“Machi.” Machua held my arm. “I’m scared.”

  I glanced at her terrified expression and then back to the gun that was pointing at us. The driver in the front seat was our ‘taxi driver’ who was currently kidnapping us. He drove wildly, almost like he was trying to crash.

  “It’s just a gun. You’ve used one before,” I responded nonchalantly.

  “But I’ve never had one pointed at me! Okay, except that one time in Sicuso at the bakery! But regardless!”

  This was the event where Machua was supposed to awaken Dimension. The stress of the kidnapping forced her mana to defend herself, and she would manage to incapacitate the kidnapper and somehow avoid crashing.

  I honestly didn’t expect to see the same taxi driver because I interacted with her and held her up for a little bit in the airport. But maybe he thought we looked like an easy target and no one else did.

  “Shut it back there! If you stupid kids don’t-Woah!” The car rapidly swerved to avoid hitting a lamppost.

  ‘Now should be good,’ I thought.

  “Machu. Store the gun.”

  “Store the huh?” Machua looked at me with a confused face.

  “Store the gun. You know how a dimensional storage ring works. You’ve got Dimension yourself now. So store it.”

  “I-uh… You sure it’s a good idea?” Machua looked back and forth between me and the gun.

  I nodded back at her.

  Machua gave me a nervous smile as she slowly inched her mana closer. The kidnapper was entirely focused on the road, so now was the time. Her mana slowly moved to wrap around the gun. Slowly and surely, it crept alongside the side and when it finally engulfed it, the gun popped out of existence.

  Machua hurriedly took out the gun from her dimension and held it in her hands.

  “I’ll handle the driving!” I shouted, as I rushed forward.

  “H-hey! Stop that!” The driver shouted back.

  Machua wrapped an arm around his throat and held the gun to his head. Safety on of course. “Take your foot off the pedal! Now!”

  The driver immediately lost control of the car. I gripped the wheel and did my best to avoid crashing. But having to reach forward, deal with a struggling kidnapper who was so angry it seemed like he wanted us all dead, it was a little difficult.

  So, I wasn’t very surprised when the car began rolling.

  “MACHI!” Machua screamed as the car rolled to the left.

  I grabbed Machua and covered us with my mana. The car tumbled round and round, throwing the two of us around. The kidnapper at least had the brains to use a seatbelt, but for our attack earlier we had to take them off, so we ended up crashing onto the car over and over.

  But then suddenly, the car stopped. The car lost all momentum as it ‘crashed’ into… something. No big impact reverberated throughout the car though. It was like it crashed into a giant cushion. Though, from the window, we couldn’t see anything that looked like that.

  “Are… we okay?” Machua asked.

  “I think so,” I answered as I calmly checked on the driver. He was knocked out.

  I kicked out the car door and hopped out. Looking out, I noticed that there were no cars in the streets. They were already cleared out.

  “Is anyone else in the car?” A man called out to us.

  The man jogged up to us and holstered his large tonfas onto his back. He didn’t have any additional features, so he was probably human. He had brown hair that was neatly cut. He was wearing a jacket with a badge on it that said ‘EPG.’

  “Machu! Hop down!” I called out.

  Machua peeked her head through the side, only for her face to turn into a very surprised expression. “Lemuel Salas of Erebus Squad!? Woah!”

  Machua quickly hopped down and ran over with a twinkle in her eyes.

  “There’s only the kidnapper in the driver’s seat, but he’s knocked out,” I informed him. “I’ll get him.”

  “I can’t believe the EPG sent you of all people! Talk about overkill!”

  “Please. Later. I need to confirm the details of the crime. We can talk on the ride to the station.”

  Machua nodded rapidly.

  Meanwhile, I wrenched open the car door and swiftly retrieved the kidnapper. He didn’t have any big injuries, just a few scars and bruises. I jumped down and laid him next to Lemuel.

  “This is the only guy left in there. He got knocked out when we started rolling.”

