Damon stood frozen as he took in the man's words. His expression was that of someone who'd stepped on glass, pulled the shards free, only to have his foot pierced by a rusted nail moments later.
'In the end it's up to humanity to figure this out!? Why do people even worship those stupid gods then!'
Suddenly, his thoughts turned to a more pressing problem: he was a spiritualist. Was his fate to be drowned in nonsensical murmurs?
While he knew the crow might not have been a hundred percent accurate in its assessment of his affinity, he understood it wasn't a matter he could avoid discussing.
'Who knows if Liz already figured it out by reading my mind. She might have left to prepare something...!'
Damon didn't want to make a big fuss over it. But if they suddenly decided to turn on him, he had to be ready to act.
Watching Gerald reach down to pick up Rudy's fallen sword, Damon's hand slowly inched toward his holstered dagger. As his fingers closed around the hilt, the red-headed man paused suddenly.
Gerald froze mid-motion, then took a step back from the sword and straightened.
"You alright, kid?" he asked. "Your spiritual energy is starting to fluctuate, and I'm sensing bloodlust..."
Damon didn't answer. His breathing turned uneven, his heart racing. The crimson hue flared in his eyes, and he drew his dagger.
"Where did Liz actually go? What is she really doing!?"
Gerald held up his hands at once, placating. "Look, kid, I don't know what's gotten into you, but I can't share that information. What I can say is that her actions have nothing to do with you."
'Then why the secrecy...?'
Damon sneered and tightened his grip on the dagger. Those words did little to ease his suspicions. Still, a hint of clarity crept in as he noticed the man glancing subtly at the large hammer resting three feet away.
He could fight Gerald, but that was easier said than done. The man had years of experience on him, and even if the fight ended in his favor, there'd be no way to explain it to Rudy. The boy would turn on him too, filled with grief and anger.
He'd likely have to take the young noble hostage, or worse, kill him and flee before Elizabeth returned. Either way, the answer stayed the same: kill or be killed.
Yet something felt oddly unnerving about that conclusion.
'Why am I even thinking of killing them in the first place....?' Damon wondered.
They'd merely been having a discussion a moment ago, yet it was as if the idea had drilled its way into his mind, twisting his thoughts and emotions. He was suddenly a cornered animal facing its greatest predators.
Bewildered, Damon tried to recall his experiences with the trio since their first encounter. A hazy fog and reddish streams stretched across his consciousness, and their faces suddenly warped into twisted grins of mockery.
Just then, the hair on his nape stood on end. A familiar presence entered his spiritual perception range, and a low rustling reached his ears.
"What happened while I was away?" Elizabeth rushed toward them, panting, a brown satchel slung over her shoulder. Her brows creased, her expression a blend of confusion and worry.
"Don't step any closer!" Gerald shouted. "I don't know how, but I suspect he's been marked by another Resonator!"
"What?" Elizabeth grasped the severity of the situation at once. She raised a hand and pressed it to the bridge of her brow. Her emerald pupils shifted to a light blue as her vision seemed to slide beneath a new layer.
She focused on Damon's head, and a detailed map of his brain took shape in her mind. His limbic system and prefrontal cortex showed signs of hyperactivity, triggering his instinctive fight response as his serotonin levels dropped rapidly.
Every cell in his body was screaming at him to move, to attack the threats around him. Still, she could sense he was holding back the urge to act, leaning on what little lucidity remained.
'There's no doubt he's suffering from an ability or spell, but how did things turn out this way? We already combed through this entire area yesterday before setting up camp!'
It didn't quite add up. If the caster wanted them at each other's throats, why hadn't they targeted both Damon and Gerald? With both of them under, a conflict ending in at least one death would be almost guaranteed.
Three seconds of silence passed as Elizabeth weighed what to do. Nobody moved.
Amid the tension, Damon's spiritual energy began to leak outward, his expression twisting into a grimace. He noticed where Elizabeth's gaze was fixed and felt an inexplicable certainty settle over him. She was the one messing with his mind.
'B-but that can't be; Gerald thinks there's another Specter nearby. But he might also be lying to lower my defenses...'
