[365 PB]: King

  The next day, King woke up with a familiar yet uncomfortable feeling. It was like an itch in his body, one he couldn’t scratch. This thing started a few months ago without any warning and wouldn’t leave him.

  He looked around the dark room he was sitting in. The small form of Shoku was still tucked in bed. He had been twisting and turning the whole night and now seemed to have finally settled into a peaceful sleep.

  The bigger boy pushed himself off the ground and stretched his muscles which spasmed in response. Sleeping on hard ground didn’t bother him at all. It wasn’t like he was sleeping a lot anyway.

  He dragged his body out of the room and went down the stairs, each creaked under him.

  Looking into the empty kitchen he guessed that Shoku’s father had already left for the mines. The man hadn’t woken up his son, probably in consideration of what happened yesterday.

  ?How mindful. ?

  The giant didn’t dwell in thoughts too long; he had things to take care of. He pushed open the door and stepped into the snowy streets. Today, snow was falling quite hard. People walked quickly while shielding their faces with their coats.

  This wasn’t a problem for someone like King. The snowflakes were ticklish on his skin but other than that, nothing. He walked with confident strides, leaving small furrows behind him.

  The People turned their heads every time he passed them. Their gazes held different emotions: some were admirative, some were filled with jealousy while others had straight up fear into them. It didn’t matter what was in these gazes; they were all locked on him without any exception.

  He couldn’t hide from them, His body wouldn’t allow it. He just had to reply to them with a hardened glare and kept going.

  Inside, he felt a flame grow when he met the disgusted gaze of a middle-aged woman. She was a complete stranger, he had never even spoken to her once in his life. So, what was the reason for her contempt?

  The heat inside of him wanted him to spin around and yell into her face:

  ?Do you feel superior because you’re fully human? ?

  ?Do you believe my blood tainted? ?

  ?Would you make a better noble than me? ?

  He snapped himself out of his buzzing mind. His feet had led him to the only place in town he liked: the bakery.

  By now, the bakers were probably done with their morning sales and were getting ready for the afternoon when the first miners would finish their shifts.

  King stomped his feet at the entrance to get rid of the snow on his shoes. He then passed a hand in his hair; the snow in it was wiped in an instant as if it couldn’t cling to it.

  Finally, he stepped into the building. The scent of freshly baked bread overwhelmed his nose. And a wave of lingering heat from the oven hit him. He never liked intense smells nor warmth, but those weren’t the reasons why he appreciated the place.

  He walked along the long counter; nearly all the bread had left, leaving but small crumbs on the wood. No one was here to greet him, but he heard some noise coming from a door in the back.

  The ajar door allowed him to see the kitchen where the dough was being made. Huge sacks of flour and dried mudshroom powder were piled in the corners. In the middle of the kitchen was a large rectangular table covered in a thin layer of flour.

  At last, his gaze landed on the reason for his presence here, Solane.

  The brunette was kneading dark colored dough on the table. Her strong hands were working the paste with ease and skill gained from practicing the same motion for many years.

  However, she seemed completely out of it. Her hair was disheveled and down, stretching far past her shoulders. Her usually bright eyes were puffy and staring into the void. The dough in her hand seemed stretchy enough, yet she kept kneading it. It was impossible to tell how long she had been at it.

  King pushed open the door and entered the kitchen, but she didn’t react. He waited an instant before taking a few steps closer, now being right next to her. She still didn’t react and kept kneading the dough which was now begging for it to end.

  King cleared his throat and the girl jumped in surprise. Her swollen eyes widened when they locked on the mountain that had just decided to form in her kitchen.

  She put a hand over her heart “Don’t scare me like that!”

  “I had been trying to make my presence as clear as possible for the last couple minutes.”

  The girl shook her head “Sorry, I'm not really there, right now.”

  She looked so much smaller than usual in the eyes of King. He hated seeing her like this he wanted to reach a hand but stopped when a thought crossed his mind:

  ?What if I were to crush her? ?

  When he was a bit younger, he knew how to accurately gauge his strength as to never hurt others too badly. It was easy; he just had to hold himself back, even when he was angry. But recently his body seemed to have lost this accuracy. His emotions themselves were more prone to explode.

  He could just imagine trying to put a hand on her and accidentally dislocating her shoulder or something else. He didn’t trust himself.

  Without a word, Solane bumped her head on his chest, letting it rest against him. Her shoulders shook as she held back her sobbing.

  “I don’t understand anything that is happening right now. Why would this happen to Star? How did this happen to Star? Xenevia never let him out of her sight.” Her hands came to grip his shirt. “I want it to be a beast but the more I think about it...”

