The Murklin System: Rise of the Dark Hero

Chapter 8

“Why don’t you just k-ll me now?” Finn asked as they walked on the long hallway towards his new room. “You don’t have to keep me here.”

“Why are you so eager to d.ie? Are you in a hurry?” She shook her head. “Don’t worry. Once Lord Edward is done with you, I’ll ask him if I can k-ll you myself. I’ll make it quick and painless.”

Finn didn’t argue back. “Is that a promise?”

“Yeah. Yeah,” she answered with a yawn.

After a while, they finally reached the room where Finn was staying. But Finn still had a lot of questions. “Do you also have that black smoke?”

Efrelyn sighed before showing her smoke. “All murklins have something in common, no matter how much I hate it. We all possess this black smoke. It’s like a medium we use in order to eat.”

“What do you eat exactly?”

“Emotions. Mortal’s emotion, to be exact. But there’s a catch. We can only feed on a specific emotion, and that is wrath. That’s why we’re called murklins of wrath.”

Finn nodded. “You mean, you can’t eat other emotions?”

Efrelyn glared at him, and he stepped back. “Are you even listening? I said, we can only eat a specific emotion. It’s not even a complicated explanation.”

“No… I mean…” Finn scratched the back of his head. “Is it because you can’t eat or is it because you can but you just don’t get full after? Or does it just taste awful? I’ve never eaten an emotion before, so I can’t tell. And I wasn’t aware that some can eat them.”

Sighing, she said, “You’ll know soon enough. After all, you’re a murklin just like us.”

Finn’s face hardened. “I’m not like you.”

Efrelyn walked towards him slowly until they were inches away from each other. Since Finn was at least three inches taller, she was looking up to him as she spoke. “Are you sure?”

They stared at each other for a while until Finn felt uncomfortable. He stepped back, looking away. “I am a mortal, grew up as a mortal, so there’s no way I’m suddenly a murklin. How did you even come up with that idea? I don’t even have that black thing you said every murklins possesses.”

“For someone who wants to d.ie, you sure have a lot of questions. Can you even bring it to h-ll?” Efrelyn turned her back and walked as fast as she could, and as far away as possible. She didn’t want to hear any of his questions anymore. She didn’t want to deal with the mortal any more than this. If not for his father, she would dispose of him already. She couldn’t even feed on him.

There’s something wrong with that guy. I can feel it, Efrelyn thought as she went back to the living area where her father summoned her.

“What do you think of that mortal?” Edward asked the moment Efrelyn stepped inside.

Efrelyn tried to hide the rage that was starting to boil inside her. She hated that all her father talked about nowadays was that mortal, and nothing else. “Well, he stinks, you’re right. He’s definitely a mortal, who smells like a murklin. But something about him is wrong.”

“You’re right. A half-blood murklin doesn’t smell like that.” Edward spaced out, thinking deeply.

“What do you plan to do with him?” Efrelyn couldn’t stop herself from asking. She had never intervened in his father’s plan before, but right now, she wanted to know what was going to happen to that mortal from now on.

“He can’t stay here in Caligo, that’s for sure,” he said while rubbing his beard. “His existence will surely bring confusion in this place. It’ll be chaos once they smell him, if they haven’t yet.”

“Should I just k-ll him?” 

Edward ignored her suggestion like he didn’t hear anything. “Send him back to the mortals, where he belongs. He might be useful to me in the future.” He smirked. “His wrath. I’ve got a taste of it. I want to feel it one more time, but I want to feel all of it.”

“Should I look for the m-rderer, then? She’ll surely trigger his emotion.”

He shook his head. “Nah. That’ll be boring. Let him find her on his own. If the m-rderer appears now and we kill it, young Erskin will surely want to di-e after. We can’t let that happen. Not yet. We still have to know what he truly is.”

After bowing, Efrelyn went back to her room, still raging. Now, that mortal had all of his father’s attention. He even ignored her suggestion a while ago. He had never done that to her before. His father loved her, his heiress, more than anyone in the world. But now, with the existence of a mere mortal, her father changed.

The next day, Efrelyn knocked on Finn’s door loudly. She was still feeling mad about what happened the other day. But even though she was still mad, she still had to tell the mortal about Edward’s order. 

“Why didn’t he ask Hewston to do this for him?” Efrelyn grumbled. “What? Am I his errand girl now? Am I not his heiress anymore?”

When the door opened, Efrelyn rolled her eyes when she saw Finn, who just got out of bed. “Is this how you face people in the morning?” she asked. “You could’ve at least washed your face.”

Finn tried to fix his disheveled hair, but it just went back up. He also smoothed his wrinkled shirt, but nothing happened. “Let me wash myself for a bit, then.”

She stopped him. “Nevermind that. I can’t wait for you to wash. I’m a busy person, you know. Let me just say everything now.”

He nodded, still trying to fix his hair. “What is it?”

“My father asked me to send you back to where you came from, so prepare yourself.”

Finn’s eyebrows creased. “What? Back to Fract? Just kill me, then!”

She crossed her arms on her chest. “Why are you so eager to di.e? Living is fun!”

“For you, maybe. But for me? I belong to Fract, the lowest and most isolated part of Izvor. But do you know what’s the worst part of it? The Vad tribe discriminates against my family. We’re hated even by the most hated tribe in the world.”

Efrelyn nodded. “I get it. I don’t know how it feels, but I get you. But aren’t you curious who k-lled your parents? Aren’t you glad you’re alive, so you can look for the m-rderer? Aren’t you a bit curious why she didn’t k-ll you and let you live?”

That made Finn stop for a while. He didn’t really think about it since what was the point? His family was gone. Looking for that woman and k-lling her wouldn’t bring back his family. It would be better if he would join them as soon as he could.

“Are you telling to avenge my family?” he asked.

“Did I say that?”

“I don’t trust your kind, you know.”

Efrelyn scoffed. “Ditto. It’s up to you whether to find her or not. No one’s forcing you. But I’m still sending you back. K-ll yourself or whatever, it doesn’t concern me. But I ain’t k-illing you, father’s order.”

After a while, Finn exclaimed, “He’s your father?!”