“Let’s make it easy for both of us, shall we? I’m also helpless here, so I would really appreciate it if you helped us out. You just need to take a blood test. If you’re innocent, we won't keep you even a second more. I’ll personally see you out of the door,” Cage said.
Ewan shrugged and kept mum.
“There’s no need.” Uncle Thain entered the room, dragging a chair that scraped the floor, and sat beside Ewan, fixing his tie and suit. Ewan’s nose tingled, he reeked of blood and patches of red stained his right cuff.
As always, his sleeve bag hung by him, but there were faint red dots on it today, blood splatters from the smell of it. He took out a stack of papers from it and spread them on the table as the two black suits glared at him. “Your witness stole from her workplace on a regular basis; this is the signed proof from her manager and colleagues.” He pointed towards a paper. “She cheated her friends of their money many times; this is the signed proof.” He pointed towards another. “She’s been having an affair behind her longtime fiancé; this is the proof with the photos and the dates.”
He pushed all the papers towards the two black suits who looked aghast, they’d paled with every word. “Any evidence you procure based on your witness’s statement will be invalid. I will rip her character to shreds, her words won't have any weight. I found this much in an hour; how much more do you think I can find in days? How likely will it then seem for her to lie?” Uncle Thain said.
Cage went through all the papers, his jaws clenched. Gretel stared from the side, trembling in her chair as its legs clattered.
“If there’s nothing further, we’ll be leaving. You can keep the papers.” Uncle Thain beckoned Ewan. “And if you keep pushing for it, your witness will vanish. Take that as an advice or a threat, up to you. Come after me for it if you want absolute mayhem.”
Cage crumpled the papers, grinding his teeth, his whitened knuckles shivering.
“Sir?” Gretel asked. “Are we really letting him go?”
He took a deep breath with his eyes closed, then scowled at Ewan. “You may go,” he said, his utterance strained.
“Sir, please, we can't.”
“Shut up!!” Cage yelled, and she flinched back.
“You can continue your drama on your own, please excuse us,” Uncle Thain said and led Ewan out of the room.
……
The two stood in the open plaza outside the L.E.A office, basking under the bright afternoon sun, verdure nature surrounding them with the call of the birds. The colony extended in the distance and the obscure walls hid the horizon, the open world lying beyond.
“It’s a wonderful place, I would love to live here really,” Uncle Thain said and lit a cigarette with his ignited finger. “I can understand why your father liked it here. I’ll miss this.” He took a deep puff and blew out towards the clear skies.
“You’re leaving?” Ewan asked.
“I had an agreement with him, hundred ‘n eighteen years. Hundred for him, eighteen for you, and it’s over now. I’ve paid back what I owed him, and some more because it’s you. You’ve also grown, it’s time for me to leave.”
Ewan nodded, a hint of melancholy drifting at the back of his mind, but soon a word occupied his head.
Over hundred years….
A living proof puffed his cig before him, his dream could indeed become reality one day. But if Uncle Thain was over a hundred years old, then his Pa too…
Uncle Thain looked at him and smiled. “It’s a peaceful life in here, but these walls will only restrict you if you wish for more. You won't improve unless you venture out. The only son of Ulrath shouldn’t waste his life in this well.”
“I’ve already decided to leave,” Ewan said. “Was that his alias, Ulrath?”
“It was his second identity. Few knew Authen, but the name Ulrath was famous, or infamous I should say. Blood-Demon Ulrath, some called him, but only a handful could connect that name to his face.” Uncle Thain laughed. “He never liked that prefix though, didn’t fit his handsome image he said.”
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“Was he strong? What…made him like that then?” His Pa’s scrawny body popped up in his mind. Severe hacks and hyperpnea followed his words during his final days. He’d withered away, helpless, until one last sunset when his breaths ceased on Ewan’s shoulders, and his heart beat its last thump.
Uncle Thain took another puff. “Not yet, that part of the agreement is still valid.”
