Story from the Past

"Okay," Alec sighed tiredly, hands reaching out to Ian. "Guide me."

Without another word and being really motivated to work due to the zeroes in the monthly pay by working under Alec's, Ian hurriedly shuffled to the cushion where the other was lying down - eyes still closed. Ian pulled the small coffee chair under him and sat down before he smells something - 

It was the kind of smell that was sweet but not the point that it was sickening. It was also the kind of smell when you pass by a brown bakery that you know you will never buy from due to you assuming that it was expensive because of its interior and how they present pieces of bread. 

"What's that…?" Ian murmured, still sniffling the air. He looked around expecting that there was food somewhere in the room but he didn't see anything. With a sigh, he stopped looking around and carefully brought his hands on top of Alec's - closing his eyes and trying to focus on guiding. 

It was similar to the first time he had guided Alec. There was nothing to see but the black aura - the only difference was that there was no water around - he was just standing on a block of unbreakable ice. He carefully walked and was surprised to notice that there was a kind of weird spotlight on top of him which almost blinded him when he tried to look directly at it. The said spotlight seemed to follow him wherever he went. 

Guiding Alec was like walking through an endless darkness - it was chilling and disorienting. There was a whiff of cold air that blew him directly on the face and it was cold. The kind of cold that seeps into a person's bones - but Ian knows none of it is true since his body does not shake as it will when it is reality. 

As he walked, he started to realize that the ice beneath his feet was starting to crack - little brittles of sounds breaking the chilling silence in the darkness. Worried he might get too close again and start to lose sight of himself, he started to run away from the cracks but it was futile as the ice broke quickly - the rumbling of ice grew louder and louder, and soon Ian was full-on sprinting. His feet got caught in one of the cracked eyes and came in contact with the deep dark water. With eyes widened, he got up the ice and -

 Slap. 

His eyes opened. There was a noticeable look of shock on his face - his pupils dilated and unmoving even with they came into contact with a pair of worried eyes which were in a range of colors - there was yellowness present in some areas but most of them were in brown. Trying to recover from the shock, he shakily brought his hands towards him again. 

"Don't get too close next time," He heard Alec say. The older man was now sitting in front of him directly - brown eyes looking sternly and focused on Ian's purple ones. It was the first time Alec had seen such glow on a guide before and it was pretty interesting to him - to say the least. He hadn't encountered any guides that seemed to intently try to guide him as best as they could - they always stopped after a few seconds. 

Alec flexed his hands in front of him and was surprised to see his whole body felt quite stable for the first time in years - the voices in his head were muffled, his heart was not beating rapidly as much, and every breath he took seemed to calm him down even more. 

But, that was not the thing he should be worried about first. It was the guy in front of him whose face was still in slight shock, eyes now closed as he tried to calm himself, and arms crossed on his chest to comfort himself. Alec didn't say anything - waiting for Ian to calm himself down. 

Ian breathed heavily twice before opening his eyes. "I think…I think this is not working,"

With a furrowed brows, Alec asked: "What do you mean?"

"I- I can't guide you completely."

"Ian," Alec started. "That was the best guidance I've ever received in years."

Ian stared at him tiredly. "B-but I saw on the internet of people who had successfully guided others and it does not look like this. I - I can't. Maybe you're wrong in choosing me to guide you. Is there a way to break the contract even if I had already signed it-"

Choosing to ignore his ramblings, Alec questioned: "Have you seen the actual process of their guiding?" While hands latching on the other's, trying to keep the other calm. 

Surprisingly, the videos he came across were always cut in the middle of the process. It was only the before and after - showcasing the physical appearance of the saviors before and after the guiding. 

Ian weakly shook his head.

"Okay…" Alec trailed off. "I didn't want to make you uncomfortable if I say this but…there are multiple ways of guiding."

"H-huh?"

"Yeah…there are far more effective ways than just placing your hand on my skin," Alec said, withdrawing his hands from the other and Ian was confused when he saw a dark red blush starting to emerge on Alec's neck to his cheeks. 

