Chapter
2 – Past Vices Brought to Life
“I’m still not completely getting
your positive attitude,” Silva says as they continue walking to their
destination, “It has to be more than having the glass is half full mentality.”
“How about viewing things from God’s
perspective then? We’re all sinful people, but God didn’t burn us all to ash,
so that must mean there’s something in us still worth saving. At least that’s
what I was taught in church when we still had them around.”
“Ah, that’s right.”
“You know I’d expect someone from
your order to know that since they were so close to God.”
“Let’s just say that current and
some past events shook my faith until recently.”
“I can understand that. A lot of
faithful people I know lost their faith. Some even killed themselves, drowned
themselves in drink, or turned to terrible lives.”
“For me, it feels even worse because
of what I was and how so many people hate me and try to kill me because of it.”
“I think you’re a good person if it
means anything to you.”
“You-you do?”
“Of course. You are trying to
correct the mistake that caused all of this, so I think you’re a good person
despite whatever you might’ve done or not done.”
Silva can’t help but giggle to herself
and blush beneath her iron mask to the extent that her burned face will allow
her.
She then says, “That’s the nicest
thing anyone’s said to me for a while. Heck, I haven’t even thought anything good
about myself for a while.”
“You should try to. If you hate
yourself, then you aren’t going to live for very long because why would you
take care of someone you don’t really like?”
“I guess that’s a good way of
thinking about it.”
Before the two know it, they’re low
again on food and water so they stop by a shantytown that appears to be
populated with normal people or rather as normal as the ashen world can be. The
people in the town wear masks with designs of hearts and other symbols associated
with love on their masks. Its farms consist of a strange looking fruit that’s
appealing to look at. In the food market, every farmer is selling a variant of
the strange fruit. Lucus and Silva go up to it to have a better look.
“What kind of fruit is this?” Lucus
asks, “I’ve never seen it before.”
“It’s a fruit that’s come out of
the earth as a result of it being burned by Divine fire,” the farmer explains, “As
a result, this fruit is also Divine and healthy for both your body and soul.”
“Really? How much is it?”
“You can’t put a price on Divinity,
especially during these times, so they’re free. Take as many as you want. Here,
try one.”
“Might as well.”
Lucus reaches to try the fruit only
to get his hand dragged away by an older woman who says, “No, boy. You shouldn’t
try that. Try my own.”
“Why makes yours so special that
you have to pull me away from trying his?”
“Stop trying to always steal my
business, cougar. You know I can’t beat your good looks to help me sell my food,”
the farmer says.
The woman pulls Lucus in to
whisper, “You’re in danger here.”
“What’s going on?” Lucus whispers.
“Follow me and I’ll tell you.”
The woman then takes Lucus’ hand
and is about to lead him away but is stopped by Silva.
“Where are you two going?” Silva
says with an aggressive tone in her voice.
“She’s going to show me her farm
where she grows her fruits. Come on,” Lucus says.
“Okay,” Silva says with suspicion.
The woman leads the two to her
ranch and into her house.
She begins to explain, “You two
came to the wrong town to stop for food at.”
“Why’s that?” Lucus asks.
“Because it’s under the influence
of a demon of ash.”
“Are you talking about those black
monsters made of ash?”
“So, you’ve faced them before?”
“Dozens,” Silva adds, “I find them
everywhere I go.”
“You do? I thought they were few
and far between from my travels. As far as I know, these demons came to life because
of us not giving God a sacrifice of true love. The demons are made from the
sins he took away from us.”
“How about you start answering our
questions first? Who are you and why are you here?” Silva says.
“Okay, I should tell you that first.
My name is Sapera and I was just a traveler in search of a place to settle down.
When I got here, I thought everything was normal until I saw the effects of the
fruit that people sell. They won’t force you to eat it unless you try to leave
town and when you eat it, you become a slave to the demon. I’ve seen it sneaking
around in the shadows.”
“Where does the fruit come from?”
“I think it primarily comes from
the demon, but its slaves who have eaten the fruit puke it out into the ground
to grow more.”
“Ekk,” Lucus and Silva react.
“I know. It’s good that they don’t
know about my secret stash of food. I’m beginning to run low, so we have to
find a way to kill that demon to free the town.”
“Are you sure that will work? I’ve
tried to kill them before and failed with my weapons being nearly broken.”
“What? Are you kidding me? Here I
thought we had a fighting chance. Aren’t you an assassin from that order from
years ago?”
“Yeah, but even I have my limits.”
