Chapter 22: Ch. 19
Surrounded by complete darkness, playbacks of memories were drifting all around in the darkness. I was dropping in the darkness, falling in a never ending pit passing by multiple of past memories. After dropping for hours, I had finally dropped on a surface. Below me was a small pit of fire. It had engulfed the entire dark surface in a short span of time. The immense heat was agonizing as it climbed throughout my body and inside as if it was a demon. Internally burning my insides. My skin was dripping away, exposing my raw melting flesh.
As my flesh melted, exposing my muscles that were slowly deteriorating, a sizzling noise was echoing from below. Boiling blood shot out from the fire below then bending as if it had its own free will. The blood emerged into multiple of human shapes, large cries came out of them. They were everywhere. A figure of a skinless young adult twisted and turned as droplets fell from it's flesh.
"Why!?" it screeched overshadowing the cries in the background. The vibrations from the screech shook my entire body and intensifying the pain.
I had awoken sweating. It was dark outside, marking night time. A single candle dimly lighted the room. The burning sensation while I was unconscious still lingered. My veins were bulging and I could hear my blood pound. My breathing was unstable. The sheets were drenched in sweat. I was nude under thin sheets. I grasped my chest, and felt my body. There wasn't any external injuries.
I scanned my surroundings. It was truly the inn room I had been staying for the past three days. My shattered sword and torn armor was sitting in the corner. It was still stained with my dried up blood. A sack of coins was the only thing on top of the lone table. All evidence that I had loss.
My jaw was sore and breathing was difficult. Something sweet was in my mouth. Rolling it around my mouth, it was a hard object. I grabbed it and took it out, only to see it was a red hard candy. What was a candy doing in my mouth? I didn't know what to do with it so I placed it on the table.
As I laid the candy, my eyes drifted to the round gold plated metal slightly exposing out of a brown sack. It hardly felt like I even put on a good show but I wouldn't had refused it if I was miraculously conscious for the gift. A set of dull grey clothes laid on floor, it must've been loaned out by the inn as my original clothes had been torn from the fight.
The inn had its own small bar. It wasn't heavily occupied since it only served third rate wine and didn't taste as pleasant as the pub's alcohol. It was meant to serve those who were too lazy or desperate. I had been the latter. I had been at death's door many times, and when I did… my ritual would be to binge drink. Every time was unpleasant.
It was almost midnight, many people had already retired for the night. The bar had a couple of stools available while the rest were placed on top of the tables. There was only one customer in the vicinity sitting where they served directly. I had sat next to that customer as that spot was still open.
"Are you aware we're closing in a bit sir."
"Yeah yeah, just give me three bottles"
My blood was still pumping aggressively in my head. I just needed something to ease the pain quick or I was going to lose my shit. The bartender had settled down three bottles in front of me. I shoved my sack of coins to him, I didn't want to hear him talk at all. He took it, counted it and placed the change back in. Regret loomed over me, I shouldn't had handed it him. The jingling noise coming from him messing with the sack screeched into my ear. Their was only one solution to this annoyance... I started hammering away when he handed the bottles to me.
Pounding away the wine bottle in one go, I had noticed the woman next to me was staring at me. As my eyes met hers for a second, she disengaged and looked away. I grabbed the next wine bottle and pounded it one go as well. I started feeling tipsy but the third bottle wouldn't do much.
"Hey get me two more bottles"
"Are you sure you can handle-"
"Listen, I'm a grown man. Just let me have the damn bottles."
"As you wish sir."
The bartender had appeared with two more. The pain had slightly eased up. Looking at the empty bottles on the table, I could see my reflection. The gloomy dead tired eyes of a man. I hadn't had the chance to shave so my chin and mustache's scrub of hairs sprouted out proudly for everyone to see them. The image of that man in the bottle reflected my internal state. A self loathing man. Deep down, I truly hated myself. The past few days I had forgotten.
I had been preoccupied with the boy to really self loathe. I truly belonged on the battlefield, fighting hordes by myself. Zoning back to reality, I had noticed that through the reflection of the same bottle from it's side displayed a distorted female looking towards my direction.
