Bab 89: Crying For Rain

It finally came. The rain.

Didn't have to take a glance at the window to know it did, for the light patters dribbling across the murky glass pane that was gradually growing heavier was all the telltale that was needed.

That, and a flash of lightning casting briefly a dark shadow of the three us along the wooden floorboards.

Really sets up the scene well, doesn't it? Very cinematic. The staple confrontation between the protagonist and the antagonist, except less dramatic for the most part.

For one, I don't think no hero would be fumbling with his words as much as I. Nor do I think any villain would be very lenient with his patience for the hero as he, as said hero takes his time to un-fumble himself.

Really, I feel more like the wonder-boy sidekick than I do the chivalrous hero in the spotlight. Hell, Ash radiated main character material more than I ever could in my entire life.

An Elf. A Knight. A stranger amidst a strange land. Do I need to say any more?

Compared to that I'm just… the offspring of a legendary hero… and… the literal manifestation... of evil.

Okay, maybe I am a main character…

Then why am I so shit? Why do I suck so bad? Who wrote me this way? Whoever it was, I have a few well-chosen words to say to you. Don't worry, I'll try to be eloquent with them.

Try.

Yet it'll have to wait for the time being. A few more things still needed clarification, and he was gonna clarify them good.

The rumblings outside grew less sporadic and more frequent with time, so much so, that they kept in time to whoever it was that next spoke.

My question came with it, a bright bolt of lightning.

-"How long were you planning to keep leeching off of me?"

And with his, thunder always struck back in return.

-"As long as it'd take for you to tell me to stop."

Lightning flashed again.

-"And if I hadn't come to you, if Ash hadn't… what then?"

Thunder.

-"You'd either run away or go broke. Whichever came first. Simple as that."

It didn't stop flashing.

-"All those threats your men gave me?"

And it never stopped rumbling.

-"As empty as your wallet was during those desperate times."

It was really a terrible rainfall.

The cold air that filtered through my nostrils made to dampen the flames of anger stirring within. Didn't work all too effectively though. If there had been a mirror right then, could 100% guarantee my face would have been as red as tomato paste.

"You're kind of a dick," I muttered.

"Have never claimed to be otherwise," He said, always aloof. "But I have my virtues."

"You keep saying that."

"Because you don't seem to believe me when I say it," He paused as if daring for me to try and refute him before continuing. "I can be harsh, but not without reason. You noticed… that in spite of your dad's unpopularity with my superiors that no one has been gunning for you anymore ever since you've confronted me? They weren't done toying with his son just yet, you know? Keeping their claws away from you at all times was not an easy time, I tell you."

I don't know why he was talking himself up so high and mighty. Did he really think himself as my one sole savior in that situation? Well, he wasn't. Not by a long shot, because to the right of me was my one true knight in shining armor, and she had only one thing to add to that statement, uttering out in a low, menacing voice -

"I'm here..."

The man raised both hands. "And you were. You did good by your Master's side, and rest assured I'd be the first to admit it. I never mentioned it then but I was impressed. Someone like you, I could really put to good use. You'd be… appreciated with your set of skills."

"Abandon the thought at once," snapped Ash, the glower on her expression enough to silence him immediately. "You think me so low as to associate with the likes of you? Your words demean me, you vile miserable little - "

"It was only a thought," He said, smiling a smile that just reeked of total bullshit. "Besides, I don't believe your Master would be too keen on turning his beautiful date into a boring boorish muscle man, would he now?"

"No, he would not," I said, finally having enough. "And he's also not too keen on being talked down on for much longer either. We're leaving. Give our compliments to the chef."

At that, the man finally flickered in his eyes some mild surprise. "So soon? So little questions? I had thought you'd wanted more? Aren't you curious for more? Your father's past is as colorful as a rainbow. Wouldn't you like to reminiscence about his days with us? Or perhaps discuss more about the fantasy folks wandering among us?"

Pulled back my chair, dusted my chest, and gestured to Ash to follow along with me. Nothing he could possibly say was going get me to stay for a second longer.

Wanted to see what he'd do and what he knew. Mission accomplished, and time wisely spent… yeah right.

"You haven't finished yet," He said, nudging to the half-eaten steak.

I was already standing, rifling through my wallet, and glancing one eye at him. "The bill," I said to him.

"Paid in full," He told me. "Consider our little discussion a form of payment."

Didn't need telling twice. Free's free and my wallet certainly wasn't complaining about how thick it's gotten recently. Already I was by the door, waiting for Ash.

"You sure you don't want to take away, at least?" He said again. "I could get them pack for you."

"No. Look if you really don't want it wasted, get one of your men to finish it. Get the bowler-hat guy. Don't see him complaining about some half-eaten steak."

The Mob Boss stood up after us, chuckling as he did. "On the contrary, he'd be rather demeaned by it. He's the one that cooked it after all."

Hearing that was the biggest surprise of the day. Wiretapping, secrets discovering be damned. How can that guy and his stubby little fingers cook so good?

"He's your chef?"

"Head Chef," He replied, beaming proudly. "Best in town."

Guess looks can be deceiving.

Interesting. Not interesting enough, however, to keep me from swinging open the door wide.

"You sure I can't persuade you to stay for just a moment longer? I feel we still have much to discuss. Your father, for one, was always in a mood for conversation."

