The grating caused by the closing of the magical brick wall resounded behind Elmer as he wandered into the Black Market.
He had guessed correctly while making his way down the flight of stairs. The whole area was well filled up, even though the sun had not yet risen outside. It was almost like the place had not slept—maybe, in truth, it never did.
Elmer took himself past the crowds, and made his way toward the plain wooden door of the ingredients shop. There, he swerved into the corner beside the shop, trudging slightly into a narrow, dimly brightened alley with a looming wall for an end.
She would be here if things didn't turn out the way he wanted, she had said, but the alley was empty—completely devoid of any sort of presence.
Had he come to the wrong place? Elmer shuffled a few steps backward to take a glance at the door of the ingredients shop, and it confirmed that he had not. He could not forget how plain looking the shop was, after all, it had only been yesterday he'd come here.
But even though he was at the right place, the person he sought was not here.
Had she lied?
Elmer lowered his head with a heavy sigh. What was he to do now? Where was he to go? He turned around and gazed upon the ever-moving throng, his body too tired to even feel any sort of anger or sadness for his plight.
Was there someone within that crowd who could be of any help to him? He pondered. Would it be wise to go ahead and seek for any sort of aid he could get, exposing his status as an Ascender of the Soul Pathway in return? He weakly shook his head at that and slouched against the wall, putting his weight on his shoulder.
Being an Ascender of a different pathway than the one belonging to the God of this city posed quite a risk—one he had already experienced—and that risk could seep into the community and endanger the ordinary citizens.
He had a bit of belief that the government probably had some sort of fail-safe for that. Exposing himself and his pathway was surely not going to be of any worth. If he did such, he might as well end up being kicked out of this city, and with that his chances of finding a way to join the Pathway of Time goes begging.
Elmer almost began to slump down the wall in exasperation when a whistle suddenly blew through his ears, the same as the last time.
Was it…?
He turned around as sharp as his weak body could allow, throwing his eyes quickly about the alley for a few seconds, before they came in contact with the figure shrouded in mystery seated just something of a few steps away from him.
She was just as she had been on the yester. Garbed in a black, haggard robe with a cowl falling well over her forehead to hide her face.
Was this some sort of magic, the disappearing and appearing as though she was some kind of ghost? Was she an Ascender as well? Elmer wondered as his eyebrows creased, and shortly after, he glimpsed a smile slowly pushing the woman's lips to the side softly.
"Looking for me?" the woman said, her husky voice shoving something of a jape toward Elmer. But at the moment—if that was what she had intended—he could hardly smile or laugh.
It was beginning to feel like a long time since he'd done that, even though it had just been some few days ago during he and Patsy's—
Elmer tried unshackling his head from his thoughts about Patsy. She had her own life to take care of, and he had his and Mabel's.
Patsy was probably fine. She probably was.
Somehow, that thought left a sour taste in his mouth, mixing it with the bitter one he'd already had and worsening his demeanor all the more.
"Seems like things didn't turn out the way you wanted, did it?" The alley woman's voice helped to pull Elmer away from his mind, and brought him back to his reality.
He took himself from the wall and fully turned to the woman, straightening his body before he covered a bit of the gap between them to halt in a towering position over her.
"It didn't," Elmer answered, his voice weak and dour. "That's why I am here."
The woman cackled softly. "Didn't expect you to be back so soon, if I'm to be honest." She had some sort of air about her, no longer frightening—or Elmer was just forcing himself not to be—but quite a strange, familiar one. "What didn't turn out the way you wanted?" She pointed a quivering finger at him.
Elmer's lips pressed together as a slight grimace formed on his face.
Was he to just mention that to her? His thoughts conflicted with his reason for coming to the Black Market. What if it brought about some sort of irreversible problem? He shook his head softly.
Elmer placed a palm on his chest with a sharp breath as he answered, "This," deducing that there was little to no choice served before him in his current situation.
