Chapter 3: Spirit-User (Part 2)

???: "Don't be so quick in judging it?"

A voice comes from other side of the forest. The footsteps are coming from the same direction. It sounds like a female's voice.

Girl: "She … she's here."

Kais: "So you know whose voice that was?"

Girl: "It's … whoever … controls this … monster."

Kais: "Controls?"

Girl: "Yes, controlling him … is the only way … to bring him back."

A silhouette of a woman emerges from the forest trees. She is about 10 meters away from us.

Woman: "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Sona Pectus."

This woman, Sona Pectus, looks to be around my age and her height is barely less than mine. She has blonde hair and looks like a normal, pretty woman.

Girl: "You are … why … are … here?"

Sona: "Well, I came to take what's mine."

As she says that, Sona points at the girl and in a flash, the right hand of the girl is detached from her shoulder. It takes me a while to realize that in this flash second, the rabbit had jumped on it, grabbed it with its mouth and tore it off before jumping away.

Girl: "Ah … you … monster."

The blood flows out. It was enough to make me take a step back. But the girl doesn't cry. She is just terrified of the rabbit and the woman. Pain isn't present on her face. For some reason, this sight does not shock me enough to panic and get terrified of the rabbit or this woman, Sona.

Sona: "So then, do you know why you're here?"

She looks at me as she asks this question. Her face tells me how serious she is and that it would be best to not try to dodge the question.

Kais: "I have a few theories, but I can't say for certain."

Sona: "I see."

She exasperatedly sighs. My alertness is at its peak right now. Even with that fast of a speed, the rabbit would be able to do nothing if I try to teleport away now. But that won't solve anything.

Kais: "Is she going to be okay?"

Sona: "Why even ask? Judging from how you are not that shocked or worried about her, you must already have stumbled upon the realization that she is made of energy."

Kais: "I wouldn't call it realization, but yeah, I did think of that."

Sona: "Then you should know that she will be fine. Energy can't be destroyed or created, so I can't kill her even if I try to."

Kais: "Well, in that case, would you tell me why you made the rabbit attack her."

Sona: "Well, for starters, it's not a rabbit. It may look like one, but it's not."

Kais: "I kinda know that but don't know any other name to call it by."

Sona smirks. That expression is her looking down on me. Well, I can't help it. I don't know what these creatures are. Even if she looks down on me, I won't suddenly know their species' name.

Sona: "Well, let's just say – it's a spirit."

Kais: "Ah …"

Did she say 'spirit'? She did, didn't she? She definitely said 'spirit'. But what's that supposed to mean?

Sona: "What? Have you never heard of 'spirits'? "

Kais: "I have."

From what I know about them, they are sentient life-forms who exist as energy and can't interfere with anything in the world unless someone provides a medium for them too. This medium is generally a 'contract' of sorts with humans.

Sona: "Then why are you so surprised about it?"

Kais: "Well, from what I know about the spirits, they need a contract with someone to interfere with anything in the world."

Sona: "And?"

She looks at me like I'm an idiot. That's somewhat getting on my nerves but I have to control my emotions for now.

Kais: "If you're trying to act like it has a contract with you, then don't bother. The ruse is not going to work on me."

Her eyes widen at my words.

Sona: "I see. So you could tell?"

Kais: "Contracts form a very thin thread of energy tying the spirit to the one they are contracted too. This doesn't exist between you two."

When the rabbit first appeared, it was in front of my previous position. Sona was perpendicular to it. So when the rabbit when past me to tore that girl's arm off and landed further away from me, that thread would have passed my body and I would have felt its presence. But, that didn't happen.

Sona: "Well, I guess you do know some things. Glad you are not a moron."

Kais: "I have a hard time taking that as a compliment."

Sona: "Who said anything about it being a compliment?"

We look at each other with dumbfounded expressions. While we were talking, the girl passed out and her body was leaning against a tree trunk. Her arm is starting to grow back. Though the better way to describe it would be – her arm's portion of energy is coming back to its initial state.

Sona: "See? Didn't I say she'll we fine?"

Kais: "Yeah, more or less."

Both our gazes had turned to her for a moment. This is an awkward situation. I was just walking with this girl while casually talking to her. Then she got attacked. And now I am casually talking with the attacker. My mind just doesn't seem to act like it normally would.

Sona: "You are really weird for being so indifferent about this whole situation, you know?"

Kais: "Well, glad to know that we're thinking the same thing."

I can't justify not being shocked by what happened to her. True enough, it might have helped me hold a conversation with Sona, but that doesn't change the fact that I saw someone so human-like get their arm chopped off and I didn't panic even a little. There's something not right with my emotions.

