Day 4 (17), The Flashback (1)

{Author's Note: Cain's thoughts will be written throughout the flashback like so: ~Food ftw~ The flashback is from the assassin's pov, so his thoughts will be in the normal format. Cain's thoughts are similar to an audience's comments during a movie, hence the change in format.}

In a small rundown house on the outskirts of the capital, sunlight creeps inside, washing over a young lad. The boy wakes up slowly, rubbing the drowsiness out of his eyes. With some grumbling and rolling, he eventually sits up on the edge of his tattered bed, face in his hands.

"Another shitty day..." the boy lets out a lengthy sigh, slowly standing up. "Phooo… I just need to keep it together for a few more days, then I'll have enough money for the priests." He paces around a small table in the center of his room, seemingly looking for something.

"Here it is." He bends down and plucks a dusty badge from underneath his bed. 'Weird, did a draft knock it off the table? Looks like I need to repair the walls again.' He inspects the wall across his bed, locating a snaking crack, creating a gap between the window and the wall.

He lets out a sigh once again, then turns to his right and exits his room. Entering the living room, he rearranges some books and places some on a bookshelf next to a torn up couch. He opens the windows opposite to the couch and grabs some water from a bucket to his left. Slowly, carefully he waters a small pot with two sunflowers facing each other in it.

A small creek echoes throughout the barren walls to his left. A petite figure stumbles out of the room, sliding her hands across the walls to stabilize herself. The young lad quickly rushes to her and guides her to the couch.

"What are you doing?" He asks worriedly, slight panic surfaces in his eyes. "I told you to stay in bed until I get your next batch of medicine."

"But I feel fiiiiinee." The young girl protests. "Are you going to the guild?" Her eyes beam with admiration and curiosity. The lad slowly lowers her frail body on the couch, placing a torn pillow between her back and one of the couch's arms.

"Yeah.. I'm going to look for some quests. If we keep going at this pace, we should have enough money to hire a priest to come heal you." A fleeting hint of sorrow appears, quickly masked by the young lad's smile.

"Yay! Can we go to the food stalls then?" The young girl flails about excitedly, only to cough roughly right afterwards.

"Rachel, be careful." He admonishes his sister who stares at him with a pitiful gaze. The young lad sighs and ruffles her hair. He unfolds a blanket that was laying on the other couch's arm and drapes it across her. "We'll go to all of the food stalls you want once you're cured. I need to leave now if I'm going to get any of the good quests."

"Ok, be careful. Oh wait, hand me that book there." She stretches her tiny arms out, trying to grab a book on the table. The young lad picks up the book, The Adventures of the Unsung Hero, and hands it to her.

"Ok, bye." The young lady smiles and waves at her older brother, immediately immersing herself in it. With a slight chuckle, he waves back and closes the front door softly; lest he knock the pot off the windowsill since they shared the same wall.

Several clicks of mechanisms echoed across the barren walls immediately after. The young lad heads to his left in a sprint, jumping across the barren rooftops.

~Huh? That's not the way to the guild… it seems he's going deeper into this abandoned district. That boy… What's his name? Hmm… let's see. Ah here it is. Myles. Why did he lie to his sister… Let's try to skip ahead to the answer~

Around half a kilometer away from Myles' house, there laid an empty plot with many workers idling, moving bricks, and building houses. In one of the half finished houses, a manager was doing routine inspections, until he was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Hey Jim, who's that rookie over there? He seems to be quite skilled?" A rough looking middle aged man slaps another middle aged man of above average build on the back. Jim wraps up his business before turning towards the second man.

"Keep up the good work boys! Huh? Oh, Bob! I see you're back from vacation." The two grapple hands in a handshake that disturbs the dust below and echoes slightly, then proceed into a bear hug.

"That's Myles, he's been with us for about a year, ever since his sister got sick, poor child." Jim says after the bear hug parts. Jim tours Bob around the construction sites, updating him on the things he missed.

"Why doesn't he just go to a priest?" Bob inquires after they stop to inspect another house. Jim sighs and rubs his temples softly, attempting to ease his frustration from the situation. "He can't…" He replies in a soft, sorrowful voice.

"While you were on vacation with your family, the priests began to charge people for their services. Luckily it's just the ones under one of the new bishops that are doing this. A group of people tried protesting to remove the prices, but unfortunately the church is too busy to do anything; with the upcoming monster invasion and all."

Jim grabs a flask from his work belt and chugs half of it. "Dumb bastards…" Bob mutters, then follows Jim to inspect the other houses. Myles appears from behind the house they just inspected. He quickly stuffs some somewhat new tools, a poster, and paste inside a small bag then rushes back to his assigned site.

