Chapter 2: Betrayal
~There's one thing that keeps surprising you about stormy old friends after they die; their silence.~(Ben Hecht)
Pity awoke in the morning worried about Craig. He ran off yesterday and she hadn't seen him since, but she knew he was always hard at work maintaining the peace so she set off into the woods to hunt for some food. Though The Sanctum was a large city it was only a spec compared to the continent it resides on. The area outside of the 8 sectors is nothing but forest and mountains as far as the eye can see. She grabs her spear, throws her bow and quiver on her back and straps on her trusty utility belt. Although she is not as strong as Craig she is adaptable, prowling these woods since she was a mere child she had become a shadow, an assassin beyond compare and the thick woods help her catch her prey in stealth. Before leaving the house she remembers to grab a pastry off the table, Beauty Dave loves sweets and she brings him one every morning. Pity has never learned what Beauty Dave does for a living and she's always too afraid to ask considering he's always dressed like a woman and always flirting with Craig. She meets up with Beauty Dave at his throne which he has built in the center of town, everyone thinks he's crazy but Pity enjoys how outrageous he is.
"My Queen." Pity bows as she approaches Beauty Dave.
"Oh baby you always make me smile, but you ain't wrong I'm a damn queen!" Beauty Dave shouts as he jumps off his throne and poses.
"I brought you a bear claw today Beauty I hope you like it, I would have had more but those midnight cravings hit hard." Pity giggles as she tosses Him the pastry.
"Bear claw! Mmm that brings back memories, that used to be my nickname back during the war. The troops loved it, see I would take my hand and...."
"Whoa, whoa, stop please i don't think I need to hear that." She always stops Beauty Dave before he gets too deep into his stories.
"Oh too true baby I can be a bit over the top can't I, Anyways your pastries are a tastier treat then I am." Beauty Dave starts laughing.
"Thank you, I'm heading off into the woods. Do you want me to grab you anything?" Pity asks. Beauty Dave rubs his chin for a moment. "Oh honey if you would be a dear and get me some owls nectar I would be ever so grateful."
"Will do love." Pity says as she turns down the north road to head into the woods.
Pity doesn't follow the normal path through the woods, instead she chooses to hop into the thick of it crawling through the brush. She knows not many animals cross the road because there's too much foot traffic and the ones that do are usually small birds and rodents. No she wants to hunt down her nemesis, Tiny is what she named him. It's a large grog, a tree animal and although ugly the meat is considered a delicacy. Pity has hunted Tiny the Grog for a couple weeks, setting traps and lures and full on ambushes. Unfortunately she hasn't had any luck, but she felt today was different and was more ready then she had ever been. After crawling through thick brush not making a single sound Pity arrives at Tiny's hideout. She is always taken away by the beauty of the area. Once out of the thickest part of the woods you see nothing but flowers everywhere and in every color surrounding a smooth cave entrance. The trees seem to bend over the area creating a dome like structure of wood making the area almost invisible and extremely hard for large predators to get in. The sun still breaks through the thick canopy of leaves above creating rays of light shining down making the dew on the flowers look like diamonds. There is a long thin stream that leads out of the cave entrance and seems to disappear under some boulders. Pity slaps herself to get out of the trance this paradise puts her in and gets her game face on. She has never been inside the cave because she doesn't like to brave an area she didn't scout out first, but seeing as her nemesis has evaded all other attempts Pity has decided it's time to go head on. She chooses to climb a tall tree overlooking the cave entrance, although Tiny is a tree dweller he chooses to live in the cave so he will be on lower branches when he comes home giving pity the advantage. She waits for three hours and to her surprise she starts to get worried. He may be her nemesis and she may want to eat him but it doesn't seem right to pity if he perished in any other way then by her hand. She climbs back down the tree and slowly approaches the cave entrance with her spear ready, and pulls some Uga out of her utility belt. Uga is a small creature about four inches long that when injured it emits a bright yellow light that can be seen for up to a mile. Pity bites down on the creature's leg, ripping it right off and tosses it as far as she can into the cave. It shines as bright as the sun in the darkness and clear as day she sees Tiny.
Tiny is covered in blood, his leg seems to be broken and his eye has been gouged out. There are no bite marks or claw marks to indicate another animal attack. It was a human that had attacked Tiny. Pity always tried to treat her prey with respect because they were nourishing her, helping her live on with the loss of their life. Whoever did this was doing it for fun, to be a monster. Pity screams in anger, the light from the Uga bug creating a shimmer amongst the rock wall and illuminating the pond. Tiny sees Pity's shadow and with a grumbly voice says "told you you'd never catch me alive." His good eye fades to gray. She starts to cry.
"Why so sad princess I thought you wanted him dead." Pity looks up and sees Craig leaning against the back of the cave on top of a ledge. He steps more into the light and she sees he's covered head to toe in blood.
"You know you talked about how hard this Grog was to capture but it only took me 20 min. I'll tell you what he was a strong bastard." Craig says this with no emotion on his face or in his voice.
"What's wrong with you Craig why would you do this, it isn't like you this is the work of someone evil." Pity cries out
"I don't even know what good and evil is anymore, the ones we think are our heroes are the biggest villains of all yet they protect us and guide us." Craig stares at his hands
"What are you talking about Craig, what happened to you?" Pity, now scared of Craig's crazed state, pulls her spear close.