  King didn’t move an inch. He had no idea what to do in this situation. Solane was someone who always tried to see the good side of things. She believed in the good nature of people and never doubted it. Should he tell her about his suspicions?

  But that would only hurt her more...

  “Whatever killed Star was no better than a beast. A beast would have had the decency to kill him quickly and eat his remains instead of leaving a mangled corpse.”

  Solane looked up at him. Her distressed expression made his heart tighten for an instant. But there was no point lying to her.

  The girl broke into tears and shoved her face harder into him. Each of her sobs tugged at his heart, but he didn’t reconsider his decision. When her arms wrapped around him, his eyes widened.

  As slowly and carefully as possible he raised his hands and placed them on her back.

  They stayed like that for a while until Solane extracted herself from the embrace and rubbed her eyes.

  “Sorry about that...and also your shirt.”

  King looked down to see a wet imprint of her face on his top. A small smirk tugged at his lips.

  “I was planning to clean this one anyway.”

  The brunette chuckled lowly. Despite her red eyes, she somewhat looked a bit better.

  “Thank you, you’re very kind.”

  The girl suddenly slapped her owns cheeks which startled the giant standing in front of her. She had a determined glint in her puffy eyes.

  “C’mon, I have some more dough to prepare before my parents come back!”

  King nodded “I’ll leave you to it then. I also need to go somewhere.”

  “Come back later, I'll have a super tasty loaf just for you.”

  King turned away from her and gave her a small wave.

  ?I don’t even like bread that much. ?

  When he stepped out of the bakery, the snow had calmed down. Only a few snowflakes twirled in the air here and there.

  ?one thing done. Now the next one?

  He now had to keep his end of the agreement he made with Daria and Shoku. He would try to find something to use against Hector.

  And what better place to search than the one he was residing in? Said place which happened to be the boy's own house.

  As he headed toward his house, atop the hills, he passed by the town center. There the church of light was closed, which was something he had never seen at this hour.

  The crystal at the top was still shining brightly but without a lightbringer to charge it, it'll eventually get dimmer until eventually going out.

  He looked down at the stairs. The snow had buried any trace of yesterday's incident under a blanket of pure white.

  King was conflicted about it. He wasn’t fond of this damn bird who was living a pampered life. He hated how free he was thanks to his glowing wings. If only it really was that easy to strip yourself off all the chains keeping us grounded.

  He was so free yet died a horrible death; his wings crushed and his head severed.

  Was that the fate of anyone trying to live carelessly? If so:

  ?What good is there in it? ?

  The tall kid kept his pace. Soon enough he had left the ring of holy light and was now walking up a steep cobblestone path.

  Further down this path stood the massive wooden mansion of the Shurnikel family. Behind the church of light this was the biggest building in Bloux.

  Its size was the whole reason why it wasn't built in the giant sinkhole that Bloux was. The space it could have taken was instead used to build a good dozen of commoner's houses.

  The only problem with it being so high and away from the town was obviously that it wasn't getting any white light.

  Since a week ago, this place was the only one to use fire as a source of light; tall metallic torches were spread out around the mansion. These torches were made this high specifically so that no one would burn themselves even if they were to run into them. It was a pretty good idea, just not for the poor servants who had to light them up every morning.

  Speaking of which, a bald middle-aged man was folding a wooden ladder. The man was wearing plain brown clothes with soot stains here and there.

  When he noticed the approaching titans, his eyes went wide. He dusted his clothes and did a quick bow.

  "Young master, you were gone for a long time. We were starting to grow worried."

  "I'm here now."

  "Right, I'm sure the lady will be happy to see you back."

  On these words the man hoisted the ladder on a shoulder and made his way toward the back of the mansion.

  King was now alone in front of the entrance. The main door was massive, almost as big as the double door of the church. No matter how big he grew, he would never have any problem fitting through it.

  He kicked the snow off his feet and pushed the door. The door didn't resist and simply opened, unlocked.

  The inside of the manor was dark and cold, something he liked. The ceilings were high, and the hallways were wide to make it easier for him and the lady to travel around the residence.

  The entrance split into 3 corridors which were lit with the flickering flames of small candles. No bigger sources of heat were allowed in the main building. The heaters were in the kitchen and servant rooms.

  King wanted to quickly sneak toward the guest rooms in which Hector and his men lodged. He didn't want to encounter any of the masters of the house right now.

  Obviously, the world wasn't on his side. The moment he took a step toward the right corridor a strong scent of perfume hit his nose. It was coming from the middle hallway and was getting more intense.

