What a lazy day.

  The modest number of people in the plazas and meeting places made it easy to keep an eye on everything. I wasn’t stationed in the middle of a street that could easily get crowded, so me and the members of my unit had our workload lessened.

  It had been the same earlier before I had been forced to take a break to go to the temple. The captain forces me to go even though I constantly ask for an exemption and cite work and productivity losses as arguments.

  Disgusting place. We even have to rub shoulders with those Vermillions. Stupid bastards cant take the hint!

  Annoying lethargic punks. That is what they are.

  Just thinking about it made my pulse start to quicken.

  My scarf! My precious heirloom made of Cerulean Fleece! Their disgusting blood was all over it!

  Yes! That crimson sludge is a blight! I will put them in chains on the front lines of my armies when I am king! At least then their average, modest strength will be of some use!

  As I can feel my self-control start to slip, I take some deep breaths. I can’t get overly heated over nothing in a place like this. That never bodes well.

  All of a sudden, a jolt of pain shoots up my arm. My sword arm is still sore. I over strained it. I can feel small ruptures inside my arm, like dozens of unseen cuts running upwards.

  That thing hasn’t stopped hurting since the day that those stupid red idiots picked a fight with you!

  Yeah, that is right.

  They started a fight with me for no reason and I had to fight three of the bastards in one go. Even I am slightly surprised that I did as well as I did.

  I look upwards once more, eyes on street level. I notice that some other members of my current unit are not being vigilant. They are not being diligent in their duties.

  That causes my irritation to flare up again.

  I want to go and knock some sense into them, but I already know that it isn’t my place. My superior will just get angry at me and my chances at promotion will go down the drain.

  The anger just makes the pain in my arm feel worse, which irritates me further.

  Hey, are you going to rile up some trouble or what?

  I can tell that my emotions are starting to show and the few people that pass me by are starting to look at me and starting to get fidgety.

  I grind my teeth in an attempt to channel the irritation in a way that will deflate it. I can’t start stomping my feet or punch a wall. Not at this time at least.

  Bah! Do as you will!

  I manage to relax the muscles on my face and eventually return to a neutral expression.

  I make it a point not to look at any of the other guards. As long as I don’t see them slacking, I won’t get irritated.

  Seriously, if I am not doing anything worthwhile, can’t I be reassigned somewhere? Can I be dismissed for the rest of the day?

  This is why I hate lazy days…

  After a while, I noticed that some people had begun to move differently as if avoiding a certain direction.

  I looked more closely and it seemed like a couple of guards were talking to someone that was acting up during questioning.

  As my position was also watched by other guards, there wouldn’t be any loss in angles of vision if I left, so I decided to go see what the situation was about.

  “I keep telling you, I need to leave!”

  “Your papers aren’t in order. How many times do I have to tell you this? Look. We will be generous and let you deal with the formalities from jail.”

  “Jail?! Do you understand what you are asking of me? I have to go north! As soon as possible!”

  “I am sure you do. We will even give you a desk and access to pen and paper in your cell if you just come quietly.”

  “Good thing we double checked his paperwork at the gate. We still managed to catch up to him after he left the checkpoint”

  “What is going on here?”, I said, as I approached.

  “Ah, Axios. Just some formalities. Bad paperwork, yet good enough to pass the initial check.”

  “A spy then?”, I questioned.

  “A spy?! Me?! I am simply stopping here to rest for a bit, get some supplies and find a way up north!”

  “Ah, but you see…we are in the border region. Any invader, aggressive or deceptive, would have to pass by a town like ours before reaching the heart of our nation.”, my senior said.

  “Are you afraid of me getting to your capital? With this little means and titles? I assure you that I don’t intend to interact with your king, lords or your court.”

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  Is this arrogant fool going to keep asking us to shut him up through pain?

  They kept going for a bit longer, but I ultimately just couldn’t stand to listen to the argument anymore.

  “Enough! You have received your instructions and you have been given amenities, which you risk losing if you don’t comply. Now come with us to jail!”

  “Listen here kid! I don’t take orders from you! Ghah!”

  Seemingly also sick of the resistance, one of my seniors delivered a blow to the man on his left flank, causing him to crumple and be subdued!

  “I am just about ready to break your jaw, fool! You heard the kid! You are a hair away from being reduced to a regular prisoner without extra benefits.”

  See? This is the best way to solve a problem. Hahahahahaha!

