Walpurgis Night: The Midnight Blood-Red Rose - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Mageka on Duty (01)

5:40PM.

With eyes fixated on the monitor, my fingers stormed through the keyboard like an on-switched motor. The annual report before me had been flooded with a sea of words, yet both my hands refused to slow down for a split second.

Five minutes away from getting off. Keep your hands moving!

I murmured to myself in the head while contemplating what to write for the remaining two sections.

Oblivious to the surroundings, all that occupied my mind was to stay focused and finish the work at hand.

If I can’t leave the office on time, I’ll be late for tonight’s work no doubt!

3… 2… 1… Great, here comes the acknowledgements!

Mouse gripped firmly in my palm, I dashed to the second page of the report, and let the words spill through the taps at supersonic speed. Right when the last full-stop was entered, the system time displayed 5:43pm.

Two more minutes left!

In case I can’t hop on the bus that’s heading to Sham Shui Po in seven minutes, there’s no way I’m going to make it to the destination within fifteen minutes after moonrise! I’d rather be stuck in a Hung Hom traffic jam than being swamped by the Admiralty MTR crowd. So, speed is key!

Left and right as my eyeballs rolled, I took a quick glance through the whole document, and finished it off with a firm “Save” after confirming that the sixty-ish pages were all in order.

Counting down to one minute.

Racing against the clock, I clicked on the mailbox icon at once, swept everything I needed into my handbag while waiting for the network to connect, then crawled around the pitch-dark volume to make sure a certain necklace was with me. My fingertips soon reached its box.

Relieved at the thought that it wasn’t left at home this morning, I quickly wore it around my neck. Soon as the mailbox popped open, I tossed the handbag aside and began drafting the email to my manager.

At the same time, a WhatsApp message came in with a buzz:

“Off yet? I’m already at the bus stop.”

Negative, thirty seconds remaining!

I glimpsed at the manager’s room nearby, where the woman in her thirties was already up and on her feet in there. It seemed like she was about to walk out the door and bombard me with more tasks right before I marched out of the office, feeding me with overtime work.

It was her “habit” to assign tasks which she insisted had to be completed on-day to us, her subordinates, whenever we attempted to get off from work, and in the end made us all reluctantly grind the extra mile for her. Several of my night plans were, unfortunately, forced to postpone after being held hostage by her – but not today. No way am I letting her ruin my plans again: I’m going to make my way out of here at 5:45PM sharp today no matter what!

If I’m missing tonight’s opportunity, it’s going to be another half-month wait, and I don’t want to keep dragging on this anymore – the pending case ends tonight!

“Attached please find the revised annual report, thanks!”

Done typing, moving on to the attachment!

Fifteen seconds.

Now down to the final check. See if there’s anything missing.

Ten seconds.

All good, ready to send.

Five seconds.

Email sent. Check. Computer switched off. Check.

Three seconds.

Handbag carried. Check. USB plugged out. Check.

Two seconds.

Desk cleared. Check.

One second.

Grab the phone, time to go!

The door opened the second I got up from my seat, yet, a familiar tone drew her back to her desk. Amused as I watched her eyes widened in disbelief in front of the monitor:

Looks like the email made it in time.

She then lifted her head and glared through the other side of the glass wall, where I wore a grin and disappeared in joy from her sight. Sprinting through the lobby, I managed to bar the closing gates and squeezed into the cramped elevator.

Ah, a moment of relief. I finally pulled my phone out and texted back:

“Just off work, wait for me!”

7:30PM, Shek Kip Mei Service Reservoir.

The moon, up in the sky for a short while, emitted a stunning shade of yellow ochre. Daylight had faded away, yet there was no sign of any stars. But with all this light pollution going on around, it was only natural they weren’t visible to the eye, not even if a meteor shower crossed the sky.

Grass beneath my feet waved gently in the autumn breezes, so did my blonde ponytail in the dark night. On one knee I knelt before the silver white rod standing erect on the meadow, both palms keeping a tight grip to it. Its body was wrapped in two wide strips of silk in ivory, and slightly above my knelt height, ornamented with a ruby and a crescent-shaped silver stone at the top, followed by a pair of pure white feathered wings underneath.

Its name was the “Sceptre of Luna”, my trusted tool for performing magic.

