Death, Devotion, Dissonance

Evin listened as Endra explained the previous day's events to him, about the trial, Lyudvik's taunt, and how he found this note. 

<Where's my family?> Evin asked at the end of it. 

<They're staying in Bella's house till their own house gets fixed, so I'm sure they're fine for now,> Endra sighed. <But we do need to worry about what's going to happen next.>

<There's nothing to think about! We learn who's doing this and take care of them somehow!>

<Sadly, we can't.>

<Why not?>

<Even if we know who it is, we can't have them tried because we most likely won't have evidence. Even if someone comes out and tells us it was them who did it, we can't accuse them if they don't give us proof.>

<If that doesn't work, then just kill them!>

<To kill them, huh? I considered that. But I'm not so confident we'll survive a fight against a High-mage. One that specializes in illusions nonetheless. We'd be dead before we even know what happened to us.>

"Shit…" Evin cursed, wracking his head for solutions. <How are you so goddamn calm, anyway?>

<I'm simply built different,> Endra replied. <Well, it doesn't really change what we do next. We go to Ssatsko and tell them to be careful. We also tell them that it's probably our fault they were attacked.>

An hour later, Evin found himself once again at the Viscount's manor in Jiha Town with Bella next to him. His girlfriend seemed to be acting more distantly today, but she seemed happy enough to fly home with him. Evin was curious about what happened, but decided to ask later on.

Evin asked for Ssatsko, feeling anxious if they were already attacked again or something. Thankfully, Ssatsko only looked surprised to see Evin so soon.

Evin pulled him to a private room and told him about the note he received yesterday. He even told how Lyudvik taunted him yesterday, grinning all the while.

"You're not joking or something, right?" Ssatsko asked, hearing everything.

"I wish I was."

"Why would anyone even do this to you? Who would do something like this in the first place?"

"I don't know. I thought it was Decatur, the acting count of Greater Ankelite, but… I'm really not sure anymore. It could be the Chairman of my Academy, or it could be that old man Alvich from yesterday as well. He seemed very interested in me for some reason."

"What purpose do they have to do this?"

"To harass me? Since they're not asking for anything, I'm guessing they just like seeing me suffer. Or maybe they're just curious what I'll do," Evin answered. "Since Lyudvik was taunting me so openly, maybe they just want to discredit me; but if that was all they wanted, this whole thing's really overkill."

"…" Ssatsko nodded, lost in thought.

"Well, I'm sorry I brought you into this mess… since they're saying they'll attack you again, I'm sure they'll send someone more dangerous next time."

"I'm not worried about myself. I'm more worried about Lora's family…" Ssatsko sighed. "The more I think about it, the more I realize they've been heading towards their room that night we got attacked. The biggest reason I was able to ambush them was because they didn't even bother to check inside my room. Means they knew our house's layout and came for something specific. Empress's curses."

"What do we do?"

"We can't stay in the Viscount's manor all the time. We feel way too out of place here, but we can't go back to our house either… Do you think they'll be safe in the 1st grade district?" 

"They'll definitely be safer… but probably not entirely."

Safety was one of the advantages of being a 1st grade in the kingdom, but that wasn't something absolute. Evin heard many stories of 1st grades getting killed some way or another; and honestly, he had countless ways to murder someone as well.

"I'm really sorry…" Evin said again, voice straining.

It felt so terrible to be united with his mother again, just to have his own problems destroying her life.

"This isn't your fault," Ssatsko patted Evin's shoulder. "Some people simply have too much power in their hands. And way too much time. Sigh… Well, I can only think of one thing now."

"What?"

"To leave the country and escape to the North," Ssatsko replied. "Hopefully, they'll be safe with that, but I'll ask my Tendu Tribe for protection as well."

Evin thought about the idea and slowly nodded. 

"Yes, that's true. If these people are the kingdom's nobility, surely they won't be able to move freely outside the country," he said. "But will Theor agree to that?" 

"I'm sure he won't like it… But he'll have to agree."

"But would he even believe my story?" 

"Like I said, he'll have to."

Evin nodded. Feeling anxious, he asked Endra.

<What do you think?> 

<I agree. Fleeing's probably the best move,> Endra replied. <Honestly, we should also go with them… but do you want to?>

Evin thought about the things that he was bound to in the kingdom. In the end, it boiled down to only Bella. He thought about Leanne, Phel, Arza, and Rith, and realized he could live without them for a little while. 

Of course, Evin didn't plan to be away forever. The kingdom would probably not like him doing whatever he wanted, but Evin was sure he'd just a slap to the wrist. If he revealed he could create portals, he would become too important for the kingdom to seriously punish. And besides, if he stayed here, he'd eventually get sent to the South either way.

Evin nodded resolutely, agreeing with Endra. 

"Then I'll go with you too," he said to Ssatsko.

"What? What about your studies?"

"It's fine. I can always catch up," Evin replied. "Besides, I have nothing much to learn in class, anyway."

"And what about your girlfriend? I know you mean well, but you can't just decide to leave all your life like that you know?" Ssatsko asked. "Also, can you even leave the kingdom like that?"

"I'll talk to Bella, she'll understand. But I won't say much to the rest. If there's someone from the kingdom targeting me, I can't trust anyone. I think you should keep the part about leaving secret too."

"You're planning to become a fugitive?" Ssatsko frowned. "I don't think the kingdom will allow you to leave like that, you know? Even if you plan to come back, they won't welcome you with warm hands."

"Of course they won't allow me to leave. But do you think I'll be content with staying here with unknown mages hunting after you?" Evin argued. "Bah, since we've decided to leave, we should hurry on with it. Go talk to Lora and Theor. I'll go talk to Bella."

Leaving Ssatsko no chance to reply, Evin walked out of the room and went to Bella's. 

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