A month may seem like a long time, but the days flew by bringing Kalsen closer to the day of the race.
*FLIP*
Flipping the page he was reading, Kalsen continued to read and committed all the important points to his memory.
'A combustion engine can go to 17,000 rpm while an electric one can reach 34 thousand rpm.....and a spirit stone engine can go up to 100 thousand rpm....' Kalsen's eyes lingered on the last one. Reaching such a high speed didn't seem possible. Kalsen's mind just couldn't wrap his head around it.
The page had more minute details on how each engine was manufactured and its functioning. Making sure to attribute each point to the right engine, Kalsen closed the book with a sigh.
To say that the last month was stressful was an understatement. Every moment of free time had gone into preparing for the race. Due to the unknown nature of the race, Kalsen had to research each and every bit of information related to the race.
The books in city library barely had a portion of its books dedicated to the races. Thus, Kalsen had to make do with the meager quantities of books that were available.
Putting the book away, Kalsen made his way out of the musty building. Well, the library could barely classify as a medium-sized apartment and was managed by an old lady part of the city council.
"Little Kal, how was your study session? You stayed longer than usual today," the old lady's gravelly voice called out as he walked out.
"Granny Bailey, it was good," Kalsen responded. "It's the last day before the prelims. So I had to revise whatever I could."
"Ooh, good luck little Kal," Bailey wished him with a crooked smile. "Not that you'll need it."
Kalsen grinned. He had met old lady Bailey at the clinic. She had been getting treatment for her back pain and her breathing problem when Kalsen returned with the vegetables for the week.
"Where did you go this time," Yetri asked disinterestedly as he checked Bailey's back for any anomalies.
"Graver's," Kalsen chirped with an evil smile.
"Boy what did you say?!" a gravelly voice exploded out of Bailey with a force that didn't suit her age.
"You went to that old crook? Don't you know he's a scammer??" Bailey continued heatedly.
"Old lady, you shouldn't shout," Yetri commented holding her back which was heaving from the exertion.
"Shouldn't you warn him?" Bailey pointedly blamed Yetri.
"It's fine," Yetri rolled his eyes. "In fact, it would seem that Kalsen is the one scamming Graver these days."
"What?" Bailey uttered dumbfounded. "He out-scammed that pile of bones?!"
'Not that you're any different,' Yetri kept his thoughts to himself. "Yeees." Yetri drawled on. "Now calm down so that I can continue my-"
"Haha - HAHA," breaking into laughter Bailey alternated between coughing and laughing violently. It brought her great joy to know that her old 'acquaintance' Graver was getting ripped off by a child no less.
"*COUGH* How did you do it?" Bailey coughed out between laughs.
"Umm, I can't really explain....." Kalsen trailed off not sure how to respond to this boisterous old granny.
"No matter *cough* It's all fine if that old coot gets the short end of the stick," Bailey broke out into another fit of cough-laughter.
Yetri sighed. 'Why do none of my patients listen to my advice?'
Returning back to the present, Kalsen was allowed access to the library because Bailey favored him.
Whistling softly, Kalsen made his way back home through a peculiar path. He walked back to the clinic under the watchful eyes of a mysterious person. That figure followed Kalsen and cursed his luck once more.
'How is the kid so damn lucky?!' The figure kept to the crowd as a police droid slowly moved along its patrol.
Oddly enough, Kalsen had always taken different paths back to the clinic. But to the dismay of the figure, a police droid was almost always moving along the same path as Kalsen.
Sweat beaded on the figure's forehead as he thought of his fate.
He had been given the task to get rid of the kid. He had been taking it easy first, waiting for the kid to make a dumb decision and walk into some alley or something along those lines.
But to his dismay, Kalsen always made smart decisions and went back to the clinic without any detours. And that damn police droid that was always within range of wherever that Kalsen was completely ruined his chances at getting rid of the kid.
The bead of sweat trickled down across the side of his forehead and he gulped. This was his last chance. If he couldn't do anything, he wouldn't have a pleasant end.
Sneaking behind Kalsen like always, the figure followed Kalsen towards the clinic.
'Looks like the kid is just overly cautious.' the masked figure thought as he trailed behind Kalsen. It didn't look like that Kalsen knew of his presence and was just making sure that he was safe in case anything happened. Or at least that's what he thought.
By the time Kalsen reached the door of the clinic and the police droid veered away from the clinic, the figure knew it was his last chance.
Griping his knife and leaping from the shadows, he rushed Kalsen without a sound wanting to assassinate him.
"Yetri~, I finally got him to follow me," Kalsen called out opening the door swiftly. An unknown pressure washed over the sprinting figure. Trickling through him, the figure felt each muscle of his body slowly grind to halt. Frozen in evening light, the figure was forced to watch as a slouching man walked out. His steps were lazy and unhurried, but the figure felt his heart clench in fear. The adrenaline flooded to each cell of his body did nothing to help him except make him aware of every excruciating detail.
Yetri walked out into evening sun and shifted his hazy blue eyes to the horizon.
".... too early," Yetri murmured before directing his attention back to the frozen figure.
"...now who might you be?..." Yetri yawned while asking.
Struggling to keep his head afloat, the figure tried with all his might to run away.
'SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT, WHAT IS GOING ON?!! WHY CAN'T I FEEL MY BODY?!!?' the man screamed in his head.
"Not in the mood to answer?" Yetri's eyes glowed as they became more and more cloudy, the blue slowly changing to a murky gray.
"....f-ff-rrom th-the o-r-orph-hhahah hahaha," the figure tried to answer through his chattering teeth and failed miserably. He slowly started to foam from the mouth as his body started to twitch violently.
"...hmm guess he's not answering..." Yetri commented disinterestedly. His eyes slowly returned to their placid blue hue.
"Are you letting him go? Isn't that dangerous?" Kalsen questioned poking his head out of the door. As instructed, Kalsen had stayed inside the clinic while Yetri dealt with the intruder.
"It'll be fine. He won't bother to come back here." Yetri stifled a yawn and made his way back inside. "Cook something good today. It's your last day after all."
Giving the masked assailant one last glance, Kalsen shut the door behind him and followed Yetri to cook him something special.
The figure out in the road stayed crouched on the road. The sun made its way across the sky and dipped below the horizon. Only when the last ray of sunlight stop shining did the figure regain conciousness.
'....Monster...run...MUST RUN' a slew of thoughts ran through his head as he recalled what happened before he had lost conscious. The image of those stormy gray eyes was seared into his head and seemed to keep gazing into his soul. A constant reminder of what would happen if he tried anything again.
Scrammbling to his feet, the figure ran for his life. He ran and ran. Legs burning he ran his way out of the city, mud clinging to his cloak dying it brown, he still continued to run. Those eyes in his mind wouldn't let his stop.
A few days later the fate of the figure in the end was death by his own blade. Running until he was unable to anymore, and forever haunted by those gray eyes, the man took his own life by the blade meant to kill Kalsen.
'Finally...peace...' the man's final thoughts echoed in his mind as his life ebbed away. Suddenly a pair of etherial eyes opened above his corpse. The stormy blue eyes, almost gray glowed a dull light as a black string was extracted from the former mercenary. The black string floated in front of the eyes, before it was slowly ripped apart. Finishing the job, the etherial eyes blinked and vanished out of existence.
Some locals could swear to the Spirits that they heard a horrid screaming that night.