A faint clicking noise, then she stands in wait until the machine is done processing her employee ID scan input, until the blinking red on the gate slowly turns into approving green, and the safety lock on the gate eases. 

Sara Khalida moves past the gate in haste, already skimming through her pocket-size tablet communication terminal as she picks up her pace. Her honey brown hair is kept together with a single blue ribbon, resting upon her right shoulder, moving around as she runs.

It is yet another day in the Guide Center, where Espers, Guides, and other national administration staff alike come and go. Sara tilts her copper-rimmed glasses up, avoiding contact with a few passing flock as she eyes the direction toward the main lobby, navigating a maze of pristine white hallways with its signature metal floor. The ones with black shirt and yellow tie like her are Guides, then the ones with white shirt and blue tie, the one she ignored by default, the Espers. It is a punctual dress code, and it makes them easy to differentiate from each other.

Sara heaves a long sigh as she looks over at the lobby. A few of the trainees are already lining up, waiting for their instruction. Her blue eyes double check her comms screen, trainee orientation, 8 AM - the sentences alone make her massages her temple in exasperation.

It is one of many jobs that Sara hates in the Guide Center, especially when the trainees are either stuck-up or rude. But of course as a Guide, A-Class at that, she can’t pick her jobs willy-nilly.

It’s not like she wants to be glued in the Guiding Area like any important S-Classes or Mentalist A-Classes either.

Sara does her roll call, garnering attention from the trainees. Everyone today at least wears their ID card and badge properly, meaning she doesn’t have to handle strays who won’t bother to read the handbook, or any delinquents who'll be lollygagging over S-Class Espers that may pass by on the hallway or something.

Sara stands taller, maintaining her placid expression as she introduces herself briefly, then ending with, “Welcome, new recruits, to the Guide Center. Please stick close to me for the whole duration of the tour and refrain from disturbing other staff, Guides, or Espers.”

She scans the crowd once. A party of ten, mostly young ladies and gents, bright-eyed and naive. Sara tries not to be too negative, thinking that she’ll become a letdown to these starry-eyed recruits and she won’t want that. She doesn’t want another rumor circulating about her.

Sara gestures for them to trail behind her as she tells about the brief history of Guide Center. They move away from the waiting area to the receptionist desk located not far from there, beyond the separating glass wall.

“Whenever you’re enlisted for field duty, the receptionist will be your go-to place to collect information.” Sara spots a few of them eventually taking notes, she tries to go slower with her explanation.

Not far from them, as Sara continues her textbook explanation about the receptionist area and how to mind their manners, a group of Guides with Espers they accompany happen to talk aloud amongst each other. They seem to be moving toward the other building where the ‘rooms’ for the Guiding session are located.

"Hey, isn't she the Bond Breaker? They let her handle trainees?"

"You mean number 402? Aah, yes, it is her."

“Don’t you think she’ll teach the newbie to hate on Esper by their first day? Boo-hoo. They should know that Guides should be honored to work with us.”

Sara’s eyes twitch, the back row of the trainees begin to whisper. The bespectacled woman then clears her throat aloud, alerting the trainees before her to pay attention to her instead of other staff who just pass by.

Them and their big mouths.

"Okay, trainees. Shape up. I'll introduce you to the scope of Guide’s job next." Sara sighs, adjusting her glasses up. She leads them to the deeper area, where the Guide Center branches to the Guiding Area, the Medic Area, and Holistic Therapy Area. The floors are marked in different colors for each section, and the floating screen near the wall shows a map of the area that is pretty self-explanatory. “Does anyone have a question before we proceed?”

Silence. Or rather, some of them are already growing pale, likely taking stock on the passing conversation from earlier. Sara turns to her back and resumes walking, shrugging as she picks up from where she left off.

“Our job, essentially, is Guiding.” Sara begins in a monotonous voice. “We’re assisting Espers on-field and off-field to ensure that they can use their power to maximum efficiency and avoid any serious drawbacks.

“While on-field our Guiding Phase may be limited, if we’re tasked to be one of the stationed Guides in this Guiding Area, you’ll have to be vigilant to accept Espers in any condition or … cater to their whims, so to speak.” she eloquently adds. “Though I can assure you, the system will not assign anyone beyond your ranked capabilities, except an emergency situation arises.”

A few of them sigh in relief; perhaps worrying for the worst. A latter few show a sign of confidence; likely knowing their ‘capabilities’. Sara shrugs, not wanting to fluff their ego.

She can only hope this mundane work ends soon, then maybe she can take it easy during her stationed duty, and the day will be quite tolerable.

After taking the newbie to their orientation test room, Sara’s work is done. She stops around a quiet corner to check on her communication terminal. She crosses out the ‘babysitting’ duty from the screen, then she scrolls down to find the rest of her day is being in the Guiding Area. Sara sighs in resignation, double tapping the screen until it returns to the front page, where it shows her identification details.

Sara Khalida, ID No. 402. Classification: Guide - Physician. A-Class. If this identification is misplaced, please return the tablet to the nearest Guide Center.  

Sara pockets back her tablet, about to go to the Guiding Area. A crowd of Guides are hounding the nearest information speaker, talking to themselves. She can’t help but to steer away, knowing that a crowd means something unfavorable had taken place. Then again, no big events have happened recently so there shouldn’t be a sudden influx of Espers that’s worse to wear.

Hopefully.

