5 A Lion Among Sheep

Alexander Faraday - "We studied the effects of fusing the souls into a single body. The results were...disasterous. Of course the subject's body was more tenacious and powerful, but they lost their mind. Overtime, the souls would each grow themselves out with the body's resources, becoming a moving ball of limbs, lips, teeth, mouths, and organs. It was evil, but what choice did we have? We were against a monster, so we needed monsters."

The mercenaries glanced at the maintained gloss of my outfit, noting the quality of the material. They assumed I was wealthy, so the man on the right continued, “Alright. Don’t make no trouble and enjoy yourself then.”

I merged the hydra skin with my own after receiving it. Hydra skin comes in two types, alive and dead. The dead kind is weaker, but the actual skin doesn’t draw blood from its wearer. The newer skin does, which was the kind I received. Assimilating the skin proved simple, so I preserved the skin as if my own. That explained the lifelike gloss across the scales.

As I passed through the worn, wooden doors, a chandelier of glass lit the initial room, reflecting the light of lamps. The smells of before came to life, and as I slid into the main gambling room, I found several groups of armored or suited men playing around tables with cards in their hands. Women in revealing outfits gathered around each table while waiters brought drinks or food at their request.

They laughed in victory and grimaced in defeat, but either way, they lived deliciously. I ensured they would die in much the same way. Passing through the room, I reached a side hallway leading towards a lower floor. Another set of guards eyed me as I approached, so I said, “Let me reach the lower floors.”

One of the guards raised an eyebrow before he said, “This is for regulars or people who are wanting some business.”

With genuine delight, I smiled and said, “Would that business involve killing, perchance?”

They glanced towards one another before they said, “You don’t look like you need any help with that.”

I placed a hand on my chin as I pondered. These men cringed at the idea of fighting me. I understood why. Despite my best efforts, the mass and height of this body had increased over time with each new adjustment made. Now I weighed many times the bulk of a man, and my 6’8 height attracted more than a few glances my way. Still, with the correct usage of my form, I could leverage my own size for my own gain.

This was one of those situations. I shook my head before I said, “To the contrary, I’d rather enlist my own specialties with the others among your ranks.”

The guards glanced at one another before they reached for their swords. I never moved in retaliation. If I let the blades sink into my flesh, I would be free to murder everyone after, but the blades stop at my neck and side as a feminine and manic voice said,

“Enough. settle down. He has enough balls to walk in here and ask to join us. We should at least see why, right?”

The guards grimaced and shivered as the owner of the voice walked up from behind me, laying her hands across my shoulders. The guard’s sabers lowered before I said, “So someone reasonable here does exist. How fortunate for you all.”

A woman with broad shoulders and waist long hair, colored a bright brown walked up. Reaching me, she juts her hand up and placed a hand on my shoulder while saying, “So what brings you here, boy?”

By now, I’d grown tired of my hiding. I’d tell Jack I tried before killing them. So suppressing a fit of laughter, I said, “I know this is where the arcanum resides. I wish to join you.”

The guards flinched before the lady grinned with her gray eyes piercing me like razors. Without wincing, I leaned towards her and said, “You’ll find I’m more than capable for whatever you need.”

She raised an eyebrow before she said, “Alright, alright. The bigshot knows a thing or two. I’ll give you that. Let’s see if you can pass a little test first before seeing the boss.”

A piece of sharpened metal gritted between her teeth before she spit the tiny blade towards the back of my neck. At the same time, she lifted her left knee towards my groin while her right hand curved towards my side with a dagger. A simple attack, so I stepped forwards while tilting my head sideways, dodging both daggers and her leg.

I grasped both of the guard’s faceguards, my hand covering their entire faces before I pulled them towards her. The force of my pull whipped them through the air before they crush both her sides, like clamping a finger in a doorway. As I released them, she grimaced before I turned around, wrapping a hand around her neck and lifting her from the ground with a single arm.

Several other guards stood and sprinted towards her before I released her from my grasp while pushing her away with an effortless extension of my arm. She crumbled on top of the other guards before a sea of blades surrounded me at all sides. Right before I began consuming them all, the women rasped out the words,

“Stop. I was testing him. He passed.”

I grabbed my left wrist with my right hand before I began popping my left hand's fingers. My eyes opened wide while an eager grin traced my lips as I said, “If they all wish to die, let them.”

After the group of guards lowered their weapons in confusion, the lady stood up and belted out a laugh from her gut. She laughed until tears fell from her eyes before she glanced towards me, her eyes exposing an awkward longing. She said,

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen something like this. I never told you the guards would attack you as well, yet you took us all out in an instant. Wow. Just, wow.”

