by Envy Mercury
Yumi killed another guard by a door that led to the inside of the large tower above us. He never had a chance as he met death. Mecci caught up from behind and opened the door, blasting white-hot flame into the building. There were screams as the windows lit with light. I had to look away, an attempt to preserve my night vision. Mecci then went inside, the sounds of her decreeing death on enemies heard as she traveled down the corridors. The surround sound of death echoing around us as she made her way through to clean house.
Mecci came out another door, sweating and looking worn from the amount of mana she had spent. She went overboard, but the job was done. The rest of our reinforcements settled inside, finishing off whoever was left of Victor's men. I stood gasping and catching my breath as Yumi walked by, patting me on the back and then ruffling my hair.
“That was some fine sword work Rezner,” she said to me with a small smile. “It seems you had a very skilled teacher.”
“Yeah,” I muttered in reply. “She very well could be the best. I might just keep her around.”
She laughed. “She might just have to give you pointers soon on how to avoid getting covered in blood. You are in dire need of a long bath.” She gave me a coy look as her eyes flirted with mine. “A grand warrior indeed, Lord Rezner.”
The way she looked at me and the words she spoke caused goosebumps to overpower my body as shivers went through me. She turned away from me to face everyone when I realized it was not only her that gave me the shivers. It was the bog marrow. I felt withdrawal and was weakening as the drug decreased in my system. I felt fragile.
“I would hug you, Master, but you look pretty disgusting. My master is always such a dirty boy.”
“Yeah, pretty dirty. You are right about this being disgusting,” I said to Mecci as I leaned forward with my hands on my knees. “I think I did good considering I had a crash course in using mana and in using a sword.”
She leaned down to meet my face and give me a smile. “Yes, and thank you for not dying.” Her lip trembled at that moment a little. “I really am happy that you are still here.”
“I’m not going anywhere Mecci, that’s not really in my future plans.”
She pulled herself together and swallowed down her feelings, and waved a finger in my face. “Good.”
Yumi was giving congrats to everyone, one of our own got hurt by an arrow, but it wasn’t life-threatening. Other than that, we were okay. It worked out about as good as it could, considering what happened to our foes. I realized that life can come at you fast in moments like this, and things can change quickly and drastically. A wind of fate was about to blow.
There was shouting coming from outside the gate. The shouts grew closer, pulling our attention. It was loud with a frightened tinge to it. The sound reaching our ears were full of desperation. The person shouting was Mew.
She was a mess, covered in blood. If it was her blood or blood from another, it was hard to tell. The calm and collected girl that always stuffed her feelings and didn’t back down from anyone had a look of fear on her face that I had never witnessed before.
“You all have to run! We… we have to go!” Mew shouted to everyone as she stumbled in.
Yumi walked up and got a hold of her, “Mew, what…”
“WE ALL NEED TO FLEE! They are coming, we have to leave now! There is no time- we have to…”
“Mew, who is coming?” Yumi asked while grabbing her shoulders to get her to focus. “Mew, please- you need to tell me.”
“The three are almost here. I tried to buy some time… but I could only do so much.”
“The three, you mean the Troika Blood?” Yumi asked.
Mew was sobbing, and she nodded her head. Tears dripped from her chin as her body slumped. She had given up on everything. “Lady Yumi… Death it comes, and it comes for us.”
Chapter Eight
Yumi was trembling, trying to put on a strong face. I had no clue who these three were. If they scared Mew that much and caused Yumi to show fear, they couldn’t be good a good thing to cross paths with. They seemed terrifying, and I hadn’t even laid eyes on these three. We were worn out from our small fight. The new threat appeared to be an overwhelming challenge even if we were at optimum strength. I could see why they were so upset.
“Master… I need you to leave with everyone here. I need you to go,” Mecci said as she turned towards me. Her lip trembling, her eyes moist. She reached her hand up and cupped the side of my face. “Please go, and I will do my duty.”
“Mecci… What do you mean, your duty?” I asked.
“To protect my Master, of course,” she said. Then she simply turned and started to walk away towards the direction that Mew came from. I went after her and grabbed her shoulder to keep her from going, she shrugged me off. “Master, go now before it's too late. Please, just go.”
“Why would you die for a man like that? Are you insane, Mecci?”
Mecci turned towards Mew to answer her question. With tears streaming down her face and her fists shaking at her sides. Her bottom lip that she currently chewed on was released to reveal a snarl of fury. “He is my Master, and he is my creator. I exist for him. I also… I love him.” She wiped her face and recomposed herself to continue. “This world needs him. Our world needs him more than it has ever needed anyone before. He has been, and he still is- the only one that can save it.” After that, she walked away towards death.
“Mew, I need you to help these people get to safety, take them and run,” Yumi said.
“Lady Yumi, you can guide them. You don’t need me to do it.”
“No, Mew, I can’t. This is what I need you to do.”
“Lady Yumi, I can’t just…”
“You can, and you will. This is my wish. Guide the rest of the guild members to safety, quickly now. Take everyone, along with Rezner, to safety.”
