"What's happening?"
"No idea… the whole Earth is destabilised or unbalanced… is any god doing this, or is it that god doing this?"
"Holy god… I don't think we'd be alive by now if that god was back."
"Then who's doing this? My head is bursting."
"No idea… Sevren, should we call Headquarters?"
"I gue—" Suddenly, everything went back to normal, and Sevren felt a sudden relief. "Oh, everything is normal now."
"Indeed. I am going to call the Headquarters."
"Yeah, go on, Albus."
Albus was a tall man with an almost perfect-looking body and fair, bright skin. He had brown eyes and silver-coloured hair. He was wearing a red formal shirt with black pants and a yellow half-coat that looked very expensive.
The room was dark. A royal-blue coloured sofa was in the centre, on which Sevren was sitting quite uncomfortably because of the sudden shockwaves. Albus stood near the door, beside a small table with a lamp and a telephone.
Sevren was almost the same height as Albus, or a little taller. His mint-coloured hair was perfectly combed in a stylish way. His red eyes were bright, his skin was even brighter than Albus's, and he was wearing a formal white-blue coat.
Albus picked up the telephone, dialled 291011, and someone answered.
"Hello, Albus Remus Wood here, from Branch Seven in Argon City," Albus said in his calm, cold voice.
"Please provide the code to proceed further," the voice demanded.
"Sun is One and Moon is One. One should not overlap corruption and purity—except Him."
"Thank you for your response. This call will now soon be answered by a professional."
Albus didn't reply. He looked at the clock, then at Sevren, who was preparing coffee for himself, when someone answered from the other end.
"Hello, Albus Remus Wood. Are you still there?" a rough, heavy voice spoke.
"Yes."
"Please tell your query, Albus."
"Well, around five or six minutes ago, something strange was happening."
"Don't worry, Albus. That happened all over the world. Anyone who possesses conduit energy can feel it."
"Do you have any idea who did it… or how it happened?"
"Well, we are also figuring it out. According to rumours, this is the work of a baby boy."
"Baby boy? But… no way. According to universal—"
"According to universal law, no one can awaken or use any type of power until they are nineteen. I know this very well, Albus—you are not alone in being a genius. But according to the rumours, the baby boy didn't use any of his powers."
"What? Then how could this happen? Isn't it that god behind this?"
"Not a chance at all. If that god were behind all this, we would all be dead by now."
"You're right."
"If we get more information about that baby, we'll forward it to your branch. Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Albus placed the telephone back in its place. He walked slowly towards the green couch beside the sofa and sat down there. Sevren looked at him and spoke.
"What happened, Albus? Do they know what that was?" Sevren asked while grabbing a cup of coffee.
"Well, they're saying this was caused by a baby boy."
As soon as Sevren began to sip the coffee, he spat it out. "Are you kidding me right now? You also know about that useless universal law."
"Hm… I know, but I'm just telling you what they told me." Still trying to think of that child, Albus suddenly remembered something. Something clicked in his mind, and he shouted—
"WAIT!"
Sevren dropped his cup of coffee. "Don't shout!"
Albus was still shocked and didn't appear to hear what Sevren said. He continued, "Sevren, remember eight years ago, when we first joined Branch Seven of the Church of the God of Sun & Moon? We found a scripture in which it was written—"
Sevren acted as though he was remembering, but his mind was completely blank.
Albus took a deep breath and spoke again.
"A boy will be born who will shake the balance of the Earth, who will possess both conduit natures. He will be the one who will overpower everyone in his way—the one who will summon Him again and bring the destiny of this world. The darkness in light. The Child of God."
Sevren finally remembered. He was horrified. His hands were shaking. He stood on his feet and tried to say something, but couldn't find the words. Finally, he spoke.
"What if we just kill him right now?"
"Absolutely not. We don't even know whether he is evil or not. We can't kill someone innocent for the sake of a prophecy."
"But what if he is really evil? Then what will we do? You may be a prodigy, but in front of that god, no one stands a chance—not even if all three churches unite together."
"I don't know. And we don't have any authority to decide the future of that baby."
