Serenity Before Chaos [Part 2]

A black limousine stopped before a shabby looking shop. Suddenly, the doors were pushed open and a few men in black wearing shaded glasses came out first and stood around the car.

Each of the men had rotund figures and chiselled faces that housed fierce and professional expressions. None of them were rookies, they were all professional bodyguards.

A hooded figure was the last to come out, he had an expectant look on his face as he walked towards the shop.

Seeing the door was left wide open, he walked directly into the shop and immediately to the counter without bothering to admire it's interior.

A short bespectacled young girl was standing behind the counter with a bored expression on her face that lightened up at the sight of Jack coming into her shop.

She seemed to be familiar with the hooded newcomer.

"Katelyn? Where is Old Wilson?" Jack finally stopped before the counter, and looked around with a strange gleam in his eyes. He seemed to be searching for something and was surprised after not seeing it.

He was slightly surprised by the absence of the store owner, Mr. Wilson. The bespectacled female before him was Katelyn, Mr Wilson's granddaughter, and she was just two years younger than Jack who was sixteen years old.

Jack looked around himself again, and sighed, He had already gotten accustomed to this poor, but tranquil atmosphere.

Just like the exterior of the building, the interior was equally shabby looking, but was neat and clean with little to no dust in the room. A few tall wooden shelves were arranged in the room, with a few white boxes out on display on them.

The image on the boxes was a strange watch with a screen that had a futuristic interface. These watches were the next generation of Virtual Reality gaming… The Neo-VR watches.

By wearing this watch that could develop a mental link with it's user's consciousness on one's wrist, one would be able to venture into numerous virtually created worlds and timelines. The player of a Neo-VR game would be able to fully interact with the virtual world… feel, smell, taste…

It was like living in another body! A very wonderful experience that many game lovers would like to experience.

"Is your old man retiring from the business? That'll be good to know." Jack asked softly as he began to drum his fingers against the wooden desk before him, his brows slightly lifted.

"No, Grandpa Wilson had just pulled out some days ago. Says he has some important business to attend to somewhere outside of town." Katelyn replied before letting out a stressed sigh, turning to Jack and asking, "Hey! Did you just come here to talk about Grandpa or do you want to actually buy something?"

Jack rolled his eyes before holding his chin in thought for a moment and speaking in a soft voice, "Galactic Ascension… Aha, that's the Neo-VR game I want to buy."

Katelyn paused in thought for a moment.

"Wait here…" She ordered before turning around slowly, pushing open the door behind the counter, and walking in.

Jack sighed before looking around briefly, spotting a dust ridden chair metres away he walked towards it. After patting off some dust, he let out a sigh before sitting down.

This wasn't the first time he had been here, he had actually been patronising the shop since he was ten.

The shop looked shabby, but with the rising demand for Neo-VR technology, it's earning stable income monthly.

Katelyn and Jack had always been childhood friends, despite the large disparity in their status.

In a few minutes, Katelyn appeared behind the counter with a small white box in her hands which she waved at Jack who was about to fall into a deep slumber.

Upon noticing her actions, Jack's eyelids which had drooped for a while suddenly rose. He let out a yawn, before getting up and walking back to the counter.

"Is that it?" Jack questioned as he moved closer to clearly see the box being held in Katelyn's hands, he lifted his brows upon seeing the image of a black futuristic looking watch on the top of the box.

"Yeah… It's the latest Neo-VR watch. It has the new 'pain reception' toggling technology." Katelyn lightly patted the box as she began her explanation with a soft smile on her face, "I've already installed Galactic Ascent on it, and some other Neo-VR programmes, too."

"Thank you…" Jack spoke out with a grateful gleam in his eyes as he pushed a check into her hands with a warm smile on his face, then, he sharply took the box from Katelyn and quickly turned around to leave.

"Welp, It's time to leave now…"

Katelyn was baffled by Jack's strange actions, but when she lowered her eyes to read the check, her eyes watered slowly and a faint smile appeared on her face.

"Thank you, Jack…" Katelyn said in a grateful voice that echoed in Jack's mind for a few minutes as the hooded boy paused for a second.

"You're welcome…"

Jack spoke without turning around, his voice soft and warm. After speaking, he ran out of the shop, leaving Katelyn to stare off in a daze.

In her hands was a check of over a thousand dollars. The triple zeros was enough to make a smile make it's way on to her lips.

–––

Two hours later…

Jack's black limousine finally drove away from the shabby store and arrived at the gold gates leading directly to a massive silver mansion.

This was actually Jack's personal mansion as the mansion was bought in his name. He lived here with his younger sister and a few servants.

The massive gold gates to the silver mansion were pushed open, and the limousine was drove in immediately. Outside the garage was a beautiful black Bugatti, and a blue power bike with white tiger stripes glistening in a soft silver lustre.

The limousine was parked besides the Bugatti in the parking lot just outside the main garage.

When the doors of the limo were opened, a few men in black first alighted from the vehicle and created an encirclement with a small gap in it that would allow a man to squeeze through it.

A hooded figure stepped down from the car and walked into the encirclement, as soon as he did, his temperament took a 180° turn.

Jack drew out a futuristic smartphone from his pocket and began to make phone calls one after the other as the guards escorted him into the building.

"Mr Brian, cancel all my appointments for tomorrow… cancel my meeting with Dr Bernis, and Mrs Clinton."

Beep…

Call ended - Next call!

"Hello, Miss Caitlin, abort my stay at the Glass Penthouse please… Oh, and please get me a few rooms in the Royal Star Hotel for the holidays… If there's trouble use my credit card to buy the top floor."

