by Majestroke
She felt someone sniffing her leg and she yelped and fell back onto the ground. A gaunt dog gave her a pitiful look and staggered away to the other direction.
After she couldn’t handle any more of the creepy atmosphere, she ignored her brother’s advice and walked inside.
A long nave extended until the very end, where her brother was kneeling down examining something, or by the shadow, someone. She stepped forwards and the floorboards creaked. Quinton turned around in one swift movement. Two Scavengers appeared out of nowhere, dashed towards Diana and stopped near her face. After a few seconds, they flew back into Quinton’s hands, who eyed her with an annoyed glance.
“Ï thought I told you to stay outside.”
“I did.”
“For what? Like twenty seconds?”
Diana hugged her shoulders. “It’s creepy.”
Quinton gave her a sidelong glance, which translated to We’ll talk about your discipline later. He contacted his fingers and the Scavengers moved back towards his hand.
“I thought you had three,” Diana pointed out.
“I scattered them around the hall, only two came when I called. The other one probably must be stuck in an ditch somewhere. But I don’t think that’s our major problem.”
He moved aside, revealing a small boy squatting on the floor. He looked about eight or nine, with ragged clothes and a dusty face.
“Is he hurt?” Diana asked, heading towards the boy.
“He has a few scars and a few burnt marks but they are pretty old,” Quinton said, allowing Diana to examine the wounds.
Diana knelt beside the boy and greeted him with a benevolent smile. “It’s fine, we’re not here to hurt you.”
The boy hid his head within his knees and began to murmur something.
Below the knee of his left leg, the boy had a huge burnt stain heading down until his naked feet. In his hand was a deep scar that was sewn. Diana realized Quinton’s observations were right, the scars were deep but they weren’t new ones.
“He won’t talk to me,” Quinton said. “Why don’t you give a try?”
Diana touched the boy’s hand. “Look, we are the good people okay? What’s your name?”
The boy looked up. Diana decided to give him a hug, the usual greeting, when she noticed something strange. The boy was smiling from the corner of his mouth. Not a normal smile, a rather peculiar one. It was as if he wanted to laugh at something but was trying his best to repress his smile.
Diana immediately withdrew her hand.
“What’s it?” Quinton asked.
“Quinton, please tell me he was the one emitting the strange signal.”
“No, which I found strange. But sometimes hex can be dormant within the host until he comes to the right age. He seems to be eight or nine, so we don’t know for sure what type of hex he possesses.”
Diana looked at her brother directly in the eyes. The glasses reflected her own face at her.
“Quinton, he’s smiling.”
Her brother cocked his eyebrows. “What?”
Suddenly, the boy gripped Diana’s arm, almost startling her. He was beaming, showing a few broken teeth.
“Got you girl,” he cried.
By the time the five second drama had ended, it didn’t take long for Diana and Quinton to realize it was a trap. The wooden doors closed with a groan from its rusted hinges. From the dark corner of the room, someone stepped out and began to walk towards them.
The Scavengers flew back into Quinton’s hand.
“Don’t move.”
The figure stopped advancing. The afternoon light shined upon him giving Diana and Quinton a clear view of their attacker. He wore a regular vest with a black jacket on top with matching black pants. Around his body hung a bandolier, with a pistol fixed in his belt. Behind the dark shadows of the hood Diana caught the sight of a familiar red and white mask.
Ace? The Ace?
But the rebel died three years ago at the hands of the military. Or did he just fake his death? And Diana had the honor to meet him face to face?
Quinton seemed to have the same thought process running in his head.
“Quinton and Diana Harth,” his voice was hollow but confident as if he had some sneaky trick under his sleeve. “I am Ace, and I would like to hold one of you hostage.”
The man simply uttered the words as if suggesting a walk in the park.
“I’ve had enough with psychopaths,” Quinton snapped.