“I…”
“NOW!”
Mew came over, grabbed my hand, and started pulling me away with the crowd as we hustled away, leaving Mecci and Yumi behind. I looked back towards the two women as they exited out the front gate. Everyone was moving fast towards the back of the manor. A smaller door came into view that apparently exited out the back way and into the woods. We reclaimed the estate for it to only come to this. This was a bad ending.
We were in the forest a little way when I saw everyone still running in front of me. It’s not that I literally saw them with my eyes. I saw who they were, and I felt what they were. We continued into that forest when I felt shame. It wasn’t my shame; I had no shame left. It was the shame of all these scared people. It was Mew’s shame of her leaving Yumi behind. I saw they were people that always would have to run. It was then that my heart defeated my mind.
I stopped running and lost the grip of Mew’s hand. She shuffled to a quick stop, turning to seek my hand again, but I just stood there, my hands at my side.
“Rezner, we need to go.”
“I can’t go with you.”
“Why!? Do you need to be an idiot yarner and go get more bog marrow? Is that what you need? I’ve known, I smell it on you, I’ve seen the gold flecks in your eyes! How could you? How could you do that to them!?”
“I’ve always been a failure, Mew.”
She was crying again, looking at my face like she was seeking out something. Inspecting me for some sort of clue. I was sure she wouldn’t find anything, there was nothing there.
“I am a failure, Mew. But, like… I can’t leave them.”
“You’ll die,” she sniffled and rubbed her eyes with her arm.
“Someday, maybe today. Maybe tomorrow. I’ve already been dead inside for a long time.”
“You’re stupid. You are really, really stupid.”
She jumped as I moved towards her, pulling her into a hug. She relaxed into me as I squeezed her tight, embracing her in the security of my arms. Mew vanished into me with how much larger I was than her. I felt her breath stumble as her tears soaked into my clothes, wetting my chest. I pulled
away from her and leaned down, wiping the tears that were escaping her eyes. I scratched behind her ear and leaned in, giving a small kiss to her forehead. I cupped her face and looked into her eyes.
“I have to go now.”
“Not you too. Everyone always leaves me. I won't have anyone left,” she said as she pushed her face into my hand.
I ran my hand gently through her hair. “Maybe just once, I won’t be a failure. Someone I care about said that I am supposed to save this world, whatever that means. How can I do that if I can’t even save a couple stubborn girls?”
“You can’t even stand.”
“Well, maybe not being able to stand will be my failure. I have to go be a hero now. You go help those people,” I said as I pointed in the direction that everyone had been running. I thumbed behind me, “I will go help them, now you go.”
She looked like she was going to say something, hesitated, and then tried again. In the end, she only got out two words. “Bye, Rezner.” Then she was gone. I took a breath, turned around, and ran as fast as I could manage back towards what was considered certain death.
We hadn’t been running a long time, so it didn’t take me too long to make it back to the manor. All that was left here were the bodies, laying as reminders of the fight we had not too long ago, our short-lived victory. I continued on, ignoring my body as it kept screaming at me that this was a bad idea with how slow it was moving and how much it hurt. I ignored that I was a failure. Even so, I had to try.
I could hear explosions that crashed out like thunder, rumbling into the air. Dark clouds were forming, and it could have been from lightning, but I doubted it. This had to be the way that I needed to go. I ignored my self-doubts, telling me to turn around and run away. Maybe they weren’t doubts. Perhaps it was my subconscious arguing with me that I needed to go, self-preservation, and all that. I heard the sound of swords clashing and knew I was getting closer to my final destination.
Working my way through the trees, I came to an area where the foliage was thinned out a little bit more. I snuck between them, and I went out into the open. I took in the scene that was before me. Destruction would be an understatement. Instead of the rubble of a building, the destruction of nature was evident all around. There was smoke from fires in the grass and the trees. Some trees were broken like a wicked storm had passed through. The scene was intimidating, to say the least. Yumi and Mecci were closer to me and looked like they had been in an epic fight.
Yumi was sitting with her legs under her on the ground like she had just run out of strength, and the only course of action she had left was to just sit down. Her sword was a distance away from her, out of her reach. She wasn’t trying to reach it anymore. She appeared to have given up, accepting her fate.
Mecci stood, but bearly. She was trembling with weakness, her hands trying to summon a ball of fire between them, it fizzling in and out of power. She was out of juice but still trying. That look of determination was in her eyes that I had come to know so well. She was staring down the three figures, almost challenging them in her weakened state. It was something to admire, really. The three figures, or Troika Blood as they were called, were totally unexpected. I imagined scary all-powerful beings; they didn’t look powerful at all.
A long time ago, when I went missing, it was extraordinary, so I had to investigate and see what I could figure out about it. Some couch detective work, as you could say. I always looked at paranormal forums and different places to try to get info. Naturally, I also ended up looking into other things. The supernatural did interest me over time. I think it can happen to anyone who has an event that is out of the ordinary happen to them. I came across stories that could be true or could be made up. I read stories about ghosts and humanoid encounters that people posted and talked about. You could sum those up as crazy. Some stories I believed to be just that, only stories. Until I came here to this world. Being here really could open your eyes to what may or may not be accurate.
