Individuals: The Director of Death [BK 1]

Author's Note: This book is still under editing. Major changes may have already or may still occur, online or offline of Wattpad. The Director of Death is the first book in the Individuals series.

Trailer for The Director of Death was created by A. V. Galen.
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INDIVIDUALS

BOOK ONE: THE DIRECTOR OF DEATH 
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PRELUDE: MARK OF A NEW ERA

               The children look at me, and I smile. Deep inside me, I know. I just know that they are the future and hope of our realm.
                    Lord Darius to the people of Silva

Lord Darius called this new Individual the mark of a new era.

               Arthur Massimo, of course, wondered what he meant. Mark of a new era? Why, that sounded so…so unheard of, actually. What era would their town leader be talking about? These Individuals – people and children with extraordinary abilities – were becoming very rare in this realm. Children have seldom awakened the sparks that made them so different from regular mortals. And new recruits? Well, they’ve been even rarer.

               Yes, Individual recruits were rare, and to have the head director of Listing Academy say that this particular one would mark a new era was certainly a surprise.

               But what was more surprising was that they were asking Arthur to become this boy’s stepfather.

               He looked at the year-old baby in the arms of his colleague Jonathan, his heart torn at the sight of a child so young without his birth parents. A messy head of brown hair, curious bright eyes… Did this little boy even sense that his parents weren’t with him anymore – that he was in a realm much different than his old one? Only a year old… Oh, knowing that just broke Arthur’s heart.

               Perhaps half an hour had passed since the request. Half an hour and still Arthur couldn’t believe what was being asked of him. Somewhere, deep inside his heart, he wished that this were all some dream. Just some unbelievable dream that he would suddenly wake up from and forget as time passed. But, no. The musty meeting room air was real, the rapid beating of his heart was real. Everything was real. And hadn’t it just been this morning when he had been talking to Victoria? When he had been thinking that today was a very pleasant day? Yet now, here he stood, his heart and mind torn between two decisions he could not face.

               “Please, Arthur,” Jonathan Bridge was telling him with the pale eyes of a man with a fervent desire. For the first time in all the years that they’d know each other, Arthur saw Jonathan’s strength falter; his dark hair was out of place, his hazel eyes held far too much worry than they’d ever had, and even his suit was a mess. Most likely from all the working days and nights of staying up. All for this…this new Individual recruit. Arthur just wished he could look away or disappear. This was just too much. Why were they asking him to be the child’s father? Why him? “His mother Anna abandoned him and even had her memory of this child taken away from her. Even his father David did nothing to intervene.”

               Arthur closed his eyes, a hand going to his chest like some delayed reaction. His coat and tie suddenly felt ill-fitting, and the tiny meeting room seemed to suffocate him in the darkness. He took a deep breath, leaning against the wooden door when he felt as if his legs might give way beneath him. The door… Perhaps he didn’t have to face such a decision if he walked out. That was all it would take: open the door and walk out. Walk out from all this…

               Would you really walk out from your responsibility as a Council member, Arthur? he asked himself. 

               But the Council never said anything about raising a child. And, thinking about it now, that seemed like too big a task, especially from a man who had no such experience.