Chapter 69

 

Derriv recites Georgil his last rites as according to the Church of the Inextinguishable Light’s doctrine. I don’t know if Georgil was a devout believer when he was still alive or not but I don’t think he’ll mind Derriv praying for his salvation. I can only hear bits and pieces from where I’m sitting but it sounds like he’s pleading for Itia to accept Georgil back into her loving embrace. Is that what the believers of Itia envision after death? 

 

The sorrow in the air is palpable. But it’s in times like this that Derriv shows exactly why he’s the leader of Candle in the Dark. When he’s finished with the last rites, he strolls into the center of the encampment. Seeing everyone around him despondent, he smiles brightly and questions, “Now, what’s with these forlorn faces? Are these the faces you should be showing after having won a major fight?” 

 

No one really responds to Derriv’s words but he doesn’t let that stop him. “But I get it. This isn’t the first time we’ve lost someone close to us and it won’t be the last. You’ve all known from the moment you decided to throw your lot in with me that this could happen one day and guess what? Today’s that day for poor Georgil over there. Listen, mourn for him all you want, say your goodbyes, and do whatever you need to do to get past this. But for me? I’m going to remember the first time I met Georgil, I’m going to reminisce every conversation I had with him, and most importantly, I’m going to have a drink in his honor. Now, who’s with me?” 

 

Derriv has a unique personality that’s unlike every other person I’ve ever met. If I had to describe it with one word, I’d say his personality is infectious. Just like a spreading cold, the people next to him can’t help but get caught up in his contagious mood and revel in Georgil’s memory. Before long, every member of Candle is drinking as they share stories of Georgil while dedicating every other drink to his memory. I didn’t think Georgil seemed like the most remarkable person when I first met him but going by these stories, he was a wild bastard. 

 

One time he accidentally mistook processed Alara flower powder with Kadir flower powder from Riane’s abode while she was out of the city herb hunting. Instead of taking a medicine that soothed sore throats, he nearly overdosed on an aphrodisiac that sent him on an all night intoxicated binge around every brothel in the entertainment district. When I say he visited every brothel that night, I mean he visited every brothel. The next morning he woke up bare naked outside in an alleyway behind the most expensive brothel in the city and he was out 23 gold coins which was his life savings. 

 

I wouldn’t call him a wild bastard just from that though. It seemed like an honest enough mistake that led to a bizarre night out in the city. No, he’s a crazy fucker because after his little adventure, he’d buy doses of Kadir powder from Riane regularly and plan yearly excursions, making it into a habit of his. Though he did tend to stick with the cheaper brothels after that night. 

 

By the middle of the night, nearly everyone’s drunk aside from the guards who were unlucky enough to pull guard duty for the night. But at least the prisoners they’re watching over have been quiet and docile thus far. I originally thought they were compliant because they were afraid of drawing more of our ire since they killed one of ours but I noticed a few of them glancing out into the darkness as if they’re anticipating something horrifying. I would’ve liked looking into that more but I was already on the verge of blacking out by the time I noticed and I only gave the guards a heads up before heading to sleep. 

 

My bed tonight is someone else’s bedroll inside someone else’s tent near the center of someone else’s encampment. Not the worst, but I’ve had better. When I get inside the tent, Wraine and Olin are already asleep in their bedrolls. There’s more than enough tents to go around and each member of Candle can get their own personal tent but in case of emergency, it’s safer to sleep in groups. 

 

When I get into my bedroll after taking off my boots, I make sure Wraine and Olin are asleep before opening up my leather pack. I reach inside and grasp the small wooden lockbox hidden at the bottom of my belongings. I use the small copper key I keep strung around my neck to open the lockbox and grab one of the small black paper stars inside. 

 

Ripping open the black paper package, I pour the bitter black powder into my mouth and let my saliva naturally dissolve it. When I swallow down the powder, I can already tell my mind’s no longer fully there. While I’m still lucid, I lock the box again and stash it underneath everything else in my leather pack before slipping my copper key back beneath my shirt. I crumple up the torn paper package and shove it into my pocket. I’ll find a chance to toss it into one of the campfires tomorrow when no one’s looking. 

 

When 10 minutes have passed after I ingested my dose of Schon, I can no longer feel my head nor my body. Right now, it barely feels like I exist and that’s an incredible feeling. If someone were to sneak into our tent right now and stab me through the heart with their blade, I’d be content with it. I mean, who am I to judge who deserves to live or die? 

 

As I’m staring at the ceiling of our tent, it’s almost like I can see through the fabric and see the night sky above me. My body is flying through that night sky, dancing amongst the stars. Before long, my breathing slows and I can feel my heart nearly stop. My eyelids grow too heavy to keep up and I fall asleep peacefully like I’ve done every night this entire trip. 

 

… 

 

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During the three days we had left until we needed to leave Midriver, I talked to Riane about my sleeping troubles and asked if there was anything that could stop me from dreaming. I was hoping she could make some sort of herbal concoction for me that would solve my problem but she didn’t really know anything about sleep and dreams. She only told me she didn’t dream as much when she went to sleep extremely comfortably like when she placed scented oils next to her bedside before falling asleep. 