The woman withdrew her finger and fell silent, causing Elmer to furrow his eyebrows as a tightness formed in his chest.
Why had she suddenly gone quiet?
"What pathway?" she asked after a while, the tone of her voice a tad lower.
"Does that matter?" Elmer tilted his head, then crouched down. "I'm sure you know what being in a different pathway than the one of this city is going to cause to me and those around me."
"Then," the woman interrupted, "shouldn't you be leaving this city?" She took her covered face to him. "You must have become an Ascender late at night yesterday, which means you've fought a Lost. You're lucky you survived, but the longer you remain in this city, the more Losts will come after you. Do you think you can survive against two or three or four of those beings?"
Elmer shuddered. No, he didn't. He was just lucky to have gotten away with—and from—one.
"That's why I need your help," Elmer told the uncanny alley woman. "I… I want to…" The words remained stuck in his throat, seeming to be unwilling to leave. He breathed out and tried again. "I need your help to become an Ascender of the Time Pathway." With those words he noticed the woman twitch indistinctly, and his eyebrows pulled in.
"Why?" she asked. "You are already an Ascender of a pathway. Why do you want another?"
Elmer stood up, relieving his tired thighs from bearing the weight of his body. "I just want to be free of this pathway. There has to be some way, right, to overwrite the pathway one is an Ascender of?" he told the woman, and she fell quiet for a brief moment.
"Overwrite?" she asked, her husky voice laced with genuine curiosity.
"Yes," Elmer said, rubbing his fingers on his chest with a sulky expression. "I want to change this pathway. I want to—"
"Impossible," the woman cut him off, and Elmer had a look of puzzlement storm his face.
"Impossible?" he asked.
"Change your pathway?" She huffed. "You can never." She pointed at his chest. "Whatever pathway you have become an Ascender of, you shall remain in all your life. You can never change it."
Elmer felt his heart shrink as his breath hitched. "No," he said, weakly, his knees almost giving out.
That shouldn't be possible, right? The world turned silent and stiff to Elmer as he wobbled in his thoughts. He could never change it? That was a lie, surely. Maybe it was she who didn't know how. There had to be a way to do that, he told himself. There had to be, he just had to find it.
"But," the woman's voice came again, fishing Elmer out of the pond of his mind and hastening the pounding of his heart. "Joining another pathway isn't impossible."
Elmer was not sure what way to feel as those words made their way into his ears. Was he to be elated at the prospect that he could still join the Pathway of Time, or confused at what she meant.
"What…" he trailed off, swallowing a lump of spit that had caught in his throat. "What do you mean it isn't impossible? Didn't you just say I couldn't change it?"
"Join, not change," the woman told him. "You can never change your pathway, but it is not impossible to join more than one pathway."
Elmer suddenly felt rejuvenated, and as though his tiredness had never existed, his eyes widened with sharp vigor. "I… I can do that?"
"Yes," the woman turned to him. "But as you must know, nothing involving the supernatural is without its risks."
Risks? It was quite a laughable word in this scenario. He was risking a lot thus far. What was adding another on the countless he was already planning to make as he trudged ahead going to cost him?
"I don't care," Elmer moaned. "Just tell me how to join the Pathway of Time."
He could not see her eyes, but he could feel her gaze piercing through him for a brief moment before she dug her hand beneath her robe and brought out a vial.
"This," she said, "is a potion. An illusionary potion."
An illusionary potion…? Elmer leaned in closer. The glass vial in her hand contained a thick, murky green liquid that looked unappetizing, but it did not seem to be any worse than the elixir he had drunk for this failure on his chest. If this one would bring him what he sought, then he would gladly drink as much as was required.
"It'll keep your crest hidden," the woman mentioned to Elmer while she pointed at his chest.
Hidden…? Elmer's eyebrows fell down.
"What do you mean 'hidden'?"
"When you drink this potion, no matter what pathway you are in, your crest will shift to the eyes of all who sees it."
"Shift?"
