The Throne of Arbediin

Chapter One

Aileen just gets up from her bed, she looks at her surroundings, an emptiness filling into her body, she doesn’t have any energy to wake up and go to work this morning.

“Ugh… why now?” She's grumpy and her mood totally not cheerful.

“Meow…” A fat red tabby cat welcomes itself to the room and immediately jumps into the bed to sit beside Aileen.

“Oh Mr. Peanut, sorry, forgot to fill your bowl last night, huh?”

Aileen then goes outside of her bedroom with Mr. Peanut lurking behind her. She’s filling his food bowl, and then she goes to the bathroom to shower and get ready to go to work.

Her apartment is just a small one, one bedroom and a tiny bathroom with no bathtub, but she will always be grateful for it, for 35 years of her life, she has the independence that some people can just imagine, she’s not rich but she has some savings, she doesn’t have a boyfriend for a long time, but she has a cat now, she doesn’t own a big house, but she’s proud of her beautiful tiny apartment that she’s own.

Her smartphone is ringing so loud when she’s putting on some makeup. She’s grumbling but still goes to answer the call.

“Yes?”

“Well, hello to you too gorgeous, you know that you’re already late to go to work, do you??”

“Oh, shut up Daniel, I have a sloozy day yesterday, at least let me go to work a bit late today.”

“Oh no honey, today we have some biggest investor coming to our lovely bank, so get your butt up here immediately, and it’s Mr. Manager for you sweet chick!” The Mr. Manager then hang up the phone.

Aileen hurry to wear her uniform and put on a jacket, she then grabs her bag and the umbrella, the weather news reporting it will be torrential rain from noon until midnight, she always believes the weather news.

“Bye Mr. Peanut, see you tonight,” Aileen says goodbye to her orange tabby, and then she’s out from her apartment and running through the crowd to goes to the underground train.

Nations Bank is the place Aileen goes to work for 12 years now, she never got past the test to become a manager, but she’s still grateful she could become the head teller.

Aileen rushing to her desk praying that Mr. Boo – Boo hasn’t noticed that she’s late for work. While she's almost reached her desk, she hears a familiar voice.

“Aileen! Hmmm… late again madam?”

Aileen turns around to see an overweight middle-aged man staring at her while munching a hot dog full of mayonnaise.

She tries to smile as bright as she can be. “Boris, sir, so happy to see you so quite handsome today.”

“Huh! Spare the brown-nosing, let me tell you, you’re late for the second time this month!”

“But sir, I was late like 10 minutes, and this is just my second offense.”

“10 minutes is a lot of time, and what happened to your look? So messy!”

Boris still talking with so much condescending tone towards Aileen, until a prim-looking man interrupts him.

“Excuse me, Sir, there are gentlemen who like to speak to you at your office.”

“Oh Daniel, they’re here already? You should tell me earlier.”

Boris then hurries himself to go to the 10th floor, he absolutely forgot that he was talking to Aileen earlier. Aileen takes a sigh of relief and then looks at Daniel, now leaning lazily at her desk.

“I owe you one, Dan.”

“No problem gorgeous, but just remember to stock some hangover drink at your fridge sometimes, okay?”

“Ugh, noted, at my age right now, I think my tolerance at alcohol is not like it’s used to be.”

“Not to mention that you’re missing some of the cute men that I have ever seen.”

“Really? So you got some good catch last night, huh?”

“Gurl, if only, hhhh… they were so dreamy though.”

She will always count herself lucky to have a best friend like Daniel, they work together at the bank at the same time, Aileen had a crush on him back then, but he told her that they weren’t compatible because he likes men, and now fifteen years have passed, Daniel is a manager now, while she’s still ahead teller, but their friendship remains.

“Oh yes, those gentlemen who wait for our Mr. Boo – Boo on the 10th floor? Hot!”

“Dan, shut up, your thirst is showing.”

“Oh come on Aileen, I need a touch of a new man right now, new hot man.” Says Daniel while chewing a pen with a naughty smirk.

Aileen rolled her eyes, laughing, and throw the pen cover at Daniel. “go away you’re one horny, horny man right now.”

“Well, this horny man is going to visit The Doom tonight together with Sarah, want to join us?”

“What?! Are you crazy, you know that place is super sketchy, it’s too dangerous Dan.”

“Oh my God Aileen, have some adventure in your life.” A young beautiful woman now speaks to Aileen and Daniel from across the desk, apparently, she's late to work too.

“Hey girl, ready for tonight?” Daniel's grinning at the girl and then winking.

