It took some hours before Ky'ren was allowed to leave the hospital. He had continually insisted on leaving, plus he had healed a little faster than normal. The air was fresh, the feel of the soft flow made him feel alive. Seeing he almost died it was a gift.
He walked through the familiar streets, the children played their usual scout games. One person acted as the monsters as they fought to win. It was a way the children had adapted to this world. Marketers went about with their sales—selling tomatoes in stands,hulking fruits and other foodstuff. A thought lingered in his head not of anger, just awareness.
"Even if I had died nothing would change. Is there really any point to…"
The smell of fresh hot bread was heavy in the air. It made Ky'ren salivate as he walked past them. Using his last cash to pay for his medical resources didn't seem like a good idea anymore. He had technically not eaten since yesterday so he was almost empty.Even before opening the door, he could smell dried blood. The ruffled sheets and scattered room were almost real in his thoughts.
He took a deep breath and gently opened the room.
Then the room wasn't silent as he had promised himself.
Who was it?
It was tall and wore a white mask.
The killer?
How??
A huge breeze licked Ky'ren's spine as he pounced back. His thoughts swirling.
"He came to finish his work?"
The silent killer moved with swift silence and plunged at Ky'ren with his bloodied knife . Ky'ren moved too slow. The killer aimed for his heart this time.
Ky'ren felt fear and death.
Then silence—
The masked man ?
Gone.
A hallucination.
Just a green eyed young man breathing like he ran a marathon.
He hadn't seen anything, in fact he hadn't even inserted his key to open the door.
After taking some time to prepare himself to enter. He opened the door and went in.
The room was in a state of disorder but there was no killer, only trails of dried blood leading his kitchen.
He walked through the mess as he recalled the event.
Krrk!
The door of the kitchen drew open. The knives and boards were scattered on the floor—bloodstained.
There were multiple footprints on the floor, it seems the scouts had already made their own search.
He returned outside and looked around. The world was dark as usual, nothing but the light from the crystals and bioluminescent mushroom to light up the world.
"The fallen prophet?"
Ky'ren remembered his conversation with Selvara.
He took a deep breath and went inside to clean the messy apartment. He mopped the floors, washed the knives and the sheets that were with his blood and soaked it down.The last slices of stale bread served as his means of dinner for the night. It was almost time for night. Although the Evernight world did not change, it meant that people would soon go home and rest. A time of loneliness.
Ky'ren didn't have a place to stay, at least for the night.
A thought lingered in his head about the man returning. He considered going to the golden haired man's apartment but that was risky as the serial killer could still follow him and kill him before he could reach there. Plus he doesn't know the identity of the killer. He doesn't want to walk into the killer's hands.
Safeproofing the entire apartment was the best decision at least for now.
He closed the door and locked the windows. He shut the blinds and pushed the bunk bed against the door.
Then he sat in the middle of the empty room. He had to be safe for the next eight hours before the carriages would start moving outside. He kept a long knife beside him. He brought out his journal and wrote down what he remembered to pass the time. Luckily humans had adapted to see almost perfectly in this dark world.
"Are there any clues?" Ky'ren whispered to himself.
"I don't remember angering anyone"
"Well… apart from a few people during sales. But none of them could possibly kill a scout"
"Hmm… Or could it be that the masked man isn't the real mastermind." He bit the fountain's pens back before he continued.
"And the masked man could just be an assassin that was hired " He thought then he wrote it in his journal.
"Not the mastermind"
"That's a start…" He said, cheering himself up in the dim room. After some time scribbling he realized he had gotten nowhere. It was midnight already and he still couldn't find any clues. The hours passed as the hour glass tipped over. Another day.
It was now three days left until he decided to join the scouts. He opened the window sheets but kept the windows shut and shifted the bunk from the door. Going outside he saw the familiar dark world. But unlike night time it was heavy with the sounds of moving carriages and bustling of people.
Since there was no training today, Ky'ren didn't have much to do. He didn't bother about doing nothing for the day, the only reason he went outside was because the rumbling of his stomach was too much to ignore.
"Should I visit Caelum?" He said to himself.
"No, it will feel like I'm using him."He replied to himself almost immediately. But his hunger persisted despite his high morals. Since selling cabbages would take a long time, he went back inside and ransacked his stuff. He even checked Elyon's part of the room.
Looking for?
Something to sell.
"I should have some metal rods here?" He said to himself as he searched the room. There were low resources in the town, so most people made extra money by reselling something they already owned. For a cheaper price of course.
Then a memory surfaced—
"Oh right! We sold all our metals last two weeks. When we were completely broke." Ky'ren sneered then stopped looking. He and Elyon had experienced this absence of food before and they sold the metals Elyon had gotten from his scout training excursion.
Ky're looked around the room, his mind racing—thinking. His stomach was empty, every grumble it made had an echo. His body was weak and his brain could not think properly. Then he spotted his clothing box—Exactly!
He could sell some of them, after all he didn't wear everything. He rushed to the box under the bunk bed and pulled it out. He selected some pants and old white shirts. Some ankle straps too then wrapped them in a black bag in one of the cupboards in the kitchen. He left almost immediately holding his stomach from the emptiness of hunger.
