Chapter 113: A Guide’s duty to guide

The sound was like music to his ears. Did that mean that there was something wrong with him? Brent didn’t like that there were people in distress, but the sounds of chaos, of crunching cement and falling debris made a shiver of delight run up Brent’s spine.

“Let’s get you somewhere safe, hmm Mr. Caulder?” Brent said quietly, glancing from side to side.

That was when he noticed Esper Parker. He was standing alone, his back against the bank, a dark shadow to the right of him that was swallowing everything that got thrown into it whole. Brent blinked.

“Esper Parker?” Brent called and the man turned slowly. Brent knew what that meant. The man was using a lot of power up. Brent was moving before he could stop himself, and thankfully, so was Mr. Caulder. Brent touched the man, pouring a reasonable amount of guiding into him as he did.

Esper Parker didn’t make a sudden move, but slowly pulled out his phone. When he did, Brent watched as he pressed a single button and then raised the phone to his ear.

“Brent is done.” He said into the phone. Then, he hung up and tucked his phone away. When he turned his gaze towards Brent, Brent felt himself gasp.

The man’s eyes weren’t just black, they were like a black hole. Shifting, shimmering in a way that Brent couldn’t place, and they didn’t look like they belonged in his face. His eye sockets were gone, the flesh looking like it had never been there. His face looked alien, strange, and Brent realised that this was a power he didn’t have a lot of information on.

There weren’t a lot of Espers out there who had Darkness powers, but hell, calling it darkness felt not quite correct.

“Are you alright, Esper Parker?” Brent asked, squeezing the arm he was holding onto. Esper Parker didn’t blink, and Brent had a feeling that he couldn’t.

“I will be. Sophie is safe behind my shield. As soon as someone comes to relieve me, we’ll go.” He said. Brent had no idea what that meant, but Esper Parker let out a soft sigh. “Get behind me. Especially you, Mr. Caulder.” Esper Parker leveled Mr. Caulder with a look from his strange eyes and Mr. Caulder, the strong man that he was, flinched.

“Understood, Esper Parker.” The older man muttered, pulling himself behind the two awakened individuals. Brent remained tucked against Esper Parker, guiding the man so that he didn’t surge. Brent wouldn’t live it down if he caused that.

“I’m sorry we took so long.” Brent apologised quietly, watching as the chaos continued before them.

“Don’t apologise for something you couldn’t control. We both knew that it could take this long. That’s why we had plans put in place in case something happened. I think you were the only one who didn’t know angering the human god of this city would take as long as it did.” Esper Parker even smirked as he finished speaking and Brent felt his eyes widen.

Human god? Is that what his brother thought he was?

“Well, if he’s a god, so am I.” Brent muttered. “And I don’t know how banking works. I just let Kellen deal with our money until I need to know something.” Brent muttered. That wasn’t completely true, but it was basically true. He hadn’t known how other places worked, and he’d had to get a crash course from one of his grandfather’s people about six months into his stay on the front lines.

Before that, Brent just mooched off of the Espers and Guides who wanted him in their bed.

Esper Parker chuckled, shaking his head slightly as he stared out over the scene before them. Brent was a little surprised that no one was turning their attention towards them. Not even from the moment that Brent stepped out of the bank.

Then, it clicked.

“Esper Parker, are you…coating us in shadows?” Brent asked carefully, watching the man’s mouth as his lips twitched slightly.

“I’m glad that you noticed. I did it as soon as you stepped outside. The people inside the bank would have seen you opening the door and then disappearing from their sight.” Esper Parker said. Brent felt his eyes widen, his mouth dropping.

What? That was insane!

“That’s crazy powerful! Are you alright? It must cost you a lot!” Brent said, knowing that was the case. The man was draining him, but it wasn’t at a dangerous level yet. Brent was going to have to stop guiding him soon so that he didn’t have to deal with any backlash.

“I’ll be saved soon, don’t worry.” Esper Parker told him and Brent wondered what he meant by that.

Then, there was an explosive boom before Brent’s eyes as a fierce form slammed into the ground in front of the bank and maniacal laughter could be heard.

“I hear that the Chronos Guild thinks that they can attack my people? Are you fucking insane?” It was Aunt Dina, but unlike the person that Brent had seen up until this point, she was a completely different beast.

Her hair flowed around her, picked up by the flames coming from her body. Her eyes glowing, her body encased in flames. Brent wondered how her clothes didn’t burn, but that was such an abstract thought that it was gone between one breath and the next.

