DIFFERENT WORLD

Chapter 2: REPERCUSSIONS

Chapter
II
Repercussions

***

Zhang Qi Ling had made it as far as the main entrance of the hospital before he felt the telltale sign that he was being called back to the Shrine. He felt the air vacuum around him like a small hurricane and before the feeling disappeared, he opened his eyes—to see a large ebony door that engraved the word—Heaven.

"Please, come in." said the person on the other side of the door.

Zhang Qi Ling entered and saw a well-groomed man behind the desk. He was dressed in a well fitted suit and reading a document.

"Are you aware as to why have you been summoned?" Zhang Rishan, head of the Spirit Guide, asked without looking up from his document.

"..." Zhang Qi Ling is waiting for the answer to come. He was actually aware, but didn't know how to explain that phenomenon.

Ten minutes and several pages of his documents later, Zhang Rishan released a long, low sigh. "I feel silly even mentioning this, Zhan Qi Ling," he said slowly, and the documents was put away, "but you were sent to collect two souls and only one has been reported. I was under the impression that you could count to...well, two."

Zhang Qi Ling, who had relaxed in his ten minute wait, felt his body immediately tense.

"I can count to two." He mumbled.

"And yet..." Zhang Rishan held up a single finger and then looked at it, comic surprise lighting his face. "One."

"It was the baby," he said.

Amused, Zhang Rishan simply raised an eyebrow, urging the struggling god to continue.

Zhang Qi Ling just stare blankly at Zhang Rishan, but a few minute later, "He fought me." He whispered.

Zhang Rishan shook his head and pushed his chair in until his elbow were resting on the desk. "Not possible. Babies don't fight. Adult souls barely fight and even if they do, they never win. He should have been happy to be in the afterlife and reincarnation. He should have wanted to."

"The baby didn't want. He fought me. I couldn't touch him." Zhang Qi Ling took a breath and dropped the last... anomaly, "He saw me."

Zhang Rishan ran a hand over his face, like he was tired, but his dark eyes were sharp, and Zhang Qi Ling didn't doubt that he was already forming a theory. "No one can see us," Zhang Rishan said, but it was more to himself. He looked up and met Zhang Qi Ling's eyes. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure I couldn't collect his soul. I... he reached out for me and cried when I left his line of sight. Perhaps it was a coincidence."

"You don't believe that." It wasn't a question.

"...can you tell me what happened?" Zhang Qi Ling softly said.

Zhang Rishan's palms fell with a crack against his desk. "You were sent for two souls and only brought home one. This is the first time you made a mistake. You have no idea the repercussions that having an unplanned soul wandering around will cause. For that matter, I don't know the consequences are... because it doesn't happen."

Zhang Qi Ling was dumfounded, he didn't even know it was that big of a deal. "Is it possible to send someone else?" he asked.

Zhang Rishan shrugged and leaned back into his chair. He rubbed the bridge of his nose with one hand while the other gathered his forgotten documents. His body language said he was unconcerned, relaxed, maybe a tad bored by the situation, but it was on the outer surface. His eyes, however, never left Zhang Qi Ling, hard and calculating. Zhang Qi Ling was reminded of their childhood.

"I can't. Every collection has paperwork behind it. You were sent to collect Wu Xie's soul on March 5th. You failed. No other paperwork assigning another spirit or god has crossed my desk."

"So I will go and try again."

"No, you won't." Zhang Rishan slid out a drawer and pulled out a white folder before tossing it across the desk at Zhang Qi Ling. Zhang Qi Ling opened it, recognized the 'job list' as his own. Hundred of names littered the list and the baby's was nowhere on it.

"I don't understand," Zhang Qi Ling said, closing the file shut and looked at Zhang Rishan.

"Your case is being reviewed."

"..."

"This goes higher than me, Zhang Qi Ling. You know, The Heaven's plan and all that. I filled out a report and sent it Up."

"Until then, what will I do? What about the child... Wu Xie?" Zhang Qi Ling's voice caught over the name and his eyes widen. Now that he said it, he'd never forget it. His looked at Zhang Rishan and the man stares at him, curiosity clear in his dark eyes.

Zhang Rishan leaned back in his chair and shrugged. "You will do your job. Young Wu Xie lives on stolen time and we wait for your case to come back with an explanation and judgement."

"And the repercussions you were so concerned about a moment before?"

Never taking his eyes from his documents, Zhang Rishan waved one careless hand toward the ceiling.

"It's Their problem now."

***
To be continue...

Author's Note: 2 chapter in 1 day!