I wrote this while watching Shrek: The Musical so a little bit of dank meme might have slipped in-but I tried not to let it affect me (it was actually pretty good by the way). Almost every chapter will take place after a good amount of time has passed since the last one. This takes place about three years after the four amigos left the Library. Please favorite, follow, and review if you have layers like an onion. Have a lovely week!
"Did you get firewood for tonight?"
"Not yet…"
"Why the hell not?!" Armaggon growled. "You only have a few jobs Jason."
"I'm sorry!" He sighed, "I'll go get some now."
The statue stood and pushed Jason back down, "You aren't going into the woods by yourself-I'll go get the firewood-you stay here."
"And do what?"
"Shut up maybe?"
Armaggon stormed off into the dark and Jason sighed, turning to Beomia.
"Why is he so mad?"
"Maybe because we always have to clean up after your shit."
He growled and lightly kicked her in the shin, "You do not."
"I had to kill a Drake for you last month," She rolled her eye at him and sheathed her blade, showing off her new scar that ran down her arm.
"But-"
"This."
She pointed at the large scratch that went vertically down her left eye. A brown leather eye patch covered the old scar, and it was decorated with colorful stones and golden stitching. Her long white hair was cut short and messy, and a pair of goggles was on top of her head. Her sword was polished to perfection and sheathed at her hip.
"That wasn't my fault."
"You stepped right next to that Manticore."
"I thought it was a log!"
"How the hell did a giant lion monster look like a log to you?"
"He doesn't look where he steps."
They both turned and watched as Armaggon dropped a large bundle of firewood in front of them. Beomia stood up and walked over, pulling out some flint and steel and leaning over the pile to start a fire.
"When's the next settlement?"
"The last chief said we were close when we passed by that Leviathan breeding ground a way back."
"So probably a season or so."
"In layman's terms please?"
Beomia rolled her eye, "Half a year? Maybe?"
"Ugh-too long."
"The real question is how far we are from Remin."
"We're probably half way there."
"You mean I'm stuck with you two for another four years?!" Jason groaned and fell onto his back, "I hate everything."
"Longer with the trip to the monster and then all the way back again."
"No one asked you to jump through the portal J," Beomia yawned.
"I had to save Klunk," He stated matter-of-factly as the skeleton cat leapt onto his chest.
"That cat can take better care of itself than you can."
"I have an idea!"
"Oh my god J."
"For now on-my dear, sweet Armaggon-we should have a limit of twenty-three harmful and or rude things you are allowed to say to me per day."
Beomia scoffed, "What about me?"
"You don't say bad things to me Beo."
"Not to your face," She snorted and murmured, "Jackass."
"What happens if I go over this limit?"
"I don't talk for an entire day."
"And that's bad?"
"Mean thing number one," The boy turned to his cousin, his large blue eyes contrasting against his black bandana, "Beo I need you to make a list please."
"No-and my name is Beomia."
"Beomia I need you to make a list."
"Nope."
"Why are you not respecting my authority?"
"Because you have none-now go to sleep before I let Armaggon eat you."
Jason gasped playfully, "He would never!"
"It would solve my hunger and the noise issue. Give me a single reason as to why I shouldn't eat you."
"I have three-love, compassion, and understanding."
"All trivial compared to starvation."
"We just ate an hour ago."
"I get the munchies."
"Alright you two-time for bed," Beomia rolled her eye and shoved Jason off his log and onto the ground.
"But we haven't finished this conversation!"
"Armaggon would eat you-get over it."
Jason grumbled and disappeared into his shell, "I'd eat Armaggon first."
"Wanna say that to my face?"
The turtle mutant's sleepy voice echoed out of his shell, "Jason isn't home right now. Please leave a message and he will get back to you. Beep."
Snoring shortly followed and Beomia sighed, walking over to Armaggon and curling up next to him.
"Try to be a little nicer?"
"He's like a toddler-"
"-I know you like him."
"-Loud and narcissistic. Always joking around. Drawing attention."
"Oh no, somebody happy? How ever will you survive?!" She feigned shock and yawned.
"You lost your eye because of him."
"A worthy sacrifice," Beomia closed her eye, "Face it-this place could use a little happiness."
"He's like an animation-always jumping around."
"Cheerful."
"Squeaky."
"Colored outside the lines," She made an agreeing noise.
"I hate how much we need him."
She chuckled, "We'll survive as long as he doesn't know."
"You two know I'm awake, right?"
"God damnit."
…
…
…
Beomia smiled as she leapt and caught the lowest tree branch, pulling herself up into the glowing leaves. She crept along the smooth bark, hiding in the shadows from the foliage. Below her, a creature was clawing into the tree's trunk with its front limbs. Its small, curved, oval-like body was albino white and had long, pale spines protruding from its back. It's spider-like limbs were mechanical, except for its front two-which were fuzzy and white. It had no lower jaw, and its eyelids had grown over its eyes.
