"Scribble, scribble," the sound of a pen scribbling on a hard surface sounded out, just by the sound you could tell that someone was writing, but the room was dark, so dark that one would think that it wasn't suitable for writing at all.
In the middle of this dark room was an unusually large table, the person sitting behind this table was veiled by the shadows of the room, but one thing was an exception to that, her eyes.
Those eyes glowed with a dim purple light instantly giving away her identity, this woman was Miss Lotus.
Suddenly this woman stopped writing and looked towards the door with a small frown.
"Why don't you come inside, you've been standing there for a while now," Lotus said and immediately after that the door opened, and a girl wearing a full business suit came in.
This girl had brown hair and her eyes were brown as well, currently she had an apologetic smile on her face, "Sorry for the disturbance Miss Lotus, I'm new to the main tea-"
"Save it," Lotus interrupted, her purple eyes narrowing a bit as she said, "Go straight to the point."
Feeling startled by Lotus's cold attitude the girl stuttered, "I wasn't told the details but Agent Gold said I-I should pass a message to you," saying this quickly handed Lotus an envelope.
Opening the envelope Lotus could find the picture of a man in it, only this time it was a man she found familiar.
This man was playing a violin in front of a crowd of people, looking at that face closely she almost couldn't believe it, turning to the back of the picture she found two words written on it, "Aiden's back."
The room suddenly turned silent, the pen slipped out of Lotus's hand as her eyes widened.
She was surprised but that surprise quickly turned into excitement as a smile formed on her lips.
Turning to the woman in front of her she commanded, "Contact Gold, tell him to tail the target, and get my jet ready, I'm flying back to the seventh shelter, also inform the other leaders that something came up I'll no longer be able to attend the conference."
After Issuing her commands Lotus picked up her jacket as she walked past the woman in a business suit.
Hearing the series of commands the woman took a second to process and when she had a clear picture in mind she rushed to complete them.
As she walked through the halls of the facility she couldn't help but ponder, "Who is this Aiden to make Miss Lotus have this kind of reaction."
Miss Lotus on the other hand had already walked quite the distance confidently strutting through the lobby.
"After one year and seven months you're finally back, this just keeps on getting better, first you see through my abilities and now you fake your death I can't wait to find out where you truly went."
*********
Aiden sat down in shock; he was in a small room sitting on a chair at the side, "I've been gone for one year and seven months," he thought in his mind.
It wasn't that Aiden felt that he had been gone for too long it just didn't make sense, Aiden didn't know how long he had stayed in that strange place but he was sure he had been there for more than fifteen years.
"Don't think about it too much, time is unstable in that place and besides your life span right now is about five hundred years," Landon quipped.
Frowning a bit Aiden wondered how Mary was doing, he also wondered how Bruce was doing right now.
Thanks to Aiden they got a room to sleep in tonight, back at the music store Aiden's performance had earned him generous tips from the crowd as well.
He earned 315 creda and some cents in a few hours and using the money they bought a new set of clothes for 40 creda's, they also bought some takeout for 8 creda's and 2 cents, and thanks to Aiden's familiarity with twilight city they found a cheap motel paying just 43 creda's for the night.
The receptionist had given both of them a good look wondering what such good-looking people would be doing in this motel.
Thinking about it now Amanda was also schooled in this city, and she should be in her final year of college by now, he would go and see her next, "Do you have anywhere to go?" Aiden asked Whisper who sat on the bed.
Hearing Aiden's question Whisper answered expressionlessly, "I don't have anywhere to go, to me my family no longer exists, it's time I start all over again." She said pausing a bit before adding.
"Honestly the change of my hair and eye color seems more convenient."
With that the room was silent as Aiden didn't ask any more questions, even though Whisper tried to hide it he could tell she felt uncomfortable talking about her family.
Now it was time for him to focus on something else, training.
"Training?" Landon asked telepathically.
"Yes training," Aiden replied, "it's easy, after all, you said yourself; that I could get stronger by straining my body."
