Chapter 9:

"Ashu POV"

I parked our car in front of the gates of madras, the city of night.  then woke Cale and Ray up; "Guys, it's time to wake up. We've arrived," I said.

"Yawn! Already?" asked Ray as he stretched his arms and sat up.

"Yeah, how was your sleep?" I asked turning to Cale.

"It's been days since I slept this peacefully," said Cale as he woke up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"The sun is about to rise. We should move on," I added, glancing at the sky, which was just starting to turn blue with the approaching dawn.

"So, where is this broker located?" Cale asked as the three of us stepped out of the car.

"He has a clothing shop on Bixin Road, block 4. We just need to find this shop of his," I replied, trying to shake off the weariness from the long drive.

"What about the car?" Ray asked, looking around the deserted streets.

"Don't worry, this place is quite safe," I reassured him, trying to conceal the hint of uncertainty in my voice.

As we walked the streets of Madras, the city of Night came to life, I couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding hung in the air. But because it was so early not many people were seen in the streets.

There are still people going about their daily business, some were opening their shops and stores, and some were sweeping the streets. 

As we walked down a straight lane, I knew that we have to be careful and keep a low profile, so we blended in with the crowd, our faces hidden behind the cap and mask that I bought in case.

The only sounds were the distant chirping of birds and the crunching of gravel under our feet. It was eerily quiet, but also exhilarating. We were on a mission, and the thrill of adventure was palpable.

As we walked, we stumbled upon a street market, where vendors were selling all kinds of goods.

Ray's stomach let out a grumbling sound, and I couldn't help but chuckle. "It would appear that our friend is here is hungry," I said. Ray noded while scratching his head, looking embarrassed. I suggested we stop for a quick bite and then settled on a food cart selling delicious-looking street food. As we ate, I couldn't help but feel a sense of happiness, even in the sistuation I put myself and those around me, I know its selfish of me.

The three of us had been through a lot together in these past three days, and from now on things will only get tougher and no going back. 

While eating we come across a group of street performers. They were practising for their acts, we were mesmerised by their acrobatics and fire-breathing performance. Don't know why but I couldn't shake off the feeling of being watched.

“You feel that!?” Cale whispered to me in a low voice, while keeping the straight face.

“Yeah… Someone’s watching, we need to hurry.”  as we finished eating our meal, we heard a commotion coming from the end of the street.

My heart quickened as I saw a group of armed guards approaching, their armour gleaming in the sunlight. " We need get out of here!!" I whispered urgently to my companions.

I quickly paid for the food and made our way through the crowd, trying to blend in and stay unnoticed.

But it was too late, the guards had seen us. "You there, Stop!!" one of them shouted. My heart was pounding in my chest as we broke into a run, the guard hot on our heels, he alerted all other law inforcers about us.

We weaved through the streets, dodging vendors, and pedestrians alike. My minds raced as we tried to think of a way out. Just as we were about to be cornered, Cale spotted an alleyway, "Here!!" and we darted down it.

"Found it!! That's the shop, hurry before they catch onto us!" I said, Cale and Ray approached the shop, and they could feel their nerves starting to fray. We narrowly escaped the guards and knew, we couldn't afford to make any mistakes.

"The shop is closed, what now!?"  Asked Cale, while trying the door handle.;

"It's not something to worry about. This is the front side of his house, which he converted into a store," I explained and then led them to the rear of the store. There, we knocked four times on the wooden gate. We waited anxiously for a response, and I again knocked.

KNOCK!

KNOCK!

KNOCK! 

KNOCK!

A gruff voice called out, "Who in God's name is knocking at my door, early this morning!"

"Baster, it's me," I replied, trying to keep my voice steady.

"Me who? Sorry, I think you've got the wrong place pal," he replied.

"It's me, Ashu. Open the door, hurry!!" I said.

The door creaked open immediately without any hesitation and Bester who appeared,with his face etched with concern. He had a rough, weathered face and a thick white beard. He looked at us with shock in his eyes.

" Inside! Hurry!" he invited us in with a low voice and looked behind us for any other presence, after that he slammed the door and....

"Are you out of your mind!" he cried.

"What?" I asked, not shocked by the greeting, I mean, I expected a slap or two.

" What!? Ashu.... What have done? You're now a wanted man. Do you even know what that fucking means!? 20 million bounties, that much have been put on your head, for God's sake!" He cried.

"Yeah, I know,"

"You know! You know!! Well, it doesn't seem like it to me. You casually just walked the streets and came to my house early in the morning, like you're strolling in park. What if someone had seen you, It will cause a lot of trouble for me too," Baster exclaimed, pacing back and forth in his dimly lit living room.

"You worry too much. Don't worry, We were cautious not to get spotted," I reassured him, by lying and trying to ease his nerves.

