I look around the small room I paid for. No wanted posters seem to be up yet so I should be safe for the night. It has been three weeks since the incident. Thankfully it should take some more time for the news to get here. I look at myself in the small mirror, I can barely see myself in it because of how dirty it is. I rub a cloth against it to clean it, but it does little to clear the image.
Brown eyes look back at me, my short black hair dirty from all the traveling and rushing. My face is no longer cleanly shaved, it gives me a rustic look. Especially the dirt. I use a water basin to wash for the first time in weeks and I feel slightly better after it. Guilt is still gnawing at my heart for the atrocities I have committed. I have been fighting a losing battle against myself, blaming the demon for my actions. But even so, it feels like I should have known. I should have done… something about it. How could I have been so stupid as not to see that it was manipulating me?
I barely notice the blood dripping down my fist, a result from hitting the mirror. I am more prone to anger than I ever was before and it scares me. I turn away and sit on the bed. It’s barely better than two planks of wood with some hay beneath some thick cloth. It does the job I guess. I close my eyes and concentrate inward. I now know I did something terribly stupid at the village. But I do not regret it. In a desperate attempt to stop the demon from killing, I somehow took control back, but at what cost.
Looking inwards, I go deeper and deeper, something I never managed to do before. There deep inside myself, I see my soul, broken in two pieces. The smaller piece contains the terrible demon. Slowly I can feel it mending, and with it, the demons influence, but also power. So much power. Concentrating, I break up the small connections between the two pieces yet again. Unimaginable pain strikes me, so sudden and sharp I don't even have time to scream before it's over. I inhale a deep breath as I recover from the sudden and strange pain.
Sweat drips down my forehead and I'm panting. I know I have lost at least 3 skills. Two were minor, but the loss of [Burst of speed] is really going to make things difficult. I still have [Double Strike] and [Piercing Thrust], which should be enough for most situations. I look towards the bed and see the dirty cloak I found in one of the dumpsters, it has holes and stinks but I can't be picky right now. I try to wash it with the rest of the water to at least take some of the stink out and I'm only mildly successful. It’ll have to do.
Opening the door I walk down to the main room of the inn. The wooden floors and tables are sticky in some places, clean spots more scarce than mithril. This looks more like a den for thieves and murderers than an Inn, but it's the perfect place to hide. Nobody asks questions or looks at you twice here. And maybe deep down, I don't think of myself above them anymore. I have done much worse than any of these rough drunkards. Spotting a lone table in a corner I walk towards it. I spot the kid from the village standing by the door. He looks worse than I feel, which is impressive in its own right. I wonder if he will try to kill me again tonight. I don't blame him. How could I?
Sitting down I order some food and wait. I look around once more, this time scanning the crowd for more followers. I don't recognize anyone, and most of them seem drunk. I should be in the clear. It seems I jinxed myself as a drunk comes and sits down in front of me. He is large and has seen more than one brawl it would seem.
"Never seen you around here before eey?" He slurs the words, smirking at me.
"Piss off." I hiss at him. I know these kinds of men and there is only one language they understand.
"Hey, I'm only tryin’ to be friendly here." His face a mockery of a shocked one.
"Go be friendly over there." I point towards the other end of the room. I just hope that intimidating him is enough to avoid the fight I know he is looking for. These kinds of places are never kind to newcomers.
"Hey, Bert, Charles, do you know why this guy doesn't want to be my friend?" He asks across the room to another group of drunks.
"It's because you stink Jack." Laughs erupt from the group.
"You gonna just let a newcomer push us around?" Jack asks the other group.
"As long as he is just pushing you around, fine by me!" Another round of laughs come out of the group. A big burly man approaches us, from his tabard I'd guess it's the innkeeper.
"Cmon Jack, not again. This isn't your territory or something. Just leave the man alone." He says, sighing. He hesitates before adding some incentive.
"I'll give you a beer, on the house, come on." He says in a low voice. Definitely not the first time this has happened. Jack slowly turns towards me again and to my surprise he starts to get up. I spot the kid somehow stalking in the background, no one paying him any attention.
"Well, ain't it yer lucky day." He says as he starts to walk away. Well, this somehow worked out. Just as the thought leaves my mind, he trips and falls down.
"He tripped me! The bastard!" He shouts as he shoots back up on his feet. Knowing it will be useless to contest him now, I stand up and punch him as hard as I can before he can properly take a stance. The room goes silent as all eyes are upon me. Jack is out on the floor. I turn towards the innkeeper and throw him a silver coin.
"For your troubles." Catching the coin, he mumbles a thank you before striding off, leaving Jack on the floor. The noise slowly resumes in the inn, but I catch several of the men eyeing me. Not knowing how strong I actually am should make them hesitate long enough for me to not be in any more trouble before I leave tomorrow morning, especially if I play my cards right.
I finish my bland meal and walk up to the counter. Producing another 2 silver coins, I raise my voice high enough for some of the others to hear me.
