1.4: Unwanted Attention Arises

This only allowed Geordo's anger to turn his face even redder. He was trying hard to keep his emotions down whilst in front of his potential customers, albeit fake customers at that.

'One of the Guild Members was watching the alley these two came down when following you and they saw us coming from it and attempted to chase us down. We think we lost 'em, but we didn't look back to check.'

This just made his anger boil even further and it was almost as if steam was about to billow from his ears. Then, calming himself down, he rested his head in his hands for a few seconds then pinched the bridge of his nose once more.

'Get everyone here to watch the Topside. We don't want them finding out there's more than one secret entrance to these cells.'

'Onnit Boss!' The fitter figure huffed, fixing his garment and snuck out the door.

'Right. I guess it's time for this merchandise to come with me.' He grabs the wrist of the girl still standing forward and begins to storm out of the room. 'Forgive me for this, but it looks like I'll have t–'

He froze when he turned around to see the longsword and a gently glowing rapier pointed directly at his throat. Both the girl and Reiki weren't expecting this to happen. A few beads of sweat slid down the Head's face before an awkward smirk darkened the atmosphere in the room.

Out of nowhere, a black mist enveloped the room and it blocked the sight of mostly everyone in the room. The one person who could just see a vague haze of the surroundings and other people in the room in the mist was none other than Geordo himself. Without knowing it, the boy closed his eyes and tried to focus his sense of direction based on his mental image of the girl.

The world slowed ever so slightly, but enough that his senses heightened to the point that his hearing enhanced just enough to roughly sense the room around him. By this time, the girl had been dragged out of the room yet the black mist still filled the room.

'I need to get to the girl.'

Pushing out his senses and fueled with an adrenaline rush of the sudden smokescreen from nowhere, he felt like he could not only sense the room but feel it. It was as if his sense of touch and perception heightened wildly mixed in with the adrenaline and he. Opening his eyes, it was still pitch black, but his mind perfectly overlaid a three-dimensional mental map of the room.

'This is wild. It feels… It feels like a gentle hand… or a thin cloth enveloping everything in my surroundings. This feels surreal. But first things first; I need to save that girl. She's in danger if she stays here. Including everyone else down below.'

Despite dwelling on his thoughts, he didn't know what to do. As the sensory phenomena subsided, he still felt the want to race after the guy who had a vice grip on her wrist. His blood boiled at the thought of any harm coming to such a gentle girl. The black veil suddenly lifted leaving only the two adventurers in the room with him.

The male adventurer didn't start with any pleasantries and immediately went to knock down the only door into the room. No good. It wouldn't budge an inch, no matter how much effort he put into it. During their attempts to escape, Reiki's blood began to boil at the thought that Geordo was going to take her somewhere he couldn't possibly find her in, and then sell her to his private customer. He wanted, no, wished he could get to her as fast as he could run.

He barely registered a window that popped up, swiping it away after briefly reading what was displayed. The energy in the room seemed to slowly drift towards the young boy, who stared at the door for what felt to him like a long few seconds when he started sprinting.

To the two adventurers with him, one second they saw him glaring at the door as if daring it to burn from his gaze alone. The next, a sudden trail of vibrant, neon-green lightning stalks blasted backwards from the spot he was just standing in and connected straight through the door. The guy who had just stopped swinging twitched a little as a tip of a bolt grazed his elbow as they quickly faded into the door.

At this exact moment, everything but the boy had slowed to a measly crawl no faster than a raindrop falling a centimetre, relatively speaking, for about two seconds. Because he had reacted without thinking, and with his mind in a frenzy, his newly wished-for ability to run to a place as quickly as possible had manifested itself and had briefly allowed him to phase through the door... and whatever had been blocking it. Yet unfortunately, he was unaware of this development.

Finally noticing a strange sense of speed wash through his body, he stood still just down the corridor and looked back. Two large boxes had ever so slowly started to lift from the floor. On either side of the boxes, two unknown assailants appeared to be slowly knocked back by a wall of something invisible. It took him a relative time of two minutes, by which the bottom box had lifted twenty-five centimetres into the air.

