LBF Chapter 21 A Chat

'Hmmm!' Damien forcefully made all the traces of excitement in his body calm. His seething blood, his accelerated heartbeat, and even the exaggerated motions of his body...everything was forcefully taken control of by his mind and nascent divinity.

His expression which had been colorful automatically reverted into a cold one and he turned his gaze away from her, back to the stall.

The body could be controlled, but the mind, not so much. His thoughts were a mess and her images which had already been captured by his eyes constantly overrode his thinking.

'Damien, you need to calm down. She's just a demigod at best. Your goal is to become a god and take goddesses as your wives!' He tried to purge his mind with those words, like a mantra.

Damien took in a deep breath and felt a mouth watering aroma enter his lungs causing his mouth to water. His thoughts were temporarily dispersed and his gaze was dragged to the flaming branch that was his order. A cold paste had been added, reacting intensely with the branch, causing sizzling sounds and a mouth watering aroma.

'The aroma is tantalizing! Do they really taste that great? He wondered.

The man, the owner of the food stand had only temporarily been mesmerised by the female before turning his attention back to his work. A true professional!

'Once I get my order, I will leave this place at once.' Damien could feel her gaze at his back. It was to the point that he felt it scorching. He almost wanted to curse at his heightened senses. The scorching gaze made his body stiff.

"Hey! You seem to be working a bit too hard to ignore my existence." A soothing voice entered his ears. He almost flinched in response, but his will power kept his body tethered, like a statue.

Nina was amused. Ever since she had laid eyes on him, her gaze hadn't moved away. He was the type of man who was very attractive to her. Curiosity, a feeling long gone to her had somehow once again appeared. She wanted to know everything about him. Right now, she didn't even know how to start the conversation and fumbled for something. She felt that if she didn't talk, he might vanish from in front of her.

"Nah...you are mistaken. I was shocked at something else. We are strangers, there is no need to ignore you." Damien said. Even he felt that his words weren't making any sense.

Once again he breathed in deeply, taking in the aroma, trying to shift his mind away from her.

"How long do I have to wait?" He asked the man, impatience in his tone.

"Just two more minutes." He answered.

'He's flustered. He appears to be unsettled by my presence. What should I do?' Nina asked herself as she leaned her lithe body on the stall. Her gaze was in him. His red hair and crimson attire stood out in the night. Looking closely, they appeared to be shining.

She felt his aura...an aura which intoxicated all of her. Wild, unruly and predatory. He was someone not bound by conventional rules...that's the feeling she got while looking at him.

"Why are you trying very hard to ignore me? I am not a monster." She asked.

'Shit! Why can't she just leave me alone?' Damien cursed.

"I don't want to have any interaction with you. Can't you take the hint?" He finally turned to her, mustering all his willpower to keep his expressionless mask from slipping.

Nina flinched at his words, a weight appearing in her chest. She felt tears wanting to appear in her eyes, but held them back forcefully.

"Sorry." The word unconsciously slipped from his tongue as he watched her pained expression.

"Its okay, I was rude." She replied, then turned her gaze away, back to the flaming branches.

Damien feld bad as he gazed upon her. Her fair skin shone with faint gold as the light from the flaming branches fell upon her face.

"I...my name is Damien Okoye." He introduced himself after a sigh. He had resigned himself, his previous resolve crumbling. He felt that slighting her was more unbearable than keeping his goal.

"Sorry about earlier." He apologised. Seeing no response, he passed a hand through his crimson hair, a nervous grin on his face.

"I am Nina Flame. Its okay, I was also at fault for acting overly pushy." She answered after sometime, introducing herself in the process.

Damien took his flaming branch from the stall owner and chose to sit on a desk, with a view of the road.

'If l can't avoid her, then I will just get to know her. After some time, she will get bored of me.' He thought as he sat down.

'What should I do now that I am here?' Damien stared at the road and asked himself. He wanted to plan ahead, but right now, he lacked the knowledge to do so.

He bit into the flaming branch while in his thoughts. The flames on it were hot, but not enough to burn his evolved body. He had expected the branch to be as hard as that of a normal tree, but it was unexpectedly crunchy. The cold icelys only served to enhance its flavor as it clashed with the flames.

Nina joined him on the bench after a bit of time, a flaming branch also having been given to her.

The moment she bit into it, her eyes lit up as a burst of flavor flooded her mouth. She didn't even pause to chew properly before taking another bite, the branch proving too delicious to resist.

"This is delicious!" She commented in between mouthfuls. Damien had long stopped relishing his, simply dazed at her barbaric way of eating. He had thought that she was a sofisticated young miss of some clan, but the way she ate...

"This lacks something, don't you think?" She asked. Damien hurriedly took a bite from his to prevent himself from bring caught staring.

"A beverage of some kind." He answered.

'Where does she come from? She can't be a descendant of some large clan...probably a matriarch or elder travelling incognito?' Damien wondered about her identity.

'But she also appears childish, as if she has never been to the outside world...' His thoughts continued while accepting a can from the stall owner. She had ordered while he had been deep in his thoughts.

The cans were made from those weird metal elemental particles, but he had already gotten used to the bizzare.

"Are you a Pantheon city citizen? I can see that you emanate the power of a demigod, probably a clan patriarch?" Nina asked.

"Can't I be an elder?" He asked with a smirk.

"That can't be true. You are someone who wouldn't like to be under anyone." She denied it seriously.

"Oh! How can you be so certain?" He asked.

"Call it intuition!" She pointed at her head with a smile.

"I have just arrived in Pantheon city today. A fine city...living up to its legends." He praised.

"Oh! An outsider...like me." The last words were spoken in a whisper, which failed to make its way into his ears.

"Did you arrive for the event?" She asked.

