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Ravina watched the island for a moment, after entering the Roman-like palace where she will be staying and there's another similar palaces for the Tiryags and Trilaksana Organization--not only the Rakshas and Nirvana Organization. She crossed her leg as she sat down on the chair in the tearoom of the palace, it seems like there were servants and maids are in it. Damien walked in, sitting next to her and as their subordinates kept their distance. The forty-seven years old youthful Chinese Indonesian widow opened her eyes, before she looked towards her eldest son who placed his suitcase filled with his business files.

She watched him take out his laptop and opened it, typing on the documents he needed to type. Her eyes glazed upon the screen in curiosity, before she noticed it was all about the information regarding the Hyang Seram Island, right on the tourism website and social medias. "How's everything for your investigations?" she inquired, humming while sipping on her tea.

The silver-haired individual smiled lightly, as he typed on his documents. "Fortunately, everything seems to be going smoothly so far. I checked everything from the budget to other factors like the laws of the island and political considerations, business opportunities and so on," he told her. Those eyes glazed upon the information of this new potential investment, since he need to make a survey for his next business.

Damien read more about Hyang Seram Island until he finished, before he saved the documents in his folders. He always keep his investigations to be private, his own affairs is his to deal with and there is no need to share it with anyone else. "Is there something else?" he asked in confusion, seeing her mother staring at him with questioning eyes. "How about your employees? In your company, not the Secret Garden one," she asked, referring to his public company--not the unofficial one in shadow government. "Oh, them? Yeah, no worries, mother. My other employees will stay in the mess, ensuring every part of the island was perfectly safe and well-guarded. I covered their expenses for a while if they're planning to spend the days on the island, just to make sure there won't be any trouble."

He explained, typing on the words when Ravina smiled in satisfaction to see him having control over things. "Seems like you did very well for a leader, you should give yourself a much harder break and just enjoy yourself rather than think about anything too heavy," she said, Damien smirked. "That's what you usually say, mother."

She chuckled, knowing he used to be cold to almost everyone and treat things as a duty rather than pleasure. However, as time goes by, Damien started to get more laidback and seemed to enjoy his freedom more. "Do you think gambling is bad?' she asked, testing his patience and what he thinks of the topic. "For commoners, it's bad enough that most gamble just to earn money but they don't even try to improve themselves, although it's their life and choice. Unlike us, we had the ability to know when to start and when to cut losses but overall, gambling can still turn a person badly--depends on what you do with them. Are you going to use them as a game?" he inquired, raising his eyebrows to her--in which Ravina stopped sipping her cup of tea and leaned back against her chair.

"I only do prediction and numbers, I don't like slots and simple games," the matriarch smirked, this causes him to grin a little. "What type of gambling do you do?" she asked, in which Damien leaned his cheek over his hand on the table. He moved his fingers before cracking it, massaging his neck gently to relax--tired of all the negotiations, arguments and paperwork he had. "I... use my brain to plan out a number, but I rather get one to a single point that will almost lead me to a goal that's always guaranteed to me," he replied, in which Ravina lifted her eyebrows.

"Of course, I won't approve of bets with too many uncertain variables and no guarantees, just relying on your luck is so lame. In the end, I just let other people that is responsible for all the numbers and allow to do what needs to be done," he continued, looking at her for a while. Ravina seemed to be pleased, proud and impressed how determined and disciplined he is, this makes her proud as a parent despite being quite busy with her work. "Also, did you take care of your pet birds?" she asked, knowing her son loved birds so much.

Damien raised his head to look at her, he indeed inherited his mother's intelligence, charming eyes, her love of science, her compassion to the people, and her desire to be useful to others. The look in his mother's ruby eyes made him nostalgic, reminded him of something long ago. While Luca inherited his late-father's courage and kindness to the people, Damien has his late-father's seriousness and ambition to achieve the dreams and goals--he even has a coolheaded traits that Ravina reminded him of in his childhood. He remembers that Bastian was the one who taught him how to read and write, made him do mental calculations to improve his thinking, had him play piano and violin to awaken his creativity, did martial arts to build self-confidence, and participated in sports and games to be more open and tolerant. He missed Bastian, just like in some poems.

