The Return of The Phantom General

The Spirits' Appetizer

Caleb took one step forward. The snow beneath his boots made no sound.

"You know, Julian," Caleb said, his voice now sounding resonant, as if coming from all directions at once. "Where I have been for these past five years, we do not know forgiveness."

The second bodyguard, seeing his friend frozen in place, immediately drew his Glock 19. He aimed the muzzle of the weapon right at Caleb's head.

"Die, you bastard!" shouted the bodyguard as he pulled the trigger.

Click.

No explosion.

The bodyguard was confused. He pulled the trigger again.

Click. Click.

"Jammed? How?" He stared at his gun. The metal of the pistol suddenly turned a pale white, covered in a thick layer of ice in seconds. A burning cold spread from the grip to his hand, blistering the skin of his palm with frostbite.

"Arghh! My hand!" The bodyguard dropped the gun, which had now frozen into a block of ice.

Caleb tossed his cigarette butt into the snow. He looked at the bodyguard in pain.

"You are too noisy," Caleb whispered.

Suddenly, the bodyguard holding the gun was lifted into the air. His legs kicked at nothing, a meter above the ground. His hands clawed at his own neck, trying to pry away an invisible stranglehold. His face turned blue, his eyes bulged, and a cracking sound came from his throat.

Julian took a step back, his back hitting his luxury car. His legs trembled. His mouth gaped open, but no sound came out. He saw Caleb's shadow stretching over the snow, but the shadow was not the shape of a human. It was shaped like hundreds of writhing, sharp, and hungry hands.

Caleb walked past Boris, who was still frozen in fear, and stopped right in front of the bodyguard who was choking in mid-air.

Caleb leaned in, looked into the dying bodyguard's eyes, and gave a faint smile. It was not a human smile. It was the grin of a wolf finding a sheep.

"You woke them up," Caleb whispered softly, yet it was clearly audible to Julian standing five meters away.

Caleb tapped the floating bodyguard's cheek gently.

"They are hungry."

"Please... Sir... mercy..."

The floating bodyguard's voice sounded strangled, his legs kicking at empty space, his leather shoes scuffing against each other in futile panic.

Caleb did not answer. He just tilted his head slightly to the right, as if listening to a melodious tune.

"Put him down!" shouted Julian Sterling. "Who do you think you are, huh? A street magician? Let him go or I'll sue you until you rot in prison!"

Caleb let out a long sigh, white steam escaping his mouth. "You are so noisy, Julian. My army doesn't like noise."

CRACK!

The sound was crisp, like a dry tree branch stepped on by a heavy boot, but far more horrifying because it came from a human body. The floating bodyguard's body suddenly folded in an unnatural direction. His spine snapped backward until his head touched his own heels.

"ARGHHHH!" The bodyguard's scream was cut short instantly as his ribs crushed inward, destroying his lungs.

Fresh blood sprayed from his mouth, dripping onto the white snow below.

"What... what the..." Julian retreated, his heel catching on the tire of his luxury car. His arrogant face was now pale as a sheet, his eyes bulging as if they were about to pop out of their sockets. "What trick is this? Are you using wires? Where are you hiding the crane?!"

The bodyguard's body fell to the ground with a thud like a discarded rag doll. He moved no more. His eyes were open, staring blankly at the Zurich night sky.

Boris, the other bodyguard, dropped his iron baton. Boris's knees shook so violently that the sound of his chattering teeth could be heard.

"He... he is a monster..." Boris muttered, stepping back slowly. "Mr. Sterling, we have to go. This guy... he isn't human."

Caleb ignored them both. He turned around, his back to the corpse he had just created. He knelt before his sister.

"Lisa," Caleb called softly. His rough, calloused hand reached out but stopped in the air, hesitant to touch his sister's bruised face. "Are you okay?"

Lisa was still trembling on the snow. Her eyes looked at Caleb, then shifted to the corpse behind her brother, then back to Caleb. Tears flowed heavily down her dirty cheeks.

"Brother... you killed him," Lisa whispered, her voice choking. "You... you killed him with a look."

"He intended to break your leg," Caleb replied flatly, as if it were the most logical reason in the world. He unbuttoned his worn-out jacket, took it off, and draped it over Lisa's shivering shoulders. "In the world I came from, malicious intent is paid with life. That is a fair currency."

"But this is Zurich, Caleb! This isn't a battlefield!" Lisa gripped the sleeve of Caleb's shirt. "The police will come. They will arrest you. We have to run."

Caleb smiled faintly, his thumb wiping the blood from the corner of Lisa's lip. His touch was incredibly careful, a stark contrast to the cruelty he had just displayed. "Let them come. No prison can hold me anymore, Lisa. And no one is allowed to touch you ever again. I swear."

"Enough of this charade!" Julian Sterling suddenly shouted again. His fear was slowly turning into anger. He reached into the pocket of his expensive suit, pulling out a small gold-plated pistol.

"You think you're great because you can kill one idiot?" Julian aimed the gun at Caleb's back, his hand shaking violently. "Turn around! Hands up! Who are you really?! Answer me, you poor bastard!"

Lisa's eyes widened. "Watch out, Brother!"

Caleb didn't turn around immediately. He adjusted the collar of the jacket on Lisa's neck, making sure his sister was warm.

"Close your eyes, Lisa," Caleb whispered.

"What?"

"Close your eyes. Count to ten. Just like when we played hide and seek."

Lisa looked into her brother's eyes. She instinctively obeyed. She closed her eyes, hiding her face in Caleb's broad chest.

Slowly, Caleb stood up. He turned his body to face Julian.

"You asked who I am?" Caleb asked quietly.

Julian swallowed hard, his finger tightening on the trigger. "Yes! Who are you? You should have died at the border! You're just trash from the Thorne family!"

Caleb stared straight into Julian's eyes. And when their gazes met, Julian's world collapsed.

The air around them turned a deep red. The sound of the winter wind vanished, replaced by the screams of thousands of tortured souls.

"W-what... what is this?" Julian gasped.

Behind Caleb, Julian no longer saw the slum apartment or the snowy streets. He saw a sea of corpses. Corpses of soldiers in shattered armor, corpses of modern soldiers with torn bodies, corpses of strange creatures he had never seen in books.

They were piled as high as a mountain. And at the peak of that mountain of corpses, Caleb stood on a throne made of human bones.

Thousands of pairs of eyes from those corpses suddenly snapped open simultaneously. All of them stared at Julian.

"Kneel..."

The voice didn't come from Caleb's mouth. It came from inside Julian's own head. The voice of millions of spirits whispering in unison.

"Kneel before your King..."

"NO! NO! GET AWAY!" Julian screamed hysterically. He fired his pistol blindly at Caleb.

BANG! BANG!