Traffic pulsed through its veins. Cars clogged the streets. People flowed in and out of restaurants and food stalls like blood through open arteries, as if the city itself refused to stop breathing.
Ratree led the mysterious man toward a restaurant tucked into a corner of the city. From the outside, the building looked worn and tired, almost swallowed by the shadow of a luxury condominium towering directly across from it. Yet inside, the place was alive. Customers came and went without pause. Motorcycles and cars packed every inch of the surrounding parking space.
On the rooftop of the condominium, a man in a red shirt stood casually, a vest hugging his slim frame, a tie hanging neatly at his collar. A comic book lay open in his hand.
His eyes shifted as Ratree and the mysterious man stepped into the restaurant below.
“So Askum failed,” he murmured, lips curling into a grin.
His crimson eyes, sharp and pinpoint-small like dots of ink on paper, followed their every movement.
Plap!
A heavy footstep echoed behind him.
Ragged breathing followed. Thick. Strained.
His smile widened.
He turned.
The creature stood hunched over, nearly twice the size of a human. Its chest heaved violently with each breath. Its right arm was mangled, the hardened shell of its skin torn apart, hanging uselessly as the body swayed.
A pelesit.
It staggered forward.
One step.
Two.
Plap.
The massive body dropped to its knees before the man in red. The creature trembled, struggling to endure the pain. It clutched its ruined arm as soft red smoke seeped from the open wound.
“You really got beaten badly,” the man said lightly, his smile sharpening.
As if he were savoring the destruction laid out before him.
------------------------------
The Restaurant
“One special patayya rice.”
The plate was placed in front of the mysterious man, wrapped in a thin blanket of golden egg.
“Hot coffee and iced watermelon lychee.”
A small glass of steaming dark coffee. Beside it, a tall glass of red drink, lychee fruits resting at the bottom. Ice melted slowly, droplets tracing lazy paths across the table.
The man only stared at the food.
The restaurant buzzed with noise. Voices overlapped. Plates clattered. The smell of countless dishes flooded the air. He looked up at the woman across from him, stirring her watermelon lychee juice with a straw.
Ratree caught his gaze.
“Halal?” he asked, pointing at the plate.
“Don’t worry. This area’s mostly Muslim. The owner too.” Ratree nodded toward the counter, where a woman in a headscarf was busy taking orders.
The man nodded.
“Thanks.”
Ratree blinked. “You Malay? Local?”
He shook his head.
“Malaysia.”
His mouth was already full. He ate quickly, mixing the rice with his hand before taking another bite.
“Figures,” Ratree leaned back. “Your name?"
“Khai.”
Short. Flat. His eyes never met hers.
If he keeps answering like this, how am I supposed to dig anything out of him? Ratree huffed internally.
“You’re the one who fought the pelesit at the market this morning, right?” she asked sharply.
Khai stopped chewing.
“Proof?”
“I saw you hit it with a frying pan.”
“Proof?”
Ratree clenched her teeth. “I should’ve taken a picture…”
Then her face brightened.
“I recorded Zing readings from the market earlier.”
“How do you link that to me?” Khai raised an eyebrow, taking a slow sip of hot coffee.
Ratree’s face reddened. Anger simmered beneath her calm stare.
Haiiiihh.
She inhaled deeply.
Pffft.
Khai stifled a laugh.
“What?” Ratree shot him a glare.
“Why are you trying so hard to figure me out?”
“I think the Zing readings came from you.”
“And what are you planning to do with that information?” Khai asked.
“Turn it into a weapon?”
“Not everything becomes a weapon,” Ratree replied quickly. “Zing can exist inside the human body. It can heal diseases.”
Khai listened in silence.
“That’s why I believe if you can use Zing, other humans might too.”
A faint smile tugged at Khai’s lips.
“I disagree with your conclusion.”
“But—”
“You’re not the kind of scientist chasing fame,” Khai cut in calmly.
Ratree froze.
Her gaze drifted to the small ring engraved with strange symbols on her left finger.
A memory slipped through the cracks of time.
“What’s the point of studying all this, Mama?” young Ratree asked, clutching a strange stone.
“We never know when it might be useful,” her mother replied gently, brushing Ratree’s hair. The engraved ring glimmered on her finger.
Now, the ring rested on Ratree’s own hand.
Khai finished his coffee. His tired eyes studied Ratree, lost in her memories.
Hmm.
His nostrils flared.
A metallic stench.
Like rusted iron soaked in rain.
Ratree’s sling bag on the chair beside her began to vibrate.
“Ratree.”
“Oh, maybe my dad’s calling.”
She reached inside.
A tablet.
Its cracked screen flickered violently.
Zing readings flooded the display.
Identical to the ones from earlier that morning.
Khai scanned the restaurant. His eyes sharpened. His nose kept twitching.
Plap!
A heavy foot landed beside their table.
A massive shadow swallowed the light in front of them.
Ratree didn’t dare look up.
Khai stood.
The chair screeched as it scraped backward.
Before them stood a man nearly two meters tall. His body was built like a professional bodybuilder. Broad shoulders. Thick chest.
His slightly slanted eyes locked onto Ratree.
“A pelesit?” Ratree swallowed.
Khai stepped forward.
Though shorter, his gaze never wavered.
The restaurant noise seemed to vanish.
All that remained was the pounding of Ratree’s heart and the heat of two beings standing on the brink of collision.
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