A Shadow Master

"Hmm…Something related to Palace security?" A distinct mask-wearing man looked up from his desk and questioned the subordinate who had come bearing a message, standing a little far away. There was an aura with turbulent air around the man like some kind of invisible haze radiating from his body, which was entirely impossible to miss if not noticed closely. 

"Yes sir. A Young Soothsayer bears a report from Outer City barracks. A known criminal had sneaked into the inner city yesterday. He wants to report the matter to us and City Guards, to keep an eye on the suspect so that he doesn't do anything…untowards."

"Ugh! Not a good time. If it was any other time we could have laid back to see what his motives are. But now is a very sensitive period, Shadow guards are already under deriding pressure from ministers because of that recent Rebel attack. Further, the high-stakes trap still failed to capture him alive. It's like everything is going wrong for us this time. "

He stood up and walked towards the messenger guard who trembled slightly as he felt his body getting swallowed in invisible quagmire. And the feeling of getting drowned increased slowly as the masked man walked closer and closer to him. Only after reaching sufficiently close, did the man raise his hand to hand over the report of Criminal Aukhy Auburn delivered by Alex. 

"Hmm…oh. He is just a Soothsayer, not even a 'San'. But he had killed a few San Soothsayers in the past, that's why those cowards of Outer City refrained from taking action directly. 

OK, Let's take this by ourselves. Can't have anything going wrong in a few months until stability is established again in the capital. And if left to those fools of City Guards they will probably mess it up on purpose to increase pressure on us. "

He turned towards the messenger and ordered in a relaxed manner. After realizing that this fellow was just a minor fish, he immediately put this matter on the back of his mind. It wasn't like he was underestimating him but right now there were far more serious issues swirling in the Royal capital that needed his immediate attention as one of the Shadow Masters. 

"Take three Soothsayers from my team, and deliver them along with this report to the Young Master Rook. 

Inform him that - I am letting him borrow these three Shadow guards from my team, just for Her Majesty's mission. And I am sorry that I can't contribute any more resources to help him with his mission. 

But this is not a favour I am doing to his request, but an equivalent exchange with Noble. In return for it, he has to hunt this little Auburn fellow.

And yes, before I forget, remember to bring that young guy from the outer city inside."

Alex waited patiently in the outer courtyard for a few minutes, when he was finally called inside the room. He walked slowly while thinking about how to make his best impression. This was after all 'Shadow Guard Quarters', one of the best Royal secret force services. 

Just as Alex entered the room, his footsteps slowed considerably like he was suddenly stuck in some sort of invisible mud. He felt a vision of a large wave of water crashing down on him and he was walking against the flow of such a torrential river. 

Stabilizing himself, he found that in front of his eyes was a man draped in complete black, except for a weird-looking mask on his face. And the invisible pressure of the heavy flowing river making its way downstream was coming from him. 

There was a caricature of big eyes drawn on the mask, like it was depicting exaggerated eyes of an owl while the rest of the face mask was plain with no features for the mouth or nose. Inside those eye markings, the man's eyes were curiously observing this newcomer as he hadn't thought him to be this 'young' when the guard described him as a Young Soothsayer.

"You are hiding your psionic energy. You are a San Soothsayer?"

Alex's vision trembled as he felt himself being stripped naked in front of this man like all of his secrets were laid out clearly in the vision of his dark eyes. But he held out his dropping heart while answering honestly, 

"Yes, I am a San Soothsayer."

"Interesting! From the outer city, so you couldn't be of Skuph. In the employment of City Guards, you were deliberately compressing your psionic energy to fake your power level. It seems like you were hiding yourself. 

Yet here you are. Sauntering fearlessly into the Inner city, did you think it would be that simple? Or your real motive is in the Inner City?"

Alex took a deep breath as he realized it was a deciding time in their conversation. His answer and attitude would determine his future and if he tried to play any tricks, the man in front of him would not hesitate to crush him right here. Honestly, even Alex wasn't sure about escaping unscathed from him even if he tried his all. 

Alex lightly clenched his fist, as the thick air around him broke like glass shards. The man with the owl eyes mask was unimpressed by his show of power, rather he waited patiently wanting to see the next move of this kid. 

"Senior. I actually wanted to join the Inner City Guards from the start. This is the route I chose to take. Because I am nobody from outside, only through Outer City I could enter the upper ranks. 

But to quell any negative attention towards myself I suppressed my psionic power to a lower level. Today was just an opportunist chance I grabbed to visit the inner city, otherwise as per my planning I would have waited for five yearly martial competitions to win rank in Inner city guard position."

The man with the owl mask remained unmoved, not satisfied with his reasoning. It looked like he was still waiting for him to explain more. Alex perceived this but he remained silent as he had nothing to add anymore. 

