Virtue

Chapter 5: Debrief

Through the darkness Jinn could hear a woman's voice.

"Jinn." It was a soft and gentle voice, it resonated through the darkness from every direction. "Jinn." Again, the voice came much louder. It kept getting louder and louder calling out to him. He could do nothing to respond when he tried calling out to it through the darkness. Nothing would come out. The voice became so loud that it was unbearable, all Jinn could do was cover his ears but even that couldn't dampen the sound. Just when he thought he couldn't bare it anymore the darkness faded and he could see the roof of his room in the inn.

Jinn sat up in his bed confused and frightened by his dream. A cold sweat ran down his face from the terror of the night. He brought one of his hands up to his face to wipe the sweat from his forehead and placed it on his pillow. He could feel the moisture on the pillow caused by the nightmare, the sweat had even soaked through to the bed. Jinn got up out of the bed and moved towards the window to get some air. He unlocked it and raised the panel to let air into the room. He moved back and sat in the desk chair and rested his arm on the desk.

"Who was that?" He asked himself out loud. Jinn couldn't stop thinking about the woman in his dream. He leaned back into his chair and noticed that his DCT had a message icon on the top right corner. He paused before tapping the icon and opening the message, it was from Rem. It read: Jinn hope you had a good night's sleep. I'll meet up with you around noon at the inn where you're staying.

"That's right were supposed to go get the rest of my supplies." He remembered their previous conversation from the night before. He stood and looked out the window to see that there were people moving about in the streets below. The scent of food tickled his nose and exited his stomach, it was breakfast time.

He went down stairs and found that some of the other guests were already eating and drinking. It made sense since it was already ten o'clock, the smell of food made his stomach grumble. There was a free table close to the door where Jinn sat and waited for the waitress to take his order of a bacon and eggs breakfast plate. It didn't take long for her to return with his food, Jinn payed her with one gold coin. Rem had neglected to explained that a single gold coin was worth 100 silver, and one silver was worth 100 copper. His breakfast only cost 20 copper, Jinn understood that every place had varied prices for food and the place Rem had taken them was just a much more expensive venue.

As he dug into his meal he could hear the conversations around the bar. Some were talking about their work and how they were tired of being stuck in the slums. And others were talking about the beasts that roamed about the forest. One conversation caught Jinn's attention, two men dressed in full plate armor with the guardian logo sat across from Jinn. From the angle, he couldn't see their faces but he could hear their conversation.

"So did you hear about that girl that was found dead last night?" One of the men said. It was a bit loud in the bar so if you weren't paying close attention the conversation would have been drowned by the noise.

"Shhh! We're not supposed to talk about it." The other man spouted at his partner.

"I know but don't you wonder what it means?"

"Yeah but right now is not the time to wonder or talk about it. Any ways were supposed to report to Frederick in half an hour so hurry up and eat."

"Yeah you're right." The first man shoveled food into his mouth and ended his inquiry. A few minutes passed and the men got up and left. Jinn had already finished his meal and was waiting for any more info that they might spill. He checked the time and saw that it was only 11am, he had an hour to explore before he had to meet up with Rem.

Jinn headed out and decide to get to know the city better, he headed South towards the library. He was surprised to find that the library could be seen even from where he stood outside of the inn. It was a remarkable work of architecture among all the other almost dull and repetitiveness of the town. The walk to the library was short, it was just a trip around the building itself to the main entrance. He headed into the building and walked over to one of the help desks.