"Will this cover expenses for two more days?" Nodding in response, he quickly pockets the money and continues scrubbing glasses with a dirty towel. Without looking back, I go up the stairs to my room. With this, I should be safe for the night as they are more likely to wait now, thinking they have time. Closing my door, I nevertheless put a chair against it after locking it.
I lay down on the bed, thoughts swirling inside my head about everything that happened. Fatigue of the journey finally hits me and I fall asleep.
—
I wake up to the sound of the door being pushed against the chair I used to block it. I jump out of bed, suddenly very awake. I quickly put on my cloak and put my bag on my shoulder. The door is slightly open, but still blocked by the chair, someone unlocked it before trying to open it. The lads from earlier? Seems unlikely for them to have such thieving skills.
Without waiting for the intruders to make it through the lone wooden chair blocking them, I open the window and jump down. My feet ache from the two-story fall. It's deep in the night now, and only the main streets have lights on them. My eyes slowly adjust to the darkness. I start to move out but stumble on some crates I missed. Damn, the noise is sure to tell them exactly where I am. As if to confirm my thoughts, I see movement from the corner of my eyes. There are more than one. As I look behind me I notice there are actually two people blocking that way. I quickly look at the other end of the alley and see two there as well. Covered in black leathers and black masks, they are hard to see and I mostly make them out due to the light of the main street in front of the inn. So they did cover their bases, but this doesn’t seem to be the rabble from the tavern.
Knowing my best chance is to make this a two vs one rather than being completely surrounded, I rush ahead to meet two of the assassins before me. Instead of meeting me head on, they simply try to slow me down with projectiles I can barely make out. Dodging two thrown projectiles that might be daggers, I don’t have time to worry about the other two behind me. A knife lodges itself in my right shoulder while a similar object misses me by a small margin. Pulling it out, I throw it at one of the assassins behind me and continue to rush. As I approach them I use [Double Strike] right off the bat to try and create an opening I can use to make it out of this alley. Parrying one of the blows, the other one goes through, but the cut is shallow. It is enough for me to get through however and I run deeper into the city.
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In the rush of the moment, I feel something stir inside me. I quickly push it down. Not now. However, I do feel something new. Or maybe something I have felt for a while but didn't want to admit. Power, there for me to take. Looking behind me I see the assassins right behind me as I realize I’ve run into a dead end. However the assassins just stand there and I’m puzzled why they don't attack. I slowly move to put a wall behind me. They are content to leave me be, but are all combat ready nonetheless.
Unnatural fatigue slowly makes itself known and I understand what is going on. The knife was poisoned. Anger, an emotion I've been more easily prone to recently, surfaces. Anger at my attackers, angry at my carelessness. Determined not to die in some dark alley, I decide to try a dangerous gambit. Having lost my best skill and some other things, this is my only option to make it out of here alive. May the gods have mercy on my soul.
I draw from the power deep inside of me and the exhilaration I feel from wielding it makes me smile at these lowly worms. With a slash of my sword, a red arc of energy is sent towards my foes. Two of them are caught by surprise, one losing a leg, the other losing his life. Stopping myself from drawing more power with willpower alone, the exhilarating feeling leaves me and I feel… incomplete. Like something is missing. I quickly dismiss the thought as I have more pressing issues right now. Rushing out by the opening created, I make it out of the alley before the assassins dare to move against me.
I rush towards the light of the main street and take a left turn away from the inn. Turning my head to look behind me, I see no signs of my pursuers. Further away I spot a patrol of knights. I run towards them and see them turn towards me.
"Halt!" One of them calls out. He turns towards his knights and adds something I can't make out. Why do they seem to be hostile? A movement catches my eyes and I think I saw a shadow move on one of the rooftops. Must be the assassins. The knights start to run towards me, weapons drawn.
What the fuck is going on! I turn to the other direction and start running for my life. It's one thing to kill assassins, but knights? Anger threatens to overtake me, again. Two streets later I turn in an alley. The knight's footsteps can be heard behind me. The assassins are still probably hot on my tail. It all just feels so unfair, but I can’t be overcome by my emotions right now. So I run for all I'm worth. The alley only turns right, and as I turn the corner I see that it leads to another main street. Not where I want to go, as I fear there might be more knights there. I hear the knight's heavy footsteps getting closer behind me and decide I'd rather take the risk of running from two patrols than fighting one. As I get out of the alley into the street I bump into someone. My hood falls off my face at the impact.
Knights quickly surround me, weapons drawn. Then I see the person I bumped into.
"Men, sheath your weapons! I know this man." The man bellows, a large smile on his face. Mike stretches out a hand to help me up. I take it when the other patrol of knights come out of the alley behind me. They stop and Mike turns towards them.
"I got it from here lads." He tells them with a smile.
"Yes, sir!" echoes in the empty streets. Some people have opened their windows to get a look at the commotion, most of them looking pissed off at being woken up. Yet none dare to yell at the knights and they quietly close their windows and go back to sleep.
"So, Reagan, what are you doing running around this late at night?" His genuine smile is a relief after an eventful night.
