Chapter 19

Water Trails

Janus sat across from the [Hermit], a [Torchstone] between them. Lenny had been animatedly discussing his time in the tunnels. The eccentric man had even shared a little of his food with Janus. It was a strange, thick paste. Lenny claimed that he had grown the mushrooms himself. Janus, not wanting to appear rude, had ate a few bites.

“Boy, I know I’ve been talking up a storm.” Said Lenny. His arms were gesticulating wildly in every direction.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“You know, I haven’t asked why you were down here…” Lenny continued.

“I guess you wouldn’t have heard what happened in Crow Station” Janus said. He had wondered if the [Hermit] would ever give him a chance to speak.

“Haven’t been there in a decade.” Lenny guffawed. “Haven’t been anywhere in a decade!”

Janus yawned, suddenly tired. “Crow Station was attacked. It’s a ruin.”

“Oh. Sorry. I didn’t know.” For the first time during their conversation, Lenny appeared to mellow out.

“You couldn’t have known.” Janus stifled another yawn. “I don’t take any offense…”

Janus felt like he was slipping away. He knew the trek here had exhausted him, but didn’t realize how deep that exhaustion must have been.

“You look like you could use a nap.” Lenny faintly smiled.

“Yeah… I think I’ll…” Janus slid to his side before even finishing the sentence, a faint snore escaping from his lips.

-

Janus’ spine screamed out in agony as he drifted awake. He had fallen asleep at a very awkward angle. The cavern was pitch black.

Placing the palm of his hands on his lower back, he stretched backwards. A series of cracks and pops resulted.

Lenny must have gone to sleep.

Feeling a little peckish, Janus felt around him for his pack. His hands met only the cold stone. He stood and shuffled around, but could not see his pack in the dark. Janus seized control of the ambient mana, spreading it around.

His pack was nowhere within his mana sense. In fact, there was nothing there at all. The [Hermit] from the night before was missing.

Realization hit Janus like a bag of bricks.

He tricked me. He has my food.

Janus felt around in his pockets before remembering it was his own [Torchstone] that they had used for light the night before. Lenny had not even left him with a light. If it weren’t for his mana sense, he would have been completely blind.

Anger overpowered Janus’ panic. After everything that had happened, it felt like the universe was playing with him. Lenny had seemed odd, but energetic and kind. The man had played Janus like a fool.

Janus carefully made his way to where the tunnel intersected with the cavern. He reached into a pocket and pulled out his map, despairing when his mana sense could not make out anything on the paper.

He stood there for a moment before nearly smacking himself. He could still create Tsula’s revealing light with [Spell Weaving]. The light slowly formed on his palm, and Janus scrutinized the map.

There was an underwater stream nearby, but judging from the line on the map, it could take a half day or more to reach it. Janus wasn’t entirely sure if he should just blaze ahead or return to Crow Station. Returning carried the danger of being discovered by beasts or even worse, the [Beast Lord].

Janus had read a lot of stories about the early stations. They were created, in part, to keep everyone safe from roaming monsters, but the genuine threats were other people. Many of the stories he had read revolved around slaying a dangerous [Necromancer] or [Shadow Knight].

Surely the [Beast Lord] had been detected by Crow Station as he burrowed through the earth? How had he even known where to strike?

Janus shook off the idle thoughts and decided he would head for the stream. From there, at least he could have a drink before making his next move.

The light in his palm slowly died and Janus returned to simply scattering the ambient mana and sensing what it collided with. It was much easier on his mana stores this way.

It was eerie, not being able to see anything in the tunnels. His mana sense only stretched a couple of meters. If a monster came through, he would have almost no warning before it attacked. However, the lack of light was also soothing in a way. He could close his eyes and drift through his thoughts as he continued along the tunnel.

Janus focused on his footsteps. Left foot, right foot. It was meditative, allowing him to live entirely in the moment. After a few hours, he could hear the faint sound of rushing water.

That must be the stream.

Many of the underground streams surrounding the stations were man made, and this one was no exception. The water ran through tubes, much like the tunnel Janus was already in. Most of the streams simply brought water to the stations. Others were used to carry waste away. Janus hoped the upcoming stream was the former.

Well, it doesn’t smell like a sewer. But it’s pretty far out from Crow Station.

The map hadn’t clarified what kind of underground stream in was. There was simply a label and a wavy line.

It took nearly another two hours to actually reach the water. Janus had expected to come upon the stream much earlier due to the sound, but it was only the echoes ringing down the tunnel.

A stream isn’t really what I would call this.

The tunnel carrying the water must have been four or five times the size of the tunnel Janus was walking along. His mana sense told him there was a sheer drop into the rushing water that was only broken by a small walkway across. He wasn’t sure how to get down to the water and opted to cross the walkway.

