Maelstrom

by Ajdin K. Denic

  "Maybe. Depends on what you want to know? But how about we clean things up first and put your friend to rest inside? Then we can talk some more. What do you think, Laney?"

  The bag was filled up again some minutes later, and it amazed Laney as much as the first time when they filled it up. Just for fun, she kept taking things out and putting them back again. Every single time the items got sorted within the bag by some kind of magic, she guessed.

  They brought Kaden in and sat opposite each other, Laney staring intently at Eliana, who just smiled in turn. So alike, yet so different. Wonder if all of them are so similar to humans, Laney thought.

  "What now?" Eliana asked, her smile ever-present as she looked Laney straight in the eyes.

  Chapter 11

  Kaden woke to a complete darkness with a horrible headache combined with fatigue. He felt as if a truck had run him over, then skidded over his corpse and run him over again. Every single joint and bone hurt throughout his body. To be more precise, he felt the pain in every single cell.

  His eyelids opened, pupils darting all over as if searching for something or someone. He remembered the bird calling out to him and getting hurt by its nails. After that, everything was dark and fuzzy.

  "That shitbird must have done something… to me," he muttered to himself, shuddering whilst in pain.

  "It's very rude to speak about your soul-bond like that, especially when it's about us majestic creatures of the sky, the Blackbirds!" a horribly high voice screeched within his mind. Kaden grabbed his head with both hands, as if it would help ease any of the pain, but nothing happened. More precisely, he couldn’t even move even a finger.

  "What in hell? Why can’t I move, and why am I hearing a bird speak in my head?" Kaden let out a silent scream, which instead translated to his mind.

  "Hell? I have no idea what that is, but I promise you, where we are going will be a much better place without a doubt!" the voice replied. "Oh, and you can’t move because I'm too far away, causing you excruciating pain."

  "Why would you even do that?" Kaden exclaimed, angry beyond belief.

  "Hmm. Well, I want to show you what happens if we are separated, so unless you treat me well, I'll just fly away and cause us both great pain. Now, how about giving me a name?"

  Kaden wanted to talk back to the voice, but was in too much pain to waste energy on that. Instead, he just blurted out the first thing that came to his mind when he looked at the bird. "Razor. Your name will be Razor from now on!" The wings were razor-sharp and looked amazing, so he instantly went with the name that would be most appropriate.

  "Alright. I was thinking about something more subtle," Razor replied. "But I guess it will do." He didn't sound pleased or insulted, more indifferent than anything. "Can I come to you without anyone attacking me?"

  "If you are small, yes you can, the big one wouldn’t fit here in this improvised shelter," Kaden replied carefully. He couldn’t wait to see Razor again and put his hands around the bird’s throat. Razor went silent for a while, during which the pain became less and he could move again with his fingers. Then, the bird landed on his chest, digging in his nails again, but to his surprise it didn’t hurt this time. It was as if the nails had gone through him somehow.

  Without hesitation, Kaden grabbed the small bird and shook it violently, cursing everything he could come up with.

  "Why did you do this to me, you monster!" he screamed. The bird didn’t fight back and let him vent his frustration. After Kaden was done, he looked him in the eyes.

  "You are weak. I'll be the bridge that will overcome that weakness. It's easy as that. Oh and if I hadn’t bonded to someone, death would have been the alternative, so live with it or go ahead and die."

  From up close, the bird looked every bit as intimidating as his large form, making Kaden shudder. The razor-sharp wings, and the pitch-black colour streaked with red gave him a magnificent appearance.

  "Do you feel better now?" Razor asked, his head cocked to one side.

  Kaden pushed himself up and leaned against the tree as the bird jumped off him and perched himself on a thick branch. His eyes followed Kaden’s every movement as he tried to position himself comfortably. The pain had subsided, but there was a dull sensation within him that didn’t give him any rest.

  "Yes, Razor, now that you are here, that is. Though there is a feeling within me that isn’t giving me any rest, like a dull ache that stays no matter what."