"Yes, they're in our homeland," he replied, those nostalgia look into the windows that presented a scenery of Hyang Seram--filled with rainforests and large properties in green and brown that decorated with waterfalls, and it already past three-thirty in the afternoon. Ravina narrowed her eyes, noticing his solemn expression which is very common coming from the persona he shown to the world.

Flashback...

Ravina watched her ten-years old eldest son and five-years old youngest son playing with their friends in the park, she was sitting next to Bastian who also watched their sons happily enjoyed themselves. "Damien should be a lawyer in the future," she said, looking at her husband with her usual stoic face. Bastian gave out a chuckle as he sighed, he watched his sons have fun together. "Why don't you let him choose his path? Who knows that he might invent things or something."

"Damien has little emotional complexity," she pointed out, making her Spanish husband frowned in confusion. "I mean, he may have emotional reactions at times and all but... he doesn't talk about them or really seem to have deep levels of understanding about them," Bastian remarked, looking at her as he folded his arms. "Luca has the most emotional complexity... it's part of him and I bet that he'll try his best to maintain it even after adulthood. I'm not seeing the same thing with Damien," the silver-haired man responded.

Bastian shrieked when his wife's hand covered his face, playfully pushing his face away. 'So stubborn. Very well, we'll play it your way,' he thought, and then a sudden pokes on his face. "Oh come on, what did I do this time..." he whined, before she scowled and sighed. "You're too nice to everyone, Bastian," his Chinese Indonesian wife complained, to which the twenty-nine years old gasped. "Me?! Nooooo... you're the mean one here!"

"Do you wanna argue more, Bastian?"

Ravina asked, standing up with her foot on his chin--preparing to kick him if he refuses to surrender. "Not right now... but I'll definitely get my revenge later."

A few minutes later, the silver-haired young boy known as Damien hugged his mother before going to join his father, Luca was the energetic one. The mother figure bent down to pat his head, and looked directly into her eldest son's eyes and said, "Let's make something to eat for dinner. I'm sure everyone would like that."

In their mansion, Damien watched his father typing on his laptop of his current business--before he glanced at him. "Father, if you reborn one day--what will you be?" he asked, making the silver-haired man raise his eyebrows to him. "Hmmm... I will be something different, like I could be anything I could dream of," Bastian replied, smiling as he touched his hair. "But, if I was told to pick one, I would say... a bird," he answered, ruffling his eldest son's hair gently. "A bird?" he said, wondering what a bird has with becoming an entity. "Of course! Then, I can finally soar high, reach greater heights, feel free to do whatever my hearts wants and taste the feeling of total freedom!"

Luca's eyes sparkled when he heard that, but Damien and his mother were comically distraught with the shadow over their eyes.

Bastian smiled gently as he closed his eyes--he's not a poet but he certainly has a knack for it, he holds them in his heart as he continue to type on his laptop. "Someday, if I became a bird--promise not to trap me in your cage or chain me and show me to the world. Would you, Ravina, my beloved birds?" he asked, making Ravina glared at her as he shrieked in fear. "N-Nevermind..."

"What do you want to be?" Luca asked, his father thought for a moment before he answered with a smile. "Copper pheasant would be really cool. One day, we should go birding together!" he answered, making his beloved family chuckled.

Even though it was painful memories of them together, even so--Damien kept his resolve to try to at least live the life his parents wanted. After his father's death by a car crash, he tried his best to move on from it; no matter how painful it is. Until, when he was on a trip to Japan and stared at the cherry blossom tree--the Indonesian saw the injured Copper pheasant nestling on the grassy ground, clearly it's an official bird in Japan yet... the pain was aching. He knelt down and let the hurt animal weakly pecked its beak at his index finger, he decided to ask the tour guide--Hikaru. "Hikaru, I need your help."

Hikaru walked over to his side, which he held the Copper pheasant and the Japanese seems to realize what he was hinting him. "What the--how did the bird got wounded!?" he asked, sounding shocked in response to the injured pheasant. "Can you get something to patch it up with?" Damien asked, without looking. "Alright, please wait for a moment!"

