Chapter 3: Important Questions



The crowd quickly stopped paying their attention to Johnny’s unconscious body and continued on with their normal lives. However, Mia still stood in the middle of the road, watching only Knox, who still had a faint red aura glowing around him.

After checking on her short blonde hair, she walked in a mannerly fashion, as every guard in Mercury City was instructed to do, over to Knox, and bowed. Know was oblivious what was going on. Normally, most of the guards paid more attention to the other districts since they had more significance to the city, and the only time they bothered to come to the south was for very serious crimes, such as serial murder cases. It was obvious to Knox that Mia was a higher classed soldier from the way she was dressed in a light brown uniform, covered in various badges, rather than the pure black one. This was probably the first time someone important has come to the south in a good 50 years.

“Good afternoon, sir,” said Mia, try to be polite as possible. “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Mia Rose of the MCG, taking the role of 1st in command under our leader, Jonathan Vauhan.”

Knox’s eye popped open and his back straightened up. He knew that this woman was important, but he would have never guessed that she was the number two in command of the entire city.

“I-I’m sorry, Mrs. Rose!” spurted out Knox. “I hope I wasn’t being rude.”

“It’s fine,” she said while pointing at Johnny, who was just beginning to wake up. “Anyways, I just want to talk about that little scene you had with that muscle head over there.”

“I’m not under arrest, am I?” asked Knox, nervously. He usually had a cool head, but could get very shaky around officials. “I mean, if you wanna know, he’s the one who started it all.”

Mia giggled. “No, I just wanted to say that I’m very impressed.

Knox raised his eyebrow slightly. “R-really?”

“Yeah. Not many boys your age can take out a man like that. I couldn’t help but notice that trick you played off at the end, with the red aura.”

“Well, in the end, I guess I’m just a psychic.”

“And one with a lot of potential,” added Mia. He didn’t want to sound cocky, but Knox was well aware that he had the chance of becoming powerful psychic, just like his father. But for now, the only thing that mattered to him was taking care of Celia.

“Oh, how rude of me,” said Mia, getting off track. “I never asked for your name.”

“Uh. You work for the MCG, correct?” asked Knox. “You might know my dad, he’s worked for you guys forever.”

Mia laughed. “Possibly. It is a 50-50 chance, since psychic traits are passed down from generation to generation to at least one predecessor, meaning that your mom had to be the psychic of the family. Mayor Vauhan discriminates psychics, and for as long as I could remember, we’ve never had a psychic join our forces.”

Knox gave Mia a very confused look. He had no clue that the mayor didn’t want any psychic in the army. If so, then how did his dad work for them? “Are you positive?” asked Knox. “I’m positive that my dad’s a psychic, and he worked for you guys for quite a long time.”

“You have to be making it up,” said Mia, in a raised tone. “We even use advanced technology to determine if someone is a psychic or not. There’s no way that he could have passed it if he was a psychic, plain and simple.”

“I swear to god, I’m not lying. Maybe you guys didn’t have that technology back then.”

“We’ve had it for 60 years, I’m pretty sure he had to take it.”

“Maybe he skipped it?”

“No man has ever skipped it, period!” Mia was starting to get moody with Knox’s stubbornness.

“Well, maybe he was such a strong psychic that he found a way to conceal his power.” Mia was on the urge of beating the crap out of Knox, but it wasn’t worth it. She had to stay on his side, at least until the exam.

“His name. What was his name?”

“Let’s see,” said Knox, looking up into the sky. “Man, my memory’s foggy. I never remember calling him by his real name ever, to be honest. Along with that, I never heard any of his friends say his name. We never had any family visit, either, so yeah.”

Mia sort of felt bad for Knox, not only because he never met any outside family, but he didn’t even know his own father’s name. She had never met a person who didn’t even know the name of their own father. Deep inside her, however, she had an alternative belief, which is that Knox is a total retard.

“You at least know your last name, right?”

“Yeah, it’s Blood.” Hearing the words Blood, she was in shock. A chill went down her spine, goose bumps started emerging on her arm, and her mouth simply plops open. She thinks about it for a second, and in her mind, says, It actually makes perfect sense.

“I’m sorry,” she says. “I’m so sorry for ever thinking bad of you in any ways.” Knox doesn’t know what to think of her at this point, but he just goes along with it. “Your father,” she continues. “His name is Ryder Blood. Ever since I joined 7 years ago, he was always the one person I looked up to.”

“Really?” asked Knox.

She nodded. “He’s a real hero to the people in the army. He’s so strong and brave. He’d never turn a mission down an assigned mission, but what was so awesome about him was that he went out of his away to protect and avenge people, even if it meant risking his life.”

