Roth frowned staring at the cut on his arm. He didn’t realize he had been injured in his little escapade until he was at one of the rooms he rented across Taisao.

‘Admit it, you wanted to help them escape,’ Jeff chided.

‘I helped them escape because I didn’t know if I’d be running to a dead end, or a place with more guards. That would kill me. This cut is already uncharacteristic of me, and I have an inkling that you know this,’ Roth thought.

‘Uh-huh…’

Roth growled. In his mind’s eye, he could see Jeff looking at him with that smug look on his face. ‘What are you doing in my head, anyway? And who are you?’

‘I think you know me as much as I know you. As for what I’m doing in your head, you know I don’t know the answer to that. If I knew, I would be finding a way to get back. Talk to Mia. Tell her I love her.’

Dying from a gunshot in New York then suddenly awestruck at seeing Miralai for the first time. Yes, Roth knew Jeff was as clueless as he was, but he was getting so frustrated with two consciousness in his head that he just had to ask. Maybe there was a part of Jeff that was hiding that fact, no matter how improbable Roth knew it was.

For now, he would be stuck with another person inside his head.

‘Or maybe I’ve always been you and all the horrible things you did awakened your memories of me?’ Jeff said.

‘It’s not horrible. It’s called living. I don’t enjoy it, but world doesn’t give you much of a choice.’

‘Killing is living? Being feared is living? Fearing for your life is living?’

‘At least I’m not starving and dying. And I know better than to get myself shot.’

‘Ouch…’

Roth was glad for the silence as he looked out his window. The Outer Reaches was where he grew up. It was always dark here even if it was daylight with all the buildings gray or darker. Buckles, goggles and strips on metal on the clothing of people barely glinted as the light barely touched the ground. There was very little design or thought to the structures. Nothing but the essentials, stone and metal stacked on top of one another that they created buildings that were at least seven storeys high pressing against the tiny roads that looked more like alleys. If one was going to survive in the Outer Reaches, practicality was all that mattered.

The figures below walked faster than in any part of the city. Mugging was all too common an experience and the slow tended to always be the victims. Roth knew because that was how he started. Mugging the common folk. Until he found out that was more trouble than it was worth. Stealing from the rich, however…that was more lucrative.

‘How do you think jade works? I understand steam and electricity and gunpowder. But jade? Doesn’t make sense.’

‘How should I know. I’m a thief. Ask jadegeneers.’

‘Like Nadia?’

Roth shook his head. Nadia was a bad choice of example. He didn’t even know if the woman was what she claimed to be. But even if she was, she would not give him the time of day to explain why jade was a source of power.

In any case, Roth had to resupply himself then check for anything about his capture. And the man who put him there. Of course, he had to take vengeance, aside from knowing if the city watch was on high alert for an escapee like him. One can never be forgiving nor too careful. It was too dangerous to be less.

He went out from his tiny room and went down cramped rickety stairs, nodding to the landlord as he left. He put his hood up and pulled his cloak close as he walked the streets walking briskly like everyone else. A group of thugs eyed him and he threw a blade connected to a chain embedding itself in the stone wall beside the face of who looks to be their leader. The man started and Roth glared at him. He pulled the blade back to his hand and spun it walking away. The thugs didn’t follow. They rarely do. A prey that was dangerous was always more trouble than it was worth. They would look for easier targets.

Not that Roth was a master fighter. He was more of a hit-and-run kind of guy. Put him in a duel he cannot get out of and he would die if he didn’t get his opening gambit to kill his opponent.

The shop he was looking for had a run-down feel to it, much like the rest of this part of the city, with goods on the shelves rusted and looked like they were decaying. Of course, for those who weren’t in the know, this shop was where you go stuff if you had nothing. But for people like Roth…

“Shadow.” A man with half his body made of bronze grinned at Roth. His teeth were polished bronze and his right arm ended in a clamp.

“Idris,” Roth nodded to him.

“What can I get my best customer?” Idris limped around his counter and put an arm around Roth and leaned in close. “Heard you were taken in,” he whispered. “The city watch went public with your capture. Thought I lost a good money machine.”

“Tsai betrayed me. I intend to collect on his debt.”

Idris stepped back and whistled, sounding more like a boiling tea kettle. “I wouldn’t say I’d miss the guy. He barely brought in any business. And this means, you’re looking for something to kill him with? I think I have a new sword from Roku-Shinlai that would make your collection worth it. Lightweight, not too long and, as any good Roku-Shinlai swords go, perfectly balanced.”

“No, I’d be giving him a slow and painful death.”

“I bet you could skin him with it,” Idris grinned.

Roth smiled. “Not right now.”

‘How could you find skinning a person amusing?’

Roth held back from rolling his eyes and ignored Jeff. He pulled out his cracker and showed it to Idris. “I didn’t know the wall had palladium. I didn’t configure it right. Fix it.”

Idris took the cracker with his claw and brought it to his eye. He sighed and looked at Roth. “You’re usually more careful than this, Shadow. Losing your touch?”

“I didn’t have prior information on what I had. So I made do.”

“Well, if this helped you out of the Prison Catacombs, I have to say that you are insanely resourceful to have kept this in your person. Do I want to know where this came from?”

“No.” In his head, Jeff shivered. Prisoners were stripped bare when they were imprisoned there. Which means that contraband was next to impossible to smuggle in when you were bare to the world. Not that Roth kept anything on himself when he was imprisoned. The rebels gave him everything he had when he got out. At least everything that the guards didn’t divide among themselves yet.

“Good to know,” Idris said. “Anything else?”

Roth gave him a list. “I’ll be needing these tonight. Tomorrow, I hunt.”

Idris took the list and smiled as he read them. “Of course. Just makes me wonder how on earth you escaped the Prison Catacombs.”

“You and everyone else who knows.”

“Anyone else know?” Idris raised an eyebrow.

“The city watch.”

Idris laughed. “I’ll get right to it then.”

“Oh, and Idris, one more thing.” Roth took a deep breath. He hated to ask, but Jeff was really making him question his sanity. The newfound skills were amazing, but it came with a person in his head. A person he did not agree with. “Which religion deals with spirits whispering in your head?”

“Almost all religions, I believe. Why?”

“Nothing. I just thought it would be interesting to study theology.”

“Theology?”

“You’ll never know when you have to dress up as a holy man for a job.”

Idris laughed. “You don’t. I’d never. But you know what, I heard the old priest Haram is an easy fellow to talk to. Maybe he can pray for your soul too. He does that to everyone, even those who don’t deserve it.”

“With the right grease money?” Roth grinned. He never believed religion was true. If it was, they would never ask for money in exchange for the salvation of your soul.

“That’s just it. He doesn’t care for money. He just prays for you.”

“What’s he a priest of?”

“Ahamadra. He’s the only priest that never went up from the Outer Reaches. He started here and he’s likely to end here. Too kind and generous. Never making the priesthood any money.”

“Good to know. And Idris? Never tell anyone I asked about religion.”

“And compromise your job? Of course not! I’d never want to lose a client.”

Roth grinned and nodded leaving the shop. Of course, he wouldn’t—couldn’t say that he had a voice inside his head and a priest might be his only chance at understanding why. He didn’t exactly expect any god to answer. Not with who he was and what he’d done, but if he could understand it, maybe he could control it. And he could be back to his old self.

‘I don’t think I want to go away. If I can stop you from doing evil things, then I’ll stay. Besides, I think I’m dead so I have no place to go back to. Might as well make myself useful and straighten you out.’

Roth sighed. Case in point.