ULAM. -- The Escaped Version

Remy: The 'salad' (ulam) was so raw when it started in June, but somehow, 5 chefs with different styles of gastronomy plus various philosophies behind their cooking, joined together in month of July, at a point where the passion of summer and romance of fall met.

I would not say that ULAM July was a haute cuisine but the spirit and the effort showed by 5 panelists were truly amazing, and not forget to mention the creativity behind the dish, it was tremendously shone by the different personalities of each of them.

And tonight in Remy's "What's Cooking" show, we're so honored to have 4 of the panelist with us here, Ey d'lEfty, Flo, Sayuti, and RedRuby; plus the man behind the scene, the Salad Boss, BossUlam. Welcome.

So, Boss, obviously you have the best panelists ever in July. What do you think about them?

BossUlam: Yeah as you described just now, each of them have different personalities, but I'm glad that each of them have the same passion about the project. See, Flo made us fall in love with her romance touch, Ey d'lEfty aka Spidey made us confused of what's inside his mind most of the time; Jannah made us realized and saw and appreciated what a modern literature should look like; Sayuti made us screamed or wailed or whooped because of his brain-twister wit; and RedRuby, made us doffed our hat to her neat composure and full control of every dramatic scenes in the story --- they are all different, but putting these differences together, it made a delicious ulam.

Remy: Indeed... but I really interested in one thing: DO you guys know each other before Ulam July?

Ey d'lEfty: I think I'm the one who knows EVERYBODY here, except Boss. But these people started to talk to each other when they got into this pool.

Remy: So are you saying basically, you guys were working TOGETHER without knowing each other? BUT looking at the story, the flow and the plot was so fluent as if everything was planned and discussed! Incredible! So, Sayuti, after ULAM July, what do you think of the other panelist?

Sayuti: Well, I think Flo is a romantic tourist with an eye for fine arts, while Jannah is a teacher with conspirator's mind. Red Ruby, for me, likes to read and kills character ;p while Spider is VERY confused and twisted geoscientist who, well I basically know his job task, evidently likes to interpret stuff. Haha!

Remy: Interpret stuff? Yeah I actually really surprised with one of Spidey's post which decode your tricky puzzle into something really dramatic...

Red Ruby: No I think Spidey's more 'KIASU' than anything else. It was research, Research, and RESEARCH that he did. :> But at least that makes the storyline more real, don't you think so? Hehe!!

Remy: Really? Spidey, did you do a lot of studies and researches throughout the journey of ULAM July?

Ey d'lEfty: YES and NO actually. Hehe. I have a confession to do here actually, I actually made up a few phrases of Samoan language. ;p Hey I did not MASTER the language, I just tried to MASTER the way to put it real and dramatic. Haha.. ops.. KANTOI!

Remy: That's interesting. But tell me Red Ruby, what do you think of Jannah. I heard from Boss that Jannah has some little problem with you..

BossUlam: Haha.. that's true actually. Jannah used to tell me that RedRuby killed her favourite character and twisted her plot. Hahaha.. Remember KingKong and the 'National Oil Company'? Hahaha!!

Red Ruby: Huh?! I didn't know that?! Sorry for that. But for me, I compare Jannah to Sidney Sheldon, period.

Remy: WOW! That's more than a compliment! and how about you, Flo?

Flo: For me, I think Jannah is crazy, Red Ruby is crazy, Sayuti is Crazy, and Spidey, is also crazy.

Remy: Hahaha!! Funny. And don't forget your Boss, it's his crazy mind that set this crazy scene up! Hahaha!! But how about yourself? I mean of course, we know that you are as crazy as these guys sitting here, but we all believe that you are 'crazy with some helpless romantic touch', ;) what do you think? What do you think of your own writing style?

Flo: That I am a drama princess? *giggle* Well, I like keeping the suspense and surprise. You can also notice this in 'Elle For Love'. Ops.. sorry bout the free promo here. *giggle* Anyway, the suspense, the surprises, most of the time they are so unintentionally appeared in my mind, and sometimes it surprised me as well.

Remy: Spidey, how bout you?

Ey d'lEfty: I think I always have a picture in my mind before starting writing-- the image of the characters, the scenes, the buildings, and also the soundtracks, the background music. Erm.. let's call it 'VisualAudio' oriented. *grin* But throughout the ULAM July, I had problem of jiving my version of image with the other's, I mean, the 'image-conflict' always happened each time a panelist followed up the story. However, solving the conflict was actually the fun part of it, it was like you're gaining a power of recompose everything into places, and then let them flow and see how they evolved, then you recompose again.

Remy: WOW.. that's involve A LOT of thinking process, dude!!

Ey d'lEfty: .. and A LOT of fun!!

Remy: I bet! I guess Sayuti is true bout that, you enjoyed breaking codes and solving puzzles with imagination..I think it really matches with your profession, huh? So as a self-proclaimed 'Human Resource Engineer', Sayuti, what do you think it influence your writing style?

Sayuti: Ah ha! Ok here's the way it goes: I tend to be analytical -- that's what an Engineer will do; and I wil ltry to ensure continuity of the plot and the characters -- and that's what we call HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT!! *grin*..

BossUlam: I think everybody did very good in handling this, as what Sayuti pointed out, the continuity of the plot and the consistency of the characters. That was why there were some readers and even you, Remy, were surprised that the whole story of ULAM July was so fluent and smooth as if it was a planned and discussed storyline.

Remy: INDEED!! and the fast pace and the quick update too.. it was so quick that made me really couldn't believe that each of them even have a time to think and plan the next episode, let alone the code breaking and puzzle solving, and yet to fit it into the story..

BossULAM: .. and among them, I think Red Ruby was the quickest writer since ULAM June.

Red Ruby: I admit that I'm a fast pace action packed kinda person plus twisting the storyline here and there. But I think everybody in ULAM July was really committed. I believe that we all know well that it'll turn our readers away if the story was basically stagnant. Whatever it is, I don't think I'm the fastest writer among all, instead, comparatively, I think I have a 'narrow' vocab so obviously my English is not as superb as the other fellow panelist, and my writing style, is a little bit 'corny' I guess..

Remy: Not a superb English and ... 'CORNY'??! Kidding? I think we all would totally agree if I say you're the most experienced writer among all, Red Ruby. And it was so obviously shown from the way you write and the language you use.. You read a lot, don't you?

Red Ruby: Hmm.... I guess it's a YES...

Remy: ...OK then tell me, Red Ruby, what is your original plot for ULAM July? See it started from a conflict happened in the world of theft and eventually evolved into a mysterious tattoo legend thingy.. Was that what you expected?

Red Ruby: OF COURSE NOT!! I mean who would expect that? I really thought that the story was going to be a 'OCEAN-13 meets BOURNE'S IDENTITY', nothing to do with the paranormal things. However, I love it too if the story sounds like 'SUPERNATURAL'.. Hehehe..

Remy: Yeah, talking about OCEAN-13. Spidey, it was so obvious and everybody had noticed it, the 1st episode, it really had the shadow of OCEAN-13, any explanation? Did you really want it to become a ULAM version of OCEAN?

