Chapter 5: Elderine Redux
"So you mean my ninja skills had no fucking point to them!?" I demanded. Aisu shrugged helplessly as I held Zorark away by his head, his arms reaching out to strangle me. His arms were longer than mine, of course, but I managed to keep him away long enough for Adel to show up and drag him away to destroy another room in the house.
"Adel takes up too much room in my bedroom for you to stay," Aisu said. "And I obviously can't put him in the same room as Zorark..."
We both winced in unison as a huge crash, followed by a vivid curse, came from the kitchen.
"Fine, I'll stay with Zorark," I grumbled. "As long as he doesn't try to kill me."
I ducked as Aisu sidestepped, both of us barely avoiding Adel whizzing past us with Zorark clinging onto the dragon and banging the creature on the head with a frying pan. They crashed into the wall and continued fighting as if they had merely hit a fly.
"... I am going to need a new house," Aisu sighed, holding her head in her hands.
Fucking dragon.
I tugged at the bandage, tying it into a tight knot with my teeth and free hand. With that done, I trudged into my temporary room, glaring at the girl who sat on a pillow on the floor, daring her to laugh at me.
Instead, she stood up unexpectedly and took the bandage, unwrapping it and studying the wound for a moment. Without a word of explanation, she turned to her pack and began rummaging around until she retrieved a little bottle of ointment. She unscrewed the cap and gently rubbed some of the pale green paste on the wound. I hissed. It was cool, but somewhat unpleasantly so. She rewrapped the bandage better than I had done and went back to sit on her pillow, whistling as she organized her bag.
Deciding not to ask, I dropped my pack on my bed and searched for some clean clothes to sleep in. The room was small, with a closet, a desk, a drawer, a lamp, and a bed being the only furniture in it, so it only took me a moment to do so.
I had just withdrawn the clothing when the girl suddenly opened her mouth to ask a question.
"What do you and the dragon have against each other?"
"I've never done anything to him," I answered with a shrug. "I'm going to go change in the bathroom. You can change in here."
And then he left. I waited, counting the footsteps. Fifteen, the same amount as earlier in the day. When I knew he was safely away, I shrugged off my hoodie and shirt and pulled on my sleepwear, kicking off my pants afterwards. I tucked my boots beside my pack, which I lay on the floor in front of the drawer. I folded my clothes and shoved them into my bag.
I laid back down on my makeshift bed, consisting of a spare mattress, a pillow, and a blanket. There was a knock at the door and I threw the pillow at it to let whoever it was behind it know that they could open it.
There was silence, and then a footstep going away. I sighed and rolled my eyes.
"You can come in, you know!"
The door swung open, causing the fallen pillow to skid across the polished wooden floor back to me. I picked it up, bouncing it in my hand until I got a clear view of Zorark's face.
With an evil grin, I chucked the pillow at him with full force. He slammed the door shut again, hiding safely behind it as the projectile fell to the ground. I rolled my eyes at him as he entered the room, picking up the pillow and tossing it onto the bed as he did so.
"You're no fun."
"You have too much fun," he retorted. He withdrew his claws from his pack and sat cross legged on his bed with a cloth, meticulously cleaning every spot of dirt, blood, and guts from the weapons.
"Nah, life is too fucking boring, you know?" I lay back on the mattress and kicked my feet up, one crossed over the other. "If you don't make an effort to accomplish the things you find interesting, you'll get too caught up in the useless things."
From where I lay on the makeshift bed, I could just barely see above his shoulders. I caught him giving me a curious glance before turning his attention back to the deadly blades in his hand.
"So now that we're on the topic of interesting things," I said nonchalantly, turning my gaze back up to the ceiling, "what's up with Aisu?"
Zorark paused in his cleaning once more before deciding to answer my question.
"What part of Master do you speak of?"
"How you came to know her, her injury..." I trailed off vaguely with a shrug. "Anything." I heard a deep sigh and the clattering of metal.
"Some stories contain secrets that are not mine to tell, and others are my own secrets that I have no wish to reveal," he explained. "But the story of her injury is a rather infamous one in Elderine, so I suppose it wouldn't do any harm if I told you of that."
"I promise I won't fall asleep in the middle of it if you tell it with enough emotion," I drawled.
He just gave me a look that said: Just shut up and listen.
Hellgate King Helga.
I sighed and scratched the back of my head, wondering how to describe him.
He is... a beast, an inhuman monster of sorts. He towers over the average human and then some and wields a flaming sword nearly as large as he is. Just when you think you've finally got him down, he heals himself back to full health and delivers a crushing blow.
It is nearly impossible to kill this tyrant of a king.