"You mean the inauguration of the new city lord?" He asked.

"Don't play dumb with me." Her eyes narrowed, as if trying to gauge something from his expression.

"What do you mean?" Damien frowned in incomprehension.

Upon seeing his frown, Nina became puzzled. She had thought that he had been lying.

'He really has no idea?' She pondered.

"Anyway, don't worry, you will know about it in due time. What's your opinion on the new goddess taking over the city?" She changed the topic. Her eyes glittered upon the question, as if she really wanted to know.

"Are you her admirer?" He asked.

"Sort of... Tell me your opinion."

"Just another brat, lucky enough to be born a goddess." He answered with an ugly expression.

"What?" Nina recoiled from shock. His expression suggested that he hated 'her'

"Why do you hate her so?" She asked.

"Hate...I don't hate her, only the thing called luck. Anyway, could you give me some advice on how to thrive in this city?" He asked, changing the subject. The question had caused some painful memories...memories he didn't want to revisit.

Nina caught the pained glint in his eyes.

"I can't really offer any advice since I have just lived in this city less than ten years..." She answered, going along with him.

"Okay, but you must have information on the Butwa clan, right?" He pushed.

"The Butwas...like all the clans which became the first settlers, they are massive, many members, bordering in millions..."

"...they have at least thousands of demigods, competition is bloody between them. If you try to join them, then you have to be prepared to get sucked up into that bloody maelstrom."

"...not to mention that in the next few years many demigods are going to die." This addition was also in a whisper, not caught by his ears a second time. Her head had lowered and her golden eyes contained a certain excitement to them, something he failed to notice.

"What I want to know is, what the clan really is like...how to put it...evil or good?!" Damien struggled to find the right description.

"Their alignment is evil...no clan holding the reigns of an entire domain in their hands is free of evil. These clans have been around long enough for evil to fester. I would advise you not to join one."

"They are drunk on power, thinking that it can't crumble into oblivion." Nina looked to the sky when she spoke.

"Do you despise them?" Damien asked. If she was biased, then her opinion would be moot.

"I am not. Its the truth. Now, let's talk about the rulers of this Purple domain, the Butwas. 99% of all clan members specialise in poison abilities. If they try to befriend you, I suggest you either don't bite, or be very very cautious!" She said. Damien entered deep thought upon her words.

"Wait!" Damien suddenly shuddered upon a terrifying thought. He hurriedly urged his nascent divinity and a ripple was released, causing his blood to surge. As the ripple passed through his entire body, he managed to capture something he had been ignoring.

The anomaly was in the linings of his stomach, a black layer with spots of white light, like stars in the night sky.

'The wine!'

He had thought that due to it containing those secondary particles, it will take some time to digest...now he was having second thoughts.

"Shit!"

"What happened?" Nina upon seeing his ugly expression, asked. Concern was thick in her voice.

"I think I have been poisoned." Damien said through gritted teeth, rage almost taking over.

"Let me." She offered her hand. Damien unhesitantly put his in hers. She was going to scan him.

"Its true. How vicious!" Nina exclaimed.

"Will I die?" He asked.

"I haven't really analysed the properties of the poison. But I can get rid of it."

'Nothing short of god-level can survive my divinity.' She smugly thought.

"Really?" Damien was skeptical.

"I can. Trust me. Besides, I am very sure that except me, no one else can get rid of it." She said with confidence.

"Okay." He answered while nodding.

She closed her eyes and entered a state of calm. Damien, whose eyes were still open, had a chance to view her face without seeming rude.

Her golden lashes were long, a feature capable of making countless other women die in envy. Her skin was soft and fair, and a faint gold could occasionally be glimpsed on its surface. Her faint golden lips were pursed and faint lines were on her forehead in the shape of a frown. Her long golden hair formed a nice contrast with the moonlight...all these features together would have caused his heart to race, but he was reigning it in with his nascent divinity. Only letting the fluctuations be stay in his mind.

When he inhaled, her scent tickled his nostrils. He had the urge to take in a greedy breath, but he restrained himself.

As he was forcefully holding back his male instincts, a warm current travelling from her hand into his own attracted his attention. Everywhere it passed, he felt his cells vibrate at a frequency denoting their excitement.

Within his senses, the warmth turned out to be pale golden flames. They didn't burn him in the slightest. They spread from his arm to the rest of his body, the stomach, being the target.

The black lining with white spots acted like ice in front of a flame, melting and disappearing into thin air.

"Are you a healer?" That question left his mouth. A shocked look was on his face. Even among the elemental string users, there were different professions, engineers, alchemists and many others. The healer was the rarest as cultivating a nascent divinity entirely focused on healing with no fighting power was a waste of time to the majority of people. No one wanted to invest in such a profession, but those who did were highly sought after.

She was so concentrated on the task that she didn't manage to catch the question.

'Someone actually plotted against him with such a deadly thing?' Nina was shocked and enraged. Due to the complex formation of the secondary elements, even she, was being careful, because even the tiniest mishap might lead to his death!

'Wow! She is very efficient! Could it be that she knew the type of poison?' He wondered to himself as he felt the black lining dissipating.

'Such viciousness! This person must pay!' What Nina didn't notice was that she was feeling enraged in his behalf.

Notice:

Due to a certain situation(the need to create more patreon tiers) the release schedule of my two novels, Rampaging Biology and Legend of Blood And Flame are going to change, starting this week.

The changes are as follows;

Rampaging biology;

3 chapters a week(Mon, Wed and Fri) same time, but with over 2000 words, double that of previous ones. You never know, some might even reach 3k.

Legend of Blood And Flame;

1 chapter a week(Sat) with 2k and above number of words. This is temporary as I create a backlog of chapters for my previous fiction. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I would truly appreciate your support on Patreon.