"The Captain killed Ace, ripped his heart out right in front of MEEEEEEEEE!!!!!" Craigs screams are a maniacal mix of laughter and crying. With his best friend killed by the person he always wanted to be His brain snapped and pity knew she needed to get away from him. She gets up to run but Craig is fast and catches her before she makes it out the cave mouth.
"What are you doing Craig I'm your friend." Pity shrieks as Craig tosses her back towards the edge of the pond.
"I can't have friends. I must be loyal to the Captain only, it's the only way to save everyone don't you see." Craig screams in pity's face.
"What do you mean you can't have friends, please Craig whatever you're thinking, don't do it. I love you, you're my only friend, we can work this out and find another way to save everyone." Pity begs as she cries. She knows she can't fight Craig; he's too strong, she just wants him to snap out of it, to hug her and mourn their lost friend Ace together. Pity crawls back begging and pleading all while Craig fights with himself like a crazy person inching closer to her. She can't move back anymore without jumping in the pond. Craig stops and finally full of emotion he looks pity in the eyes and says "this is the only way to save everyone." He jumps on top of pity and starts to strangle her crying and apologizing as he chokes the life out of her. Pity fights back scratching and punching but to no use. Craig smashes her head into the rock twice before pity's hands stop flailing. Slowly She starts to lose her vision and within a couple of minutes Craig is crying over the lifeless corpse of his last friend. Suddenly Craig snaps back into his emotionless self, repeating "the jobs done" over and over as he walks out of the wooded paradise. Walking through the brush Craig meets up with one of the Captains informants.
The tall man looms over Craig wearing a black trench coat, a fedora and red gloves with a blade on each pointer finger. "So Craig, was the deed done, do your loyalties lie with the captain and only the captain?" The informant asks with a wicked smile.
"Yes the job is done, she's dead, I have no more friends or family. I am loyal to no one but the Captain." Craig stands at attention as he tells the informant the news.
"Yes I saw everything, it was quite good fun to watch. A little dramatic at times but I guess that should be expected. When I killed my friend I was in such a frenzy of emotions I killed everyone In the next two houses." The informant starts to laugh. Craig doesn't move an inch.
"Well aren't you the life of the party." The informant says sarcastically, he reaches into his jacket and pulls out a pin with three interlocked chain links along with a pair of golden gloves.
"The chain link pin represents the trust the captain has In you and the gloves represent your status as one of his hands. Serve us well Craig and there will be much more in store for you." The informant hands Craig the pin and gloves and disappears into the woods. Craig stands in the same spot not moving for fifteen minutes before snapping back to reality and dropping to his knees. He was alone now. Alone with the person he now hated more than anything, himself. After wallowing in self pity Craig gets up and heads back into town.
Two hours had passed since pity took her last breath alongside her nemesis Tiny. Grogs fortunately have a secret. If the body isn't completely destroyed they can be reborn retaining all the knowledge their previous body held. The center of Tiny's chest starts pulsating and expanding until it pops and a pearl rolls across the rocky ground next to pity's body. After a couple of minutes a new Tiny starts to fight it's way out, cracking the dark green pearl. Emerging from the pearl covered in fluids Tiny looks over at his rival, immediately he lays on pity's lifeless body and starts to cry.
"Well aren't you cute, you cry over a fallen enemy as though she's your equal. It's strange yet comforting." A mysterious man speaks to Tiny while remaining unseen.
"Waaaaagrum" Tiny croaks deeply in response.
"Yes yes I know, but don't be alarmed. I'm a friend and if you want your pal right there to come back to reality you need to let me help her. She needs to go into the water."
The stranger finally reveals himself and it surprises Tiny. The man is tall and slender yet extremely muscular. His long brown hair caressed his extremely handsome face, and he wore a white sleeveless robe showing his bare chest along with flowy white pants. He was not someone you would see in the woods let alone a cave deep off the beaten path.
"Waaaagrrrum." Tiny steps back but keeps a close eye on the stranger.
"Oh really, well with a threat like that I'll make sure not to pull anything." The man in white starts to laugh as he approaches Pity's limp body.
"My what a strong girl she is, her spirit burns bright I've always felt it. Living in The sanctum was like walking through a dark hallway bumping into all the miserable people that inhabited the wretched place." Still speaking he picks Pity up and starts to submerge himself into the pond holding her out keeping her afloat.
"Then one day she srrived out of the blue and lit up the hallway, revealing doors and windows and the beautiful pictures on the wall. It was still the same hallway with the same miserable people but somehow it was better." He quickly submerges pity entirely into the water. Then closes his eyes and takes out a vial of golden powder.
"Waggggrum" Tiny chimes in wondering what the powder was.
"Katra van sur Lek lek mansana." The man ignores Tiny and starts to chant in some strange language.
"Vuth mag Naha cal mer kun sa ah, oc zeer fen cantra ha, paka to on cos plahama." The man opens his eyes and sprinkles the powder into the pond. At first nothing seems to happen, Tiny gets curious and starts to inch his way closer to the pond's edge. Suddenly pity starts to convulse splashing water around the cave, this happens for what seems like eternity to Tiny. Finally calming, pity's body starts to rise out of the pond floating In mid air, eyes shining like the full moon. The man smiles with the same glowing eyes as her and says. "Welcome pity."
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