Ellis was taking ‘first watch’ for the night. But he did not scan the treeline or listen out for any would be robbers. No, Ellis only stared at Ada’s necklace with a newfound sense of curiosity. Never in his life had he expected her to be involved with mana, but no conflicted feelings came up at the revelation. Only questions. Did she know it was magical? Was she a mana user, or perhaps her parents were? Why give it to him and risk being caught?

  He wanted to ask her so badly. Or… Or just see her. Hear her voice if that was too much, even if it was a single, fleeting word in a dream.

  He doubted she would visit him, though, even in his sleep. He was consorting with her killers, trying to find a way to befriend them, all so he could damn himself to hell. And the answer to how he could be more useful to these monsters had appeared in the form of an innate piece of jewelry.

  Make a deal with evil itself. Damn his soul further than he thought possible. He had come to the realization in the hours since the others had fallen asleep, turning the necklace over and over in his hands. Learning mana would not only make them more favourable towards him but also give him the power to fight them on more even footing.

  But… he was not a mana user. And despite Ameena’s bad arguments to the contrary, he did not think for a moment that mana was anywhere close to being anything other than evil. Despicable. Downright malicious.

  He snorted. It’s probably why it was so enticing to use against these bastards.

  His mind drifted to Ameena, and what she had done to his necklace. The argument played over and over in his mind as he went over the lies he had spun, committing them to memory. He kept focusing on the words and contempt she used to describe Michael. She might hate him almost as much as he does! Ellis wanted to smack him as she did. He might even get away with it too, hell the man sleeps like he’s…

  Ellis stood straight up off the log as the words came to him. Sleeps like he’s dead. And if one could slap a dead man and not rouse him from his rest, why couldn’t he?

  He unsheathed his mothers knife and turned around to face the dying fire and the pile of Rass corpses the large man was using as a bed.

  Ellis crept forward like he would as a child sneaking out at night to play, the sound of the wind masking his footsteps and sending a chill down his spine. The fire’s embers still cast a light glow, flicking shadows over Ameena’s silent tent as Ellis tiptoed through the dark at an agonizing pace, trying his best not to wake either of his targets.

  Michael lay in the same position he’d fallen asleep in, like the man hadn’t even twitched. Every footstep Ellis took was less assured, because the longer his eyes stayed fixated on Michael, the stranger his sleep became.

  Ameena’s breathing was loud enough for Ellis to hear through her tent with his ears, but Michael’s was… just not there. Not a single sound rose from the man, even when Ellis stood above him with a knife in his hand. He examined the monster closely now. Normal people would have a flutter of the eyelids, their chest would rise and fall with every breath while they slept.

  But not the sleeping figure before him. Michael laid still as a statue.

  Ellis kicked him. Hard, right in the side of the ribs. To see. To know for certain. Michael responded in the exact same way as when Ameena had taken her turn assaulting the man in his sleep.

  By laying there. And not moving a muscle.

  Liars are backstabbers, Ellis. Lowlifes…, a voice echoed in his ear, bringing a tear to his eye. He didn’t know if it was his conscience, a voice from Ada beyond the grave or Alehemet herself, warning him of his afterlife if he took this course of action. He didn’t care. This man was equal to the ants in Ellis’s eyes. Worse, even. The ants hadn’t killed everyone he’d ever loved.

  This is just salting the cracks, he whispered in his mind to the voice, then started raising the knife.

  “What can I do for you, Ellis?” Michael said, his voice crawling up Elli’s spine with dread following not long after. Michael’s eyes snapped open, a smile spreading across his face.

  The ground seemed to disappear, the knife seemed to freeze half way down. Ellis forced his brain to start working again while he was still alive, and feigned stumbling back in fright as he reholstered the knife with all the stealth he could muster, shouting out, “Holy—! Don’t scare me like that!”

  Michael chuckled as he stood, stretching his arms out wide as if to show off the muscles in them, before scratching his belly. “Didn’t mean to scare you. Although that’s what you get for standing over me…” He looked around, his smile dimming before his eyes snapped onto Ellis. “In the middle of the night. Why were you doing that?”

  Ellis didn’t think he could be more afraid, but a simple question had raised every hair on the back of his neck, goosebumps tracking down the flesh of his arm as he forced it not to reach for the knife again.

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  It wouldn’t make a difference.

  “I… uhm… I… sorry, you really scared me. I was trying to wake you, heard a noise that sounded like something wanted to eat me… but uh, you kind of sleep like you're dead you know? Hell, I shook you, almost resorted to kicking you to get you up! You didn’t even stir Michael! Gods, then you just look up at me with a smile…” Ellis shook his head, muttering the last part to himself in hopes it would hide the fear, and any faults in the lie.

  Michael watched Ellis for a moment, making him swallow in the silence. Then Michael’s smile returned to being good natured, wagging a finger at Ellis like he was a naughty child.

  “Ha! That’s fair enough, and I’m glad you're using my name. That whole ‘my lord’ business was getting tiresome… also you shouldn’t kick people while they sleep Ellis! Honestly, it’s rude.”