"Got a staring problem?"
"!?"
She faced forward feigning ignorance. She knew that I had spotted her once again. I had turned to get a good look at her and made sure I was as obvious about it as I could be. She didn't break her composure. She was expressionless, she would fit the role of a cold beauty. Her long blonde hair was slicked to one side while a ornament of a book pinned it to part it. Her eyebrows seemed as if they were well kept. Her blue eyes were bright, staring into them made you feel as if you were staring at ocean waves. Her lips were luscious. She really was a natural beauty. Her features were well defined as well as her assets. She had a plain light blue long sleeve shirt and dark grey slacks. Her black boots came up halfway to her shin. She brought an uncontrollable urge to monopolize her only If I was an .
"Yes I'm talking to you, the one sitting next to me."
"..."
It was perplexing that no consumables were in front of her. If I was a fool, I would had been trapped in her beauty to realize the oddness in a lone stranger at this hour with nothing in front of them. She stared at my bottle expressionless like before whenever I turned my head away from her. She just wouldn't talk. Is her voice a siren's tune or something? Why isn't she talking.
"It's rude to decline a drink" I made sure I toned down my voice to be less aggressive. I extended my hand with a new bottle towards her. I wasn't mad exactly mad at her. I had wanted to pressure her a bit to see what she did but she is an adult and she can choose to do whatever she wants. I wasn't expecting her to actually drink it anyways.
When I was about to bring back the bottle, she grabbed onto it with both hands. My grip loosened and she took it from my hands. Placing the tip of the bottle against her lips. She had started to chug the whole bottle. Eh! The contents of the bottle was draining away.
She had finished the entire bottle quick! Even more, she had the same expressionless face.
"We got ourselves a drinker huh. Hey bartender get us another for this lady."
"Sir, I need to start closing. I'll give you a bottle but you need to leave right after."
"Yeah that's fine."
He hurriedly gave us a bottle and shoo'd us out to the lounge after he had received his payment.
She had gripped a bottle in both her hands, treating it as if it was brittle. After drinking a bit I felt energized, the lingering pain I had felt earlier was almost gone.
"Geez, I'm full of energy now. Want to go for a walk?" I jest. Mark would probably be back soon but I don't think I could face him right now. I couldn't imagine what kind of disappointed face he would have. I knew it was a tournament but I really got beat down. Logically it was silly but maybe If I had put up more of a fight than just a mere scratch I would be fine with showing my face. Of course at the time, I was happy to inflict atleast a wound but now having the time to think about it, it wasn't really worth anything to gloat about. My body loosened up as I stretched my upper body then my legs getting ready for a walk.
With or without the lady, I was going to take a walk, though I almost forgot that she hadn't spoken one word so far. I directed my eyes at her to see what she was doing. She had been nodding ever since I had suggested it! I feel kind of bad… She must be mute. It didn't bother me. Everyone had their circumstances.
"Right, let's go."
The moon wasn't around but the night sky had been full of stars spanning across. The streets were empty as well and evidence of the festival taking place were left out. The whole cleanup was later today. I had walked away from the central plaza where the tournament had taken place. The sight of the festival truly looked like it would had been fun. Signs of exotic shows and variety of games were everywhere. I should had taken the kid to at least one thing, he'll be sure to complain about it.
We had came across a plain area, it was a park. It had statues of important people throughout it's kingdoms history. There was a play area where kids could play. The kingdom of Mathelios tried their best to increase happiness across it's cities. Spending taxes to build recreational areas. The park had swings made of metal and slides. It also had sandboxes. The ground was filled with twelve inches deep of sand to prevent kids from hurting themselves when they tripped. It was a simple concept but executing it was rough on funds since they had to hire blacksmiths to produce almost the entire play area. The citizens didn't mind the high taxes because it was invested back into the people.
Three swings dangled motionless until I had sat on one. She followed and sat next to me.