Only after some uncomfortable period of silence, did the man shake his head in disappointment.

"Here I thought you had something interesting to share… go away, don't enter the Inner city again without my explicit permission." He then suddenly stopped and looked back at the Alex, 

"The permission that I will never give ever. So quash any thoughts of entering Skuph again or I will... kill you.

Now scram and there is no need to inform Inner City guards. That matter is dealt with. "

Alex released his held breath, as he slowly closed his eyes in disappointment. He was about to do something when he heard a voice from the front. 

"Be grateful, kid. 

No verified past, hiding your strength suspiciously, entering the Inner city with an unknown motive. 

If there was any other Shadow Master on duty today, you would have been killed the moment you stepped inside the room." 

"I didn't want to take advantage of it but…" Alex started as he put his hand inside his inner pocket. 

But the moment later he felt air froze around him suddenly. Unlike before it wasn't mud-like resistance of air, but the air was forcefully frozen around him like a solid concrete wall trapping him inside this invisible prison. 

He moved his pupils up and found two red eyes staring at him unblinking from behind the table. Just with his stare, Alex was turned completely helpless.

But he didn't lose his nerve, instead, a spell formed in his mind leading to the formation of a psionic energy band around his arms. It solidified step by step into the flickering energy bands that coiled around his two arms like two thin snakes of energy. They noisily cracked the frozen air around him, freeing him in the process. 

'Crack.. Crack... Crack..'

The shadow master didn't stop him but increased pressure from his now red-turned eyes but those small energy bands coiled and moved up and down hurriedly upon his arms breaking the restraints on his arms again and again, even before they could reform again. 

Partially free, Alex carefully fetched a folded piece of paper from his pocket and waved it towards the Shadow Master. The man in the mask grabbed in the air, and paper flew to him automatically. 

As he opened it to read, there was only a single symbol etched on it, which made his eye twitch in annoyance.

"It is…"

"Sir, It is a recommendation letter. When I was outside, I met a man with a kind demeanour who taught me a few things but because I had already become Soothsayer by then, he regretted that I missed the opportunity to become his sole Disciple. 

He then gave this recommendation letter to me, seven years back. According to him when shown to any Inner City Official I would be given a place here. I wanted to achieve it on my merit but there are too many restrictions for an outsider to excel… "

"Hold your horses, kid." Alex was about to drone on incessantly as he somehow missed the subtle twitch of annoyance on Masked Man's face. Ultimately it was the Shadow Master himself who had to interrupt him. 

Alex was struck by the annoyed voice of the Shadow Master. To his shock, He found the man in the owl mask burning the letter with a flick of his finger without any regard. There was a hint of a smile in his voice as he said, 

"Why do you think that the writer of the letter holds a position superior to me and I will abide by his recommendation? Honestly, if that old man himself was present before me and gave me any orders, I would completely ignore him."

Colour drained from the face of Alex as he was dumbfounded by the unexpected turn of events. His mind involuntarily flashed back to ts seven years ago when that sophisticated-looking old man pulled this letter and boasted that it was a golden ticket to the Skuph City official cadre. 

'That geezer… was boasting then?'

'Fck' Alex came back to the present as the air prison around him broke completely with a shatter. He found the man with an owl mask, walking towards him step by step, but with each step, pressure was building up in the empty room. 

He felt akin to an ant ready to be crushed by such pressure. Though he had already decided to resist completely, It was on the sixth step when the threat to his life became apparent, did he release all restraints on his hold of Psionic energy. 

The energy level of San Soothsayer circulated around his body with his rapidly manifesting thoughts, as several snakes-like energy ropes coiled around his body but at this moment he flicked his tongue inside his mouth, to release the limiter of his mind. 

To not die here he had to use all of his power, which surprisingly was a lot more even after being seen through by the Shadow Master.

But just before he was about to break his body's natural limiter by using a psychological cue point, the pressure around him vanished suddenly. The Owl mask man waved his hand as he sighed loudly,

"Okay Okay. Guess I should give some respect to my predecessor even if it was I who outed him from the position of Shadow Master."

On the verge of boiling point, Alex hurriedly stopped himself from revealing all of his power. He was inwardly shocked to see a sudden change in the stance of this mysterious man but whatever it was, it was beneficial to him since even at his full strength he had no confidence to escape from him unscathed. And fighting in the capital, the death sentence was apparent. 

Though he was just a San Soothsayer like him, there was some aura around him that made a warning bell ring in his head to not pick a fight with this one if he could help. 

"You wanted to join, I will let you join but before you have to pass a little test. Are you ready, Alex… ?"