The Deceitful One

sons butler standing in a straight posture by the main gate. He was wearing a black butlers uniform with a bow tie. The man looked to be in his 30s with a head full of combed brown hair and a trimmed mustache on his upper lip. Damn, he sure is clean. Bryan thought silently in his heart.

”Okay. ” Bryan responded to the butler and followed him inside. He came across the garden in front of the villa with all sorts of colourful flowers growing vibrantly at the edges. They followed the red stone paved path and reach the door of the villa.

The butler opened the door and gestured for Bryan to come in. What greeted him was a wide living room and a fireplace with a chimney on the right side. To the left were three massive floor-to-ceiling windows that were facing the garden. The floor was made of wooden tiles. In the centre of the living room, there were two long sofas and two single-seater couches, arranged in a square formation. In the middle was a small table made of oak. Past the sofa were two sets of stairs on both sides of the living room, leading to the second floor.

As Bryan looked towards the second floor of the villa, his eyes landed on a middle-aged blond man, with neatly combed hair. He was wearing a white shirt, black pants and a black vest buttoned up. He was looking at Bryan with a gentle smile.

”Boss! ” Bryan subconsciously blurted out.

”Good Morning, Bryan. Come upstairs. ” Detective Watson greeted him.

Bryan nodded and made his way upstairs. Upon reaching the second floor, he followed Detective Watson. They walked the corridor to the left and entered a spacious room. The room was like a mini library, there were two bookshelves on both sides of the room, with about hundreds of books in total. Right across the entrance to the room was a floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked the garden. In front of the right-hand side bookshelf, was the study table with one chair on one side and two chairs on the other.

Detective Bryan approached the study stable and sat in his seat. He then gestured for Bryan to sit. Bryan nervously took his seat and looked at the things lying on the table. There were a few books neatly stacked on top of each other, and a couple of parchment pieces of paper, however, he couldn figure out what language they contained. And finally, there was a globe. Bryan was shocked to find out that there were actually more continents other than the one in which the Belize Kingdom was.

Detective Watson saw him stare at the globe with his mouth agape and chuckled, ”Apart from the Western Continent we are currently in, there are three more continents and a group of islands. They are the Southern Continent, which is slightly bigger than the Western Continent in terms of land mass, Central Continent, which is the largest. Then there are the Eastern Islands which consist of over a hundred small islands. If gathered together, they would be as big as the Central Continent. And finally, theres the Northern Continent which is the most mysterious of them all. ”

Detective Watson patiently waited for Bryan to finish digesting the information. After about a minute or so, Bryan recovered from his shock. ”Wow, boss! This world sure is big. I always thought that the Western Continent was all there was to it. But boss, whats so mysterious about the northern continent? ”

Detective Watson had already expected this question, hence, he replied in a serious manner, ”Very little, in fact, almost nothing is known about the Northern Continent. In the past, there had been many ships that sailed to the Northern Continent in an expedition to explore and colonize unknown lands, however, none of them returned. That is why that continent is also known as the Dark Continent. ”

Bryan sucked in a breath of cold air. He was completely taken aback when he heard this. None of them returned? Dark Continent… He found it both fascinating and frightening at the same time. It took him a while to gather himself. Then he noticed Detective Watson looking at him with a smile.

”This is the benefit of knowledge. It broadens your horizon and as a result, how you view the world changes. ” Detective Watson explained. ”Now before we discuss your work and study schedule, Id like to test something. ”

Detective Watson took out a milky white crystal ball the size of a babys head from the drawer and placed it between himself and Bryan.

”Whats this, boss? ” Bryan looked at the crystal ball curiously and inquired.

Detective Watson smiled at him and instructed, ”Place your palms on the crystal ball, close your eyes and hold out for as long as you can. ”

Hold out for as long as I can? Bryan mumbled inwardly but still did as he was told because he hadn received any sort of warning from his intuition. He then stretched out his hands and placed them on the crystal ball.