Chapter 12 - Where The Pieces Meet (2/2)

The man gave a simple shrug. ”Numbers...” He said shrugging off the question. ”Each letter had a number code on it. For instance, your letter is number code 4081. The girl who delivers these letters tells me the names and numbers of who they were delivered to as well as the location. My paper here has all the names of the people who have gained letters with the number code of their letters next to the name. Says here you come from the village of Calendulas. We normally don't see you village folk out here. You must be real special? What kind of training do you do?”

”Umm... Well, pretty basic training. I train with all my siblings every day. We work out our body and practice using our Attribute every day. We actually are the guardians of the village... Every day we would be forced to fight a Bestia Macht. We fought loads of them. Thankfully they were all Baron level... But there was this one time when we had to fight a Viscount... Luckily North was able to take it down...”

”I thought you were North?”

”I meant my father North...” Irene said looking down at the ground for a second. ”He was amazing... He met my mother Irene in the village... I try to follow his beliefs every day...”

”Your father? How... How did it happen?”

”Same way it always happens. He made a mistake and a Bestia Macht took it as their chance... I was eight when it happened.”

”I'm sorry for your loss. Your father sounds like a brave man.”

”He was.” Irene nodded as she looked up a smile now on her face. ”That's why I'm here now. I'm going to become an Enforcer and attack the Bestia Macht's from the source!”

The man smirked as he turned to face the gate. ”You know boy. I think I like you. It's been a while since I've seen so many powerful recruits in one day...” He stated. His hand reached out as he grabbed the Golden Gate and with a small amount of effort he easily lifted them up.

”Thank you, sir...” Irene said nodding slightly.

He watched Irene quickly walk past him heading towards the Enforcer building. When she finally entered the building he set the Golden Gate down and looked up towards the black and polluted sky. ”Well, Tom... It looks like this will be a very interesting year...”

Meanwhile inside of the Oleander School Irene entered the building slowly. She nervously looked around finding several people all standing around. From a basic headcount, she guessed that at least eighty people had to be in the room.

The seventeen-year-olds eyes wandered over to a strange sight. She found four people talking. an older man, three teenage boys, and an extremely pissed off and very short girl. The girl's arms were crossed and her cheeks were puffed out making her look more cute than intimidating. Her dull red eyes seemed to glare at the much older man while one of the teens had their arm wrapped around her slightly.

”Look I'm sorry!” Jackson said letting out a quiet laugh. ”I promise I won't bring up your height again!”

”Ya better not!” Ken announced loudly.

”How come when I bring it up I get smacked on the head but when he does it you just leave him be?” Hero questioned a bit annoyed.

”Because she knows she could never hit me...” Jackson said smirking slightly.

'Smack!'

”Oww!” Hero yelled clutching his head. ”What did I do that time?”

”I just needed to hit something!” Ken yelled out annoyed.

”You're so mean...” Hero whined.

”Please forgive me...” Jackson said bring his hands up in a prayer gesture. ”I would hate to see your big side get out!”

”Are you mocking me?”

”I would never...” Jackson said laughing openly now. His electric blue eyes turned away from the girl as they wandered over to Irene's icy blue eyes. The two people stared at each other before Irene quickly turned away.

The girl placed her hat down more trying to cover up her face as she sucked in her gut in an attempt to mask her chest. She quickly walked away now trying to remain unseen. As she walked she glanced back still finding the man staring at her.

'Why is he looking at me like that? Can he tell...' Irene thought in a panic. 'He looks so curious...' Irene shook her head as she turned away.

”Anything I can help you with?” Irene nearly jumped up as her eyes went completely wide. She stared at the man who just moments ago had been behind her. Yet now he stood directly in front of her. It was as if he had teleported?

”Wh-What? No... I'm good.” Irene said shaking her head quickly. ”Honest! I'm just glancing around...”

”How the hell does he keep doing that!” The voice of Kitsune could be heard in the background. ”Damn it! Hero quick sniff him out!”

”Why can't that boy just take a hint...” Jackson questioned as his eye twitched slightly. ”And how the hell is that Hero, kid so good at finding me? Some kind of tracking Attribute.”

Kitsune marched over still dragging Ken with him. Ken had her back turned to the Noble as she talked with Cloud who walked after the dragged girl. Cloud, in turn, was being dragged by Hero who followed Kitsune. They were all a really strange sight...

