9 A New Name

Avidicus Meratone, Famous Historian - Saints where the heroes of not only Bastion, but of the world in its entirity. They slayed the evil demons and terrible monsters you heard spoken of so often in stories. Of course, in order to slay a monster, you must first become a monster. Not many knew of that part.

Three hours later, I awoke with Razor humming as we floated over the chapel. The sun crawled towards the horizon while Deluge controlled our conscious. Razor held onto us, her hands holding like a mothers. Deluge crushed a portion of the dragon bone in his hands. He’d been eating the remains of the dragon since I’d passed out, and he didn’t mind doing so as Razor held him.

The act had an almost sensual aura to it, so I said,

“Deluge. We can’t sit in another girl’s arms for several hours. That’s one step away from cheating on Joan.”

Deluge replied, “Razor enjoys our presence, and she doesn’t bother me. If she just wants to hold us, she can.”

At that point, Deluge’s opinion solidified like drying concrete. Realizing this, I replied,

“Alright, alright. Just never do this with another human.”

“I’m not an idiot. If I had done this with Charlie, she would have attempted mating with me. I’d prefer avoiding that.”

If I had control of our body, my stomach would have sunk, so I thought in reply, “She wanted us? Wait, she wanted you?”

“Like a dog in heat.”

“Wow, that’s kind of...unexpected. Uh, Deluge, would you mind letting me spend the rest of our day? There’s a few more things I’d like need to do.”

“How dare you ask for control of our conscious?! You fought a dragon, ripped a tree monster out of your chest, and fell unconscious from exhaustion. Now you want to spend the other parts of the day relaxing or enjoying yourself? Blasphemy.”

The sarcasm came across so thick that I burst into laughter, releasing the tension left over from earlier. Afterwards, Deluge continued,

“You may have it after I finish eating this dragon. Think of this as my revenge for it trying to eat us before.”

“Thank you. I appreciate it.”

He crushed and ate a portion of bone in his hand before saying, “Revenge is a dish best served cold. I didn’t think the saying was so true.”

I cringed before saying, “We need to check on Sophia and Joan. They may be hurt or worse.”

Deluge rolled his eyes before saying, “Ah yes, that demonic scientist and barbarian were killed by flowers. Even if they were somehow injured, Aether would save them far faster than us, and he left hours ago. Rest your mind. You can hardly think as it is.”

He reassured me, so I fell asleep in seconds. Deluge had almost ate the dragon before I awakened. As he finished, he handed over control. Whenever we left, Razor carried the remaining head of the dragon. We still needed it for the Arcanum.

Razor hovered low to the ground whenever we reached the town. Dozens of the plants from earlier littered the ground with several bodies sticking halfway out of the ground. Burn marks along with ice littered all around, along with several chunks of earth. They looked like the remnants of a chainer’s fight.

Everything reeked of death as the chapel did before, so we darted towards the inn at full speed.As we approach the building, I spotted a gaping hole in the side of the building, just big enough for Aether. Razor and I dashed through the hole in the wall before I ran up the stairs. On the third step, a stair shattered from my stomping.

Falling like a drunk man, my chin slammed against the upper steps. My face destroyed the wooden planks before I lifted my face from the stairs with my arms and said,

“Deluge, this is getting impractical.”

“Complain after we get through a dragon fight without being swallowed.”

He made a fair point, so I let the issue slide before I crawled up the steps with my arms. After reaching the upper floor, I stood up and my feet pierce through the floor again. There was no wonder as to how Aether smashed through this weak wood so easily.

Rolling my eyes, I ripped my feet out of the floor over and over until I reached Charlie’s previous room. After tearing off the door handle, I ripped the door off as well before Aether’s glow came into vision.

Joan, Sophia, and Charlie laid sideways while tucked under one of his arms as they groaned and complained. They all groaned about how long they’d been there, but Aether ignored them while glancing at the wooden planks of the wall. Joan, in particular, complained about how she couldn’t kill the rest of the plants. She was fierce as she was lovely.

After I broke through the door, Aether glanced up towards me before saying, “Ah, Ja-I mean, Jericho. You’re back.”

I grinned before I said, “Come on, we’ve got a bounty to collect.”

All in all, it was total and utter chaos. The only villagers that lived had hidden within cupboards or in cellars. Joan and I saved them. The plant’s effects had infected Charlie and Sophia, so Joan had locked them into the room and tied them up. She had defended the inn from the oncoming husks, but one had crawled through a window before infecting them all.

After that, Joan used the dormant power in her right arm, decimating the whole crowd and the nearby area. She couldn’t help many others after that. I’m glad she didn’t. Sophia and Charlie needed her help. She had been there hero.

Of course, Aether snatched Joan up and put them all under his arm until we arrived. Charlie and Sophia didn’t snap out of their stupors till later, after Razor and Aether left. We managed to protect the village without exposing our identities. In my book, it was a massive success.

With the village rounded up, I explained how the botanical bastards operated to all of them while describing the dragon fight in detail from my perspective.

My story made the tale out as a desperate plea for my survival. Razor’s would have painted a picture of the poor, pitiful dragon being gored by her. Both our stories told the truth, though mine may have been exaggerated at the time for effect. I had a reputation to uphold after all.

Regardless, whenever I dragged the dragon’s head from behind me, all of their jaws hung open as a beggar’s hands. Sophia ran over before glancing at the scales and plates before she whispered to me alone,

“Im guessing Deluge, uh, handled the rest of what was left?”

I nodded before whispering back, “I’ll get him to speak with you about the details of its anatomy. You could both learn from each other.”

She cringed before saying, “Ah man. That sounds absolutely dreadful.”

I grinned before patting her back and saying, “It will be.”

Charlie and Joan remained frozen as they stare down the sight before them, but I snapped my fingers in response before saying, “We’ve got a long journey ahead of us. Let’s go.”

Joan blinked for a moment before saying, “Ah, of course. We’ll uh…wow. This is amazing. I wonder what they’ll call you when you get back.”

I shrugged before saying, “Let’s hope their more pleasant then my other nickname.”

Charlie leaned her head over before saying, “You weren’t making idle threats before…You really could have taken us all out.”

I shoo the comment away with my hand while saying, “Enough of that. I’m going to burn the village before we leave. No reason to leave this place as it is.”

After gathering all of the useful supplies, I torched the village. The village carried packs and supplies and heavy hearts as they left. This wasn’t the first village I left scarred, and it wouldn’t be the last. I left with a different name. Before, they called me a demon. Now, I walked away as the townsfolk cheered over and over.

Hail Saint Jericho.