Chapter 8

After that, Christopher takes to walking around the city as much as possible during the day, but soon realizes without Calandra and her papers it is too risky for now. Come nightfall, though, he flits from shadow to shadow, and the thrill of the danger makes it more and more fun.

"I hadn't noticed it happening, but my bloodlust was returning."

Luckily, in the big bad town there are endless distractions, and eventually Christopher runs across the best one of all. She has blonde hair, blue eyes almost identical to Christopher's, and a body of five foot four marks and a hundred stonelings in weight that cannot hide under her tattered brown dress. She is a nineteen-year-old goddess who is shy and sweet, and takes to Christopher after he stands up for her against some foreign riffraff.

"Hi, I'm Gabby. Thank you so much. My mom tells me not to wander about, but it is just too boring staying home all the time. Do you know what I mean?" She has such a sweet and innocent sounding voice.

Christopher nods his head yes as he introduces himself. At first he starts to say Johnny and then Percius, but he thinks it will be safer to go with the cover Calandra has made for him. "I'm Alzar."

"From that point on I don't think she stopped talking the whole time I escorted her back home."

Christopher leaves, giving her an offer for her and her mom to come to the Flaming Wind Inn for lunch some time. Gabby is excited, but Christopher doubts if the mother will be too happy.

"Like her incessant talking, I could not get her out of my head or my dreams."

So much time has gone by that Christopher had forgotten all about him, but about his second week in this town the dark mage comes back into the inn late one evening. Christopher is standing in the far corner to the right when he walks in. He couldn't have seen Christopher, because he is well hidden in the shadows of the stairs, so he must have felt him because he looks right at him. He nods more to himself and walks over to the same table on the left near the fireplace as before. It is full of patrons, but they willfully move to another table. Although Christopher is sure one moves to another inn and still another, at least by the look on his face, moves to another town.

Christopher doesn't much appreciate this person coming in and making semi decent patrons move and even more leave, which will hurt Calandra's business. Now, although when it is needed Christopher helps around the inn, his main task has become security. This comes unquestionable after two encounters with rowdy patrons that he easily disarms, but manages to pull back the berserker nature and not kill them.

"I started walking towards him, but Calandra waved me off."

Christopher takes his normal position in the shadowed corner under the stairs that he has adopted, and watches him with growing interest. He never once looks back in Christopher's direction again. He eats his meal without incident and leaves the same way. However, at the same time every night after that he starts showing up.

Now, when off duty and or later in the evening after most of the patrons are either gone or too drunk to make any real trouble, Christopher has taken to drinking a lot himself. At first the mornings, at least those of which he actually sees, are hell, but as time goes by they become less frequent.

"So I was in quite a fog when the mysterious dark stranger came back in a little later than normal. He made no pretense of anything other than wanting to talk to me."

He sits down at his original table. Once again seated across from Christopher and speaks, "Do you know who I am?"

"No, and I don't really care." Christopher says, without looking up.

"Fair enough." He says, in an even tone. "Do you know what I am?"

"I believe so."

"Young man, you are a quandary to me. I sense an indescribable darkness in you so deep that it bleeds red. And yet, there is an unknown golden aura about you."

"So."

"It is not a normal collection of attributes. Either you are one or the other." the dark mage says, with raised eyebrows.

"I may be young, sir, but I have learned that nothing is black and white. Just when you care to classify all as unworthy of life and worthy of your vengeance, you find those that don't fall under such deserving desires." Christopher is drunk and not really in the mood to get into a philosophical discussion, but he steels himself to see where this is going.

"For the most part I have seen that also, but at the levels that you exude it is unusual. No matter, my interest in you is one of wanting to hire you for a job."

Christopher blinks a few times to make sure he has heard him right. "What kind of job?"

"Security. I want you to come with me to my homeland of Aden on the other side of the next country called Venloring."

Christopher sits up and leans forward. "Really? You mean to the east of Venloring?"

"Yes, have you heard of it?"

"Only just."

"Well?"

"I'm busy right now, but why don't you come back in a couple of weeks and we'll see."

"Fair enough." He gets up and walks out without any further fanfare.

"Hello, Alzar. Alzar?"

"Oh, that's right, I'm going by that name at this time." he says to himself. "Hi, Gabby." Christopher then says, turning around with a true and sincere smile.

"We walked and talked as much as my work would allow, and as much as she could get out from under her mother's ever watchful gaze. We had even escalated to holding hands."

"Sarah. Sarah. Where have you gotten to, girl?"

"I'm here, big brother," she says, from deep inside the universe prime.

"Were you there at the time when I was talking to the dark sorcerer?"

"Yes."

"And you are the golden light he sees within me?"

"Not all, you are not yet lost, but yes, I am with you always."

That knowledge doesn't really make Christopher happy, because that means she sees and experiences his actions since he accidentally killed her. "Does it figure to you that if dark magic can oppress the world, then good magic could some how free it again."

"Of course, Christopher." she says, with a radiant smile.