After making a number of phone calls, Jack had already found himself standing before the wooden door to his room. He didn't walk in yet, but waved at his guards to disperse them before taking off his bag, and dropping it outside his room.

The guards nodded at him before darting off in different directions, prepared to dart back at any single command from their boss.

"Dammit, Fay hasn't come home yet and Mrs Denice doesn't seem to be nearby…" Jack cursed as he zipped open his bag and brought out the white box with mixed feelings surfacing his his heart.

Since no one was around, he could play to his heart's content, right?

Pushing open the door which was left unlocked, Jack walked in while humming a tune to himself with a pleasant smile on his face.

As soon as he closed the door before him, he slowly took off his hoodie and threw it to the side. Leaving only his singlet on, he was about to take off his jeans when suddenly he felt something wrong.

"Hello handsome…"

Jack froze as all the hairs on his body stood on it's ends upon hearing the unfamiliar female voice in his room. He tried his best to calm down.

Don't scream, if she has a gun, then that will only speed up your death… Turn around slowly, and see if the assailant is unarmed or not…

Jack turned around to see nothing, his heart skipped beats for a second, but after reassuring himself that he was simply hearing things he calmed down was about to turn around.

"Come on, Jack… Look up! Look up!"

The same feminine voice was heard again, only this time, it was louder and sharper than before.

When Jack looked up, his heart skipped so many beats that he thought he was about to die of a heart attack. He lost all the energy in his now wobbly legs, and he froze with a pale face.

Jesus Christ! It was a female human like creature hanging upside down like a bat on his ceiling!

The female had a voluptuous figure that would make any man drool over it under normal circumstances. Her cutely round face had a bewitching smile on it that was sufficient to cast many under her spell.

She was wearing a short white dress that exposed her bottom thighs, and long jade legs. Hanging upside down like a bat, instead of invoking desire, she looked extremely horrifying.

Forget about how she knew his name or who she is, worry about what she is and how she got here!

"Guards! Guards!" Jack began to croak like an idiot after noticing that the assailant was unarmed, he was so frightened that he had forgot to think rationally.

He wasn't some amazing protagonist that could remain calm in face of such a being, he was an average human being with a wonderful life that he did not want to lose.

His guards came bolting in one after the other like bulls, Thier eyes flashing with vigilance and caution.

"Can you see that? That thing hanging upside down on the ceiling?" Jack pointed at the ceiling with a fearful expression seeing the beautiful demoness giving him a sinister grin. He was already lost his marbles.

"Boss? We can't see anything, are you okay?" One of the guards, a bulky fellow looked up and couldn't help but speak in a deep voice with a frown on his face.

Can't see anything? The bitch is hanging upside down and is right above you!

Jack took a weak step back and the finger pointing at the assailant began to tremble violently… No wonder she was still smiling like an idiot even when I called for help…

Jack wanted to cry, but had no tears. He could only grit his teeth and chase away his guards with a flushed face.

"All of you leave, let me gather myself first. I must've been hallucinating…" Jack composed himself as he coolly ordered his guards to leave, his body trembling.

Some of the guards noticed this and found it strange, but neither of them went against the orders of the boss. They nodded stiffly before darting back outside through the wide open door.

Jack took trembling steps towards the door and closed it. He proceeded to walk up to his bed and sat down with a colour drained face.

"Aw, don't make such a face… Only you can see me now, unless I purposely appeared before them they wouldn't even feel my presence." The assailant knelt down on the ceiling whilst hanging upside down, her frightening pose was too much for Jack's regular eyes to bear with.

"Can you get down from up there please? It's quite unsettling speaking with someone hanging upside down from you like a bat."

Jack spoke after thinking for a few minutes and calming himself down with phrases like, "she's harmless" and "she's very benevolent", being repeated in his heart.

Upon hearing Jack's words, the strange entity rolled her eyes before suddenly dropping down and landing on the ground. When she stood up and gave a lazy stretch, Jack almost had a nosebleed of not for the unsettling situation.

"My name is Rylex, the goddess of Peace and Pacifism." She extraordinarily began to float towards Jack while standing on her toes with her hands crossed behind her back.

At this point, Jack was no longer shocked. He only let out a soft sigh, and lifted his head to stare into the eyes of the assailant. If she thought he'd buy her bullshit, then, she must be sick in the head.

Her eyes were completely silver with not even a thread of white, each of them were glowing in a soft light. They looked like a deep void full of blankness and desolation, Jack only stared at them for a minute before breaking his gaze.

"I came here because… I have fallen in love with you, and decided to take you with me to heaven after giving you a powerful system to help you become the strongest."

Rylex spoke softly as she lifted her hand and ran her finger along Jack's cheeks with a warm smile on her face.

"Stop bullshitting and tell me the real reason why you're here!" Jack summed up his courage and spoke in a rough voice, still wondering when his voice cracked. He sighed helplessly in his heart at his predicament.

"Hehe, you're really smart…" Rylex suddenly leaned forward with a bright grin on her face and lowered her face to stare directly into Jack's eyes. Her entrancing voice was heard as she opened her mouth to speak, "I am a real goddess, and I came here because I need your help… A dormant skill of yours to be more precise…"

"What skill?" Jack questioned, his curiosity piqued as he understood that the self proclaimed goddess, Rylex had become serious.

"Did you know… You can revive the dead?" Rylex spoke in a soft, but tense voice.

Jack froze and his heart raced. He could… resurrect the dead?