Ey d'lEfty: I guess I just need to do another confession here.. *grin* Yes I have to admit that I just watched OCEAN-13 when I started writing episode 1, but I think what really triggered the idea of writing a 'story about professional thieves' was the song 'STOLEN' of Dashboard Confessionals, which I'd convinced Boss to put it as the 1st soundtrack of ULAM July.

Remy: It is so obvious that you're such a 'visualaudio' type of writer. *smile* How about you Flo? What will your version of ULAM July be if you're given full control to drive the story?

Flo: Well if I get to control ULAM July, I would not have used Elle but Rachel instead. Then there will be Joey, Monica, Phoebe, Ross and Chandler. It will be about a bunch of strangers boarding a plane and crash on an island and got stranded there for years. *grin*

Remy: That sounds familiar...

BOSSUlam: It is a combination of FRIENDS and LOST, Remy.

Remy: Oh you girls!!! Two of you are SO MUCH into drama series, aren't you?!! Red Ruby just wanted it to be like Supernatural, and you, Friends and Lost!! Hahaha!! That's really funny. I hope Sayuti won't give me any title from P.Ramlee movies, will you?

Sayuti: No. Don't worry, even tough I'm so into HOUSE. *giggle* But I would love to make ULAM July a sci-fi thriller with a lot of twists but will focus on the ULAM folder, and is related to ULAM June.

Remy: .. and that was what you did!! Putting Prof Z and the tail-less goat back into ULAM July!!

Ey d'lEfty, Flo, Red Ruby: OOOOOOOOOHHhhhh!! THAT WAS CLASSIC!!

BOSSUlam: Everybody was really shocked to read the reappearance of Prof Z and the pictures of the tail-less goat, and the college students.. To be very frank I was actually pissed off. *smile* I thought Sayuti had just ruined the whole ULAM July, it was like no turning point at all when he tried to put something really irrelevant but still cannot be ignored back into ULAM July. Actually it was my personal problem, I just couldn't stand to see my failure in ULAN June came back to haunt me in ULAM July! Hahahaha!!

Remy: ..but your panelists managed to solve this out, didn't they?

BOSSUlam: Very much! I was actually, at the time of frustration, *grin* anticipating. I wanted to know what magic would my panelists would offer to me out of the mess.

Remy: .. and what did you get fianly?

BOSSUlam: ..Well.., what could I say more?

Remy: Very well. So panelists, I believe while writing or continuing the story, you guys must have your favourite character that you would, intentionally or unintentionally, put more effort or time to develop, right? So tell me, what's your favourite character? Zip? Elle?

Red Ruby and Ey d'lEfty: ZIP!!!!

Flo: I knew it! I knew it!! Of course both of them love Zip! Spidey introduced Zip at 1st episode, and Red Ruby 'reassured' Zip's status in the final episode!

Ey d'lEfty: Hellooooo.... it was my choice, so what? *grin*

Remy: Haha.. but Flo, I heard that you used to say the most interesting plot would be KingKong is actualy the Prime Minister of Thailand and Elle was actually a 'guy trapped in a woman's body'.. and Zip confesses that he is actually a GAY, did you say that??!!

Flo: *LOL* I think I did.. Haha.. but that was only crap.. In fact, I think since all of us did build up a little bit of history of Kong, Elle, Raoul and Professor Z, that leaves us with Maria which, if given the chance, I would create her to become Raoul’s sister, the twin to the one that died.

Don't y'all think it's pretty cool?

Sayuti: Nope. *grin*

Remy: Haha.. so what's your 'COOL' stuff, Sayuti? You introduced the elements of ULAM June, so is your favourite character Prof Z or the tail-less goat? *wink*

Sayuti: The ULAM folder.

*Everybody burst into BIG laugh*

Remy: *LOL* That was hilarious!! Do you really mean it?

Sayuti: Certainly. Because it bears all the answers for all the secrets of ULAM. AND that's is what we call COOL. *wink wink*

BossULAM: You know in normal condition the panelist who wrote up first episode would always have the privilege to design and develop the main character that he/she wants, and then the next writers would just have to agree and focus on this character. But I tell you, Remy, this is not the case in ULAM July.

Remy: Indeed. Look at Zip. Spidey designed and developed Zip but everybody can see what happen to Zip in terms of the contribution to the story flow.

Ey d'lEfty: Yeah, I noticed that actually. Flo, Sayuti, Red Ruby and Jannah, they were like did not want to give Zip any chance to perform in their story..

BOSSUlam: Yeah, and that pretty much made Zip a LOSER in the story, don't you think so?

Ey d'lEfty: Boss, are you trying to say that the person who develop Zip is a LOSER?

BOSSUlam: No no no. Don't get me wrong, Spidey. I'm trying to point out that, the panelists have their own independence thought. And each of them have their own version of story and the way to develop each character, but still they can jive well with the others.

Remy: .. Yeah, even for Zip, he seemed so not contributing in the story but he ended up becoming a hero and the only character that stay the same since the beginning. Hmm.. But there's one thing that I don't really understand.. the ending, I mean the process to get a ending was actually a mess and a lil' bit confusing...

Sayuti: I'm sorry, it was my fault.

BOSSUlam: No no. It was nobody's fault, or if I have to blame, I'll blame the wrong timing. .. And that's was why I tried to introduce the 'pre-post finale' idea, in order to make sure there's an ending ALREADY... but still, if the wrong timing was still there, we might end up having this 'pre-post finale' hanging as a bodiless tail.

Remy: So, BOSS, any plan for the becoming ULAM? I heard somebody has volunteered to be in ULAM September, is it correct?

BOSSUlam: Well, again, I think it's about timing. I'll try to make sure the new batch of panelist would have sufficient time to keep the momentum from start to end. And that's very important. As far as I know, Jannah will be busy with her academic study, Spidey will be offshore later on, no news from Red Ruby and I guess it's a sign of busy. And Flo will be free in September, not sure about Sayuti.

Remy: You mean, you're going to get them back if possible? What about new members?

BOSSUlam: Well this batch excelled, give me a reason for me to abandon them, Remy. New members? Maybe. But some promotion need to be done before that.

Remy: Well I guess we have come to the last part of the show. But before my final question to panelist, let's have a look on the messages left on the TALKUlam message board, the order of the message was from bottom to top, please read according to the date and time:

Elle felt weak. And hot. Too hot. The flames were too close.
“Help..” she cried softly. She had drained all her energy and none was left.

The chanting grew louder and for a moment she thought she felt a gush of cold wind. And then there was the chant again. And the wind…she felt as if it was on top of her. Elle looked up and could not believe what she just saw. The sky was clear a moment ago. But now it was as if hurricane was coming. Flashes of lightning…wind billowing, crashes of thunder and then at the corner of her eye she saw something white. Abnormally white amidst the darkness of the sky. And the whitish glow slowly emerge, taking shape..a ghostly shape was all she could make of.

