Infinite Genius

Shin And Ben

Night time.

It is raining slightly...

A man covering himself completely in black clothes from head to toe, holding an oil lamp in one of his hands, is walking through the Augue forest.

At a particular point, he stopped.

On his other hand was a kunai knife. He dropped it. The kunai knife stood upright, stricking on the ground. With a hell lot of intensity, a magic circle appeared. 

The light from it spread to all direction of the forest uniformly. The man looked at a particular direction and started moving towards that direction. The light being emitted from the circle dimmed gradually and the magic circle disappeared with the knife struck on the ground, as he left.

The man kept on walking . Suddenly on the range of the light from the lamp, the man saw a boy sitting under a tree.

It was none other then Shin.

Seeing the light, with a weak voice Shin asked "who is there..?"

"There you are...idiot. Geez...I was looking for you all around" removing his hood the man said.

Shin raised his head up as the voice sounded familiar to him. He turned his head and saw it was Ben.

His eyes glittered with happiness. He started crying.

Ben with a smile on his face said " Stop crying kid...real men won't cry".

" Brother Ben ...they all say I am fake, an imposter...I am not..I...I...don't know...no one trust me" Shin kept on weeping. Ben looked at Shin with sympathy.

" Well you got my trust kiddo...now get up, the rain is getting heavier...come with me" after saying this Ben turned around and started walking. Shin wiped the tears off with his hands. Just then, to his surprise, he noticed something odd. The tattoo... which vanished is now back right where it was before. Shin kept on glaring at it.

Ben from a distance called out to Shin" Oi...lad, You coming? ".

Hearing Ben, Shin walked to him.

Ben took Shin to his own home which was just outside town of Hawkwar and closer to the Forest of Augue.

Ben knocked on the door. The door was opened by a beautiful lady, who is Ben's wife, Marie weasel

Seeing his wife, Ben winked at her and said "Honey...I am home..."

Marie with an enraged tone asked Ben " Damn it... where were you all this time?...I have prepared dinner and been waiting for hours..."

Ben with a smile on his face " Now...Now...sweetheart, please calm down , something urgent came up...and look I bought a guest. "pointed his finger at Shin.

But Shin was not standing there, instead he was lying on the ground unconscious.

Ben startled a little and shouted " Oi... Shin..."

Seeing this, with a troubled face Marie asked " Oh no what happened to this poor kid?...Honey did you by  any chance told one  of your stupid jokes to this kid??"

" i***t, stop fooling around...let's get him inside" Ben replied and then lifted up Shin on his back and took him inside the house. Marie followed and closed the door.

After sometime, Shin regained his consciousness. When he woke up, he was near a burning furnace and was lying on a sofa. His stomach growled with hunger.

Just then he noticed Ben standing beside him.

With a smile on his face, Ben told Shin " Come on ... get up. Let's eat something."

Ben and Shin sat around the dining table. Ben introduced Marie to Shin. 

Marie filled the table with so many delicious food items.

Ben started eating. 

He noticed Shin sitting there with a sad face, not eating anything.

Marie brought an apple pie from the kitchen and placed it near Shin on the table. Placing one of her hands on Shin's head gently, with a smile, she said to Shin " Eat as much as you like!...ok...?"

Shin blushed, replied in a shy voice " Thank you, sister ".

Shin calling her sister made Marie so happy.

At that moment, two kids ran down the stairs of the house making a lot of noise.

Marie shouted " Hey...no running inside the house"

Both of the kids ran to Ben yelling "Papa..."

"Hahaha...come here my little rascals..." getting up from his seat and taking both the kids in his hands, Ben shouted.

The kids saw Shin sitting there. One of the kids asked Ben " Papa...who is this uncle??"

Hearing the question, Shin choked on the food he was hardly eating. 

Ben kept on laughing but Marie was worried for Shin.

After eating, Shin got outside the house. He moved a few meters away from the house and looked at the cloudy sky. There were no stars, but only the moon who was playing hide and seek in between those clouds.

A few seconds later Ben came out.

" Hahaha...sorry about earlier on what my kid said...I know its a huge insult for a teenager like you...hope you forgive them." Ben said as he was moving closer to where Shin was standing.

Shin making up a smile on his face, replied " Nah...nah...I really don't mind that."

After replying the smile disappeared immediately and the sad face was replaced. 

Ben noticing this, patted on the shoulders of Shin and said " Ahhhh...let it go kid...no use remembering the past "

Shin was about to cry, he said " I want to let it go as well. But doing nothing wrong, I was accused as an imposter. So many people were looking at me with hate. I never started it...then why... why I had to go through all of that. After I ran into the forest, it was terrible. I was running, hiding, not knowing where to go or what to do ...so scary it was. I had nothing to defend myself with nor anyone to help me. Back then if you hadn't found me...I might have ended up dead by now. "

Shin was about to broke out in tears.

Looking at Shin for a moment, then diverting his attention to the sky Ben started talking " People they are the same, this world or the other...they believe what they want, what they see, what they hear. They never try to understand the truth lying behind. But if you know for sure, you did nothing wrong then there is no reason to cry over. "

Shin looked at Ben's face, stopped crying and wiped his tears off.

Seeing Shin calmed down Ben asked with a serious tone " So what really happened?"

Shin explained all about the incident.

Hearing what he said, Ben thought for a little while and replied " The masters...I knew they would visit you in one of these days... but coming at you on the next day of your arrival, that's fishy. And the involvement of advisor Oliver Wyatt...hmmmm...I sense something wrong"

Shin raised his left hand and extended it towards Ben.

" Brother... that advisor touched on this picture on my hand and said some kind of spell. Back then it disappeared. But look, now its back. I don't know what happened?"

Ben with a serious expression on his face, remained silent for a few seconds . 

" Illusion magic... I heard the advisor is a specialist at that. He was appointed at the association about a year ago after the passing away of the former. I don't know much about him. One or two times have I met him. He always had that creepy aura around him if I remember."

" You think he got something to do with this ?" Shin asked with a curious face.

" Can't say a complete answer for that now. What if it was some one else in the crowd or one of the master's magic, which made the tattoo disappear!" Ben replied.

Shin looked disappointed.

Ben seeing his expression, said " Chill kid...there is a lot of time to find who it was?... Who ever it was, I promise, I will give him a good beating."

Shin smiled a little. Ben continued " In the next Clippers meeting which is supposed to happen six or seven months from now on, I will tell them about you...That tattoo sticking on your hand is the biggest symbol that you are one of us. If you are able to unlock your powers and the other clippers accept, there will be no reason for anyone to call you a fake."

Ben's words kind of gave Shin a new hope to live on.

Just then Marie came out and shouted at the duo " Hey you guys...what you doing out in the cold...get inside already".

Ben with a scared face " ok...ok..calm down...we are coming..."

Ben turned to Shin and said " Let's go...or Marie will kill us "

Shin couldn't help but smile. As Ben was walking away, Shin asked " Brother...why do you trust me?! "

Hearing the question Ben stopped moving, then replied " To be true I had my doubts as well when I first met you, but talking to you made me realize you are just a sweet innocent kid. And yes all clippers are from the real world...you explained to me about it really very well. Moreover then all of that...you called me brother from the first day we met."

Shin felt very happy. He slowly raised his head up and looked at the moon shining in the sky.

Ben started walking again and called out to Shin " Now don't just stand there, come inside... the sky already seen enough of your sad face"

With that smile on his face Shin followed him into the house.