The confrontation takes a sour note and Joshua leaves for the place where it all begins.
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Chrono Crusade: Horns of Time
Chapter Eleven: The Mysterious Man
"There is no meeting of minds, no point of understanding with such terror. Just a choice: Defeat it or be defeated by it. And defeat it we must." –Tony Blair
The car sped around, nearing the speed limit but quite under so that the police wouldn't book him…again. The meeting with Sister Azmaria and Wolf left Joshua unconvinced about his speculations during their little get together. He knew that more digging was required and the only clue he had to go on was the Seventh Bell Incident. So he decided that the only place to look now was at the Seventh Bell orphanage (which was a forty-five minute drive into the rural parts of the state). When he arrived, a grey building replaced the old, wooden and decrypted building from before. He knocked on the door slowly and a middle-aged woman with brown hair answered.
"Oh, Joshua. I didn't know that you were coming."
"Hello Jane. I'm just looking for something. Let's hope it's here."
Jane had become the caregiver and owner since 1984. (Long since Ms. Gene died). A line of predecessors replaced Ms. Gene and each of them did exceptionally well. It was Jane who did things a bit differently. The orphans before had long since separated and died and new orphans from across the state came in each month. The orphans were at a field trip in the city when Joshua came. The building was empty.
Jane invited Joshua in. "What can I do for you?" she asked.
"I'm looking for old photos dating back to the 1920's and the orphan registry."
"Alright," she had gotten herself to a closet while sitting Joshua down on the sofa in the lounge. "I think that we have those photos. Oh!" She took down two red binders and gave them to Joshua. "Here they are! I don't believe it. I remember putting them away somewhere but I can't believe that I found them so quickly."
"Jane. Always the disorganized one," Joshua chucked at the thought. He flipped through the pages and at the photos and came across a pictures of the orphans dated 1912. There he saw four children, a younger version of himself with a girl with long locks and a beautiful smile. He read the label:
Seventh Bell Orphanage, 1912
From left to right: Seira, Billy, Kevin and Nelly
From the bottom: Joshua and-"
The name was blanked out. "That girl," Joshua thought, "why do I know her for some unknown reason?" He turned to Jane, "who is this girl?"
Jane looked at the photo, "I don't know. She's far from my time. I have no clue."
"Hmmm…this girl. She may be the key to answering my past," Joshua turned to leave, "by the way, have you heard anything unusual about here? Anything at all?"
Jane thought for a moment, "Yes, I do. It seems that there is an old tomb within the forest somewhere. Just follow the path at the back of the building and you'll head towards the forest. Follow that and the tomb should be there."
"Thanks," Joshua said while taking his leave. While heading towards the back of the building and to the entrance of the forest, Joshua looked at the registry. He saw the records of the orphans of 1912 and the names of those orphans. The most interesting name there was the name right under Joshua's. The name was blanked out.
"Could that name have been that girl?" Joshua asked himself this. "What does this all mean? What does that girl have to do with my past?"
He had gotten himself deeper into the forest. The closer he came, the more uneasy he felt. About fifteen minutes later, he was before two huge doors.
"I've been here before,"
Joshua thought to himself, "I know this place. Why can't I remember?"
He pushed the doors open and a gust of wind followed through. He then went inside, deep within the unknown. He came into a long dark hall, since forgotten. He soon arrived in a huge room, drapes and in the center was a tomb.
"Whose tomb is this? Why is a tomb here?" Joshua went closer to the tomb and put his hand on it. He then started to pry the tomb open when suddenly he heard footsteps. Quickly, he hid behind some of the drapes and peeked around. Ten seconds later and two men in black suits (they were obviously guards) were accompanying a man with a large build, a brown sweatshirt, dark brown pants and spiked white hair.
One of the guards asked, "The target is nowhere to be seen, sir."
"Don't you think I know that?" the white haired man asked, "keep looking. Search every nook and cranky of this place!"
The men started to search. Joshua, knowing that his cover was about to be blown if he didn't act quickly, turned to the wall and began to climb. One of the men searched the drape that Joshua was hiding however not realizing Joshua was hiding there continued to search elsewhere. The two men arrived to where the white hair man was.
"No good, sir. We failed to locate the target."
"Do you really think that the horns could be easily found?" the man questioned them. "Wait here…" The man then went behind the tomb and climbed some vines. He obviously grabbed something. He got down and showed to the men something but Joshua couldn't see what.
"What is the point of all this?" one of the guards questioned him.
"The point…" the man started, "is power. What we have here is the second piece of the ultimate power."
"The final piece," the guard said, "what is it?"
"It was located at Viscount Headquarters but it disappeared when the Order came inside. Viscount may have run off with it."
"Right…the power of time."
"The power of time?" Joshua thought, "what power of time is he talking about? Is he talking about Chroion's power?"
The white haired man then went to the tomb, "So this is the tomb of the great Saint Magdalene. It's been a while since someone came here."
One of the guards asked, "This is the original?"
"Indeed. The other girl was like a carbon copy of the original. Although a carbon copy, she had surpassed her power. I was impressed when I pulled up her information from the Order archive. Those fools tried to hide it from me but to no avail. The situation that had transpired those sum years ago…a shame…her brother was such a fool."
"However he had the power of time," the guard said. "Then he lost it…"
"True. But it is my speculation that he's living somewhere in this world…he maybe even closer than you think."
"How can you be certain?"
"That specific power that he had have repercussions that activate once removed from the body. It slows down the user's metabolism and thus able to live longer…a lot longer…"
"I see…" The men started to leave, with the white hair man whispering, " A fool…such a fool you are…"
As the men left, Joshua breath a sigh of relief. "I wonder what those men were talking about? Whatever it was, I don't like it."
It was about noon when Joshua went to his car, finding Wolf waiting for him.
"Joshua…" Wolf started, but quickly Joshua cut him off.
"Don't say anything Wolf. If the High Order Council wants to do their investigation so be it. I won't stop them. All I want is the fact that you'll continue this friendship."
"…Alright."
Joshua put the two binders in his car and sped off. Wolf then thought about what happened.
"Joshua had those binders. But I even doubt they would contain vital information. If that was false then the Order would have confiscated those binders years ago. I'll keep tabs on him and find out what's up."
Back at the Order, Joshua went straight to his room and locked the door. Azmaria watched him from afar.
"His mood is very disturbing. I hope that he's not doing anything rash. I have Wolf to keep an eye on him." She gave a sigh, " Oh Joshua…I wish I could tell you everything. About your past…about your family."
New developments in Joshua's history and the appearance of the mysterious white-haired man. (It's not who you think!) Anyways, please R&R.