  We dragged the man, who couldn’t stand up after that blow and was whimpering and babbling on as we did. My injured arm wasn’t enjoying the experience much. Before long we reached the door of the main jail building.

  “Please, please! I must go north!”

  “Go after your business has been dealt with here!”, one of my seniors said.

  “No, no! You don’t understand. I need help. Please, don’t make me bear this any longer!”

  Do you want me to give you something harsher to cry about?

  “Help? You need help? Are you sick? Are you carrying a plague you mangy fuck?!”, one of the other men snarled.

  Immediately, they pulled down his collar, ripping off a portion and examined his neck and upper chest.

  And with nothing worth remarking being found, they opened the door and we forced him down the stone steps into the cells.

  “Let me talk to your captain! I can explain everything to him! He will release me right away, you will see!”

  “If you want to talk to him that much, shut up and write him a letter later”, I said.

  “Hey Alec! Who did you bring down here this time?”, one of the men already in the cells asked my seniors.

  “None of your business scum!”

  We kept dragging the man up to his cell.

  “Can you tell your temple that you have put someone with a blessing in your dungeons?”, the man stated.

  We stopped right before we threw him into the cell.

  “Blessing? As if we could believe a random lunatic just trying to save his hide.”, one of my seniors said, before shoving him into the cell.

  “Did this guy just actually claim to have a blessing?! Hahahahaha! Then why are you in jail dumbass! I thought that you lot were supposed to be “better men” than the rest of us!”, another man behind bars mocked.

  “Of course not! This man is just delusional!”, I shouted back.

  “Who are you talking back to, punk?!”, the man argued.

  “Huh?!”, I say, as I glare at him.

  Does this brainless vermin want to go at it with a guy carrying a sword?

  “Anyway, this guy has caused enough distractions. I am going to return to my post. You two get him a table and writing utensils. Give him a chance to get his issues fixed.”, says the man named Alec, the oldest of us three.

  Me and Andris, the second oldest out of us three, with a short beard in his chin and curly auburn hair, then went behind the guard post of the jail, where the storage was. We found some paper, some ink and a feather and a small table that was in the corner.

  All the while, we could hear agitation and hazing towards the newcomer by the other prisoners.

  “You got any idea what that guy is?”, he asked.

  “No. You arrested him first anyway”, I replied.

  “You think that he actually has a blessing? Sort of rare, but not impossible.”, he kept questioning.

  “Probably not. Either way, figuring that part out should be left to the people in the temple”, I said.

  The last thing I want is to put up with any of those star fools, if any of those bums are indeed around.

  We got back carrying the table and the rest of the things and the man seemed visibly distraught, with tears starting to well up in his eyes and constantly tapping his fingers against the bricks on the wall.

  “Is he crying? Holy shit the blessed stuck up is crying! Hahahaha!”

  At the additional provocation, the man seemed to retract even further, at first retracting the hand from the wall and holding it as fist near his chest, then suddenly growing more erratic as he grabbed his head with his hands as if in pain and started stomping on the floor.

  “Ok, so which of us is going to restrain him?”, I ask.

  “Want to play the Triad Game?”, said Andris.

  “There is no helping it I suppose”

  We ended up playing it. It is simply a game where we each show a number of fingers from zero to three at the same time. The goal is that the difference between your fingers becomes a point value for the one with the higher number, with the goal of reaching six points in total, but if someone wins six or more points in two consecutive rounds, they lose.

  Unfortunately, I lost this game, so I had to open the door and subdue the man.

  He turned to me seemingly with the intent to protest, but I could see no anger or indignation on his face anymore. Just pain, sadness and resignation.

  No resistance, huh? Pathetic!

  As I slammed his face against the wall and locked his arm behind his back, Andris started setting up the table and ink properly.

  Holding back his cracking voice, the man still kept on pleading.

  “Please…just let me go or at least make it quick. I can’t take it anymore.”

  Seemingly having hit the limit of my patience and ability to ignore his antics, I asked him a question.

  “Why are you in such a rush to go anywhere? You don’t seem sick, so what, you got to meet somebody?”

  “Yes. To meet my death. I wish to finally…finally find my end.”, the man said, between sobs.

  “Hey Axios, all done”

  “I see…”, I said as I slammed him against the wall one more time so that I was sure he wouldn’t jump me as I made for the cell door.

  “Hey, give me the keys. I want to look over some of my papers in the back, I will put the keys in the right place. You can go ahead.”, I said

  Not finding any reason to object, Andris told me to not take too long and went up the steps.