Six years ago, my master had been sent on a mission to assassinate Hellgate King Helga. Her teammates, her friends for life, had trained for months and triple checked their preparations before setting out on their journey.
They had been confident they would be able to defeat him
The party arrived at Helga's Tomb and entered the monster's den. They had slain all of Helga's high-leveled minions in record time. It was not the first time Helga had been murdered, since he was reborn like all monsters, but it seemed that my master's party was going to put all the previous adventurers to shame and destroy him effortlessly.
When they had finally reached Hellgate King Helga, though, they had no idea what they were up against.
Despite the great number of clerics in my master's party, the tyrant's ability to heal himself when in danger of collapsing allowed him to take his time, destroying the group one teammate at a time until only my master and one other cleric was remaining. Knowing that her teammates were safe and well at the rebirth point, my master summoned up the last of her strength to strike the final blow.
With a single word uttered, Helga's servants were molded from the ground, hundreds appearing every second. Distracted and desperate to stay alive so that he could assist my master, the cleric slashed at the creatures, but failed, despite his best efforts to keep an eye on my master. Still determined to strike the monster down, my master ignored the monsters around her, unaware of the cleric's distraction. Knowing this, Helga swung his enormous sword at her, slashing her in half horizontally.
By some stroke of luck, her spine was not severed and the cleric had noticed that she had fallen before it was too late. Low on both HP and SP, he knew that their loss was inevitable and so took my master out of the dungeon where he could heal her safely. By then, however, it was impossible to fully heal the injury. The cleric did his best to repair the damaged organs and mend the broken skin.
A scar will remain so long as she lives, a painful and crippling reminder of her final quest.
Silence.
I put my hands together and started clapping slowly, which triggered a glare of death. I shrugged and put my hands innocently behind me back.
"You have amazing story telling skills," I told him honestly.
"... Thank you for the compliment, I suppose," he answered gruffly. He slipped his hands into his now meticulously clean and blindingly shiny claws, testing them out. Which reminded me, I probably had to clean my own set. I was feeling too lazy to tonight, but I figured I might as well get it over with. I dug through my pack for my cleaning rag and my claws and set myself to the task.
"Do you honestly know nothing about houses and such?" Zorark asked. I glanced up at him and he stared back, elbows resting on crossed legs with a smug half-grin on his face. It was the closest thing to a smile as I had ever seen on his face before and I found myself smirking back at him.
"Nah, but I didn't know you were capable of the upward movement the corners of your lips either," I answered nonchalantly, tapping a fingernail against a claw's blade. "Learn something new everyday, don't you?" The grin was immediately wiped off his face and replaced with his usual scowl.
"Oh, c'mon," I sighed, dropping everything in my hands onto the floor and leaning back with a groan. "Your face is gonna stick if you keep smiling. Your face mus-kuls need exercise too."
He raised an eyebrow.
"Mus-kuls?"
"More fun to say than muscles," I shrugged. "So are you gonna give me a crash course on the basic info needed to be an adventurer? Otherwise I'm just gonna keep fucking dying on you and then you'll be sad. Or extremely fucking pissed, either works."
Zorark let out a frustrated sigh, his hands alternating between rubbing his forehead and massaging his temples. He slid off his claws and set them down next to his pack.
"Fine. But I'm only going to say all of this once, so pay attention and don't ask questions."
To my surprise, she followed my two commands quite well. As soon as I had finished explaining the basics of an adventurer, she tilted her head to the side as if to say, "Is that all?" I ran a hand through my hair with a sigh, my mouth dry from talking, and told her that I had nothing more to explain to her. With that, she gave me a nod of thanks, rolled over on her side, and bid me good night.
About ten minutes later, I heard her breathing become slow, indicating that she had fallen asleep. I counted another two minutes before sliding out from under my sheets and stepping onto the wooden floor, its cool touch shocking my bare feet for a moment.
There were no windows in my room and none of the lights were on, so I had to move cautiously and slowly, feeling out the space in front of me to ensure that I did not stub a toe or run into a wall or trip over Silva. I closed my eyes and pretended I was blind; it was darker with my eyes open anyways.
With my sense of sight obsolete, I concentrated on my hearing. When I had pinpointed where Silva lay by her breathing, I knelt down beside her and felt around until my hands touched her mattress. With that found, I could easily picture how she lay. I slipped an arm behind her head and my other behind her knees and lifted her up.
I turned to my right 100 degrees and took a tentative step forward, immediately suppressing a yell and a curse as my toe hit my bedpost. Wincing as I put my weight on that foot, I stood next to my bed once more and set Silva down on it, throwing the blanket over her.
