Remnant Stars

Chapter 11: Havens

His power deactivated itself when his concentration slipped due to the sudden movement. And for a moment he just awkwardly laid on the ground, trying to orientate himself.

"Back amongst the living?" Medea's face appeared in front of his eyes.

"What? What's going on?" he asked, looking around.

The villagers had backed away a fair distance, giving the two of them some room to talk.

"Should I not be the one to ask that?"

Gil rubbed the bridge of his nose as he tried to recall what had happened. It was an old habit from when he used to wear glasses, and it had stayed with him even years later.

"I was looking for the body of the woman that fell into the well, and that's when I saw something staring at me. It was horribly disfigured, with no skin and its eye sockets were like two gaping holes," he mumbled as the memories trickled back into his mind.

"This is not the right place for this talk," Medea stopped him before he could continue.

She stood and signalled an old man to approach them. Looking at his face, Gil remembered that this was the same man he saw with the caretaker and Ainnir in the cemetery.

"Seal the well, and make sure no one drinks from it," Medea mouthed off a bunch of orders, and the old man just nodded before darting off.

That taken care of, she looked around before deciding on a direction. The villagers quickly made way as she passed by. Their wide-eyed expressions, and nervousness making Gil wonder just what kind of tyrannical impression they had of Medea.

"How did you know where I was?" Gil asked after catching up with her.

"It's not hard to find the only stranger in the village."

"Do I stand out that much?"

"Of course, being the only man that does not have a mane of white hair does make you stand out," she said, shooting a quick glance at his hair that had grown quite a bit since coming to Corinthia. "However, your clothes do not help either."

"My clothes?" he raised an eyebrow, trying to look as disinterested as possible, but internally, he almost had a mini-panic attack.

'Shit, did Power Suit malfunction?'

He subtly glanced over his outfit but failed to notice any noticeable defects. Power Suit was still functioning properly with the correct preset that he had assigned to it. And, he also made sure to recharge the microfiber batteries at least twice a day.

"The fabric and the make of your clothes is too high of a quality. Comparing them to the crude hemp and linen clothing of these villagers is undoubtedly an insult to its marvelous craftsmanship," she said while looking him up and down.

"Um, these clothes are an heirloom of my family," he replied lamely while imagining Figment congratulating him on his absolute fuck up.

He never even considered such minute details when he first thought about blending in. No, in fact, he never expected to meet someone like Medea, who was a complete anomaly compared to these gullible villagers.

'Dammit, and I would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for this meddling woman.'

"Right, I'm sure they must be very precious."

The worst part about talking to her was that he couldn't detect whether she was being sarcastic or not.

"Anyways, where are we headed?" he asked, hoping to distract her from his clothes.