"Why didn't you say it before?" Ian said, slightly annoyed by that. 

"It is…" Alec embarrassedly started before sighing and bluntly replying with: "Sex."

"What?!" Ian shouted as he got up from his seat - now, he's the one blushing. 

"Well, guiding is a form of being mutually connected with each other. When you understand the person you're guiding well enough, you'll eventually succeed in guiding. It's why exclusive guides are common since most of the saviors didn't want their guides to have sexual intercourse with others…it's also the reason why you don't see guiding processes that much on videos."

Ian tried to purse his lips, thinking of ways for these to make sense. His mind was rambling with thoughts but he shakily asked: "D-do you want to do it? With me?" 

Alec's mouth visibly gaped. "U-Uh, I'm not forcing you to have sex with me just to guide me…Ian, I just want you to be comfortable with whatever because I kind of like you…" 

It was not Ian's turn for his mouth to gape: "What?" 

Alec was now visibly red. "Wait! I like you but not like that! What I mean was - you're the first person to actually want to work with me without force or not because of anything - like, uh, fame or money -"

"But I want money…" Ian chuckled - now laughing because this was the first time he had seen Alec ramble like this. With the sound, the tension and embarrassment were released from Alec's shoulders. 

"Well, that was embarrassing but that's not what I mean…you see, no matter how friendly the workers here appear to be, they are just here because they were forced by the government to keep an eye on me. No one really wants to work under me because they are all afraid of me rampaging…So, I'm kind of happy that you willingly wanted to work under me…" Alec trailed off while looking down and to Ian, he looked small now - even more so that he was sitting and Ian was standing up. 

Without a word, Ian walked in front of Alec and patted him on the head. 

"U-uh, wait what-" There was still redness on the other's cheeks.

"What do you mean no one wants to work for you?"

"The workers here are actually signed under Gamnique," Alec sighed, looking down again. "The government asked Gamnique to watch over me so he placed these people here. Technically, I don't own anything here - these were all Gamnique's."

Ian hummed. "You're really close with Gamnique, aren't you?"

"Gamnique is my close friend…my only friend," Ian said. "Even before I became an S+ class savior. Hell, even before I presented a core…"

- 

Years Earlier 

The young Gamnique was walking down the streets - kind of annoyed by the amount of eyes on him as he was the next in line to succeed his father's big tech corporation. His freedom was only during break time when he would sneak out of school premises and walk around the streets surrounding his school - see, the school was big and it was pretty prestigious so most of the students were also similar to his circumstance. 

As he was walking without caring about the surroundings, a hand suddenly pushed him on the back - making his face hit the ground. With a groan, he looked at the perpetrator - fully expecting it to be one of the students in the school. He was surprised when he saw a man twice his age with eyes tinted in the familiar yellow color.

"You're the son of the Gamnique corporation, right?" The man slurred unnaturally. Gamnique breathed in and noticed the faint smell of alcohol coming from the man. 

It was no use lying to the others since Gamnique's face would always be plastered on national television every week as they broadcast updates regarding his family. Also, the bold name was engraved largely on the front pocket of his uniform - the ones he was wearing now. See, the name Gamnique sounds old because they had a family tradition wherein the said name would be passed onto every firstborn of the family. His great-grandfather, grandfather, and his father - they're all named Gamnique, without a surname nor a middle name. However, if they have siblings, the name Gamnique would technically be their surname.

With a frown and a slight tremble in his voice, Gamnique asked the man: "What do you want?"

Of course, the man did not say anything - unlike those cartoons, he was forbidden to watch since according to his father - they just 'damage' your brain. In those cartoons, the villain would always broadcast his evil plan and before he could fully commit to doing so, the hero would stop his actions. But this was no cartoon - this was real life, and Gamnique should stop hoping that there'd be someone to protect and save him.

