The Last Bastion of Ingei: Day 3

By Aammton Alias

Day 3 in the jungles of Ingei

Set in a country in Southeast Asia, three conservation activists - who are unlikely friends - continue in their struggle to save endangered wildlife from being sold and exploited, including rescuing the enigmatic 'Pangolin'.They are unaware that they are being watched and face a great danger, an ancient enemy, once familiar to man, but now forgotten.At the same time, a Captain in the elite 5th Recon Unit is brought back to face an unspoken tragedy that no one believes happened, whilst elsewhere, recent supernatural events re-activate a secretive vanguard for human salvation: The LIMA.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aammton Alias
• Release date: Jul 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370398379

Book preview

My loving wife and my daughter continue to go beyond inspiring me to complete this novel - which was initially a NaNoWriMo challenge. They gave me continuous feedback and encouragement to complete my book, even when they would rather I stop and spend time with them by the beach.

Many thanks to my good friends Dr Jawad K and Ms Adrina Agus Din who allowed me to relentlessly bounce ideas and forward my 'freshly baked' chapters direct to their mobile phones, with no regards to the unsocial hours in anticipation of their immediate and nurturing feedback.

Preface

This supernatural sci-fi thriller is the third book in series. I am so excited about the series that I could not wait to tell you about it and have decided to release the book bit by bit, 'day by day.' as the events in the world of 'The Last Bastion of Ingei' reveals itself. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have relished writing it. This book was self-edited and proofread, which means you may find some mistakes. Please feel free to contact me [e-mail] and I will reward you with a gift!

If you like I can send you updates and offers on the next book release. All you have to do is simply register at http://www.b1percent.com email list.

I must warn you that in this day 3 book, horrific events will unfold.

Day 3

3rd December

Selym: Why

Location: Hilaga City Locked Archives Hall, Hilaga City. Ifrit.

***

There are six rooms in the sleeping quarters, all of them are empty. I walk into the first bedroom on the left, its door creak loudly revealing a neat and yet bare room. The wooden bed has been set like a military bed, crisp square folds of the blanket. I could not expect anything less from them: The Keepers of the Locked Archives were former warriors who served with the different regiments, and in spite of decades of non-violence and their solitary life, their military habits die hard. Why did they decide to choose this path? Was it by choice or by instruction from their commanders?

I throw myself onto the bed, hard springs barely absorb me, I know this bed is too regimental for me to have a comfortable sleep. Let lethargy be my sandman, but this would be mere wishful thinking. There is an unsettling feeling, brooding, unseen and unexplained. Although, I am not moving in my bed, my heart is caught in the full onslaught of the storm winds. My eyes search wildly at the plain ceilings, trying to explore and seek refuge in the hairlines cracks, but to no avail. Tired of the ceilings, I start staring lower at the wall in front of me.

A silhouette stands at the end of my bed.

Who would dare? Does he not know that I am a great warrior, I can strike him easily even from where I lay on this bed?

I push myself further up onto the bed, I will see him better, or for the worse. I know him, I know his face. Distorted, his eyes have popped out halfway - just the way I had left him before his body was dropped, slamming back into the boat. I grin in reflex.

It's just a dream.

The dead fisherman starts to speak, crying in tears from eyes that do not meet mine, white-out irises of the dead, Why did you have to kill me?

Is this real?

Why did you have to kill me? Pleading for an answer, with a wail of despair.

What is happening? Don’t worry, I must be tired. It will disappear.

The dead fisherman yells out Why did you have to kill me?

I jump out of my bed, hurling myself in perfect symmetry and form towards it - Kerambit dagger in one hand, I stab it with no mercy, in reflex I smile as I watch the reverse blade dagger dig deep into its chest. To my surprise, both the dagger and my own hands passes through his chest. In my follow-through action, even my whole body passes through the dead fisherman.

He's not there. A figment of imagination, my tired mind in disarray.

I turn round and meet face to face the dead fisherman yelling, WHY! WHY!!

I frantically horse-kick him in the head and start throwing wide swinging punches towards him, but nothing. Nothing, but air, and yet he stands. Nothing connects.

I contemplate on leaving and shout for help, but at the same time, I can’t risk anyone thinking there is something wrong with me. I am a leader; I am a master. I am supposed to be a ghost in the human world and here am I haunted by a ghost in my world. What such terrible irony of war between the two worlds. I look at my execution victim, it is nothing and nothing will disappear back to whatever it came from.

Answer me now: Why did you have to kill me ???

I must rest, it will disappear on its own. I walk back towards my bed, ignoring the spectre.

Don’t you dare turn away from me, you killer?

My hands start to burst in flames, spreading quickly onto my chest and head. I scream in pain and agony, as the dead fisherman shouts back, All crimes must be paid for, in this world and the next!

I gasp for breath as the smoke and flames suffocates me, desperately trying to smother the fire burning my face and hands with the bed. The flames are gone, as quickly as it appeared, and I find myself sitting up on the bed once again, staring at the empty space at the end of my bed. I look at my hands and feel my face, there has been no fire. To my relief, it was merely a bad dream. I rest back on the bed, and close my eyes. I really need to sleep.

You didn’t answer my question: Why did you have to kill me? the same voice asks me.

I sit up calmly and see the ghost, the dead fisherman at the end of my bed.

You are dead. I killed you, you are product of my tired mind trying to sleep, I answer very calmly and slowly.

Why did you have to kill me? The dead fisherman’s foul breath fills the room, semi-choking, I breath through my mouth - holding back the regurgitation of my stomach contents, You already asked me. I am not going to answer you.

Why did you have to kill me? it insists on getting its answer. I cannot keep my calm any more.

Do you have any idea who I am? Stay quiet dead human - you are the enemy - you and your kind have taken everything from my people, I should have known better than to reply back in anger.

I am nobody's enemy. I have taken nothing that belongs to anyone. Everything belongs to everyone! it yells back.

You are nothing, a mere nothing in a world where you understand nothing! Only caring for your immediate needs, your life and the lives of other humans who have no value. You are a mere bundle of wasted emotions and petty yet destructive desires. Why were you created in the first place, who knows? I shout back at it. it does not reply and