Gleam - Chapter 134 (Patreon)

Something about traveling through Gleam with Bella and Yeo again was surreal. Chance couldn’t help the grin from crossing his face as the three of them walked through the crowded streets, pushing through passersby as they let his Essence guide him.

He did his best not to get too distracted by the flashing lights of the stores they left behind them, but even after living in Centurion for a few months, the bustle of Gleam amazed him. But Chance was quickly reminded of the truth of Gleam as a ripple passed through them mid-step, yanking all three into a Ward.

Before Chance could even turn to look for what had caused it, the Ward snapped away and they reappeared in the street. Chance twisted out of the way to avoid getting stepped on, then herded Yeo and Bella out of the crowd.

“What?” Yeo asked. “It was just a Ward.”

“Yeah. I honestly forgot how jarring it can be to get yanked into those randomly,” Chance admitted. “It was really fast, though.”

“Probably a high ranked Shikari,” Bella said. “They find the monster and only use the Ward at the last moment, keeping the amount of fighting to a minimum. At least, that’s the goal.”

Distracting or not, it’s way safer than anything outside Gleam. I can still remember the terror in those poor villagers’ eyes when they asked me to kill Seleth.

A small flicker of sadness passed through Chance at the memory of the crocodile monster that he’d struck down. There hadn’t been any other option, and that weighed on him. With all the power cultivators possessed, it wasn’t fair that Seleth hadn’t been able to choose his own fate.

“Is something wrong?” Yeo asked. “You look angry.”

“Not angry. I was just thinking about some of the stuff that happened while Bella and I were traveling,” Chance said. He called on his Essence, letting it cascade from his fingers. A sliver hit the ground and twisted off toward a side street. They all followed after it.

“Care to share?” Yeo asked as they walked.

“It’s kind of childish.” Chance rubbed the back of his neck and laughed. “I was just thinking it wasn’t fair that monsters had to fight us.”

“Well, those are words that I’d never hear uttered by anyone other than you.” Yeo snickered. “Monsters want to fight us, Chance. That’s why they’re monsters.”

“Not all of them. I fought one called Seleth. He was intelligent, and I got the very strong feeling that he wished he could cultivate in a way that wasn’t just killing. He just didn’t have the choice to.”

Chance expected Yeo to scoff at that, but to his surprise, a contemplative expression crossed over the other boy’s features. “You’re sure he wasn’t trying to trick you?”

“Yeah. I believed him. He was honorable,” Chance said.

“Well, my Master has always said that there’s absolutely nothing in this world that’s absolute,” Yeo said after a few moments of delay. “If you don’t like something, just change it. And, if you can’t change it, you aren’t strong enough. Out of all of us, your Karma Essence is the one that’s most in line to start screwing with the way things work.”

“Wait, Master? Not Pete?” Bella asked.

Yeo shook his head. “I didn’t talk about him because he’s kind of secretive, but yes. As much as I’d love to take credit for my incredible talent, I must admit that I’ve been tutored.”

“Have we ever met him?” Chance asked.

Yeo waggled a hand in the air. “Eh. He’s… difficult to understand. I wouldn’t worry about it. I’m sure you’ll get to talk to him face to face at some point in the future since we’re sticking together.”

“Why’d he choose you? Didn’t have any better options?” Bella quipped.

“Hey, stop that. Chance is my rival, not you. He’s the only one allowed to say quippy stuff. I don’t like it when you say it.”

“Oh? Why?”

Yeo scrunched his nose. “Because you usually don’t hold back and I can’t think of a good comeback fast enough. How am I supposed to look cool when you’re permanently making fun of me?”

“I’d suggest not being lame in the first place,” Bella said.

Chance suppressed a laugh.

“See? Look what you’re doing.” Yeo threw his hands into the air and shook his head. “Thank the gods we don’t have an audience, or I’d have to challenge you to a duel to preserve my honor.”

“I thought you were going for the creepy angle. Is honor even something you’re concerned with?”

“You know what? That’s a good point. I’ve changed your role,” Yeo declared. “You will be the advisor.”

“Lovely. What’s the pay?”

“The pay is nothing. Nobody listens to their advisors,” Yeo replied without an instant of hesitation. “But every once and a while I can steal something you say and pretend I came up with it on my own.”

Bella rolled her eyes and Yeo laughed. They continued walking in silence for a few more minutes, but Yeo wasn’t one to let that last for long.

“So, after we deal with this Acen guy, how do we want to do our big debut?” Yeo asked.

“Is it a really a debut if we’re just coming out of hiding?” Bella scrunched her nose. “And it might be a bit early to worry about that. Fixing our image in the public eye might take a while. It’s probably better to just do nothing until we’re mostly forgotten.”

“That would be so boring, though. What if we just do something really cool that everybody loves? We could save Gleam!”

“Save Gleam from what?”

“I’m not sure. I haven’t figured it out yet. I’m sure something will come to mind.” Yeo rubbed his chin in thought. “What if we just started a big fight with some other group nobody likes?”

“Wouldn’t that just make people like both of us less?” Chance asked. “I think we should just go around helping the community as much as possible. We can start small.”

“Bah. That’s boring. Think about it.” Yeo splayed his hands out before him as if framing a movie. “A bunch of thugs rob an old lady. We show up – reviled by all – and beat the thugs up. We then return the old lady’s belongings. Everyone loves us.”

