CHAPTER THREE: BACK IN TOWN

Two days later, a lorry drove into the high street. One of the busiest streets in Oxford which is quite far from London. Four people were in the truck. Mark, the guy, and the two ladies. Mark told them to bring him here because he could not go to the States again so he has to come and seek refuge in the apartment he has here. The lorry stopped at one of the apartments in the street.

"Thanks," Mark said. That was the only word he said since they started the journey. He was just looking at the air absentmindedly throughout the journey.

"You welcome" One of the ladies answered him.

"By the way what are your names," He asked.

"I'm Martin Firefox" Martin introduced himself. The other two also introduced themselves. Their names were Amelia Firefox and Charlotte Firefox respectively.

"I will remember it," He said.

"Take this in case you get into any trouble," Amelia said as she gave him a card. On the card was the head of a fox ablaze with fire which is the insignia of the Firefox Company. One of the top companies when it comes to international-level agriculture. There were three numbers on it.

"Make sure to not make contact with people," Amelia told him as she handed him a cap and a facemask.

"You've been announced dead on TV and your image has gone across the world so people will recognize you, especially the higher-ups," She said solemnly.

Mark got down after wearing the black cap and the nose mask and went into the apartment, he took the elevator to the top floor and entered his apartment. He bought this apartment when he was in England, he knew his girlfriend because they were living beside each other. His heart ached when he entered the apartment because of what he saw. He saw Elizabeth (his girlfriend) curled up on the couch, she was sleeping. Her hair was disheveled and she was wearing a black dress, she also looked pale. His heart ached because he knew she must have been crying for the past two days he had been announced to be dead. A tear dropped from his face as he could not help but walk towards her. When he got to the couch he bent down before her.

"Why are you doing this to yourself," He asked.

"Mark" She sprang up immediately she felt his touch and looked at him.

"You're alive" She covered her mouth in surprise and hugged him tightly.

"I thought you were dead," She said while sobbing.

"No, I'm here" He answered as he patted her back. He could hear her heaving a sigh of relief.

"I was really afraid, my life without you these past days has been miserable," She said as she sobbed and her body was shaking slightly. She did not leave him until she had hugged him for a couple of minutes.

"What happened," She asked. He told her everything that happened. She was surprised at the beginning that there was something like that but her expression turned awful the more he continued to talk. Her body was already shaking by the time he finished the narration.

"How could they do something as inhumane as this,," She asked while her body was shaking due to extreme anger and her fists were clenched tightly.

"Are you not afraid?" He asked surprised.

"Afraid for what?" She asked.

"The people behind these things are my enemies now" He answered.

"I'm not afraid of any enemy" She answered with a firm resolve.

"Elizabeth live well, I have to leave you," He said.

"No I won't leave you" She answered as she held onto his body and hugged him tightly.

"We will face the enemies together," She said

"It's not about the enemies, it's about me. I'm a monster now, I don't even know what I am. I might just turn into something now and eat. I'm afraid of what I am, the worst thing is I don't even know what I am now so Elizabeth you don't deserve a person like me again, you deserve to live happily" He said.

Her arms loosened and she left him. "You want to leave, leave," She said.

"Goodbye, live well," He told her as he turned around and walked towards the door.

She scoffed. "You want me to live well, I promise that if you leave the door then tomorrow you will receive the news that I committed suicide" She answered.

He stopped immediately. "Why are you doing this?" He asked with a raised voice.

"Because you told me that you won't leave me and too bad I already love you too much so I can't be able to live without you," She said with an unyielding voice that was not lower than his.

"You are making things difficult for yourself" He tried to explain.

"I don't care what I want is to live with you, I don't care if I die tomorrow," She said as she sobbed.

"No...….." He shook his head as he tried to explain but was interrupted.

"I don't care, I'm a lady and I'm ready to take the responsibility why are you a man fearing" She retorted stubbornly.

"There is some responsibility that just....." He wanted to talk but was interrupted.

"Are you leaving or not?" She asked him. He sighed in resignation,

"I'm not leaving again," He said with a low voice. He was feeling complicated emotions. Joy because she did not give up on him and fear because of what might happen.

"Promise me that you won't leave me" She moved closer to him and asked while looking in the eye.

"I promise," He said.

"Promises are sacred don't break them or else my death with be on you," She told him.

"Trust me" He answered. She hugged him again.

"Let's just go to a remote place where we can live forever for the rest of our lives," She told him. He could not help but start crying.

"Ok," He accepted.

"I'm hungry," She told him. They went into the kitchen together.

Three days later, back in the Quinn family mansion in the primordial forest. It was a mansion built in ancient times, with a giant gate, and on top of "The Quinn was written. It was painted with a black color which makes it gloomy. Different cars were driving into the mansion while leaders of various factions were getting down from the car and they entered the meeting hall.

"Welcome everyone" Tiger Quinn greeted to start the meeting when everyone had settled down. Corton, Jessie, and Josie stood at the corner of the room.

"Cut to the chase, you know we are all busy," A lady said. She was Mia Green. The leader of the Green family was a family of fire benders.

"Just shut up, I took out of my time to call you to this important meeting so if you have something to do, just get out" Tiger retorted with an annoyed face.

"You" The lady stood up angrily and pointed her finger at him.

"This is a meeting, not a fighting arena so let's all cooperate man said. Mia snorted and sat down.

"I invited you for a reason that if not treated properly can destroy us," He said as he pointed to the door. The door opened and Seer entered. Their expression turned grave immediately they saw the seer because they knew the ability of the seer.

Seer narrated everything that happened r ago when he divined that a calamity that could end them was about to be born on the ocean till the last divination he made on Mark. Their originally grave expression turned more solemn especially when they heard about what happened when he divined Mark's direction last. They could not help but shudder because they don't know what again. Tiger stood up after sometimes again.

"I think you all understand the gravity of the situation and not only that he must be working with extremely powerful people because his traces were covered the last time, we don't even know if he is in the human world. We made preparation for a year but it still escaped and this happened on the day the human sacrifice was being transported here" He said.

"I heard they all died," Mia asked.

"One of them must have survived" Tiger analyzed.

"What are we going to do now," One man asked.

"We need a lot of blood for the seer to use his ability again because I will be requesting information about the sacrifices that were sent to us last and he will need to use his ability to divine each of them so I request you all to give us this batch of sacrifice. We will be able to get the calamity and the information will be passed across to you" Tiger said.

"Agreed" They all talked immediately Tiger finished.

"I hope we cooperate with ourselves to destroy this calamity," He said as he raised his glass of blood. They all raised their respective cups which contained different content and raised it before gulping the content down. This was a common ritual to show that they are now working together temporarily.