This tastes so fucking good. I think I’m going to pass out from how delicious this pastry is.
I would advise against it.
At the end of the mouth-watering scent trail, Raine and Nikolay had found a quaint little café. It didn’t take long for Raine to order something and sit at a secluded table in the far corner.
Along their way to the café, a city guard had stopped them and explained that it was illegal for Rascal to be unleashed in the city streets. With half of his brain still thinking of the potential food, Raine allowed for the guard to take Rascal to the city’s community stables. The mule didn’t seem to mind the brief ownership change. She willingly trailed behind the guard, who grabbed her reins in lieu of the missing lead.
But currently, Raine was more focused on the pastry in front of him.
Nikolay, can you taste it from where you are? I can switch out if you want. This is so much better than the canned and packaged ‘meals’ that we’ve been having for... literally our entire time in this vessel.
I’m fine. You would enjoy it more than me.
Well if Nikolay insisted, he would hardly refuse.
In the midst of Raine’s gleeful feasting, they were interrupted by the sound of somebody approaching their corner of the café.
The waitress moved gracefully across the floor, like she was gliding through water. If not for the slight rustle of her floral dress every time she moved, somebody would have thought that she was levitating. Unlike most of the other waiters and waitresses, she carried no tray or order pad in her hands. She came to a gentle halt at Raine’s table.
“Hello,” the waitress beamed. “I hope our food meets your expectations.”
At surface level, the smile on her face was warm and welcoming. But her teeth looked too sharp, her eyes too cold.
A meaningful nudge from Nikolay initiated a switchover in the vessel.
“What is it?” Nikolay deadpanned.
In response, the waitress discreetly waved her hand in a strange motion. It quickly became clear what she intended; the ambient sound of customers chatting and background music suddenly cut out. In its place was a ringing silence, their brain still trying to process the abrupt change.
The menacing smile was still on her face. “Unfortunately, blocking sound is much easier than Light magic. Otherwise, you two would have been dead several minutes ago.”
Nikolay’s eyes narrowed. He instinctively reached for the nearest sharp object in his vicinity, which happened to be a fork.
The waitress’s gaze flicked towards his hand in amusement. “Do you think that cutlery will be able to defend you from magic? You are powerless. You would not even notice magic if it was in front of your nose.”
Despite her words, Nikolay’s white-knuckled grip on the fork didn’t loosen. “Are you affiliated with the Order of Truth?”
“You must be Nikolay. The brash and easy to provoke fallen angel, yet paradoxically with sharp instincts and equally sharp wit. A shame it’s wasted on the likes of your companion.”
Is she calling me stupid? Raine protested. Not that her opinion of me is the most important thing right now, but excuse me?!
Nikolay glared at the waitress. “Lay off Raine. He might be stupid-“
WHAT?!
“But a coward who hides behind their magic like you has no place to criticise anybody.”
“Is that so? I believe that weak, pitiful beings have no place to speak either,” the waitress replied, a taunting gleam in her eyes. “Did you really believe that the Order of Truth would be wiped out that easily? Guthasar must have overestimated your intelligence, if so.”
In a motion infinitely too quick for a human eye to detect, the waitress grabbed their bandaged arm. Her perfect nails sunk into their thin and worn bandage, easily piercing through it. The acrylic fangs tore through the fragile, barely formed tissue. Raine could acutely feel their skin being ripped apart, the muscle close to follow. If she squeezed any harder, Raine was certain that their bones would break.
Against Nikolay’s will, a strangled groan escaped his lips at the sharp pain.
“That was merely one of our many hideouts,” she hissed. “You have barely scratched the surface of the Order of Truth. We are gaining new members every day to make up for those who died.”
She squeezed harder on their wound. Fresh blood soaked their already stained bandage, bright crimson replacing dull brown. If she was waiting for Nikolay to respond, it was a futile cause. His throat was completely choked up, preventing the building screams from tearing their way out.
Instead, Nikolay retaliated physically. At least, he tried his best to punch her in the face. Invisible chains held their entire body in place, preventing them from moving. No matter how hard Nikolay writhed in rage, they were as unmoving as if they were made of real concrete. The waitress finally let go of their arm, satisfied with the effectiveness of her magic.
