At the same time, in another corner of the town, a car entered quietly and parked itself near the only inn of the Bluris town. A tall young man stepped out of it, and quickly walked towards the lobby. The front desk staff swiftly worked and gave him a card to his suite.
Finally after entering his suite, he locked the door behind him and picked up the phone which had been constantly ringing ever since he left Broris city.
If you took a closer look at it, you would notice that the phone was designed a bit differently from the ones available in the market. Lucas answered the call and placed the phone next to his ear. He had already expected what he would face,
“How many times have you been fucking warned Lucas?! You pick up the Bureau’s call no matter what situation you are in! Do you place yourself above the Bureau?”
A stern loud female voice was heard from the other side. Lucas didn’t reply with anything, he had knowingly done it and fully accepted it. There was a silence on the other side, followed by a deep breath before continuing,
“You have been ordered to leave the Bluris town.”
“Why be so redundant? You know I won’t leave the town when I’ve already decided to come here after ignoring the Bureau’s calls.”
“You’ll face a penalty if you continue to defy the Bureau. We are doing this for your sake. The Bureau doesn’t want unnecessary sacrifices.”
“You don’t have to worry about me. I am only here to get a friend out of trouble.”
“It’s not up to you what the Bureau should worry about. You are a super, it’s our job to look after you.”
“You know I am a super, but still worry about me?”
“Do you think supers are invincible? They can die just as easily as the rest of the humans. Or in your languages, mortals.”
“I am not that arrogant to consider myself detached from the species. I still consider myself a human, and a mortal who can die.”
“Why do you still insist on saving that friend yourself then? We could have helped you with it.”
Eyebrows raised, Lucas asked after a second of thought, “You would?”
“I mean, we are already in the process of dispatching a team to deal with the specter. Rescuing your friend would be easy.”
“No wonder. And here I thought the Bureau suddenly became so magnanimous as to help people out of specter infected areas.”
“You do realize that you are talking to an agent of the Bureau right? All the calls are being recorded and reviewed. The Bureau already doesn’t have a favorable opinion of you, talking crap about them doesn’t help with it either.”
And you already know I couldn’t care less about Bureau right?
The female agent continued when she didn’t get a reply, “Please tell me the name of your friend and other details so that I can relay it to the field unit.”
Wouldn’t be bad to have extra help.
He inwardly chewed over the details of his pal before telling her what he could remember. It had been years since they last met, he wondered how he was doing.
“Aiden Spencer. Hmmm…”
A series of typing sounds were heard on the other side as Lucas put the call on speaker and took that time to change into a more comfortable clothing. It was urgent, yes, but since the Bureau had already contacted him, it would be better to ask them for information on the specter so he could be better prepared to help Aiden.
A couple minutes later, the female agent spoke up again, “Hmm… did you know that your friend’s parents were once field agents? They were even in the same unit. Their neighbor Hellen Radcliffe was also a field agent under the same unit.”
Lucas’s hands which were buttoning up his shirt froze midway as his eyebrows shot up in surprise. He exclaimed, “Damn! Really? No fucking way they are part of the Bureau!”
“Nope, they aren’t part of the Bureau. Not all field agents work under the Bureau. Some of them are in more of a collaborative agreement with us, we provide them information and they do the work for us. Any gains they make during the task is theirs to keep, which they can also choose to sell to us, which includes information, equipment and other things.”
“Damn, such a bummer. Why would they not want to work under the Bureau?”
“You don’t know much of it because you aren’t a field agent. You come under a different department which deals with problems of the common public. Not every department has the same set of rules and restrictions.”
“Yea yea, anyway, can Aiden and his family be rescued?”
“By family, if you mean him and his little sister. Yes, I'll relay that to the team which is going to be dispatched.”
The speed with which his expression had lifted crashed again at the same speed. Before he could say anything, the female agent spoke up quickly after sensing his mood,
“Sorry, I should have mentioned it all in one go. Aiden’s parents have gone missing. They aren’t confirmed to be dead…yet.”