Aunt Dina was in the process of slamming her fist into a Chronos Guild Esper’s jaw while the ’police’ tried to stop her. There was no way that they could get close enough to her. She was on fire, and it was clear that the heat was too much for them to handle.

She wasn’t alone, however.

Several more Espers in the Phoenix Guild uniform came pouring onto the scene. Esper Parker didn’t rest until another of the Lieutenants, the purple-haired youngest member, Esper Tracer. She came close to the area, but not close enough. It was clear that she couldn’t quite see what was going on. It was a curious enough phenomenon that Brent wondered what it looked like from the outside.

“Esper Parker? Are you there?” Esper Tracer called, her hands around her mouth as she hovered a few feet off the ground. Brent felt when Esper Parker released his powers, pulling them back slowly and Esper Tracer grinned, her eyes focusing on them as soon as she was able to see them. “You look to be in good condition. How did it go?” She asked, curious as she approached.

“Well, I think.” Brent said. “We have an injured civilian in the car.” Brent told her and she frowned.

“Oh no. I’ll get them. You rest for a moment. We’ve got your back.” She said, heading towards the car that Brent gestured to. Esper Parker kept his eyes open but leaned back against the brick building behind him. Sweat was pouring down his face, soaking into the collar of his shirt. That must have taken a lot out of him, but he was still working. Brent knew because of the tug he could feel from the man.

“You’re going to surge.” Brent warned, having to take his hand off of him to give Brent’s powers a break. He would not have side effects if he could fucking help it. His side effects were solidly of the sexual kind, and he was not about to lay his hands on anyone here.

This was Kellen’s family, and he also didn’t want to cause an international issue. Plus, he knew that the Espers would also be mad at him if he pushed himself too hard. They were mad at him when he barely did anything.

With Esper Tracer at their side, they began to move. Esper Tracer picked up the car that they had been using with her powers, taking it with them so that they could use it when they got to a part of the city that wasn’t blocked off. It was rather smart of her, honestly, since none of them could move quickly without the car.

Some of the Chronos Guild noticed and tried to harm them, but Aunt Dina would step in, distracting them. The way that woman could hurl fireballs made Brent want to never actually make her angry at him.

Eventually, they got to the road and Esper Tracer watched their backs as everyone got into the car.

“What about Esper Gardner?” Brent asked as he got into the car. Esper Tracer smiled at Brent, poking his nose like he wasn’t the same age, if not older than her.

“She’s fine, Brent. She’s a much bigger baddie than you think.” Brent had no doubt, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t worry about her. “We’ll see you all back at the Guild soon.” She promised, waving them on. She kept watching them, deflecting any attacks made against them until they were lost amongst the flow of the traffic avoiding that part of the city.

It took them a good half an hour before they made it back. When they pulled into the parking spot underneath the Guild tower, Brent finally let out a heavy, relieved breath.

“We…made it back.” Brent said and Esper Parker let out a deep sigh of his own.

“I’m going to be in so much trouble with my partner.” He muttered and Brent snorted.

“You used too much power, didn’t you?” Brent teased and he groaned.

“I…anticipated I would need to use this much.” Esper Parker muttered and it felt like Brent was talking to Kellen after he’d just jumped in powers. Brent grinned.

“Ah, but I take it you didn’t tell your partner how much you planned to use, did you?” Brent asked. Mr. Caulder let out a chuckle.

“As much as I appreciate the sense of normalcy talking about how mad your lover is going to be, I would appreciate it if we got Sophie to see someone. She still hasn’t woken up.” Brent jerked, nodding in agreement. It had been a while that Sophie had been out and Brent hadn’t even considered it.

“It’s okay.” Esper Parker told them softly. “She’s been put to sleep with my powers. Kind of. It’s…hard to explain. She’s okay but yes, we should make sure that she didn’t get hurt more than I thought.” Esper Parker sounded like he was worried about how they would take that information.

While it was surprising to Brent, it wasn’t something that he was going to judge the man for. Powers were complicated and strange, and Darkness as a power was kind of shunned because people still thought dark meant bad.

If it meant that Sophie didn’t wake up in the middle of that and freak out? He thought that was a good thing.

“Let’s get her to the medical bay, alright? And no worries, Esper Parker. We’re not mad, just surprised.” Brent said, speaking for both him and Mr. Caulder. He didn’t want the older man speaking up and saying something bad, not that he thought it would. He just didn’t want to take any chances.

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