Clovers End - Prologue. Prologue: The Man in Black

Chapter 1

It's quiet. The room is cold, offset by pale blue tones. There are no windows, it's almost jail-like in nature. The faint flicker of the fluorescent lights above provides a much-needed buzz to the otherwise disjunct ambience. The young man sat adjacent to the executor of his parents' will. He had never met him before but he could only assume that he was someone his parents trusted enough to full fill their final wishes. He impatiently tapped his fingers against the metal table. The executor would occasionally look up at him after reading a sentence or two of the document with deadpan eyes that he found slightly unsettling.

" You are Diana and Alatar's son correct? " the man inquires as he peers up from a mess of documents on the table.

"I am" the young man mutters, nervously fidgeting in his seat.

“And they died fourteen years ago?”

“They did” Alex responds tentatively.

" I am surprised they chose me to do this. I only knew them for the brief time they stayed in the city.” the man states in a vapid manner.

“I'm sorry. I guess you might have been one of the few people that they considered a friend.”

“Is that so?” the man asks. The young man nods in response.

“Can I just say something?” the executor asks.

“Sure.”

“You’re extremely pretty for a boy. You look so much like your mother. Do you have a sister by any chance?" the man comments.

" Yeah, I get that a lot" the young man chuckles awkwardly “And no”. The room is once again filled with deafening silence despite the sound of pages turning as the man looks over the folders.

“It says here your name is Dex.”

“Alex, actually” the young man calmly interjects.

"Right. I'll be right back. I left their possessions in another room." Alex watched as the man got up and walked over to an adjacent room just out of sight. Alex sighed. He tried to make himself more comfortable as he pondered what type of relationship the man had with his parents. The man didn't strike him as someone who really cared for this interaction but regardless, he seemed kind enough to do them this favour.

The clock ticking and shuffling from the other room became a monotonous noise that seemed to draw Alex into a meditated state. After what seems like an hour, he returns with a small ornate box, placing it neatly in front of him.

" Is this all?" Alex asks curiously.

" I'm afraid it is ." the man says unphased.

"It's alright," Alex says smiling to himself. He ran his fingers along the smooth ridges and grooves, admiring craftsmanship " I'm surprised they left me anything at all. We were always moving around. I can't remember a time we ever stayed in a place long enough to establish a life. "

The man nods along uninterestingly. Alex opens the box and to his surprise, its contents are all but a tattered map, a pair of house keys, a peculiar necklace, and a crudely written note instructing him to go to the area encircled on the map.

" Did my parents tell you anything about this by any chance? This is basically in the middle of nowhere " he questions the man.

" Not a word. Sorry. ", the man shrugs, not sparing a glance in his direction.

" I see ", he deftly exhales, " Thank you for your time."

" It was my legal obligation but your gratitude is appreciated nonetheless." The man hurriedly pulls on his coat, grabs his hat and heads out the door. The peculiar encounter left a bitter taste in Alex's mouth. His parents never shared much about themselves or the life they had led up before they had started a family. He had hoped he would be able to find out more about them, that this may have given him some closure following their death. If anything, Alex found himself more perplexed than when the man arrived.

That night, Alex's sleep was restless. He tossed and turned. He dreamt of an old woman with no discernible features. She embraced him warmly. There was something about her aura that was so familiar. He felt he could trust her.

" Follow the directions and all will be explained.” she whispered, “It's time you learnt the truth."

Normally, “visions” or dreams as you would call them, were not to be trusted. In fact, it would most definitely be considered a sign of fatigue, an overactive imagination or in some cases mental illness. Nevertheless, he felt compelled by a force he couldn't describe. Faith and insatiable hunger that occupied his thoughts, desperate to know more.

1 month later

A brilliant ray of orange-yellow light cascaded along the shoreline, culminating in the surrounding scenery in warm autumn colours, shimmering across the vast rippling ocean; the waters curling in foamy white to embrace the beige sand in an elegant kiss.

Alex reached over to grab the cup of coffee to his right as he sat huddled in a chair on the small black wooden deck of the beach house. A slight breeze, carrying the unmistakable scent of sea spray, whipped through his vanta-black hair, ever so gently tossing its slight curls to the side.

He lifted the white mug to his lips and, with a twinkling in his eyes, he took a deep sip of its contents. The hazel liquid perfectly captured the colour of his eyes except for the indistinct flecks of gold in his iris that in itself were strangely perplexing. The liquid seeped between his voluptuous lips, slithering across his palette to meet his tongue with a vague nutty yet bitter sensation as it swirled around his mouth before being abruptly swallowed.

His stare never wavered from the glowing peach-like orb rising from the peninsula's warm depths. He watched the waves flutter and churn for a while before a figure in a large black trench coat waltzed along the shore into view. Although the figure was a short distance away, Alex could barely make out the mousy brown hair and strong features of what he could only conclude belonged to a male.

The man watched the waters just as Alex had done. Suddenly the man turned on his heel to face the thicket of vegetation that ran further up the shore, in front of the beach house, and for a brief moment, it seemed as if he looked directly at him. The man's icy blue eyes locked with his, sending a chill down his spine.

Alex was enamoured by the man's beauty. He felt the man's gaze held an intensity that compelled him to his feet. Feeling unsettled he rose from the chair and headed for the glass sliding door that connected to the living room. He couldn't shake a nagging feeling of recognition and glanced over his shoulder searching the shore but to his dismay, the man in black had vanished.