The walkway had been made of sturdy metal. It did not creak or bend, but Janus still felt nervous. It was very narrow, with nothing to stop him from falling off other than a railing on either side. This close up, the sound of the water was nearly deafening.

As Janus neared the end of the walkway, his mana sense revealed a ladder leading down. His hand grabbed the first rung and he slowly shifted his weight from the walkway. He wasn’t sure how far he was above the waterline and began to make a slow, cautious descent.

The ground surprised him as it entered his mana sense and the ladder ended. Stepping off of the ladder, he crept backwards. As he moved back from the tunnel wall, he sensed a ledge. Below, the raging water tossed mana every direction, making it difficult to sense anything beyond.

Kneeling near the ledge, Janus formed the revealing light array in his hand. The glow slowly spread out. He was about to reach down with his hand to cup some of the water when he spotted something from the corner of his eye.

A familiar face topped with a familiar matted hair stared at him, wide-eyed.

Lenny!

Janus couldn’t help but notice his pack sitting next to Lenny’s own. The discovery had startled Janus so badly, he had almost lost control of the revealing light array.

Lenny sprung into action, unlatching a small knife from his waist. Janus was confused as the man vanished from his mana sense, but remained visible in the light. The [Hermit] was creeping around as if Janus shouldn’t be able to see him.

The absurdity of the situation would have made Janus laugh if he weren’t so angry. Janus wasn’t above being reasonable and letting the [Hermit] go after he had gotten his food back, but Lenny had the audacity to pull a knife on him after stealing his things?

Janus compressed mana to Lenny’s side and let it explode outward. It threw the man off his feet and into the wall. As Janus approached, the thief jumped back to his feet and lunged forward with his knife. After sparring with Devon, Lenny may as well have been moving in slow motion.

Janus sidestepped and circled around, now behind Lenny. He created a flash of light in front of the [Hermits] face and unclasped his quarterstaff. Unceremoniously, Janus reared back and slammed the staff into Lenny’s back with a thwack!

The thief grunted, spinning on his feet and nearly losing his balance. His legs glowed a pale green light and it was almost like he had glued himself to the ground. The effect arrested his fall completely. Janus wasn’t prepared for the counterattack when Lenny rushed towards him again, scoring the back of Janus’ hand with the knife.

The pain only intensified Janus’ anger and he reinforced a flat plane of mana in front of himself. On Lenny’s side of the plane, Janus compressed and released mana once more, the blast sending Lenny sprawling on his back.

Instead of giving the [Hermit] time to recover, Janus began constructing a replica arrow point array over his prone figure. Soon, mana arrows began raining down. The result was grotesque, each of the projectiles piercing the thief’s body. Lenny cried out in agony.

Janus watched, his eyes going wide. The only people he had ever used the replica arrow point on were Devon, Pella, and Dario. Each of them always had some defense against the magic, but Lenny appeared to have no such thing.

Fuck! Hermit must not even be a combat class!

Janus rushed to Lenny’s side, dropping to his knees. The man’s wild eyed look had mellowed out and his mouth produced only a gurgle. He reached for Janus, clasping his arm.

Janus stared directly into the [Hermits] eyes when the notification came.

[You have defeated an enemy: Hermit]

[You have gained 1 level]

Janus simply sat there, the dead man’s fingers still tightly wrapped around his wrist.

What have I done?

It was stupid to use such a lethal spell against the thief. It was clear the Lenny made his living in the tunnels by hiding. However, Janus’ revealing light immediately negated the [Hermits] only advantage.

Monsters didn’t even think according to Janus’ classes. The System created them solely to act as enemies. They didn’t even have the same capacities as normal living animals. The closest Janus had ever come to killing a truly living thing was watching Emily butcher a chicken or pig.

“I would have just let you go.” Janus whimpered. His anger completely drained. “Why didn’t you just back down?”

After the attack on Crow Station, Janus was no stranger to death. He had seen many corpses in the Backwash, in the station, and even in homes. But this was different. It wasn’t some unavoidable threat that had killed the man in front of him. It was Janus. It was the kid who loved to read stories, the kid who excitedly walked with his dad to the library for new book releases, the kid who dreamed of being a hero.

And what about this was heroic, he thought. His self loathing crawled to an all-time high. He pried Lenny’s fingers from his arm; the digits were already going cold. Shuffling backwards, he leaned against the tunnel wall.

He was surprised to find tears come to his face. Tears for Crow Station, for his father, and for the dead man still cooling on the ground. He sobbed, the sound of the rushing water covering up his shame.

He sat there, unmoving, for hours. His stomach rumbled in protest, but Janus did not allow himself to search his newly recovered pack for food. He was a murderer. What right did he have to eat? He hadn’t even bothered to maintain his revealing light or mana sense, simply existing, the darkness surrounding him.