The Final Day

  Livia wasn't there when I got back to the inn. In fact, no one was. After Marcus died and was carried away, it seemed no one found it quite so easy to escape reality in that specific room. They’d tried, for a while. But it’s no surprise it didn’t last. Livia, at least, was clearly struggling to maintain the fa?ade. I suspected they had all found the bottom of a bottle in their own homes instead. Still, it was odd for an innkeeper to leave her inn unattended. A younger Mars would have questioned it. But I simply shuffled through the quiet building and found my way to bed.

  I didn't need to count the following morning. For the first time in a long time, I rose with the sun. Something was burning, deep inside me. It was just a spark. A tiny kindling. But it was there. There was something... grotesque about it. The fact that it was all the suffering I found in that town that brought me hope. While everyone was fighting to pretend they still had any, I was feeling it like my first breath after drowning. But that's what happened. I finally felt like I could do something. I could make people's lives better. I could leave this city in a better state than I found it.

  I knew that would be a first for me. But, however sick it was, it was something. I was out of bed and down the stairs far earlier than the days before. I was surprised to find the patrons had returned. About half of them, at least. "Good morning, Mars," Livia greeted in her familiar, almost motherly tone. It was a bit surreal, seeing her back to normal but... I realized she had never been normal. Not in the few days I'd known her. She was putting on a mask so everyone here could pretend. I felt like I understood her better than ever as I watched the tumultuous waves behind her smiling eyes.

  I sat at the bar... a few seats further from Marcus' spot than usual. Livia didn't need me to ask and she started cooking breakfast. I waited there for a moment, allowing the muted noises of the drinkers to wash over me. Everything felt so... fake, but so real at the same time. As she pushed the old plate full of fresh eggs in front of me, they actually smelled... good. I couldn't remember the last time eating anything had sounded like more than a chore, and I began to rudely devour it.

  "Turned over a new leaf, have you?" Livia asked me, a desperate hint of humor in her voice. I paused for a moment, remembering what it was that was offering me this second chance. I awkwardly swallowed before wiping my mouth on my dirty sleeve. I gave Livia as serious a look as a woman with literal egg on her face was capable of.

  "I suppose I did," I whispered, more to myself than her. I paused for a long moment, then decided she was as good a person to ask as anyone. "This might sound weird but... I want to talk to the mayor. Do you know where I can find him?"

  She gave me an empty chuckle in response. "What do you want to see him for? He won't know where your friend is, if he even gives you the time of..." she trailed off before looking at her wrist, idly rubbing it with her other hand. "You know what," she amended, "Sure. He lives in a mansion on the far end of town. Head that way and just follow the smell of money. You can't miss him," she directed, pointing deeper into the city.

  "Thank you," I replied, pushing a coin forward to pay for the meal. "I'm..." I started. 'I'm going to make things right', I wanted to say. But I knew it wouldn't be true. Nothing I could do would bring Marcus back. Or any of the people this woman had likely lost already. So I amended it to 'I'm going to stop this.' But... I couldn't promise that either. New motivation or not, I was still me. And I had never followed through on a promise like that. "Thank you," I said again, deciding to leave it at that.

  It wasn’t long before I finished my meal and left the inn. Livia wished me well but was clearly emotionally absent as I left. As I walked through the heartbroken city, I couldn't fight off the creeping doubts. This city was in its final moments; anyone could see that. The market had far fewer visitors. Only a third of the stalls were attended. Two of the children I had seen playing on the first day were still here, but their energy was gone. It had been taken and locked away wherever the rest of their friends had gone. It was... eerie.

  I walked in the direction Livia had pointed, east through the winding streets. Every road maintained a certain darkness even in the light of day. Even the stones seemed to carry less color than the day I’d arrived, and I could feel the color of my soul fading with them. Eventually, I did manage to reach the wealthier part of town. It wasn't what I was expecting. Just... more of the same but with bigger yards. The houses stood taller and the roads were better maintained. Everything was in a much newer state of repair, but... it didn't really make it any nicer in essence.

  In a city this size, this section of the city already wasn't particularly large. It had a few dozen houses at most. Now, it was empty. Not like a completely abandoned town—I had found a few of those on my travels—but like... a tortoise in its shell. I could see the occasional face peering at me from behind thick curtains. I didn't know how much traffic there usually was in that part of the city, but I was certain it was more than I was seeing. Not a single person walked the streets there.

  It was, at least, easy to find the mayor's home. It sat in the center of the others and was a full floor taller. It looked... well, like me. Weary. However new it may have been, it felt like it could collapse under the weight of a heavy sigh. I couldn't identify why, exactly. I could just feel it. The stone pillars at the entrance were strong and new. The entire building was spotless and well-constructed. But it was like an overcast day. It carried such gloom with it that a single look could dampen the soul.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Perhaps that was just me; the world often looked like that through my eyes. But... I didn't think so. I approached the front door and knocked. I wasn't met by a guard or a butler. I received no response at all. But I couldn’t wait, so I braced myself and pushed my way inside. I regretted the choice immediately. I knew that the afflicted of the Quiet became more... breakable than a normal corpse. I had seen Marcus with his finger broken and his blood slowly dripping out. But the sight I was greeted with in the mayor’s house was far worse.

