…

…

…

Dependents, my words are for you, and you alone.

The constructs of man,

Shan't be regarded as barriers,

Of higher beings,

Death is a difficult choice,

As is life.

∟[Life's Curse]

──────────────────────

Jett watched the figure slowly approach.

A hint of panic began to sprout…

Yet it was quelled by the desire for Soul.

He bent over, stripping Raphael's corpse of his dagger.

Jett readied himself as the figure approached.

…

Their footsteps collided with the cobblestone road, slowly growing louder and louder.

The light illuminated their face just enough for Jett to see.

A boy.

Chestnut hair, glasses…

Emerald eyes.

Jett's heart sank.

"So… so it was you after all." the figure solemnly announced himself.

Niko stepped into the street lamp's light, holding a sheathed longsword in hand.

"Hah… I knew it," he said with an exasperated exhale

"…Knew what?"

Despite the body at his feet and his tired state, Jett tried to keep a calm composure.

Niko exhaled in disbelief. "Why did you… why did you do this to me Jordi."

"Raphael was a…"

"No, I don't care about Raphael!" Niko yelled in anger.

At first, Jett was confused, however it quickly was drowned in realization.

That realization was followed by terror.

"The way you looked at me with fear when we met. A young and troubled noble who wields a dagger and sneaks off into the night. Hah… witnesses even told me the killer looked like he had brown hair…"

A look of crazed horror flooded Niko's expression as he listed the evidence.

"Niko, I can explain," Jett said calmly.

"No, no you can't. You killed my father, then you became my roommate. For what? To torment me?" Niko said with disgust.

"I didn't—"

"Fate took… took my mother. My father was ruined by it. After…she passed… he wasn't the same."

Tears slowly dribbled down Niko's face, yet he raised his head high.

"He stayed alive… for me. So I could at least try to live a normal life…

Jett's throat was welded shut.

He could hardly breathe.

Everything felt surreal.

He couldn't think straight.

Something was wrong, very wrong.

Jett felt that hollow longing.

A yearning sensation.

His arms twitched with weakness.

He couldn't keep his body still.

It wanted Soul.

'No! Absolutely not…'

"My father was innocent…"

Jett gritted his teeth.

"…Why did you kill him? Was destroying my life and everything that I cared for, was that fun for you?"

Niko was similarly in disbelief, filled with a look of distant abhorrence.

…

"You…" Jett managed to choke up. "Would you even believe me if… if I told you?"

…

"No. I guess you're right."

Niko unsheathed his longsword and approached.

He could hardly see through the tears.

'No, no, no… what is he doing?! Run away!'

Jett's heart pounded with dread.

"Please…" Jett begged. "Don't make me do this…"

"Did he beg when you killed him?" Niko angrily growled with a weak sob.

"Stop…" Jett pleaded.

Jett backed up as Niko approached.

The crying boy's entire frame shook.

"Why me… what did I do to deserve this? Why go after me?"

"I didn't…"

"You deserve to die! Not them!" Niko growled through misty eyes.

The distance between the two was now at sword's length.

Niko weakly raised his sword.

Niko would kill Jett and avenge his father.

"No!"

Jett's Soul tugged at his mind.

It began to forcibly close his watery eyes.

His thoughts began to dillute into a murky grey.

Nothing.

…

Then Jett lost his vision

…

The next moment Jett saw broke him.

He held a tight grip around the handle of his dagger, with both hands.

The dagger's blade had pierced Niko's heart.

They entered a deathly embrace.

Scarlet blood leaked and twisted down the blade.

It coldly enveloped Jett's hands.

Niko's eyes…

His emerald eyes.

The same eyes as his father.

They had already glossed over into a foggy grey.

…

Jett didn't speak, nor could he think.

Only a single breath of disbelief.

"Hah…"

A few shallow tears streamed down his cheek and off his face.

Jett couldn't even give Niko the courtesy to watch him die. To feel the weight of his actions.

He tugged the dagger out and backed away.

Niko's body collapsed forward.

His blood pooled next to Raphael's.

…

Jett tumbled backward, sitting on the ground next to the two corpses.

'What… have I done…'

An aimless stare through a soundless night.

Surreal. This didn't feel real.

Everything was so sudden.

Even though he shed tears, the hollow in his mind made no reaction.

It was as if something blocked Jett's mind.

'Why can't I…. what…'

It was the dam.

The same dam of emotions that allowed his mind to survive Shacktown's horrors.

It refused to break.

He couldn't break.

Jett wanted to live.

His being wanted to survive…

And now he suffered the consequences of living.

…

Jett stood back up.

He was the only one who remained.

He survived.

Jett hobbled out, into the darkness.

He had completed the mission.

***

A few hours passed.

Guards swarmed all over the campus, desperately searching the area around the two dead students.

Lanterns lit the dead of night.

At the root of the oak, Jett sat in an indescribable stupor.

Guilt didn't even begin to describe his feelings.

Yet even through such a massive storm of emotions, he still felt hollow—though his Soul was now replenished.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

He wanted to change, to be a man.

To thrive.

Had he not tried?

'A fish can never be a man.'

There would always be a part of him ever stagnant.

From his Fractured Soul to his blocked psyche.

No matter how he dressed up or how much effort he gave, there were simply things that were cemented at Jett's core.