"It must be creepy going with a guy alone in the dark." I gave a weak superficial smile as my jaws were still sore.
She had shook her head. Her face was flushed red. The alcohol must be hitting her now. Her bottle was empty. She had killed it while we were walking earlier in one go when I wasn't looking. She leaned her head on the chains of the swing. The swing had magic embedded in it. It prevented people from getting pinched by it.
"You're making me look bad now."
I had been to lost in thought that I hadn't taken a single sip from the bottle in my hand. Gulping down the entirety of my bottle felt unpleasant to my stomach.
With her foot she began writing something in the sand beneath her. It read Ene. What does that mean? I looked at her and she pointed to herself.
"Oh so that's your name."
She closed her eyes and nodded and then pointed at me.
"You want to know my name?"
She nodded while keeping her eyes closed. I should give her my name in return for giving hers but It wouldn't leave my vocal cords. I hated myself, the Kaiser I knew killed to stay alive day to day just to be bask in his own misery. He was also a petty man. I didn't have the confidence to claim myself so I smiled at her.
"It's a secret."
She had opened her eyes, same cold expression. She leaned forward and started puking upon her name. Waaaaah that looks painful. The amount she threw up must've hurt her stomach. She was gagging. It was a pitiful sight, the beauty with an abomination coming out of her mouth. I was gagging a bit myself. I got off my swing and grabbed her hair out of the way, patting her back with my other hand.
"There, there… You're done for the night. Let's return you home"
This unknown deja vu feeling stirred in me, I couldn't quite pin point it. If I had to guess it would be like the feeling of being compelled to help. The thought to reconsider crossed my mind as I saw puke was on her lips. Whatever, this shirt wasn't mine anyways. Taking a part of my shirt I wiped her lips of her puke. After disposing the bottles, I had placed her on my back and started to head back. I hope I make it back before she pukes again…
The feeling of her soft boobs pressed against my back, I had felt it but with the mess she was in, there was no way I would feel any sort of attraction. I needed a distraction. To break the ice, I had begun talking about nonsensical stuff.
"Hey wasn't the festival fun? They had some pretty cool things… Uh let's see, what did they have again…"
All I did during the festival was fight in the tournament. I should've brought Mark around, I'm sure that boy would've enjoyed it.
"Oh they had the tournament, that was quite interesting wasn't it…"
"..."
"Mmmm tomorrow, I have to go shopping for new clothes. Don't worry about it, it wasn't your fault. I was going to buy new ones anyways. I have to also buy new armor, my armor doesn't fit me anymore. My weapon isn't serviceable anymore either."
"..."
As my ramble went on it had started to betray my real thought and stray away. Mark must be wondering where I am. I haven't seen him since the beginning of yesterday. As we got to the inn, I could feel her breath against my ears.
"Thank you" the smooth voice had trickled down into my eardrums, It had gave me goosebumps.
"Yeah, you're welcome."
"Store... Tomorrow.."
"You want to tag along?"
I can feel her weight shift as she nodded.
"Then I'll knock on your door tomorrow."
I brought her to the hallway with multiple of rooms lined up. After walking around for a good while, she had pointed to her room. I had opened her door with her keys. It was dark and I couldn't see what was really in the room. All layouts in the inn were the same so I knew where the bed was. I laid her down on her sides. She had fallen asleep. What laid before me was the dream of a young man. My heart did not flutter as I stripped her shirt off. Then I proceeded to her boots. Taking her socks off, and then sliding her pants off. I stopped there, placed her keys on the table and left. It wasn't for any perverted reason like wanting to see her figure. I didn't want her to be puking on her clothes, I would hate to puke on my clothes.
Making sure the door was locked, I headed back to my room. At the start of the day when the alcohol wears off, I would probably revert to my old self that I loathe so I should just enjoy what I can now.
Mark should be asleep by now. As I creek the door open and silently enter, the light from the hallway had exposed that the room was empty. The furthest that the light could reach before fading out exposed a sealed beer, and a single kabob on top of the table. Where was Mark...
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