"Like hell you were!! I heard the alarm, I dont know how much of an idiot you can be, why dont you think about your grandfather before taking a stupid action, just what will he say, no ask yourself what will he do to you when you meet, dont you fear that?" he retorted, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Sigh... my head is now aching because of you?" Baster asked as he sat down in the nearest chair, rubbing his temples.

" We need your help, Bester. We need fake IDs and disguises so we can move around unnoticed." I asked, glancing at Cale and Ray who were standing nervously behind him.

"Cale Valtia, Ray Falcon, so the news about you freeing was right. Can I ask why?" Baster asked a hint of curiosity in his voice.

"Bester.... I've decided to head for the tower," I replied while trying to keep my voice steady.

"... Ha-ha!! I thought you were insane before, but now,  you really have lost your freaking mind! You, the tower! Do you even know what kind of place that is? Do you have a death wish or what?" Baster exclaimed, standing up from his chair in disbelief.

"Do I look like a person who would joke about this? Bester,"

" I've already made up my mind about it and now I have two people with me. All I need is two more, and then we can register ourselves for the tower," I explained, trying to convince him.

" ... I dont know what to say?"

"Bester, you knew this would might happen someday, I knew it since way back then. Tower chose me, it gave the these powers for a reason. I had two choices, either I join world goverment like what grandfather did or run for a king's seat.

"…"

"Don't be stupid! You may be strong but know this you're still inexperienced. Just the thought of you, kids heading to the tower is just preposterous. The place you three are heading for is dreamt by many people in hopes of becoming one of the kings;"

"We know," Ray remarked;

"No, you don't!! That place is called graveyard for a reason."

"It is a serious crime, to even have a thoughts of entering the tower because by doing so you're going against the four major powers, which will put you on the Black book;"

"Black book!?" asked Cale.

"It's a Book that said to contain the name of people who are above 10 stars rating; they are threats to 4 major powers and said to eliminated at the spot if ever been spotted;" said Ray;

"Well, we already are the criminals now, so it doesn't matter, now does it," I said;

"Yeah, but not above ten stars;" he rebuked;

“ Like I said before I already made up my mind; Just tell us if would you help us or not," I asked, my voice filled with determination.

Bester hesitated for a moment, he stared at me, saw my resolve, and then let out a sigh.

"Sigh! Your grandpa will get so mad, so mad. if he knew this... Fine, I owe him a lot, so I'll help you, not that I didn't warn you;"

He stood up and grabbed the telephone and dialled a number and started speaking into the phone, "Hello! It is me, yeah, so I need two… Yeah, add those three as well; Hmm… thanks!" He put the receiver down and turned to us.

"It's done, wait here for a sec. " He went to another room and brought back an ornate box made of ebony wood and opened it, revealing three beautiful and intricately detailed masks, each one unique and three IDs and some papers.

"Here take these! And cram all details in these paper, for future safety." He handed the IDs to us. I and my companions took our respective IDs and took a moment to examine our new identities.

"What's your name in the ID?" Ray asked excitedly.

"Jay Rowan," I said, looking at my ID with a hint of a smile on my face.

"Lake Kile," Cale said.

"What about you?" I asked Ray.

"Luke Raymond." He replied, a gleam of excitement in his eyes.

"Cool now that we have our IDs with us, what can you do about our faces?" I asked Bester.

"Now for the disguises," Bester said, pulling out a set of masks.

"For that, I have these masks for you guys, these are no ordinary masks, my friend made these, they are made by the best mask maker in the land, each one is a work of art, they will change your appearance completely for 24 hours, so use it only for emergency.

They will help you to disguise your face; but be careful, a splash of water will ruin the mask. And, when you use it and don't wear it for more than 24 hours, or, it will also make your face itchy." Bester said, handing us the masks. We took the mask, and Cale and Ray took the masks, and put them on, examining themselves in the mirror. The masks were lifelike and convincing, we hardly recognize ourselves. I felt a sense of satisfaction that they were one step closer to their goal.

"How much do I owe you for all this?" I asked, Bester while holding the mask in my hand.

"Just be safe, please." Bester said as he held me by my shoulder and gave tight hug, suddenly. 

"But just be careful out there. The road ahead is dangerous and you'll have to be careful not to get caught."

After the warning and the masks, we thanked Bester and then said our goodbyes and headed

towards the car.

As we left Baster's house, we started moving quickly and trying to be extra careful, after a few minutes of roaming we exit the city and arrived at the place where we had parked our car;

"Now that we have our IDs and disguises, the next step is to join the organization that Cale was talking about," Ashu said as they got into the car.

"That's right," Cale said. "The base of the organization is in Kyiv. So that's where are we heading next."

"You'll drive this time," I said, turning to Cale. "I'm pretty tired and I need some sleep."

"Sure thing," Cale said. "I'll wake you up when we get there."

With that, they set off on the next leg of their journey, ready to take on whatever challenges lay ahead.