“Wouldn’t want to cause a scene in the middle of a busy restaurant, would you?” the waitress bared a predatory grin. “Especially as the foreigner assaulting an innocent hospitality worker. Think about it, Nikolay.”
As the person closest to Nikolay’s thoughts, Raine knew for a fact that her words wouldn’t stop Nikolay from starting a fight.
Nikolay, don’t do it. I know you want to, but it won’t end well for us.
To rub salt into the wound, the waitress released the hold of her magic on their body. The weight of the chains vanished at a mere snap of her fingers. To think that they couldn’t even move under the chains, and the waitress only had to click her fingers to make them vanish. It only highlighted the severe power disparity between them, and how extremely bad a fight with her would go.
Everybody was thinking the same thing. Nikolay was free to punch the waitress if he wished to.
Raine was ready to take back control of the vessel if things went awry. He wasn’t entirely sure if he would be able to overpower Nikolay, but the alternative was much worse.
The waitress stared at them with an infuriatingly patient expression, the corners of her mouth turned upwards in a mocking smile.
Finally, Nikolay spoke.
“If this were any other situation, you would have been dead multiple times over,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Too bad we’re currently in this timeline,” the waitress said in a bored, dismissive tone. “You can keep wasting your energy on glaring at me, but it won’t change a single thing. I have more important things to be attending to.”
She blatantly turned her back on them and began gliding back to the counter, where the other waitresses were grouped together.
When she disappeared behind the counter’s back door, Nikolay turned his harsh gaze towards the half-eaten food in front of them. If anyone had seen the look on Nikolay’s face, they would’ve thought that he was staring at garbage on his plate.
It’s a shame that she ruined this plate of delicious food for you.
Aren’t you more concerned about the fact that the Order of Truth is still alive and kicking?
I wasn’t too surprised. Guthasar has a tendency to reappear no matter how many times you boot him away.
What if they chase after us?
We’ll need a weapon, then.
I don’t think they’ll let us buy a knife as a foreigner with zero documentation.
Nikolay sighed. We should’ve kept that knife from Lysandra.
We just keep making bad decisions, huh?
…This could be solved if I still had my magic. The drawbacks are becoming severely apparent.
Shit must suck as a human, huh? Raine joked.
This prompted a thoughtful hum from Nikolay, who didn’t respond immediately.
I suppose so.
As soon as they left the café, they were immediately confronted by the prickling sensation of great disapproval. Raine whipped his head around conspicuously to find the source, only to accidentally lock eyes with a few hostile-looking strangers. Very soon, he realised that almost everybody was either outright staring at them or pointedly ignoring their presence.
It took him awhile to figure out why, but a quick glance at their right arm was enough of a reminder. The bandage, unlike the stark white pavement on the road, was an unappealing brown-red colour and looked — and felt — stiff from dried blood. In all honesty, Raine would have stayed far away from somebody who had a disgusting bandage, too.
Due to Raine’s tunnel vision from being laser focused on the café, they hadn’t noticed the strange stares that other bystanders shot them earlier. He almost wished that he hadn’t noticed at all, because now the uncomfortable feeling followed him all the way to their next destination.
Prompted by the incident with their arm, their next immediate concern was to see a doctor. Neither Raine nor Nikolay had any clue on how the healthcare system worked, but their inexperience did little to prevent them from walking into a private practice off the side of the road. ‘Private practice’ was a generous overstatement, given that it was a regular house with a banner advertising medical treatment. There was official-sounding accreditation listed on the banner, which persuaded Nikolay against immediately steering them out of there.
A man dressed in a lab coat opened the door when they stepped up onto the porch. Raine recoiled in surprise, stepping back off the porch. He hadn’t even knocked yet. With narrowed eyes, he scanned the porch and found a surveillance camera in the corner. It worried him that they hadn’t noticed the device earlier — what if it had been somebody else affiliated with the Order of Truth? Raine liked to consider himself a decently perceptive person, but he was beginning to doubt whether he even held a candle to anybody who wanted him dead.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Hello!” the man cheerily said, unaware of Raine’s inner turmoil. “Are you here for a walk-in appointment?”
Raine held up their bandaged arm. “Yeah.”
“Come in, come in! I happen to have an empty schedule this afternoon.”
