Even though they had put a hold on the topic of what his job entailed for now, Elmer could still not get his mind off of all Ms. Edna had mentioned to him.
Coming across beings related to the supernatural as an Ascender was not something that should have been shocking in any way. So, from Ms. Edna's words, Elmer had understood that her shock had come only because he had somehow survived a direct confrontation with a high level corrupted one despite belonging to the Baseborn Echelon.
Ms. Edna had told him that he should have been dead seconds after he'd caught a view of the maggot-faced man's visage, that there should have been nothing stopping it from happening. But somehow, he had survived.
Elmer had had a gaping mouth at those words. And to even further confuse him as to why he had not died, he had come in contact with this man when he had not even become an Ascender. Of course he had not told Ms. Edna about that, he had kept it all to himself.
She then further went ahead to explain why her reaction had been justified, firstly telling him about the low and high levels used to term the corrupted ones by the Church, and the criterias that determined which was which.
The lesser of those two was simply when an Ascender committed a crime against the Church by breaking a law they had put in place, and the Church decided the perpetrator was too big a threat for mere Baseborns to handle, then they would be tagged as a low level corrupted one, putting them in the hands of the Lower Echelon.
As for the other criteria, it was the sole reason why that term had even come to be of existence in the first place.
This particular criteria was without bias for if the perpetrator was an Ascender or not. As long as they had ventured too deep into the world of the supernatural that their souls had become tainted or gone forever, they would be tagged as a high level corrupted one. And that was the sort of threat the current man he was searching for posed.
She had then told him that the reason why she had said that he should have died as soon as he had come in contact with the maggot-faced man, was because the high level corrupted ones had something called a mythical presence which made them extremely dangerous.
It did not matter if they were still halfway to insanity like the maggot-faced man, or if they had gone fully insane, they all had that ability because their souls had fallen into the darker parts of the supernatural and had embraced it.
He had been curious about what the 'mythical presence' did, and she had told him that it induced its victims with fear until they had subconsciously lost their ability to breathe, in return causing them to lose their lives.
Although, she had said that that particular outcome she had described pertained to only those who were Ascenders. Mere humans who had no sort of embrace with the supernatural would have their whole being crushed in a second.
And it was because of those latter words that the inexplicable emotions which had been, and were still constantly tugging at Elmer's body, had not still settled down.
He had not been an Ascender when he'd come across the maggot-faced man, so how had he survived?
No doubt, he recalled the fear that had filled him then, his inability to breathe as well, but those specific outcomes were supposed to be for those who were in the Baseborn Echelon. So how come he, who had not even been an Ascender at that time, had not been crushed like a tomato which had been stepped upon by a person?
"Are you alright?" Ms. Edna whispered suddenly from beside him as the carriage they were within shook a tad.
Elmer turned his face up to her from the wood boards that made up the floor he was looking at, and sighed.
"I'm fine," he said, straightening himself from his leaned over position.
"Okay." Ms. Edna took her eyes away from the side of his face and returned them forward.
After a few seconds of remaining quiet, Elmer went ahead to break the silence between them by saying, "I have a question. Why is it that the Baseborns can't survive an encounter with the high level corrupted ones, but you people in the Lower Echelon can?"
Ms. Edna patted her Gladstone bag which was placed atop her lap and replied after a soft heave of breath, "That's because we are closer to the essence of the Heavens. The higher you ascend, the more you embrace the supernatural, and the more you are able to withstand the madness and effects that come with it. In truth, it also makes you more vulnerable to its madness as well."
Elmer's brows wrinkled. "You're saying the higher a person ascends the stronger their resistance to the effects of the supernatural, and the more vulnerable they are to succumbing to it as well?" He tried to keep his voice down since they were not the only ones in the carriage at the moment, but he knew that the only reason his conversation might go unheard was because they were at the far end of the carriage's coach.
"Precisely." Ms. Edna nodded.
"That doesn't even make any sense." Elmer rubbed his forehead with his right hand which was free from holding his paper bag of materials.
"Don't hope anything pertaining to the world we are in will ever make any sense. The faster you start believing that, the easier the rest of your life might be."
Elmer was aware of that, but if he did not try to have it all make sense then how in the world was he going to bring Mabel back?
"And the high level corrupted ones? How do they become that way?" he asked another question which had bothered him. "Is it by drinking the essence elixir? The Losts, those things people are claimed to turn into if they fail to become Ascenders, are they corrupted ones as well? If so, then why do I feel like the Church is letting them roam free?"
