Endless Journey: Infinite Realms

Chapter 6 Can we call that Serendipity?

The first sight that Alex saw when he came out of the tunnel were countless metallic buildings.

Wherever Alex put his sight on, he could only see tall spires of metallic constructs.

All of these structures were standing together, producing a city that seemed to have been born from metal.

The next feature that he saw were the vehicles.

Unlike the vehicles that Alex knew, the vehicles that whizzed by right in front of him were all hovering by around 6-12 inches from the ground.

The structures of these vehicles were still similar to the cars, bikes and buses that Alex knew. It was only the hovering function that was different.

"Hmph, you better finish your mission fast!" Asteria mumbled as she crawled out of Alex's collar. Her face wore a distasteful expression as she looked at her surroundings with loathing.

"I hate being around things like these, so you better give me more honey later!"

Alex thought that what Asteria said seemed to be plausible as she's a fairy, and fairies are more attuned to the nature.

Something artificial and mechanical like the Dragon Esper City must have been a great source of discomfort for Asteria.

"You seem overwhelmed." Clint commented as he saw Alex looking all around him. "Well, those who saw this city for the first time also acted like you."

"But you never know, maybe I have been to this city before already, maybe I just forgot due to my amnesia." Alex said, adding more and more colors on his lie.

"Well since I felt a sense of camaraderie with you, then let me be your guide!" Clint declared as he approached Alex.

"Umm…" Now that Alex was inside the city, he realized that the aversion of people to Clint were not that simple.

Even here inside the Dragon Esper City, where everyone is an Esper, most of them were still avoiding Clint, as if they were scared of him.

"Clint, why are more people avoiding you here? Are you some sort of mafia member?" Alex asked tactlessly as Asteria let out a sigh of disappointment.

"You know, you should never ask sensitive questions like that." Clint smiled weakly as he bopped Alex's shoulders. "But since you and I are already friends, then it might be better for you to know my identity."

Clint then started to lead Alex to a dark part of the city, where countless small paths diverge.

While they were walking, Clint gave Alex an encouraging smile as he told him,

"I am the head of one of the top gangs here in the Dragon Esper City. My real name is Clint, although everyone here calls me the 'Mad Jackal'."

"Oh, so you are a gang leader. Now I am sure why those people had avoided you earlier." Alex muttered as he seemed to not look scared. "You must be a pretty powerful leader to do things like this."

"Oh?" Clint's eyes perked up, as if he saw something extraordinary. "You are not scared of me, even when I am a gangster leader? Hahaha! It seems like you and I are really fated friends!"

"Sheesh. Just stop spouting stuff like that." Alex mumbled as he looked around him.

Suddenly, Alex realized that there are no more buildings in the area, as they were replaced by disheveled houses and dirty children.

This place was the exact opposite of the dazzling, brilliant city earlier. This place was damp, dirty, dark, and decrepit.

Even someone like Alex frowned as he saw these horrendous living conditions.

"Why exactly did you bring me here?" Alex could feel with his danger sense that Clint has no wicked intention against him.

As such, Alex has no qualms on where Clint will bring him. But still, knowing everything before going in will be much better compared to just going in blindly.

"Listen man." Clint said as he gave Alex a grave look. "I do not know where you came from, but you must know that once you have awakened your Esper Ability, you will be forced to be a part of World Esper Organization(WEO)."

"Oh, and I presume that this WEO is not a good place to be in?" Alex replied as he smoothed the collar on his shirt.

"Oh, that place is good for the Espers." Clint said as he shook his head from side-to-side.

"The only problem is that everyone joining the WEO will be restricted in their actions. They cannot do some things, and they have to do some things for the WEO too."

"Oh, so you do not like the feeling of being controlled." Alex said as he remembered some of his bad memories from childhood.

"Exactly!" Clint declared as he led Alex into a dark alleyway.

"Let me guess. You have a way to awaken my Esper Ability without being forced to join the WEO?" Alex slowly said as he gathered the context of Clint's words earlier.

"Once again, you are right." Clint said as he and Alex approached a 5 meter-tall steel door. This door was seemingly guarding something important, as countless materials were welded in, on, and around the door.

"Hey Alex! Do not listen to this tattooed freak!" Asteria hastily said as she tried to pull Alex back. "What if he is just after your brain?"

"No, he is not after my brain." Alex whispered back to Asteria as Clint left them to 'get the keys'. "He is after something else."

"Oh, don't tell me that he likes you?" Asteria muttered as she gave Alex the death stare. "I thought you can only charm women. As it turns out, even men are affected too!"

"Oi! I am not talking about that kind of interest!" Alex grumbled as he shook his shoulder a little.

"Then what are you talking about?" Asteria said as she gripped Alex's' clothes to prevent herself from tumbling down.

"This is just my hunch, but I think that the face that I have right now is similar to the face of Clint's previous friend." Alex said as his fingers traced all over his cheek.

"When Clint saw my face for the first time earlier. I noticed the expressions of shock, delight, and bitterness appearing in his eyes for around a second. You can even see that he was hostile to me earlier."

Alex then tapped his head as he continued talking.

"But when he heard that I have an amnesia, his attitude to me drastically changed, and now he is treating me like a friend. Even if Clint had an amnesia before, that still does not explain why he acted so friendly to me."