He contacted his fingers and aimed them at the intruder. The Scavengers flew towards Ace ready to explode as soon as they made contact, but in the midair they turned into black rocks and the forces of gravity overtook them as they fell down to the ground with a click and a clock.
The grip on Quinton’s hand tightened. By the lines of his face Diana could say he was panicking.
“Who are you?”
“I think I stated my name and purpose before.”
“Yes, you did. But Ace died. There are plenty of people who witnessed it from their own eyes. Even if you are Ace who escaped from death, he was a time user, but you are someone different.”
“I am an Alternator,” Ace stated. “I just happened to find one of your balls scattered on the floor.”
Diana looked at the gloved hands. An Alternator had the power to change one substance to another substance by touching it. When she had entered the Cathedral, her brother had mentioned how one of the Scavengers went missing. If Ace had touched one of them before it could sense him, the man had a clear structure of all the Scavengers, Changing them didn’t cost him much effort.
“Besides,” Ace woke their attention once again. “I think the two of you have bigger problems to worry about.”
The roof creaked, and in the next fleeting moment, figures crashed from the wood and landed down on the tiled floor, cracking several tiles in the process. The view of their faces were obstructed by black masks designed in the shape of a crow. In their hands were various weaponries of different shapes and sizes varying from a single handed gauntlet to a duel wielded sword.
Diana began to feel her own panic taking grip of her. In each situation like this, she had had the ability to remain confident because Quinton took care of the situation before she could blink her eyes. The Scavengers were demons when it came to hex attacks. But now this person called Ace had swatted off his attacks like some weak bugs, so it was natural for her to have doubts. She had skills of her own. One that didn’t involve immense concentration. But her mind was panicking, and she was in the verge of getting hysteria, so she was dubious about her methods.
Amid the panic, she felt her brother gripping her hand, and for obvious reasons, it was sweaty.
“Did I do okay?” the little boy behind them dashed towards Ace and hugged him. “They really seemed to think I was a lost boy.”
“You did great Ryan,” Ace shuffled the boy’s hair and spoke in a much softer tone. “Why don’t you go outside and wait a little until I come back?.”
The boy known as Ryan nodded eagerly before running away to the open with a huge grin on his face. Diana wanted to smile at their own failure of being manipulated by a boy half her brother’s age.
“Now to the matter at hand—” Ace turned towards them, his voice getting grim all over again.
“Let’s clear out a few things first,” Quinton said. “You mentioned about taking us hostage……”
“I don’t know how you came to misinterpret the words. But I never said anything about taking both of you hostage,” Ace continued to advanced forwards and Quinton crouched his knees like a cat about to pounce. “I only require your sister for a while. I assure you, no harm will come to her.”
Coming from a man who tricked them using a small boy, that didn’t seem so reassuring.
“In return,” Ace continued. “I need to talk to the one known as Father.”
Diana’s legs wobbled. “You……you know Father?”
Ace was almost close enough to touch her. But Quinton w
as blocking his path, his fists clenched.
“I just need to ask him a few questions about an incident that happened a few years ago.”
Diana began to understand their opponent was more formidable than they thought. No one in the outside city knew about Father except for the rebels. All of the normal city thought that the Kalotropis were a group of individuals led by Travis. No one knew there was an old man behind the curtains. If Ace knew about such a deep secret, that meant he was a former member of the rebels, or either he was directly related to the previous Ace.
Apparently her brother had felt the same, but instead of surrendering he seemed to take his chances.
“You know what I hate about guys like you?” he sneered. “Your ego. Just because you faked a signal and trapped us here doesn’t mean you are a genius. Besides, most genii like you don’t lack combat strength—”
He pounced on to Ace his hands moving to his neck, but Ace dodged the attack by stepping sideways, and at the same time gripped Quinton’s collar and aimed a kick at his solar plexus. Diana watched as her brother retched and emitted a hollow scream as he tumbled to the ground. She stepped to aid her brother, but a dagger landed a few inches beyond her neck and blocked her way.
