The vegetable and fish stew bubbled contentedly in it's cast iron pot, streams of heavenly scent wafting from the brownish broth, containing the biting aroma of herbs and rare spices. With a wooden spoon, Gallows stirred the mixture thoughtfully, taking over Shane's job as cook because he was far better at it. The younger Baskar did not mind, it meant that his afternoon meal would be particularly more sumptuous than he had hoped for. Gallows was the arguably the best cook in all of Baskar Colony.
They all surrounded the inextinguishable fire, Virginia, Catherine and Gallows, sitting down politely on their knees and waiting for the food to be done. Jet and Shane balanced on the small ledge near the stone steps in Gallows's house, swinging their legs off the side. The smoke from the fire got a little bit in their faces, but by the time it reached the two youths, it was thin enough not to be noticed. Halle remained standing up, the center of all their attention, with one hand to her back so she could keep her balance. She had ushered all of them back into the front part of the house, out of the totem shrine as soon as Virginia had informed her that something deeply important needed to be explained and figured out. Halle waited for the explanation with patience, hearing the stew gurgle warmly as a background noise.
Virginia uttered a long and drawn-out sigh, it was time for the moment of truth, and the recounting of the story that weighed heavily on her conscience. This wasn't fair, the demons were defeated, why were they being forced into conflict with that race again, to make matters worse, when that one demon was none other than one of her dearest friends? Her sighed deepened, looking towards the other woman sitting across from her and the fire. If this affected herself so badly, how would Catherine react? "Well," She said in a solemn tone, "Something has happened recently that none of us would have ever predicted or imagined, it goes beyond what some of you might know, and it will affect us all." Virginia laced her white gloved hands together, trying to express her knowledge into words. "A demon has risen on our Filgaia once more, another one, but an individual that we can't bring ourselves to harm."
Shane's legs froze in mid swing, unsure that he had heard Virginia correctly. "A demon?!" He gasped, leaning forward on his precarious ledge, craning his neck to look more closely at the female drifter, "How? I thought you all got rid of them, sealing them away from this world forever. Big Brother!" He turned to Gallows who was tasting the experimentation of the stew timidly, "Is this true?"
"We're thinkin' so." Gallows informed his little brother, the wooden spoon in one hand dripping a small trail of stew between his fingers. "The mediums say he's a demon, and you know they just don't lie, but there's a little something different about this one, no doubt about that." He plunged the spoon into the stew, allowing it to simmer without any hindrance. "Granny, you getting this?"
Halle gripped the head of her walking stick firmly, looking into the sober expression of the drifter team's leader. It was there she saw that Virginia could not have been lying. Honesty was written all over her face. "So, my dolt of a grandchild led you all here for some Baskarian guidance? Is that it, eh?" She implied, an unreadable expression on her face. Gallows glanced down, apparently stung by her words. It was only a mock sufferance, they threw debilitating words at each other all the time. It was a sort of unspoken recreation between the both of them, it kept both of their minds sharp.
"It was probably the best course of action we could take." Catherine cut in, adding to the conversation. "I honestly do not know what is going on at the moment, and Virginia did suppose that it would be best for us to come here for your supporting wisdom. Elder, as one yet unacquainted with the peril we face, and only half-knowledgeable of the losses we could incur, I wish you would listen to our leader's story with an objective and unbiased frame of mind. It is the only way we could have a proper understanding without any hindrance."
Nodding to the silver-haired boy listening quietly, Virginia gave him one basic order. "Jet, show Shane the fang you picked up the other day. See if he can tell us anything about it." It took Jet a moment to react to her request, looking like his mind had been occupied with inner problems. Still, he fished around in his pocket for a few seconds, once again pulling out the long white monster fang and passing it roughly to the youth who sat next to him. He was glad to see it go, the point of the tooth had been biting into the side of his leg uncomfortably when it was shoved in the pockets of his jeans.
The pillar's jade-coloured eyes analyzed the fang carefully, observing the broken off end and trailing to the curved edge of the tooth, coming to an end that was deathly pointed and lethal. It was hard to recognize, but it did look familiar to him, maybe if he were to string it to a silver chain and add some ornamental features, it might just look a little like…
He dropped the fang with a startled gulp, his slightly tanned hands going up to cover his face in shock. It was unlike anything he had ever expected before, there was only supposed to be one of them in the world, no-one had ever gotten close enough to secure a second before, to try and claim one would be far too dangerous and life-threatening. And yet, here it was, priceless beyond all treasures. "T-The Fang of Luceid!" He stuttered, vehemently shaking his head, plait swishing around behind him, "How in the world did you get a hold of this?!"