Sona: "Well, if you are self-aware of it, it shouldn't present that big of a problem."

Kais: "Okay then. Can you now tell me what it is that you're here for?"

I looked at her while asking this. This way, it won't be easy for her to avoid the question if she wants to.

Sona: "Well, there's only one reason to be completely honest."

Kais: "And that is?"

Sona: "To kill the dragon."

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Ro stops at a public telephone booth. He had to wait a little while because someone was already in there. He has decided to call for back-up since he was given the permission to take as many as he wants with him. Calling from a public booth insures that no one will be able to tell the reason why this call was made. Even if, by some chance, someone is watching him, they won't know who he is calling unless they eavesdrop on him. If they try to do that, they will be falling right in Ro's trap.

Ro was born as a normal human, but with a single exceptional ability. It was the ability to detect anyone and everyone who would use any kind of psychic in a radius of 10 kilometers. It was somewhat similar to the ability of reading aura that psychics have. People like him were called half-psychics. They can't learn any new ability, and they are born with just one. Mohammed, who was also born with just the one ability of Invisible Water, met him when Ro joined the group. They quickly became friends and also teamed up for many missions. There were many people like these two; in fact, there might be more half-psychics than there are psychics. No one knows what the logic is behind the birth of half-psychics. Among the limited number of people in the world who do know about supernatural, there are not many who care about it though.

Ro, having finished his call, steps out of the booth. He quickly glances in all directions, but he can't find anybody acting suspiciously and can't sense anyone using psychic either. Assuring himself that everything will be fine as long as he keeps his ability active, he starts walking again. He is travelling in the same path he had followed before stopping at the booth. He has just called for back-up. They will be arriving at a shed house further down the path he is on.

Ro: "But it sure is a surprise. This Ethan Kales, if nothing, he has guts."

Ro keeps walking down the side-walk as a black safari stops near the same telephone booth he had stopped at before. Ethan steps out and takes a glance at Ro. His facial expression hides the inner excitement he feels right now. The aspect of fighting head-to-head with a psychic, even a half-psychic, is exciting for him. A human like him fighting with psychics and half-psychics head-to-head – who could have believed such a thing, would happen? He himself never could.

Ethan: "Guess I should check now."

Ethan steps in the booth. The moment he enters he sees the phone. He smiles as if he can no longer hold in his excitement.

Ethan: "Man, I need to calm down. I can't make a stupid move now because I was too excited to think it through."

He moves his hands under the pay phone and put his finger in a keyhole. After making sure where it is, he takes a small shiny ball much like the object Kais had mysteriously found in his wallet, and inserts it in the keyhole. The ball disappears and the box opens. He then moves his hands over the bottom surface until he feels something rectangular touching his fingers. It was a rectangular disc-like object which he tears off from the bottom. Making sure he doesn't look strange to anyone if they pass by, he puts the disc in his jacket's pocket and steps out of the booth.

Ethan: "Well, now that we have that taken care of, let's move to the next stage."

He gets back-in inside the Safari and relaxes his shoulders. The disc he has just removed from the booth was to rig the telephone. Any call made using the telephone would be redirected to Ethan's mobile. The person monopolizing the booth before Ro had put it in and he had taken it out. In this interval, only Ro had made the call. No one else was inconvenienced by it so no glitch would occur in the plan.

Ethan: "Poor guy though, didn't even realize who he was talking to was me. He was asking me for back-up in killing me. Ha! … Ha! … HA! HA! HA!!!"

As the man laughs at the irony of the situation, Ro keeps walking towards his destination. He would go and meet the people he called for and then tell them how they would ambush Ethan. His plan is simple, but it would work. There would be no problem. He has this confidence in his mind. There's no way he would be tricked in some way.

And yet, he holds onto his phone messaging an 'SOS!' to a friend. There's no need for alarm. There's no reason for him to send such a message. But he does. On the off-chance something goes wrong, he sends a message asking his friend for help. If everything goes according to his plan, then he will have caused problems for this friend without any reason. Even so, he can't take the risk. That's just the curse of an ordinary man living alongside extraordinary people, and that's exactly what a half-psychic like him is in front of people like Kais or Garfield. No matter how much he trusts himself, he will remain vigilant.

Ro looks up at the sky. It's night. It's a night without any stars in the sky but there is a half-moon. Even though he is more powerful than a human like Ethan Kales, even though he is a weakling in front of someone like Kais, he sees the sky they see when they look up. Seeing this,

Ro: "I wonder – when will I be free?"

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