“Why the long face?” Sloan and Sierra were startled once they heard a familiar voice behind them.

  They turned around, relaxing at the sight of a very much alive Alhen.

  The siblings sat on a small, round wooden table in the corner of the establishment. They both had a glass of water in front of them and seemed to be discussing something before his arrival.

  “You scared me! Please avoid sneaking on people like that,” Sierra said while placing her palm over her heart.

  Sloan just directed his attention at him in silence.

  “My bad, I was just returning the favor,” Alhen responded.

  Sierra smiled, her gaze lingering on his sole eye for a few seconds.

  “I am glad that you have come back alive. We had the scare of our lives when your mentor appeared the other cycle and started asking questions. What happened to your eye?” she asked.

  Alhen frowned and ultimately said, “I’m sorry that you were treated like that. My mentor was just worried. As for what happened, I don’t want to talk about it. I feel like I won’t be ready for a long time.”

  “If you do not want to talk about it, then you do not have to. Can you at least tell us if you are ready to tackle another contract?” Sierra asked.

  Before Alhen responded to the question, he turned to Sloan and greeted him, only to get a slow nod in his direction, acknowledging him.

  “Yes, I am ready to tackle another contract, but it also depends on the task we will have to complete. Can y’all tell me the details?” Alhen asked.

  “Let’s move to a more private location to talk about this. There are ears everywhere in this tavern,” Sierra said before standing from her seat.

  Sloan followed, and Alhen followed them outside the tavern.

  They remained silent for the few minutes it took to walk until they stood outside a building.

  The building looked sketchy, definitely the type of place Alhen didn’t want to know anything about.

  It was big, with multiple floors, but it looked like it had never been maintained.

  Dirt covered the walls, and a heap of trash was piled right at the entrance, making him reluctant to set foot inside if possible.

  The building also lacked any external light, in contrast to the well-lit houses surrounding it.

  “Are you sure we are at the right place?” Alhen asked, looking at Sierra as she had been the one to lead him there.

  “Yes, it looks like this, but it is fine. This is a spot where we can talk without worrying about being heard,” Sierra replied.

  “Come on, let us go inside and speak more over there,” Sloan commented before going to the front door.

  Sloan removed the piles of trash with his feet. He wore an unbothered expression as Sierra walked to his side and started helping him with the task.

  ‘Is this really a safe place as they said? Or are they leading me to a trap? We might speak as if we were friends, but that’s not true; we barely know each other. I don’t know their motivations, and that is dangerous,’ Alhen thought with a frown.

  It took a few seconds for the siblings to remove all the trash blocking the entrance and signal for Alhen to follow them, but he didn’t.

  “What is wrong?” Sloan asked.

  Alhen stood quietly for a few seconds, and the tension between them grew.

  ‘I don’t trust them, I feel like they are leading me into a trap. They have shown no ill intentions for now, but should I really ignore this feeling and enter into what seems to be another Kalle situation?’ Alhen wondered.

  Before the tension could reach its peak, Sierra spoke.

  “Alhen, we know that this does not look like a safe place, and you are probably worried about us leading you into a trap. Please trust us this once. If you see anything that unsettles you, then we can move places.”

  Alhen ultimately sighed and agreed to follow them inside, but his caution reached its peak.

  Sloan opened the front door and entered. Alhen followed with wary steps, taking in his surroundings with calculated precision, searching for possible danger.

  The first thing that he saw was an old hag standing behind a counter with no other people in sight.

  The interior looked worse than the outside.

  Trash littered the floor, the ceilings were covered in brown and yellow stains, and the space where she lay was the definition of disorganized.

  Alhen was sure the smell permeating the building was one you could only smell when taking care of old people in a retirement home.

  The siblings approached the counter without a care in the world for any of these things, looking comfortable in this environment.

  “I want a room for an hour,” Sierra said before taking out some silver coins from a pouch on her hip and laying them on the counter.

  Alhen stayed far behind, close to the exit, and the granny ignored the pouch of silver in the counter, looking straight at him.

  “Why are you so far away, boy? Come here, by my side,” the granny said while urging him to get closer with her hands.

  Alhen didn’t say a word and only retreated farther into the exit, his hand now on the handle, ready to turn it and bolt out of there if needed.

  “Alhen, calm down. This old lady might be a bit strange, but she is harmless. If you have to defend yourself, you would be able to take her out easily,” Sloan commented.

  He didn’t listen to Sloan; one moment of distraction and something unpleasant might happen.

  The granny on the side shook her head and sighed.

  “Kid, you have to show more respect to your elders. What would your parents think if they heard you speaking to me like that?” The granny asked.

  The siblings turned to look at her with eyes that promised death if she didn’t shut her mouth, and the old woman ultimately raised her hands in defeat.

  “Alright, I will stop,” the granny said, showing a toothless smile before giving Sierra a random key from a disorganized pile.

