(5)
Astalos felt a massive pain as the magic healed his body. He felt something has gone wrong. The magic has already healed his body but it was still healing him. He could feel something changing inside and when that feeling spread all over his body, the pain became unbearable. The pain was so intense he could not even scream or yell.
But as he was about to faint, the pain faded. When it was completely gone, he stood up. He realized his body felt much lighter and energetic. He has not felt like this in almost two decades.
His clothes were soaking wet from sweating from enduring the intense pain. As he stretched his right arm to grab his bag, he saw his right hand. It was pale. He froze as he saw his hand. He has spent over two decades in the South, mostly running away from witch-hunters and templars. He could barely stay in villages or towns because of that. His skin was never this pale. Only once, he was like this when he was still an apprentice.
‘Wait…’
He opened his bag and grabbed a hand mirror. For a few seconds, he could not turn the mirror toward his face but he soon made up his mind. When he looked in the mirror, his eyes widened. There was a middle aged man staring Astalos from the other side. But soon he has noticed his mistake and grabbed the edge of his face right under his right ear. As he pulled his face, the middle aged face was starting to peel off. When he was done peeling off the face, he took off a wig he was wearing as well.
For years, Astalos was hiding his face from others … ever since the day he lost his mentor to an inquisitor. He still cannot forget the sadistic smile on the inquisitor’s face.
As he looked in the hand mirror again, he saw a young man’s face that could barely be called an adult.
He was planning to disguise himself as a scholar who wants to study the north but the circumstance has changed. He is too young for that. Instead, he decided to act as a mercenary since he was pretty good with wielding his sword.
After changing his clothes, Astalos walked downstairs to go out and that is when he saw people he did not want to see, ever. The church members from the South, two inquisition soldiers and a priest. For a moment, Astalos thought about killing them. Killing all three would not be a problem, it was rather easy. He was much younger than the time he dealt with the three men in the dark alley, making him much quicker and stronger. And he was not exhausted from rowing either. But it was obvious that they were not alone. Once Astalos kill these men, more will come after him.
Astalos tried to act natural like he used to in the South. The priest was looking around the inn, probably trying to find out who is the caster. There are a few tricks these church folks use to distinguish casters from non-casters. But most of those tricks do not work since many casters are used to it. Though many casters were killed while trying to figure out those tricks. Probably the best way to find a caster out would be cornering them and forcing them to reveal themselves. That is how the inquisitor found his mentor.
Astalos left the inn to buy herbs so he does not have to depend on his dangerous healing magic.
