." I complained.

"Old man Liu Fen told me that magic is to be used discreetly and as a last resort. Our existence is still under wraps after all."

"Right. Discreet." I replied sarcastically.

We immediately left our hiding place.

'This feels like we're in an action movie.'

"An action movie? I guess it does feel like we're on one."

"I said that out loud, didn't I?" I sighed in embarrassment.

"It's fine. But you speak the truth. Speaking of, you will be starring on a new drama right?"

"Probably. If we get out of here alive that is."

"Still, I read the cast line up and it was amazing. You will be starring with famous and veteran actors and actresses. By the way will it be historical? Or is it modern? Will there be any martial arts involved? It's an action drama right?" I could see her eyes sparkle as she said those words. I couldn't help but smile.

"You're already an anime addict, and now you're a drama addict as well? How do you even find time to indulge that hobby of yours with your entire packed schedule?"

"It's called time management. I mean, we have our own lives and busy careers, and yet we can still do stuff like the ones we're doing now."

"I guess so."

She suddenly snapped her fingers and the small tornado stopped and disappeared. Our pursuers dropped to the ground either unconscious or writhing in dizziness and pain.

"This is so going to be in the headlines in the local news." she muttered.

With her ability to sense the codex's location, we reached an empty warehouse where a familiar enemy stood.

"Villains and their empty warehouse." I heard Artemis mutter.

"Mister Li!" I called. "Return the codex to us!"

"Return the codex?" he laughed, very evilly. "This is a very valuable magic grimoire. Even more valuable than the Book of Jade in your hands. Why should I return it?"

"Old man, you can't even use that book!" I exclaimed.

"And why not?"

"Do you really think it's that easy to use something that belongs to a Celestial Maiden?" Artemis said with a smirk. "Only the Maiden of the Stars can use that book."

He stood still, speechless.

"Again?!" both Artemis and I nodded. "Curses!"

He threw the book to the sides and vanished. I immediately picked up the book the dusted it off.

"That old coot. Does he even realize how amazing this book is?" Artemis shook her head in disbelief. "And it's older than him too."

"Come on, we have what we need."

We immediately got out of the warehouse and returned to where we left our car. As we got closer, we were suddenly surrounded by men armed with guns, knivesm baseball bats, etc.

"The Sect?" I inquired.

"No. They're not wearing the crest on their chest." she replied. "They're part of a local syndicate."

"Ha?" my eyes widened and I shook my head in disbelief. "You... Did you do something to piss them off or something?"

"Well, I might've killed their boss in the past." she smiled nervously. "I think I was ten? Or was it twelve? No, I mainly worked in America when I was twelve. I was thirteen to fourteen when I became active in the Philippines, so probably around that time."

"You have got to be kidding me."