  “Uh, he had a gun, but I took it. Here.”

  Machua took the gun out from storage and unloaded the clip it had before handing both of them to Lemuel. Lemuel took the gun and clip calmly and stored them in his dimensional storage bracelet.

  “Are any of you Hunters? Because if not, then it was very reckless of the two of you to try that. If I wasn’t here, the car would have crashed and all 3 of you could have been killed.” Lemuel asked with a stern expression.

  He thumbed to the floating car. On a closer inspection, the car had crashed into a sort of murky and sticky barrier. The impact was defused all throughout the barrier. Clearly, this was the work of the Unbreakable Blockade.

  “Uh, um…” Machua gave me a look that told me she didn’t know what to say at all.

  “Sorry, that’s on me. I thought I could get things under control,” I apologised.

  ‘Especially if I was alone,’ I thought.

  “I, uh, I followed along, so it’s my fault too,” Machua added.

  “It’s okay. I won’t fault you two for wanting to escape a bad situation. But next time, please wait for the EPG. I promise you, we will have it handled.”

  Machua and I nodded rapidly. Seeing us immediately repent, he let out a slight sigh then changed his expression to a comforting smile.

  “Now, why don’t the two of you come with me down to the station so we can work out the details?” Lemuel pointed to his car that was parked nearby.

  “Uh, um, I just awakened my Aspect today, soooo think I can get that registered at the same time?” Machua hesitantly asked.

  “Of course. I can handle it after we get our information.”

  Lemuel handcuffed the kidnapper and placed him in the car. Various EPG members had just arrived in cars of their own and got to work getting the taxi car down slowly.

  “Alright you two, get in. It’ll be a short drive away to headquarters. While I’m driving, you can tell me what happened.”

  Lemuel and the two of us boarded the car. The car started up smoothly and began making its way to the EPG headquarters. I looked out the window to see a familiar cafe. As time passed, I began to see more and more familiar places. Places I had once been to and would never go to again. Places changed from what I remembered. I closed my eyes for a brief moment, then turned my head.

  Lemuel and Machua had started up a conversation. She was dutifully informing the man of the incident we were caught up in. She introduced our names and told him we were just coming home from the airport. For reference, the criminal was seated behind us, with a magic-reinforced glass barrier blocking him from us. He was still knocked out.

  I wasn’t worried about him in the slightest. After all, Lemuel Salas was here. The protector of the city was driving our car, there was no greater safeguard to be had.

  If he had been around during that day, Erelier City probably wouldn’t have fallen. My captain wouldn’t have had to take his comrade’s place and that day might not even have happened at all. Lemuel Salas was pivotal for Erelier. He was its Unbreakable Blockade. And he was going to die in only a few years.

  I had to protect this man. I had to stop his death by any means necessary. If that could be achieved, he would fulfil his role and drastically reduce casualties, or even stop it from happening at all. He was a very capable man, so it was no wonder Qliphoth planned to take him out before attacking Erelier. As the man who came back from the future, it was my duty to utterly ruin such a plan.

  “Here we are.”

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Lemuel had driven to a sleek, but simple-looking building. It clearly valued function over form. It had tons of people walking through its front entrance, so Lemuel had gone into the garage. All four of us left the car and began our walk into the main building.

  “Ah, this might be the first time you two have been here. Allow me to welcome you to the headquarters of the Erelier Protection Guild.”

  We walked into a door leading to the main hall. The main hall of the building matched its exterior. A sleek design that placed function its highest priority. It was beautiful in a way that didn’t hinder its purpose. To showcase the guild’s strength and purpose. It was a top-notch guild hall. If it weren’t that this guild existed to protect the city, I imagine that many more hunters would be clamouring to enter this well-established guild.

  Lemuel handed the criminal to a colleague and led us to the reception desk. The receptionist had wolf ears a bushy wolf tail alongside a toothy grin. His cap accounted for his ears and were shaped to fit them in snugly.

