As the sunlight flooding the room began to reach his face, Zacharias’ eyelid began to open, while the bronze “eye” started to light up. Both did so slowly, falteringly at first, but when Zacharias remembered what he was supposed to be doing that very day, the Totem became fully illuminated.

“Crap!” he shouted at no one in particular, as he slowly stood up. With his healthy eye still not fully open, he shambled towards his sword, which he had foolishly left on a desk, a couple of meters from his bunk bed. As soon as he grasped his weapon, he felt as though a great burden was lifted from his body. He dashed toward the bathroom, sword in hand, and splashed his face with cold water. He returned inside the room, and put on his armor as fast as he could. When he sheathed the Lightningblade sword, the weight returned to his body, but it was much more bearable now. He grabbed his sack, containing all the food and money he’d need on his journey, and rushed into the streets.

[i]I need to take the shortest path, which would be… Through the marketplace,[/i] he thought, and quickly ran towards it. He didn’t have the time to buy anything, so instead, he turned his mind towards the previous night. As soon as he’d reached his home, he had taken out his notebooks, and began to look over them. First, he updated his expenses notebook, in which he also made the calculations to decide how much money he would need to take on the trip, adding, of course, some extra for emergencies, a little bit for pleasure, and a huge chunk for aids to his research. After closing that one, he went over to the other one, detailing his theoretical prototypes, different rules he had discovered, and the many Totems he had encountered during his life. After rereading it whole, a process which took some time, he began to scribble and add things and make corrections and specifications, which took what seemed to be minutes, but were most likely hours. Finally, when his eyelid had become heavy, and he was too tired to properly concentrate, he closed the book, and prepared his bag.

Zacharias continued to think about every little detail he could have added, had he not needed to sleep. In fact, he was so focused on them that he didn’t notice the hooded figure in front of him until he had already crashed against it.

“I’m sorry!” he said, helping the other person up. “It’s just that I’m in a hurry, ‘cause I’m running late, and… Wait… Are you…” He peered at the other person intently, and closed his right eye. Indeed, when he looked at the man through his Totem, many little splotches of colour appeared all over his body. “Rupert, is that you?” he asked, now excited. “It’s you, isn’t it? What are you doing here?”

“Shh!” Rupert hushed. “Yes, it’s me,” he whispered. “But I don’t want to be found. How did you recognize me?”

Rupert Woodsman was one of the finest Totem crafters Zacharias had ever met, as well as one of his best friends. They had met at the Academy, where Rupert was one of the main suppliers of Totems, and offered his services to craft many experimental Totems. Surprisingly enough, this hadn’t left him with any gross disfiguration. When the barbarians attacked, he was the one who had called for the White Guard. Zach hadn’t seen him ever since.

“Please. You always carry so many of those little Totems around,” Zacharias replied. “It’s a wonder I [i]didn’t[/i] see you before. And, what do you mean you don’t want to be found? What are you doing, Rupes?”

“Well…” He hesitated. “I really shouldn’t tell you this, but… Oh, what the hell. I’m in the Black Market.”

“You what?!”

“I know, I know how it sounds like, but I didn’t really have a choice. I haven’t had nearly as much business ever since the Academy got destroyed. Sure, I managed to live on my own for a while, off of my savings and the little income I got, but now I’ve got a family to maintain, and-”

“Wait, a fa- You got married? And you didn’t even send me a letter?”

“I’m telling you, it’s been hard! Money spent on a letter meant less money for food and shelter. But the Black Market, it helps a lot. There’s always demand, and customers pay a lot.”

“Yeah, but- You shouldn’t- Tell you what,” Zacharias offered. “I’m about to go on a mission for a couple of weeks now, escorting a caravan, nothing dangerous enough to keep me from making promises. When I return, I’m gonna try and talk to the higher ups, see if I can get them interested in hiring you as a Totem supplier.”

“Wait, really? Would you actually do that for me?”

“Of course! You’re my best friend, and I don’t really have anything to lose by doing it. But you have to get away from this Black Market thing. Promise?”

“Promise. And if you ever think of a way I can repay you…”

“Don’t bother. Now, I really have to go. I’m already a bit late, and I won’t be able to help you much if I’m fired for tardiness.”

“Oh, Okay. Goodbye, then!” Rupert said, but Zacharias had already left. He had dashed into the Marketplace’s crowd, dodging people left and right. In no time, he had left the Marketplace, and soon enough, he was at the White Guard’s meeting point.

He headed towards [color=CCCC00]the group[/color] [color=FF66CC]he had met[/color] [color=8585AD]the previous[/color] [color=FF3333]night[/color], and asked,

“Hello, guys, did I miss anything important?”