The room fell silent again. No one spoke. Albus was eating an apple while thinking about the prophecy, and Sevren was sitting on the royal-blue sofa when the telephone rang. Sevren stood up to answer it, but Albus said—
"Let me attend the call."
Albus picked up the phone and spoke in his calm, cold voice. "Hello, Albus Remus Wood here."
"Hello, Mr Albus. We are from the Headquarters of the Church of the God of Sun & Moon. There's an emergency, and we need your very kind help."
"It's an honour for me to help the Church directly."
"Thank you, Albus. Well, around twenty minutes ago, the Earth felt something very unnatural, and we have found who did it."
"Who did that?" Albus repeated, his voice half excited and half panicked.
"Well, it was the work—rather, it was caused by a baby boy who was born from thin air, with no parents or anything else. And it aligns quite accurately with the prophecy."
Albus felt a sudden coolness around him. He was horrified and unable to speak.
"As you know," the speaker from Headquarters continued, "we believe anyone can change if we guide them. But we don't guide anyone below nineteen. So we are assigning you a very important mission."
"What is it?" Albus asked.
"To go and take the child, then go to the Vale family, modify their memories, and make them feel that this boy is their second child."
"Okay, sir, but why the Vale family?"
"Because they have high connections, and most importantly, they are among the top twenty richest families in our country, with an estimated income of fifty-five thousand plus gold coins annually."
Albus was still processing everything. After more than ten seconds, he finally said, "Okay, I'll do it."
"Good. Make sure to pick a member from your same branch as your mission partner. Kindly tell me the name of the person you'll select so I can inform him."
Albus looked at Sevren. "I'll choose Sevren Moseley. He's sitting beside me."
"Good. Tell him everything and retrieve the child as soon as possible. The baby's location is Road 15, beside the City Mall, in a dumpyard. You'll see him immediately because he is emitting immense, harmless presence."
"Okay."
"Thank you."
Albus put the phone back and looked at Sevren. "We got a mission. Wear your coat—let's go. I'll explain everything in the car."
Sevren tried to speak but didn't. He wore his blue coat and black specs. They entered the car, Albus driving, and he explained everything on the way. Sevren then spoke.
"Emitting immense presence… but how?"
"Well, I assume it's not exactly conduit presence, but something related to it. Don't worry—it won't harm us."
"But for safety, don't you think we should use our conduit presence?"
"Absolutely not. If we do, the baby may receive damage. Look—there's the dumpyard in front of us."
The atmosphere of the dumpyard was vivid and windy. The smell was terrible. Plastic bags and cans were scattered everywhere, and in the cleanest area of the place, the baby lay.
They walked into the dumpyard and saw a baby with deep black eyes. His skin was bright, and he was glowing like a god.
"Is this the baby they were talking about?" Sevren asked, staring at him.
"Probably yes… come on, pick him up, Sevren. Let's go to the Vale family."
Sevren took the baby without hesitation, and Albus drove the car toward the Vale family house.
It was a huge house, almost like a villa. The house was white and red in colour, with a large garden filled with many types of plants, all perfectly grown and shaped. A beautiful cyan-coloured supercar stood in the garage.
"Wow, they're rich-rich," Sevren said, unable to control himself as he stared at the car.
Albus looked at the house and finally said, "We have a mission, Sevren."
I want this house very badly, Albus thought.
"Yeah, I know. Let's go in."
With a flick of his hand, Albus opened the door. They walked inside and went straight to the bedroom, where all three members of the Vale family were sleeping peacefully, unaware that two intruders with a baby were standing before them.
Albus flicked his hand again and focused on all three Vales. With a second flick, he said, "Memory modification successful."
"Almost like a robot. By the way, did you also modify it so they don't have any car?"
"I wish I could, but no—and you won't either. Put the baby here and let's leave."
Sevren carefully placed the baby between the three of them. Then both Albus and Sevren jumped out of the window, left the house, and drove back to their own.
Meanwhile, the baby slept innocently—
yet he was the greatest threat to mankind.