  The bird seemed to croak as if laughing at his new soul-bond partner. What was worse, Kaden seemed to understand every intention or thought that the bird gave off. He wasn’t quite sure if he wanted to know all that, or that someone probably knew all that he was thinking about, especially when it was a bird.

  "Yes, I do know everything you think about. Get used to it. Oh, and one more thing, I have seen all your memories already, so I know who you are from the day you were born. All the things you have done, have seen and ever thought."

  Razor stopped for the information to sink into Kaden’s thick skull and went on. "I can’t really say I like what I have seen up until now, but I could have chosen a worse humanoid to bond with. Prove me wrong, please."

  Kaden was left speechless, mouth wide open. Someone knew about everything that had happened besides him, every little detail. He really didn’t like this revelation to be honest. What use would he be anyway?

  "Believe me, you are far better off with than without me, Kaden," the bird spoke into his mind again. It was rather scary, but so much easier than talking. You just think about what you want the other to know, and they get the message.

  "Can I see what you see and hear what you hear?" Kaden asked excitedly, now finally understanding the importance of this revelation.

  "Yes, you can, and so much more."

  "So let us speak theoretically here, alright?" Kaden started his train of thoughts. "You could potentially scout the village so we could come up with a better plan?"

  "Better? You have none whatsoever as of this moment. Where the other two women are, I do not know, but I doubt that they have come up with anything as well," Razor shot back. Kaden frowned at his retort. The bird was snarky, but that could actually turn out to be a good thing in the end.

  "Alright then. How about you go and scout the village for us?" he asked after thinking about it. The bird just looked at him strangely.

  "You are really dense, aren’t you?" he replied.

  "Why? What do you mean by dense?" Kaden replied angrily, staring the bird down.

  "If I'm more than a hundred metres away from you, the pain will be so intense that you will probably fall unconscious," snarled the bird.

  "What!’ Kaden yelled, not through their mental link, but with his own voice. ‘It was your fault that the binding thing almost killed me, and now I have to keep your company forever, or be in constant pain? Oh Bardos, what have I done to ever deserve this?"

  "Seriously? I'm the victim here, not you. The thing is, you’re just weak, both physically and mentally. Your will is weak, everything about you radiates weakness."

  "Who are you talking to?" said a familiar voice. Kaden’s head shot to the right where the voice came from, only to find Laney and Eliana standing in the shelter entrance.

  Both of the women wore crudely tailored clothing, but it looked far better than what they had on earlier. Laney wore a brown leather skirt that ended just below her knees, and brown leather shoes that went up above her ankles that seemed to be wrapped for some added support. Black leather gloves and elbow guards were wrapped finely around her hands and elbows, with a brown leather shirt that hugged her like a second skin, to top it all off. It was an awkward sight to say the least, but she seemed to be very comfortable in those leather clothing pieces.

  Laney grinned at Kaden, holding out a stack of brown and black leather. How fitting, he thought. From behind her, Eliana stepped up and stood beside Laney, smiling sheepishly as always. She was a spitting image of Laney, except for the leather skirt and aching knee-l
ength tights that were somehow bound together in two layers. She seemed very confident wearing them as she walked around and leaned against the makeshift wall, arms crossed. The smile never wavered.

  "You two seem to have been quite busy." Kaden commented. The two women chuckled and threw each other knowing glances, which confused him even more.

  "Yes, we have, my savior," Eliana said with a slight nod. It was neither sarcastic nor ill-intentioned, but it came out totally awkward. Nevertheless, Kaden appreciated the gesture and nodded back with a smile of his own.

  Upon Razor spreading his wings, the two finally noticed the bird. Laney scowled and tried to search for a weapon, but was halted by Kaden with a raised hand.

  "Hold it. He is my...soul-bond," he said before she could do him any harm.

  "What?" Laney asked in confusion. "He’s your soul bunny?"

  "Huh? Don’t be stupid, what bunny? He's my soul-bond, not a soul bunny." Kaden scowled at her stupid remark.

  "See. I told you they were bonding," Eliana added.