  When I finally heard the door at the entrance slam shut, I turned towards the man in the cell once more.

  “All right then, I will hear your story, but don’t make it too long. Tell me, what do you mean by “finding your death”? Will your death save anyone you care for?”

  Wiping away the snot from his nose, the man recomposed himself to start explaining himself.

  “No, nothing of the sort. The only salvation will be my own.”

  “Are you telling me that you are suicidal then?”, I reply, already feeling regret at staying behind to continue the conversation.

  “Hey Axios! What are you standing around there for? I heard what you told your buddy. Papers my ass, you are lying to your superiors. Wouldn’t they like to be made aware of that?! Hahahaha!”, one of the prisoners hollers, cutting off my conversation.

  Having very little patience even on a good day, I unsheathe my sword and walk up to his cell.

  “What, you going to cut through iron bars, stupid?”, he mocks.

  Without warning, I raised up my sword and swing it down hard with a single hand. Hard enough so that most men couldn’t replicate it even with both hands. Hard enough that my death glare could not be taken for an empty threat.

  With my blade well inside his cell space and with him having jumped until he hit the back wall, in a fright, I pronounce the thoughts at the front of my mind.

  “I will remember you later.”

  Your blood is going to flow down my blade until it becomes solid under my fingernails!

  Sheeting my sword once again, I walk back to the man I was initially conversing with.

  The additional feeling of intense discomfort shooting up my injured arm from that stunt definitely soured my mood even more.

  “I ask again. Are you suicidal then?”

  “In a way, you could see it like that”, replied the man, now significantly more composed.

  “Are you going to speak to me now in riddles?”, I ask, annoyed at the man.

  At that remark, the man started staring upward, as if trying to recall something.

  “It would be difficult to put it into plain words”, the man said after a moment. “Even amongst us, the Tempered, as we call ourselves, few have the wisdom to even conceptualize this and fewer still have the awareness needed to realize this.”

  “The Tempered? Are you some cultist then? I see that this conversation was a waste.”

  I make a turn to leave.

  “Our ranks have nothing to do with any “cult”. Ask your local priest. They will tell you that me and mine are at the root of our Faith. My desire for my demise, however, is separate from anything else. It is completely my own.”, he said, now with renewed vigor in his voice.

  Again with this type and their temples! Let their priests and their faith fall into the Abyss!

  I stop and turn around again.

  “Why go north then? Why not find your death anywhere else? Or do you hope to reach some place of learning and you are just playing word games with me? Are you some wordsmith? Is your “death” just a figure of speech?”

  “No. it is quite literal. Our ill is one that no one else can feel or imagine.”, the man snickers, in a self-mocking manner.

  “From your perspective, you would see it as a kind of madness. All-consuming and ever present. I wish for my end. A permanent solution to the curse that afflicts one such as me. What little information I could find on a solution, left behind by those in the same boat as me, pointed me north.”

  I contemplate on his words for a moment.

  “Step away from the door.”, I ordered.

  Shocked by my order, he did so and I unlocked the door and came in.

  “You are a mad man, as per your own words and you wish for your own demise. Us guards have little patience for your ilk, and we will end up not letting you go to cause problems somewhere else.”

  I start to unsheathe my sword.

  At the sight of the motion, the man jumps back, scared for his life.

  “If you wish for your demise so much, we can arrange for it right here or I can organize something with the other guards. You walk free and we deliver you your death outside of the town’s walls.”

  “No! No! Did you not hear what I said? I can not die here! Not here, not to just any normal blade! Go speak to your priest as I asked. I will only accept my death once I find the solution in the north.”

  In one swift motion I step forward and punch him in the stomach, hard enough to project him backwards against the wall and he doubles forward as he falls to his knees.

  “Fuck you. You ask me to protect your life and ensure your safety yet you are so willing to lay down like a wet rag and be killed if you are content with the place you are in? You are the lowest form of scum. Wallow in your madness, you lethargic fool.”

  At that moment, there was a minor tremor. It wasn’t enough to make me lose my footing, but it did cause some dust to slightly rain down inside the cell.

  The man raised his face to look at me, tears of pain and spittle from his mouth covering his features.

  Slobbering, desperate, begging fools. You really tend to attract this type, don’t you? It is starting to become noticeable.

  I walk out of the cell and close it behind me

  “Hey! You were going on about wisdom and awareness and all that nonsense before. Tell me then, oh wise mad man, can you tell me why the world rumbles?”

  He said nothing, so I walked up the steps and out of the jail house.