  “Hey, Lem! Welcome back,” he greeted.

  “Good to see you as always, Trey.” Lemuel bumped fists with him. “Could I have you check these two in? They’re Machua and Machia Purin.”

  “Course. Let’s see…”

  Trey click-clacked on his keyboard. He looked at us every few seconds just to make sure he got it correctly.

  “Ah, here you are. Machua Purin, daughter of Leila Purin, and…”

  He paused, his face scrunched up in confusion. I knew what was going on. He couldn’t find my id in the Erelier City database. Well, he did, it was Machua, but it’s not as if he could find the id of another Machua. The computer must have shown him that she was born an only child. And if so… there must be an issue with me.

  “Uh, it says here that-“

  *Blip blip!* ‘Let me take ya-‘

  Trey immediately grabbed his phone and stopped the ringtone. “Oh, sorry. Let me take this.”

  I recognised his ringtone. It was a popular song by the band ‘Casina.’ This one song though, I’ve heard way too much, so I didn’t like it anymore. And the band themselves were not great people.

  Trey talked on his phone in a hushed expression. After a few seconds of conversation, he put down the phone.

  “Elize says she’ll help you with this case. Get it done quickly. She’s waiting for you on the fifth floor, with your daughter,” Trey told Lemuel.

  Machua’s eyes widened at the mention of a daughter. It was like the foundations of her world suddenly broke down.

  Lemuel nodded. “Thank you. Come on, you two, let’s go. It’ll be quick, and the two of you can get back to your daily lives.”

  Machua and I followed the man to an elevator, where luckily, no one else had entered. Machua was still a little spell-struck, so I smacked her shoulder a bit.

  “Hey!”

  “You looked like you wanted to ask a question. Isn’t that right?”

  “Mmrgh…” Machua now realised the pain of having someone around who knew all your thoughts.

  “So, uh, Lemuel. You have a daughter?” She asked a little bit quickly.

  Lemuel seemed a bit surprised at the question, as if he expected her to have known that. “Yep. She’s the cutest little girl ever.”

  “Wow, you look so young though. I can’t believe you had a kid at your age.”

  “The circumstances are a little different than you think, Machua,” Lemuel responded.

  “How so?”

  “You’ll meet her soon,” Lemuel said as the elevator door opened.

  The fifth floor was the designated rest and relaxation floor. It had a cafeteria, a bar and even a game centre. Hunters lead stressful lives, so it was only natural that they needed such high quality relaxation.

  Before long, we ran into two people. A white-haired woman, though she looked much too young to have white hair at her age, and a young girl who wore a black cloak, complete with long sleeves, which matched her hair and her wings. The two were holding cones of ice cream in their hands.

  “Eh?” Machua said.

  She didn’t say that because she was surprised that the human man’s daughter was a birdkin. She could have been half-human anyhow. No, she was surprised that his little girl was in fact, a teenager that only looked a few years younger than her. She looked back and forth between Lemuel and his kid. No matter how she thought, there was no way he made her. That was probably what she was thinking.

  “My papa looks really young, right?” the girl suddenly asked. She was definitely used to this.

  “Y-yeah, he looks so young for his age.”

  “I know right? I’m so proud of him.” The girl smiled cheekily.

  “Plue, let’s not confuse these two. Why don’t we introduce ourselves? My name is Elize Macworth.” Elize said, while placing her hair behind her long ears. Evidently, she was an elf of some sort.

  “Okay…” The girl pouted a bit. “I’m Plue Salas, and I’m adopted. Papa adopted me when he was 19 by the way.”

  “Wow! You had a kid when you were younger than me?” Machua asked Lemuel.

  Lemuel scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. “She needed a parent. I just happened to be around.”

  I squeezed my eyes in contrast to Machua’s widening hers. That excuse didn’t make the act any less meaningful.

  “That’s so much responsibility though!” Machua exclaimed.