“Stellis!” Elle thought and panicked. It worked. She was the bearer of the Goddess of Darkness. The time has come. She didn’t want it to happen.Then she felt it. It was as if something was grabbing her heart. She clutched her chest. She couldn’t breath. Every breath she took was a huge effort. I’m dying, she thought. And she fell backwards. In an awkward position with her hands tied at her back. She was staring towards the sky. The figure she saw earlier was clearer. It took a form..a women..so bright..it hurt her eyes..then it changes.The women’s head was filled with small serpents.Hissing at her..like medusa. Her heart hurts more than she can bear. She felt weaker every second. This thing was sucking life out of her…

They saw..the people in masks, Raoul, Kingkong, Zip. They all saw. The silhouette was closing at Elle. Elle was having hard time breathing.

“STELLIS” the people in masks start chanting.

Raoul was awed. He stood guard at his place. It’s real. Stellis is alive.

Behind him, Kingkong paced himself faster. A gun in his hand. He was as dumbfounded as those around him but at this point he had to act..fast. He silently walked towards Raoul from behind after spotting Raoul. Nobody realized his existence. They were too absorbed in their own world. Closing in, Kingkong then grabbed Raoul at his neck and placed the gun on his temple.

“You are going to be sorry for what you’ve done you bastard!” Kingkong said to Raoul’s ear and pulled the trigger.

Raoul could not react.It happened to fast. He heard the blast of gunshot and felt something was piercing his head. And that was the last thing he felt before he dropped dead.

The group was interrupted by the second gunshot. They stopped to see what happened. At that moment, there were screams. One by one in the group were dropping like flies. Gunshots were everywhere. Kingkong had hid near the bushes and started shooting at the masked people. He didn’t care who they were.

******

Zip was waiting for that moment before he tried to take action. He knew Kingkong would have acted aggressively. And with his mental state right now, Kingkong’s going a step further. Trying to kill every single person on the ritual ground. Including him if he did not act now.

Elle was obviously growing weaker. The whitish figure was still on top of her. Apart from the chaos that was happening on the ground, nothing seem to affect Stellis. Zip quickly got out from his hiding place and tried to sneak into the group and to get to the top of the stone. He knew where Kingkong was so he carefully positioned himself so that Kingkong will not be able to see him. The masked group were already scattered around the ritual ground trying to hide for safety. Zip got to the stone but now he had to pass the bonfire that was surrounding it. Ignoring the heat, he tried to look for something to climb the climb the stone. These people obviously had used something to get Elle to the top. He searched frantically for something and at last he saw a bamboo ladder near the place he stood and brought it to the stone. It won’t last, he thought. The fire will burn it down but it gave him enough time to climb it. The heat from the fire was getting intense but he had to ignore it. He needed to save Elle.

Zip placed the ladder on the stone at such an angle that only the top touches the flame. He climbed it and in a few seconds, he was at the top. The flames started to burn him. He winced as his arm was burned. He jumped to the flat top of the stone to see Elle lying on her back. She was not moving. She was pale..

“No!Don’t die on me, Elle,” Zip cried rushing towards Elle.

The silhouette was clearer now as Zip was closer to it. He was mesmerized but then he felt it was so full of evil. The serpent head woman was glaring at him as if he had just interrupted her. He felt pain on his chest now..and was gasping for his breath. Not now, he thought. He quickly exposed the tattoo that was on Elle’s thigh and withdrew his Swiss Army knife.

“Whatever you are,” Zip said to the figure on top of him still gasping for breath, “You are dead!!” Zip took the knife and slashed Elle’s thigh. Making a line across the tattoo.

Suddenly there was a piercing scream from above. Stellis was fading. The figure distorted. At that moment, wind was blowing on all direction. It was as if hurricane was passing to the area. Zip grabbed hold of Elle afraid that they will be blown away. Then there was crashing of thunders. He heard awful screams from below. Fire around him and Elle was starting to torch them. He felt the heat and the smoke was starting to intoxicate him. He didn’t know if Elle was still alive but he did let go of her. His eyes starting to burn and he couldn’t breath. I’m dying, Zip thought and passed out.

********

“I failed……,”

Zip stared at Prof Z as he said those words out loud. Zip tried to hide his own emotion..he wanted to feel sorry for Prof Z but at the same time, he was filled with rage and anger. He had been cheated..all this while. Who are these people? Friend of foe? And Elle, the love of his life..or so the thought.Everything’s coming in together but none of it make any sense.Like scattered puzzles…Kingkong, Raoul, Marc, Prof Zip, Elle,the agency, the Japanese..the samoans..audris..stellis???!!

“What the f***,” Zip swore silently to himself. He needed this to be over. It must end. Now or never..

They were on their way to the airport., taking the next flight to Samoa Island. Knowing that’s where Raoul and Elle would be, and those from the highest power of the agency. That’s where they will summon Stellis..

Kingkong was restless..his only aim was to meet his parents. At this point he didn’t give a damn about Elle or Raoul. His ticket was Prof Z. But this Audris and Stellis prophecy or crap thingy. Is it real? Gosh…come on. We are living in this modern world…how could anyone still believe in this Goddess of Darkness or Light or tattoo that could summon anything? Kingkong was skeptical. But he had play along until he get what he wanted.

Prof Z was feeling hopeless. His only grandchild. His only family. All this while he had tried his best to protect her. From the agency especially. Stellis…she will release the utmost terror…the devil itself. He’ll do anything to protect her. To stop her from releasing the Goddess of Darkness..stop it before it sonsumes her.He’d rather see her dead than seeing the devil released and die because of it. No matter what, that will be his sacrifice…

********

“Where am I?” Elle tried to open her eyes. She felt a pain behind her head. She tried to open her eyes but it hurt.Her hands..bounded tightly at her back. And her legs..tied too. Her eyes hurt..her head hurts. She tried again and when she managed at least to at least take a peek around her, she went numb. The sight..what stood in front of her was something she would never imagine or even consider real. For a moment she thought she was dead..but the sounds..the music..the people. They are all real.

Elle looked down at herself.She saw that she was seated on a stone or what looked like a huge stone erected for what seems like 3 metres from the ground. And her clothes..and it doesn’t look like what she had wore the last time she was awake. It was THE dress..the traditional Samoan dress..for the sacrifice. She has seen it before. And after seeing it, she now know what she was into. They are holding the ceremony. It has started. The people..those stood in front of her were wearing masks. Masks of Darkness..Elle said to herself. Those chantings..they are different. Not what she remembered. Then Elle gasped. She quickly looked at her thigh hoping that it was still there. It must be there. I don’t feel pain..and she moved her leg so that the dress will expose part of her thigh where the tattoo was. Elle gave a silent sigh..it’s still there. But Raoul said..they needed to finish the tattoo in order to summon Stellis but so far, they’ve done nothing about it.

“Don’t worry Elle. Your tattoo is safe. And I know what you’re thinking. Why have we not done a thing to it? Because there’s no need to do so..because well, surprisingly its perfect,” Raoul said, smiling.

Hearing the voice, Elle was surprised to see Raoul stood at her side on the ground. Looking at her, smiling. That evil smile…that liar!!

“What do you mean perfect? We’ve seen it..and its not. You won’t be able to summon her and you know it,” Elle stared at Raoul with hatred.