The doctor led them into his home clinic, through a hallway, and into a small renovated room. Judging from the built-in closet, it used to be a bedroom. However, the carpet had been replaced with the rubber that all hospitals seemed to have. The layout of the room closely resembled a GP’s office, with the larger, more comfortable chair placed in front of a large monitor and an ergonomic keyboard. The other chair, made from hard plastic, was positioned next to the desk, facing the doctor’s seat.
Once Raine was seated, the doctor closed the door behind them with a resounding click.
“May I inspect the wound? It might be infected if external debris entered the bandage,” the doctor asked.
Raine winced in embarrassment and held out his right arm. It wasn’t uncalled for the doctor to say that, given the state of their reused bandage. He tried his best to wash out the dirt and caked blood from the fabric, but unfortunately, detergent wasn’t one of the luxuries he had access to. The doctor thankfully didn’t seem to mind, and kept a professional expression on his face as he carefully inspected the wound.
“It doesn’t seem to be infected,” the doctor said with finality. “Did you see another doctor prior to this? The lingering traces of healing magic are still quite potent.”
Raine simply nodded, not wanting to disclose their odd situation.
The doctor seemed to accept his mute affirmation. “I’ll get some things to clean up your wound.”
While the doctor was rummaging in his multiple drawers for unknown items, Raine was musing about the new information given to them.
Is the magic in our wound somehow acting as a tracker? Is that why the waitress knew our location?
As far as I’m aware, magic can’t act like that. The strength of the signals that you would have to send is near impossible for a human. Strange that they would willingly invest so much of their magic into healing our wound, though.
I’d assume that they intended for me to leave Kosira with a fully functional body and a healed wound. That’s a minor comfort; at least they weren’t planning on killing me anyway if I accepted.
That’s also something I’ve been pondering. Why would they keep us alive after you refused their deal? The Order of Truth’s motive is still unclear.
Raine mentally sighed. Whatever they’re planning, it probably doesn’t end well for us.
“Aha! I’ve found it,” the doctor said, producing a bottle. “I’ll put some antiseptic on the wound as a precaution, and replenish the magic that’s already there. Of course, I’ll give you some spare bandages too. You should be healed in no time.”
The doctor readied everything else he needed in practised motions, the tray next to him quickly filling up with relevant wound-cleaning apparatus. Once the doctor was ready, he briefly soaked a cotton pad in antiseptic. Raine watched with bated breath as it neared their wound.
When the cotton touched their wound, however, Raine didn’t feel the stinging pain that he expected. He immediately frowned.
Nikolay. Are you still taking on all of the pain?
The accused suspect didn’t answer. Raine could still feel his presence, so it was more likely that Nikolay was too busy trying not to make a sound in pain.
When the doctor finally pulled away from their arm, there was an audible exhale from Nikolay.
This would have been easier if you shared the burden, Raine reminded him in a mildly scolding tone.
I didn’t say that it was difficult to begin with.
How do you even figure that out? Raine complained. I didn’t even know you could redirect signals to the brain. And while we’re on the topic, how on earth do you create mental barriers?
It isn't a literal barrier in the sense that you might be thinking. The barrier is just a convenient method to block out emotions in my own mind, which in turn prevents it from reaching you.
That wasn’t the answer that Raine was expecting. So you basically shut out your own emotions 24/7? Doesn’t that get exhausting?
If I was the type to be discouraged easily, I wouldn’t be here right now.
Well, isn’t that charming? Raine said in a forced dry tone. Care to share your secrets with an open book like me?
You don’t need it. I believe that our connection to each other is less sensitive than it was before. That, or we’ve merely become accustomed to each other’s presence. It happened a while ago, but I can no longer sense your emotions unless they are particularly strong.
Internally, Raine let out a huge sigh of relief. He’d forgotten about the whole ‘thought-sharing’ thing while in the midst of almost dying, but the anxiety associated with it had returned during the quiet trip to Veritas.
His relief was short-lived though, as another problem presented itself in the wake of his recently pacified worries. If Nikolay hid his emotions simply by ceasing to feel them, what did it say about himself? Nikolay said that he couldn’t detect Raine’s feelings anymore, which was a complete turnaround from several weeks ago. He didn’t particularly feel that he’d changed much as a person, but it was difficult to tell when most of his actions were in response to life-threatening scenarios.
