4 Touching a Ghost

Before long Ruzen had eaten up almost the entire table of laid out dishes, serving himself with lukewarm tea and gingerly wrapping a few left overs to carry it with him for future upcoming travel. He wasn't shy of breaching common decency to conserve his body in times of difficulty. Which he knew would be upon him as soon as he stepped out of this Hub.

"Follow the map if you want to save time," a sudden scratchy voice assaulted his ears, as his shoulders tensed in reflex. Turning back he noticed a small pale ghost child barely 5 looking up at him with his sharp pupil-less eyes, the skin paler than milk and lips bluish in tone. There was a certain cold aura around him even if he was 2 feet away.

In his hand he held a map, which was clutched awkwardly as the rolled edges had tangled up with his pale white hair, the shabby bangs chopped from each direction in an odd manner, as if the child himself had cut it off with his own hands without even looking in the mirror.

"Take Take," the child's screechy scratchy voice shrilled and rang as he impatiently held out the map with a serious stare. Blinking when Ruzen did not immediately reach out for it.

Looking at the cold greying fingers and the haziness surrounding it, Ruzen felt this hidden urge to touch and see if the Ghost child would flicker like some mirage.

So he leapt at the chance he got by taking hold of the map and also sneakily touched the ghost's chubby fingers to take in the weird skin texture and solidity.

Surprised, he frowned at how odd it felt, as if he was not touching something solid but rather a surface of fluid smoke. It was truly eerie and uncomfortable. The freezing temperature made his hair stand on his neck, that slimy and cold feeling assaulted his body with numerous pin pricks.

But what he never expected was for the Ghost to start screaming, a scream rivalling a banshee, so sharp and loud that Ruzen had to cover his ears with his hands. He was startled when his finger with which he stroked the child's skin still felt unnaturally cold.

Frightened that he had done some mistake by mistake, he was forced to decide whether to escape before someone came in to inquire, but being him, he realized his luck wasn't very forgiving and a hoard of white wisps of smoke started condensing right in front of his eyes, as a second later five tall statures stood in the once empty hall.

The Ghost in-charge was obviously that red robed Hub owner, his temperament unpredictable, more frightening than any other negative reaction Ruzen might be expecting to receive.

Feeling compelled to explain himself to these higher ups and that useless ghost child who had started to cry blood tears, Ruzen bowed in apprehension, although still a lot calmer than most others would have been in his situation. "It was a mistake." His speech was clear and he didn't stitch out long tales or overdramatized, he was simply telling the truth.

"Touching a Ghost has consequences, for you declare your ownership over them the moment you touch them."

The blade like tone stumped Ruzen, he never had thought that there was such custom! Why didn't Al'Bae know of this?

"When inside our domain, that is the Trading Hub, a Human has the authority to choose a Ghost of his liking and Touch to share a contract with them. One Ghost at a time is our in-house rule."

So it was like that…

"I hadn't known, I apologize, please break whatever contract may have been shared by mistake," Ruzen clearly didn't want to be bogged down by a useless child who was at the moment sniffling and cut quite a sorry figure. However still better than himself.

The owner didn't look fazed in the slightest as he spoke, "That is not in my hands, I work for a superior who won't take back contracts even if you prostrate yourself in his bed. He is a Ghost with strict sincerity towards -"

"He maybe what he is," Ruzen interrupted tersely, "but I just cannot take this child with me, it is impossible." He wasn't going to back down just because things were taking a turn for the worse. He had also never favored children because they were too fragile. You'd have to take care of them at every point of turn.

What more, the child wasn't normal, a ghost child must be more difficult to handle, and with Ruzen's situation he couldn't help another soul even if they were self-sufficient.

The owner even after being interrupted did not look too upset, unlike the four behind his back who were starting to frown. They all looked of the same family with red robes and dark hair, a pale complexion which seemed too unnatural. Two were women, while the other two were men, all of them strong, tall and impressive in their own.

"I suggest you take the child with you, he is still immature and lacks sympathy for humans, we were able to teach him 1/3rd of the scriptures, but 2/3rd remain. For the lack of insight on my part, I will allow you to take him without any payment and procedures, so please consider again. A ghost is better at stealing and navigating than a cursed human like yourself. Make use of him."

Sketchy.