I had no idea the guards were attacking me, but she misunderstood me using the guard’s weight as a weapon. Laughter tried escaping my throat, but I suppressed my emotions. I couldn’t let my infiltration end without even trying.

Continuing her misunderstandings, she patted me on the shoulder before she said, “Come on, you need to see the boss. He’s down stairs, probably fucking right now. He won’t mind the interruption.”

I followed her in silence as the others stared in disbelief. We paced down a dark set of stairs, the smell of sex and cigars lingering in the air. We passed a hallway with low lit rooms and the lustful sounds of moaning and even screaming coming from several doorways. The warm, almost musty air would suffocate the asthmatic.

At the end of the dusty hall, we reached a room with a painted symbol plastered onto the wood of the door. A thick, hollow circle with three lines streaking downwards greeted my eyes, but the ominous symbol filled me with excitement instead of dread. If my attempted infiltration failed, I would get to bathe in blood as I consolidated their souls.

Unfortunately, my half hearted deception had fooled them so far. They mistook my reckless approach as bold. Despite the inconvenience, the trip amused me.

The wiry women walked in front of me with her hips swaying before she turned and said beside the door, “By the way, what's your name?”

Jack and I agreed on an alias before hand, so I said, “My name is Jericho.”

She nodded before she stuck out a hand and said, “Alright then Jericho, my name’s Charlie. I’ll introduce you to the boss.”

I also stuck out my hand without grabbing hers. I knew nothing of human customs, so we sat there for a few seconds, the air between us awkward before she glanced downwards and raised an eyebrow in confusion. After another awkward silence, she grabbed my hand and moved our limbs up and down. Human gestures, even now, are strange.

She giggled at my ignorance before she opened the door and said, “Yo boss, there’s a guy who wants to join us.”

A haughty voice, strained and nasal replied, “For Gaia’s sake, I’m fucking over here. Leave us alone.”

Charlie rolled her eyes before she said, “This is not a guy you should make wait. Trust me, he’s worth your time.”

She glanced towards me before she winked, but my expression stayed still. Such petty provocations would elicit no response from me.

A pleased grin grows on her face before she walked up and placed a finger on my chest while saying, “You know, I don’t mind a man who speaks more with his actions than his words. Especially if they can fuck.”

I rolled my eyes before leaning towards her and saying in a low growl, “I’m more than you can handle.”

My attempt at intimidation failed as she wrapped her arms around my waist and said, “Wanna find out, tough guy?”

I sighed in disgust before pushing her from me while saying, “Business first. We can talk later.”

She stepped aside as I stomped into the large room with reinforced, wooden walls adorned with several circular paintings. The polished floor contrasted the filthy image of a thin, ugly man thrusting into a voluptuous lady. His scrawny arms shook while the lady faked her moans as she gazed at the doorway. I rolled my shoulders before I lifted my foot and allowed the real weight of my leg to smash against the floor.

Like a leaden anvil, my foot smashed the oak planks. Creating the sharp crack of crushing wood. The vulgar display ceased before the man stared at me with thin rimmed glasses covering his all too large eyes. He raised an eyebrow before he said,

“Do you want to die like a dog?”

I laughed before I grabbed the door handle behind me. I placed a foot beside the door, propping it open before I ripped off the handle. From the snapping wood, a boom rippled the air as an explosion of splinters pelted the walls. The boss’s shoulders drooped as I lifted the handle in front of me before I squeezed until the bronze lump pressed outward from between my fingers like putty.

The display silenced him before I snapped open my hand. The clap of metal on wood accentuated the malformation of the metal, foreboding my brutish strength. The man turned towards Charlie who stood stunned before he lifted himself while saying to the prostitute,

“Sorry baby. We’ll have to continue later.”

The hooker ran out without grabbing any clothes or speaking any words as the rat like man scrambled for clothes. I leaned on the doorway with my weight cracking the wood beside me. Right as the man slides on his shirt, Charlie said,

“Are you a chainer?”

I cracked my neck before saying, “Something along those lines.”

The apparent boss skulked up to me before he hunched his shoulders and said, “Alright then. What does this er...gentleman want?”

Charlie propped her weight onto one hip before she said, “He says he wants to join us. He passed my test, unlike all the others.”

The man stared downwards for a moment, contemplating his next words before he said, “So why do you want to join the arcanum, if you wouldn’t mind explaining of course?”

With a monotonous tone, I said, “The bastion empire and church purged my home. I want to kill them all. Your organization would offer quite the boon for my own efforts as I have no access to an informational network.”