Thinking for a while Aiden said, "Starting tomorrow you have to remind me to do jumping jacks for two hours, a hundred sit-ups, a hundred pushups, and a hundred squats."
Hearing this Landon was quiet for a bit, but he eventually said, "What does working out have to do with straining your body? By straining your body I meant you have to fight in deadly battles and push yourself to the limit, I do not agree, there's no way I'm reminding you of something like this."
"Ok," Aiden said nonchalantly, it was just a random idea he had.
Snapping his fingers he asked, "Hey Landon I've been meaning to ask you; how can I use my innate abilities?"
Aiden asked this question because he wasn't sure how his abilities worked, he knew what some of them meant but knowing what something meant and how to use it was to different thing.
Feeling Aiden's curiosity Landon said, "Try willing it like you did when you were reviving the seed of fear."
Aiden nodded his head and proceeded to summon the book of souls, he didn't worry about Whisper seeing it, he had summoned it previously and it seemed like even Whisper who had the closest connection to him couldn't see it.
"Now let's see, I have Semi Immortality, Soulless, Soul body, Soul gaze, Soul armor, two Unknown abilities, Soul control, Soul Grace, Infect, Soul tongue and Soul storage."
He noticed that the infect skill was used up "Maybe it's because of Whisper," Aiden thought, as he looked at this skill.
Aiden had a general idea of what most of the skills meant, but he didn't know what to do about his two unknown skills, the soul grace and soul control also had vague meanings, and didn't seem to have any effects on improving his strength.
"You know you have one skill that would directly help you in a fight," a voice suddenly said in his head.
"What skill is that?" Aiden asked he felt curious.
With a pause, Landon said, "The Soul armor, do you remember the terrifying being in that place?"
Thinking about it now the armor that being was wearing looked so cool "Does this mean I can also use the same armor?" Aiden thought, excitedly.
If he had armor like that he could suppress any demon that threatened him, "How do I use it?" Aiden asked eagerly.
"Honestly I'm not sure," Landon replied before darting in, "Try willing it like you did with the infect skill."
"Ok," Aiden replied as he stood up "You might want to stand back a bit," Aiden suddenly said to Whisper who was having a drink on the bed.
Whisper felt confused, "what is it?" She asked as she complied.
"Don't worry you'll see," Aiden said with a mysterious smile on his face, he wondered how shocked she would be when she saw him in his all-black armor.
He'd look like a total badass, "yeah," Landon agreed with him.
Standing in the middle of the room Aiden closed his eyes "Soul armor," he shouted in his mind.
But that was it, a few seconds passed but Aiden didn't feel any different "Are you ok?" he heard Whisper ask curiously from the corner of the room.
"Puftt," Landon tried to hold in a laugh.
Opening his eyes Aiden felt deeply embarrassed, he cleared his throat and said to Whisper.
"I was trying to test something, but it seems that it didn't work," he said,
"Oh, ok would you like a drink?" Whisper asked while handing Aiden a can of beer.
"Why not," Aiden replied, as he took the can.
"BAM!"
A loud explosion sounded out as the can burst in his hand shocking everyone in the room, and the drink splashed everywhere.
Aiden didn't know what happened he dropped the now compressed beer can on the floor and looked towards his arm with a dazed expression.
He didn't notice it beforehand but a black aura could be seen flowing under the skin of his entire right arm acting like dozens of extra veins.
These veins seemed out of place almost like Aiden had been infected by a virus of sorts.
"Dang," Landon muttered in his mind, and a smile formed on Aiden's lips.
Looking at the mess on the ground Aiden apologized, "sorry," he said, but Whisper didn't reply.
Instead, she looked at the veins in his arm like she had seen a new toy, Aiden felt a bit odd being stared at like that, so he picked up a towel from the table but "Rip," the towel exploded too as it tore to shreds.
"Wow," Whisper exclaimed, "how did you do that, Is this one of your abilities?" She asked.
