The Magician of Miracles

Last night

Vensen, Corvin, and the crow Nook were still playing cards, each trying to extract as much information as possible from the others. Vensen was unsettled by the fact that this crow could talk, while Corvin showed no reaction to it at all. The whole time, Vensen's eyes kept drifting toward Ash, who stood in the corner, staring back at him with narrowed eyes as if looking at a traitor.

In the end, Vensen lost his patience, dropped his cards on the table with boredom, and said:

"Look, let's stop this nonsense now. We all have questions, right?"

Nook the crow nodded his head, and so did Corvin.

Vensen gestured toward them and continued:

"I have a suggestion. Why don't we each ask one question to the other?"

The two exchanged glances and then both nodded in agreement.

Silence lingered for a moment before Corvin broke it:

"So, who's going to ask first?"

No one volunteered, each waiting for the other to open their mouth.

Finally, Vensen cleared his throat slightly and said:

"I'll ask first."

He turned toward Nook the crow while pointing to Ash standing in the corner:

"Who did you mean when you said he sold his soul?"

Nook answered with disdain as he cast a condescending look at Ash:

"Oh that? I meant it literally. He sold his soul in exchange for staying alive."

Vensen had more questions in mind but held himself back. Even if he asked, he was sure the crow wouldn't answer anyway.

So he turned to Corvin and asked directly:

"How long have you been dealing with the masked one?"

Corvin answered:

"More than ten years."

Nook the crow intervened, looking at Vensen:

"And how long have you known my Master?"

"Not for long, maybe just a few days."

Nook turned his head toward Corvin then pointed his wing at him:

"How long has my Master been living with you in this filthy place?"

Corvin showed no annoyance at his words, he simply replied dryly:

"For several days. now it's my turn to ask: how can you talk?"

Nook puffed out his chest and raised his wing, pointing at himself:

"My Master granted me the ability to do so."

Corvin turned toward Vensen, looking like he wanted to ask something, but then he stood up from the table and said:

"I'll save my question for later."

Vensen didn't object. Corvin picked something up from under the table, then pulled a metal shop key from his pocket and tossed it to Vensen, saying:

"Keep this with you, I need to go somewhere."

Without another word, Corvin left the shop, leaving Vensen and the crow alone.

***

[Vensen perspective]

Corvin left the shop right after handing me the key. I hadn't expected that from him; he didn't seem like he trusted me even a little. Moreover, it was already late, so what business could he possibly have now?

I felt that everything he said was just an excuse, that he had done it to escape the place. I turned my eyes to the talking crow sitting on the table right across from me. I couldn't blame Corvin if I were in his shoes, I would have run too. This crow gives you a strange feeling just by looking at him, let alone talking to him.

How, by the Creator, can something like this exist? And if what he said was true, if he wasn't lying, then that means Jevan was the one who granted him the ability to speak. That made it even stranger since when did Jevan have such a power?

I wanted to know what he had gone through during those years. But right now, there was a far more important question. I turned to the corner where Ash was standing. The last thing I had ever expected to see in my life was Ash like this.

...

I waited until late at night, when the crow had sunk into deep sleep and was snoring? This crow was truly strange, but since he could talk, why wouldn't he snore too? In any case, once I was sure he was asleep, I turned to Ash, who was also dozing off in the corner of the room. I walked over to him and shoved him hard until he woke up. I put my finger to my lips, then gestured with my hand toward the sleeping crow, and finally motioned for him to follow me.

We moved quietly until we slipped into the storage room. I closed the door behind us, then turned to him and said:

"What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Do you want me to leave you and walk away again?"

He startled me when he suddenly grabbed my shoulder firmly, his eyes filled with something close to tears:

"You can't leave your close friend like this, right?"

I brushed his hand off my shoulder:

"Close friend? When did that happen?"

"Didn't I used to buy you drinks?"

"Yes, with my money."

He waved his hand dismissively:

"Don't focus on trivial things like that. Tell me, what are you really doing here? And where is Nyla? If something happens to her, I'll hold you fully responsible."

"I don't think you're in a position to threaten me, not when you sold your soul to a crow, right? But don't worry, she's fine."

"I didn't sell my soul to that filthy crow!"

"Really?"

"Yes, I sold it to that masked one or rather, the masked woman."

"Looks like you've been through a lot."

"Yes. Imagine, while we were chasing one of the wanted men, we managed to kill him. But when I went back to retrieve my sword, I found him alive again somehow. Then he kidnapped me, tortured me in the cruelest ways you can imagine, before leaving me alive after breaking my dignity. When I returned to the Broken Glass Tavern, that masked woman had killed everyone there. Then she kidnapped me in turn and tortured me, and when she was done, she was about to kill me if I hadn't agreed to sell my soul and help her find the one she was looking for, I would be a corpse right now. Since that day, that annoying bird has treated me like a servant."

"And who was she looking for?"

He lifted his eyes toward me, tears glistening in them:

"Do you know the last surviving member of the Bloody Fang? That's the one."

The last member of the Bloody Fang? Isn't that Jevan too? Is that masked woman one of Jevan's followers? The crow hasn't stopped calling him Master. Could it be that Jevan founded some kind of cult?

Before I could ask another question, the deep voice of the crow came from outside:

"servant."

Ash froze in place.