Chapter 102

Alvin woke up in a cold sweat. He rarely had nightmares before, even after he took the potion, due to Sequence 1 and Sequence 0 of his pathway being vacant. But just now, he and a horrible dream.

He couldn't exactly remember the dream, but he vaguely remembered being strapped down, while three creepy figures were standing next to him, and conversing over his fate.

He decided to use the Dreamwalker's throne to see if he could remember the dream immediately.

"I am positive I had some sort of dream. But I can't recall it, even with the Dreamwalker's throne. What is the problem?" wondered Alvin.

Unable to pinpoint the problem, Alvin decided to try divining into what the problem was. He didn't expect to get any results, but decided to do it anyway.

As he sat in the Divination Room and tried divining about his abnormality, he unexpectedly got a response. He could vaguely feel that he was like in a box, appearing to be a puppet inside. Then, the dream shattered.

"What was that about?" thought Alvin with worry. He was tempted to sleep inside the Red Castle from that day on, just in case.

After calming himself down, Alvin decided to wait and see what happens and went outside.

In the bar, Alvin noticed that the books he had asked the receptionist at the Nighthawk's office to forward here had arrived. He picked up a book from the set and started flipping through it randomly. It was detailing a relatively large fish, called the Hippersach. It had no Beyonder powers, nor any uses in rituals. None of its materials was of the slightest value, and it wasn't good enough to be eaten. Yet the book went on pages and pages about the Hippersach, detailing its location, migration patterns, diet, mating cycle, food, encounter chance, and a whole bunch of trivia. With so many pages on some random fish that most people wouldn't encounter in their entire lives, Alvin saw why no one was interested in the books. He now agreed with Colin's analysis that he could not go through all the books by himself, so he was even more eager for the person who could help him, also mentioned by Colin.

Alvin then decided to write to Kevin, just to see his messenger.

"Dear Kevin, Good morning to you. I wanted to ask you regarding the person who could read the books and analyze only the information I want from them for me. I tried reading them by myself, but failed terribly. I only wanted to enquire if I could talk to him. If he still doesn't want to, I don't mind having you be an intermediary. I will pay the appropriate commission for it. Also, I wanted to ask if you purchase Beyonder characteristics. I have a number of them.

Yours faithfully, Alvin Jonas"

Alvin rechecked the letter he wrote, and then began to summon messengers according to the methods he learnt from the ritual book he bought.

After preparing the appropriate steps, he chanted in a low voice in ancient Hermes, "I summon in my name, Wanderer of the Dark Den in the spirit world, The four-headed beast that commands respect, The messenger of Kevin O'Laughlin"

After a brief moment, a 4-meter tall creature with 4 heads facing 4 different directions materialised in front of Alvin. He handed it the letter, which it snatched with its hand, and disappeared.

Alvin was envious seeing this messenger, and already started thinking about getting his own messenger.

Unfortunately, without something like Klien's Sefirah Castle, he couldn't attract the more powerful being of the spirit world to serve him. But if he contracted a weaker spirit creature for the sake of convenience, it would most certainly become a liability after rose to a certain level of strength, that his enemies would use to target him, just like the sword that he took from Heldium.

He waited in the bar for some more time, and sure enough, a letter was thrown out by a hand in front of him, which quickly vanished.

Alvin opened the letter, which as expected was a reply by Kevin.

"Dear Alvin. It's great to see you write to me. Aren't you envious of my messenger? I am sure the book you purchased tells you how to get one. With luck, you will find a good one.

Regarding the person I spoke about, I remembered to talk to him about you. He is more than happy to meet a fellow Nighthawk informant, and told me to give you the address to his house and office in Hillston Borough. Feel free to visit him anytime. His name is Isengard Stanton, and he is a private detective rather famous in Backlund. He is from the pathway followed by the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom. Hence, you can see why he would want to hide his identity, and be cautious about exposing his identity as a Beyonder. Sequence 9 of the pathway is Reader, and Readers are adept at reading, recalling, and analysing information. He can sit through the entire set of books, and answer any queries or information you have regarding the set of books.

Regarding Beyonder characteristics, I indeed purchase them, but the price I offer is the current market rate. If you tell me what specific characteristics you have, I can find appropriate buyers for them, but it may take some time. You can visit me and we can discuss the specifics, whenever you want. You know my address.

Yours sincerely, Kevin O'Lauglin"

"I would not visit Williams Street even if your life depended on it" thought Alvin as he set the letter ablaze.

He then started recalling about Isengard Stanton, who would become a good friend to Sherlock Moriarty. A reader did seem a good choice to look through the books and tell him only the parts he requires.

Since he did not have anything to do for the rest of the day, he decided to visit Isengard Stanton and commission him to find out what sea creature could have devoured the Beyonder characteristic of Richard Brown, and them he could try to see if he could track it down and find the Knife of Judgement.