The northern Parts - Act 1: Part 1

There will be one paywalled chapter bonus chapter every week. You can skip it since it will not have anything to do with the story. But I would appreciate it if you decide to read it. Have fun otherwise.

Generally, when he had such a hectic day, the night was never pleasant for him. The two-hour sleep he had in the morning really didn’t help his fatigue of the previous night.

But the day had ended at a very satisfying note for him so Xiao was not surprised when he slept through his alarm in the morning.

What woke him up was his phone buzzing at 8:30 in the morning. Just as he opened his eyes and grabbed his phone, his fingers slipped on the phone.

“Hello, Noah is that you?” Xiao’s sleepy voice called out into his speaker but there was no answer to his question.

He was still in a sleepy mood when he checked his phone. And found that he had accidentally cancelled the call. He was dead.

As soon as he saw his phone he almost screamed. The screen reflected 6 mixed calls at his terrified eyes.

“You finally woke up. I wondered how long you would keep me waiting here for you” slowly Xiao’s face turned toward his door where his cousin stood with his phone in his hand.

The phone was beeping the call end tone which echoed in the silence that followed.

Noah didn’t look mad, but that was even worse. This made the whole company’s mood much bitter and if Noah was feeling particularly vengeful then his protection from the council was as thin as ice.

Noah acted kind of as his shield from the council in return for his support.

He was not ready to lose it just yet.

“Sorry. I did wake up when my alarm buzzed but dropped back to sleep. It won’t happen twice ok” Xiao called out in a small voice. His voice had a pleading tone in his voice.

Kei’s eyebrow twitched but there was no change in his mood. His voice was as relaxed as ever.

“It will happen twice and thrice and so many more times. I know you, Xiao, you have never been one to miss a good sleep after a bad night” Kei had only known him for a few years but he knew him pretty well.

Or at least, knew the person he turned out to be in his shell.

He had met him after he had acquired this body. Ray had been taken away by the Abyss and his mother had been detained when she had tried to perform more experiments on his body.

The plan was to have him come of age and take over the business which would have delayed his plans by a lot. The elders were conflicted, but Noah had convinced his father.

The child had always been resourceful and been able to manipulate his way through anyone. His mother’s side of the family wanted different things, especially for Noah to have the influence as the wish granter.

The ignorant family still believed that the position bestowed the power and influence and not the other way around.

Since his father had gone along with him instead of his mother, it had caused a rift between them. There were definitely many fights about the topic but the decision had already been made.

That was when the partnership really began. They were not friends, but they had enough common ground to make it work.

“I’ll go fresh up. I take it you want me in my colours?” Xiao tried to jest to lighten the situation but by the looks of it it was not working.

Noah’s face was still the same.

“Hurry up. If you have the time to joke around like this then you’ll find the way to deal with Zeno yourself too” his cousin called out while leaving and his slow brain registered the words too late.

“ZENO? Kei, who invited a commander of hunters there? Who’s next, their mysterious leader?” he called out behind his cousin but he was ignored.

He didn’t have the best relationship with the hunters. He had been there and there might even have been a time he believed that they were moving on the right track.

And then everything went down the drain.

As he washed, his mind drifted toward what he was going to do. Hunters being there meant that they were there to probably get the branch for their research. Would they take an interest in Kei too?

He would have to make sure that Kei remains at a distance. At least the one there was Zeno who was more of a chilling character. There were worse options out there, namely the leader who knew his secret.

His shower was quicker than he would have liked but time was of the essence here.

His clothes were his formal wish granter robes. The black harems along with form-fitting black under full-sleeved shirt made up of the first layer. Followed up was a thick pullover with spells embroidered in it. Gold covered parts of silver-white parts.

His hair was styled into a small side braid along with the rest of them pulled back into a braid. The most exaggerating part of the getup was the addition of fine gold jewellery braided in his hair and clothes.

Over his course of life, he had taken both male and female forms. As such, he didn’t find the divide in sexes to be as prevalent as people believed them to be. Over they were taken over, it was all the same.

For the very same reason, his clothes as the wish granter didn’t favour any particular gender distinctions and borrowed features from both fashion senses.

When he exited from his room, both Kei and Noah were already up. At once they turned toward him.

His attention shifted toward Kei who was seeing him in such clothes for the first time. Generally the preferred oversized plain T-shirts with fitting jeans, but this looked very different on him.

The child looked to be struggling with his eyes. Every few seconds he shifted his eyes from his face to his clothes to his side and back on him. Clearly, the teen didn’t know what to make of him.

“At least you cleaned up pretty nicely. Now just sit back and let me handle what happens next” Kei made a gesture for him to walk out.

“It's all up to you then. Kei let’s go, Noah will drive us to the terminal” seeing the teen so put out, he decided to take pity on him.

That snapped the child out of his current mood and he nodded as he followed him out. Kei just sighted behind him but he could hear his footsteps too.

The three of them secured themselves in their seat before taking off. Xiao occupied the other front seat while Kei took the back seat.

The car they were in looked ordinary in all aspects, but once you sat inside it, you could make out that it gave off a different vibe. That was because it had been wired with magic and hence was really secure.

After all, he would have not risked waking in public dressed like this.

“Is the terminal still in the westward metro junction?” Xiao confirmed. It was more so to break the silence spell that had descended over the people inside the car.

