Dai’s performance was worthy of any seasoned charlatan. People came to help him and see what was wrong. Of course, the delicacy seller didn’t leave his stall, but he did stand and crane his neck trying to see what was going on. Roth quickly snuck behind him and pricked the base of his neck with a tiny tranquilizer needle. The dark man slapped the sudden sting and looked around, but his blood quickly delivered the drug to his brain and his eyes were barely open by the time his eyes met Roth. Roth caught him and sat him on his chair before opening the sewage entrance and climbed in, lighting a hand lamp in the process.

No matter how many times he had gone through back entrances in the sewage, he never did get used to the smell. He hated the smell of human and rat waste. Even covering his nose with his cloth mask didn’t help.

Was this how he lived his life? In filth? No. Not filth. Doing what he needed to survive. What was wrong with him? After all these years, questioning himself.

‘Because it’s not the way to live. That’s why.’

He growled at that nagging voice. He was probably going insane. That’s what. That was what being insane was. Hearing voices inside your head. Remembering things that aren’t real. New York? That wasn’t even a real place. And he’s been all over Miralai. Calcedon in the north, Kanda in the south, Roku-Shinlai in the east and Maua in the west. No place was called New York.

Nadia and Steele soon followed him down, and a few more moments later, Dai followed. The old man nimbly navigated the stairs without so much as a pause, closing the hatch above him. As soon as the old man got down, Roth led them through the walkways of the sewage sure of every turn he made in the maze-like underground tunnels.

The scraping of their boots and the flow of water was the only constant sound echoing throughout the chamber. And strangely, Roth realized that he could pick out every sound and isolate them in his head. It was a surprising new skill, but one that would definitely come in handy. The hand lamp that guided them cast an eerie green glow from the jade core. No one spoke, and that was good for Roth. He needed to figure out what was going on inside him.

Who was Jeff? What was the world and the life he remembered? What was real? He knew his childhood and remembered it vividly. The streets of the Outer Reaches taught him things he could never have known growing up sheltered. He did everything he could to survive. Stealing, cheating and hurting people was the only way to survive. He had the scars and bruises to prove it. They were signs of the reality he lived in. This was real.

And yet, he also knew that a life of hardship did not mean a man could be bad. He was born blind, bullied and bereft of opportunities. His parents didn’t value him as much so he made his own way. He learned to echolocate, and with how acute his hearing was, he not only could differentiate sounds, he could also differentiate the kinds of material in front of him as he echolocated. His sudden overdeveloped hearing was proof that life was real as well.

He clicked his tongue and, even when the dim light of his hand lamp, he could tell beyond what he could see. He could accurately tell how far the wall was. He never did that before, and yet, he knew how.

Did questioning his sanity make him sane? Did the insane knew they were insane? Because he could think of no other explanation of living two different lives. And both those lives were just too different. Their beliefs as far as east is from west.

They were near the exit when Roth heard a different scraping sound.

He paused and held his fist up to signal everyone to stop. Now that he could easily identify the different sounds each of their boots made, it was easier for him to know that they were being followed. It stopped almost as soon as they did. Added to that was his normal thief’s sense: he could feel they were being followed. It was a strange sensation to actually hear it first.

Roth held his palm up signaling them to wait. It was likely time for him to see if his newfound skill could be useful. He signaled for them to get down and he turned off his lamp.

He turned clicking his tongue, and amazingly, he could actually make a picture with the sounds that bounced back from the walls, the bridges and what little the water gave. It wasn’t as good as actually seeing something—far from it—but this was an amazing new tool he could use.

‘Don’t use it to steal things or hurt people!’

What was that annoying voice in his head? He silently retraced his steps toward where the sounds of those following them came from.

‘Jeff. My name is Jeff. I’m not Roth.’

Why was he starting to argue with himself?

‘I am Roth. The Sahdow Thief. I stole from the Magnate Families. Took contracts to kill. The world is a harsh place where you either take advantage of the world, or the world takes advantage of you.’

‘That’s where you’re wrong!’

Roth shook his head. There was no use arguing with himself. He had to do what he had to do. What he was good at. That will help him survive and get out of whatever this is. Whoever was following them made the wrong move.

He clicked and he could almost see someone pressed to the wall. He felt the creeper move and he threw his hand lamp, turning it on at its brightest white. He squinted to protect his eyes and saw one of the marketplace guards shield his eyes with his arm.

Wrong move.

Roth quickly moved forward, fist digging into his solar plexus before twisting behind him and locking his arm around the guard’s neck.

‘Don’t kill him!’

Really? Now? He was growing a conscience now?

The man struggled under him as he slowly lost breath.

‘Don’t kill him!’ The voice insisted

‘If I don’t kill him, this passageway will be exposed. I’ll have less ways to go around.’ Roth can’t believe he was actually arguing with himself—or Jeff. Whatever his conscience called himself.

The man stopped struggling as he lost consciousness. Roth prepared to throw the man into the running sewage water, but something else took control of him and he stopped.

Jeff couldn’t believe he was about to kill a man in cold blood. The thought of it made him shiver. What a horrible man he was to actually have considered it. If he didn’t stop himself, he would have done it.

‘What in the name of cursed jade?!’ The voice inside him raged.

Jeff picked up the hand lamp and shook his head. What happened? One moment, he was in New York, the next thing, he was in a strange mix of Bedouin-Oriental Steampunk world where instead of coal and steam, the world was powered with jade.

From the murky waters, he saw his reflection. He looked like a hard man, with a strange charismatic aura radiating from him. He looked good if he said so himself. He didn’t have a beard. And it looked like he would have a hard time growing one, unlike his blind self. His eyes were narrower—eastern—but he also had more western features. Mixed blood.

Jeff shook his head and walked back to where his companions were. He looked at them as they looked at him expectantly.

“Market guard. We were followed.”

‘Yeah, someone was stupid enough to be seen and followed.’ The voice grumbled.

‘Oh, stop blaming others.’

‘So what now, you will lead them to what they need to do? You don’t have the balls for it.’

Jeff sighed. He was right. He had head knowledge about everything, but the instinct, that was all Roth. It was just like Roth trying to use his talent for echolocation and sound identification. He knew how to use it, but he couldn’t use it to play sports with his eyes closed. Or in his case, to fight with his eyes closed.

“What?” Nadia looked at him as if expecting something more.

He realized he was just standing there staring at them like an idiot. Roth sighed and cracked his neck. ‘My body. Go away.’

“Now, we move. Exit is right there. Once we’re in, I’ll take you the main laboratory. From there, you lead, unless you give me the blueprints of the place and I can take you there much quicker.”

“I’m sorry, but we don’t trust you for that,” Steele said.

Roth raised an eyebrow. Well, they were right not to. He would leave them if it came to that. Besides knowing the blueprints would help him get in and out of the lab after this job and steal things for himself that he could sell on the black market.

‘Why am I such a horrible person?’

Roth shook his head mentally ignoring Jeff. “Fine, but if this goes south, you’re on your own.”

“We expect nothing less from a dishonest, thieving rogue,” Steele said.

“And unfortunately, that’s what makes you so good we have to compromise our beliefs to use you,” Dai sighed.

Roth grinned. “Then maybe you’re just as bad. You just don’t know it.”