The night sky.
Nothing special to most people. Just a dark expanse with occasional stars shining here and there.
Not really something to get excited about.
But for me it's different. For me, this sight is special. Rare, even. You could even say the top of my day.
I can forget about everything while looking at the night's landscape. My responsibilities, my problems, my appointments and even my pain.
I wish I could witness this everyday.
...
"Haahh" I sigh as I throw my warm blankets to the side. The frosty chill quickly finding its way to me and washing away all the warmth I was enjoying.
I try to stand up from the bed so that I can wear some clothes and push the cold away again.
"!"
Suddenly I feel a sharp pain coming from my left side as I'm getting up. I pull up my worn down black shirt to see a purple-ish bruise above my left hip.
After being confused for a few seconds, I recall the events that transpired before I came home yesterday.
I force myself through the pain and walk over to my poor excuse for a wardrobe while using the pain as a distraction against the cold. The clothes I pick are flexible dark pants with a lot of pockets and a thick hooded jacket.
Wearing the clothes does not take too long. Slightly longer than usual due to trying not to curse every 5 seconds because of the pain. But I have to hold it in. I don't want her waking up after all.
The more I move around, the more I feel my tired body coercing me to go back to bed, like a deal with the devil.
But I can't.
Not yet at least. After today.... After today I will finally be able to gaze at the night sky unopposed.
And so will she...
After toughening up my resolve, I grit through the pain and temptation and gather all the stuff I'm going to need.
"My knife, the map, extra boots.... That should be all" I confirm after silently accounting for all the items I'm going to need.
After taking one more look around to see if I forgot anything, I prepare to head out.
But as I'm about to reach the door, I notice something. The dirty mirror on the cupboard.
Now that I think about it... I haven't seen my own appearance in a while. This is mostly due to coming home late and tired like quite often.
Since it's the last time I'll be doing this I might as well look, right?
I step towards the mirror after convincing myself of my decision. The mirror has a great layer of dust on it. I wipe away the gritty layer and gaze at the reflection, at me.
The main source of light is coming from the moonlight streaming from the window, so it takes a while before my eyes properly adjust to my reflection.
What appears before me is a rough looking youth. A face full of cuts and bruises, along with dirty unkempt black hair that contrast against the youth's pale skin. The black hair repels all light and complements the dull grey eyes that barely show any sign life. The dark circles around those eyes, telling a story about this person's sleeping schedule.
This person is me...
He.... I look exactly like how I expected to look like.
I slowly pull my mouth open while trying to hold keep myself from letting out a deprecating smile.
"I...."
The corners of my mouth slightly pull up
"...Look like shit."
I, Kaelith Vayne, look like absolute shit.
Just like always.
The mirth leaves my face as I turn away from the mirror and head straight to the door.
"Let's just get this over with," sounds my steady voice as I determine myself for the day that is ahead of me.
Click!
Closing the door behind me, I start my final day as a mercenary.
***
The world is quiet. There's not a lot of people around. Probably due to the early time of day.
I revel in the quiet streets of Alexandra while I still can. When the sun start's showing itself, these streets will be littered with people.
I suppose it is a good thing that I had to wake up this early.
I pull down the hood of my sweater and head deeper into the city while coping with my horrible occupation.
As I get closer to my location, more and more people start pouring in. Some dressed in shiny silver armour with expensive looking equipment. Others wearing light clothing, made from sleek fabric.
It's clear even to a new born baby how out of place I look among these people.
But it doesn't matter. Because at the end of the day, we're all miserable beings in this God forsaken place.
"Haaah"
A sigh escapes my lips as I look at sign of my destination.
"Rift Hunters" The familiar name. I've arrived
"Hey, Crow! Over here!" The familiar nickname sounded in my ears.
As I turned around what appeared before me was a brown haired individual waving at me from a distance away. Upon closer inspection, he had hazel colored eyes, filled with excitement. His armor quality reflected a somewhat well off background, along with a youthful appearance.