  “That’s exactly what makes Lemuel fit to be a captain,” Elize interrupted. “That said, why don’t we move on to the main topic of today? I’ll write down the report for the case and then we can handle registration.”

  The three of us nodded and began informing Elize on the details of the case. Elize had pulled out a laptop and rapidly tapped her keyboard as we spoke. Plue sat by the side, licking her ice cream. Occasionally, she shoved it in her papa’s mouth, who awkwardly ate the ice cream as he spoke. I could tell Machua was beginning to hunger for the ice cream too.

  “Finished,” Elize stated. “Now, shall we handle re-?”

  “Can I come with?” Plue suddenly interrupted.

  Elize shot Lemuel a glance. He slightly nodded. She gave both of us once-overs, meeting our gaze. For Machua, just a brief look was enough to tell she was a good and sincere person. As for me, we kept in eye contact longer than either of us wanted. Elize eventually broke it off and continued, seemingly satisfied.

  “Yes, you can, Plue. Now, let’s discuss the main topic. Registration.”

  “Oh, is it for Dimension?” Machua asked.

  “Yes. We need to put your newly awakened Aspect into the database. The EPG is connected directly to the Public Hunter Association, so we’ll have you do that here for ease.”

  Elize had clearly done her research on Machua already. She already knew that Machua was a rare ‘late-bloomer’ in terms of Aspects.

  “Okay…” Machua trailed off, while glancing at me. I slightly smiled and nodded at her, telling her it was gonna be okay.

  “We’ll have to head down to the 3rd floor for that, so let’s all go together,” Lemuel spoke.

  Everyone nodded in their own ways and followed him back to the elevator. Elize and Lemuel walked in front, with me a little behind them. Machua and Plue walked a little slower.

  I spotted Elize sharing a bit of her ice cream with Lemuel, before quickly finishing it herself. Plue seemed to see this too, as when we all got into the elevator, she hurriedly reached out her ice cream.

  “Do you wanna try it?” She asked Machua.

  “Sure. I bet it tastes good.”

  Machua went for a big chomp, as she usually did. However, as she did so, the elevator suddenly jerked, and some of the ice cream fell onto the floor and onto Plue’s clothes. Specifically, some ice cream had gotten into Plue’s long sleeves.

  “Pl-“ Lemuel began to say, but it was too late.

  Plue rolled up her long sleeves and brushed the ice cream off of her arms, revealing multiple tattoos on her upper arms. They were all black, with various designs that looked vaguely similar to some insects. I could clearly spot a rhinoceros beetle.

  Suddenly, the tension of the room became a little cold. Elize silently handed Plue a tissue, who seemed oblivious to the change in tension. Machua meanwhile, was still looking at those bug tattoos. I could tell Elize and Lemuel were waiting for her reaction. I blissfully ignored the tension.

  “Wow, you have tattoos? That’s so cool! I’ve been meaning to get some. Where did you get them done?”

  “I did them myself!” Plue proudly replied. “They’re actually used for-“

  “Plue, why don’t we shelve that discussion for now? We’re here,” Elize said as the elevator doors opened.

  “Oh, okay. We’re gonna talk about this later, right?”

  “Yeah, for sure.”

  Lemuel gave Machua a brief smile as we walked. She didn’t know what that meant though, so she gave a thumbs-up back. I snorted a little.

  The five of us walked into a reception room. Seeing Elize and Lemuel though, the receptionist allowed us to enter the deeper areas of floor 3.

  After walking at a brief pace, Elize then turned to the rest of us.

  “Lemuel, why don’t you and Plue help handle Machua’s registration? I’ll handle Machia.”

  “Got it, El. Come on, it’s this way.”

  The 3 entered a door nearby. Machua gave me one last glance before she entered, seemingly worried. I gave her a half-hearted thumbs-up.

  Left alone, Elize gave me a serious glance. I returned it until eventually she began walking off.

  “Let’s talk in a more secluded room.”

