Mr Love: Dream Date Chap 13 Above Lies

Chapter 13 unlocks at level 55 which was a relative breeze. The events of this chapter takes place a few days after Gavin’s sudden disappearance and I’m grateful that this chapter sought to explain a bit more things than add to the confusion. Sometimes it does seem like the storyline for each of the four characters are written by different people. Spoilers ahead!

It was late at night. Josie suddenly materialised atop a roof confused and terrified. She saw Ares step out of the shadow, his voice low as he questioned why she had taken action without authority. She tried to defend her actions in vain as she faded into nothingness, the last thing she said was about not wanting to go back there.

It has been days since you last saw Gavin. You tried to contact him through various means everyday but even his colleagues have not seen him. There seemed to be nothing you can do except to hope for the best. Ever since that day, you have been hearing the crackle of electricity in your ears which you haven’t been able to get rid of. You looked at your phone and saw that it was 7am but Victor had yet to call you. You had settled in a weekly routine of receiving his call but today he was surprisingly late. Victor was never late for anything. You decided to call him instead but the call went to voicemail. Feeling uneasy, you made a trip to LFG to find him. Goldman was also unable to contact Victor after he hadn’t turned up at his usual time. Hoping that he might be Souvenir, you made a trip there. However, Mr Mills told you that he had not seen Victor for two weeks. Not being able to contact the person whom you were used to always being around left a sudden gap in your heart.

Leaving Souvenir, you came upon a public plaza and saw a crowd had gathered to discuss the latest happenings in the city. More and more unexplainable events had taken place, with people waking up with ribs shattered and elevator malfunctioning out of nowhere. It seemed like these occurrences were linked to the news shared by Leto of Evol going out of control. You shudder at the thought and felt lost that neither Gavin nor Victor was around to discuss this with. (You still have Lucien, which somehow had eluded you.) Suddenly you heard screams. Looking up at the big screen in the plaza, you realised that Kiro had just publicly announced that he would be retiring from public life to the anger and disappointment of all his fans who have taken to rioting at the studio. Speculations were that he was bothered by recent crazed fan actions. You recalled your conversation with him and guessed this must be the decision he was talking about. You thought about calling him but decided it was better to give him some breathing space for now.

As you made your way to the metro, you were suddenly pushed forward by a group of panicking passers-by. You asked one of them what had happened. They told you that a black vortex had appeared at the twin towers which was threatening to tear the building apart. Hearing that it was a wind vortex, you hurried in the opposite direction, wondering if this was related to Gavin. At the scene of chaos, you saw that the wind had caused cracks to appear in the sky bridge linking the two towers, trapping the people within and consigning them to plunge to their death. Just when things couldn’t get worse, everything seemed to stop. You noticed a shimmer of light under the sky bridge lifting it up and giving police officers time to rescue the trapped victims. Not too long after the winds stopped but you saw no sign of Gavin. As you turned to go, you didn’t notice that a billboard had been ripped by the wind current and was about to crash down on you.

You stood rooted to the ground not knowing what to do. Just as the billboard was about to crash onto you, you felt yourself enveloped in a warm light and shielded from the danger. Before you stood Lucien and you stared dumbfoundedly at him. You saw a flash of worry on his usual calm face which was quickly replaced with his usual confidence. You asked him what he was doing here and he said he was just passing by. He saw that you had scrapped your knee in the earlier hustle so he spent some time treating your wound. You noticed that the warm light that protected you was similar to the force field that appeared the night you were almost shot, so you asked Lucien if he was an Evolver. He replied yes but refused to speak further of what his Evol is. You also learnt it was his Evol at work that had prevented the bridge from collapsing.

You shared your concerns about Evol going out of control in the city and wanted to investigate further but didn’t know where to start. Lucien conveniently showed you some notes he has about the recent cases on his phone which gave you some leads for your investigation. You contemplated asking Lucien to go with you but decided against it so as not to get him into trouble. As you stood to leave, you could almost hear Lucien pouting that you are friend zoning him. You explained that you didn’t want to implicate him in your own matters but he insisted on helping you accomplish whatever you wanted.

