Dawn- An age of Darkness

We got out of the shop. As the shop owner was Lianne\'s acquaintance, paying wasn\'t necessary. But his last words were a surprise, even to me. Why would an elf warn me about an elf? It didn\'t make sense. And he probably noticed that I could use magic.

"I didn\'t know you were that young," she said. She was a little embarrassed and I couldn\'t even begin to wonder why.

"You don\'t happen to be that old too, right?"

"Oh, you want to know my age?" Her voice became a little charming. She was just teasing. "Anyway, did you get to know everything you wanted?"

So you\'re not going to tell me?         

"More or less." I looked up at the sky. No matter where I went, the stars always followed. They were probably the only thing in this world that didn\'t leave my side. But they always did disappear during the day. But at least I knew they were always there. "Alright then, I suppose I\'ll head back to the inn."

She smiled. "I guess I\'ll see you tomorrow."

"Good night," I said.

I left and she went different ways. I made sure to keep my peripherals on overdrive. I couldn\'t let down my guard. The streets were quiet and there weren\'t many people out. It was really late. 

Eventually, I made it to the inn and nothing happened. Nobody followed me. Honestly, I was disappointed. I kind of wanted to beat up some elven thugs. Maybe I really turned evil.

I went in by the front door. It was way past midnight, so I didn\'t think that the old man would be awake. But he was. He was still sitting at a corner and was drunk as hell like a mad drinker. He probably was one.

"Took ya long enough boy!" 

"Didn\'t know you were still up," I said.

"Hicc* what\'s your excuse! Hicc*" the elven wine smelled different than typical booze and the old man himself warned me not to drink more than two shots. I didn\'t drink anything though. But there were at least eight whole bottles stacked close to the geezer. Was he swimming in grief, worried about me, or just drinking one final drink before an imminent execution? I couldn\'t decide. I didn\'t want to.

He tried to get up. But he threw up and made a mess. One of the staff came to clean it up and I took him to his room. He lied down on the bed and I was about to leave.

"I think tomorrow will be very rosy. But are you sure?" He was delirious but his tone was kind of serious. I couldn\'t take him seriously though.

"Yeah," I said.

I left and went downstairs to apologize to the owner. He was still there. He was there even when the three of us chatted. The guy must have worked extra hard.

"Sorry about that, if we need to pay extra-"

"That won\'t be necessary. Sit down boy," he said.

And just like that, I had to sit down like a bad boy who just caused a ruckus.

The owner was a slender man, didn\'t look a day older than twenty but I could tell that he was much older just by his conduct. If I had to say something I\'d say he was elegant. 

There wasn\'t anybody left other than the staff and me. All the guests had either left or went to their rooms.

His words weren\'t harsh but I got the feeling that he\'d rip me to pieces if I\'d said no.

I sat down and the first thing he said blew my mind.

"Okay then, let\'s hear about those grey things you mentioned before." 

"You were listening huh?"

"Get to the point boy!"

"I met one, in a forest far from here," I said. My mouth moved ferociously. This owner was definitely intimidating if nothing else.

I was serious and there weren\'t any reasons for me to lie. Besides, I wanted to know the reason behind all those stares.

"They are our elders. They were chased out of the country a while ago. If you want to stay alive in this country then don\'t go about asking about them," he said. He turned to his glasses. 

"I-I\'ll remember that."

So that\'s why-

He seemed to know much and I thought it was worth a shot. "By the way, how is the prince of this country?"

"Which one are we talking about?" He didn\'t look at me and wiped a glass.

"Let\'s see. Looks like a kid and has blue eyes. Does that work?"

"That\'s like the most generic description I\'ve ever heard. But yeah, I know him. Never met him though. I heard he\'s hard-working and very respectable. But he isn\'t an official heir. He\'s adopted."

"Adopted?"

"Now go and get some sleep." He sighed. "I\'m guessing you three will pull something ridiculous tomorrow. I\'d warn you but I guess humans have short lives anyway." I didn\'t know if I should have been sad at these words or scared to shit?

I had questions but it was late. And I had a lot of stuff to do tomorrow. "Right," I said.

I\'m getting the feeling that I don\'t have a choice here.

It was hard to tell but he looked sad. Maybe it was just my imagination. "Take care of the geezer." His voice was calm and flew by like a breeze.

"I will." Honestly, I didn\'t know why this man even cared about the geezer, but one thing was for certain, tomorrow was definitely going to be something.

I went back to my room. 

The door was open. 

But I locked it from the inside!

With the knife in one hand, I entered the room with diligence, but it wasn\'t a thief, it was Alisa.

"What are you doing here?"

Alisa stood up. "I couldn\'t sleep, so I came here. I thought talking to you would calm me down but-"

"I needed to know something so I went out." I put back the knife. "I see. But how did you come in?"

"I asked for a key at the reception and the good-looking guy gave one to me." She chuckled.

She was a bit too- cheerful. They were all good-looking but the owner was probably the most handsome. 

So much for security….

She came close and sniffed my clothes. Startled, I took a step back.

"You reek of a woman. Who was she?"

I didn\'t know demi-humans could do that! 

"An old acquaintance. Didn\'t think I\'d meet her again. Anyway, it\'s getting too late, you should go back." I was more than just surprised but I kept my cool.

"Okay."

I tried to convince her for the last time. I didn\'t want her to be dragged into our problems. "But are you sure? You could end up losing your life."

"I don\'t know about that but I think it\'d be worth it. Maybe one day I\'d return the favor." She was being awfully distant.

At the very last moment, her voice changed a little. It was subtle but something about it didn\'t feel real, as if she was a different person. Probably because she was still up. I mean, it\'d be dawn soon and she was still walking around like it was no big deal.

"Good night Alisa," I said.

She looked happy that I called her name. All the awkwardness vanished with her radiant smile. She signaled me to sit down on the bed while she stood next to me. I was planning to turn in now anyway, so I sat down. 

She came close. 

"What-?" She didn\'t give me a chance. 

She kissed me on the temple and ran away saying, "Thank you for trusting me."

If there was a mirror there then I\'d bet my face would have looked like a red tomato. Being kissed by a bunny was a lifelong dream of mine. 

Never thought it\'d come to fruition like this!

I was faced with a dilemma. One part of me wanted to trust her completely and another part of me doubted her with all my might. I couldn\'t shake the feeling that she was hiding something. But for the time being, I trusted her.

***

Lying in bed I lifted up my palm. It was awfully late but I really wanted to try something. I closed my eyes and imagined light. A stream of light. When I opened my eyes, I saw white streams of mist. Maybe they were light? They did glow but not how I imagined it and when I touched them, they just disappeared. I still couldn\'t do the visualization part, I guess.

I fell asleep as soon as I closed my eyes again: there went my shot of actually using magic.. But Biteria was here with me and I was glad that she was.