One would expect Alyze to be cautious due to her particular guest, but that was not the case. She actually looked as though she didn't have a care in the world as she went to the market at the center of the village.

The village, Lucel, wasn't that big. It mostly served as a rest point for travelers and merchants traveling from the south. At the moment Lucel was more crowded than usual, filled with travelers going to Sangai.

Lucel had one road coming in and going out. There wasn't really any wall to speak of, which the mayor was often criticized about, but never really did anything about. Though he did train the guard to the point that the citizens and travelers felt very confident about their safety.

Alyze even passed many guards on her way to the market. Once she got to the center of town the road opened up to a huge square, filled with the traveling merchants selling their wares. On the days that lacked many visitors the local farmers would set up shop, but at the moment they too were inspecting tools that could be useful back home.

Thankfully for Alyze, who was just looking for ingredients for a special meal to make their guest feel at home, the farmers that did have stands were selling their produce at a markdown.

The farmers at the stands' faces lit up when they saw her, most likely due to them being starved of customers.

Soon Alyze had everything she came for. As she headed back, merchants constantly called out to her:

"Jewels that will amaze any woman who sets her eyes on them."

"Steel that will strike down any Nocturnal that comes for your children and wives."

"Art made by the fulgcere of Canalith."

"trinkets that will make the perfect gift for anyone that you so desire."

The last one caught Alyze's attention. She stopped and took a look at the merchant's wares. The merchant himself had a big bushy beard and the largest belly Alyze had ever seen. Though his so-called, "trinkets," left Alyze in awe at just how much variety there was.

Alyze put a finger to her cheek, "I wonder what type of gift he would like."

The merchant heard this, and his face turned into that of a lion going in for the kill. However, he was stopped just as he was getting out his first word.

"Ahh.. a gift I wonder for who?" Have you finally fallen for someone? Oh! I wonder just who it could be."

Alyze smiled politely at the person behind her, "Well...hello Mr. Mayor."

"So...who's the lucky man?"

The mayor had a long pony tail down to his lower back, and was deeply tan. He wore a tight black suit laced with silver that covered his whole body, even his whole neck. His legs were covered by a shroud of excess fabric forming a sort of skirt down to his feet.

Alyze maintained her smile, "Well...my father."

The mayor sighed, "You know with your mothers looks you could make anyone fall in love with you in an instant."

Alyze's smile finally broke, "That's a little weird coming from you, ya know."

The mayor put his hands up defensively, "Oh, I'm sorry to offend you."

Alyze sighed, "It's okay."

She went back to looking at the trinkets, but the merchant hadn't yet recovered from the mayor's appearance. Alyze wasn’t surprised. The mayor did have an intimidating and demanding aura about him.

The mayor approached the stall with his hands held together behind his back, "I really am at a loss when it comes to gifts fot your father. I wonder...maybe something to clean that filthy forge of his with."

Alyze laughed a little, "I think he would take that more as an insult."

The mayor shrugged, "Well it's true isn't it?"

"I can't really speak on that, he doesn't let me near the forge. Especially when he's not working."

"That does explain the state of it then."

Alyze smiled at him wryly, "You can't argue with the quality that comes out with it."

The mayor became a little agitated, "I suppose, but if he cleaned it more than that would inspire more confidence in clients."

"Aren't you his main client."

"And that's exactly why he should listen to me."

Alyze laughed a little, and even the merchant joined in with her to get more comfortable. Though when he did this he got a deathly glare from the mayor that sent him back into his former state.

Suddenly the mayor's garments somehow looked familiar to Alyze. Even though she never thought much of them before, and it showed on her face.

The Mayor's face showed concern, "Hmm, what's wrong."

Alyze tried to laugh it off, "Oh! it's nothing, I just thought your clothes looked familiar for some reason."

The Mayor's face hardened into a deadly stare, "I would hope not. This was made from a particular material that is only found on the backs of Nocturnal corpses. The especially deadly ones at that."

The air seemed to freeze around the whole town square, and a moment of silence lasted between the two for what felt like an eternity.

The mayor leaned down and whispered into her ear, "Alyze, I would ask you to remember what happened to your mother. That is my only warning."

The mayor drew back and laughed to warm the frigid atmosphere, "Not like anything like that is going on. Though moments where you think you found something familiar are weird aren't they. Sometimes it even happens for no reason."

Alyze chuckled uncomfortably, "Yes...I suppose," Alyze’s voice gained a certain coolness, “However, it isn’t for no reason. It seems like you fail to remember my childhood, Mr. Mayor.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The mayor was taken aback by Alyze’s comment, but he soon regained his composure.

At this point the merchant wasn't moving a bone in his body.

"Well...I gotta get going, my father will worry if I'm gone too long."

The mayor furrowed his eyebrows, "Is that so..."

Alyze turned back and smiled as she walked away, "Okay! Bye!"

The mayor called out to her, "What about the gift!"

"I wasn't even sure I was going to get it in the first place!"

***

Umbren really did have no idea what to do. Jarvus had gone to work in the forge and even now Umbren could hear the clang of the hammer.

He laid on his bed in the storage room, so as not to be seen by any visitor, even though there wasn't very much of a chance of there being one.

Umbren tried to not to let his thoughts wander for he feared where they would end up, so before resolving himself to lay in bed, he had tried to get some sort of task or job from Jarvus.

Though no matter what he tried he was allowed to deny.

He tried to ask if he could help in the forge, with a disguise of course.

Jarvus just laughed at this, "You might as well cut off my head while ya at it. Our mayors got a nose that can smell one of your kind from a mile away."

He asked if he could clean the house.