Elmer had mentioned the Losts in an oblivious manner in order to hide the fact that he had met one. He had not even wanted to ask about them, but he was confused as to why measures were not being taken to clear them off the streets.
From his landlord's and Patsy's words, it seemed they only attacked Ascenders, and those who were not in the Pathway bequeathed to the city, so he had a vague idea of why they were let to roam free.
But the issue of the corrupted ones now made it confusing for him. Losts seemed like they too had ventured to the deeper and darker parts of the supernatural, though, unlike the high level corrupted ones, they were common knowledge that weren't being eradicated.
There had to be a reason.
"Losts are different from the high level corrupted ones," Ms. Edna answered. "I don't know why the emperor and the Synod of Churches agreed to pass the bill, but it's been a law for hundreds of years now that Ascenders should only be in the cities of their Pathways. You come from the secluded countryside, so I won't fault you for having no knowledge on the laws of the cities, but you should try to learn it all.
"To put it simply, the Losts are like policemen who make sure Ascenders adhere to that rule. Of course, there are obviously ways to bypass such things, none that I know of though, but that is why the Losts are allowed to roam free. They're only attracted to the disobedient Ascenders after all.
"While for the high level corrupted ones, they are either normal people who took part in dark ritualistic endeavors and ended up insane, or Ascenders who ended up losing their minds one way or another, the former I suspect to be what the man you're chasing after had done."
How does their attraction even work, are they able to distinguish through smell that an Ascender is of another Pathway different from the city's…
Elmer sighed, and a thought suddenly flashed into his head.
Wait… If the Losts are only attracted to disobedient Ascenders, then how come one was attracted to Patsy and I…? Was Patsy lying, is she an Ascender…?
"So," Ms. Edna spoke, and Elmer put his harrowing thoughts to a pause. "When did you come in contact with that man?"
Elmer looked at her for a moment but she was sparing him no glance.
He had a strong belief that it was better to keep the truth away from her that he'd met the man before he'd become an Ascender, since it would only bring about another shocking reaction, one layered with suspicions.
Therefore, he answered with a lie he'd already prepared a while back, "Yesterday, during my job for Lev." Elmer bent forward, keeping his paper bag between his arms as he clasped his hands together.
Ms. Edna remained silent for a moment. "Does the artifact you asked me about have anything to do with that happenstance meet?"
Elmer's brows dropped down softly. She was quite a perceptive woman.
If he ever, one day, made the mistake of giving her even a little bit more information than was necessary, she would figure his exact goals out, or maybe come a bit close. Subtlety was needed when interacting with someone like her.
Though, at this moment, Elmer saw no reason to lie to her as she seemed to have already pieced together the pieces from their previous conversations.
"Yes," he answered, his voice low in tone.
He had told her earlier this morning about 'The Warlock's Torch' and how he had stumbled upon it during his research for Lev's curse. And now he had told her he'd met this maggot-faced man during that same timeframe. It was already pretty obvious.
Ms. Edna exhaled. "And the item this job you've taken on is about?"
"As you've guessed," Elmer answered.
"That's quite the coincidence, don't you think?"
You tell me… Elmer let out a breath.
"Then why did you mention only the artifact and not the man?" Ms. Edna continued with another question.
"I did not think it was something to worry too much about."
That was a poorly formulated lie, he realized that, but he could not take his time to cook up a better one so he just went with it.
"Mr. Elmer. Tell me, were you not imbued with so much fear that you almost lost your ability to breathe when you saw that man?"
Elmer smacked his lips gently. "I was."
"You should not joke with your life," Ms. Edna started, her mellow tone topped up by a tinge of strictness. "I do not know how you managed to survive coming in contact with a high level corrupted one, but I think you should never term anything involving the supernatural, no matter how little, as something you did not want to worry too much about. There's a reason the Church put up all the laws they did."
Of course, I agree with you Ms. Edna… What I just told you was a lie, I could never term anything involving the supernatural as a thing with little importance…
"I understand," he replied.
It did not take long after their discussion had ended before the carriage they had boarded came to a stop.
"Time Square," the coachman announced, and the few passengers in the coach shuffled out one after the other.
Ms. Edna rose to her feet at that, prompting Elmer to do the same, and they both alighted from the carriage.