CHAPTER 11:
"Hit By A Wammy"
The majestic waterfalls filled the lung-shaped pools. The sound of the water at any other time should have created a calming and serene effect, but after Clavis told Raye Penber what Oculus revealed to him and Castra in the corridor, Raye was anything but at ease. In fact, he was infuriated and angry.
Clavis was also angry, but for a different reason.
Oculus had left as soon he told Clavis the news. Quindecim had a breach in security and he didn't know who was listening, so he wanted to relay the sensitive information privately.
"What in the hell do you mean Light Yagami is alive? That's impossible!" Raye protested. "How?"
"Oculus and the investigators are still working on the details," Clavis said. "We still don't know how Ryuk, Light Yagami's Shinigami, got one of our time travelling devices; they are normally locked up. Only Arbiters are allowed to use them, but only after levels of authorization from the top brass, because they are so dangerous. Over the years, Arbiters have tempted humans with the option of changing their past, so they could make better choices. But after they learn that someone at random would have to be sacrificed for them to live again, none have chosen the option, whatever their reasons may have been, until now with the death of the Special Arbiter, Duo."
"Light Yagami didn't care," Castra said straightly. "Most psychopaths don't."
"And here is more bad news," Clavis began. "There is also a strange force blocking our tracking of Light Yagami's location, a spiritual barrier, per se. We don't know where Yagami travelled back to. Yagami was shot several times by one of his own task force members in a warehouse. We could start there and search for any clues. The time travel device can take you back to anywhere you wish. So, for example, he may have travelled back in time, and murdered himself to take his duplicate's place, then altered history knowing of the future—that's one possibility."
Castra held a computer tablet. "And yet, our attempts to track Yagami are being nullified." She explained how there were methods to track someone who travelled through time. One of which was a person's slip stream stamped with their specific DNA marker. It was very sophisticated technology that Quindecim possessed. "But I can tell you this: the future has been changed."
"There's only one being I know who has the power to be this devious, and he and Yagami have encountered each other before," Clavis said. "If I have to guess, it's Morph—a supernatural Imp." Castra nodded, as if to confirm. "As I said before, he has the ability to change the very fabric of time and space. We have been watching him closely. But he has the ability to possess people without their knowledge and manipulate them to do his will."
"Could he had done so with Duo? Used him to gain access to Quindecim without us knowing?" Raye wondered.
Clavis nodded. "No wonder Duo was the sacrificial lamb." He cupped his chin in thought. "And his death wasn't at random, it was by design, to cover Morph's tracks. Damn it! I knew I should've killed him what I had the chance!"
"Clavis, what do you mean?" Castra asked. "Okay, spill it! What the hell is going on? You're hiding something from us. You seem to know a lot more than we do. Tell us, right now!"
Clavis put up his hands to calm her hostility. Then he looked at her with a thoughtful stare and smiled.
"You're so cute when you're angry, Castra. That's what I like you, you're so honest with your emotions. I wish we could've got together sooner."
Clavis sighed heavily, and then began to unbutton his jacket. He took it off and dropped it to the floor. Underneath, Clavis wore a black bodysuit, but it was his face that drew the most attention. A large jagged scar suddenly manifested across his face in a zig-zag diagonal line.
"I hid this because it's so unsightly," Clavis said. "I'm not the pretty-boy so many people think I am. I also have several scars on my chest, back, and other parts of my body. And every one of them was done by Morph."
Castra asked what had happened between him and Morph and to spare nothing.
Clavis began to tell them an in depth story.
Then: "In the end, after a fierce battle, I was scarred forever, and my wife and son had been murdered by Morph. I had an opportunity to eliminate him, but I hesitated because I'm not a killer."
He then said Morph fled after the new Shinigami King rose to power.
"He's not what he claims to be," Clavis stated. "It's true, he was a member of The Brigade of Life, but he's the one who started the war against the Shinigami. It was in retaliation for something, but I'm not quite clear. It was so long ago, even I forget. But he's a sadistic trickster and can't be trusted. He is the owner of the Life Note. It has the ability to restore a person back to life if they have been killed by a Death Note. But he's been known to kill without mercy, too. He craves power, but plays it down. He enjoys playing with people, and will do anything to keep the last remnant of his people alive that reside inside him. He may have started the war, but it cost a great deal."