Maybe it’s because I’m already biased to begin with but Lucien appearing out of nowhere to save me quite valiantly was a welcome change of pace. No cheesy knight in shining armor descending from above kind of description. Just very matter of factly, I was just passing by. Lucien also didn’t strike me as the kind of person who would be able to hold up entire building structures so his Evol seemed a lot more powerful than I had originally given him credit for. When you told him that you could investigate the cases alone and he replied instantly ‘But I can’t do this alone’, my heart almost leapt out. I just find it extremely romantic when a guy tells you not to friendzone him in such a vulnerable manner.

Your first stop was to investigate the mysterious occurrence at the sightseeing tower where the elevator had suddenly malfunctioned injuring some children. All the operators were suspended from work while investigations were conducted. After introducing yourself, the receptionist brought you to interview the operator who was on duty at that time. The operator looked nervous and appeared to be slightly drunk. When you told him you were the producer of Miracle Finder, he ridiculed your show and its pursuit for hidden superpowers. His reaction to superpowers seemed suspicious and you decided to pursue further in your line of questioning, asking if he was going somewhere since he hadn’t agreed to be reinstated to work. You seem to have agitated him so Lucien pulled you behind him. Lucien alleged that the operator must be feeling concerned about potential damages he would be responsible for which would force his family into financial distress hence his reluctance to speak.

Feeling threatened, the operator started to shake and rush at you but was kept away by the barrier Lucien had put up. The scissors and keys on the table started to rattle and rise which unnerved the operator. He finally admitted that he didn’t want the malfunction to happen but his powers just started acting up and he couldn’t control them. He had been living as normally as possible all these 17 years. This all changed after a recent visit to a doctor to get a chest X-ray. Ever since his powers had gone all awry. He looked at you desperately and asked for this power to be taken away from him. You could only say you would do your best but in reality, you didn’t even know where to start.

Outside the tower, you pondered over the words of the operator and asked Lucien if he thought Evol was bad. Lucien replied that Evol was neither good nor bad but rather it lies in the wielder. If a person has bad intent, even if he doesn’t have Evol, he would still find ways to create trouble. He added that as humans continue to grow, they will grow smarter and faster but not necessarily better or happier. He then alluded to some kind of future when humans will need to be reborn and transformed and hoped that when the time comes, you would not be too burdened by it. You were inspired to keep searching for the truth that not only affects you personally but also the lives around you. As long as you have that little power in you, you need to do your part.

Lucien then asked you what you would have done if he hadn’t accompanied you. You realised he was referring to the earlier episode with the operator and how you almost got hurt while antagonising him. Lucien was indirectly reprimanding you. You responded that you will learn to be less rash. At this point, Lucien stretched out his two hands and offered you a choice – on the right hand was a life of safety and protection and no more involvement with the turmoil of the world, on the left was a life of actively seeking the truth but the path would be unknown, full of danger and pain. Lucien must have copied this move from The Matrix. Without hesitation you placed your hand on his left hand. He closed his hand over yours and promised to accompany you on this path you have chosen, as if the decision you had made would also affect his decision. Lucien then passed you a pen with a X etched into its body. You are puzzled by the gesture. He told you the pen was called Iridescent and had served him as a lucky charm for many years. He wanted it to serve you now. Though you felt it was too precious a gift, you accepted it after some persuasion.

The next stop was Central Hospital to find the radiologist who had done the X-ray for the operator. With the help of Lucien’s contact, you found out that the said female doctor had quit just a few days ago as all her patients had complained of issues after visiting her. However nobody knew how to contact her and the HR records turned up nothing. Despondent you left the hospital with no further leads. Outside you saw children flying kites and asked Lucien if he enjoyed kites. He replied that he had never flew them before. Both of you promised to fly kites together before end of Spring. Suddenly a lady in sunglasses approached you and told you that she was the doctor you were looking for.