Lucas heaved a sigh as he resumed buttoning up his shirt. Not even a few seconds passed when the agent spoke up again, “Sir, you need to leave the town. You are NOT allowed to engage with the specter or even go near the town. The penalties you’ll face would be definitely harsher than all the previous ones if you refuse to cooperate.”
“Don’t care. I’ll leave after I am done doing what I came here for. Since the Bureau cares so much about supers and don’t want them to die, you can surely send me information about the specter here, yes?”
“You are being too stubborn. Don’t take advantage of the Bureau’s kindness. Plus, we don’t know anything about the specter either. Everything is a mystery.”
Lucas sat himself on a sofa and sipped on a glass of water as he asked, his voice laced with confusion.
“Didn’t you deem this town as dangerous? Not safe, even for me, as a super, to approach? How can you classify it as a danger zone without any information?”
“You really don’t know anything about how the specter department works do you? The Bureau has already lost a team there, all of them are suspected to be dead, with only one coming back alive. That’s one of the biggest losses we have had in recent times, our caution isn’t baseless.”
Lucas sucked in a deep breath as soon as he heard what the agent said. As much as he made fun of the Bureau, he knew it was only because he was in a department with relatively lax rules. He dealt with matters related to kids, like kidnappings and children trafficking.
But the specter department dealt with specters, each and every one of their field agents was trained rigorously and allotted extensive resources to develop themselves. To wipe out an entire squad of them with only one escaping meant the specter was truly dangerous.
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No wonder I am being more or less forced to leave the town. But how could I leave Aiden alone?
Seeing that the Bureau didn’t have any information on the specter, he switched on to another topic,
“By the way, can you get me Aiden’s phone number? Or check if the one I have is still the same as what he is using?”
“Sorry, your authority isn’t high enough to be able to access this level of information.”
“Chuck it. Anyway, I am not leaving the town until I find him. Thank you for your concern.”
He immediately cut off the call and tossed the phone aside while leaning back into the sofa. A few seconds passed before he straightened up and took another phone from his pocket, this one looked the same as any other cell phones on the market. Picking up the glass of water, he took another sip as he searched for a contact number.
A few seconds later, he finally found the number he was looking for.
Please, I hope his number is the same as before.
He sincerely hoped for his number to be the same, else he would have to search all over the town, which drastically increased both his and Aiden’s chances of encountering the ghost. His, because he would have to roam all around the town, while Aiden’s because of the extended time frame.
Ring
He sat straight with tension, anticipating what would happen. Would Aiden pick up the call?
Ring
Or if he had changed his number, someone else might pick it up right? That would make his work more difficult.
Ring
Even if it’s Aiden who picks it up, what will I even say to him? Hi? How are you? Did you eat well? No wait what the fuck why would I say that?
Ring
Hello? I am here to save you?
No. Won’t that mean I am putting his position down? It would be such a stuck up behavior on my part.
Ring
…
He couldn’t think of anything, there was so much more they could share.
After 5 rings, it suddenly stopped, his thoughts simultaneously coming to a halt. He held his breath as a groggy voice entered his ears, “Hello?”
It’s him. It’s definitely Aiden. He was probably sleeping, shouldn’t have called him so late at night. But it’s a matter of his life which is at stake.
“Hello?”
His voice sounded again, this time a little less groggy and more focused.
Lucas snapped out his thoughts, shoving everything aside and replied,
“Hello, Aiden.”
There was a pause on the other side as he could hear some shuffling.
Did he recognise my voice? It won’t be a surprise if he didn’t, it’s been years. This is also my new number. It would be just another stranger’s number for him. How should I introduce myself after so long?
He could hear Aiden’s deep breath from across the call as his voice sounded out again,
“Lucas? Crybaby?”
It seemed he didn’t need an introduction. All the good thoughts he had towards Aiden immediately vanished as soon as he heard the second half of the sentence. He subconsciously released the breath he had been holding and gave a dry laugh as he countered in a reverent tone,
“Oh the primordial one, you still remember me? How blessed am I.”
“Heh. Still better than your title.”
“Crybaby isn’t my title.”
“Of course it isn’t. How could I forget your title? But I’ll save you the embarrassment.”
