Secrets Best Kept Hidden

Singapore, Kenneth's Home, 2019

Angeline sits on the sofa, her arms gently around Kenneth's shoulders while his head rests on her forearm. Her eyes were filled with worry, not knowing what to do. Kenneth has been unconscious for nearly two hours, Yong Ming had told her that he is much more sensitive to magic, so when Yong Ming and Su Yi released their magic earlier, the fear combined with the magic shocked him, causing him to faint. This only affects those with magic and are untrained, in his case, it is highly unusual as normally, the victim would only be knocked out for around fifteen minutes but not for Kenneth.

Kenneth doesn't seem to be in much discomfort though, he was soundly asleep while Angeline has been sitting there the whole time looking after him. Meanwhile, Yong Ming and Su Yi have been discussing what to do when Kenneth wakes.

Unbeknownst to all of them, a dark shadow has slowly crept into their home, out of the sight of everyone else, by the door, right behind Angeline. The shadow on the ground slowly grew bigger, then rises up, higher and higher. The shadow formed a figure that was barely human, it was large and overbearing, arms the width of a tree trunk grew out of it, claws bigger and sharper than an eagle lengthen.

The shadowy figure materialises, it has rough grey skin with abnormal veins growing all over its body, a face definitely not human. Its eyes were popped out, mouth a full set of teeth like a shark. It was finally large enough to cast its shadows over Angeline and Kenneth as it looms over their head. It was attracted by the huge magical disturbance in their home and was particularly interested in Kenneth due to the pure and strong magic that was sealed within him.

Angeline noticed that everything around her suddenly went darker. Her eyes moved from her son's face to the ground, then she sees it. The shadow of the large figure looming over them, its wide shoulders and huger arms the width of a tree, its claws longer than the length of her palms. She remembers this feeling, it was a demon, this fear, so terrifying that she was paralysed in her spot, this feeling of intense horror, it was the first time she had ever felt it.

Depravity.

Yong Ming and Su Yi who were discussing their plans outside the new room sensed it. The feeling so familiar that they instantly knew what it was. Without a second thought, both of them rushed towards Angeline at the same time, not wasting a single second, for fear something might happen to them.

They stopped, just a few steps away from Angeline and Kenneth. The demon hasn't noticed them yet. It was still looking at Kenneth and Angeline, looming over them, waiting...for the right time to strike...

Angeline who was staring straight ahead saw Yong Ming in front of them. Yong Ming slowly moved his index finger to his mouth, indicating for Angeline to stay as quiet as possible. She followed his instructions.

"現(Reveal)" Yong Ming whispered, as softly as he possibly can, while his right arm was behind his back, hands nearly clutched like he was holding the air. Then it appeared, a bō staff. He clutched it in his right hand, hidden behind his back, it was a white and smooth, nearly transparent. Intricate patterns of an eastern dragon could be seen curling around the staff from one end to the other.

The demon then suddenly turned its head to look at Yong Ming. Seems like even his whisper was loud enough for the demon to hear. Seeing him standing there, in a position as if he's about to strike, the demon instantly lunges down on Angeline and Kenneth.

Angeline mustered up as much willpower as she can and bravely wrapped herself around Kenneth, back against the demon, protecting him from its attack. Its claws were centimetres away from her back when a loud screech sounded.

"KIYAAAAAAA" The demon screeched. Its right arm was burning with blue Foxfire that Su Yi had shot at it. Seeing his chance, Yong Ming Lunged at the demon with his staff, using the tip to push the demon away from his wife and son. He pinned the demon down to the floor with as much strength as he could muster up. It was flailing about trying to get up, clawing at the staff.

The demon kicked his legs up at Yong Ming's derriere, pushing him up against the ceiling. A loud thud could be heard as his head hit against the ceiling and again when he fell to the ground as the demon rolled out of the way and got up.

"现 (Reveal)" Su Yi said, then several talismans appeared around her, floating and moving in a circular motion. The talismans, similar to Yong Ming's staff, was made out of a white crystalline material that was early transparent. The talismans were rectangular, just slightly thicker than the width of the paper, on it were archaic symbols intricately carved, each different than the other. She made a hand gesture as she said, "附 (Attach)", then flames suddenly appeared on the talismans which took on the same hue as the flames, some blue and some purplish blue.

Yong Ming quickly got back on his feet and stood behind the demon. He noticed Su Yi with her eyes closed, talismans floating around and hands forming seals, she was spellcrafting. Knowing her intentions, Yong Ming attacked the demon with his staff, attracting its attention. "附 (Attach)" he said, then weapon took on a blue and white glowing hue as visible strokes of lightning appeared on it and moved. He attacked the demon with it, strike after strike. In the beginning, the demon only felt a tingling sensation, as time went on, his body starts to feel numb. Sensing the danger, he quickly backed away, closer towards Su Yi. Yong Ming is trying to drag on the time, magnificent purplish blue as visible strokes of light poured out of it. She with her left hand on her chest, index and middle finger straightened while the rest clutched, the same with her right hand, she pointed at the demon.

