-Reawakening-
I was sitting down...
As I was awakened to this world around me. For a split second I didn't realize it, and my gaze only focused ahead as my fingers went to wipe my eyes.
In my half dazed thoughts I believed that maybe I was just hallucinating. That I was just seeing things, and that was all I could do.
For a minute...then I truly did see. My whole environment changed...
Now I was here...a marketplace of sorts. My eyes were glued to the people around me as I fell down haphazardly, unknown behind me was a roaring fountain. I connected to the masonry fountain as I got my wits with me.
My arm dangled over the water fountain. It was circular…right in the middle of the center. Crafted from stone, though now beginning to erode from the cracks breaking through the white quarts. Now plating the beautiful fountain in green algae.
The strange people...or calling them people...they weren't human. A mix of beast and human occupied the ranks of this place. Their footsteps clacking along the stoneish floors in unison as they all moved alongside each other.
I could hear the crowd...the yelling of children talking to their mothers, the sounds of friends arguing and laughing...
This happened before…
I got up from my seat as I began to walk through the marketplace. The same people, the same sights, the same time…
My eyes went to my left hand. I twisted my right hand around as I clenched my fist. I still had feeling in it, but didn't I…
The memories of pain and running away echoed through my mind in vibrant shades of heat. The erotic women bending down as she observed me, her knife cutting through my flesh as my body flailed around like a fish.
It was some dream, a hallucination of sorts…
Yeah, that had to be it. I continued down the path, aimlessly as I tried to wrap my head around what happened to me. As I approached a familiar sight. A certain child in the middle of the road…
His green hair and tear streaked face. "God damn it!" I shouted out
The sudden scream echoing from me as numerous bystanders backed away from me as I launched into the road. "Damn kid, what is up with him and roads!"
I grabbed him by the collar and tossed him back towards the sidewalk narrowly missing the carriage that was bombarding towards us. But there was something different now, I had more time to spare and I wasn't bruised up like last time.
Like last time? Wasn't I watching others try and help the kid, but nobody did and my legs moved on my own to save the poor boy?
The mother came and repeated the same words she said before, the loving words and tears falling from her ageless face. Clutching her kid to her stomach as she lightly patted his head, whispering kind words.
"Listen Lady, I saved the kid last time...and I did it again today!" Her gaze went up towards me, my form angry and my stature tall and strong, my voice boomed causing her to shake. "What the hell is wrong with you...watch your kid!"
She quickly wiped her tears as she grabbed the kids hand. "This happened yesterday?"
"Yes, don't you remember me." I spoke. My thumb aimed at my chest.
She scratched her head as she slightly spoke. "What do you mean...wait did this happen yesterday." Her glare went to the boy.
Was this women playing dumb with me. "Yes, you offered me money."
"I'm sorry but that wasn't me...but if my son did this yesterday and didn't learn his lesson then he will learn it today!"
She grabbed the boy's hand and began walking away. I was so angry to not even ask for a reward. Sure I did it because the kid needed help, but it still would have been nice to receive an award.
Maybe she will turn over a new leaf and change the way she is with her child. Two straight days where he nearly got hit with a carriage, this was even in the same exact spot...and same exact time.
I stopped walking for a second as I felt a sting of pain come at me from my left wrist. "If it was just some dream...a nightmare. A dream where I couldn't have woken up from, then why...why do I know these things." I muttered out loud, my eye frantically searching the ground...as the fear began to set in.
I was even pretty sure that the lady and her son were wearing the same clothes. I shook my head as I began running through the streets, the fear in my throat clogging my way of breathing as I ran.
The moment I arrived in the slums it was already the afternoon. I had to retrace back my steps from before...before?
I didn't do this before, sure things feel familiar but it was just some dream...or a hallucination. There was no way...no way, that I actually…
My gaze focused on the road ahead as the bright memories danced in my head. Saving the kid, the girl saving me, fighting those thugs, doing that trick, and finally giving my life for that girl. It was all just a dream.
There is no point in worrying about it…
Though I continued on. Pushing through as I kept on running until I made my way to that house. Now able to see better from the bright sunlight gracing me and the house itself, but the house was so damn boarded up that I couldn't see inside.