"So, that story you just told us," Raye began, "you were on the side of the Shinigami because Morph murdered your wife and son? You still haven't explained who or what you are really are?"
"I chose the name Clavis, because, along with Oculus, I help keep Quindecim going. He is the Gatekeeper, and I am the Key Master. Clavis means 'key'. But I sipped up, and Morph managed to infiltrate this realm without my knowledge. He picked the lock, so to speak. That's my fault, and I take responsibly for that. And Duo paid the ultimate price. Clavis isn't my real name. Unfortunately, my real name is unpronounceable. Think of it like a sound that you sing. I come from…No, not yet." He gave Castra a smile. "Do you hate me now? I've been lying to you."
Castra paused, but then went over and gave Clavis a giant kiss on the lips, holding the sides of his head, so he couldn't flee. This shocked him, but he remained on the spot.
When the kiss broke, Clavis breathed out hot breath, and he felt his face flush with warmth.
"No more lies, Clavis," she said, "and no more deception. I like you for who you are. I always have. Be damned the rules on rank relations. You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that."
"You have no idea how long I've waited," Clavis said back. "Yes, I'm sorry. No more lies."
Raye Penber cleared his throat.
Clavis then cleared his own. "Yes, well, let's back to the issue at hand." Clavis smiled at Castra. "We'll talk more about things later." He then used his special abilities to cloak his scar again, waving a hand across his face like a magician. Castra said nothing against it. It was his decision to hide it. He had vowed never to show it to anyone, until today. And yet the love of his life didn't care that it looked hideous. She liked him for himself.
"So, what's our next step?" Penber inquired. "How do we go about bringing Light Yagami back here?"
"We go after him, without having to sacrifice anyone," Clavis said. "So, we by-pass normal protocols. Oculus said he was willing to restore your life, so, as soon as we step foot on the Human World, your life will be restored. And someone else will be coming with us, if it is allowed. But special permissions must to be granted for such a request. We believe he is the only person who can successfully defeat Light Yagami. He's outsmarted him once before. He had Light Yagami cornered, but his arrogance ended up costing him his life."
Raye Penber's eyes lit up in sudden realization. "No way, you don't mean?"
Clavis waved off any further details. "We'll get to that later. It's rare that such a request is granted, however. But seeing it's coming from Oculus, I'm pretty sure it will be allowed."
"So, tell me something," Raye continued. "Why are you so calm? If I just found out the person who murdered my family committed a prison break of a murderous psychopath, I'd want to go after him right away. In my previous life, I was a detective, law and order was my baby, and some feelings can't be so easily controlled."
For a moment, Clavis said nothing. The sound of the twin waterfalls in the room were the only thing that filled the air, the serenity giving him a sense of calm. "I've thought about it. As I've said, we've been watching him. But then I come here to meditate. This place is what gives me solace, and this is one of the reasons why I brought you here. To calm you down after that incident in Administration. I believed it worked, you appear more calm."
"I get calm when things are explained to me. People get frustrated when they're kept in the dark. It vexes them."
"Fair enough, but there was a reason for the secrecy. Now, we are the one's deputized to clean things up. The last thing we need is Quindecim Special Forces raiding the Human World and snatching Light Yagami in public and creating fuel for conspiracy theorists. Did you know that some people actually believe Quindecim exists? They write blogs, describing it in detail, and its people. Someone is blabbing about us. We have a spy here."
"That's why, when a blog is detected, I'm one of many who delete them," Castra said. "We watch the Human World for things like this, and deal with it when it arises. But we don't know how the information is being distributed."
"Conjecture and exaggeration," Penber posed. "That's how I would think of it. As the saying goes: there is a kernel of truth in every exaggerated lie. Eventually people believe the lie more, and truth is soon forgotten."
Clavis nodded. "Very well put," he said. "As for why I am so calm when it comes to Morph, the reason is I know I'm not strong enough to defeat him. He's an X-Factor, as we put it, with unlimited powers and a wide range of abilities. And he can't be beaten by normal means, and frankly, I'm not sure how to take him down."
"But here's a question: Why is he so enamoured with Light Yagami?" Raye asked.