  He stopped and clenched his teeth. If he could smell her, she could smell him. There was no point trying to escape her.

  He faced the hallway and straightened his posture. He could see a small light approaching in the darkness. He could make out the short figure of a woman wearing the usual plain brown dress of the servants. She was holding a dark chamberstick in front of her.

  Evidently, she wasn't the one he dreaded to encounter. Rather, it was the humongous figure cloaked in darkness walking next to her.

  Each step taken on the tiling by the colossus echoed in the silence. Even if King knew who it was, he still felt uneasy.

  ?Most people think I'm big. They just never saw her. ?

  Out of the darkness stepped out a woman well over 2 meters and a half (± 8.2 feet).

  Her eyes were akin to two glaciers floating in a sea of very pale blue.

  Her hair was so straight it almost looked stiff. The dark color of it was occasionally interrupted by white stripes running through it. The white was as pure as fresh snow and didn’t seem to come from old age.

  Two massive, curled horns were growing from the sides of her head. Their dark color and sheer size put King’s own horns to shame.

  The long black dress which reached her ankles had been custom made to fit her abnormal forms. The material was stretchy and there were no sleeves in order to let her muscular arms unobstructed.

  She stopped right in front of King and looked down at him. It wasn’t often that he felt like an actual kid in front of someone else. He glared up at her, but she didn’t even register it.

  “Finally, you’re back, chou. Your father was so agitated these last few days.”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Her mouth parted open into a smile, revealing four protruding canines comparable to sharp poniards. Her eyes roamed over his body, and a displeased click of tongue escaped her.

  She cupped the face of her son, turning it around to inspect the hair growing on it.

  “Don’t tell me you were walking around with all of that on you! Do you want the townsfolks to think that you’re a beast?”

  “Sasquatches also have hair.”

  The gigantic woman squinted her eyes. “Are you a sasquatch?”

  “No”

  “What are you then?”

  “A yeti”

  “And where does this name appear on the list of inhabitants of this realm?”

  “...nowhere.”

  The woman leaned closer to him. “Right, we are not a sapient race in the eyes of others. We are barbarians.”

  She rubbed his face with surprising tenderness despite her big hands.

  “Shave all of that before it gets out of hand.” She motioned to the servant next to her who quickly disappeared in the right hallway.

  King had always hated this about the realm. He was a yeti, one of the original races that dominated the realm pre-Darkening. Sasquatches were only a subspecies that appeared after a group of yetis decided to leave their freezing mountains when everything got dark.

  Except for a few physiological differences, both were very much alike.

  So, he simply couldn’t understand why some sasquatches judged him for his look when they themselves were hairier than some dogs. To be honest, what was the point in trying to understand anything logical coming from the minds of people?

  Just thinking about that made the ache inside of him grow stronger, more unbearable.

  His mother pulled back and smiled gently. “You are also late in your assignments. but don’t worry, your father put some of his minor documents aside just for you. You'll find them all in your room.”

  A faint blush appeared on her pale cheeks. “How lucky I am to have such an attentive husband. Thanks to his hard work you’ll be able to pass the military exam with ease and become an important knight.”

  King glared but as always, his gaze was completely ignored. “Right, I won’t let you down.”

  “Shoo. Go get rid of all this ugly stuff on you and catch up on your studies.”

  “Yes, mother.”

  The words felt like shards of glass in his mouth. He clenched his fist at his sides just to hold himself back. Each muscle under his skin ached and spasmed as if they wanted to burst out of him in an explosion.

  And he wanted to help them out. He wanted to scratch his skin until he could find the source of this itching, even if it meant tearing at his flesh.

  Just as he was about to take a step, his mother put a hand on his shoulder. With ease, she turned him toward her. She jabbed a finger into his chest and leaned so close he could feel her hot breath as well as smell more of her intense perfume. Today it was her favorite; pine tree.

  “Keep the beast in.”

  Her words were devoid of any warmth. It was the same order he had been following his whole life. The same order which made him civilized and like anyone else.

  He held her gaze without flinching. The only thing he saw were the eyes of a caged animal.

  “Of course.”

  Her grip loosened and he pulled away from her. He walked down the left corridor, still feeling her intense eyes on his back. The buzzing in his head had slightly calmed down.

  He turned at the end of the hallway and pushed open the door there. It was a small bathroom with a singular sink and mirror on the wall. A very familiar sight for him. He probably spent more time grooming himself than even the most coquettish noble women of the Middle.

  He took off his shirt and dropped it at his feet. He stared back into the mirror. A muscular body covered in short hair greeted him. That was the body of a man, not a child. He ran a hand over his chest, feeling the pricking of the disgusting hair.