He glanced at Charlie, his eyes brimming with wrath before he turned back towards me and gave a sly smile while saying, “Ahem. Ugh...Unfortunately, we have no proof that what you say is true or that you're actually willing to help us. We ahhhh...We can’t just let you in. You understand, right?”

The beginnings of a sadistic smile began inching up my lips as I said, “So you won’t allow me to join then?” I continued with pleasure steeped in my words, “What a shame.”

Perhaps my tone changed his mind since he said, “Well, uh...not necessarily. We just need you to do something for us. A proof of loyalty if you will.”

My shoulders drooped before I frowned and said, “So you want a test of loyalty after a test of strength then?”

The man nodded before I dragged my hands across my face while saying, “And here I thought I’d have some fun after your refusal. Dreams die, I suppose.”

Charlie’s smile beamed before she said, “What do you mean?”

I turned towards her and slit my eyes as I said, “I would have delighted in killing every person here.”

A stretch of silence lasting fifteen seconds to me but ten years to them passed before the boss said, “Ah...Well, uh...I’m glad we could avoid the fight then.”

I turned my eyes towards him without moving my face as I said, “You avoided no fight. You avoided a slaughter.”

The second silence outlasted the first, and just as the tension reached its peak, I grinned and said, “Of course I’m joking. Why would I murder those I wish to join?”

Without believing my coverup for even the tiniest of moments, Charlie said with a slight, eager hop, “I don’t know how you fit those balls in your pants.”

The boss said, “I quite agree, Charlie. Well then, the name’s Phil. What’s yours?”

I said, “Jericho.”

“It ah...suits you. All dark and intense. I’m sure your mother had it all figured out when she gave it to you.”

With the same monotonous tone, I said, “My mother is dead.”

Yet another silence thicker than sand passed through the room before I said, “Your group uses human souls in golems, correct?”

Phil stuttered, “A-a-ah, uhhhh...”

Charlie chimed in, “Man, how the fuck do you know that?”

I shrugged before I said, “I am gifted at interrogation. Regardless, there exists a flying lizard up North who kills humans.”

Charlie raised an eyebrow before she said, “You mean the dragon?”

I nodded before I continued, “Precisely. I will kill it without reporting its death to the kingdom. Your group will then be able to periodically kill throughout the nearby area while using the myth of dragons as a coverup for the operation. If I do this, will you let me join?”

Phil blinked for a moment before he squinted his eyes. After a notable delay, his eyes popped open as he said, “That’s...That’s genius.”

Charlie glanced towards me as she said, “How did you think of that?”

Without averting my face from Phil, I turned my eyes towards Charlie's as I said, “I thought of it just now.”

I turned my eyes back towards Phil as I said, “I will bring you its head as proof of its death. Goodbye.”

I turned and walked away while Phil’s jaw remained open and his eyes glazed over. Charlie followed behind me before she closed the door. She locked her hands behind her before she walked in front of me and looked up while saying,

“Would you mind having a companion help you?”

I glanced down at her before I nudged her aside while saying, “Yes. Leave.”

She blinked for a moment before she walked back in front of me and said, “Come on. I can help you by using a few favors. Besides, you don’t want to have to track it down or buy maps of the area, do you? I know this place like the back of my hand.”

I laid my hand on my forehead before looking back at her and saying, “I could kill you by crushing your face into a pulpy mush in my hands. Why do you want to travel with me?”

She glanced upwards while placing a hand on her cheek before she met my eye while saying, “I dunno. I mean, I’m a mercenary who accepted work from the arcanum just because it sounded fun. I kinda like danger, and you, well you hardly look human.”

A smirk appeared on my face before I said, “I sleep alone in the forest without any shelter. If you follow me, you’ll end up doing the same.”

Her eyes opened wide before she said in her bubbly voice, “Sounds interesting. I’m game.”

I reached out my hand and grabbed the edges of her skull before I said, “If you speak a single word of where I go, where I stay, or what I say to a single soul, I will slowly torture you until you choke with your amputated arms shoved into your throat.”

I released her head before she plopped down and ran through a corridor at my side while saying, “I’ll meet you outside. After a second, I heard the slamming of a door before I sighed in relief. Having someone so energetic near me melted my patience. She danced on the border between reasonable and annoying, so I couldn’t just outright kill her. It irritated me.

As I wafted in the joy of her absence, I walked up the stairs with each step creaking under my weight. Dispersing my mass throughout my body assisted with preventing such delicate structures from snapping under me, but if I dwelled here for long, I’ll break the floor beneath me.