The golden-eyed girl took a deep breath and pulled out her sword, dropping from the tree and landing on its back.
It let out a loud hiss and started thrashing its two front limbs around, trying to sink one of its stingers into her flesh. She stabbed her sword into its jawless mouth and cut off one of its natural limbs, before it was able to climb up the tree and shake her off.
It leapt down at her and mucus dripped from the metal contraptions in its stomach onto her chest.
"Son of a-" She groaned and punched it in the head, sending it backwards as she reclaimed her sword.
It charged at her and in one swift motion she drove her blade into its core and watched as it twitched for a few moments before falling to the ground.
She pulled her sword out of it and wiped the mucus off of her green poncho, pulling a few white hairs from its orange fringe. She lifted one side up over her shoulder, but left the other exposed while fixing the multitude of necklaces she wore-most of which were dream catchers. The stringy sleeves of the brown tank top she wore beneath her poncho were falling off her shoulder on the uncovered side, but she ignored it.
Her brown leather shorts only covered a small amount of her thighs. One leg was fully covered by a stripped, tan stocking, and the other was only covered up to the knee by a dark brown sock. Her brown boots were covered in mud and blood, and she groaned.
"Beo?!" Jason ran over, "The hell are you doing? We said meat. Ghouls don't have meat."
"I needed some stuff," She explained, and got to work on ripping out some of the technology from the monster's stomach.
"I'm going to get in trouble for this you know-Armaggon always blames me for everything."
"He won't get mad at you for this J."
"He's stomping over."
"Sure he is."
"And he looks mad."
"That's just his face."
"Jason!"
"...Nevermind, you were right."
The turtle boy looked up and grinned, "Hey...whatsapp Armaggon? How're the kids?"
Beomia snorted out a laugh.
"Why are you hunting Ghouls?"
"Actually that was Beo-not me."
"You were supposed to be with her-not playing with Klunk."
"So?"
"So had you been with her you could have stopped her."
"I swear Beo I need to start placing bets with you."
"You are very blamable J," She sighed, "And my name is Beomia."
"Jason," The shark statue growled.
"Look Armaggon-it's not his fault," She shrugged and stood, "Cut the kid some slack."
"Who are you calling a kid?"
"I'm four years older than you dumbass."
"But I'm fourteen."
"That doesn't help your argument."
"Well not everyone can be as old as your ancient butt Arma-geezer."
"Do you want to get your ass kicked?"
"Kinky."
"Don't you have somewhere else to be annoying?"
"Not until four."
"You're swimming in some dangerous waters kid."
"On a scale of one to Australia how treacherous are we talking?"
"Permission to kill him Beomia?"
"Permission denied."
"See? Thanks Beo."
"No problem. The name's still Beomia though, so permission now granted."
"What?!"
"You only have a ten minute window."
"I can work with that."
Jason gulped, "You two scare me-I'm gonna go. Love you and see ya later."
"Oh no you don't."
Beomia smirked as the amber statue took off after Jason as they played a little game of tag, until her cousin took a handful of mud and through it straight into Armaggon's face.
"Why you little-"
He chuckled and picked up a handful of dirt, throwing it at the black-clad boy, but he ducked and the mud-ball ended up hitting Beomia square in the chest.
"Uh oh."
"Shit."
Beomia growled playfully and grabbed a handful of mucus from the Ghoul's chest.
"Now you're both dead."
…
…
…
Jason smiled as lights from a settlement began to peek over the horizon.
"Finally-a chance to get away from you two."
Armaggon rolled his eyes as the turtle boy sped of like a teal shot.
"It's as if he doesn't appreciate our constant bullying," Beomia laughed, "It is about time though-I'm severely starting to outgrow this outfit."
"Do you have enough coins?"
"Yep."
"I'm going to find Jason and get to the center fire-come meet us when you're done."
"Sure thing."
Armaggon watched as she headed off into the other side of the city with Klunk on her tail, turning and smirking as the elders swarmed around little Jason. Since none of them looked human-they passed off as members of Purgatory. They didn't have to worry about a villager trying to kill them-and besides-as soon as they saw Armaggon they knew they were from the Kinetics Library and didn't dare harm them.
As he neared the gathering, all eyes turned to stare for a moment before politely shifting away.
"Hello."
He turned to see a little boy beside him.
"Hello."
"Are you gonna eat us?"
He chuckled, "No."
"Promise?"
"Yes, I promise."
A woman ran over and took the boy's arm, "I'm so sorry-I told him to stay inside."
"It's fine-he's a nice kid."
She squinted up at him, "Wait a minute-are you from the Kinetics Library?"
"Yes."
