"So this is where live the person you know?" I try to take in the scenario in front of me.

After pulling a long haul across the vast lands of the old Kingdom and braving with the persistent wild rage of the vexed waves of the English Channel, we come across the modern economist city of Amsterdam. It's great to witness the once trampled city now brimming with joy and prosperity.

It's just the moment after dawn, when the humble metropolis has just woken up from its late night's fatigue, and the heavenly scent of the fresh morning dews is adding charms to the bedazzled morning glory of the city.

Already the colors of this city is overly dazzling, and on the top of that, the place Misaki took me to, is heavily charming and beyond deity.

It's literally a glass palace, tinted with different colors at each panels, like a maze of rainbow been borne of the subconscious of a crazy artist. And the fields around it, are bombarded with variety of mustards only, and it's my first time seeing a mustard flower, blooming in violet, red, orange and pink. It's freaky and mystifying.

"Geez, birdie! You're making it sound like he's some hotshot hunky! Ew, no! Never!" Misaki grimaces his face.

I deadpan at him. "I never said that!"

"But you meant that anyway," he taunts. "So stop dreaming of the impossible, cause he's just some old geezer I happened to know!"

"FYI, I'm not dreaming of anything," I snap at him. "Stop spewing nonsense, and do what we actually came for!"

"Yeah, yeah! Don't go shark over me!"

With that, he floats down to go in through the glass panels, with me shortly following him behind.

*****

"Psst!" Misaki nudges me with his elbow, as he gestures me for something, which I can hardly make out.

"Say something," he whispers to me. "Since my heart is too sensitive for a soul, so I agreed to come here to help you out....otherwise nobody in their sanest mind would dare to come to this cranky geezer!"

My neck and knees are already feeling numb from kneeling down like some old age prisoners, with the head down and back straight. And now his words are rubbing salt to the wound.

"If you only came to brag, then get lost, but don't irk me anymore," I seethe through my gritted teeth.

"Nē! Nē! Look at this ungrateful girl," he complains, eyeing me with annoyance.

"Silence!" A deep, coarse voice interrupts our not-so-peaceful conversation, as Misaki's head gets smacked by a long wooden stick, making him curse under his breath.

It gives me sheer pleasure to watch Misaki getting hit, yet it's surprising, at the same time, how an object can actually touch him.

The assailant turns out to be the old man in long crimson traditional silk coat, who is the owner of this palace and the one who is responsible for this state of ours, looking majestic with a sturdy wooden pipe in his one hand, and the stick on the other.

He eyes Misaki playfully with a broad smirk on his face, before turning his attention on me.

"Why you hate me so much?" Misaki cries out in frustration.

"Eh, squidhead!" He growls. "Don't cause unnecessary pollution in my quiet abode!"

He shuts Misaki up with his overly dominating tone, as he spreads his arms out sideways, and closes his eyes, to feel the weight of his words.

Misaki scoffs, demanding his prying attention on him. "I see, you are already acting your age, since you keep forgetting the fact that I, Misaki Hayashi, am the one who keeps getting you clients, or who knows," he chuckles. "...what would've happened to you and your grumpy ass!"

Another loud thud evokes as the wooden stick proves its loyalty once again to its master.

"Ow," Misaki grumbles, rubbing his head with both hands, as he gets hit again.

"That's what you get for making fun of the one who gave you shelter when you were a poor, ignorant soul, drifting here and there, getting swindled by others! I was the one who took you in, you, you..you dimwit!!!"

The old guy gets worked up, as his prickly voice echoes around the empty walls of the room.

Misaki looks up to him with the same grit.

"Nē! Nē! Don't give me emotional craps to cover the truth," he retorts. "Truth's a bad bitch, it's savage!"

"I'm not," the former warns, raising his voice. "Don't take my patience as my kindness, you, squidhead!"

"Oh excuse me! But I don't see your patience here," Misaki taunts. "You're already beating me with that disgusting occult thing."

"Don't insult my sacred companion with your foul words," the former shouts at Misaki.

Huh...!

Now, this is going intractable.

"Huh? Old geezer and his stick: A sacred love story! Huh! I'm just thinking, how much the tickets would sell for!"

"What did you say?!!"

"Enough! You two!" I tell them off, as I lose my patience with both of them going bonkers, and forgetting their surrounding and age, while dragging each other down and proving who is better than the other.

But the thing is, they are on the same page, both are equally childish. And I guess, neither of them is aware of that.

It's a good thing that my voice still holds such an authority to put a halt even to the craziest cats' fight.

They both look at me incredulously, probably being a bit fazed with my pitch.

"Now, can you guys put on each others' role properly, and sit quietly, so we can discuss the business?" I cross my arms, eyeing both of them.

