《Family business》


 The predator

    It is always a pleasure teaching a fool their place. I am not talking about putting them in their own place but just re-educating them on where they stand in the pecking order.


    I have been working in the stock market since I was of age and now that I am in my thirties, I would say I know more than a thing or two about the trade. I handle other people¡¯s funds and my own.


    Money comes and goes but people make it even more fun. Everyone treats money like their ancestors when investing and yet when they want to go on a buying spree, money becomes a cheap whore.


    In my opinion, watching someone choose their stocks is a direct indicator of who they are. There is the gambler, they go in completely blind and wish for the best. There is the lazy, they usually hire a stockbroker if all goes well they feel glad they put their money in stocks. But if they lose money, they get the brilliant idea that shifting to a new one will


    help.


    Amateurs!


    There are many other different types but I will finish with those I like best, the ones in the know. They just know what money is all about, whether by experience or from family or just sheer dumb luck that leads to realization. Those are the ones that usually make it. And they are my favorite prey.


    ¡°I think I will go with mutual funds in the end.¡± my client sheepishly roused me from my thoughts after thumbing through the balance sheets of the companies on the rise for at least 30 minutes.


    I made myself more comfortable in my chair, reached down beside me onto the huge pile of documents, and fished out a form. ¡°I am sure you know what is best for you,¡± I played along ¡°This is the form and all that remains is the cheque and you are good to go.¡±


    It really does not matter what the client chooses, they are usually in the lowest rung of the food chain anyway. No predator would ask another predator to hunt for them. I smile at him soothingly, my way of reassuring clients. In any case who would suspect they answered the question wrong if their teacher -hate those by the way- is smiling at them


    so innocently.


    It takes him about 10 minutes to finish the form, as I waited for him to decide on how much he will be putting in the funds my mind wanders again. I am looking forward to this evening, we will be having a special client and their guest honoring us. My brother should have sorted it all out by now. Not the brightest tool in the shed but family is


    family.


    You just have to take care of them and you feel bad and maybe cursed if you neglect them but as always there are exceptions.


    ¡°I have written out the cheque, I am looking forward to hearing the good news.¡± the client smiles at me with slightly more confidence than when he came in. It always reassures the client when they did the deed rather than grilling their tiny brains over various thoughts.


    ¡°I am sure you will, safe travels my friend.¡± as I receive the cheque, I stood up to shake his hand firmly.


    ¡°Thank you! I will be checking in with you next month.¡± He said as he left the room. The smile melts off my face like snow in the wee days of spring, what a boring man I lament. I finish today¡¯s paperwork with more focus. Then just as the sun is setting, I leave the office. The weather is nice for September, it has that familiar chill that makes


    my mind more awake.


    I get into my Porsche, a car that is just as expensive as its heritage. The car makes the man they say, people say a lot of nonsense I do agree with this statement though. I just love the drive home, especially when I am looking forward to something.


    I breeze through the streets just making sure I am ever so slightly above the speed limit. The


    journey takes me about 40 minutes. No matter how good the car, traffic decides the flow


    in the end.


    I arrive home, a grand villa. It looks more like those villas on the brochures of vacations than a place near the city really. I think the greenery just makes it even more beautiful.


    ¡°Welcome back, Jack.¡± the butler greeted me at the door. He is a fine-looking man, in his late forties and of course of military background. There is no use for a pretty face with no substance.


    I greet him back, his suit is on point just as always. There is no perfection in the mortal world but this is as close as it gets.


    I go right to the bathroom to shower, then as I head to the dining room my brother meets me along the way.


    ¡°It is all sorted,¡± he reassures me as we walk. He looks nothing like me except for that snake-like glance in his eyes which I find annoying. What kind of a predator would announce he is one so openly? A dumb one.


    ¡°I do hope so. What time will they be here?¡± I ask.


    ¡°You have about one hour to eat and prepare. The client is quite accurate, at least I hope so.¡±


    Fantastic! I love a client who respects time. After all, time is life. And if they do not respect life then they deserve death.


    The dining room is as amazing as ever, a long fine mahogany table, one that can seat a football team, with three plates of delicacies for my lunch. It seems like my brother will be eating with me as well. He has five plates on his side, what a foodie.


    Our family is usually on the thin side, yet I and my brother look like athletes rather than our actual jobs.


    I eat in leisure taking care to check my watch every now and then. As I finish with ten minutes to spare, I decide to prepare for our guests.


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    It is so easy to forget the time when you enjoy an activity, yet times crawl to a standstill when you anticipate a delicacy. It took me five minutes to have everything ready, the last five minutes were so slow. I did not want to start anything that will distract me from the guests.


    Finally, the basement door opens. The client and their guest come in. Fanciful greetings then onto business.


    ¡°Our friend here stole a chest full of diamonds and I need to know where they are stashed.¡± my client finally specified what the job was.


    ¡°As per the usual, you pay upfront and give me one hour to reason out if the job will go fastor slow,¡± I repeated the usual phrase with every client of the sorts.


    I cuff our guest to the table, he offers no resistance. It seems like his head was swimming in whatever drugs they shot him with. A minor inconvenience that will be solvedwith another shot.


    The client sits in the armchair in the corner. It seems they want to observe. I guess torturingout the information with an audience every once in a while is not bad.


    ¡°Anything I should know before I start?¡± I ask routinely, these sort of people would not give a hoot if the guest or the to-be-tortured was allergic to air itself but just in case one has to ask.


    ¡°This is my son,¡± she replied.


    My hand freezes for a second as I was getting the shot ready. Well, that is very interesting. This does not change anything but the narrative. Any family business is usually not aired to the public. Hence whatever diamonds she was talking about might be a keyword for something completely different.


    ¡°I am guessing you do not want any obvious indications of our adventure here?¡±


    ¡°Oh no, please do not misunderstand I just wanted to see how startled you will look.¡±


    she grins at me.


    So cheeky.


    ¡°Not gonna lie that was indeed out of the norm,¡± I replied as I injected the kid in the arm. Yeah, he is a kid of fifteen years old. The job has to be done, I hate working on such specimen though. The young ones are usually more stubborn with fewer things to cling on. Especially since she asked for my service, it means she was not able to get the


    information out of him.


    My brother signals at me that everything has been soundproofed and I can begin my work. We are at a hidden location close to the villa, soundproofed, out of sight, and definitely off any radar of the lovely internet. One has to be professionally cautious in our line of work.


    Our family is in the line of work of torturing if that was not obvious. Our heritage of the art of torture is so old that it predates the existence of some countries. We worked for royalty, in courts, with both sides of the law, underground, and now with whoever pays.


    I do not think it is a degradation but just upholding the tradition and ensuring it does not die. The art of torture is just as delicate as cooking. Both are not for the impatient and the unsteady of the hand.


    There are some set rules for our family; first is maintaining anonymity with both clients and guests -the payer and the to-be-tortured-, inflict as much pain with least injuries, psychological pain triumphs over any physical pain.


    They are quite the guideline, usually, the inheritors of the trade would-be doctors. However, the tradition was altered thanks to the advances of technology to maintain our safety and secrecy. Linking a professional doctor with any extremely precise operation on humans will not take a genius to connect.


    Now back to our boy, there is a chance they would reconcile so getting this done as cleanly as possible is favorable. Although they both are unaware of where they are, who we are, and the traded cash or goods are untraceable, maintaining good relations is always a plus with these sorts of clients.


    He is quite young as well, which will be problematic if he is too courageous for his own good. I will start off with pain to the bones then slowly move on with the promise of maiming him worse comes to worst some blood might have to spill.


    The boy is starting to wake up, he groggily glances around. It takes him a while to understand what is going on. I patiently wait for him to make his own assumption, I believe my oni mask will nudge him in the right way.


    He starts breathing rapidly, as understanding dawns upon him. His head is raised too high to see his mother in the corner but I will assume he knows who captured him.


    ¡°The information we need out of you is a place,¡± I catch his attention by waving a small metallic hammer around, ¡°where are the diamonds?¡±


    He looks at me in horror, this seems to be easier than I thought. His rapid breathing is slowly going back to normal, a bad sign. His face has this grim look, ¡°Will you let me go if I tell you?¡± he asks.


    A naive question truly, but as always one must speak the truth, ¡°It is not my call. My client will decide your fate, my role in this play is to have you tell the truth and only the truth.¡±


    He looks at me, weighing his options probably. If he decides to talk without me resorting to anything that would be quite the joke, wouldn¡¯t it?


    ¡°I never thought that after beating me within an inch of my life, they throw me to the dogs to test their lucks,¡± he spoke in false bravado, he is scared but not quite enough to talk. ¡°Do your worst!¡±


    Disappointing but expected. Knowledge about the human body is crucial, where to hit


    hard enough to inflict immense pain without irreparable harm.


    Make them despair but not lose hope. I circle around him watching his body, he has a slight fat on him. He does


    not do sports, he has the familiar smudge on the wrist. The one resulted from excessive usage of a PC.


    Know yourself and know your enemy. Then you can torture effectively and efficiently. If I know what interests them then hit them where it hurts will be the best.


    There will be no finger smashing or cutting off limbs, those are so outdated and very barbaric ways. Although at time they do serve their purpose.


    Since he values his hands, then affecting the shoulder, elbow, or wrist or hand will do the trick. I circle around him once more, the mystery of what will happen has him on


    edge.


    I get to work, I start by dislocating both his shoulders. Just in case he is ambidextrous and gets the wild idea sacrificing an arm in torture won¡¯t affect him much. It is painful but nothing like what comes after.


    To dislocate a joint, a tearing of the tissue and muscle is a must. Now if you follow this with increasing the tear, it will lead to irreparable damage. Therefore, a slow stretch and fold are in order. Have him sing to your tune as you dance with his limbs. He did sing once I dislocated both arms, quite the voice.


    Just for the routine, I ask if he was ready to speak, his refusal does not surprise me. I continue to angle his arms so


    that the torn tissue is twisted but without widening the tear.


    I like my torture sessions limited to 25 minutes then a break of 10 minutes and so on. The first session is usually the longest, as to establish limits and acquire understanding. He lasted for 15 minutes before he spilled the beans.


    A wise decision truly, as I was just gearing to pop back his shoulders and start bruising his forearms slowly with my


    metallic hammer. Nothing permanent but will disable any wild gaming escapades for


    quite a bit.


    The client stands up and looks at her son in disappointment, ¡°You could have had it all but just for your gambling, you rob your family. As a matter of fact, you rob your ownself.¡±


    I sincerely she does not go into lecture mode in my basement. I want them out as fast as possible since the job is over. She harps on for a bit, a tolerable bit for me. Then her guards pick him up and they are gone after paying.


    A worthwhile endeavor if I may say so.


    After cleaning up, taking a shower, I browse the internet for a bit waiting for dinner to be ready. Then after a light dinner, I go to sleep like a baby anticipating an even more fun


    tomorrow.

 The offer

    I woke up feeling refreshed and content. As usual, I did not need an alarm for a habit of waking up the exact same time just sticks. I got up from bed heading to the balcony to enjoy the morning air and the gorgeous view. Nothing sobers me up more than nature''s beauty.


    The villa is situated near a forest and has an amazing view of the surroundings from whichever room you look out from, my room has the best view obviously. It has three floors, with a simple independent garage beside the driveway for my Porsche and another garage outside the villa for anyone else''s cars.


    The villa is painted white and black and has this homely feeling. The outside is mainly dominated by the white while the apparent pillars on the outside painted black. The roof is tiled and the attic has a window that is rectangle-shaped.


    Our villa is not small by any means but it is not gigantic either. Picture a medium-sized beach house but more elegant. The garden is just the right size to fit a pool and still have a place to eat dinner in the open air. While the garage and entrance are distanced from the garden to lessen the noise.


    I just love recalling how the place I am living in looks as I peer out onto the forest. I have several estates around the world, both my jobs pay quite handsomely. Not to mention my other job sometimes requires me to travel and as a rule, I only work in places I prepared myself.


    I wash up then get dressed into simple training clothes for my daily exercise routine


    A light exercise that consists of running and some stretching followed by karate katas. As today is the weekend I have a meeting with my brother rather than the usual office time.


    After the exercise, I took a shower and went to the dining hall to eat with my brother. We planned to get some studying at the weekend. On my way I greet Alfred as he seemed to be receiving the groceries, I wondered why Mary the chef was not the one there.


    After I sat at the dining table for a bit, Mark walked in with all the grace of a gorilla. My brother is rather unique in having the physique to put a bodybuilder to shame and the wits to make a CEO blush. However, he had this habit to look like a thug even in front of me.


    "I was not late this time. Are you proud of me, brother?" he asked teasingly knowing that I disliked wasting time.


    "I would have eaten without you." I replied, "Have the books arrived yet?"


    "Right on time, you know we can always trust the Shumpteers to get us the most convoluted exotic books."


    "Whatever you say, but these books must come from irregular channels."


    We were going to study new books from other distinguished families in our line of business. Just as professors publish papers regarding their scientific finds, in our circle each ancient heritage publishes a book every year. In rotations to avoid cramping each other''s styles.


    The maids set the table as I went over which books arrived with Mark. A rather sumptuous breakfast to provide energy for a productive day. I rather like quotes so bare with me. As the quote goes, ''Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.''


    We finished breakfast in about 15 minutes, we watched some TV show Mark was following. I am not a fan of watching anything really, I would rather read than watch.


    We headed to the study as the books had been delivered to a table outside the study. There are certain places that are forbidden in the villa. The secret door leading to the chamber of truth -torture chamber really-, the study, and the attic.


    I believe keeping the secret a door forbidden is self-explanatory as for why the study and attic are the same was not as obvious at first glance. The study has all the records of every story and truth extracted in the truth chamber. It is not illegal but more of preemptive protection against any fraud claims by clients. The attic has the family records as well as previous digitalized truth records.


    The study has that victorian library theme, a desk with a comfy chair behind it and surrounded by shelves of books. There are two extra chairs with a mahogany table between them situated in one corner, in the rare instance, my brother joins me. I love being surrounded by books, gives me this sense of belonging like nothing else.


    We walked to the study, I opened the door with an iris scan. Although our family has quite the history, keeping up with times is always a necessity. The door clicks open and we went in with the newly arrived books. The books were bundled up in a wooden box with no further security for it.


    After all, if anyone does intercept the books, which is nigh impossible with how sophisticated the entire process of delivery was. They are unlikely to take a second look at what looks like boring academic books. The books are not written using any kind of code however every book has a tracker that is set in its spine.


    We make ourselves comfortable and each of us reaches for a book. The bundle had three books which indicate that the family which published them had three certified torturers or truth-seekers as is commonly called in our circle.


    Time goes by as we read one book after another. After I was done with the third book I looked at my brother to see if he was done. He was frowning slightly at the second book, which was named the wonder of bullet ants.


    It seemed like it would take him a few minutes to be done with it. As I waited for him to finish so we discuss the books as per the habit we formed thanks to our parents'' advice.


    My mind wanders back to when our father sat us, five brothers and two sisters, down and started to tell us about the family profession. He droned on about tradition and what to avoid. This is why I hate lectures, if he had made a book and told me to read it I would have found it more interesting.


    Our teenage years were filled with practical training on torture and a lot of psychology courses and tricks to retain our sanity. Among the first things our father told us, is that as ancient heritage we had the highest possibility to extract the truth using a mixture of skill, fear, torture, and insight.


    He later gave out a book that each of us would take a turn to read. It discussed that a layman torturer whether it was in a war or in peace can usually have anything from three percent and twenty percent chance of extracting anything from the subject.


    Not to mention the possibility of lying increases exponentially if the truth cannot be verified almost immediately, such as a password to a computer for example. There were several warnings about overdoing and overindulging in the profession. It was a fun book to read.


    "Are the three books from that bug-famed family?", my brother asked interrupting my thoughts.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    I slightly frown while recalling information about the authors as I replied, "I believe so. There is no definite way to confirm if they are the original bug family that rose to fame in 1788 when the first fleet of the British landed in Australia and skirmishes ensued. They were feared for their unique tortures."


    "It seems like they took their bugs and went to Japan after some hopping around. They specialized in spiders which Australia and Japan have in abundance."


    "They are still among the ancient heritages even if they were only included among our own in the 1800s. It is a shame they were cut off for so long. There were rumors they had arrived in India before the British arrived in 1788."


    My brother shook his head: "They cannot be confirmed for they are not the only family to use bugs. Some families use similar ways while not in the know that there others with almost the same technique."


    "Whatever you say. Was there anything that interested you among the books?"


    "The book called Fear Us had some insect and bug inducing phobias that would put their patients into hysterias and to date, they have the highest success percent to extract the truth. I was wondering If we need to include bugs in our arsenal?"


    "Although it is interesting, it will need some experimenting. Have you forgotten our attempt to incorporate our mother''s specialty in poisons in one of our sessions?"


    Mark started to laugh hysterically once he remembered that incident. After a while, he said, "Ah yes that was one of the funniest mistakes we did. Thankfully we were still in our apprenticeship days. Just imagine if a client was watching as their guest slowly started to eat himself alive. That was an amazing concoction of hallucinogens and LSD."