“Totally, let’s go for dinner first, and then we are on our way to The Doom baby.” The girl laughs and then shakes her boobs, which makes Daniel laugh so hard, Aileen is a bit uncomfortable but she knows that Sarah is a raunchy girl but a very nice friend to hang out too.

Sarah's the new addition to her friend list, even though she doesn’t have a lot of friends. She's a young girl, like 10 years younger than Aileen and Daniel, but she click so much to Daniel, and Aileen can handle her quirkiness.

Aileen is not the loud person out there, she's more the calm type, a reserved shy type, only when Daniel and Sarah are around, or some of her childhood friends she can be cheerful and more open.

“So? You’re in or what?”

“Uhm… I don’t know, I mean goes to the bar two days in a row? And we still have to go to work tomorrow, remember?”

“Oh come on sweety, live a life, don’t be so reserved like a preacher’s daughter.” Daniel gave Aileen googly eyes, she knows that she will never escape his plea when he's looking at her like that.

Aileen then gives him an okay sign, both of them high-fiving, like they already accomplished some hard mission. Persuading Aileen to go to have some fun is a hard mission sometimes, Aileen's introverted tendency makes her love to stay at home as much as possible.

A handsome young man, speaking to Daniel.“Hey Daniel, Boris asking for you at his office.”

“Okay Ben, thank you love.” Daniel gives him a big smile, Ben smile back and he goes back to his desk while Daniel looks at him with so many doe eyes.

Aileen gives him a meaningful look. “You’re so smitten with him.” She's smiling and kind of tease Daniel a bit.

Daniel flustered a bit and then goes away towards the lift while glaring at Aileen, She knows that is so true, Daniel just doesn’t want to admit it.

It is a busy time at the bank, Aileen got so busy, she's forgotten to take lunch, She checks the clock, it's already 1 pm. She put her glasses down and massaged her eyes.

Sarah's just going back from her lunch break.“Aileen, you weren’t eating lunch again? Honey, you should eat.”

“It’s okay I ate milk and bread a few hours ago.” Aileen gave her a weak smile.

“That does not even fill your up.”

Aileen just gave her a shrug, she’s not a workaholic but she likes to finish her responsibility as fast as she can, and right now, she has so much work to do.

Sarah gives her a sigh, and then she put her hands in Aileen’s documents. “No, go to eat your lunch, I’ll cover you for half an hour.” She’s determined to make her go to eat something.

“Fine… okay, do you have to be so pushy all the time.” She’s taking her wallet and gets up from her desk.

“Love you…” Sarah’s smiling at her when she’s finally winning the argument. Aileen waves and rushes herself to the lift, her office is actually on the 5th floor.

She's thinking to check some of the fast food around the corner of the street, she's daydreaming and calculating about what food that she has to eat so she can go back to work fast while not realizing that the lift door is already open and she’s now seeing three pair of eyes looking at her with curiosity and amusing eyes, Daniel and two-man that she's assuming are the new investor from the look of their expensive suits.

Daniel looked at her with a smirk. “Aileen, are you going in or not?” He knows for sure that Aileen was daydreaming again, which is one of her habits.

One of the men is chuckling while she’s going into the lift with them. Her face is bright red now, she was so embarrassed she cannot lift her head for the entire trip on the lift, she's a bit curious because the whole lift fills with nice aromas, she was imagining both of the handsome investors using a very expensive quality perfume.

Daniel was having a conversation with the two of them, while the lift finally arrived at the ground floor. Aileen then excuses herself to go away as fast as she can from the two strangers.

“Aileen, where are you going in a hurry?” Daniel asks her before she can reach the front door.

“Err… lunch.” That’s the only visible sound she can make two of the three of them.

“Ah… perfect timing, the three of us are going to eat lunch, why don’t you join us.” One of the men asked her.

She’s focusing on him and immediately got smitten, he has brown hair, short silky almost auburn hair, with the greenest eyes she has ever seen. He’s smiling at her, he already has the whole package, not to mention his gorgeous smile, Aileen can feel all of the women behind her already giving an admiring gaze towards the both of them.

“I’m so sorry, I have to refuse the offer, I have to eat my lunch in hurry, I don’t want to bother you all gentlemen.”

“Oh, that’s too bad, how about my number then? So I can ask you for a lunch next time?” the brown hair gave her a naughty and then wink at her.

“Caleb…” The other man, the one with a long platinum blonde, his amber eyes give this Caleb guy a warning look, surprisingly he obeys and then raises his two hands.

“I was joking, sorry Aiden.”

Aileen can see that the blonde guy name Aiden somewhat has more authority than Caleb.