“That makes a whole lot of sense.
You and your order are nothing but useless.”
Silva is struck by Sapera’s words
and takes a step back and turns her back away.
“Silva…” Lucus says as he puts his
hand on Silva’s shoulder.
“She’s right, Lucus.”
“No, she isn’t. Sapera, Silva here
knows how to fix the world.”
“Does she?”
“She does. I believe she does, at
least.”
“Well, I guess someone in her order
would have a plan in case something went wrong.”
“Right and that doesn’t make her
useless.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry, Silva.”
“It’s okay. Maybe if we all came up
with a plan in attacking the demon then we’ll succeed.”
“I know how it moves around and
some of its tricks. We have to be careful in how we do this since there are
people under its control.”
A pair of sneaking eyes catch Lucus’
attention as he sees them looking at them through the window. When he makes eye
contact with the eyes, they move away.
“Hey, I think it might’ve already
found us. I saw a pair of eyes looking into the house,” Lucus says.
“Ah heck. We have to move now!”
Sapera says as she picks up a sword in her house and goes outside.
Lucus and Silva follow her outside
to see people converging on their position with the demon retreating.
“The demon is making those people
come after us. We have to push through them,” Sapera says.
The trio pushes through the crowd of
civilians while trying to kill any of them. They keep pushing and run after the
demon until they see it stop in the town’s center. More people come in, but
they don’t fight. They just stand guard around the exits.
“This was part of its plan!” Sapera
says.
“Watch out!” Silva says as the
demon spits a liquid out of its split head.
Silva pushes Sapera out of the way
and gets hit. She wobbles on her feet as she holds her head.
“Silva! Are you okay?” Lucus says.
As Lucus nears Silva, she lunges at
him. He manages to grab her hands to stop her from grabbing him.
She says, “I love you! You’re the
only person who accepts me with my flaws. Let me embrace you forever!”
“Get a hold of yourself, Silva!
Sapera! Get that demon while I take care of Silva!”
“I’ll try!”
Silva lifts her mask and almost pukes the same liquid
the demon did onto Lucus, but he manages to dodge it. Meanwhile, Sapera
struggles to fight the demon that’s fast on its long legs that look like its
wearing high heels. The demon jumps and slides all over the place and even uses
the people under its control as shields. She is unable to hit it and the demon
takes advantage of her situation to spit its liquid at her face. Now everyone
but Lucus is under its control.
“This is a big problem, but I think
I have a solution. Sorry about this Silva,” Lucus says before he kicks Silva
away.
He switches one of arms out for
another that shoots out his hand with a chain attached to the back. Lucus
manages to wrap around his hand and chain around the demon. With the demon in
chains, he throws it around to knock down the crowd around him that’s closing
in on him. He then brings it closer to slash at it and hits it several times as
he tosses it around to slash it and hit it into the walls. The agitated demon
manages to stand up and charges at Lucus with its mouth open. It shoots out its
liquids at him as it charges at him, but he manages to dodge it. When it gets
close enough, Lucus dodges the last projectile and does one large swing at the demon
that decapitates it.
The death of the demon makes its
body turn to ash that blows in the wind and frees everyone under its control.
Those freed from its control puke out seeds onto the ground as they wake up
from the demon’s control.
Lucus runs to Silva and asks, “Silva,
are you okay now?”
“Yeah, I’m sorry I lost control of
myself.”
“Don’t be sorry. You saved me,”
Sapera says.
“Only for a little while.”
“But you still helped me in saving
this town. I think that if you keep this up, then you can save the world.”
“Really.”
“Yes, I do.”
Both Sapera and Silva smile at each
other behind their masks and can feel a mutual friendship between them.
“Are you going to come with us,
Sapera?” Silva asks.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t. I want to
help these people recover from what the demon happened to them. Besides, you
don’t need me. You two seem good together.”
“What makes you say that?”
“You fight well together, and don’t
you remember what you said to Lucus?”
“Th-that wasn’t. I wasn’t in
control of myself!”
“The demon may exaggerate feelings,
but there’s no doubt that you have feelings for him.”
“We’re just friends. Right, Lucus?”
“Right and oh, before I forget, can
we please have some of your food before we go, Sapera? It’s why we came into
town.”
“Men. Always thinking about your
stomachs.”
“That’s not-”
“I’m just joking. Of course you can
have some of my food. It’s the least I can do to help you in your adventure.”
After taking some food and refilling
their water a bit, Lucus and Silva say goodbye to the people of the town and
Sapera and continue onward.
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