Resources weren't much in lower islands and only manageable in the fourth and fifth island. So resale was very common, even resale of clothing. They cut out the hands part and spread the materials out forming a reusable one. The reason they don't just sell the shirt like that is because it causes the price to lessen plus it's hard to find another person with the exact size.
Ky'ren rushed to the store, the only tailor shop in town—The Seamwright's Hall.
It wasn't that big for a shop, considering the name. The wood looked old and unhealthy as it headed the building like it was going to give up. The crystals flickered like a disabled firefly.
Ky'ren walked in as the creaks the floor made while he stepped through gave his entrance an introduction. The entrance to the small cavern was just a wooden door, as he twisted the knob, it led him to a room filled with different ranges of clothes on ranks, some hanged,a lady compared two clothes in their hands,some tried some on.
He walked towards the receptionist area, just by the side of the door. There were two female women there. The one at the right looked younger, in her early 20s. With black donutted hair, they were little bandages on her hands.. While the other woman looked much older. She had grey hair, was a little short and had an apron on. She seemed to get more attention from the customers so Ky'ren went to the younger lady.
"Good day madam!" He said with a polite posture.
"Welcome to The Seamwright's Hall, you haven't picked out any clothing yet. Do you need help deciding?" She responded with a smile and pointed out to the other workers on the apron, showing customers who couldn't decide on what to buy.
"No, I'm actually here for a different reason." He picked up the black bag he had left on the floor, then he dropped it on the receptionist desk.
She realized almost immediately.
"Oh I see, I'll have to check their quality first. So would you mind waiting a minute." Ky'ren nodded and handed her the bag, then she walked into a door that was behind her. He couldn't help overhear the conversations that were going on besides him, the older woman and a customer.
"And you don't have a spare you keep?" The female customer asked the older receptionist.
"I'm telling you all cotton thin white fabric has been sold out, it's been sold out last week dear." The woman replied, before showing her other options but the customer's preferences were fixed on that specific material, she left soon after.
Ky'ren didn't really give the conversation much thought as his stomach was giving him signals he had to focus on. The younger tailor returned with the bundle in her arms.
"The materials are in decent shape," she said, placing them on the desk. "We can give you 150 lerry for all of it."
Ky'ren blinked. He hadn't expected that much.
"All of it?"
The older woman looked up from her stitching. "That's right. We've got use for cloth like this."
Ky'ren gave a quick nod. "Thank you."
"Spend it wisely, boy," she added with a half-smile, like she already knew he wouldn't.
He collected the money and left the shop. On his mind just one thing: fresh bread served with wildflower honey. He got to the bread shop, just the smell of the hot pastries made him want to float up.
He bought the fresh bread and wildflower honey, he could feel the heat from the bread's crusty layer and how it was a lot hotter within it. It melted in his mouth as the bread came to the shape of his hands. And how the honey added a layer of sweet flavour. He was finally satisfied and sat out for a while before he got up to go back home.
Now his mind was calmer, his stomach was satisfied to an extent.
When he arrived home again he decided to just lay down on his bunk bed and rest for the meantime.
He decided to open the window for now then during the night time he would close it. When he opened it, a fresh breeze flowed in the room moving what it could carry. Then a familiar cloth from under his bed wooshed out going to the corner of his room.
"Huh?" He walked to the dancing piece of white cloth and held it up.
A memory surfaced—
"Isn't this what I saw before seeing the Killer?" He questioned himself then remembered the incident again.
Flashback
"I don't remember having a white cloth" Then the killer appeared in front of him out of nowhere.
Flashback Ends.
He realized that it was the one he saw, cotton thin. Just like before in the store.
Coincidence? Or maybe—
"Could this be a clue?" Ky'ren asked the air, before leaving his apartment once again heading to "The Seamwright's Hall." The familiar creaks greeted him once again as he opened the door to see the normal busy clothes shop. He walked to the receptionist desk once again to see just the younger lady there this time. She was trying to fix a thread into the needle's eye, struggling to thread the needle. .
"E..Excuse me." Ky'ren interrupted .
"Oh I remember you, Have you come to buy or sell ?" She asked, then shifted the needle to the side .
"How much will one yard of cotton thin fabric cause?" Ky'ren asked, knowing fully well they were out of it.
"Well, 230 for one yard but we are currently out of stock. There are other options you can choose from?"
"Oh no and I really needed it. …You see, my sister's marriage is next week and I would have loved to get her a helm." Ky'ren said in a saddened tone.
She gasped and said—
"Congratulations to her!I'm so sorry for that."
"No need to be, it's not your fault. But can I know what happened to the clothing you guys are meant to have in stock right?"
She looked around and leaned closer before she whispered.
"We're not meant to tell customers about our sales but… There's this man that comes every mid-week and buys all the thin cotton fabrics we have. Plus he always pays in full. Strange right? "She said then leaned back.
"Very, Do you know when he will come next, I mean when will the next stock be ready?" He asked politely with a smile.
"...Well it should be ready today and sales should start maybe tomorrow." She answered after thinking for sometime.
"So there's still hope for my sister's gift?" Ky'ren said with a joyful smile.
"Yes, that's if you come on time tomorrow." She assured him partially.
"Anything for my sister." Ky'ren smiled and waved her goodbye.
"Don't worry I'll be here. I need to find Selvana first."
"Maybe we can finally capture him and I can rest peacefully."