Solidifying his resolve, his brows tighten and his eye glinted with determination. As he was about to reach the cells, his ability slowly disabled itself as he stumbled down onto the floor. As soon as he fell to the floor, a boom went off behind him and he cradled his head. He peered out from his obstructed face after the shockwave blew past him, to see various kids in different coloured and battered clothing. They started to move from protecting the younger kids.

'I'm glad they weren't affected by that. I think I took the worst of it.'

'Hey, mister! What was that?!'

'I don't know buddy, but I do know one thing; those guards are out for the count.'

He had looked at the two guards when he added that second part. The boxes that had blocked the door had exploded into small fragments. In some places, it had even become sawdust. A spark or two of green lightning snaked across the tiles around the two bulky, unconscious men. Raising his hand, Reiki closed his eyes and focused on the electricity. He could feel it snaking around, but it was fading quickly.

'Don't think I have that ability yet. Wait, no, she's the top priority right now.'

His eyes glinted again, this time accompanied by small sparks zapping briefly at the edges as his mouth widened into a mischievous but gentle smirk. To the kids who'd made it to the bars of their cells, the only thing they saw was him standing there one second, then a flash of green lightning at the same time all their cell doors opened simultaneously.

Most were in shock. Two of the oldest kids stepped out cautiously, their eyes bugging out of their heads and a single bead of sweat rolled down their cheeks as they saw the guards nowhere to be seen. They walked closer to the door, only to find the cells on either side with each of them bound and gagged somehow. The two of them agreed to keep it to themselves until the door opened up from the inside and the two adventurers walked out of it.

Meanwhile, as they were getting consoled by the two adventurers, the speed of the young man had been breathtaking to him. He'd been running around looking for the girl, but somehow, two assailants with wide, devilish grins on their faces had escaped his sight. In the time since helping the kids escape, he'd stumbled a lot. His energy was not ready for what he was doing and he'd turned his new ability off to save some energy.

During this moment with a lack of superspeed, two other assailants who had been watching from the side had hidden themselves to wait for that exact moment. Right now, he was being carried to the man who had orchestrated the entire system. He'd cursed at himself for letting his guard down. Just having an ability doesn't mean you'll always get it right the first time after all.

'You're coming with us, twerp. I think the boss would love to see you.'

'Oh good, I was wondering where he went.'

The guy who spoke to him huffed and rolled his shoulders a little. He wasn't expecting that response. As he was being hustled forward he could feel his body, albeit tired, starting to regain some strength and stamina. Closing his eyes, he focused on the image of the girl in his head.

'I wish I had the strength to save you…'

[ ...NOTICE ]

[ ... TEMPORARY ACCESS GRANTED TO ]

[ ABILITY: Telepathy Lv. 1 ]

[…if only I could see where you are.]

[…e-ehh? Wh-who's doing that?]

Reiki's head snapped up almost instantly as he was dragged into a darkened room. He focused again on that sudden sensation and the voice. The sides of his mouth turned up when he realised what was happening.

[Calm down, it's me. The boy from earlier. I… I think this is happening between our minds.]

As if sensing her calm down, he sensed a tightness on his wrist briefly appear. But nobody had grabbed him there, as he was being lowered by the armpits into a chair. He waited for them to go before seeing another window briefly flash up to him saying he just forced a temporary ability unlock.

'Huh. Two abilities in one day. I hope this one stays.'

As he tried to imagine his abilities, a large wooden door swung open slowly and got his attention. The creaking echoed into the large open space. He saw Geordo enter the room, along with the girl. The two men who'd escorted him into the room briefly bowed, dropped to a knee and a palm touching their foreheads, pinkie and middle fingers raised, before taking their leave through the open door.

[… Can you still hear me?]

[…Ye- Yes. I- uh, I'm here. Is that you? They've roped you up good over there.]

Geordo placed her in a seat on a stage Reiki hadn't noticed until just now.

[Listen to me carefully, do you know if any adventurers are on the way?]

[Um… I saw the two who were with you, but it looked like he convinced them to leave. I don't want to be sold. I want to get out of here.]

[You can trust me, okay? I promise you we'll get out of this.]

[Wait, tell me yo—]

'I'm gonna have to figure out how to hide my telepathy. It's going to be a brilliant trump card someday.'