  “Thanks,” Sierra said.

  “Do not destroy anything, or else you will pay me in another way, young lady, hehehe.” The granny laughed lightly, and not the good kind; he could feel the laugh was filled with bad intentions.

  Sierra didn’t look disturbed, but Sloan gave the granny a bad eye.

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  Without saying a word, the siblings moved to the stairs in the corner of the establishment and looked back at Alhen, waiting for him to follow.

  Alhen took a deep breath before slowly releasing the door handle and following after them, never letting his guard down for a second.

  As they ascended the stairs, the old woman’s laugh reached their ears. The wood moaned underneath them as if it was going to give out any second.

  ‘I don’t like this one bit,’ Alhen thought.

  Looking ahead, there was almost no light in the hallway on top.

  ‘It looks like I’m walking into a death trap. Thankfully, I’m behind, and not forward; I don’t know how I would feel with Sloan and Sierra being on my back.’

  They eventually ascended and walked towards the room of the key, which was 205.

  Sierra placed the key in the keyhole, and a loud click echoed through the enclosed space before she opened the door.

  The door let out a guttural creak, making Alhen’s ears hurt, and he made an ugly expression that intensified once they walked inside and the door was closed.

  The room had the same smell from downstairs, but this time, it was stronger.

  Alhen’s gaze wandered; the room was small, with only a bed and a desk with a chair beside it.

  The bed had yellow and brown stains, which made him realize that the smell was coming from there, and the chair looked like it was on its last legs.

  He was sure that it would break if someone sat on it.

  A torn purple wallpaper with heart patterns hung on the walls. It had accumulated grime and dust over the last few decades, and Alhen thought it had once been beautiful.

  Perched on the desk was a small gas lamp, which Sierra lit up in a hurry, illuminating the room, albeit lightly.

  Sierra took her position on the crusty wooden chair without batting an eye, and Sloan walked to the wall opposite to the door.

  With the siblings both in place, Alhen stood close to the door without touching anything, lest he wanted to die from a strange disease.

  “Now that we’ve arrived, can both of you tell me what kind of contract requires this sort of secrecy?” Alhen asked, his gaze shifting from Sloan and Sierra until the brother answered.

  “We took a contract not from The Crying Halberd, but from one of the residents of the middle district of Yhia. He paid us in advance, telling us that we would get the rest when we completed the job,” Sloan began.

  ‘Now that’s rare. I have not seen anyone outside The Crying Halberd apart from Kalle. I hope he’s not a weird individual like him,’ Alhen thought.

  “The client’s name is Lehn; he wants us to go to the old graveyard about five hours’ distance from here, and we thought that you would be a great help,” Sloan added before pausing his speech.

  “Very well, can you give me more details? What’s this contract about specifically?” Alhen asked.

  “We have to hunt down a horde of wihts that have been causing trouble in the graveyard, the client will pay us handsomely for a job well done,” Sloan explained.

  “But why would the client even care about what happens in a random graveyard five hours from here? What’s the story, and what is he truly after? What does he hope to gain from this?” Alhen asked.

  He had already made that mistake once, and he didn’t want another experience like what had happened with Kalle to repeat itself.

  As the question hung in the air, the siblings’ expressions grew tense.

  ‘What could they be thinking about? Did they not ask this question to the man who gave them the contract? That seems careless from their part’ Alhen wondered.

  “The thing is that the sister of the contractor is buried in that graveyard, and he doesn’t want it to be infested with wihts because now he cannot go visit her,” Sloan said.

  “That makes sense; if I were in his shoes, I probably would have done the same,” Alhen commented out loud.

  “So, what do you say? Will you be joining us in this contract?” Sloan asked.

  ‘There’s really no reason to refuse them. I want to grow stronger, and it’s a perfect opportunity to do so. I have not been absorbing the lunar energy from fallen wihts, which means my strength has been halted for a while.’

  The siblings’ expressions grew more complicated, and he felt their gazes penetrating his body.

  “I accept. I am glad that both of you decided to show up at this time. To be honest, this is the perfect opportunity for me to grow stronger, something that I was looking to do. It would be an honor to form a group again,” Alhen said with a smile.

  The siblings breathed a sigh of relief before smiling back at him, and Sierra offered her hand for a handshake.

  Alhen, without a doubt, took it and firmly shook her hand.

  ‘If I had only trained more, or hunted more, maybe I would have been able to do more in my situation with Kalle. I will not waste this chance,’ Alhen thought.

  “We forgot to tell you, but the contract will be a week from now. The client specifically told us to wait that long before doing it, so in the meantime, you can train your body or prepare mentally,” Sloan added.

  Alhen nodded and sighed in relief, but then, he remembered something that made his mood drop.

  ‘I had almost forgotten until Sloan told me the time before the start of the contract. Next cycle, I’m going to be escorting the daughter of the king to get married,’ Alhen thought.

