Tales of the Pearly City (Pearly Tales Vol.1) [Completed]

44. Sins at dusk

When Cal opened his eyes, there were ribbons of red shimmering in the fading candle light. The room was painted orange as the image of God booping his nose was clear in his memory.

His head was resting on the softest pillow he'd ever known. It was like a heavenly cloud of warmth, he turned on his side and cuddled it.

"Mmm, what a crazy dream." He said as the sweet smell of lemongrass wafted in his nose. "Why does my pillow smell like a pretty girl?"

"Um, Cal?"

Cal's eyes shot open. This wasn't just any pillow, it was lap pillow! And not just anyone's lap pillow. His eyes traced up the feminine figure past the two celestial mounds to see a cascading waterfall of red hair connect to and equally red angelic face.

In a mad panic Cal rolled away from her and landed on the floor with a KABAM!

"No way," he stammered. All his past memories were back with a vengeance, it was like he was seeing this world for the first time.

"Cal are you alright!" The Princess leaned over the edge of the bed giving Cal a seductive cleavage shot.

Cal scooted to the end of the room banging his head on the wall. "Ow!" when he reached to grab his head, his fingers grazed his long elf ears. He looked down at the loose cotton shirt he was wearing and patted it down. There wasn't an inch of fat on his lithe sculpted elf body.

"This isn't my body." He panicked realizing he could only see out of one eye. When his hand felt the eyepatch his memories about his disguise flooded back. "this isn't real."

Cal remembered the game, and then he remembered the past month. He felt like everything up to this point had been a dream, a vividly real memory.

"Cal you're scaring me. What's wrong?"

Shayley's picturesque form in the candlelight with the sun's rays behind her gave her an otherworldly beauty. Every sensual curves were highlighted and caressed by the light's gentle touch.

Cal panicked.

He was terrible at talking to pretty girls, and here one was in his room. He could talk to regular girls or customers just fine, but Shayley was in a league of her own. He wasn't prepared for this...

He had to escape!

He clamored to his feet and bolted for the door, but when he was about to open it he heard a soft childish voice.

"Papa's awake. Hurry, Tiki!"

No. this couldn't be! His heart pounded in his chest. This wasn't a dream, this was real everything he did here mattered!

The full gravity of the situation began to sink in. This was no longer a game. It hadn't been for a while. What in God's name was he doing!

The footsteps came closer and closer.

The cute padding footfalls of those precious little feet stabbed at Cal's conscience with the guilt knives of a thousand mom stares.

"Cal?" Shayley pleaded.

Cal turned to see the saintly beauty climb from his bed. Then he noticed that window where the sun was shining through. He picked his chance and dashed for the window. He was going to push it open but when he ran into it his overpowered stats shattered it and he fell to the ground.

Crash!

Crunch!

"Ow," Cal groaned as he pulled himself off the broken glass. He looked at his hand and as he was about to pull the shards of glass out of his palms when he noticed them being pushed out, like a scene from a Wolverine movie.

The only thing left were the blood stains on his unblemished skin. He remembered the time he fell out of the tree with Naomi, and then all the times he'd been stabbed.

What had he been thinking!

"Cal, are you okay?" Shayley called out the window.

Cal regained his senses and scrambled to a run through the back alleys. His bare feet could feel every sensation of warm and cool between the places the sun had warmed and the shady spots. The air was humid since the sea was right next to the city, but instead of salty air it was thick with fragrant floral scents and sweet sugary mouthwatering aromas.

They were no distraction for Cal, his only purpose was to get away from the sensation of the Princess who was chasing him down.

He ran through the familiar allies that he knew like the back of his hand, but the city had expanded and soon they were no longer familiar.

That was when he tripped. It was all over as he fell flat on his face.

"Cal, what's wrong, talk to me." The sweet affectionate princess slowly approached him.

Think Cal, Think! Cal remembered the skill that buffed all his spells and skill at the Cost of his life points instead of his mana.

"Sins"

[Sins of dusk] A class skill for Dread Pirates where one may spend Hp instead of, or along with, Mp and St to cast a spell or ability. It buffs all skills and abilities proportional to the amount of hp spent. Any activated skill that does damage gains a bonus in curse damage to its other effects.

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Shayley gasped as Cal's nose and ears began bleeding. Cuts appeared all over his body made by an invisible razor, and stained his clothes with his blood. A greater understanding of Cal's horrific powers and their price was evident to her.

"[Greater Shadow step]" As soon as he cast the stealth spell his voice became fuzzy as if lost in a crowd that wasn't there.

"Wait!" but it was too late. Shayley couldn't find a single trace of Cal existence. "Cal, what happened?" She mourned.