Part 1

One year ago...

“Good morning, Sir!” A young man nervously spoke out as he wobbled his way into a small room. It was an elegant spacious room – with white walls and white italic marble – giving off a feeling of holiness and sanctity. Anyone who would see this room for the first time, would undoubtedly be as nervous as this young man. The young man was of tall and thin build. His most outstanding feature would be his orange spiky hair. There was nothing particularly outstanding about him but if anyone looked closer, beyond that thin gaunt appearance – one would come to realize that the young man was not thin but exceptionally fit. He was not thin but perfectly muscular. There was not an ounce of fat on him.

All these details were noted by the two men, who appeared to be much older than the young man, already present in the room. The two men silently nodded at the new joiner and hushed him in. One man was tall and lean whereas the other was short and thin. Like the young man, they too wore business suits. There wasn’t a strict uniform code but it was always best to where formals when visiting such scared places.

The two men took their sweet time to scrutinize the newcomer from head to toe. The orange spiky head was a fresher – straight out of training and this was probably his first field assignment. The two men sighed at the orange hair kid’s misfortune.

“Kid…to be assigned to this team of all teams….you must have either aced the training programme or pissed off someone very high up on the ladder. Going by the appearance….you much have surely pissed someone high up on the ladder. No….even if you were the top of your class you would have been advised not to join the team. So it is very likely, you must have created hellva lot of trouble to end up here.” The short man spoke first. His voice was coarse and heavy but it had a familiar and friendly tone to it. However, his face was grave as he spoke his words.

The newcomer had a look for surprise on his face as though the short stubby man guessed his situation entirely correct.

“Heh….a complete newbie…” The taller veteran spoke up. “Even your expressions give you away. Didn’t they teach you anything at the academy?”

The newcomer quickly withdrew his astonished expression and greeted out aloud, “Field Agent -047, reporting for duty seniors! Thank you for your guidance. It is as you have said, this one has always scored average grades and …..and….did not get along well with the instructor.”

The frown on the two men’s face grew even bigger when they heard the Agent 47 speak. His voice was filled with sincerity – their team did not have a place for such people – however, since their boss had selected this individual then that meant there must be something redeeming about him.

Noticing the silence on the two men’s faces, the young man grew ever more nervous. Finally, he couldn’t take it and he spoke up, “Ummm….excuse me seniors….what exactly should I be doing right now? I have only been told to turn up here.”

The two men stared with pity at the innocent lamb which had been brought to the slaughterhouse – he was so innocent and naïve – it was pitiful.

The two veterans let out a sigh – how long will this one last? A few weeks? Couple of days? Should they tell him…..

Seeing no reply and only dull expressions on the faces of his senpai, the young man grew ever more restless. “Ummm….what does this team do?”

The tall veteran answered. “Kid….do you remember the academy’s motto?”

“Serving God and carrying out his will!” The young man replied back while standing firm and placing his hand near his chest as though he were taking a vow.

The two veterans sighed again. This was as fresh as the crop got, straight out of school and still following all the rules. He even saluted while speaking out the academy’s motto. How much more sincere can one get?

Ignoring the fresh comers behaviour, the tall man continued to speak. “So what do you think a qualified priest should be doing in a church?”

The young man opened his mouth and closed it again. This happened several times but no words came out. It was true that they were standing in a church and it was also correct to say that he was a priest…..but the contents of his training, which included weapons and martial arts – resembling more of spy training, did not seem applicable in their current circumstances.

“But the weapons training…” The newcomer spoke up as though he were confused and walked into the wrong room.

“Gods will is not only limited to charity, greenhorn. Sometimes, justice needs to be carried out and sometimes retribution.” The short man asked in an irritated manner. Although, the short man did not say it – he certainly gave a big enough hint to rest the young man’s fear that he had walked into the wrong room.

Somehow, seeing the greenhorn’s relieved expression irritated the short man even more.“Kid….do you know which team this is?”

The kid nodded his head sideways. He had no clue which team he had been assigned to. He only knew it was a double digit team – something that could be considered as not too shabby.

“Team 13.” The short man answered with a grave tone.

*Gulp* The young man had heard of team 13 in the academy. They always required more and more people – rumours were that all those who joined team 13 – never lived too long.

Seeing that the young man reacted to the name – team 13 – gave the short man a small sense of satisfaction. “Oh yes….that notorious team 13 that you may have heard about in your academcy. One of the elite 13 and if you have kept your ears open then you would know the rumours surrounding this team…and trust me the rumours aren’t even close to the truth. This team has a 90% fatality rate within first three weeks….and you know why do we have such a high fatality?”

The young man could feel countless beads of sweat form on his back as he just began realizing the predicament he was in. He once again nodded his head sideways – he didn’t know why team 13 had such a high fatality rate.

“Almost everyone dies by the hands of the boss.” The short man spoke in a hushed tone. His words were soft as though he were telling a ghost story.

The young man wanted to refute the short man’s claim but kept quiet how the other veteran was also maintaining such a serious face.

“We only have one shred of advice for you. If you want to live….”

The young man held his breath.

“Don’t stare at the boss…..no matter what you do.”

Huh? Don’t stare at the boss? What does that mean?

Before the newcomer could ask more questions, someone interrupted their conversations by walking into the room and speaking up.

“Please stop teasing him.” A young boy calmly called out. The new comer turned around to see who had joined them and was surprised to discover that it was a boy no older than twelve or thirteen years old. What was such a young boy doing here? Was there a mistake?

The newcomer turned to his seniors but noticed that they had completely frozen up like statues. They stood in attention posture as though a great general had walked into the room. Their faces were white as paper sheets and beads of sweat began forming across their faces.

The young man was perplexed by their sudden change in behaviour so he turned around to address the boy who had just walked in. Upon closer examination, Agent 47 realized that the boy did not appear to be out of place. He had a slight radiance to his skin and he even wore white robes….resembling a high priest….

Wait!!! That is a high priest’s dress!!! How can a boy that young be a high priest!!!

The newcomer turned back to his seniors for an explanation. However, they were still frozen like statues. No….if anything, they seemed to be hinting to him something….their eyes were panicking and telling him…..not to….stare to much at the child???

Why?

“Priest Quinn and Priest Percy, I would like you both to welcome your fellow colleague, Priest Dominic, into our team. Priest Dominic, I am High Priest, Alveron – you may also call me Alveron. I am also the one who approved your application to join us.”

“Tha….tha…that.that….means you’re the boss?” The newcomer finally stuttered slowly.

The young boy before him simply smiled, “Welcome to my Team 13, Priest Dominic or would you prefer Agent 47?”