“Haah!?”
Luna squeaked as she felt Exill’s firm arms wrapped around her. She struggled weakly until he lifted her to her feet and reluctantly let go. His heart was thumping loudly as he felt her soft warmth and examined her carefully by starlight.
Luna still hadn’t recovered her weight, and there were dark circles under her clear sapphire eyes. Her full lips were pursed in embarrassment under his scrutiny, and she smoothed her skirt to regain composure.
“Let me walk you home, I don’t want you collapsing in the streets.” He held her unwilling arm as they climbed down the stairs and eventually let go as she shrugged him off. The markets were closed but people were passing by, throwing looks at the odd couple. Some colour and a measure of self-respect had returned to her face.
“Exill, you know how I feel about this. I know your intentions are good, but it doesn’t matter. We are what we do and say, and I can’t bear to be with someone who risks their life daily in the Labyrinth and owns a slave.” She breathed deeply then continued,
“Do you remember what you said when I came to find you at Sundry Inn those many months ago? You said people don’t change, that it is their priorities that shift. Well, I want you to know that I was never your priority! You always put something else above and beyond me!”
She huffed, peering into his face to see if he understood, “Every day, I feel myself turning into this angry, bitter, controlling person because I like you… and it simultaneously hurts to be with you. Do you understand now?”
There was another silence as Exill stood still, unable to meet her tearful gaze.
“If you ever cared for me at all… let me go, please don’t make this hard.” With those last parting words, Luna tearfully turned away and left, disappearing amongst the sparse crowd of people. Exill watched her receding figure until he could no longer spot her golden hair. He stood in front of the stairs for a moment before he too, turned to head home.
There was complex cocktail of emotions surging through him as he walked along the dimly lit streets of Inner City. The cobblestones clacked underfoot in rhythm to his thoughts.
‘It is better this way, she deserves someone stable, someone who would prioritise her over distractions like promises to Envy or the Labyrinth.’
In spite of all these excuses, the memory surfaced of the brass Accumulator’s needle imperceptibly slowing as it pointed towards him. Exill tried to ease his aching heart, but it was no use. Eventually, he found himself sobbing in an alleyway as the unrealized loss of Luna finally hit him like a brick wall.
He wanted to blame Fate, the Diviner, anyone else but him. However his own experience with Divining had revealed the self destructive nature of his inner heart. ‘The Divination bones knew I wouldn’t give up on the duel so it predicted my death in the Labyrinth. Similarly, the Diviner predicted I would consistently prioritise everything else over Luna.’
The heavy realisation that his selfishness drove the Elf-maiden away was too difficult to bear, and he lamented the pain he had inflicted on her all this time. After some time, he collected himself and crossed the Eastern Gate, flashing his residence token to the guard. A derisive grin crossed his lips as a sudden thought intruded upon his mind.
In the progression novels he was familiar with, the protagonist would pursue strength for the sake of it, and to protect those around them. However his own personal experience was the antithesis of all this. Much like healing, the laws of equivalent exchange ruled this world. To grow stronger meant to give up, or prioritise something else.
He soon arrived home and lingered on the streets, staring at the two-storey building that represented his future. There was a distant expression on his face as he examined the infringing guildmarked light blue façade.
‘But I have become stronger.’
By reflecting on the past and what he had lost, Exill had come to appreciate just how much he had struggled to be here. From a penniless wounded refugee to a healer with his own clinic, capable of defeating a mid-tier Knight, all in just over a year.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
‘These are only minor setbacks…’
Trying not to cry, the hopeful young man reached up on tiptoes to unhook the freshly painted sign hanging above the doorway. It represented his kindling dreams, but this too would have to be replaced, and he left it on the counter then trudged wearily up the stairs.
The dim glow of a lantern framed the open doorway to his room, and he could see Envy hadn’t moved from where he had left her, sleeping peacefully on the edge of his bed. He stood leaning against the doorway, examining his last remaining companion.
‘I wonder where she will go once she’s free.’
Envy was not bound to him by choice, and although he never asked about her plans after the two years were up; there was little doubt she would move on and pursue her own goals in life. Their start may have been rocky, but she was a firm, if slightly antagonistic presence in his life. Someone he could trust to watch his back.
