"Are you ready for our duel?" asked the mysterious man in green and black clothing.
The other man drew his long sword from its sheath as confirmation. The man in green also drew his sword.
The other man, cloaked in a medieval coat, waited for his opponent to make a move, because one mistake could mean death.
The man in green thought the same.
They stood motionless for three minutes, focused on each other.
The hooded man moved forward slowly, his sword ready to strike.
His opponent suddenly executed an overhead strike, which the hooded man blocked with a curved sword and drove his opponent's blade into the ground.
He quickly slit his opponent's throat, moved behind him, and positioned his sword in a defensive stance, ready to fend off further attacks. But there were none.
He cleaned the blood from his own sword and noticed that the blade had become dull. Then he sheathed it and continued on his way.
After a while, it grew dark, and he reached an inn. He sat down at a table and ate.
As he did so, he noticed the stares of the other guests when he took off his hood, revealing his stony face with a few scars.
These scars and his sword beside him frightened people.
"Hey, freak!" someone shouted.
"I can see it in your eyes. You're one of them, aren't you?!"
The man with green eyes simply ignored him and continued eating.
But the man shouted even louder: "Do you dare ignore me, monster?" The shouting man moved his hand toward the hilt of his sword.
The green-eyed man immediately gave him a death stare. The other man quickly closed his mouth, clasped his hands behind his back, and ran away.
I have to keep going. I can't stay here...
He thought after he had eaten and set off for his next destination.
When Jamie woke up, he was half awake and saw three white lights floating in his room. His body was hot, but somehow comfortable.
Jamie was amazed to see these lights and also saw his cat Mala, who was following the floating balls of light with her eyes.
She began to make noises at short intervals, like a cat chasing a bird across the window.
The lights noticed Jamie's awakening and stopped playing with the cat.
He wondered what these lights could be and thought that they might be souls or angels.
They are white, not purple, which probably means that they are friendly.
The white lights, which might have been souls, looked at him for a long time, almost staring right through him.
He remained calm, even though he felt pierced by the stares he was receiving.
He was silent for a long time and said:
"Why can I see you? ... even though you are... immaterial."
He continued to remain silent and looked around his room.
What he saw was a pleasantly lit room. His room, but somehow not his, he thought.
He noticed how well rested he was, but found that this was not normal.
What's wrong with me? ,he thought.
"What's going on here?" Jamie muttered quietly. Now Mala stared at him with shocked eyes.
Mala and the lights continued to stare at him, and he realized that Mala had died a long time ago. It had been a year or two now.
"Good to see you, Mala," Jamie said with a reassuring smile.
"Why are you staring so hard?" Jamie asked, Light and cat.
He paused briefly and said, "Are you surprised?"
Now he got up from his bed and combed his hair, trying to take care of it.
"What are you lights?" Jamie asked. He waited a long time and got no answer.
Jamie wondered if he couldn't hear these beings or if they simply couldn't talk.
"Mala?" he asked suddenly, and she let out a "meow."
He turned to the floating balls of light and asked:
"Why don't you communicate? Do you not want to, or are you not allowed to?"
After asking these questions, he remained silent and continued to get ready.
Jamie tied his hair into a half-up ponytail again, loosely, so that individual strands could fall out.
He looked in the mirror and saw himself. He realized that something about his face was different.
He still had his distinctive clean-shaven face. But his eyes were different.
His eyes, previously green with a slight yellow-gold ring around the pupil, had changed: now the gold was significantly enlarged, the pupil slit-shaped, and the green was only a narrow transition between gold and white.
Suddenly, he heard three ravens cawing as he looked at his appearance.
His gaze fell on the medallion, which depicted a wolf with a triskele woven into its fur.
In addition, a spider was suddenly hanging from the ceiling.
He greeted them: "Hello," then fell silent and marveled at his appearance in the mirror.
He wondered what it meant, why these signs were difficult to interpret, and why his eyes were now a mixture of his old eyes and those that could see through darkness and the twilight world.
The shaman's prophecy flashed through his mind.
"Your eyes will radiate energy like the sun radiates light."
Was the prophecy beginning today?
Jamie wondered what time he had woken up and looked at his cell phone. Three o'clock in the morning. He thought that made sense.
After all, this time is called the liminal-time, the hour when the boundary between the twilight world and the higher realm is most permeable.
Sign...after sign...after sign, and that right after I met the shaman.
He thought about the prophecy.
Now for the part with the sword and the horse, just like the mercenary part. 'Everyone will use me like a mercenary.' ...Will that be the next part?
He thought all this while being surprised that he wasn't even tired.