“I see I had overestimated your brother,” Ace said, withdrawing the knife and dropping it back to one of the pockets in his bandolier. “But you’ll suffer the consequences.”
Diana someone gripping her hands. A man in the mask of a crow appeared behind her with a pair of handcuffs. They clicked, and Diana’s hands were tied. She did the best thing she could. She screamed, but the man behind her covered her mouth, reducing the scream to a mere scuffle.
“Just shut up,” Ace grunted. “You’re pissing me off.”
By the third time she opened her mouth to scream, Ace aimed another kick at her brother who groveled on the ground, coughing blood.
“Open your mouth and your brother gets the pain.”
Diana gave another look at her brother who was muttering something while crouched on the ground. She tried to walk forwards but the man gripped her tightly behind. She struggled and kicked, but her attacker seemed to be more muscular than she anticipated.
“There’s something I need to check with you,” Ace walked towards her lifted her blouse and sweater.
Without dwelling on what he was about to do, Diana kicked him in his knee, which he blocked and pushed back again. Diana knew what the man was after. Each mage got their powers from the seal embedded in their body. A successful mage had the ability to disable another mage’s crest in a matter of seconds. And from the skill Ace displayed so far, Diana had no doubt about his level of skills.
She felt gloved hands on her bellybutton and then they slowly moved upwards until the magical crest, which was a singular red line with several small lines drawn to the left and right.
“Sweet dreams little girl,” Ace whispered as he pressed harder on Diana’s abdomen. A nauseating feeling spread through her body with her blood pumping harder and her heartbeat faster than the speed of her brother’s Scavengers. Her vision blurred and she felt herself falling down, with her brother’s screams in the background.
◆◆◆
“……As the BackAlley Knaves managed to cause a tumult among the citizens, their philosophy of anarchism began to reinforce among the Outcasters’ hearts,” Professor Landwin continued his lecture. Adrian, who sat many rows behind the professor, let out a tired sigh. The old man had been continuing his history lesson for more than one hour now, and so far, he hadn’t said anything versatile enough for Adrian, which bored him to death. “It is during that time when Nalius brought forward the rule of dictatorship in a new perspective…”
“Shh,” Tara brushed his shoulder with hers. “Aren’t you listening?”
Adrian looked at the auburn haired girl who seemed to be eagerly listening to the lecture for the past few minutes. “I don’t see a reason why I should. I’ve read Nalius’s book about dictatorship. It sucks, he sucks, so if the professor is talking about him, he sucks as well.”
Tara twirled a strand of hair. “You know the reason why I sat near you today?”
“Because you came in late and didn’t happen to have any other seat?”
Tara pouted. “It may be one of the reasons, but what’s more important is that I want to help my friend from being a big headed asshole.”
Adrian inclined back to his seat. The professor was throwing curious glances at them. They were in the back rows. Their shoulders were almost touching each other and Adrian wasn’t listening. The old man must probably be thinking they were snugging in the backseat. Tara seemed to notice that as well. Being the observant one, she pushed a book towards Adrian and glanced once again at the blackboard, where Landwin was writing something in big white, chalky letters.
Adrian threw a disgusted glance at the book’s title - ‘Dictatorship dictates Anarchy’, written by Nalius Darkflood. From what Adrian heard Nalius was the one who founded the Darkflood cult, who directly supported the High Prince and his fellowship. He had read the book a few years ago and still knew the gist of it. Nalius had theorized on how one ruler can solve civilian problems when the power is in his hands. By getting the power of dictatorship, the ruler has the ability to influence any area and thus improve them without any externalities. But what the now dead author hadn’t mentioned is the one negative side of dictatorship - the dictator being a psycho.
Several pupils began to jot down notes and the professor clapped his hands to get the attention of the class back again.