"There will likely be a Raid announcement soon."

"Raid again?" another person groans. So is Sara’s inner voice. "What is it this time, Monolith problem?"

"Likely something to do with the increasing activity over at the east, near Malkuth," someone answers. Sara eventually stops, her attention to the tall speaker, waiting for a follow up news.

Malkuth. Sara tries to remember recent news. The Capital is located near two ‘Remote Towns’, a settlement that was long abandoned because it is rife with monster activities and high Aether level. One of them is Malkuth, just outside The Capital walls by the east. Monolith number 7889 is there to protect The Capital from any monster invasion and keep the Aether from leaking.

If Sara recalls correctly, there’s only an increase of scientific experiments around the area so far, and not something life-threatening to the public. Though, another Raid? Being on a packed shift in Guide Center is one thing, but suddenly calling for a Raid is another nightmare altogether.

“Is it because there is a rumor of someone mining Aether illegally?”

“Tch, some companies never learn.” 

The tall speaker lets out a static noise, followed up by an information jingle before the Raid announcement rolls in. Sara frowns. Her body stiffening as they begin to list a set of ID numbers to gather at the Assembly Room.

"Number 190, 221 ..." the list goes on. "402 ... 532 ..."

Just her luck, Sara groans. She doesn’t bother to stay longer to have a peep about any of the participating Espers, already stomping to the Assembly Room on the third floor.

 To most people, Espers have always been regarded as heroes.

With monsters born of Aether, the Sentinels, run rampant and threaten the livelihood of humanity, and the threat of corruption because of the uncontrollable Aether energy activities, Espers and their abilities acted as humanity's only hope.

People then build cities encased in walls, armed themselves with technology of Monolith, the one that contains Aether activities, and live in relative peace and harmony. Then, the one who fights earnestly to ensure that peace, is the one blessed with mastery over Aether, one who can wield the energy as superpowers.

To most people, Espers have always been regarded as heroes; however, Sara Khalida hardly thinks so.

As one of the Guides, the one who works to safeguard Espers' well-being, the sore reality between Esper and Guides for her are far from those said through rose-tinted glass.

Espers, for Sara, is a slave-driver. Thinking that they’re indispensable, some of the stuck-up Espers of A-Class or S-Class think of their Guides similar to their servants. A few Guides take this in stride, or are simply honored to be able to work with a higher class Esper, but Sara detest them.

Starting from where she calls out Esper one time during a field duty, everyone begins calling her as Bond Breaker, especially for refusing any request to go beyond Phase 1 of Guiding. She also won’t listen if the Esper asks her to follow their wants.

Sara composes herself from coming into the Assembly Room, finding most of the Espers and Guides already form a group amongst each other. She looks around from corner to corner, her eyes rolling when she takes a glimpse of Espers trying to get buddy-buddy around their Guides, or the Guides trying to cozy around the Espers.

“It seems that you’re the only one left that’s not in any group yet, I take it?”

Sara whirls to find the owner of amber eyes peer back at her. She steps back, watching the Esper warily as she tries to approach her. Behind that Esper is another Guide, a meek lady with long black hair that seems younger than Sara.

The small team in the Raid should be composed of at least one Esper, so with their ragtag group, they’re already fulfilling the bare minimum needed.

“You’re … The Tempest?”

“Ah,” the red-haired woman nods. Still keeping her tone polite. “So you’re already familiar with me.”

Though before Sara is about to answer the approaching redhead, the leader of this Raid already yells for everyone to gather around for briefing.

Sara may dislike Espers or hardly remember anyone she’s working with in passing, but some particular names don't escape her attention. The Tempest, for example. Sara knows the red-haired Esper as her approach stands out between the rest. Some Espers itch for action that they will showcase their strength on frontlines, exposing them to harm, but not her. 

The Tempest, as far Sara knows, always acts like an advisor. Why would she be a vanguard to a Raid like this?

“Our target is two kilometers southwest to Monolith 7889, a concentrated cluster of Aether crystal is said to suddenly be jutting out from the ground, which triggers rapid mutation and endangers the group of scientists and expedition teams that’s gathering information there.”

Hushed whispers begin to dominate the room. Sara picks on her own collar and swallows uncomfortably. A nagging feeling begins to blossom in her chest.

“The condition is rather dire, I presume.” the redhead beside her states calmly. Sara remains silent, while the other Guide beside her begins to bite on her gloves.

After the leader entails their goals and the direction of this mission, they separate them into a group that will lead to vanquish the monsters, and the ones who will rescue the scientists and their escorts. Sara watches and sees that The Tempest picks the rescue team's side. The brown-haired Guide follows suit.

The leader tells everyone that they will adjourn right after the transport helicopter arrives.

“I haven’t caught your name, Miss Guide?” The Tempest asks.

The way this Esper talks is new to Sara, as she never hears someone so polite to a Guide. “... Khalida.”

“Miss Khalida,” she repeats. “My name is Amara Angkara Khurana. You can address me with my middle name.”

“... Sure, Miss Angkara.” Sara turns to the other Guide. “And this is?”

“Miss Penelope is only back after her duties in Remote Town Netzach.” she introduces her, being somewhat familiar despite it looks like their first meeting. The meek lady bows. 

Amara looks over between them before she resumes, “We’ll be on rescue duty, I hope things will go well for our Raid team.”

Sara doesn’t return her handshake, unlike Penelope, and simply nods and trots away.