With that task done and my inner chivalrous side satisfied, I crawled under the blankets of the mattress on the floor and closed my eyes, waiting for the pain in my foot to subside so that I could finally get some sleep.
a green flash
ashes and smoke from nothing that was something
a giggle
"Kalí̱ douleiá!"
(Good job!)
chatter_amazement_applause
"Eíste katapli̱ktikí̱ kai talantoúchoi, Aisu."
(You are amazing and talented, Aisu.)
a pat on the shoulder
"Epitrépste mou na sas therapéf̱sei."
(Let me heal you.)
a smile
"Sas ef̱charistó̱."
(Thank you.)
a blue glow
a tingle
painless
refreshed
"Den eínai éna próvli̱ma ."
(It is not a problem.)
movingmovingmovingmoving
pastpastpastpast
newnewnewnew
"THERA!"
"Aisu, ti chreiázeste?"
(Aisu, what do you need?)
smile_happy_hug
"Móno eseís ."
(Only you.)
movingmovingmovingmoving
pastpastpastpast
newnewnewnew
"Eínai kíndyno, Aisu."
(It is danger, Aisu.)
frown_worry_frown
unhappyhunhappy
psychí̱ - therapef̱tí̱s
(soul healer)
psychí̱ - therapef̱tí̱s
(soul healer)
psychí̱ - therapef̱tí̱s
(soul healer)
I̱ zo̱í̱ mou eínai
(my life is)
psychí̱ - therapef̱tí̱s
(soul healer)
Psychí̱ - Therapef̱tí̱s
Therapéf̱sei ti̱n psychí̱ mou .
(Heal my soul.)
movingmovingmovingmoving
pastpastpastpast
newnewnewnew
"THERA!"
"Págos!"
(Aisu!)
nonononono
nothappeningdon'thappenimpossiblenotreal
dreamnightmarenightmirrorreality
cry_dead_choke
dyingdyingdyingdying
painpainapainpainpainpainpainapainpainpainpainpainapainpainpainpainpainapainpainpainpainpainapainpainpainpainpainapainpainpainpainpainapainpainpainpainpainapainpainpainpainpainpain
a blue glow
a blue glow
a blue glow
pain
pain
a tingle
painful
need to refresh
pain
Giatí eínai o pónos ekeí?
(Why is there pain?)
"Aisu."
"Psychí̱ - Therapef̱tí̱s?"
"Ti chreiázeste?"
(What do you need?)
painpainpain
pónospónospónos
"O pónos den tha fýgei ."
(The pain will not leave.)
crypainsobchokedead
"Giatí ?"
(Why?)
"Epitrépste mou na sas therapéf̱sei."
(Let me heal you.)
a blue glow
a tingle
painful
"Sas ef̱charistó̱."
(Thank you.)
a sob
"Eínai kakó ."
(It is bad.)
question
ti ?
(what?)
"Prókeitai gia éna próvli̱ma ."
(It is a problem.)
therapef̱tí̱s ?
(healer?)
"Den boró̱ na epoulo̱thoún."
(I cannot heal.)
. . .
ti?
(what?)
"Lypámai ."
(Sorry.)
silence
dead
cry
No.
nonononononononono
óchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchióchi
(nonononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononono)
therapef̱tí̱s
(healer)
Therapéf̱sei ti̱n psychí̱ mou .
(Heal my soul)
The faintest memories of a dream slipped away from me as I sat up, groaning as several of my joints cracked. Refusing to open my eyes, I attempted to roll off the bed and ended up crashing into a wall. Cursing to myself, I slid off the bed the other side and promptly tripped over something large, warm, and alive on the ground.
With a moan and several more colorful words and oaths sworn under my breath, I stood up, opening my eyes blearily. The first thing I saw was a blur of colors, and I felt a rush of wind before being slammed onto the ground. I literally felt the wind knocked out of my lungs and I coughed painfully, trying to get them to work again.
"Oh God, that's going to leave a bruise," I wheezed out, still trying to get air back into my lungs. I crawled up, still feeling jolted from the throw, and glared at my antagonist.
"The hell, Zorark?"
"I apologize," he drawled, dusting himself off as if this were a daily occurrence. "I had thought you were Adel. He did not always wake me up in the most gentle ways when I lived with Master before."
"Why the fuck was I in your bed to begin with?" I muttered, rolling up my sleeves to check for any new injuries I had acquired. I had more bruises from waking up this morning than I had from being killed twice the day before.
"I didn't think it courteous for me to make a girl sleep on the floor," he answered, walking out of the room. "I'm going to change and get breakfast. You find your own way around here."
"Chivalry is dead, Zorark," I grunted, getting to my feet.
"Only because of girls like you," came his reply.
"FUCK YOU."