"Damn…"
I was about to do something stupid. I tucked my scarf over my nose to conceal my face as I pulled out the shotgun from the backpack, I rubbed the pump as I positioned myself over the door.
I took a deep breath as I tried to calm my nerves...the women. Her strange purple eyes, and her raven hair caused my heart to beat quicker, but not in that way…
But in the way that someone was going to confront a monster. That knife digging into me, the feeling of my hand being cleaved off…
I lifted my leg up as I slammed it into the massive wooden door. The pain and adrenaline were already filling my senses as the door slammed down.
My feet practically skipped across the floor as I looked around. It was a bar, well what remained of a bar. It was in pretty bad shape.
The tables were broken down and scattered into raw planks, the bar stools were either crudely bent or were used to board up certain windows or doors...even a hole in the ceiling.
Wait…
When I was fighting that woman the moonlight was my saving grace. The only thing that had illuminated the area which I was fighting in.
My hand went to my face, but how did I know that. How would I know anything if it wasn't just a…
"So kid...you're going to explain why you destroyed my door?"
The old man. Wasn't he the one, that…
I felt my throat fill with bile as I swallowed it back down. His skin growing pale and cold, the missing flesh and blood and veins showing.
My head felt like it was spinning as I felt sick. The crazed woman...she enjoyed it...killing, you met people like that In the war.
You get that taste for killing...the bloodlust as the enemy falls by your hand. It feels strange, neither happiness or sadness...just that feeling of adrenaline and that feeling of knowing that you are truly alive.
Maybe that was what that woman was searching for. Damn it, why should I care...when I find her, and I line her with my gun sights...
I'm not going to hesitate. Just going to pull the trigger and watch her body collapse...revenge, and justice for all the lives she has taken.
Justice...damn, who am I kidding. Redemption and justice, a highwayman shouldn't call themselves names with zero meaning.
"Wait aren't you supposed to be dead?" I mumbled out without thinking.
He looked at me. His strange and thick grey eyebrows shot up. "No...do you want me to be?"
His eyes flared up as he began to reach slowly under the bar. Damn, I raised my gun up and pulled the trigger.
The shell bursted and impacted over him. The bottles of cheap alcohol breaking over him as he went to cover his ears as the sound overpowered his senses.
I ran quickly as I leaped and threw myself at the bar as I rested the barrel of the gun at the man's temple.
"Can you hear me!"
His eyes were erratic as he glared at me. His hands shielding his ears as he didn't utter a single word. Until a faint nod came from him.
"This is a pump shotgun...a weapon that at point blank range can shred a human in two."
I pressed the gun under his chin as his hands shot up.
His eyes now filled with fear. "What...do...you...want?"
His voice was strained and he was obviously in pain from the sound. But the distortion and shock would go away, eventually.
I applied more pressure to his head. "The weapon can easily hurt targets far away. I'm a really good quick drawer, and you better listen to the words I say...before I paint this shitty store red."
The destroyed alcohol and broken glass rained like soft snowflakes as I held my aim. "Now listen carefully...any and all weapons that you have. I want them on the table now, no sudden movements...I see anything suspicious, your dead, old man."
He nodded his head as he finally uncupped his ears. His hands went under the stool revealing a massive club.
"Christ...you can swing that thing?"
"Of course," he said. A faint and confident smirk spreading across his face
"It was a rhetorical question...but okay."
I took the club away and threw it to the other end of the building. It clattered over the floor until it stopped, the echo faintly trailing. In the dream there were numerous holes caved into the floor, that must have been the cause. He and that psycho were fighting one another.
And even a guy like this...he lost. "Hey old man." I called out. His gaze went to me, I pointed towards one of the bottles.
"Get me a drink, and what the hell I'm a nice guy...have a drink with me."
He looked me up and down. "Got any money."
"I got this gun in my hands." I responded
He sighed as he went to the bottom shelf of the bar. "No...top shelf. I want some of your premium stuff."
He sighed. "Damn you're going to make me go out of business." He took out two cups and filled them up with the drink.