~I should look into this bishop later, there'll be some possible conflicts between them or their subordinates in the future since Victoria is a priestess. Although she doesn't seem like a gun-ho justice person, I'm worried the bishop's subordinates will try something while blinded by their desires.~

~Let's try skimming through a few months worth of memories…~

A bunch of images flow into Cain's mind, blitzing him with a vast stream of information. During the first few seconds, the flow was fluid; constantly changing between a fast and slow pace. After a few more seconds, the flow slowly comes to a halt until it stops completely; the entire process took roughly 6 seconds.

~Let's see here… For the next 3 months, nothing noteworthy happens. Myles continues to work at 3 jobs, I guess they're similar to part-time jobs… Each month he uses the money to buy medicine and necessities then saves the rest for a priest. They almost have enough money, nice.

~Oh, here we go, something happens here.~

A cold breeze infiltrates their rundown house; the frigid air assaults the siblings' small bodies. Myles huddles closer to Rachel, attempting to retain any remnants of warmth, but to no avail. Despite the many layers of clothes and blankets, the frosty draft penetrates them easily. Rachel coughs violently into Myles' chest, shivering violently afterwards; a trickle of blood escapes through the corners of her mouth.

'Fuck… At this rate she won't hold on much longer. This winter isn't colder than the last so why is it so cold in here…' A soft whistle echoes throughout Rachel's room, heralding another onslaught of raw, brisk wind. Myles' ears perk up, attempting to locate the sound of this unassuming, yet deadly howl.

His eyes detect movement in the far corner of Rachel's room, opposite to him. The corner of one of the blankets surfs in the wafts of frigid air, bobbing up and down. 'Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuckkkkk, when did this get here?!' He laments inwardly while carefully sliding out from the layers of cloth, ensuring his sister was not disturbed.

With quiet, yet swift, footsteps, he vacates Rachel's room and quickly enters his own. He searches every nook and cranny for any form of cloth, whether it be towels, clothes, or blankets. After gathering a bundle of assorted fabrics, he leaves his room with haste, picking up his construction tools on the way out.

~Huh… they look like the ones he stole earlier, but they're so worn down...~

He sneaks back into Rachel's room, setting his tools down at the entrance, and carefully stacks layer upon layer of fabric on the heap that was already burying her. He grabs a towel from a bucket of somewhat warm water and uses it to wipe the blood off Rachel's mouth and warm her face.

After setting the towel back into the bucket, Myles inspects the corner where the suspected breach lies, formulating ways to access it. Some pondering moments later, he carefully and slowly moves the bed away from the wall. He then retreats to the entrance of the room and stealthily picks up his tools, ensuring the clattering wouldn't disturb his sister's slumber.

He walks along the newly created space between the bed and the wall. His eyes hover over the breach, slightly widening in shock. 'Was this deliberate? Why are there cracks forming from the hole?' Shelving his thoughts for a moment, Myles patches up the hole hastily, yet steadily. He checks the patch for any leaks and stability thrice, then slowly trods out the exit, tools in hand.

Myles leaves the house and slightly jogs over to where the hole was on the outside. He shovels the snow away with his foot, revealing a partially sealed hole. He starts to work on patching up the hole from the outside, while inspecting the surroundings for any signs of intrusion.

After patching up that hole, he walks around the house twice, inspecting every nook and cranny on the walls for any holes, cracks, or signs of interference. The only thing he found suspicious was that the hole was already half covered with snow.

He knows for certain that the hole did not exist yesterday, and the recent snowfall wasn't enough to deposit that much snow. Thus he came to the conclusion that it was created by someone; he just didn't know who.

Unable to come to a concrete conclusion, he decides to buy more potent medicine for his sister's worsening condition. This would deplete their savings quite a bit, unfortunately delaying the time they would be able to buy a priest's help. Nevertheless, it was necessary so she would survive this winter.

Having concluded his investigation of the surroundings, Myles rushes back into his house. He quietly stores his tools in his room. He walks to the windowsill that holds the pot of sunflowers and stares at them for a bit. A small magic circle, followed by a tiny flame, erupts from his right hand. He edges the flame closer and closer to the pot of flowers, carefully thawing them and ensuring they don't wither due to the cold.

At the same time, a similar magic circle appears from his left hand. A small dark fog emerges from it and gravitates towards the wall, lighting up a few runes on the wall. A small portion of the wall evaporates, allowing a pocket of space to be exposed to the fresh, wintery air.

Myles' left hand reaches inside and grabs a pouch of coins, then seals the entrance again. His body prevented anyone from what was happening. To them, it looked like he was just scratching his belly while warming up his treasured sunflowers.

After sealing the entrance back up, he stuffs the pouch of coins in a hidden pocket of his light jacket. Myles inspects the sunflowers' health, ensuring they would last another day without his care. He extinguishes the flame on his right hand and proceeds to grab a heavy jacket from a hook next to the front door.

He looked around the living room and kitchen a few times, checking to see if any chores needed to be completed before he left. Satisfied that everything was settled, he locks all of the mechanisms on his door and activates a few runes secretly then rushes towards the medicine stores.