Zane had to go to the Church.
He would have made a run if not for one of the guards shifting his hand towards the crystal on his chest.
Zane didn't know what it was but he had seen the same thing on Kairon's chest. The Enforcer had it and he had received a message from it. If anything, the crystal was used for communication and Zane didn't want the guard to communicate about him with someone.
So with no choice, he also moved his feet with the crowd.
But now that he was already going where the stalker would be present too, he made the decision.
I accept the Quest.
[ Critical Quest Accepted! ]
The window appeared and disappeared and Zane focused on everyone in the crowd.
He was expecting some kind of good luck from the system but nothing came and that only enforced Zane's belief to not think of the system as his friend.
Fortunately, the crowd wasn't thick. Most people hurried, eager not to be the last ones seen dragging their feet when the bell had already rung.
Zane stayed near the back.
Partly because he wasn't eager.
Partly because he didn't even know where the church was.
He noticed a few gutterborns mixed in with the others and frowned.
There were fewer of them than he expected.
Too few.
He glanced at them again and understood why. The rest were probably still waiting in line at the Citadel for their turn, or got recruited by those knights like Herring.
This moment comes once in three months after all. The gates of Citadel only open once every quarter for people to touch the slab.
Everyone who turned eighteen since the last cycle was allowed to try. Commoner, gutterborn—it didn't matter. Everyone stood in the same line. Everyone filled the same forms. Except the Halocrats.
Name. Origin. Class. Illness. Address.
A neat little list that pretended everyone started equal.
Then came the inspection.
One man, gifted with some unnamed power, went down the line and decided who was "healthy" enough to touch the slab. The weak were sent away.
Zane had scoffed back then.
Since when did they care about the weak?
But he had been lucky. Luckier than most gutterborns.
He lived on the same continent as the slab.
Others weren't.
Some had to leave their slums months early, traveling through roads that didn't want them there. Some died on the way, using illegal routes and broken transports. Some arrived only to be told they were too weak to even try.
And many never reached eighteen at all.
Still, they came.
All of them.
Just for the chance that touching the slab might change something.
Meanwhile Commoners stood between worlds. Too poor to skip the line, too rich to starve on the road. They complained, but they survived.
Even after such a process, Dwarkam was vast. No amount of filtering ever made the line short.
There were always more people hoping the slab would alter their lives.
Zane only knew what he heard all this from the old residents of his slum and Herring when he was in the line.
Zane took steps at his own pace while keeping an eye on anyone turning their heads behind to look at him.
But he found none and the intent was thinner.
He stood on his toes to see the full crowd and he found no Enforcers among them.
So they didn't follow me here. Then who? Is it someone else entirely, not related to the Citadel?
Zane had earned the wrath of Kairon, the enforcer, and then he also rebelled against another Enforcer. So he had thought maybe they followed him for revenge. But both of them weren't here.
Zane tried to recall anything, anyone who would want harm for him and the most he could think of was that Commoner whom he had bit while leaving the Citadel.
Surely he won't be here just because I bit him. Right?
Zane had lost control after biting the man so he didn't know how the Commoner felt after that. But if he had to guess…
He had a screw loose. He might have followed me to bite me back.
Zane looked around once again to search for that Commoner.
They all look the same.
Zane couldn't find him.
The crowd may be less but everyone shadowed everyone. No face was visible for more than one second.
Zane tried his best to see everyone while remaining in the back. Even the other Gutterborns were ahead of him but they weren't among the regular crowd. They knew their place.
No one tried to talk with Zane as they had also seen him when he was threatening empty air. The rich people had made disgusting faces at him and the other Gutterborns wanted nothing to do with someone who could earn the wrath of the wealthy.
Zane couldn't ask for more as right now, the last thing he needed was company.
He only focused on any heads that turned around to look at him but none did.
Which was worse.
If someone had looked at him with a little too much attention, he would have known where to aim his fear.
Zane tried his best with his limited physical flexibility to find while standing on his toes but no eyes met his. No footsteps matched his pace.
And yet the intent did not disappear. It thickened with each step he took.
It wasn't sharp. It wasn't murderous.
It was just waiting.
Zane's jaw tightened as before he knew it, the church came into view ahead.
Stone walls washed in gold. Tall stained windows bleeding light into the street. The twin doors stood open, swallowing people in silence.
The crowd funneled toward it.
Zane stared at the structure.
I don't feel good.
He looked left, right and behind and then he felt it.
Not from behind.
Not from ahead.
From inside.
His fingers twitched.
The intent wasn't following him anymore.
It was already there.
[ Merged Skill: Survival Threshold is reacting. ]
Zane took a deep breath.
He didn't go inside. But he did find it safe to run.
No one was around him at the moment. Everyone was already inside.
Alright. Let's go.
Zane turned around.
However…
THUP!
Five men stomped their spears on the ground.
They had arrived behind Zane.
Zane bit his lip.
They were the guards around the city.
All of them stared at him and Zane, standing closer to them, did nothing rebellious.
He erased all the expressions of discomfort for the church from his face and turned around.
His palms drenched, his skin itched as if heat slammed on him, his chest pulsated confusing Zane whether it was the scar or his heart.
But since the guards were just behind him…
He clenched his fists and finally stepped inside the lap of First Flame.
The guards entered after him and held the door.
Zane's eyes refused to let the sky go behind him as light fell on his face but as the doors reached closer to shut, the light on his face shrunk along.
The next moment, the guards finally slammed shut the door and with that…
Darkness engulfed Zane.