Another knock came about an hour after Katherine had left.
Kyrie, who was on his bed, had been testing his abilities, practicing how large his flames could grow, and didn't fail to take a chance to meditate within the interval, in an attempt to complete the system task while calming his mind. Killing two birds with one stone.
He quickly got off the edge of the bed and another knock came while he was moving towards the door.
Opening the door and there she was, a woman who looked quite bland compared to Katherine who felt like she was filled by rainbows and sunshine.
The woman seemed to be older than Katherine, probably 30 or so, she had an expression that showed she would rather not be here and in truth she never liked being here when Negan wasn't around.
" Ohh, you're up," she said flatly. " Good. That makes this easier."
She barely completed her statement when she walked past him. Entering the house with cleaning supplies in hand and a bucket.
" I'm here to clean on Negan's orders," she said plainly, not trying to muster up small talk or any of that nonsense.
… I will get out of your way in about an hour or two."
Kyrie had allowed her to enter but now he was compelled to ask.
" What's the name?" He said.
"Iris" she responded just as fast. " We've met before, more than once, actually."
She spoke while pulling out some bottles and a rag.
" I'm guessing you don't remember."
"No" Kyrie said gently, finding it funny how the memories of this body seem to have selective recalling at this point.
" Thought as much " she responded with the same flat expression as before. Not lingering on the topic. She was making her way to the kitchen when Kyrie's called out.
" Don't worry about the kitchen, Katherine cleaned up there after cooking "
Kyrie spoke while he was making his way to his room trying to get out of the cross-hairs of this woman's war against dirt.
" That saves me the trouble. " She said while inspecting the kitchen a bit. Running her gloved finger on the counter to confirm.
Iris didn't dally and moved elsewhere in the three-bedroom hous. Disappearing out of Kyrie's sight.
Kyrie entered his room to continue what he was doing. The woman was headstrong and focused on her work, he would do the same as well.
He closed the door behind and looked around the room rather carefully this time. The room was in truth small but quite functional.
There was a desk, table, a bed obviously, a chair and a small wardrobe. There was a window that gave a great view of the street below.
It wasn't all that spacious but enough to move around and test his abilities.
With a mere thought, he opened the system interface and moved to where his skills were.
Skills:
- Empath Sense (Active)
- Emperor's Hand (Active)
- Menace (Passive)
- Void Shift (Active)
- Psi-Luck (Active)
His eyes ran through the skills. He had been practicing a lot with Empath sense and Emperor's Hand.
He had a good feel of Menace and his fire control, he wanted to try something else. Looking at the description of the other two skills, the choice was obvious.
" Void shift." He said to himself.
Looking at the skill, it was what he would call the most crazy one in there. After all, the possibilities with it seemed hard to fully comprehend.
He could switch places with things, that alone opened so many options of escape and manoeuvrability if there was ever need for it.
Taking a deep breath, he moved to the centre of the room, his eyes locked on the chair that was merely five feet from him.
He activated Void Shift by seemingly reciting to himself.
Suddenly, everything went haywire. It was like reality had curiously torn apart and stitched itself back together too quickly and in the wrong order.
He felt dizzy and his vision blurred. But in that timeframe, he was standing where the chair had been.
And the chair was where he'd been standing a moment ago.
" It worked, it actually worked"
His eyes widened in shock almost like he wasn't expecting it to work.
There was a surge of adrenaline in his body as he stared at something else in the room to test a weight theory in his head.
He activated Void Shift again even as reality responded to his request and instantly, he switched places with a journal lying around on the bed.
He was on the bed and the journal was where the chair previously was.
It seemed like moving with things that were of lesser volume wasn't too difficult.
Alright, let's test how far I can go he thought.
Looking out the window close to his bed, he stared at a lamppost on the street below.
From mere estimation, he believed the lamppost was maybe thirty to forty feet away from his where he was.
" Let's see how far I can switch "
He focused on the lamppost, envisioning the exchange. Him there, the post here.
