- Chapter 02 : The Visitor -

The young lady woke up with heavy breathing and cold sweats. She was panting and her chest feels tight. "What ... What was that?" she brushed her fingers through her hair and tried to calm herself down. She sat up and saw a box beside her. She opened it and saw a decaying bone inside. The stench was strong and very unpleasant so she threw it on the nearby trashcan.

She went outside and saw her boss cooking and preparing food. "Good day boss" she greeted while tying her hair in a ponytail. "Hm. Can you go to the market to buy these? We're running out of those ingredients. Here's the budget" she nodded and went out after getting the list and the jewels for the payment.

The market was crowded again, as usual. She squeezed herself through the crowd and started buying what's on the list. "Where can I find this?" she asked herself while looking at the stands.

"Ah-!" she fell on the ground and the things she bought rolled on the hard ground. "I am so sorry" she said while picking up the ingredients. "No, I should be sorry. Let me help you"

After picking it all up, they both stood up and she was stunned. "I deeply apologize for not seeing you" he said. "It's fine and I also apologize. May I, if you wouldn't mind, know your name, sir?"

"I'm Cap-- I'm Silas. How about you?" she smiled. "I'm Ayana. Nice meeting you, Sir Silas. I will be taking my leave now, 'til then, Sir" she waved him goodbye and went back to the eatery. She sighed at the sight. It's a mess inside again and she has a lot to do once the shop closes.

"Here are the ingredients, sir" she placed it on top of the counter then she wore her apron. "What table is this, sir?"

"9" her boss replied while cooking. She nodded then she grabbed the plate to serve it at the table which has a large number '9' carved into it. "Thank you for your patience madame. Here's your food" she put down the plate but the old lady in a black veil and old-dark colored clothes didn't respond, instead, she grabbed the hand of Ayana.

"You. You should be careful. They're coming for you" Ayana's eyebrows furrowed at the sudden statement of the old lady. "If you wouldn't mind madame, who is it? Who's coming for me? And what do they want?" she asked out of curiosity.

"Them. They want to steal your heart and devour you" as weird as it might sound, still, Ayana sat on the chair in front of the old lady. "Can you elaborate the details madame?" the old lady stared at her through her veil and gave her a necklace.

"This will protect you. Wear it and never, ever, take it off. Do you understand?" she slowly nodded as she extended her arm to receive the necklace.

It's green jade colored stone which has a hole in the middle and was tied with a brown leather cord which also served as the lace. "But--"

"New girl!!" her boss called. "I'll come back to you after this madame" she stood up then she went to her boss who just called for her.

"Where's the order for table 9?!" he yelled. "I already served it, Sir" she said.

"Are you trying to play tricks on me young lady? The customers are still waiting! Look, there's no food on their table!" she looked at the table her boss is pointing at and it was a different table from before. "But an old la-- she's gone" she said as she saw that the table, the old lady was seated a while ago, was empty and had a different number in it.

"Hm? What's your excuse? Tell me" her boss asked while his arms were crossed and is in full authority. "I... I'm sorry, sir. I will serve the food at the right table right away" she immediately took the food from the table that has now a number '6' in it then she served it at table '9'. Of course, the customers complained and scolded her, as if the scolding from her boss was not enough.

- Hours Later -

Again, the night has fallen deeper and Ayana just went to bed after cleaning all the mess inside the eatery. She stared at the necklace while lying down and she kept wondering who that old woman was. The desperation to know what the old lady meant was also starting to grow bigger and bigger- it was like she's being eaten by her own curiosity.

She sighed and after putting the necklace under her pillow, she decided to just take a rest as she knew that it will be an another long and tiring day tomorrow.

**

'Don't ever remove the necklace..'

'They want your heart..'

'They will devour you...'

'THEY'RE COMING FOR YOU!'

Ayana opened her eyes and was, again, panting so heavily. She sat up and caressed her forehead. "Why does it keep on repeating in my head?" she asked herself.

After calming down, she went out to drink water but noticed that the main door was slightly open so she took a peek outside. As it was in the middle of the night, the streets were quiet and empty. She locked it and suddenly saw a glowing light outside. It was almost like a foxfire.

Out of curiosity, she opened the door again and took a step outside, barefooted. She went near the glowing light and was in an 'awe'.

"The stone.. I guess the news was true all along.." a voice said so she took a step back. The glowing light increased in size and a decaying dead body crawled out. He has long arms and sharp claws. "W.. What in the--" Ayana ran back inside but the arm of the undead extended then he grabbed her by the ankle, making her fall on the cold ground. She got a bit dizzy by the impact but later on gained her composure when she felt that she was slowly being pulled.

"NO! Let me go!!" she exclaimed while struggling to find something to grip onto. "Someone! Help!" she tightened her grip on the light post and was sweating a lot.

"It's faint but I know that it's you. I know that it's in you. If Midgard didn't have the barrier, it would be easy to tell where the stones of eternal power are" somehow, his words coincidentally matched the words of the old lady earlier.

"I am not who you're looking for. Let me go!"

"One way to find out" his already sharp nails became sharper and he aimed at the center of her chest, specifically, her heart. His hand went inside her chest and she felt numb and hopeless. As the hand of the monster went deeper, Ayana lost consciousness.

"Finally, the stone of eternal power" the glowing, green stone attracted a lot of monsters and entities but the glowing stone became colorless and became just like a regular stone.

"What... What happened?!" the monster asked. "There he is!" Captain Nero attacked him and Captain Silas burned the end of the arrow he summoned and he shot the undead which caused it to burn.

"Curse you!" the undead went back to his world and Ayana was so pale. "We should bring the stone back or she'll die" they placed the stone on her chest and it immediately glowed and went back inside her.

"She's the guardian of the Earth element"

[END OF CHAPTER 02 : THE VISITOR]