PART ONE: A BEGINNING
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IT WAS ANOTHER SUNNY DAY OF FALL IN ELANIA. Like any other day, Anton jogged on the familiar sidewalk. But today, his pace was slower than usual, viewing all the sights on the walk.
Rows of big old Oak stood tall on both sides, but rarely a few of the trees had anything green about them. Gusts of wind blew from the east, carrying few leaves away, leaving a heavy silence behind. It was the beginning of the day if you call 7 o'clock—beginning. The sun was shining in its splendour, dying the world bright.
The breaths of wind blew away the hairs from Anton's youthful face. He faltered in his walk and stood by a balding tree—unrecognisable without the leaves. Even with no leaves, it stood tall, welcoming the fall. No birds were there though, but the squirrelling of the squirrels came in his ear. He looked around. No one was present apart from him, and it's the main reasons for choosing this path for the morning walk.
Anton sighed, looking at the green less. He shook his head and continued back in his walk. Slowly he came near an inn called Alpstone. It barely opened at this hour of the day.
Anton slid open the entrance with familiarity then to step in, not giving the doorbell a moment to ring.
"Good morning, Ton," greeted the innkeeper, a fortyish something man, with a balding figure.
"Morning Takln;" barely greeting back the innkeeper. Anton moved to a familiar corner after crossing a few rows of tables.
"You're late," a lanky youth, a few years older than Anton, said, noticing his arrival. "Again."
Anton snorted. He sat down across from him and poured out a glass of water. The lanky youth across him snorted back but kept his silence.
"Good morning, Red." Anton greeted, drinking his full glass of water.
"Did you get it?" The lanky youth called Red asked with impatience.
"Would I be here then?" Anton brought out a small packet from his vest. But didn't give it to Red immediately.
"Give it," Red said impatiently, "do you know how the Inquisitor been restless over the case?"
Anton gave him a mocking grin and tossed the packet from one arm to another.
"Alright," Red gritted his teeth. "How much do you want?"
Anton gestured two of his fingers in return.
"Two hundred penz? I can barely manage about a hundred and twenty."
"Red, red, why play dumb? I know better than you how much this package is worth." Anton kept his voice down, looked around to continue. "I'm talking about two thousand penz or the information I want."
"Impossible, I barely have about five hundred left."
"Information, then."
Red pondered for some time. While Anton fiddled with the package in front of him. Red gritted his teeth and finally sighed. "You should be aware. I know little about the tower. All I can give you are a few rumours, I collected here and there."
"I'll take the rumours," Anton said. "With the penz, of course."
"Fine," Red nodded and continued, making sure no one was eavesdropping. "I heard that the trial date is within few days. Few of the inquisitors were quite restless about it."
Trials, Anton knew about this. In the Trial of the Maha Tower, they didn't just take anyone. All the participants must go under this so-called trial to get the chance of climbing the tower. "Why?"
"How would I know? I'm just an errand boy."
"An errand boy with lots of connections,'' Anton corrected red's words.
"I don't know the specific," Red sighed high. "This time the Trial seemed to be a bit…"
"Dangerous?"
"I'm not sure." Red shook his head. "Let's call it special."
"And you know nothing about what's special about it?" Anton asked.
"As a matter of fact." Red hesitated. "I noticed more inquisitors this time than last time."
Anton nodded. Inquisitors, blessed by the Maha, holder of supernatural abilities. There're many mysteries held in them, left to uncover. They talked about the subject for a bit more.
"Anything else?"
"Mmm, nothing that would help." Red shook his head. "Now give me that."
Anton almost tossed the package at Red, but snagged it back with the other arm. He gave Red a knowing smug.
In return, Red gritted his teeth again, bringing out a few red notes from his coat. He pushed the notes towards Anton unhurriedly.
"Three hundred penz, eh?" Anton shook his head, counting the notes. "Your information isn't worth that much." He tossed around the package from one palm to another, "while mine worth over two thousand."