Survival was engrained into his Soul.

'What's done is done.'

Jett stood up as he heard an incoming rustle.

"Finally some action, did you get the guard riled up?" Valeria asked with intrigue, her form appearing out of the darkness.

Jett had a tired and disheveled look to him. His armor had been riddled with holes, either from burns or stabs.

"The mission is done, just wanted you to know as well, I'm going back to the mansion."

"Oh, thank fuck. Been begging Maros for weeks to stop this crap…" Valeria sighed with relief.

"Didn't you tell me to have fun at school?" Jett tried to joke.

"Oh fuck you. Fuck off. Fuck this shit. Let's get out of here."

Right now, Jett couldn't agree more.

He was so tired.

So very tired of it all.

All he could ask for was the mansion's safety.

The warm embrace of home.

***

Sneaking throughout the night had become second nature for Jett.

He had done it in Shacktown, with Valeria, not to mention the past month of his life.

The Upper City was daunting, being so heavily guarded and all.

But as he gained more familiar with the lavishly segregated city, it became clear.

Rich people were just as weak as the rest.

They were no better than anyone in the Middle or Lower cities.

Maybe Shacktown, but that wasn't difficult. But even the people of Shacktown weren't inherently bad.

It was their surroundings that forced them into such a dastardly lifestyle.

Humans were the problem. Their nature was predisposed to evil.

But more importantly…

'What just happened?'

Realization still hadn't fully set in.

Such an experience was as Jett had described: surreal.

As Jett and Valeria nonchalantly snuck through the Upper City, he had a lot of time to digest his mission, despite his tired state.

It was a familiar feeling of euphoria.

He had fulfilled his mission, as well as the promise he made to himself.

Jett had torn Raphael off his high horse, killing him, and taking everything from him.

Killing those who deserved it was an amazing feeling.

Especially someone as idiotic as Raphael.

Even in the Upper City, there were dunces. Humans everywhere could be quite incompetent.

To be given everything in life, then to squander it in an instant…

…It made Jett's blood boil.

He thought about those who didn't deserve death.

Sarah, Irina, Adam Brunet, Niko…

'I'm a walking calamity for the innocent.'

Even that sleeping boy—back in the Shacks—had been killed because of Jett.

And for that, he felt a solemn guilt deep down.

It was all he could do.

"Alright, we're here. Should I announce ourselves or just sneak in?" Valeria contemplated with Jett in a whisper.

After a long walk across town to the outskirts of the Upper City, the pair finally made it back to the mansion neighborhood where they resided.

"Can't Maros detect us?" Jett asked.

"What? No, that bastard sleeps like a rock. Which is why I'm worried. What if we go in there and they lose their shit thinking we are intruders?" Valeria pondered.

"What have you been doing every night? Don't you return to the mansion?"

"Of course not you idiot, I'm not covering that distance every night," Valeria muttered. "I stayed at a nearby inn, Maros paid, I slept like a baby."

"Let's just go in and bite the bullet, I want to go to bed," Jett said in a tired agitation.

Valeria shrugged, taking her key and unlocking the door.

The two nightcrawlers entered the dark mansion foyer.

However, it was still dimly lit, even during the dark hours.

At the top of the foyer staircase were two figures patiently awaiting.

"Oh great, they're awake," Valeria said.

"Of course I'm awake," Maros said in his usual low tone. "Two students at the academy dead. Care to share, Jett?"

Jett walked up to the top of the stairs before meeting Maros's sharp and deliberating eyes.

Though his gaze wavered—filled with exhaustion and polarizing emotions—his determination covered it well.

"The mission is complete. Raphael Mathurin was the spy. The other is Niko Brunet, he was an accomplice to Raphael," Jett lied with confidence.

"Do you have any evidence to back those claims?"

"Raphael Mathurin is the culprit behind the recent murders at the Academy," Jett said with certainty. "I'm also led to believe that he is behind the rest of the recent Upper City murder spree."

Jett swallowed, his throat drying as he labored to maintain his usual poise.

"As for Niko Brunet, Raphael had used a bewitching heirloom on an easy target for manipulation, and as such, he became an accomplice to Raphael's crimes. Other than that, no. I apologize for my lack of thoroughness regarding the investigation, I will do better next time."

Maros said nothing in reply, only raising his brows in intrigue.

…

"If you'll excuse me," Jett curtly lowered his head before quickly retreating to his room.

"I'm also done," Valeria called up as she went to the guest room where she resided.

***

Silence hung in the air between the two remaining adults.

…

"I told you this would happen," Joanne said sternly. "It was a ridiculous lie."

"To me, this is a major success," Maros weakly defended himself with a smile.

Joanne scoffed as she threw her hands up in the air.

"Pure luck!" the older woman scolded. "There was no point in lying to him about the spy. Only by the grace of Fate above does he happen to find a murderer.

"Everything will turn out fine," Maros reassured her.

"The boy could be could lying for all we know. What if Raphael Mathuring is innocent."

"Guess we'll see. The boy is monstrous, but smart enough to be loyal. But it looks like everything worked out in the end."

"When you're scrambling trying to prevent catastrophe from exploding with the Mathurin family, you'll see that you couldn't be more wrong."

Maros held his tongue in conflict as Joanne walked off in ire.

…

"What's done is done," he whispered.