The Child of Light and Shadow

A Land Without Life

OBI

"No, no," Dex tries, already exasperated. "We don't want to buy a hammer." The store clerk's forced smile remains intact, and she pushes the hammer toward him again, making him groan.

"Think he'll give up soon?" Jonah asks, sipping on his tea. "I didn't think he had that sort of persistence in him."

Slamming his hand on the counter, Dexter attempts to come up with a few words we've picked up, but they fail to reach the woman's ears. "That's an ich, not a uch," Yukiji corrects him, and the Apostle turns to face her.

"I know my iches and my uches just fine."

"No need to be such a butch about it."

Jonah spits out most of his tea upon hearing this, and I can't help but start laughing as well.

"I don't like you," Dex whispers, face turning red.

Yukiji merely stares up at him, eyes as dead as her heart. "I'll get over it." Turning around to face us, she offers Jonah a small smile. "Can we go?"

"W-We still don't know the way," he responds, wiping the tea from the table.

"Who even sells hammers in a bar!?" moans Dex yet again, then approaches us and sits back down. Raksha, who's been silently judging the company around us, suddenly stands up, and I can only describe the look in his eyes as one of sheer determination. He takes a deep breath, braces himself, then approaches the woman. I hear him say a few words, and the woman responds with a nod.

"No way," whispers Dex.

"Who knew he had it in him?" I add.

"Wait for it," Jonah whispers.

The four of us watch the exchange intently. Leaning forward, the woman says something back. She then hands him the hammer.

Raksha smashes it against the counter. "Do I look like a repairman!?"

Jonah sighs, taking out some of the money Yukiji stole while we were walking through the streets. "Time to go."

"He blew," Yukiji mutters, nodding and jumping on her feet. I follow after them, leaving Dex as Raksha's temper-manager. I'd hate to be stuck with that job.

"You're better off talking to Count Slugheist," one of the men around us says in clear Valski, and I turn around, trying to locate him. Gone already? Couldn't have been my imagination.

"I'm here," the voice says again, and I glance down. Lo and behold, there's a tiny figure there.

"Aren't you a little young to be-" He punches me in the gut before I can finish, and I nearly puke my guts out. Jonah immediately rushes to my side, and the feeling of his mana is enough to paralyze me without even being directed at me. Just another reason not to tell him about his family. If he's already gotten this dark, then the news of what likely happened to his brother and father might turn him into that thing he briefly became. I've seen some pretty disturbing shit in my day, but nothing has scared me as much as that.

"Watch your tone, you brat!" the short guy growls. "It's rude to point it out!"

"You need to take a step back," Jonah replies coldly, and Yukiji already has a dagger in her hand, slowly circling the man. From this angle, she looks like a wildcat going around a baby deer. "Tell us what you know."

Pulling the hood off, the man reveals he's actually an adult, with his beard covering most of his neck. "You wanted to get directions? Count Slugheist rules this province. His house is the biggest in town. Can't miss him. Now hurry and get out of here, before you bring trouble to us all."