Looser Club

"They...they were..." Hogman began.

"Hogman, we thought you were a noble man. Didn't know you had ties to criminals." Amelia exploded.

Sienna had decided in the beginning not to tell this to anyone. But then... she couldn't hold it. She had to tell. In case it was dangerous... she couldn't put everyone in danger. Criminals were criminals afterall. She couldn't make herself to trust them fully.

"You held a clean profile with the media. Who knew you associated with criminals!" Eren couldn't keep calm after listening Sienna's explanation.

Actually, none of them could. Even Sienna asked him a lot of questions. Tania and Aster were the only exceptions. Tania didn't completely understand what they were speaking as she wasn't a native of the planet. Whereas Aster's heart said that they were missing some pieces in Hogman's story. So, he couldn't reach to a conclusion. He always had doubts on Hogman. But over the time, he had no more doubts related to Hogman's intentions. This actually stirred Aster's curiosity.

Daniel Hogman was always his idol. His hero. Everybody's hero. But his private life was never made public. He never told where he lived before he joined the ministry. Nobody knew how and when he joined the mininstry. Everything about him was blank. This held everybody curious. At the time when he joined the ministry, he was in his late twenties. But anything before his late twenties were a mystery. Somehow Aster felt that he held a key to his mysterious life. But why? This question loomed in his mind for months.

Hogman's present situation was similar to a cat being attacked by four high spirited tigers. He was struggling hard to digest one question while another one was shot at him.

In the end, ge was left with only one option. Answer them! Tell them all he knows. That's it! It was decided!

Hogman's face turned stern. He was struggling with his words all the while. But now, he struggled no more. The sweat that formed on the back of his neck slowly dried. He wasn't tensed anymore.

"I'll say everything you need to know. Don't ask more. Not because I cannot say. But those are things that I have in the depths if my heart. Things that we were trying to forget, but couldn't."

Everyone noticed how the 'I' turned to 'we' in the last sentence. They resolved to listen to what Hogman had to say. Everyone including Hogman sat on the floor.

Aster's curiosity was at its peak. He almost pushed the others back and sat right in front of Hogman. The others gaped in surprise. Nobody knew he was such a fan. Not even Sienna and Eren. He was sitting as if, he could hear everything before others did, if he was seated in the front. Even Hogman couldn't help but smile at the boy's curiosity. Aster behaved as if he did not see their reactions.

Hogman couldn't smile for long. In the end he flooded back to his lonely world. Aloof and tired. He frowned a lot before speaking. With a visible frown on his face he started.

"We were friends. I, the other two you saw and one more. 'Friends' was never a description that suited us. We were four bodies and one soul. We grew up together at X city. Went to the same mage school. Same class. And mostly tried to get a seat at the last row." A faint smile appeared on his face when he said that.

"The thing that got us together was that, we never had differences. Whether that be in academics or duelling or even in magic. We were big round zeros at everything we did. Other students used to call us the 'loosers club'. Yes, we were loosers. We lost to everyone at everything. The me you see now was not the me all those years ago." Everyone was surprised when Hogman called himself a looser. The strongest mage in the world. A looser?! He was lying! But nobody interrupted him. They let him continue.

"I can see the astonishment clearly written on your face. I just got lucky and unlucky on the same day. Just like you, Aster. One day I just received a lot of power just like you did. I was not born strong. I just got my powers from an unknown source. I still don't know what that source was. But that source stole my friend's life, tore apart our friendship. Made us lose hope. Made us go on our ways. Separated us from the lives we knew. When saw Aster, I almost saw myself. Eventhough his powers are far more better than mine. That's why I chose to stay here. This boy needs help. Eventhough you are trying your best here, only I know how hard it is for him to adapt to that sudden change."

Hogman scratched his head, suddenly remembering something. "Sorry. I went far from what I had to say. Where was I? Yeah! After being kicked out of the class together, getting zeros in all magic exams, our bond got stronger. We just a little better than non mages. We couldn't even cast a shield. The most we could do was just illuminate our path in the dark. Even that took too much of our energy. In fact we were junk."

"We went to college together too. We were wise enough to get into a course without magic. Of course it was a college only meant for non-mages. We had heard a lot of legends in childhood. At a history lesson in our class, we got some links to a legend which our parents used to tell us as bedtime stories. The very same story which I told that day in your school. Oh! I can't call it a mere story anymore, can I?"