The talismans instantly turn the demon, shooting at it and embedding itself to it. The Foxfire enveloped it and blackholes spiralled around its body, in just a few seconds, the demon was vaporised. The hue in Su Yi's eyes disappears as her spell ended. "匿 (Conceal)" They simultaneously said, as their weapon dematerialises and disappears.

Yong Ming immediately rushed over to his wife's side as he hugs her. "Are you okay?" He said, worry in his eyes as if he's about to tear up, the thought of losing his wife and son was like his heart was being squeezed, on the verge of bursting.

Angeline couldn't say a single word, she was still in shock.

Yong Ming turned and looked at Su Yi, who was just standing in the middle of the living room, looking at them with sympathy and worry.

"We need to seal him." Yong Ming said, without a single shred of hesitation.

"Weren't we going to tell him the truth?" Su Yi said, horrified at the idea of sealing him again. After what happened, she felt that Kenneth needed to know, he needed to learn, so that he could protect himself.

"If we seal his power, the demons won't be able to sense it, he would be safe." Yong Ming said, this time, he hesitated. He doesn't know if it will really keep him safe, but it was what his mother would have wanted, keeping him out of the affairs of the magical world, he made a promise, and he intends to keep it, no matter how much he wanted his son to know.

Su Yi understood him. Despite what she felt, she knows that now's not the time, he will find out eventually, but not now. She walked over to Kenneth kneeling down to his level, she looked at Yong Ming as he looked at her, their face with a serious expression then nodded.

They looked down on Kenneth as he lies on Angeline's embrace, asleep still, as they prepared to strengthen the seal. Luckily, the seal in him wasn't completely broken, they could still repair it, if it was broken, they wouldn't have the knowledge nor the power to recreate it. They hovered their palms over his chest, one on top of the other as they sense the seal and poured their magic into it. Slowly, the seal absorbed the magic and repaired itself, they poured as much magic as they could till finally, twenty minutes later, the seal was repaired.

Then, Yong Ming hovered his right palm over Kenneth's forehead, reciting a spell. The spell manipulates Kenneth's memory, it seals everything Kenneth sees today and makes him susceptible to a little suggestion, allowing for him to create a kind of door, like the one Su Yi created. It firstly allows for him to accept the idea of the room existing for as long as he remembered and placed all the memory of today in it, acting as a kind of safe. Should Kenneth open and entered the room Su Yi create, he will remember everything.

"What are you doing?" Su Yi asked. She was concerned, he was doing a memory spell, altering memories which is a high-level spell, should anything go wrong, Kenneth's brain would be damaged. But how on earth did he get his hands on such a spell?

"A memory spell, sealing everything he sees today into that room of yours. Also makes him accept its existence. It will act as a safeguard. It's a spell Kenneth's mother thought me." Yong Ming replied.

The seal was by Eira, sure, after all, she was exceptional with seals and barriers, but the memory spell wasn't something Su Yi remembered Eira knowing, in fact, spells like this were not her forte, so how on earth was Eira able to teach Yong Ming something like that? Now that she thinks about it, how come she never knew or seen Yong Ming before if he knew Eira? She had thought that maybe he was close with Lynn and Gideon, close enough for them to entrust Kenneth to him. But after that one sentence he said, everything seemed less clear to her. She was missing something, a link.

"I'm done. When he wakes up, we just need to 'explain' to him what happened." Yong Ming said, smiling bitterly. What he did, he knew in his heart was wrong, Kenneth deserves to know, he needs to know, but he also needs to honour his mother's wishes, to keep him safe.

All of them were sitter down on the sofa, Su Yi on the other sofa place against the wall in the living room. Angeline was still trying to recover from her near-death experience. They sitter down, an awkward silence filling the room while they were each deep in their own thoughts, awaiting Kenneth to wake up.

Kenneth opened his eyes to find himself lying on his mother's lap. His head hurts like it was about to split apart. He has no idea what's going on.

"How are you feeling?" Angeline said with a gentle and caring voice. Although she was smiling, Kenneth could see that his mom was feeling visibly tired and weary, she seemed to have aged just from the last time he remembered.

"What happened?" Kenneth asked. He was trying to get himself up, enduring through the extreme headache he was feeling.

"You fainted. It seems you didn't have enough to eat." His mother replied. There was not a single doubt or hesitation behind the lie she just told.

"What do you remember?" Yong Ming said as he got up from where he was sitting and walked towards them.

"I...I don't know...I just reached home from school...and...that's it...nothing else." As he finished saying that, he felt that there were gaps between his memories from the past two days. Something in his memory was missing...

"Who's that?" Kenneth asked as he pointed towards Su Yi who was now standing beside his father. There was a weird sense of familiarity, he was sure he never met her before, but it reminds him of something that he no longer remembers.