Raoul eyeingly stared back at Elle without feeling remorse “And how can you be so sure about that? We’ll never know if we don’t try. And if it doesn’t work out, we’ll try again and again and again. There are many beautiful Samoan women with malu like you waiting out there to be sacrificed my dear..and you know how many have sat at the same spot as you..hoping their sacrifice will bring out Stellis and obviously failed.This has been going on and on for years…centuries in fact. And if tonight we fail..we’ll have other nights..and other..until we have our Goddess of Darkness.”

“You are crazy..the agency..these unknown mad for power people…” Elle was angrier than ever. “How many innocent lives have suffered for this?? This is not about living your life for the tribe..for their beliefs..for Audris. This is madness..to gain power..to summon darkness.What good does it give to any of us??”

“Quit it. What difference does it make? Audris or Stellis? In the end we kill people. Just to satisfy our desire. What makes you, me, our tribe and this f***ing Japs different? We are all the same. So I might as well join the other side if you know what I mean. At least I do get something out of this sacrificial shit. You people die..I get the money..they still believe Stellis is out there somewhere and this will never stop until they get what they want.” Raoul was about to walk away when Elle stopped him on his track.

“Don’t you bullshit me about doing this for money Raoul.I know you believe it as much as I do or as our tribe does.You’ve seen Audris.You said it yourself.And you know what happens if they release Stellis. None of us will survive,” Elle said.

Raoul gave her words a thought..just for a few seconds and continued to walk away not turning his back. Knowing that was his last time he was going to see Elle..alive.

“Raoul!” Elle screamed to him. “Raoul!Get me out of here..please..don’t leave me here.Please..” Elle sobbed…cried as she never cried before. No, she thought. All my life, I never cared about sacrificing myself for my tribe for I always had Audris in me..but now..Stellis. What have I done….

**********

“We are close by. You hear those chanting?” Zip was leading the way in the midst of the jungle.

“No!We’re too late!They’ve started the ritual.We will not get there in time,” Prof Z was agitated.
“We don’t know that yet Prof Z. Quick.Move fast and we’ll make it,” urged Kingkong.

They moved as fast as the track will allow them. Hoping that they could make it in time…minutes felt like hours. And as they got nearer, the chanting grew louder and they stopped at their tracks when they saw the bonfire. There was a clearing in the middle of the jungle.Obviously made for the ritual. A stone about 3 metres high was placed in the center. There were about 20 people making a circle around the stone..chanting with black robes and masks on their faces. Men or women..they were unrecognizable.The fire they saw was burning on the ground around the stone and it was growing higher and higher. And on top of the stone itself, Elle sitting with her hands and feet bounded. She was screaming. It looked like she was screaming but as the chanting grew louder, it swallowed any sound she was making.

“Elle, no!”Prof Z rushed towards the ritual ground without thinking.

Zip and Kingkong tried to stop him but they did not expect him to rush out like that. They maintained their position hiding away from the group of people. It was too late for them to stop Prof Z. If they try to run after him, they will expose themselves too.

The chantings suddenly stop. Elle’s scream now was heard. She saw Prof Z running towards her. “Grandpa!” it was the first time she had ever called him that.

“Elle!” Prof Z was unaware that the group had stopped their chanting and now building a human chain between Prof Z and Elle.

“ No!”Prof Z cried. He stopped. Seeing that it was impossible for him to penetrate them. And at that moment he took out his Glock from his jacket and pointed his gun at the human chain that stood in front of him.

Then there was a sound of gunshot. The people in masks stayed intact at their position. No movements.No sounds. No screams. And at that moment, Prof Z fell on to the ground holding his sstomache. Blood stained the shirt he was wearing. His face was contorted with pain.

“NO!!” Elle screamed after witnessing her grandfather being shot. The heat from the fire was starting to intensify but at that point she felt nothing. She was numb.

Kingkong wanted to run to Prof Z’s aid but Zip stopped him. “You don’t want to do that kong.You’ll get shot too.”

Kingkong stayed put. They were searching for the source of gunshot.

Suddenly Raoul emerged from the group. Taking off his own mask and revealed himself. A gun was on his hand. “I’m sorry Prof Z.You shouldn’t have come at all.”

“You….don’t..do..this..you will kill us all!” Prof Z tried his best to mutter those few words. His pain was excruciating. He knew he had lost a lot of blood.He felt cold.

Raoul ignored Prof Z’s word and turned to face the masked group.”Proceed and do not stop.Get Stellis out of her!”

Prof Z was now helpless.Waiting for death.He was too late.He looked at Elle. Elle was sobbing. Prof Z smiled weakly. At least…she recognized me as her grandfather, and that is all I can ask for, he thought to himself. He was still clutching at his gunshot wound.Blood trickled to the ground. He was cold…so cold. And at last, Prof Z took his last breath…

******
Zip and Kingkong stared, bewildered.

“How can we fight 20 against 2?”Zip asked Kingkong who was still shocked at what he just saw.

“Huh, I don’t know.Hey Zip, with Prof Z dead, we will never know who are parents are..right?” Kingkong was frustrated. All this while he thought…

“I guess so. But hey, we have a larger problem now.Elle and Raoul and this Stellis thingy. How are we going to stop it??” Zip asked again hoping Kingkong will start realizing how deep they are into the whole situation now.

“I don’t know man. And you know what? At this point, I don’t give a shit.I don’t believe in thi s Stellis crap and neither should you.It’s all bogus man. Just another reason for people to kill someone.All I want to do right now is to kill that son of a bitch Raoul. For all I care..f*** Elle and Stellis!” Kingkong was now unable to constrain his emotion.

“Ok.Whatever.I want to Elle out of here and you want Raoul. We now go our separate ways.You get Raoul.I get Elle.”Zip held his hand out to Kingkong. “This may be the last time we see each other.After all this shit end, I don’t even know if I want to see you anymore.”

Kingkong took Zip’s hand and shook it. “Me too.So, good luck!”

And they went they separate ways thinking of how they could get their hands on Elle and Raoul and stop the ritual altogether.

"I HAVE FAILED!" Profesor Z suddenly shouted, startling everyone.



"...so does Sayuti," someone whispered out of nowhere.

(the end)

p/s: Sori boss, sorry guys...

Elle has been ready her whole life. She denied herself a typical childhood, away from children her own age; play and laughter was not in the daily list of things to do. She spent her days growing up immersed in everything related to Audris, the Goddess of Light. She memorized the entire book of charts and prayers by heart. She knew everything she needed to know about Audris, deity mother who sacrificed her life to save her people. Those who worship her every breath would receive her undying love and protection from evil harm.

Audris' rebirth comes in every 7 years, and as tradition dictates a glorious death awaits her with open arms. The girls born with the birthmark malu were destined to be her vessel; they will receive instant placing on the altar of Demos, and will serve as her high priestesses in the heavens.

Therefore, when Raoul told her about his experience as a little Samoan, watching his own sister sacrificed to release Audris into the heavens in order to shower wealth and prosperity as she ascends to the sky above, Elle was calm and collected about it.

Elle's fate in life is to die. And now Raoul was telling her that she didn’t have to die; Audris could be contained in Elle's heart and still be free to disperse glory to the people around her.

Raoul said that Audris had a sister, a twin to be precise, Stellis, the complete opposite of Light. Stellis is the Goddess of Dark, whose wrath knows no bound, and her powers could be harnessed to advantage. Stellis could turn peaceful neighboring countries against each other and even rain down hails or snow on a tropical island.

