Chapter 181 181 Wasting Your Talents

Chapter 181 Chapter 181 Wasting Your Talents

Her eyebrows piqued as she searched the young man's eyes before him- looking for the loophole;

"Uh, thanks? I guess?"

"Don't thank me yet missy," he said- encircling her in noiseless steps; "As you can probably tell, I'm not too big on the job you do. . ."

Head titled up, and chin pressed forward, he kept his hands folded behind his back, as he continued to glide around her- floating along the surface of the ground;

"As a master, I'm telling you right now that you're wasting your talents. There's something different about you. . .I can't lay my fingers on it- well, probably because your aura is steeped in blood. . but still, it doesn't take two eyes to tell that you're a star."

He paused- stopping right in front of her;

"You're a genius Stacy, that's a fact. . ."

The words rolled out of his mouth like the rumbling of low thunder- striking her ears, sending reverberations echoing through her being.

". . .you're wasting your talents. . ." he said softly; ". . .accepting tokens? Taking paltry sums? Killing innocent people? Just because some rich guy says so? Come on, that's such a shameful waste of your talents!"

Her lips pursed- inciting twin strobes of light that flashed through her eyes.

"You're looking for purpose," he said sagely; "I can tell,"

He turned his back on her;

"But you won't find it in money. And you certainly won't find it in this endless road of bloodshed. . .deep down, I think you've realized this already."

Soft, and utterly free of judgement, his voice came echoing from behind his faceless gaze;

"You have potential Stacy- so MUCH potential."

On purpose, Nexus kept his back to her- while he offloaded that bullshit speech about her being special- feeding her with the worst possible cliches- gassing her up with words of affirmations.

Well, half of it was true anyway. She was a genius. She did have potential. But Nexus did not give a rat's ass about that.

He needed her broken.

He needed her vulnerable.

She was an S-class illusionist. A live, walking, breathing weapon. And he needed her for the battle ahead. All he needed to do was simply tweak and–

The sniffling sound of her whimpering came from behind him- and he smiled.

'Damn. . .that actually worked?'

Grinning guiltily- barely keeping the widening smirk on his face, he kept his back turned to her- giving her all the privacy she needed, and listened as she unloaded her emotions in heavy sighs, and frantic breathing.

Glistening like twin pools, her eyes- red, and pregnant with moisture, began to drip with tears. She blinked once- and a trickle of tear drops ensued. Across her puffy face, and out of her bulging eyeballs, they slithered down the edges of her eyes- silent trickling down her shamefaced cheeks- all the way down to her chin.

Still chained- and with her hands stretched out in the air, her head bent over in shame- allowing her auburn hair to fall over- shrouding her face like a veil.

A painful silence followed.

In the background, she whimpered- fighting back the storm of tears- willing herself to be strong. But for some reason, the Master's words had struck home;

"No one's ever called me special before–" her voice- hoarse, and dry- came cracking through; "–NO ONE. . ."

Nexus turned- slowly taking his time- as if in slow motion.

Starting with his right foot, he arched it around- swinging it as his broad shoulders dipped- bringing himself to face her. Softening his gaze, he looked upon her kindly- eyebrows half raised- jaws slightly less tense, and lips angled in an understanding curve.

He listened with his ears- as well as his eyes;

". . .I didn't grow up wanting to be a killer, heck I wanted to work in Neuro Science and psychiatry . . .to use the notorious Blood Moon eyes to help mine workers deal with their post traumatic stress disorder in a mental space . . ."

A sad sob rose in the back of her throat- and she shut it back down;

". . .but my parents had other plans. . ." she said bitterly.

". . .my folks- bless their souls- aren't bad people. . .but for a full decade now, they've fallen on hard times, and they can't seem to get out of this rut. . .it's not just us. . .the entire York clan has suffered a terrible economic crisis. . ."

She paused- gathering her breath; n()OVElb1n

". . .everyone in town thinks of us as a bunch of lofty rich nobles who live up in the mountains- away from civilization, just mining gold, and getting fat off of our wealth. . ."

She shook her head bitterly;

"But that's hardly it master. . .the Yorks are a powerful family, but we're far from being rich anymore. . .we tapped the last of the gold mines more than two decades ago. . the clan's merely been surviving off the gold reserves, and the elders still haven't come up with a plan. . .at the wake of the gold scarcity, multiple factions broke out from within. . ."

She raised her head up- meeting his gaze;

"It's terrible master. . .everyone's taking from each other. . .as soon as a faction gets winds of any surviving family heirloom made of gold, they swoop in like sharks, and snatch it up. . .leaving a bloody trail of mangled flesh, and burned corpses. . ."

Lines of black mascara ran across her cheeks in thin dark strips. Her eyes were red- and bloodshot- the color of rich wine. Her hoarse voice continued to cackle through;

". . .I was born into this boiling cauldron of an economic mess. . .my parents are still kind of trapped in the past- living in the glory of the old days- too proud to ask for help, and too self aware to go outside the mountains for help. . .so I had no choice but to step up. . ."

Her voice rang with emotion- and truth;

"This is why I. . ." she couldn't say the word kill;

". . .this is why I do what I do master. . .I thought if I stacked up enough gold, maybe I could get my parents a more comfortable life. . .but the deeper I get in this business, the more I made! And the more I made, the more intoxicating the pay. . .I said I would quit once I hit a number. But. . ."

Her voice quivered;

"B-b-but. . ."

Her head fell over- along with her long dark red hair. Her voice trailed off into silence- sobbing silently- mulling over the mess that was her life.

Nexus stood over her- listening to her every word, paying close attention to the details. Gold- as always, was the root of the problem. The York problem. Not Stacy's personal problem.

Surprising his own self, his eyes dimmed with concern.

She was doing this for her family, so, clearly she had strong values. All she needed was purpose. As Nexus loomed over her- watching her slightly heaving body, and listening to her intermittent gasps, he knew he had done it;

'Great. . .I've pulled down her mental barriers. . .onto the next one. . .'

Gliding across the ground- the sleeves of his coat rustled as he unfolded his arms behind him. Stopping just a few inches away from her, he stretched out his right arm- bringing it to rest on her head;

"There, there. . ."