06 Thousand Faces (1)

PT1

"Ok" 'she doesn't have much time...'

["You want to know how I can survive without my face, right?... well, even if I'm not very skilled, I'm still a sorceress... or at least I study magic ... it happens that there is a magic that allows you to transform your mana into breathable air inside the mouth, which I then inhale ... as for the exhalation ... let's say I always eliminate the waste from inside the mouth. This magic is often used underwater and as complicated as it may seem it actually is not and does not consume too much mana being a non-"offensive" magic."]

["As for your second question... I think so, although I'm not entirely sure. I think the magic that that... well, which he used against me is actually a curse... in short, a curse is a magic with conditions to satisfy, but in return it uses less mana. To deactivate a curse there are two ways, who threw it deactivates it or who threw it dies"]

[" I don't know his real name, but he is called "Thousand Faces" and he is a serial killer who steals the faces of his victims ... I don't know why ... I don't think he stole it from me for a particular reason."]

'She was just unlucky then'

The situation was clearer to me, one thing, however, particularly worried me: "I do not have much time" ...

'Maybe it's because he can't drink or eat? Or maybe there is more...'

"How long can you keep the magic that allows you to breathe active?"

She didn't answer right away.

["About 4 hours"]

Thinking about how much time had already passed, she was still missing 3 hours of air.

''My concern was well founded ... she had very little time ... she said that the spell she's using doesn't consume much mana ... maybe it's not a mana problem but... skill? Well, this is not the time to think about it, this situation is really complicated... but I feel I want to help her, for some reason...'

" Do you think the police you mentioned have gathered any evidence?"

["It can be... but I wouldn't expect much if I were you"]

'Well, taking a look is better than nothing'

"Ah, right... is there anyone you know we can ask for help? Like your parents...? "

She seemed troubled by my question.

["No, I'm alone"] She was just like me.

I was about to go to this police ... I was in a hurry, so I only brought a snap knife with me.

"Well, I'm going to look for information"

["I'm coming too"] She got up all staggering.

" I think you should stay here ... you don't see us and it doesn't seem to me that you are at your best "

["But I can't let you do it all... "]

'How can I convince her...'

"In your conditions, I'm sorry to say, but you'd just get in my way. Let's do this... finished all you will owe me a favor, ok?"

She squeezed her arms to her chest as if to protect herself... relaxing them immediately then

'What are you thinking about... ' I blushed.

I wanted to tell her I didn't mean that, but before I could open my mouth, she nodded yes ... which drove my poor still very sleepy heart crazy.

PT 2

On the way to the police station, following the directions Alizée had given me, I thought back to the conversation I had just had with her...

'She looked terrified, well how to blame her, her life hangs in the balance.'

'But she was able to answer my questions pretty quickly ... anyway, the last thing that happened ...' Just looking back, I felt embarrassed.

'But ... if she accepted so quickly, without placing conditions in her favor ... it means that for her I must be her only hope ...'

I continued to walk overthinking and accidentally collided with an old woman.

"Oh, sorry"

The old woman looked at me with a furious look, then, in an instant, she left. He seemed to be in a hurry.

"Strange ... anyway now I can't think of useless things ... I have to hurry."

I picked up the pace.

The station was located in sector 6 a little further towards the center of the city than my house.

I arrived at the door of the building, it was as Alizée had described it to me and had an old sign that read "Police of Velch". Looking through the windows, there seemed to be nobody inside, I tried to knock, but nothing.

So, I took the knife from my pocket and broke the lock on the front door.

Inside it was dark, but not enough to stop me from seeing....

The interior of the station was divided into 5 rooms, one spacious, just after the entrance, with a desk, two sofas and a wood stove with a gizmo on top that I had never seen. From this room you could access the other 4, among which three were very similar with only a desk, while one was full of shelves with boxes and files stacked in a disorderly way. Then, there was a locked door, which I decided to leave for last in my search.

In one of the three rooms with only a desk, I found what I was looking for.