Each time Audris is released to the heavens above, Stellis is left behind in the vessel, rotting away inside earth, the only self gratifying thing she could do was prison the earth with hatred and greed. Her story remained buried until now.

So the little Samoans believed they’re releasing Audris. But the Japanese Elite really wished to gain power over Stellis.

They have all the money in the world; what Stellis could offer them is ultimate power worth more than all the nuclear bombs in the world combined. Hers is the highest high, to gain the respect of the world, after their humiliating lost in World War 2. They shall be the rulers of the world with Stellis Goddess of Dark by their side.

“How sure are you that Stellis could be tamed?” said Elle.

“Because of you. You have a Stellis tattoo, Audris. This rarely happens. If ever it happen. We have been monitoring all the vessels of Audris, their development, and you showed the most probability of being a Stellis vessel. Audris vessels tended to be meek and obedient, only following the orders given to them. Not you. You’re a rebel. Even after the initiation ceremony, when they brainwashed you, you sill shows a streak of fire within. You decided to travel the world, instead of staying in one place and offer prayers to Audris, you’d rather go around the world to get things done; the ULAM folder, becoming Zip’s lover yourself when Maria failed to seduce him. You act instead of staying put,” said Raoul.

“But I only wanted to get things done. To prepare for the release of Audris, to gain everything she has to bestow on us. Everlasting love to finally bring peace on Earth.

“That’s where the Little Samoans got it wrong. Releasing Audris into the heavens would only bring momentary bliss, the most is 4 to 7 years. But this way, we could harness both Audris and Stellis’ powers much more longer than that,” said Raoul.

“This way?” asked Elle.

P/s Good luck Flo. Go crazy! I just had to name the goddesses. August Ulam characters maybe? Hehe :P

Let's talk about Samoan's tattoo, or Ta Tau.

While the male tattoo, the pe'a, shows the bravery of Samoan men, the female tattoo, the malu, means to be protected and sheltered. This is very well documented in most of the Samoan culture literatures, unlike Little Samoan cultures.

Not many people know about Little Samoan, a minority group of Samoan who is intentionally marginalized by the rest, because of their strange conception of Samoan cultures, and their weird interpretation about Ta tau.

While Samoan perceive women with malu is protected and sheltered by Samoan spirits, Little Samoan believe that the one who protects their tribe is someone born with malu on her one thigh. Or say it in another way, Little Samoan believe that the spirit which will offer protection and shelter to their tribe is trapped in the body with naturally born malu.

They call the spirit, or the girl with naturally born malu, Goddess of light.

What makes Little Samoan being marginalized by the rest of the Samoan is, they practice Sacrificism. If a girl is born with a malu on her thigh, her destiny is to sacrifice, to release the Goddess of light in her body when time comes.

Every members of Little Samoan bear the tradition by generations, but it is totally unacceptable for the rest of the Samoan. Once a little girl was recognized as the chosen Goddess of light, a mirror image of the naturally born malu will be tattooed on another thigh of the little girl. The pattern of the naturally-born malu changes through time, and when the time has come, a cross-match image of the naturally-born malu and its initial pattern which was tattooed-on will tell the message of Goddess of light....

...... ......

"Hold! Prof.," Zip raised his hand and stopped Prof Z from continuing his story, ".. you said 'when the time has come', what do you mean by that?"

Good question. Sitting beside Zip, KingKong nodded showing he was about to ask the same question too, out of thousands of questions in his mind.

"Well," Prof Z started to behave as if he was conducting a Q&A session in a formal conference, ".. there's a famous quote among Little Samoans which sounds like this: 5 days before full moon high, the time has come and the blue wolves cry.. " Prof Z intentionally made a pause, and looked at his two audiences, "anybody in this room cares to have a guess on it?"

Silence. A light smile on Prof Z, giving hints, "look at the picture, what do you see?"
"A goat, tail-less one.."
"Then tell me what is the similarity between a tail-less goat and '5 days before full moon'?"

Both are incomplete. SO??? Zip and KingKong were definitely wondering the same thing.

Prof Z knew what came into the mind of these two geniuses in front of him. They just need another piece of information to complete the puzzle about the tail-less goat. He took a deep breath, "This picture," paused, to pull Zip and KingKong back from deep thought, "... was taken 3 years ago by a kid of Little Samoan tribe on Samoa Island, when the picture was shown to the tribe elders, they all agreed that, this was the message sent by Goddess of light, telling them that the time has come..."

"... meaning.. any sign showing incompletion indicates the time to sacrifice the little girl?" KingKong needed some time to reformulate this interpretation, it was illogic at all to kill a girl based merely on a picture, maybe the goat just conscious and unconsciously hided its tail.

"Then how the hell all these are related to Elle?" Zip's main concern was still the love of his life, but the moment he finished his words, a chilling feeling smeared all over his body...

Elle.... is the little girl..

"..but how come? It was Elle who asked me to steal the ULAM file!! .. and she even tried to kill me for it!! How can she... argh no I don't get it at all!" Zip was frozen at the moment, but KingKong wasn't. He knew something else than Zip about Elle.

"The problem here is, Elle is ready to sacrifice." Prof Z state the message WORD by WORD.

Now both Zip and KingKong were frozen.

"Elle knows everything about her destiny, and she has been waiting for the moment to come, the brilliant Little Samoan came out with a neat and structured plan to make sure that everything will be ready by the time the sign appeared. They brainwashed Elle, they set their base in Tokyo and attached to an secret elite organization in Tokyo to help them to scout for talents and trained them --- and you, KingKong, you're one of their trainee, you're part of their plan.. -- it's just that I still don't understand why they were trying to kill you...."

Silence. Both Zip and KingKong were still stunned.

".....w---hy..?" somebody voiced this out, but the voice sounded so dry that Prof Z couldn't identify whose voice was it.

"I understand all these stuff are... mess. You're not sure why this little community of Little Samoan doing all this? You're not sure why there was a need to get the Japanese elite organization involved? You're not sure why and how and what they were doing all these things just only for a message from their Goddess of light?.... Look I know you're not sure of so many things, but trust me, my only explanation for it is, 'The message from their Goddess of light' that they are going to retrieve from the cross-match malu," Prof Z stopped and took a deep breath, "..is something very valuable than just a superstitious message about Goddess and myth.."

"which is?" KingKong was gaining his composure.
"I don't know." Prof Z replied firmly.

Sigh. Zip and KingKong finally felt released when they heard Prof Z gave them 'I don't know' as the answer. They didn't think they could bear any shocks and surprises anymore. These whole shits, they thought it started from the ULAM folder, obviously had already started at least 7 years before, and each of them was actually arranged and set-up, everything now seemed to be so not-solid, everything and everyone could be any parts of any plans and any lies of any relationships.

"... wait." out of the chaos Zip realized something, "how do you know all these? why we need to trust you, Prof Z.?"

"I...." Prof Z suddenly breathed deeply, "Elle is my grand daughter..."

Again, Zip and KingKong were lost in translation. What does it mean?

