"What..??
After hearing the Leon's words, Zack was suddenly stupefied.
Staring at the dumbfounded Zack, Leon explained, he pointed his index finger to the dark gray sky.
"The sky, don't you find it strange these days?
Looking at the gray sky, Zack responded with a hesitant expression.
"l don't think so?
Leon at this point, released a resigned sigh and waved off his hand tiredly, with a dispirited tone he replied,
"Sigh ! Just fogert about it, its not like it matters anyway"
Zack was confused even more, he couldn't fathom why this guy was rambling on about stupid things.
Staring at the young boy with a cautious gaze, Zack eventually asked,
"What are you doing here?
Leon with a calm smile on his face, replied casually,
"Taking a walk"
"Bullshit!, blurted out Zack in protest to the brown haired boy's lies.
"You have been trying to establish a friendship relationship with me for the past few days, you even took the action of concealing your awakened abilities from the government and risked in participating in the genetic enhancement process just so you could get close to me.
Now out of nowhere I just bumped into you outside my home and you state that you were just taking a walk"
At this point a scornful sneer escaped from Zack, as he continued,
"Even a dim wited person could tell that you are lying"
Leon, at this moment, suddenly laughed, and self mockingly replied,
"And to think that l thought l was being discreet, l guess l really underestimated you"
"Okay fine you got me, l wasn't really going for a walk"
Zack's expression did not reveal any surprises, instead he brazenly asked,
"So what exactly is it that you want with me and why are you stalking me near my neighborhood"
At this point Leon just shrugged off indifferently, and just smiled without saying anything.
Instead the one who replied was the small hooded figure who was crouching down on the ground.
A soft childish female voice escaped from the girl as she stood up properly.
"We are here to recruit you"
Turning his gaze at the small hooded figure, Zack noticed that she was short, very short, appearing a head shorter than him.
He deduced from the figure's height that she was probably a girl who was around eleven years or ten years old.
"Recruit me....?
Zack was still displaying a cautious gaze, he didn't dare to let his guard down when facing this pair.
Leon shrugged off again and nonchalantly said,
"Recruit you, befriend you, whatever it means, just know that we are on your side"
Zack was not convinced, he still stared at the pair with vigilance.
After seeing the skeptical look on Zack's face, Leon sighed and said,
"Look, l get it that you don't trust us right now, but you have to believe us that we mean no harm to you. Instead the ones you should be wary of are the governments and the institutes"
The further Zack listened to Leon, the further he began to not trust the mysterious awakened.
How could the governments and institutions want to have anything to do with a insignificant person like him.
Although he was the son of the great sorcerer, Dr. Sol, Zack believed that if these world controlling organizations were interested in closing in on his father, they would know that approaching him would be of no use, so what gave this guy the idea that these organizations were after him.
"Why would the governments and the Institutes want anything to do with me?
The carefree expression on Leon's face suddenly shifted, he stared seriously at Zack and spoke,
"You might not know this but you are quite unique, very unique, infact l would go as far as to say that right now you are the most unique person in the entire world, and trust me these words have a deep meaning, especially coming from me"
At this point the hooded girl suddenly chimed in, from the dark interior of the hoodie, a soft childish voice sounded,
"That's why we are here to recruit you"
After hearing the words of the hooded girl, Zack could no longer take it.
He brazenly left the pair while shaking his head.
"Look l don't know what your deal is and l don't want to know it. All want now is for you to leave me alone?
While he was walking away from Leon and the hooded girl, Zack heard something from the brown haired boy that made him stop.
The indifferent voice of Leon sounded calmly behind him,
"He should have already visited you in your dreams by now"
Turning his gaze towards Leon, Zack then inquired to make sure that he heard right,
"What did you say?
Leon shrugged and nonchalantly replied,
"Our leader, ....you know an old man, messy white hair, probably wearing brown metallic googles with golden eyes lenses on them. l pretty sure he must've already visited you"
Zack then asked with visible shock on his face,
"How did you know?
Leon at this point began to ponder over something, and did not reply Zack's question.
Instead he said,
'l see. So he is indeed alive, that's good"
The hooded little girl, who had been silent for a while then said,
"You dont have to trust or accept our invitation now, all we need is for you to be able to survive this week and if you accept our invitation we will be able to provide protection"
Seeing that Zack was still hesitating Leon then said,
"Look why don't you sleep on it, we will come back tommorow when you have the answer"
Before Zack could even say something, a dark thick mist spread from within the hooded girl's cloak, enveloping both her and Leon. A moment later the mist disappeared and the two figures were nowhere to be seen, leaving Zack perplexed.
On another dark street alley, that was infested with wild rats and all kinds of bugs, a dark mist appeared out of nowhere slowly coalescing into two figures.
Once these two materialized, one of them suddenly asked the other.
A soft childish voice resounded in the shadowed alley,
"Why did you give him that choice?
Leon who was facing this question, smiled calmly in the darkness as he replied,
"An enlightenment from fate"
The young hooded girl blurted out with surprise and anger in her voice,
"You!- you used your powers?
Leon replied casually,
"Well what could l do, there was no way he was going to consider our offer. The only way he would even consider it was if he knew the truth and that was going to happen after the falls descended.
And judging by his untrusting nature, he would only believe the truth if it was coming from his family, which was not possible without the interference of luck, which is why I used my ability"
After hearing her patner's excuse, the hooded girl sighed and said,
"Still you didn't have to use your ability, now you are left to deal with the consequences and judging by the scope of luck you applied, the consequences will be very dreadful, possibly even leading you to the grave".
At this point Leon, began to walk away from the darkness with stead steps, as he walked his voice was calm and steady as he replied,
"Come on, you are over exaggerating, there is no way that l am going to die due to bad luck, it would be a stain to my name and to my family's name"
At the Mason's living house, Zack opened the door with vigilant motions, he kept looking back to see if there was anyone following him or staring him.
Ever since discovering his fellow classmate and the strange hooded girl, Zack had begun to feel a weird sense of being watched, as if there were a couple of spies surrounding him watching with prying eyes.
He didnt know if this was caused by apprehension or if it was a genuine feeling.
Closing the door, the feeling of being watched vanished and in its place a sense of security of being at home comforted him.
Just when he was about to relax, Zack suddenly heard a noise coming from the kitchen.
His earlier fear that had disappeared suddenly resurfaced again.
Countless thoughts began to swirl in his head as he began to wonder who was causing that noise.
After a minute of reckoning himself with possible scenarios, Zack steeled himself to check who it was inside the kitchen.
A moment later Zack approached the door entrance of kitchen with timid steps, the door was half opened making one see a small part of the interior.
Zack peered inside through the small opening and he saw a shadow of a figure holding a knife.
The moment he saw the shadow, Zack's heart skipped a beat, he was about to turn around and run away until he figured that something was amiss.
Normally at times like these, his intuition would be screaming at him with deathly possible possibilities, but that was not the case during this moment.
His intuition was aligning with possible absolute safety for him, which meant that the figure inside was not an foe but a friend.
The only person who Zack knew could give him such a sense of security was his....
Suddenly his thoughts were disrupted by a soft humming melody and the sound of cutting.
Once he heard these noises, Zack's earlier apprehension disappeared and all his doubts were cleared, he now knew who was inside the kitchen.
Entering inside, Zack saw a middle aged woman dressed in a vermilion long dress with sunflower designs, standing on the kitchen table, while cutting vegetables.
With surprise, the dark haired boy called out,
"Mom?