Emerging from the cover of trees, four knights appeared, forming a protective square around Alex’s client. She was dressed in all black, possibly in mourning for her husband, but most likely to keep up appearances. Alex flipped up his hood, covering the top half of his face in shadow.
Alex turned towards Elyza, who had risen, her eyes telling him that she anticipated a fight. “Do you have a mask?” he asked, to which she nodded. He gestured to her to cover her face and continued, “Stay here and don’t do anything suspicious. The sooner we finish, the sooner we move on to my actual plan.”
As he started to walk toward the approaching group, he noticed that the captain of the city guard was one of the women’s escorts. As a precaution, not to waste any more time, he cast an illusion over his face with a flick of the hand. He felt the magic creep over his face, constantly changing his features.
Another mask for the collection.
Alex pushed the thought towards the back of his mind, storing it with the rest of his unwanted-s. He didn’t have time to dwell on its meaning, either; the knights drew their swords the moment they got in range. Alex pre-emptively raised his hand to stop Elyza from drawing hers. He stared at the black-clad women, his tone laced with concern as he said, “I know we both are from different parts of the world, but this is generally considered a threat in my country.”
The Countess remained silent, the captain seemingly speaking on her behalf, “Do not play games with us. You were hired only to rescue Liliana, yet you saw fit to kill the Earl. Did you really think I wouldn’t see through your treachery? I should have your head right here,” stepping forward in an attempt to articulate his threat.
“The Earl’s dead? My condolences to the Countess,” Alex replied, bowing to his client, maintaining the same tone, “But I swear on my life that I took no part in his death.”
“Do not lie to me, Nemo,” the captain growled, trying to use his gigantic stature to intimidate Alex.
Yet Alex stood his ground, addressing the Countess through him, “If, milady, believes that to be the case, why don’t you use that trick of yours to prove that I’m being dishonest.”
So be it,” The Captain relented, taking a step back while muttering a chant under his breath. Circular runes started to appear in the air as the chant continued, with Alex acting as their centre. As the chant neared its end, the runes started to merge into one, creating a circle of magic that emanated the power of the goddess. As the circle finished its construction, the Captain commanded, “Under the gaze of Lady Veritas, speak the truth lest you face her wrath.”
“Shoot,” Alex replied, completely unbothered by the spell.
“Did you kill the Earl?”
“No, didn’t feel like it.” Alex said, his voice steady and devoid of emotion.
The Captain tensed up, bracing for the spell’s reaction. But nothing happened. There was no great pillar of flame, no noose wrapped itself around Alex’s head, and the spell didn’t fracture or explode; it simply dispersed, its purpose fulfilled.
“What.” The Captain finally broke through his shock, “How is this possible? I know you lie, yet…” His words trailed off as his mind scrambled for an explanation.
“Well,” Alex responded by clapping his hands, “This was a nice break from my norm, but I’m afraid I have somewhere to go, so I’d like to request my payment.”
Something seemed to have clicked in the Captain’s head, as soon enough his sword was at Alex’s. “This is one of your illusions, isn’t it.” accusing Alex, the latter unfazed by the blade at his throat. Thankfully, someone other than him realised what was prime to occur.
“Enough, Gertrude,” the black-clad lady finally broke her silence. She continued, not letting Gertrude defend himself, “I allowed you to check your theory, and it was false. Don’t delay my reunion with Liliana because of your ego.”
There was a delay in Gertrude’s action, but he sheathed his sword. He closed his eyes, and they opened, his entire demeanour had shifted. Gertrude was handed a roll of paper, and he presented it to Alex, saying, “This contains most of the locations you requested.” Alex quickly opened it and scanned through it, finding that most of it matched up with the papers he had previously lifted.
The countess’s question reminded him where he was, “Sufficient?” Alex nodded, so she issued orders to her escort, “Make sure Liliana’s okay. All of you.”
The rest of the knights looked uncertain, and Gertrude voiced their uncertainty, “Countess, I cannot leave you alone with him,” But one look from her made him start walking towards the shack, and the rest of the knights reluctantly followed.
After they were sufficiently out of earshot, the Countess turned to Alex and asked, “How is she?”
Alex motioned Elyza to come over, then spoke, “She’s a bit dazed, which I may have something to do with. No visible signs of struggle, which is a good sign. May have to work on her trust a bit, but other than that she should be fine.”
Relief washed over the Countess’s face as she expressed her gratitude, “Thank you, Nemo. I don’t know what I would have done if I let that monster hurt her.”
