16 Messenger

Chapter 16.

Reskemes mouth watered at the sight of copper coins. When Hank held out the coins Reskeme felt like he was dreaming he had made 10 coppers for delivering 2 messages in a day? He still couldn't get his mind around what the man had said. Reskeme moved forward and swiftly made the coins disappear into his bright red coat and he was finally was able to breathe properly again.

The only downside to this magnificent day was that the mad had only given him 3 out of the 10 promised coppers. Reskeme was turning to leave when Hank said, "be here tomorrow morning we will have more messages for you to deliver." Seeing the confusion on the boy's face Hank said, "I regret to say you will still only get 30% of the pay." Reskeme was excited another three coppers tomorrow he thought. He waved goodbye now in a jovial mood and left out the front door with a skip to his step.

Reskeme skipped down the road smiling at all the passers-by when a guard gave him a look and moved to block the odd-looking boy's way. Reskeme finally came back to his senses. The guard looked tall and intimidating making the boy's heartbeat fast in his chest. The guard demanded, "Where are you going boy?" Reskeme Replied," I'm walking to the market to get some food" in a hopefully bored casual tone.

The guard glared before saying "why is your hair white I don't believe kids usually have white hair?."Reskemes heart was beating heavily and he wasn't sure what to do until he realized he can just play along with Hank's original belief. He said," I am an illusionist with the messengers guild as he pointed towards his outfit. The guard gave him a skeptical look before saying,"prove it" It was at this point 4 other guards had made there way over and were hovering like vultures.

This made Reskemes extremely nervous, the boy channelled his mana projecting it outside of his body he created a short stick envisioning the mana to look like the plain wood. One guard took a step back and one whistled when a stick just appeared from nowhere. Reskeme held in his hand a stick that was about as long as his arm and didn't look very much like wood wouldn't have convinced a child it was actual wood Reskeme thought.

One guard walked over not believing it was an illusion and was stunned when his hand passed thru the stick as it wasn't there. Reskeme let all of the guards touch the stick and preened showing off his hair and his stick while internally cursing them for being soo childish. Reskeme really needed to go and told the guards that he regretfully had to leave to get food. After all, he had messages to deliver and coppers to earn.

The guards were talking with each other about what they would do if they had illusion magic as Reskeme was walking away now much more confident to move around even with white hair. Reskeme was determined and was moving at a quick pace He passed more guards that gave him looks but didn't stop the young mage. Maybe they have a way to communicate Reskeme thought. Deciding it didn't matter Reskeme followed his nose in a quick walk to a food stand. He smelled freshly baked bread and grilled meat making him drool.

He walked to the man standing behind a grill with some fresh buns and some meat, The man seeing the young boy clear enthusiasm for the food said, " what can i get you"? Reskeme pulled out two coppers and said, "A loaf and a stick of meat"! The man frowned before pulling out a small stick of meat and a loaf. Reskemes eyes were glued to the food, the man took the money and handed him the food. Reskeme stuck the juicy fragrant meat into his mouth holding a stick of meat in one hand loaf in the other.

Reskeme was in complete bliss as he walked back to his hiding spot his stomach was full and he still had a loaf of bread that would be a perfect end to the day. With a long yawn and blurry eyes, the boy passed by civilians that gave the boy looks some even gave a wave but had clearly heard that he had magic. As it turns out news of something like a magic-using boy with rare talents spread like wildfire.

Reskeme almost passed the gutter that leads to his hiding spot until he spotted the thick gutter with the noteworthy marker. He climbed up the gutter using his hands and toes to avoid getting his new coat dirty. He climbed onto the roof and luckily only a little dirt was on his knees easily wiped off with a few brushes of his hand. Reskeme reached the window and was a little upset as he needed to keep his outfit clean and climbing thru a widow not to mention sleeping on the floor would be terrible for his new clothing.

Reskeme carefully climbed thru the window being careful and making it in with only a few minor dust marks. sighing with relief and making his way to the corner to check on his familiar he noticed when he came around the corner it wasn't there. He quickly turned around only to realize his familiar was clinging to the roof and looking his straight in the eyes. Reskeme swung his hand in a quick punch at his familiar in startlement. The familiar easily dodged the swing and let out a long hissing laugh at him. After a minute of cursing and swearing for no good reason, Reskeme decided he should get something to sleep on.

Reskeme walked over to the chest eyed it up and down before he leaned over and blew off the dust on the top. He kept cleaning it best he could before pulling out two of the smaller pieces of steel and bending them straight. Reskeme had once questioned a man who was picking a lock what he was doing and he had explained to Reskeme in great detail as it turns out a lot goes into lock picking.

