Ehrir didn’t know what he did but somehow he was sure that the bones of Rahel were now different, in a sense. The shocked gaze of the boy was more than enough to reassure him that he indeed did something. But the young man’s expression wasn’t painful. His fingers opened and dropped the dagger on the pavement.

“What did you do?!” The boy’s eyes were tearing up. His lower arm hung to his side in an unnatural angle. There was something obviously wrong with it. It was as if his bones were missing.

Ehrir looked at Rahel with an emotionless gaze. His face was calm and relaxed, a polar opposite of his fearful expression from mere moments ago. Within him the powerful fire had faded. It was replaced by the feeling of inner warmth which permeated his entire being and filled him with courage. His fear was still as strong as before, but the composure that the warmth gave off was much more powerful. It was like some otherworldly light was shining inside of him. Ehrir smiled slightly before evading the rapier of Rahel’s brother with a well-timed jump.

“You son of a - !” The man’s face was twisted into an extremely angry grimace. There was no sign of his wide smile anymore. There was a dangerous shining in his eyes. “What did you do to my brother?”

“I simply… changed him.” The words came out of Ehrir’s mouth more confident and calmer than intended. It was if his body was separated from his soul by the warmth that engulfed him from all sides. He couldn’t control his own voice very well. The feeling was far more than just strange.

Rahel’s brother looked him with hatred. The rapier was in his right hand and the dagger rested in the left.

“If you don’t have a way to fix this I won’t go easy on you. We offered you painless death and you refused. If you don’t fix my brother’s arm you’ll see the true wrath of the Seven Stars Gang.”

Ehrir didn’t know what to say. His newfound power surprised him, but there was no place to show that on the outside right now. He used it just once so far, but it felt like it was natural. He knew how to do it and he could probably fix the boy’s arm with ease. But he was sure that the gang-members would kill after he healed Rahel. And right now a strong will to live was burning inside of him.

“I cannot do anything about your brother’s arm. I don’t know how to fix it”, lied Ehrir with an honest-sounding voice. He knew that these words would only enrage the bandits. And they indeed did so.

The two older men attacked, leaving Rahel behind. Ehrir evaded their first attack with coordinated but slow movements. Although the warmth gave him strength, it didn’t heal his pains and neither did it make him faster than usual. The enemies’ rapiers left two bloody scratches on his chest but didn’t hurt him more. There was no way to counterattack bare handedly. He had to acquire a weapon fast.

Ehrir took two steps backwards before touching the wall of the building besides him. With the new power (it was damn magic, probably) he could just sense the essence of things around him. And how he felt all of the stone from the building’s wall, and he instantly knew what it can change into and what shape can it embrace. And he ordered it to Change.

It did so immediately – within a split second a whole chunk was missing from the wall and a stone stick rested in Ehrir’s hand. It was too heavy, too short and too primitive. It would never work in actual combat. But he never intended it for combat. He couldn’t even fight properly.

Ehrir used it to parry the hits of his coming opponents. The forming of the weapon was far too quick and that got them disoriented enough for their hits to be easily parried. Rahel’s brother even received a hit in the waist. He took a step back.

“That was one hell of a blow”, he said while gritting his teeth. “I’ll cut off half of your foot for that.”

While he was talking, his comrade attacked again. Ehrir jumped towards him and took a direct hit in the shoulder. It wasn’t very deep but it definitely hurt. The Undone One growled from the pain and hit the man’s arm with his weapon. He struck the bandit’s elbow. A high scream echoed through the alley.

Now the defense of his enemy was down. Ehrir stepped forward and touched the attacker’s chest. He immediately sensed his inner organs. It was easy to locate the heart, it took him a mere fraction of a second. He wanted to turn it into bone but he couldn’t. Something was stopping him from doing that, like a barrier or a wall of shadows. Well, there were a lot of other possibilities and no room for wondering. He just Changed his heart into talc.

In the end no one could live without a normal heart. But it wasn’t satisfying to watch as the man’s face twisted into a shocked expression and he fell on the pavement. Ehrir didn’t find happiness in this first kill there was relief. Relief that the fallen man wouldn’t be the one who killed him.

There was no time for stopping right now, though. Rahel’s brother was still alive and he had recovered from the hit he took. Now he was coming at him again. Ehrir took a defensive pose – or imitated one, rather – and tried to parry the incoming hit.

It didn’t exactly work out. His enemy was obviously skilled with the rapier. In addition he was stronger and faster than Ehrir. He met the stone stick with his weapon head on and made Ehrir take a step back, leaving a wound below the Undone One’s elbow with the tip of his weapon. The bandit smiled.

“You will beg me to slit your throat after I’m done with you”, he said with hateful tone. “You think you harm the Seven Stars Gang just like that?”

