At the sight of the man, Elmer closed his eyes and pushed his glasses through its bridge back onto his nose while heaving out a deep breath to calm himself.

“In trouble?” the man asked. “Why would you be in trouble on my porch?”

Before Elmer could reply, the sound of wheels bumping on the road of paved cobblestones drew his gaze to his back to see the beauty that was nothing but a steam car, sputter smoke from its exhaust as it came to a halt before the walkway perpendicular to the front yard of the house whose porch Elmer was standing upon.

He puffed out air and took a step backward when he saw the elderly guard highlight from the passenger’s seat with one other guard, a younger one. And this time the elderly guard was not having the look of a person that was willing to do away with his truncheon.

The guard bowed first, his companion following suit, but their polite actions were not directed at him.

“Sorry to bother you this evening, sir. We deeply regret disturbing your rest,” the elderly guard apologized to Ms. Edna’s colleague. “We’ll also go ahead to remove the nuisance who brought about this trouble by trespassing, and we’ll make sure that he is duly punished for causing both you and the rest of the residents troubles.”

Elmer knew he was the one being referred to as a nuisance, and he didn’t like it. Quite a name he was being given when anyone would do the same thing he was doing if they had been in his position.

“Pardon our mistake,” the elderly guard said once more before finally ceasing his bows and donning a hard gaze meant for Elmer and him alone.

“Wait,” Elmer quickly voiced before the guard had the leeway to speak. He needed to be fast with his act, at this rate his stunt would equate to nothing. He pointed at Ms. Edna’s colleague while keeping his eyes on the elderly guard. “I told you, I came to see someone. He’s the one.”

It took a few seconds, but the elderly guard ended up choosing to pause the hardness of his visage and momentarily wear one of contemplation. Though, it was not until his young accomplice was about to voice in something that seemed to want to take on the likeness of a snarky tone, did he finally speak after raising a hand to shush the young guard.

“Sir,” the elderly guard said. “If you do not mind answering my question. Do you know this lad?”

Elmer turned his eyes immediately to his side, allowing both he and Ms. Edna’s colleague to have a look at each other.

I already told you I needed your help, this is it… Please say yes… After all, we both have a common acquaintance…

Elmer made a face at Ms. Edna’s colleague, and the man reciprocated before downturning his lips with an indistinct shrug, and turning back to the elderly guard who was standing on the walkway just in front of the house’s front yard.

He let out a sigh first, calming Elmer a tad and giving him a little bit of hope at receiving the help he sought, then said, “No.” His voice was cool and collected, like he had not just plunged Elmer into an inescapable ocean of problems now.

Why…?!

Elmer’s face squeezed at the man in a way that should have effectively passed across the notion that he needed an explanation. But the man spared him no glance.

I even told you I got your address from Ms. Edna… Why would you do this to someone you shared a mutual acquaintance with…?

Elmer’s chest hitched as he turned away from the man’s side profile and back to the elderly guard who had worn his hard gaze all over again.

There was something he could do, surely. Something else. He just needed to think—

Ah…! What else can I do when the person I came here to meet isn’t even trying to help me out…?!

Elmer’s mind plummeted into confusion as he found his legs instinctively strengthening in preparation to repeat his earlier performance, but this time it was to avoid getting sanctioned for that performance.

“I’m joking.” Those words whooshed suddenly into the ears of all who were present, and stopped both the elderly guard’s unspoken voice and Elmer’s running preparations, and they came from the almond-eyed man standing behind the halfway opened door of the house. “I do know him.”

Elmer creased his eyebrows and turned to look at the man in some sort of queer manner. The man gave him a look as well, his was tacked on with a smile though.

“He’s Elmer Hills. My colleague.”

Elmer stiffened abruptly, his mind almost going fully blank in response. And then Ms. Edna’s colleague turned back to the elderly guard.

“I told him to come see me. This is all my fault because I forgot to hand him the pass code. Forgive me for that, and of course my little previous jape as well.” The man smiled at the guards.

The elderly guard took a momentary look at the dazed face of Elmer, then one at his young accomplice, before bowing at Ms. Edna’s colleague.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Thank you for the clarification,” the elderly guard said with a bob of his head. “We shall be taking our leave then.” He was already turning around when he suddenly stopped and swirled back to Elmer to give him a bow of apology, stunning the young guard that had accompanied him. “Forgive me for the troubles I have caused you, young sir. I was just trying to do my job.”

Elmer shook, replacing his dazed expression, which had been meant for Ms. Edna’s colleague, with a startled look. “No. No. It’s all good, sir. I understand. Please raise your head.”

And so the elderly guard did, taking his leave with his accomplice soon after.

“Come in.” Ms. Edna’s colleague said and thereafter disappeared into his house, inciting Elmer, who had still been looking at the steam car sputter away, to take on an expression tainted by inquisitiveness as he, as well, took himself slowly past the door that led into the house.