The man brought his hand to his pockets and soon, he was holding a large handkerchief. Not wasting any moment, he quickly ripped it into two pieces. Gamnique tried to stand back up and planned to run away from the man but a painful kick on his back brought his face straight to the ground again. At this point, Gamnique could not feel anything on his face anymore - he didn't even register the black eye slowly forming on his right eye, the blisters on his cheeks, and the blood dripping from his nose. 

The perpetrator brought one piece of the cloth to his eyes and the other piece to his mouth - acting as a gag to muffle his groans and screams. With a punch on his face that sent him reeling backward, the world turned dark. 

Gamnique didn't know but it was roughly twenty minutes after his disappearance that his classmates took notice of his absence. See, Gamnique was a perfect A student - he would never miss a class. Hell, even when he was sick at the time - he still requested for his father to set up a camera in front of the teachers so he'd still attend class virtually despite his sickness. 

When the students took notice of this, they alerted their teachers. The teachers state these to the head office of the school but unlike what one would expect, they never notified Gamnique's parents - afraid of what the Gamnique family would do after their only son was nowhere to be seen. The school's reputation would be tarnished and burned to the ground. The admin office quickly started conducting their investigation into Gamnique's disappearance. However, these were futile because when the clock struck at three p.m. with Gamnique still not home - everyone in the Gamnique household, including their relatives from afar, started to panic at the loss of the young heir. 

The face of Gamnique was plastered everywhere - the national broadcast, the internet, and most especially on the skies. The drones that were invented years earlier now sometimes act as the virtual newspaper - it had the words: " Missing Person: Gamnique of the Gamnique Corporation. Last Seen: at H High School, wearing a blue uniform. Age: 15 years old. All who have valuable information regarding his disappearance will be rewarded handsomely." 

That was what the young Alec, a mere twelve years old at that time, saw as he glanced from his laying position on the dirty alleyway between the two buildings. It was the time when he had finally done it - he left his home permanently but he was in a state of homelessness now. He had just gotten beat up by random people in the area when he had tried to steal a portion of food because he could feel his stomach eating itself up from the lack of proper edible food. It was a good thing that he could heal himself pretty quickly but said healing takes much energy away from him. He couldn't even bring himself to lift a finger but when he saw the statements on the sky that he would be rewarded handsomely, his energy started to go back up again. With the newfound energy, he smiled as he set off to find the young heir of the huge corporation. 

Unlike most of the people, Alec had a unique sense of hearing - which was a blessing and a curse to him. It will be a blessing in the future because it will help him when he fights monsters but a curse now as he can hear the fights between his parents always and hear what his father says about him under his breath. 

The information that Gamnique was last seen in H High School was valuable to him because H High School was near where he was. He walked on the alleyway and started listening in to the people talking. See, when a rich neighborhood is near, it's always near an unfortunate neighborhood who are filled with people who want to take advantage of the fortunateness of the rich people in the area. 

Alec passed by a small room with the television blaring showing a segment wherein the two hosts were talking about the disappearance of Gamnique. 

"It's hard to not think about the endless possibilities of the disappearance of the young heir, right?" The blonde woman states to the other brunette woman. 

"You're right, Cidney," The brunette said. "There is also the possibility that the young heir ran away from home."

"Yes because you can see in this clip that he was walking away from the school premises," Cidney stated. "Poor guy. Must've been tough enduring school and family situations at home."

"That might be the case but authorities are looking into the case that there might be foul play since the CCTV which should have captured the last seconds before the disappearance of the young heir was broken by someone at four a.m. in the morning."

Cidney continued: "His classmates always state that the lad was always disappearing during the break. So, someone could have always been watching the pattern of the young heir and decided to kidnap him for who knows what… I'm getting chills because of the possibilities." 

"I hope the young heir is alright," The brunette said with a frown on her face. "His parents are now being interviewed - let's check that one out."

The screen then cut off to an old couple who had just obviously cried their hearts out of worry before the interview. And Alec couldn't help but think that it was genuine. The parents must've really loved the boy - Alec felt slight jealousy over the boy now. With the parents like that, he thinks that the idea of the boy running away is ridiculous. If it were him, he would never run away. Why? Because Gamnique had everything - he had food, shelter, and obviously a loving father and mother.