Sketchy was the first term that came to mind as Ruzen felt flabbergast. It almost felt as if he was being used for getting rid of this child who was now beginning to look pitiable again.

"But I don't want him, what isn't clear. I also wouldn't use a child to steal for me, even if he is a Ghost."

A drop dead silence engulfed the hall as neither party were ready to back down, but finally the tense atmosphere was broken when the Ghost Child in question reached out towards Ruzen and tugged on his flimsy sleeves, stating, "My name is Ah'Hen, please take care of me."

A breeze rustled past as Ruzen flinched back, he suddenly felt trapped, the ghost child Ah'Hen… why did he tell him his name and asked to be taken care of? Why did this pattern feel so wrong…

"A name solidifies the contract, thank you for your purchase, until next time," and the one speaking, the master of the Hub vanished again with a flicker. The rest of the Mob also vanishing one after the other. When the last tall woman was left, it seemed like she took pity on the dumbstruck fool that was Ruzen and smiled with a chilly gaze, "Ah'Hen is just a child ghost but he can be more reliable than most companions, be mindful of not corrupting his core, rest assured, you have found yourself a good playmate."

And with that last bit, the hall was once again silent as the woman as well vanished. Leaving behind the now simpering ghost child and an extremely unlucky Ruzen.

"Will you haunt me if I leave you behind?"

The ghost child Ah'Hen tilted his head as if confused, his eyes sharpening and his lips pouting, "Don't leave, don't leave." His chubby palms clutched at Ruzen with a tight grip, wrinkling the rags even further. The voice used would have been cute if not for the scratchiness present in the vocals.

"But I cannot support you, why do you even want to go with me?" Ruzen wondered if something was wrong in the Hub, was this little one bullied? He wasn't worried per say, yet only someone heartless wouldn't feel something towards this child ghost.

"Go together, go together!"

Sighing, Ruzen let go, the pitiful image of the ghost clinging to him, and those bloody tears just on the edge, made him give up resistance. It had been futile from the very beginning. "Fine," he spoke aloud, "I will adopt you, make sure to pay me back for my kindness."

The child Ghost nodded, a smile creeping on his face.

Being the observant one Ruzen noticed a small rectangular stripe of paper stuck at the back of the ghost's head, with two words written on it, 'Poison' and 'fire'. He wondered if it was Ah'Hen's power description, or if it was something else, because as soon as he read the paper, the paper immediately flared with ghost fire as the blue flames engulfed the piece and scattered the ash in the air.

A bit startled, Ruzen asked, "What did that paper mean?" but Ah'Hen did not seem to understand him, thus it was useless.

"Well," next he picked up the map that had fallen out of his hand with all the shock he had received, he dusted it off and unrolled it, studying the mountains and forest, the rivers and the strange rune circles, two of them, scattered around a place called 'Manjo'.

"Do we need to leave for Manjo? Where are we right now?" Ruzen asked Ah'Hen with doubt, he did not know how to study a map since he wasn't even sure of where he was.

Contrary to his expectations, Ah'Hen started to frown instead of answering, fiddling with his fingers and looking around in a daze. The whole set of weird behavior had Ruzen tense up. Was there something wrong?

First he got saddled with a Child Ghost just for a one time meal, the pain from his poked waist hurt with every move he made, and then the map he received was almost useless since even the Ghost child did not know much.

"Can you ask around, I don't think anyone would answer me." He was a patient man, he could do this!

Ah'Hen thought about it and nodded slowly, tottering through the hall as his little feet padded softly, way subtle even for a ghost, almost as if he was floating and not walking, but Ruzen did see him walking and that meant the Ghost was ghost walking or something, which was easier to believe.

"And also bring in first aid- no bring in herbs and bandages, I had been hurt, I need to be healed." Ruzen believed he had been heard so he fell back to his seat by the dining table, his body aching and sore all over, now that he had eaten he wanted some major rest, but with everything going on, he just couldn't let himself be vulnerable to danger.

"Nothing seems to be going my way today, why was I even sent here?" he mumbled absently, looking up at the flat ceiling full of runes and markings. He missed his family, it was difficult to suddenly accept everything, the entire time he felt as if he was in a dream, but he knew it was not even close to a dream, his mind wasn't imaginative enough to cook up something of this level.