Chapter 40: 2.10 The entertainment district.
While Jester had fallen into a deep sleep of his own. Maxim was waking up on his own. His body was tightly bandaged with what he can determine to be a talisman of suppression while there was a tube going through his nose that provided him with fresh oxygen.
'Hah, how far have I fallen.'
What happened in that dream, he recalls clearly. The moon-like visage that tried to hide, the being inside that did its best to help him see it, and then his eventual downfall.
The gods in this world of the occult were unlike the ones from Mundane. They were not based on ignorance or the mortal's desire to understand the dark world.
The gods in this world were all real, though benevolent, they were not. What they thought of humans, Maxim didn't know. Whether they even cared for humans, Maxim was completely ignorant of it.
But what he did know was to never try to learn more about gods than what is publicly known. It's how one can maintain their sanity and it's the reason no one knows the true names of any gods in this world.
To most, all they know are descriptions.
And among those descriptions, there was one that oddly came close to the thing he witnessed.
"Daemon of Incarnation. Her signage, the moon. And her desire, the night." The more Maxim spoke, the more the talisman sticking to his body started to burn. He knows what he was doing was stupid. But calling this out was important as well.
For forbidden knowledge is never eternal and it would burn away from his soul after it is weakened enough.
So Maxim chose to remember it by heart.
"Imprint." Though his hands shook while making the hex in the air under his labored breathing, he knew that this small dream might be forgotten soon enough if he didn't do something fast.
It was why he used the hex to imprint all of the words he spoke into his skin.
"Ah....!" The moment the spell activated, Maxim's right hand started to contort before his skin started to bubble, causing Maxim immense pain.
But it didn't stop there, the spell had just started and soon, his skin burst apart with fire escaping out of it.
And soon this fiery text took over his right hand completely. Leaving him drained and weak.
He understood that his right hand can't be used for a few days. No, with the words he had written, he won't be able to use them forever.
But it was all worth it.
He was a broken man already with nothing more to lose. If he can help the people in this city before he dies, it would be for the best.
"Magistar, you are awake?" Pierta came running down after hearing Maxim's cries. Her first reaction was to look at Maxim's right hand. But Maxim was a step ahead of her and dropped his hand down and said. "Don't look,... it's forbidden." His voice was labored and there didn't seem much energy in his body.
One can even say that his life would soon come to end with the state he was in currently.
"Why did you do it on your hand?' She can smell the burning smell of flesh and the hex spell that was recently used in this place. She can even understand why he did it.
But using one's own skin as parchment, she can't fathom this stupidity. This would be putting strain on one's body more than the mind and the part on which those words were written would soon turn useless.
Though Maxim didn't care about it. Head no time to look for a parchment when the memory of the dream was disappearing from his mind.
This was the least he could do.
And besides, the last time he saw Pierta, she was in bed recovering from the attack of an entity that parasitized her soul.
"Just... Just bring me something to hide it." Maxim said, as he dragged his body to the front of the bed and sat up straight. "I made some progress." Happy with the result, Maxim informed Pierta.
"I am happy that you succeeded on the first try, but you should have informed me before entering the giant dream. If not for the young man pressing the alarm, I wouldn't have noticed you two guys here."
"Ah... so he succeeded." Maxim laughed, as he covered his right hand with a blanket. "How is that young man? I presume nothing serious happened to him?"
"Nothing wrong with his spirit, but his eyes are a bit damaged. I have used some panacea on it along with a healing talisman from Nature's Fall. He would be as good as new in a day."
Talismans were pieces of paper on which can hold off a spiritual spell and were very hard to come by. And those from Natures Fall, the church of hunt, and the hunted were very expensive to get their hands on.
But considering the nature of the entity they were facing, the talisman from Nature's fall was perfect for the job.
Because a hunter never sleeps during the hunt. Same as Maxim, who can't afford to sleep at the moment.
He needs to keep moving forward.
"Then good, we would need his help soon enough once again... Whether he likes it or not." Before Alfin can care about the will of his "eyes", but after learning the truth, he can't do the same anymore.
Because he had found who the enemy was and what needed to be done.
"I will see to it that he doesn't try to escape." Pierta also knew that this was no time to be weak of heart. Sometimes sacrifices were necessary. "Also, Remira is back, she has been waiting in the library, reading."
There was a surprise in Pierta's voice as she explained.
As someone that has known Remira since she was a child. Seeing her read the book was the first.
"She found something in the library, I don't know if it's anything special."
****
The book that she currently read was written by a well-known Magi by the name of Ikuras Yethel. The founder of Yethel Conglomerate and so too the Republic.
A man that has been dead for the last twenty years. Assassinated by unknown assailants that were mostly believed to be from the Parent kingdom of Wortham Principality, the Cynark Kingdom.
Though, it's just a conspiracy and not something even the current leaders of the Yethel Republic agree with. But for the common men, this conspiracy was taken as reality.
One can even see it from how the books written by Yethel have been banned in the Cynark Kingdom since the assassination.
No, it was banned before the assassination happened.
"Rarer than Werewolves, the Wraith were more fascinating creatures. Born out of vengeance toward the living. They are mad with hunger and uncontrollable."
The words and knowledge in this book were basic. It mostly told about the curses and cursed monsters that usually held a connection with the silver moon.
There were phantoms that tormented the living, curses that aged the living, and even gods that stole the life of the living.
"Remira, Sir Maxim has called for you."
Remira's reading was interrupted by Pierta's callout. This was to be expected since she heard the cries of Maxim not so long ago. So without further delay, she got up along with the book and started to walk to her Leader's room.
But not once did she forget about the words in the book and the fact that there was someone watching her and that being might have been doing for longer than she might expect.
Though, while going downstairs, Remira paused. Turning to look at Pierta. "You should take some rest, that act is not fooling me," Remira said, a bit worried for the health of the only family she had left.
"I would, but not now... for the first time ever there has been good progress. I can't hold you guys back due to my own health."
"And besides, Sir Maxim's state is way worse than my own," Pierta explained, feeling elated at the small success they finally had.
"But he is not my family, so I will still care for you more. Please, just be safe and if you feel woozy, just go and rest."
"Ok little girl, I will see to it."
*****
It was night time and there were barely any people walking along the roads.
But in the entertainment district, no one ever slept as the patrons of the night would always say.
The night is still young.
And the night was truly young when a woman entered an alleyway, got closer to a gutter, and then hunched down.
Her voice was as low as a mouse as she called out.
"FiFi." A simple name, a code word of sorts. But sadly, the expected response never came.
"FiFi!" So she tried again, expecting a different outcome. But as it was, nothing changed and nothing came out of her attempt.
"Is he away?" She wondered, readying herself to leave this place when she felt a vortex of fire form next to her body, and before she can react, a hand extended out of it and grabbed her by the neck.
"Finally found the true body." Maisel laughed, tightening his grip on the neck of the woman, causing.
His palm is as hot as a furnace.
But it only left a red spot on the woman's skin. Which proved to Maisel that he had finally got his hands on the real thing.
"Now, time for some questions."
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