Edrimer leaned against the window in the living room of his home, watching the gray car that had been parked across from his building for the past few hours. He could spot two figures sitting in the front seats, yet the darkness that engulfed them denied him from seeing their faces. Still, he knew who they were at the basic level. Justicars. They're keeping a close eye on their tenderfoots. These guys are very careful. No wonder no one has been able to expose much information about them so far. As much as Edrimer found himself somewhat impressed, he also felt as if a noose was tightening around his neck. They can stalk me all day for all I care. The only thing that can truly worry me is them finding out about Arkaneh's affiliation with Reus Mallistrom, but I'm guessing he's not going to stop by for a surprise visit, so everything should be alright.
"What are you looking at, Edrimer?" Jeremy asked as he noticed his nephew's obsessive staring out the window.
"Oh, nothing, Uncle Jeremy." He stepped away from the window, trying to appear as if everything was normal.
"Are you sure? I like to think I know you quite well and I'm sensing—"
"I'm fine, Uncle."
"It's just that… you know what today is." That's right. I almost forgot. Today is the date when mom and dad died.
"I remember," Edrimer said.
"I already visited their graves today. You should do the same."
"I will. I promise."
Jeremy turned to walk away, when he stopped, unable to hold his words in. "You know, you can talk to me if something's up."
"For fuck's sake, I already told you I'm fine."
Jeremy chuckled. "You're just like your father."
"Stop fucking saying that. You keep repeating that every goddamn year."
"Because it's true, and you keep reminding me of that every time. Your father also never liked sharing his troubles with others. He kept showing off that sarcastic, carefree attitude, looking as if nothing bothered him, when deep inside he had all kinds of thoughts and worries." Edrimer feared that at some point his uncle, who knew him so well, would figure that something was troubling him, yet he didn’t expect it to happen so soon. "I know how devastated you were after what happened to Zachary, and I also know that there isn’t a single day that goes by where you don’t think about Arkaneh and where he is." Oh, Uncle, if only you knew about Arkaneh… "I get it if you don’t want to talk about it. But know this: your father suffered dearly from this kind of behavior." The old man said nothing further and chose to leave the living room instead.
For a few more minutes Edrimer sat there, beside the window, looking at the gray car with the two men, and pondering his wise uncle's words. The past week had been a very eventful one for Edrimer, between the robbery attempt, Zachary's death, Arkaneh's resurgence and him joining the Justicars. Suddenly he realized that he had barely had any time recently to just sit in quiet and think about all of that. The mess of feelings and thoughts in his head had reached a point where he couldn’t focus on a single thing at any time. He decided to go somewhere where he could express himself without having anyone truly know about his struggles. He grabbed his jacket and left the apartment.
The drive only took about 15 minutes. As soon as he reached the place and parked his car, he noticed the eerie silence that ruled there. Grey clouds and heavy wind greeted him as he walked through the cemetery, passing by different graves of different people. Edrimer never liked visiting this place. He always felt that the atmosphere would consume his soul somehow. As a man who pursued happiness through a peaceful life, the death that surrounded him felt like a complete contrast to that.
Even though he hadn’t seen if the Justicars that were keeping an eye on him had followed him to the cemetery, Edrimer knew that they were there and that right now, someone was watching him, yet he didn’t care at all.
When he finally reached his parents' grave, he felt a pinch in his heart as he saw the two names engraved on the marble tombstone.
Lisa Frye
10.11.1995-08.07.2031
Jason Frye
05.06.1995-08.07.2031
"Hey," he spoke to their graves as if they could hear him. "I… I don’t know why I'm even doing this." He made a false smile. "I guess I'm just in a really shitty place right now. I think I've come to terms with the notion that I'll probably never get to live life the way I wanted. Fuck, if I could live life the way I wanted, then Zachary would still be alive, telling me to stop slacking on the job and clean the place or something, and I'd have Arkaneh by my side again, like back then… and you guys might have still been here… but I don’t have any of them in my life anymore. Zachary, Arkaneh… you two…" he stopped himself from crying. He had never cried before, and he wasn’t going to start now. "It's not like I feel alone or anything… at least not in particular… it's just… I'm sick of losing. And now I've joined the Justicars, and I'm not sure if that was an impulse decision that I'm going to regret or…" he buried his face in his hands for a moment. "There was a time when we all knew where we stood and where our actions were going to take us, but that’s just not the case anymore. Everything is so random and chaotic now. I mean, last week I was still dusting that old convenience store, and now…" the cold wind wrapped around Edrimer, along with the harrowing silence that lingered. "Goddammit, I'm acting like a fucking baby… but you know what? Before I came here, I had doubts. I didn’t know whether or not the choices I made recently were the right ones, but now… now I see everything more clearly. I know why my life is like this. It's all because of those fucking mob gangs. They killed Zachary, they made Arkaneh drift away, and they killed you guys. But I'll be damned if I'm going to let those motherfuckers rest easy. If I'm not going to live a peaceful life, I'm going to make sure they don’t either. I'm going to hunt down every single one of them and destroy them." He now felt determined more than ever. "Just wait and see. I'm going to avenge you and everyone else like you."
The wind seemed to blow harder in Edrimer's face now. A part of him liked to think that it was his parents' spirits trying to encourage him and show support, yet he couldn’t fool himself into believing that truly.
