Chapter 129

Wall Ornaments of Unusual Sizes

We were safe, the virus had stopped spreading, at least the people around me were safe. The girl was back with her parents. Though looking around, I saw that the girl didn’t seem to go anywhere.

“Hey kid, where are your parents?”

At that question, the little girl just looked from me to the corner of the room that once held body bags. The now empty corner of the room.

“Right, of course we would go save a little girl from a terrible fate of being turned into a zombie, being ripped apart by her parents and make it so she was now just a girl without her parents. Because the universe is super awesome and friendly like that.” I say to myself.

Fortunately, Día is there and already working to console the little girl.

“Well do you have family elsewhere?” Día asked.

The little girl just shook her head, sniffled, and looked extra pathetic. It was amazing, if I didn’t know any better, I would swear that her powers revolved around getting people to feel sympathy for her. Then just as I had that very thought, Día went and fell into her trap.

“Don’t worry, we will take care of you.” Día said, gesturing from hers to me.

With that, the little girl who had been close to tears all but beamed with excitement. “Really?”

I wanted to say something, to put a damper on this, but I was cut off by Día. “Of course.”

Apparently, I suddenly became the adult in this situation. “You realize she is an Endarian right?”

“Oh, is that why we can only speak to her in Endarian? Well now that you mention it, it would also explain her long ears and unusual cheekbones.” Día said, more than a little sarcastically.

“Well if you realized all of that, then you should realize why it might be a bad idea for us to just up and kidnap her.”

“Kidnap her? From what? She is on a Beastkin planet, without any next of kin, and need I mention what happened to her parents.” Día said, gesturing to the same now empty flame scorched portion of the room. Then with a serious expression she turned from me to the little girl and began speaking again.

“Look, my friend might be right. Do you wish to come with me? Just say the word and we will begin the process so you can come with us. Would you like that?” Día said to the little girl.

“Yes. Please.” The little girl’s eyes grew wide as I swore she used some sort of extra cuteness powers to wrap Día around her little fingers.

“She is not a puppy. We can’t just pick up a random kid we find.” I say in common human, hoping to save the poor girl from hearing me shoot down this seemingly terrible idea.

“We can and we will.” Día said, then as if to end the conversation she pulled up her communicator and began sending detailed messages to someone. A short time later, she was done and turned back to the two of us.

“There, now it has been officially noted. Your name is Kalypso, right? Kalypso Glorybright?” Día asked.

At that, the little girl paused as her eyes went wide in confusion at first. “Yes, how did you know?” The little girl, Kalypso, asked.

Día just smiled brightly and said, “oh, you just looked like a Kalypso is all.”

Of course, I knew the truth, that Día had likely used her powers of Mind Reading to find out who the little girl was.

“Can I ask who those women were?” Kalypso asked.

At that question, I felt like I got punched in the breadbasket by a little girl. I looked at her and tried to speak, but fortunately Día came to my rescue.

“You put her there, with them?” Día asked me, a sense of anger and outrage filling her voice.

“Wait, we are talking about the same thing right. The temple?” I asked.

“Yes, the temple were countless numbers of people go and die every year. You took a little girl from here and just left her there unsupervised?”

“Technically there were two adults there.”

“Who were both unconscious.”

“There were no monsters there.”

“As far as you could tell.”

“I could tell everything that was on that stage. There were only two lifeforms on that entire stage.”

“That is still reckless. What would you have done if she got hurt.”

“Heal her.”

At that Día just gritted her teeth and gave me an evil snarl.

“Please mom and dad, don’t fight. I was fine the entire time. Dad took me there to protect me, he didn’t want me to see what happened to dad.” With that Kalypso began to tear up as she continued, “to my real dad…”

WAH!

The little girl started crying, and Día went in to console her immediately.

Finally, after a few minutes of consoling, I realized one thing. I know, I know, insert slow joke here, but seriously, this was rather important.

“Wait, your dad was the first one that turned?” I asked.

Kalypso just shook her head. “He had been sick ever since he attended that important meeting with all the representatives from the different planets. Dad said it was a big deal that he attend.”

At that I looked to Día and said, “I take it the Glorybrights are important?”

Día just looked at me like I was mental. “No, the Glorybrights are not that important in the grand scheme of things, but rather the company that her father represented is a big deal.”

“Which is?” I asked.

Día paused, as she suddenly looked confused as well. Then looking down at the little girl for answers, she just shrugged. “I don’t know, I just know they make our toothpaste and other items we use.”

“Toothpaste?” I parrot.

At that the girl just nods.

“Great, so we have a daughter of a former executive for an Endarian toothpaste company that you are looking to adopt. We are still in the middle of Beastkin space, and there seems to still be no sign of the authorities coming to let us out of here.” I say, summarizing our current situation as succinctly as possible.

Zipt.

Just as I say that the doors to the outside world open, letting in fresh waves of air.

“About time.”

“Oh thank the makers. We are safe.”

People cry out I jubilation at first, but then quickly peel back as a group of no less than twenty armed guards come forward. They come forward seeming to scan everyone, then stop as their eyes land on me. Barking, the lead Beastkin gives out commands.