  "Pray tell, what does that mean?" She crossed her arms and stood there, looking between the bird, Kaden and Eliana.

  "I actually have no idea myself,’ Kaden replied, turning towards Razor, "except that it has a few nice and not so nice perks." Both women glared at him as if he had cheated them somehow, though he had no idea where Eliana got the right to hold anything against him.

  "Women, it’s just how they are," Razor sent with a croak. Kaden shook his head in disbelief and sighed. Razor croaked some more and projected a partial image of their conversation, telling them just what they needed to know.

  "Alright then," Laney spoke up after the pain subsided. "We have used up quite a bit of the leather from our stocks, as you can see," she pointed out, swirling her fingers around her body and Eliana’s. "Now, you should get clothed as well, so we can explain our part and do something about that village. Oh, and don’t expect that perverted soul bunny to get a suit of his own." She shoved the clothing in his hands and stood there, waiting.

  "In front of you two?" he asked, his cheeks turning a shade of pink.

  "We aren’t even human, what is there to be ashamed of?" Laney teased.

  "No, technically you aren't, but your physique sure is damn similar to mine. Speaking of which, I bet Miss Eliana there would look just as human enough as the two of us without all that clothing, the ears and all." For the first time since meeting her, Eliana’s smile wavered and turned to a frown.

  "You want to see me naked, is that it? Very well then," she said, taking off her clothing. Kaden turned away immediately before he could see anything and stepped outside. From within the shelter, the two women burst out in laughter.

  "Damned women. Can’t live with them nor without them," he murmured to himself.

  After some minutes of suffering through the attempt to dress up, he finally succeeded. This leather outfit's strange, to say the least, he thought, looking at himself through Razor’s eyes. Tight, brown leather pants were combined with a brown leather shirt that looked like armour. It was sleeveless, and had many straps that needed to be strapped together from the front. Though it looked weird and silly, it was surprisingly comfortable. Some sort of leather gloves that went up to the elbow were next, and a head bandana to finish everything up.

  Will it even help me to withstand a single blow in a fight with an enemy? he thought.

  "Trust me, it will." Kaden looked up at Razor, who had answered the question for him. He didn’t know if it would, but he felt as if he should put more trust into his soul-bond, because if he was telling the truth, the bird would suffer the same fate as him. A chime rang out as he finished adjusting the bandana.

  "Huh? Is our deadline for the village already up?" Kaden exclaimed in panic, his heart pounding.

  "Why don’t you see what it is?" Razor asked. Kaden gave him a strange look that showed more fear than anything.

  "You think?" he replied. "Yes, yes. You are right. Let’s see." His body shaking, the message appeared in front of him.

  You have acquired a new status effect: Defense. Would you like to read the basics? Yes/No

  "Yes, please yes," he replied out loud without even thinking about it.

  Every piece of clothing, or armour if you will, has a defensive value. The values for your current equipment are as follows:

  [Headpiece: 4] [Armour: 9] [ Pants: 7] [Gloves: 4] [Boots: 5] [Total Value: 29]

  Defense value is a modifier that's applied to incoming damage and is subtracted from the opponents attack value. The higher the defense, the lower the damage sustained and the higher the resistance to pain. At five hundred points the pain felt is cut in half while at a thousand points, the pain disappears fully.

  Current amount of damage subtracted: 29.

  "What does that actually mean?" Kaden asked, looking over at Razor. "Like does it literally mean if someone would hit me for fifty damage, I would instead be damaged by only twenty one health?"

  "Exactly. Defense will take into account the value, and then subtract the amount from the damage you would normally receive," Razor explained. Kaden looked at him for a while, his mind blank. Fixing the bird with his eyes, Kaden frowned.

  "Bardos sent you, right?" The bird seemed to be glad that his partner had understood the subtle hints, and nodded his head slowly.

  "You are very observant, my soul-bond. In no way am I a servant of our lord. I'm just a gift from him to you. Your struggle was unsightly, so he decided to push you along, so to say."

