Chapter 8

Adrian looked out the window only to see, people running like headless chickens towards a direction to the right of the intersection.He got off the bed and his boots caressed the floor.As his feet balanced his weight, they felt quite numb . How long has it been since he walked..It can't be that long right?

Anyway ,he walked over to the window and he looked in all directions but much to his disappointment he could not see distinctively what was the cause of the chaos.It would be best if he went downstairs.He retreated from the window and passed by the dressing table and that's when he noticed his white messy hair.When did it get this white?That question left his mind as soon as it entered.He touched a lock and ran his hand along it's length then sighed smoothly.How is he going to conceal this..it would be easier if the hair was completely black now what...He looked around the room but nothing useful seemed to come to sight. He walked over back to the bed and he ripped off a long strand of the sheet.He walked over back to the mirror and collected all the hair then tied it to bun.He did a messy job but he nonetheless looked very beautiful.All the contours of his face were in full display.He kept his hand mid air as he stared at the mirror.He lowered a hand close to his face and traced his cheekbone.He smiled softly and headed out of the room.

As he opened the room, he noticed he was on the second floor as the inn had the structure like an opera house and the stairs where to the far right of the door Adrian was standing. Because of this structure, what would be considered the stage is the entry of the inn and immediately after walking in through the door there is a counter. To the sides of the counter are the stairs leading to the rooms. The ground floor has tables in which guest sit while having breakfast. He could see most of the frontier of the inn but not all of it..

He descended the stairs slowly taking into consideration the eyes that might fall on him for the blind spots..He climbed down carefully but as expected and fortunately ,there was no one in the inn.. Adrian peeked from left to right while on the stairs but he got the green light.He ran down the stairs and then as he passed the counter,, he saw a red apple on a basin and he quickly picked it up and he headed out.The outside of the inn was completely different from the interior part.The people on the streets were clustered up and whispering inaudibly while pointing towards to the right of the intersection.Mostly those people were customers and the small business owners.He descended the stairs of the veranda and right now felt more uncomfortable than anything.He saw a hat stand near the intersection and he quickly walked over to the stand while still keeping his hand over his eyes like he is shielding the sun but actually he is hiding his face.

He wanted to place his arms over his head but he would draw attention which he really doesn't need.He reached the stand and started looking at the hats ,the seller was distracted as he was looking at the somehow center of attraction and gossiping with a civilian.He took out the straw hat and replaced it with the apple he had stolen earlier.As soon as he took it he pirouetted out of the stand and wore the hat to hide his snow strands.

He managed to navigate any way from the stand towards the place where the woman was screaming.He turned eight at the intersection carefully that the hat seller doesn't recognize his merchandise.He proceeded forward , passed Infront of a sewing shop and just as he rushed past the corridor he felt a gush of wind hit his face.Adrian came to an abrupt stop as he felt tiny tremors resonate from his core causing his eyes to change color.It was a strange feeling to which he blinked back the effect whilst shaking his head resulting in his eyes returning back to their original color.He proceeded forward not wanting to investigate the course of this bizarre encounter.He walked for five blocks before he saw a group of people crowded Infront of a tiny fruit stand that was Infront of a locksmith shop.

Adrian could not see anything from where he was standing but moving Inside the crowd would be seeking for attention that is the last thing he needs.He went over to the locksmith shop pillars and hid behind one of them.The pillars were quite larde but not like the palace chrysoprase ones more like half a size but still large enough to conceal someone of Adrian s tiny frame. He placed one hand on the pillar and with the other hand he swirled his hand in clockwise motions and as he did this a windstorm started to brew near the crowd.He kept looking at the windstorm while momentarily checking the speed of his hand but the audience didn't seem to be moving,he swirled his hand quicker and the storm got even more agressive..With that the people satrted hurdling insults and quickly dispered but not quite all the way.However that doesn't matter because Adrian could now see the center and he saw what had got people so worked up.His eyes almost fell from his skull that he instantly stopped swirling his hand causing the wind to all of a sudden disappear.

A teenage body , about half a head lower that Adrian was lying on the damaged fruit stand due to a large impact.The boy s body was incredibly mutilated as there was a balck hole through his chest and his eyes were devoid of life.There were a spider web of black veins mapping his entire face to neck as well as arms.Its only horrifying to imagine what the eyes must look like as they are as of now closed.These black veins were visible even from where Adrian was standing. They must be petrifying in close view...Something feels familiar.. This looks like something Adrian had seen before but where..He tried to recall and finally it hit him, the guard in his room!!...

There was a young guard who was exactly like this but he didn't die right,so why is this one dead..If he could get closer then he would see what exactly they have in common.Just as he was about to throw a seeing pearl near the dead body, a man the height of a young teenage boy but still quite old yelled something that managed to catch Adrian s attention.

"Make way, the imperial investigation is here",said the man.

as he said this the people quickly moved backwards to clear way for the guards .The imperial guards looked mighty than thou,the synchronized way of walking was incredibly appealing.They had just flew here from the palace but probably about a handful of feet away they , decided to walk over as it's less scandalous.They looked quite suited for the duty.Their uniform was quite a sight for sore eyes.The fact that they looked like puppets made it interesting to watch.As soon as they managed to reach the corpse, a medical examiner walked over then squatted near the corpse and began looking at it.The examiner raised his head to one of the guards and gave a nod and with that the guard cast a concealment spell almost like body bag and shadowed the body ,this was to stop further contamination and to also preserve the body while transporting it or waiting for someone..It's nothing special just a cloud like blanket that prevents people from seeing the contents.Anyway,the guards then begun telling the people to back off as their presence is not helping to say the least. The guards were about to adopt an evasive approach when a whisper from someone on the crowd made Adrian startled.

