07 Thousand Faces (2)

Pt 1

"Thousand Faces" and Alizée were both standing opposite each other, right in front of my eyes.

Alizée had his left hand bloodied with the knife of "Thousand Faces" stuck in it... he tried to push the knife further and further towards the elf, but she pushed it away with all her might, while, with her free hand, she held the killer's other arm, they were in a kind of stalemate.

"Thousand Faces" then bent her right leg and kicked her stomach, throwing her to the ground, and she, without hesitation, tried to get up and run away, but, probably because of her temporary condition of blindness, stumbled due to an irregularity of the stones used as paving of the road.

I was momentarily blocked by the scene, but as soon as "Thousand Faces" threw himself on her to keep her still on the ground, I made a shot, with my last energies, towards him; at that moment I did not think of anything, I acted as if instinctively. While I was one step away from him, I pulled out with my right hand the knife I had in my pocket, my goal was his throat.

When my blade was a few inches away from his throat, "Thousand Faces" turned to me and immediately watched my blade inexorably approach his throat.

He smiled, in fact, he almost laughed in taste, which caused shivers all over my body, even if I was the one who was going to kill him, it was I who was terrified of him and not vice versa.

This thought did not stop, however, my blade that tore through one side of his throat, that sprayed, immediately, blood splatters in all directions.

So, with my face all dirty with his blood, I fell without strength to the ground and lost consciousness.

Pt 2

'What a strange feeling, to open your eyes again after so much, and not only that, to be able to breathe freely again and... smell the smells, well, about that...'

The first thing I smelled was the smell of blood.

It was still dark around me, so I used some of my mana to improve my eyesight...

My left hand was bleeding and throbbing, but it didn't hurt too much, perhaps from the heat of the moment ... other than that ...

'Why am I here? ... my mind is confused...'

I looked around

I looked in front of me where I felt something heavy above my legs.

"A-!!"

The scream stopped in my throat, now I remembered...

'"A Thousand Faces" wanted to kill me ... and it brought me here, where he wanted to finish the job ... but ... I fell and then? ... he threw himself on me and ...'

In front of me was a lifeless man with a malformed face and a slit throat, and with part of his body above my legs.

I shivered.

I crawled away from where I was, until I was one meter away from the body and then got up.

Someone must have saved me.

"Ah! ..."

'Tom, if I remember correctly, that's what his name was... but he had gone to see at the police station... then, who...'

I looked around for evidence.

My hand hurt more and more.

Shortly after I saw him, I saw who had saved me, it must have been him, he had a knife in his hand and he was all covered in blood, besides he was lying a stone's throw from where I was.

I checked his pulse, and he was still alive.

'What should I do? I can't leave it here'

However, I didn't even know where to take it... even though he was covered in blood he didn't look very hurt, so I took him to where I lived.

Pt 3

The next morning the town of Velch woke up with one less killer, and, while none of the uptowns seemed to care ... in the neighborhoods where the bourgeoisie was in the majority the news made everyone's day more peaceful ...

[It's 10 am, the shops are already open.

Meanwhile in the police station of sector 6 ...]

" Redini, that case is closed, that deformed one had a weapon typical of a murderer with him and was killed ... better for us, right? So, what are you still doing with those papers ?! "

A man of about fifty, not too tall, leaning against the door jamb of Redini's office, with a croissant with jam in one hand and a cappuccino in the other, looked with surprise mixed with contempt at the useless work of Signor Redini…

" Even if now, you call yourself Detective do not believe that things will change, we are the "police" by name only, remember that ... hehaha "

Giggling and biting occasionally at his second breakfast of the day, the man walked away, swaying his beer belly.

"Ahhh... what a cheeky... he says that things will not change, but I'm sure he's wrong, I'll be the one to change this place.... Now..."

He returned to the evidence he had on the table.

That morning a body was found in a street in Sector 7 with a deformed face, possibly due to a fire. In particular, Redini was very intrigued by the wavy knife that was found near the victim ...

" Ah!" he snapped towards the small clinic that was located in the basement of the station...

" Oh, Redini ... what brings you here?!"