The female doctor explained that she was an Evolver with the power to see into the human body, a useful skill to have as a doctor. However, four days ago, something happened which caused her Evol to change. It appears that looking at people now cause them to fall sick, ribs to shatter and for some, their Evol gene to mutate hence she had to wear sunglasses all the time now. She blamed herself for all the mishaps and laughed bitterly at the irony of things, wishing she hadn’t escaped from that place all these years. She asked if you could heal her but it only drew a blank look. As you left the hospital, Lucien spotted a flash of light on the rooftop of the hospital and frowned.

With no further clues, both of you retreated to Lucien’s research lab to piece together the information you have gotten. As you pondered the plight of the operator and the doctor, you realised that treading the path to seek the truth was a lot harder than it seemed. However unwilling to give up now, you went to the blackboard and started writing down what you have learnt about the cases. With Lucien’s help, you realised that all three cases were related to electro-magnetic waves. Specifically a receiver found on the billboard at the twin towers today was emitting these waves and could be responsible for the Evol mutation.

Lucien then wrote 17 years ago on the blackboard and handed you a document detailing the background of both the operator and doctor. You were shocked to discover that both of them were victims of the orphanage incident from 17 years back. Reading through the document, you found out that Ultima Bioresearch once helped a group of survivors from the orphanage incident which included these two. Lucien encouraged you to plot the location of the weird occurrences on the map to see if there was any pattern to them. When you couldn’t find any, Lucien walked up behind you, held your hand and told you that the location for Ultima Bioresearch was different 17 years ago, marking another spot on the map. You tried to squirm out of his hold but he held your hand tight and traced the four points on the map, forming a letter ‘s’. Ok, I know this was meant to quite romantic but perhaps he might be encroaching a bit too much of your personal space.

Lucien and you headed to the old location of Ultima Bioresearch which had been left dilapidated. Entering the building, you were met with layers of dust and cobwebs. It seemed like no one has been here for years. Among the broken remains, you spotted a fresh carving on a glass window. As Lucien approached you to look at the carving, you suddenly felt the crackle and tingle of electricity in your ears again. Examining the words, Lucien told you it was a verse from the Bible, something about the truth being projected onto the hearts of man and it seemed to have been carved by someone after the place was abandoned.

As he spoke, you noticed someone looking in from a window outside and you instinctively dove for Lucien and pushed him into the small space under the stairs to hide. He was surprised by your actions but not too long after, you heard voices of a group of man clad in black entering the premises. Lucien hugged you tightly, assuring you so that you wouldn’t make a sound. The group of men seemed to be searching for a receiver and it sent chills down your spine. Failing to find the item, they left. Lucien thanked you for protecting him but told you that you should always look out for yourself only in the future. You told him it was instinct and that he could trust you to protect him as well. He teased you slightly then asked you what you wanted as a reward. When you didn’t give an immediate answer, he said you could take your time to think about it. Meanwhile, he showed you the receiver he was holding in his hands.

Lucien explained that he had found the receiver under the carpet where there seemed to have a lot more dust gathered. You followed him to the second floor as he continued to fidget with the instrument. The ringing sound in your ear continued to throb and you felt like something was trying to burst out of your head. Perhaps the receiver itself was reacting with your Evol too. In that moment, you saw that Lucien had managed to cause a beam of light to shoot out from the receiver. You went closer to see and with some directions from Lucien, you saw that it was not just one beam of light but three beams, each coming from the sightseeing tower, the hospital, twin towers and finally converging on the highest building in Loveland City, the Loveland TV station.

You asked Lucien pointedly whether he already knew all this right from the start and was simply leading you on. He seemed appreciative that you had discerned this. He replied that all this was just a conjecture which he needed to confirm it. He went on to speak philosophically again about the relationship between light and darkness, that darkness is necessary for us to see the brightest lights. You felt that you had the rare opportunity to see multiple facets of Lucien’s personality today.