"I'll pay the rest later after I got my payment," sighed Red.
Anton hesitated a bit to nod. Red may be quite of a stingy fella when it comes to wealth, but he has his ethics. If not, he wouldn't last long in this business. He finally tossed the package towards Red, who pocketed it immediately, not even verifying it. Well, this much trust came with years of business together.
"And next time, would you mind changing the location to a more private one?" Complained Red, glimpsing at the bald innkeeper.
"Great doing business with you again." Anton didn't answer his question. "Now if you would excuse me."
Anton lifted his body from the seat and left the table. He moved his way towards the balding innkeeper, for the usuals—Bread, butter and few others.
"Takln, the usu..." Before even asking, the innkeeper held out a packet to him. Anton took the packet with a small nod. He didn't pay any cash in return and left the inn. It would be dealt in the monthly course.
It took him a quarter of an hour to reach in front of his apartment. Most of the time it would take only about one-fifth of an hour, but his unhurried walk stretched it out a bit. Suddenly he halted in his walk, seeing a lady standing in front of the entrance. She turned one-eighty degrees, sensing his arrival.
A lady with a tall and full figure, pale white skin and blonde hair. Anton could make out that she's no more than twenty-five, a few years older than him. Unknowingly, Anton got lost seeing her. Her red lips, sharp nose with elegant oval complexion. She had the air of superiority in her, with a hidden allure of maturity.
He was about to try a few of his tricks on her when he noticed her gaze—coldly staring at him. His back was icy cold at that very instant, while droplets of sweat formed on his forehead. His heart rate fastened at an overwhelming speed. And that moment lasted for a blink to disappear.
'An inquisitor? Or only a Mahasayer?' Anton mused inside, calming down. 'Whatever it is, it looks bad news to me.'
"Cough… how can I help you?" Coughed out Anton, not looking straight at her. He kept his composure as cool as possible—it wasn't that common for him to come across a well adept Mahasayer.
"Wrik Everknight. I'm looking for Wrik Everknight," she said in a cool tone. "I'm sure, I'm at the correct location."
Anton nodded unconsciously. 'Wait, how can she tell I'm not Wrik?'
She gave him the way to open the door, which he compiled without much sound. A white Persian cat came in haste, hearing the door opening.
"Go, arise your master, Kathrin." He said at the kitty, but it left, giving him a disdainful look. His mouth twitched, but kept his composure in front of the lady.
He brought her inside, still not looking straight at her. "Make yourself comfortable." he left her on the couch. "I'll wake him up."
Saying that, he moved towards the room left of the couch. He knocked a few times gently on the door, but no response came back. He sighed and yelled, knocking harder. "Wrik, wake up. Some lady wants to see you."
After yelling for a full minute, a response came back from the room, "quit yelling, I'm awake."
The door opened. A tall but lanky figure with shoulder-length black hair, wearing a loose shirt, came out of it. He didn't even give a single glance at the guest, moved straight to the washroom.
". . ."
"I'll make tea," without giving the lady enough time to refuse, Anton vacated straight at the small kitchen.
After about two minutes, Wrik came back from the washroom, tidying his mess of an appearance a bit. He finally glanced at the guest, giving her a small nod.
He moved straight at the couch across to hers, laid his bottom on it. Kathrin came straight at his lap, jumping in. She tugged around a bit to rest there. He ran his fingers over Kathrin's white, velvety-soft fluff. It had a calming effect on the mind, but it looked like it helped little in this scenario.
Nobody took the opening to break the silence. The lady was inspecting Wrik with an open eye, while Wrik did the same with as much openness.
"Cough..." Anton eventually couldn't endure anymore, coughed out. He left the plate with three cups on the table.
Wrik took a cup with his left arm, still rubbing Kathrin with the other arm. He smelled the sweet scent of the tea to slurp a bit. Then finally opened his mouth, looking at the lady:
"Are you not here to apprehend us?"
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