Chapter 2. The Trouble with Elves
It was around mid-day when Xeo rose from his nightmare. He had been asleep for three days and some how knew that time had passed. He rose from the bed and looked around the room and noticed that no one was around and that he was wearing new cloths. Xeo walks out into the living room to find that Lantic is passed out on the couch with several empty bottles of beer (as usual). Lana walks into the room and puts her hand on Xeo's shoulder.
"I hope you're feeling better. Maybe you should just sit down and rest."
"I'm fine. Thank you for letting me stay here. I must be going."
"But you don't know where anything is. Please stay here for a while longer. Until you get things figured out."
Xeo turns to her and kisses Lana on the cheek. Xeo turns back to the door with a grin.
"Tell Lantic that his pants are a little to tight in the crotch. I'll be back later."
"So you are coming back, right?"
"Yes, I just need to find some things out about this place. Like, why I'm here and how I got here. Where is the closest Mage Tower? I really need to talk to an elder Sage."
"A what?"
Xeo looks at her and sees that she really doesn't know. Than bows his head and exits the house, leaving Lana alone with her thoughts. She sits down in a chair that is next to Lantic's head. She looks at her brother and smiles.
"How can Xeo be bad news?"
Lantic mummers something and rolls to where he's facing the back of the couch.
"Why am I even asking you? You're just a lazy paranoid drunk."
Lana stands up and kicks the side of the couch and Lantic jumps up with a startled look on his face. Lana just smiles and walks out of the room.
--
Xeo is standing in the middle of a street market. He approaches one of the street venders who is selling odd looking amulets. Xeo examines one with a large pentacle and a dragon resting at the top of it and looks to the man and smiles.
"How much for this one?"
The man looks at the amulet and than at the pentacle on his hand. The vender begins to smile to himself.
"That is a fine choice sir, it's made from the finest of silver and will bring lady luck to the man who wears it. I don't know if I could part with such a fine work of art such as that, but you look like a man who could use a night with lady luck. I'll sell it to you for fifty dollars."
Xeo reaches down into his pocket and pulls out a one hundred dollar bill. He smiles at the thought of spending Lantic's money without him even knowing it. Xeo, deciding to play the nice guy, looks at the vender with a sinister smile.
"I'll give you half."
The vender looks at him and slowly loses the smirk.
"I could not let a fine piece of..."
"Cut the crap old man. I know you have a thousand more where this came from. You don't want to lose a potential customer to greed do you?"
The old man thinks for a second, before looking down at a box of amulets like the one Xeo was holding. He than nods to Xeo and the exchange is made. As Xeo is walking away he turns to the old vendor.
"Do you know where I can get a sword? I would like to get one for my friend who lost hers. I'd hate to see something happen to here if she wasn't properly protected."
The vendor thinks for a moment and looks back at Xeo with the same sinister grin.
"There is a man who can make one specially for you. It will cost you a large fee but it's well worth the price. It will cut through trees, cars, or anything. The man is at the back of that ally way."
Xeo nods to the old man before walking towards the ally. Xeo knew he was walking into a trap, but felt like he needed to know how hard he could push this new body. He was ready to fight anything and everything that this realm could possibly throw at him. As he came to the mouth of the ally he looked back at the old man and smiled as he set off down the long ally. When he had finally reached a dead end, a large man with a chain around his neck stepped out into the light and put his hand on Xeo's shoulder.
"You have crossed into my home, boy, pay me now and I might let you walk out of here alive."
Xeo turns to the man with a large smile on his face. Without saying a word Xeo grabs the large man's arm and punches him in the face, sending him flying. As the large man lands on the ground, his fellow gang members come into the light.
"So your friends have come to play as well. This is going to be fun. But it's four against one. I don't like these odds."
As the four men surround him, Xeo jumps into the air and kicks the first guy in the stomach and turns to the others.
"Three against one. It's getting worse."
A man with a knife and long purple hair steps forward and rushes at Xeo. He jabs at Xeo's face, but never lands a blow. Xeo moves back and forth so gracefully and swiftly that the others look at him with amazement. Xeo grabs the mans arm and breaks it over his knee. As the man lets go of the knife, Xeo catches it and slams it into the man's shoulder and laughs.
"Two against one, now it's hopeless. Maybe you should try attacking me together."
The other two men look at each other and nod. They rush at Xeo together but he still avoids them with the greatest of ease. Swiftly knocking them out. As he stands over the body of the unconscious men, he lets out a sinister laugh.
"You fools should never attack an opponent unless victory is assured. Maybe you will learn better than to attack an elf, and that you should hold nothing back."
As Xeo turns to exit the ally way, he pauses to enjoy this simple victory. Before he knows it there is a large wall of fire at the mouth of the ally with a mysterious figure standing in front of it.