"A family friend. She's going to be staying with us here for a while. Her name's Su Yi."

"Nice to meet you, Kenneth, I heard a lot about you from your parents. You really shocked us all, fainting like that all of a sudden." Su Yi said smiling brightly.

Her beauty was stunning, the long dark brown hair and the big light brown eyes. Kenneth can't help but stare at her. Though he felt that something about the way she looked is off, the hair and the eyes, they were, unnatural.

As Kenneth adjusted himself to a more comfortable sitting position, he can't help but notice there were tiny balls of really faint light floating all around, it was really faint that he could barely see it, he noticed it around his father and Su Yi too, though it seemed to be a different hue. He tried to focus more on those light until his father grabbed his arm.

"What's wrong?" Yong Ming asks worriedly, he was afraid that the spell didn't work.

"Oh uh, it's just, I feel kind of weird..." He was shocked when his father suddenly grabbed him, but as grabbed him, all those tiny balls of faint light disappeared, like it was never there at all.

"You should go have some rest, maybe you'll feel better tomorrow." Yong Ming replied, when he grabbed Kenneth, he had been circulating his magic through him to the seal, strengthening it further.

Kenneth looked at the clock, it was already ten. Seems like he's been asleep for a long time, despite that, he still feels tired. "All right." As he got up and stagger back to his room, trying his best to work through his headache. His eyes were attracted to the room at the end of the corridor, for as long as he remembered, the room has always been there, but he can't seem to remember anything about it. Not thinking too much about it, he went to his room, lied down on his bed and fell asleep.

"Are you sure he's fine?" Su Yi whispered, careful not to wake Kenneth up. Other than Angeline who already went to sleep, Su Yi and Yong Ming were still in the living room. "He seems...off." She added. She was worried, memory spells are some of the hardest spells to work with, there have been countless cases of botched spells causing severe mental damage.

"He's fine. It's just a minor side effect. He should recover with some sleep." Yong Ming reassured. Everything Kenneth told him when he woke up wasn't lies, but he can't help but feel that he was missing something. "Now, it's late, it's been a long day, go get some sleep. We will discuss further tomorrow. I'll turn in first." Having finished what he said, he went back to the room Su Yi created, everything was in there, a bed, a desk, his clothes, he lied down on his bed and quickly drifted to sleep.

Singapore, A Hotel Somewhere, 2019

William is in the bathroom showering while Wilson is sitting at the end of the bed, using his phone while waiting for his turn to shower.

One of the perks of being a venator is to be able to stay in fancy hotels while travelling, all costs incurred relating to the job will be paid for by either the guild or the federation. This would be the second night that William and Wilson had stayed in this room, hopefully, this would be the last night as Wilson is dying to get his hands on the fox, which would complete his objective of infiltrating the Sicarius Guild.

Wilson was looking through his phone until it suddenly vibrated, someone is calling. He quickly went out of the room to take his call, so William wouldn't found out.

"Hello, sir," Wilson answered in a serious tone. It was like a switched in him flipped, he went from the cheerful persona he always portrayed in front of William to a serious one.

"How's your mission going?" The unidentified person on the other side said, his voice was deep and harsh.

"If everything goes according to plan, we'll be able to get the fox within the next few days."

"Good. Make sure no one gets suspicious, if anything goes wrong, retreat immediately, we can't have the Federation and the guild both on our tails. Report any new findings."

"Yes, sir." Having finished what he said, Wilson's superior hung up the phone straight away. Wilson turned around and was about to open the door until he realised he has forgotten the keys.

"Bloody hell," Wilson cursed. He looked around the dimly lit corridor, ensuring there was no one watching, then he wrapped his hands around the doorknob. "Resero" he whispered, pouring a little bit of his magic out of his hands and turned, the doorknob easily turned, as if it was never even locked in the first place.

William had just gotten out of the bathroom when he noticed the door to the room suddenly clicked. He sensed a little bit of magic and was immediately on alert, ready to summon his weapon and fight, then in comes Wilson.

William sighed, relief it was not an enemy attack. "What are you doing outside?" He asked curiously.

"Oh, just needed some fresh air," Wilson replied. William noticed the way he was speaking was a little abnormal, it was more serious and less cheerful, which was unlike him.

"I can use the bathroom now right?" Wilson asked. This time, his cheerful persona is back, the way he was talking was clearly lighter and less serious. William was a little taken aback by Wilson, the more he spent time with him, the more Wilson seemed unusual and abnormal.

"Yeah sure, go ahead," William replied, he was starting to get more suspicious of Wilson.

Wilson went into the bathroom to shower while William pondered on what happened the past two days. Deciding not to think too much about Wilson, after all, he's probably just naturally weird, he looked through the documents he got today again.

He stared at the page with Kenneth's picture on it.

He reminds me of someone...who is it...doesn't he resemble like that person? Looks like there's more to this than I thought...