He heard footsteps approaching behind him. Serian Conway as he appeared behind Edrimer, dressed in a long black duster. Edrimer looked at him, half shocked by his presence. Even though he knew he was being watched, he didn’t anticipate Serian's appearance. "Relax," Serian said. "I didn’t hear anything that you just said if that's what worries you." Edrimer returned to look at the two graves. "July of 2031," Serian read the date of their death. "They died during the Tearful Rebellion."
"They died fighting for this country's future," Edrimer hurried to make it clear.
"I see." Serian bowed his head, as if he was showing respect to the two who fell in battle. "Everyone in the Heart would say they were rebels. Treasonous terrorists who sought to bring our country to ruin. But people like us know what they truly were." Edrimer was caught by surprise by Serian's show of honor. "Is that why you have a tattoo of the Seditone?"
"Among other reasons," Edrimer replied.
"Back then the Seditone appeared everywhere in the Heart. It was painted on every wall of every building, on every sign that was held. In those days, the visions that you could see in the Heart were death, flames and the Seditone."
"You fought during the Rebellion?" Edrimer asked.
"I did," Serian answered. "And I'm lucky to still be alive to talk about it. I've lost friends and family during those horrible days."
"People always tell me how fortunate I am for not having to take any part in the Rebellion. I was only a child back then."
"I agree with those people. No one should go through the horrors that happened there." Serian took out a cigarette and lit it in his mouth. "Do you have any idea who killed you parents?"
"I only know that they were some guys that worked for Henrick Trife back when he was still alive and a crime lord."
"I'm sorry to hear that. I don’t remember when exactly was it, but on the day that the mob gangs decided to help President Alford against the rebels, true hell was brought to the Heart. They wanted to keep things the way they are, or they would lose all their power. Joseph Mallistrom and Henrick Trife, along with several other ringleaders brought dozens of their men and slaughtered rebels left and right."
"I've heard all about that." Edrimer heard stories about how Henrick Trife tortured many of the rebels he captured before killing them. Edrimer never wanted to know if his parents suffered such a fate, so he never asked, yet in his heart, he always wondered if it were true, trembling by the very thought.
"If Henrick Trife is responsible for you parents' death, does that mean you have some vendetta you wish to execute against his daughter, Lady Dread?"
"No. The people who did this are probably dead by now. Lady Dread had nothing to do with the death of my parents. It'd be stupid for me to hold them accountable and try to avenge their deaths by going after Sunyula Trife."
"It's good to know you have a sensible mind. It's a rare trait these days," Serian put his hand on Edrimer's shoulder.
"Serian…" Edrimer turned to him. "There were two other guys in that van with me on the day I joined. What happened to them?"
"One of them joined us too. The other one didn’t."
"Why not?"
"He just wasn’t… qualified enough."
"Does that mean…?"
"He's not dead if that's where you're going with this."
"Well, then I guess you didn’t just let the poor guy go home just like that, did you? I mean, what's to keep him from telling everyone about the Justicars' secret recruitment process?"
"We have our ways of making sure guys like him don’t start talking."
"I get it, you guys are careful as fuck. Speaking of which, I feel bad for your guys, having to wait in that car for hours. Must be boring."
"They can handle it. I hope you're not offended or something. You have to understand—"
"You don’t have to explain anything to me. I get why you're doing this. You're being careful. Though I must say, I didn’t expect a personal visit from you."
"I actually came here to let you know that you're needed." Serian reached into his long duster and pulled out a small brown folder from it, handing it to Edrimer. Inside the folder, Edrimer saw several pictures of bodies, all of which showed their eyes missing. Further images also showed that the bodies were also missing their arms and a large, deep gaping hole in their chest hinted that their hearts had also been cut out.
"What is this?" Edrimer asked.
"APD named him the Tri-Surgeon. This guy has already killed 7 people using the same method of cutting out their eyes, arms, and hearts."
"So where do I come in the picture?"
"I like to think that I can spot a smart person when I see one. And you're smart alright. The way you answered my questions during your interview, the way you figured out about the camera, the way you noticed the tail on you. You're sharp. No doubt about it. I want you to help us come up with a way of taking this bastard down."
"I see. Well, have you guys got any leads yet that I can follow? Do the victims have anything in common?"
"Not that we know of. Their locations were also scattered. Three of the bodies were found in Exumber, two in Canstow and another two in Basilham."
"Sounds like the guy's on a killing spree."
"He is."
"Why aren’t you letting APD handle this case?"
"We don’t trust the cops to be able to capture this guy, and even if they do… we have a trust issue when it comes to the justice system."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah. In case you didn’t hear, Charles Blackburn was scheduled to be prosecuted a few days ago, but a reliable source told us that the key evidence against him disappeared, which means he'll probably walk free. We like to deal justice the only way we know how."
"You mean with violence."
"If you have a problem—"
"I don’t. It just sickens me that things around here have gotten so bad that this is now the only way that works. Anyway, I'll take this case, Serian."
"Good. A car will pick you up tomorrow at your home at 8 AM. It will take you to our current temporary base of operation. A team we've gathered to work on this case will already be waiting for you when you arrive." A temporary base of operations… makes sense. The Justicars move around, never staying put for too long. "There's one more thing you need to know. The two bodies that were found in Exumber… they were Lady Dread's people, so they might be out for payback as well. Take note that you might be running into them during this hunt."
"Great. I love a good challenge mixed with some action."
