Chapter 1: Fated Encounter

"Listen, son, remember this very well don't live your life with no regrates. If you need anything go find Oliver Wordsworth."William Reed said very softly

"Is that what you wish" sobbed Zach.

..."Yes,"

"How did this happen. Why Oldman why? Why do you have to leave like this? " Zach said emotionally.

..." You will find out one day my boy". stopped William Reed.

With a dim smile on his face old man William Reed passed away. Not many fortunate souls are granted the noble wish of leaving the human vessel until solemn judgment is passed upon them. In that regard, William Reed was a blessed one.

8 months passed...

July 17, 5:35 pm.

....I am Zach Reed, an everyday normal high school boy; you can say I am the protagonist of the story. And at the beginning of the story, like all the other heroes, I don't know what to do. I have been searching for the mysterious Oliver Wordsworth for 8 months after the death of my grandfather William Reed. Eventually, I reached Sapporo, Japan to pursue the ghost of Oliver Wordsworth.

A special event last month caused a sudden stir. The incident was reported in a local newspaper as the 'Mysterious Death of the Port Mafia thugs'.Every member was found dead as if everyone was asleep. No injuries or signs of blood were found. Driven by my doubts I came here to investigate on my own. Who knew then, my whole future would change in such a way.

.....

July 17, 10.24 pm.

Now I'm at the edge of Maruyama Park where the horror happened a few days ago. To my north is the Hokkaido Shrine. The place is beautiful but I can still feel the presence of death in the air here. A foul odor left its mark everywhere in the place. This smell wants to take me somewhere. Isn't it true that I have no control over my feet? Or all my thoughts. And just then I see a horrible creature eating something with its hands. Looks like a human, but not a human, about 6 feet tall. A cold current flowed down my spine. I started running. That strange creature seemed to jump and run towards me. There is no escape. If I have to die like this, I will fight one last fight and then I would prefer to die.

I suddenly stopped running and took an iron rod out of my backpack and turned it to aim at the creature's head. I missed the target. Well, then this is how my death was written. My eyes closed on their own. And then I felt a strong push on my back and everything was dark.

When I opened my eyes I was reclining on a broken tree stump, alive And in front of me was a 24-year-old man, sitting on the corpse of that dead creature, looking up at the sky. It was as if he were humming. I was so surprised that I could not speak. The grief and despair of a while ago are all gone.

He looks quite strong messy hair a brown poor boy cap and a pitch-black shirt. "Who are you? Are you human?" the words barely came out of my mouth. My whole body was shaking with excitement.

..." Well! well! Looks like you are quite alive. Would you like to tell me how you fell off the tree?"

....." So you are a cocky one,haa!"...."That thing just tried to kill me. What is that evil thing? Nothing of this world, at least that much I can tell. And you just killed that thing. So no point in hiding."

....." Hold on tell me, something quick boy you can smell the odor right?"

" Of course I can."How can you not? Surviving the beast, it now seems that I'm going to die from this stench. And again you know what is this smell right?" I said.

" Aren't you full of surprises? Hum, hey kid tell me do you have anywhere else to go? I mean of course not come with me. you want to know everything right?"

" How about a bowl of ramen. I want a Super Chicken Teriyaki bowl. What about you ?" with a gentle smile he said.

Zach smiles softly....

" So Sukiyaki bowl."

July 17, 11:15 pm.

So basically I am stuck with this wired guy for the last 15 minutes and he didn't utter a single word completely immersed in his world with a bowl of ramen. I better do the same.

" At a glance, you look tardy but full of enthusiasm, your pinkish hair color, and noticeable college boy outfit is very catchy I must say. But you are a high school student. Aren't you? the man finally said.

" Yeah, so what? "

after that, the man started speaking something completely unbelievable.

" Actually truth be told kid the things you saw today and the smell, they are not something real. Completely imaginary. A normal human can not see them or smell them."

" What do you mean by a normal human. I am a normal human."

"If you think so then you can think so but my friend you are not a normal person. Not after seeing all that. Let's start from the beginning then. There are so many things in this world that are beyond the reach of the average person. For example, two of them are souls and spirits. What do you think of them?"

" Aren't they the same?"

" NO, they are not souls are the manifestation of our accumulated emotion, thoughts, our want, our belief. Basically pretty much everything we humans gather up to build our character. That's why the soul can be corrupted easily. The one you see was a corrupted Soul. We call them 'Sins'.The ugliest form of the human soul. On the other hand, a spirit is what we call a pure form of energy bound inside the soul. You may say one's 'jhi' spirit energy is determined by their 'Tamashi' or commonly known as soul energy." Once jhi vanishes the soul becomes vulnerable. It can be tainted easily. They later become slaves to one of the 'Seven Deadly Sins'. that depends on circumstances."

"Wow! That's deep man"...I exclaimed sarcastically.

"Hold on! You haven't hard the real thing yet."

"And what is that?"

"Have you heard about the Shibuya incident 17 years ago? I presume you haven't. That was January 21 when the bell first rang "

And naturally, I asked " What bell?"

"An endless nightmare began for humanity though they have no idea of such things like spirits, curses. And the danger they are in. Because we are there for them. A certain group of people emerged they were called by many names sorcerer, wizard, warlock, magus, shaman, thaumaturge, theurgist, mage, etc., etc. They were granted special power and training to fight these creatures but most of them were pretty weak in nature compare to the sins. So they had to gain power in order to survive and win and that's when they divided into clans and started a competition of hunting Sins and each another as well. They called it 'Seishin Senso'. Boy, now you are a part of it too. so what will you do? will you hunt or be hunted? which one?"

Time seemed to have stopped long ago. The whole world seems to want to come to a point to a single thought. And at that moment it was clear to me that there is no going back. Even if I want to no matter badly I want it's been already decided. I just have to see it through the end. I said " Alright I am in. But I don't think I have any special power "

"Oh yes! you have. You will soon find it out. Until then just hang in there. And welcome to the theurgist society."

Saying this, the man got up. Then he stood a little further in front of the door and said back to me " and you can call me Keishin Haiba"