Only Darkness Lies

Chapter 24

The letter arrived Etiome village in two days and when Elfred found it he was taken aback. In the letter he was asked to kill a certain someone for money. Ekom had also provided information about the target in his letter, including strengths which he knew about.

Elfred knew himself that he was no assassin so asking him to assassinate someone was confusing to him but still it was not easy to reject the offer either, especially when he needed the money badly. His friend was ill and was hospitalized. Elfred thought of this offer as his hope to save him.

But still assassinating someone was somewhat an immoral thing for him to do.

When he finished reading the whole letter though, it became an easier choice for him.

He thought that someone who had killed Kin and Monre and was a threat to Ekom could not be a good person. It reminded him of the wounds that the Troupe left in his life and in the life of the villagers.

So, he ought to help Ekom and protect him. Afterall, the three of them had helped him in the past, when he was the one in troube.

He accepted the offer to fight and kill the one who threatened Ekom, unaware that his target was his old acquaintance and friend, Elvira.

Without wasting any more time, Elfred packed his belongings for his journey to Tinpole.

He had to reach there as soon as possible or otherwise it would be too late to save Ekom.

He decided that to complete the journey in the least time possible, he would avoid taking rest while travelling.

Reaching Tinpole in time was of utmost importance to him or else this letter, the call to help, all would be meaningless.

He didn't wait for dawn break and set out in the evening. It would take him atleast 5 days to reach there.

On the other side, Elvira was working hard to find out Ekom. She went to Zine to get information about Ekom but the bar was closed. Later she came to know from other people that the bartender had got into a scuffle with someone and so the bar was closed.

She searched for him in all the places he had visited in the past in that big town. She gathered information from one person and then went to that place and gathered more information. She was in a constant cycle of going from one place to another, asking people about the whereabouts of Ekom.

Even after searching for 4 days on end, she couldn't trace him. Her last choice was to go back to Zine. She had to find Ekom and fast, before he could heal.

The next morning, she went to Zine. The bartender's face lit up upon seeing her. He was thinking of making a good deal of money.

"Well, what brings you here today?" He asked.
"I need to know the current location of Ekom, think you could help?"
"Why..ofcourse I can. But as always, the information won't be for free." He said with a wide smile.
"Alright" came the quick response.

The bartender began to talk, "Well, rumour has it that someone killed Kin and Monre, the other two I had told you about earlier. People are saying that the two of them along with Ekom had a fight with someone, which turned out pretty badly. Ekom was badly hurt and is still recovering."
"Could you tell me exactly where is he now?"
"Well.. I do remember someone mentioned the Reheal hospital in one of the conversations once and added that Kin and Monre were there too. Maybe that's where he is now. Oh! if he gets to know about Kin and Monre, he will be devastated."
"Thank you for the information." She said without a hint of sadness on her face.
"But wait, why are you so fixated on him." He asked curiously.
"It's none of your business." She replied in a cold tone.

Just at that moment, a customer came in the shop and on seeing Elvira began to shiver, "You.. you are the girl from the Cash Pawn shop. You murderer!" His voice was tensed and eyes fixated on her.

The bartender on realising the mistake he had just made, took out a gun from a drawer but it was too late. The moment he turned to face her, he saw her surrounded by the blue light, that omnious light which meant his certain death. Elvira gave him a deadly stare before grabbing him by his collar. He tried to point the gun towards her, but was crushed with the incomparable force of her power.