Jack Of Arts

*DING* the elevator's bell rang unusually loud and the bodyguard closest to Tayaw sprang into action trying to grab Tayaw. Tayaw, through the elevator doors, saw the reflection of the bodyguard's action and hurriedly dodged. Tayaw thanked his enhancements that his reflexes and reaction time made him perceive the world in slight slow motion.

Tayaw grabbed the arm of the bodyguard that reached out and yanked it easily as he folded it behind the bodyguard's back. He also quickly grabbed the bodyguard's free arm and did the same, subduing the guy truly using only his left hand and his superhuman strength. Tayaw then saw the other bodyguard reach to his waist so he quickly searched the subdued bodyguard's waist for a gun with his free right hand and pulled it out.

As Tayaw raised the gun, he noticed that the safety on the trigger is on so he flicks it off before he pointed it to the other bodyguard. The other bodyguard, who only managed to pull out his own gun from the holster, realized he was too late and quickly stepped sideways instead to cover the Asian man.

"Relax, gentlemen. This is my floor." Tayaw said as the elevator doors opened. The free bodyguard also noticed that the button to the floor was pressed on so he slowly and carefully returned his gun to his holster. Tayaw also flicked back the safety on again and returned it to the subdued bodyguard's holster.

Tayaw then released the bodyguard he subdued and watched closely if the bodyguard would jump on him again. Thankfully, the bodyguard did not. "You were too jumpy, my friend." Tayaw said as he patted the shoulder of the bodyguard who was still processing what happened. "Have a pleasant evening, fellas." Tayaw said to the three men as he stepped out of the elevator.

Tayaw still has not dropped his guard as he saw one of the bodyguards peek his head out from the elevator, scoping him as he walked through the corridor. It was only after he heard with his sensitive hearing the elevator door close did he sigh in relief.

After Tayaw entered his hotel suite, he finally cursed out. "What in the f*ck was that?! Sh*t, if it wasn't for my enhancements, I would have been humiliated." After cursing out though, he suddenly laughed out loud. "No. If it wasn't for my enhancements, I would not have been treated as a threat! Hahahahahahahaha!" Tayaw said as he found the contradiction quite funny.

"Still. That was awesome." Tayaw consoled himself as he replayed what happened. The way he subdued the bodyguard and beat the other bodyguard to pulling out the gun felt unreal. He never actually held a gun before because of the strict gun laws in Teungeb but he played plenty of airsoft with his previous life's band members. Thankfully, he was fast enough to consider his actions, preventing himself from getting shot.

Feeling himself calm down, Tayaw brushed what happened off and went for a shower. After putting on his sleepwear and sent his suits to the dry cleaning service of the hotel, he settled himself on the sofa with his new gaming laptop he bought just a week ago. Regarding his old laptop, it only contains some pdf files and his manuscript so he was able to easily transfer all the files to his new laptop. He's intending on giving the old laptop to a lucky member of the band.

Tayaw then opened his e-mail and checked the sales report that Topaz just sent him a few hours ago. What he saw was a surprise. Since May when the monthly book sales of his fairy tales peaked at 5 million copies, the monthly sales have gradually reduced to 3.8 million copies by the end of September. For the month of October however, the book sales suddenly jumped to 5.2 million copies. This coincided with the sudden increase of his View Points in the entirety of October.

Tayaw then perused the sales report more and soon found the reason. It was annotated by whoever wrote the report that there was a sudden increase in demand for his books in China and Latin America.

"Hmmmm.. Was it because of the marketing done by Topaz?" Tayaw guessed. Tayaw figured that Topaz hyped up his upcoming book 'The Halfling' which in turn reinforced the popularity of his fairy tales. "Great job, Topaz." Tayaw said sincerely. He then opened his online banking and saw a single deposit of 12,540,000 BGC a few hours ago in his transaction record. He transferred 32% of it to his other bank account to reserve for his taxes.

This made him consider hiring an accountant not for his earnings as an author or an artist, but as a business man. Owning a business like he does has a lot of things he can use for tax deductibles. His businesses are in America too so he can't possibly deal with his own taxes.