Reskeme channelled a very small amount of mana into the end of one of the long pieces of metal when it was hot Reskeme squeezed it between his fingers and it flattened easily. After 10 seconds of jumping up and down shaking his hand in pain and swearing like a sailor, Reskeme was able to heal his burned fingertips. As it turns out he was stupid enough to mess with melting metal. Of course, he was immune to the fire he was not in fact immune to burning metal.

luckily for Reskeme he was able to make the small piece of metal into a wrench i a small bend and some pain. He crouched in front of the chest now in a slightly worse mood and put the wrench in the lock while putting a little pressure on it. He then with a deep breath inserted the long piece of metal with a slightly curved end. He moved the metal back and forth feeling the teeth of the lock as the man had called it and discovered this was a three-pronged lock.

The man had said "the fewer teeth that the lock has the easier it is to pick" Reskeme thought maybe it was just too expensive for people to afford expensive difficult to break locks. 40 minutes later Reskeme was still trying to pick the lock. Even an easy lock as the man had said was proving to be extremely difficult. Reskeme would put pressure on the lock and push up each tooth. he had even gotten two teeth in the lock to push up only for his hand to cramp from holding to long and lose all of his hard work. He was thinking maybe the man had been lying to him it was way more difficult then it looked to pick a lock.

Reskeme decided to take a break he had been trying to get the front one first and going to fast on the last tooth. Maybe if he pushed the last one up first and made his way to the easiest he could do it easier. Reskeme sighed and refocused, he rang out his hands stretching and inserted his wrench. He got the back tooth with some difficulty and as he thought the second one was easy as usual it pushed up with a light click. The third was easy to push as it was the closest and Reskeme didn't half to focus near as hard. The tooth clicked into place and the wrench turned easily.

Reskeme was exited and turned the lock to open, he took a deep breath and opened the chest. And of course inside the chest were some blankets and cloths everything one would need for winter in the north. He had spent all of this effort to open the thing and nothing of value other than some clothes. Reskeme was cursing himself when he realized he could wear the cloths to sleep and change from his clean work clothes. After this thought, he was much happier to see cloths and blankets he could lay one down and even have one to cover him this was truly a lucky find.

He put one blanket on the ground in the corner after blowing away the worst of the dust and was going to lay down when his familiar darted in and lay down as he had always been there. The familiar glared at him until with a resigned sigh he got another blanket and re-cleaned the floor next to his pet for his own bed. One blanket was still good he thought and keeping his uniform in the chest was perfect for not getting dusty.

He undressed from his suit and pants trying to avoid anything dirty. He dressed in far less comfortable yet warmer clothing like the thick woollen pants and wool coat. Reskeme felt good he was deciding that today was a great day when he heard a crunching of his familiar. He turned around and watched in horror as his Familiar ate the second and last half of his loaf of bread. With a sigh of dejection anger and resignation, Reskeme closed the chest making sure not to lock it and dragging his feet as he shuffled towards his blanket.

With a glare at his stupid familiar and plans to sell the thing to the nearest pet merchant, Reskeme sat down curled up in the soft blanket and closed his eyes as he went to sleep. For once Reskeme actually got a good sleep there was no one trying to kill him and no one looking to cause him trouble. He woke and stretched his arms to the Roof before checking on his familiar. the sneaky basterd always tried to startle him and today seemed to be no different.

The familiar was nowhere to be seen as Reskeme passed his eyes over the two corners closest to him. Both corners were wreathed in shadows but one seemed darker, The boy wasn't sure what it was the darkness seemed living and familiar to his eyes. Reskeme jumped back as with a burst of speed the demon jumped forward and stopped eye to eye with him hissing its grating chuckle.

Reskeme almost lost his bladder and was scared shitless. It was lucky he didn't need to go to the privy or the demon would have made him wreck the new clothes that he had found last night. With his heart beating out of his chest and his body pumped with adrenaline, Reskeme glared at his demon familiar. The darkness was fading from his familiar as he watched the demon step in the light from the window.

If Reskeme didn't know this was his soul bond he would be losing his shit while staring at the demon. It was wreathed in shadow and its yellow eyes seemed dark and slightly glowing in the night as light reflected thru the haze of darkness. He thought towards the demon "You have magic?" The demon gave him what could only be a sneer and silently walked in its corner before dismissing his question. Reskeme saw the demons sassy mental image as the demon tried to show the boy by projecting his thoughts. " showing Reskeme screaming like a child and jumping back in terror".