NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter-139 Facets
Carnage lined the sides and blood soaked his path. Yet again, the innumerable deaths were making him numb. From the Frosthelm festival to the survival game to this war, the insignificance of life reigned supreme. It was far too easy to snuff them.
His hypocritical sympathy ran low now, even bothering to care for the sake of normalcy was exhausting him. Their deaths couldn’t ripple his emotions anymore, not even a sigh came out to mourn them. Kiev wanted him to suffer to save them? These frail Kyrons… What was the point? With him or without, they would all die sooner or later. Their existence was just that trivial.
“Boss.” Kidd tugged his sleeve. “It’s Avis, the younger brother,” he whispered.
Avis squatted before a collapsed building that used to be a restaurant, staring at the wilted dog with a gashed stomach that was breathing his last breath. A man lay beside him in his own pool of blood, the laceration on his chest twitching as his dying gasps broke into hisses. No Kyrons came to help them, as no one could help them—they had gone too far.
A moment later, Avis sighed and took out a dagger, holding it against the dog’s throat with shivering hands, the wavering glint of its edge mirroring his conflict within. The dying man turned his head to the dog, a teardrop running by his temple, leaving a darker and wet streak on the gray dusty skin.
Ewan watched and watched but Avis didn’t do it, he couldn’t do it. The dog and the man withered even more; their chests barely rose. If he let them be, they would soon slip into an eternal slumber. Perhaps, that would be better for them. Instead of fighting an uphill battle in a war-torn city only to die in the end, either by someone’s steel or nature’s blade, it would be better to rest in peace already.
Nevertheless, he moved. “May I?” Ewan patted Avis’s shoulder and asked.
Avis looked up then looked at the dog and nodded, taking a step back.
“Is he important to you?” Ewan asked, bringing Iris out.
“I-I don’t know…I just fed him sometimes,” Avis said. “He’s the owner.” He pointed at the moribund man.
“He’s just a normal dog, without Anima. Even if I save him now, he might not live for long, he might not even survive tomorrow,” Ewan said. “Do you still want me to save him?”
“P-Please,” Avis said, clutching his trembling hand with the other.
“Okay.” Ewan complied and Iris used her <Mend> on the dying duo. The facts of her species at her grade compared the skill to a Step-1 healing spell, a generous but convincing interpretation. Even though her level limited Iris to a weakened version of it, its effect on Kyrons and weak Step-0 Starons was nothing short of miraculous. And so, with the burst of a wine-red magic circle and the Blood-Anima, the dog and the man regained their breaths. Their gashes healed, their withered skin plumped, and the rush of new blood reddened their visage.
“T-Thank you,” Avis said and bowed to Ewan. The man groaned and rubbed his scabbed chest before kowtowing to him, his head slamming into the earth. “Thank you, sir, I’ll forever be in your debt.”
“It wasn’t much. Just eat your fill and feed him something too, he should be hungry,” Ewan said, looking at the dog, and walked away with Kidd again.
“Boss, you’re really kind,” Kidd said.
“Yeah,” he said, mindlessly. It didn’t cost him much to save them, mere time and effort of seconds. And it bought him goodwill with Avis. It was a profitable transaction.
“Really boss,” Kidd said. “No one else would’ve helped that dead man, let alone that dog.”
“A kind person…,” Ewan murmured. “I hurt someone I care deeply for, even if she doesn’t remember. I even tortured someone before, someone I didn’t even know. Am I still kind? Do these cancel each other out? Or does it make me a bad person regardless?”
Kidd stumbled for words, gaping at Ewan.
“Good, bad, empathetic, heartless, doesn’t matter. A single facet can’t define a man.”
……
Ewan helped those he could, where the cost wasn’t high, and strolled past those he couldn’t, where the cost crossed his limits. As his steps led him and Kidd back to his villa, he experienced the reward from his appeased conscience—it was sheer euphoria.
The erasure of the nagging critical inner-voice, the elimination of the constant battle against the cemented morals, and the abated societal blame and surging societal praise, it was all nigh addictive. He always remained inside the dome of his own views and never considered stepping out. But today, from Kiev’s request to helping Avis to saving the others, he finally saw the other side. He was beginning to understand the other perspective—like Kiev’s.
Yet, his perspective controlled Kiev while Ewan stayed alert—he was detached enough to make a choice. Altruism might soothe his conscience and ease his inner conflict, but it was also a betrayal to himself and his dreams. He wouldn’t put anyone else above him…
Lost in thought, he opened the protective fog with his claw-ring and stepped in with Kidd. The same yard with the overgrown grass, the same villa with the aged vines hugging it, and the same fresh mountain air, but something was different today. A sense of gloom enveloped the place, even the whistling wind sounded eerie, and the dark of the night made it worse. There was a haunting chill in the air, and it tugged at his goosebumps.
“B-B-Boss…I-I feel weird.” Kidd stammered, quaking on his legs.
Ewan frowned and panned his eyes around. The sacrificed corpses he left were still there, bloodless, and dead. Iris used most of their blood to reach Grade-S, while the remainder drenched the grass and soaked the soil. Ewan walked closer. His villa was normal till yesterday, the only variable was the sacrificial rite—the change must be related to it. When he came close enough, his steps halted, and he froze. A child’s palm shaped purple bruises covered their bodies, the mark around their necks deeper than any other.
Strangulation…
“Hehe.” The wind whispered in his ears; it sounded like a child’s cackle.
“B-B-B-Boss.” Kidd stuttered hard; his eyes widened. He took a step back, pointing at Ewan, his hand trembling. “Y-Y-Your s-shoulder.” He finally ended his stammer and uttered.
Ewan took a deep breath then chuckled and laughed, the ghostly ambience garnishing his smile with a wicked undertone. “It really came to be,” he said under his breath. “Can you see it?” he asked Kidd. He could sense some element and now he could see the Wraith—his affinity orientation hinted at the dark element.
Kidd nodded. “H-He’s on your shoulder,” he said, then yelped. “H-He just looked at me! Our eyes met!” He backed off, gulping, his face bloodless and his breath choppy.
“How does he look?” Ewan asked.
“A-A c-child…,” Kidd said.
It should be the one who massacred everyone in this villa then, Ewan thought. After the history of so many deaths, the sacrificial rite broke the camel’s back and birthed a Wraith. His villa now had an uninvited guest making himself at home.
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