"Why did you bite me?"
Xavier asked the burning question.
Zane scratched the side of his head.
How should I explain that?
He couldn't tell him that a window wanted him to leave the Citadel as soon as possible and Xavier was stopping him. Not to mention the system especially warned that Zane should tell no one.
Xavier stared at Zane, waiting for the answer and under the stare, Zane only thought of one thing.
"Why did you throw that pebble at her?"
Question for a question.
Xavier frowned.
"I threw that to save you from shoving that baton inside your mouth. It's that obvious. And with this, I have saved you two times."
This is only getting worse.
Zane took a deep breath.
"Fine. Let's start from the start."
Zane came up with an answer and explained in one breath.
"I am a gutterborn. Father Coin told me if I awakened the required tier skills, I will be admitted into the Citadel. I refused but he said I would get a room, food, and money. So I accepted. I wanted to join the commoners batch but I awakened three Gleam tier skills and ended up in the batch of the elites.
Just after that happened, all the eyes were fixed on me. I sensed hostility and disgrace from the seating area. So I wanted to leave as soon as possible. But you stopped me. And since I was feeling dread and scared, I bit you to let me go. And that I did. Sorry if that hurt you."
Xavier heard Zane and placed his finger on his chin.
"So you are a coward?"
Zane hid his clenched fist.
"Yes."
"That doesn't add up."
"What?"
Xavier squinted his eyes.
"If you were scared just by some gazes, then how can you engage in a fight with an Enforcer? That doesn't add up at all."
Yeah. There is that too.
"Look, I didn't fight him, alright. I just…"
I don't even remember what happened there.
The system had overrode Zane at that time. He was clueless.
But he used the same explanation the system had given him.
"The skill I received from the bri—Haloheart, it acted when the Enforcer attacked me. I was tired so I was on the floor. That's all there is. It was because of my skill that I was about to fight the Enforcer."
Xavier smiled.
He came closer to Zane and whispered:
"You can call it a brick in front of me."
Zane raised his brows.
He had mixed feelings for Xavier. Now more than ever.
"What is your story? Why did you follow me? What do you really want?"
Xavier grinned.
"I want com—"
"Hey, you two!"
Someone called.
Zane turned around, not facing Xavier anymore.
Xavier also looked.
It was the man sitting behind the shop, handing out food to the line.
"Yes?" Xavier asked.
"Come up here." The man said.
"Both of us?"
"Yes. Come fast."
Xavier shrugged and started walking.
Zane watched him with quivered brows.
He is not suspicious?
Zane was already thinking of the reasons the man would be calling them, not moving from his spot. But Xavier was already there.
Maybe he is a Commoner, that's why he doesn't need to be careful?
Nevertheless, Zane felt no malicious intent around him so he also walked towards the shopkeeper.
Zane and Xavier stood beside the line of the hungry.
An hunched back old-aged gutterborn with loose skin and twigs for the bones was in front of the line, on Zane's left, with his sack's mouth open.
The shopkeeper dropped food inside the sack.
One item of each edibles the shop or the church had to offer.
The old man's hands trembled, his stomach churned as the food kept coming.
His eyes stayed only on the food items, not looking at Zane covered with blood.
And those who looked at him, they looked at him with contempt.
He crossed the line.
He got there first.
What if the food ends before they could come?
What if he asked for all the food?
The gutterborns went through such questions and Zane knew all about it.
THUP!
Something fell on Zane's feet.
He looked down.
It was an Ashbread loaf.
Grey, smoky and cooked in high flame.
The bread rolled on the dirty ground and Zane's bloodied shoes.
Some blood stuck onto it.
"You stinking old faggot! Can't even hold a cloth properly." The shopkeeper yelled.
The old man shivered.
His sunken cheeks and eyes were filled with fear.
Zane saw the sack of the man and it was as close as possible to the shopkeeper.
The bread couldn't possibly have fallen while the shopkeeper was giving it. The sack's mouth was big enough to catch it.
The only way it could have fallen on the ground was for the shopkeeper to drop it deliberately.
Zane looked at the old man and his face conveyed the fear of a thousand years.
He is afraid of a bread falling?
Zane wasn't sure about the fear but he soon understood.
The old man wasn't afraid because the bread fell, he was afraid of its consequence.
The shopkeeper left his counter and stood on the old man's right.
The old man let go of his sack and joined his palms.
"I- I- I.. am sorry, my lord. Please forgive me."
The old man's frail voice wasn't able to convey his apology properly and more than that, the shopkeeper wasn't alone.
He had a wooden stick with him.
A shining, covered in oil, wooden stick.
"You dropped the offering of the first flame. You should be punished. This is judgment."
The old man cried and the shopkeeper raised the stick.
And as the stick came down, eyes went shut.
Zane looked at Xavier and he was… busy checking out the contents of the shop.
He didn't bat an eye at the old man.
This is the same man who saved me two times?
"Aaaaaaa!"
The old man cried and the shopkeeper slammed his stick with a smile.
He hit him a few more times, on his visible ribs and before the old man could get hit more, he fell on his knees.
"Forgive me, my lord. I will, I will be careful next time. I will not waste an offering of the First Flame. I will not waste even this one."
The old man crawled towards Zane's feet and with no care, he picked up the Ashbread loaf.
It had blood, it had dust, it had dirt.
But the old man picked it.
"See, I picked it. I will eat it. I will eat it for the Flame."
The old man opened his mouth and took a bite from it.
Zane's nose wrinkled and the shopkeeper laughed.
"Heh. Serves you right, children of a thief."
The shopkeeper bent down and grabbed the ear of the man.
"Now say it. Say it to make me believe it."
The old man gulped the bread.
"Say it!"
The old man choked but his voice had to come out.
He ignored his throat and said in his loudest voice possible:
"I Hail The Flame."
"I Hail The Flame."
"I… Hail The.. Flame."
The shopkeeper smirked.
He didn't let go of the ear.
"Good, you little shit…"
The shopkeeper then raised his eyes, looking right at Zane.
"Never forget where you belong."