“We are sorry miss, have a nice lunch.” Aiden smiles at Aileen, while Caleb's smile was warming and naughty, his smile is more mysterious.

“It’s quite alright, well then gentlemen.”

Aileen excuses herself and goes through the front door as soon as possible. Not just that those two-man have a nice and fragrant aroma, they are also very attractive, not to mention they must be loaded with money.

“Some people have everything in this world.” She speaks to herself.

She's daydreaming while walking again, and then her body collides with something hard, turns out she bump into a man.

“Hey, use your eyes when you walk lady.”

She looks up at the person who she just bump into. A black-haired man with pale blue eyes just stares at her with an annoyed look.

“I… I’m sorry.”

She was startled and then losing balance almost fall down the road, but the man grabs her arms. Prevent her to fall.

“Really lady? After bumping to me, now you will fall without anything happening to you?”

“I… I’m sorry maybe because I haven’t eaten any lunch today.”

“Hhhh…” He gave a long sigh.

Suddenly he drags Aileen by her arm into the nearest taco truck. He told her to sit in one of the plastic chairs, and then he orders some food, Aileen didn’t know what happened to her, but she’s too scared to ask and just obeyed him blindly. She’s thankful there are so many people here, the food trucks around here are popular for sure.

A hand with a plate of tacos appears in front of her. It is the scary man.

“Here, eat this, you look so pale now, you must be starving.”

Aileen takes the plate of tacos with a soft drink. “Yes, thank you.”

He then sitting right next to her while munching a super large taco. They eat the tacos in silence, she feels the awkwardness, she begins to make small talk.

“Guess you’re starving as well, you bought two portions.” She pointed at the uneaten tacos on the table.

“No, that’s for my friend.”

“Friend?”

“Fen, you bought me a large taco? You know I’m on diet right now, you jerk.”

A sudden voice of a man from behind Aileen makes her turn her head to the source of the voice. An exotic skin man wearing sunglasses is standing behind her. He finally notices Aileen.

“Oh, who’s these pretty lady?”

Her face turns bright red from his compliment, Aileen rarely being complimented by the opposite s*x, merely because she’s too timid to make romantic conversations. Daniel always complains about that to her.

“Hhhhh… just sit down Emir, and eat your food already, she's a stranger that bumps into me earlier.”

“Fine, fine, but at least he can give me her name, yeah?” He removes his glasses, a pair of brown eyes are now staring at her and while giving her a sly grin.

Aileen stares at him, she blushes a bit and cursed at herself because she’s still vulnerable to an advance of a man even in her thirties.

“Aileen, my name’s Aileen.”

“Now, you know her name, let us just eat and hurry back.” The scary man glare at his friend that apparently names Emir, while Emir just smiling and enjoying his food.

“Sorry about my friend, he’s a program to be stubborn and without any manner to a lady.”

“Oh, no it’s fine, he was so nice though, she even buys me tacos.”

“Eeeh… Really? That’s so not like you Fen.”

“Shut up, and eat your food.”

Fenrir the scary guy then gets up from his chair and goes around aimlessly pretending to look around the food trucks. Emir just shook his head and then laughed.

“Don’t worry, he’s not mad at you or anything, he’s just shy, especially around a pretty lady like you.”

“Oh stop, you’re making me blush for a woman at my age it’s a bit embarrassing.”

“Your age? Hahaha… You’re one confusing lady, you know that?”

Aileen just stares at the table while sipping her soda. He can sense that she’s not comfortable with the context of their conversation.

“I guess I have to leave now, Fenrir will leave me behind at the rate he's walking now.”

“Oh okay, please say my thank you again to him.”

“I will, oh and Aileen…”

“Yes?”

“Never doubt someone when they tell you, you’re beautiful because you are, give yourself a credit sometimes.”

He gets up and winks at Aileen, he put back his sunglasses and then catches up to Fenrir, while waving his hand to Aileen, She waves back and smiles warmly. She's back to her office while remembering how she manages to encounter 4 different attractive men on the same day. But she then remembered something.

“Huh, the four-man have a similar fragrant aroma, wonder why?” Aileen just shrugs it off, she thinks it was just a coincidence, she has work to do.

The three of them finally entering The Doom, this is a new nightclub that has been viral on social media lately, some says it is dangerous because there’s drug involved, some says if you go missing inside, they will never find you anymore, whether you’re dead or alive. Daniel believes it was just some PR for the nightclub, young people these days love a sense of mystery, while Aileen just wants to go home with her cat.

