Fahit

Fahit stumbled through the woods,a branch pulled at his shirt and tore it. He swore under his breath. If Olian had not betrayed him and cast him out of his inner circle three years ago all this would not be happening.

He swore again as he tripped on a root and fell face on the ground.

After the destruction of Alamin, Fahit returned to the Orizon of Olian with the king.

After spending a year with Olian,Fahit was not given the rewards promised to him by Olian.

When he told Olian this,he received the biggest shock of his life.

"Do I know you?" Olian had asked him

Stunned and short of words,Fahit stammered:

"I...I am Fahit, your ally...I live very"

"Spare me the story," Olian said, cutting him off "I see that you have nothing to do with your time other than to pester me with your delusions"

Fahit was shocked to his bones, how could he suddenly be unrecognisable to Olian?

Was it a spell or had Samil's spirit started avenging his murder?

But Fahit found out soon enough that there was no spell or spirit involved.

You see,Olian was a man with many allies, and a man with many allies has many people to pay.Olian already had a lot of people to pay for being his insiders , besides he had a bottle with a neighbouring King and so had to gather more spies.

Being so financially burdened by having to pay off all his 'allies', Olian decided to let the ones he was done with go.

He termed them the 'unproductives' because they had served their purpose and were no longer of use to him.

One of such unfortunate fellows was Fahit.

After being kicked out or rather walked out, Fahit wandered around the Orizon seeking another place to start from.He found none and was already getting desperate when someone told him about Solia.

He decided to consult her in order to find out what the cause of his woes was.

So that day, in the hot afternoon sun, Fahit stumbled through the woods seeking the sorceress' abode.

Finally,after several detours, he spotted the house and started working towards it like his life depended on it.

Well Fahit was close to commiting suicide, so yes, his life depended on it.

Nerissa sat behind the house, thinking of how she was going to steal the Reborn's life-pearl when she heard someone approaching the house.

She snuck towards the front and peeped, the woods were a dangerous place to live in also not every visitor was a good one.

Just as she was about to get sight of the visitor, an idea struck her. Why not go in search of the Reborn's life-pearl now that Solia would be busy with the visitor?

But what if she looks for me? She asked herself.

Nerissa shoved the thought aside, she would just tell Solia that she went to get herbs and berries for dinner.

And what if the visitor is a dangerous one? She asked herself again.

Nerissa pushed the thought aside again, Solia could take care of herself. After all, she was a powerful sorceress.

Nerissa heard Solia calling her to find out who the visitor was,it was time for her to move.

Nerissa got on her knees and crawled into the bush, when she was sure that she was too far enough from the house to be seen by anyone in it, she stood up and started her search.

What she failed to realize was that Solia was too experienced to hide something as precious as a life-pearl out in the woods,it was too obvious.

Solia did not hide it in the woods, she kept it in her inner garment and as she talked to Fahit,she could feel it's smooth, round shape against her bosom.

Nerissa was just going on a wild goose chase.

"Why do you seek me?" Solia asked the haggard- looking fellow seated in front of her.

"Help me!" Fahit cried and fell on the ground holding on to the sorceress' feet. "My entire life is ruined.I have no wife or children and every venture I go into crashes"

Solia looked at him in disgust, she was no seer,only a sorceress and anyone who knew anything about the magical world knew that seers were not sorcerers and vice versa. So did this crying man expect her to cross her magical limits and see the cause of his problems?

Were there no longer cheap seers in the city that this idiot came all the way here to disturb her?

"Get up"she said curtly

Fahit stood up and wiped his tears.

"Will you help me?" He asked

"How do you want me to do that?" Solia asked

"Tell me what the source of my problem is" he pleaded

"Young man I am not a seer" Solia replied curtly

Meanwhile Nerissa had dug several holes and detected all the magical auras she knew how to detect.Still the life-pearl was not in sight.

She was beginning to get discouraged, why did she even think that the life-pearl would be hidden out here?

I am such a fool she thought. It was most likely not there.

Nerissa started going back to the house sweating profusely in the intense heat.

"So how can I be restored?"Fahit asked

These were the type of people Solia hated having consultations with. The ones who come , cry ,beg and still be the ones behind their problems. She was no seer but age and experience has taught her a lot and she knew that Fahit was seeking quick wealth. She also felt that he had almost grasped it,but then it crashed.

"Young man leave my presence" Solia said

"Please…" Fahit started,

"I said leave!" Solia shouted "go and work hard like all your mates and then you will get rich, stop looking for the faster way out"

"But I…" he pleaded

"Nerissa!" Solia called "get this idiot out of here" Nerissa was actually quite good at getting people thrown out because of her training as an assassin.

Solia then walked out.

When Fahit heard the name Nerissa, his heart missed a beat. Could it be the same Nerissa he used to know?