I was getting real tired of his overbearing insistence. It was time to put my foot down, and I did - a foot one step outta the doorway.

"Look If I wanted some boring exposition told to me constantly, I'd read a bad Webnovel," I said, keeping the door slightly ajar for Ash to go through. "And unfortunate to say, a good Webnovel you are not."

For the first time ever since we've arrived the Mob Man finally did what I wished he had done a long time ago - he conceded, another amused chuckle emerging out of sealed lips.

"So be it then," He said, standing in place. "Rest assured, your little secret about the sort of company you keep… you'll hear nothing of it from me. Curious as I am still, I don't believe your father would appreciate it if I meddle into your business any more into your affairs than I already have."

This constant need to bring up my father… it's got me thinking, really. "You have a freaking huge hard-on for my dad, don't you?"

The door, I let it close on its own, gradually swinging to a close, but not before I saw a smile from him peeking through a small gap.

"Oh, very much I do," He said.

Right, I'm gonna pretend I didn't just hear what I heard and save myself the nightmares from thinking about it too much. I already have enough sleepless nights, I don't need any more to add to my lists of reasons why I'm in desperate need of a psychiatrist.

Ash was looking like she needed one as much as I do with that dazed stare she was giving me. "Hard-on… it's… I read in a book, it's what you call slang talk, yes? When you say hard-on… and he affirmed, does that mean he - ?"

"Don't think too much about what he just said, please, you're better off for it," I advised her.

Sadly, it seemed I was too little too late. The horrific look that suddenly formed on her face spoke more than words ever could. Her imagination was corrupted faster than an innocent 8-year old searching up fan art online of his favorite cartoon character.

Ash shuddered. "I fear very much for your father."

"He can take care of himself. We have our own problems to deal with. Let's just go home, yeah?"

I had thought with that resounding click of the door slamming close that perhaps the time for surprises had finally come to an end.

How wrong was I to think it'd be that simple.

I left one bizarre situation, only to waltz into another.

The second floor.

What was a space so expansive and glamorous, packed to the brim with robust chatter and clinking of wine glasses, and not to forget the comforting sounds of jazz music playing in the background had become no longer.

All those things, suddenly and very much abruptly turn to an eerie quiet. Like the flip of a switch.

People were still sitting where they once were, the band members still clutched tightly to their instruments, and the bartender still bartended at his bar.

The only difference being - was that all eyes, patrons and employees alike, were only affixed and staring down in the same direction no matter their location.

At the same time, I started to feel it.

Felt it, questioned it once, "What's going on?" and gripped a trembling hand at it.

A sharp piercing sensation deep inside my chest. Steadily, and painfully, ravaging all my senses.

The strange thing about all of this was that nobody else seemed to feel what I was feeling, none was doubling over in agony, none had pain afflicting their expression… even Ash, as my straining eyes turned towards her, was oblivious to the utter agony I was in, and only had her gaze set to where all the others were, - to the fogged glass windowpane where it continued to storm.

Except not really.

It was pouring, but it wasn't raining. It wasn't rain that was trickling down the window anymore.

I felt my breathing grow heavy, felt the pain sting to my very core, like a hand squeezing my bare heart to its limits, threatening to burst at the seams… yet I couldn't make a sound, couldn't move a muscle… and couldn't question at all why anything was even happening.

Why does my chest hurt so much? Why couldn't I move? Talk? Shout? Scream?

And why… was it red?

The droplets that were dribbling, the rain that was falling… why were they all a deep, dark red?

Outside, the sight of the outdoors, the view of the city skylines… streamed only a forbidding landscape of a hazy pouring red.

Thicker than water, murkier than fog, and… I don't know why, from the shade of red it was in, all I could think of was blood. The clouds in the sky, what it poured relentlessly down above us?

It was a rainfall of blood.

Lightning flashed.

Thunder rumbled.

And I felt my body tumble.

As it did, I finally felt something slip past my quivering lips. Hitting the floor, sounding feebly and quietly in the silence, before the pain began consuming my body whole, was a high-pitch voice and sentence that definitely did not belong to me.

It was desperate, it was pleading… and it was crying.

"Why didn't you save me?" I whimpered, shedding tears that weren't mine. "Why?"

Ash spun around at once, saw my current state, and instantly got down on her knees, her terror-stricken face paling to an unhealthy white. "Master?! What has happened to you? Speak to me!"

My bloodshot eyes could only stare, my ears could only hear… but my voice was no longer my own. It shrieked again.

"Where were you, sister?! Where were you?!"

Accusatory, angry, I felt my voice grow hoarser with every syllable, but I couldn't stop - it wouldn't stop. I didn't know what was happening.

"You weren't there! YOU WEREN'T THERE!"

But Ash, her confusion turning into realization, apparently did. Her eyes stared down at me, her head shaking back and forth in pure disbelief, and muttered out to me something that I couldn't quite understand.

"Blightfall. It's Blightfall, Master! You're a speaker! You can't be here, you aren't trained in the ways - you'll die! We need to leave! We need to leave now!"

Couldn't agree. Couldn't disagree. Couldn't say anything. But my lips moved again, my tears were falling again.

"Eshwlyn! Where are you, Eshwlyn?! I'm scared! Save me… please save me!"