Few hours later, the nestling got tended and Hikaru somewhat let Damien take care of it as a gift--making him comically pale in response to his treatment. After he was done with the trip, he just got home to his mansion in Bali and began to feed him--he has been taking a liking of birds because of his father's stories about being a bird, not to mention they're fun to watch and listen to. "There you go. I'm glad you're finally have a color, the patch-workings were tough but it will heal in a few weeks. Don't worry, you can rely on me. But, try to stay out of the fights while it's healing, okay?"

The male Copper pheasant nuzzled with him, making him smiled and petted his head in response. Then, he received another call from Hikaru that there's a gift for Damien which is ANOTHER male Copper pheasants that made him nearly got apeshit and confused as fuck because he never noticed that Hikaru would gifted him another of the same thing. "How did he know I loved birds?! What a coincidence."

Damien froze when he saw a Copper pheasant bird flies and landed on the table, moving its wings and neck back and forth before spreading the wings outwards. 'I remember when my late-father wanted to reborn as a Copper pheasant after his death, some of his hobbies and passion for nature and I was nineteen when his death caught me off guard and unaware, because we often visit these places--even going to museums and zoos...' he thought, placing his finger on the beautiful pheasant bird which happily chirped when it allowed him to touch it. "My tour guide from Japan gifted me this after I saved this little guy, this bird's quite young and got lost from its family," Damien said softly to his mother as she looked towards it. 'Also, late-father wanted to reborn as a Copper pheasant...'

The large bird had long dark red tail feathers, speckled yellow underparts, and had bright red face, chest, and tail feathers. Its upper parts were a soft charcoal brown while its underside was a richer earthy shade. Damien picked up the bird, letting it climb on his arm and perch over it. The bird suddenly pecked on his head, making Damien hissed until both of them even Luca heard the bird spoke... in human voice.

"It's been a while."

The three of them didn't move an inch, staring at the bird with widened eyes--almost believing if what they're hearing is a fantasy. Both males are at a loss for words, speechless and shock. "Huh?" Damien was the first one to break the silence, staring at the bird to check on any abnormality. Luca and Ravina said nothing, too baffled about the strange occurrence to even say anything. Ravina was about to tell them to not let a voice hear from a bird to get to them, she had seen bizarre occurrences in her work, although this might be different.

"How are you doing, Damien and Luca?"

It talked...

It spoke...

"D-Dad..." Damien whispered in disbelief, Luca gasped and Ravina's eyes opened wide. "That voice... it can't be--" she trailed off, recalling those memories of her beloved in her mind. Instead of crying, their expression became a feral mess with comical rage. All of their eyes turning into red color, bloodshot and filled with bloodlust that could kill a thousand men. "Huh, you're a bird now?" Ravina asked, holding the bird's neck that made the Copper pheasant sweating in fear--Luca and Damien's appearance turned into darker, with lightning behind them.

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"Look, darling--I'm using this as a medium because my soul keeps wandering around somewhere, searching for either of you until I decided to be in this bird," the pheasant answered, in deep male's tone... much older and mature version than her. Ravina smirked, her handsome face turned darkly as she chuckled at her husband's voice. "What? I thought you're a ghost?" the matriarch inquired, seemingly not surprised that her late-husband was talking through the Copper pheasant. "I'm a ghost, my dear! I ended up feel sorry for this bird so I had to reside to this little thing..."

"Ghost, huh? How come?"

Ravina asked, glaring at him. "Wait, mom... Dad was a ghost this whole time?" Damien questioned, along with Luca with the latter wanted to ask the same thing but got interrupted. "Are you a virgin?" Bastian suddenly questioned his eldest son, in which Damien glared. "What kind of question is that to your son?!" he protested, face burned in embarrassment for his father's question. "Are you a virgin too?" he asked Luca, almost to the point of slapping the pheasant to bits. "Yes..." the second son muttered.

Damien also wanting to rip his bird apart for daring to ask something he doesn't want to hear. "Fine, calm down... you're a ghost for the rest of your life, right?" Ravina asked, her late-husband's ghost nodded with a frown. "Yes... for some reason, I can't even rest in peace... I don't know--but I just choose to be like this even my ghostly form..."

With that being said, Ravina had to let the bird stay in her mansion... wait, that was just a dream right? Ravina woke up from her dream as she was panting heavily, what the fuck was that dream about?

End of Flashback...

"How many investors have we gathered for today, my dear?"

She asked, tapping her fingers on her cheek. "Roughly seventeen until eighteen conglomerates, Mother," Damien responded, Ravina smirked as she watched over the view of the palace's garden. "It's fine, we shouldn't gather too much expectations but get excited for this--welcome the wealthy businessmen and make proper connections on them," the mother informed her son. Damien noticed the other palaces located next to their palace, he is quite stunned as he knew the organization buildings belongs to his enemies that met their unpleasant destiny a few years ago. "What business are you working on, Mother?" he asked.

Ravina played with the claw-like accessories on her black gloved hands, before her gaze darted at him. "Agricultural business, of course. I'm currently focusing on my beloved mangroves, plantations and this root known as... Amorphophallus muelleri, I forgot what was it called in English," she said, looking at her son's laptop filled with his project management documents. Ravina is the reason that her two sons were quite ruthless when it comes to business, except for Luca's case as he is the "young master"--seemingly cheeky, his true color was somewhat cold-hearted and quick-thinking with merciless wrath to see their opponents 'disgusting' parts, according to Damien. "How about you, son?" she asked.

Damien's gaze darted at her, before he sighed. "I'm planning to invest in a casino," he whispered, aware of other businessmen presence might misunderstand his words. "You're always lucky in gambling, you didn't waste them. I've seen that Hyang Seram is somewhat attractive and wanted to invest in something that might get interest in other sectors, Luca? How about you?" he asked his younger brother, who is eating some desserts while reading about the documents.

Luca eats his cake he got from a specialty bakery, trying to enjoy this before the meeting or else there's no time for him to eat--like that one time his big brother managed to finish his cake when he wasn't paying attention. "Huh? I'm already planning to make a program in Trilaksana Organization, you know that," the young Christiadjie said as he looked nonchalantly at both of them--this is expected from his behavior towards Luca. "Actually, I'm more into this casino business that we made recently... right, mother? Business isn't always clean and neutral as what it has been written for years. In fact, our organization is doing shady business--and for them? They're more like living a typical movie: high-class businessmen trying to eliminate the rivals and all."

He explained, watching the hologram monitor of the colosseum-like arena that has been reconstructed not far from here. "Damn, I'm still hungry as fuck..." Luca whined, before he glanced at the servant. "Can you guys cook us something? I'm in the mood for 5-star food," he ordered the servants who nodded, going to the kitchen to prepare the food--one of them went to the living room to greet the arrival of other nobles and wealthy people in here.

Nadya was feeding Bubu, before she heard some news from the servants--nodding with a smile before she saw the pig oinked. "Oh, it seems there are more guests coming over here! Wanna see them, Bubu?" she asked. The pig squeaked and oinked, she giggled at the cute animal antics as she saw Kahayana walking towards the servants. He came with his son Kohaku who finished checking out the hotel for five days with his friends to stay in the palace, he yawned because they slept less than five hours due to a traffic jam in the night and the plane had a delay on their departure from Lombok before, landing in Bali airport and drove off to the island. "Kayana, how was it?" she asked.

Kohaku grunted, he watched the pig sniffed and tried to 'inspected' him by analyzing his whole body. But he stood there like a statue, not wanting to destroy the moment between Bubu and his little friend. "Seems like the pig likes you, son," Kahayana teased, making him grumbled as he hold the pig and holding its cheeks. "Yeah yeah, I get it..." he muttered, before he tried to carry the pig that made Byakuya snorted a little in the kitchen--the others were unpacking their stuff in the palace. "Fuck... so heavy..."

"Isn't the pig smaller?" Sherry questioned in awe.