    I chuckled embarrassedly, "It was quite a sight to behold when our mother came in and saw what happened to the guest. She was furious that her own sons couldn''t use her best arsenal, poison."


    I looked at the clock right by the window, we have been in the study for almost two hours. How time flies when one is having fun, I lamented.


    "We need to wrap this up.", I said.


    "No worries, I know tick tock. Your time is precious. The last book was nothing valuable at all but rather certain remedies to bug and insect bites. Almost everyone has antidotes for this sort of stuff."


    I objected, "Their remedies had venoms and herbal poisons, it has some potential to grow considering how rich the forest is with the sort of creatures. Maybe in other countries, this book will be much appreciated."


    "Doubtful considering that without remedies any country with forest will have a constant stream of poisoned people. So everyone has their own way to solve the problem."


    "Do not forget that the medications involved in treating the injuries caused by the bullet ants, in the first book, are rather interesting. It is a combination of herbal concoctions and incense, a popular combination in eastern medicine practices. Its lack of popularity in the west is for a practical reason though, the variety of herbs available is a sight for sore eyes."


    "So eastern medicine versus south American one, that would be an interesting showdown."


    After some more back and forth about possible experimenting, we ended our meeting in a quarter of an hour.


    The rest of the day was my enjoyable weekend routine of reading varied books, a leisurely paced reading compared to the one in the morning. Then another exercising routine that involved weight lifting, and sparring with my brother. After another shower, I had lunch alone as my brother had some errands to run.


    In the evening I had an appointment with an acquaintance. We were meeting at a cafe, of course, I was early for ten minutes. Surprisingly, she was already there.


    As I entered the cafe I noticed her sitting by the window. The tables were all squared and the ones by the window had sofas on both sides. The tables had decent space between them, just enough to not feel suffocated as you pass and not too far to feel deserted.


    Ellaine is eye-catching, it is not her beauty but her tattoos really. She has this gangster vibe. She was taller than me by a bit but looked lean like a boxer. Her shoulders were neither too narrow nor too broad, she kept her hair short and purple.


    She had a captivating phoenix tattoo over her neck, arms and back. The tattoo looked like she was a phoenix turned human, her arms had vivid feather-like wings wrapping around them, her neck had the phoenix neck which in my opinion looked weird.


    Her back, although not bare, I recalled it had the wings of the phoenix as it dripped fire and lava. The wings look like they were raining fire upon the earth as the earth was tattooed right below the wings. The colors were a mix of red and orange.


    I walked towards her as I got there she noticed my approach, she smiled curtly and waved the waiter for us to order. She knew I always ordered the same thing at any cafe.


    She ordered two ice coffees for us, I now knew she meant business as she usually gets an espresso. I sat opposite her marveling at how she had not changed a bit since I last saw her. Her hazelnut eyes looked tired though. Her face looks rugged but has this captivating charisma that compels you to just listen to her.


    "You look well, Jack.", she started once the waiter was gone.


    "So do you, Ellaine. You look like you aged a bit, not enough sleep?"


    She scoffed, "Oh please! I will die long after you."


    We caught up about how her work has been doing. She worked as a bodyguard for certain people who are under the radar. Like really under the radar, who are either wanted by the law, somehow once represented the law but faked their deaths and so on.


    She always has the most amusing of tales. Of course, her clients are supposed to be confidential but she and I know that not a word of our talks would get out. We talked for a while waiting for the drinks.


    Once the waiter brought the drinks, she put her game face on. She waited until he was gone, took a sip of the iced coffee her eyes squinted in enjoyment. She always had a sweet tooth.


    "Looks like storytime is over, are you ready to tell me how I might help?", I started off in her stead. She was always terrible at asking favors.


    "Ah!" she exclaimed in mock indignation, saying "Can''t I meet my brother without adding onto his plate?"


    "Of course you can''t! You would always be up to those shenanigans and you would get away with them as the youngest of us. Not to mention you specifically asked me to not tell Mark. I know you know, he will know and we both know he won''t like it."


    "Okay okay! You got me." she laughed then sipped her coffee, continuing: "A client of mine requires special service."


    "And? I can get prepared for a session anytime, hell I can even postpone planned ones for you. Now, what is so special that you would come yourself instead of phoning ahead?"


    She squinted at me as if she was choosing her words and said, "It is not the usual business. A rather eccentric client who is in the know wants a ..."


    She trailed off as if she was embarrassed by what follows. I pushed her, "Come on, out with it."


    "He wants a book."


    "I am sure I can help him choose a fine book about whatever subject, I do have a scholarly reputation."


    "Not the kind that can be bought. He wants a book about truth-seekers, more specifically about your new approach that you have been using. He has heard about you and your books, the ones you wrote for the 5-year tradition."


    Of all the things she could have said, I did not expect that. I was truly surprised by such an eccentric request. And even more surprised she did not see how arduous doing something like this will be, for me especially.


    "El, you know the rules. Even if the clients know there is a limit to how much they do. Besides the council controls the distribution of such books if word gets out, the consequences won''t be light."


    "It has been taken care of, you worrywart. He has contacts within the council and they have given in to his request. All that remains is which torturer is to be written about. They limited him to choose only one and since you tend to use a variety of techniques both orthodox and unorthodox, he thought you were the best choice."


    Damn her and her talkative nature. I know she somehow threw me to the wolves since even if I am known for using various techniques, not many know of how much I can do except for few. She is among the few.


    "What is the reward?", I asked.


    "There are three rewards. I nagged him to put in one that will definitely convince you. First is a million dollars which are like ten-sessions in value. Second is an antique Iron maiden originally made in 1600, its condition is not the best but a good artwork. Finally, the one that I am sure will compel you to take the job, a book."


    She stopped talking and smiled cheekily at me. She knew me too well, I love reading and collecting books to a fault and if she looked so sure then it must be something amazing. I scratched my cheek feeling annoyed she did not say the name of the book.


    "I have an urge to refuse just to wipe this cheeky grin off your face."


    Her smile widened as she said, "You will forever regret it then. The book is the diary of Elizabeth B¨¢thory. I need not tell you who she is, do I?"


    I almost stood up in shock. That was the Blood countess, the legendary serial killer. Most of her belongings were either lost or sold. She had some very interesting ways of torture. It looked like an offer I cannot refuse.


    I smiled sheepishly to El''s cocky grin and said, "Tell me the details."

 Act 3: A surprise

    Mark will definitely be mad.


    I just knew it. Every part of the job with El''s client will get on his nerves not to mention that El did not even include him in the discussion.


    I came back home that day at 9, had dinner with Mark then went right off to sleep. I did not like to hide anything from him but I needed some preparation to convince him.


    I went home late last night. Which messed up my sleep routine slightly but it will be so worth it when I get that diary.


    Mike will probably throw a tantrum about the whole thing but I shall appease him with how the job will go down. I am rather curious as to who our mysterious employer is.


    I woke up today feeling slightly out of sorts. I did my daily morning routine of shower followed by light exercise. I planned to add green tea to breakfast. This should get me to feel myself again.


    I headed to the dining room and as I sat it seemed to me all too silent. So I put on a podcast of the name the Magnus archives. As I ate breakfast I listened to it, it was a rather interesting horror podcast. As the voice actor had a rather soothing voice coupled with an intricate web of well thought out plot and events, it all made up a great podcast.


    I felt myself thinking better after finishing breakfast. Today''s podcast got me thinking, maybe I should set a contingency plan in case this client had more unbecoming intentions. It seemed like I will cash in some favors as a precaution.


    I set to work in preparation for the job. I planned to discuss the details again with Mark so I had no need to go over the details for now.


    However, some essential steps were in order. I needed to make the maids prepare another chair in the torture chamber as well as some extra tools. Also adding a hidden camera for any false claims thrown my way by the client. Finally, I needed to prepare a new route into the torture chamber for secrecy.


    While I mulled over my thought, I looked at the clock on the opposite wall in the dining room noticing it was already time to get up and start my reading routine. Time is so important to live a regulated life. Especially when planning your day with routines and time.


    I called the maids to clear the table. I got up to go to the library. There was no need to go into the study, for today was my casual reading day. I might read books regarding poetry or philosophy. A mental break from the heavy reading regarding my two obligatory reading, torture, and stocks.


    I took the door leading to the garden. I marveled at the beauty of the weather today, noting to myself that a stroll would be fantastic. I walked for about three minutes then I arrived to a separate villa that contained the hidden library in the basement.


    If that was a normal library, there would be no need for such theatric secrecy but I had quite the book collection. Some were bought in secret auctions others are originals while some are quite the irregularity. I had two books handwritten by Galileo himself, supposedly would be sent to his apprentice but it never made it there.


    I went to the villa, it was the residence of the butler, maids, the cook, and the guards. Not even Sherlock Holmes himself would guess that my personal attendant lived on top of a literal gold mine.


    Obviously I would not declare it to the public that I was going to the basement. There was an elevator in what was disguised as an electric box. It had an iris scan security measure in place. I proceeded to take the elevator down, into the library.


    Since I travel a lot and I have several estates, this one is a tier two library. A tier one library is hidden in a secret location, its interior could rival ancient Alexandria¡¯s library in its heyday. Tier one is the size of a stadium and had permanent guards just for it.


    Tier two libraries on the other hand had select few unique books and duplicates of other rare books I have, as well as some possibly more mundane generic books. The unique ones I usually carry with me whenever I travel from an estate to another.


    While this library is not the best, it had a comfy lazy boy chair with well-positioned lights for optimum reading. The cherry on top is the book holder and the right temperature to read in. I picked a philosophy book regarding some insights of Socrates that was not as popular as his other works and started reading.


    An hour later I was roused from the book as my phone rang. Mark was calling, seemed like his job did not go as smoothly as he claimed it would. I picked up.


    ¡°I am betting you will be late.¡±


    ¡°I hate your smugness but you are right. The whole thing went to shambles, a double-cross happened on us and now it seemed like we became the loose end for a change. I should be back home within the week. You better prepare the dungeons by then, if I can I am getting one of the clients back.¡±


    ¡°No worries, all will be ready. I have a surprise for you when you come back.¡±


    ¡°Sure thing, I will avoid dying to see what you classify as a surprise.¡±, he ended the call after that.


    It seemed like I will have more time to burn than anticipated. Thankfully the book-job as I call it will only start the next month. Both sides are preparing suitably for it. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    I felt a slight anticipation for the day after tomorrow. I had a job with a frequent client. I just love the stories this client¡¯s guest has, easily one of the top five of the stories I get from the chamber. I always write down all the details after every job, sometimes I write it down the day after during my morning routine.


    Regardless, I continued reading the book I was on then I took a stroll in the garden as I went over how the next job will be like. It seemed to me that I will need to recheck my schedule to make time for the book-job.


    ***


    Two days later..


    I ate lunch after work, not at the villa but with colleagues. Some kind of celebration for an investment well spent. I like an outing every now and then with common people who I consider friends. The food was not to my liking but the company made up for it, my only issue is they chose the worst day of the week to go out.


    I excused myself earlier than usual, they know better than asking why. I just love the kind of understanding friends who allow you to keep the mystery of yourself. The curious type of friends is welcomed by some but not me.


    The roads were not as congested as it was in the afternoon, it took me 30 minutes to get home. I went right into the shower, checking to see how much time until the client arrived. It would be 3 hours later, he always came at midnight.


    I got dressed in a regular black suit with black shirt and red tie, the standard getup for the torturers. The red tie had the insignia of our house, the Crucintum, while the suit had the insignia of the torturers.


    The Crucintum insignia is a red rose, the stem was depicted as a black greenish scalpel while the petals were blood red and from them dropped 3 red drops. The shade of red of the tie contrasted with the red of the petals and the 3 drops, the red were in shades of gold, blood, and purple. An explosion of color quite literally.


    The torturer¡¯s insignia is a gavel and a serrated dagger crisscrossing each other, each is at a diagonal rather than forming an actual Christian cross. The gavel is brown while the dagger is silver and their backdrop is dark gold. A sign for truth-seeking by all means. I would wager that this is not the original insignia but it looked as such since the 1700s.


    Tradition must be upheld. That is their excuse for the matching outfits and insignias. In my opinion, it was all about the history of the family since back then the people brought in knew the families or at least heard of them so the insignias brought fear thus making the job easier.


    After I got ready I headed to the garage where my butler and half a dozen guards were ready to accompany me to the chamber. Ensuring one¡¯s safety is a must, that is my thing. I do not care much for tradition but in this line of work, if a torturer is captured, their end is never good.


    We took 2 separate black SUVs with no plates to the entrance of the chamber. Every city had a hall for chambers and every family of repute would have one named after them. This chamber is for their use and in some cases, it is rented out between each other but only to very close allied ones.


    Every chamber had two entrances, one from the hall and another from a secret place only known to the family. It is rare for a private business that anyone who owns the chamber would go in from the hall. It is also impossible for the family to accidentally book same room same time.


    Since there can only be one official torturer in business in one city from each family. This rule was established for a security reason, imagine if a location was compromised and there was an attack losing all the eggs in the basket and the extermination of the family would be quite the loss.


    The entrance was from a furniture warehouse, the warehouse was directly controlled by my family. We all went down an elevator that had its entrance disguised as a wardrobe. All the secrecy is important for as many allies as we had at least double their numbers were enemies.


    The elevator led into a tunnel with fluorescent lights. Everything was painted white which makes the three black doors on the right even more striking. There is a holding cell in one room, a waiting room for the clients in another, and the last had the torture chamber. The entire setup is called a chamber as back then there was only a torture chamber and the clients would wait elsewhere but for some reason, that was the setup these days.


    The guards distributed themselves, two at the elevator, one at each door, and one following me around. A professional had once advised this plan for the best security detail.


    The warehouse staff had notified me that the client came early and they made him comfortable in the client room. I went right to the room and was greeted by him. Antoine the antique, a fun guy as an ally, a nightmare as an enemy. He owns an auction house and an antique shop, of course, that was on the surface he actually deals in drugs, not the addictive kind but the kind that organisations like mine would need.


    He was one of the earliest clients I met, we just clicked thanks to our interest in antiques. He liked collecting very strange belongings of historical figures while I collected their books, we had a few deals together.


    He was a bald Spanish guy, he small eyes, a hook nose, and thin lips. He always looks like he had an evil plan in mind. He was thin and dressed in suits, I never saw him without a suit. As a matter of fact, I once saw him in his pajamas which somehow resembled a suit.


    He greeted me as I went in, ¡°Jack, it has been too long.¡±


    I reached for his hand, shaking it firmly as I smiled saying, ¡°For a good reason, you snatch that antique clock right off me last time we met.¡±


    ¡°I did not peg you as such a narrow-minded person. And you know I was returning the favor, you took away that amazing antique pen.¡±


    ¡°A case closed then,¡± we laughed. There were auctions with closed cases that were similar to gambling. The auctioneer would say who the antiques belonged to and where it originated from but you would not actually see the antiques. It was supposed to be a fun game but after a few scams, it was discontinued. I and Antoine were the starters of the case closed schtick.


    Antoine¡¯s face turned serious, ¡°The guest today is tricky, his body must not show any possible indication he was tortured. So no maiming or cutting into him.¡±


    ¡°You know me too well to start off this way, what is the story?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s just say that our guest is a headache to his family however they are very protective of their own. To avoid a headache we had him put under by very powerful hallucination drugs, he might think you were one weird drug trip at the end of it all.¡±


    ¡°Nah, I am not buying it. Since when do you play subtle or nice? Who is his family?¡±


    ¡°You will understand once you see him.¡±


    It seemed like even speaking of the family scared him. This will be very interesting.


    I walked out of the client room heading to the holding cell. The holding cell has some personnel of the council who help in running the chamber. It is a security measure in case a guest escapes which will result in a headache for all parties involved.


    The first thing I noticed as I walked into the cell was the perfume, which was odd. Then as I looked around I was surprised once more, the guest was sitting on the floor with no cuffs and not even tied to the chains on the far wall of the cell as per the norm. I can count on my fingers the number of times I have seen a guest treated with such respect and fear.


    As I examined the guest, he looked like a 20-year old Asian man. He had short stature just like most Asian men but what struck me was his red hair. It is an extremely rare characteristic in general especially so for Asians. His face was just normal looking, not one that you would remember in a crowd.


    His upper body was bare and he lied passed on the floor so it was hard to judge whether these muscles were as a result of martial arts training or weightlifting. He had his back to the door and on it, I saw a tattoo. In our world of secret organizations and living in the shadows, tattoos are treated very seriously.


    On the right side of his back were two Japanese or Chinese words. The words were written in the style of Japanese Kanji or Chinese Hanji. In my opinion, it looked more like Japanese strokes than Chinese. It was possible for the tattoos to be Chinese Hanji as they were not as clear as they would have been on paper.


    I dabble in Japanese but I am more familiar with hiragana than kanji. Basically hiragana is like spelling out the words somewhat like writing English but the Japanese alphabet is more complex, on the other hand, kanji are complete words supposedly borrowed from Chinese Hanji.


    Regardless of whether this was Japanese or Chinese one of the tattoos meant the gate of heaven and the other meant to obey. I was familiar with which organization used such tattoos and why Antoine was so scared. The old fool brought a goddamn ninja on my doorstep.