You made your way to the TV station as Lucien had called ahead for a friend to open the place for you. As both of you approached the station, a black vortex of wind appeared before you and a group of men in black materialised before you. Lucien hurriedly pulled you behind him. The group approached you menacingly but stopped when they saw Lucien. Lucien told you to wait for him. Before you could speak another word, the white light enveloped you. When you opened your eyes again, you found yourself teleported to several streets away. You could still make out the TV station in the distance. Was Lucien going to face the enemies on his own? Though you didn’t think you could help, you would feel much more assured if you could watch him from a distance. You ran as fast as you could towards Lucien.

When you finally made your way back, you saw that Lucien seemed to be in discussion with the men. You crept forward to eavesdrop and froze when you heard the group address him as Ares. They had been given orders to bring him back to base as he had been dragging his feet on his mission. Lucien explained that he would have accomplished his mission if not for their interference, that his prey would have walked successfully into the trap he had laid for her. A chill went down your spine. You wished you didn’t hear that and contemplated running away but it was too late. Lucien had turned around and saw you, a brief look of surprise on his face. You questioned if everything he had ever said and done for you was a lie, to which his response was that he never indulged in idle pursuits. He had tried to warn you many times but you were simply too trusting. His sole objective was for a better future.

As he walked towards you, you instinctively held the pen he had given you to your neck, threatening to kill yourself. Lucien kept his pace daring you to hurt yourself. When the first trickle of blood flowed down your neck, Lucien hesitated and told you not to be foolish. You told him to let you go, that he still owed you a thank you gift for saving him earlier. He gave you a half smile and agreed. As the group of men protested, he teleported them away. Lucien warned you not to let him catch you again as he won’t let you go again. With that, he turned around and walked away into the shadows. In the moment, all the memories spent with him flashed before your eyes. Had he been sincere in all of them or was he just laying a trap for you all this time? Tears flowed down your eyes with the bitterness of betrayal.

While we already knew that Lucien isn’t who he claimed to be and that this chapter was going to be the big reveal, it came a little too unexpected for me. Lucien appeared at one of the lowest point thus far in the story after you have learnt so much after Black Swan and Evol, after the abrupt manner in which Gavin was taken from you and the mysterious absence of Victor. He made you feel surprisingly secure with his powers, impressed you with his intelligence throughout the investigations and also his insightfulness about life. And the writers chose to drop it all on you just when you thought you would be unraveling the last clue about Evol mutation taking place in the city. In just a few paragraphs, my emotions were taken on a huge roller coaster ride and the bittersweet BGM at the end did nothing to alleviate the angst I felt. True that Lucien had betrayed you by concealing his real identity and intentions, but thinking about all the interactions with him up to this point, he had never actually hurt you before. In fact, throughout the story, you were probably safest with him, compared to Gavin, Victor or Kiro!

Lucien stood before a masked figure in the huge silent room basked in the moonlight. The masked figure chided him for his carelessness. Lucien told him he would return to the girl’s side again as Ares, that he needn’t be impatient as the game was just starting. The masked man retorted coldly, asking Ares to show him how ruthless he can be. Without another word, the floor trembled and a beam of light shot out towards Ares slicing his right eye. Ares smiled coldly as blood trickled down his face and left the room. Outside Ares passed an old companion who felt sorry for him. He asked Ares why he was doing this to himself. Ares replied coldly that he didn’t understand anything at all. Even though Ares was the most feared and respected for his ruthlessness in the organisation, he was especially ruthless to himself. Lucien resolved in his heart to be ready for the battle ahead.

I suppose the last part of the story was really meant to provide readers with a glimmer of hope that Lucien has something up his sleeve. Perhaps he would find a way to make a better world and not have to hurt you at the same time. Whatever the case may be, I felt slightly depressed after this chapter. Kudos to the writers for inflicting pain on me!