Jenna and Vincent look at the room with disbelief. It’s a really huge room with lots of books, old chests, artifacts, and scrolls. They look around and find statues, birdcages, and many more things you might find in a museum. Jenna runs back out to the closet and gets back in yelling “How do you fit a hidden room this big in your house? That’s just impossible!!”
Alfred answers with great delight “That, my dear, is magic!”
“But how?” Jenna still can’t put it in her logical mind. But the existence of the room denies all logic and throws it through the window.
“To put things more in your perspective, that doorway acts like a wormhole. This room is not this close. We are actually really deep within another dimension.”
“Incredible !! ”
Alfred walks toward the back of the room. He takes a rolling ladder like the one in the library, moves it to the middle of the book racks. He climbs to the top, and spends some time reading the index. Jenna looks around the room, still bewildered by the sanctuary. Amazingly, for a room this massive, there is no trace of dust and no spider webs. It’s really clean, and the air doesn’t smell like an old warehouse. She notices something quite out of place for the site. “You are wired to the network?” She touches an array of servers, complete with wireless routers and several LED screens. “Yupe. Just because we are an ancient organization doesn’t mean that we have to communicate with inks, parchments and feather pens.”
“But how do you get connection? Must have been one heck of an internet provider”
Alfred laughs at Jenna’s unintentional joke. “No. Simple enough, wireless router with a repeater can do it. This room is outside time and space, that’s why it doesn’t really matter how far we are from the source.”
“Uh huh…interesting….”
“Ah here it is. The Devil’s Map.” Alfred climbs down the ladder while opening the ribbon around the scroll. He walks toward a working desk, and spread the map on the table. It’s an old parchment, with an ancient drawing of world map on it. On each of the world map, are many bright red dots like an LED light.
“This is the Devil’s map. Do you see the red dots that appear on the world map? That’s where they are right now.” Alfred waits for the information to sink in.
“Whoa….there’s…so many of them…” Vincent can feel the hair on his neck rises, as he imagines thousands of Uvalls attacking him at the same time.
“Here’s how it works. You need to know the names of the demons that you are tracking. There’s Uvall, Crocell, and Shalbiri, they each hold a manna crystal. The one that Nergal had is the one in your hand right now.” Alfred points to the manna crystal in Jenna’s pocket. “How do you know that it’s here?” asks Vincent.
“I can sense its presence from a mile away.”
“But wait” Jenna cuts the conversation. “I remember reading in the book that no one knows the whereabouts of the manna crystals.”
“That’s because at the time the book is written, the Devil’s map hasn’t been obtained yet. We pay a high price to obtain this.”
“Oh….” Jenna can feel the sorrow in Alfred’s tone. Must have been some price.
Alfred explains the map further. “This is what’s great about this puppy.” Alfred makes a motion with his two fingers. He spreads his index and middle finger to the opposite direction and the map zooms in. He swipes his fingers across the page to the right, and the zoomed in map moves to the right. Jenna lets out a giggle. “Now THAT is cool!!! Apparently this ‘technology’-” Jenna puts an air quote “-existed hundreds of years ago…maybe this is what inspires all those gadgets”
Alfred double taps on a red dot and the information appears right next to it. Name, rank, power, and stars.
“This is a low level devil. As you can see, the size of the red dot is quite small. It’s only a foot soldier, has only 1 star. More stars means higher rank, bigger power and ability. The red dot size reflects this characteristic.”
“I see. So let’s just focus on the big red dots then?”
“That’s correct.” Alfred turns his head to Vincent and nods
Alfred swipes his fingers from outside in, and the map zooms out. “There are only a few big red dots. These are usually the generals, the lieutenants, or someone important in the underworld. I have located Shalbriri and Crocell. Uvall’s presence is somewhat unclear. Perhaps he’s too near of a higher rank demon.”
“I have met Uvall before. He was sent to kill me in her apartment” Vincent squeezes Jenna’s shoulder. She can feel the sense of protection from the tender touch.
“Oh...I see…so they have found you…and the rumor of him working under a strong demon is correct.”
“How do you know?”
“He’s not that bright to plan anything. Someone must have been controlling him.”
Alfred stops and thinks for a while, then he walks to the right wing of the sanctuary. He looks up and down, grabs a few things, and comes back to Jenna and Vincent. “These demons are tricky, especially Shalbriri and Crocell. Uvall is just a dumb demon with limitless massive strength. But the master should be a cunning one. Shalbriri can conjure darkness. Crocell can appear like an angel. These are some holy artifacts that might help you against them.”
“Holy artifacts! I thought most of them were lost during the battle of Megiddo?” Alfred somehow loves the reaction from his two new friends to his knowledge or his belongings. He hasn’t been with good companies for years, and these two bring a little bit of happiness in the lonely life of a protector.
“I guess the book is prevented to mention the existence of Protectors. Our job includes the collection of those holy artifacts, stored in many places of Protector Sanctuary. It’s true that some the artifacts were lost in the battle, but most of them are merely hidden”
“I see.” Jenna feels like a first year college student in front of Alfred. There’s so much that he knows that he could have been the member of Temple Guardian himself.
“This is the Eye of Gabriel. It will help you see through the darkness or blindness that Shalbriri might conjure. Next is the Truth Seeker. Just look through the hole of this device, and you can see the true form of any creature. For you Zuriel, I give you the Blade of the Holy Might. This is one of the most powerful weapons ever created.” Alfred hands him a huge shield with a cross in front “The Shield of Mikhail. Forged and made by Michael himself.”
He turns to Jenna “For you, I give you the Amulet of the Morning Tears. This will protect you against any attack.” He takes a Bow without string and arrow “This is the Elysium Bow. It does not need any arrows, as it will generate them from sheer will.”
“Um…these are all great stuffs. But I don’t know how to use them. I have never used a weapon before in my life, let alone shooting an arrow from sheer will.” Jenna picks up the bow at its end like a dirty laundry.
“No worries, easy breezy. We’ll just upload it to you.”
“UP-LOAD?” Jenna repeats it slowly as if to confirm that she hears wrong.
“Yeah. Upload.”
~ρ~
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