"Yes. The people in this city will see your crest as that of the Pathway of Time. If you move to another city, the people there will see it as the crest of the pathway of that city, hence the name: illusionary potion."
Elmer's chin almost dropped. It was not what he sought, but it was truly amazing. Although, one thing still bothered him about how the potion worked.
"And the Losts?" he asked.
"They track their prey through scent," the woman said. "You must have noticed that they have no eyes."
He did notice that.
"So, the potion doesn't work on them?" His slight elation subsided.
"It does," the woman said, prompting Elmer to throw up a brow. "The potion works on all the senses."
Elmer sighed and straightened himself from his leaned over position. The potion was all fascinating, but this was not what he wanted.
"And how does that help me join the Pathway of Time?" Elmer placed a hand on the wall, resting himself on it.
The woman lowered her hand. "For that, like I said, has its risks. You can take the Essence Elixir once again and hope the God of Time chooses you as an Ascender of his pathway, but the risk in this method is not only associated with hoping you get chosen, the main risk lies in what comes from the failure of performing this method." She stopped, but Elmer knew there was more.
"What failure stems from performing this method?" Elmer asked nonchalantly, as though he was not bothered by what could happen to him as long as he had a chance to achieve his aim.
The woman grazed her covered face about him before saying, "The madness."
Elmer instantly recalled the cries he had heard while transitioning into the dream world. Was there anything worse than that which could happen to him?
"You heard the screams, didn't you? They were loud and grieving. The more pathways you try to join, the louder they become, and eventually you will succumb to the effects and become a Lost. You survived the first does not mean you will survive the second." The woman's voice immediately turned colder. "Still, do you want to take the elixir in the hope that you might get lucky and join the Time Pathway?"
Elmer's breathing was stable but at the same time agitated. He did not want to hear those screams again, still…
"If that is what I have to do, then yes," Elmer declared, his tired eyes unwavering.
The woman remained quiet for a little while before outstretching the vial in her hand toward Elmer again. "Take this," she said. "Use the potion, I shall tell you a better way to join the Pathway of Time."
Elmer's eyes glowed in a mixture of optimism and befuddlement. "What do you mean?"
"The effects of this potion lasts for a month," she told him. "In that timeframe find The Warlock's Torch."
"The Warlock's Torch?" Elmer had a pinched expression. "What is that?"
"An artifact," she said. "One that will grant you your wish."
Wish…? Elmer's body twitched unnoticeably before he quickly fell into a crouch and moved in a slight closer toward the woman.
"What do you mean by that?"
"The Torch grants a wish from time. If you get ahold of it, then you can become an Ascender of whatever pathway you want."
Elmer's eyes shone as he held in his breath. "Where… Where do I find it?"
The woman shook her head. "That is up to you. I do not know anything more than what I have told you about it, and that's including its whereabouts." She motioned the vial at him. "Take this—use this—and find the Torch before it wears out. It's a mint note."
Elmer smacked his lips. Of course it wasn't free. And he would have almost thought it a scam again if only he had not seen her uniqueness in action. He dipped his hand into his waist bag.
"Ah, the revolver I see." Elmer brought out the mint note and looked up to see the woman sort of peeping into his bag. "Must have used it against the Lost."
He zipped the bag and took the revolver out of the woman's sight. "I did." He stretched the mint note at her, receiving the vial in return.
"Then," Elmer rose to his feet, "I shall be taking my leave." His eyes went shut as he bowed gentlemanly at the woman. "Thank you for your help."
He heard a soft, sullen, and affectionate laugh.
"Let's hope we meet again," the woman said, her voice suddenly fading into something of an echo, and the weird distance her tone now had begetting Elmer to cease his bow. But when he did, no one else existed in the alley. And then the woman's voice came again, saying, "But not in this form."
Elmer's body tensed and his thoughts froze as a disconcerting sensation of both amity and remoteness smeared his being at once, causing him to feel as though he had been alone, talking to himself all this while.