  The silence that followed made them both feel miserable. Razor had saved him earlier and left him alive before that, so his motives couldn’t really be doubted, but Bardos, he was another story. Who knew if he had planted anything into Razor’s brain?

  "Will anything be easy in this world, Razor? What do you think, my new unwanted friend and ally?" The bird just looked back at him without an answer.

  "You don’t trust me. That's very logical. However, how about you give me just one chance? I mean, it’s not like you have a real choice, as if you kill me, we both die. But in all honesty, you would be far better off with me as an ally, and a friend rather than an enemy."

  "What if I actually kill you?" Kaden asked, fixing the bird with a stare that made him shrug at the stupidity of the question.

  "We both die, it’s that simple."

  Kaden snorted and turned towards the shelter. His eyes became very heavy suddenly. Maybe he would just like to lay down and die, it would be so much easier. Not that it mattered in any way, as they would most likely die trying to free the village.

  "I'll keep this to myself for now," he said, taking a step towards the makeshift shelter, "but if you do anything that would compromise their well-being, I will not hesitate to kill us both, be it you or our benevolent lord doing the betraying." Razor laughed at the statement, sounding strange and frightening at the same time.

  "I would expect no less from you. After all, the feelings you have for that woman surely are overwhelming." Kaden stood there, his eyes closed as Razor laughed. It wasn’t an evil or a nasty laugh, but a hearty one that bore no ill will. "I'll do my best to keep her safe, my new friend."

  "Took you long enough, handsome," Laney teased as he walked up to the two women. Eliana moved as if to strap on her chest armour, or whatever it was, while teasing him. He paid it no heed this time as he stood there, with Razor perched on his shoulder.

  "Thanks for the clothing," he replied, nodding at both women. Seeing that he wasn’t going along with their play anymore, they dropped the act. "We need to talk about some things. You two alright with that?"

  "Very well, Kaden," Eliana replied, sitting where she stood. Kaden sat opposite her with Laney to form a triangle.

  "We need to free the village as per Bardos’ instructions if we want to go on," Kaden started, looking at Eliana, "but what about you? What is your purpose here? What is your story? I'm sorry for being so direct, but if I'm to put my life on the line for someone and trust them, I need to
know who and what they are." The same smile was still plastered on her face as she looked at Kaden.

  "You know who and what I'm, more or less. Now I'll tell you what my purpose here is." She stopped and sighed before continuing. "From what I've gathered from Laney, my purpose here is the same as yours. My understanding is that Bardos puts sentient life forms here to fend for themselves in pairs, one male and one female of the species. My partner died the first day because he could not take the fact that he lost his previous life. Ever since, I have been roaming around alone. Today makes the fourth day in total."

  "I'm… sorry to hear about your loss,’ Kaden replied, his expression softening. ‘Must have been tough to fend for yourself with no one to rely on.’

  "So am I. He was a good friend, but this world was too much for him, so I'm better off alone."

  "Quite the honest one," Razor spoke through his link to Kaden. "I like her." Kaden turned towards the bird and gave him a strange look. The two women in turn stared at Kaden as if he had gone mad.

  "Sorry, I was talking to my bird here. In any case, now that I know about your goals, we can mutually agree on the fact that you are better off with us, right?"

  "Right!" Laney snapped, annoyed at being left out of the conversation. "Let us tell you about what we found out." Kaden looked at Laney, unable get mad at her childish behaviour. He too was naive like a small child.

  "Anyway, when you were out of it, we took some of the leather armors and went down to the stream to wash them, as they stank to high heaven," said Laney. Kaden chuckled at her retelling of the story, as she was all over the place with her hands.

  "Yes, that I remember very well," he added.

  "So, she had a dagger with her, which we then used to cut up some of the pieces. To our surprise, we both got a pop-up message. I quote,"

  You have learned a new crafting skill: Tailoring. Skill description: Make clothing, armour and all kinds of utensils out of leather and similar materials. The quality of the product depends on the creator’s knowledge. Current knowledge level: 1.