A woman in her thirties, slightly shorter than average Velch*, orange hair and a face with cute freckles on the cheeks, with brown eyes and a small, upturned nose, dressed in a long white coat, had just jumped from the chair where she was reading a book sipping from time to time some good but bitter barley coffee.

(*medium height Velch in cap 7.5)

"Aira, I would need a consultation..."

"Of course!" She replied instantly.

"This knife... could it be the one used by the "Thousand Faces"?"

Thus, he brought the black knife with violet reflections and the wavy blade that had been found that morning in the crime scene to the doctor.

After a few minutes, she nodded vigorously.

" Actually... I think it can be... yes, in short, it could be the blade used by the "thousand faces" ... from what I could see from the faceless corpses... the fatal wound has always been given by the same blade, a blade not too wide nor long and wavy, like that of this knife."

"Thank you so much..."

That said, Redini left the room not listening to what else the woman had to say...

" Maybe it was really "A Thousand Faces" ... but who is it that killed him? "

Pt 4

*Blink blink

The first thing I saw was a very simple chandelier, a brown and gray cylinder with a mana bulb inside, typical bulbs they use to light up the whole city, I didn't know how they were made but they fascinated me, compared to the fire torches that are they used in the mine these seemed to me something futuristic...

I tried to look around, my body was all hurting, the memories of the day before were, however, vivid in my head.

'Well, after everything that happened yesterday it's obvious to feel like this ... but where am I? ... I don't recognize this place; I've never been there before ... '

"Well... it's certainly not my home..."

Around me the medium-small room was furnished in a simple but tidy way; the prevailing colors were black and brown that contrasted the white walls tending to light greenish.

The thing that caught my attention, however, was the large closet in front of me.

It covered almost the entire wall, was of dark wood and had carvings of a utopian grove, full of life. To my left was an open door, while to my right a small window and two shelves attached to the wall that served as a small bookcase ...

Next to the bed where I was there was a bedside table with a circular iron and glass object on it that let you glimpse numbers written on yellow paper and small bars that moved inside ...

'Maybe, it's a watch...'

I had seen others during my various thefts ... from what I knew they were used to observe the passage of time during the day ... or something like that.

I had never needed such a device before and for this reason I did not understand its meaning at the time; after all, even as far as my work was concerned, Mr. Berdin, director of the "Blue Firefly", had never given me precise timetables to follow...

'Come to think of it ... this I'm lying on is a mattress, right? It's the most comfortable thing I've ever tried ... and then these must be sheets ... '

Always things I had already seen thanks to my "jobs" ...

"You're finally awake!"

A very familiar female voice spoke to me from the edge of the door to my left.

I looked at her, at first I did not recognize her, deep down I had never seen her face before, but her physique and silver hair made me understand it.

"A-Alizée?!"

"That's right! You recognized me, so you must be Tom, right?" She smiled warmly.

I nodded.

My heart was beating, it wasn't that I had a lot of experience talking to the opposite sex and then she was really beautiful: blue eyes crowned with lashes and eyebrows of the same silver hair, small and delicate nose, and mouth of perfect size and blush.

I tried to get up unsuccessfully and so decided to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Oh! Don't move ... even if I have medicated you a little, your body is still all battered ..."

'Now that you point it out to me...'

I had bandages on my left shoulder and on my chest, while my left leg, from the knee down, was blocked with a stick wrapped in bandages...

I tried to move my ankle causing me a pulse of pain.

"Oh-"

I noticed only now that I was almost completely naked, except for the bandages and underpants...

Embarrassed, I tried to cover myself, and even Alizée, seeing me embarrassed, blushed.

So, he gave me a large gray shirt, which looked as if it had just been bought, and black wide-leg trousers ... it seemed he had bought these clothes especially for me, considering the conditions I was in.

"Thank you for... well for medicating me... then this is your home, right? Thank you..."

"But… what are you talking about, I'm the one who has to thank you" As she spoke, she scratched her head and lowered it slightly.

"Yes, in short... you saved my life... even without knowing me... I could never thank you enough..."

I smiled softly; it had been a long time since I felt so happy.

However, one thing I could not get out of my head ...

"Your voice..."