The parlor was what graced Elmer as soon as he shut the door behind himself.

It was a room neither overtly big nor small, just around the perfect balance so that one could appreciate the beauty it had been smeared with and at the same time not find themselves wandering lost in its space.

The walls were of blue floral wallpapers, and from them hung a handful of portraits of people Elmer had never seen before—of people obviously from Ms. Edna’s colleague’s family.

There was a small dining table of mahogany covered by a lace spread to the end of the parlor with chairs shifted underneath it on each side. While to its left a few steps away was a well done bookshelf with doors of glass, and it was anything but empty.

A couch and two to three seatings adorned with plush upholsteries of muted tones was what remained around a decorative fireplace, and as well the several but few antique furnishings and items used to beautify the space.

The parlor had a well-done charm to it, creating a very inviting ambience, but its owner looked different. He looked a bit—rough.

Ms. Edna’s colleague was wearing a loose white shirt, large and rumpled with long unbuttoned sleeves. The waistband of his baggy black pants also had the same fault as the sleeves of his shirt, it was unfastened, causing him to hold it up using his left hand cradled in his pocket.

Elmer saw his morning self in the man, just undamped by sweat and with a lot more vigor.

“Why are you still standing?” the man said to Elmer, after which he gestured at the seatings in the parlor while he went ahead to take his near the unlit fireplace. “Have a seat.”

Elmer nodded, then took off his boots at the entrance, his feet covered in grey socks, and went ahead to place himself on the couch perpendicular to the fireplace. Silence lingered for a while after that, until he cleared his throat with a sharp inhale and took his face to the smiling countenance of Ms. Edna’s colleague, saying, “How come you knew who I was?”

“Funny,” the man chuckled. “I thought the first thing you would do was complain about my little jape back there.”

He did not have the leeway to, he had been the one seeking help. And besides, this one took precedence, complaining would just take more of the time he didn’t have.

Elmer said nothing and the man went ahead to answer his question, “Edna told me a lot about you the last time she visited.”

Elmer found himself dumbfounded at those words. Why would Ms. Edna have done that?

“You almost died to one of her charms,” the man added. He had some sort of sarky tone mixed in with his calm voice, and that bled into the soft laughter he gave after those words.

Charms…? I knew that cold wasn’t normal, but a charm…? Some sort of magical item…? Elmer’s gaze instinctively fell as his brows knitted in a frown filled with ignorance, and the man seated a few steps ahead of him to his side did not allow himself to miss it.

“Eh, you really do not know anything.” Elmer’s frown ceased as he looked back up at the man who was watching him with pursed lips. “I can’t blame you though. I was the same. People like us who did not become Ascenders by going through the Church’s college tend to be ignorant. Our likes can’t be compared to those like Edna who became Ascenders through the college. They always know more than we do.”

So Ms. Edna actually did go through the college…

Elmer had already been suspecting that she did. It had been either that, or she’d gone through the other process of having the Church examine her daily lives before deeming her worthy. Well, even attending the college meant you’d be under the watchful supervision of the Church, so it was basically the same thing.

And despite now knowing that the vast knowledge on the world of Ascenders could be attained by traversing the path of the Church’s college, Elmer was still glad he had been able to avoid that route.

The drawback for that knowledge would have been too great.

He would have spent four years in the college studying the world of Ascenders, and if he took the current result that had stemmed from his drinking of the essence elixir into consideration, then he would have become an Ascender of the Soul Pathway after all those years of studying, following that outcome up by being kicked out of the city of Ur since he’d be unable to hide from the Church’s gaze.

Yes. He was glad he took the illegal route.

“A lot of thinking there, huh?”

Elmer gasped as those words suddenly made their way into his ears in some sort of eery echo, and dragged his gaze back to the man seated across from him.

Why were his words in some sort of echo…? What did he do…?

Elmer creased his eyebrows as the soft reverberating sensation that had been lingering near his ears faded away, causing the man seated near the fireplace to smile.

“Wasn’t me,” the man said. “I did nothing.”

Elmer’s breath hitched and he squinted his eyes as he shuffled uneasily on the couch. Had the man read his mind?

The man laughed. “I find your ignorance amusing.” He pointed at his nose. “I can smell emotions, subtly though. So no, I did not read your mind.”

Smell… emotions…? Elmer’s expression slackened. What is he talking about…?

Elmer was about to let his lips loose when the man shushed him unintentionally by saying, “Don’t worry, I’ll tell you all you need to know. After all, you’re just like me.”

I doubt that, Mr… Elmer retorted deep within himself.

“But first,” the man continued. “You must agree to refer to me as Eddie. No matter what you hear anywhere, especially from Edna, I will always be Eddie to you, do you understand?” Eddie raised a finger of warning as his calm voice took on a different tone—a stern tone.