"We think," Said Virginia quietly, "That it came from the animal that created the demon I was talking about. Give me a sec, and I'll explain." She smoothed out her purplish dress, severely needing to be washed and ironed. Maybe if they had a little time left, she might be able get a new change of clothes. It was a heartening thought, but one only barely registering in her mind. Ever since they had left the Winslett household at the peak of noon, she had been planning this short speech and reciting it over and over again in her mind. She had to get this perfect, the others needed to understand.
Clive had always been the one capable of creating a good explanation, but with his absence, Virginia tried her best to take over. "The other day, our drifting team here undertook a mission for one of the residents of Jolly Roger, we were commissioned to exterminate a monster living close by to the town, one that had been unsuccessfully attacking travelers on the way to the port. After some thought, we accepted and headed out to destroy the fiend, this took place two days ago, on the eve of Halloween."
"The night of the Spirit Sabbath… Where the realm of Guardian, Spirit and mortal are blurred." Halle muttered to herself, stroking her chin. Virginia paused to let her speak, but she just grinned and directed her on. "Don't mind my ramblings, dearie. Go ahead, continue."
At her prompt, Virginia began to speak again. "When we reached the den of the monster, we all split up to search individually, forsaking the safety in numbers principle. I guess it would've been easier to fight as a team, but covering more ground was what we really needed to do, so splitting up seemed to be the best option for all of us. Clive was the one who encountered the beast, dueling it single-handedly and somehow managing to come out as the winner. But," She added, staring into the flames and glowing embers, "He got badly hurt and fell into a coma for the rest of the night."
"Was he alright?" Catherine asked, paying close attention to the story. The fang rolled to a stop near her knees and she picked up the object, running a finger along the smooth white enamel. To her, it looked like a simple beast fang, she could not really see why it would have such a dire effect on people like Shane. The Fang of Luceid, that was what he called it… What connection did it have with this demon they were talking about?
"Yes, he recovered early the next morning." Virginia assured Catherine with a smile, looking over to see if the two uninformed Baskars were still listening or not. "But he was still pretty weak and all that, he could barely stand up for a while. Our medic here treated him," She pointed to the priest who was grinning proudly, "Fortunately, the only injury he sustained was a mauling bite to the shoulder. Gallows dislodged that fang from Clive's wound while he was cleaning it, the tooth must have broken off during the fight, or something. Anyway, after that, things started to act funny with Clive." She set her hands in her lap, bowing her head. "He started to zone out a lot and the horses were downright afraid of him. Sometime around midday yesterday, I gave him my gun so he could inspect it and he burnt himself as if the metal was on fire. I know it sounds weird, but it's the truth."
Shane had his hand on his chin, eyes narrowed in thought. "Your weapon, it wouldn't happen to be made of silver, would it?" He said mirthlessly, looking at Virginia's rose patterned holster. What he had heard so far was giving him the smallest traces of an idea, some inkling on what she was going on about, and it was not a good thing. The young Baskar fiercely hoped that he was mistaken.
She drew one of her guns out, the Rapier EZ pistol, and held it flat in her hand so everyone could see. It worked properly now, maybe a little erratically at the most, but because of the quick repair Clive gave it, the gun had stopped misfiring. "It has a silver plating on it, yes." Virginia replied, nodding curtly. "My father gave it to me as a gift before he left for the wastelands, so it's a very special keepsake." The coating of silver shimmered in the firelight, casting an orange and crimson reflection on the short barrel, intricately beautiful.
"Then," Gallows said, taking over, "He was kinda alright for the rest of the day, until the sun started to go down and it looked like he had caught a bad case of anemia, he went all weak, started hallucinating and ran a nasty fever. We used an Arcana to break the high temperature, but he blacked out again and entered a state of paralysis. After the sun went down, he could barely move an inch. I made him that aural liquor you showed me, Shane, but it didn't seem to have any real effect at all. We all thought that Clive was really, really sick."
"All this from just a simple bite?" Catherine looked a little skeptical at the details of Clive's injury. Speaking logically, a shoulder wound could cause a severely bad infection, but would not harbor all the symptoms the other drifters were describing to her. One couldn't just develop dire anemia after only a day's passage, could they? Clive's constitution had always been rather resilient, he had taken more than his share of gunshot wounds before, the person they were describing didn't seem to be her husband at all.
The storytelling shifted back to Virginia as she slipped her gun back into it's rightful case, giving it one deft spin in habitual luck-making. "We tried to make it to Claiborne before the sun went down, so we could take Clive to see a proper doctor, but we found ourselves stuck in the middle of the Westwood Plains when it was too dark to continue. We set up camp near this huge cliff side and hoped for the best until morning." She sighed again, getting to the part in her tale that made her mind falter as she tried to sort it out. There were some things she just did not understand. "The next day, Clive went missing. We couldn't find him anywhere." Virginia said this bluntly, attempting to speak any further with emotion made her throat tighten up almost painfully, so she dropped the entire concept and put on a strange robotic air, trying to stay indifferent.
