Chapter 10 Ten

“Looking for something?”

The voice said directly into his ear. Before he could turn, a hand slammed into his shoulder, holding him against the wall. One of the spires stood there, a dagger pressed against Ryn’s neck. The trio in the building went quiet. Ryn could hear their footsteps as they walked out towards the back where Ryn and the fourth was.

“What did you find, Des?” one of them asked as they got closer.

“A wimpy rat.”

Ryn went limp with fear, the only sound he could hear was his own heartbeat and he wondered maybe the Spire heard it too. The voice spoke clearly this time, deep in his mind.

“You’re still a slave to fear.”

His ears went pop and he felt his marks begin to pulse again. The heat gradually rising over his body and he wondered if the marks had began to spread further. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes to calm his mind but as soon as opened his eyes the spire holding him stepped back, looking at him in disbelief.

“What did you do to your eyes?”

Ryn had no idea what he was talking about but he knew he could feel the blood in his veins, and he could clearly hear all of their heart beats. A sudden heat made Ryn’s left eye blur for a second. The heat was becoming unbearable for Ryn as it seemed to increase with every beat of the group’s heart.

Ryn looked at the group but they looked different. He could see as the blood moved through their veins, the threads of their life force and even their heart. He also knew the exact moment he raised his hands to strike him.

Des lunged, his blade aimed for Ryn’s throat. But Ryn was ready. He didn’t think, his body moved with a speed that shouldn’t have been possible for him. He dodged to the side, the blade barely missing his skin. Ryn’s stretched his hands, his fingers locked around the man’s wrist with a force that made the bone snap. The sound of broken bones seemed to fuel the heat in Ryn. Des gasped, his eyes widening as Ryn’s eyes began to glow.

“What are you?”

Ryn didn’t answer, he couldn’t even if he tried. He had no control of his own tongue. That voice had taken over him and Ryn could feel it’s bloodlust. He watched as his palm pushed at his chest, a wave of heat throwing the man backwards. The other three drew their swords, but Ryn could smell their fear.

He met them halfway, his movements were not normal for a human and the way he hit them, he fought to kill. He caught a blade in his hand, and it broke. His fingers plunged into the last one’s chest, squeezing his heart until it stopped beating.

The heat was completely gone as the heartbeats stopped, leaving Ryn feeling cold. The sound of the night rushed back at him all at once. The smell rotting refuse and the blood filled the air.

Ryn felt the tiredness deep in his bones, making his eyes blurry once again. He staggered, holding himself against a dirty wall. His hands were still wrapped in the bandages even though it had blood stains. He covered them with the cloak. Dragging his feet through the streets, he leaned against the cold walls to keep himself from falling.

He saw a pair of city watchmen at the end of the street, their lanterns moving as they walked closer.

He didn’t want to be asked about the marks on his eyes. He covered his face with the hood of his cloak, turning into a narrow space between two buildings until the sound of their armors passed him. By the time he reached Elyses, his breath was coming out in pants. He pushed the door open. The common room was mostly empty, but the innkeeper remained behind the counter.

As soon as she looked up from the counter, her smile faded into a shock.

“Great Heavens! What happened to you? Your face…”

Ryn didn’t have to look in a mirror. He knew his mystery marks had found it’s way up to his eye, making it look like a deep scar.

“I’m fine,”

Ryn’s throat felt like he had travelled through the desserts with no water.

“You look like you’ve just been through a war!” the innkeeper said, as she helped to drag his thin body up towards his room.

“Let me call for a doctor, or at least a priest…”

“No doctors,” he commanded, his voice suddenly different with strange authority that made the innkeeper step back from him.

“Just…. my room.”

“I don’t want no trouble with the law, boy. If this is some dark business….”

“It’s not,” Ryn said. “I just need sleep.”

The keeper hesitated, her eyes resting on his face before she turned her back and walked back to her counter. That voice had spoken through Ryn earlier.

He struggled to climb up the stairs to his room, his hand slipping as he tried to undo the latch of his door. His hands felt strange. He was barely inside his room before his knees gave out. He laid down on the rug in the darkness of the room as everything seemed to be spinning around him. On the cold floor, the world began to fade to black.

“Stop fighting the power, little one,”

The voice was back in his dream, sounding more like a part of his mind without the usual coldness.

“You and I are one. You have spent your life looking for power in the world, but you just need to look for me within you.”

Ryn’s opened his eyes. He had no idea how long he was laid out on the cold floor for, but his tiredness was completely gone. He got up and looked into the basin of water in the bath. The mark on his left eye didn’t look like the other marks. It looked like a crack on the wall.

Ryn splashed cold water on his face, as if by doing tha the mark would wash off. His mind was back at what he’d heard from the spires in that building.

Something was going on in the Kingdom, and he was desperate to get to the bottom of it.