The next day…
Thick dark clouds hung above the skies of Ganurg. Last night’s stormy weather had left the streets drenched, and even now, a light shower continued to fall, puncturing and scattering the wispy morning mist that blanketed the town.
People could be seen roaming the streets in thick clothes, their forms crunched up, gritting their teeth as they bore the biting cold. Shivering, they moved with purpose, hurrying to reach their destination.
At the same time, others could be seen in the thinnest of fabric, striding nonchalantly, with easy-going expressions on their faces as they did. The stark contrast between psionics and non-psionics was clearly illustrated. It was very jarring.
Jarring and disheartening, at least this was Silver’s feelings as took in the sight.
To most, a cold reality was inescapable, and to others more privileged, it couldn’t be felt at all. This was the way of the world. The fact was repeatedly slammed into him as he walked down the street, no different than the descending raindrops.
‘Ah.’
Ahead, a boy too hasty to get to his destination, lost his footing on a slippery tile. Seeing his airborne form heading for a muddy puddle, Silver’s instincts jolted him to take action. There was more than enough time to prevent the happening, however, on this occasion, he suppressed his desire and simply watched.
Plop!
The boy fell in with a splash, dirtying himself and those around him. Seeing the boy’s pitiful expression in the aftermath tugged at Silver’s heartstrings, still, he held firm. Luckily, a kind Telekinetic saw the child’s plight and helped him out. Silver’s chest warmed as he witnessed it; it was a further reminder that the world was painted in many different hues.
*Step*
Step by step, SIlver closed in on his own destination.
“You think Ralf killed them all, there’s no way right. Uncle said there was like fifty of them there at the time, he must have had help.”
“Fifty, I heard there was only twenty. Though, either way, I’m certain Ralf did it all by himself, I’m telling you. I saw him yesterday, and it was super scary. It felt like blades were cutting into me, it was crazy. Asked pops who was with me at the time and he said the exact same thing. Must be a special ability or something.”
“For real? No way.”
“Yes way.”
“Damn, now I want to see him in person too. Let’s camp the Adventurer Association branch later on.”
Moving through the street, Silver’s ears caught many such conversations. His name was a hot commodity in Ganurg and from the looks of it, street dwellers seemed to be using it to defrost their frozen lips and tongues.
“Ye- oh sorry there.”
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“No, it’s alright,” Silver said in a muffled voice to the absentminded youth who bumped into him.
The youth gave a slight nod before continuing on his way. Moving away, the pair’ chatter resumed, both completely oblivious to the fact that they had run into the topic of their conversation.
The pair wasn’t the only ones ignorant of his presence. Rather, since exiting the Orchard District, no one had recognized Silver. The weather played its part, but playing a bigger part was the ‘disguise’ he was donning.
His usual mismatch black, white and silver coloured outfit was missing from his person. He had been wearing it all the time, like an anime character. When people thought of him, the iconic outfit would instantly come to mind.
Thick grey pants, a black hoody with the hood down, a navy blue scarf wrapped around his neck and mouth and a black beanie. In these normal clothes, Silver was just another youth on the street, effectively becoming invisible…at least this would be the case if he had a regular body.
The White Asura body they were blessed/cursed with, naturally emitted very strong electromagnetic energy. At this point in the body’s development, this energy wasn’t exactly controllable.
It was very much like an Onic’s oppressive aura. They could adjust the dial so to speak, but they couldn’t shut it off completely. To put it simply, the dial’s ranges were 10 - 100, and they could shift between them. Importantly, only Ralf and Rei had this option, Silver didn’t. In their fused state, the ranges shrank to 50 -100.
This was the reason why Silver’s entrance was always so intense. It just couldn’t be helped. Now, while this was helpful on other occasions, it wasn’t when trying to be sneaky, and thus a solution was thought up.
Coating his hair with vanta Psi, his pale blonde hair became pitch black. The source of the electromagnetic energy was the head. By partially covering it up in vanta, most of the electromagnetic energy was absorbed.
When people were hit by the minuscule amount of EM energy that slipped through, they accounted their shiver as a product of the cold weather or their imagination acting up and didn’t think further on the matter.
Besides solving this problem, the black hair added another layer to his disguise. He thought about making makeshift contacts and turning his eyes black as well but decided against it. In this region of the world, the Xinian look would stand out like a sore thumb, the opposite of his intentions.
*Glance* *Step*…*Glance* *Step*…*Glance* *Step*…
With enough instances to form a pattern, every ten metres traversed, would see Silver check a certain section of the Ganurgian sky. With the kidnapping incident still fresh in his mind, Silver was antsy. It was only by remembering the measures he put in place to avoid a repeat did his heart settle back down.
At his request, Greg, Jeff and several others were holding down the fort in his stead. Silver also informed the Orchard District’s guards to be on alert in the coming hours. Now, Silver didn’t expect Greg’s group or the guards to risk their lives to fight off those who would invade.
Both groups’ main role was to act as an alert system and keep Hana safe until Silver could arrive. He had a dozen flare guns distributed to several parties. If he saw any one of them go off, he would immediately rush over and deal with the threat himself. His frequent glances were just confirming the situation.
‘Nothing will go wrong, just focus.’ Reminding himself, he shifted his gaze downward and locked onto the three-story building in the distance. The crazed eyes on the wide-mouthed sharp-fanged dog reflected off his eyes. Staring at the logo, Silver’s eyes narrowed.
‘For intimidation purposes? Such a cheap tactic.’ Disdain swirled through his eyes. ‘Dealing with trash so often, forget Adventurer, I’m a bonafide garbage man at this point. Haa, let’s just get this over with.’
Following the thought, he hastened his steps.