  Thinking about this job, his stomach dropped, and he held the urge to pull his hair from frustration.

  ‘Why do I have to do this!? If Father Vincent stopped being so selfish, this would never have happened. Now I can only hope that we are not ambushed and killed minutes after setting out to the kingdom of Levex.’

  “What happened, Alhen? You seem to be very nervous for some reason,” Sierra commented from the side.

  “Oh, don’t worry, I was just lost in my thoughts. Was this everything y’all had to tell me?” Alhen asked.

  “Yes, for now, that was it. If you want to head on out now, then of course, you are free to do so,” Sloan responded.

  “Very well, then I will do just that. I’m sorry if I appeared overly cautious of y’all, but in this world, you can never truly know if someone holds bad intentions for you,” Alhen said.

  Sierra gave him a wry smile before responding, “I understand that what we did might have seemed suspicious, but I’m glad we came into this agreement. I will see you in a week then.”

  Alhen nodded and said goodbye, leaving the siblings looking at each other with complicated expressions.

  As he descended the stairs and went to leave the establishment, a voice stopped him from behind.

  “Young boy,” the granny called.

  Alhen turned to look at her quickly, focusing on the surroundings and searching for any hidden threats.

  “You have a very wild imagination, typical for any boy your age,” the granny commented.

  “What do you want? If you only called me for no reason, then I’m taking my leave,” Alhen said before opening the door.

  Before he could leave, however, the granny spoke again.

  “Do not rush off, I have to tell you something,” the granny said.

  Alhen stopped and focused on her words without saying anything.

  ‘What could this grandma want? As soon as she says something suspicious, I’m running without looking back,’ Alhen thought.

  “Those brother and sister youngsters, you should not trust them. They do not seem like bad people, but as we all know, appearances are often deceiving, boy. Take my advice and stay away from them,” she warned.

  Alhen thought about what she said carefully.

  ‘What she said makes sense, but should I really trust her? Are Sloan and Sierra conspiring against me? Now that I think about it, they didn’t tell me why the contract is a week from now. For now, there’s no way to be certain, but I will have to keep my guard up.’

  “What makes you say that I should not follow them? Are you telling me that they are conspiring against me? How would you know?” Alhen questioned.

  “I already gave you my advice; it is up to you whether you decide to take it or not. Heed my words and get away before it is too late,” the granny said with such seriousness that Alhen felt uncomfortable.

  “Then can you at least answer this one question for me?” Alhen asked, and the granny stayed silent, paying attention to his words.

  “Why would you even warn me in the first place? What do you have to gain from doing that?” Alhen asked.

  The granny gave off a toothless smile, and for a second, Alhen almost believed she was a normal and kind old woman.

  Remembering the words she had said when he first came in with the siblings, he shook his head.

  “I do not know why I am warning you, take care of yourself, alright? My old bones are soon going to give up, and I will be bedridden. Maybe I wanted to do one last act of kindness before my passing,” she said.

  Alhen didn’t believe her one bit, but he smiled before offering his thanks.

  “I will have it in mind, thanks for warning me,” Alhen said before closing the door behind him.

  This time, he could leave the establishment without distraction, and as he walked through the empty streets, he thought about what she had told him.

  ‘Did she have an ulterior motive for saying that? Maybe she told me the truth, but how can I be sure? For now, that seems impossible, for now, I will be better off paying attention to my surroundings,’ Alhen thought.

  Despite all his attempts to get rid of the feeling of danger he experienced while walking through the streets alone, it still seemed like a long way before it would be finally gone.

  It was dead silent, like usual, but this time, something felt different, as if someone was looking at him, hidden in some dark corner.

  Alhen raised his guard even further and sharpened all of his senses.

  ‘The last time I experienced this feeling was when I was almost torn in half by that wiht’s mandible back in the sunken city of silver,’ Alhen thought.

  He was almost certain that someone was looking at him, but he couldn’t see them.

  Alhen tried to be as inconspicuous as possible, not raising alarms that would let the other person know that he had already been noticed.

  The feeling on his chest grew, and he found it hard to breathe, but he kept telling himself to focus.

  Without even realizing it, he was already in front of the church. He opened the door before going inside, and the feeling disappeared.

  “Huff!” Alhen gave off a sigh of relief.

  ‘These things are bad for my heart. Who could have been spying on me? Could it be someone the granny sent to spy on me? Or could it be someone from the king’s part?’ He wondered.

  He walked through the hallways until he reached his room, then settled on his bed, feeling conflicted about his situation.

  ‘Did the king already figure out that I killed his son, and he sent someone to assassinate me? Will I die next cycle while escorting the princess? What did I do to deserve this?’ He felt a burning feeling spreading through his body.

  ‘I should probably rest for the next cycle. I will be escorting the princess, and no matter what happens, I will survive.’