Now, you may ask what all that has to do with me encountering these three. The Troika Blood that stood before me. It had a lot to do with it, when I saw them in person, my eyes examining them. The figures didn’t look powerful with how they were, but that didn’t mean they weren’t intimidating. They were creepy as fuck. Before me stood three children, or they at least looked like children. They had black eyes. This encounter made me recall the stories I read about the black-eyed kids. I got shivers thinking about it, and I did feel fear, not from being afraid of seeing them, more they put out an evil aura- a big blanket of fear surrounding them, that I was currently walking into.
Me being the failure that I was, they definitely heard and noticed me when I walked right on in, stepping on twigs and pretty much making as much noise that could possibly be made. Not on purpose, mind you, but I didn’t really think I could be stealthy anyway. So, fuck it. Walk-in like I own the place. All three took their focus off the women and instead were peering straight at me. The look of malice they gave was indescribable. The only thing I could think of that would be close to this look would be if you were getting married, and right before you said I do, you tell your almost spouse that she is ugly as fuck, and you walked away. The would-be offended bride might give a look close to this one. It might, a critical keyword there.
I gave a small half-assed wave to everyone. It’s how I rolled. Then I spoke my wisdom for all to hear.
“Hey, what’s up, dudes?”
Then I just stood in place waiting. Well, more of a worn-out wavering stand like a drunk. I don’t know how I did it, but I just looked super confident, though I was almost shitting my pants. There was silence for a while as the women turned back to look at me, expressions of shock and defeat. I knew they would be pissed I was here when they sent me away, but what could you do. Sometimes you just had to irritate people to get stuff done.
“No, why…” Mecci started to say before I shooshed her, cutting her off before she could finish. Everyone was just staring at me. Well, I was the center of attention.
I looked at the three children.
“So, Troika Blood, eh? Sounds somewhat intimidating, I guess. Part of me thinks it means you all are on the same cycle. You know, have your periods at the same time. Man, that mood would be scary, I think. Though, looking at you, it seems you would be too young for that.”
“You dare,” the boy in the middle started. He had a soft voice with an accent that was sort of British, crazy.
I waved my hand, cutting him off, “I do dare many things, so yes, I do dare. Sorry if I insulted your little kid feelings. I’m not one to give out participation trophies. So, sorry, not sorry.” I shook my head and gave out a sigh of disappointment as I gave glances to the girls. “Looks like you did a number on my women. That doesn’t make me very happy. How rude.” I motioned to Mecci to scoot over out of the way a bit with my hand. I was surprised she did. She was more of the throw herself in my way to protect who she cared about type.
“Your woman?” Yumi asked. Though she still looked defeated, she had a small smile.
“Sure.”
“That would have been nice.”
“Yeah, it will be,” I said. Yumi lowered her head, keeping the smile she wore on her face. “I just need to ground these children or whatever you do here. The typical take away their devices and forbid them from playing with their little friends at the park. They need to go back to their home in hell and stay there a while.” I nodded to them.
While they looked pretty pissed at me, I knew they didn’t understand all the slang from my world. Maybe they did. My speech did seem to be throwing them off their game a little bit. They probably didn’t get told off like that very often, if at all. We just stood there a while longer, having our short standoff that no one would see. I don’t think anyone would hear about it either if things went as bad as I felt they could. But, just maybe I could assist my women in escaping. I thought I loved them. Trading my failure ridden self for them was a fair trade. I guess it’s a dumb thing p
eople do for love: self-sacrifice and all that nonsense. I couldn’t even rid myself of addiction for others in the past. Now, I was here offering up my life for them. I just hoped they realized that. It would be a shame for them to die as well.
I gazed at all three children examining them more. The girl on the right, I wasn’t sure what she could do. She was just kind of chilling there. She had a white dress that looked a bit old fashioned. Well, in my world, it would have been. Here was totally different. She looked like a sweet little blonde girl, well besides her eyes. Fuck those eyes.
The middle boy, he must have been a sorcerer. His outfit fit it, kind of old fashioned as well. It looked like something a royal would wear. I had to give him kudos in that department. He would have looked good on the red carpet in LA. He appeared to be his group leader from how much he was talking more than the others.
The boy on the left, well, looked like he was in a type of battle clothing. It was a mix of the ninja garbs, with some light armor mixed in. He had a couple short swords. I discovered that he didn’t talk much. Apparently, his mouth was stitched shut. Too many dad jokes, maybe. All three had very light blonde hair.
I pointed at the boy on the left. “I take it he doesn’t speak much?” I raised my eyebrows with my question.
The middle boy sharpened his gaze at me and smirked a little. “Our father doesn’t find much enjoyment when Unnon speaks, like the issues it can cause.”
“Oh, so a happy family I take it? Now, do you have a mother, or… do you have three different ugly mothers?” I asked them.
“Brother Degath, I tire of his speaking,” the girl said.