There was a period of silence before Lucas asked, “How’s life?”
“Getting into deep topics are we? Life’s pretty good. How about you?”
“Not too bad. There were some troubles here and there but who doesn’t go through them? Life goes on and you need to too.”
*****
A few minutes earlier…
Aiden was sleeping comfortably on a mattress in the living room of aunt Hellen’s house when his phone suddenly began ringing. Hellen, who was busy doing her work on a laptop nearby, glanced at it from a corner of her eye and continued doing her work. They had decided that they would take sleep in turns to be on guard against the ghost.
Pulling off the comforter from over his head, he groped around for his ringing phone and caught it after a few seconds. Bringing it in front his eye, he realized it wasn’t a number he had saved. He felt like just silencing it and going back to sleep.
But what if the number is important? I anyway don’t like sleeping so much as to prioritize it over picking up an unknown number.
He picked up the call and answered it after placing it close to his ear,
“Hello?”
When he didn’t get a reply, he questioned again, this time in a clearer voice,
“Hello?”
Why would anyone call me so late at night only to not say anything?
Just then he suddenly heard the person on the other side speak, “Hello, Aiden.”
His thoughts, along with his body stuck in place as if hit by lightning. Aiden hurriedly sat up straight, removing the comforter from over his body at extreme speed as he took a deep breath and hesitantly asked,
“Lucas? Crybaby?”
The second part was out of reflex, he couldn’t help it. Lucas used to cry at every small thing and also got hurt on little jokes they made at each other. Hellen’s attention had been attracted over as she looked at him with a small smile on her face. She certainly remembered Aiden’s group of five, it was a prominent memory especially because they had shifted away so quickly one after another.
Aiden heard a dry laugh on the other side followed by his reply in a reverent tone,
“Oh the primordial one, you still remember me? How blessed am I.”
A subconscious sigh escaped his mouth as he inadvertently smiled. It was great to have a close one back. At that moment he forgot about all the things about the letter and the red moon, or even the ghost. Pure joy occupied his mind at the prospect of reuniting with his friend. He replied with a smile plastered on his face,
“Heh. Still better than your title.”
“Crybaby isn’t my title.”
“Of course it isn’t. How could I forget your title? But I’ll save you the embarrassment.”
There was a period of silence before Lucas asked, “How’s life?”
“Getting into deep topics are we? Life’s pretty good. How about you?”
“Not too bad. There were some troubles here and there but who doesn’t go through them? Life goes on and you need to too.”
Aiden could sense deep sadness in the undertones of Lucas’ voice. With a deep sigh he replied, “I can relate.”
There was a period of silence as Aiden asked, “So? When are you meeting? Where are you even?”
“In the Wanderer’s Home. It’s a pretty nice inn I must say. Didn’t know our Bluris town would have their branch too.”
“You are in the town already? Damn. You could’ve come here directly. On the side note, since when is it your town huh? You guys left it long ago, now it’s only my town. Geddit?”
Hellen chuckled as she heard Aiden subtly make a dig about being mad at leaving him alone.
Lucas similarly chuckled on the other side as he heard him.
“Cool cool, name Bluris town after yourself. I got no problem with it.”
Lucas took a pause and continued, his tone somewhat heavier,
“Say… are you in a dangerous situation right now? Do you feel uneasy?”
Aiden’s eye shot up in surprise.
How does Lucas know?
He probed back in a natural manner, “What dangerous situation could you be talking about? Is there something I should look out for?”
Lucas responded after a few seconds of thought, “You know, like if some inexplicable eerie things are happening? Or something which shouldn’t be possible?”
He knows.
Aiden confirmed as he heard his reply. Deciding to give him a little surprise as a little means of getting back for shifting out of the town, he replied,
“Are you talking about specters? There’s one in my house right now, I even fought with it just a while back.”
Aiden smirked, feeling giddy just thinking about Lucas’ face as he continued without giving him a chance to respond.
“And no, please don’t rush over, I am as safe as one could be. I am not lying. Let’s meet in the morning, then we can fight the specter together. Let me sleep for now. Cya.”