"Hey, wake the hell up!"
August was slapped and begrudgingly opened his eyes. His head was pounding, and his body felt incredibly stiff.
He woke up on the floor, first realizing that his lungs were filled once again with a welcome few rushesof cold air. Alia was crouched at his side, looking down on him with concern painted on her face.
Then he noticed the sky. It was alight with various shimmers and glints of metals.
Upon further inspection, August noticed that those were his own blades, weapons, and a few pieces of armor.
'Oh… dear God.'
He groaned, holding his arm up, waiting for his friend to pull him up, which she did.
"Are you alright?" She asked.
He nodded, returning all the weapons to storage and clutching his head.
It seemed that he had entered fight or flight whilst being trampled by the crowd and had accessed [The Great Collector] when it happened. Thankfully, it seemed that the flying weapons had alerted both the people and Alia that something was wrong.
Most importantly, they had not fired. August didn't really think he could explain just how exactly he would have accidentally committed an act of terrorism.
After a second, he flushed red with embarrassment. It was one thing to be weak, but to be trampled by passers-by was exceptionally degrading.
This was not helped by the fact that he was standing in an empty plot of the crowd, with people staring at him from all sides. Scratching his head awkwardly, he sighed and spoke.
"forget this ever happened?" He asked sheepishly.
"Hell no." Alia replied, a grin forming on her face.
He frowned.
Hungry for a distraction – or means of escape from the crowd's attention, he continued to look around, trying to find out how he would get out of this whilst retaining his dignity the little of it he had left.
The crowd parted slightly as a group of people came marching through. All of a sudden, five people were standing in the small clearing of the crowd alongside he and Alia.
He had caught the attention of the group of the hour.
'Oh, oh… Really, dear God.'
August did not intend to get involved with the aspirants.
Not because he was trying to avoid the spotlight or staying away from fame, but because he knew what this world could do to people. All the time he spent with Alia in the dark forest quickly forced him to grow from a coward to someone who was no longer unwilling to fight, and it was only a few months. He could only imagine what years of constant fighting could do to a person.
Surprisingly, however, they all seemed quite normal.
At the forefront of the group was a towering young man in dress attire, a suspiciously clean white button-down that was half tucked into what seemed to be felt ironed black dress pants. He had fair skin and eyes that seemed to not be there at all, but upon closer inspection, were such a pale gray they were almost white.
His hair was silky straight, tied into a long black ponytail that only allowed a few strands to stray from perfection. The smile on his face seemed both compassionate and confident at the same time.
To his left was a rough looking woman. She had terribly messy blonde hair and adorned herself in a suit of armor that was dented and shattered at the chestplate. The chainmail underneath was broken and split, revealing a gruesome scar that ran from her upper neck all the way down past her bandaged chest and stopped at her lower sternum.
Her face was covered in similar small scars, which served only to increase the intensity that came from her brown eyes piercing glare. Dried blood and other strangely colored stains were everywhere he looked on her body and clothing, barely making it possible to discern her tanned skin.
Making a mental note to avoid her, August shifted his gaze to the right.
It was met by a man of average height with dark skin and frizzy black hair. The darker man was in slightly better condition than his female associate, but he was still quite weathered.
His dark brown eyes seemed to be much less vigilant, and his gaze seemed quite sad from what August could tell. The man's arm was in a makeshift sling crafted from hastily knotted plant fibers. Leather shoulder pads and a ripped apart mail shirt showed that he himself probably wore armor at some point.
Though, it seemed to have been fully broken by now, leaving him in the remains of a tattered leather tunic and crudely cut brown shorts.
The fourth was a young girl, possibly even younger than Alia. She was undoubtedly in one of the best conditions among the group, second only to whom August assumed was their leader. The young girl had a black bun and darker skin - possibly of mixed race. She was almost totally clean, save for spatters and smears of purple stains on her face and black shirt, along with dress pants that were a little ripped in places.
The most unsettling thing was her eyes, one a striking blue whilst the other glimmered hazel. She looked rather distant and seemed to stare through August rather than at him, which made him shiver.
The last of the group was a battered Asian woman with long, straight black hair and horrifyingly black eyes. She was dressed in attire that seemed more akin to that of a samurai - black with striking silver accents. Carrying both a short tanto on her waist and a bow over her shoulder.
She was not as heavily injured as some of the worse-off members, but nonetheless, he saw cuts on her pale skin and bones moving in unusual directions underneath her pristine armor.
The young man in front approached him, each step closer, revealing him to be an absolutely massive existence by human standards. August himself easily surpassed six feet, but this man was possibly even more than a half foot taller than him.
Holding out his hands to both August and Alia, the young man gave a slight bow, which did not do much considering his massive size.
"It seems we have caused you some trouble. Allow me to apologize." He spoke.
His voice was smooth and surreal, almost hypnotizingly so, and August felt as if he was in the presence of a demigod. The air felt much more still and calm, yet there was an uneasy pressure that was exerted on him, making him feel both safe and horribly endangered.
Taking hold of the young man's left hand and shaking it, Alia replied in a much more unusual and shy manner:
"No no! Don't even worry about it… it really was no big deal."
August had almost forgotten how the fiery redhead was around most people, reserved and introverted. Just like she had been when they first met in the dark forest. Seeing her like this made him feel quite envious of his past self.
'But you have no qualms with throwing me around a room… tch' he thought.
Taking the other of the young man's hands, he shook it himself and continued off Alia's words.
"Yeah, no worries at all! Really!"
He couldn't ignore the stifling presence he felt coming from the young man, and his instincts screamed at him to run away. August was no stranger to this feeling, but he had only come into true contact with it thrice before.
Once when he ran from the armored rhinoceros, another time when he climbed the tree to escape the silver bear, and a third when he was sighted by the white lion.
August was in the sights of a predator.
Still smiling, the young man replied earnestly.
"No need to be modest, I will compensate you myself for your troubles, how about some dinner? We will pay, of course."
He let go of the man's hand and shared a glance with Alia, who had done the same. He wanted to say no - a sentiment he was sure his friend shared, but felt as though they were not being given an option.
"Well, sure, I guess." He responded.
The young man smiled even brighter this time, then spoke:
"Amazing! It's settled then, there's a wonderful Caribbean place down the street if I remember correctly." He said, pointing down the cobbled road "we have some things to attend to of course, but we'll gladly meet you there at sunset."
August nodded, while Alia responded this time.
"Understood, then you very much…." She paused, possibly searching her memory "What is your name?"
The six aspirants of Hydra were famous in their own right, but for whatever reason, their names were not widely known. August himself guessed it was done this way to protect those close to them whilst they were away.
After all, human beings loved to hold grudges, and hated seeing others succeed.
"My name is Jihan," The young man stated before asking "And yours?"
"Alia, and his is August. Thank you once more for your kindness." Alia said.
The young man- Jihan, raised his eyebrow, a slightly shocked expression painting his face for a fraction of a second, before returning to a tranquil smile.
Jihan muttered something inaudible then spoke.
"It was nice meeting you, but we must get going now, my comrades are not in the best shape, as you can tell." He gestured to the four people behind him.
It was then that August realized, that there were supposed to be six aspirants in Hydra – being the current mayor, yet he only counted five.
Alia nodded, and Jihan turned walkedaway, his gaze lingering on August for a moment, then he returned to his group and away in the direction of the hospital. Whilst Alia grabbed his arm and pulled him away through the crowd.