"Finally, maybe a foe worth my time. What's your name?"
"I'm just a simple traveler who heard that the legendary Xeo was playing down this ally.
You can call me death."
Xeo starts to laugh as he hears these words. All of a sudden, the ground begins to tremble and fire shoots from the ground. Xeo springs forward to attack the person, but the person moves swiftly to avoid the attack. When he finally gets a good look at this new foe, he is shocked to see a young girl who is only about 12 years old with purple pigtails and light green eyes. Xeo laughs and turns to walk away.
"If you really want to fight me, you can come find me when you grow up."
Xeo leaps over the wall of fire back into the middle of the market place. No one seems to notice that he had just fallen from the sky or that there was a large wall of fire in the middle of the city. Xeo hears the little girls footsteps behind him.
"I know who you are and how to send you home. You will have to find me and beat me to gain my alliance. Farewell Todd."
Xeo turns sharply on his heel and the little girl is nowhere in sight.
"How? How does she know my real name?"
"Hey Xeo!!"
Xeo turns to see Kuma running up behind him. She gives him a big hug before he can stop her.
"I'm glad to see you're finally awake. It's better than seeing you thrash around in your sleep. What were you dreaming about to make you freak out like that?"
Xeo just shrugs. He turns to look down the way the little girl had just ran down.
"I guess I was dreaming about my past. You know, like before I feel out of the sky."
Xeo looks at Kuma who isn't listening to a word he's saying. She has her eyes fixed on the amulet. She reaches for it but Xeo lifts it above her head before she can get a grip on it.
"No, bad Kuma, this is for Lana. I'm heading back to her house now, do you want to come?"
"Sure."
Xeo and Kuma start to walk down the road to Lana's house. Suddenly Xeo stops and looks behind him. Kuma stops too and turns to see what Xeo is looking at. There is a tall black man with dread locks and large sunglasses on standing in front of the vender's stand that he had bought the amulet from and a small flock of girls walking over to it. Kuma looks at the girls and than looks back at Xeo.
"Hey, you're supposed to be with Lana so you can't even look or I'll have to hurt you. Besides I want dibs on the one with the purple hair."
Xeo punches Kuma in the top of the head.
"I wasn't looking at them. And I'm not dating Lana (even thought she is pretty, and those pale green eyes just sort of grab you and wait...) I was wondering why that guy is following me."
"Hmm. I don't know. Maybe you should go ask him. Or you could be all, 'hey punk stop following me or I'll blow you away with my super destructive magic and laugh as parts of your body hurdle back to earth"(she has violence issues, they can't be helped.)
Xeo just looks at her for a second and looks back to see that the man is no longer standing there. He shrugs and starts to walk again.
"Aw. You should have blasted him when you had the chance. It would have been really cool."
"Is pointless murder all you think about?"
"No, I think about sex too."
Xeo laughs and Kuma smiles blissfully to herself as they walk back to Lana's house.
--
Xeo knocks on Lana's front door. Kuma than opens the door and looks back at him.
"Don't bother knocking, they let anyone come and go. They figure that they don't have anything worth stealing so why bother protecting it."
Lana comes into the living room holding a large sword. She walks over to Xeo.
"A man brought this for you while you were out. He said it was..."
"My mother's broad sword. What did this guy look like?"
Lana thinks for a second, than hands the sword to Xeo and sits down.
"Well he was really tall and had on these really big sunglasses. He was black and had really funny looking hair and a necklace with a skeleton with wings on it. He said that this was the sword that brought you here and maybe it could help get you home. After that he just vanished right in front of my eyes. It was really weird yet cool."
"Xeo, do you think he was brought here too? Maybe he's a wizard like you. Maybe he would have blasted you if you went to approach him at the market."
"I'm not a wizard!!! And what's with your fascination with death?"
Lana looks over at Xeo.
"You saw him? Did you recognize him?"
"I think I saw him, but I've never seen him before in my life. I guess he could have been brought here like me. That would explain why I've never seen him before. But if he crossed over like I did, than He would have to be..."
Xeo balls up his fist and Kuma looks at him as if he was going to pass out again. Lana sets her hand on Xeo's and looks him in the eyes.
"He would have to be who Xeo?"
"Bonk. It can't be him. He wouldn't have given me this if it was."
Xeo looks down at the sword and than raises his head up with a smile. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small bag and hands it to Lana.
"I got this for you. It's my way of saying thanks."
Lana opens the bag and removes the amulet and smiles.
"It's beautiful. I love it."
Kuma looks at it and than back at Xeo.
"Don't change subjects. Who is Bonk? What's going on?"
Xeo looks her in the eyes and than back at Lana, takes a deep breath and says:
"I guess I'll have to tell you the whole story."
Ah ha this is it on this chapter. I'm too lazy to keep going for now. The next chapter: Xeo's past.