Facing Worlds - Chapter 1

Chapter 12

After a long trip on the bus, not to mention a long walk, I was finally at his house.

It was a nice place, large and well kept. At the front was a huge iron gate, with an intercom on the fence to the side. I had a look at the intercom. Yes this has to be the place, '163 Howsen St'. I pushed the button and waited patiently for the reply.

"Who's there?"

I tried to gain a judgment from the man's first words, but I had no idea what to expect.

"Is this Mr. Johnson?"

"That's right."

"Yes, um, my name is Murphy and I am investigating a case related to a Mr Chester Smith."

"What's your business here?"

"Well, I just want to ask you a few questions, that's all"

There was a long pause, what seemed like 12 seconds, I was just about to open my mouth again when I heard the huge doors open.

I proceeded in the direction of what looked to be the front door. It was a long walk. This guy must have to use a golf buggy to get around his front lawn. The front doors looked like something of Royalty. This man looked loaded, but I wasn't about to make many judgment from where I am standing.

One of the doors was slightly ajar, I could push it open and enter. As I walked in, I was faced with a massive staircase, marble floors and chandeliers. But not Joseph.

"Hello?"

Where was he? I had to ignore the echo of my own voice.

In the meantime, something caught my eye. It was a picture of the Pagunda, alongside another picture. One of another statue. Was this the Kitunda mentioned in Chester's log? I was about to find out.

"Marvelous, aren't they?"

I got a bit of a scare when the man just appeared from behind me. He was about my height, brown hair, good posture. Looked to be around the 40's, 50's.

"Yes, aren't they something"

"Why don't you come and take a seat Mr. Murphy"

He directed me into a room which looked to be his lounge.

"Now Mr. Murphy, why don't we get straight to the point. How did you come in contact with Chester, and how did you find me?"

"Well, a few days ago I was approached by a Chester Smith. He said that a statuette had been stolen from him and that he would like to hire me to take up the job of finding this artifact from him. He sound very worried about something. That's when I took him back to my office and he told me all about this 'Pagunda'"

"Hold on, wait...You know about the Pagunda?"

The man was shocked, almost beyond belief.

"Well, yes, that's what was stolen from Chester."

The man stood up, and took a walk towards the window.

"Is there something wrong?"

He looked deep in thought, staring out the window. He gave a sigh.

"Listen, Mr. Murphy, I have to ask you to leave."

"What do you mean?"

"This case is not for you, it's too dangerous and there is no use in you getting into it."

Oh, I've had this before and I was not going to have it now.

"Listen Mr. Johnson, for your information, I am already in the thick of it! A man is chasing me trying to 'recruit' me and others to joining a 'sanctuary in the heavens', a man has thrown himself off the roof of my friends shop, my speeders blown up, and Chester is dead for all I know. Now I need all the help I can get because as far as I can see, the only way out is in!"

"Chester is dead?"

The man was even more shocked than the first time.

"Well that's the strange part. He was dead before he hired me."

"Oh no."

"Not only that, someone was after you."

"Who?"

"I don't know, but he told me that you would have some answers. He's...dead now"

"Okay Murphy, looks like you are useful after all. Now listen. For a while now I have collected and kept artifacts as you can see around you. A short while back Chester came to me boasting of this great expedition he was going to undertake with his associate in Egypt after learning about this 'god' called 'The Red Warrior'. Being the fanatic that I am, I helped fund the expedition and was in charge of the whole thing. About 3 months after the expedition started, I got a call from Chester. He was ecstatic. He claimed to have found this 'Red Warrior' and asked my help to get it shipped in here to the university for further study. I did so for the man, but when I spoke with him again here to talk about this artifact, he said that after the artifact was transferred over to his museum, it had been stolen. And that is where you came in Mr. Murphy.

"But then, who killed Chester"

"Well, Mr. Murphy, even before the expedition, I knew of the Pagunda and its powers. to be honest with you, I never knew Chester would find it."

"Well if you knew, why didn't you stop him"

"Murphy, you try and stop and overzealous archeologist from a find of a lifetime. He wanted the statue and there was no stopping him. Anyway, it was only a matter of time before they got to him."

Who's they?"

"The shadows of the Pagunda."

"The what!?"

"They killed Chester. Like you said, the Pagunda is promising a sanctuary for the good to save them from the end. Chester did not know of what was he had uncovered until the end. He wanted his artifact to be housed in a museum and he would not let it go. So they took it from him and killed him!"

"But how does that explain him coming to me after his death?"

"I don't know. But ever since finding out about the coming end, I have been searching for the Kitunda, but I have still not found it. It is the only thing that can save us."

"Wait, what about the black sphere stone?"

"You have seen it?"

"Yes, I went to question someone and they were wearing it"

"Okay, myth has is that when the Pegunda and Kitunda were created, so were TWO spherical stones created as well called Proteis. One black and one green. Whoever was in possession of these would be made the protectors of the statues. Black was the Pagunda and green was the Kitunda. They have the job of making sure that they have the statue in their possession ready for the 'Mala' or as you know, 'the coming end'. I knew that the black one was found, but I have no idea where the green Protei is."

"It could be still in the ground for all we know."

He walked me to the door.

"Now Murphy, I am placing my total trust in you. You must find the Green Protei and then you should find the Kitunda. But don't come into contact with the Protei, you might end up being pulled into their trap. Be extremely careful. And watch out for the Pagunda shadow. You are not dead yet, so he is still after you. Good luck"

He closed the door on me. What was his hurry? Anyway, the man at Rook's was right. I did find a lot of answers. But still, I had a lot of unanswered questions. Where was Jules? Who was the man at Rook's and how did I ever come into contact with Chester.

For the moment though, I will have to act quick. The coming end was in two days and Joseph has left it all up to me. The whole fate of the world depends on me....again. First things first though. I must find the Kitunda. But where do I start?

I came back home to my office and laid down on my bed, exhausted. I did not want to fall asleep in case I would experience another horrid nightmare, but I was too tired. As my eyes started to close, I prepared for the worst.