"You first, old man."
He took a mighty gulp as he laid down the drink as he slid mine over. "Thanks...you must be pretty brave to drink it all in one gulp, or the alcohol isn't strong enough for any real sting."
I took a sip and my cheeks began to heat up. For once I began to feel calm, as the wounds of my heart began to slowly heal, but they could never be hidden for long. It was...alright, not good enough to be considered premium but I'll give the old man a break.
"What are you doing here, and what do you want...money?" he asked. His gaze following a safe that was ingrained into the wall.
I softly shook my head"No thanks. My friend...had something stolen from her. She needs it back, so I intend to get it back for her."
The old man's left hand went to his face. Facepalming. "Damn...Felt."
"That's the name of the thief?"
"My granddaughter...and you still haven't answered my question. What are you going to do?" He maintained. His hands slamming the table as a miniature shockwave echoed.
He could rip a man in two...
"Huh, listen i'm not going to kill you or your granddaughter. I just want what was stolen to return it, that is all I care about."
He groaned as he took a seat at one of his barstools. "Listen we already have someone bidding for it, so you need something to bid against."
In that dream, they were all already dead. If me and Satella made it late to the auction then that means two things either happened.
The deal went wrong, and a fight broke out. The old man fought against the women and was killed, and the thief must have either escaped...or was slaughtered.
Damn...or worse…
Everything went to plan. The assassin receiving the stolen item but…
I felt my teeth grit as the realization dawned on me. Maybe...she just killed them both anyway for the heck of it.
"Listen for that alcohol. Which wasn't that good...but still a free drink. I will protect you and your granddaughter, this woman is going to come and kill us."
His eyes were glued to mine. "Why should I believe you?"
"I know what she looks like...have you seen her?"
He shook his head.
"She has black hair, pale skin, a very strange and erotic dress..." He nodded his head for me to resume. "Very nice body...crazy eyes. The type of women you would enjoy making babies with but would immediately leave the next morning. Get what I mean?"
"Only too well, kid." he solemnly said. "But I still don't believe you"
I stifled a cough as I rested my free hand on the table. "Doesn't matter, when she comes, I am going to hide under that pile of rubble."
My finger shot out towards the very end of the room. A pile of planks was scattered into some sort of makeshift pile. They reeked and were obviously withering away, but I could get a decent shot.
"Why?" he asked. A puzzled expression taking over his face.
"So, then I will have a clear shot, so I can kill her."
His face was tired but also sad. It was hard to get a read on him and even ask him questions about this new world which I was inhabiting in. But I heard a string of soft footsteps begin to approach the shop.
I pulled out the revolver with my left hand and aimed it at the blank entranceway.
"Old Man, Brom what happened to the door?"
I lifted myself up from the seat after finishing up the rest of the drink. The barrel of the gun poking at the man's chin. "Answer…I won't hurt you, but I can't allow you to risk this."
He took a deep breath as he locked onto my eyes, maybe trying to see if I was telling the truth. "Felt, come in…" he caved
It was a girl, maybe she was fourteen or fifteen. Her strange red eyes contrasted her blonde hair as she peeked through the open doorway.
"The thing you stole...the boy wants it."
His hands went to his face, almost like he was in complete denial of actually listening and going forward with this plan.
"But weren't we...?" She began to say.
"Not anymore, the deals off. You stole something...I need to give it back to her."
She tilted her head as a faint smirk began to spread. "What is she...your girlfriend?"
"Absolutely not!"
She seethed her lips together as she held back a laugh. "Aw, that's so much worse. So, you're basically her lap dog…"
"I'm no one's lapdog." I had to take a breath to compose myself. "She saved my life, and I owe her what was stolen...so please don't make this harder than it already is."
The old man finally decided to open his mouth after watching the argument. "Felt, just give it to him."
"But…"
"Felt…" He repeated her name once again. But with more edge to it.
"He's a noble couldn't he just buy another stupid rock!"
Stupid rock. Wait...no, there is no way, no fucking possible way that for hours I have been scrounging around the slums in pursuit of a rock.