"Reed is here",the voice sounded incredibly satisfied at this.

Adrian completely lowered his arm only to raise it and support himself aainst the wall.He had been watching the guards from this distance but as soon as his ears heard the man peak ,his gaze fell to the indicated direction . He stared at the direction and as the crowd parted, a magistic figure pierced through the space. He walked boldly and unfliched. The strands were curly hair were tighed back inn to a backbone braid.The hair piece used was crafted silver alloys or aluminum and the embedded design was the silhouette of blossom branch..The piece made Reed appear like a god, the kind that is famed for being vicious.He was wearing the same uniform as always and as always he looks he was walking to the flow of a crystal clear gentle stream falling softly on peebles just after a light rain drizzeli .His soft lips and gorgeous nose seemed incredibly lush.As for his glance, it's almost electrifying,kind of how one would react after touching a hot plate.There is something in the way that Reed looks and how he looks. Despite how pale his skin looks niw,it's quite undeniable that to some extent Reed has gotten more handsome compared to the last time Adrian saw him. Adrian kept his gaze locked on Reed this entire time and he probably hasn't noticed the curl of his lips He looked at Reed admiringly and Reed seemed like he was purposefully walking slowly so that Adrian could see him.Adrian let out a heaved sigh almost like a scoff..How incredibly happy he is to see Reed.. How much he wished he could run over and hug the living daylight out of him but he can't do that for two reasons..It would be dramatic and troublesome for him to go and hug an imperial guard during an investigation and also that Reed won't recognize him!!!

As soon as this thought hit Adrian he turned around and paced his head on the pillar..How stupid could he possibly be..Reed only recognizes the king Adrian not at all this Adrian..What on earth is he going to do..Maybe he should jut follow him around like a shadow..As if that will be all the way effective.

"Who saw what exactly happened",asked Reed nonchalantly.As he spoke , one couldn't help but be mismerized by the tone of his voice.He sounded so mysterious and isolated ,almost like he descended from the heavens to spread good will in the world.However despite how charming Reed sounded no one offered a solid answer .Reed walked over near the corpse and drew a spell on the air. And with the spell changed from black to red before disappearing..Reed wrinkled his brows before standing up and instructing the body to be taken to the morgue and not to be touched until he gives his word.

The medical examiner signaled at two guards to place the body of a flying swords and get out of here.Reed stood still in the spot before he turned his head to face the public but the first thing that landed on his eyes is a large pillar.He stared at the pillar for a few seconds and then a hollow feeling developed deep in his gut.His suddenly started to feel numb and sweaty, he could feel that his throat had just developed a dry sensation akin to having inhaled incredibly dry air..He half blinked his eyes twice before he decided to turn his attention towards the other side..He could clearly feel that something was behind the pillar but what was it ?He could check it out but what if it's dangerous and could cause harm to the civilians...He was about to take a step towards the pillar when..

"Mrs leeeee!!!!.... somebody heeeellppp!!!!",a young woman yelled just five blocks to the left of the locksmith shop.As soon as this happened everyone quickly rushed towards the direction of the screaming woman....Reed watched as everyone ran away but he only wanted to walk over to the pillar.He gave into his gnawing curiosity and walked slowly towards the veranda of the shop and placed one foot on the wooden board.This made a large creak which set a shockwave into Adrian s body Adrian closed his eyes and tensed his body visisly .Another foot on another stair made an even louder creak.its quite undeniable that as Reed placed one foot after the other his heart was beating and probably the only thing stopping it from falling out side is his own rib cage..He can't lie that its been a while since he had felt this way. Precisely it's been nearly a mouth since his heart raced this badly which was the night of the wolf howl.After he came back about two weeks ago after lying unconscious in the forest for nearly four nights,the one thing he craved more was Adrian s smiling eyes.Even if he can't do anything but just secretly drown in his affection, he would be satisfied if he saw the twinkle in Adrian s orbs.Anyway as soon as he got back to the palace, he felt somewhat like he was walking inside a stranger s house. Yes obviously the other guards were pleased to see him but that's not what he felt was strange It's his encounter with Adrian that shot a thunder bolt through his heart ... He saw Adrian and his heart didn't react at all. No sweating, no dry air ,nothing absolutely nothing!!

Even though he hated it when he got nervous around Adrian,this feeling of not feeling a reaction while looking at the king was without a doubt a punch in the gut.His emptyness was a large lump he found hard to swallow and as soon as he managed to escape people,an avalanche of tears left his eyes.How is it possible that after a few days only ,his affection has changed from everything to absolutely nothing.He balled his eyes out and he couldn't explain why due to the devoidness of emotions

So at this present moment, he managed to feel all those things to the mystery behind the pillar.Does he truly want to ignite the fire back in his heart or is his mind playing games on him again.

He placed another foot on the other stair which creaked even more.Only three more stairs before he could find what is behind the pillar!!