It was almost eight on Monday night. Graham was sitting alone in the chapel dimly lit by numerous candles scattered around the place. There was a single tall candle placed on the altar, right in the center. The peaceful night and the gently burning candles put his mind at peace. He put his gloved, pressed hands in front of his covered face, solemnly thinking.

It wasn't long before the tall wooden doors of the abandoned chapel made a loud creak that broke the silence. Five people-- three men and two women-- entered the chapel with an expression that could be said much better than when they first came. As they stepped into the abandoned place of worship, they noticed Graham who was sitting ceremoniously on the front-most row seat.

Graham stood up from his spot and let the dark overcoat hang down. His Gemini mask covered his face, and his clothes accentuate his aura of mystery and solemnity. He looked at the five people that he had summoned earlier this afternoon secretly, persuading them to forget the instance afterward. To the five people, they just felt like they had a strong urge to return to the chapel that night.

"You must be wondering why I have summoned you all here tonight," said Graham with a deep, bassy voice that echoed in the chapel.

The five people shook their heads slowly.

"First of all, I want to initiate all of you chosen ones officially as the associates of Zodiac Syndicate,"

They listened intently, but there was a slight puzzlement in their expression.

"Our immediate goal as a new organization is to prevent the destruction of Sloten," added Graham staidly.

The five people looked bewildered. They couldn't digest right away what they had just heard. After all, just until two days ago, they were living their lives normally.

"What do you mean by destruction?" asked Eduard.

Graham nodded slowly and dignifiedly, acknowledging the question that had just been asked. He then waved his right hand to gesture at the five people to look at the candle on the altar. They came closer as asked to see better. Around the altar, there were several candles that were burning peaceably, but the tall red candle in the center was burning the brightest. The five people were captivated by the flame and stared at it for a good couple of seconds before suddenly, an image appeared before their eyes.

Countless bodies lying around the street, blood painting the walls and roads, and hideous creatures roaming about were in the heart of the image. They couldn't believe their eyes, since what they saw seemed very unreal, but at the same time very real. They recognized the street that they walked every day, but it looked unfamiliar because of all the blood and death. They saw the lifeless bodies of the citizens of their city; their friends or families might be among those corpses.

Helga gasped in disbelief and covered her mouth with both hands. She took a step back and collapsed onto the chapel seat and sat there while trying to control her emotion. The others were as shocked. Although they didn't understand how, they knew deep down that the image that they had just seen was very real. When they thought they could go back to living like normal humans, they were shown that the normal lives they wanted weren't going to last long.

"Now you should understand what I mean," said Graham seriously.

His emotion was also slightly affected, although he had seen the same image before.

The five people didn't respond. They were still processing the whole thing.

"We don't know when the destruction will happen, but if we don't try to stop it, it will be too late before we know it," he added.

Diedrik looked up.

"But we are just normal people. What can we do? And what are those monsters?" he asked.

Although Graham had given them a second chance to make their lives better, they were still only normal humans who didn't even know the supernatural existed.

"They are supernatural creatures, and yes, they exist," answered Graham convincingly.

Seeing the puzzled look in the faces of the associates, he gently gestured at them to look at the center candle again and then chanted audibly and imposingly.

"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, request communication with a friendly spirit that inhabits this place."

As he said that, the surrounding area became colder and dimmer. Chill ran down the spine of the five spectators as a gentle gust of wind brushed past them.

"Come forth and use this fire as a medium and talk to me!"

The gentle gust of wind carried his voice that sounded ethereal and it reverberated in the dim abandoned chapel. The temperature kept dropping and before long, they could see their own breathing. The flames on the candles around the chapel flickered one by one as if something just went past them. Not long after, a figure appeared in the flame, which seemed to be as wide as their visions to the onlookers.

The associates again were stupefied. Before them now floated a figure of a naked old man with a featureless body. His transparent figure was still able to show them his aged, wrinkled skin and pained expression on his face. His eyes were sorrowful and full of regrets.

"Why have you called me?" the spirit of the old man spoke slowly with a voice that sounded like the scratching of porcelain. The tone of his voice was heavy and doubtful.

"We have questions to ask you," replied Graham softly.

"Go ahead and ask me..." said the spirit again.

"How did you die?" asked Graham gently.

The spirit of the old man looked down and let the silence take over before finally answering.

"I was the last priest and caretaker of this chapel. Fewer and fewer people came to visit as believers decreased, so donation money also ran out. I, who was already old and frail, couldn't do anything to save the chapel, so I chose to draw my last breath here, in this place..." the spirit paused, "my only wish is to see this chapel being taken care of again," he said slowly and difficultly. His scratching voice resounded in their ears.

"We promise we will take care of this place," replied Yvette suddenly. She looked genuinely concerned about the old man's spirit.

"Thank you..." replied the old man.

After that, the image disappeared and a gentle gust of wind brushed past them again before the surrounding area turned normal. Graham now stood on the altar looked at the five people from above.

"What you have just seen is a lingering spirit, another supernatural creature. As you can see, I'm not a normal human, and you can be like us as well," said Graham convincingly.

Their interest was piqued.

"If you finish tasks given by us, you will be rewarded accordingly, and when we think that you are ready, we will grant you this power," he added.

"What tasks do we have to finish?" asked Eduard and Calvin almost at the same time.

"Your first and most important task right now is to find any information related to a hidden organization called 'Pale Society'. You must make sure that you do it in secret as it is very dangerous, and do not leak out information about Zodiac Syndicate," Graham responded immediately with an imposing tone.

"How do we report our findings?" asked Diedrik.

"You can leave a note and put it inside the donation box," he replied, "We will conduct another gathering on Thursday night, so you don't have to come back here tomorrow,"

With that, the first task for Zodiac Syndicate's associates has been given and Graham felt a little bit closer to pleasing the Deity of the Tongue.