The balance of staying in motion while never jerking tripled the time needed for passing a simple stairway. My large frame annoyed me at times. After reaching past the woozy guards of before, several weary men walked towards me with the leader saying, “So where’s Charlie? She should still be with you.”

I said, “She ran into a room in the corridor downstairs as I left.”

He shook his head before he said, “We can’t let you leave without-”

A dull pop generated from his face as I slapped him aside with the back of my hand. Broken teeth scattered in the air before the man fell to the ground. The members of his group slid backwards, fearing me before the light tapping of wooden stairs entered my ears.

Charlie raced out with a set of weapons at her side and a knapsack slung over her shoulder. She walked up and said, “Alright, ready to go...Oh boy.”

She walked beside the unconscious man before she said, “So why did you hit Joe?”

“He told me he wouldn’t let me leave. I’m rather exasperated with idiots standing and speaking in front of me, so I silenced him.”

She poked a tooth with her foot before she said, “Well, ahhhhhh. I guess that’s alright. You were bound to do it to someone when they started trying to mess with you anyways. No biggie.”

Without replying, I walked out of the building as Charlie hopped behind me, humming some jovial tune. Pacing beside the inn, I shouted towards the sky, “Leave without me.”

Charlie leaned towards me as she said with a sly grin, “So who are you talking too?”

I turned towards her before I said, “The voices in my head. Pray I don’t listen to them.”

She giggled before I gaze at the nearest inn and said, “We’ll sleep there then.”

We walked in before we rented rooms, and I snuck through the window after two hours of waiting. After reaching back towards our encampment, I met Razor and Sophia where we discussed the composition of several pheromones Razor used for communicating with the other slimes.

I sat beside them before Sophia glanced at me with a wrinkled grimace across her face. She crossed her arms as she said, “So did you have fun?”

I glanced down as I said, “No. It was a miserable venture.”

Razor asked, “I was wondering why you told me to leave without you. Would you mind telling me?”

I shrugged before I said, “I literally put forth no effort in my deception, yet they believed me. I was able to join the arcanum.”

Sophia smirked before she said, “So how did you manage that?”

I glanced up at her as I said, “Several threats of death along with a few long, awkward conversations.”

Razor bursted into a fit of snickering, but Sophia repressed her laughter as not to wake Joan. I replied,

“I couldn’t understand it. Instead fighting me, they enjoyed my threats. A female mercenary even attempted courtship.”

Sophia said, “We know how much of a ladies man you are after all.”

I pursed my lips before I said, “You’ve more experience with humans than I do. Why would they act that way after threatening them?”

In her black robe, Sophia leaned back onto her hands with her legs crossed. She looked up at the sky for a moment before she said, “They were probably too scared to go against you or something. You tend to be too good at intimidating others.”

I raised an eyebrow in reply. Razor continued with Sophia’s response,

“Do you believe the humans would attack me, even if I aggravated them?”

I said, “Hah. Like cowards, they would run and hide. They have no chance for victory.”

Razor opened her palms to her side as she said, “They must have seen the same thing in you. Your confidence is remarkable, and you have no qualms with making others suffer. I would imagine that most would be terrified of you, even if they didn’t have knowledge of your abilities.”

I frowned before I turned towards Sophia and said, “Do I seem that dangerous?”

Sophia rolled her eyes before I leaned onto my side and said, “I’ll ask Jack and Joan later. Perhaps they’ll enlighten me further. That still doesn’t explain why she wanted procreation with me.”

Sophia replied, “She thought you were tall, dark, and mysterious. A lot of girls go for that type.

After dismissing her explanation, the three of them continued their discussion as I listened with disguised interest. I’ve used pheromones when experimenting with their effect on other humans. So far, nothing had produced any effect, but perhaps their expertise would help.

After an hour of technical conversation, a slight rumbling in the distance alerted me. Compared with the steps of other forest creatures, these heavy, thumping steps could belong only to a human. Rising from my relaxed position, I said,

“I’ll discuss our next course of action after Joan awakens. For now, there’s an intruder. I’ll handle them.”

Sophia pointed at her notes as Razor nodded before Razor replied, “Oh yes , of course. Don’t be gone too long.”

The automatic reply was enough for me, so I paced into the forest as the sun began rising. After pacing several thousand feet towards the sound, the direction of the wind changed, and I recognized the all too familiar scent.

I walked towards Charlie before I climbed a tree on her path towards me. As she passed underneath me, I lept from my spot before I slammed into the ground beside her. She flew backwards, colliding with a tree. The earth bent and caved under the force of my weight, and after pulling my feet from the cracked earth beneath me, I said,

“So Charlie, I didn’t realize you wanted to die.”