  With a sigh he reached into a drawer under the sink to retrieve a glass jar half filled with white cream as well as a silver razor.

  He heard three knocks on the door.

  “Enter.”

  The door creaks, revealing the same servant who was with his mother. She now had a bucket of steaming water in hand. Her eyes were stuck to the ground as she quickly set the bucket next to him and excused herself with a small bow. In less than ten seconds, she was gone.

  King started his usual routine. First, he splashed water onto his face and whole upper half, letting the warm water tenderize his skin. He then left the razor dip in the hot water as he started applying the cream all over him. His father had imported this high-quality shaving cream from the Middle, specifically for his son and his wife. Such a caring man.

  King took the razor out of the water and looked at himself one last time in the mirror.

  With clean, practiced strokes, he went over his body. Starting with the small hair on his face before moving to the thicker ones on his arms and chest. The razor glided against his skin, getting rid of everything in his way.

  After, pretty much an hour, he stared back into the mirror. Here he was back, free of one of his burdens. With a long sigh he cleaned himself up and swept away the fur covering the ground.

  He put a hand on his chest; all the itching inside of him had stopped.

  The beast had left him.

  He put his shirt back on and left the bathroom. He wanted to go investigate Hector’s room but now that the lady of the house knew he was back, she would not leave him alone until he finishes his assignments.

  With resigned steps he headed toward his room, which was at the end of the hallway. He stepped into the vast bedroom and closed the door right behind himself. The room’s walls were made of pale wood which contrasted with the furniture made with darker wood. A double bed sat on the middle right side of the room. The sheets were neatly folded on the large white mattress; there was no blanket. Right next to the bed was a small bedside table with an empty lantern on it.

  Right on his left, stood a massive bookshelf full of all kinds of books. The genres ranged from history, politics, and even religion. against the wall in front of King, was a nice desk and a chair with a cushion on it. The desk had a lit candle on it to help with reading.

  The giant stepped closer to the desk and noticed a stack of white papers waiting just for him, his assignments. Said assignments were actually minor documents that his father had to deal with as a noble. Since he was quite young, he had been filling them to train for later when he would eventually become ‘someone important’ as his parents said.

  The documents had piled up since he left. Just looking at it, he knew he would be here for a while. He sat on the chair, picked a pencil made from an orange-brownish material and grabbed the first paper.

  “Let’s get this over with.”

  .

  .

  .

  How long has it been since he started filling in the documents? King didn’t know nor did he care. His whole self was focused on completing his task as quickly and efficiently as possible.

  He had been writing for so long that he had to refill with ink his overworked pencil.

  By the time he signed the last paper, he was halfway through his second grease candle. He pulled back and rolled his stiff neck. His body was aching, but it wasn’t the one he disliked.

  He got up to stretch his legs which cracked in relief. The task had drained him mentally, quieting all the buzzing in his head. He let out a long exhale, feeling perfectly calm and in control. This was one of the very few upsides he could give to doing paperwork.

  Finally, he could start investigating Hector. At this hour the man was probably showing off in front of the miners or something else like that. King reached into a drawer on his desk to pull out a dark flask of perfume. It was a gift given to him not too long ago on his 16th birthday. This was his father’s favorite brand. There was a large ‘M’ graved in the middle of the flask. On the left bottom was a simple representation of an empty nest.

  King did not like perfume; the scent was too powerful and messed with his nose. But this time, said scent will help him out. If he simply went into the warm servant’s quarter where Hector stayed. His scent would have lingered and eventually be caught by the lady of the house whose sense of smell was far more superior than his.

  If he were to get caught by her, he would have no excuses. She was the one who knew him the most since their bodies were very much alike. She wouldn’t believe that he suddenly decided to go into the most heated part of the mansion while he and her hate warmth.

  To avoid that, he just had to become someone else. He sprayed the perfume all over himself. The first few sprays even tricked him into thinking his father had suddenly materialized in his room. Smelling the scent he had associated with his father suddenly emanating from his body was something he never wished to experience again.

  At least he was sure that his cover would work as long as his mother didn’t pay too much attention to the smell.

  He stepped out of his room and hurried down the hallway as quietly as he could. When he reached the entrance, he continued straight into the right corridor. At first nothing much was different but soon enough the number of candles started increasing as well as the heat.

  The feeling of warmth on his skin was bothering but not unbearable.

  The boy soon enough arrived at an intersection and stopped to peek in both directions. He knew that on his left were the kitchen and servants' rooms, meaning that the guests’ rooms were on his right. He looked right to see five different doors.