In this room, hanging on the wall in front of the desk, were photos and documents concerning the case of the "Thousand Faces" attacker.

I looked at them in amazement.

"Alizée told me that the police are practically useless in the city... but these proofs... someone must have worked on it at least a little on it"

I carefully checked the documents, and, above all, the photos of the other victims of the "Thousand Faces", in fact, he could have changed his face with one of the stolen ones.

'From what is written here... he can also change his physique at will...'

"Wh-"

Placed a little apart from the other photos there was a blank sheet with an identikit of an elderly woman who immediately seemed very familiar to me.

' But this is ... if I'm not mistaken this is the old woman I collided with before ...'

"Oh, no... Alizée…!"

I ran out of the police station without closing the door as I passed, I remembered the route well enough, but just by running, I would never have arrived in time to save her so ... I would have had to speed up the route.

I concentrated about 70% of my mana on my legs and abdomen and quickly climbed the building in front of me, not caring about any damage.

When I got on the roof, my idea was to walk the distance between me and my house in a straight line, jumping from roof to roof. All of which were very close to each other.

However, in my path there was also a main road, the one between sector 6 and 7, about 10 meters wide.

I was almost there; I didn't know whether to jump it or not...

By now I was a few meters away, at that point a part of me, perhaps the craziest, took over ... I snapped even faster, I put 80% of my mana only in the legs, then at the moment of the momentum, I rebalanced the mana inside me, leaving a little more in my left leg, the deadlift one.

I jumped.

'It seems to fly' I was fascinated for a second by the lights of the main road, by the wind that caressed my skin, suspended there it seemed that everything around me was still, it was as if my senses had refined.

I crashed into the roof facing badly.

"Aaagh!"

I landed badly with my left foot and rolled breaking some tiles and maybe some of my bones. But that wasn't the time to think about pain.

I tried to stay focused on my goal and resumed my run, with my ankle throbbing and my left shoulder sore.

I had almost arrived and the absence of noise coming from my house worried me.

I came down from the roof of the building where I was, pulled out the knife I had in my pants pocket, and approached the back entrance of my house, an entrance blocked half diagonally by a beam that had yielded.

I entered quietly, but ... there was no one there.

No one was in there, but there was still hope... the house was empty, there was no corpse.

"... I don't understand anything anymore..."

" What's the point of taking her away? Why not kill her here?"

"Where… where can she be..."

"I don't have to think normally, we're talking about a crazy guy here..."

"Maybe"

I had an idea, the little street near the "Blue Firefly" where he had almost killed her, was actually the only place that came to mind.

"If that's not the place..."

'Now is not the time to think about this'

I ran to the "Blue Firefly", sorer and sorer... now I felt nothing but bad coming from my left ankle.

Running fast, it would have taken me just over ten minutes to reach Alizée, if they had been there ...

I focused deeply on breathing in order to make my run as smooth as possible.

However, honestly speaking, the only way I could have arrived in time was if, for some reason, Alizée's murder was delayed compared to my predictions ... maybe "A Thousand Faces" had extended into a self-congratulatory speech... or ... who knows...

I ran through the alleys to the maximum of my ability, now my leg was at the limit of endurance, I knew that as soon as I arrived, I would have to finish everything with a single blow.

The closer I got, the more a doubt, a fear haunted me...

'Killing him?! Will I have to ... kill him? ...'

'Alizée said that a curse can only be stopped by killing the person who cast it or persuading him to undo it ... in this situation ... the second option is risky, the other time he disappeared after losing sight of him for a few seconds. ... maybe he has magic that makes him invisible or something ... besides I don't have much energy left ... '

"I have to kill him

Just thinking about this made me think of conflicting thoughts, on the one hand, I knew it was the best solution, if not the only one ... but the idea of ​​killing someone, with my own hands ... it was frightening ...

"I can't be scared now" 'Alizée's life is in danger...'

I turned the corner, I had now entered the fateful via... the scene that appeared in front of me was different from what I expected, one thing, however, I had guessed, and, that is, that the murderer had returned to finish the work in the place where he had started it.