"... so is that make you part of the f*cking Little Samoan tribe who wanted to f*cking kill Elle for the sake of retrieving that f*cking message from that f*cking spirit?!!?" Zip was getting emotional. He stood up angrily and grabbed Prof Z on his lab coat's collar. The atmosphere was tensed up at the moment.

"Elle is a Samoan!" shouted Prof Z back to Zip.
What??!!?!?
"Elle was brainwashed. We Samoan people tried to protect Elle since she was born but Elle was kidnapped and brainwashed...."

Zip pushed Prof Z down. His anger was fumed up by all these things. "Tell us!!!" he shouted at Prof Z, despite of his respect to the wisest old man he'd ever met.

Prof Z sat back to his chair in the lab, sigh sadly, deeply, "Elle still could recognize me as her grandpa, but......"

******************************

It was the dream that Elle described to him that day made Raoul confirmed his wild guess about Elle and the relationship between three of them and the 'higher authority' that gave commands and orders.

The chant that Elle showed to him, he was absolutely familiar with. It was the chant sung during a tattooing ceremony for Samoan, but it was also the chant casted during the sacrifice of a lady of Little Samoan, who was believed to be able to free Goddess of light from her body after her malu was stabbed and a hole was made.

Raoul witnessed the ceremony three times in his life. He ran away from his own tribe after witnessing the 3rd sacrifice ceremony which involved his elder sister. Raoul decided to ran away not only because he did not agree nor accept the ceremony, it was also because he saw something which made him started to question about the existence of his own tribe, Little Samoan.

He was only 10 when he ran away. He never had a chance to get himself tattooed, but something else had tattooed in his heart. From the day on, he swore that he wanted to find out where he really came from.

... because what he saw during the night his sister died, was so unreal, which made him felt that he was just 'TOO REAL' to be one of the Little Samoan tribe.

... and now he needed to prove something from Elle's malu. He had this strong feeling sensing that Elle might have her naturally-born sign-of-Goddess malu on her thigh, but she was real.

Elle was, again, TOO REAL for her to be one of the Little Samoan tribe.

..and as the sketching of Elle's malu was finishing, Raoul became more and more nervous. The cross-match sketch of Elle's left and right thighs' malu was showing something he used to familiar with, he used to had nightmare of, he used to terrified with ---

--- it was a rough sketch of the image of Goddess of light that he saw during the night his sister died. YES, unlike the 2 experiences that ended up nothing was shown after the ladies were sacrificed, he DID see Goddess of light 'flow out' his sister's body after the ceremony, but it did not match any image that had been described or imagined. It was something else, and this time, on the tracing paper, Raoul saw another image of 'Goddess of light', it did not look like the one he saw before, but Raoul just knew, it was Goddess of light, or maybe another Goddess of light.

God damn it I sacrificed my morning bus to stay in UTP and spend almost 12 hours working on this before my 1 week off. See how noble (stupid) i am?

The folder should contain the clue to break the secret of the malu – the tattoo on Elle’s legs. The tattoo will lead them to their most valuable treasure – their freedom.

Elle looked at Raoul. Raoul nodded.

Elle touched the folder with trembling fingers, curious at what secret lays inside it. Slowly she opened it, almost squirming and squinting as if some hideous monsters will jump out from the folder and grab her and Raoul, eat them there and then.

Elle flipped the cover.

‘read from the end, and you’ll shy away from the fiction written on the magazine’

She flipped another page.

‘as the big ape fly, to the end of the beginning... and fallen to the light’

Elle almost whimpered. She took a deep breath, and flipped to the third page.

‘and shall the moon carry the light to convene at the beginning’

Raoul nodded. The words referred to him, and his role.

They already knew about the words on the first three pages. Elle knew it from her sensei. Raoul knew it from his contact. King Kong was the last to know.

***

The four pages after that confused them. They were profiles of four college students, each represented with a picture of goat.

Goats?

The last one looks like a goat, but without tail.

But why are the pages there?

Zip was in a queue to go through the passport control counter at Narita's airport when two men in black suddenly approached him.

His instinct told him to kick both men on the nuts and run away through the south wing. However, the situation did not allow him to do so.

“Puh-reese for-row uh-so,” one of the two men instructed, in thick Japanese accent.

“Huh, you want me to row something?” Zip tried to be sarcastic.

Zip didn’t see it coming. He only felt the sting. The hand of one of the men moved lightning fast towards Zip’s arm, and suddenly a needle pricked his skin.

“Ouww!” Zip cried out, startling everyone in the queue. The two men waved their hands to the onlookers, signaling them to ignore the scene as if nothing was going on.

Zip wanted to protest with a knuckle to the man’s chin, but suddenly he lost control over his own body.

“What the…?” was only echoed in his head, not uttered through his lips. The man who pricked his skin smiled - a wicked smile. Zip was somehow in a trance.

No, not a trance - he was somehow possessed!

The two men turned around and started to walk. Against Zip’s will, his feet followed them.

***

Raoul and Elle were looking at her malu now. There’s a meaning inside the pattern, encrypted inside the riddle.

They flipped another page.

‘Shy as we hold the secret. We are the map when left and right crossed.’

“I’m going to spank the wiseass who wrote this!” Raoul grumbled.

It was so lame. He could figure the meaning right away.

“We have to lay your tattoo on a flat surface,”

“Are you going to skin my leg???” Elle almost shouted. The vision from her dreams – nightmare – flashed in her eyes.

“Trace paper, silly”

The malu was printed on her thighs, and she has every right to worry.

“But why?” Elle asked.

“I’ll tell you why when you tell me what you did to Kong…” Raoul said, almost whispering.

Elle paled. How could he have known?

***

Kong opened his eyes.

“Is this heaven?” he knew he was not in heaven when he could feel the pain. He gripped his head, suddenly remembering the piercing sensation of the bullet through his skull. He should be dead. Is he dead?

“No, you’re not dead; therefore you’re not in heaven either. Neither you’re in hell though you are more than qualified to go there with all the stuff you’ve stolen. You’re under Ukima Park, Kong.”

I’m still in Tokyo? How did he…?

“You’re my experiment, Kong… my precious specimen,”

What…?

“Finally, after all these years… The serum works! Hahaha ”

Who the hell are you?

“Oh, how rude of me. I’m Professor Z…”

"Raoul, I think I need to get some fresh air.It's been a while since I came here.I could really take a walk along Shibuya or Harajuku.."Elle looked at Raoul sheepishly, while deep in her heart all she wanted to do know was to get away from Raoul and get on with her task..the main task she was supposed to do here in Tokyo.

"Can't we go somewhere else more peaceful?What is it with you and crowded places?"Raoul trying to understand the love of his life.

He knew he was at risk when they started their relationship.The call King Kong received, after their success, Raoul had actually been contacted earlier.The job they underwent,stealing those infamous paintings, it was him who had received the information from the his contact. He knew about Marc and the contact earlier than King Kong. That was when he met Elle. And that was when he knew she was everything he had ever lived for. Elle's existence was not coincidental.She was part of the plan.The contact had set the meeting. And from then on, that was when Zip came into the picture.