"Some assassins, you know how the competition gets." I say with a smile.
"Captain, isn't he the criminal we are supposed to apprehend?" One of the knights speaks up.
"Reagan, a criminal? Hah, no that can't be, the criminal must still be close by, continue to patrol. Tom, you are in charge. You don't need me to babysit you on this assignment do you?" He asks his men in a teasing tone.
"Sir, no sir!" The knights quickly form up a two-man column and continue on their way.
"Come on Reagan, I know a good tavern that is still open, and we got a lot of catching up to do." Gently patting me on the shoulder he starts walking. Unsure if this is such a good idea, I finally decide it's the safer bet.
We soon arrive at a large tavern, the atmosphere is much nicer than my previous inn, no hostility in the air, clean tables and the crowd isn’t rowdy. Mike finds us a quiet table and soon we each have our own drink in front of us.
"So, back from your last mission already? Where is the company staying?" Not sure how honest I should be here, I stay silent for a bit. Mike's face turns serious before he speaks.
"That bad? What happened?" He asks, concern clear on his face. I take a sip of liquid courage before I speak.
"The company, it's all gone Mike." I say in a low voice.
"What do you mean all gone? Did you disband?" He asks with a shocked expression.
"No, I'm the only one left, Mike." My voice is trembling, all the emotions I bottled up until now coming out. Anger, sadness, powerlessness, they all envelope me. I see Mike hesitate, not knowing how to phrase it perhaps, so he keeps it simple.
"Max?" He asks, his voice barely audible.
"Yeah, Max too." I sigh, it's all still unreal in my mind. It feels like they might simply be behind a corner, waiting to pop up and annoy me. But my mind knows even if my heart cannot accept it.
"I'm so sorry." Mike says in a dejected voice as he hangs his head.
Having been alone for the last weeks, I start telling him about the mission, about the priests. I keep out the fact that I got possessed and about the village, but leave nothing else out. He stays quiet, refraining from asking questions as I keep going about it all.
"Fucking hell." He finally says after I'm done.
"Those Kathar priests should all get hanged. Fucking Brudian Empire and their twisted ways to power." It's rare to see Mike angry and in a twisted way it’s comforting to see him get angry for me. Old friends as we might be, today it feels like that was in another life. A life we all left behind us when we parted ways many years ago. Misery loves company, and I do feel slightly better, but I’ve clearly seen better days. We sit in silence for a bit and I sip at my drink before I decide to fill the silence.
"Who is this criminal you are patrolling for?" I ask, actually curious.
"We only got a description and nothing else. Not supposed to kill him but capture him alive." Could they be after me? It's too much of a coincidence.
"When did you get the order? Seems serious." I try to keep my tone neutral.
"We got it tonight, emergency and all. Apparently, he arrived yesterday evening." Shit, yeah that's probably me.
“What’d he do?” I ask, just to make sure.
“Went on a rampage in a village apparently.” He shruggs. Shit. That can’t be good.
"Well good luck. By the way, you don't happen to know where Bianca is nowadays?" I shamelessly change the subject for fear that he might see right through me.
"Bianca? Haven't heard that name in a while." He frowns.
"Last I heard she was at the Grey tower, but that was at least three years ago." He looks at me apologetically.
"Well, at least that's a start." I say, trying to sound normal and relaxed.
"Wait, you aren't doing what I think you are right?" He looks at me, serious.
"What? Oh, no don't worry, I'm never going back to being an adventurer. You know I never could." The mood plummets at my comment as we both recall some unpleasant memories. We deviate from the subject to less important subjects. Trying to make small talk and catch up, mostly talking about Mike as I don't really want to talk about me right now.
Several drinks later, comfortable silence reigns over our table and we are both slightly tipsy. Mike stands up, looks me dead in the eyes all serious for a second before he speaks.
"Be right back, gotta take a leak." He says with a grin, like he played some great prank. The idiot made me worried for a second.
Looking at his broad back disappear behind a door, I pick up my bag and leave before he comes back. The sun is low on the horizon, the first morning rays shining on the city. Wary of my surroundings, hoping the assassins aren't still waiting, I make my way to the northern stable just outside the city. I’m sorry my friend, but I cannot stay here. Not when you are looking for me, not when I’m putting you in danger as well.
I decide to try another approach this morning and discard the hood that hides my face, as that seems to be what the knights are looking for. I go up to the stable boy and ask for his fastest horse, promptly paying him. I don't have much money left but it will have to do. Jumping on the back of the horse I take off, the sun laying long shadows along the way. Let’s just hope news doesn't travel faster than me or it might get tricky from here on out.
With one last look backward, I think about my wife and kid, waiting for my return home. I'm both sad and happy I didn't go to them first. Afraid of what would have happened if I would lose control when I'm with them. Turning forwards I ride ahead, forcing myself to think about a happier future where all of this could be behind me somehow. I think back to my wife and kid and daydream about us happy together once more even if I fear deep down that it might never be possible for us to be together again.