Master Of None

"What do you mean you are going back in to the city? You just returned and should need to rest with the others. How will you make it without protection or a guard." The guard that was speaking to Walker genuinely thought that Walker had lost his mind. He had come back from his journey unconscious and suddenly stood up to help. It was a radical change and the guards all thought that Walker was sick in some way or injured. 

"I know what you are all thinking. My friends are out of commission for the moment and it looks like I need rest. But I rested long enough and learned of a way to seal Greed. Just stay here and I will move in. Just prepare everyone here to enter the city and help others. I don't know what we will need to do once Greed has been sealed and the energy he stole is returned." Walker started to walk toward the city without anyone else beside him. 

The silence after he walked away from the stunned merchants and guards was enough to make him wonder if he had chosen the right move. He knew that the natural mana around him could fight of Greed's curse. He could have waited for Su to recover since she would be able to resist as well, but there was no time. They had already been gone for some days and that was too long. Someone could be seriously hurt by now. 

The streets were the same. The only differences that Walker could find were small animals and birds which had made the poor choice to enter the city and succumbed to Greed's curse. What was even more heart breaking was that Walker could tell who had struggled to run away and failed only to end up in the streets. 

He did hear something after walking down the market roads. He could hear a few voices arguing and it took him toward the cathedral. What he saw was a barrier that didn't seem plausible. It was blocking the curse which Walker had read and thought was impossible to do. 

The thought that he might be able to find Alice unharmed made him rush toward the opened door and the white barrier of light. As soon as he crossed the threshold, he found that there were a host of healers all on their knees in prayer. They were forcefully pooling the light elemental mana and their healing skills to maintain the barrier. Many more had already passed out and been unable to return to a healthy state to fight off the curse. 

Many children were huddled together in the cathedral. Their parents had used all their strength to bring them here for safety when they heard that people were passing out from illness in the streets. This was why the cathedral was able to protect some and come together. 

"Walker?" The confusing question came from a healer that Walker had been introduced to at the entrance of the cathedral before. "How are you here? Is the illness gone? We have been this way for days. Everyone has been too exhausted to escape. 

"No. stay here and keep the barrier up. I came back to deal with the problem. What about the high priest and Alice?" His worry spiked and his heart followed suit. 

"They are…if you can stop this then you can save everyone, right?" The healer was about to tell him but her eyes had glanced at the cots set up nearby. Alice was next to the high priest. Both were very pale and obviously suffering from a lack of mana. But the bigger problem was that none of them were gaining mana back. The entire city was under Greed's control. 

"I need to go. Stay here and keep everyone safe." He dropped the last of the mana potion in his storage. He would have Remey make more after he saved her. 

The pace at which he ran through the city was much faster. He found that the stores had been left in much the same state. Many fires had died out as Greed had taken control of the city preventing any fires. This was a silver lining that Walker didn't miss sight of. If Greed's curse hadn't taken the fire elemental mana from the flames in people's home and ovens then the city could have burned to nothing. 

"Remey…" The body on the ground was a pale and scratched up Remey. Walker could tell that she had rushed through the streets out of the alchemy building only to collapse hard on the stones. He cast a healing skill on her but saw the mana rush away from Remey the moment he used it. The scratches had barely been healed. "I will be back to help you up soon. Just stay strong." His teeth were grinding as he looked at the Genesis building. 

This was the only place that Greed could be. It was the center of the city and he would have the ability to absorb energy from the entire city easily. On top of that, it was the most extravagant building fully built. If anyone was to enter the city they would want to come to the genesis building. 

The door was wide open and guards were on the floor unconscious. Their armors had lost any runes carved on them because the energy had been taken from them. There would have been lights and torches but those had been snuffed out. Even the elemental crystals used for light were cracked or broken. 

There were many others that had been rushing down the stairs or working hard unconscious as well. Walker could only bite his lip and hold himself steady while he walked toward the stairs and up to the large meeting room. He knew that he would find Greed there. 

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