He put aside all the money thoughts and pulled out Earl's guitar to start writing a song. The situation earlier in the elevator gave him an inspiration. He started playing some random chords while he processed the mixture of emotions inside him. Never in his life, both past and present, has he been put under a life-threatening situation. The situation was dealt with, but still, he knows he got lucky.

November 7, 2011 Monday 10 am. Tayaw's hotel suite, New York City

Over the past week, since his encounter in the hotel's elevator, he was able to compartmentalize the emotions he felt. Anger, excitement, fear; these emotions inspired him to write three songs in the past seven days.

"The fight drops deep as does my gun.

I laugh, and sing even as danger is not my fun.

Beyond the walls of arms, life is defined.

I think of my mother as Lady Death speaks to my mind."

Tayaw is sitting on the sofa with Earl Thompson's guitar on his hand, and finished singing and playing the first of three songs he wrote in the last seven days. Untitled for now, the song was inspired by the fear that dawned on him after he dealt with the bodyguards. Tayaw wrote it in Teungebian, and in classic rock inspired by the style of Peter McKinsey. While it does not blatantly narrate his experience during the elevator encounter, it still tells its story with metaphors that can pain a similar picture to his experience.

In the next moment, he felt the familiar feeling of his body and mind getting enhanced (refer to 'third level' enhancement in 'July' chapter). He has not felt this great since September when he got list last two enhancements after he wrote his two albums he released.

Feeling good about it, Tayaw adjusted his strength and began playing the second song he wrote.

"He's here, I saw him from afar.

Never knowing what he will do,

never knowing when he will strike.

I wait as the clock ticking was over.

I heard him roar, I saw him jump,

Here comes the fun."

The second song, also untitled, was inspired by the tension and excitement he felt when he subdued the two bodyguards. It is in English this time, and he wrote the heavy metal genre, which he deemed perfect. Just like the first song, he also used allegories to guide the listener's interpretation and imagination to picture his encounter with the bodyguards.

As if the white void approved of is choice of the genre, he felt another feeling of enhancement after he finished playing the song. Suppressing his excitement, he carefully moved as to not damage the guitar in his hand.

After adjusting his strength once again, he started playing the last of the three songs he wrote.

"He's a man who lived a life of danger

to anyone he meets he stays a stranger

with every action he made, grabs a chance before it fade

as maybe he won't have - a chance to see tomorrow "

While his last two songs are good, this last song he played is the one he considers his best work so far. "The Invisible Man" the song's tentative title, was inspired by the mixture of excitement and fear he felt during his elevator encounter. Tayaw wrote the song in the English language, and in the style of outlaw country genre which perfectly fits the emotions and the setting of the song. While the song does not tell his actual experience unlike his first two songs, it tells the life of a man who treads the line between life and death. It also hits that such life also gave the man a sense of truly feeling alive every day.

As Tayaw finished the song, he felt his body get another charge of the "third level" of enhancement. Putting aside his excitement from his enhancements, he felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. If he can have someone judge his compositions, then no one is better than the mysterious 'Arts Record' itself. If the white void deemed his songs worthy, then his songs are good enough.

"F*ck… That was great." Tayaw sighed as he sat dazedly in the silence of his hotel room. A few seconds later, he was pulled back to the white void, just as he intended, and placed Earl's guitar on the void's guitar stand once again.

Tayaw then left the void and went for a shower hurriedly; he felt nasty. Tayaw, aside from meeting his basic needs like food, water, and air, never took a shower or never played around as he invested all of his energy and concentration on writing the three songs.

Unlike almost all of his other songs which he composed without much inspiration, the three songs he wrote this time required much more concentration and more time, which testifies to their quality.

As the showerhead poured warm water strongly on his body, Tayaw felt pleasure as the water drops lightly dribbled on his skin and he relaxed as he listens to the rain like sound of the shower. His senses have improved once again but thankfully, Tayaw's brain and his organs also improved to handle what could have been the painful input from loud noises, bright vision, and hypersensitive tactile perceptibility.

Losing himself in his own thoughts, Tayaw could not help but be proud. "I've proven myself as an artist." Tayaw said to himself as he immersed himself under the shower. The next moment, he realized something was amiss. "Wait a minute… Did I just get taller? I'm finally six feet! HAHAHAHAHAHAH!" Tayaw celebrated in the shower.