Sarina took light steps on the wooden floor, making her way out of the house. With the bowl in hand, she made her way to the main entrance of the house.
She arrived in front of the wide wooden door that contained carvings of vines extending vertically. The metal handle stood on the left side of the door. Sarina stretched her hand and touched the cold metal handle, pushing the door open.
Once she stepped outside and closed the door, she turned around to see the small garden filled with flowers, neatly arranged alongside bushes that were neatly trimmed.
She stepped onto the softly illuminated street. Black poles rose from the ground, and at their end stood a square lantern, its light shining, bringing visibility to the night-engulfed streets.
Walking on the stone streets, she noticed two people coming toward her at a distance. From her vantage point, she could make out that these two people were wearing green robes. Sarina didn't dare make any rash movements. If she were to suddenly go into another street, those two would find it suspicious, as they could be possible guards patrolling the estate.
The first step to not looking suspicious is to look the part, and that's what Sarina did. She continued forth, her leather shoes stepping onto the ground.
Getting closer, she began to see the two men clearly. The man on the left had jet-black long hair that flowed freely down to his chest area; his face was ordinary, with nothing to take note of. On his green robe, there were two golden pins, indicating that he was a magician of the 2nd-circle. To his right, the other man was slightly shorter than him, his hair looking a bit unkempt, his eyebrows bushy and thick, creating a great contrast with his rounded face shape. Contrary to the other man, he had a single golden pin on his robe.
Once she got to a certain distance, she bowed, making a fifteen-degree angle with the upper half of her body. When mortals faced magicians, it was necessary for them to bow in their presence. It was to indicate their standing and to not incur unnecessary trouble, lest the magician be in a bad mood and decide to take it out on an unfortunate mortal.
The two men saw the mortal girl, vested in normal attire, bowing to the side of the street and making space for them, prompting the man with the long hair to say, "Why are you out this late into the night?" It was currently close to midnight. It was rare to see people outside going in and about, unless it was a bar. More so, seeing a mortal at the heart of the estate.
Sarina remained in her bowing position, answering, "Esteemed magician, I suddenly awoke at night due to a nightmare; then I remembered that I forgot to deliver something, so I took this chance to deliver it."
The man held an inquisitive look at Sarina. Judging by her response, he assumed that she was delivering the contents of the bowl to her family located on the outskirts of the estate. As for why she was outside the outskirts, he had a couple of guesses.
The 1st-circle magician by the side inquired, "What's in the bowl?"
"Esteemed magician, my family is very poor, only gaining three pieces of mana stones per week as a family of three. I work as a maid, and this was some leftover flour my master said it was fine to bring out. Here, take a look." Sarina then unfolded the cloth from the wooden bowl, revealing its contents.
The 1st-circle magician came closer as Sarina undid the cloth and showed the bowl forward with both of her hands, revealing its inside. He saw the contents, and indeed, there was a little amount of flour remaining in the bowl.
The long-haired man, no longer interested in this mortal girl, nodded. "You can go."
"Thank you." Sarina watched as the two men walked ahead of her and sighed internally. She then began to wrap the bowl once more and continued walking.
Sarina was glad those two men looked down on her, enough so that they wouldn't use investigative methods on her to see the true content of the bowl. In truth, the powder she held was grayish with hints of red mixed in, but with the low visibility that the lanterns provided, it was hard to gauge the color. What was likely was that the two men simply quickly glanced at it before becoming uninterested in her.
"If I were to be found with poison, death would be certain."
Sarina continued to walk for ten minutes, making various turns to find what she was looking for. She got closer to the outskirts of the estate; on her way, she encountered closed shops and restaurants. Her goal was to find a tavern, which was mostly found in the outer parts of the estate, near the heart.
Soon enough, after walking for a total of twenty minutes, she found a tavern. The stone building was a bit larger than a normal house; its windows at the entrance contained wooden planks going vertically and horizontally, creating four squares. Its chimney on its slanted roof gave out light smoke going toward the sky.
Sarina stood by the side in the darkness, leaning against a building nearby and overlooking the tavern. She saw people come in and out. After waiting for about thirty minutes, she saw a man getting kicked out.
"Sorry, man, I told you that we are closing." He spoke in a gentle yet firm voice while pushing a middle-aged man in front of him.
The man, clearly disheveled, stumbled while trying to gain his footing and said, "Tsk, I was just getting started! How can you kick me out like this again? Is this how you treat your loyal customers?"
The man replied, "Briego, come back tomorrow; you know what times we operate. You should've learned by now."
Briego, with a glass bottle in hand, protested, "I'm never coming back here again, you hear me!"
The bartender rolled his eyes mentally; he had heard the same script many times, almost as if he lived the same day over and over.