  ———————————————————————

  Elize led me to a closed-off room quite a bit aways from where Machua was led to. It almost looked as if she was going to interrogate me, which was close to the truth anyway.

  Elize and I sat on opposite sides of a table. She folded her arms and looked directly into my eyes, trying to find my measure. I looked back a little half-heartedly. I wasn’t interested in playing this game.

  “Machia Purin. Didn’t I tell you to inform me if you were going to do something as big as what happened today? I only barely caught Trey before he gave anything away,” Elize said, without a hint of emotion in her voice.

  I lightly tapped the table as I stared back at her. It was a little jarring to hear Elize be so serious when she was very motherly taking care of Plue earlier today. Then again, I shouldn’t have expected otherwise. This had been the norm for me for a while.

  “Give me a break, I didn’t expect to get into a kidnapping.”

  “No, but you were entangled with your sister,” Elize pointed out. “A sister who, may I add, has lived her entire life thinking she was an only child.”

  “She’s in on it now. She has to be if I want to live in Erelier,” I coolly responded.

  “… Fine. Your familial issues are your own. If they don’t accept you, I can’t help you. I hope you understand that.”

  I nodded in affirmation. Elize rubbed her ear a bit before pulling out her laptop. She opened it and began typing on a document.

  “How old do you want to be?” She asked.

  “25.”

  “… I suppose it would be rather hard to claim that you were born as twins. It makes sense for you to have been born several years prior while your mother was still abroad. Though, there’s only so much I can do. The rest is on you.”

  I only told Elize that I was my mother’s son and thus, Machua’s brother. She did not know anything of the actual circumstances of how I appeared here, or whether I actually was my mother’s son. From appearance alone, I certainly looked like it, so she was willing to believe me.

  Elize rapidly typed in silence. I expected to be here for a little while, but only a few seconds later she was done. She turned the laptop to me, so I could see the document.

  “Allow me to explain your fabricated background information then. Machia Purin, elder brother of Machua Purin, was born to one Leila Purin while she was travelling abroad. This birth was done at her residence at the time. However, soon after, the child was taken away by the father. Thus, he disappeared until now, having come to Erelier in search of his long-lost family. He coincidentally encountered her at the airport. There, they believed that they were twins, but as it would turn out, Machia Purin is 5 years older than her,” Elize explained.

  “That sounds good,” I replied.

  Eliza waited for a continued response, only for me to stay silent. Elize’s story was good, there was no need to add more. She had clearly done this before, so it was to be expected. Forging an identity for someone who didn’t exist on paper wasn’t too hard for her, even if she said otherwise. Besides, most of the claim for my identity came from me, who ‘had never entered the system in the first place.’ All she had to do was give her approval to this story and fabricate a few things. If it was Elize, I trusted her to get this done perfectly.

  “Forgive me, but how do you plan on convincing everyone your mother was pregnant during that time?” Elize couldn’t bear the silence anymore it seemed.

  I responded quickly. “We’ll work it out, you don’t need to worry about that.”

  Elize clearly wanted more, but she could tell I wasn’t willing to give her anything.

  “I suppose I don’t. You are a ‘Phantom’ after all.“ Elize continued typing.

  Phantom. That word was something I had heard a lot over the past year. It wasn’t something I particularly liked hearing, but it was my job.

  It was an illegal sort of job. If you could even call it that. Phantom was more of a shared title for wetworkers and underworld folk who wish to hide their identities. A Phantom has a specific outfit that all of them wore, which granted each and every one of them plausible deniability. As such, the identity of a specific Phantom was highly guarded. It was a ‘title’ that many shared. All you needed was to wear the outfit and be secretive. Though, Phantoms often liked to keep the title held in high regard. A bad Phantom would likely be taken down by another. It was a sort of unofficial ‘guild’ you could say.

  “You knowing that is a sign of trust, you know. I’m trusting my entire career to you,” I said.