Kohaku manages to carry the pig, it's so fucking heavy for him to hold but he still managed to hug the animal. "Are you talking about the animal or the dessert? Bubu is the name for its pet pig, how come he gets cuter every time we see him?" Rayna asked Nadya, the other assassin asked the former and she nodded. "Alright, Damien... it's your turn to carry this little dude now..." Kohaku muttered at his boss, approaching Damien who's talking with his mother and younger brother--before he pounce the pig on his lap. Damien screamed in surprise as the pig flopped on his lap, the pig snuggled and flopped onto the elegant, posh piece of luxury and leaned its head to his chest in response to his small hums and chirps that cause the pig purrs.

Luca laughed hysterically when Damien felt as if his soul went to cloud nine, making the latter's face twitched at the silliness of the moment while Ravina used her fingers to tackle the pig's tail, amused at the small gesture. "My my, it seems the pig enjoys your lap, Damien. I heard that animal has a personality, do you think that your personality is somewhat similar to this adorable animal?" the matriarch of the family asked, chuckling at his son's pale face--he never held a pig in his arms.

Kohaku tried to not laugh at his boss, Damien glanced at him and Nadya was laughing as she snapped some photos of them. "Are you comparing me... to this feral creature who oinks in alarm of upcoming disasters?" he asked, Ravina only nodded as the pig stood up and laid down on his stomach, looking at his burgundy tie. "Alright, let me carry him..." his mother spoke, before she cradled the pig. "And that means its sleeping time..."

Nadya thanked Damien's mother for bringing the pig back, while Kohaku and his friends laughed at his superior’s expression and he only grumbling on how much his legs had already giving out from exhaustion and he had to face a cute little pig's ambush. "You can take rest, dear. You have a meeting tomorrow with the other businessmen, Luca?" Ravina glanced towards him when she asked, he didn't worry about it as the meeting was already set on their own schedules. "I'll be attending a meeting with Trilaksana Organization, my boss want to ask me about the campaign for the island--that's tomorrow so... I can take a break."

After some relaxation and playing on the games (so much for relaxing), there was a meeting inside the Hyang Seram of where the first meeting will be held on the main stadium of this village with other businessmen from all around the world attending the party and the meeting. Damien was being professional like usual, but this time he prefer not to indulge himself in worldly matters. He was so focused because most of the topic is about the Hyang Seram project, business offers, and everything business-related things. Both he and Luca being in attendance whenever their mother attended in a meeting--because they have something important to protect, the Christiadjie Group and they only focus on their pride-related work--most of the times.

Luca was explaining the campaign known as Hyang Seram Tourism Initiative, which is the goal to market Hyang Seram island in this conference known as a two-week tourism camp--spread out across Hyang Seram in Indonesia because it was one of the Indonesian islands and already talk to both the government and the ministry regarding this. His tone was diplomatic and levelheaded as he was looking towards these particular personas, both he and Damien are the co-chairmen for managing the company. Although they dislike the corruption because it reminded them of those disgusting rats, but then again, Luca actually a softie when he have friends and someone he cared.

Once the meeting is already ended, they dismissed their guests and the leaders of the conglomerate is going to meet each other tomorrow.

"Ah fuck, it's tiring enough for me to handle this shit," Kohaku muttered, but happy about Damien finished his job. He wanted to build a business after some lectures from Radjasa because he's a fashion designer and he wanted to advertise his fashion lines for a high school girls clothing to promote brand new products and become the trend--sometimes he have to listen for Damien's advice and do what he said. Kiryu was planning for new recipes to make a new cuisine in any restaurants so he wanted to become a chef and perhaps open his own restaurant. Radjasa helped him in the whole 'image' in advertising, their boss could afford a lot of this--so everything went into the right hands, right places.

The next morning, Kohaku was going to meet Damien's allies--this is the first time he met them in person. There was Dorothy who was painting her nails, Robin who was sitting on the table with practicing his magic skills, Tina was looking at him skeptically and lastly Erfan was smiling with his eyes closed. Good thing Hisato is here and Kohaku saw his father Kahayana assured him that they're harmless for now, these assassins are quite tense around him and he only smirked with a smug look on his face.