He had made Briego step outside of the tavern. The bartender stood at its entrance, sighing. "Be safe." After the words left his mouth, he closed the wooden door.
Briego gulped from his bottle before cursing and walking away.
Like a predator overseeing prey, Sarina approached the man from behind.
"Fuck, now my night is ruined! He acts like another drink would be bad for business," the man bitterly thought inwardly as he took yet another gulp from the green glass bottle he held with his right hand.
From behind his shoulder, he felt a light tap. He turned around with squinted eyes, and there was a young girl in simple clothing.
He impatiently spat, "What do you want? Don't you see that I'm busy here?"
"Esteemed magician, I would like to express my condolences. I've seen how that man pushed you away unfairly. Here, this is to show my sincerity." Long ago, she had taken two pieces of mana stones as she observed the man getting the boot.
Seeing the two pieces, his mood instantly went up a notch, laughing loudly. "Haha, that's right! I'm glad to know that there are people with common sense in this world." He took a sip. "I'll gladly take upon your sincerity then." He swiftly took the two pieces with his free left hand, and with a wave of his hand, they disappeared.
"I wonder if the lord is willing to do some business with me?" Sarina inquired.
"Business?" Briego thought as he examined Sarina up and down.
"What business could you possibly offer me?" Briego sneered, looking down on this mortal girl before him.
"It's inconvenient to talk in public. Please arrange it so that it's in a private setting, and even if it's not to your liking and you end up refusing, I'll pay another two pieces for your time," Sarina replied respectfully.
Briego smiled. "I guess I'll be able to hear you out for once. Follow me." He turned around.
Sarina nodded. "I'll be in your care then."
From the side, Sarina followed. From time to time, she would steal quick glances at the man on her left. He would sometimes stagger and seem to fall but never did; he would occasionally sip from the bottle he held. This middle-aged man had white streaks of hair coming out of his unkempt hair and beard, as well as green robes that seemed to have stains. Most importantly, she took notice of the single golden pin that hung on his robe—a 1st-circle magician!
The pair walked for seven minutes until they arrived at a small house. The house was a modest building built out of stone, a small chimney stuck out of its slanted roof. The modest building had a single window at its entrance near its door as well as the lateral sides.
Briego let him through the door, in his mind he was already making an excuse to chase Sarina out after he pretended to hear her out.
Sarina scanned her surroundings, she saw that the house was unkempt, with bottles lying around, clothes disorganized, sticks of wood near the chimney, and miscellaneous things scattered throughout the unit.
She stood near the entrance as she spoke: "I'm curious, this is a single-room house. As a revered magician well past the age of marriage, shouldn't there be a beautiful lady waiting at home?"
Briego's expression tightened; he didn't answer immediately. He gulped his bottle, taking a long sip before replying: "They're… no longer in this world."
Sarina's expression turned worried: "My condolences, if you don't mind me asking, what happened?"
Briego's mind was flashed with scenes of the past, his drunk face regaining some clarity before it masked in irritation: "That's none of your business, now spill what's your deal?"
Sarina then spoke softly: "I once had a sibling, ever since we were little he would protect me from the world. He used to give me tulips whenever I felt sad, he used to hold my hand whenever I felt fear. He was my little protector, smiling when times were down, but…" Sarina hesitated before speaking: "The beast tide occurred." She sighed: "In the end, we could only find his mangled, torn-up bloody body that an animal had fed upon. In turn, my parents lost their splendor. Not long after, our village was invaded, only leaving casualties. Among those, my parents' bodies were never found."
Briego listened intently, the story Sarina had told him deeply struck a chord in his heart. He too had felt something similar. He wanted to wipe away those thoughts, quickly taking another sip, a sip to forget all of it.
"There are many stories foretold in this world, those who carry the burden can choose to shoulder them alone, but they will ultimately lead to demise. Lord, it may be difficult to speak, but would your deceased wife and child want to see you in such a manner?"
Briego listened, the bottle he held no longer contained any contents, it was empty, just as he was. He looked at Sarina, his vision turning blurry from the water that was quickly accumulating in his eyes. He looked away, hesitating if he should speak or not.
He heaved a long sigh, dropped his bottle, and leaned on the wall before saying lamentably, "I pity you, girl, this world is too harsh. Too harsh! My beloved family was everything to me, my beautiful wife and my clumsy yet responsible son were the only joys that this miserable life of mine received. Just like your family, mine was taken away by the beast tide around four years ago." He looked down, supporting his head with his right hand.
Sarina listened, sometimes he would mispronounce and slur words, but she paid no mind to it, she listened without saying a word.
He continued: "The tide didn't die down, continuing its rampage throughout the villages, ultimately arriving at the last defense of the estate. I've never seen such disastrous losses before, the beast tide contained two Four-Order level beasts. Despite that, despite that."