“Sounds like him,” added Knox. “Even when he was home, he always kept reminding my younger sister and I that the lives of others come before the lives of you, and if you can’t protect them, then avenge them. Ever since he left home, I’ve been following that statement of his to the fullest.” Knox stopped for a second and glared at the ground, with a sad feeling arising in him. “You…you worked with him, right?”

“Yeah,” replied Mia.

“Do you know where he is right now?”

Mia started to get the impression that Knox was getting sad. It took her a second before she could even talk. “All I know is that he went on a mission to Kiruku island. We haven’t gotten word from him since he left.” Knox didn’t replied. He just felt depression overcome him as he stood in the middle of the road, eying down the descending sun in the west. He didn’t know how much hope he had left of his father still being alive, but he knew the chances were rapidly being lost.

“Well?” asked Knox. “Did you just want to compliment me on beating up that oaf or what? I need to be getting back.”

Mia shakes her head, knowing that she has gotten off track. “Oh, yeah. Anyways, like I said, I was very impressed with your skills, and I wanted to ask a favor of you.” Know gave her a curious look. “I’m sure you’ve heard of the recent assassination of Mayor Vauhan’s daughter, Momo. We found out that the assassin is an unidentified man. The only important information that we’ve gotten on him is that he is a psychic, and a powerful one.” Knox couldn’t deny that. He knew very well that a psychic that can use his abilities to destroy something as strong as the Blessed House’s balcony is above average.

“I hope you don’t plan on sending normal people out there. They’ll get blown away in a second.”

“You read my mind, uh…”

“Knox,” he said in a solid tone.

“Knox, got it. You’re right, we can’t send our normal soldiers. I talked to the mayor already about it, and he most definitely wants retaliation. All we can do is fight fire with fire. We’ve decided, even though the mayor dislikes them, to recruit psychics.”

“So you’re just going to recruit a bunch of psychics, even after one just killed someone as important as Momo? Psychics have tons of different intentions, both good and evil. Trusting them again so quickly is just going to lead to some more problems.”

“I’m aware, which is why this plan is a bit…luck oriented. Of course, we’re not as stupid as you may think, Knox. We aren’t just going to take a bunch of them and have them fight for us. They’ll be taking an exam, and only the best psychics will be recruited. The ones who will pass get the luxuries of living in the Blessed House, including meals whenever ordered and personal servants that obey them whenever they please.”

“Alright, a psychic exam to kill this dude, I understand. And I’m guessing that…”

Mia quickly interrupted him. “Yes, Knox. I want you to try the exam.” Knox stayed silent. He looked back at the sun, which had descended a little bit from before and sighed. All he could think about was his dad in situations like these. Either leave his sister to protect someone important, or keep his normal life.

“I’ve decided,” said Knox after some painfully long minutes. “I can’t” Mia was on the edge of flipping out from his response. W-what did he say? she thought to herself. Did he seriously turn me down?

“W-why?” she asked ferociously. “How can staying in this crap hole district be better than living in the Blessed House! Look around you, kid! I don’t know about you, but all I see are a bunch of poverty stricken animals in rags with rows of crappy brick buildings? Even the biggest idiot on earth would leave this place!

“You don’t get it,” said Knox. “Sure, living in a house that isn’t made out of sheet metal would be nice, and so would having a personal butler, but I made a promise to my dad. If he were to ever leave, I had full responsibility over my sister. It doesn’t matter what offer I’m made. I plan to stay here, in what you people call hell, but as long as I keep my sister safe, I don’t mind living in this hell.”

Mia took a deep breathe. “I’m sorry,” she said, admittedly. “I didn’t mean to explode on you, but you have to see how desperate we are! I’ve searched all day for good psychics, you know, ones with potential like you, but you’re the only one that has stuck out to us. We need you, please!” Knox could hear the desperation in Mia’s voice. He also couldn’t help but notice her legs wobbling and preparing to fall to the dirt.

“Sorry, but the answer’s no. I keep my promises.” With nothing left to say, Knox quickly turned around and headed home. Mia watched his every step until he was completely out of sight.

“Little asshole,” she muttered. She whistled a short jingle, and from a rooftop of a building right next to her, two men, both dressed in the normal soldier’s outfit, jumped down and landed behind Mia.
“Unfortunately, things didn’t go too well.”

“Well, what are we gonna do now?” asked the man to her left.

“I’m not giving up on that boy yet. I’ll do anything to recruit him.

“I still don’t understand.”

“It’s not too hard, you imbecile. We just have to force him to come and work for us.” She turned around with a fierce look in her eyes, staring at the two soldiers. “Listen up. I want you to follow that boy. He shouldn’t be too far from here, so you should be able to catch him. Just don’t get caught, we can’t have you guys being found out by him, understand?”

The two nodded, and immediately afterwards, they sprinted down the street, following Knox’s path. I will do anything, thought Mia, to get you to take that exam, Knox Blood.