He carefully slid in behind Envy, propping up her head briefly to provide an arm pillow, then extinguished the lantern.
***
Exill awoke the next morning to the sound of the Market Tower ringing seven times. He tried to get up, only to find Envy’s heavy thigh weighing him down and the ache of several bitemarks around his shoulder. She would usually be up around this time, stretching and warming up in preparation for the Labyrinth.
“Hey, wake up.”
Groaning in annoyance, she burrowed her face deeper into his side, and he didn’t have the heart to wake her up, for she was too precious in this rare, vulnerable form. Enjoying the feeling of being embraced, he too drifted off to sleep again, only to be woken a few hours later by a soft knocking at the entrance.
“Coming!” Exill shook the still slumbering Vampire off and stiffly climbed down the stairs to open the door. He was greeted by Iris who was worriedly looking up at his empty sign.
“Is everything alright?”
“Good morning, and please come in… I’ll bring you up to speed on what happened over tea.” He led her up the stairs and stoked the fire in the range, preparing to heat the kettle. Iris settled down at the dining table and looked up in surprise to find Envy coming out of his room, her scarlet hair a tangled mess.
“Erm, did I interrupt something?” Iris asked, her eyes widened in surprise and a slight flush creeping up her ears. Exill popped his head out of the kitchen and paused, realizing the source of misunderstanding. He stumbled out a plausible answer:
“Oh! Envy slept in my room… because we swapped rooms… and she couldn’t sleep… because rats.”
Iris stared at Exill with a deadpan expression. She didn’t believe his excuses for a second, she was kind, not stupid – people often muddled the two together.
“Yes… rats are bad.”
Relief washed over Exill’s face as he returned to the kitchen, tapping the range as he waited for the water to boil.
“Why did you take your sign down?” Iris asked when he finally returned and poured her a cup of tea. He explained what had happened the night prior and how he needed to repaint the sign and shop front as well as pay a hundred Denar fine. Iris covered her mouth, shocked by his story.
“I’m so sorry that happened, I just assumed you were a Guild member and knew the rules! I’ll call the painter and we can try again.”
Her hands impulsively fastened onto his, her eyes far away and caught in self-blame. Feeling mischievous, he channelled mana outwards to heal her hands, causing her to chirp in surprise. She contritely released his hand and wrapped them around the warm mug.
“It isn’t your fault, and I would gladly accept your help in designing a new logo and colour scheme for the Clinic.”
They butted heads over the clay tablet, going through several iterations until Iris finally approved his design. Instead of the guildmarked glowing open palm, it was transformed into two hands cupped around a sapling of the World Tree. Iris also confirmed it would be alright if the storefront was painted over with a shade of green to create a darker cyan colour. It had the added benefit of cutting the cost of multiple coats of paint.
‘This might actually work…’ Back on Earth, the colour ‘blue’ and ‘green’ was often colexified under a single umbrella term in many languages. This had become apparent when a refugee at the Camp had commented what a ‘clear green sky’ it was. Initially confused, and wondering if an inordinate amount of people were colourblind, it had quickly become apparent that was not the case, and that the terms were used interchangeably.
All this to say that there would be minimal confusion between clients searching for a ‘blue’ clinic. He just needed to double check with the painter that the shade of blue-green wasn’t guildmarked.
Hearing the Market Tower ring eleven, the Guild employee stood to leave for work. Gathering her belongings, reached out one last time to grab Envy’s hand. She had originally planned to see her this morning but ended up spending all that time with Exill instead. Before she left, Iris admired the silky scarlet hair that Envy had been combing and complemented her skin, “You look so well-rested; did you sleep well last night?”
“Mn, but Exill kept touching me.”
The Witchdoctor coughed up tea while Iris’s jaw dropped in silent exclamation. This was simply too scandalous!
“She kept biting me, so I pushed her away! Dear heavens, I know you spare your words but seriously-”
Iris excused herself amidst the tumult and left the store as Exill continued to berate the Vampire, who had a self-satisfied smirk on her face. This only caused him to be more furious and he swore up and down never to let her sleep in his bed again.