Zip was not supposed to be with Elle.He was supposed to be with Maria. Elle was just helping out.One thing lead to another.Maria wasn't interested and she was out of the picture. Zip showed his interest in Elle. They went out for dinner but Elle insisted they were only friends. Even Raoul didn't think he should be worrying about it.Then things got more and more complicated. The contact had changed plan. Zip should be with Elle. Elle was going to be Zip's distraction from the initial plan set for Raoul and King Kong.

Then King Kong was contacted.Raoul had to pretend that he had been contacted the same time as King Kong. And as for Elle, she still 'played' her role as Zip's girl and secretly, she was with Raoul. But nobody knew that Raoul was having an affair with Elle. He managed to hide it from King Kong and Zip. It was hard for him to go along with their 'act'.To let Elle be with Zip. But he had to oblige. Between his agreement with his contact and Elle, he needed to sacrifice the love of his life. If it means that later, Elle would be his forever after he is done with the job..he was willing to sacrifice.

"Come on Raoul.It's Tokyo.And you know me..it's not that I get to shop everyday.."Elle giving him the insanely beautiful smile that he can never resist.

Putting his thoughts about Zip and King Kong away, he gave Elle a hug, "Go..shop to death if that's what you want.I'll be here in the room.I need to wait for King Kong's call anyway."

Elle kissed Raoul, took her purse and headed towards the door."I'll be back before you know it."

As soon as Elle walked out the door Raoul took out his handphone and dialed an eight digit number.At the first ring, he heard King Kong's voice on the other line "Hey Raoul, you just arrived?"

Raoul walked towards the ceiling to floor window of his Park Hyatt's suite overlooking Fujiyama or Mount Fuji."I just arrived.Is the contact there?"

"I don't think so.I'm told to wait.But hey, this waiting is making me nervous,"KingKong tried to sound relax but part of him was unable to conceal the mixed feelings he has now.

"I know.Man, at last.7 years of waiting and this is it.Call me when it's done.Where should we meet?At my place or yours?"Raoul tried to calm his friend but he was feeling restless too.

"Yours.This place is beautiful but hey..it's too classic!I need to go somewhere a bit more 'modern' if you get what I mean,"KingKong replied.

Raoul snickered understood precisely what KingKong meant.King Kong was at the Imperial Hotel.The legendary landmark in Tokyo situated near the Imperial Palace itself.It was too classic and historical to suite King Kong's modernized and 'techno' taste.He should be in Akihabara, though Raoul smiling yet again to himself.

They hung up the phone and both waited patiently as they had waited for 7 long years.At last, freedom was in their grasp for the first time..

**********

Zip was still on board the flight to Tokyo.

"Damn, 5 more hours to go.."

********
As soon as Elle stepped out the main entrance of the hotel, she casually climbed into an unmarked car. Two men in the front seat turned to face her and gave a bow as low as their seating position allowed them.

"jikan desu - it's time," Elle spoke to them and without needing anymore instruction, the men understood and drove into the bustling city of Tokyo heading towards the Imperial Palace.

**********

On the 16th floor of the main building- the Imperial Floor as they called it, King Kong lay down on the lavish SleepWork Bed, staring aimlessly at the plush interior of the room. Decorated by the world famed England's Julian Reed, although he had been in the room for the past couple of hour, he was still awed by the explicit details they had put to create such room.

But as minutes passed, his awe slowly diminishes and turning more and more into claustrophobic. "Where the hell is he?" King Kong said silently to himself.

Although he knew that in a few minutes, all the effort he had put for the past 7 years will come to repay him..but nonetheless, he felt restless...uneasy...

Sweeping every negative thoughts in his mind he stood up and head towards the bar at the end of the room and made himself a drink.

"Maybe I'm just too excited," he thought and took a sip from his Bohemian crystal glass.

Then there was a knock on the door..

The contact, he thought and hurriedly walk towards the door.

As soon as he turned the knob, a crash came down on him and he felt as if he just knocked his head on granite.

He was on the floor, his head was throbbing with pain and when he had the chance to open his eyes, to regain his sight, he felt a couple of large hands under his arms, dragging him towards the bed.

"What the..," before he could speak, he felt a blow on his face.

"Shit.." King Kong swore.

"Hi King..I really hope you're enjoying your stay here..," he heard a voice..a female voice..so familiar..

Mustering all the strength that is left in him, he tried to search for the voice ignoring the two huge japanese men who were pinning him on the bed.When he found the source of the voice, his eyes widen, not believing what he was seeing.

"Elle?What?Who?" King Kong was confused.Why was she here.He tried to think...his contact??It can't be..his contact was a he.. not a she.. or is it?

"Why, Kong.You look so confused.Oh, ok..let me just help you a little bit here although I really hate to monologue," Elle gave King Kong a smile..not a sincere one..more of a cynical smile.

Her demeanor changed so much, it took King Kong more than a few seconds to actually believe it was her.It was not the Elle he knew.The person in front of him was the exact opposite. The evil twin.

"So, at least.We meet face to face.Yes, and don't give me that look.I am your contact.Surprised?Well..you know how technology work nowadays," Elle continued while putting her hand into her purse, searching for something and when she found it, held it into her hand and threw it to KingKong.

"A voice changer device.." King Kong stared unbelievingly at the device that fell on his lap. He could now taste blood on his lips as he said these words and felt a rush of warm liquid on the side of his head.Trying to block his pain away, he focused back on Elle."Why?"

"The folder of course," Elle said as she located the folder on the sidetable next to the bed.She walked towards the table and took the folder.

"What's so important about it?And why me?Why Raoul?Zip?"King Kong demanded for an answer.

"It's up to the higher power to answer all your questions.I'm just the contact,"Elle answered leaving the questions hanging.

Then there was the sound of phone ringing and automatically Elle reached for her phone in her pocket and answered ,"Hai sensei. Ano fairu-wa..watashino tede.Hai.Wakarimashita - Yes,master.The file..it's in my hands.Yes.I understand," and as abrupt as the call started, she hung up.

Without hesitating for a moment, Elle looked at the two Japanese men in front of her and gave them a nod. Without any verbal cues needed, the two men nodded back and and one of them took out a .38 calibre pistol from a holster beneath his jacket.A pistol with a perforated cylinder on its barrel that will silence any bullet that goes through it.

KingKong was numbed.He saw every movement of the Japanese man beside him.He was helpless..he could not move.Still pinned down by the other man, for the first time in his life he felt alone."I'm going to die," he thought."And yet, I don't know why.."

The gun pas pointed at King Kong's forehead and the last words before the silent bullet pierced into his skull was "God, Help me."

Although the words were said out silently, those words echoed in Elle's ears as she left the room.She did not stay to witness the atrocious crime. She left before the trigger was pulled. And as she walked away silently, with the folder in her hands, she felt a drop of tear on her cheek....

King Kong wished to stop.

He already made his wealth from stealing. Now he wished he could retire in style amidst tall coconut trees and white sandy beaches of Bali.