'Henry.... was his name, right?' This young man is one of the people I'm here to meet
I walked over toward him quickly, trying to stop him from drawing attention to us. But judging from the feeling of being watched that I suddenly felt, I suppose I already failed.
"Jeez, why are you so late today? You're usually on time!" Came from Henry as he aggressively patted. back
"I overslept." Came curtly from me.
"Ahh, come one. You should liven up a little! You always look so unmotivated!" I could feel my annoyance slowly rising
'Not everyone is like blessed enough to be excited like you.'
"So where is the rest of the team?" I asked, trying to stop him from ranting like he often does.
"Oh, they're waiting on us a bit further. I went out to look for you since you were late." He explained while pointing near the entrance of the 'Rift Hunters' building.
"Let's head over there." I started walking in the direction of the entrance without giving him a chance to start rambling again.
"Hey, wait for me!" I heard from behind me as I kept moving.
As we arrived at the entrance of the building, I noticed a small group rough looking people. There seemed to be 3 people.
The tall man in seemingly in front had a heavy grey beard that matched his hair. His tanned skin matching the color of his leather armor. He had a strong stature that made the axe on his back feel quite insignificant. He seemed to be 40 years old but he's probably younger since I suck at guessing ages.
Behind him was another man. This one had a more youthful appearance than the tanned man. He had dark brown hair with common brown eyes. He had a longsword sheathed to his right hip. Lefties, those are rare.
The last one was an older but way scrawnier looking man. He had shoulder length black hair with a dagger tied to his waist. He was mostly wearing black clothing and seemed a little out of place with the rest of the group.
As I was observing the final member, his eyes sharply turned towards me and Henry.
'He's sharp' I thought while me and Henry closed in on them.
"You're finally back, smiley. We thought you bailed on us." A gruff voice came from the tanned man as he seemed to be addressing the person next to me.
Henry suddenly reddened up a little. "I told you not to call me that. And I was just getting our final member."
"Haha, I'm just messing with you kiddo!" He said while slapping his big hands against Henry's back.
'So that's where he got it from.'
I took a closer look at the tall man's peculiar skin tone. 'Probably not from here. Solarian?' While I was deliberating the origin of what seemed to be the leader, his curious eyes turned to me.
"So this is the "Crow" we were waiting on?" I could feel the skepticism coming from his voice along with that horrible nickname.
Henry suddenly slung his armored arm over my shoulder. "That's him alright, the one and only!"
'Why are you so proud?'
"Is that so? Well you two seem to be friends. Any friend of Henry's is a friend of mine. Nice to meet you!" He said while raising his hand toward me.
I glanced at his outstretched hand and the team before shaking it.
'No need to antagonize anyone.'
After introducing myself to the rest of the team. We started getting ready to head out.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to ask," rang Henry's voice as we prepared to move out. "Where did this man come from?" he said while pointing at the scrawny man in black.
A question that's been bugging me as well. I'm not acquainted with everyone at this guild but I'm quite confident that I've never seen this man before.
"Hmm? You mean Aiden? Well, our usual member didn't feel too well today. And this fellow overheard us talking about it when you were out and offered to join us. I kind of forgot to mention it. You two don't mind do you?" He questioned.
"Oh, of course not! The more the merrier!" The young man immediately agreed to the arrangements.
'Don't just mindlessly agree to that.' I retorted internally
Then the group turned to me with expectant eyes.
'Well, it shouldn't be a big issue, right? This happens quite often. And the guy looks quite reliable as well. It's just...'
His eyes....
They.... Dangerous.
Was I just imagining it? Maybe he was just cautious?
It shouldn't be too big of an issue. After today I'm done after all. I should just keep my guard up like I always do.
I looked into the eyes of all the team members, my eyes lingering on the man called Aiden. "Fine by me."
"Great! I've got to say, you're more flexible than you look Crow, Hahaha." After slapping me on the back a few more times we finally set out to the forest to complete our mission.
Hunting a Rift beast. The most dangerous occupation one could have in this world. Especially for an unawakened like me.