CHAPTER IV: Villareal Boy Part I

[GATE'S BILL CITY, ARTHAY ALLEY]

5:01PM

 Agent Aeolus have encountered a lot of unsettling things ever since he had become one of those unsettling things, by that, he means becoming an enlightened. However, he never expected that one Villareal boy would have the ability to almost shake up his sanity.

 When he was called earlier for a sudden emergency mission, he expected to have those crazy Agnostias to be recruiting their own civilians to join their crazy parade just like the legion. He didn't expect to see three commanders, or well, 'Pastors' as they call themselves to be there assaulting a boy in a very innocent looking alley.

 To what Aeolus know, the Agnostias and its built up beliefs have been teetering in this world even before the SOTerIA Legion was founded. That's why them, the watchers are always on guard with their moves. It's been a silent knowledge between the two groups that the Agnostias and SOTerIA Legion have different views to the unknown, this automatically announced the rivalry between the two.

 The Unknown was an enigmatic concept in this life. The elders and the books who only few people had access to, have a limited information about it. The Unknown thinks it was the world but the world to everyone was not the unknown. A complex plane of existence, a dimension of nothingness but alive and pulsing with life, a presence but without physicality. It coexists with reality but reality doesn't acknowledge it, that's why not everyone can know and see it. In other words, ancient people thinks that this enigmatic existence was alive, not in the way life exists but just alive in the presence of its existence as a mysterious plane. The books claimed it wants to take over the world's 'perception'. It wants to be the reality, the dimension humans to live in. That's how Aeolus understands it, at least.

 Now, the Agnostias doesn't only embrace this existence of something in which the books claims to forcefully take over what reality humans are existing, they worship it like their savior. They recruit, or well, manipulate other people into joining in their little parade of psychos praying to an 'unknown' god that will grant them the truth.

 The Legion's goal was a parallel to the Agnostias. They fear the Unknown. They are wary of its motives and therefore monitor it and made the 'watchers' to keep unaware humans out of it. Agnostias, of course, take it as an offense.

 To Aeolus, the Unknown was an interesting experience and actually understands a little bit of the Agnostias sentiments towards it, however, he loathes them. Agnostias left a big ugly scar in his life, taking a big chunk of his existence when they unforgivingly killed his family along with other innocent lives.

 Aeolus doesn't want to talk about it.

 So going back to the topic, Aeolus didn't really understand what's going on when he arrived at the scene. Agent Circe send him the location near a high school ground and that's quiet concerning. Agent Circe was assigned in the Unknown Life Monitoring, in other words, they are in-charge with the Unknown's movement and the things that suddenly come out of it. That means, Aeolus was expecting Agnostias were doing some problematic stunts again from the Unknown but no, instead, he saw a part of an unsuspecting alleyway was blocked off of someone's Manifestation.

 'Manifestation', apart from Bubble is one of the things you slowly become able to manipulate when enlightened to the existence of Unknown. It's basically your superpowers if you look it that way and right now, he's looking at a manifestation that everyone in SOTerIA should know. A wall of moving shadows, as if it was made of dark souls glued together to whisper the inhumane truth of the world. One look at the hissing wall, he knew this is one of the Agnostias' Pastors, that Crazy Cassandra.

 The Pastors are just as bad news as Agnostias involvement in everything. They are commonly known as the dogs of whoever is behind Agnostias because they are the die-hard loyalist of the group. They worship the Unknown to the bone. Although, the Pastors doesn't really go out often, they are one of the people the watchers are cautious of. Their group is full of psychotic people, so it's no surprises the ones up in the ladder are crazier.

 Agent Circe greet him on his way as he approaches their squad, standing a good kilometer away from the wall. The wall hissed in glee as a new potential victim arrived.

 "The headquarters deployed other watchers around the other sides of this wall." She briefed as he walked closer to the shadow wall. "We have to call you, I know you're busy from the sudden recruitment jobs but this field is your expertise, especially when dealings with the Pastors."

Agent Circe is older than him, she's a firm woman but she regarded him as an equal all the same. She is just as capable as he is but not in this. Cassandra's manifestation is a twin pack, it acts as a shield and also act as a portal but its most amazing aspect is that nothing can go pass it without getting themselves transported to who knows where. That's why none of the present watchers risk on intervening with whatever is even happening behind that wall and called for him.

Aeolus' Manifestation is the nemesis of Cassandra's. Well, it's more like the nemesis of all Manifestations because his Manifestation is one of the world's most unique ones.

"Alright. I'll go in."

"Without a gear? You don't even have a radio." Agent Circe raised her brown eyes at him.

