Chapter 15: Loid Karl and his sacred tasks

The wind changed it's course. It felt chilling and scary, the sky turned dark and haunting. Vikaya looked around trying to find Zar but it seemed like she was the only one that remained in the wasteland. That scared her

What happens when the law is weak and fails to protects it's citizens and someone decides to take up the task to serve justice to those who escaped it? Is it truly Justice? Or is it madness? Or is it a psychotic killing spree?

Is it ok to be above the law if the law is flawed?

"Oye!" yelled Vikaya "Why and to whom are you presenting this monologue?"

Zar now appearing majestically on his coffin stopped and turned in a violent swirl and glared at her, with rage carried around since the 11th century

"Are you sure that bitter rage isn't the reason you are still stuck here?" she asked and snorted

Zar hovered over to her

"I was trying a new story-telling style and that monologue was for you" he hissed

"Ugh, can't we do this all quicker? Why do you need to make a big deal out of every story? Can't you just tell me straight and ask your riddles?" said Vik rolling her eyes, her arms folded sternly

The Hhital glared at her

"Whose sacrifice was greater? Viboupa or Shellen?" he asked, his face stern

"Oh I forgot about this part" said Vik running her hand through her forehead

Zar was silent, waiting for the answer

"I think Shellen's sacrifice was greater" she said and turned to Zar who was deliberately looking the other way

Vik waited for the infamous "Why?" but it never came

"What happened?" she asked

But Zar replied with a nonchalant "Nothing"

Vikaya knew something was up and she had no time for a wraith's tantrums

"It was Viboupa's duty as the Crown Prince to fight for the citizens' safety while Shellen who was saved decided to put himself in danger again to save Viboupa. That is why" she said

Zar mumbled something and Vik chuckled upon hearing it

"What? Can you please say it a little louder?" she said her hand behind her ear

"Good" he said loudly clearing his throat

"Alright, shall we go on then?" asked Vik and turned to go but Zar stayed there

After a few steps Vikaya noticed that no one followed her

"Are you really going to sulk?" she asked

"I am not sulking" he said folding his arms across

"Alright, alright, tell your story the way you like" she said

Zar turned, his face delighted

"Come on now!" she said impatiently and stomped her feet

Zar hovered across to her

"But you didn't tell me how you know such stories and these strange creatures" she said picking up the chains

The coffin began to float and Vikaya moved ahead

"It comes with the curse of being a Hhital" he said

"I have witnessed things beyond time and space and have gained knowledge beyond time and space" he said

Before Vikaya could ask anything further he interrupted

"So, are you ready?" he said and clapped and poof Vikaya was gone

She didn't even get the chance to groan or yell with shock this time

The day turned out to be sunny and Vikaya felt a familiar feeling under her bottom. She lifted her head and looked around

"Huh? Am I back?" she exclaimed with delight and looked around the the police station. Although she couldn't recognize anyone, it did look like her own police station

"Wow! Unbelievable! Was it all a nightmare?" she asked herself, out loud

"Did you find anything?" asked a man sitting on a desk beside hers

Vikaya didn't notice him, she continued in her thoughts of shock and delight

"Detective Gianna Shru!" he snapped his fingers at her

Vikaya turned and looked at him

"Are you daydreaming? Did you find anything about the killer?" he scolded

"Umm" Vikaya, now Gianna, looked down at her desk

"Not yet" she said and dived into all the papers

"Are you waiting for the 6th murder?" the guy sneered at her

"5 murders already?" she exclaimed but stopped herself from doing it out loud, lest she get another sneering, condescending remark from her co-worker

"I can see your dark soul" were the words they left in each victim's pocket

After a few minutes of marking details and taking notes

"Found it!" she exclaimed channeling the spirit of Archimedes

"What?" her co-worker asked

"He's killing all the other criminals" she said

"Huh?" he exclaimed in disbelief

"Look here" she showed him

Each criminal the serial killer had killed was in fact a criminal themselves. And not just a petty thief criminal. There were rapists, killers, money scammers, kidnappers on the list. All of them had easily escaped the law based on sly lawyers, bribed judges and weak laws

"That is good isn't it" her co-worker said delighted

"Huh?" Vik turned to look at him, she was in disbelief whether he was serious or not

To her shock he was

"Are you crazy? Or should I be concerned that you might be the killer" she glared at him

He glared at her and opened his mouth to utter angry words

"Do we have a list of suspects yet?" asked the Captain coming in

"Not yet sir" said Gianna "But we found a connection between the victims"

"Great, come and brief me in the office" said the Captain

The next half an hour went by thoroughly discussing the details of the case

"So, you think the culprit is someone with a savior complex?" the Captain said

"Yes, sir. The way the culprit targets escaped criminals. They are trying to restore justice by such unlawful means" said Gianna

"And how do we find the culprit?" asked the Captain "Any leads?"

"Not yet. However we are checking possible suspects of each victim, so if any of them pans out, then this lead might be a dead end" said Gianna's co-worker Kyle

"I sense some tension here. It seems like you two have different ideas regarding this case" the Captain glanced at each of them, his face as plain as bread

"Yes sir" both of them said

"Alright. Either work the case together without cutting each other or work on your individual leads also without cutting each other" the Captain

Before Kyle could glance at Gianna, she blurted "We'll work separately sir"

"It's your call, but remember it will be double the work and not to mention dangerous" said the Captain

"yes, sir" they said

"Go now and report everything to me" the Captain dismissed them

Another detective walked into the office, he has worked with him for a long time

"So, you are making them work separately now?" he asked

"Teams are about trust and support and there was neither so I had to take a different approach. Otherwise they would have sabotaged this whole case" he said

Both of them went on their separate ways while Kyle searched for the suspect, a futile activity; Gianna did get a good lead

"Captain, the trials of all the victims who are actually criminals are spanned out over the last five years, all of their verdicts acquitted them but there was a recurring individual" she said

"A man named Loid Karl attended all of the trials as an audience member" she said

"Was there any other common factor?" asked the Captain

"No, sir" she said

"Alright, locate Loid Karl and question him" he said

Gianna got Loid's address and went to his house

"Mr. Karl" she knocked on his door, a small yet well-maintained old house in a forgotten neighborhood

She knocked again but there was no answer. She moved around, trying to find something. She tried to look inside but the curtains were tightly shut.