...

"Old man, you know how grave the situation is, don't you?"

Two men were sitting in a classic-looking office with a grand piano in one corner. The man sitting on the guest's chair was a friendly-looking man wearing a black coat.

"Henk, or should I call you Groen? I'm currently short on men. You're asking something difficult from me without giving me a good enough reason," replied the other old man who looked dignified.

"Just Henk is okay, for old times' sake. As I've said earlier, we are currently facing a new, emerging threat. We want to cooperate with you under the desk. All I ask of you is to focus your men on finding any information about Pale Society," said Groen.

"Did you say Pale Society?"

"Yes. You, of all people, Gianni, should know how dangerous they are," added Groen with a grave tone.

Mastro Gianny put pressed his hands in front of his face, seemingly thinking about something seriously.

"I really don't have a lot of men right now, but I will send the remaining ones on the search of any information about them," he then said.

Groen put a smile on his face and then spoke again.

"Thank you. I know I can count on you, Gianni. We, the Police and Kleurs, will be looking for them on the surface while you and your men do it from the dark. We must stop them before they turn Sloten into another Tilburg,"

After their business was concluded, Groen got up and bid his farewell to Mastro Gianni, who called for Beppe to escort his guest outside. After the guest had left, a woman entered the Mastro's office and stood by the door. She wore a black coat that covered her knees and a braid on her light brown hair.

"You called?"

"Yes, Bianca. Have a seat," offered Mastro Gianni.

She took the seat opposite the Mastro and sat comfortably.

"Is this a job?" asked Bianca. Her voice sounded confident and somewhat authoritative, a direct contrast with Mastro Gianni's gentle and friendly voice.

"Something like that," he replied.

Mastro Gianni then explained to her about his meeting with the Police Sergeant Groen just now. She listened attentively the whole time, nodding in understanding.

"Can you bring some men tonight and patrol the city for any suspicious activities," he said, "Meanwhile, I'll contact all of our channels to see if they know anything,"

She nodded, and said, "Anything else?"

"No. You may go now,"

Bianca got up from the chair and left the room, greeting Beppe who was standing outside the door as usual. She then went to one of the rooms in that mafia lair where some people were gathering and playing card games. They all stopped with their activities and looked at the woman who had just entered the room.

"Lucio, Pietro, we'll be heading out now," she commanded.

The two men whose names were called got up and took their coats and guns before following Bianca who had gone ahead.

"Where are we going?" asked Pietro.

"We're going on a manhunt tonight. Our target is an organization called Pale Society," she replied.

"So are we just going around the city?" asked Lucio.

"Dionigi is not here now, so we don't have another choice. Let's just go to Raadhuislaan. That's where the last accident happened,"

"When will our main force come back?" asked Pietro curiously.

"I don't know, but it's practically war over there, so I don't think it's anytime soon,"

The three people entered the Favaran restaurant that was front for their mafia lair through the back door and then exited through the front door. The street in front of the store was still quiet at that hour but would get busier as it got later through the night. They went towards a parked motor carriage by the street side and were about to get in before something caught their attention. They looked at each other and nodded in confirmation.

The three mafia members had felt a slight presence coming from a distance and were now dashing towards the source of the presence. They ran quickly and took a right on the intersection, going in the direction of the bridge crossing Amstel river. The presence was gone for a second before appearing again, but faintly.

They then turned to a big alleyway and saw a person that looked to be a man with a black overcoat and a creepy mask standing at the center of it. The man was tall, but besides that, they couldn't see anything else. They couldn't even see the hair of the man because it was covered by his hood. The mask he was wearing was a yellow mask with a sinister frown.

"Who are you?" asked Bianca loudly. She took out two blood bags from her pockets and got ready for a fight.

"No one dangerous, and I can assure you, I'm not from Pale Society," replied the man with a voice that was muffled by the mask.

The man then suddenly darted forward with a knife in his hand. Pietro and Lucio got in front of Bianca, who needed time to prepare her ability. Lucio quickly slit his palm and chanted.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Reconciliation, declare fighting forbidden in this area!"

He splashed the blood around him, which then strangely turned into a circle. Once the man entered the circle, he suddenly lost all thought of attacking, no matter how strongly he wanted to break free.

"This one won't do," said the man and then muttered something under his breath, which was muffled by the mask again.

Suddenly, Lucio's eyes became blank and his face was expressionless. He had fallen under the control of the enemy!

The blood circle around them vanished and the man quickly charged at Pietro, who had already had a pool of blood underneath him.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Bloodshed and Manslaughter, order my blood that covers the earth to attack my enemy!"

The blood underneath him boiled and created small pellets that shot at an incredible speed at the enemy. The man quickly dodged and retreated to a distance but was still struck by some pellets, which created holes in his overcoat and injured him.

"Now that one is useful," said the man while standing back up.

Suddenly, several blood daggers shot at him from the back of the group. It was Bianca who had finished creating her blood weapons. With the amount of blood she had used, she had managed to create four blood daggers.

The man deflected the blood daggers that aimed for his vital spots while letting the others hit him because he couldn't dodge all of them. He was now in a very disadvantageous position. They heard the man's quick muttering and then strangely felt that the man wasn't there anymore, although they were still looking at him.

"I've got what I needed. Thank you," said the man politely and then dashed towards the other end o the alley.

The four blood daggers tried to chase the man, but the farther they went from the caster, the slower they became. With the man gone, Lucio came back to his senses and looked around in confusion. Pietro was ready to run after the man, but Bianca stopped him.

"No need to chase. He is not our target," said Bianca.

She didn't know what the man's goal was, but she had some guesses. Her teammates were not injured anyway, so they could just let it slide. They needed to preserve their energy in case they had to fight the real members of Pale Society.