"Yes, I was about to say that," the old guy poorly attempts to cover up, and he goes to take his seat on a small couch in front of us.

"Yeah! Just as you say birdie!" Misaki scurries beside me.

As they settles down properly, I decide to clear up my mind.

"Now may I know, if I'm the client in question here?"

I look up at Misaki who took me here. "And if so, what does that mean, Misaki?"

"That means, he took you here, so I can help you," the deep voice informs in a queer sincerity, making me turn my head towards him.

"I know that too, but what I don't understand is the 'client' part here."

He hums before looking back at me with his stormy gray eyes.

"Let me introduce myself properly, since I guess, that good-for-nothing filled you in with nothing."

"Yeah, he didn't," I admit, my voice a little coy.

"I'm Luc the IXth, the first son of the De Vries household, the sixth generation of Netherlands' biggest media conglomerate," the old guy informs. "And a black sheep to my family."

That holds my curiosity. I look up to him eagerly to know more, in order to quench my thirst.

"Despite being the wife of a guy with endless riches, my mother was a woman of ethics, and a strong believer of spirits and after life. Since childhood, I was the closest one to her, and so she influenced me to the utmost extent, and I started to get fascinated by her beliefs and morals," Luc tells me with a little solemnity in his thick voice.

"I had a lot of fights with my father to keep on running after my passion. It was a hard choice to deny every filthy penny of your inheritance, but I did. And then things got hard, as my father disowned me and kicked me out of his house."

"Ugh! There he goes again," Misaki complains under his breath, as he scratches his ear, putting one finger inside there.

I shoot him a look to make him cut it out, but he dismisses me nonchalantly.

"Then a long story, before becoming only Luc today. I tripped, I fell, I learnt, I made mistakes too. I kept on resenting myself for years, but I never gave up." He smiles telling this far.

"Geez, Luc! Can we please skip the sappy story part, cause I'm super bored right now, and I guess, the same goes for this birdie here," Misaki comments.

Another thud breaks, but this time the stick hits him on its own, floating blithely all the way to us, taking me by surprise.

"I hate your grumpy ass," Misaki groans.

"The only feeling is mutual for us," Luc grumbles.

"Can you two please not repeat the same thing over and over again?" I cut in.

"We're sworn enemies, only made in heaven," Misaki tells me.

And I highly doubt that!

Shaking my head in disapproval, I turn my attention again on Luc.

"Tell me who you really are, and where this 'client' part is coming from."

"I am a clairvoyant," his thick voice rumbles. "I can see your future, past, and pass through your memories, but for that I don't need your consent, since I'm a veteran. But the thing is, I not only work with humans, but also spirits. And in return, I take something from them. Just a little something, and that's how you see, I built my dynasty."

"Now that clears your 'client' part?"

"Ahem! Lukey," Misaki interrupts. "My birdie, here, is a living soul, so..."

"What?!!" The shock in his voice is prominent, and I guess, I find it a bit mixed with curiosity and terror.

"Ah yes," I confirm. "It's my astral form. Is that a bad thing?"

"It's not bad, silly girl! It's terrifying."

"Woah, woah! Wait, stop! I'm already done with her on that part. And she has her reasons, not so very logical, but yeah, it's for her to decide, not us," Misaki explains.

Luc doesn't seem very convinced as he doesn't speak anything for a moment.

"She read some book called Hypnotica, got outta her body without any precautions, And then she had the privilege of meeting a good soul like me. And like a gentleman, I didn't take advantage of her and take over her body, instead took her here, since she wants to go to India, which is impossible without your help," Misaki breaks the awkward silence with his partial accurate rant.

"FYI, you did ogle over my body," I correct him. "And not to mention, how you annoyed me to hell, all the way here to permit you to enter into my body!"

"Oh yeah, yeah, ungrateful birdie," he mocks me, making a nasty face.

"Oye Lukey! Do you know this book, Hypnotica," he asks, ignoring my provocative glares. "I'm sure as hell, that I've heard of it somewhere, but can't remember where."

"Of course, you did, since you helped in the writing. And I guided you," Luc informs in a calm tone, making both of our heads turn towards him, both in shock and realization.

That old man cracks a small chuckle seeing our faces, but covers it up instantly.

"You wrote it?" I ask discreetly.

"Yes! I remember," Misaki perks up. "I was his assistant, but was it like 20 years or more since then, huh Lukey?"

"That's the only reason I keep you around," Luc scoffs. "You've got a memory like a goldfish!"

"Geez! Don't sound cheesy!"

"But you're a total lost cause when it comes to reading reactions, that's why you failed 2 times, before passing the bar exam," Luc mocks.

"Can we get down to the business now?" I cut in. "Cause I'm running on borrowed time. I hope, you know."

"How many days has it been," Luc asks.