"That's weird" she remarked as she turned the fancy door handle. The house was so old but the handle was relatively new. She ran her fingers on the window sill

"Huh" she said, there wasn't a single speck of dust

'He hasn't escaped yet' she thought to herself 'Should I break in?'

While she was contemplating, another non-invasive idea hit her

"Maybe ask the neighbors first?" her mind said

She immediately walked out but something passing her caught her attention. An old, bent scrap collector was slowly walking by with his handcart, the hand cart creaked all the way through

"Excuse me mister" she called

The old man stopped

"Do you know anything about the man who lives here?" she asked

"Not really miss, I have never seen him but he keeps out the junk from his house every two weeks" he said

"What did you find in that junk?" she asked "Do have some of it now?"

"No, I sell it the same day. It is just usual stuff such as cardboard boxes, papers and what not" he said

"Alright, if you see him or pick up scrap from his house, please let me know" she said and handed over her details to him

The man nodded and slowly walked away

"Wait a minute" something clicked to Gianna, her suspicions linked to weird things. She fished out her phone and checked the CCTV footage she got from the courthouse

"He looks oddly familiar" she stared at the screen "The scrap collector!"

Without another thought, her legs turned and she ran but to her shock and dismay the man had disappeared! She checked the lanes nearby but all were empty. A dark alley, a few feet from his house. The cart was thrown aside and the man was running at full speed

"Hey you! Loid Karl!" she called after him but which criminal would stop at the call of the police? A stupid one or a crazy one

Gianna ran ahead but he had disappeared! He had taken advantage of the dark alley. She went till the end and looked around. Left side - no one, empty but as she turned to the right, a huge rock hit her head

"Oww!" she said being knocked to the ground. She blinked her eyes, trying to force back clarity from her blurry vision

"Loid Karl, you are under arrest" she said trying to get back on her feet

Loid laughed loudly, a not-so-old man with cold-dead eyes

"Those who obstruct justice deserved to be killed" he said into her ear and lifted the heavy rock to hit her head but Gianna walked away, with weak legs she tried to run away from the psychopath

"You cannot run!" he said in a spine-chilling tone and walked behind her

"You shouldn't have come here" he began with an air of hollow-pride "I have sacred task and you became an obstacle and I must eliminate all obstacles on my path" he said and kept moving closer to her

"Killing people in the excuse of weak law isn't a sacred task you rat bastard" she said but kept moving ahead, trying to run away

This aggravated him and he ran ahead. He grabbed her shoulder and turned her

"You dare mock my glorious purpose! While people like you let criminals run wild" he said and pushed her

He tightly gripped the rock but before he could lift it, a bullet shot into his wrist

"OW!" he exclaimed with rage and pain. But to Gianna's shock and dismay he still had energy to get up again to hit her

But before he could, someone knocked him on the head and put handcuffs on him

"Loid Karl, you are under arrest for murders and attacking a detective" Kyle said as a screaming Loid tried to went berserk

"Kyle?" said Gianna still lying down

Kyle came and grabbed her, helping her to get up "You need to go to the hospital" he said

"But how are you here?" she asked on the verge of fainting

"Captain told me about you. So I had to be here for my partner" he smiled "Also, my lead was a bust so"

The case was tied up before the 6th murder but Vikaya's trial was still on

"So" began Zar sitting patiently on his coffin

"Ugh" groaned Vik, she had a spiking headache

"Give me a break man" she said

Now it was Zar's turn to groan, he even kicked and sat waiting

"What do you do while I am stuck there?" asked Vik

"I don't get left behind! Why do you think I enjoy this? I watch the stories" he said

"Oh god" said Vikaya getting up "You really need a different type of entertainment. Get a TV"

Zar blatantly ignored her

"Now tell me" he began "Don't you think the killer was actually a hero?"

"What?" Vik blurted angrily "Are you crazy?"

Before Zar could say anything further she began her rant

"Instead of working to change the law, he waited for the crimes to happen and then killed them. Isn't that ridiculous? Justice is not limited to punishment!" she began

"And if he did mean it, for wiping off the bad people, teaching them a lesson, why did he try to kill me? An innocent person? That makes him the very thing he's trying to eliminate"

"He was just doing this to feed his darkness, his own demons and labeling it as public welfare"

"But the public turned him into a hero" said Zar enjoying this

"The public? Ugh the public!" she groaned "Why was he trying to grab the public's attention if he was doing a good job? The public's mind is weak and easily impressionable. There are consequences to such bizarre, criminal acts!"

"In a matter of weeks, people would start killing in the name of injustice and the law and the condition of the public worsens! Why didn't he think that for public welfare?"

Vikaya was fuming. She had more words but no energy to utter them

Both of them sat down, while Vikaya tried to regain her energy and Zar enjoyed the same, old dawn, thoroughly satisfied

"Also, even if he was killing for justice, he wouldn't feel so great about them. Killing just because the law is too weak to protect will definitely make the person miserable but he felt great which was strange" she blurted gathering enough energy

Then she let go and lay down