Again Jarvus laughed this off, "Alyze would not let me eat dinner if I let a guest clean the house."

Umbren tried asking where the attoka was, he thought it would be better than being alone.

"Sorry, but I don't even know where that thing is, Alyze is the one that hid him."

Umbren tried many other things, but they all ended up getting rejected by the smith. So now he laid looking at the wall with only his thoughts. At least he had given him his cloak back, though he wasn't allowed to wear it because they would have a better chance of explaining away his presence if he didn't wear it.

Maybe they would say it was a defector running away from the horrible Nocturnals. The thought made Umbren smile. All their fates could vary drastically, depending on if anyone believed the story.

Then again, Jarvus had mentioned something about the mayor, and Umbren came to the conclusion that he was a person to be avoided.

After thinking about those topics and other menial things, his thoughts finally landed on the topics that he dreaded.

Why were they treating him like this? Umbren would have felt a little better if they had some sort of apprehension towards him, especially after hearing some rumors about Nocturnals from Jarvus. All of them were not good.

All he got from Jarvus was a little agitation, and Alyze didn't seem to fear him at all. If anything, the glint in her eyes made Umbren uneasy.

However, all those thoughts were just of confusion and natural questions that one would ask. Unfortunately, they quickly turned to feelings of guilt.

Umbren's gaze filled with the image of lifeless star pupils looking up at the sky.

He bolted upright gagging.

He questioned if he even deserved their kindness after what he did. After he killed those men and was involved in a mission to hurt many others.

These kinds of thoughts swirled in his head as he looked forward, as if in a trance.

Finally Umbren landed on the thoughts that dwelled deep in his subconscious that he tried to fight off, but naturally persisted in spite of that.

Two tents flashed through his mind, what horrors were inside he didn't know.

Umbren thought about how he should deal with it. He remembered what he did the night after. What he intended to do with Yorburn's sword…

He shook his head frantically as if the memory would bring the thought back to him once more.

The next choose of action was revenge. Umbren had said that he would not follow Lord Mortis's plan for him. But what if he was right? Would taking out his hatred on others be the right action? Did he really hate? Who would he take vengeance on? The village…

Umbren bit down on his tongue so hard that he thought it might snap off.

No, nothing like that. Nothing like that.

The image of the long haired man's insane face, and the unreadable face of the refined man crossed his mind.

Dilem and Ritoro

If there was anyone to hate it would be them.

But in the end he just didn't know what to do. Just didn't know what to do at all.

These thoughts swirled in his head for so long and he was so immersed in them that the whole world seemed to fall away.

The only thing that brought him out of them was the knock at the door, and the appearance of Alyze.

"Sorry, to disturb whatever you were doing, but dinner's ready, and afterwards I was thinking of going to see your friend."

Umbren was surprised at how much time had passed, it felt as if it was just noon.

Umbren nodded and followed her into the main room, and Jarvus was already sitting at the table.

"Ah! there you are I was wondering where you were. I thought that since you were so eager to do something, you would have ran out of that room when Alyze got back a few hours ago. Thank Luxcian you didn't because It was hard enough to get you back in there in the first place."

"Don't be like that dad."

Umbren just simply nodded at what he said, remembering the thoughts that swirled around in his head moments before.

As Umbren started to eat the smoked chicken that Alyze had prepared, he was surprised at just how good it was. It was quite frankly the best thing he had had in his life. The food at his home couldn't even compare. The only place that you could get anything like this was in Avayev and Umbren never thought of going there his whole life.

Jarvus spoke up first with a bunch of food in his mouth, "So Alyze how was the market. It ought to be filled with people with Galaris coming around."

Alyze smiled awkwardly, "It was... and I sort of met the mayor."

Jarvus raised an eyebrow, "Oh! Really, how is he doing? He must be stressed handling all the extra visitors."

"Well...I didn't really get a chance to ask him..."

Jarvus furrowed his eyebrow, "What's wrong?"

"I... sort of...maybe think he's onto us."

Jarvus dropped the fork he was holding, while Umbren choked on the water he was drinking. All while Alyze laughed to herself.

Jarvus smacked his hands down on the table. With so much force that Umbren thought it might break.

"What do you mean he's, 'on to us.' He paused and furrowed his eyes even more, "You didn't say anything did you."

Alyze stopped laughing, "Of course not. Why in the world would I do something like that? All I did was say that his suit looked familiar."

Jarvus's face darkened, "Hmm...so you didn't know what that thing was made out of."

Umbren's face was one of confusion, "What do you mean? I can't see how that would tip him off in any way."

"That thing is made up of scraps of cloaks he finds that look just like yours."

Umbren was speechless, "That's...im..impossible. There's no way....the amount of....Hands of Morta...you need to...for a whole suit."

Alyze put her hands to her mouth, "Hands of Morta..." Excitement lit up in her eyes, "Then that would make you a..."

"Alyze!!!"

Jarvus shouted as if fearing what she would say, "No he is not one of them. If he was, we would be dead already."

Umbren didn't know how to feel about the conversation, "You don't mean a..."

Jarvus gave him a glare that would silence anyone who witnessed it.

Alyze sat back in her chair with the same fire in her golden eyes, "Then what are you then."

"A play thing."

It was the best answer Umbren could come up with, especially after his talk with Lord Mortis.

The silence between the three lasted an eternity.

Jarvus was the one to break it, "We just need to be more careful. He might forget about it, but then again he is one stubborn bastard."

Alyze nodded, "It's about time I take you to see your friend Umbren. what do ya think?"

"I think so too. I've been eager to see him after our conversation this morning."