6 Dancing in the Moonlight

Suriya and Einar quickly agreed to purchase Runa. Despite Einar's initial skepticism about Runa's low price, Kasim's explanation, based on Aldric's information, eventually appeased Einar's concerns.

The purchase took place in a room hidden behind a curtain of hanging beads. Suriya held the colourful beads to the side as Kasim and Einar entered. The room didn't have any windows but was well lit by flickering lamps and candles, shrouding the room in a misty haze that made Kasim feel like he was peering through fog. An old man with a long scraggly grey beard, gaunt face and dull droopy, almost lifeless eyes, fumbled through a cluttered pile of thousands to retrieve Runa's deed.

"Who shall be the owner?" The old man asked in a raspy voice.

Einar shook his head. "I'm not making anymore purchases here until my runaway slave is returned to me."

Kasim pondered whether this was Einar's personal stance or if it held legal weight. He also wondeee about the value of porcelain.

"It's a bad look for unmarried women to purchase slaves." Suriya remarked as she distanced herself from the desk.

The old man's gaze fell on Kasim, the sole remaining candidate. "May I have your hand."

Realising that this was part of the purchasing procedure, Kasim extended his arm over the desk.

The old man's movement were surprisingly fluid. Kasim only saw the man's hand graze his but suddenly he felt a prick on the tip of his middle finger. A bead of blood swelled out from the puncture. The man turned over Kasim's hand and pressed his pricked finger to the paper deed.

The air surrounding the deed hummed with heat. Kasim shivered as red-hot lines weaved intricate patterns within the paper. Mesmerized, he stared, entranced by the ethereal display. Despite the sparks, the paper did not catch fire. The deed levitated in the air a few centimetres above the desk. Kasim knew instinctively - this was magic.

His drop of blood was gradually being used up as the geometric patterns traversed the surface of the document. When the drop was depleted, the paper stilled and gently floated back down to the desk.

The old man swiftly snatched up the deed. He rolled it into a thin scroll and encased it in a protective leather covering which he handed to Kasim.

"The slave Runa now belongs to you. If you wish to resell her you must present this deed. If she runs away and is caught, you must present this deed to reclaim her."

With nothing left to do in the office, Kasim left with the leather case held tightly in his hands. He was replaying the extraordinary event over again in his mind. The magical mechanism activated by his blood, the sparks that defied combustion, and the beautiful patterns—these mysteries remained etched in his thoughts, leaving an indelible mark.

This world has magic, and that changed everything. He was so caught up in his thoughts that Einar and Suriya's voices faded into background noise. He mindlessly followed behind them as they went to retrieve Runa.

Runa was already out of her cage, waiting patiently beside Mr Aldric whose smile had reappeared.

Kasim presented him with the deed. Aldric quickly scanned over it and confirmed its validity.

"Thank you for your business." Mr Aldric reached over and amiably patted Kasim on his shoulder.

Kasim stiffened. For a moment his whole body froze and he stared at Aldric with a horrified expression.

"Are you alright?" Seeing this, Aldric looked back at him with concern.

Noticing the change in Kasim, Suriya brought her hand to his cheek. Kasim's pupils quivered. In the next moment his shoulders sunk back down and a casual smile brightened up his expression.

"Let's go." Said Kasim as he swiftly turned around.

Runa quietly followed after her new master while Suriya and Einar glanced at each other, knowing that Kasim's behavior was strange. It had been strange since the morning, but just now there was a particular something that was amiss.

********

By the time they had reached the front door of the Ish-Kanaan palace, the sky was dyed bright orange. Birds flying back to their nests cawed loudly. The whole way home Kasim had a severe expression on his face. When Suriya had tried to ask what was wrong, he dismissively told her that everything was fine.

"May Ish-Kansan sleep well tonight." The old beggar croaked as the four entered the palace doors.

Einar returned to his cave, and after showing Runa where the kitchen was Suriya returned to her room, leaving Kasim to guide Runa to his Grandmother. He located the room adjacent to the courtyard with ease. He felt that even if he didn't expressly know the way, his legs could take him there, his limbs were more in tune with this place than he was.

Towards the back of the room, Grandmother was sleeping on a thin mattress. A tangled blanket lay on the floor beside her, she had kicked it off in her sleep.

Runa moved to place the blanket over Grandmother as well as adjust the pillow so the sleeping woman could breath easier. Soon Grandmother's heavy breathing calmed, a peaceful expression encompassed her face.

