A cloaked man stumbled out of the fog, clutching his right abdomen. Instead of moving on, the man collapsed against a nearby wall almost as if he was holding it for support as he chest heaved with effort. Val's eyes narrowed in worry as he realized there was something wrong with the man, and just to prove him right, the cloaked figure fell to the ground, his arms and legs writhing in the mud for bit before going still.
Val froze for a moment, trying to figure out what was happening, but his gut was telling him that this was both trouble and opportunity. Just when he was compelled to go check the most likely dead or dying man, more sounds of running could be heard. A few seconds later, two figures dashed into view. Both were hooded figures, wearing a mix of clothing that any slum dweller would wear. However, it was obvious something was off about them. They didn't speak or hesitate as they checked the man on the ground. There was a glint of a blade, most likely a dagger of some kind, and the body on the ground thrashed a little more before going still again. The two hooded men crouched over the body, moving it about and even removing the dead man's boots as though they were searching for something.
The whole time this was happening, Val stayed as still as he could and as quiet as he could. This was not the first time he had seen someone be killed, but there was something off about what he was seeing. The men didn't strip the body or argue over the belongings of the dead. Instead, they quickly searched every part of the dead man before grabbing a satchel they found and then retreated back the way they came from. Val couldn't even guess at who they where, but his gut feeling told him that they were not from the slums. The fact that the body was left with most of its belongings meant either the men were wealthy and powerful enough not to care about such things or that they had killed for a purpose. Either group was too dangerous to get involved with.
However, Val felt his stomach grumble, and his body ache again as the momentary high from his fear faded. Hunger and the impending fear of being beaten again shoved his worry to the back of his mind. He waited just a bit longer to make sure the coast was clear before quickly slipping out from the dark alcove and moving to the dead man. At first glance, the killing wound was clearly a blade to the heart, considering the amount of blood staining the dead man's wool shirt near the chest. However, the blood covering his stomach area meant he had also been wounded earlier. As much as possible,Val avoided looking at the middle aged man's bearded face, which was locked in a rictus of horror and had blood coming out from his mouth.
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
Val's attention was instead first drawn to an empty dagger sheath, that was tied onto the man's pants, and he guessed the dagger had been lost earlier. Fumbling through the man's clothes, Val wished he could get his hands on some Tals, either copper or bronze coinage. Gold and silver Tals were too much to wish for, but if worse came to worse, Val thought he could sell the man's boots or the sheath for a few copper coins, maybe even a bronze Tal. He knew that would be enough to pay his 'tax' and leave a bit over for food.
Just as he was about grab the dead man's boots, which had been tossed to the side by the killers from earlier, Val felt something change in him. A warm soothing feeling covered him, and suddenly, the vision of the dark sphere with the silver flashes came up in his 'mind's eye.' However, unlike before, there was a silver dot, shining in part of the dark sphere. When Val's attention was drawn to it, he unconsciously tried to grab it. However, the silver dot flashed briefly before dimming. At the same time, Val felt the warm/comfortable feeling in his body fade a little. All this happened in a matter of a few seconds, before Val fully understood what was happening.
As he was about to back away from the dead body, fearing maybe it was the cause of weird change, his surroundings seemed to become more vivid, like the moonlight had become stronger or something. He glanced up quickly, but the twin moons looked the same. However, there was something off about his surroundings. As he glanced around, he realized that some objects like the man's shoes, his clothing, the empty sheath, and the nearby building wall were all sharper visually and maybe even had a dull whitish glow to them compared to everything else in the surroundings that seemed a little bit more blurry and faded. However, what really drew his attention was half a dozen more vivid, whitish glows emanating in the man's cloak. He had no clue what all of it meant, but just as he wished his vision would go back to normal, everything did change back to normal. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, confused and worried, but he couldn't think of an answer, other than to believe it was linked to the dark sphere in his mind and maybe to magic.
However, Val knew he couldn't waste anymore time, and as shocked as he was with what was going on, he knew he had to finish up quickly and leave. Even now, he felt as though there might be people peeping out of the shuttered windows nearby. He grabbed the man's boots and the empty sheath and was about to run off, when he hesitated. Looking back at the cloak, his sight moved to where the whitish glows had been.