  As I entered the mansion, I saw a split staircase leading to the upper floors. At the foot of the right side was... someone. I didn't know if it was the mayor or a servant. I couldn't tell if it was a man, a woman, or anyone else. I could barely tell if they were human, except by... certain identifiable pieces. Whoever it had been, the Quiet had taken them while they were off balance on the stairs. The results were horrifying. Marcus had bled very slowly, which indicated this must have happened well before I arrived. There was a thick pool of sticky blood surrounding the bits that were left.

  I regretted allowing my appetite to return that morning, and it wasn't long before I lost the eggs Livia had made on the Mayor's floor. It was no wonder I hadn't felt like eating much since arriving. I hadn't been able to keep anything down anyway. As I was wiping my mouth, Something rang false about the remains, but I couldn't bring myself to look back and figure out what. I wanted out. I wanted to forget my resolve, and I wanted to flee. I couldn’t face anything that could do that to a person. I almost turned to leave, but out of the corner of my eye, I caught a light coming from a room on my left. I wrapped a rope around my own neck and demanded I focus on that light. I had to push forward.

  So I took long, deep breaths. I chose to count the blue things in the room this time. Red was... There was more of the cooler color to count than I’d expected. From designs in the ornate tiles on the walls to various vases. For that reason, I failed to count them all before the practice had successfully brought me back to myself. I did count more than I would have needed to, only a few years before.

  ‘Come on Mars. You can do this. You have to do this.' I told myself. Because I did have to do it. If I didn't, then it would just be another thing I turned my back on. But that wasn't the only part of my mind with something to say. 'It's too late Mars. You waited too long to care. You always wait too long to care. Can't you see you started moving after the damage was done? Again?' I lectured myself. But, I pushed forward anyway. I walked past the extravagant decorations to the oak door, slightly ajar and revealing the lamplight inside.

  I took a deep breath and choked back the taste of vomit it brought, then pushed the door open. A man sat in front of a fireplace, flames flickering in his eyes and a glass of something clear in his hands. There were two trays on a beautiful desk on one side of the room. The food on one had been eaten, but the tray next to it had been abandoned, its meal having expired some hours before.

  "A-Are you the mayor?" I asked. He barely raised his head in my direction before looking back into the fire.

  "What do you want?" He responded. His thumb circled the rim of his glass. "If you want to run, run. I don't have the guards left to stop you."

  "No," I answered. "I just... I want to know what's happening. I want to try and help... if I can," I tried to explain. The words sounded feeble before even touching my quivering lips. Like a little girl hoping for dessert. So I wasn't surprised when I was met with nothing but a mocking laugh. A deep, wheezing sound, completely devoid of amusement. It devolved into coughing before fading into a chuckle.

  "We're dying. Can't you see that? Everything is ending. What more do you need to know? Just be happy you survived this long," he answered before downing the contents of his glass. He fumbled for a bottle at the side of his chair and refilled it—spilling on himself—before continuing. "Or maybe you should curse that you've survived this long. We've only lived to see worse days," he grumbled.

  "I–" I started, but my traitorous voice cracked, throwing me off. I clenched my fists and pushed through. "I'm a mage. I can help. Please, if you know anything I just... I want to help. I need to help," I begged. He only scoffed.

  "A mage are you? How wonderful for you. Maybe you have a chance of surviving this after all. But leave the rest of us out of it. There is nothing you can do to help. Now get out," he dismissed. He didn’t even bother looking at me before rejecting my offer.

  I stood in the quiet for a moment. Then, I decided to ask the question that had convinced me to give it a try in the first place. "Is there any way I can make it worse if I try?" I asked. He let another quick laugh out through his nose and took another drink.

  "You know what, you're right," he agreed before finally looking at me. "You are looking for a man named Matthew Cross. If you want to know what this is, ask him," He finally answered.

  "How do I find him?" I interrogated. He waved me off, offering only contempt to the question and turning back to the fire.

  "If I knew that, I'd be trying something myself. Now leave me in peace," he ordered. I paused again but decided to leave as requested. I knew how that man felt, in that moment, and I knew I had gotten everything I was going to get out of him. I had a name, and that would have to do. Matthew Cross. A foreign name, it sounded like. I did my best to avoid looking at the gore as I left the mansion. I could feel it as I walked by, even as I locked my eyes on the front door. It watched me even if I didn’t watch it. But I made it out, and I decided to go back to the inn. Livia knew where to find the mayor, perhaps she’d know about this man too. Even if she didn't know, I could at least ask around the market.

  Or so I thought. When I finally made it back to the market, I had to put one hand over my mouth and clutch my stomach with the other. Things had gotten worse since I left. Several stalls were now manned by stone-faced corpses. Whatever was happening, it was speeding up. The guards had given up on moving the bodies, much less hiding them. At this rate, I wasn't sure there would be a single living soul in this city by the next morning.