Finn blinked his eyes several times while looking around, and then his eyes went back to Efrelyn who was about to leave.
"What am I doing here?" he asked before gaping at the whole place. "This isn't Fract. I thought you're sending me back."
"I did. I also said I'm sending you back to where you belong." Before Finn could ask more questions, she raised her hand in the air to stop him. "Please. Can you stop asking questions I can't answer, and try to find the answers on your own?"
He nodded. He watched as Efrelyn's titan kicked the back of the horse, and the chaise started to move. When they were out of his sight, that was when Finn went back to gazing around in awe.
This was definitely not the Fract he knew. It was brighter, and everything was glowing. There were houses twice as big as their house, and the street was busy and bustling.
He hid behind an alleyway, and sat in the corner, away from the people, away from the light. He was so used to the dark and gloomy streets of Fract, that everything was blinding for him. While sitting alone in a corner, everything went back to him.
His family.
The m-rderer.
A murklin.
Everything sounded so ironic and distant. He didn't know what to believe anymore. He wasn't sure whether the things that happened really did transpire, or it was all just part of his imagination. Or maybe a dream.
The day passed, and the sun set. Only then did Finn stand and walk out of the alleyway. Of course, no matter where he went, there would always be darkness. And this was his favorite time of the day now.
Before he reached the busy street, he stole a dark gray hood on the clothesline and wore it to hide his face. The street was still busy with people shopping for food and clothes, and some were just running around and having fun. The street was filled with lights, but it was bearable.
When his stomach growled, he knew he had to find a way to eat. But he didn't have anything with him aside from three bronze coins. But if this was really the town of Flexure, this would only get him a piece of candy. And that wouldn't be enough to fill him.
He was looking around, trying to find a shop or anything, who were searching for workers. The mortals started to get noisier while running towards a certain direction. Finn's heart started to beat faster, but noticed that the mortals were rather excited, not scared.
"An elite team is coming! Let's go take a look," a child beamed while hopping towards the direction of the commotion.
Finn blended in the crowd to take a peek. He dreamed of becoming a katona and being part of an elite team. Of course, he also felt excited when he heard about it.
When he successfully squeezed in the thick crowd, he finally saw them. The elite team. Most of them were wearing gray cloaks, but four of them were wearing different clothes. One of them wore red, black, blue and green.
But to Finn's surprise, he saw two familiar faces walking with them. The one wearing blue, and the other black. When one of them glanced towards his direction, he immediately lowered his gaze and stepped out of the crowd.
His heart was raising while half running, half walking away from the commotion. "That was close."
The two men who helped him back in Fract were katonas, and they were higher ranks. If those katonas were to see him now, here in Flexure, they would surely report him. He needed to hide, at least from them.
"The elite army is so cool, don't you think?" a young woman from the next table said. Finn tried to eavesdrop a little from the two couples.
"I know. They were just walking a while ago, maybe on their way to their headquarters, but how could they be so charismatic? It's unfair."
The woman squealed. "I heard they're looking for the murklin who was k-lling random mortals in the forest in Fract."
"Really? How admirable. They should just leave it alone. I mean, who cares about the Vad tribe, right? It'll be perfect if the murklin would just k-ll all of them."
Finn squeezed the barrel he was holding until it broke and spilled the beer. He almost cursed when he saw what he did. "What a waste," he whispered.
Before the other mortals notice him, he stood from his seat and left the bar. He had already filled his stomach for the night, but he had to find a job as soon as possible. There was no way he could continue living here like this. It wasn't comfortable for him either, no matter how surprisingly good he was at stealing.
He fished from the pocket of his jacket and saw a tiny piece of wood. It was one of the things inside the bag he stole a while ago, but he didn't know what its purpose was. But instead of throwing it away, he chose to keep it. It might be useful for him in the future. It might be useful now, he just didn't know it.
After wandering around the place, he finally found a restaurant looking for a waiter. He fixed himself first before entering from the back door, and asked for the owner. The place was busy, and he couldn't talk to someone for a while.
When someone approached him and asked what he wanted, the man immediately gave him a tray filled with food and said, "You start today. Bring this to table ten. Hurry!" He scurried away after.
Finn did what he was told and looked for table ten. He didn't have a hard time finding it, since there was a huge number 10 on the side of the table. And every table had one with different numbers.
For the next three hours, he got busy serving food to everyone. The restaurant was quite busy, especially when two o'clock in the morning hit. He had never worked in a restaurant before, but they were clear with the instructions, and Finn could follow just fine.
And when Finn had the hang of what he was doing, he started to eavesdrop on some of the conversation. It wasn't hard since almost everyone had the same topic at every table. It was about the elite army.
They were popular everywhere he listened. And he discovered that the elite army they saw seldom came to Flexure. It just so happened that they took another way to Banhar, where their headquarters were stationed. That explained why there were a lot of mortals who came to see them a while ago.
But while listening, he heard something new, something that piqued his interest. The Night Hunters were active again that night. They were arresting a crim-nal after another, and there was no sign of stopping them. It was not like anyone would stop them, after all, they were also doing this for the peace of their community.
The Night Hunters were candidates to become the next katonas. Once another katona got kicked out, one of them would be picked and become one of the elite army. But this was a once in a million, once in a decade chance for them. And the last one it happened was several decades ago, and Finn knew about him.
I didn't know my great grandfather was this popular. They even know his first name, he thought. He also thought of a new surname in case someone asked him. There was no way he could live here once people discovered that he was an Erskin. His great grandfather was kicked out after all.
When the restaurant finally closed, the owner called everyone who worked, and asked them to fall in line in front of him. Finn received his highest income so far, ten golds, for working as a food runner for four hours.
"Come back here tomorrow, same time, if you want to continue working," the owner said. "Thank you for today!"
And when Finn went out of the restaurant, he was still staring at the golds he was holding. He couldn't believe how much he earned just by running around placing orders.
Back in Fract, he chopped woods, turned them into charcoal himself, and sold them in the market, and the biggest he earned was ten bronze coins.
A hundred bronze coins was one silver, and a hundred silver was one gold. Just thinking about the days he had to chop wood and sell charcoal for just ten gold made him dizzy and weak. But here, he just happened to stumble upon the signage looking for food runners. He got accepted right after saying he wanted to become one, and earned ten golds just running around the restaurant.
He didn't have to wake up at four in the morning to climb the mountain, chop the woods, climb back down, chop them some more and turn them to charcoal. Not to mention the long way he had to walk to go to the market while listening to insults from the Vad tribe, and then spending a few hours waiting for someone to buy his charcoal just for a few pieces of bronze coins.
At one corner, he sat. He hugged the coins near his heart, and started crying his eyes out. If only their life was this easy back then, he would send his sister to a hospital to cure her. He could also send Carl to school, and buy him all the toys he wanted. He could also give his mom a new pair of sandals, h-ck, maybe even a big house.
Sitting here all alone, he regretted not being able to give his family a comfortable life. He was supposed to be the pillar of the house, and yet he failed to protect them.
But after a while, he realized something. The world was too harsh to them. Not only did they strip them off the title they deserved, but they also threw them away like dirty rugs. Their ancestors offered their lives to protect the country, and because of a mistake of a single person, it seemed like they forgot about everything.
At that moment, he bowed down to get back to the mortals who did this to them. He bowed to change the absurd rule that the higher ups made for their convenience. And in order to do that, he needed to climb up the ladder.
He had to become a major, and get picked by the royal family.