I could not see, but I felt something, a gentle pressure that enveloped my body. I knew I was not asleep, but the comfort left little for my mind to say.

I had wondered if this was death. The world wasn’t that kind.

In that darkness I dwelled, unaware of the passage of time. My thoughts came to a stop and I waited. I did nothing more than just stare into the darkness.

Eventually something happened, a speck of red appeared. The speck turned quickly into a blob, it was quickly approaching.

I tried to open my eyes wider to get a better look, but all that did was make me see more darkness. Focusing back on the blob I discovered that it had already reached the size of a fist.

Soon I could make out some definition, it looked like a face… it didn’t look like one it was one. The colour was unnerving but I definitely saw two eyes at the top of the blob.

I was sure that the blob was still far away but in an instant it appeared before my eyes. the face was without any skin, each muscle fibre seemed to wriggle and move. The sight was matched with a pleasant voice akin to the graunching of rust and a raspy old lady.

“where does the flesh end and you begin?”

“…”

“KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA…”

The faces cackling went on for a while, leaving me time to think of an answer. I didn’t want to answer, but there wasn’t much else to do.

I started putting far too much thought into it, the flesh is just a vessel, but what does he determine skin to be? I assume it’s the layer of flesh the face lacks, but then again, it might not know what that is.

the face stopped cackling and it’s eyes relaxed. the face seemed… calmer.

“ah, child you don not have to give an answer. Actually I would prefer you didn’t, just let it marinate in your head for a while. This might be a little cruel, but I wanted to leave an impression, something memorable. I have seen too many things fade away, I seek not to be one of them. Tell your children about me.”

The face gave a wink before disappearing into the darkness.

I now understood Mark and Mr Cedar’s fears. A being that could place me in such an endless darkness and then do that… actually, I don’t know. what is powerful in this world?

All I knew was that Mark and the baron were the most powerful in the tiny barony. Maybe before the empire turns to complete shit, I should explore it? getting away from mother is always nice.

Before I realised it the darkness had parted, btu the comfort had not. I was tucked into a bed, still in my cloak and mask. I rose from the sheets, my eyes darted to the warmth that I had left, but there were more important things. I checked all my pockets for anything missing. There were a few things that had fallen out, but a rough search of the sheets resulted in their return.

I then headed out of the room; the bustling inn took me aback a little. When we had entered the inn was half empty, but now it was chocker. a cursory search later and I found out why, a caravan had entered the town.

I looked around more to see if I could find the two old men. I couldn’t find anything in the crowd, but before I could change to a different vantage point they came bowling out. Mark nearly sent the door flying when he opened it and I quickly went to them. It was best that we -didn’t- stopped making a scene.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Once the two saw that I was okay they seemed to calm down.

Mark asked once I got close enough

“How was it meeting your first relic? They are feared not only for their strength, but also because they say potentially life changing secrets with absolutely no context.”

They didn’t mention the face in the darkness, but I didn’t want to bring it up either. The face… the relic seemed sad about it, the fact that he would fade.

I cleared my head; it was best not to think about depressing shit. I summed up the experience in one word. after was it mark or Mr Cedar? Either way one of them slipped up yesterday, it would be fine if I say one word.

“odd”

My response elicited a chuckle from both of them. it wasn’t the reaction I was expecting, but there wasn’t much else I could do about it but be baffled.

When the two calmed down they began acting weird. Mark did the talking which wasn’t odd, he could talk, it was the content that concerned me.

“Anyway, now that that’s over we should get back on the road. We have bandits to beat and after that I want to swing by the library of the barony.”

Mark plus library was not an equation I thought possible. He was the strongest, dumbest man I knew… but then again, I knew few people that were around or alive.

The two magically decided that we shouldn’t talk about relics. I couldn’t raise a complaint; the mild frustration was more annoying than their actions. I really shouldn’t have decided to be a silent character. Then again, I have already gone this far… might as well commit to it.

Before we left Mr Cedar decided to fill his role. of course, that role was being a blabbermouth. The times when he would talk novels at Mr Hildegard was probably all jests, but today he was doing it in earnest. The caravan stopping by the village was a boon, and he intended to milk it for all it’s worth.

When Mr Cedar finally returned both me and mark were sulking by the side of the road. We had already gone and bought all the half decent snacks and now we were just bored.

Seeing this Mr cedar made a big exclamation

“GOOD NEWS!”

Mr Cedar then got as close as possible, and said as low as possible

“we get to kill people tomorrow.”

Mr Cedar putting the effort to conceal it just made things worse, it seemed like what we were doing was wrong. We were going to go solve a certain bandit problem. The solution might include murder, but that wasn’t the goal… on paper at least.

Mark also found fault with Mr Cedars actions and gave him a smack across the head. The pressure of the smack sent the air blasting into me, but Mr Cedar acted like it was a light slap.

Mr Cedar acting a bit more reasonable now, decided to elaborate.

“Apparently a small-time merchant was hit west from here, there are a few others as well. With this also comes good news and bad news.”

“Spit it out”

Mark came to the rescue once again, but Mr Cedar decided to be confusing.

“They are an organised group, a poor one, but an organised one.”

I expected Mark to ask where the good news was, but he didn’t.

Some arm flapping later Mr Cedar decided to explain it to me after ridding himself of his laughter.

“boss, having an organised group is both the good news and the bad news. It is bad because they are going to be stronger, and harder to deal with. But with this it means we can exploit them, we can get the locations of other bandits from them, and we can take advantage of their organisation.”

Mark finally chimed in, but he only cleared up the last f Mr Cedars comment, and a little too late at that.

“it is easier to introduce chaos to an organised entity. starting chaos in a chaotic bunch of idiots isn’t worth the effort… don’t try this outside the region… or the barony for that matter, humans are too weird there will always be differences.”

Mr Cedar decided to be himself again and jabbed at mark

“Weird ay? Are you not one of us? Are you admitting that you are weird?”

“To an extent, but my weirdness pales in comparison to yours.”

Maybe I had the wrong impression, mark might actually be smart, he certainly knows how to control Mr Cedar. though that’s a double-edged sword since Mr Cedar only started acting up when Mark arrived.

The more I thought about it the more it baffled me, it was like they were taking turns acting like idiots.

My brain was not in the mood to dwell on it any longer and I just followed after them. if it comes to it, I am sure all three of us combined might be worth half a normal mind.