The last thing he heard when Alec walked away was the voice of another news reporter stating that the H High School was under fire right now. 

As he walked, he thought of all the possibilities of his whereabouts and concluded that the kidnapper might've been somewhere near this unfortunate area. The person should be hiding somewhere here since this was a squatter's area, it was hard for the police to ransack all houses to seek for the boy without their search warrants. 

As he was busy walking around with thoughts running around his head, he heard a boyish muffled scream in one of the houses. A smile formed on his face - gotcha. 

He looked around and saw that no one was paying attention to him. He quietly surveyed the small wooden and fucked up house and noticed another door beside the front door on the back of the house. He listened carefully and only noticed the sound of whimpering and shuffled sound of feet against the floor. There was only one person in the house. Glancing again on the people outside, he slipped into the house and quietly padded to the whimpering sound. He went to go to the room whose door was jacked up with nails - possibly to prevent the other from exiting the room. 

He was searching for something that could withdraw the nails from their placement when he heard the voices of a man and feet rapidly approaching the house. He panicked and looked around for somewhere to hide but couldn't find anything since the glass windows were tightly shut. He quickly ran to the back door again and peeked into the window. Seconds passed and the front door opened with a bang - it was a huge man who was talking to someone on the phone with an annoyed voice. 

"It's that amount or I'll never give you the child." The man said. He now approached the door where there were multiple nails. "Five hundred?! I want a million. I'm going to turn you down and look for another willing to trade for a million!" 

He ended the call angrily and looked around the room. Alec ducked down and continued listening into the room but it was dead silence for minutes. He slowly got back again to look from the window when a wooden axe was thrown in his location - shattering the window glass in front of him as he narrowly avoided the blade. It slightly scratched the top of his head because he felt blood dripping on his face. 

"You think I wouldn't notice you, you sneaky brat?!" The man said, running to the back door Alec wanted to run away too but didn't because who knows what the man plans to do with the boy. Alec didn't even know why he was risking his life for the boy he hardly knew. 

The man ran towards him and in panic, Alec looked around hurriedly and grabbed the axe that was swung at him. He heard himself let out strings of cursed words when he realized that the axe was quite heavy and when he tried to lift it up, he uncoordinated fell back on his back. It didn't help that he was now lightheaded due to the axe hitting his head earlier. 

The man used that as an advantage to use his body weight to press down on him. Alec felt the swing of the other man's fist on his face and Alec tried to fight back but it was futile. The man now reached for the axe and that's when the on-lookers started to panic and run away in terror. The man started swinging the axe to the wounded and battered Alec. It was able to slice through the flesh of his chest with ease and Alec couldn't do anything but try to cower and writhe in pain. There were tears in his eyes as the man continued to deliver a combination of punches and slices of axe on his front body. 

The man seemed to come down to earth when he realized he might've caused a commotion outside. With a strong last punch to the young boy, the older pulled himself up and ran to the room - hands digging into the nails to let the kidnapped boy out and possibly take him to another location. 

Alec let out a huge groan while breathing heavily. The blood was now pouring from his body and it was a sick sight. He cried a little from the pain and bit his lip hard to prevent himself from shouting when he tried to stand. When he successfully stood up, he glanced at the door and he didn't know how he managed his body to run when he did - possibly from the adrenaline coursing his body at the moment. 

The man had forcefully dragged the boy away from the room but he was unsuccessful when a loud bang echoed the neighborhood. Alec glanced to the door and saw multiple uniformed personnel with guns on the front door. Someone must've called the police during the commotion earlier. 

In a panic, the man went to the back door and met face-to-face with the bloodied figure of Alec. 

"Y-you can't get away!" Alec shouted, tackling the man and trying to separate his strong grip from the tied-up and gagged boy in his arms. Seeing his actions, the older man shouted loudly before Alec was roughly ripped away from the two - body falling with a loud thump on the ground. 