 Act 4: The ninja

    I re-examined the guest from all sides for a couple of minutes before jumping to a hasty conclusion. Tragically no matter how much I examined him I came to the same conclusion, this was a ninja.


    I recalled the information I knew about the Gate of Heaven organization. They were active in Asia in far eastern parts, almost exclusively in China, Korea, and Japan. It was never clear who the founder was but it is said that it was a resistance build-up against the Chinese invasions in the yuan dynasty, I could not recall what year but my best guess would be between 1290 and 1380.


    That means they were as ancient as our guild, the Truth Seekers. This is all a bad joke. Organizations with such history do not outsource jobs like information extraction and missions regarding their current members or traitors. There was only one reason that our guest would be here.


    He was kidnapped from under everybody¡¯s noses.


    I facepalmed in annoyance, I felt unsure of where to go from there. This was a mess. I turned to Antoine staring at him with indignation. He looked as comfortable as ever, what a thick-skinned old man.


    I chided him, ¡°You are dropping a literal bomb into my backyard. There is no way you do not understand who this is and what a mess this will cause between the Truth Seekers and the Gate of Heaven.¡±


    He calmly explained, ¡°No one will know unless one of us speaks of it. I mentioned that he was a headache for his family. It is not the entire story, his brain got damaged on one mission so he does not form new memories since then. He knows who he is and where he is from. He became a reputable teacher in his organization but he is not permitted to go on missions. We grabbed him when he was going from one facility in Vietnam to another location.¡±


    ¡°That means they already know he is gone?¡±


    ¡°No, it just means we have a limited window before setting him back on his path with the excuse that his car broke down.¡±


    ¡°This is basically Anterograde Amnesia. If he cannot form new memories how can he know where to go since he was not a martial teacher before that?¡±


    ¡°He doesn¡¯t know the full information. At every facility, he watches a video of himself reiterating what happened to himself and his condition. His memories about events may get jumbled but if the information is tied to events before the accident then he is less likely to forget them, at least temporarily.¡±


    ¡°So you are banking on him forgetting all of this with the help of his amnesia and the drugs. I like the idea but this is too risky. What if they are monitoring him via satellite or a GPS tracker embedded in his bones or something. This might blow the cover of the chamber and make an incident.¡±


    ¡°He is wearing two EMP bracelets that pulse every fraction of a second ensuring no electronic device in or on or near him will be functional. Come on give some credit, you know I will not drop the ball on something like that.¡±


    He was acting all hurt, Antoine is careful by nature to a terrifying degree really. However, there is so much at stake here. I knew my father had worked with Gate of Heaven before which is why I know anything about them at all. The super old secretive organizations are on a need to know basis, their information is not dropped as an FYI in education.


    Frankly, I feel this is more interesting than scary, maybe my curiosity trumps my fear of the consequences. My mind was already working on how to extract the information needed. I just realized all this time, Antoine hadn¡¯t mentioned what information he was seeking.


    I nodded my head and stepped out of the room signaling the guards to prepare the torture chamber and to escort the guest there. I insisted that they keep him under at all times until I stepped into the room.


    I turned to Antoine, ¡°How much time do I have and what is the information you need out of him?¡±


    He smirked at me fully knowing I was on board with it all, saying, ¡°At most 12 hours, we already wasted 4 hours to get here, and with how deeply asleep he is he should not notice that his sleep schedule was messed up.¡±


    We stood in the tunnel watching as the chamber staff and my guards prepared everything. Then he continued, ¡°The information I need is a place, I need to know where he was born.¡±


    I frowned, this seemed easy at first glance but I couldn''t help but think about why he would go to such lengths just to know that. I did not speak for a few minutes as my mind churned possibilities and suspicions. The only possibility that would make sense was that this information would be traded with someone.


    I asked, ¡°You are not the real client behind this?¡±


    ¡°You are too smart for your own good, my friend. I will sincerely advise you to ask no more even I am in the dark here. As they say, Knowledge is power. Power to do evil...or power to do good. Power itself is not evil. So knowledge itself is not evil.¡±


    I was stunned for a second, not believing my ears. I looked at him in astonishment and said, ¡°Did you just quote ¡®Allegiant¡¯ of the ¡®Divergent¡¯ series?¡±


    He was bemused to realize his attempt at flaunting his knowledge backfired. He covered his embarrassment by hurrying me on, ¡°Stop talking and start doing your job!¡±


    He took a seat on the far end of the room. I started thinking about how to get the job done as clean and fast as possible. This was a fair example of less is more, the less I can do will be better for all in the long run.


    I had a few ideas, I paced around the room as the staff shackled the ninja to a slanted bed. The bed looked like a cross with the guest¡¯s arms laid horizontal to his vertical body while overall at a slant of 30 degrees from the floor. Everything in the room is optimized for truth extraction from the lighting to how many buttons my on job suit had.


    The ideas were becoming clearer. There were three options for how I can do this in the limited time we had and constraints of no torture to show on his body. The first scenario is mimicking a traffic accident, he got into an accident and he was in the hospital passed out for a checkup. We marvel at how he was completely fine, displaying photos might be over the top so maybe we can say that he was in a taxi at the time.


    So it was not his car that was in the accident which will save us some time in staging such photos as we had taxi-in-an-accident photos on the ready. We ask for his information and birthplace, maybe sneaking in a question of do you want us to phone someone to come get you?


    The second scenario would be covering his eyes and going over quick snappy acupuncture painful torture. It shows no signs externally but might leave lasting nerve damage if he is too hard-headed. Darkness will inspire more fear in addition to protecting everyone¡¯s identities.


    The third scenario is a rather funny one. There is a psychological reading trick to get information out of unsuspecting people used by frauds. People unconsciously react to their information, for example when you say the birth date of someone there will be a slight reaction no matter how noncommittal they try to act. Implementing scenarios two and three together will be good, maybe one and three will work as well.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    I quickly went over what I planned to do, then I called the staff of the chamber through the security line. I detailed what I needed and made sure they would understand how time-sensitive this was.


    We waited for about ten minutes, then the staff called to ask for permission to enter. After all, if a chamber is in use even the council is not authorized to just burst in. I buzzed them in, they came in through the other entrance, the one connected directly to the Truth seekers hall.


    The truth-seekers hall in any city connects to all the chambers of truths in its vicinity. Of course, there are some undocumented chambers but those are illegal and liable to cause problems in the long run.


    The staff set up everything I asked for. The guest was escorted back to the cell and just as a precaution administered a light dose to knock him out for half an hour.


    The staff began with the torture chamber, the bed sheets changed into hospital ones with this distinctive smell. The room was refurbished with a fake window and a PA system right out of the door. The staff will have some stay as actors for it all.


    The eye drops I asked for were supplied as well, even if he is half-blind never underestimate a combat class person. The senses honed in battle are scary to the point that I know of an archer who lost 80% of his eyesight on a mission but against all odds he stayed in the business with almost the same level of skill. So being cautious always pays off.


    The eye drops will cause near blindness for about 12 hours, manufactured by our friend Antoine. They cause optic nerve inflammation for a limited period and it is naturally resolved by the body, it is ill-advised to be used repeatedly as the body either weakens in resisting it or becomes completely resistant to it, a flip of a coin.


    I headed to the guest room cabinet and brought out a set of silver acupuncture needles.


    I planned to simulate some damage to his body by acupuncture before he wakes and then using the excuse that he needs an operation to set his body right again.


    Under the combination of all of these, I do not believe he will be hard to crack. Even if he had a harder shell, I had another plan but I would rather not use it.


    I went to the cell to follow up on my plan. He was laid on the floor of the cell, I entered with 3 of the guards just in case he was starting to wake up. One needle after another went in and out after I was done I ordered them to carry him to the torture chamber which has become a hospital room.


    Everything went as planned, so far so good. It got on my nerves working on such specimens with such high combat ability. You can never imagine what this combat personnel is capable of, even the most exciting action movie would not come close to the carnage they can do.


    I administered all the IV solutions to his arm and made sure the lighting was right. I rechecked everything once again then I woke him up.


    You can understand a person from how he wakes up, there are ones who get from fully asleep to half asleep as a transition to waking up while others just open their eyes fully awake like they were not even asleep.


    Our friend here is of the second type, his eyes just popped open, it scanned the room a couple of times in three seconds it had come to rest on me. The intensity of his gaze sent shivers along my spine, I just knew that whatever martial arts or combat training I have gone through would do nothing to save me if he attacked.


    I had to keep reminding myself that his sight is supposed to be severely diminished but he acted like he could see everything crystal clear. This is very off-putting. Even temporary blindness or narrow sightedness will throw someone with a normal vision not to mention a ninja-like him. There is a chance he was trained to see or deal with such bad eyesight.


    Fear is your best friend in such situations, it helps you distinguish the prey from the predator and what we had in here was an apex predator that fed on other predators. His actions of not reacting to his altered eyesight or the pain from my acupuncture procedure was a superhuman feat of someone who just woke up and should be disoriented.


    I did not hide my fear from his glance after all a normal doctor would feel intimidated by his gaze. I decided to alter my plan a little bit, although I knew he was fearsome nothing prepared me for him to be that fearsome.


    ¡°You had an accident last night and you have been unconscious for two hours,¡± I lied just to throw him off in case he was more aware of his body¡¯s condition than planned.


    He frowned slightly as he tested how his body felt and how much damage was done, he just ignored me for half a minute as he affirmed how hurt he was.


    He replied, ¡°You have my gratitude in saving me, where was I found?¡±


    His amnesia will prevent him from remembering specific details but I am sure before he moved from one place to another he uses something to make sure he can easily recall what he had forgotten. Antoine mentioned nothing about it but this was the only plausible explanation for him moving around with no escorts or at least watchers.


    I can only assume it is a reflex movement of his when he attempts to remember something. So far all his movements were just testing out the damage done and he had not done anything else.


    I gave him an address that was near where he was staying, it was only 3 km away. It seemed like he would not ask about his injuries. He might assume he fought with someone in the same profession but he just does not recall. I can use that to my advantage if it was the case, but I needed to confirm what he was thinking.


    ¡°I have to say that you were quite lucky to have only these injuries. The ambulance report says you were thrown out of the car onto an open field. The lacerations on your back,¡± which were all thanks to me, ¡°and the dislocated shoulder and hip were the only injuries on you. However, you may have a concussion but it should only be a mild one. Is there any discomfort or pain you feel other than those?¡±


    Some of the commonly seen vision problems after a concussion are blurred or blurry vision, focusing difficulties, reading difficulties, eye pain, double vision, eye tracking or eye teaming problems, jumpy vision, lack of recognition, and more. I should be on the safe side if he thinks that this is caused by a concussion, not to mention I did kick him in the head a few times, of course, nothing too terrible just enough to ensure he feels as if it was a concussion.


    I observed him intently as he processed what I had said, any reaction or a tell would be great. So far what I had gotten from him was a flash of pain when I attempted to flex his arm and some discomfort from lying on the bed. There was no bewilderment or curiosity as to what had happened. It is possible this is not the first it had happened at least not the first time before the anterograde amnesia.


    He looked at me and asked, ¡°Can I have my phone? I need to get someone to come to get me as I do not have enough cash nor do I have health insurance.¡±


    Smart move! The only way is to play along and listen in on the conversation.


    I said, ¡°There is no hurry, we just need to make sure you are in a stable condition and it is advised for you to stay one night under watch to avoid any complications.¡±


    ¡°I would rather inform my family that I am well and we have our hospital. As assured I am of your professionalism, I trust our family doctor more.¡±


    Of course, they had their hospital. I mentally sighed, I can trigger a complication from where I am standing but maybe we can trace the call or even better just knowing the other number will help us triangulate where the phone is.


    ¡°I will arrange so that your belongings are brought to you, however, you need to write some information down first for the hospital files. It will only take as much time as your belongings are brought here.¡±


    He nodded and used the bed remote to have himself in a seated position with his legs stretched out front. He casually asked what time it was right now, I told him it was two in the morning. He looked at the window and blinked twice in a row, now that seemed like nothing special but his blinking rate changing is a bad indicator.


    Blink rate during choice-response tasks can provide a reliable measure of cognitive processing which meant he was reassessing the room. However it makes no sense, he should be almost blind thanks to the eye drops.


    Only now did I recall what my dad had told me regarding ninjas, he made me promise him to never take a job involving them and if I had to do one then I must have a ninja accompanying me. Ninjas by trade are an elusive tricky bunch, even the best of drugs may or may not work on them not to mention various hidden tricks up their sleeves.


    It only took a second for me to recall what my dad had said, but my regret was immense. I knew it had all gone wrong and I must cut losses, at the very least keep my poor life. I had my face disguised, nothing superb but he should not know my actual features. I did not know how much he knew but his escape was only a matter of minutes.

 Act 5: Punishment!

    I thought quickly for the best way to keep my life and if possible to diffuse the potential problem between the Gate of Heaven and the Truth Seekers. I know that my life being in immediate danger should be my primary concern but depending on how bad the problem becomes I might be executed to appease the relations.


    Off the top of my mind, I thought of throwing some random person under the bus as the orchestrator of this whole event.


    I would not even grace the thought of giving up Antoine, while I may not be a loyal person but I would not do this to a friend. Plus he has quite a bit of dirt on me, so besides being a friend, I might just fall with him.


    I casually caught his attention by clicking my tongue and giving him a message using morse code. I started off with a tapping that said eyes then I blinked as I made casual conversation with one of the guards masquerading as a nurse.


    I said that he was held in some facility and that I was hired to act out my part. I said I would help him escape but he must spare me.


    Not the best bargain I have thought of but I should be able to keep my life for the time being. Also, I did not exactly blink for so long so I summarized it into that, ¡®You are captured. I will help you. You do not kill me.¡¯ A little bit of a childish message but time was ticking and he will not wait for me to bat my eyelids for long.


    He smiled slightly, not in a savage manner but I felt intense danger and bolted for the door. I had not taken three steps before I heard a squelching sound like something had punctured a bag followed by a light gasp.


    The nurse most likely died and based on how fast the body dropped she was certainly dead. I had no idea where he got a sharp object that would make such a puncturing sound but I favored surviving than satisfying my curiosity.


    I did not turn around, knowing that every second counted. While the guards outside would not be able to stop him, I hoped they can delay him for a minute. That was the time I would take to get to the guest room to escape via a secret door with Antoine.


    My hand had just touched the door handle when I sensed intense bloodlust aimed at me. This is not an illusion, normal people cannot sense that neither can the best of soldiers, only the most gifted and sensitive can. Luckily, I fell among those sensitive gifted souls.


    I knew I was out of time so I brushed the door handle with my hand hoping it might be unlocked that way while it helped redirect my movement to lean sideways. It was the correct call as I saw a scalpel brushing by me where my head was.


    ¡°I can help you escape. There is a labyrinth after this door,¡± I yelled as I rolled on the floor to face him. The door was one step away to my left side, luckily that light tap on the handle had opened it.


    I only needed one chance to run. I secretly clicked the button hidden in a fake moral in my mouth, alerting the guards to a situation inside. There were cameras everywhere so the Hall of Chambers should be aware of what is going on. I only hoped it would not be too late.


    Normally the camera feed is only for the guards under the owner of the Chamber but with that button press, I alerted my guards and the Hall guards as well as granting access to the watchers to the cameras in my chamber. They should be here within three minutes.


    I looked at the soon-to-escape ninja who was standing at the foot of the bed. He had a stoic expression with slight anger.


    ¡°You think I cannot differentiate injuries from a crash from fake injuries caused by acupuncture needles? The arrogance is appalling.¡±


    He talked in a chiding tone. His voice was slightly more hoarse. His body language was not poised for action, rather he seemed to be relaxed or maybe he was undoing what I did to him. Fake injuries or not, dislocated joints and abrasions are still inconvenient.


    I said: ¡°Look, I am as much of a victim as you. I get hired to do odd jobs like those and I had no idea someone of your caliber was here. I never get involved with combat specialized secret organizations like yours.¡±


    ¡°Although I am unsure what organization you are from, torturers like you would never delegate their prey to another. Especially a hired spineless goon like you.¡±


    It double stung being made like that not to mention being called spineless.


    My eyes were darting around while my mind was going into overdrive to figure out how to get out of this situation. Keeping him talking would be a great strategy for now since guards should be on their way.


    I edged nearer to the door by slightly shifting my weight from one foot to another, I had no illusion that this would go unnoticed but since he had not killed me yet indicated a possible non-violent resolution. Although one of my guards lying in his blood on the opposite side of the bed spoke otherwise.


    ¡°Ah!¡± I exclaimed, ¡°You figured me out, but since you know about torturers then you know this was nothing but a job. It was nothing personal, I hope you look at this professionally as well.¡±


    He squinted his eyes slightly and said, ¡°You seem unaware that you were but a mere pawn so they can figure out the degree of my ¡®amnesia¡¯¡±, he said the word mockingly.


    ¡°They have been unsure for so long and now I got made thanks to you. I have to admit that the set up was thoughtful and the lack of limb dismemberment is the one thing that stopped me from tearing you apart.¡±


    It is good to know that at least part of the plan was good. As for me being a pawn, I am not surprised at all. Being among the truth seeker as a torturer is an ancient and well-respected job but so is being a prostitute. At the end of the day if you call someone else as the boss then you ought to know that you are a pawn.