Commands that Día instantly begins to respond to. She then looks back at me with a look of confusion in her eyes.

Now I am not by any means fluent in Beastkin. So don’t get me wrong, I have no exact clue of what these guys are actually saying. But I am a firm believer in Metalinguistics, the study that states we only use words to tell 20% of what we are saying and our body language tells the other 80%. In this case the 80% I could read was telling me that these guys were angry.

By the way they were barking and getting more animated with their comments it was clear that their anger was directed squarely at me.

Finally, after a few minutes, Día turns to me and asks. “Um, did you by chance do anything to a breakroom?”

“So, it was here. I really didn’t know where that room was.” I respond.

At that, Día just bit her lower lip in a clear sign of frustration, before turning back to face the guards and tell them what I said. At least that is what I assumed she was doing. Then the leader Beastkin, a tiger Beastkin if the striping was anything to go from, spoke angrily.

There was a bit more of an exchange, before Día turned to me and said, “you are to go with them.”

I shrug and begin walking forward.

Bark, bark.

I try not to laugh, but I have a hard time imagining this tiger Beastkin barking. I know, I am terrible, but it really does sound incongruous from what one would expect.

“Oh, apparently I am to go with them, as well.” Día said, as she reluctantly came forward to stand next to me.

“Mommy.” Little Kalypso said, as she ran forward and wrapped her arms around Día.

There was a bit more barking, between the leader and Día at this sudden change of plans.

I am about to say we should leave her here. As the sight of seeing her father, and likely her mother as well, stuck in a break room wall might be slightly traumatizing to the little girl.

Unfortunately, before I can voice this concern, the leader nods his head.

“Come on.” Día says, turning to Kalypso who is just beaming at this.

Shaking my head, I decide to follow them, right to the source of the train wreck that will be this terrible remake of a family reunion. But just before we can go, the unexpected happens.

Ding.

Ding.

Ding.

There are dinging sounds coming from the different guards. I look forward to see that the hallway is glowing a bright green color. At this, everyone pauses as they look down at their watches to see that their status is now being listed as clear of contamination.

Bark, bark.

At that, another round of communication is set off, as the guards once again speak to Día. This time Día gestures towards me, and I believe she says the word for Healer. But it could also just be her chocking on some of the harsh syllables coming from her mouth.

With that, there is a pause as everyone stares at me for a moment. Then finally the lead guard just nods to himself.

“You are healer?” The guard asks in broken Endarian.

I want to say that he could talk all along but stop myself. Baby steps towards being a better person and all that.

“Yes.” I say, then flash up my status as a healer, and my relevant healing powers.

Mage Class Type: Prime Support (Omega) Level: 566 Healing-X: 99+% (Mend, Cleanse, Purge, Heal) Healing Aura: 99+%

At that the guards all baulk at the display for a moment, but then seeing the second power listed, the one about my Healing Aura they speak to Día about it some more.

Finally, after a short time, they stop then look at me.

“Well, they are a little confused about your level. More importantly they wonder how it could be so high. I told them that was part of why we were here.” Día begins.

I nod, then ask. “So, what did they say after that?”

“Oh, they sounded interested and wanted to buy some of our first few batches of certs we produced here.”

I nearly facepalm at that.

“So, what about the zombies?”

“Oh, they are still pissed that you ruined their breakroom. But I think we can use this to prove that you are an amazing healer, thanks to our research we are doing here.”

I wanted to protest that my being an amazing healer was due to my own work before I got here but decide against it.

“Okay, what is our next step?”

“We follow them to the break room. But now that they have verified that you can in fact get rid of the plague thanks to your aura, they are a little less angry with you.”

I nod.

“Which is a good thing, as they were apparently coming here to kill you, before they all died of the zombie flesh disease. As it is, they are now going to first cycle all their infected staff and personnel to you to be healed. Then they are going to let you deal with the zombies.”

“can’t we just burn them?”

“Yeah, because that worked so well the last time.”

“With napalm?” I ask.

Día just shook her head. “You know Styrofoam is illegal in most of the universe for just that very reason right?”

“Fine, fine. Let’s try to do this the regular way. Actually, what is the regular way to deal with zombies?”

“Call in an expert.” Día said shruggingly as we were then escorted to a different wing entirely.

I noticed that the little rug rat was following closely behind in Día’s shadow. “You seriously going to let her see her father like that?” I ask.

“What did you do to them exactly?” She asked, but then we passed a hallway that had three different bodies hanging out. Well the back half of three different bodies.

Looking at the bodies, it was clear that they were on a main walkway. One that had only recently been cut off.

“Oh. Well, I guess I know why they were angry about what I did to them.”

“That is what you did? I thought you put them in the break room?” Día asked.

“I am pretty sure that is what the other side of the wall is.” I reply.

Then as if on cue, the beastkin guard turns to look at us. Then in broken Endarian he asks. “Now what do you intend to do about this?”

I pause, look at him, then answer honestly.

“Good question.”