“That’s great, but it involves finding an old lady getting mugged in the first place. I didn’t think anyone would be bold enough to try that in Gleam,” Chance said, turning a corner. He kept his eyes out for any signs of the Old City, but it had yet to arise.

Granted, he wasn’t actively looking for it. He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to enter it right now, but it would have been reassuring to know that it was still there. That Ocie was still there.

“That’s a good point,” Yeo allowed. “What do you think, advisor?”

“I thought you weren’t going to listen to my advice as an advisor?”

“I need to hear it to ignore it.”

Bella snorted. “If you want a serious answer that’s more than just laying low, I guess we could try to find a dangerous job and take care of it. We’re already kind of doing that, though. I don’t think we have to take any extra steps.”

Yeo made a face and let out a sigh. “Yeah. I guess that’s a good point. Hey, Chance, do you think you could get us lucky enough to run into a bunch of hooligans that we can beat up in the name of justice?”

Chance looked over his shoulder at Yeo. “I don’t think that’s how luck works. That’s just called looking for a fight.”

Slumping, Yeo let out a few annoyed grumbles and fell silent once more. They continued into the city, letting Chance’s Essence continue to guide them.

Time dragged on, and minutes soon turned to hours. Chance wasn’t sure where he was leading them, and a tiny part of him wondered if his Essence was just having them wander around aimlessly.

He’d never used it to intentionally try to track someone like this, and there was a pretty high likelihood that it wouldn’t do anything at all. After all, it could just be leading him toward something he wanted – which, at the moment, was an even split between Acen and something to eat.

And, no sooner than that thought crossed his mind, Chance led them out of the alleyway they were currently in and straight into a market. Directly across from them was a vendor selling skewers of delicious smelling, greasy meat.

“I don’t think Acen is running a skewer stand,” Yeo said, following Chance’s gaze.

“I got hungry,” Chance said sheepishly. “I think I might have confused my Essence.”

“Absolutely pathetic.” Yeo shook his head in mock disappointment. “We’re Shikari on the job, Chance. You need to suppress those mortal desires of yours and learn how to transcend, becoming far greater than you ever were–”

Yeo’s stomach grumbled.

Bella didn’t even need to say anything. She just sent him a pointed look. Yeo snapped his mouth close. “You know what? I’m hungry. Anyone else want food?”

They all walked over to the merchant, and Yeo produced several coins, buying skewers for all of them. He handed them out before digging into his meal with the recklessness of a starving animal.

“Thanks for the meal,” Chance said, taking a bite out of his own skewer. “You didn’t have to pay for us, though.”

“It’s fine,” Yeo replied. “You can cover dinner, and we can eat these while we walk. Where to from here, Chance?”

Chance called on his Essence, letting the golden mist pool in his hand before overflowing and pouring to the ground. He watched it expectantly, but nothing changed. It just coiled at his feet, swirling like the water of a disturbed lake.

“Huh,” Chance said. He absentmindedly took another bite from his skewer. “That’s odd.”

“Don’t tell me you brought us all the way here specifically because you wanted to get these,” Yeo said, waving his own skewer. “Hound’s has them! We could have gotten them there!”

Chance tried closing his eyes and turning in a circle to feel if any direction called to him more than the others, but there was nothing. For some reason, it felt… well, like he was in the exact right spot.

Did I seriously manage to get confused and lead them just to get food? Or is this actually the place we’re meant to be in?

He was still trying to figure out when he felt a tickle in his nose. Chance abruptly raised his hand and sneezed into the crook of his arm and turning away from Yeo and Bella. The motion carried him right into the path of a man walking by.

The man fell back onto his ass with a surprised curse.

“I’m so sorry,” Chance said, blushing furiously as he held a hand out to help the man back to his feet. “Something must have gotten into my nose.”

The man frowned up from beneath long, brown hair. His eyes flicked around before he reached out, accepting the offered hand and letting Chance help him back to his feet.

“You should pay more attention to your surroundings,” the man scolded.

“Hey, you’re the one that was walking straight at him in the first place,” Yeo said. “The road isn’t that small, there was more than enough room for you to walk without getting that close.”

“It’s my fault. Don’t worry about it,” Chance said. “I hope I didn’t hurt you.”

“I’m fine.” The man shook his head and muttered something under his breath. He reached down to his belt to adjust it, then paused. He turned at the exact same time that Chance spotted a small marble on the ground where the man had fallen.

“Oh, I think you dropped something,” Chance said, reaching down for it. Before his fingers could touch it, a ripple of Essence pressed into his mind. Chance drew in a sharp breath and yanked his fingers back.

The marble throbbed with Bad Karma. It was rancid. The man lurched forward, grabbing the marble and stuffing it into a pocket – and Chance finally noticed what he’d been missing. The Essence that he’d been trying to control was slowly drifting in the man’s direction.

Bella noticed it a moment after he did.

“Excuse me,” Bella said, taking a step forward and raising a hand. “Are–”

The man burst into motion. He sprinted away from them, diving through the thin crowd and into an alleyway in the span of a second.

“What the – oh, shit. That’s him!” Yeo exclaimed. “Chase him!”

Chance wasn’t so sure that was the best way to go about things, but Yeo was already running. He and Bella exchanged a glance, then sprinted after Yeo before he could get too far. But, as they ran, Chance’s mind was far more concerned with the disgusting Essence still lingering at the edges of his mind.

What was that marble?