He broke the mental connection, which she noticed instantly. His attention briefly lapsed, but his attention turned to the pompous man before him.

'Listen here boy, you shouldn't be able to escape this time.'

'Yeah, like escaping wasn't that hard earlier. Barely any guards around. Almost like it was a piece of cake!'

'Oh, we have a bragger here! Let me teach you a lesson, Boy.'

Before he could react he briefly heard a scream of distress as a ringing appeared in his ears and a heavy sting appeared on his cheek. Surprisingly, his pain was short-lived. Whatever had hit him just moments before now felt like a child had slapped him.

'What, that's not right! I backhanded your face with an enchanted leather glove! That obedience spell should've worked!'

Before he could respond, he felt a small woozy sensation briefly make an appearance, before a strong metallic taste flooded his mouth. He turn his head away from where he saw the girl and expelled the taste from his mouth. A puddle of blood glittered with a mixture of yellow and purple sparkles. Of which faded away into the air.

'NO! He's immune?! But nobody's ever been immune to that spell!'

'Suck it up, fatty. Now then, let's do things my way.'

The corners of his mouth curled up a little as he stood up from his chair.

'That's not right! They tied him down! How on Earth is he suddenly standing?!' cried the man's mind, to which nobody could answer.

'Let's begin, shall we? Let's see if I can undo my shackles.'

The whites of his eyes widened, and his previously shocked expression turned into one of pure terror. The clanks of the metal casing used to bind his legs and hands together reverberated around the room. A bright green, electrifying aura briefly glowed from Reiki's body as Geordo watched in fear as his eyes were drawn to his ankles.

For some reason, he couldn't focus on them. They looked out of focus, and as he stepped forward, they seemed to pass through the shackles on his feet before coming back into focus.

'OI! I NEED HELP!'

The volume of the yell didn't phase the boy. Until the other battle-ready thugs of the illegal activities started to make their way into the room. Despite having an unaffected grin, he was panicking internally.

'That's more than I could handle earlier. I don't think I have the time to knoc—'

'DON'T GIVE UP! I BELIEVE IN YOU! PLEASE GET ALL OF US OUT OF HERE!'

That sudden shout from the girl who was terrified of the situation widened his eyes. He changed his stare at the guys before him into a glare that made even the stronger wince in fear. His aura returned, sparking all over his body before he vanished in a puff of air. A sudden maze of electric green lightning suddenly appeared out of thin air. In the blink of an eye, Geordo abruptly vanished and appeared in the wall to their collective right.

'Whuh?! What the f—'

To the thugs, their boss went from being stood before the boy, then turned to see him embedded in a wall, upside down and unconscious. The neon-electric walls of electricity slowly moved closer to them as they immediately turned tail to escape the strange ability before them.

However, as soon as they found themselves outside the different warehouse, a group of about nine adventurers were all standing there, abilities at the ready and mid-march. Almost as if they were about to raid them that very moment.

'We're screwed.'

Meanwhile, as the group of thugs were outside, Reiki had seen this as an opportunity and managed to gather all of the kids from the cells into the large open space. He had also locked Geordo up in the cell with the thickest bars and what looked like the most-complicated looking lock system he could find.

After a short while, he found his energy draining as he made his way to the room with the last two kids in tow; the girl on his back and the boy in his arms he saved from earlier. Luck was on their side, and right as he made it into the room, the female adventurer from earlier forced the door to open as quickly as possible on its creaky, well-worn, rusted hinges.

'Right everyone, make sure you— huh?!'

She raced forward to catch Reiki struggling, without his superspeed, to carry the two children. He was barely awake from all the effort he'd just gone through moving everyone from their cells to the room.

'I… did… it. I… got…'

He only uttered those last few words before he conked out in the adventurer's arms. He missed her questions entirely as the rest of her team entered the room.

'…Did what? Wait, did you do this?!'

Her colleague came over and noticed who she cradled in her arms. He placed a hand on her shoulder as she stood up, carrying him gently. The two shared a silent gaze, along with a gentle smile, between them.

'He will need to be rewarded, but I don't think he's awake right now.'

'Let's tell him what he's done when he wakes up.'

'Sure thing.'