    ¡°Good to know my merciful approach to extracting the truth is applauded from your side. I am unsure what you will do next, care to share?¡±This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Mere tricks will not go well, I am outgunned, outsmarted and apparently misinformed. This was no low-class ninja, and most certainly not an amnesic one.


    ¡°You were keeping me talking or at least thinking you were doing so in hopes of your guards coming soon. Ironically I was waiting for your guards too.¡±


    I visibly flinched just to satiate his feeling of being in power. It seemed he was underestimating us if he was actually waiting for our guards.


    I smiled in triumph as the door burst open, I threw myself to the corner of the room to the right of the door to get our of whoever was entering way.


    All I saw after the door opened was a shadow speeding towards my guest. The shadow was so fast that the guest had not reacted except when the shadow was one step away from him.


    It seemed like he will be caught but he dodged the shadow¡¯s attack by jumping to the head of the bed. He literally walked on the ceiling as he somersaulted away. The shadow was having none of that, it threw something towards the lights taking it out.


    The shift from light to darkness will effectively blind anyone in the room for the time the eye takes to readjust itself, the time varies from one person to another. I would not even bother to remember the average time the eye would take to reorient itself as clearly those two were utter monsters in human skin.


    I stayed in my corner widening my eyes to see anything. While I saw nothing, I heard a lot, there was the sound of the bed breaking apart. Pretty impressive since it was made of metal. I heard a light footstep followed by a whoosh of air heading right at me.


    My eyes were almost used to the darkness and the lights of the hallway helped me to see as the guest was rushing at me with a shadow on his heels.


    I knew he was going for me, I did not need to fight him off just stalling will do. It seemed I have been on the back foot the whole time, as much as this hurt my pride living to see the sunrise mattered more than a bruised pride.


    I was squatting in the corner poised to act but as I had no vision I figured staying put was the smarter choice. Now that I can see them, my actions will be less of a guess and more of a decision.


    I kicked the wall launching myself towards the door for the third time. I stayed low, careful to keep my arms and legs close to me so I can attempt dodging any projectiles. Although I doubted my reflexes will help much against this kind of opponent, a part of me refused to be so helpless; probably my pride.


    I was now so close to the open door, with the guest on my heels and the shadow on his heels. I knew the shadow was one of the ninjas we contracted to guard the facility. I was just unsure if he was on my family¡¯s or the Truth Seekers'' chamber''s side.


    Regardless of which side he was on I should be safe but if he was on the chamber¡¯s side, the odds are he will care more about the escapee than me being injured. He will make sure I survive but he will not give a fuck if I am missing an arm or a leg. Ninjas are notoriously bad as guards almost as good as they are as assassins.


    I go past the door and run towards the elevator. There were guards everywhere pointing at me with their guns, I hoped they knew who to shoot in this situation. I did not stop running even as I saw them. I was not too confident if their aim would be any better than storm troopers since they had a ninja as an opponent.


    The shooting started as I passed the first guard. The guards stood spaced out along the tunnel, almost like an execution squad but as the tunnel was only 3 meters wide there were 4 guards standing at the front donning some kind of advanced techie armor with riot shields and helmets. The guards right behind them had rifles pointing above their crouched buddies.


    The guards were between the elevator and the door. The other entrance which leads to and from the main hall of Chamber of Truth was left unguarded but I was sure there was a small squad behind the door ready for whatever happens.


    I did not turn around until I was at the elevator which they had disabled, a procedure followed in case of an escape attempt. As I turned around I was reintroduced to the terror of ninjas. This was no movie like Matrix where the protagonist can just lean back and dodge bullets but this was even scarier.


    The two ninjas were so nimble that gravity seemed like a mere inconvenience rather than a physics law. They ran on the ground at times, on the walls at others, and occasionally on the ceiling. I pitied the guards for no amount of shooting practice included the target moving like that.


    The two ninjas had already gone among the guards so there was no point shooting lest they hit one another. So they had to whip out their electric batons and that went as well as you can imagine. The escapee did not care to kill, just to minimize the amount of action to disable the guards and to keep them between him and the other ninja.


    They were like two wolves among a flock of sheep. The guards were not bad at all but it did not matter, they were out skilled and being bereft of their rifles this was one fight they will not win.


    The escapee as good as he was, started to bleed. A combination of the guards¡¯ effort as minimal and inefficient as they were and the ninja. He was slowing down and it showed. The riot shield guards had lost two of their lives and one had lost everything below his left knee. The remaining ones were starting to box him in.


    His acrobatic skills did him no good as the rifle bearing guards shot at the spot above him in an offbeat rhythm in case they cannot react fast enough to his movements. His escape was looking to have failed.


    Until it did fail, he slipped and was struck by one flying dagger of the ninja which was followed by one hell of a beatdown by the riot shield guards. He was taken alive but beat within an inch of his life. The dagger had struck his Achilles heel, not sure if it was good skill on the ninja¡¯s part or the escapee¡¯s bad luck.


    I watched as the ninja walked up to the escapee and tied him up in such a way that if he tries to move he will choke himself. From my vantage point, it seemed like he tied both the escapee¡¯s arms together at the elbows and the wrists then tied both his knees together all followed with a good old noose around his neck.


    I was not proficient in such tying skills so it looked mystifying not to mention how fast he tied them. Well, aside from that cluster fuck, all is well for now.


    At least until I get questioned about why the fuck I was interrogating a ninja in the chamber without informing the main hall about it or at least the Truth Seekers¡¯ approval of it.


    I stood beside the elevator as I watched the escapee get escorted into the Hall of chambers wondering how the higherups will deal with this. The ninja approached me, as he walked up to me I saw him clearly for the first time.


    It was a very regular ninja costume, black clothes with the face covered by a black cloth mask that only showed the eyes. His or her eyes were brown with the whites very clear, they had this glance of indifference as they got to me.


    They said, ¡°Follow me!¡±


    I complied, after what I had seen I had no urge for a snappy comeback. The ninja walked to the same entrance they had taken the escapee from. I call it an entrance because it cannot be an exit, as it had a gate that was more like a safe than a door. It can only be opened from the other side.


    All the private chambers had gates leading to the main hall and all of them opened from the other side only. It was a safety concern as well as to remind us who is the boss. I do not think anyone would mistake themselves as more than fancy pawns if they have ever seen the council or had studied about secret organizations.


    We walked past the gate into a big lobby. There was a lot of traffic today, thanks to my incident. I saw more veteran guards, the ones hired and trained by the Truth Seekers¡¯ directly. We had a contract with an organization based in Italy, they handled defenses. However, Russia had the best mercenaries but the organization favored loyalty over skill.


    The lobby looked like a grand hotel lobby. Although it was filled with guards, it increased its intimidation and grandiose. There was a gigantic chandelier hung from the ceiling which was exaggeratedly higher than needed. You could see two floors above the gate I stood at if one stood under the chandelier.


    All the gates were at ground level, the upper floors were for private rooms, meeting rooms and rooms you had no business knowing about. We walked to the stairs leading to the second floor, at this point it was just me and the ninja.


    It was obvious I will be meeting someone who would proceed to spank me about this. I had no idea what they would do to Antoine but I was sure they would not kill him. There would be no clients executed unless there was proof they had intended to harm the organization itself, the harm extended to personnel, reputation, or staff.


    The second floor had a long red carpet that I knew continued to the stairs on the other side. The lobby had a shiny granite floor, while the second floor had a brown wooden floor. The floor did not creak but it had that homely feeling.


    We passed six doors and then got to the seventh one, we were not even halfway through the second floor. The door had a plaque with the name, Fear.


    This did not bode well for me, Fear was the name of the Italian guard organization. It seemed this was their office. The ninja opened the door to an office, the room was big but had normal proportions. No high ceiling this time, there was a desk opposite the door, the door was at the exact center of the wall and so was the desk. The desk was light brown as were most of the chairs in the room. There was a window behind the desk, as it was night time I could not see anything from it.


    Regardless of the room what caught my eyes was the woman sitting behind the desk. She was a middle-aged woman with blonde hair and a burn mark on her left side of her face. The burn mark ate up most of the face although I knew it was just an old scar it still looked hideous. It was a light brownish color just like the desk and the chairs.


    She was sitting in an armchair behind the desk, reading a report. I hoped it was not about me as she was frowning while reading it. It did not matter though since I knew her. She was an old friend of my father, same temper, and mannerism. I knew I was completely and utterly fucked.

 Act 6: Tutor?

    You know those moments when you know you fucked up but thanks to the adrenaline rush causing spectacular on the spot decisions in an attempt to mitigate the fuck-upiness of the situation that you just feel everything will be okay.


    Then when you are to meet someone to discuss your fuck up, your mind does this sweet sweet mental recap that reassures you, of how fucked you are.


    Yes, this is exactly how I felt. How the hell did Antoine talk me into this stupid ninja bomb of fuckery that it was? I knew it was a bad decision and the problem is I know by experience of how insanely dangerous and terrible ninjas or people of ancient martial heritage.


    I was standing there in silence in front of one of the most uptight managers of the organization. She was still reading reports, signing off on some, and throwing others in a big brown box.


    I was not sure if I feared her or my dad more, both will kick my ass over this incident. However, if both of them know and decide to take it upon themselves to right my wrongs the next month will be absolute hell.


    Oh!


    She glanced at me.


    It was a quick peek but I am sure I saw it. It sent shivers down my spine. All my talk about predators and whatever, I know I am mere prey in front of her and my dad and apparently ninjas. I think I learned my lesson this time. When I deal with people who I know can kick my ass, I should be accompanied by ones who can protect it.


    The sound of her scribbling away on the paper, the ticking of the clock right behind me beside the door, and the low humming of the air conditioner resulted in a rhythm that was lulling me to relax.


    I can smell the ink on the paper, the musk of her perfume, and the smell of old furniture. The old furniture smell is not bad but it makes you feel disoriented, a sensation of slight confusion in my case.


    I was getting calmer by the second, the one thing that annoyed me is not seeing the time. I need to see a.clock. I have always needed to feel control over my time and having the power over my time taken away feels like a punishment.


    I took a quick glance at her, Freya. She got the nickname Freya the unbreakable. When anyone gets a nickname among the secret societies and organizations, it is a testament to how famous they had become. A very deserved fame, I started recalling what I knew of her.


    An ironwoman, by all means, she worked in a guarding service detail in Siberia. She was trained as a mercenary and she originated from the Truth seekers organization as she was born and raised among one family of guards but they died in an incident.


    Her track record as a mercenary and as a guard is impeccable. She had all the qualities a good combatant could hope for and the drive to prove herself. What she was trying to prove or to who remains unknown but she certainly has proven she is among the best of her generation.


    She got famous when she was captured at one time, and she held the passcode to her employer¡¯s safe house. Even under brutal torture, she did not utter a single word. She managed to escape after two days of torture.


    She did not return to her mercenary team though. She hid and bandaged herself, they had burned off a part of her face and some of her back as well as crushing three of her toes. She waited two days then she went back to those who captured her and she brutally tortured them for 3 days.


    This incident was so famous because the bodies were so mutilated it would have been almost impossible to identify them if she had not taken photos of them before. Not to mention she cut off all of their fingers.


    She got recruited to be chief of the guards of the chamber in the Truth Seeker¡¯s society, which would be more of retirement but she still seemed to be in shape. She trains the guards herself as well, they all call her the ironwoman. Her training regime is so tough that the guards have reached the highest standards in the society¡¯s history.


    So I knew if she was supposedly going to handle the punishment herself it would be a real tragedy to yours truly.


    My mind was still wandering off when I noticed the sound of the scribbling had stopped, I turned my gaze away from the window back to her. The sun was just rising, the view out of the window was so mesmerizing.


    She was cast in a golden tint from the sunrise which made her scars look like they were on fire, making her look like a warrior with a commanding aura.  Her face had a mixed expression of admonishment and amusement. She knew I had cooled down from all the action and I was back to being me. The talk was coming.


    She clasped her hands on the desk which I noticed was bare of all the documents but one. I could not see what was written in it. She started off with a slap on the wrist as she said, ¡°How can a man so smart and experienced make such a terrible series of decisions?¡±


    ¡°Everyone has their unsavory moments, I guess this was mine,¡± I replied.


    She smiled slightly as she heard me, she relaxed her sitting posture. She did not look as imposing as before, she was still intimidating though. She said: ¡°You have never been like anyone, so what would make an anomaly such as yourself to be grouped into the everyone category?¡±


    She trailed off for a bit but before I could reply she said: ¡° Do not try to cover for Antoine, he will be punished, just like you, regardless of how much he knew. He will not be killed if that was a concern of yours.¡±


    This was better than I expected. I was sure that the document on her desk had something concerning the incident, I was looking forward to knowing what it would be.


    I told her the story beginning when Antoine called me, including that my brother was out of town and so the security detail was not as tight, to the moment I realized that the ninja was not as helpless as I thought.


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    She was not happy to hear that I took a job while my brother was not here. Her expression looked scary when I mentioned that the ninja was supposed to have amnesia. The real nail in the coffin was when she heard how I tried to trick the ninja.


    She listened to everything with rapt attention as if this was the first time she heard what happened, which I doubted. It seemed there was more to the story than I thought. This might not be a story of an estranged ninja who tricked everyone who knew him.


    She stopped me at the part where I barrel-rolled out of the room. She said: ¡°I have too many reports regarding that part. Unless you noticed something no one else did, I believe this will be the end of the story.¡±


    I was silent as I mulled over the events one more time in my mind. I did not think there was anything of importance that happened. I nodded my head and said that this was all. The room was silent except for the whirring of the air conditioner and the ticking clock behind me.


    She said: ¡°I cannot in good faith hold you accountable, no matter how stupid you were. Of course, there will be a suitable punishment handed out.¡±


    I was not particularly surprised but I still felt relief. I have been standing the whole time and this was a long night. The tiredness that has been held back by uncertainty was starting to show its ugly face.


    I was anxious at the start wondering if I would be blamed for taking the job but it seemed like she knew that I and Antoine were old friends. This might have been the main reason I overlooked so many alarming details. The most important lesson learned from all of this is having a ninja on your side when dealing with a ninja.


    I left my ruminations to focus back on the room, which felt more welcoming now as I felt relaxed. I liked its setup, I may just replicate it at home. Especially the desk in front of the window and the backdrop of the sun rising or falling, it would have quite the impact.


    I looked to Freya, she was silent as she took out her laptop from the far right of the desk. She opened it and focused on reading something. A few minutes later she started tapping away at the keyboard. I wondered if she was chatting with someone or compiling a report.


    The rhythmic tapping coupled with the soft sunlight glow coming from the window made the room even more relaxing. I was slowly getting lulled to sleep. I resisted the pull of sleep as I refocused my attention on the room to ground myself and stay awake.


    I was relatively successful in doing so, then my gaze was pulled once more to the window. I was looking at the window as I fought the urge to sleep when the rhythmic tapping stopped. I looked at Freya as she raised her head from the screen. She stared at me silently, something flashed in her gaze. I would have sworn it was a pity but this was Freya the unbreakable ironwoman she would not feel pity, would she?.


    ¡°The committee has come to a decision,¡± she paused slightly, ¡°You will tutor at the academy for a year and all your ongoing and future clients are suspended until the end of an academic year.¡±


    OH!


    OH NO!


    All the sleepiness and relaxedness I had felt went right out of the window. It never crossed my mind they would send me to this hellhole. I felt my body tense, I was angry, almost wrathful.


    How could they do this to me?


    An entire academic year! This meant I would stay at the academy for two full years as the academic year has already begun and as a rule, no tutors or students are let in after the start of the academic year.


    Was the incident worse than I expected? Or is there something else?


    I stayed silent for a bit, fearing I would lash out at her, the last thing I needed was an additional punishment. As I gnashed my teeth and looked wrathfully at the laptop wanting to break it apart and scream in frustration, I saw her expression.


    I have known Freya for a period of time, only after the incident of course as I was too young before that but in all the time I have known her I have never seen her make such an expression. The expression poured cold water over my anger, I felt fear for whatever would make Freya so cold. She felt like a frozen iceberg and in her I saw the hidden beast that tore and mutilated her captors. The beast that anyone who fought her and lived to tell the tale causes them to vow not to cross her ever again.


    I inhaled sharply and fearfully asked: ¡°What is wrong?¡±


    My voice may have been lower than I expected and I could hear my fear wrapped around the words making them shakier than I liked them to be.


    She looked at me in contempt, saying: ¡°Do you not understand that we are protecting you by this so-called punishment?¡±


    She continued: ¡°After you saw what ninjas are capable of, can you be assured of your safety? Ninjas are trustworthy as partners but this incident is too complex for us to know who is an ally and who is an enemy.¡±


    She did not let me off, her voice was dripping with contempt at this point and she was almost snarling: ¡°Your actions landed us smack dab into the middle of a ninja feud. Even worse is that you are a valuable member of the Truth Seeker society, you should thank god for that otherwise we can hand you over and call for a peace meeting. Even if you were a nobody, based on the fact I had at one point trained you, I will be damned if they took you away like a lamb to the slaughter.¡±


    My blood ran cold. This was even worse than the worst assumption I had thought. This is not satisfying my curiosity anymore, this was a horror story. Feuding with ninjas is the stupidest most insane action anyone could take.