Money, a rare gem, maybe an exotic book of sorts with strange mystical properties. But please god, do not let it be a rock.
The girl dug into her satchel. And she tossed a rock of sorts...I caught it in my hands, as my gloved fingers ran over the thing.
It was an ebony rock. Filled with strange golden carvings, but it was still a rock...for a second, I was about to faint from the sudden realization of the amount of time that I wasted.
Strangely it began to glow...like a heartbeat. "Hey kid, why is it glowing."
She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know why…it was doing it with me before."
I scoffed as I dug it into my pocket. "Well thank you for your donation."
I could have left them there right now. Let that psychopath kill both, but something stopped me.
My feet felt like they were dipped into sand. What was I doing...this didn't make any sense? Why should I... why should I fight with them, to help them?
My teeth gritted together as I pulled down the red scarf from my face. Damn, why do I do this...what foolishness brought me here.
To fight with two people that I have not met...and to rob and cheat for a girl that I hardly knew?
"Kid, catch." the stone whizzed from my hand and into her own gloved hands. The faint light radiating from her palms.
"Why…"
I cut him off. "I want the assassin dead, and when she comes for you and the girl, that will be the moment for me to strike. Don't be mistaken, I do not care at all about you or the girl…"
"What are you, stupid...if you didn't care then why are you here. "She interjected
"I am indeed many shades a fool. But I am not stupid!"
I shouted back. My fingers graced the wooden club as I threw it back to the old man, he caught it and I began walking to that shaded area, the place where I could hide.
I ducked inside of it as I began to shimmy my hunting rifle into it. The shotgun danced into my hands as I placed my bag down there and aimed at the door.
For thirty minutes I waited there, in the dark...until I saw her shadow. It towered through the already setting sun as she approached. The faintness of her voice caught me off guard.
"How about you take a seat" The girl said...
The conversation was hard to hear because I was at the end of the room but five minutes in, I could hear their voices, or rather tones began to change.
I sat there for what felt like forever. My singular eye...piercing through the hole between the boards as I held my shotgun tight in my arms.
For a second nothing happened only mindless chatter as I heard something. A faint grey bag bounced onto the table as the brass of coin echoed throughout the room. My eyes went to that peephole once again.
Still hard to see and far away...but I leveled the shotgun. As my fingers hesitantly felt the trigger...thank goodness, for that drank to help stable my nerves.
The girl...Felt, she handed the rock to the women on the other side of the table. The sweat bearing down on me as my breathing stilled.
One shot...one shot, to get everything to be alright!
Out of the corner of my eye I saw the silver glint coming towards the girl and I was ready. The perfect ambush, and the perfect shot indeed. The shell split as the beads implanted into the women.
Before I knew it...she was already launched across the room. Bleeding, and dead. About time, how about that for American weaponry superiority!
My whole body was shaking as I picked myself back up. I was worried about hitting the girl but thank goodness that she was fine. Her surviving was all that mattered, she was a child and still had her life ahead of her.
I smirked at the old man and the girl as they froze in place. Trying to play it cool, while trying my best to avoid passing out from the stress.
Even a gun could solve a problem in this strange world. "Well, a job well done." I said
"She was...she was about to cut me down."
"Felt…" the old massive man went to comfort his granddaughter as she began to softly cry
I felt bad...she was just a kid and had her first brush with death. This was a cruel world, and I wanted to comfort her, but I was just a stranger. So, I grabbed the bloodstained coin purse, and attached it to my belt.
My reward...doused in blood. I took a deep breath as I began to calm myself down, why did this woman's death impact me so much?
Because she killed me before…
I quickly shook the thought out of my head. That was impossible, but who cares anymore now she is dead, and I have a nice cash reward.
"...I never miss." I once again repeated. The sneering of my face, and the cold of my voice even shook me as I stared at the money.
The old man huffed at the sound of my voice. "That pride of yours kid...will eat you alive."
I ignored him. I left the guns and backpack next to the destroyed planks and I would have to retrieve it. But something came…
My hands went to the knife and revolver as I blocked the first blow. Her purple eyes, and contorted scary smile filling me with dread.
