Debauchery of a Soul-Eating Wraith

Gillert did a double take.

"You died?"

Evian nodded.

"Yes I did."

"And you came back to life?"

Evian spread his arms and raised a brow.

"Well, I am standing in front of you, am I not?"

Gillert's brows furrowed and he stepped back bowing his head.

"This is so- When you didn't check-in, we all guessed something must have happened but... We wouldn't have guessed you died."

"So you never knew I was dying?" Evian asked.

Gillert shook his head.

Not really, no. We all just assumed you had a weak constitution and that was why you always looked sickly and couldn't cultivate"

"Huh. Tragic" was all Evian could think to say.

Gillert raised his head until he was looking into Evian's face.

"What happened to your hair and eyes anyway?" he asked trying not to look creeped out by how cold Evian's grey eyes were.

Evian raised a hand and brushed it through his hair and then trailed down to his right eye.

"Oh, these? Marks of my resurrection"

Gillert opened his mouth slightly and nodded frequently like that made sense and then his eyes roamed over Evian's body focusing mostly on the bloody sword in his hand as well the aura coming off his body.

"So- you can cultivate now?"

"More or less," Evian said with a shrug,

"Can you explain what just happened to me? As I said before, I lost my memory after I came back to life so I have no idea why I was just targetted"

"So you remember nothing?" Gillert asked.

"Nothing at all" Evian answered, "One of my attackers mentioned something about a 'Thieving Crew'"

Gillert sighed as he put his mask back on.

"That's such an oversimplification but it is accurate, I suppose."

"Who did you steal from?"

"Lord Larnak," Gillert said.

The name sounded familiar to Evian. He had learned it from his many hours with Lady Myrine.

Lord Larnak is one of the Local Lords of Verdelen City. Lady Myrine especially mentioned him because his territory neighbored that of the Stygians.

"And what did you steal?"

"You mean, what did WE steal? You're every bit a part of this. In fact, you planned the heist!"

'Evian did? Just how much was the handsome bastard dabbling in while everyone was worried about his impending death?' Evian wondered in his mind. For the first time ever, he was dissatisfied with not having inherited the old Evian's memories.

Gillert continued talking.

"WE stole the Larnak family heirloom. Lord Larnak wants it back. But, that's only a small part of the issue.

Our rebellion has been a constant thorn in his side"

"Rebellion?"

Gillert nodded.

"Of all the Local Lords of Verdelen City, Lord Larnak is the most deplorable.

Increased Taxes, dispossession of properties, Imposition of ridiculous laws, spontaneous executions, and many more.

He's drunk with power and runs his territory stricter than the King runs the Kingdom. The bastard has to go!"

There was a few seconds of silence as Gillert's words just hung in the air. The silence was eventually broken by Evian.

"So what was my place in all this?"

"I don't understand," Gillert said.

"Well, I don't live in Larnak's territory and his laws and tyranny shouldn't affect me so what's my place in it all?

Why did I join the rebellion?

What did Larnak do to me?"

Gillert shook his head slowly.

"As far as I know, Lord Larnak did nothing to you.

You joined the rebellion because you wanted to.

In fact, you sought us out yourself and offered to help."

"I did?"

Gillert nodded.

"You did.

Before you came along, we just meandered through it all, trying to do our best to bring Lord Larnak down but we weren't having much success. You gave us structure.

Convinced us to go after his wealth and then discretely share it among the people"

"And what did I want in return?" Evan asked.

Gillert was wearing a mask but Evian could tell he got a weird look on his face as he heard the words that left his lips.

"You wanted nothing. You said you just wanted to do the right thing"

'Evian worked for free? Was he trying to buy good Karma before his inevitable death?

If that was the plan, I'm not sure it worked seeing as I ate his soul before he could find some type of eternal peace'

Gillert let out a breath.

"Now that Lord Larnak knows you're part of the rebellion, he'll try using you.

That's what all this was.

We intercepted his plans to capture you and use you to weed out the rest of the Rebellion so I rushed over as fast as I could. Hoping I wasn't too late. I'm glad I wasn't but this won't be the end.

He planned to get you out of your Estate discreetly and now that that has failed, he just might damn it all and declare a turf war against the Stygians."

"And that's- bad"

"It could be," Gillert said and placed a hand on Evian's shoulder,

"If that happens, trust that the Rebellion fight by your Family's side,"

"Um, thanks, I guess," Evian said quietly.

"Oh no need to thank me," Gillert said with bold laughter, "Memory or not, you are one of us"

Gillert looked like he had more to say but he was forced to step as the sound of Footsteps started sounding from far off.

*PITAH* *PITAH* *PITAH*

"Damn that Arcanist. Covering all traces of his travel."

Different groups of Estate guards were currently out searching. With no real clue what direction the Kidnapper had taken Evian in, the search had to be dispersed into different directions.

"We should spread out even more. We cannot return to the Estate without Young Master Evian."

"What if he can't be found?"

*Smack!*

"Don't you dare think like that! We already failed to stop the kidnapping, he must be found!

We'll search till morning if we have to!"

"Yes, Captain!"

Evian heard the Exchange of words.

Gillert did as well.

"Looks like your search party is here. We will have to continue this talk at a later time. Come over to Doreen district in Larnak's territory and ask around for Viyeen Complex when you are ready and able to talk. Try and be discreet though. There's a lot of eyes on the Resistance,"

With those final words, Gillert turned and ran off through the clusters of deserted buildings in the area and soon he was out of sight.

As Gillert ran, the moon high in the sky, shed light on his blurry trail and it caught the eyes of the Captain of the search party.

"What was that? I think I just saw something"

"I'm over here!" Evan yelled before they started chasing Gillert's trail.

The Guards rushed over and found him near the dilapidated building, bent low over Koln the Arcanist's dead body with a bloody sword by his side.

In the minute or so before the Guards arrived, Evian let his eyes roam over the carcass of his kidnapper until they fell on Koln's limp hands. There was a ring around his middle finger and Evian wasted no time sliding it off.

He knew what the ring was. It was a Storage Ring.

One of the many things he had learned about the World he was in during his time with Lady Myrine, was how Expensive storage worked.

As long as an item was built with space, no matter how small, the space could be enlarged with Enchantments and used for storage.

It could be a ring, a bracelet, a pendant, a pouch, or even a jar.

Pouches were the cheapest option and could even be cheaper depending on the workmanship.

Rings were usually the most expensive option because the space to be enlarged usually starts out extra small compared to the other options.

Evian cleaned the ring off Koln's clothes and slipped it on his finger.

'I'll inspect the contents at a later time.'

He glanced at Koln's staff nearby, pressed the storage ring on his finger to it, and smiled as the Staff was sucked in just as the Search party finally turned a corner and arrived at where he was.

The Captain of the Search party eyed Evian's blood-splattered clothes with his right arm sleeve especially drenched and his voice shook slightly with worry, 𝗯𝗲𝗱𝗻𝐨𝐯𝗲𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"Young Master, are you well?"