His body was hurting but he quickly tried to sit up and that's when he noticed a weird aura surrounding the older man. The veins on his arms started to pop up and his body seemed to double its size. His eyes were…white. The pupils and irises from both of his eyes were long gone.

"Stand back!" The police in front of the others shouted - slowly leading the others to back away from the man. Now Alec was more scared because what could possibly make the police, who are supposed to be the ones protecting the people other than defenders, retreat?

Alec, from his position, can hear one of the men looking at him with an urgent look - as if he wants Alec to leave immediately. That's when Alec noticed that the man was not holding the young boy anymore - busy gripping his head as he shouted into nothing. It's almost like the man was fighting against his own mind.

Without a word and with the use of his adrenaline, he immediately pushed himself up to the ground and hooked his unbroken hand to the boy's collar - running away from the man. Never in his life had he exerted such effort in running as much as this. He can feel the hard wind giving him whiplashes from the speed he is running and he can't even fathom how is he able to do so all the while carrying another boy his size with just an arm. 

He heard an explosion behind him but paid it no mind. It was only when the boy on his arms scratched him harshly did Alec stopped running. He was out of breath as soon as he stopped - collapsing on the ground on top of the boy. The boy let out a loud groan and with his weakened and bloodied state, Alec tried to rip the clothing from the boy's face as well as the ones tying his hands behind his back. 

After he was done, Alec looked back at the scene and was surprised to realize they were both safely far away from the man and the police. With a sigh of relief, Alec finally succumbed to his tired body and collapsed unconsciously on top of the boy.

-

"...then what happened after that?" Ian asked, very much engrossed in the story. It was actually interesting to know that the two were already acquainted with each other when they were kids - that explains the way Alec jokes around Gamnique and the other not even minding it. 

"Well, when I opened my eyes, I was in Gamnique's house. I was surprised at first because I had never seen such a grandiose place before." Alec laughed at the thought. It really was surprising since before meeting Gamnique, he was mostly familiar with the ratty wooden walls and the rotten roof above his head filled with holes which is more noticeable when it's raining. "Gamnique's parents were thankful to me for saving their son's life. They took me in as their second son; they fed me, dressed me, and made me finish college."

"Oh wow," Ian genuinely thought that Gamnique's parents were so kind but he got it. If someone saves his son, he, too, would give whatever he can to the savior. 

"They originally planned to make me work side-by-side in the office under Gamnique's corporation - but that's before my core presented. I started developing weird shit." Alec laughed.

"Alec would often get hurt when we were kids but my parents took notice of his quick regeneration skills," Another voice calmly sneaked into the conversation. Both Alec and Ian turned around and saw Gamnique. 

The man was in his familiar black suit and his long black hair tied lowly on the back with some of the hair pieces falling on the sides of his face.

"What are you doing here?" Alec said nonchalantly as if he already expected the other which was not surprising seeing as he noticed he had a sharper hearing than most. "Gamnique was so cute when we were young, I don't know what happened to him to become this…this weird guy." He motioned at Gamnique. 

The other man sighed. "I could say the same to you, Craig."

"See!" Alec faked cried, now standing up and putting both of his arms on Gamnique's broad shoulders. "He now calls me by my surname, I thought we were long past that! I even saw the last time you peed on your bed!"

At this, Gamnique visibly turned red but didn't say anything. He didn't even stutter as he stated: "My parents' wrong move was to take you in," Gamnique then turned to Ian. "You're wrong move was to sign that contract with this lunatic."

At this, Alec plopped on the floor. Acting as if his life was sucked out of him, which made Ian laugh loudly.

With a sigh, Gamnique's body tensed in seriousness. Alec stood right up immediately noticing the shift in the mood in the room. 

"There's a domain in Mali," Gamnique said. 

"What about it?" Alec asked seriously, arms crossing in from of his chest. "What makes it so grave that you personally have to come here?"

"It's an SSS+ domain."