The whole invitation to a job without even thinking about explaining the risks was a mistake, and he was about to destroy another person's life because of this irrational decision.
The excitement drained as the voice in his head returned.
The uneasiness of all the possibilities of something happening to Xal wrapped around him like a cold, heavy blanket he couldn't take off. The faint hum of the air conditioning only made his heart feel heavier.
His parents obviously love him so much. What if something goes wrong when he is with me?
The thought repeated loud as a broken record.
He would be completely lying to himself if he said there was zero chance of Xal getting hurt at work or worse. His parents wouldn't be able to take it.
Now, Kian wasn't sure if he should really give Xal the job as his bodyguard, and he could see his hesitation affecting the thread as its brightness dimmed. The threads are only symbols of love, passion, sorrow, burden, trust and more, and those are affected by the wielder's thoughts and actions.
According to the old books, if one person wholeheartedly decided to break apart the bond, it would disappear.
It still hadn't, and Xal was still unconscious.
Selfish as always.
"I got carried away when the white thread connected with him. Anyone would have!"
You still are the same selfish man, Kian. The voice inside of him taunted again, and he knew it was the truth.
What he did today was selfish, unnecessary, and irresponsible, as always. How could he casually invite someone to throw away their perfectly normal life and risk it for him just because the thread connected them and they could do something better for the world?
Dragging him out of his internal conflict, his own phone rang. The rhythmic buzz of the ring tone felt louder in the quiet room.
He answered, knowing it must be a client.
Apparently, another person had succumbed to the spirit illness spread by Khem, but it was still within the time line he could save him, so he agreed to visit and heal the person, and ended the call.
It was still not too late to fix this.
It wasn't that he couldn't do what he does without Xal. But he still needed help from someone he could trust to find Khem, the unknown entity responsible for converting spirits into Neitoloums, controlling them to spread spirit illness, and feeding off the negative energy emitted from the people suffering from that illness.
The first time he discovered something like Khem existed was four years ago. Assuming it had kept feeding on negative energy all this time, there was no way he could take it down alone.
Plus he needed a failsafe in case something goes wrong and he ended up being possessed, which was the least likely, yet worst case scenario.
At this rate, more lives would be lost before he could actually even track a Neitoloum to trace it back to Khem. This was the one thing he couldn't do alone.
Being born into the Vyl clan, who were healers for generations, the most respected among other clans that inherited different abilities linked to the spirit dimension. Kian assumed Khem was from any of the minor clans that excelled in forbidden mantras.
These Neitoloums Khem created were left void of emotions, intelligence and bound to follow commands endlessly. Other than that, he knew almost nothing about this entity.
Yes, he needed help, but right now, he didn't even know if anyone could defeat Khem.
He did not want Xal to risk his life over his unplanned goal. He seemed like a kind man, unlucky enough to be connected to him with the most rare thread known to all clans.
He dragged his palm over his face and stood up. Running his hand to the back of his neck, he decided that he shouldn't put this person's life at risk.
Having the white thread doesn't make too much of a difference other than being a certificate of trust. He just needed to dig through the old books to find the mantra, perform the ritual to remove the thread, and everything would go back to how it was for Xal.
Or he could let the thread stay there, as it didn't really bother their normal lives, and maybe when he had a safe plan to capture Khem, he could ask for his help.
He needed time to think about what was best for him. For now, he should call an ambulance and leave the room so that he can vanish without a trace.
With that thought resting heavy in his mind, he sighed, turned to check Xal's pulse one more time, and shrieked.