"He went missing?" Catherine said, concerned. "What happened? He was not in danger, was he?"
Oh, Guardians, no. If anything, it was the exact opposite. She thought to herself, frowning. Three separate cold-blooded murders, and he had willingly confessed to the crime. Clive was the one who had shredded three men to ribbons, slashed them open and wrenched out their insides, painting a whole stable house with blood. Shuddering, she could not help but wonder what Volks's, Dessinsey's and Otto's last few moments of life must have been like. Not to mention Pike, he would have to get his leg amputated, forced to bear a mortifying disfigurement for the rest of his life. Clive had always been the one to offer her comforting words whenever she felt sad or down, and to know that murder stained his soul black with sin, it was just too distressing to think about.
"After a little bit of tracking on Jet's part," She indicated the young android with a hand, "We found him a little ways off from Claiborne, pretty much unharmed, but… he was different now. It's hard to describe, but the best word I could think of to explain it is; Clive had been modified." Multitudes of clueless looks were shot in her direction and she blushed, really hating public speaking.
Seeing this clearly, Gallows silently volunteered to take the heat off Virginia's mind. "He was drenched in blood, and looked to be... different." He said resolutely, still stirring the stew as he spoke. "And when we woke him up, he was feeling and looked a hundred times better than the night before, asides from all the blood and stuff. It was my guess that he caught a twenty-four-hour bug, but hey, as always, I was wrong."
Like a game of tennis, Virginia picked up the loose ends of the story from Gallows and continued, finding it somehow easier to explain things this way. She was grateful that Gallows would help her in this way. Without support, she wouldn't be nearly as composed as she was right now. "Even though Clive seemed to be cured, we went to Claiborne anyway for business purposes, to collect our bounty. We also wanted Clive to get a checkup, just in case. What we saw in that town, early this morning, I don't think I'll ever get the images out of my head, I might have nightmares about them for years to come."
Catherine had a fold of her dress between her hands, slowly twisting the fabric into wrinkly knots and biting her lip hard enough to break the skin. All this pain, this suffering, she had never even known about it. Was that why Clive looked so exhausted when he set out for the wasteland again? He pushed himself far too hard. What on Filgaia had happened to him? What did Virginia mean by modified?
Before Gallows could cut in, Virginia continued with a strained edge in her voice, even talking about it was hard. "Not counting all the injured, there was a triple homicide in Claiborne last night. Unlike just a simple series of murder, the bodies were… they were decimated. Those poor men, they hardly even looked like humans anymore, they were so ripped up and destroyed. A young boy was crippled and a dozen suffered minor wounds. It was so… horrible. Of course, it was the demon we were talking about who did all this, he did it without pity or remorse."
"As history has dictated, all demons are killing machines." Said Shane knowledgeably, trying not to think about what those bodies had looked like. He blanched as Virginia shot him a venomous glare, as if the Baskar had just insulted somebody she cared about, which he had. Tears were beading in her eyes, Gallows put a muscular arm around her in condolence.
"I know. I know what you're saying is true… but… I still really can't believe it, even now. I've witnessed for myself how they kill and destroy all they see, everyone they interact with. Demons are, demons are…" She inhaled a huge breath of air for confidence, hating the words she was forced to say, to get rid of the denial that resided deep within her. "They are machines. They have no hearts, and no souls."
"I don't understand." Catherine said, her anxiety becoming a small flicker of fear. What had been going on while her back was turned, while she worried over her daughter's life? So much more had happened, so many miserable things. But there was one thing she could not place, and she had to ask, it was the only way to find her answer. However, instinct told her that the information would be as excruciating as a sword stroke to the heart. "What does this have to do with Clive?" She almost trembled, the answer was only a few words away.
Feeling herself to be like a lost little girl once more, Virginia started to cry, streams of crystal tears falling down her cheeks. She was nearly silent in the shedding of grief, except for the uneven breaths taken, a hand moving to cover her face. She had lost another one, another friend. Just like her father, Clive had gone, and he probably wasn't coming back. "Catherine," She said, swallowing her sorrow for a few short moments to speak, "I'm sorry. We tried to think of anything to help, and I'm sorry."
The monster fang rolled out of her hand by loose fingers, all the muscles in her body felt entirely numb. Her other hand shaking, she brushed back some of her light brown hair, her kind face ashen. Her husband had been so cold, she could feel nothing, no warmth, only a strange aura that hinted of someone else. Her own eyes misted over, dreading the truth that Virginia had kept hidden from her until now. "You are saying-"
"Yes," Said Virginia, leaning into Gallows and letting her tears run down her face, "Clive is… the demon."