บท 15: Disturbing Sight
darkness was thick, there was no natural light source in the sky. No stars nor moon.
The sky was empty, pitch black.
People on the streets had already gone to their houses before the sunset, and eerie silence was in the air.
The guards and Eclipsed Walkers that occasionally passed were now holding lanterns. A flicker of colored ethereal flames were dancing in the lanterns, illuminating the pitch darkness.
'So, this is a common thing to have.' thought 'Jack' with certainty as his eyes didn't leave the lanterns even for a moment. It was apparent that it wasn't something everyone could buy, after all the light that came from other houses was weak and natural.
As for why he was still in the streets, it was because he didn't know the layout of the city and was too afraid to ask anyone. Not because he was shy or something like that but because he didn't want to get out of 'Jack' persona mistakenly. He still needed this identity before he learned more about this city, tags, and rules.
"Jack!" a feminine voice called out 'him' before pulling his arm quickly.
"Why aren't you in your home? What is with your clothes?" a woman with features similar to Jack asked while holding a normal lantern.
To this, 'Jack froze'. Then a wide, almost exaggerated smile found his face.
"I am searching for my wife! Did you see her?" he asked before 'losing' his footing and hugging the woman's arm.
"..."
The woman didn't utter any more words and quietly walked while supporting 'Jack'. After about fifteen minutes, they arrived in front of a small house and the woman opened the door with her keys. Even just taking a step inside the house, 'Jack' could tell that the house was a good one. Inside was noticeably warmer than outside.
"Remove your shoes."
'Jack' sluggishly removed his shoes while grunting and murmuring. Then the woman who was taller than him got under his arm and supported him to a single person bed before covering him with a blanket.
*Creak!*
With the sound of the door closing, 'Jack' immediately got up. The bullet in his spine was hurting whenever he lied down.
'Damn…'
'Jack' managed to breathe in ease. Both because he got up and the woman left him alone.
Deceiving someone was hard, but deceiving someone in the appearance of their sibling was incomparably harder.
So, instead of taking a risk of exposing himself, 'Jack' decided to act like a mix of drunk and sleep deprived guy.
Fortunately it worked.
However, 'Jack' felt like shit after seeing the familial affection from the woman to the real Jack.
It was both making him feel guilty and disgusted. Plus, he doubted the affection of his real family to real him.
'I don't want to stay here.'
'I don't want to see this woman's face again.'
'I don't want to doubt myself and my family.'
With thousands of thoughts — both negative and positive — 'Jack' stayed awake until the hours where people fall into deep sleep.
The best course of action in this situation would be—
'—to murder the woman who brought me here.'
This would remove the threat of exposing himself and get him a safe house he could stay for a few days before he got another identity.
But 'Jack' couldn't bring himself to kill someone in cold blood just because they MIGHT find out his identity.
'I am acting stupid but…'
'Jack' took his belongings and wore clothes that could be said to be decent. At least, these ones didn't have holes here and there like his previous clothes.
Then 'Jack' quietly and carefully left his room.
It was fortunate that there was no natural light source at night and the lanterns were extinguished long ago. So, the house, no, almost all of the city was covered in darkness.
This was good, amazing even. With the dark vision he acquired after transforming, the darkness didn't hinder him at all. He could see in the dark as much as he could see in the light, maybe more so.
Although he didn't like it and felt it was a bit cringe, darkness was his only ally right now. He wasn't just a human now, but a part human and part Creature of Darkness.
Darkness was his environment, his natural habitat.
'Phew…'
As 'Jack' carefully left the house, he was both relieved and worried. For now, he decided to wander through the back streets.
All cities, people, in short everything had a dark side or two.
'Though this world's dark side is a bit too strong…'
'Jack' internally joked as he roamed around. He needed someone to kill, preferably someone 'evil' and short.
Murder was murder. It wasn't something he could easily justify as a modern man, however, he could somehow convince himself with 'I needed to survive', 'it was necessary', 'they are evil, they deserve to die', and lastly, 'because it is easy'.
For example, 'Jack' convinced himself with 'She is just a moving corpse', about why he backstabbed the Baroness in the back. He needed to survive, so he stabbed a 'corpse'. He backstabbed the corpse, because it was his only option.
However, even with the self-persuasion, some doubt rose and he needed to suppress these doubts before they became too much.
'But I feel like I am finally getting used to this world's rules… kill or get killed.'
As for why 'Jack' was searching for a short guy, it is because he didn't have the ability to make himself too tall or short for his height.
'Well, this much is plenty enough.'
After walking while hugging the walls for an hour or more, a scent of blood reached his nose, causing him to furrow his brows in displeasure.
The metallic scent was coming from the house he was leaning on.
Scent of blood was sharp. This meant that blood flowed recently or blood flowed too much in this house that the scent was semi-permanent.
'A butcher shop or someone died via bloodloss.'
Guessing, 'Jack' released his pure white claws and put them into the keyhole, destroying it in the process. It happened pretty quietly.
Quietly stepping inside and closing the door, 'Jack' followed the scent and stopped in front of a wooden door.
'What am I, a dog? A bloodhound?'
Joking to reduce the stress, 'Jack' opened the door and his face got pale white as a sheet. He got disturbed by the sight instantly.
In front of him was a man laying in the pool of his own blood that was flowing from his wrists. He looked so peaceful and so relaxed that it was disturbing.
"Fuck…"
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