Seeing Whisper's astonishment Aiden smiled, "It's nothing I was just testing out one of my skills, and it didn't go as planned."
Nodding her head Whisper thought for a bit and said, "I'll go out and call for someone to clean this up," saying this she walked out of the room.
As Whisper left Aiden wondered how he would deal with his situation but his worries seemed to be for naught as the black veins in his arm eventually disappeared.
Upon noticing this Aiden let out a breath of relief, "I should probably take a bath to cool myself down," he sighed.
"I think I understand now," Landon said abruptly startling Aiden who was taking off his clothes.
Hearing Landon's voice Aiden asked, "What do you mean?" His question prompted Landon to go on.
"The soul armor, the reason why it's so weak is because you are starting from square one, this is probably the weakest form the soul armor could take." Landon reasoned.
Nodding his head, Aiden walked towards the bathroom to take a cold shower, he didn't mind that he'd be staring over, and the thought currently flashing past his mind was "Well there's no use thinking about it too much I'll slowly climb to the top."
It didn't take long for Aiden to finish bathing and when he came out he noticed something odd.
All the lights were turned off, but a female figure sat on the bed, "Whisper, why did you turn off the lights?"
He asked, but the female figure didn't reply, "Whisper?" Aiden called out again as he walked closer to the bed.
Suddenly something strange happened "Huh," the female figure suddenly moved, she moved so fast that Aiden couldn't react.
Aiden felt his world turn upside down and before he knew it he was laying on the bed with a woman straddling him.
"Whisper?" Aiden asked feeling shocked, as a feeling of conflicted desire washed over him, he'd just met this girl yesterday.
Suddenly a voice sounded out bringing Aiden back to reality, "You've called that name three times Aiden, are you trying to hurt my pride?"
She said taking a pause before darting in, "Why would you call the name of another woman when you're with me?" Her playful voice could be heard.
Hearing that voice Aiden confirmed that this woman wasn't Whisper, she was an unknown woman.
Realizing this he tried to struggle but she had him completely pinned, "How could a woman be stronger than me?" He thought in shock, a shock that was evident in his eyes.
"Who are you?" Aiden asked feeling that the voice he just heard sounded familiar, suddenly the lights turned on and Aiden's confused eyes rapidly widened.
In a perfect business suit, was a woman with black hair that flowed freely down her shoulder, her perfect body clung to his putting them both in a compromising position.
On her beautiful face was a confident smile that scared him a bit, and her purple eyes glowed with a dangerous glint in the dim lighting.
"T-THIS WOMAN IS MISS LOTUS!" Aiden yelled in his mind, his body froze and he didn't dare to move.
Instead, his thoughts raced, "Why is she looking for me, does she have a connection to the soul sovereign?"
"Calm down will you, she isn't hostile," Landon reminded Aiden grimly.
***************
At the same time outside the motel, Whisper could be seen staring directly at a man in a cowboy hat.
She decided to take a breath of fresh air and as she was about to go back inside this man stopped her.
They both stood across each other with a serious look in their eyes, their tense movie-like demeanor earning them stares of confusion from passersby.
Suddenly the man spoke, "I know Aiden, but I don't know you, are you a Contractor? No that's not it either, I don't recognize your family." He pondered.
"Please let me pass or else I'll have to use force," Whisper said, she could tell this man was dangerous but she wasn't afraid.
The atmosphere was quiet as none of them spoke for a while but the man in the cowboy hat broke that silence when he chuckled, "My job isn't to fight you I just want to keep you occupied while my boss has a small discussion with your little boyfriend."
"Whoosh!"
The sound of the air ripping could be heard as Whisper closed the distance between them rapidly.
Upon reaching him she delivered a roundhouse kick, but the man seemed to be expecting this as he leaned backward narrowly dodging her attack.
Whisper didn't slow down though, as soon as her feet touched the ground she delivered another kick but the man didn't flinch.
"Bam!"
A muffled sound could be heard as he caught Whisper's foot, his arm latching firmly onto it.