"I know someone from there!" She hummed in thought as her tail swept gracefully behind her, "A group of people actually-but I only got the chance to speak with one of them. Shea was her name, I believe."
Jason's eyes shot over and he darted out of the crowd, "You knew Shea?"
"I think so-spunky little thing with blonde hair and brown eyes? Had a thing for a guy named Raphael?"
"That's her. Though afterwards she had platinum hair and gold eyes."
"How do you know her?"
"She came through here when they were going to go slay Kaalee. I heard they succeeded-but we never saw them after they left for her castle."
"We're actually out here to rescue her-she was kidnapped."
"Oh my god," she gasped and turned to her son, "Xever-go find your father. Tell him it's important."
The little boy ran off and she looked back at them.
"My name's Mona by the way."
"Mona Lisa?"
"Yep."
"My dad talked about you sometimes."
"Who's your father?"
"Michelangelo," Jason gulped.
"Raphael's brother? The silly one with an orange mask?"
"Yep."
"Oh my gosh-that's fantastic! Is he with E'ro'chk...or…?"
"No, my mom's name is Kala. E'ro'chk ended up…uh..."
"She likes women."
"Oh!" Mona chuckled, "Well good for her!"
Jason's stomach growled, "Excuse me."
"Are you hungry? Follow me-let's get some food into you."
They headed further into the town, with the elderly women fawning over Jason's tiny stature and big blue eyes.
As soon as they sat down by the fire, food was served around, and everyone laughed as Jason gulped down his gourd of soup in record time.
"Mona?" A green creature slithered over to her on a snake tail, "What's wrong?"
"This is Jason and Armaggon-they are here because Shea was kidnapped."
"You know Shea?" He looked up at Armaggon.
"Yes."
"And you?" He turned to Jason.
"I'm Michelangelo's son."
"Remember Mikey darling?"
"Absolutely," He smiled, "He named us."
"Of course he did."
"What's your name?"
"Tails," He smiled and turned to Mona, "Xever's with the Shaman."
"Good," She nodded, "Do you all know where Shea is?"
"Two years out of the city of Remin-she's held captive by Kaalee's second in command. A monster who she woke up with a lyre."
"The one by Uqona?"
"What's that?"
"A large city-run by a dick monarch."
Tails nodded, "His son's cool though."
Jason tapped Armaggon's shoulder, "Beo's back."
The large giant turned to see the girl walking over-her old outfit turned in for a new one.
A sepia bra was clearly visible beneath a hazel wood tanktop; which was sheer, loose, and low cut. The top was tucked into her cloud-grey pants, which fit snugly down both her legs. A coral-colored ribbon was tied tightly around on of her thighs, and her brown boots were traded for a navy blue pair that strung elaborately up her legs. Her hands were now covered by elbow-long, grape-purple gloves. Her sword was traded in for a set of steel katars, which she had tucked into a new bag that matched her gloves.
"Hey guys," She smiled and did a twirl, "What do you think?"
"Very nice."
Jason gasped, "Very nice? You look absolutely fabulous Beo!"
"Her eye-" Mona gulped.
"She lost it while saving Jason from a manticore."
"No-her other one. Didn't you say Shea had gold eyes and platinum hair?"
Jason nodded, "Beomia is Raphael and Shea's daughter."
Tails gawked at the teal skinned girl as she walked over.
"Who's this?" Beomia asked and turned to Jason.
"Apparently friends of your mother."
"What?!" She turned wide-eyed to them, "You knew her? Really?"
Mona smiled, "I met her when she was here to kill Kaalee."
"We're here to save her."
"I've heard-you are about two years from Remin."
"That's nice to hear-we thought we had four," Beomia sighed and sat down.
Tails took a sip of soup, "How long have you been in Purgatory?"
"About four years," Jason yawned.
"How safe is Remin? We've been hearing very different views from everyone."
"The closer you get-the more accurate they'll be. Honestly? It depends on where in the city you are-but it's pretty safe as long as you hang with the right crowd. If you start spending time with certain people there-then things start getting dangerous. Just be safe and careful who you talk to and you should be fine."
Tails nodded, "Every once in awhile we send people there to get important supplies we don't have access to. The worst they've run into is someone stealing something they don't keep an eye on."
Mona nodded, "Our oldest daughter headed there with a team about a year ago. Tell her I said hello if you run into her."
Jason curled up against the log, soaking in the heat from the fire, "That's probably the best gourd soup I've ever tasted."
"No falling asleep Jason-we leave tonight."
"I haven't slept in a day and a half!"
"And we probably won't for another two-don't fall asleep or you'll be useless when we have to go."
Beomia patted her little cousin's head, "You'll be alright J. Go to sleep."
"Beomia, I don't-"
"He needs rest Armaggon-I'll carry him when we go."