”You look familiar...” Ken said staring at Cloud with curiosity.

”Ahh! Well, you don't...” Cloud announced reaching up and pointing at his eyes. ”I'm afraid I have no way of telling if I've seen you before as I haven't really seen anyone...”

”How have you not seen anyone?” Hero asked curiously.

Ken sighed slightly. ”Hero. I'll explain it to you later okay?” She turned back as she stared at Cloud again. ”No, I don't think we've met... But I do remember watching a guy with a cane beat the crap out of several people in a really crappy town?” Ken trailed off. ”I suppose you're pretty strong right?”

”I would hope so-”

”Will you three shut up!” Kitsune asked still marching forward. ”What the hell makes that guy so special that Mr. Storm wants to talk to him instead of me? I mean I'm a Noble!” He said glaring over at the boy Jackson was talking to.

”Jealous much?” Hero said mockingly.

”Ha,” Ken said smirking slightly. ”You're just mad that Jackson doesn't like you.”

”Coming from a girl so light I can literally drag her one-handed...” Kitsune responded. ”Geez, you must weigh less than ninety pounds...”

”So! Since when is weighing less a bad thing!” Ken said quickly as she folded her arms.

Kitsune stopped in front of Jackson as he shot the new guy a slight glare. Irene stepped back nervous at the intense look. ”What makes him so special?”

”H-” Jackson stopped as he looked back at Irene for a moment. ”The same reason I took an interest in Ken.” He said shrugging.

”Why'd ya take an interest in me?” Ken questioned confused.

”Yeah. I mean I'm so much cooler then-” Hero began to say only to be stopped by Ken.

'Smack!'

”Oww!” Hero yelled again.

Jackson opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a loud booming voice. ”Jackson!” Everyone turned to find a new man walking up. He looked to be the same age as Jackson but far, far more interesting. He was tall and seemed to have a lean yet very muscular build. Powerful predatory yellow eyes peered out as he looked at everyone.

”Yo Dawson!” Jackson said waving slightly. ”What's up buddy? You came at the best time. Things were starting to get weird...”

The apparently named Dawson crossed his arms as he stared down at Jackson. ”Katrina wants you to hurry up. She told me to come to get you, actually. Says you've played with the new recruits long enough. The test will be starting soon.”

”Ahh...” Jackson said nodding slightly. ”He let out a disappointed huff as he shrugged. ”Oh well... Can't leave her waiting.” He turned to look back at the kids. ”Well, kids- Okay well everyone except for Kitsune. I'll be rooting for you all!” He announced as he turned and followed Dawson out of the building.

”Hey, rich asshole?” Ken asked curiously.

”Yeah,” Kitsune said not even questioning the name.

”You're a massive Enforcers fan right?” She questioned.

”Yeah. Everyone should be. They are really-”

”Who was that man... The guy that came to get Jackson? His name was Dawson?” Ken said cutting the teen off before he could go into a long rant about the Enforcers.

”I don't know,” Kitsune said giving off a half-hearted shrug. ”The Enforcers only doc.u.ments the high ranking officials. He must not be important. Why do you ask?”

”She could feel his immense pressure,” Cloud spoke getting the attention on him. ”That man? Whoever he is, he is no joke. I could feel him a mile away... Every hair on my body seemed to stand up.”

”I have a question then.” Hero said suddenly serious as he turned to Jackson. ”There's this girl... I don't know her name but she's in the Enforcers. She had a gold badge-”

”Gold badge,” Kitsune said surprised. ”That's pretty rare... She must be high ranking.”

”She also had this Bestia Macht with her.” Hero said shrugging.

”A Bestia Macht!” Irene said frowning. She crossed her arms as she shook her head. ”No way. The Enforcers would never team up with the sc.u.m that is Bestia Macht's...”

”Well, she had one with her.” Hero stated. ”It was a Crow species. Pretty powerful since it took out an entire army of metal golems...”

”You guys are really weird...” Irene said trying to back away. Ken's hand shot out grabbing her wrist.

”Oh no, pal! If I'm stuck with them you're stuck with them too!”

”You evil girl...”

Ken seemed to smile slightly as she shrugged. ”Actually I prefer devilish...”