CHAPTER-2 Calling

Part-1

In the mountains, sat a man covered in black, wiping blood off his knives, while sitting next to a pile of corpses. He had black eyes with streaks of gold in them. His hood, which had now come off, revealed his obsidian black hair, which seemed to have natural gold streaks on the left side starting from the middle to the tips.

"Sir, the captured people have been escorted to the village, and the dead human traffickers have been piled up, while the ones alive have been captured," said a man who walked up to him, carrying a bow slung across his back.

"I see. Well, that's mission accomplished then!" he beamed with unnatural enthusiasm.

Another robed figure, who now removed his mask revealing brown eyes and black hair, jogged up to him.

"Sir! Sir! Did you see me in combat today?" he asked, smiling in anticipation.

"I did," he smiled. "You've improved quite a bit, haven't you?"

"Of course," he said, holding his head up high. "It is to be expected from your student after all." His expression then turned serious.

"This royal message just arrived, bearing your name, sir," he said, bringing out a parchment rolled and sealed with the royalty insignia.

"It indeed does seem so, huh? I wonder what it could be," he said out loud as he unfurled the parchment.

As he began reading it, his eyes went from enthusiasm to boredom.

"Is it a summons to the royal capital?" the man who stood next to him asked.

"Seems like it," he sighed. "Also, this team is barred from doing missions until the king says so."

"What! Why? I just got in here," exclaimed his apprentice.

"No idea, really," he smiled at him. "Hey, maybe it will last for a day or two, who knows?"

"Let's hope so," the now depressed kid, who was no older than 17, said.

"The letter does tell me that I have to be there by tonight, so I'll be going ahead on horseback," the pale man said, tearing the parchment up and throwing it into a nearby campfire.

"I'll see you at the capital soon, then," the kid smiled at him.

"I'll leave you in charge of the unit," he said to the other man who stood next to him. "And follow standard procedure."

"You got it."

After issuing these commands, he mounted a horse and began his descent downwards.

Part-2

The village head was seemingly having a normal day, making rounds and collecting weekly taxes from another portion of the village, admonishing those who didn't pay on time, collecting debts, and lending money as usual.

When he got back, he found a royal messenger waiting for him. He knew that something big was going on in the kingdom. How? It was evident—the king had started mass recruitment. Large orders of swords, spears, bows, arrows, and armor were made to blacksmiths all over the country of Rajvara. Large amounts of food and other resources were also taken from farmers and their respective producers.

There was also tightening of security along the borders, and there were more check posts on roads than ever before.

It seemed like the kingdom was about to go into an extended invasion of another country. It appeared they were preparing for the long haul.

The messenger handed the parchment to him and said that he would need to take a reply back to the capital. So, he asked the messenger to wait outside while he read what the message entailed. He began reading through the parchment. He was quite taken aback at what the parchment had instructed him to do. First of all, he deduced that this very same parchment was probably sent to the head of every village. Secondly, it bore the symbol of the king, meaning this order was issued by the king himself. Disobeying it would mean treason.

As for what the order was, it was a list of abilities users in the area he governed.

Part-3

They were heading back now after defeating an enemy general who had been a pain in the ass for them over the past month. He had cleverly lured the enemy into a trap, into which he oh so gullibly fell. The plan was perfect; the only downside was that it didn't align with her sister's idea of honor and fairness. In his honest opinion, he thought it was plenty fair. After all, strategies like his were all fair in war, right?

Oh well, it didn't matter. He made sure there were the least possible deaths, at least as she wanted. They were now heading back to the capital to report it.

The atmosphere of the entire country seemed tense at the moment, with tightened security checks and a lot more restrictions on movement. Not to mention the country swiftly stamping out any opposition, mercilessly and swiftly. This was a bit strange, considering that they would usually negotiate and try to foster peace. If anything, he could tell that the country was preparing for war, specifically against the Kings of Sin alliance, which had targeted their country for a while now. They would usually send countries they subjugated to fight for them and weaken them, rather than taking them on directly. They would send terrorists in the form of refugees to spread mayhem and chaos within the country, leading to rebellions, mass protests, and strikes, in order to weaken them from the inside.