Thump
Briego hit the wall with the back of his left hand, gritting his teeth, he remained shaking.
"Those bastards sent us to the frontlines, knowing we would only be meat shields, in order to buy time for the rest of the clan!" Briego's face contorted heavily, his brows furrowed deeply, leaving wrinkles on his glabella and forehead, veins began to form on his forehead from the amount of blood rushing in. He stopped for a second and recollected his thoughts: "I saw my friends from my squad die one by one. Milagros, the reliable healer of the team, was left with only her upper half… Marco got chewed to death, Salem, the guy with the biggest heart out of all of us… his body was only left with his insides spilling out, and our most reliable leader, Dylan, was left without even a corpse! I saw them die one by one! I was powerless, yet the worst of it all. I couldn't be with my family in their last moments. Those damn wolves surrounded their group."
Sarina saw Briego, with his head down, covering his face, a stream of tears began to roll down his cheeks, merging with his bushy beard, not being able to fall on the floor.
"I tried… I tried! After my teammates died one by one because of me urging them to kill the wolves who targeted my family, after killing those beasts I could only see their tattered bodies. Their tearful gazes entered mine, they died in pain." Briego's words began to heavily slur, his words growing shaky, stopping from time to time to organize his thoughts.
"Their organs scattered on the floor, wounds deep enough to see the bone. My pitiful wife and child. My dearest Anna, when we first met in the academy, we fell in love swiftly, marrying after graduation. I worked hard, even as somebody with a low fissure, to provide for the both of us, accepted missions, growing in power, to make her happy. We bought a nice suitable home and started a family. I met her parents, although disapproving of me at first, but when they saw how much I loved their daughter, they gave me permission to marry her. After buying our house, we conceived our beautiful son, Altan, our little bright sun. He used to enjoy going for walks and studying the world around him. Our son matured quickly, growing from a boy to a man and little did I know he grew into a magician, graduating. I nagged him to start a family already, but he would always make an excuse, haha. I always told him that he looked more like his mother, and he would say that he had my spirit. Although his appearance was that of a man, to me, he was my little sun." Briego's voice trembled, growing weak at times, strong at times, with no clear tempo. Amongst his words, he sobbed quietly.
Sarina listened intently, letting Briego release his emotions. She felt no pity or sympathy, she felt empathy, she completely understood the man's feelings. In her past life, Sarina's life was full of tribulations that brought out the deepest of her emotions. From a perspective, she understood Briego's actions until now. He masked his deep sorrow with alcohol, to forget about that time, and in that, she was glad. Glad that the man held a sob-filled tragic past. In her eyes, Briego was someone who had been disregarded by the clan. In lack of better terms, in the eyes of the clan, Briego was failed goods! Briego held grudges against the clan who had easily disposed of his comrades and family; he was somebody outside the system, qualities that Sarina was looking for.
"The first step to freedom was to free oneself first."
"In this world, people try to find meaning in it, a meaning toward their life. Some live for love, some live out of hatred seeking revenge, some live for their goals, reaching richer heights, some live for their desires, looking to satisfy their needs, some live solely for themselves, discarding others and doing whatever they wanted, and this man, Briego, lived in the past, forever tormented by his past."
Briego couldn't let go of the pain he felt; those were the shackles that restrained him. He was unable to break free, he was a caged bird.
"Only by removing the shackles that restrain you from greatness, only then can one attain freedom."
Sarina didn't sneer or look down on Briego, she understood him completely. In Sarina's seven-hundred-year life experience, she had seen much worse people in difficult situations than Briego. She began to understand them, their struggles, and how they dealt with it. In her past, she asked a question: 'Can one truly break free?' The answer she had long obtained was yes.
The first step to freedom was to free oneself first. A person couldn't be saved if they didn't want to be saved. A change starts at the initiative. Of course, it didn't mean that those who weren't free and not calling out for help couldn't break free. Sometimes, it needed the first push for a domino effect. Once the domino effect commenced, their black, hazy view would suddenly emit a single dot of light that one had to strive to reach.
Sarina had long known the process.
"I once, too, was engulfed by a cage."
Briego basked in alcohol to forget, that was something all too normal Sarina had experienced. To cope with extreme loss, that was the human experience. She didn't lament or ridicule; she considered her past experiences and observed objectively.
Sarina longed to acquire the mind of an observer. She could view things objectively; she didn't disregard or praise, she kept an open mind to the world. Only by opening your mind can you truly grasp greatness. With her objective lens of the world, she disregarded outdated and useless information and replaced it with the most effective methods. Only with such a mind could one reach the apex in power Sarina had attained in her previous life.