Chapter 53: The Price of Life [2]

Sergeant Feen walked quickly through the narrow, dark streets.

His boots squelched in the mud as he made his way toward the edge of the slums.

The twin red and blue moons hung overhead like two watchful eyes in the cold night sky, casting strange shadows across the narrow alleyways.

He turned the corner when, suddenly....

A figure emerged directly from the side wall of the alley like a ghost.

"Gah—!"

Sergeant Feen stumbled back as his heart slammed against his ribs and his hand instinctively reached for the baton at his belt.

The figure stood motionless in the shadows, and for a long moment, all Feen could see were the ghostly grey eyes.

They were the color of grey winter fog, glowing faintly in the darkness like something not quite human.

Then, the figure -- the young man stepped out of the shadows.

Feen instantly recognized him.

"I—I did what you asked." He stammered as he forced his voice to stay steady. "The widow got the money. I told her about the education fund... I didn’t mention your name."

The young man nodded slowly, his ghostly grey eyes were still fixed on the sergeant with an intensity that made Feen’s legs shake.

"I know. I was watching."

He reached into his coat and produced a small pouch, which he tossed to Feen with a casual flick of his wrist.

The sergeant caught it fumblingly, feeling the weight of the coins inside.

"Your reward." The young man said. "But your job isn’t done yet."

"W-what else do you need?"

"Make sure they don’t get robbed before they can move somewhere safer. The slums are dangerous, and a widow with a thousand gold coins is an easy target. Keep an eye on them, discreetly."

Feen nodded quickly as sweat beaded on his forehead.

"Yes. Yes, of course. I’ll make sure they’re safe."

"Good. Now go. And don’t tell anyone about this conversation. Otherwise...."

The young man’s eyes glowed brighter for a moment.

"You know what will happen."

"Y-yes, my lord. I understand."

Feen turned and fled from the alley, his boots pounding against the cobblestones as he ran.

He didn’t look back and continued running until he was halfway across the city.

Even then, the memory of those glowing grey eyes followed him like a curse.

*****

Mikael watched the sergeant disappear into the darkness, then let out a long breath.

The alley was quiet now; the only sounds were the distant barking of dogs and the faint rustle of wind through the rooftops.

His hand went to his pocket and emerged with a cigarette.

His fingers were shaking.

He’d tried to ignore it while Feen was here.

He tried to keep his voice steady and his expression cold, but now that he was alone, the tremors had returned.

It was the same trembling that had started in the forest, right after he had watched the light fade from Thomas’s human eye.

The same trembling that crept into his hands whenever he thought too long about what he’d done and how he had enjoyed it.

He placed the cigarette between his lips and lit it with a small flame produced by a brass lighter.

The tip flared orange in the darkness as he took a long drag, letting the smoke fill his lungs.

The taste was familiar--- bitter and harsh against his lungs.

The same as he remembered from his old life.

He felt himself calm down a little as his trembling eventually stopped.

He had done everything he could.

The one thousand coins he had given wouldn’t bring Thomas back.

No amount of money could undo what had happened in that forest, and no apology could give Lily back her father or Lina back her husband.

He had taken something irreplaceable from them.... something that couldn’t be measured in gold or repaid with promises of education and protection.

But those coins would give them the future Thomas had always dreamed of providing for his family.

He had wanted to give more money, but that’s the maximum amount of money he could afford to give away right now.

He exhaled slowly as he watched the smoke curl upward into the night air.

"Rest in peace... Thomas."

The words felt small and inadequate, swallowed up by the darkness around him.

He took one more drag, then let the cigarette fall to the ground and crushed it under his boot.

The embers scattered and died against the muddy ground.

Then he turned and walked deeper into the alley as his footsteps echoed softly in the silence.

****

The streets of Thornhaven were quiet at this hour.

Most of the shops had closed their shutters, and the only people still out were the occasional drunk staggering home or a night watchman making his rounds.

Mikael kept himself close to the shadows, moving through the back alleys with the ease of someone who had spent years learning every shortcut this city had to offer.

The inn he’d rented was a different one from the Silver Rabbit.

After they arrived in Thorhaven, he and Jeanne moved to a smaller establishment on the other side of the city....

A quiet, unremarkable place called The Weary Traveler.

Jeanne’s room was next door to his.

He’d managed to slip away from her earlier by claiming he needed to rest, and she’d been too tired to argue.

He stopped in front of the inn and looked up at the dark windows.

His room was on the second floor, the third window from the left.

The lamp inside was unlit, and the curtains were drawn.

He looked around... There was no movement.

He focused his essence as he felt the familiar pull of the Phasewalker Earrings against his ears, and stepped forward into the wall.

The sensation was strange, unlike anything he’d experienced before.

The stone seemed to ripple around him, parted like water as he passed through it.

For a brief moment, he felt the cold pressure of solid matter against his skin.

After phasing through several walls, he stood in the darkness of his room, which he had rented.

He’d chosen the earrings specifically for this ability.

The power to phase through physical attacks was a game-changer in combat....

A way to let an enemy’s blade pass harmlessly through his body, to slip through an opponent’s guard.

In fact, he could even slip from the magic attacks.

He’d imagined all of that when he’d picked them from the vault.

But he seemed to have severely underestimated the cost of the saint-grade artifact.

His essence had almost dropped to zero.

The phase through several walls had taken more out of him than he had expected.

His stamina felt drained, and seemed to go beyond simple physical exhaustion.

He would need to be more careful with the earrings in the future.

Mikael shrugged off his black Victorian coat and draped it over the back of the room’s single chair.

The room was dark, lit only by the faint glow of the twin moons that filtered through the window.

He moved to the center of the floor and lowered himself into a cross-legged position.

Tomorrow morning was the Astralspire entrance exam.

He needed to be ready before that.

The emergency quest reward still hadn’t been accepted.

He’d been holding onto it, waiting for the right moment, and now was as good a time as any.

He opened the system window with a thought, and the familiar grey screen materialized in front of him as its translucent surface glowed faintly in the darkness.

— ◈ [ Emergency Quest ] ◈ —

Objective: Save Alice von Valerion from getting killed.

Status: Complete

Rewards: EXP 200%

Accept?

[ Yes ] [ No ]

— ◈ [ Emergency Quest ] ◈ —

He reached out and pressed his finger against the "Yes."

The effect was immediate as he felt warmth inside his core.

The warmth spread outward as water poured into a dry riverbed.

The warmth grew hotter and hotter until it felt like his insides were on fire.

Essence flooded through his channels, surging through his body in waves that made his muscles twitch and his skin prickle.

He gritted his teeth and focused on containing it.

The essence tried to escape from his core due to his curse--Soul Drought.

He could feel the now-familiar sensation of energy leaking out through the cracks in his control.

But he fought against it, pulling the essence back toward his core, forcing it to circulate through the channels he remembered from original Mikael’s memories.

It was like he was trying to hold water in his cupped hands while someone kept poking holes in his fingers.

The essence slipped through no matter how tightly he tried to hold on, escaping into the air around him in thin wisps of grey light.

But enough of it stayed inside him, absorbed into his core and woven into the fabric of his being.

The warmth began to fade, replaced by a tingling sensation that spread through his entire body.

He could feel himself changing.... growing.... the boundaries of his power expanding.

It was like watching a wall being pushed back, inch by inch, revealing new space where there had only been limits before.

Then the new messages appeared on the grey translucent window before him.

[ You have leveled up.... ]

[ You have leveled up.... ]

****