Ewan stared at the floor, his mood plummeting. The sheer denial alone proved his Pa didn’t die of natural causes. Was it an enemy even his Pa couldn’t beat? Did someone poison him?
“Don’t overthink it. You don’t need to search for answers, I’ll tell you everything when the time comes.”
Ewan nodded.
“Here,” Uncle Thain said and handed him a patinated medallion that still held traces of silver here and there. “This is the proof of our pledge.”
Ewan took it—the medallion glimmered with a cerulean tint on his touch—and looked at him, his eyes asking all the questions.
“I and some others pledged to Authen; this has a trace of our aura. It’ll glow in our presence, you can sense us with it,” he said. “Be a little careful though, we can sense it too, and our allegiance might not be the same anymore.”
Ewan rubbed it with his fingers, feeling the cold metal, staring at its curved patterns. “Can I seal it then?” he asked.
Uncle Thain chuckled. “You can try when you become Step-1, right now it won’t listen to you.”
“Don’t think it’s over!!” Gretel, the young black suit, rushed out of the building and screamed at Ewan. “If the laws can't punish you, then I’ll do it myself. I won't let you live a single peaceful day in this colony. Everyone will know your name and face and what you did. I will destroy your life!!!” She screeched at the top of her lungs, gritting her teeth, panting, her eyes veined red and misty.
Ewan frowned at her while Uncle Thain smirked with a puff of smoke, blowing out rings within rings.
“Does she have that much clout? Is anyone backing her?” Ewan asked.
“No, her only family, her mother, died in that Frosthelm festival. No one will care if she dies,” Uncle Thain said and looked at Ewan with a smile. “At best she would out your details to the news. She might already have.”
Ewan’s mood was already down, and the threats worsened it. He stared at the hysteric woman, his breaths slowed down, and his invisible Ryvia reached for her. It grabbed and held her diaphragm in place. The woman gasped and fell on her knees. She clutched her throat and battled to breathe. Yet, her diaphragm didn’t budge, her lungs stilled, and all her efforts hitched into hiccups. Soon her nose bled and her lips and skin blued. She collapsed on the floor, wheezing, her nails digging in her neck, her legs flailing, hurling her heels away.
Her condition caused an uproar in the surroundings. People gathered around her, some tried to help her up, but nothing worked, and they all clamored to call for a doctor. One said to the other, and the other passed it to another, no one acted in the end.
Ewan looked on, pocketing the medallion.
“Why were they targeting me for that attack? Do you know anything about this?” he asked Uncle Thain as the woman inched closer to death.
“They didn’t target you; you were just easier. They also gathered other Severynths, but only you had a witness,” Uncle Thain said and flicked the burnt-out cigarette away.
“I see…Thank you for your help,” Ewan said. “You were always there for me.”
Uncle Thain smiled. “Vent with her death, and leave the rest to me, this won't blow back on you. Be careful out there, good luck on the adventure. And find someone to share it with, don’t be alone all the time.”
“I’ll meet you again someday,” Ewan said with a nod. “I hope it’ll be soon.” The two shook hands and went their own way as the dying woman slipped into an eternal slumber.
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Status: Healthy
Step-0 [3rd Awakening]
Name: Ewan Ayres
Species: Human
Vitality: 1.4
Spirit: 6.0
Anima: [Fire – 6.0 | Ice – 6.0 | Blood – 6.0]
Astylinds: 4 [Potential: 0]
Rolling Cat [Toast]: Step-0 [3rd Awakening]
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Fire Monkey [Orange]: Step-0 [Level-3] [Grade-C]
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Imp [Frost]: Step-0 [Level-3] [Grade-C]
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Blood Lotus [Iris]: Step-0 [Level-3] [Grade-C]
Equipment: Common Clothes.
Storage: Journal; Elementalist—The Path of Anima [Subtype-Book]; Spellbook; Bloodlust [Spell]; Transmute [Spell]; Anima-Crystals; Obsidian Dagger; Hub-Connector; Ingredients.
Novas: 290
Sol: 4987