    I shivered slightly, If they are protecting me by sending me to the academy which is arguably the second most hidden well-defended place under the reign of the Truth Seekers Society this meant that I was in deeper shit than I had imagined. Only the council itself is more hidden and better defended than the academy.


    Her ice-cold expression eased slightly but she still looked like she could scare Freddy Kruger himself. She said in a slightly softer tone: ¡°Your father and I helped in securing this tutor position for you. The alternatives were being an assistant to a council member for an indeterminate time, being a record keeper at the library for a year, and being a researcher at the coliseum. I think you can appreciate where you are headed now that you know the alternatives.¡±


    I laughed, this was absurd. The unfairness and the fear almost threw me off the edge of sanity. Every single alternative is worse than the other. My laugh rose in pitch then I stopped abruptly, I had to think straight.


    The first alternative is so shit I will not even grace it with a list of advantages and disadvantages; I just kept in mind that the so-called assistant position to the council was no better than being a servant or a slave.


    The second one sounded better but it was a grueling secretariat job, I would be lucky if I was not overworked to death. Not to mention the library is not a place for the faint of heart. Our society is a place for torturers so the people are no strangers to blood and cruelty and a healthy tad of insanity but the library is a literal horror story.


    It keeps the record of every torture that has been witnessed or recorded since the inception of the society. Some of these tortures are so inhuman the very threat of them has brought confession to some of the most notorious criminals so one can imagine how terrible the records are. Some of them are actually banned, imagine banning torture for how horrible it was.


    The colosseum is a place for criminals and the insane. Some of the combat professionals train in there but even then they do so under very controlled environments. This place makes the movie gladiator look like a Disney cartoon. So working there entails either being a fighter or an anti-torture trainer both of which are as horrible as they sound.


    It seemed I owed Freya and the old man a huge favor. Her words sobered me up, I wondered at what cost they brought my sentence to be tutoring at the academy. I had to ask: ¡°What did it cost?¡±


    She looked at me with a lopsided smirk: ¡°Nothing, for the academy dean himself wanted your sentence to be there. Your reputation precedes you, you have a good track with clients and your methods are as creative as they come. There is a small catch though before you start your academic year as a tutor which will be next year from now, you will give private lessons to a certain anonymous councilman daughter and if she decides to take up a position as one of the truth seekers instead of going for a combat career, you will be awarded a ninja for your protection.¡±


    I was stumped for words, this sounded almost too good to be true. Only the councilmen and very reputable members of the Truth Seekers had ninjas for protection. I wondered if that reward had a time limit. This should be the easiest part of everything that will happen in the next two years.


    How hard could it be to convince her to join us?


    I nodded: ¡°Thank you for everything. I am still bewildered, why is this incident so serious?¡±


    Her expression hardened slightly, I sensed hesitation before she spoke again: ¡°The person you had in that room was not who you were told he was. He is the son of one of the clan heads of a Gate of Heaven branch in China. The incident had gotten so huge as it is likely the escapee will lose one of his legs due to injuries, the two organizations are doing their best to avoid that. We will see how it goes.¡±


    Oh, dear!


    Now that I heard this, I was eager to get to the academy or the private lessons as soon as possible. The clan heads of any ninja society are fearsome people and they always come from a prestigious family so this is not a single person angry with me but an organization, a family, and one very pissed off clan head.


    ¡°I have never been so eager to get to the job. When can we head out?¡±


    Freya laughed, it was a shrill cold laugh but it seemed she was not so angry anymore. She said: ¡°The guards will come to pick you up in two hours. Your brother will be notified and your clients, private or public, are being notified that you will be on a special assignment and will not be able to meet them.¡±


    I can only be thankful for the brutal efficiency. I wondered what my life will be like in the next two years. I can only hype myself up and deem this as a lesson to not meddle with ninjas anymore.

 Act 7: A journey

    The guards Freya mentioned were a team of Truth Seeker¡¯s trained guards and two ninjas. I always thought ninjas worked alone and in the rare cases they would team up, it would be with fellow ninjas.


    It only hit home now that I saw the security detail, how bad it was to feud with ninjas. I wondered if someone has ever feuded with ninjas and lived to tell the tale. Maybe other martial art specialists, the ones whose heritage has either remained unbroken since its inception or at least their styles are old enough to have seen use in wars or actual deadly fights.


    I had remained in the past two hours seated in Freya¡¯s office. While our talk had turned more cordial and we were hashing out some specifics regarding my time as a private tutor and my time in the academy.


    Her mood had improved as we talked, it seemed like she was not as angry with me as I thought. It was probably my attitude once she mentioned I will be going to the academy. It cannot be helped, I like to use my time as I see fit and I am a very at my own pace guy. The academy is the exact opposite of who I am so it really gets under my skin.


    In our discussion she told me that it was not all bad, there is some stuff I can only gain in the academy that I have not considered. First and foremost now that my own safety is compromised, I might as well aim for being an expert in one domain.


    My early training under Freya and my dad¡¯s supervision had granted me a competent level mastery in Karate, samurai swords (iaido to be specific as you cannot gain novice level in ¡°swords¡± per se but more in a certain kind and certain style) and finally in the art of throwing knives.


    So the four mastery levels are Novice, competent, expert, and master. Some of the old-timers like to segregate them in another way: they call it the Five Stages Of Learning:


    First Stage: Unconscious Incompetence, Second Stage: Conscious Incompetence. Third Stage: Conscious Competence, Fourth Stage: Unconscious Competence and Fifth Stage: Reflective Ability over the other Stages.


    I will get back later to the interesting speculation of mastery levels.


    When I was in the academy everyone had to become competent in one weapon and since I was trained to the novice level in three combat styles already, I was used to kicking everybody¡¯s ass. That was why I chose to become competent in two things, Karate and iaido.


    Karate was among the top 3 that was preferred in the academy all thanks to the Chuck Norris and Jean Claude Van-Damme movies. If anyone you meet or you do not know them, well you are too young.


    Iaido sword style is actually a rarity in the academy. I happened to meet an expert in Iaido in the academy who actually was not there in a tutoring capacity but more of a guard for the martial arts scroll warehouse.


    I am too resourceful to be stumped by that, not to mention that the rules were very clear in being competent in only one singular martial arts or weapon style. In other words, I attained a competent level in Iaido under the noses of everyone with none the wiser. It felt good pulling a fast one on these snobby tutors, whom I will soon be among them. The tragedy!


    Actually Freya urged me to attain expert level in Karate since there was a master-level Karate tutor in the academy who owed her a favor. Master-level martial artists have weird temperaments and ideals so he is unlikely to take me in easily without cashing in said favor.


    Regardless I will see if that Iaido martial artist is still there. Imagine being an expert in two domains. That would definitely ensure I am two steps ahead of whoever might come after my life. I will mull over all of this when I get to the academy.


    It has been two hours since the team of mercenaries has arrived and we were all seated in an official meeting room of the Chamber as Freya¡¯s office, as spacious as it is, is rather an inconvenient place for this number of people.


    The two ninjas are actually twins and are famed as the twin dragons. I knew this not from their mouths but from the other guards, the ninjas were as silent and somber as the ones I had seen last night. It seems like it is their thing to be silent and look mysterious.


    The organization''s guards, on the other hand, were chatty, friendly, and to be honest, too laid back which made me worried. The three guards, who did not give their names, introduced themselves with a lame joke about how I can call them as Uno, dos, and tres, as their height disparity was quite obvious.


    Interestingly, you would think the tallest is Uno but the shortest is Uno and he is the eldest of them. If you were expecting an ascending order, you would be wrong. Dos was the tallest and the last one was tres. A bunch of confusing jokesters.


    The debriefing in the meeting room was done by Freya, who everyone including the ninjas showed respect and were completely serious. I did not expect the ninjas to hold Freya in such high regard, as they are famed for their snobbiness. Freya seemed like she was as impressive as ever.


    Freya started off by saying: ¡°This mission can be one of the most dangerous you will ever face or the most relaxed in your entire lives. There is little to no information about the Gate of Heaven¡¯s movement, not to mention ninjas have their ways in infiltration so we cannot be completely sure that the existing information is correct.¡±


    None of the guard team expressed surprise, I am unsure if they were picked or volunteered by themselves. The inner workings of the guards of any organization are not for outsiders, even the ones to be protected are not privy to the details.


    Freya then turned on a projector and dimmed the lights, all done from the laptop of course. Can you even imagine a meeting room without a projector?


    She detailed the plan in total, the details were quite boring to me. I know that it is all about my safety, but I would prefer to know the summary rather than the entire strategy. Freya gave me a glare fully knowing that I had drifted off since we went into the meeting room, it was quite obvious as I kept glancing at the guards then giving the projector a glazed look.


    Also, I was rather curious, what was the gender of the ninjas? I realize how vain the question is but I recalled a rumor, that female ninjas were the most lethal in subterfuge and assassination. All thanks to their physiques that no matter how much their muscles get tougher and stronger their stature remains relatively smaller than their male counterparts.


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    In other words, if they are sending female ninjas that would mean that they expected trouble and they were really going out on a limb since female ninjas fees are double male ninjas. Females getting paid double the salary of males, feminists would have a field trip if they ever knew.


    Freya cleared her throat as she pointedly glared at me, it seemed like I really should stop daydreaming. She was stating a summary of the plan which was obviously for me. It went like this, they would use three decoy convoys each heading on a different route to the academy. Since we are working based on the assumption that our enemies already know our destination.


    The trick here is that I will not be in a convoy at all. While a convoy could be two vehicles so it would be considered under the radar but if we are discovered we immediately become sitting ducks, more like running ducks really. It would be like survival mode in Call of Duty. They will keep sending teams of mercenaries in waves.


    So, I will be heading to the sea with the ninjas while Uno, dos, and tres will each go with a convoy separately. Considering our enemies will potentially be ninjas, the fact that they are separating the guards is a testament to how able they are. As clownish as they are I was hoping they were not acting like sacrificial lambs, knowing Freya I do not think she will sacrifice anyone unless she has to.


    My and the ninjas¡¯ route would be heading to the sea on foot then take a boat, well she said steal a boat but the same thing. Then head to a coordinate where we would board a ship that would take us to the hidden estate where I will work as a private tutor for a year until the academy is reopened.


    A double trap, our enemies will think I am heading to the academy while in fact, I am heading to the private estate of a councilman not to mention the three convoys. I will be very disturbed and impressed if we are found after all of the trouble we have taken to stay hidden.


    The hidden estate should be near the coast of India, or so I was told. It seemed like it is so far since we are in Switzerland, not planning to specify a certain place in case my journal falls in the wrong hands. I have started writing my journal recently, with instructions to my Mark and Ellaine to publish it upon my death. I plan to take my place in history by hook or crook.


    I do not plan to die anytime soon though, back to the plan. The ship will be headed to a smuggling port in India where one guard from the hidden estate will meet us and lead us back to it. If they are sending a single guard, will he be an expert-level martial artist or a master-level one?


    This guard should ensure that we are not followed to the hidden estate. The plan was made with my safety in mind as well as the secrecy of the hidden estate. Although I believe that sending me to the state itself is overkill, I realize I am not in a good position but I think any secret hideout would have sufficed. Maybe being sent to the hidden estate is all thanks to my future pupil-for-a-year whom I will meet soon.


    After Freya finished summarizing the plan, she said, ¡°We have prepared a room for you to wash up and sleep. The convoys will move out after you by one day, you will exit the room in secrecy and even if they know you are not in any of the convoys, it will be too late by then.¡±


    I nodded and said, ¡°An immaculate plan as always, I look forward to arriving safely. I owe you, all jokes aside, I really owe you and my father this time. Send him my regards.¡±


    She smiled faintly and called for a guard to lead me to the room. The mismatched team of who I thought were my guards stayed behind with her, I wonder if there were some details I am not privy to.


    As the guard led me to my temporary room, my mind wandered off again. I am not an absent-minded person but the sudden change in the genre of my life was not to my liking. I felt like my story has taken a turn for the worst, going from a vicious torturer and his adventures with his victims with someone appearing to question his morals at some point to a lowkey martial arts novel. I snickered to myself, the guard looked at me oddly I just waved him off.


    The chamber I am being led to is owned by my family as the insignia is clear as the sun. The Crucintum insignia is a red rose, the stem was depicted as a black greenish scalpel with its edge pointed downwards while the petals were blood red, the heart of the flower looked like a swirl and if you looked close enough you would see the vestiges of screaming faces. To the right side of the stem, 3 blood drops dripped down; they were vertically above each other with the exact same distance between them.


    The insignia was inside the elevator on the top right corner of the mirror. The Chamber looked identical to the one I used last night. Which was expected since each family¡¯s chambers are identical? However, there was an extra room in this one.


    The guard had left once I had entered the elevator. I walked to the last door to the right, the door that does not exist in my Chamber should be the bedroom.


    I turned the knob, the door opened silently. The room was completely white, which was odd. The room had a bed, a desk, and a door which assumed to lead to the bathroom.


    I entered the room and closed the door. I looked at the room furnishings, the bed was to the right of the door with its head in the corner and its end pointing to the door. I walked to the bed, the sheets were made of silk and the pillow was very soft to the touch.


    I toured the room, it was not too big, it was about 45 square meters. The door was in the far left corner of the room. The desk, which was caramel brown with three drawers to its left, was directly facing it. Behind the desk there was a white leather office chair, it looked comfy.


    The bathroom door was about a meter to the left of the desk and there was a wardrobe to the left of the bathroom door facing the side of the desk. The wardrobe would barely fit a few outfits and it had drawers at its bottom, it was colored pearl white.


    The room was aesthetically pleasing but I felt the colors were weird; a black bed, a caramel brown desk, an alabaster white chair, and a pearl white wardrobe. I felt like I knew this room but I was too tired to care at this point. I speculated, fought, and thought way too much within the last twelve hours. I deserved some rest.


    I showered groggily not even taking notice of how the bathroom looked like as my eyes were almost closed at this point. I cannot deal with lack of sleep, I would be a terrible guard thanks to that.


    There was a change of clothes in the wardrobe, as well as a pajama in the bathroom. The pajamas fit me like a glove. I went to the bed and was already asleep before my head hit the pillow.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    I was woken up by the PA system, which is connected to the Hall of Chambers. I felt so much better, it felt like I slept for four hours. This amount of sleep should suffice for now.


    I took a shower and then got dressed in a hiking outfit. I found a variety of outfits in the wardrobe. All of them were my size, I guess they prepped the room while I was in the meeting room. If they did it before that, then that is kind of spooky. Too much efficiency is worrying, thank god I am on their side.


    All of the clothes were specially designed by the Society tailors. They were anti-tear, anti-wear, relatively resistant to standard knives and the jacket was a tight fit as it doubled as a bullet vest. The socks were nothing special, just comfy and thick enough to ensure long-distance hikes will not hurt the foot or sole. The shoes, on the other hand, looked like CAT half-boots. They were lighter than they looked, still, they were heavier than standard hiking shoes.


    In the drawers, there were sets of knives, guns, and a variety of martial arts gloves. On the side of the wardrobe, there was a samurai sword in a black noncommittal circular case, similar to the ones used to keep paintings. I actually hesitated, wondering what should I be taking with me.


    I wanted to travel as light as possible as the heavier my equipment is, the faster my stamina will wear down. I also considered the fact that I knew nothing about ninja stamina, so I would not want to be the dead weight of the team. Not that I felt it would be embarrassing but I was not in the habit of letting my safety lie in someone else¡¯s hands.


    After a few minutes, I made a decision to pack a pair of gloves and 4 lightweight knives. They can be used as throwing knives or worse comes to worst my Iaido will come in handy using them. Although Iaido is to be done using a long samurai sword, my master back then showed me how he used a table knife to cut apart three straw dolls. Masters are in a whole other league, but maybe I can copy the move amateurishly saving my life at some point.


    I got ready and took a hiking bag ready with hiking gear as well as water and dried rations. I wore my usual watch as I just could not swap it for the monstrosity of a hiking watch that was with the outfit. I got to the elevator and as I saw myself in the mirror as it went up, I felt the ridiculousness of it all hitting me.


    I was just going to add another book to my collection in a deal, I was getting ready to close a deal with a millionaire client in a week, and I had booked a spot in a spa in three days. All of that was gone in the light of this incident. It angered me but anger will do me no good. I took a few deep breaths, by the time the elevator got the first floor I felt better.


    I was received at the elevator by a guard who escorted me to Freya for one last talk before I went. We walked in silence, it was almost 11 a.m. now. The hall of chambers is not busy at certain times, it all depended on how many had an appointment.


    We walked to the stairs leading to the second floor, it was the same walk as last night. I felt relaxed considering the hardships in the upcoming journey. I was trying to change my perspective to consider it as an elongated enforced holiday. It will all be okay.


    We got to the seventh door, with the same plaque of ¡°Fear¡±. There was none of the dread that I felt when I saw the door last time. The guard knocked lightly, waiting for the green light embedded in the plaque to go off before opening the door. As every room was soundproofed, it would be ridiculous for the owner to get up and open the door every time.