With a smile, he said, "You pack quite the-"
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
Two consecutive hits sounded out disorientating the man.
As soon as he caught hold of Whisper's foot she had already moved her other feet from the ground kicking his face with all the force she could muster.
But she didn't stop there she reversed the attack kicking him at the other side of his face with as much force as before, this happened quite quickly prompting the man to let go of Whisper.
Losing her momentum Whisper fell on the floor but she quickly got up staring at the man in a cowboy hat much more diligently.
"Owch, that hurt," the man said with a smile; he stroked his face, and a visible golden aura could be seen at the tip of his fingers.
The bystanders had long since noticed that these two people were Contractors.
Upon noticing this a tacit understanding prevailed, dissuading any bystander from intervening.
Given the inherent risks associated with confronting a Contractor, nobody wanted to get involved.
Legal authorities, constrained by their jurisdiction, found themselves often powerless unless a Contractor was unequivocally caught in criminal activities.
And even when contractors were caught the authorities were powerless without sufficient evidence, they couldn't even punish an offending Contractor without permission from their families.
This delicate equilibrium urged caution against intruding into the covert existences of these enigmatic entities.
As the bystanders muttered amongst themselves the man moved.
"Bam!"
Dust rose as the man appeared in front of Whisper with a flash of gold.
Before Whisper knew it a fist with a Golden glow was already in front of her, Whisper was quick to act, she crossed her arms and.
"BANG!"
His fist hit her with an unbelievable amount of force, Whisper was shocked as her eyes widened, and before she could register anything her body shot back like a cannon.
"Bang," she crashed right through a hotdog stand gaining multiple injuries, but the force hadn't diminished.
Feeling this Whisper wedged her fingers on the hard and jiggered concrete floors enduring the friction as she slid.
Fortunately, she slowed down as her uncontrollable slide backward stopped.
With great difficulty, Whisper slowly stood up, "what force," she muttered through pained breaths as her body trembled.
Whisper felt a burning pain curse through her causing her to suppress a grunt, looking at her fingers she noticed that some terrifying injuries had appeared on them and her mind shook.
Her fingers were completely skinned with the and her bones were damaged as well, through her horrifying wound blood flowed like a stream slowly dripping
She also had some minor wounds all over her body this was a result of smashing through a hotdog stand.
Although she was injured something strange was happening, her bleeding had stopped it wasn't just her bleeding, her bones seemed to be reconstructing themselves, and her wounds were healing at speeds visible to the human eye.
Whisper felt this and the first feeling that took her was confusion, looking around she saw a huge amount of black fog involuntary moving towards her and entering the pores of her skin and that's when it became clear to her.
The bystanders mostly women and children had worried looks on their faces as they looked at her trashed appearance.
Some bystanders could even be seen calling the police as they fiddled with their mobile phones, clearly, the situation had escalated faster than expected.
Seeing the reaction of the bystanders Whisper trembled; her face contorted as she gritted her teeth in anger, "it's only natural for weak-minded people to pity and fear for their fellow weaklings," Whisper thought.
The fear and unrest of the crowd were feeding her, but she didn't want their fear, she detested it, she wanted to eat and feed on fear that she created herself, the fear of her enemies, enemies like the man in front of her.
The man in a cowboy hat looked towards this monstrosity of a woman with utter astonishment, her wounds were healing so fast that one would think she wasn't damaged in the first place.
Of course, only a few people noticed this in the crowd, as one would be fooled by her battered appearance.
Whisper on the other hand quickly regained her composure.
Currently, she was gazing at her opponent with the intention to kill, her eyes narrowed as she prepared to move.
As if sensing Whisper's determination the man in a cowboy hat readied himself, "It seems I have to use a bit more strength," he muttered as he stared at Whisper seriously for the first time.
The atmosphere was tense and the two looked as though they could burst at any time but just as they prepared to move.
"Stop!"
Two voices sounded out simultaneously making both Whisper and the man freeze.