THE BEGINNING OF IT ALL: First Path - CH35

Then, calmly, Miriel got out of bed and slapped him, believing it was the solution like before, but no. She tried a second and a third time, but it didn't work. She attempted to check, calling "info," but surprisingly, everything came back with an error.

So she took one of her remaining knives and cut the palm of her hand. She clasped her hands in a specific symbol to call upon the seal of Narzosas again, but this time it was rejected over Don. She tried everything, but nothing worked.

She then began a spell to send a message to her boss and uttered: "Message." From her arm raised to the moonlight, the specter of a bird glowing in the night formed, and she said:

"— Tell Mei-wei that I found the supaibi she was looking for, but I'll be late in arriving…" In a brief silence, she looks at Don on the floor, completely invalid, lost in a trance, and continues. "— He's in a trance right now… This guy is very strange… You said he was very important to fulfill your plans… But this thing is not a supaibi, much less; my instincts scream at me every second that something is wrong with him. My lady, I request permission to abandon this mission to be able to… neutralize this possible threat, my lady…" She mentions in reverence. "— I must kill him before he becomes a problem for everyone. Message closing. Fly!" She finished.

She returned to Don's side, gathered her hair, and sat on the bed watching for the moment when Don might come out of that trance. But, to her surprise, it would take hours and hours and hours in a trance that seemed endless. The sun rose, and he was still in a trance; Miriel ate, drank, and tried to take care of him, and he remained in a trance. Night fell, and he was still, by then, in a trance. A day had already passed, and Don was still the same. No one could do anything for him, but he continued to emanate that unknown and sinister ether that seemed to swallow light and shadows.

Nevertheless, Miriel stayed watching him at all times in case he woke up. The curious thing was that it was impossible to have light in that room: candles or terralitos, even the luminous magic that Miriel tried in secret didn't work. And even though there was sunlight hitting the room's windows, his body seemed to swallow it, and the room during that time seemed half-dark even with the sunlight. With each passing moment, Miriel still couldn't understand what Don really was.

And suddenly, WHOOSH.

Everything abruptly returned under the moonlight, the light of the candles, and that of the terralitos. Don's eyes returned to normal, but with tears. Miriel, by his side, had never asked him anything; she just stayed helping him with what she could, like eating, since, for some reason, he felt weak, unable to move his hands and legs at first. The night passed slowly, and they went to sleep. Don continued sleeping on the floor, but something changed in him that night: he saw something and kept it to himself. Maybe something was revealed to him, because he looked at Miriel differently, with more confidence than before, and he seemed calmer and more patient in his responses. Or perhaps… he found something… or someone… However, what we must be sure of is that something changed in him: he saw a purpose, but above all, he obtained a fragment of his past. And the day it is complete, he will soon be a participant in forging his present.

Later, when the sunlight finally illuminated the horizon, intruding between the homes and the deep dreams of some, a new day and a new direction were announced… a new clear purpose.

Don opens his eyes calmly, as if he were never sleeping, looking at the ceiling, seeing the lamp (terralito) that illuminates the room, without looking away. From the floor, he notices that Miriel is not in the room, lying on the bed as he expected, and he wondered about her departure. Then he sat on the edge of the window watching the sunrise, thinking. He extended his hands into the light that slowly ran through his fingers, remembering what he saw in that trance. His eyes filled with doubts, and he wondered:

"— Am I the path of truth? What did he mean by that? Although I didn't fully understand what he told me… I hope I don't run into that monster; he killed that girl without showing mercy… That family, that boy who wouldn't stop bothering me… Inocensy? What should I do now?"

Interrupted by hearing the door open, the small fragments of his true forgotten family vanished. Upon Miriel's arrival, Don expected her to bring something with her, but she entered empty-handed, and she began:

"— Are you okay now?"

"— Yes."

"— Our contract expires…"

"— I know. It expires today. Here," he said, tossing her a bag with 31 gold coins for a whole month.

"— This is too much. Why so much? Besides, I don't want to keep traveling with a useless one like you."

"— I'm paying you to protect me too. I heard you say you usually travel with more interesting people than me, so I have a new adventure for you: help me discover my past," he says firmly, lost in the rays of a reddish sun that illuminates part of his face, accompanied by the singing of birds.

"— Your past?" she asks, narrowing her eyes, and continues. "— Is all this because of the trance you had?"

Don remained silent, hiding certain things, looked at the floor, then raised his eyes again and replied:

"— I want to know who I am… and for that, it seems I have to find a certain Inocensy."

"— Where did you hear that?" Miriel asks, surprised.

"— It all happened very quickly, so I'm not sure if that's the correct name… but if you have any information… I'd appreciate it."

Miriel, still surprised, tries to calm down and gradually begins to see a different look; it's not the same as a few days ago: a curious distrust and a totally vague purpose, like resigning oneself to wherever life takes you. He developed a change as if he had found a new purpose in life, so she replied:

"— Protecting you will cost more!"

"— I have no problem."

"— And how will you pay me?" she asked, still looking at him with distrust, still exposing her fear at the same feeling as before, doubting without being able to understand his nature, the attraction she felt when he went into a trance.

"— I'll find a way," he said and resumed, standing up and looking into her eyes. "— By now, you'll know that I'm a supaibi, and you haven't tried to harm me, even having the opportunity. And after realizing what I saw in the bar the day before yesterday, I concluded that my master may not be right about everything. Therefore, you're the only one I know who can help me reach my destination, even though it gives me a bad feeling to travel with someone who calls me useless all the time, and it hurts to admit you're right: I am useless! … But it would hurt me more to think that the people I care about the most come to see me the way you see me."

"— And why now?"

"— I have as many questions as you do. It's as if a part of what I really am was returned to me, but I still lack the whole piece, and maybe I'll understand why I have no memories of my parents or my friends, and perhaps along the way, I'll find a solution to free myself from the seal of the 12 kings and recover my powers."

But even with his speech, Miriel looks at him, still not fully convinced.

"— Please, Miriel, I don't know anyone else."

Miriel, thoughtful, said without mentioning anything: "He might be a troll, a monster, or worse, an unknown being from the underworld. If the lady gives me the green light to kill him, I'll do it when I have the chance. I don't like anything about what his ether emanates, being unable even to see it like all the others. If I can eliminate him, I don't want any surprises; I'll put that freak 10 meters underground as soon as I know more about him." And she ended up trying to be nice to him:

"— Sure, that seems more interesting to me than finding ingredients. Alright, I'm curious to see how you end up in the end!" she says smiling, seeming nervous at the same time, and asked after a silence in which they began to gather their things. "— And where do we start?"

"— I remember Lu'u told me I could look for her if I needed her help. And to find the mystical alloy, we might need her," he said, looking at the 44 gold coins he had left for the entire trip.

The next hour, they left, and Don paid for the extra days without paying. They went out early to the streets; the green color of the trees reflected faintly on the houses and brothels of this district. Miriel took the reins of the trip and suggested that Teruise could be found at the bar, but upon arriving, of course, Don didn't deny the silent rejections he received when they looked at him. Besides, Teruise was not at the place; the waitresses approached, keeping a considerable distance upon seeing Don, and told them that it hadn't been long since she left the bar and that she was probably on a raid looting mines or looking for rare and dangerous objects, mentioning that "she likes to collect that kind of thing." Then, quickly, Miriel deduced that they could catch up with her at one of her guilds, the bounty hunters' guild.