Chapter 79: Chapter 79
An update: I have changed the description of Dane's Ability.
Phantom Metamorphosis Description: [You can metamorphose into a Phantom, existing beyond the confines of matter.]
***
"How did she?" Jimmy asked. It had been a day but the shock was still on his face, and Dane could not help but wonder how he would react to all the other things they were taught.
"A legacy trick."
"A trick? A trick killed a Pathfinder?"
Dane sipped at his soup. "What were you expecting?"
Jimmy's expression faltered. "I don't know! A hard fight?" He let out a chilly breath. "I didn't…I didn't think…"
"You thought the progeny of the Immortal Flame would struggle against…what…a traitorous buffoon?"
Jimmy's troubled face fell, and soon he looked like himself again. "You're right." He lifted his spoon to his lips, his eyes darting around. "You need to keep a lid on that tongue of yours, Dane. If people hear you calling Andel a…"
Dane snorted.
"First of all, this is telepathy. Secondly, let them hear."
"You can't mean that."
"I do."
"Gunla…ahem, the Bright Lord would have your head for it."
Dane touched his neck, scratching it. "Well, if he can take it, he's welcome to it. He has my sword, not my mind and tongue."
Jimmy was trying his hardest to keep his lips from curling. He failed. "When you get yourself killed, don't tell me I didn't warn you." His eyes shot to his soup. They lit up. "Haha! I got meat!"
Indeed, there was a piece of meat within the soup. Dane eyed it with jealousy. There wasn't much meat going around today, for a group of Hunters had failed their hunt. This was yesterday's leftovers, and there wasn't much going around.
Jimmy pulled his bowl out of Dane's reach. "If eyes could eat, yours would."
Dane peeled his eyes away.
"Have you giv—"
Jimmy cleared his throat, gesturing with his eyes, asking him to look behind him.
Dane turned. A woman was assessing Dane, her eyes roaming his figure, eventually stopping on his eyes. Dane discreetly sucked in a breath. She was a beautiful lass, with short brown hair and piercing blue eyes. She donned a sun-beaten, dusty old woollen cloak.
She held out her hand with a sweet smile.
Dane shook it, and achieving telepathic connection, he asked, "Yes?"
She withdrew her hand.
"Lieutenant Gemma told me to take you around the Dark City," she put a hand on her hip, "I'm Nastya, a Pathfinder. We haven't all day, shall we get going?"
Dane looked back at his unfinished soup. Jimmy must have seen the exasperation in his eyes, for a moment later he smiled a winning grin and pulled Dane's bowl next to his.
He turned. "Yes, let's."
They strode out of the hall together, making for the gates.
As they walked, the pathfinder exhorted him, "When we're in the ruins you must stay close to me. Please do not do anything I tell you not to. If you do, you'll die and I'll miss out on dinner."
Dane nodded.
"What you did that day was irresponsible," Nastya said. "Yes, you killed it quickly, and weren't too far from the hill, but it isn't always that easy. Often, we attract greater, more dreadful things. It is no laughing matter."
She stopped and raised a hand, all the fingers outstretched. "Five. At least five Hunters die every quarter year, and at least one of the five are Pathfinders. The first step in becoming a competent Pathfinder is accepting that you will die sooner or later. And the chances are, it'll be sooner." She resumed walking. "Do that, and you'll live longer than the rest."
"How paradoxical," Dane commented.
"One becomes prudent when faced with no other option," she shrugged, "It is psychology."
The guards saluted as they passed the gates.
The inhabitants of the outer settlement had gathered at its edge, crowding around four people. Sunless, Cassia, Nephis…and was that Caster from Han Li? What was going on? One of the slum-dwellers, brushing against the shoulders of others, made away from the crowd.
When he passed them, Dane eyed a strip of meat in his hands. The man met Dane's eyes, furtively hid the meat behind his back, and rushed to his hut.
"The people here buy food from hunters," Nastya said.
As they got closer, Dane noticed a peculiarity.
Nastya did as well. "...they're not paying. Are they handing it out for free?"
Changing Star Nephis watched them walk by, a strange twinkle in her eye. Sunless stood behind her, failing to conceal his annoyance. Dane avoided him and walked down the hill through the arch.
It wouldn't be very pleasing to the Bright Lord if he were seen with one of Nephis's 'followers,' as the guards had coined them, a mere day after the event.
Dane put a hand on his falchion as they stepped foot into the ruins of the Dark City.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone