(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 160

Chapter 160: A century of change

"Did you know that the first person to awaken their powers was an S Class Esper of physical strengthening? Do you know how he awakened? When he did?" Kellen shook his head, and a slight smile touched the Captain’s lips. "He crushed the arms of his daughter as he tried to protect her from a monster racing at them." Horror crossed Kellen’s face at the reveal. "He surged immediately since he was so overwhelmed by what he had done, but thankfully, he directed it towards the monsters. He was also the first person to close a gate, but because no one followed him in, we had no idea how to close gates until much later. When someone survived after destroying a core and made it out alive. Tragic, isn’t it? That his story got erased so quickly, even though he was so important to humanity?" Rhys had a self deprecating smile on his face, and Kellen’s chest filled with despair. This wasn’t where he had wanted his thoughts to go.

"That is devastating." Kellen agreed. Rhys smiled, pressing a kiss against his cheek.

"Right? His daughter survived, in case you were wondering. It’s why we even have a recounting of his story. But his whole story brings up a lot of questions, and has for years. What makes someone an S Class Esper? How do we create them? Why did this man turn into a monster when all he wanted to do was protect his daughter?" Kellen wasn’t sure what answer he wanted to hear from him.

"I don’t know. I just always assumed it was a mutation to protect ourselves, like everyone else." Kellen said, and the look that Rhys gave him...it wasn’t quite pity, but it felt along those lines. Kellen felt himself stiffen defensively.

"It’s traumatic situations, Kellen. Every S Class Espers I have ever spoken to has had something truly awful happen to them just before they had awoken. Something that meant that they had no one else to rely on for help. A life or death situation. That is what makes S Class Espers." Kellen felt his blood run cold, and he was sure he had gone very pale.

Even Sergei and Sakura? From what Kellen remembered, Sakura had a relatively normal childhood, and she had never been out of school until the week she awakened as an Esper. But...who was he to say that bullying wasn’t traumatic? He hadn’t paid close enough attention to her when they were younger, and only tried to avoid her because she was always challenging him to fights or trying to bench press him.

Sergei was an unknown, since he truly only knew him from doing a couple of jobs with him. He had always been kind, but Sergei’s looks and powers tended to freak others out. He did have several piercings, and was ghostly pale. And he tended to have his lieutenants speak for him if he could.

"A-Are you sure?" Kellen asked. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe the Captain. He knew he was the type to do a thorough investigation into something before declaring it a fact, but his heart ached at the implications here.

"My sweet little Kellen. You know that I wouldn’t tell you this with such confidence if I hadn’t triple checked the results myself. Even S Class Guides had very similar stories, but were slightly off. It usually involved a surging Esper, or a situation that felt hopeless. But, it seems that S Class monsters don’t come from very happy homes." His smile was bittersweet and Kellen felt his heart breaking.

"Stop saying that about yourself." He whispered, pressing his forehead against Rhys’ shoulder. Rhys wrapped his hand around Kellen’s neck, holding him in place. The warmth of his fingers leached into Kellen’s skin.

"You know what also tends to happen when an S Class awakens? A gate opens." Kellen blinked slowly, surprised, and Rhys continued. "A ludicrous statement, right? To think that the awakening of a mere human could be related to a new gate. But is it too far-fetched? Why did the gates begin appearing, anyway? It’s almost been a century since the first one appeared, so why do they keep appearing? Why did they show up in the first place? What caused this all to happen?" Stunned, Kellen didn’t know what to say.

He had never even thought to question why the gates had shown up. He was only worried about clearing them and making sure everyone he cared about stayed safe. Maybe that made him a simple person, but why would he have worried himself about something that was above his pay grade? He had been too busy worrying about his own life and his companions to even have such deep thoughts.

"I-I don’t know. I’ve never thought about this before." He admitted, slightly ashamed and the Captain gave his neck a squeeze, kissing his temple.