He had been a frequent visitor when the terminals had been first set up. Those times had been very different and hunters had been an acceptable group. The terminal technology was also something that had been developed by them.

But that had been then and this is now.

“It's not easy to change a whole terminal on a whim. There is too much work involved to do so. Besides, what place would they ever shift to which would work better than it?” Noah replied back.

“I would have thought you would like to keep it a secret from the public though. Having it in such a crowded place seems like you are inviting the danger right in '' Kei asked as he leaned his body forward in front.

One of his hands rested just behind Xiao’s shoulder for support.

Noah just scoffed at his question and looked at him like Noah was a waste of intelligence. To be sure, his brother most probably had a superiority complex that brought out the worst in him.

“Human obliviousness would surprise you. The best way to hide anything from them is to keep it in plain sight. It's more effective and reduces the resource management” Noah informed the teen who looked disinterested in all that.

“What he meant to say is that humans of today don’t really believe in the supernatural a lot. It has caused some issues before and Noah is just bitter because of the extra workload it provides him with” the situation was a little more serious than he was making it out to be, but that was something which could not be solved in a single day.

Faith took time to build and word to break. And humans were too reliant on their knowledge that everything had meaning and function.

They were not wrong but they didn’t have the right knowledge to access it all too. In that way, they were as bad as anyone else.

Soon they arrived at the metro station. Instead of parking their car in the parking lot, Noah headed toward the backside.

There was a sign that said to stop right in front of a wall, but Noah ignored it and kept driving forward. The car looked like it would hit the wall anytime, but it never made contact and just passed through much trouble.

They were in a tunnel made up of natural rocks. Noah stopped as soon as he gained some distance from their entrance. The tunnel looked enormous in length where one could not even see the end of it in sight.

Kei whistled, “So, where do we go now? Looks like a dead end to me” he continued. But he made no move to leave the car and check the situation out.

“Don’t worry yourself kid. The terminal is setting up but it will take some time. As soon as our battery starts to do his job it will be a matter of minutes” Noah replied while pointing his finger toward Xiao who looked too comfortable to move.

“Battery?” Kei asked. The question in his tone was clear and Xiao snuggled even deeper in his seat before he decided to move.

“He means me” he droned out in a voice that sounded hurt, “I’ve been reduced to just a poor battery for getting to places. Do you no longer love me, Noah? Will I have to find someone else to care for me? Kei would you be my anchor here since Noah no longer cares”

With one hand placed on his chest, Xiao acted out the scene. He was not really hurt since he did have better control over his magic than Kei. And Xiao’s body, although hybrid, handles his magic better than any he had ever been in.

Mostly because it had been very young when he acquired it. The youngest he had even taken even. It must have meant a better chance of magic bonding. There had even been no sign of magic poisoning or reactions.

It was unusual but not impossible and there could be numerous reasons which he wasn't particularly invested in finding out about.

Another advantage that had come as a surprise had been the slow ageing process of this body. It was faster than Ray’s own but still remarkable. He still looked somewhere in his 16-17 while being over 20 in this body’s time.

It made joking around much more fun. But he generally didn't do it in front of strangers. His list of acquaintances he felt free with was very limited but apparently, another one had joined in.

“Don’t worry Xiao. If Noah doesn’t want you I’m always here to take you” Kei was clearly humouring him as he went along with him. His tone was all serious and Xiao grinned.

“Maybe when you grow up. For now, I have to unfortunately rely on Noah. Besides, I do need to feed you too. Sir Noah, I’m at your command for now” if the corner of Kei’s mouth dropped at his words he didn't pay attention.

It was all joking among friends after all and this was all a play in the end.

Noah observed all this and the corner of lips slanted up in a smile. He was used to this type of thing happening. Especially when the one who pulled the trick was Xiao.

Underneath all his seriousness and business behaviour, once he got comfortable he got mischievous. Clearly the new kid, Kei didn’t mind it too much.

“Xiao, it's enough. Remember there are hunters there too. If we get there too late it would get dangerous” Kei called out. Xiao snapped out and nodded before walking out.

“Why need a battery? Don’t you store power for such operations” Kei asked out when only he and Noah were left inside the car. He had thought about following Xiao but decided not to in the end.

There was no real excuse for him to do so. And all one needed to do as a battery was to stand in the array and allow it to pull a little magic away from you. It was nothing dangerous.

Noah watched him from the corner of his eyes. Narrowed eyes watched each other cautiously.

“I don't know who you are and what you are planning, but you are good enough to fake all your paperwork and information without any leaks or gaps. Xiao seems to see use in you so I’ll keep you around. As long as you are not a danger to me I don’t care” Kei warned and purple eyes sharpened their gaze.

“Don’t worry. My goals are my own and I won’t pull you in them. I might even offer you help with yours too if you stay out of my business” Kei answered and an awkward silence followed.

They both knew that they were in a stalemate and the unspoken agreement followed the pair. There was a tension inside the car which broke the moment the door opened and Xiao slipped inside.

“I’m done. Noah, the driveway is open” In front of the party stood multiple peaks with broad bottoms and broader tops. However, the thin middle part of the peaks looked like it would break at any moment if so much as a breeze passed through them.

They had finally arrived at their destination.

(From here on out, there will be only three updates per week for a little while on Monday (Today), Thursday and Saturday at this time. I need to type out the chapters and edit them to make them flow better. Hopefully, you will continue to support me and if there is enough response, you might persuade me to release an additional chapter or two this week)