Elmer sat in a corner of his room, fumbling with the vial of green, murky liquid, while gazing at it with a befuddled expression as he wondered what exactly had happened in the alley at the Black Market.
Something was missing—someone—but he could not quite put a finger on who or why.
He had gone to the Black Market to meet with a person, that much he remembered, but from there onwards, no matter how much he'd tried, his brain kept stumbling into a queer, uneasy darkness. It was as though he had lost a piece of himself, and it was biting at him hard to find it.
Who had he gone there to meet? Why could he not recall? Was he having some sort of memory loss? Effects of becoming an Ascender?
The thoughts swirled relentlessly, crashing against the walls of his skull and bringing with them a sharp throb of pain.
Elmer grunted as he shook his head, then fell it backwards to the wall, raising his eyes from the vial to the wooden beams of the ceiling.
"Mabel," he muttered with cold breaths. "Your brother is slowly losing his mind."
He took a bite of the half-eaten apple he held and savored its delicious and sour taste for a little bit before closing his eyes as he swallowed it.
The words. He remembered the words. He was to drink the liquid in this vial and it would grant him—rather his crest—illusionary powers. And he was also to find The Warlock's Torch, an artifact that would bless him with his wish. All these he remembered but the person who spoke those words and gave him this vial.
He had already thought a few times that those cries he'd heard while transitioning into the dream world had run him mad, but the vial in his hand kept discrediting that deduction at every turn.
It was pointless to keep thinking about it, Elmer decided. Then shortly after a moment of silence, he opened his eyes and put them on his sister who was torpidly gazing at the beams he had just pried his vision from.
He lacked the time to waste. The more he laxed on finding a way to help her, the more she looked to be creeping farther and farther away from him. If it kept up, who knew what might happen.
That fear pushed Elmer to quickly undo the wooden lid of the vial with a deep breath and an exhale.
He had been expecting his nose to be met with a foul smell like that of the snake's heart, but to his pleasant surprise, the smell emanating from within the glass vial had the scent of a couple of flowers blended together—a sweet, perfume-like scent.
There was almost a stupid thought to pour the liquid all over his body instead, but Elmer chased it away before it even arrived and chugged the liquid down his throat.
It was lukewarm, well balanced on a bridge between freezing skies and fiery pits, and it filled his tongue with a magnetic taste like the one of iron and blood.
Suddenly, his chest tingled warmly as though the sweaty, snug palms of a child had come to caress it with fondness and care. The sensation was so pleasant that Elmer hoped it would not cease, but a couple of seconds was what it had taken before that thought washed away as his chest spiraled back into its previous state, the imaginary palms retracting from him.
Elmer dropped the empty glass vial to the ground and quickly undid the buttons around his chest.
He plunged his eyes upon the crest, and now that he could see clearer than when he had just awoken from the dream world, he made out a rough but intricate circular drawing with a goblet turned upside down, just like his landlord had told him.
It was the same.
Elmer wanted to be skeptical—he knew he was to be skeptical—but he could not get himself to be. His mind did not allow it, his body did not allow it.
The crest will shift to the eyes of all who sees it… The voice of the unknown person he searched his head so much for bellowed in that same head, and in exchange for clearing any doubts he wanted to have, it filled him with confusion instead—and a throb of pain. It was frustrating.
Elmer ran his hand through his brown, spiky hair and ruffled it with a groan. Then he pushed himself up to his feet and took a suspender out of his luggage. After somehow forgetting to wear one earlier, he could not have himself leave the room once again in such a manner.
He let his eyes fly toward Mabel as he halted at the door. He had fed her and bathed her out of necessity—out of duty—as soon as he had returned from the Black Market. But this repulsiveness he felt could not let him do anything more than the necessary, including kissing his sister goodbye when taking his leave.
Elmer heaved out a breath and threw the rest of the apple into the makeshift bin he had weaved from a couple paper bags. His appetite was gone, and so was he some seconds later.
As he came down the stairs and headed to the front door, his mind recalled the lady he had seen earlier this morning, and he stole a glance toward the room at the end of the building's first floor. It was silent, just like the rest of the rooms. She had probably gone out.
Elmer turned around and made his way out of the apartment, subsequently taking his legs down the street to apartment six. It was another thing he had not wanted to do, but he needed to—out of necessity.
He knocked, and a few moments later the door creaked halfway open.
"Good morning, sir." Elmer bowed, and as he returned to a straightened posture he noticed something of a shudder from the owner of the peeking eye.
"Ya al—" His landlord was about to say before Elmer cut him off.