Activating Void Shift again.
The world tore itself apart again, responding to his request
And abruptly, he was outside.
The cold air of the street caused his clothes to flail like a flag but it had actually worked even at about forty feet.
He looked through his window and could see the solid, metal lamp post in his room.
" Okay….. that's quite the rush "
He didn't think for too long hoping not to catch too much attention as he used his skill again and the positions turned on their heads again.
Arriving at the room again, his legs nearly gave up, but he was able to catch himself just in time.
A sharp headache was followed by dizziness and shallow breathing. it seems using the skill twice in quick succession drained more out of him than he had expected or maybe it was the distance he covered with it.
Forty feet. He thought, maybe higher since he could definitely see further than that.
The implications were actually mind-blowing. He could get out of most awkward and dangerous situations this way.
Even turning situations on their head with one move, keeping his enemies confused.
The pros were very good but he knew he couldn't ignore the cons which he felt right now even as he fell back into the bed.
The sudden dizziness and disorientation was something he would have to get used to or at least pay more attention to for now.
It wasn't long when he heard footsteps in the hallway.
He quickly sat up,arranging himself.
He picked up the journal he had swapped with earlier pretending to read.
He definitely didn't want Iris to suspect anything, though he doubted she would. She was like the cleaning terminator.
Opening the journal, he looked at the handwriting and he could recall there were his. The original Kyrie's.
The writing seemed stable at the beginning but soon was getting less coherent and messier.
He flipped to the first page, hoping to start from there.
The top of the first page was written in and more pronounced handwriting.
It was a single line that looked like it had been written by someone else.
Write everything down. When you forget, read this. It's the only way. –N
These were obviously Negan's instructions to deal with the episodes. Trying to anchor to a life that was going on and off.
He looked further and the scribbling was more scattered. Don't forget Negan, don't forget Elaine was all he saw.
He sighed and closed the journal. He would get back to it later. It seemed to worsen the headache he was dealing with right now.
Lying on the bed, he heard the sound of running water coming from somewhere in the house, maybe the bathroom. It seemed Iris was finally finishing up.
Within the next ten minutes, he could hear her moving around. Probably putting some finishing touches.
Suddenly silence and then her voice came again.
" I'm done," she called out. " I will Lock up on my way out. Don't make a mess."
"Alright!" Kyrie replied swiftly.
It wasn't long before the front door opened, then closed and the house embraced silence again.
Kyrie sat on the bed still holding the journal. He began to flip slowly through the more scattered pages.
It was more of names, advice, places. It was mostly repetitive until he suddenly caught a glimpse of something.
It was an address,marked with double lines and actually well written.
12 Millwall street, 3rd Floor, Room 7.
He read further and understood he actually had a place of his own. But why hadn't Negan mentioned it yet.
"Hmmm" he was still surprised but continued flipping and more addresses appeared but this time in Negan's handwriting.
Some were marked with a tick and others with an X. They were safe houses and places he shouldn't go to.
Alongside the addresses was a small map.
Ding!
A notification suddenly appeared before him.
[ Daily mission Completed]
[ Rewards: +300 EXP, +1 strength, +1 Dexterity ]
[ TOTAL EXP: 1550 ]
At this point it was like the system was shoving it in his face to notice his progress.
He merely smiled as he commanded the system to assign the points to the attributes and also level up.
[ Adept, level 6 Achieved]
[ Attributes upgrade]
Strength: 8 → 9
Dexterity: 8 → 9
[ Total Exp : 0050 ]
He dismissed the system once he was done.
Level Six. He could feel the changes in his body in real-time. He was definitely stronger and more capable than he was just earlier today.
The system was real and a cheat at that but there was still so much he didn't know. So much about this life he had to discover.
He would have to ask Negan about them. About the apartment. About what the original Kyrie had been involved in.
But for now, he let himself rest. With the journal by his side, he lay there staring at his ceiling while his mind drifted and his eyes shut slowly.