"What...but you were…" My voice traveled along in a daze as I stared at her. I assumed that she was dead before, but as I gazed down, I saw her wounds.
She was in pain and seemed to be much slower. There were massive wounds oozing from her lower stomach. The area where the shogun shell ripped into her.
"Next time...maybe you should make sure your targets are dead." She spoke softly. Her voice was the worst part about her, the way she spoke felt soft and loving...but it was only a mask.
She kicked me...my body slamming into the bar area. My back slamming against the glasses as I slid to the ground.
The pain shot through me as the glass shards luckily did not break through my overcoat. Stabbing me with their small pellets.
"Brom!"
I scampered up, ignoring the aching pain blooming through my body. As I saw it, and I felt the rage take over. The old man was shielding the girl in his massive arms, as the assassin...slammed her knife through his back.
He collapsed on top of her. The blood oozing in violent spurts as the girl cried his name out. My fingers grasped the bar as I slammed my foot down, in a leap I slammed the knife down.
They connected...in a wide flurry of sparks. The ricochet sent me flying back as I let my feet skid across the floor. I held the weapons in both of my hands...the revolver and knife, the weapons that defined me.
She busted towards me, but she was slower. Her strange knife slammed into the revolver as I quickly swiped with my knife hand, causing her to leap away.
"Kid, get out there!"
The girl was not responding as I stared down the assassin.
"You really are something aren't you?" She asked, a seductive smile highlighting her face. A dark gloom is already blooming. "I wonder something...are you…I feel it. Your fear."
"You mask it very well."
I threw my head back as I faked a laugh. "I fear nothing, women."
"Aw but do you believe that? Your words and emotions are a strong shield, but do you truly believe that with the fear emanating off from you?"
I did not want to die…I glanced at my hands as they were rapidly shaking. The fear dawned on me as my grip tightened. I will not let the assassin get the child...I will not allow it. I will rather lay down my own life, then let that little girl die.
"What is the point of this...I saw what happened. You attacked the girl after the deal went down." I spluttered out, hoping to distract her
"I desire to kill and see what your bowels look like."
"Lady...I was expecting something else. Maybe mating with a good-looking guy like myself, but I guess you will not be down for that, so I guess we got to duel."
She readied the knife in front of her. Aimed at me...
I cocked the revolver as the next bullet came into rotation. "Cut me if you like. I'll decapitate you in turn."
She ran her fingers through her straight black hair. "Ready to die, boy?" She was hot, but the crazy psycho personality really messed it up.
"I'm already dead inside."
She lunged at me. The blade nearly cleaving me in half as it viscously slit through the overcoat.
"Felt...run!"
"No, I can help." She tried to say. But she was standing over the old man's body. Frozen in place and in shock.
My knife clashed with the assassin's kukri; rapid sparks enclosed. I was able to keep up with her movements now...they felt strangely familiar, and the gunshot she was suffering from helped a lot.
I kicked her to the side. She spat blood as she barreled back. "How does the taste of your own blood taste...maybe I can get to see what your bowels look like." I spat out, the knife twisting in between my fingers.
"I wouldn't get cocky, boy."
My eyes locked with her own purple ones, my pride reaffirming itself. "Don't make me laugh, hag. You're outmatched, that gunshot already has you defeated."
She lunged but the shot from my revolver countered her back in place. "I am alert, like a cat."
"You bark like a dog but unlike a dog...you have no bite!"
I whacked the blade as I slammed the knife into her stomach. "How does it feel. Payback, bitch!"
I twisted the blade and right before she could slash me, I pulled it out. As I barreled back. She was heaving a lot, that gunshot must have messed up a couple of her organs. She didn't have much left.
Though I was not a fool...Brom was dead, and everything that has happened has been by the grace of lady luck.
"But...I will not let his death be in vain!" I screamed
Her face twisted into a smile as numerous knives appeared at her sides. Small throwing knives that cascaded from her like a tuff wind, but they were not aimed at me.
"Felt!" I leaped through the air. Her tear streaked face doused, not allowing her to see what was coming. I launched myself at her, cradling my massive body over hers, as the knives pierced my right arm.