He had always liked Bali. The hot sunny weather was the complete opposite of the gloomy fog infested London where he grew up. He lived with a foster family who took interest in his aptitude for technology. They provided him with extra classes and undergraduate tutors. They never complained about him blowing up the basement when his attempt at building a supercomputer met an early demise. They loved him as their own child and he grew up not thinking about his true parents too much. He could hardly recall how they looked like. The one thing he remembered of his mother was her long brown hair and green eyes. His father wore thick black glasses and had grey hair. The last memory he had of them was his parents waving him off. He was in a blue car with a lady in a suit. He remembered crying and the lady comforting him. He was five years old.

Bali brought back good memories of him being young and without care of life’s misfortunes. He was there on a semester break, in his early 20’s with youth oozing out of his tanned skin. He found his call in life when he met Raoul, an art dealer looking for a partner in business.

“What sort of venture are we talking about? I’m not into arts. My vocation is computers. There’s big money in computers. Someday we would all be slaves to computers. Mark my words,” said Kong.

“That is where you come in my friend. You look like a man in search of adventure. What I’m offering you is a chance to see the world, meet beautiful women in exotic locales and on the side make an unbelievable amount of money you could do whatever you want to do in life,” said Raoul.

Kong took the job without ever looking back. Folly is the youth who thought money brings about happiness. You cannot buy happiness. Happiness is in the doing. You make yourself happy doing things you love. In Kong’s case he believed he was doing something he loved. Breaking into heavy security systems of top museums seemed fun and challenging in the beginning but as he got older, the technology grew along with him. It stopped becoming a passion when the one thing he used to enjoy doing felt like work.

............................................

Tokyo hid her flaws underneath bright neon lights and the glittering glamour of cosmopolitan living. The criminal underworld bosses took tea in posh six stars hotels. They children were sent to expensive international schools and took foreign languages, groomed into becoming global citizens. Money traveled first class all over the world nowadays. The best method of cleaning dirty money is no longer buying expensive arts and gems. It was in making smart investments and reaping the rewards after 7 long years of waiting.

Everyone was there to witness the occasion. ULAM was returning home to its rightful owners. Everyone paid their dues either in monetary values, blood, sweat or tears. It took them this long to get here but the wait was worth it.

This King Kong, they were told that he was one of the best. They have been watching his development since early childhood. Recognizing his potentials, they placed him under the care of the best minds they could buy with their combined wealth. It was all done in the name of ULAM. And tonight everything would be theirs again.

The vision started to develop into a chaos...... the sound of ladies chanting becoming louder and then overwhelming... it was a heart-tearing noise but it was unavoidable.... the pictures of tattoo flashes swifter and swifter..... the faces of men and women around the ring flashes, none of a face was recognizable ... Elle was brought into the center of the ceremony.... then fire then chanting then tattoo.... the a knife suddenly drawn out swiftly and stab right into the thigh of hers, without any hesitation... then tattoo then chanting then fire... Elle screamed but she couldn't hear anything.. the knife was withdrawn and raised into the middle of the air, then another swift and clean move stabbing down ----

"Leai!!" Elle was shocked and sat up on her seat, puffed heavily, sweating with fear. The continuous grunting sound of the flight engine conquering the silence cabin. The cabin was dark, indicating it was a sleeping time for most of the passengers. A slight shake of the airplane due to current pulled her back to reality. She found her composure.

"Honey?" Raoul was awaken, "the dream again?" he put his hand on Elle's, trying to tell her that whatever it is, I'm here for you.

Elle nodded, and took a deep breath, realizing something out of a sudden, "Honey can I have your pen?" She then took out her little notebook while Raoul passed his pen to her, "... this time is different, they become more vivid...", explained Elle referring to her weird dream that had been haunting her since her childhood, meanwhile she started to write something on her notebook.

Raoul did not quite get Elle, but he couldn't ask for any clarification as Elle put her index finger to her lips and made a 'shhh.. silent please' hand sign to him. Elle tried to recall the chant she heard in the dream. It was in Samoan, she knew only part of the language, but this was the only direct message that she might get from this weird dream.

"Friend, stop your wailing and moaning,
That is not the pain of a sick person.
That is the pain of a novice.
Relax your body like giving up,
Give in, o chief!

Ah, you suffer beneath the blows,
Ah, till you fall asleep,
And you are not tired nor weary of it!"

"No. That doesn't make any sense for me, honey.." Raoul responded to the translation that Elle came out with, "yeah it sounds comprehensive but I don't think it's relevant to anything..." Raoul looked at Elle who sunk into deep thought.

Silence. The grunting sound of engine again conquered the atmosphere in the cabin. Elle took a deep breath, "that supposed to be sung during a tattooing ceremony, not for what happened in my dream...."

********************

Zip knew things could be much more complicated than he thought. He was born with all these kind of thieving intelligence and instincts, but somehow he would rather choose to believe that there's always a invisible helping hand that will pull him and give him a hint that eventually helped him to solve the problem before him.

This time, he believed that this invisible helping hand appeared in the form of his affection for Elle.

He decoded the wicked phrase while thinking of Elle, and he strongly believed that, the "read from the end" ULAM word, was something regarding to of Samoan, although he wasn't that 100% sure that by relating to Samoan will eventually relating to his love, Elle.

What was the "read from the end" ULAM? The answer was too obvious. MALU. Zip knew the answer at the moment he read the phrase, but thing wasn't that certain for him at the moment was, "MALU", appeared in most languages that he knew, and each of them defined different meaning.

'Malu' in Calabrese, means bad; 'Malu' in Denya, means space; in Malay and Indonesian, 'Malu' means embarrassed or shy or bashful, 'Malu' of Sindarin refers to the yellowish brown colour; in Welsh, 'Malu' is a verb, grind; and 'Malu' of Mapudungun, means iguana.

.. and the list goes on, and none of the meanings direct his thought to the case, until Elle came into his mind.

'Malu' in Samoan, is a female tatau. And tatau in Samoan, means tattoo. Zip should have thought of it.

Zip closed his eye. He really wished that the interpretation he made was damn wrong, he really wished that Elle was nothing to do with all these shit, but the more he prayed and asked for hint from his 'invisible helping hand', the stronger he felt that he's losing Elle.

The car stuck in the heavy traffic jam in the city of Lisbon. Zip had nothing to do but just tried to calm his mind and let the taxi driver handle the traffic head-ache. He thought the lame interpretation of 'Elle The Magazine' would show how stupid and how wrong he was in the interpretation, and eventually prove that Elle was nothing at all relevant to Raoul and KingKong, but when Zip just couldn't help but started to revise his Austronesian-rooted languages, which Samoan is part of it, and without any hassle, he found out another clue that to a certain extend it direct to Elle.

..and right there right then inside the taxi, on his way to the airport, the chaos state in Zip's mind was far far worse than the chaos of the Lisbon's traffic. With one phrase flashed in his mind and all the checking and rechecking and double-checking going on ----

"e nii a gam me" -- by belonging to the Goddess of light.

What really broke Zip out in a cold sweat was, the name of Elle, which is Ellie in Greek, means LIGHT.

.. and what really torn Zip's heart apart was, "e nii a gam me", prounouced as eh-ni-yah-gam, exclude the silent 'me' , it made the phrase "e nii a gam", which was very much close to a word that had been 'read from the end', 'shy away the fiction -- Z', ----

---- magazine.

ps.. sayuti, you are a jerk!