"And while we were walking here at the slums, their residents were not only looking at Clint. Some of them were also looking at me with shock in their expressions, as if they could not believe seeing me."

Alex then gave a suspecting look at Asteria as he said,

"They can only give me that look if they have seen my current face before!"

Asteria suddenly fidgeted as he averted her gaze away from Alex. "Oh… so you think that my Fairy Dust changed your face to look like a person that knew Clint before?"

"Stare…" Alex just gave Asteria a blank stare, as if he was waiting for her confession.

Seeing that Asteria seemed to be obstinate on not conversing at him properly, Alex decided to use his trump card.

"You know, I could request Clint to but some honey for me… But since someone here is not being honest with me, then maybe the honey will have to wait."

"The Fairy Dust mimics the face of an already dead person." Asteria rapidly said these words in order to appease her Honey Dealer. "The higher the quality of the Fairy Dust is, the better face mimic will occur."

"..." Alex does not know where to shout angrily as he realized that there is no way out for him now.

Asteria's words had already confirmed the thing that Alex dreaded the most.

And it was that Alex was currently wearing a face that looks extremely similar to a former friend of Clint who was already dead!

"It's a good thing that I used the amnesia reason earlier…" Alex thought to himself as he imagined what could have happened if he tried using a different reason. "Ugh, I better not think about it."

Asteria was about to talk to Alex more when Clint came back, bringing out a set of keys with him.

"Goodness sake, I told that brat to leave the keys in that safe…" Clint muttered angrily as he jabbed the keys into the metal door. "I did not tell her to stuff the keys into the pillow!"

After 4 unsuccessful attempts, Clint was able to find the correct key, which allowed him to open the door.

"Creak…"

A strange, metallic sound could be heard as the hinges protested against the door's rotation.

Alex watched with incredulity as he saw a room.

This room was comprised of mostly metals, wires and weird-looking equipment. There are also some furniture, but the accumulation scrap materials above them made them almost impossible to use.

Clint smiled as he saw the unsettled look on Alex's face.

"This right here is the experiment room of Dr. Natasha Barton, who is my wife."

Alex did not ask on how Clint could have a wife as he just listened on Clint's rant.

"You know, my wife is an extremely talented researcher, and her specialty is Esper Abilities. She had a good lab before, but her co-workers did some malicious things that had her fired, and now this is the only place that she can use as her lab."

"Ok…" Alex looked around the room warily as he tried to ignore the prominent-looking helmet that was placed at the center of the room.

"So, how are you going to awaken my Esper Ability then?" Alex muttered as he avoided stepping on the wires on the floor.

"Easy. I will just stimulate your brain with electricity, and that stimulation will let you awaken your Esper Ability." Clint said as he picked up the helmet that Alex was avoiding earlier.

"You want to put that thing on my head? Thanks, but no thanks." Alex said as he stood up. He tried to back away from Clint while saying,

"Even if that helmet really works, I would not really want something like that placed on my head…"

There is no way that Alex will allow that helmet to be placed on his head.

According to Asteria, nothing bulky or large should be placed on Alex's head, as this might mess up the illusion made by the Fairy Dust.

The helmet held by Clint is definitely large and bulky.

So even if that helmet really can awaken his Esper Abilities, Alex would not dare to use it now, as his disguise might be blown off.

"Hey this might look scary, but me and my wife have already used this helmet on some test subjects." Clint said as he edged nearer and nearer to Alex. "All of them survived…."

"The way you said 'survive' does not sound good to me." Alex said as he stepped his right foot back.

"Oi Alex! Do not step on that spot!" Clint's warning however was too late as Alex's right foot had directly stepped on an exposed wire.

"Bzzztt!" Alex's body then stiffened as thousands of volts of electricity went past his whole body.

"Ah!" Asteria was somehow unaffected by the shock, although her face looked extremely worried as she watched the spasming Alex suddenly falling to the floor.

"Pzzt!" Clint acted quickly as he immediately cut off the electricity in the room. This action of his led to Alex being spared from more electrical shock.

"Um, are you okay?" Clint said as he slowly approached the downed Alex. "Oh s**t, I just brought him here to test his identity. How could it have turned into something like this?"

Clint's lamentations however were cut short as the limp body of Alex suddenly stood up.

Even though some parts of his body looked singed and burnt, Alex did not look like he was hurt at all. In fact, he wore a look of excitement on his face.

"Clint." Alex tried to contain the excitement in his voice as he talked to the gangster. "Your theory is right."

"What do you mean by theory?" Clint said as he observed Alex's injuries.

"You said that your helmet uses electricity to stimulate the awakening of Esper Abilities, right? Well when I was electrocuted earlier, I managed to awaken my Esper Ability!"

"What did you say?" Clint's eyes widened as if he could not believe what Alex had just said. "Quick, show me your Esper Ability!"

"Ok, I will use it right now." Alex said as his eyes looked like child that was about to test his new toy. "Here I come!"

But before he Alex could start, he and Clint suddenly heard an angry person shouting from outside the lab.

"God**nit Clint! I told you to not play in my lab unless it is important! You better give me some explanation on why you are there and on why the electricity was also cut off!"