"He's similar to a Shinigami, in some respect. Every being gets bored when they have the ability to live forever. From what information we could gather, he is the one who started it all—he made things happen for Light Yagami to pick up the Death Note. You can say, he is the progenitor to Humanity's new Post-Kira reality."
Clavis asked to see Castra's tablet. He then checked a few things, expertly. On more than once occasion he was asked to join Administration, but he declined. He didn't want anyone knowing his secret past, that he knew a lot more than he was leading on. Even Oculus had tempted him with new responsibilities. But he refused all opportunities and remained an elevator operator, and for selfish reasons.
But now, he no longer had to hide it, and his special skills and knowledge would come in handy.
He passed the tablet back to Castra with analytical and graphical data on the screen.
"Light Yagami's time-stream appears to be blocked here—after he died," Clavis revealed. "Using deductive reasoning, I think it is safe to say he's somewhere in his old stomping grounds, in the Kanto Region of Japan. So, we travel there. From what I was told, he was in Quindecim for up to five years, in human time, before seeing an Arbiter. But time doesn't exist here like it does in the Human World. So, five years may have past in your world, Raye, but only mere days passed here. Light Yagami looks like he went back to five years ago."
Castra concluded Clavis was right. "When Yagami died, he was twenty-three years old, and suffered a heart attack after being shot several times, according to his profile," she relayed. "And he wasn't murdered by a Death Note—like Raye. That probably didn't sit well with Ryuk, his Shinigami at the time, who wanted his remaining lifespan. So, I would say, Ryuk struck a deal with Morph to infiltrate Quindecim secretly, because they could get under our radar disguised as Special Arbiters to break Light out. Maybe Ryuk wishes to kill him properly in the Human World, the way the contract dictates? Those who write in a Death Note can neither no to Heaven or Hell, as the rules say."
"Okay, if that's true," Raye started. "Then why isn't Light Yagami back here? If Ryuk joined forces with Morph to break Yagami out, all Ryuk has to do is kill Yagami again by writing his name in a Death Note."
"Unless Morph is now protecting him?" Clavis wondered. "You see, if a person's name is written in a Life Note, then that person is protected from the effects of a Death Note. They can't be killed by one. The Death Note is rendered inert. That is one of Morph's greatest weapons, among others. He's up to something, I just know it, and that's why he's blocking our attempts to find Light Yagami. Yagami is under Morph's divine protection now. And, let's just say, a person dies outside the range of the Life Note. Morph has the ability to bring a person back to life with the Life Note, as long as it's within seventy-two hours of their death, or he could travel back in time and do so, either preventing their deaths or lifting the veil of death at the moment of dying. Do you understand?"
Raye nodded.
Castra's tablet beeped with an internal message. She read it to herself, then gave it to Clavis to read.
"Looks like special permission has been granted, but certain provisions still have to be taken," Clavis said. "Ginti will be joining us later. He'll bring our last party member when we finally get settled. In the mean time, let's get ready to go. Whatever you wish to bring, go get it. We'll meet back here in an hour."
When the hour had lapsed, the party returned to the special room, each given access by Clavis.
Castra brought a red shoulder bag with equipment, and was dressed in a blood-red body suit with silver adornments, that conformed to her hour-glass figure like skin-vinyl. She also wore black knee-high boots. She said she had thought about dying her hair blonde from silver, but decided against it.
Raye brought some items as well in a small black bag. He had also chosen suitable attire, dressing out of his black and white Administration uniform. He wore all black and donned a dark trench coat. He was a detective in his past life, and it just felt right to wear one when going undercover once again.
Clavis also brought a shoulder bag, and dressed in dark clothes—donning his black body suit that accentuated his muscles, with dark trousers. But he also wore a dark bomber jacket to finish off the ensemble. He brought a time device with him. It had the appearance of a digital watch, something normal looking to disguise its true purpose.
He left his hair green, but decided to remove most of his facial jewelry, leaving only a few earrings. He thought it best not to get stared at. The last thing they needed when they arrived in the Human World was to get gawked at.
Castra frowned. "I liked the jewelry, Clavis," she said. "It really suited your personality."
"I didn't take everything off," he said with a wink, hinting of his jewelry lower down.
"Oh, you're wicked," she said back playfully.
Raye cleared his throat.
Clavis got serious. "Yes, sorry," he said. "It's just that, we've teased each other for so long in secret, that now we can express our feelings out in open, it's hard to contain ourselves."