He considered it a fair tactic in bringing down a country, as he believed that if a country is weak on the inside, smashing it from the outside becomes easier. He wondered if the king was pulling his forces in to wage a long-term war against the Kings of Sin alliance.

From his sources, he knew that the Kings of Sin alliance was actually a single country ruling over its surrounding countries through subsidiaries. More accurately, there were seven subsidiaries for each cardinal sin: pride, wrath, sloth, envy, lust, greed, and gluttony. These subsidiaries happened to be the ruling king's relatives or allies. Although his informants never found out who was who, this was all the information he received before never hearing from them ever again.

Oh well, they would be there within a day, so he would have to endure uncomfortable horseback riding for over a day. Ugh.

Part-4

"Scum!" a voice said.

"Human waste," it said, taking on a different voice.

"Creep," another voice added.

"You disgust me."

"Stay away, you beast."

"You'll never be cherished by anyone, remember it! HAHAHAHAHAAAAAHAHAAHA!" it said, finally growing demonic towards the end of the sentence.

"Gyah!"

He woke up from his nightmare, realizing he had been kicked into waking up.

"Is that him?" he heard a voice.

"Y-yes, it is him, sir," replied another voice.

He looked around and saw that it was still nighttime. He had chosen a spot on the road to sleep where he made sure no one would be disturbed, but he supposed he had been proven wrong. He wasn't sleeping at the entrance of a house or on the footpath. He was sleeping on top of an abandoned flea market stall, where he assumed nobody should have paid attention to him unless the owner wanted to start his business again.

He looked at the people who woke him up, and his eyes went wide. He stumbled back and fell off the stall, promptly got up, and tried to run away. He felt a strong pair of arms grab him and lift him.

"Let me go!" he screeched. "What do royal soldiers want with me?"

"If I knew, I'd tell ya. The king wants to meet you, that's all I know," he said.

"Who would want to meet a walking disaster?" said the second guard.

"The king's life could be endangered. You should just kill him," said the peasant who seemed to have led them to him.

"I would love to, ya know, but orders are orders. I don't want to get court-martialed, ya know," replied the guard.

Ignoring their mocking session, the man being carried by the guards asked, "What business does the king have with me, anyways?" He then realized it. The king was gathering ability users from all over the country. It seemed like the news of his ability had reached the ears of his majesty, the king. Resigning himself, he went limp in the arms of the guards.

"Hey, now, don't die already. I didn't kick you that hard," the guard who kicked him said.

He didn't respond. He then felt his stomach twist in pain, the air knocked out of him, as he fell to his knees, throwing up bile. "Tch, you're really made up of bones, huh? I hurt myself when I punched you," he said while nursing his fist.

"Walk now!" the other guard said.

He followed their instructions without question.

It was still nighttime when they brought him into the castle. He was asked to sit in a waiting room and served some water. The guards who brought him stood at the entrance.

What did the king want with him? Had he heard of his ability and wanted to use it to talk to a dead relative? Or perhaps he wanted to gather information about something. Maybe the king wanted him for something more sinister.

'Psst,' he heard a sound. "What happened? Do you need me to possess you to get out of here? I have scouted a safe path with the minimum fighting," the sound said.

This sound was from his friend, a friend who happened to be a ghost. "Where were you all this time?" the boy replied.

"Oh, you know, flying around the city with the others," he replied happily.

"Must be nice... being able to fly, that is," the boy replied wistfully. "Anyways, get the others." By others, he meant his other two ghostly companions

. "Right, I will. Don't do anything stupid."

"Hey, who are you talking to?" said the guard, when a third voice interrupted. "The king is now entering," said the announcer, who had appeared from the other side of the chamber, through the other entrance.

The man who was the king had a rather old yet solid body structure, from his well-built muscles to his salt and pepper beard, with a crown on his head. He seemed to be wearing night clothes.

"You must be Akish, I believe," the king smiled at him.

"Yes, I am," he said, glaring at the king with hostility.

"I hope they brought you without any rough treatment."

Akish felt himself slightly smirking. Ah, now he would have his revenge.

"Ah, of course not. They treated me very politely."