—
Laintlor Bay, as it turned out, wasn’t far from where they had entered Veritas. A friendly worker at a nearby information centre kindly gave them a map and detailed directions. Thanks to their help, Raine and Nikolay were standing in front of Laintlor Bay State School with little fuss.
We just... walk in, I guess? This looks sketchy. Us, not the school.
It was midday by the time they reached the school, so there would definitely be people monitoring the cameras. Not that it mattered. They were only coming here to check on Eireia, that was all. For some closure, Raine had mentioned visiting the school to ensure that the little girl was safe.
Nobody came out to stop them when they walked into the school gates, which was a good sign. The path to the administration building — labelled as such — was an obvious stone walkway lined with green shrubbery and flowering plants.
The automatic sliding doors beeped softly when they entered the building. Alerted by the sound, the receptionist sitting at the front desk briefly glanced up at them, but didn’t say a word. She dropped her gaze back to the computer in front of her, seemingly unbothered by them.
How are we going to ask for somebody that we shouldn’t even know?
There’s no point sugarcoating it.
“I’m looking for a student enrolled in your school. Her name is Eireia.”
That sounded so creepy, Raine shook his metaphorical head in embarrassment. There’s no way that she’ll let you in. Worst-case scenario, we get thrown in jail for trespassing on school grounds.
How else could I have asked for Eireia’s condition? Nikolay replied in an exasperated tone.
The receptionist regarded Nikorai with a questioning face and a raised eyebrow.
“Are you her missing father? The records say that he’s her only family,” the receptionist said dubiously. “You look a little young to be a father.”
So much for deceiving our way in.
That’s it. I’m resorting to brute force.
*WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! DON’T THREATEN THE LADY!*
As soon as Nikolay opened his mouth, he was interrupted by the sound of the electronic door. The acute feeling of being in the presence of somebody powerful pervaded the room.
The receptionist suddenly stood up from her chair and bowed her head in deference. “Greetings, Headmistress.”
“Unerva, you may have your lunch break early,” she commanded. “I will deal with this man.”
The receptionist hastily darted out of the room, eager to escape the harsh gaze of the headmistress. Unfortunately, this meant that Nikorai was now solely under her scrutiny.
“What seems to be the problem here?” the headmistress asked. “I believe that our receptionist here should have solved your problem by now. I will not tolerate any harassment towards my staff.”
Her tone was hardly aggressive, but it was steely. Any possible arguments against her crumbled into dust, bearing no match against her unwavering gaze.
Crap. Does she think we’re harassing the receptionist? Wait, what if we actually are?
Has anybody ever told you that you’re prone to being gaslit?
“I’m here to ask about Eireia. I believe that she should be in your care right now?” Nikolay said, outwardly showing no signs of being fazed by her sudden appearance.
“What a coincidence,” she said in an unimpressed tone. “The person who brought Eireia is with me right now.”
With the guiding hand of the headmistress, a young woman stepped out from behind her. A terrified aura surrounded her, but it didn’t seem to be directed towards any particular source. Her eyes darted around the room, landing everywhere except Nikorai.
She reminds me of you.
No need to be thinking of me all the time, Raine smugly replied. I’m right here.
Correction. She reminds me of you when you’re speaking out loud.
“I’ll leave you to it,” the headmistress said in a clipped tone. “I have a meeting in two minutes.”
The women who had arrived with the headmistress watched her stride out of the room with a forlorn look on her face. Once the headmistress was well and truly out of their sight, she reluctantly turned in the general direction of Nikorai.
“Hello,” the woman said haltingly. “I’m an assistant teacher here.”
The conversation stalled for a moment. Nikolay waited for her to continue, but it sounded like she was waiting for him to respond.
“Is Eireia okay?” Nikolay eventually asked.
“Yes,” she replied, relieved that he asked her a question. “Strangely, I couldn’t find her father, even though he was the one who called for us to take Eireia. There was a lot of cooked food left in the house, for some reason. Physically, Eireia seemed okay. But the toll of her missing father has affected her a lot. I wonder how many days she spent alone, having to bear that burden with nobody to comfort her.”
Raine curled up into himself. He didn’t want to hear this. He was a horrible coward; he couldn’t even face the consequences of his own actions.
