The Mystique

Capitulum Duo

Junkyu opened his eyes -- rubbing the tiredness off with his wrist. He stared blankly at the white-washed ceiling, although his lights were off he knew of the color. He rolled slightly to his side, eyes searching for the clock on his bedside -- 1:30 a.m, he had slept for eight hours.

He sighed as he felt his stomach grumble in protest, he had not eaten for twenty-four hours now. Rather, he had no time to think about eating when his head was pounded by pain. He slipped out of his bed, feet searching for his slippers to battle the cold floor.

A cold chill runs through his spine as soon as he stood up, his instincts alerting him of danger. A life-threatening danger. He silently and slowly took a step back. He remembered how his brother arranged for a safe spot behind his wardrobe after he had been targeted by a stalker once.

He slipped inside his large cabinet and pulled the secret compartment revealing a tiny space that he can curl his body to hide. He carefully shut the door to the compartment.

The air was heavy as he heard soft indistinct footsteps approaching his bed. His immediate reaction was to cover his mouth and nose with his hands to avoid any sound of breathing from escaping.

"Are you sure that the information was correct? Nobody is here" Junkyu peeked from the small gap in the compartment allowing him to see the silhouette of his uninvited guests. "Are you sure a seer lives here?", asked one of the intruders as he scanned the silent room. 

"Wait-" Junkyu bit his lips, he saw how the taller of the two approached his bed and felt the mattress with his hand. "It's slightly warm, it has been recently used. He is still near."

"He probably saw us coming in his dreams, huh. How troublesome. So, what do we do?" There was a momentary pause at the question and the taller answered, "Search the room carefully. We need to find him. Our client wants to have his eyes."

"Of course, he does. Even for the mystiques, the eyes of a seer is rare and precious. Even more so for a collector", the smaller man chuckled, tone filled with mockery and disgust.

Junkyu digested the words that have been exchanged by the intruders while remaining deadly still inside the compartment. He shivered slightly as he watched one of them open the wardrobe he was in.

At that moment, he forgot how to breathe and he could feel how his heart stopped for a second. He was sure that if his hiding spot is discovered he would be good as dead. From the content of the previous conversation, he better is dead than alive. 

"Oh? What's this?" The smaller of the two found the notch to open his hiding place. His heart dropped as he internally panicked. His mind simulated a million scenarios of how to escape and how he failed. He shut his eyes close as he prepared for the worse.

"Wha-" a loud sound of a heavy object slammed into the floor made Junkyu jolt and peek on the small crevice. "Jules! That's the, hey, why is the death god here? Fuck!" The sense of panic and disbelief in the voice of the intruders made him wary but he knew that the worst scenario that he was expecting would not come true soon. 

Junkyu crawled out of his hiding place, a strong urge convinced him to do so. The limited vision he got from the crevice does not explain why there is an oversized silver dog stomping down his nightly guests with its left foot inside the boundaries of his apartment.

It was quite a surreal and shocking scene, however, his attention was stolen solely by the silent silhouette of the boy standing near the oversized canine. With the insufficient amount of lighting, Junkyu can only draw out the figure of the boy. Short and lithe. His savior was dressed in black with a hood covering his face and a half-mask like those of masquerades shaped like wolf's eyes. Behind the mask, perfect round cold orbs of bright amethyst shone brightly against the dark -- violet, like a blooming iris.