“Oh, it would be a shame if you were to die now, hehehe.”

What? Who…….who the hell said that!?!?!

The voice was faint, it came from the distance and it was a voice I've never heard before, not in any city, and not in any town that I’ve been too. Was he someone from Ezekiel’s posse? Have they found us?!?!

My eyes open and instead of pitch-black darkness I see the town, I see Alexandria and Elizabeth on the ground completely passed out, I see a magic circle beneath my feet that had an orange glow to it, across from me was the raging elemental that had “killed” us, I stand up slowly as my knees shook and felt like giving up at any moment.

The raging elemental held its head with its hands as it yelled in pain, it fell on its knees and started to smash its head on the ground.

“Hehehehe, we should be done right about…..now.”

The elemental in front of me surrounded itself in flames, flames so bright that I had to cover my eyes, if you were to stare at the flames directly you would definitely either go blind or have long-lasting damage inflicted to the eyes.

The moment I removed my hands from my eyes the elemental was gone and so were the flames that I was engulfed in, and the magic circle beneath me slowly faded away.

Parts of my clothes were burnt to a crisp and the stench of something that’s been burnt lingered around my nose, it was not pleasant and I would gag every so often from the stench.

The stench is nothing! I gotta get to them!

I stumbled forward catching myself from tripping with the tip of my toes. At last, once I got close my knees finally gave up and I fell onto the ground.

“Hey! Alexandria get up! C’mon!”

I hold onto her shoulders as I shook her, her head swung everywhere as if she were a bobblehead toy. Then I went under her long silky black hair and held her head up.

“Mmm…..”

“Hey! Wake up!”

“Hmm….Antonio...s-STOP!”

Her eyes shot up and were wide open, she stared at me confused but then she pushed me away from her and log rolled back.

“Wha-Wha-Wha-Wha-What are you doing!?!?!?!?”

I couldn’t contain my laughter any longer.

“Hahahahaha! I’m glad you're fit as a fiddle!”

“You didn’t do anything to me did you!?!?!?”

“What? What do you mean by that?”

“D-damn it! Damn it all!” Said Alexandria completely red and smashing her fist into the ground.

“Alexandria are you okay! Where the hell is the elemental! Let me at em! Let me at em!”

Elizabeth suddenly arose from her slumber as well and was as confused as Alexandria.

“Calm down Elizabeth, the elemental has already been dealt with.”

“Amazing you killed it yourself!?!?!”

“Hell no, what’re stupid? It was that guy.”

I pointed to the guy who was on top of a town building. But he disappeared the moment I blinked.

“Who are you pointing to?” Asked Alexandria and Elizabeth.

What? He was just there!?!?!?

“Erm…...never mind I guess…”

I’m grateful for that mysterious guy for helping out and preventing any of us from death but he could’ve at least showed himself, I’m gonna have to thank him the next time I see him if I see him at all after our first encounter that is.

“Alright, can you guys walk? Let’s head back, hopefully Robbert didn’t think we died and ditched us.”

Alexandria and Elizabeth were fine as if nothing happened, but I on the other hand have seen better days, they were, for a fact sturdy as hell. If I was a regular human from my last I wouldn’t have lasted a second, I’m truly grateful for this semi-sturdy body.

Each step I took my feet dragged across the ground and I could barely lift them up. In the end I had to lean on Alexandria's shoulder in order to get back to Robbert and the wagon.

“Ugh, that elemental really did a number on me.”

Elizabeth walked in front of me and Alexandria making us stop.

“Antonio, I’ve been wondering…just where are you from? I’ve never heard anyone use the words you do, not even villagers, and I’ve been to many villages.”

“Ehh...um...I’m from another continent! Yes! A continent no one has discovered yet!”

“So you're part of some indigenous group on an unknown continent?”

“Y-Yeah!”

“Ohh...you should take us there some time Antonio.” Said Alexandria right up close to my left ear.

“Hahhh...sure maybe sometime!”

Both Alexandria and Elizabeth gave me a smile, phew...they really gave me a scare right about now, good thing they buy my “mysterious continent” bullshit story, I’d rather not lie to them about where I’m from but it’s probably best for it to be kept secret here. Eh, the “mysterious continent” is kinda true...I guess.

We continue walking until we come to a sudden stop at the entrance of the town, the townfolk all were apparently waiting outside the village.

“There they are!” A denizen of the town yelled out.

Hmm...I wonder what the deal is...did they find out we were wanted criminals by the government and are about to turn us in!?!?!? Aww shit! We gotta get outta here!

Then one after another they started clapping and cheering.

“Thank you, you three!”

“Thank the gods for they have brought down our saviors!”

“May the gods bless you!”

For a moment I was confused, it though they were cheering for someone behind us but when I looked there was no one.

Are you...serious!?!?!? Well, it’s better than having them turn us in!

“Hey, Alexandria, Elizabeth.”

I tried to get their attention but they were in a trance as they stared at the cheering denizens of the town.

I came close to Alexandrias right ear and whispered “hey snap out of it.”

She instantly snapped out of it and got red really fast.

“S-stawp whispering into my ears!”

“Well, how else am I gonna get you to snap out of it?”

“I don’t know!”

Now it was only Elizabeth last.

“Hey, Elizabeth!”

“W-What!”

Huh, that was easier than expected.

“Let’s get outta here, all this positive cheering is making me uncomfortable.”

