Part IX: Candor

Jhlem broke through the headache fogginess cracking the thin film sealing his eye lids. It took him a moment to realize that he was laying on his stomach. Scanning the room he saw scrolls tumbling of a bookshelf, a small table with a decanter of water and an assortment of herbs. Various porcelain figurines lined the window which he could not make out from this distance. Zahra's quarters.



"Tell me that I'm not naked."

"You're not naked."

"Am I naked?"

"You're naked."

"Zahra! Towel! Towel!"

Zahra's laugh was light and fragrant as she skipped across the room to grab an towel for Jhlen.

"And no cracks about my ass!"

"No cracks....you know I should say something witty right here."

"TOWEL!"

"Calm down. I had to check your etheric body, your astral shell and your meridians. There are minute scars all over them? Vleks. Those things that were chasing you. They're astral mites. They attach theirselves to some people and just nibble right out of their sight. No one usually ever sees them. They just manifest as a person not being able to focus on things. Usually someone like you isn't ever effected by them. Yet now I think that this is the reason why you haven't been able to concentrate this whole time. What is worse is that I think someone actually attached them to you. Vleks NEVER swarm. The only way they swarm is if someone feeds them a mixture of a target's blood and etheric fluid."

"Someone or something is after me."

"Someone or something is after you."

When Zahra repeated the phrase it wasn't mocking. It just emphasized the seriousness of the matter. It was only then that he noticed the slightly chilled breeze coming in the window. He saw the look on his dasha's face as if waiting for him to say something profound. All Jhlem could do was feel tired from the burden of his seven wounds pulling him toward the ground.