Alex responded with a sly grin, “Shame, you would have been a spectacular fight, milady,” and he followed the jest with a playful curtsy bow. The Countess left to care for her niece. Alex turned around to see Elyza give her wide berth.
Elyza opened her mouth, ready to say something, but Alex beat her to it, “Now I can finally attend to the girl leaving us behind on this mortal plane.”
She sighed in response to his antics, “Yes, let us see your grand plan.”
Alex smiled, readying himself to shift, “I’m going to do it again.”
Elyza sighed even more deeply this time, giving her reluctant approval, “Fine, if I have no other choice.”
With a mischievous glint in his eye, Alex retorted, “Oh, you always have a choice,” as he visualised the location they needed to go. He commanded the shadows to envelop them both, and almost instantly, they found themselves being pushed out of the shadowy realm.
Taking in the view of Bakelv from atop a nearby cliff, a couple of kilometres away from the shack, Alex staggered forward as he took a step. He was surprised at how much mana the transport had actually taken. While he quickly recovered his footing and the expended mana, the sheer amount that was consumed was peculiar. The thought excited him, knowing there were limits to his magic he hadn’t known before. But at that moment, Alex needed to convince a person who seemed just as stubborn as he was.
No one, other than him, had ever used or wanted to use his particular method of teleportation this many times in such a short period. Even when he had company, he made an effort to restrain its use. Turning to Elyza, he noticed that she appeared, well, fine – relatively speaking, at least. Her face still bore traces of unsettlement, which quickly turned to confusion, seemingly realising the same fact.
“That was not as bad as before.” Elyza started, looking at her hands as if unsure if they were hers. “Why?” her tone quickly shifted to a more accusatory one.
Alex shrugged nonchalantly, “I don’t know. My best guess is that I’m getting better at breaking your body down.”
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Her brow furrowed at his choice of words, “What do you mean by ‘breaking my body down?’”
Alex waved her question aside with a dismissive hand, “Semantics, dear. Now if you can just take your seat,” gesturing behind her, towards the table he had prepared that morning.
“How did you get this up here?” Elyza said, sounding more concerned than before at the concept that he somehow dragged up a table suited for a banquet up a cliff.
“Again, semantics,” Alex remarked, pulling out a chair and sliding it behind Elyza, catching her off guard as she plopped down into it. Pushing her to one end of the table, he snapped his fingers, and the show began. Numerous arms emerged from the table’s shadow, each bearing a plate of food covered with a cloche. They arranged everything neatly on the far side of the table before retreating and allowing another set of arms to do the same. With another snap, the cloches vanished into thin air.
“Oh,” was all Elyza managed to say, astounded at the feast that had appeared in front of her.
Alex had already begun his explanation, “Each plate contains, frankly speaking, poor facsimiles of all the memorable food I got to experience during my travels,” gesturing towards the table, “But considering the time constraints, I’m quite proud of this.”
Elyza was trying to listen attentively, but Alex could tell otherwise. He simply pulled out two bottles of wine and a single glass, placing them before her. She nodded, her appreciation.
“Well, I couldn’t possibly let you die before you experience the full abilities that I possess,” he replied. Walking towards the other end of the table to his seat, he added, “Just wake me up when you’re ready to talk. I haven’t slept in three days.” With that, he closed his eyes, put his feet up on the table, and let the embrace of sleep overpower him.
For what felt like mere moments, Alex lost himself in the tranquil expanse of his thoughts, only to be jolted awake when the table bumped against his legs. His eyes fluttered open, getting greeted by the mesmerising sight of the sun about to set in front of him. Two hours had passed since his last waking moment. Turning his gaze towards his waker, he had expected at least half of the food he had prepared to still be left. To his astonishment, however, every single plate lay completely barren
Focusing on the culprit, Elyza was now enjoying the view with a glass of wine in her hand, keeping her thoughts well-guarded, her green eyes reflecting the orange light. She gulped down the glass, solemnly gazing at the view.
Elyza asked, “I severed the head of the snake, how are you planning to deal with its festering body?”
Alex cracked a smile in response to her profundity. “Never imagined you getting so metaphorical when you get drunk,” he remarked, to which she just glared at him till he answered seriously, “I have a friend in the Royal Army, who’s already moving to deal with the remnants of the late earl’s organisation. I’ve also sent her a list of their suspected hideouts, so the matter is expected to be taken care of by the end of the week.”
