Chapter 26: Third kill.

Chapter 26 - Third kill.After the emperor's speech earlier, Lee guessed what the creepy warehouse was for. One didn't have to be a genius to figure out that Lance was currently sitting there, absorbing the spark. The emperor did call the process a ritual, and the strange glass water basins and candles were probably somehow related to it.

Already before leaving the table Lee knew his plan had a fault. And it was so. For Lance to remain undisturbed, his father stationed a couple of guards at the warehouse, but fortunately they were either bored or too much into fighting, and currently stared at the stage in the distance.

There was nothing much to see, though, since Ian and Mark still stood in unmoving stalemate, but it was all Lee needed.

He took a wide roundabout route and, avoiding occasional servant rushing to or from tables, arrived at the far end of the warehouse, where the entrance door was. Like earlier, it opened without a sound and Lee nimbly slid inside.

The idea was simple. He would put the dagger in a visible spot for Lance to discover it as soon as he was done. Then the guy would find out, be it from the guards, servants or his father, what the treasure was, and would go and either tease or confront his brother.

In the best case scenario, the two, each wielding the power of their own spark, would get in a fight, or at least Drevin would be punished for loosing the dagger and it would ignite a conflict between the brothers nevertheless.

No innocents could be incriminated in the scheme and only the two people on Lee's hit list would suffer the consequences. At least he couldn't think of a complication of the scale that happened during the Powel's incident.

As expected, Lance sat in a meditative position in the very middle in the room, between the water basins. He was facing away from the entrance, but the candles burning in front of him, cast long shadows that slightly moved as if they were alive the moment Lee entered, trying to warn the owner about the presence of the intruder.

Fortunately, Lance was either too focused or Lee was silent enough, and his intrusion remained unnoticed. He squatted near the door for a few moments, took out the dagger from his sleeve and slowly moved towards the spot Lance was at, but at the half way froze.



'What the hell am I doing!' He had an impulse to give himself a smack on the back of his had.

He was right behind one of the murderers of his parents, with a weapon in hand, and intended to leave it there just to hopefully start an argument? How stupid was that?!

'Change of plans!' Lee said to himself, and took a long, deep breath to calm himself down. Indeed, the new idea was much better.

Trying to not make a sound, he slowly unsheathed the dagger and step after step crouched towards Lance, who cluelessly sat there as if waiting for him. At first Lee intended to stab the guy, but there was a risk of hitting a rib or missing the heart thus when he was right behind his target, Lee got up and with a swift motion drew the dagger across Lance's neck.

Turns out Lee's previous reservations about the practical use of the fancy emperor's weapon were laughable. Like a hot knife through butter, the dagger sliced Lance's neck up to the spine, and if he were few years older, Lee probably would've been able to easily behead the victim.

The initial burst of blood sprayed all over the place, extinguishing two of the three candles, but Lance's body spasmed a few times and lifelessly slumped on the floor. Under his partially severed head formed a pool of blood, but Lee's attention was on the dark wooden box that Lance had in front of him.

The lid was closed and despite the fact that Lee knew he had to get out of there as soon as possible, he couldn't resist the urge to peek inside.

And there it was. Almost as if it happened yesterday, he remembered the moment he held the oval, plum-sized item in his had. Back then he and Lisa thought it was some kind of unique, maybe artificial stone that shone with deep blue hue, and the fact that soon after they found more, except red and green, served as a confirmation to their theory.

It was laughable how clueless both of them were at the time. Two ignorant people, possessing priceless treasures, but using them as a decoration for their bedroom.

But they should've guessed.

The stones, or rather – the sparks, were slightly translucent, but at the same time emitted light instead of reflecting it, just like the one in Lee's hand right now. It was too obvious those things were not simple, especially because he and Lisa witnessed the otherworldly power of their previous owners.

Lee didn't even notice how he picked the spark form the box. He stared at it, deep in thought and the emperor's words came to mind ... the spark is so pure it can be absorbed by anyone ... the success lies in the calm state of mind ...

If it was all it took, he could calm down, right? And to let another bastard own probably the third purest spark in this world?

Lee didn't have anything against the emperor, and he would find a way to deal with Victoria even if she had the so called phoenix's soul and a super-rare spark. But he had to possess a spark to be able to go head to head with the other guys with superhuman strength, and to let this unique chance slip by was simply moronic.

Lee took few deep breaths, looked at the spark in one hand and the bloody dagger in the other. Then he threw the dagger in one of the water basins at the side and decisively kicked Lance's body further away so he had a place to sit.



'To calm down on demand is a skill one inevitably acquires in few lifetimes just by living their life!' Lee said to himself, and closed his eyes. He didn't have much time, but spending a few moments here was not going change anything.

It was strange though. It almost seemed as his mind became tranquil the moment he sat down. There was no disturbance from the party, no sound at all. Only his own thoughts rushed though his mind from place to place.

'So that's how it is!' Lee finally understood.

The structure he referred to as a warehouse, was actually built with intention to completely isolate the noise on the outside and allow the person inside to fully focus on the ritual.

When he entered earlier, even though the door was opened for a brief moment, Lance surely heard something, but probably took it as him loosing concentration. That was why Lee was able to get so close to the target.

He had no clue how it was possible to build a completely soundproof hall with the relatively primitive technology this world had, but he could ponder about it another time. Now he decisively exhaled, put the plum sized stone in his mouth, and swallowed it.

'You shouldn't have taken so much time, Lance!' Lee grinned to himself, 'Swallowing without chewing is not that hard!'

Now he intended to sit for few moments and then return to the others. Probably the best choice of action was to ask Tess to bring him home so he could absorb the stone in his sleep, before the hell broke loose.

As it turns out, the process was natural as he felt a slight tingling sensation in his throat at first, then in the middle of the chest and then in the belly, but it had to be normal. Even if the spark gave amazing powers, it was only a plum-sized stone-like item ...

But at that moment Lee realized he was wrong. He had made an oopsie, a big one.