“Are you sure this is alright?” a feminine voice questioned beside me.

“Shush now, I’m gonna start. Stand behind me.”

Grasping tighter to the sceptre, I closed my eyes and began to concentrate. Shortly after, a flock of floating golden yellow light orbs landed on the empty grass, illuminating the greenery, alongside a hidden spirit.

An ominous spirit that should, under no circumstances, be roaming around.

Ascertained where the spirit was located, my eyes snapped open. The orbs instantly gathered over to it before forming triple rings, chaining it in the middle. The spirit’s true form was uncovered under the bright light – a cloud of soot. Seemingly aching from the shining, it struggled to break free from the restraint, while letting out low-pitched coarse howls.

Save your struggles. There’s nowhere you can escape.

“Filthy presence who hides in the herd, who entices mankind: I, Mageka Luminosa, now send this dark soul back to the wheel of reincarnation, never to tempt another human again! Moonlight Spears!”

In the twinkling of an eye, the illuminating orbs stretched into thin long spikes, and impaled the soot all at once. Engulfed by the luminescence, its cry weakened as it faded to oblivion. Within moments, the creature completely vanished into the night.

I put the sceptre away with a wield. A sigh came after.

“I feel like the exorcism requests have been growing in numbers lately,” the lady who has been behind me the whole time made her steps to the front. Gazing with her sapphire eyes into mine, she asked, “Any clues why?”

“Must’ve been the Mid-Autumn Festival a while back,” I answered. “The full moon tends to lure the dark creatures out more easily with much brighter moonlight, making them more unbridled as they normally do, and creates all this mess.”

Like she said, I had accepted several similar exorcism requests this month. To me, exorcising spirits was a simple task that could be done in a heartbeat. The most tedious part had always been the preparation work required.

Take today as an example: I had been occupied with work all day long to make sure I could actually get off on time. And after work, I had to travel all the way from Central to Sham Shui Po, just so I could hunt and eliminate evil spirits within thirty minutes after moonrise – the most suitable timing for doing so, not mentioning that the one that was gone moments ago only appears on the Waxing Crescent. So, if I miss the chance, I’d have to wait for another half-month for the hunt. Though the reward wasn’t as bad, a few hours of hustling solely for these couple minutes? Didn’t sound like it was worth all the trouble.

What makes me decide to return to this identity again?

“You seem upset, what’s wrong?” Noticing my frowny face, she asked out of concern.

“Oh come on, don’t ask the obvious.” I let out another sigh, “Kou, sometimes I question the decision I made in the first place: ‘Clerk by day, mageka by night’ – am I just making this hard for myself? Hustling around every day only for these little cases, I mean – is there a ‘real deal’ that could make me feel like my trips are actually worth the effort?”

“It’s only been half a year since we started the business. It is what it is. Let’s not rush things,” Kou comforted me with a smile.

“But…” I understood what she meant, but the doubt lingered.

“Didn’t you say this before?” she tried reminding me of a speech I had made, “‘It doesn’t matter how trivial the requests would be, I just want to be back in business.”

“Indeed.” Couldn’t deny that.

“Since the existence of magekas isn’t common-sense in this realm, we can only take requests from very niche markets for the time being,” she continued, “To bring in bigger cases, first, you have to take baby steps to spend time earning experience here and there. With a resume that stands out, I’m sure the big clients will come to you in no time!”

“Right, of course the HR Manager would know about the lore.” I chuckled.

“So, worry not! I believe the ‘real deal’ Sakura’s looking for is right around the corner.” She smiled.

“Another one of your gut-feelings?”

“Mm-hmm!” She nodded without hesitation.

Heh, knowing her for three years, there was one thing I knew for certain: Kou’s instinct had always been on point. It rarely went wrong. Well, guess I could only trust her on this for now.

Half a year ago, she convinced me to pick up the mageka identity with that instinct of hers.

And yes, as you may have already guessed from our conversation, I am a mageka; a mageka who came into this world from a different realm.

I once gave up this identity of mine, and tried blending in as a mortal for the sake of livelihood. Kou, however, thought otherwise. With her advice taken into consideration, here I was, active between the worlds of mortal and magic.

It all began from that evening six months back…

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