His guilt must have seeped into their shared mindscape, because Nikolay sent a pulse of concern.
We did the most we could.
Eireia is fucking traumatised because we left her there. Alone. And we didn’t even have the heart to tell her about her father. Everybody thinks he’s missing.
Isn’t it better to believe that he is missing? At least it gives the illusion of hope.
It would be better if he were fucking alive, Nikolay.
We’re not superheroes, Raine. There was only so much we could do to help. If you’ve forgotten, a few hours ago we were helpless before an Order of Truth member.
“How is she doing now?” Nikolay gently asked, leading the conversation away from the sombre tone.
“She’s improving. Now that she has kids her age to socialise with, she’s no longer lonely. But sometimes she...” the assistant teacher trailed off. “Nevermind that. Would you like to see her? You seem concerned about her wellbeing.”
Nikolay was already shaking his head before she even finished the question. “I’d rather you not mention this encounter to her at all.”
The assistant teacher looked at him with a puzzled expression, but chose not to question his decision.
After a moment of deliberation, she said, “Sure.”
She then pursed her lips with her eyebrows furrowed.
“I have nothing else I wanted to ask,” Nikolay prompted her. “If you’d like to leave, I won’t be offended.”
“No, that’s...” she frowned, her lips working silently to form the right words. “I wanted to ask you something.”
“Ask away.”
“Will you be coming back to the school? To check in on Eireia, of course.”
They were leaving Veritas as soon as they found the details they needed about the artifacts. Given that most of the crucial information was implicitly given by the mechanical eagle in that temple, they weren’t staying long.
“I doubt it,” Nikolay said with genuine regret in his voice. “But I firmly believe that you will take care of her. I trust in your abilities. If my mind ever strays towards Eireia, I will think of you.”
What? Was Nikolay flirting with her? Who says that to a stranger that they just met?
Raine’s suspicions were affirmed by the light pink blush on the assistant teacher’s cheeks.
“Oh! I’m... I’m glad that you trust me.”
There was another pause as she mustered the courage to say her next words.
“Can I have a phone number or some way to contact you? I want to have lunch with you sometime as a show of gratitude,” her cheeks flushed a brighter shade of red. “And to know you better.”
Nikolay looked over at the nervous assistant with a sympathetic expression.
“I’m not into women. But I appreciate your gratitude regardless,” he said delicately.
WHAT? Raine blurted out.
“What?” she gasped. “I’m sorry for assuming.”
Nikolay shook his head. “It’s not a problem. There’s no harm in asking, after all. I wish you success in your future endeavours.”
“Thanks. You too...?”
Darn. And here Raine thought Nikolay was only being nice to him.
Once the assistant teacher hastily skittered her way out of the room, Raine jumped at the chance to pester Nikolay with questions.
Did you only say that because you wanted the girl to leave?
Say what, exactly?
Are we playing this game? I thought you were the type to be direct, not dance around a topic.
Nikolay merely responded with an ambiguous grunt.
Okay, I won’t press any further, Raine sighed. I was in a similar situation in high school. Speaking of, thanks for not reacting when I accidentally outed myself earlier when talking about my ex-boyfriend. Especially since you’re a guy. Wait… You are male, right?
Yes. I retained my memories from my original life, where I was a man.
A devious idea suddenly came to mind. So, did you have many people infatuated with you, like the girl earlier? I’d imagine having a gentleman’s manners would’ve been popular back in the day.
’Infatuated’ is a strong term. Most people fall in love with a surface-level image of somebody.
Nikolay’s words sounded too suspiciously specific to be a coincidence. Not to be extremely self-centred, but was Nikolay talking about him? No, surely not. How would Nikolay know that he- Oh no. He completely forgot that they could sense each other’s feelings. That day when Raine was freaking out about finding Nikolay attractive... Did Nikolay notice, or did he just have a really good poker face?
Earlier, when Nikolay had said that only strong emotions showed, did that include his gay panic? What counted as ‘strong’, anyway?
His thoughts were frustratingly akin to a dog chasing its own tail — constantly trying to reach a conclusion, but never quite succeeding. He could always subtly ask Nikolay, but that would be opening another can of worms.
Either way, it didn’t matter if Nikolay knew or not, because Raine was going to stop crushing on his... uh, acquaintance? God, he was desperate.