(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Reckless Guide

The scream of sirens shocked Kellen out of the current guiding session he was in. Shortly after the siren, a soft but firm voice came over the speakers every room and hallway was equipped with.

"Code yellow. I repeat, code yellow. All available guides head for the fourth floor." Code yellow? That was an Esper who was only a few steps away from a power surge. How the hell did an esper get to that level on the fourth floor? Espers who were in such dangerous conditions didn't end up on the fourth floor, they went to the higher floors for immediate, safer guiding. This was fact since the fourth floor was the second floor for the C Class Guides. It was where Kellen's office was located.

Kellen swallowed and glanced down at the hand he still held, before looking up at the Esper in front of him. He was a C Class as well, and had been seeing Kellen since he arrived at Guiding Center B. He was the closest Kellen had to a regular Esper, so he had some attachment to him. To see him so pale while in the middle of a session made Kellen wonder what he was sensing from the hallway.

"Are you alright, Esper?" Kellen asked, and the Esper shook himself. The Esper seemed to take a few breaths to gather themselves before removing their hand from Kellen's. Despite the surprise, Kellen hadn't stopped guiding the Esper, until they broke the contact themselves. The Esper even got to their feet, shaking slightly, making Kellen frown slightly.

"I'm alright, Guide Woods. I think you should go and see to the Esper in code yellow outside." If they were shaking like a leaf and this worried, Kellen knew that they must be sensing something quite serious in the hallway.

Kellen, unlike a vast majority of Guides, wasn't able to sense the shift of powers in the air. It wasn't classified by higher Class or lower Class, but by person. There were Guides out there who were F Class and were able to sense fluctuations in powers, but Kellen hadn't been blessed that way. He was only able to tell the state of someone by physically touching them.

It was clear that this Esper was able to pick up on the surging power in the hallway, and Kellen trusted them not to lie to them. Especially if their life was at risk.

Sighing, Kellen got to his feet. Since the Esper had already cut contact, there was no point to continue on as if nothing was happening. Nervously, he wiped his hands on his pants, resigning himself to the fact that he was probably the only Guide on this level who would go check. He cast a glance around his room, taking in the simple office flare, with the soft couch against the right wall, and sighed. Hopefully, nothing horrible was going to happen in the hallway.

He headed for the door, and was about to open it before stopping, and almost as an afterthought, turned and gave a soft smile to the Esper who was standing in the middle of the room nervously. "I shall be back shortly. Make yourself a cup of tea to calm yourself while I'm away." Kellen spoke softly, but with quiet authority. Enough that the Esper swallowed and nodded before Kellen turned his attention back to the door. Swallowing, he gripped the door handle, and gave it a turn.

He blinked as suddenly the door flew away, slamming into the wall at the end of the hallway. A large gust of wind whipped him in the face, but the most Kellen did was blink.

This, this was nothing. Kellen had dealt with life or death situations which had required lightning quick reflexes. A little door being snatched out of his hands was chump change in comparison to what he dealt with on the front lines. Having to work to prove himself over and over in the eyes of the Guilds and government who ran the front lines as a Field Guide meant Kellen didn't flinch for much. Especially when his livelihood was on the line.

He glanced down the hallway to the right, where the wind was coming from. From the reaction, he knew three things right away. One, they were an elemental Esper. Two, they were probably a wind type elemental Esper. Three, that was the direction of the elevators and emergency staircases. This wasn't a good sign if the building was suddenly ordered to evacuate, especially since there were civilians who worked on this floor and higher.

Kellen was going to have to do something about this, since he was sure none of the other Guides were going to be able to, even if he was the least compatible with Wind type Espers.

Swallowing, Kellen turned towards the right, and raising his arms to cover his face, he began the arduous journey down the hallway. As he passed a couple of rooms, he could tell who had tried to open the door, and who hadn't. Those who had had their doors ripped off, and when Kellen glanced into the rooms to check on those inside, he found the Guides in a state of panic, while the Espers seemed ill. The Guides seemed shell-shocked, and thankfully, their soft looks were enough to shake the Espers out of their fear enough to force them to protect the little Guides.

Low levels like Kellen and the others like him weren't used to coming up against something like this. Whatever the power level the others could feel, Kellen could tell that whoever this Esper was, they shouldn't have been on the fourth floor. He just hoped that the higher Class Guides got here safely, and on time.

Kellen continued moving down the hallway against the wind. The closer he got the actual position of the Esper, the worse the wind got. He could feel the wind cutting his uniform, and he worried that this was a skill that the Esper was using, like wind sickles. Whoever was at the end of the hallway, they weren't doing well if they were using skills randomly.

"Esper? Where are you?" Kellen's voice rang out in the hallway. As soon as he spoke, he realised something. The wind hadn't been targeting him before, he just happened to get hurt by it by accident. As soon as he called, that wasn't the case. The wind picked up force and pace, and he braced himself against the sudden aggression.

A scream rang out behind him, and he glanced there to find it was just a Guide who had been frightened by the sudden gust, not that someone had been hurt.

Swallowing again, Kellen pushed forward, knowing the only way he was going to be able to help this situation was if he got close enough to touch the Esper. He needed to have visuals on him first before he could even think about that. Plus, Kellen had only just started living what he considered a normal life, he wasn't going to let one stupid Esper ruin that for him.

The hallway finally opened up into the lobby space where another hallway stood across from him, and to the left were the set of elevators. Something felt...wrong about the view though, and it took Kellen a second to realise why. The other hallway had been quite a bit smaller than the one he came from, maybe only four rooms at most. Kellen could see all of the rooms, which meant this psycho had exploded or cut the walls off of them. It was an insane amount of power, and clearly pointed to the fact that they weren't in a good state. Well, he wasn't in a good state.

He was on his knees, his head in his hands. His clothes whipped around him, his blond hair violently tossed by the constant wind around him. His mouth was open in a silent scream, his eyes black pits beyond the swirling yellow of his iris'. It was the first sign of a power surge, and Kellen's gut squeezed with worry.