    The guard opened the door for me and lightly closed it behind me. I walked in to see Freya standing by the window. The two ninjas were lounging on a sofa by the far left of the door. I greeted everyone then sat in the chair opposite the desk, waiting for Freya to speak up.


    The room was silent for a moment then Freya said, ¡°This upcoming journey will not be easy. The twin dragons -the ninjas- will escort you but they will remain hidden. The best-case scenario is that it will be a mere hiking trip for you all, with no dangers whatsoever. In the event that something does go wrong, they will intervene only when your life is at risk or you are getting captured.¡±


    Well, that¡¯s interesting!

 Act 8: When it rains, it pours

    I said, ¡°How unlike you to be so optimistic, I would be ecstatic if there was a scenario where I am not chased down.¡±


    She frowned slightly and said, ¡°Do not get sassy with me, boy! Just listen and be gone already. You are late as far as I am concerned.¡±


    I held up my hands in surrender, from then on I stayed silent as she rehashed the details. She did not mention where the smuggling port on the Indian coast was. I did not care since I would not remember anyways but it seemed to be oddly unprofessional on her part.


    The upcoming hiking trip was planned from Sarlat to Bordeaux which was about 210 km and would take about 2 days to travel on foot. We were in France if that was not mentioned before, specifically, I was at the edges of Sarlat for the better part of my time.


    The distance from Bordeaux to the sea is 60 km which makes it the shortest part of our journey and in Freya¡¯s opinion, the most dangerous part. We planned to avoid entering the city but even around the outskirts, the chances of being spotted by cameras or drones always exists.


    The past decade has been all about one thing, data gathering. Starting from social media to the garbage disposal system. Privacy is long dead, ever since the boom of the internet and electronics. Which makes organizations¡¯ like ours and the ninja¡¯s existence in the darkness a challenge.


    However, thanks to the SID team, there are no records of any secret organizations anywhere. SID is an acronym of the Stay-in-the-Dark team. This team is a collaborative effort of all the secret organizations in the world, the secret to the public but not to the ones in the know or in power.


    Every country¡¯s president is informed of these organizations and told them to stay wary and respectful of them. As a matter of fact, world war one and two started by the hands of a few of these organizations starting a fight then it escalated. There are two kinds of history, one for the public¡¯s eyes and ears and then there is true history. True history is usually disguised as myth or misinformation or just mere rumors, finding it is like searching for a needle in a haystack. And yet if you do find it, be careful of who knows that you know.


    Anyways, Freya was finally done talking and she was literally shooing me out of her office. Before I opened the door, she said in a soft tone, ¡°Someone of my squad will lead you to the hidden exit. I will remind you that my insignia is that of the bloody skull, in case you forgot.¡±


    I grinned, how could I forget her insignia? When she trained me she made sure I would always remember it. She said that if I am ever captured, to mention I am an apprentice of the bloody skull and that should take care of it. Thankfully I was never in such a situation, yet I never forgot.


    ¡°I have not forgotten yet. However it seems excessive sending one of your own to be my pathfinder, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    She replied, ¡°It is no bother. Just remember whatever happens on that trip of yours, your dad and I will always be on your side. Your family and the organization surely will be on your side too. Now get going already!¡±


    It was a weird thing to say. But, I did not think much of it, as it seemed synonymous with our conversation about how dangerous my situation was and the Gate of Heaven¡¯s pressure on the Truth Seekers.


    I bid everyone goodbye and stepped out of the room. I saw the guard who brought standing there with his back to the door. It seemed he was waiting for me with my gear.


    I took my hiking gear from the guard, he saluted me and went to the other end of the second floor. I double-checked that my knives and gloves were there. Food and camping gear was not as important to me as my weapons.


    I stood out of Freya¡¯s office waiting for the guard from the bloody skull team, only for Freya to use the intercom telling me to go to the lobby. The ninjas will not accompany me to the hidden exit, they will follow shortly in the shadows.


    I shook my head in annoyance, I had no problems with my security detail being ninjas but having them in the shadows watching me made me uncomfortable. I walked to the stairs wondering if someone would show me where the hidden exit was to get on my way.


    Just as I was at the midpoint of the stairs, I saw a guard pointedly staring at me. He was garbed in the all-black combat outfit of the Truth Seeker¡¯s guards with the insignia of the guards on the outfit near his heart, so it was between the far left side and the center of his chest.


    The insignia caught my eyes as it was a little bit different from the usual one of the guards, which was a frost white shield with a golden capital V on it. The V stands for ¡°VERITAS¡± which means truth in Latin, that is the councilmen and the organization¡¯s insignia.


    His insignia, on the other hand, was a golden shield with a pearl white V inside of it. I would assume it was a different rank than the other guards but something seemed off about him. He waved at me and waited at the foot of the stairs, I was still looking him up and down with suspicion.


    He looked like he was in his forties with a neatly trimmed beard and no mustache, he was not handsome but he had this commanding vibe about him. He smiled at me and said, ¡°I was told to escort you to the secret tunnel to start your trip. Do not worry I was commanded directly by Dame Freya.¡±


    My god, that was so old school. Dame is basically a female knight, this was how the higher-ups of the guards¡¯ organization were called at one point. They are only referred to as such in ceremonies.


    He flashed me a badge with a bloody skull missing the jaw, the skull looked splattered in blood. That was the insignia of Fear, the guard organization that Freya leads right now.


    That was certainly proof of who he was, I said, ¡°Thank you for your effort. Freya feels I am late to leave already so let us leave as soon as possible. ¡±


    He smiled but looked slightly off-put as I used Freya¡¯s name without the Dame part. It seemed like he was under her direct command. Her soldiers have the utmost respect and adoration for her, she raised them well.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    We walked in the lobby which had a few people, all who were minding their business. We got to an elevator which was behind the stairs I just was on. The lobby was circular with a very high ceiling. The gates leading to private chambers were at the ground level, this was the first time I saw this elevator.


    The elevator looked like it was another normal gate, its buttons were hidden on the floor very close to the wall. The odds of someone stepping on them accidentally was almost zero. I knew I would not be able to locate them as the part where the guard stepped on looked just like the rest of the floor. Maybe they were controlled by a face recognition system.


    We entered the elevator and the doors closed behind us. The elevator looked like the other elevators leading to the other chambers. We went down to what would normally be the chamber, but we arrived at a garage. One that is similar to mall garages, spacious, with numerous pillars. There were 4 cars and 6 motorcycles.


    These were not the regular kind of vehicles, with only a cursory glance I can tell that one of the cars was a corvette and another was a Ferrari. I was not very interested in motorcycles, they did look amazing though. One of them looked quite similar to batman¡¯s motorcycle while the rest looked sleek and fast.


    I looked at the guard and raised an eyebrow, he shrugged, ¡°You are not allowed one, I know it is tempting. But Dame Freya will have our heads if we break her words.¡±


    I laughed, I knew he was absolutely right. It tempted me greatly to just take one of them and race whoever will chase me to the ship. I said, ¡°I guess this is one last test for me before I head to my exile.¡±


    He shrugged again, he offered no opinions of his at all. We headed to the right of the elevator, after about a minute of walking we got to big yellow double doors. They looked like the ones found in a school¡¯s gym.


    I was following behind him when we got to the doors, he turned around and said, ¡°You will have to excuse me, the next part requires you to be unconscious.¡±


    I was taken aback. Freya said nothing about this, not to mention that considering the sensitivity of my case, every detail is important. Hence I believed Freya would not just forget to mention it.


    ¡°Well, I know nothing of me being unconscious. And, frankly, I slept well so I do not feel like sleeping right now.¡±


    I smiled slightly as I readied myself for a possible fight. We were at a hidden location with no witnesses and possibly no cameras. Also, I did not like my odds against him. Anyone in a named team will probably be an expert, and that guy seemed like a captain of a squad so he will be even more dangerous than a normal expert.


    I was annoyed that I was missing the ninjas, I am not a damsel in distress that requires saving every time the hero is away but goddammit this seemed to be the theme these days.


    He tried to calm me down and said, ¡°I know that you are uncomfortable with sleeping your way out of the Hall of Chambers but I can assure you that no harm will befall you. Even if you do not trust me, I believe you trust Dame Freya.¡±


    I am not a seven-year-old who will just nod and go with a stranger because they said they knew their father. But goddammit his point made sense. It is extremely hard to infiltrate the Hall of Chambers plus impersonating a bloody skull under the direct command of Freya.


    However, I said, ¡°I suppose you can ring Freya, telling her that I am not willing to go out of here while sleeping.¡±


    He grimaced momentarily, then he said, ¡°That makes sense, I will get her on the phone so you are reassured.¡±


    He reached into his left trouser¡¯s pocket, then as he was pulling his hand out he lunged at me with his right arm. I was alert from the start, but his punch was so quick I barely managed to lean back to avoid it. The backpack was impeding me and I knew he would not give me any time to take it off.


    I knew where I put the knives, so if only I can reach into the side pocket of my bag and pull them out, I might actually escape.


    I was still unsteady on my feet when he came at me again, he kicked with his left leg. I was sure his foot was going for my ribs so I tried to parry it with my forearms. However, I was wrong, his foot did not get even near my ribs. It was coming right at my face.


    His kick hurt like hell, I fell down knocking my head on the floor. The backpack was pushing me down, I felt groggy from the hit and could not stand back up. I laid on the floor facing away from him, I heard his footsteps coming towards me as I urged myself to stand up. Then I got knocked out.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    I felt myself coming to, I did not open my eyes at the start. I was trying not to alert anyone around since it is quite obvious I have been abducted. Not to mention I felt wherever I was, seemed to be inside a vehicle, the vibrations made it kind of obvious.I felt my head throbbing, I think he kicked the back of my head to knock me out.


    What a goddamn mess!


    I opened my eyes and I saw nothing. I was in total darkness, the kind of absolute lack of light that you would not see your nose. I tried to move my arms to hug my aching head, only to realize I was bound. I listened attentively for about a minute, but the only sound I heard was the engine.


    While I do like fancy cars, I am no car expert so I had no idea what car I was in. I started taking deep breaths to calm myself. I needed to understand what the hell was going on.


    I was sitting on a comfy chair, with my arms bound to what I thought was the chair¡¯s arms but as I tried moving my legs I felt there was no arms to that chair. My legs were tied at my ankles and my knees. Considering the stuffiness I felt, it seemed I was in a small humanoid sized box, I am not sure if it was metallic or wooden but whichever material it was made of it was sturdy enough that I could not free my arms.


    I tried moving my head and neck, they were not bound to anything. Both were quite stiff thanks to that kick. There was a cushion right behind my head, it was a part of the box. I tried to nudge it but it was fixed.


    Now that I knew my situation, it was a fair guess that I was abducted by that guard or whoever was impersonating him. I went over everything that happened starting from when Antoine told me about the urgent job to going to the so-called hidden exit only to get kicked in the head and abducted.


    As I went over everything, I still felt that while the sequence of events was so far off my regular life it was uncomfortable. My daily life was going to the office, dealing with clients, following the stock market through tips and deals from other people, and finally torturing whoever I am paid to put my scalpel to.


    I am 30 years old, I and my siblings started training on the arts of torture since we were young. I officially became a torturer at the age of 14. By the time I was in my twenties, even councilmen showed me respect. It was smooth sailing besides the traumatic childhood thanks to my dad¡¯s shenanigans. I guess trouble has found me now.


    It is ridiculous that I was abducted. A torturer of my rank should have a secret guard directly from the council itself. The council reigns supreme over the organization, they can be considered as ministers lording over a kingdom. Since there is no king or leader, everything is done by votes.


    Torturers are ranked based on their experience and accomplishments. The ranks do not differ much from those of martial arts, as we usually get to work on martial artists. I was already an expert torturer but to be promoted to be a master torturer, I must become a master of martial art.


    There is a belief in martial arts that only a master can deal with a master.


    I was ruminating over every detail of myself and the organization trying to see if I missed anything. It seemed futile. I suppose if last night¡¯s events were staged, then the truth I was told might have also been a lie.


    If it was a lie then that means that Freya sold me out. I just could not imagine her doing that and while my dad was unorthodox, he would not have me abducted. At least I hoped he was still sane enough not to do so.


    One particular part of the conversation with Freya did stand out though. She said that no matter what happens, she and dad would stand on my side. It seemed like reassurance that no matter how bad the feud will become with the Gate of Heaven, they would protect me.


    However, in my current situation, their so-called protection is nothing but a joke. My thoughts were going haywire and I doubted I would reach an actual conclusion. I geared my thinking to another direction, how I can survive, and escape this.


    I was sure that this was the work of the ninjas, not to mention I went down too fast when I tried to fight that guard. Maybe he was a disguised ninja, as with my competent level in Karate, which is equivalent to a Black belt, I should have held my ground.


    I was searching for excuses about how fast I went down. I shook my head, which made the aching worse. I felt like I was looking through a fog trying to think. I reoriented myself again.


    Time was the most important factor here. Since I disappeared from the hall of chambers on the trip, how long was I gone, and is anyone aware that I am not on the route?


    The ninja duo was probably in cahoot with the Gate of Heaven since ninjas are quite the tight-knit bunch. At least when dealing with outsiders, I hear when they have internal disputes it gets real bloody.


    The next person who might notice my absence was my brother. While he was not notified of what had transpired last night or the plan, he should follow my trail to the hall of chambers. Which brings me to my next concern, if Freya sold me out, will she kill my brother so that he does not look into it?


    My thoughts were interrupted as the vehicle came to a stop. Then there was silence, followed by the sound of a door opening. It seems we have arrived at our destination.

 Act 9: The feast

    There was the sound of two doors opening and closing, it seemed like the driver and passenger got out.


    I listened raptly for any sounds, there was silence for a minute or two. Then I heard someone speaking, I could not hear what they were saying. After some back and forth of conversation, they fell silent.


    I heard the sound of another door opening, it sounded closer than before. I assumed that was the sound of the cargo door where I was in. After a few moments, the box I was in was carried out. Whatever was carrying me moved slowly and steadily.


    The box moved for three minutes, then it was put on the ground. I heard the sound of someone opening the box. The door fell open with a clang, I was blinded by the light momentarily.


    Then I saw Uno grinning at me. I was lost for words. What on earth is going on?


    ¡°I hope the trip was not disappointing. We tried to hit as many bumps as possible then I was told the cargo area would not be affected. What a tragedy! It was made for delicate merchandise, such as you, sire.¡±, that was the voice of Dos but he was nowhere to be seen.


    I heard a bump from the top of the box and then the top slid to the back, I saw Dos peeking at me. He looked like he heard the best joke in his life. Tres was standing a little bit to the back talking to somebody I could not see.


    If I was actually kidnapped by these clowns, I would be a living farce. I did not deign to reply to Uno, but he did not look like he was bothered by my silence. Uno and Dos removed the rest of the box, now I saw where I was being held.


    I was bewildered as I looked around me, my first thought was that this made no sense. My second thought was that I am screwed. I looked at Uno, Dos, and tres as they watched my reactions to my surroundings, they seemed amused by them.


    I was sitting in a lone chair in the midst of a dojo. It was not a regular dojo, for I had practiced Iaido (katana martial art) in a regular dojo. A regular dojo would have straw mats or rubber ones at least, this dojo was all concrete.


    I could smell blood in the air, this place is where people shed their sweat and blood in practice, literally. I felt it was odd that they abducted me to their dojo. Not to mention that I doubted they would have a dojo in France, so I have been out of it more than I had thought.


    ¡°I guess we owe you an apology, Mr. Jack.¡±, a gruff voice sounded behind me. There was an obvious accent but I could not be sure where from.


    ¡°If you kidnapped me to apologize, I think you should work on your people skills.¡±


    He laughed, it sounded like thunder, I expected a gigantic man from his voice. He said, ¡°You are as amusing as I was told. Your presence here is no kidnapping, I can assure you that it was by your own consent.¡±


    ¡°I will be damned, this is some magical way to get consent. Was it my failure to resist the kidnapping that made this consensual?¡±


    ¡°No, it was your agreement to be a tutor for a year. Although there may have been some trickery involved in the agreement, nevertheless we abide by the laws to protect the tutor of one of our own.¡±


    At first, I felt confused, for the agreement was to tutor a councilman¡¯s daughter for a year. Then my heart sank, Freya had said I would be tutoring the anonymous councilman¡¯s daughter. This woman tricked me.


    At the mention of any councilman outside the organization, it is mentioned which council they belong to and in case it is an anonymous one then it is an undisclosed secret. I fell for the oldest trick in the book.


    To be honest, I was not afraid at all but mostly dreaded what was to come. I said, ¡°This is one clever way to acquire a tutor. I am curious, what will I tutor my anonymous pupil in?¡±


    ¡°Why, of course, it will be in torture. We were told many stories about your genius and exceptional abilities. And who would be more suitable than a young man with such immense talent to tutor my own genius daughter.¡±


    Will you look at that? I am almost one hundred percent sure this was a ninja leader from an organization. His aura is so overwhelming, his very voice is sending shivers down my spine.