"I forgot about it. I was in recruiting duty earlier, okay?" Aeolus mumbled.

Agent Circe then shooed him, chuckling as if they don't have something serious going on in front of them.

Aeolus shook his head and finally walked right to the shadow wall before stopping one foot apart from it. He closed his eyes as he raised his right hand to his forehead and slowly closed it into a snapping position.

"Ignotus…" He whispered and snapped his fingers.

The air around Aeolus stilled for a second before some kind of force seems to repel it, blowing winds to the other agents around his perimeter. He opened his eyes and reached out to the wall of shadows.

Agent Circe looked at him intently, her group gawking at Aeolus with curious gaze. They gasped in awe at what happen, this must be their first time to see Aeolus' display of his manifestation.

The hissing wall of shadows quieted around Aeolus the moment it touched his skin, it stilled, the hissing and beckoning hands retreated in surprise before the moving and alive shadow of wall transformed into something like an obsidian wall in a second. Aeolus pushed his hand in, the wall cracked, it shattered and blew up into pieces like glass. The shards disappeared into thin air like dissipating black smoke.

That's when Aeolus saw the ridiculous scene. The notorious Pastors, not just Cassandra but along with Alejandro who's known as the most psychopathic dog of Agnostias and the Elder Saeio. They were wrestling what looked like a high school student, writhing in struggke from their hold.

The watchers sprung to action. The Pastors themselves didn't let the sudden intrusion get distracted, although, Cassandra's manic expression was obvious. Aeolus definitely pissed her.

Saeio moved fast despite his age and started summoning his flock of withered skeletal birds to slow down the agents. The other didn't moved and continued to oppress the young boy. Aeolus found it weird and suspicious so he decided to openly charged at the two. Saeio noticed this and shoot his ugly birds at him. Aeolus smirked as the skeletal birds turned into black smokes right when it gets in contact with him. Saeio looked displeased.

Aeolus' Manifestation, to simply put, reverts all manifestation back into nothingness. Upon contact with him, the manifestations of others reversed back to where they came back—nothing. In other words, Aeolus is basically a nullifier when he is actively using his manifestation.

"SOTerIA's nullifier." Saeio growled.

Agent Circe got in between them, giving the old man a drop kick in which the latter blocked off with his birds. They screeched and scratched the agents' ears. Aeolus grimaced as Agent Circe hurriedly shout commands to him.

"I'll handle this. Rescue the civilian!"

Aeolus nodded and ran to pass the two to face Alejandro and Cassandra. Alejandro looked up and glared at him.

The poor boy was on the ground while Cassandra hovered at him like a maniac. Her manifestations were beneath the boy, clawing at him forcefully. Shadow hands hissed and whispered at the boy, they grasped his hands, his thighs and covered his eyes. It was a dangerously beautiful sight and pitiful as the boy gasp in rebel.

"Transport the dear boy faster, Cassandra!" Alejandro scolded the other and faced Aeolus.

"He'sssss fightttttting." Cassandra in turn send him her own glares.

Silver daggers were thrown at Aeolus. He ran while dodging, destination is the boy. Alejandro met him halfway on a face off, his hands both holding daggers.

Aeolus glared at Alejandro. He is the worst match for him, not a manifestation user in combat. Aeolus raised his fists in guard. Alejandro lunged and they started a one sided fight. The Pastor was the only one attacking, slashing the air with his daggers as Aeolus danced around and dodge all his blows.

Frustrated, Alejandro threw a dagger at him in which Aeolus took as an opportunity to catch and threw it back to him. Surprised, Alejandro was a second late to dodge and his own dagger grazed his forehead.

"Ahhh!"

Both of them turn to Cassandra's scream. The lady was mysteriously thrown off a few yards away from the boy he was trying to kidnap. The said boy was writhing against Cassandra's manifestation. There was an air around him that seems odd, Aeolus noted. Instead of the shadow hands being aggressive towards the boy, it seems to look like actually being gentle with him, caressing his face with care.

 Then suddenly, the world glitches. Aeolus stiffened and looked at the boy. This boy… this boy is transitioning himself to a bubble. The agent's eyes widened in shock, accidental enlightened ability use are always tricky. He looked around and saw Alejandro had run towards Cassandra. Aeolus breathe in and in haste, he decided to jumped off towards the boy.

Cassandra's manifestation disappeared in a matter of second, releasing the boy once Aeolus touched it. However, the world, without a warning momentarily shattered like glasses in a blink, it came back as if in reverse and then it was black. When Aeolus blinked again, he's inside the boy's bubble.

No. It's not just the boy's bubble. It was his domain.