“Are you insane?” Keira whispered as they reached the next floor. The floor with the children. “Why the hell would you antagonise Sapphire and the Coattails?”

Nimh didn’t answer as he walked toward one of the children’s rooms. “Have you decided what you are going to do with them?” he asked.

Keira was taken aback by the question. “What?”

“Are you going to try and heal them, or have you accepted that you cannot do it?” He looked at her, compassion in his eyes. “If you are going to save them, they will need to eat eventually.”

Keira’s eyes opened wide in understanding. It had been over two days since Wolfgang and his people were killed. At least two days since anyone would have fed them. From her sudden release, training, and the brutality she had just witnessed, the children had slipped her mind.

Guilt wormed through her as she stood still, staring at the man calling himself Nimh.

“Now is the time to choose,” he said, jarring her out of her frozen thoughts. “Either you save them today, or I put them out of their misery. If you are undecided, then believe me when I say this. If they die today, they will go to a place where their dreams will become their eternity. A far kinder reality than this one.”

“How do you know that?” Keira said disbelievingly. “How do you know that there is something better waiting for them if they die.”

Nimh shook his head. “I did not say it was better.” He corrected. “I said it was a far kinder reality. They will not starve, suffer abuse, or be subject to anyone’s authority. They will be free to dream their own existence away in a place where no one can touch them again.”

“How do you know that?’ she repeated.

Nimh just spread his hands. “One of my secrets. Of course, I could be lying. You may never know the truth. But you can always believe what you wish.”

“I can’t save them,” Keira whispered, sinking to her knees. Nimh patted her shoulder as he entered the room and the stink in the air made her recoil.

On the floor was a small boy, curled up into a ball, with ragged clothes draped over skeletal limbs. Blood and grime marred what would have been pasty white flesh. Small murmurs moaned from the child, but otherwise, he did not seem to take notice of their entry.

She watched as Nimh gently spoke calming words to a small boy, as he approached, kneeling beside the boy. The boy gave no sign of noticing him. With careful hands, Nimh placed his palm on the boy's back and murmured a prayer of his homeland.

Moments passed as Keira stared at the boy, feeling, more than seeing something happen. She could not explain it, but she sensed the compassion in Nimh’s touch and the regret on his face.

He did not want to kill this child.

Her eyes moved to the boy's face and saw the little tension in his neck and jaw slacken, the barely open eyes close, and the slow rising and fall of his chest cease to move.

Nimh picked the boy up in his arms with a gentleness that made Keira want to cry. He stood and placed the small boy on the bed, covering him with a thin sheet. Then he turned and left the room.

Nimh stepped back into the corridor, Keira staring at him with tear-streaked cheeks and red eyes as she followed him. He did not look at her as he went to the next room and repeated his mercy.

By the time he completed his task, he felt sick. Those children deserved better, and he hated that he couldn’t provide what they needed. But he did not have the luxury of weakness. One day, he may be able to offer them a better life, but he could not care for them, not in this state.

Instead, he had to move forward and maybe his actions would prevent this from occurring in the future.

Distantly, he felt movement out of the street, his spirit sense sharp enough to detect a slight change. After killing Sapphire’s men, he had kept his vigil, and now it was time for another dirty task. He waved his hand towards Keira as he went back downstairs. The bodies were removed and the basement was as quiet as a tomb.

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“Are we going somewhere?” Keira asked, her voice holding a slight tremble.

Shaking his head, Nimh walked to the stairs leading up to the street, placing his hands on the archway. “There is a passageway here.” He spoke. “I need you to go down it and secure it. If anyone comes through there trying to gain access, I want you to stop them.”

He turned and looked at her. “Can you, do it?”

Keira frowned. “What game are you playing?” she replied.

“Well, if my guess is right, there will be a gang or five tough E Ranks coming this way. I don’t really want you in their line of sight or they might try using you to get an advantage over me.” He gave her a level stare. “It won’t work and if they try, it is unlikely you will survive. So, I want to stash you away where they can’t see you and I can kill them in peace.”

The shocked look on Keira’s face made Nimh smirk. “Yes, you are a liability to me. If you want to change that and stop being deadweight, get stronger. Until then, in the hole.”