  “Of course. And I will ensure this id will be as perfect as possible. You will be able to live the rest of your life in Erelier with this id.” Elize didn’t even look up as she said that.

  I deeply sighed. I didn’t want to do any of this at all to begin with. But it wasn’t as if I had a choice. I couldn’t use my, as in Machua’s id, without affecting her life. Someone would have eventually found that there were 2 Machuas running around. And without an id, I couldn’t just go Hunting like I used to. So, I had to find some way to obtain an id and the only method I knew was to get someone to forge me one. And since I couldn’t get a normal job so easily in the first place, I resorted to crime.

  As a Phantom, I specialised in intel gathering. With my knowledge from the future, alongside my new Major Aspect, I could easily sneak around high security places and gather valuable intel. I kept it to that as much as I could, but on occasion, I did steal things.

  I began in Sicuso, soon after regressing, and after getting the hang of things, I expanded my operations to Erelier. There, I undertook multiple contracts from Elize. She took notice of my skills and uncanny ability to predict upcoming events, and that all led to today. My true face shown to her, a ‘twin’ to an only child, and she accepted all of that without batting an eye.

  “Now, for your statement. Machia Purin claims to not know where he was born and remembers living a secretive life with his father. His father was a criminal and trained him in his ways. They constantly moved Cities, seemingly to avoid authorities. It is only after he had recently passed away, that Machia would decide to search for his mother, only to discover a little sister who looked just like him.”

  She continued without waiting for my response. “Now, I need you to type down your power set.”

  Elize slid her laptop over to me. There was basic information that needed to be filled in on it. I typed quickly.

  Machia Purin

  Race: Human

  Major Aspect: Ephemerality

  Minor Aspect: Dimension

  Trait: World

  “A Trait. That’s rare,” Elize commented.

  “You can ask me about that later. World’s a complicated thing to talk about. Any Trait is, really,” I said.

  “I have some experience.”

  I raised an eyebrow, thinking she was talking about the World Trait specifically. Traits were not the rarest thing in the world to have. But until Machua, I had never met another person who had the World Trait. I knew of a person with the same Trait, but it would be impossible to meet them.

  After looking through the entire document again, I nodded my head. “I think this all looks good. You clearly put a lot of effort into this.”

  “Yes. I am risking my position and betraying several important people to me in order to fabricate your identity.”

  “It is fair though, isn’t it? I’ve done a lot of work for you in the past.”

  Elize silently uploaded the document in front of me, then she put her laptop back into her bag. She pulled out another thing from her bag though. A brown envelope.

  “Well, I hope that you continue to work with me in the future. I have a job offer for you right now if you wish to pursue it.”

  Elize went to hand the envelope to me, but I held out my hand to stop her.

  “I’m not planning on working anytime soon. I plan on taking it slow for a while. I have a family now, after all,” I said with a bit of a smile.

  “That’s,” Elize paused and slightly frowned, “slightly unfortunate. Can you give me a time when you’re able to work again?”

  “No. I’ll contact you when I decide to, though.”

  Elize sighed. “Very well. Lemuel and your sister should be done by now, so let us return to them.”

  I eagerly walked to the door. Finally, all the paperwork had been done. My life was about to begin all over again. I could finally live in Erelier as Machua again. I immediately went for the door, but as I grabbed its handle, I heard a familiar sound.

  *Click*

  I slowly turned and found myself held at gunpoint. The safety trigger was pulled off. Elize was standing there with a pearl white revolver in her hand.

  “One last thing, Phantom. Held at gun point, right now, do you think you can take me down?”

  I evaluated my situation. Elize’s magic revolver clearly had a bit of power. And each bullet was enhanced with magic. It was something that could seriously harm me, or even kill me. Her eyes were wide open, staring at me as they always were. However, those emotionless eyes were now sparkling. They were glistening like gemstones. As if I could see the brilliant stars in the night sky in them.

  I glanced to her revolver, then to her eyes again. And then I moved.