 

She gave me a few samples which I tried out that night because drinking until I lost consciousness was losing effectiveness and the dreams were starting to come back. But the oils didn’t help at all and I woke up screaming the next morning, alarming Wraine and pretty much the rest of the compound. I truly regret stabbing Reed’s final guard through his groin. That’s a pain no man should ever have to feel in his entire life and now I’m paying for my transgressions against my fellow men in my dreams. 

 

When I returned to Riane, she was more sympathetic to my plight, probably because she heard my anguished screams earlier that morning. She made sure no one was around to hear what she was going to say next. She told me she heard about a drug being sold in the slums that was called Schon and she believed it could help me with my nightmares. 

 

All the drugs in Midriver have different characteristics once ingested due to how they’re manufactured and what they’re manufactured from. Hermosa is mainly made with Fever Bloom extract. Fever Bloom is a pretty, vibrant scarlet flower with massive petals that can stretch a yard in length from the stem of the flower to the end of its petal. Consuming the flower unprocessed will rapidly increase one’s heart rate and make them start sweating profusely, hence the name Fever Bloom. 

 

But once the flower’s broken down and made into Hermosa, it turns into one of the most addictive drugs in Midriver that will send its user into a sort of berserk state. Once in that state, the user will temporarily lose all lucidity and self control, their sense of pain will dull severely, and finally, they’ll experience Hermosa’s most infamous trait which is their inherent aggression will ramp up dramatically. Due to its addictive nature and the berserker state it causes, Hermosa became one of the major factors in Alira’s rapid rise to power. Most of his men are Hermosa addicts but unlike Reed, he effectively rules over them with an iron fist. 

 

While Reed tried to persuade his men into doing what he wanted using coins and drugs as rewards, Alira controlled his men by controlling their Hermosa addictions. If they didn’t do what he wanted, if they displeased him in any way, and most viciously of all, if they weren’t of use to him anymore, Alira would cut them off. 

 

Once they were cut off from their addiction, Alira’s former men would be lucky if they died from withdrawal symptoms or from heart problems. The majority of them couldn’t take the pain and literally tore their own skin off to try and alleviate what they were feeling. Some would even bash their own head against stones because they swore they could feel insects inside their skulls. Hermosa gave Alira absolute leverage over his men and adding in the fact that they became mindless and violent madmen when they were high, Alira went from a no name bandit to one of the most recognizable figures in Midriver. 

 

On one hand you have Alira and his firm control over his men using Hermosa. On the other, you have Reed with his drug, Belle, who was struggling to find people who would fight for him. Belle is made from grounded up Moonlight Broadweed. Moonlight Broadweed is a light blue grass that’s somewhat difficult to cultivate according to Riane since it requires actual moonlight to grow. If consumed raw, the grass will create a soothing sensation that calms down one’s mind. 

 

When the grass is processed into Belle, it becomes a drug that will clear up your head, make you more energetic, and send you into a euphoria all at the same time. Belle isn’t as addictive as Hermosa and should be one of the most popular drugs in Midriver, right? Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how one looks at it, Belle rapidly deteriorates its user’s mind and continual use will turn its junkies into imbeciles. Hermosa breaks down its users' bodies while Belle breaks down their minds. This is probably the reason why Reed couldn’t follow in Alira’s steps and raise himself into a position of power as you can’t rule over Midriver with an army of idiots. 

 

Then what about Schon? Unfortunately, it’s one of Midriver’s rising newcomer drugs and not much is known about it. No one knows how it’s made, no one knows what it’s made from, and no one knows its main producer. 

 

Hermosa is obviously made by someone who works for Alira considering Alira is the drug’s sole distributor. Reed didn’t control Belle’s creator and he was just one of the drug’s many distributors since even after his death, Belle plentifully flowed through the slums’ streets. The same goes for Schon as it has multiple distributors in the slums. All I had to do was find one of the gangs who sold it and I bought a single dose which I tried out that night. 

 

I don’t know exactly how Schon works but it’s often called Death’s Embrace in the slums and that’s a very proper nickname from my experience. When I took it, it made my body enter into a near death like state as it slowed my breathing and heart rate down considerably. Apparently the ecstasy I felt is supposed to simulate the ecstasy everyone feels right before they die. I’ve never felt anything like that in my entire life and the next morning, I woke up feeling refreshed and I didn’t dream at all. 

 

I immediately took the rest of our money, which was around 2 gold, 35 silver, and 51 copper, and I spent all of it on bricks and packages of Schon. Admittedly, I wasn’t in my right mind at the time but I couldn’t help remembering the euphoria I felt and splurged all of our money without telling Wraine. Instead, I lied to him and said I used our money to buy knick knacks we’ll need for our travels. In the end, I bought four bricks and countless individually wrapped doses which I hoped would last me for our entire journey to Ocean’s Rest. 

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