"Goodnight then." Said Kasim as he left Runa to prepare her own matress and blanket from the trunk in the corner of the room.

He didn't know where he was walking to, he just wanted to be alone. The frightful burden he'd been carrying since leaving the Tanasi Traders building created knots in his stomachs. Not to mention, the horrible greasy feeling left over from when Aldric patted his shoulder.

In that brief moment of contact they had, Kasim saw flashes of indistinguishable images and the thunderous combination of voices and sounds resonating at the some instant. They flew by too fast to recognize. However, their underlying theme was the same - pain. Anguished cries, desperate pleas, gore, but what made this vision disturbing was the emotions coming off of Mr Aldric, unfettered glee. Above all the horror Kasim saw in those few seconds, Aldric's crescent smile glowed like a demented moon. He craved it all.

Kasim came to a stop outside a room with an ajar door. Only then did he realize his hands were trembling. He'd never seen evil before, only exaggerated depictions of it on TV shows and books. Of course he heard about tragic stuff on the news and knew full well what people were capable of… He exhaled, letting go of the building tension in his body. It was a good thing. Now he knew he should be wary of Mr Aldric if they ever met again.

He frowned again, wondering why he put so much trust in these visions. For all he knew he'd developed schizophrenia from transmigrating into this body. He shook his head. Now he was just trying to doubt himself. After occupying this body, after witnessing magic at the slave house, and after seeing the magnificent city of Al-Sarah that was brimming with strange creatures and incredible sights, he couldn't chalk up these vision to mere delusions.

Kasim pushed open the door. His room was spacious with a bed in the back left corner and a rug that covered most of the floor. Open books were messily strewn about the seating cushions on the carpet. The desk was similarly cluttered with writing materials.

Out the arched window Kasim identitied another dilapidated courtyard with an empty fountain the middle.

He was exhausted. The bed looked so cosy but somehow he gathered the strength and walked to the desk instead. An open book loosely bound in string lay open on the desk, familiar handwriting was scribbled all over the inside. As the light faded he began to read the former Kasim's diary.

'Finally everything is coming into place.'

The ink was splotchy and the writing was messy. He had mostly likely written this in a hurry or a fit of passion.

'I've got the soul shard from grandmother and she said she would help me activate it tonight. Although she's gone mad, her mind comes back to her occasionally. And today is one of her lucid days. She's been keeping one of the tomes safe, it's the thing she'll use to activate our lineage within me. I tried to get her to give it to me, but she wouldn't. I guess I should just be satisfied that I got the soul shard from her.'

The sound shard was the name of his pendant, but what was the tome he mentioned?

'After tonight I'll become just like Great Grandfather and all the proud Ish-Kanaan men before him. I'll make it up to Suriya one day for deceiving her, but it's also her fault for thinking about her marriage before the family. I'm excited for the new day.'

The diary entry ended there. Kasim leaned back in the chair feeling sorry and guilty for the former Kasim. Whatever the kid thought would happen didn't. Instead, Julian took his place.

Kasim skimmed through the rest of the diary. But it mostly contained the frustrations of the young boy. He dreamed of grandeur and making a name for himself. He yearned for the former glory of the prestigious Ish-Kanaan family but was at a loss as to how he could make that happen. From the way he talked about Suriya and Einar, it was clear that the guy had a bit of a superiority complex. He was overly proud of his title as the legitimate son of his parents and the inheritor of the lineage.

Many pages had been filled with one phrase written in big black letters,

'The Last son of Kanaan'

Reading between the lines, Kasim could see the envy the boy held towards Einar. And the resentment he held towards his father. Before he knew it, Kasim turned over the last page with writing on.

Kasim stood up and quietly undressed in the corner of the room. He found a light white garment that he guessed were this world's equivalent to pyjamas and got changed. Once his head hit the pillow, although he was tired, sleep didn't come for a long time.

He stared out the arched window. It was too hot to sleep. Just as his vision grew blurry, something moved in his line of sight. His eyes shot open.

There she was… her little figure glowed in the moonlight, almost translucent. Kasim slowly rose from his bed and made his way to the window to get a better look.

As if she was the happiest being that ever lived, carefree and adorable, the little girl danced around the courtyard. Her dress flapped in the night air as she bounded from one side to the other.

Kasim was afraid, not of the little girl but of her implications. As if sending his inner turmoil, she suddenly stopped and looked at him. Her eery dull eyes sent chills down his body. One again, she raised her hand and curled back her fingers, signaling for him to follow.

She dashed out of the courtyard.