Elyza narrowed her eyes in response to his answer. “The same Army under whose protection it emerged in the first place,” she remarked, her tone full of scepticism, “Do you truly believe they can handle it effectively?”
“Never in a million years,” he agreed with her doubts. Still, Alex pressed on, saying, “But I do trust my friend will be able to.”
Elyza poured the remaining wine directly into her mouth, letting out a burp before remarking, “Alright, let’s hear it.”
“Hear what?”
“Your speech?” Elyza replied, “I know you’ve got some sort of argument loaded up in your head to try and convince me not to kill myself.”
“Oh yeah, that would be useful right about now,” Alex admitted, continuing, “Till my mind finishes formulating said speech, let me ask you, why haven’t you yet?”
“What?”
“I don’t believe you truly want to die, especially because you’re sitting right here with me,” Alex answered, enjoying the view of the city below them.
Elyza appeared taken aback by his conclusion and leaned in, her expression a mix of curiosity and surprise, “Explain.”
“Well, first of all,” Alex began, “The fact that you chose to even hang out with me, being a huge red flag in itself, suggested that you hadn’t entirely made up your mind about doing the deed.”
He paused, glancing at Elyza to gauge her reaction, but receiving none he continued, “And then there’s the matter of you following my instructions, which you had no good reason to do so. Except, if I may theorise, if you were trying to find an excuse to delay your ‘inevitable’.”
Elyza remained silent, her eyes locked onto his as she absorbed his words, “And the convincing evidence for me, Elyza, was the fact you woke me up. You could’ve just had your fill, thrown yourself off this cliff, and I would not have had any way to stop you. Yet you woke me up, even when you knew what kind of conversation we were going to have.”
Alex concluded softly, “So, by deduction, I can with some certainty say that you, or at least a part of you, wanted to have this conversation to prove to yourself that you weren’t ready to die.”
Elyza seemed deep in thought, pondering his words, or she may have been searching for a way to prove him wrong. Nevertheless, Alex knew he shouldn’t have said so much, yet the words kept coming to him.
“All of what I’ve said is just me assuming things about you because I have no clue what else to do. Our circumstances are bound to be different. The reason I was able to step back from the edge was because of a principle that came to me when I was ready to take the plunge. But you may not share such a principle. Maybe you could be convinced if I told you about the friends you might never have the chance to meet, the foods you could never experience, the joy you might feel when you help another, or the justice you could never inflict on those who’ve harmed others.”
Alex went silent for a moment, allowing his words to linger in the crisp evening air, thinking, “If you genuinely believe that death is the path you want to take, then I won’t stop you. The choice has always been yours, and it’s not a choice between joining me or embarking on a journey to the Underworld. It’s one between life and death. You may choose to walk away from my kind of life and start anew. I’d rather have someone I know to be ‘good’ out there, rather than them rotting in a hole underground. Either way, it’s your life to pen.”
“In fact, here,” Alex said, tossing a small black bell to Elyza. She caught it effortlessly, without even looking towards him, “Whenever you need to get out of a sticky situation, ring that. It’s like a giant lighthouse in the deep stretch of darkness, to guide me to you, to help a fellow lost soul. Whatever decision you make, I’ll keep my word.”
Alex did not know if his speech had got through to her, or if it was just noise, but there was nothing else he could do. He decided, instead, to enjoy the best part of the day, letting his eyes capture the magnificence of the sunset. They both found solace in the tranquillity of the moment, silently appreciating it.
Alex knew exactly how much time it took for Elyza to respond, because the final rays of sunlight accompanied her actions. She tossed the black bell back to Alex, who caught it with a sigh.
“Well,” Alex said, “I tried.” He cracked his knuckles, standing up, “How do you want to do this? I can offer both simplicity and spectacular,” a smile etching itself across his face.
“Congratulations,” Elyza replied, her response causing momentary confusion for Alex.
“What?” he responded, looking around to see if he was being observed, “Was this some kind of weird initiation to a secret society? Cause this has happened to me before.”
Elyza appeared to disregard his joke, continuing, “Your speech worked. While I may not have a compelling reason to live, I also lack a reason to die. So, I have decided to work with you until I find a reason for either.”
“Oh, alright.” Alex muttered, before perking up quite quickly, “Totally knew that would work. Never had a doubt to the contrary.”
Elyza couldn’t help but let out a light chuckle, her gaze shifting to the stars above. “Thank you.”
Alex smiled, “That’s the first of many to come, partner. Let’s just hope you survive training.”