"Seven hours now," I reply, looking up at the large antique clock inside the glass room, and counting the time.

"Hmm...Wait a minute!"

He gets up from the couch, and leaves the room quietly, leaving me with a bizarre anticipation, like the sky before a storm.

He returns after a moment, and hands me a thin rectangular glass screen, on which a small red dot flickers on its own, and a map is drawn on it, while another green dot flickers on another place in there. And on the top of that, I can touch it, unlike other objects.

"What is it?", I ask, looking up at him.

"Astral GPS is what I call it," he informs. "I've already put the locations, so it'll guide you, since you can't use an actual GPS here."

"But how can I touch it?"

He takes his seat before attending to me. "You see, I've put my whole life on life to do explore stuff like this, and..."

Misaki cuts him in the middle. "Why just don't say, you invented it, or you charmed it up with your blah-blah-blah hymns? Why you always need to exaggerate stuff!"

"It's not exaggeration, you squidhead," Luc barks up at him. "Just learn some interpretations already!"

"And what you want from me?" I cut in again.

"Wait, I'm not done yet. I must give you some tools, which might come handy, if something unwanted happens, while crossing over the pyrotown, and the necromancers' village," Luc tells me, before coming over to me.

"What's all these... I mean I don't get it."

"Patience, young lady." He sits beside me.

"Huh? That's biased! You never sat beside me," Misaki complains.

"Shut it, you squidhead!" He tells him off, and then looks at me. "You see these dots here?"

He points towards the screen. "Yeah!"

"This is Romania. You can find a pyrotown anywhere you turn here. You get me?"

"What's a pyrotown?"

"Haven't you read the entire book? I clearly described it there vividly." A crease forms in between Luc's thick eyebrows.

"Not really. I just read the astral projection part," I reply lowly.

He sighs deeply before answering. "Pyrokinesists are those beings who can start a fire, just using their minds. There's no scientific reason behind their genetics or phylogeny, but they are people to better not mess with. Especially people like you," he warns in a serious tone.

"If their fire touch you once, your soul will get burned, and you can't ever return to your physical body."

I gulp hard after taking it all in.

"No solution at all?" I ask discreetly, fear dripping in my tone.

"Don't make noise while crossing over their place. It'll appear on this GPS, so you gotta watch out," Luc informs nonchalantly. "They're quite sensitive to sounds."

"You're being highly biased!", Misaki whines again futilely.

"And what about the other thing?" I ignore him, so does Luc.

"What? Necromancers?"

I nod.

"Well, they are the real problem here. They are people who practices dark magic, and worships the devil and even makes deals with Him to gain their objectives," Luc informs gravely. "My mother often used to be a member of an occult group, so I know a little bout them. But I never liked them personally, and always kept them at bay."

"But I'm telling you this, cause they don't sacrifice their own souls these days, but only use living souls to offer the devil, which are mainly humans. And here you willingly left your body, so an easy prey for them....That's what I'm afraid of the most."

'I can do it! I must get through this,' I muse to myself.

He places a small shiny red stone before me. "Use it when you are in danger and feel the need return back to your body."

"Woah! Isn't that the Homecoming Stone?" Misaki comments while glancing at it over my shoulders. "Wow! You really like her. You never showed this to me, even when I begged for like trillion times!"

"Learn! It's what's called exaggeration!"

"What to do with it?", I enquire.

"Holding it inside your palm, chant 'revertinum' three times aloud, and you'll be back within a sec," Luc informs. "But you can only use it once. So use it wisely."

"Okay," I assure, though I'm not sure if it'll turn out right.

"And what you'll take from me?"

"Something you excel at! That's my price!"

"My career?" I ask as a panic settles inside me.

"I don't think so," he exclaims, as he presses a finger across my forehead at once without me even realizing.

I feel a bit dazed as long as he keeps his finger on there.

"Giving love to others! That's your specialty," he exclaims, his tone in the touchline between joy and blue. "And you gotta give this up."

"I don't want to," I reply, my voice just above the whispers.

Goosebumps sweep through me, as my words betray me. And suddenly I feel my cheeks wet, even though I can't touch it.

"Then forget bout going to your love," his deep voice rumbles, hitting me like a thousand thunderstorms.

"How dare you..." I seethe, as I realize that he has gone through my memories.

"That's what feeds me, young lady," Luc informs.

"I don't want to!" I get up, as my voice cracks. "I don't need your help, keep it!"

I was about to get out of the room, when Misaki's grave voice stops him.

"You're not the only one who's hurting here! Everyone has their own fair share of problems. Just know that."

I turn to look at him with deep skeptical eyes.

"And without these stuff, you'll die out there," he continues. "Don't you wanna feel the joy of letting go? Once again?"

That hits a string, and I guess, that is enough to sway me.