Promise

The frozen corpse in the Brantas River. Malang.

August 13

The dim light of the streetlamp fell upon the stiff body floating slowly, carried by the river's current that began to recede in August. The temperature below minus three degrees caused some parts of the corpse to freeze. Some people passing over the Blue Bridge that night might have caught a glimpse but seemed reluctant to even offer sympathy. They passed by without a care. Maybe they know that the body will become a disaster for them.

Fragments of amethyst crystals cover almost the entire body corpse. A miasma of decay magic is released, capable of countering numerous sorts of elemental magic, even simple curse magic. Thousands of years ago, witches referred to it as antimatter magic, and now maybe hardly anyone believes that this myth would actually appear as a real myth magic.

"Javi..., go home!" commanded a woman to the elf race wizard who stood behind her. "Senja is waiting for you. Don't make the girl anxious by coming home late!".

Javier snorted with annoyance. Javier clearly dislikes it when people meddle with his private life. Especially if it involves his foster daughter, Senja. "Senja was already asleep when I left here. I'm not sure she will wake up in the early morning and realize my departure," argued the elf named Javier Mareq, glaring sharply at the woman who had cautioned him.

Gistara is the name of the woman who seduces Javier. A 36-year-old mixed-blood witch with rank A defense magic abilities. Gistara then lifted the body from the river by herself, using teleportation magic. She carried the body and floated it just above the cold asphalt surface beside the river. Gistara picked up a shard of crystal that had fallen from the corpse and carefully examined it.

"Decay magic... or antimatter magic?" whispered Gistara to Javier.

"Are you sure?" Javier asked Gistara. "It seems very impossible if there are still witches who master that magic. Even for me, who has lived for 300 years, that magic is just a legend!” said Javier.

"Abhi… can you see the events that led to this person's death?" asked Gistara to Abhiseva, who was busy preparing the body bag.

The young man named Abhiseva raised both of his hands. A sign that he couldn't do anything to predict the cause of death of the woman they had just found. Abhi then snorted in annoyance. "All my abilities are paralyzed within a radius of 10 meters from the corpse. Maybe that's why... many people who pass by or even witches choose to remain silent and pretend not to see," explained Abhiseva. They both then fell silent for quite a while. Staring blankly at the body that is now neatly wrapped in a body bag.

Although they were very eager to know what had happened to the body as soon as possible, it seemed that the entire investigation had to be conducted manually without involving magic. That means they have to work together with the hospital and the nearest police to conduct an autopsy and further investigations related to the cause of the victim's death.

"This is going to be very troublesome," Javier said despairingly.

"That should be good. It means our task ends here. Narendra and the others will take over." Gistara patted Javier on the shoulder, then asked him to immediately put the body bag into the ambulance that had been waiting for them on the other side of the road.

…

It didn't take long for them to arrive at the central police station, where the corpse would be autopsied. Abhiseva and Javier quickly took the body's bags out of the ambulance. They were assisted by several police officers on duty that morning, who took the body bag to the autopsy room, while Gistara quickly contacted a police chief who had been waiting for them.

"Why... does it seem a bit different from when we last lifted it?" Abhiseva murmured as they entered the autopsy room.

"What do you mean?" Javier asked, confused by what Abhiseva had just said. "How different?" he continued.

"Does not form the human body," explained Abhiseva.

The two police officers who helped them exchanged puzzled looks.

"The body we are carrying is a wet body, right? There should be parts of the body that stick to the body bag, revealing the contours of the human body. Moreover, her figure appeared to be quite overweight for a woman. Meanwhile, the one we're carrying suddenly appears shapeless. Instead of resembling a human body, it actually looks more like a lump or a soft liquid!" Abhiseva explains his opinion.

The two police officers with them remained silent. It seems that they agree with what Abhiseva just said.

Curiosity now filled their bodies. Javier was the first to reach for the body bag's zipper, just to check out what they'd brought from the river. Is this a human body or something else? As soon as the body's bag was zipped up, a foul stench filled the room along with a slimy red liquid that flooded the floor. Some organs fell out. The intestines burst with digesting leftovers, which had become yellowish after mixing with bile. Bones fell scattered, making a rather loud noise, apart from ligaments or joints that turned into a clear, thick liquid. Javier cursed aloud as the dangling mass of intestines touched his shoes. A police officer who was helping them suddenly fainted, while the others stood frozen with trembling bodies.

"Boss… we have a problem!" Javier immediately contacted Gistara. Asking the woman to immediately go to the autopsy room.

When Javier was about to recite the spell to clean his shoes, he suddenly remembered the shards of amethyst crystal that filled the corpse. The crystal had blocked his magical abilities. Now the feeling of annoyance and disgust is reaching its peak. Javier then left the morgue, slamming the wooden door of the room.

"What happened?" asked Gistara with a panicked expression, breathless as she arrived in front of the autopsy room. Behind her, a police officer also looked panicked.

"You can conclude what happened in there by looking at all the red liquid on my shoes!" Javier said angrily.

"The body is destroyed!" shouted Abhiseva, who had just exited the autopsy room.

Blood seeps through the gap under the door. The red liquid formed a puddle. That immediately answered Gistara's confusion about what happened. Everyone fell silent, looking at each other with a mix of confusion and fear.

…

"Mr. Javi..," shouted Senja as she saw Javier climb the stairs to the second floor. "Last night you went out again." Senja said with pouting and a feigned angry expression. "Where?!"

Javier stop, then he turning around. "I am working…" Javier lied. "After all, the money is for you too!" Javier then got off and approached Senja. Ignoring his wobbly steps, he forced himself to continue. "Come here!" Javier asked the girl to sit beside him after lighting the fireplace in the living room.

"What?!" Senja, still angry, took big steps toward Javier.

"Help me!" Javier whispered while handing a glass of plain water to Senja. "Turn that water into sweet tea for me!" ordered Javier to Senja.

With reluctance, Senja reached for the glass. Then she cupped her hands together, with the glass in the middle. 10 seconds, 20 seconds, until the first 25 seconds, there was no change at all. Until 1 minute later, the initially clear water slowly changed. A reddish-brown hue suddenly appeared in the middle of the glass. Slowly, the color grew stronger until it spread throughout the water. Javier smiled, then he grabbed the glass.

"Did you add something else?" Javier asked after drinking the water that had now turned into tea.

"Dried chamomile, and also a bit of honey. Lavender and some herbs to enrich the flavor. A little ginger to create a warm sensation in the body after drinking it," explained Senja.

Javier then raised his right hand. Slowly, from the empty air, an object resembling a tanto knife, a traditional Japanese short sword with a phoenix engraving, appeared. Senja, who saw that while bowing down, hid her face. Senja knew that when Javier drew that weapon, he would be punished.

"There's a little problem, so for now, don't go out of the house! For school, let me ask your homeroom teacher for permission," ordered Javier.

"And what about that?" asked Senja while pointing at Javier's knife.

"I left my sword at home to guard this place. As long as that sword is still in the house, it means the barrier I created to protect this house is still functioning well. If later that object is destroyed, then you must immediately run to my room. There, you can hide in the usual hiding place," explained Javier.

Senja fell silent. Staring blankly at Javier's short sword. Although she is only 10 years old, Senja is a smart child. She realized that Javier, who was her guardian, was now in trouble. Senja was about to ask what had happened, but she held back.

"What can I do to help you?" asked Senja.

"I owe you so much. There's no way I would just stay silent while you're in trouble. At least, even if it's just a trivial matter, I can help you," said Senja.

"I don't want to be a burden to you for the rest of my life, which you might think is very short. I want to be useful to you.”