Armaggon sighed, "I'll carry him."
"You can't carry him because you'll be carrying me."
"And you'll be carrying him?"
"Yep."
Mona chuckled, "So he'll carry both of you?"
"That's perfect!"
"No Beomia."
"I didn't say it-she did."
Armaggon rolled his eyes, "You have dug your grave-you have to lay in it."
"When do we leave?"
"Once I finish eating."
Beomia closed her eye and leaned against the log beside Jason, frowning as he shivered. She pulled a new, black leather coat from her bag and set it over him, the inside was lined with fur and warmed him up quickly. She curled up around him and pulled him into her chest, allowing his head to rest on her arm.
"Thanks Beo," He mumbled with a yawn.
She smiled, "Beomia."
"Sure."
She started humming a small lullaby to him, tracing the lines on his shell until he fell asleep.
"He's out," She sighed.
"Time to go."
Beomia stood up and lifted Jason off the ground, keeping the jacket wrapped around him.
"Do you have anymore of that soup gourd he had? I'd love to surprise him with another one when he wakes up."
"Of course-we have plenty."
"They don't go bad," Tails added, "Take two so that you can both have one."
Mona set a pair of gourds into Beomia's bag and helped the two navigate out of the town. Klunk let out a meow by Armaggon's feet and the one-eyed girl beside him sighed.
"Add him on."
The amber shark lifted the skeleton cat up and set in on top of Jason. It crawled under Beomia's jacket and laid its head against the turtle mutant's cheek.
"Are you sure you're alright carrying them?"
"He's tiny for his age."
"He weighs like ninety pounds."
"And I carry our hunted game around all day-if I can lift a grown deer for two days-I can carry him for a couple of hours."
"She's a strong woman," Tails smiled, "How old is she?"
"Eighteen."
"She has the strength of her parents."
"I know," Armaggon nodded, "She's a brilliant young woman."
Beomia chuckled, "Careful Armaggon-you're filling my ego."
Tails laughed.
"Excuse me mister?"
Armaggon turned and looked down to see Mona's son.
"Hello Xever."
"The Shaman made this for you," He handed the statue a large sack of supplies.
"Thank you."
Once they reached the edge of the village, Tails turned to Armaggon.
"Just keep heading west and you'll hit Remin. If you're going the right way, you'll only come across one other settlement. At a steady pace you'll hit it in a year-so it's an approximate halfway point."
"Alright," Armaggon nodded.
"Thank you for your hospitality," Beomia smiled.
"Good luck."
…
…
…
Jason smirked as he sharpened his arrow heads, listening to the quiet strum of Beomia's lyre.
"You're very good for someone who hasn't had lessons in four years."
"I practice every day."
"What is this?"
"Moonlight Sonata," Beomia smiled, "It was my dad's favorite."
"Pretty-boy liked classical music?"
"He once told me it was his favorite because it reminded him of my mom."
"How so?"
"He said that if she was a song-she would be this one. Beautiful and mysterious and makes you think of something important getting lost."
Armaggon smiled a little, "It's very pretty."
"One day I'd like to play it for my mom," Beomia sighed.
"You should play it to put the monster asleep."
"That's not the lyre Jason."
"You don't know that."
"I do actually."
"Geezer."
"Dumbass."
"You should play something from Shrek the Musical."
"I'm not doing that J."
"But a song donkey sings-because his are the best."
"Still not doing that J."
"Why am I stuck with you two? Why me? Why me? A simple answer would be fine."
"Armaggon!" Jason gasped.
"What?"
"Did you just make a Shrek the Musical joke?!"
Beomia smiled, "I think he did."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Jason sighed, "What song would you play to put the monster to sleep?"
"Jason-"
"If it was real," He stuck his tongue out, "Have a little imagination."
"I'm not sure," Beomia smiled, "I wouldn't know until I got there."
Jason frowned, "How are we going to kill the monster?"
"I am going to kill it with a minimal amount of Beomia's help. You are going to stay clear of the area."
"But I'll be eighteen by then!"
"That's not an adult-I'm barely letting Beomia help and she'll be twenty-two."
Klunk let out a meow and leapt up onto Beomia's lap.
"He's right," She looked up, "You two need to argue less."
"Why do you even pretend to talk to that cat?"
"It's not pretend."
"You think you can speak with Klunk?"
Beomia stopped playing her lyre and gasped, "Klunk! Don't say that about him."
"Beo."
"Klunk," She laughed, "I know-he is weird."
"Beo stop it!"
"Oh my gosh Klunk! We should totally do that!"
"Klunk shut up!"
The skeleton cat leapt off her stomach as Jason jumped at her. She let out a squeal and began to run off, laughing with Jason hot on her tail.
Klunk purred and climbed up onto Armaggon's lap.
"Dumbass."