Damien entered with his polished shoes, walking in confident and smug gesture with a smile. These guys gave him a formal greeting because this time, they have a big operation on this island and make profits for the projects to be done. Erfan was writing on the script book, since he's the 'seer' of Secret Garden and in charge of Damien's visionary skill. It won't surprise Kohaku at all that his boss might have a strong advantage. Then, he sensed that Erfan is looking at him--making Kohaku gulped in worry for he felt unsettled. "Are you Kayana Sahanaya Tirta?"

Wait, how did he know him? Oh right, he's a psychic! Kohaku felt paranoid as he noticed the smile on Erfan's face, it seems Erfan has visions about his life and this is kind of creepy yet intriguing to see what the future holds and even glimpse through it. "I'm the scriptwriter for Damien's visions. Normally, he would say the random facts that came in his mind and I already got used to it," the man responded, waving his hand in circular motion to gather several transparent papers with writing on it--a sign of invisible screen was projected as if showing his visions.

"Am I... that 'special' enough for him to remember?" Kohaku asked in slight surprise, wondering why Damien would pay attention on his life. Erfan chuckled at him, caressing the cane on his hand. "Special, huh? Of course you are, without you--his life will be completely different. Now, listen..." Erfan told him in confidence, sensing the ambiance surrounding the room. The woman who was painting her nails glanced at the vision, trying to listen for how 'powerful' Damien's visions are.

It begun with something chaotic...

Damien was in his office of his corporation, reading the files of his company work--he grinned when he find out those seven tormentors of his were trapped in his 'game'--where they accuse each other of various crimes against them, including sexual assault. Damien smiled as he read the article detailing the seven tormentors' actions, as he smirked at Rihan's name appearing in the gossip column. "That son of a bitch," he muttered as he cringed at Rihan's horrible act. "Now I'm satisfied, not to mention it uncovered their dirty secrets, let alone their stigma--they're no longer in Jakarta and humiliated by people with their names drowned; except Randy... poor flight attendant, at least he was accepted."

Damien yawned, before he heard his telephone ringing and he answered the call. "Yes, this is Damien Christiadjie speaking, how can I help you?" Damien replied with a charming smile.

"Mr. Christiadjie, this is the minister of shadow government of your country Indonesia, we would like to offer you some 'special' duty to protect our nation," the first minister spoke in the line, causing him to narrow his eyes. "We really need your help, there has been traitors in the nation and they tried to play with the laws--we'll glad to work together if you don't mind--and we'll cover up about your 'secret activities' of purging the traitors; whether it is the officials, politicians and such."

Damien lifted his eyebrows, he was aware about this and he grew bothered because of those traitors who tried to stain his beloved country. So, he decided to take things to the extreme measures to ensure that nobody will bring shame upon his country again. "Of course, sir, I'd love to assist you. When is this supposed to happen, and what needs to be done?" he asked, as he glanced at the clock on his wall. "Meet us in the warehouse of the port tonight, we'll provide some transportation for you."

The minister instructed Damien, looking at the other ministers. "Good luck, also bring the money to show your allegiance to us."

After that, Damien was seen entering the warehouse at night where he met the Indonesian men in black, revealing themselves from the shadow government. "Greetings, Damien... are you alone? No guards, no sniper, nothing? Seems quite dangerous... but I'm surprised you'd take my invitation..." one of the men in the room began to speak, before Damien close the door behind him. "I came here by myself," he stated firmly, gazing at them upon recognizing the presence of the man.

"It's good to see you again... Damien Fernandez Christiadjie."

The man said, seeing his neutral glare and cold expression on his face. "Thank you, so what's our business tonight?" Damien asked as he took a sip of his tea, sitting on the chair in front of them. Then, there's his mother and younger brother who also present with their suitcase filled with money. His ruby red eyes shimmered in red, matching his mother and younger brother's ones as he was listening to them and he decided on the creation on his illegal organization under them.

Damien indeed grown fond of the logo since he created it, he knew that he was going to put this organization to work soon. He has many plans to make this organization grow bigger, and he wants to train more assassins and soldiers to serve as his muscle for future plans. Many people in underground business feared of Secret Garden organization, but Damien only cares about his beloved country and countrymen. Damien glanced at the antique clock on his wall, noting the time.

"It seems like I have to find new members."

Kohaku immediately snap out of his senses, so that's how Damien had his first meeting with them.

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