"I see, that's g-"

"If kicking someone awake is polite, that is!" he said.

The king's gaze faltered, and he seemed to give a momentary angry glance to the soldiers. "I see, then I'll surely compensate you in some way."

"Now you might be wondering why I called you here."

"More like forcefully abducted me!"

"The thing is..." the king continued, ignoring his jab at him, "...I need your help."

"Need my help?" he said.

"Yes, I know I am in no position to ask you for it, given how everyone who used your ability treated you like shit right after, but-"

"What do you need?" Akish said in a neutral tone.

"Well, I need you to-" the king began when he was interrupted by Akish.

"Hmm, let me guess. You need me to allow you to talk to a dead relative?" he said, growing agitated.

"No, that's not it-" the king said before being cut off again by Akish.

"Then perhaps you need me to scare off an enemy."

"No, that's not what I want from you. I merely-"

"Are you perhaps pulling a favor for a friend, then?" he said, growing angrier with every passing second.

"No, that's not it. I am merely asking you. You are free to refuse."

"REFUSE?" he asked, losing his temper completely. Ethereal and unnatural beings shrouded in white began to appear around him flickeringly.

"YOU NOBLES ARE ALL THE SAME, USING PEOPLE AND THROWING THEM AWAY LIKE TRASH!" he declared with finality.

"So no, I shall not help you," he said, forming a sinister smirk on his face.

He used his ability then to make three specters appear, all three of them his friends. To a normal human, they would have a distorted face and a slightly deformed body. They then appeared. His three ghostly friends, his only friends. A warrior who had been unfairly killed, a laborer who didn't get his pay, and finally, a scholar whose name was unfairly slandered. Three white shadowy beings stared intently at the king. Most people would cower in fear at the sight, like the guards who had brought him were doing at the moment. They were clutching their heads, trying to make sense of the situation. Each of them made an unnatural groan in an attempt to speak. The ghosts he summoned did not possess the ability to speak; any attempt to do so would result in this. 'Are you scared of me now? Are you going to call the guards now?' Akish thought bitterly, as he had done this on purpose to scare the king. He knew that pulling such a stunt was basically going to the executioner's quarters, placing your neck on the cutting stone, and saying, "Kindly cut my

head off." That would be true if he were a normal person, which he fortunately was not.

The king was unfazed; he was still sitting on the couch as if nothing in the world was wrong.

"How-" he asked, as he dispelled the specters.

"What do you mean, how?" The king said, seemingly confused.

"How are you not scared of me? Most people are," Akish said.

"Now, why would you say that?" The king asked, getting up.

"Because I am a bad person from a clan that used dark magic," Akish screeched.

"Have you ever used dark magic or used your powers for anything bad?"

"Not exactly," he muttered.

"Then what's the issue?"

"It's you nobles."

"Pardon?"

"You noble people used me for your own needs and then discarded me over and over and over again. So tell me, why should I believe you?" Akish argued, regaining some of his zeal.

The king smiled wryly. "Hmm, if you don't believe me, then why don't you ask your friends, whom you just had appear, what they think of me? Oh, and take your time. I am in no hurry."

Akish did as the king advised. The king found it quite amusing to see Akish seemingly having a one-sided conversation with what seemed to be literal air.

It seemed that Akish had arrived at a conclusion. He would cooperate with the king.

"Well, what do you need me for? My friends vouch for you," Akish said, eyeing him, still suspicious.

"They do? That's nice to hear. As for what I need you to do, that will have to wait until tomorrow."

"I see," Akish said. "Then I suppose I'll head out."

"Oh, no need to go back. I can provide you with a room, fresh clothes, and perhaps a bath if you need."

"Why go so far for me?" Akish asked.

"Consider it an act of goodwill to convince you to fight for our cause."

Akish was at least happy with how honest the king was, rather than telling some story about how he cared for him.

"What cause?" Akish said, trying to squeeze some information out of the king, perhaps a hint. What did fighting for it mean?

"You'll know tomorrow."

"Very well," Akish said. He turned toward the guard who was still kneeling on the floor with a horrified expression. "I hope you don't mind showing me the way now, do you?" Akish said with a smirk.