"I understand," Raye replied with a smile. "It was the same with Naomi and I. Thinking back, I regret asking her to leave her position in the FBI when I asked her to marry me. I could tell in her eyes that she loved the job. And just FYI, everyone knew you two liked each other. It was so apparent, like two high school students in love."
Clavis and Castra looked at each other shocked. "Everyone?" they said in unison.
Raye smiled and nodded.
After a moment of de-briefing, the trio readied themselves for the trip.
Clavis explained the travel will be instantaneous. But when they arrived, they may feel a little disoriented from the sudden jump through time. And they may feel nauseous. If they have to vomit, it was encouraged.
Clavis reached into his trousers pocket and pulled something out. He handed it to Raye. It reminded Raye of a hearing aid that went around the back of the ear. "Before we depart, this is for you. We all get one. Since Light Yagami knows what you look like, you need a disguise. We'll be able to see each other as we truly are, but everyone else will see a different person. Now that I think about it, you're the only one that looks normal, Penber. We look a motley crew, don't we? Castra's brown-golden skin and white hair really stands out. And I have green hair. I thought about dying it, but decided against it. This is easier."
They all placed the devices behind their ears, attaching them like they were the exterior part to a hearing aid.
Clavis set the "watch" and coordinated it for a specific time and location. He figured Light Yagami would want to go back to the warehouse where he encountered a boy named Nate River, known mononymously known as Near, who was, at the time, the leader of the Special Provision for Kira (SPK), sent to stop Kira, and who, for a time, was Light Yagami's mortal enemy, succeeding where the detective known as L failed. This is where they would start.
"With Light's knowledge of the future, he will more than likely will want to alter events here," Clavis stated. "We'll observe first, but if things progress abnormally, only then we'll act. And fix things as they occur. Ready?"
Raye and Castra agreed, and acknowledged they were set to commence the mission.
Activating the device was straightforward, set with its coordinates. In an instant, they were gone. Vanished.
For a split moment, there was nothing…
Then, they all appeared on solid ground, landing as if they were visitors from another world.
Raye Penber blinked shocked. "That's it? Here/There in the blink of an eye?" Suddenly, he dropped to his hands and knees, and vomited.
Clavis jumped back, as the spatter of vomit came close to his boots. He cringed at the mess. It must have been the last remnants of what Raye had eaten before he died—projected in a spiritual sub-context form.
Raye Penber wiped his mouth. "You weren't kidding about the nausea, my stomach is churning like…" He vomited again.
"How are you, Castra?" Clavis asked, after watching Raye.
"No issues here, it must only be Penber, since he's the only human," she said. "Our constitutions are obviously different and can handle cosmic travel."
Clavis nodded. Then he looked around and was surprised at where they were. They had landed in the middle of what appeared to be a school courtyard with a church nearby surrounded by grass fields.
He looked to Castra, she was the time era expert.
Castra reached into her shoulder bag and took out her tablet. She brought up some statistical data, identifying location coordinates. "We're not where we need to be, Clavis," she said. "We appear to be in Winchester, England, the United Kingdom, half way across the planet from Japan," —she gave coordinates — "and the time coordinates are off, too. It's one year later than when projected."
Clavis conformed her information on the watch. But why? This was not the place, not the time he had programmed. But then he thought about it. If time was altered, as Castra had claimed in Quindecim, then so were the coordinates he had programmed into the watch. Even with the points, he forgot to take into effect tectonic plate and axel relations to time variance. So when time was altered, so were positional/time coordinates.
It was subtle, most humans would not even notice it, oblivious as most humans were to far outreaching things outside their created pocket universe. But it had thrown them off-course.
"But I reviewed the timeline before we left," Castra stated.
"That little Imp, Morph!" Clavis said, clenching his jaw. "The moment he resurrected Light Yagami, it must have caused everything to go out of whack. But why did we end up here of all places? Where are we?"
"Out of whack?" Raye spoke up, wiping his mouth again.
Feeling a little better, Raye Penber then stood. He found, then pointed to a sign.
They all looked at a half-moon sign that was situated over the main entrance fence of the property that lead into the courtyard. Underneath was another square sign with a description:
"Wammy House — an orphanage and school for gifted children."
To be continued...