Ehrir didn’t care for the man’s words. He focused on attacking. The parrying of the stone sword’s blow made his enemy lose momentum and that was a good chance for Ehrir to end the fight. He took a careless step ahead and tried to parry every blow as well as possible. It didn’t go as planned – the rapier left several wounds on his shoulders and arms. But it didn’t matter, because he finally was close to the enemy. He jumped forward and gripped the man’s throat.

Afterwards it was easy. This time Ehrir didn’t even have enough time to focus on any particular organ and just concentrated on the chest, turning everything within reach into fluids. He stopped after a second. It was more than enough.

The man looked into his eyes with a dying gaze. His mouth opened as if he wanted to same something, but no words came out. His face started turning purple and he fell on the pavement. Ehrir knew that his heart and lungs were destroyed. The main threat was dealt with.

But there still remained Rahel. The boy was innocent in heart but he was also the one that tried to kill him. Ehrir couldn’t let him live. The young man wouldn’t just be quiet about the man who was responsible for the death of his brother.

Ehrir slowly walked towards Rahel. The boy didn’t try to run or fight, he just stood there gripping his deformed arm. Now Ehrir knew what he did with it earlier – he somehow turned the bone into flesh, although he felt that it was impossible to do the same with the other bandits.

“I won’t beg for mercy nor shall I run”, said Rahel. Tears were falling from his eyes and his expression was mournful, but his voice had some strength in it. He wasn’t made for a killer, but Ehrir knew that he had underestimated him. This boy wasn’t weak.

“I’m sorry. But you know it’s necessary for me. You won’t simply let me go after what I’ve done, right?” Ehrir’s expression was serious and his voice was low.

“No, I won’t. I wouldn’t… I can’t.”, said Rahel while nodding slowly. He cleared the tears from his face with the sleeve of his coat and then stood still. “At least… It won’t hurt, will it?”

“It won’t”, uttered Ehrir as his hand extended towards Rahel and touch the side of the young man’s head.

The Undone One instantly sensed the boy’s skull and the brain under it, brimming with life. He didn’t know what material was it made of, but it definitely wasn’t the same as the heart, the bones or even the lungs. The material was soft and it could be easily Changed.

Ehrir got ready to use his power. He gazed at Rahel’s eyes with calmness and pity. The boy answered him with a strong look. The crystal that was used by the bandits for light had long ago fallen on the ground but it was still casting dim light. Its shine illuminated Rahel’s eyes and they seemed strange. Otherworldly, even.

The Undone One sighed but didn’t look down. He fixed his eyes on Rahel’s and Changed his brain tissue into muscle.

The boy was dead long before his body hit the ground.

***

The sun was rising from the east and waking Borhael up. The docks were still quiet, though. Hundreds of ships rested on the water, their decks were silent. There were just few dozens of people in the whole harbor and the only thing one could hear was the calm wind, endlessly blowing from the sea.

Ehrir was standing at the end of a pier – just one among hundreds – and looked at the calm waters before him, stretching to the horizon where they met the skies. The Undone One was wearing one of the bandit’s coats, but he had cut off the collar and the sleeves. He also made it dirtier on purpose. Before it looked too clean and good for someone like him. He also had new boots and shirt, both stolen from the corpses. In addition he had acquired a dagger and a significant (for him, at least) amount of money.

Ehrir was deep in thought. He didn’t feel regret for the killings he had done but he felt disgusted by himself. He still remembered the dozens of corpses on the meadow where he first awoke, and the idea that he would be responsible for turning someone into a similar decaying pile of flesh was indeed disturbing. It wasn’t pleasant to kill. He was sure of it now that he had done it himself. But, as with many things in his life, there was no other way.

The city guards had probably found the bodies already. The unlucky ones who did so would surely be accused of killing the bandits. Ehrir could only hope for them to survive the wrath of the overlords of the gang. There were obscure rumors that the Seven Stars members have a large influence over the city lord and his people, and that made things even worse. Ehrir shook his head silently – these things weren’t his problems.

What troubled him was his power. He called it Changing for the lack of a more fitting term, but it was clear that it was some kind of magic. It greatly disturbed him that he could use such a thing. Ehrir despised magic. It was the same vile thing that turned him into an Undone One in the first place. And yet he was now a mage. Well, kind of.

Ehrir sat down on the pier and looked down into the water below him. It was dirty, but a couple handfuls helped him clean his face and hair. He also washed the dried blood off of his arms. He had to look clean enough or else they wouldn’t even let him enter a tavern. And he really needed to finally sleep in a normal bed.

The Undone One smiled. He also had to find a pair of gloves to hide the Brand on his palms. His thoughts centered on this idea for a short time before turning into a steady stream. He was thinking about the future and its possibilities. The warmth inside of him was still there, although it was weaker now. It still gave him courage and somehow reassured him that everything would be alright.

For the first time in his life Ehrir felt hope for the coming day. And for the first time in years his urge to die slowly faded away.