“Same…”

The crowd of denizens of the town divided into two making a path in the middle for us to get past. Once we were past we saw Robbert and the wagon which prompted us to move quickly in order to leave this unusual and uncomfortable situation.

Alexandria loaded me in the back, and then she and Elizabeth got in too.

“Hit it, Robbert!”

“Alright!”

The wagon started to move forward. And then the people of the town started to cheer louder and louder. But one of their cheers seemed to really stick with me. “Come back to the town anytime you want! And each time we'll welcome you with open arms!”

Haha! That’s funny, wanted criminals saving a town and now revered as heroes in it, what a world I live in right now.

“So, not use to cheering you guys?” Asked Robbert.

“Yep, we don’t exactly get it very often, if any at all.”

From the distance, I started to see the sun slowly rise. The new day has finally come, what new things will happen today, well, hopefully, we can get some rest before anything happens, I don't think I could last another fight like this.

“Haaaa! I'm exhausted!

“Must’ve been a wild fight in there! Wish I could’ve seen it! Hey! Hey! Why not tell me what happened inside there!”

“Ahh...I don’t wanna… it’s kind of embarrassing, to be honest.”

“What! What could be embarrassing about beating an unstable, raging elemental!”

“You got that part wrong Robbert.”

“...”

“We didn’t beat it...we got beat ourselves hah!”

“Ahh! So embarrassing! I’ve dishonored my whole bloodline! I have to take my own life In order to regain my honor!”

Ehh...Alexandria's back at it again.

“Anyway, anyway, so basically we got beat and almost died.”

“So what happened to the elemental?”

“Some guy showed up out of nowhere on top of a building roof and put up this sparkly magic circle, and before I knew it the elemental was long gone.”

“Hmm, who’s this guy?”

“Who knows…”

“What’d he look like?”

“Who knows…”

“You don’t know a thing about this guy do you?”

“Correct!”

“Alexandria, Elizabeth what’d about you two?”

“Hmm...this is the first I’m hearing it! Antonio have you’ve been holding out on me!?!?! What other secrets have you kept from us!!?!?”

Other than where I’m from I haven’t lied in a single bit...as if I would blurt that out.

“Yep same here, apparently I was knocked out cold heh!” Laughed Elizabeth.

“Sigh...you guys…”

“That elemental was a tough cookie to crack.”

“Don’t act like you're the one that defeated it! Jeez, I was so worried waiting outside for you guys...I thought the worst had happened to you guys after the long wait. Sigh...thankfully nothing...well...too bad happened.”

“I saw my whole life flash before my eyes, I thought I was a goner! Oh, how exhilarating that was!”

“Ehhhh...you sound exactly like someone who’s been face to face with death, not a care in the world huh?”

“Yep, not a care in the world! Come and get me, Ezekiel!”

“Woah there, that’s going a little too far ya think?”

“Tch…I do what I want! I’ve faced death face to face twice! You think some rich, powerful, weird-looking guy is gonna match up to that!?!? Lemme at him! Lemme at em!

“I think that’s enough fooling around for you.”

Alexandria karate chopped the back of my neck with the force of an asteroid coming down and hitting the earth.

“Ah! That hurt! The hell was that for?!?!”

“Just thought you were fooling around a little too much.”

“Hey! Hey! There’s nothing wrong with a little Tomfoolery!”

Alexandria raised her hand high and karate chopped the side of my head.”

“Ouche!!! Alright, alright, I'll turn it down a bit. Jeez, can’t a man just forget about all his worries and relax?”

“We’ll do relaxing another time, maybe a time where we aren’t wanted criminals in a country.”

“Man...what a downer.”

Then Robbert started laughing.

“Hahahaha!!!”

“What’s so funny.” Said me and Alexandria completely in sync.

“Oh it’s nothing...it’s just that… you two give the impression of a married couple.”

“Married couple?” Said me and Alexandria in sync once again.

I wrap my shoulder around Alexandria's head and pulled her close to me, Robbert looked back and I asked him.

“Does it?”

“W-Who would ever marry someone l-like you!”

Alexandria pushes me away but I came back and did the same thing.

“Wow...so harsh...you really had to put it out like that? Sign...of course, what woman would ever marry a sleazebag like me?”

“T-there are definitely some out t-there…”

“Oooh? What’s this? Trying to cheer me up after you’ve brutally crushed my self-confidence? You really know how to play with a guys feelings!”

“Unhand Alexandria Antonio! She’s mine!”

“Is that so?!?!? Hehe, what’d you gonna do about it?”

Elizabeth picked up her sword and pointed it at me. She had a serious look on her face, that face I’ve only seen whenever she talked or saw Ezekiel...well I don’t want any problems so I guess I’ll give her what she wants, or maybe not?

“Woah let’s not take this any further here she’s all yours.”

“Bwahaha!”

Elizabeth burst out laughing as her serious look faded into oblivion, honestly, I couldn’t tell if it was a facade or not.

“It’s a joke! But don’t try anything further you hear!”

“Yeah-Yeah, I hear ya loud and clear, if you wanted to fight, I would have no choice but to accept the invitation, I'm not one to back down that easily, ya gotta try harder to scare me next time.”

The fun times we were having together really made me reminisce, they remind me about how we four had fun all day long in my car and in bars...oh how long ago that was, but I’ll remember them as if it happened yesterday...what good times. But those times are over, and it looks like I’m stuck making new memories with these people...hah! I’ll make as many memories with them as possible! And this long road trip will one of many precious memories we’ll share.