Chapter 57: Strange call
Alden felt his phone vibrate, indicating that he was receiving a call. He put a single hand in his pocket and pulled out his phone, he was currently driving so that was a little difficult. He held his phone to his ear, and waited for a reply.
"Hello sir!" A vibrant voice came out of the gadget.
"Its you... Uh..." Alden searched through his memories for the name, with little success.
"Prince, sir!"
"Look, you can just call me Alden." Alden said with a sigh."what do you want?"
"Well, the thing is, Captain said that I should request something of you but I kinda forgot...Now I saw you looking all cool on television and I remembered."
"Wait, how do you have my number? I don't remember giving you..."
"Captain gave it to me," the reply came.
That made sense. All of Alden's personal information was with the guild, and Sarah Foster had access to that sort of information. All Alden hoped was that none of that information was let out, he was famous now so the leaking of such information could give rise to real issues.
"Okay, now spit out the request," Alden said.
"She said to ask you to join us on your final monthly mission," Prince said, his voice serious.
"oh?" Alden was surprised, for he had already been asked by her. Maybe she was simply confirming it with him.
Honestly, after what had happened within the dungeon, he had expected the S-class ranger to object to him being near the squad. Maybe she was simply curious, maybe she wanted to find out what he was hiding...
"I'll be there, ask her to sort it out for me, alright?"
"Yes! Thank you for joining us sir... I mean Alden."
"No problem Prince, thank you for inviting me." with that he cut the call.
He drove on, before pulling up into the township in which he lived. As he pulled in the parking lot behind the apartment in which he lived, he realized something. A group of people were crowded around the area seemingly searching for something.
Alden was a little puzzled, after he parked his car and began to head towards his house, when something happened. The minute the people saw him, they rushed toward him and surrounded him.
"Mr Alden hall!"
"Can you answer a few questions please?"
"It won't take up much of your time."
"How does it feel becoming an S-class hero."
"is there bad blood between you and Light McKing?"
Alden regarded the reporters with eyes that were filled with annoyance.
"Please let me through." he was straightforward, he didn't want to waste time outside with these reporters. He had things to do.
However, it was as if his request fell on dear ears. The reporters did not regard what he said and continued throwing questions at him.
" Sir!" "Sir!" "Sir!"
"Please stop intruding on my public life and leave me." This time he was a notch louder.
"Sir, just a single question?"
"Can you explain what your unique abilities are?"
"Please look into the camera sir!"
Alden frowned, and asked one more time.
"Leave."
Another request ignored.
Alden took in a deep breath, and cast an icy gaze upon the crowd of reporters. His gaze froze every single one of them. They seemed confused, but Alden would make them understand. They would understand never to bother him again.
The very air suddenly bore a weight immeasurable by any man-made scale. Every atom in the air weighed considerable amount. The ordinary reporters who had no protection again awakened energy felt themselves collapse to the floor, and one by one they began to lose consciousness. Alden walked up to the cameraman who was lying on the floor, wheezing. He picked up the camera and looked into it. A dangerous look on his face.
"Let this be a warning to all those who dare intrude on my privacy. I will not have mercy for such people."
With that, he threw the camera to ground and left the parking lot. He was soon within his house, going to his apartment. After entering his home, he found his mother sitting on the living room sofa, a Grim expression on her face.
" Mother?" That wasn't the reaction he expected.
"Ah, Alden! She got up from the couch and quickly walked up to him." Oh, Alden... "
" I've become an S-class hero, aren't you happy?"
"Of course! It's just..."
His mother lowered her gaze, and she spoke, her voice now silent and sad.
"You've a lot more responsibility now..."
Alden watched his mother, and instantly understood her concerns. She understood that now that he had immense power, the responsilibies would have also considerably increased. Now, he'd have a lot of more responsibility on his shoulders and his mother was afraid that he'd be crushed under the weight of those responsibilities. After all, he'd failed at being responsible his entire life.
"I don't think that's bad," Alden smiled at his mother. "I can finally be responsible so I can make you and dad proud."
His mother sniffed, and wiped some of the tears forming in her eyes.
"Oh, how you've grown. Your father is proud..."
~~~
Later that afternoon, Alden received another call.
"Who is it now?" Alden sleepily wondered as he picked up his phone with his tired hand. He had been having his afternoon nap when he had been disturbed by the phone.
"Who is it?"
"it's Lilly. Wait, were you sleeping?"
"Yes, can I go back to sleep now?"
"No, the guild." Lily's sharp voice cut through any hopes if him enjoying his sleep, making him jump out of his bed, as he grumbled to himself.
"Shall we meet at my place?" Asked Alden.
"No." Came the brief reply. Probably due to the unsavory experience of the last visit. "We'd rather meet up at mine."
"Nah." an image of Skip, had made itself known in his head, making him confident he didn't want to meet up at her house. "Let's meet up at a friend's house. He'll also be the third member of our guild."
~~~
Alden met Lily in the town, outside a tall apartment.
"Hey, so who's this new member you're bringing into the team?"
"Someone I've just met recently. He's a nice guy."
Alden said, as he led her into the building. After he reached the room, Alden knocked on the door and waited.
"So, what's his name?" Lily asked, probably trying to break the awkward silence.
"Oh, I didn't ask him that yet..." Alden said with a nervous chuckle.
"What do you mean? You still don't know his name! Are you kidding me!?"
"I didn't think to do that!"
"do you even know him?"
"What do you mean, you think I'd invite a complete stranger into the team?"
Lily was about to throw back a snappy reply when something stopped he.
The door opened, and a man with a buzz cut and a trimmed beard came out to meet him.
" Back already?" The" old man" asked. He didn't look like it anymore, instead, now he looked like a friendly middle aged man.
"Yep, you're looking good, old man!" Alden said complimenting him.
"The first thing I did after you gave me that cash was sort myself out. Oh, and you can call me Foster, I'm Blake foster."
"THE Blake Foster?" Lily squealed.
Alden cast a judging gaze at her, the truth was he was wondering whether the old man; Blake Foster, had heard him and Lily arguing.
"It seems you know quite a bit..." Blake Foster said with a gentle smile."Come in."
After they'd entered the guys small living room and settled down, Lily started rambling off.
"They called you the best A-class. Though even though your abilities were at A-class, your expert handling of your abilities easily put you at S-class. This too, was because of your unique abilities. The power to control and manipulate shadow energy!"
"Thats true," The man flexed his hands, forming a small energy ball. It was midnight color, and the ball seemed like a boiling sphere of black gas.
Alden realized something, this power, it was very similar to his moon energy. It was not as pure,but it was still very pure. "Can we have a light spar when we can?"
"Only if I can get my license back, kid. Otherwise it'd be illegal."
"Don't worry," Alden said. "I'll sort that out."
"Thank you, then. By the way, what class are you, and what are your abilities?"
"I'm S-class, and I control Moon energy," Saying that, Alden conjured a sphere from his moon energy.
Blake Foster leaned forward, his eyes fixated on the ball.
"It has a similar vibe to mine."
"I noticed that top," Alden commented. He would have kept it up a few more seconds if it were not for his phone ringing.
"Oh my day, Who is it now?" Alden complained. He turned to Lily and Blake."I'm sorry, I have to take this."
He stood up and left the room before checking his phone.
"Private number?"
He answered the call regardless.
"Hello, who is this?" Alden asked.
"Hello, Is this Alden Hall?" A male voice came from the other side of the call.
"Yes, and who is this." Alden grew impatient.
"It's the South African Rangers Association Head. Sbusiso Khumalo.We need to talk."
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