Damn…my revolver slipped carelessly from my right hand. The pain bombarding my vision and causing me to see stars.
She leaped through the air like the injuries did not affect her at all. That had to be impossible, she formed a soft smirk as I gazed at her wounds...did she, was she acting?
"No talk anymore, dog."
Felt revealed something from under her arm as I saw a faint flame bloom. "Duck!" she yelped as I listened to her command.
The bottle flew and slammed onto the floor. The alcohol from the destroyed bottles, mixed with the dry and stale wood...
She threw a Molotov between us. Me and the assassin bounced back on our feet. Each one of us now devoid of a usable arm, a knife fight.
I glanced at Felt...the girl still in tears. Arming herself with a knife, and already lighting another Molotov. I thought that she was just in shook, but this whole time she was getting ready to fight against this unstoppable force.
A child...was able to save me. My lips curled into a smile but dropped as a thought entered my mind.
I could not win…All that mattered now was…
"Felt, another one!" As I commanded another Molotov breached through the air and exploded.
This whole place was created out of dusty and dry wooden planks, and before we knew it the place was already in flames. The smoke was already rising as the crimson, orange flames danced along with us.
I grabbed the young girl's hand and was taking her out of the flaming house. I was clutching her by my usable hand as I practically held her close.
Until I felt a swipe in the air aimed at us.
I grabbed Felt as the blade came at me. I felt pressure throughout my whole body as I nearly collapsed. The blood was emptying from my mouth as I collapsed.
"Come on we can't…" Felt pleaded with me
Her scarlet eyes went to the floor as she searched me. Her singular brown gloved hand outstretched towards me, a small hand.
In a half-dazed adrenaline frenzy, I gripped it and we both escaped from the open door as smoke littered outside.
The adrenaline was the only thing blocking the pain as I continued. I do not know how long we ran through the slums. Until I collapsed onto the floor.
My stomach and back were on fire as I fought the urge to pass out. The feeling of dread and fear coming at me in vibrant storms of cold.
I gazed down at my limp body, the same body that Felt was dragging me by my hand. "Please...stop." I slowly muttered, my breathing ragged and cold...
Her kukri...she had thrown it and with instinct I prioritized the child's life over my own. If I did not do anything then Felt would have died.
I coughed up blood as I saw the edge of the blade poking out from my stomach. "Felt...look at me."
She walked to my side as she went to her knees. Her eyes spilling tears and sobbing as she looked at me. She lost everything today...because of that bitch.
If I were stronger...or smarter I could have saved her. God, why am I like this...always too weak to save the ones that I need to protect.
"Felt...I'm...so sorry for…your grandfather."
The words were strained as after each word a violent cough erupted from me. "No... without you I would have died. I won't leave you behind!"
"You have too...take...this."
I handed her the assassins' pouch. The one she was meant to use to get that dumb rock. The dumb rock. If I had enough strength, I would have punched a wall. All this blood spilt for some dumb rock!
"Run...and don't look back."
A furious glare was displayed on her face as I turned my body towards the sky. The stars beckoning me, as the light slowly faded from them.
"But you will…"
A violent cough erupted from me. "I have been a dead man walking for years, my past and karma just caught up with me." My gaze turned towards the bright stars beginning to come out from the setting sun.
"All roads come to an end...I'll die here, but why does it matter…"
I knew there was not enough time left. With a horrific grunt I forced my hand up as I unclenched my fingers, and opened my palm.
"You lost your knife...take mine. It's yours now."
Her small fragile hands graced the blade. She peered down onto it, her fingers lightly touching the tip of the knife.
"What...what is your name?" She asked. Her tears had just began to clear up, and now her eyes were blood red.
"It is...Dismas...Dismas Williamson, that is my true name."
The words came from me. Words which I have not uttered in a very long time, words that made my throat hurt as the light began to abandon me. My good hand, reaching out for them...only for the darkness to come, and take me.
I closed my eyes welcoming the death that has hounded me for years...as I felt something touch my heart, it was like a hand.
It caressed it and I heard someone say something. A whisper at the edge of the wind, separating me from life and death…
"I..love...you…"