The one you tried to kill ? The one who murdered her brother and caused her mother's death?

Fahit reasoned with himself and decided to leave before Nerissa came in.

Nerissa came back the way she came in.Crawling back,she noticed a rustle in the bushes.

Nerissa paused.

Fahit also paused. Had she seen him? He was not very sure because the figure he was seeing was kneeling on the ground directly opposite him.

Was it Nerissa?he asked himself again.

Nerissa moved slowly, trying to move closer to the strange noise.

Then she remembered that she had gathered neither herbs nor berries.

It was probably an animal she thought and scampered back into the woods in search of the berries and herbs.

Fahit watched her go and then stood up and took to his heels.

So Nerissa what now a sorceress' helper?

She had not forgotten him or what she did, that was a fact.

Nerissa might have focused more on Olian but that was because he was the more powerful enemy.Fahit always had a place in Nerissa's black book. But she knew that if she got Olian down first,Fahit would not be a problem.

Fahit sat down on a tree stump far away from the woods and thought about his life.

He had grown up with an uncle after the death of his parents at an early age.

His uncle had been a poor man and so he could not afford some of the things that most of the young children needed. Fahit survived the poverty anyways and when his uncle died when Fahit was only 18 he went to Alamin to start his life anew.

It was there that he met Samil.Samil was a good soul,he was a friend to him.

But Samil had all that he didn't have.A family,a modest financial situation and a home, Alamin.

Fahit had tried to suppress his jealousy, he had tried very hard but when an official of Olian's came to meet him to ask for his assistance in the destruction of Alamin, he obliged.

At first he did it for the money and the position the Olian had promised him but only the day of the execution, his jealousy

turned to hate and he suddenly felt as if Samil should be punished for having all the things he so badly wished he had.

"Why are you doing this?" Samil asked when he was brought into the palace that day

"I owe you no explanation" he had replied acidly

"Fahit…" Samil had started and then stopped talking. The look in his eyes became distant and he looked forward.

"My family will watch you murder me" Samil said, realizing it for the first time.

Fahit had flinched but said nothing.

"Nerissa will watch me die" he said again "she will.. change"

"To what?" Fahit asked mockingly

"To a beast," Samil replied "just like you"

At that point he was dragged out to the portico.

"Beast" Samil mouthed to Fahit as he was being dragged out to the portico.

Fahit could still remember the execution clearly. How he had murdered his only friend in cold blood.

And all for what? For a false hope.

Fahit buried his face in his palms. He shouldn't have killed him.

He shouldn't have killed Samil.

Now his life was in ruins and he had no idea where he could start from.

He thought of killing himself, that would be the faster way out.But how exactly would he do it?

He thought of hanging himself or using a poison or maybe the pen knife he had in his boots.

He chose the poison option.

Fahit walked into a store and bought the poison.

The woman who sold it to him watched him until he was out of her sight.

"Only the gods know who he wishes to use that poison on" she said to her neighbor.

"Why are you so concerned?" Her neighbor asked

"Why shouldn't I be concerned?" The woman fired back "he's going to use it on a human being ,I'm sure about that"

"What if he plans on using it on himself?" Her neighbor said

"That would be most unfortunate, I feel very sorry for whoever takes that poison" the woman said.

"I wish to ask you a question" her neighbor said

"Go ahead" the woman replied innocently

"Well," her neighbor started, a mischievous smile spreading across her lips "If you feel so sorry for those taking this poison, why do you keep selling it?"

The woman who stared at her neighbour in contempt.

"And am I supposed to feed my six children on stones?!" She asked, offended.

Her neighbor burst into laughter.

"We humans are very funny creatures," she said and laughed some more.

Fahit went to a secluded part of town and opened the vial

the poison was kept in.

It was time to end his misery, perhaps he would meet Samil on the other side .

Perhaps he will be able to tell him that he was very sorry for all that he did.

But at that point he couldn't take it any longer.

He tried to imagine what Nerissa would do to him if she ever found him. Now that she was a sorceress' helper, she would most likely destroy him immediately.

No he had to take his life before retribution took it from him.

He raised the vial to his lips and drained it of its contents.

He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his heart, he grabbed his chest as if to pull out the heart and fell down, convulsing…

________________________

Fahit's eyes opened slowly,the sunlight streaming in from the window near the bed which he lay stung his eyes.

He looked around him. He was in a small room with very bare furniture.

"Am I dead?"he asked himself

A man's voice laughed heartily.

"No" the man chuckled "at least not yet"

Fahit sat up painfully and fell back on the bed.

"Who are you?" He asked,groaning.

The man stood up from the chair and which he was sitting

and walked up to Fahit.

Fahit's eyes widened in surprise.

"You…"he said "you are…"

He couldn't finish the sentence for he was too shocked to continue...