The place really has the mysterious aura in it, the music, people around it, even the location, because you cannot find The Doom on GPS, you have to use a map. Aileen feels it was too sketchy, but her friends just ignored her and dragged her to the car. Daniel and Sarah already having fun on the dance floor, Aileen just hangs out at their table while observing her surroundings. Not many people today, Aileen of course thinking that it is because this place is in the middle of nowhere, people just cannot find it easily.

She drinks her cocktail and tries to enjoy it a bit, even though she wasn’t. She begins to daydream again until her nose catches up with a familiar scent. She's looking back and there they are, Caleb and Aiden. They seem unimpressed with the place, both of them don’t see Aileen because her table is perfectly hidden from their view. Aileen hides her head a bit and tries to hear their conversation.

“Caleb, are you sure this is the place?”

“Yes, our informant says so, even though she’s kind of sketchy, but I trust her.”

“Qassy better be here.”

“The bastard will be here, relax.”

“Reach to Fenrir and Emyr, we all have to be here right now, I have a bad feeling something will happen.”

Aileen a bit shocked, he mentions Fenrir and Emyr, the other two-man who coincidentally met Aileen as well. This is really puzzling for her,  she excuses herself from her two friends who are now exhausted from dancing around and enjoying their cocktails at the table.

She goes inside the back door, very curious about what are they doing in there. Inside was dark and gloomy halls leading to somewhere, she’s a bit afraid but her curiosity wins this time. Aileen walks slowly through a dim and long hallway, she sees a light from one of the rooms, proceeds to peek through a window. Aiden and Caleb are arguing about something, while two other men searching for something in a hurry, it's Fenrir and Emyr.

Fenrir is a bit annoyed about something. “This is ridiculous Aiden, we are not going to find anything about where that motherfucker is.”

“Patience Fenrir, we are bound to find something about Dagna whereabouts here, I’m positive.”

“Why? Because that w***e of yours told you so?”

Caleb grabs Fenrir and gives him a vicious look. “Look here, her name is Mona, and she’s not my whore.”

Emir suddenly chuckles. “Well, she’s everybody w***e, it’s her job.”

“The three of you just shut up, I found something.”

Suddenly all of them focus their attention on Aiden who is now holding some kind of device. Too bad she’s too focused on the four of them, she didn’t realize something already behind her. She feels a foul breath behind her, and then she turns.

Hideous creatures with a big dog's size and a face like a deformed bird are now growling at her. She’s screaming so loud and immediately running towards the room, she collides with Fenrir.

“The f*ck!” He’s cursing, and then he saw the pitiful face of Aileen.

“Aileen? What are you doing here?” it’s actually Emir that asking.

“I… I… those dogs outside.”

“Dogs?” Caleb then closes the door and peeks through the window. “s**t, s**t Qadar is already here.”

“How many?” Aiden asked him.

“6 maybe eight, they already multiplying by the way.”

“F*ck, now what?” says Fenrir who’s now holding Aileen, she looks like she will pass out soon because of the shock.

Aiden pointing at the large window with an outside view.“Through the window, now!”

They climb the window and then run towards the jungle. Aileen have to push herself to run fast, the four of them really have some stamina and a good runner.

“s**t, Aiden, they got us already!”

“Then we fight!”

Fenrir picks up Aileen while running and goes to some of the secluded areas. He told her to hide, she absolutely agrees about it.

She can hear the fight ensues between the four of them and those creatures. Aileen peeks through the bushes to see the fight.

Emyr using some kind of dagger, gracefully avoid all of the creatures while he gave him a s***h, Aiden using a longbow, he’s floating around shooting the creature from above, Aileen then realizes, he wasn’t floating, he’s flying, there’s a visible pair of a wing in his back.

She’s in awe looking at those wings, she didn’t realize that Caleb was already beside her.

“We told you to hide and not to see us!”

“I’m sorry, I…”

Suddenly a large black dog is in front of them. Aileen gasps and what is actually a dog, is in fact a wolf, a large black wolf.

“Look, stay put, never get out from here, until it's safe.”

Aileen gives Caleb a nod and disappears with the black wolf. She saw the fight again, this time only a few of the creatures remain, and then Aiden give a final blow with a blinding light, they finished, all of the creature's body now in the ground with lifeless eyes.

Four sets of eyes are now looking at Aileen, who is already out from her hiding. She gets closer to them, when she saw a movement of one of the creatures, she runs towards Aiden who get targeted by the creatures, Aileen push him, the creature's talon then rip Aileen's chest, blood bursting everywhere, all of them saw what happened, in her flickering eyes, she saw the black wolf gnawing viciously at the creature who attacked her. Aiden, Caleb, and Emyr are already beside her with nervous eyes shouting incoherent words, and everything goes black.

-End of Chapter One-