    Whoever was speaking put his hand on my shoulder, I was almost trembling at this point. I cannot be blamed for that really, the aura is kind of similar to our survival instinct. In normal times we cannot tell but suppose you saw a predator you have never seen before, would you gawk and take photos or feel the intense danger that you just cannot understand.


    Martial artists cultivate aura as it is a representation of their understanding of their martial arts as well as who they are. You can think of it as forming your own personality but it is a representation of a certain set of skills you possess.


    My sensitivity to aura is something I was born with, usually, experts and masters are the only ones who can sense and use aura. I was lucky one might say, however, I was not feeling that luck right now.


    I felt the hand of the man was as dangerous as the paw of a lion, and probably more destructive than one. He gripped my shoulder lightly, but I felt like he could tear it off if he wanted to.


    ¡°You can feel it, cannot you? I was told you were born with a sensitivity to the aura, which is one of the primary reasons we asked for you by name. This is a transaction, you teach my daughter and our faction will help your organization. Some might consider it an alliance but I think we are adult enough to not jump the gun with that word.¡±


    I was sweating at this point, I gulped and said, ¡°I appreciate your favorable opinion of me but may I recommend someone with a better experience with teaching torture?¡±


    His grip on my shoulder got tighter and I could see the amusement of the clown trio as we talked. The leader then said, ¡°There is no way out for you so stop being a smartass, and let us discuss the specifics of your employment.¡±


    Since there was no leeway at all then I suppose I should stop embarrassing myself. Officially I represent both the Truth Seekers and my family, regardless of the fact that the entirety of the transaction was done behind my back. I was still confused though.


    ¡°I can understand the secrecy of all of this but the one thing that makes no sense is why do a theatrical act of the ninja escape with me being ¡®abducted¡¯ in retaliation while the reality is that it''s a hidden deal. Would not it have been simpler if I was in the know?¡±Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    The man withdrew his hand and turned me around to face him. A herculean effort, I might add that this chair has no wheels so it is not as easy as it sounds. He made it look easy though.


    I finally saw the preparator of my misfortunes since that night. He was wearing a white kimono with a regular katana strapped diagonally across his back. At first glance, I pegged him as a Japanese, as the features were right.


    He had soft features, a clean-shaven beard, with black hair speckled with white ones but the majority was black. He was not as huge as I thought he would be, he was 1.8 meters tall. He had wide shoulders and looked like he could beat a bear barehanded.


    He grinned at me playfully, this was a man in control of an entire organization of ninjas. These kinds of organizations do not just hand the leadership to the smartest or the strongest but it is the smartest, strongest, most cunning one who is crowned leader.


    I kept in mind these words to remind myself that he can cut me down with a clear conscience and no one will be able to avenge me.


    ¡°I am Aoki Kaji. It appears we have started off on the wrong foot. Might you introduce yourself?¡±


    I almost snorted in laughter, I hid it with a wide smile as I said, ¡°Well met Aoki-san, I go by the name Jack Crunitum of the Truth Seekers.¡±


    The reason I almost laughed was not how his attitude changed but because of his name. Now that he said his name I was sure he is Japanese. Japanese say the last name first then their surnames. His name literally means ¡®Fiery green tree¡¯ if it was said surname then last name or ¡®green tree of fire¡¯ when he said it that way.


    What an odd name.


    His smile looked predatory and his aura was even more menacing now. He stood there relaxed but it felt like I was facing a hot fire that would reach out with its tongues of flame to consume me. I guess his name makes sense now.


    Then he seemed to calm down and I could swear I smelled nature. A whiff of an ancient forest that threatens to swallow me. Now he was just messing with me. It seems he has full control of his aura, not to mention having an aura of fire while his family line possesses the forest aura. I will explain all of this later but understand for now that aura kinds are usually inheritable. This is why if one family has a master martial artist the odds that another master will appear down the line is pretty high.


    I pursed my lips, then said, ¡°Either you are flaunting the fact you possess two auras while I am still not even an expert or you are telling me that coming from such a position of strength that mere theatrics are of no concern to you. And yet it did happen so you can do a backflip for all I care, I still want an explanation.¡±


    ¡°You are a rude one, this is a demonstration in case you were not sure if I was a master before and was shivering from the cold.¡± He paused momentarily to let his contempt sink in, then said, ¡°The plan for how you were to be brought is a smokescreen for those that are on my level so a rabbit should not ask a lion if this is all he has got but to care about running faster lest the lion tires of playing with its food and eats it.¡±


    Wow, he does not take well to being talked down to. I mean I expected him to fire back in retaliation to my sarcasm but a clear threat was not expected. I shrugged helplessly, I have been seated all this time unsure if I should stand up, and now I think I should remain seated.


    ¡°That was a delightful talk and all but how about we jump start this thing? I would like a bath, a room, and some food. At least this is what I assume a guest is deserving of.¡±


    He looked slightly surprised then laughed, ¡°I suppose completing our talk tomorrow will be best. Do keep in mind that you will be led to your room and there will be no leaving it before tomorrow.¡±


    He shook his head slightly then left from somewhere behind me. No goodbye and no greetings seem to be the style of the ninjas. And he tells me I am rude. I sighed, this is too chaotic to my tastes. I looked at the annoying trio, they looked at me from where they stood at attention.


    Uno raised an eyebrow at me, Dos and Tres acted like whatever was behind me was more interesting. I yawned loudly, then snuck a peek behind me in case he was still there. He really was a leader of ninjas, for behind me was a wall bare of anything other than a painting of a tree. Either I just met a ghost or he did a grand exit and I was none the wiser.


    I turned to the trio to find them gone as well, I creased my eyebrow. Are we going to play hide and seek? I stood up to stretch my legs and see if I can call someone to take me to my room.


    As I walked around the dojo, I registered the fact that it was not as big as I thought it was. It was the size of a regular bedroom, the same as the one I slept the last time I was in the hall of chambers. I slapped my forehead once I saw the futon lying behind a screen.


    I was in my room all along.


    Since it seems I will be dealing with ninjas for a while thanks to this job, I should be wary of their sense of humor. One just might drop me off a building and tell me hey it is faster than the elevator.


    I tried all the doors, to my dismay there was not a single exit. It is not like I was going to escape, I honestly doubt I will get out successfully from the room. The rabbit part did alert me that I am the weakest person here. There were 3 sliding doors, one was a closet, another leads to a bathroom and the final one led to a torture room.


    I suppose knowing a torture room when I see one is part of my profession but it really was not that hard to figure out. It was bare of everything except a table at the wall opposite the door, and a dilapidated bed in the center of the room. It was not even one of the nice ones, but just a metallic bed with a worn-out mattress. It had no sheets and no cushion and there were a pair of metallic cuffs at the head and the foot of the bed.


    I hope that this was not where I was going to teach. Torture is not for the weak of mind or heart but at least we take care to do it in proper rooms. This was more of a haunted room in a horror flick.


    I went to the bathroom and took a shower, the bathroom was completely western so it was just a toilet, a sink with a tap, and a bathtub with a showerhead. There was a black towel, which I did a double-take once I saw it. I honestly hesitated to use it at first but when I noticed its quality I just said the hell with it and used it.


    I did not feel like sleeping, but I was hungry. Since I noticed the lack of an entrance or an exit I was hoping for good room service, with me exiting the bathroom finding a sumptuous meal waiting for me in the room.


    My expectation seems to have been bludgeoned though, not in a bad way. I opened the door to find myself in another room. I can swear up and down that this was the same door that leads into the room I was at before. However, this was definitely not my room.


    There was a long table on the floor with a feast ready on it, the table was big enough to seat 6 people. Five people were already seated and they were all looking at me as I froze and stared with wide eyes.


    Is it too much to ask them not to fuck around with doors for my sanity?


    I shrugged as I decided that there was no making sense of ninjas. I stepped out of the bathroom thankfully clothed, imagine if I was one of these savages who walk out of a shower with only a towel instead of fully clothed.


    The ones seated at the table were supposed to be my guard detail. If I was to rate them I will give them all one star. At the head of the table was Uno and at the sides were one of the twins with Dos and the other with Tres.


    Even their seating arrangement was weird.


    I cleared my throat and said, ¡°Quite the room service you have here. If you were to make a hotel it would be a big success. Just to make sure the last seat is for me and not another one of your fancy traps. May I be seated and eat with you all.¡±


    I was going on a limb assuming the two besides the trio were the twin dragons since I always saw them in their standard ninja getup. In addition, I figured that the trio were ninjas considering their attitude when they saw the leader. Or they were at least experts since the aura of the expert put them on an edge.


    Uno clapped his hands and gestured to me to sit, and said, ¡°Allow us to clear the air and put behind any grievances you might hold against us. I know this is not what you expected, hell even we did not expect our assignment to lead us here.¡±


    I took a seat on the cushion, I sat cross-legged as I looked at him. I said, ¡°You mean to say even you were not clear of what had happened? I find that hard to believe with that confident attitude of yours.¡±


    ¡°We are definitely not as surprised as you were but all we were told was to abduct you with little to no injuries and head to a location. We would then be notified of the next step. Once we arrived at the location, we realized that this was an old underground bunker. The ones who received us were ninjas of the tree faction of the Gate of Heaven. Then you know the rest, we unboxed like a toy and you met the boss who is like a dragon I might add.¡±


    He shivered slightly as he spoke of the leader. I narrowed my eyes, and said, ¡°Let us eat first, and then we will discuss what the hell is going on.¡±

 Act 10: Unreasonable

    The food was delicious, it was not Japanese cuisine which was surprising. It was a Roast Duck with tender and juicy meat, crispy skin, and it¡¯s glazed with the honey-balsamic glaze to give the duck a beautiful roasted look. There were roasted vegetables, potatoes, and Japanese-style steamed white rice.


    I cannot stress how delicious it was. I have not eaten in almost 36 hours so I was famished at this point. I tried to eat slowly but I failed miserably. I cannot believe a chef with such expertise was here, wherever here was.


    I had gotten to a point of the hunger that I was turning listless. I thought as I gorged on the most delicious food I have ever had; my bravado while facing one of the most dangerous people I have met might have been due to that. Or I was just in a bad mood, worrying about my safety can do that.


    I was not the only one who was acting like a hungry ghost. The comical trio was eating like this was their last meal while the twin dragons were acting like this was the first time they have eaten.


    We were done eating in almost half an hour, with no leftovers. If any hotel staff saw this they would weep in joy, for behind every open buffet lies a ton of thrown food thanks to idiots not finishing their plates.


    We almost laid down on the floor from how full and relaxed we were. It was only now that I thought if they had poisoned the feast we would all be goners. I am not sure I could have stopped eating even while knowing that the food was poisoned. It was that good.


    There were some breathing exercises to help digestion, I was doing it while contemplating what would happen next. Should we call out that we were done or just try to exit to see where our next destination was?


    The whole group was trying to digest the food as fast as possible. It seemed they all realized we were not exactly at home here, it would be foolish to be so relaxed. And yet I sincerely doubted we had any chance of fighting back if things went south.


    After five minutes of silence, Dos broke it and said, ¡°Is there any dessert?¡±


    He did not say that in a normal speaking voice but more of a high volume one where you are talking to someone far. I facepalmed, as amazing as dessert sounded my curiosity was almost killing me. I needed to know the plan or at least the end result of my tutor gig.


    The door I had come from opened with a creak, we all looked towards it waiting in anticipation. I do not know for them but I wanted someone to start explaining stuff already. They were probably hoping for drinks and desserts.


    A Japanese woman in her thirties, wearing a red kimono with a white sakura tree on it, entered the room. She stood behind me, a meter away. She had a white mask covering her entire face with two slits for the eyes on and a small katana at her waist. It was small compared to that of the leader we had met but its length was decent.


    I looked at the group in confusion, only to be met with tilted heads and creased brows. They were as clueless as I was. I decided to ask, well, anything for the matter. But before I got the chance to sound out my confusion, another woman entered the room.


    The room was the size of a conference room, so it would accommodate at least a dozen people easily. However with two masked women one meter away from me, I was understandably uneasy. They each took a point at the edges of the door clearly waiting for a third person to enter.


    Tres could not stay silent and said, ¡°I will go out on a limb and guess they are not bringing dessert.¡±


    I almost laughed, that broke the tension that was accumulating in the room. I could not feel the aura of the two women, so either they were deliberately hiding it or they had none. The third person had their foot on the threshold when Tres talked, they paused momentarily then continued in.


    The last to enter was a teenage girl, it is hard to guess her exact age but she was Japanese with a fair snow-white complexion. She did not look sickly, more like a recluse that does not see the sun much. She was dressed in a white kimono with a tree sewed on it, the tree was identical to the one in the portrait I saw when I met the leader.


    Probably the family¡¯s crest, as expected of a family name that means ¡®green tree¡¯. The two women who I assumed to be her bodyguards stood at attention as the girl crossed the threshold.


    She had quite the presence, it was not intimidating but it was pressuring. I felt no aura from her as well yet I had a feeling she was dangerous in her own way. She watched us with interest like we belonged in two different worlds and this was the first she met our kind.


    The room was silent, as insensitive as my guards were, they did not dare to utter a word. It seemed like I would have to break the ice, so I cleared my throat and said, ¡°Hello! I am called Jack Crucintum. I assume you are Aoki-san¡¯s daughter. Nice to meet you!¡±


    I pivoted myself around to be directly seated in front of them as I talked. I was not going to stand up and offer a handshake since that would have been rude so I did my best to offer a slight bow. Her eyes glistened after I spoke, I got a bad feeling immediately.


    She laughed with a clear bell-like voice, it was not sonorous like her father¡¯s, I am still guessing that this is his daughter, but it was sweet and mellow. The contrast was weird, like meditation music with the intensity of a metal song. The guards were as statue-like as before.


    After laughing, she said with a deadpan face, ¡°Well met, sensei!¡±


    She gave a slight bow, more theatrical than a courtesy one. I did not like how she said sensei though, it felt like she said it with contempt. It would not be fun having a pupil that looks down on you, not to mention literally shifting your entire life just to teach them and then benignly met with contempt. Regardless of me being forced to be a tutor, mere semantics at this point.


    I smiled slightly and nodded my head as if pleased with her greeting, then asked, ¡°Is it time for your lesson?¡±


    Two can play at this game of contempt, I smirked to myself. She looked taken aback then twisted her lips, and said, ¡°I do not believe so. I came to see the quality of the teacher my father paid so much to get. I am not seeing what is so special about that teacher.¡±


    Interesting! So she is the one I will tutor. In addition, she disliked me offhandedly. I am curious which tutor would awe her, torturers are not exactly celebrities. The ones who are renowned are fearsome for their brutality or their eccentric ways.


    I am considered too young to be on the renowned list of infamy. Although I do have my clique, such as the client that wanted to compile a book about me in return for that diary. As contemptuous as our conversation is I reckoned to be petty with such a kid will only damage my reputation.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°It seems the quality of your previous teachers were too high. However, this is not an excuse to mistake a diamond for a pebble.¡±


    I wrinkled my nose and continued, ¡°A pupil introducing themselves first was expected, yet I introduced myself first not in respect for you but for your father. It is understandable not to see eye to eye at our first meeting so we might as well part with your name and begin anew once a schedule for your lessons is made.¡±


    It felt good to fire back at her respectfully and without faulting her family. I awaited her response as her face reddened in either embarrassment or rage. Her right hand twitched like she was going to reach for something at her kimono¡¯s belt. Then it moved to smooth the belt. Little miss got anger issues.


    ¡°My name is Aoki Kaida, I apologize for my rudeness. It seems you have just eaten and it is inappropriate to chat for now. We will come at another time.¡±


    Then she spun and left, I felt a chill run down my spine as the two female guards looked at me. It was obvious they would be skilled, but they were a step from being experts in martial arts. My sensitivity to auras can estimate someone¡¯s level of proficiency in martial arts but not what martial art they trained in, I was not experienced enough to get that. Freya did mention that every martial art results in a unique aura and each person has a different aura based on the same martial art.


    I watched as they left the room and the door closed behind them, I did notice that the room they came from was not the bathroom I came out of. The same door leads to different places, what a weird place.


    The guards looked at me like I was mad, I raised an eyebrow in question. One of the twin dragons, the one with a mole near his or her lips, said, ¡°You sent the daughter of the Crimson lord of Gate of Heaven packing with a scolding. I am not sure if you are daring or ignorant hence your bravery.¡±


    I looked at him or her then their twin, they looked androgynous so I was still unsure of their genders. Their faces looked common, not a face you would notice in a crowd. The two were identical in everything; height, features, build, hair, and clothes. The one thing that differentiated them was that one had a mole near their lips at the right side of their face and the other had a mole near their left eye. I actually suspected they put the moles there just to mess with people when they switch them around.


