Morning, King's Landing
The streets welcomed too many strange people this weary morning.
Too many people were going from inn to inn, from brothels to slums, searching for any sign of a white-haired boy. There was anxiety on their faces, such potent, that one could have thought it wasn't the Hand they were looking for but their own kin.
Oh, yes. Everyone knew by now a white-haired sellsword had kidnapped the Hand. These groups of strange people were neither the first nor the last, everyone knew. Yet, they were the most nervous. Some of them had descended into the sewers, coming back in a few hours covered in boils and rashes so red that even morning's sun paled in comparison.
Their itch would be their death, a passing Maester had proclaimed.
He was almost right.
*
*
It was the most important time.
Kai had known people getting lenient just before a deadline and then paying it with their life. Kai was neither lazy nor one of those people. So he had spent all night filling the sewers with Smoke Screen. It had diffused after 10 minutes every time, but where could it go?
'It was one of the best decisions,' Kai thought, thinking of coming to the sewers. Discomfort is nothing compared to the security of the task at hand. And Kai's task was the Hand. Now that the Mission Time Limit was approaching, he knew many Contestants were getting eager to have their hands on Jon Arryn.
'Anxiousness can make a man bold enough to risk anything,' Kai knew.
Even better was he not needing to worry about Jon Arryn's safety, either. The mask on his face would keep him from smelling the foul smell, and the cover on him was thick enough to keep the gas out of his skin's contact.
A task well done is what Kai called it.
He had already completed the Side Mission before dawn. The reward? Only 100 Mission Credits. It pained him, leaving the Artifact there in the open. So Kai had hidden it under Jon Arryn's bed. 'Let the others worry about it,' he had thought. 'Then there is the stupid hint, Fire. What does it mean? Burn the entire tower? Sounds stupid to me.'
The rest of the time Kai spent collecting as much filth as he could.
His supply of magical blood and flesh had all but run out. The freed-up space he filled with grime and black slimy fluid. Gross? Maybe. Kai didn't even flinch, thinking about how this thing could decide his life and others' death.
An hour before the time, Kai let him rest a bit and decided to do one more Blood Prophecy. He was coming to like this Act more and more with every use. Why? Because it countered his rotten Luck very well, that's why. Kai had never been more sure about anything else. His Luck brought up Random Encounters like distributing free food. But with Blood Prophecy, he could easily avoid those encounters.
Though there was a downside to this too.
'I will never know if the Random Encounter is beneficial or hazardous for me,' Kai thought, taking out the book. 'But with the value of my Luck, I shouldn't even think of the word "benefit".'
The smoky veil parted and young Cersei walked out.
Kai felt awkward calling her young, though. If she was young, then what was he? There was but less than 2-3 years of gap between their ages. Yet, time and circumstances had made Kai older than his actual age. Yes. A man in a boy's body. He was only 16, but his thoughts were like a hundred-year-old cunning elder, always trying to see some treachery and find a weakness to take advantage of.
"Tch!" Cersei tsked.
Only then did Kai bring his attention to her. She looked as lovely as last time, but something was different about her. Her face was scarlet as if all blood had risen to her face. No. It wasn't the candlelight playing tricks. She was blushing. 'Flushed face, anger,' Kai thought, noticing the emotions. 'What's she on about now?'
"What?" he asked, warily. "You want something."
Kai wanted to keep minimal contact with these animated characters until he got to know more about them. 'Who knows what they are?' He had thought. 'Words brought to life? Awakened memories?'
The young Cersei fumed at Kai's question. There was such a disgusting look on her face, but suddenly, it became a blush as she looked into Kai's eyes. "... Blood..." she finally said, gritting her teeth.
Kai feared for his thumb.
He took a deep breath, cut his thumb, and gave it to her. Blood Sacrifice it was, but it might as well be a thumb sacrifice for Kai. 'It doesn't matter if she was to chew it off my hand,' he thought, looking at her sneering, fuming face. 'The System will make me as good as new, anyway.'
Cersei approached Kai, flicking her golden hair. Her feet splashed the filth with every next step. She held his wrist and brought his thumb near her face. But instead of putting it inside her mouth, she just licked the blood. Her tongue slithering out like a red slim snakelet.
'Is this her way of showing indignation?' The question passed by his head before the darkness engulfed him.
Beyond the darkness was a blood ocean. Still. Its surface was calm like dew on a rainy morning. Kai waited. He waited for that first wave that would bring out blood structures and bloody figures later on. But the blood ocean didn't reply to Kai's expectations. It remained as it is.
A red blanket of uncanny liquidness.
Kai returned to Jon Arryn after refueling his HP. He couldn't fathom why the Blood Prophecy hadn't worked. 'What can be worse than dying?' Kai asked himself. 'Or is there an encounter in my future that even the Book can't prophesy?'
Worrying about these questions and their answers was futile, Kai knew.
"Let's go, my lord," Kai said, lifting Jon Arryn by his hand. "It's time for you to return to your home."
'It's time... for me to return to the White Room.'