  Ellis hadn’t even realized his slip up. He thanked the gods Michael had taken it in stride.

  The bastard walked over to the fire, got down on one knee to relight it, then threw in the leftover meat Ellis had butchered yesterday into the pot. Once the smell had wafted through the camp, he used the very log Ameena had sat on earlier to eat his breakfast.

  Michael gestured at the log across from where he sat, inviting Ellis to join him. Ellis pretended to be scared of the woods after sitting, his eyes flicking to every sound in hopes it would sell his earlier lie.

  Michael rolled his eyes at Ellis’s ‘fear’. “Don’t worry, I’m up now. Nothing can hurt you.”

  “Yeah, yeah… fair enough,” Ellis feigned a smile. “I’m a little surprised you didn’t immediately charge after the danger… actually, how should I wake you in the future if there is danger? Because gods, I’ve never in my life seen a man sleep so deeply.”

  “Ah… yeah, no idea. Ever since I was a child I’ve been told I sleep like I’m ‘dead’,” he started, and a white light flashed in Ellis’s right eye, a weight pushing against the back of it that frightened Ellis enough he struggled to hear Michael’s next sentence. “So just wake Ameena in the future. Say, why didn’t you wake her actually? Her tent was right there.”

  Ellis was still reeling from the light, trying to figure out if he was going mad or if something whizzed past his eye before he could notice. But both ideas didn’t explain the feeling of his eye being pushed out, even if it was a gentle weight that did the pushing.

  “Ellis?” Michael asked, his gaze turning to him.

  Ellis stopped worrying about the light and tried to figure out the lie he would tell. He couldn’t reveal the big points of their conversation since quite a bit of it involved insulting the man, but if Ameena spoke of their… disagreement at any point, he didn’t want Michael thinking back to this moment and realizing that Ellis had been lying. Hoping his logic would hold up under scrutiny, he started speaking.

  “Hm? Sorry! Sorry, I was in my own little world there. No, well… I had a bit of argument with her earlier, and waking her in the middle of the night felt like I would be pushing her a bit much. And, you know… if there’s a danger, I’d prefer you at my side. Not saying she’s not capable! She feels like she could kill me with a glance. But… you know.”

  Michael shrugged at the explanation. “Yeah, I get you, relying on a girl would make me feel pathetic too. I’m glad you came to wake me up little buddy. Must say, I thought you were scared of me, but look at you! Coming to me for help, calling me by name! You must be falling for my charms,” he grinned, wiggling his eyebrows at Ellis as he stoked the fire.

  Ellis wanted to tell him he’s an idiot. Instead, he smiled. “Thanks… but to be honest, I was a little scared of you. I mean, look at you!” Ellis gestured at the carcasses for the second time that night. “Look at what you can do! Doesn’t make sense for me not to be a little scared at least.”

  Michael tsked, then thought about it some more and nodded in defeat. “Fair enough, I suppose with bad stats like yours you’d be scared of everything! Still, you know I’m not going to hurt you, right?”

  A black light flashed in Ellis’s right eye now, and the weight felt like it would push the eyeball straight out of his head. Ellis smacked his own face, trying to keep his eye in his head while choking back a scream.

  “You good?” Michael asked, scrunching his eyebrows in confusion.

  “Fine, fine! Just got something in my eye,” Ellis said, rubbing it. The weight and the light had gone before he had even lifted his hand to his face, appearing and disappearing in the matter of a blink. But there was no ignoring it, no matter how much Ellis wanted too.

  Michael shrugged, before raising an eyebrow. “Wait… you argued with Ameena? What was that about?”

  Ameena’s voice rose from the tent. “Michael, that was a private discussion. Besides, we sorted it out ourselves.”

  Ellis had flinched at her words, expecting that awful weight to appear at every word spoken now. But no light appeared. He didn’t know why.

  Michael arched an eyebrow at him as he watched Ellis out of the corner of his eye. Ellis couldn’t blame him, wincing and smacking oneself in the face over the course of the conversation did warrant a bit of scrutiny, but not the kind he had to worry about.

  Ameena appeared, dressed in new clothing, her white shirt replaced with a dark green one that was almost pleasant to look at underneath the same leather jerkin she always wore. She didn’t even smell that bad anymore. Ellis was impressed, because he had smelt Michael long before he ‘woke’ him.

  She joined them at the fire, casting side eyed glances at Ellis like he would tell Michael of her behaviour while he slept. The thought did tempt him, but he wouldn’t do so soon.

  Michael glanced between the two of them, one eyebrow raised like they were conspiring against him. With a shrug, he smacked his knees and stood. “Well, as long as y'all are good, I’m good. I’ll take watch, you can go back to sleep.”

  Ameena shook her head while she chewed, before turning to face the road. “We’re all awake, and we should hit The Albus Citadel before nightfall if we set a good pace.”

  She turned back and looked from Ellis to Michael, before kicking a wave of dirt over the fire. “I tire of the woods. Both of you pack the camp up. We start walking.”