    I crossed my arms and said, ¡°I do not think it is a big deal. Besides we were sent on a mission as a transaction for an unknown not full cooperation with this weird Aoki family branch. I am still confused about the whole thing. In normal times I would take it slow but I am almost ninety percent sure they would not harm us.¡±


    Tres frowned slightly and said, ¡°As big brother mentioned we received orders to deliver you and we were supposed to be given further instructions upon doing so. The fact that no one reached out is bothering us. Were you aware of any arrangements about this?¡±


    I sneered, I seriously wondered how these fools did not get themselves killed with their intelligence. I sarcastically said, ¡°Oh yes, I recall being told I would have a shit couple of days then I will meet a band of jesters who will guide me to the shadows of the night. There we shall dine, meet the little dragon borne of the green tree and contempt we shall show.¡±


    Uno smiled, then asked, ¡°Everything makes sense but what is with the little dragon? Is it because of her martial expertise?¡±


    ¡°No, it is because her name literally means ¡®Little Dragon¡¯ and her family name means ¡®Green Tree¡¯. The very fact she either had no aura or hid it is worrying, at the very she should be at the peak of competency of one or martial arts. This is the minimum level for a child with such a prestigious background.¡±


    The group nodded along, it was common knowledge that gaining competency in martial arts was a matter of time so it relied heavily on practice, dedication, and sheer talent. As for being an expert or a master, for some, it is a guaranteed outcome and for others, no amount of practice will help them cross the threshold.


    I am stuck at the peak of competency in my martial arts due to lack of dedication, and to be honest, my ability to sense aura has hindered me in this regard. Taking my background as well as my siblings'' capability, I should be an expert already but thanks to my ¡®ability¡¯ it resulted in a misplaced understanding of aura which I have been trying to correct for a while now. I hoped that part of my reward for this assignment would be a boost to an expert level or maybe enlightenment to my Aura.


    We sat in silence for a bit. I do not know for the other but I was tired of guessing what was going on. I wanted some straight answers already. I stood up and headed to the doors opposite of the door I came out from. Interestingly, every door I have seen was a sliding door so far.


    I reached for the door when it opened on its own. I froze for a second, then I saw what was behind it. There were five people seated on big throne-like seats with their faces hidden by a beaded curtain. Each curtain had a distinctive color, I felt it was referring to the five elements. I looked beside the door to see who opened it, but there was no one.


    I was getting really tired of the door game and the mysteries involving ninjas at this point.


    The five elements are a concept that originated from China but not exclusive to it at all. They are the following: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. I will not try to guess what role each element plays in the organization, for I have understood the unpredictability and mysteriousness of ninjas are underestimated.


    I stood at the threshold for a moment, I knew that this was an invitation to go in. There was no way someone would accidentally open up the door leading to a meeting of who I assumed to be the heads of the five elements. Would they?


    I stepped through the threshold, I instantly felt the difference. That feeling of resistance as if walking in water. This was exactly how I felt. The air seemed to turn viscous and with every step, I felt it was solidifying around me. I feared I would bump into a literal wall of air.


    This was Aura, at its purest. These people were quite literally beasts in human form. I now understood my foolishness when I thought Aura is an edge at best. Aura is so much more, the potential was incredible. I felt the bottleneck to understanding aura loosening up a little. As my understanding improved, I felt the air turn less viscous.


    I stood at a spot where I felt if I took one more step I would be cut down. It was there, that danger of instantaneous death. My instincts and however small my understanding of Aura was, I understood. This was the line before which stood the prey before the predator, passing it warranted death.


    I stood in silence, the seconds passing felt like minutes. The silence had a certain weight, I felt like they were waiting for me to break it. I wondered if this was another stupid test of theirs. I took a deep breath and said, ¡°Jack Crucintum at your service. May I know how I can help?¡±


    The air felt lighter now, I guess Aura has an intimidation factor as well. The one at the Wood element spoke in a gruff voice, it felt like the whispers of the forest in a dark night. It was oddly creepy.


    He said, ¡°We welcome you, as the tutor of Aoki Kaida. We reached out to the Truth Seekers seeking one who will be worthy. You shall guide Kaida in her mission.¡±


    He was silent after that, seriously cannot they spit out the details in one go. Is there any point in being so vainly mysterious? I asked as humble as I can with little annoyance in my voice, ¡°And what might her mission be?¡±


    The one who replied was the head of the Metal element, I expected his voice to be like blades rubbing against one another. Apparently, the head was a female and her voice was smooth to the point I felt it prick my ears. I had a hunch she used metal needles as a weapon.


    She said, ¡°The knowledge of the mission is of no concern to you. Your concern will be teaching Kaida the art of torture, with the goal of extracting information in the span of fifteen minutes.¡±


    I started sweating immediately once I heard her. Is this a prank? Only someone of my expertise or higher can do something like that and even then the likelihood of succeeding did not surpass sixty percent for the best of us. I needed to clarify, lest their expectations crush me to death.


    ¡°I am an expert in torture, I have never taught anyone before. My reputation is based on my vast knowledge in different ways of torture as well as having the highest success rate among the experts in the Truth Society. I will assume you are aware of all of these points, in that case how do you suppose I will accomplish this goal?¡±


    The room was silent for a few moments, then there was a boom and I was on my knees gasping for breath. My head was ringing, my vision was swimming. I had no idea what the hell happened.


    Someone said, ¡°The reward is getting you to the expert level in two of your competent level martial arts. The punishment is just as you had felt. The transaction with your organization was based on mutual benefit, so if you are of no use to us the deal is null and your life is forfeit.¡±


    Typical carrot and stick approach, I thought as I climbed to my feet with difficulty. I still did not understand how I was attacked if that was even an attack, to begin with. It seemed like I was stuck with almost an impossible mission, tutoring a rebellious kid with trigger happy higher-ups.


    Isn¡¯t that just splendid?

 Act 11: Rebirth...

    I was led back to my room. I say led, but to be more precise, the door where I came from opened and it suddenly leads to my room now. I really wanted to know how they do this.


    To be more specific, I was back in the bathroom. I suppose that door switcheroo they do has its own limitations. Do not get me wrong, it was still magical how they can switch which room the door leads to, but I have learned not to trust the doors.


    I got out of the bathroom into the martial hall with the mats. The room looked just like how I left it. I am pretty sure I was under surveillance, for the sole reason, that it would be pretty embarrassing if they swap a door leading to my room and I was actually naked.


    I sat cross-legged in the center of the room mulling over all that has happened the last few days. If it was a deal between higher-ups, it would be normal that I would be in the dark. It bugged me how I was treated as an outsider to not be given the slightest hint of preparation. In one way it can be considered as trust and faith in my ability to adapt.


    I did learn a few things from these events. Not to be quick to judge others and to double-check everything. Also, it has been quite annoying my lack of martial ability to bite back when bitten. I promised myself to work hard, becoming an expert has been pumped to the top of my to-do list.


    Well, second from the top of the list, the first thing is figuring out what technique I should teach the problem child. The only thing they mentioned was that the time for torture should not exceed fifteen minutes. If I take into account that she is a complete newbie, I should aim for quick torture of ten minutes.


    Certain tools will definitely be helpful, it is a shame I did not have my kit. Reaching out to Truth Society should be possible and hence these tools will be brought. I needed to tell somebody my plans so that they do not act all surprised when I tell them what I needed.


    I decided to take a nap and wait when I will be summoned. I got up, and went to the bedroom door just as I was going to open the door, I stopped. I would better sleep in this room, lest I get shifted to somewhere else. I turned my back to the door and laid down on my back at the same place I was seated. I slept in no time.


    ~~~~~~~


    I woke up with a start, I sat up and looked around me. I was still in that dojo, the same mats, same walls, and the same doors. I felt relief that they could not shift me somewhere else without the doors.


    I felt alienated and alone. Sometimes I can feel disoriented after a really good nap but this was not it. I missed my home, well my various houses across the world, but still every one of them was designed by me. It was mine.


    While here I felt out of my depth here. I cannot even find a proper humorous analogy for how lost I felt. It feels like Alice meeting the terminator in Alice in Wonderland instead of the cool rabbit in a suit.


    I was bummed out from the consecutive surprise these past few days. I sighed heavily and slapped my cheeks. I smiled slightly, promising myself that I will finish this damn job and go on vacation for a few months. I knew myself too well to promise a year, the job was too interesting after all.


    However, I preferred working on my own terms at a satisfactory price. I was vacantly looking at the ceiling daydreaming when I heard a knock. I looked around thinking it came from one of the doors, to my surprise it actually came from below one of the mats. My eyes widened in surprise, I am very thankful that they had not opened the mat I slept on and shuffled me somewhere else. I was still underestimating them.


    I approached the mat carefully, it was three mats away from where I sat. The mats were made of condensed straws, I think, and they were about one meter squared in area. I got close to the mat when I heard the knock again. I carefully said, ¡°Come in!¡±


    I felt stupid, this is stupid. Then the mat rose slowly from the ground, I watched bemusedly. I thought it would open like a hatch, I sighed in defeat. I will not overthink anything again in the future. In the place of the mat was a small old elevator with a small screen inside. There was a ¡®Come!¡¯ in all caps on the screen, I did not need to be invited twice.


    I hurriedly went to the bathroom, I hesitated slightly before opening the door but I managed to do it. It did lead to the bathroom this time. I washed my face and got myself decent then I entered the elevator.


    I expect it to smell like an old elevator, yet it smelled like lilies. It was a soft smell that got the edge out of me. I was more relaxed than I cared to admit. I am almost getting used to the avalanche of surprises. The elevator ride down was smooth, it took about a minute to arrive.


    There was a soft ding then the door opened to another sparring room, this one looked to have been used quite often. I walked out of the elevator as confidently as I could, I felt trepidation for what will come next. I looked behind me to catch the elevator going down. I just came from above though, I was just about to overthink it when I decided it was not worth it.


    I looked around to see who had summoned me, the room looked just like the one I had come from, the only difference was that this one had seen more use than my room. There was nobody and I did not fancy opening up the doors to look around.


    I was not doing anything, to begin with, so I can just sit around the same way I had in the other room. I was just about to sit when I thought better of it. Maybe I can do some warmups to loosen up my body, having the stress accumulating was a bad idea.


    I sat cross-legged taking deep breaths and holding them in for 10 seconds and then exhaling strongly. I did a few breathing cycles, then once I felt refreshed I stood up and started stretching my body. I focused intently on my movements, forgetting where I was, my worries, my fears, and I just sunk into the routine. It was similar to the zone yet that was not it.


    After the stretches I started the karate kata, it did not matter which one I started with. I would begin slowly and speed up as I went through it. It took me some time, I am not good at keeping track of time when I am completely focused. The lack of clocks and windows did not help in tracking time either.


    I was done with my exercise, I needed a shower at this point. I contemplated going to the door that led to the bathroom, I was hesitating. After a few moments, I thought better of it. I will do some breathing exercises as I wind down from my workout. I did just that.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    I was getting bored at this point. I just hoped whoever invited me would show up already. That was when I heard footsteps coming from the door that leads to the bathroom. I celebrated inwardly for my choice not to open that door.


    ¡°Reward and punishment are the best encouragement when used wisely.¡±


    The voice sounded old and raspy, the door opened to reveal a tall old man garbed in a black karate outfit with a black bald around his waist. His physique looked ordinary, not overly buff nor overly thin but his aura was heavy. He spoke of reward and punishment, if the reward was to be instructed by him that would definitely make up for all the trouble I had gone through.


    ¡°Do not jump to conclusions just yet, I might guide you to break through to the next step. Becoming an expert in Iaido, karate, or in knife throwing would help you breakthrough in the other martial arts.¡±


    He walked out of the other room calmly, each step covered the same distance as the one before it. Normally I would assume that he was showing off but it seemed like there was more to his actions that meet the eyes. I stood up as he walked towards me, I had the same feeling that I had when I met with the leaders and they decided to show me the consequences of failing to meet their expectations.


    I was getting suffocated from the aura, I tried to get my bearings. I tried to focus on breathing that was when I noticed something odd. The aura was not viscous like water, it was more like a breath of humid air that was saturated with intentions. He was testing me, my breath was getting labored as I tried to figure the intention hidden in the aura.


    This was something similar to feeding an intention to one¡¯s aura, just like how swordsman would focus on the edge of their swords to an odd degree. They would defend when needed, attack when appropriate, and look for weak points to exploit.


    I cleared my mind of the useless overthinking, as I focused my breath slowed and grew deeper. I grew more aware of my heartbeat, unhurried but powerful. It was filled with curiosity and anticipation. I sensed how my body was tense, it was as if this aura was challenging it. My body wanted to fight.


    I was observing myself from outside, it was odd like reading a book detailing how I felt. My mind was weighing the odds of victory and searching for weaknesses to exploit. There was one final thing, once I became aware of it I could not unsee it. This was definitely aura, but it was everywhere. The floor, ceiling, clothes, air, and me and the old man, we all had an aura.


    It was a startling discovery, I always thought that aura represented intention and only humans can have intentions. Was this the bottleneck I had been facing all along? Being able to detect other people¡¯s aura had led to this fatal misunderstanding.


    As I understood my mistake, I felt a connection with the aura inside of me. It felt like it had a mind of its own, I was startled once more. This all felt like a feverish dream. I focused on the aura inside me, it seemed to be mine, more precisely it was a representation of who I am. It was somewhat similar to personality, yet it was closer to a portrayal of the real me. Me who was unburdened by society¡¯s standards, by stuffy common sense, by greed, by fear, it felt exhilarating akin to meeting a close friend.


    I smiled at the old man, he did not look surprised. I had deciphered his intentions hidden in the aura, it was a message of one word; ¡®Focus!¡¯. I tried to send a message back using my own aura, it was a lot more difficult than I thought. I failed twice before succeeding to imbue my own gaze with a message, ¡®Thank you!¡¯.


    I could not use my aura in a way comparable to the old man, I guess I was too hasty. Quite similar to trying to use a muscle I had just discovered, I needed to practice.


    I felt utterly exhausted after sending the message, the old man seemed to receive it and he smiled slightly. The suffocating aura was gone after that, he nodded at me as I feebly fell to the floor. I laid on my back gasping for breath.


    ¡°You come from quite an impressive bloodline, your family has always been proficient with aura. No one mentioned it to you to avoid hurting your fragile ego.¡±


    I felt my heart sink down, was I making a fool of myself all along? Thinking myself to be an unparalleled genius, I was merely a frog in a well. I decided not to be too harsh on myself, I had become an expert now.


    ¡°You have not become an expert just yet, I am not telling you all of this to watch the amusing upheaval of your emotions. Being an expert entails imbuing your martial arts with aura, intentions to hurt or kill will guide you in the fight. Some people call it the zone, they accidentally come in contact with their own aura and their entire being happens to be aligned with a certain goal. They get a feeling of invincibility, a high of sorts. Quite a dangerous thing for the untrained.¡±


    He looked at me as I laid on my back struggling to sit back up. I could not decipher what this look meant.


    ¡°You did not understand my intentions just now, you merely took a small step towards becoming an expert. I am not impressed with any of this. I will notify the heads to send someone to further your understanding of aura. From this moment your schedule will be dedicated to mastering aura, hence reaching the expert level and teaching the young miss the arts of torture. Your understanding of torture should improve as you get familiar with aura.¡±


    He did not wait for me to reply, merely throwing a complicated look at me and then leaving the room. He closed the door behind him. I was left in silence for a few minutes, I sat there dazedly gazing at the door. These ninjas were too straightforward and efficient in every action.


    This was becoming more overwhelming but with the promise of becoming an expert, I was willing to bear it. I heard a knock from the ceiling, I crawled away from it. I was sure the elevator would just come down and for once I was right. The elevator came down unhurriedly then came to a stop a few centimeters away from the ground.


    I picked myself up and entered, on the screen there were two words this time. They said, ¡®Good luck!¡¯. I snorted, I needed lots of luck but more importantly, I needed zeal. I got back to my room to find a small table was set up with a cushion at the center of the room, my meal was ready on it.


    It was nothing like the feast of last time, I was not going to complain as long as the food was as delicious as before. There was a reprieve in eating in silence, with complete focus on every bit of the food. It decreases the amount of food one partakes in, as one is not distracted by something else.


    The absolute focus was the key to the aura, I wondered which doors it could open as well. After I was done with the meal, which was precisely the amount I needed. I felt my hunger satiated with no heaviness or sluggishness that one experiences following a meal. I savored how energetic I was, ninjas did know their way around auras after all.


    I sat cross-legged, introspecting to sense the aura I had chanced upon when the old man pressured me with his aura. It felt foggy and not as clear as before, my aura acted like a mischievous kid playing hide and seek.


    I recalled the old man¡¯s message, ¡®Focus!¡¯. The last time I felt the pressure of his aura pushing me inside myself as I sought sanctuary my aura showed up. It was not protectiveness or the danger I was exposed to that got it out. I was on the cusp of a major understanding, I crossed my arms as I mulled over it.


    I sat in contemplation for some time, I could not tell how long I was completely focused on recalling what I did and how I felt as I sensed my aura for the first time. I understood what I needed to do.


    Aura is a part of you, unless you are your aura then you must call out to it. I had a hunch that being a master meant becoming one with your aura as in being completely and absolutely true to yourself. I engraved this thought in my mind to try it out or research it later.


    For now, I started to practice calling out to my aura and getting to know my real self. This was all so new, but it is worth all of the shit I went through. As the aura responded to my call, I experienced peacefulness and balance of a scale I have never experienced before.


    I know what to do, the more I come in contact with it the more I will transform along its lines. I needed someone to guide me through certain parts, so for now I will consider this a test drive. I lied down with a smile, anticipating what tomorrow will be like.