“That’s over for today. The next lecture will be a week from now, and all student’s attendance is compulsory. We are talking about how the High Prince managed to separate the Outercasts from the Innercasts so he could provide many for the people who are worthy and less for the people who are trash.”
The students began to file out from their seats. Adrian followed the same, but from far away he heard Landwin’s voice echoing through the hall.
“Blackheart! Adrian Blackheart! May I have a word with you?”
Tara threw a pitiful glance at her.
“I pity you.”
“And I want to kill myself,” Adrian muttered as he grabbed his books and headed towards the professor. “Did you call me sir?”
“It’s regarding the paper you submitted a few days ago,” Landwin glared at him with watchful eyes. “I see it was completely opposite to my teachings. It’s as if you summarized the complete opposite of Nalius’s book with no hesitation about the consequences.”
“I am sorry if I was too naive not to know about the consequences,” Adrian blurted. A few students behind him shuffled in their seats as if deciding between going away and spectating the argument. “I just presented my ideas. If I remember correctly you mentioned we could write what came to our mind whether it’s concordant or contrary to what you taught us.”
The professor stepped towards him until they were nose to nose. “You seem to have some balls to write a paper like that.”
Adrian smiled from the corner of his mouth. “Last time I checked, I did happen to have some balls. How long has it been you checked yours professor?”
Landwin’s breath was getting warmer and warmer by each passing second, and when Adrian’s last comment popped out of his mouth without much thought, the man seemed to have exploding eyeballs.
Adrian weighed his choices between getting slapped and getting kicked out of Landwin’s lectures. He honestly preferred the latter.
But the professor let out and ignorant grunt and walked back to his table and picked out Adrian’s paper.
“Know what you’re doing,” he said as he neatly tore it in half. The bisected paper floated in the air and landed on the soft carpet. “Do not ever forget the reason you are here. In my lectures I may say to argue against the contrary but when it comes to laws of the capital-”
He stepped towards Adrian to emphasize his words. “-there is no contrary.”
With that, his face chang
ed to a smile and he patted Adrian’s shoulder.
“You know what happens to people who did that don’t you? There was a part I didn’t mention in my lecture. Nalius’s book failed to change the perspectives of the BackAlley Knaves and its supporters. And on the 5th day of the 5th month of Year 207, the capital sent an army with five hundred foot soldiers and butchered everyone who was gathered at the townsquare to support the view of anarchism. As for the Knaves, they were captured, brutally tortured and thrown to the Dead Man’s Land. Is that what you want?”
Adrian didn’t reply. He knew that story as well, but when it came out from the professor’s mouth, it went into a whole new level of terrifying.
“I’ve seen this world more than you boy. And I’m just trying to save idiots like you who are repeating the past mistakes over and over again.”
With that, he picked up his books and walked away from the hall without another word. The students who were pretending to have missed something, suddenly seemed to find them, as they scattered away from Adrian as if he was some nuclear threat. Only one person remained.
Adrian threw a wary glance at Minerva. She was the same as usual - school uniform covering her slightly dark skin, cropped white hair and eyes of an eagle.
“What’s it?” Adrian asked. He wasn’t clearly in the mood for Minerva’s lectures.
“What was that about?” she asked, stepping up and picking up the torn papers.
“I tried to present some views against Nalius, but the professor seemed to have gotten a blowjob from the guy. He’s pretty adamant when it comes to changing theories.”
“You’re supporting anarchism?”
Adrian sighed. Out of the frying pan to the fire. He had known this girl for about a week and she seemed to be keeping a close eye on him.
“I’m not supporting anarchism, but that doesn’t mean I agree with dictatorship.”
Minerva threw the papers away after a hopeless effort to read what was in them. “What do you support Blackheart?”
“I have my own views Adaiya,” he followed the same tone. “And I don’t see why you should be spying on me like this. I’ll call it a coincidence you’re doing the same subjects as I am but happening to meet you everywhere I go takes the meaning of coincidence to a whole new level.”