Goramel, Another Anomaly
{I fear, as I write this, that this is my last day as a man for I will become something else…}
….
They arrived in Shokhi faster than they'd anticipated. It was early evening the next day when they arrived at the big city that almost rivalled the Holy Capital in beauty and riches. The huge gates were left open, granting them easy passage after they'd been checked.
Sharen sat on the horse, Fryssel sitting behind him, and looked around as they moved inwards—towards the more common areas. From where they were, they could see the outline of the gigantic spires that reached into the clouds. That, Sharen reckoned, was the home of the king of Shokhi.
He had often wondered why the Holy Emperor had appointed kings in most of the regions to help him organise the people but, as always, the Holy Emperor had never worked according to anyone's logic. More so since no one had seen him in the last 50 years.
This and the fact that he went silent ever since the Haklarans first appeared made Sharen conclude that he was dead. The emperor was dead, his immortality being a ruse created to rope in naïve Ramarians into looking up to him as a god who has ruled for almost 500 years.
The Holy Emperor was no god and Sharen knew—as well as he knew that he was no hero—that his rule had been a façade. Now nothing mattered to him except for the hunt of the beasts that destroyed his hometown and the cursed artefact that spawned them.
With Sharen in the lead, they brought the horses to a stable and had them tied up there. He had a little difficulty dismounting the horse, the pain in his ribs piercing his mind that he had to use magic to suppress it slightly.
By the side, Sharen noticed—among the sea of people who moved about in the street—five soldiers dressed in armour and black trousers. They had their hands on the hilt of their swords and stood motionless, almost like stone statues. Narene's eyes landed on them as well, the excitement in them told Sharen that she was eager to meet a sword master. He sighed. That wasn't what they had come for. They needed to capture Goramel and get the first part of the book. It was the most important thing and he believed that the fate of the world was tied to it. The sooner he discovered the secrets of Khlatus, the better his chances of stopping it would be.
Sharen had been disappointed when he had opened the book to read only to find that the book was the last part. The first part was obviously with Goramel and he hoped that the man hadn't given it away or destroyed it.
"We should look for a place to stay," Fryssel said, looking at the sky that was rapidly darkening. Around them, chatter continued and people moved about. "It's getting dark."
"We need to find Goramel first," Narene said, glancing at Sharen. "We have his picture and can easily trace him out."
Sharen nodded but said, "Finding Goramel is not that pressing. We will get to that this evening but first, we need to find accommodation."
He looked around the now brightened street that had been lit by the wayside lamps. "Fryssel, look around and see if anyone is interested in the orange magical crystals you collected."
"Yes…Sharen." He said and disappeared in the sea of people.
Sharen smiled, the boy still had problems with his refusal to be his master. Regardless, that was of little importance to Sharen. His mind was occupied with the Haklaran attack they had suffered the previous night. The Haklaran they had fought, though had been clearly rated by the system to be a year old, was far more stronger than a newly spawned. It left him to wonder what it was that had caused the anomaly.
The creatures were getting stronger yes, but not that strong. They weren't supposed to be smart despite their strength yet that particular one was able to guess their attacking pattern and prepare ahead.
Sharen sighed. At least they dropped crystals. He sometimes found that to be very odd. Why would the creatures who sought to destroy the world drop magical crystals that could help mages grow powerful or have medicinal effect?
"We should get going," Narene glanced at him. She kept a considerable distance and Sharen was thankful that she didn't try to stick close to him. Just looking at her made his heart beat in strange ways and the urge was getting stronger by the day.
"Let's ask around for Goramel." He finally said, the pain in his ribs rising a bit.
….
It took them a good one hour to find a reliable informant among the street beggars who gave them a tip about Goramel's location. According to the beggar, the man lived in a house—a fairly large one—by the side of the Administrator building.
Sharen, together with Narene, arrived outside the building a few minutes later. It was large as the beggar had said and was brightly lit with lamps that burned blue, flickering in the warm breeze that whistled by occasionally.
The glasses in the house were stained and mottled, forming a colourful array as light fell on it. The building resembled a dome with a spike at the top and this made Sharen wonder what the city had for spikes.
They knocked and the door was answered after a long while. An elderly man with grey hairs smiled at them like they were long lost friends. He said, "How may I help you, my good fellows?"
Sharen shifted a bit, glancing at Narene who shared her expression. The man seemed…older than the person in the photo that Shar gave them. He had beards too and it was let loose, growing till it reached his chest. This wasn't what they had expected.
"Um, are you Goramel?" Sharen found his voice, trying hard to hold back the urges that provoked his carnal desires just by having Narene stand too close by.
The elderly man nodded. "Men come to me for various reasons. What do you want?"
Sharen studied the man, his face was ever jovial and his smile etched permanently on his face. His beard swayed as air blew past. He nodded and said, "I have something important I need to discuss with you."
Goramel looked at him for a while and then his eyes glowed blue then turned normal black again. "Young man, you should get that injury treated. Whoever treated you did a poor job. Come in and afterwards, I'll give you my doctor's contact."
Sharen nodded then led Narene in. He noticed that the girl had her hand on her pouch, obviously preparing to pull out her metal nugget in case Goramel proved to be problematic. Sharen felt comforted that he wasn't alone but had someone equally as paranoid as he was.
With the help of the system, he thought, 'What is Goramel's magic level?'
The system took a while but it finally said, it's slightly stiff voice boring into Sharen's head, **His core appears to have a mix of colours. Partly blue and partly…Indigo**
Sharen tensed up. Was that another anomaly? Was Goramel even a man? What made his core have mixture of colours? Sharen suddenly felt that Shar wasn't exaggerating when she'd said that Goramel wasn't an average mage.