"I am," Elmer said, his mouth downturned.
"I… Ya…" The man behind the door kept quivering between words. Elmer felt he was somewhat nervous. "Come in," he said with an exhale soon after, his voice so low it was almost a whisper.
"Thank you, but there's no need," Elmer told him without hesitating to consider. "I'll make it quick."
The eye behind the door blinked owlishly.
"I am of the mind that the higher authorities might have some way to curb the threat of Ascenders who do not bear the crest of the pathway of this city." Elmer joined his hands in an embrace just beneath his stomach. "I have seen the Lost so I know how risky my existence in this city as one of such Ascenders is. And that is why I have come here, to ask you for a favor in that regard."
"What favor, tenant?" the landlord asked, his words coming out even lower than before.
"Keep my existence a secret," Elmer said with a steady, low-pitched voice. He waited for a while, but as his landlord remained quiet, he continued. "If the higher authorities really have such a course of action in place, I know that sooner or later you may begin to feel threatened by me, seeing as I live not too far from you. You are right to feel that way, but I am also right to feel the way I feel now. But since I equally do not want to put people in harm's way, I'll make sure that before night falls I'll take myself away into the woods and spend the night there. That way no one will be threatened but me."
"Yer've really lost ya mind, tenant," the landlord said. "I should never have made ya that elixir."
Elmer ignored his landlord's words and went on. "A month is all I need. If in a month I'm unable to join the Pathway of Time, then when you wake up the next morning once it's elapsed, you'll meet your keys at your doorstep." Elmer shuffled a few steps backward and bowed. "A month is all I ask for you to keep my existence a secret. Please."
"Do ya have some way?" his landlord asked. "Ya weren't certain what to do yesterday, but now ya talk as though yer've found some way."
Elmer raised his head without considering for one moment to mention all that had happened to the man—it was not like he could even recall the most important piece of his activities.
"No," Elmer lied. "But I will soon enough."
"How?" The man behind the door almost sounded worried, but it was most likely for himself rather than for Elmer. After all, no one would want to be so close to a living Lost magnet. "How do ya think to get such an impossible feat done in a month? Ya have no knowledge on how the supernatural works. Ya know nothing. Where do ya want to start from?"
I do know quite a lot, at least now… Elmer lampooned deep within. And suddenly, he noticed that the situation had brought a perfect opportunity for him to save time and know more.
There had been one more thing—aside the missing piece in his head—that his mind stung to know about.
If there was any place where he could find out about artifacts and the supernatural, it had to be one teeming with Ascenders—a place where the bounty hunters came together. That was where he intended to head to next. He hoped one existed.
"Bounty hunting," he answered his landlord's question. "I'm going to become a bounty hunter. That way I believe I'm going to learn more about the supernatural you say I have no knowledge of."
His landlord heaved out a breath. "I have no idea how ya managed to survive against a Lost, I even have no idea how yer Ascenders work. I've been an Alchemist for years, but I tend to keep my distance from yer all, still, I do know that bounty hunting is a whole different thing altogether, tenant. That's a huge risk. Just leave this city. It's better to be repulsed by a crest than to die chasing one."
Elmer pressed his lips together with a frown. "The longer this crest stays on my chest the more I feel dead." Elmer tightened his fist. "Do you know what it's like to be alive but dead, sir?" He pointed down the alley he was in, gesturing to his apartment which was out of sight. "My sister is in such a state. I'm afraid of death, I do not want to die, but I'm not going to let Mabel remain that way just because I'm afraid of dying. I can't even begin to imagine what it's like to be in such a state, and… I can't bear to watch her like that anymore."
His landlord fell silent.
"Everything I do, I do for her," Elmer continued. "So instead of trying to show your concern about my well-being with words, I'd rather you just helped me do what I am meant to do by keeping my existence a secret." He sighed as his rampaging thoughts settled. Then, he remembered there was a question he had wanted to ask. "I have a question," Elmer quickly put in abruptly.
"What is it?" The man's voice had become low again.
"This bounty hunting, do you know where I can find the headquarters or something of the sort?"
"No," the landlord answered, and Elmer had a slight feeling that the man was lying. He probably did not want to help him, but Elmer did not put too much mind to it. He already had a plan set up to find out where such a place was, this was just a way to help save his time and money.
"Alright." Elmer sighed. "Since I'm going to help myself into believing that you will help me, then I'll give you my thanks now." Elmer bowed. "Thank you for your help, good sir. The next time we meet I would have become an Ascender of the Time Pathway. Look forward to it."
Elmer spared no time to let the landlord say anything else before he turned around and walked away.