'I'm not picking up the scent of blood on Liz either, and her face looks more energetic than when we parted...'
'But w-what if I'm wrong...?'
'Dammit, what should I do? If this goes on any longer, I'll go crazy.'
Damon's thoughts scrambled between calm and chaos as he clenched his fingers tight. Maybe he'd already lost it.
"If you don't wish to hurt anyone, then why not trust me...?"
Elizabeth's voice found its way into his consciousness.
'I don't trust liars...!' Damon's pupils shook as he tried, decisively, to force her out.
"..." Elizabeth fell silent for a moment before lowering her spiritual energy output. She relaxed her shoulders, and her tranquil blue eyes smiled at him. "If you can't trust my words, then trust your soul and my actions instead..."
A fuzzy feeling sprouted in Damon's core as a rendition of her vulnerable form took shape in his mind. The blurry figure swayed uncontrollably, like cloth caught in the wind, but a pair of blue eyes remained distinct.
'T...this is Resonation...?'
Damon tried even harder to force her out, to no avail. It made him feel helpless, knowing he had nothing else to rely on, but one thing was clear.
Whether he survived or got through this would depend entirely on what she did next.
Sensing his resistance, Elizabeth raised her output slightly. "Don't be so tense. My current abilities aren't strong enough to cause any mental damage to a spiritualist. All I can do is make you feel relaxed and slowly let your body loosen up on its own."
'She's actually helping me...' Damon muttered to himself.
"Because that's what partners do," Elizabeth said kindly. "I apologize for lying to you earlier and for being so secretive, but I only went to search for other loot on my own."
"Before we came here, we made plans to look for potential spots to mine Lithos crystals," Gerald cut in. His expression slowly eased, though he didn't fully let his guard down.
His eyes stayed fixed on the dagger in the boy's hand as he went on, "The crystals form when spiritual energy condenses in the earth under extreme pressure. They're rare, rarer than diamonds."
"A single crystal weighs a hundred grams and sells for anywhere from fifty thousand to upward of three million Amiri, depending on its matrix properties," Elizabeth added. She reached for the leather bag on her shoulder and opened it, revealing roughly twenty crystals of varied shapes and sizes.
'So they lied to keep the crystals for themselves...?'
Damon's mind cleared as he took in the colored quartz clusters. He was also surprised to learn the people of Clairemount used the same currency, given it was a remnant of the fractured empire.
...
Since that era, the official legal currencies across Ethiopia had been amiri and rupi. One amiri was equal to 100 rupees, worth roughly four days of work for the common stable hand.
Rupees came in copper and silver coins engraved with Huaren characters. The copper coins were minted in 1 rupi and 20-rupee denominations, while the silver coins came in 50-rupee pieces. Banknotes ranged more widely, from 100 up to 5,000 amiri, though few people ever saw the higher denominations, since most places paid in rupees.
...
Damon's gaze lingered on the crystals a moment longer before he let out a quiet sigh.
'I probably won't get a share of those now... not after I nearly attacked them.'
He lowered his dagger, the tension draining from his shoulders.
"I'm sorry," he said, his voice rough. "I don't know what came over me."
Elizabeth's face paled. The blue in her eyes flickered and dimmed as she withdrew her spiritual energy. Guiding his mind back to clarity had clearly cost her a large share of her own. She let out a sigh of relief at hearing him speak, her shoulders slumping.
Then she looked around.
"Where's Rudy?"
Her voice cut through the quiet, sharp as a blade. She dropped the satchel, its contents clattering to the ground, and broke into a cold sweat. Her hand shot out, gripping Damon's shoulders as she repeated, breath shallow.
"Where is he!?"
"Eh?" Damon blinked, caught off guard by her sudden panic. "He went inside the cave."
Gerald let out a curse at once.
He snatched Rudy's fallen sword from the ground and spun around, sprinting toward the cave entrance without another word. He moved so fast that in the blink of an eye, all that remained was a blur where his back had been.
Elizabeth released her hold and gave chase.
'What... what's going on?'
Damon looked around and realized they were both gone.
Then he remembered.
'The other resonator!'
His blood ran cold, and he sprinted after them.