With that, he pulled open a hidden door that led to a shaft heading straight down. By the smell, there was a sewer line nearby.

“How did you know it was there?” Keira asked dubiously.

If Nimh were to be honest, he could vaguely sense the spiritual energy coming from below, the water, the air, even the rats. He could feel it all. But he didn’t want to reveal that. So, he smiled knowingly and waved her down.

After giving him one last hard look, Keira made her descent.

“One day,” Nimh said to her back, “I hope that I can have you fight alongside me. But until then, keep training.”

Before she could turn back around, Nimh closed the door. Taking slow steps, Nimh made his way to the street outside, all the while, his spirit sense spread out.

Below, he could sense Keira. The shaft did not seem to go down far and he could feel her stop and begin cycling her vital energy. That girl would go far.

“I’m starting to look forward to her future.” He silently said to Marcus.

He snorted in disdain. “You just like her because she is pretty.’

“That’s why you like her,” Nimh corrected. “I like her because she is good material. Talent and work ethic combined into one being. You could learn a thing from that. She might even ascend to S Rank before me.”

That left Marcus with a sceptical air. “You really think either you or her will make it to S Rank?”

“Me? For sure. I am confident she will make it, given the right environment.”

Marcus voiced his doubts and Nimh took stock of himself. He was not in the best of shape to take on the amassing gangsters outside. They were not closing in yet, hiding in alleyways and staying out of sight.

There was tension in the air, and the locals felt it too. He saw people rush into doorways, shutters close and the sounds of people becoming muted until only silence echoed the street.

Before long, Nimh could sense a disturbance. The presence of five individuals, the stronger the others arrive. Immediately, he sent his spirit sense downward to confirm that Keira was safe. He could feel nothing moving towards her which was a relief.

What was less of a relief was the small army finally moving towards him. Close to a hundred of F Ranks and five E Ranks. Though they were still a distance away, Nimh guessed they would arrive soon.

He was not looking forward to this.

“You can run.” Marcus opined. “You are faster than them and you can take them down one by one as you go.”

Nimh thought about that for a moment before dismissing the thought. “I’m not here to fight pointless battles and kill weaklings.” He thought to Marcus.

Idly, he glanced around at the surrounding buildings. The street was empty except for the oncoming gangsters, but the previously closed shutters were opened just enough, with curious and fearful eyes looking down upon him. He had an audience.

Nimh grit his teeth into a grim smile.

Because Marcus did not understand.

One of Nimh’s earliest lessons was that his training would never truly be complete. He had mastered a great deal of the arts passed down from his ancestors. He had taken his spiritual arts further than most thought possible and his physical arts were among the best for his age group.

But there was one area that he and every other combatant from his world lacked.

True experience. A fight with one’s life on the line. The tempering fire to forge the weapon.

It was not the simple act of killing. A child could do that. It was not the comparing of strength with sparring. That held no consequence for failure. What he had lack of was a true battle that pitted one combatant against the other. And only one walking away. Because they were the superior warrior

Nimh had trained his whole life, knowing that this day would come. Trained, knowing that a day would come when he would prove his worthiness as a warrior. Or be forgotten as one more soul who failed despite the opportunities granted them.

And trepidation surged through him. He felt the nagging stab of fear in his gut even as excitement shivered through him. It was a hard sensation to claim mastery over.

In his mind, he knew it was but the first step of many. But decades of preparation left him hungry for the fight.

And it was coming.

Perhaps Nimh’s feelings transferred to Marcus because he shut up and started paying closer attention.

Nimh turned his attention back to the F Ranks. They were clad in simple clothes, held weapons and emanated hostility. Only the five E ranks wore anything resembling decent clothes. One woman and four men, each wearing what Marcus would describe as tailored suits.

The F Ranks surround Nimh, though they kept a distance and Nimh stood still. He had decided to make his stand in the middle of the street, dismissing the thought of fighting them in the confines of the doorway to his base. Fighting a large group in a narrow area would make the fight easier and offer an advantage to him.

But he didn’t want to have to clean up that mess, nor risk the gangsters setting the building on fire to flush him out. Besides, Nimh wanted to send a message.

Taking a long deep breath, Nimh stepped forward. It was time to begin his conquest.