  He truly wondered which one was the right one. The first plain one, the second plain one, the third plain one, the fourth plain one or the fifth door with a hastily hanged signs above it with ‘Hector’ written on it? The choice was hard.

  He quickly stepped to the last door and turned the knob which resisted him. Unfortunately for this knob, the big guy simply turned it with more strength. The door just gave up and opened without any more complaints.

  The room was completely dark but King could make out a bed in the corner, a wardrobe in the other corner and a desk in the middle of it all. He closed the door behind himself and started by opening the wardrobe. To his surprise, it was pretty empty except for a few pairs of pants and three shirts. The only pieces of clothing in abundance were many pairs of dark gloves carefully laid out in a small box.

  Inspecting them closer, they were all the same model but as he started to dig deeper into the box, the gloves started looking a bit weird. The ones at the bottom of the box all had big holes in them; some were even missing fingers. Looking closer, it looked like they got burned.

  He didn’t think much of it until he closed the wardrobe and noticed multiple rolls of bandages on the desk as well as a pot of healing cream. King got closer and saw that a roll of bandage was still wet, meaning that it had been used recently. He didn’t pin Hector as the clumsy type.

  He accidentally bumped into the desk which made a few rolls of bandage and other things fall on the ground. As he was picking up the stuff, he grabbed a flask unlike any he had seen before. It was small and made from brownish glass. There was a simple nametag on it reading ‘Wrog’s mucus’.

  Wrog’s mucus? From his years of attending lessons at the church as well as reading a lot of books on the realm. He had obviously heard of the Wrogs, a race of anthropomorphic amphibians living in the oasis of Anva.

  If he recollected correctly, their skin could produce a slime with varying properties depending on their alimentation. The mucus could be slippery, sticky, acidic, fireproof, poisonous, and some individuals had properties unique to them.

  King inspected the flask then thought about the burned gloves and the many healing items.

  ?...fireproof? ?

  Could it be that Hector wasn’t able to control his fire? He thought about the two other magic users of this town. Sister Xenevia was a lightbringer who had already lived a pretty long life so no wonder she had such mastery over her light magic. But then there was Daria. She was a wild kid with no one to teach her about magic. And yet she used it with no problem as if it was second nature to her.

  Either the animalist kid was some king of magical genius, or Hector was extremely unskilled.

  He really wanted it to be the later.

  Just then he heard a commotion in the hallway. It sounded like the hurried steps of multiple men. He recognized the voice of Hector barking orders at his men. Something seemed to have angered him.

  King quickly put everything back in place and looked around the room for anywhere to hide. He plunged under the bed just as the door flew open. From his hiding place he could only see up to chest of the magical noble.

  Hector stopped at his desk and let a smoking glove fall at his feet while cursing under his breath. King couldn’t exactly see what was happening but from the sound he could guess that Hector was bandaging himself.

  King’s heart skipped a beat when the man crouched down to look into a drawer. If he were to turn his head to the left, he would have no problem noticing the dark mass under his bed.

  But the man was too agitated to really pay attention to his surroundings.

  King squinted his eyes when he saw him fold his right sleeve. Under it was some kind of weird metallic ring circling his wrist. It was dark but King could make out small tubes linked to it which were continuing under his coat.

  Hector took something too small to see out of the drawer and fiddled with the weird ring for a few seconds before getting back up. He quickly snatched a glove from his wardrobe and stormed out of the room shouting:

  “Find me who this guy was!”

  King stayed hidden for a few more minutes, waiting for all the noise to quiet down. Once he was sure that no one was around, he pulled himself out of his hiding spot and stood up.

  He looked at the desk and just as he was suspecting the pot of healing cream was now open and there was a bit less liquid in the flask of Wrog’s mucus.

  He moved to the door which had been left slightly open and peeked outside in the hallway. Seeing nothing, he came out of the room and made his way out of the servant’s quarters. He had to go back to Shoku’s house to share his findings with the others.

  Just as she reached the entrance of the mansion, he watched the main door part open. The door creaked as it was being open very slowly, resisting the person on the other side.

  With a sigh King grabbed the side of the door and pulled it toward him with ease. The door opened on the slightly smaller figure of a man. His dirty blonde hair was slicked back, and his eyes were of a hazel color. He was wearing heavy fur clothes to keep himself warm both outside and inside his mansion. Yes, this was the master of the house: Mr. Shurnikel.

  The small man looked at King with wide eyes before smiling and putting his hands on the boy’s shoulders.

  “My boy, I am glad to see you back! You really worried me when you disappeared without a word.”

  “I apologize.”

  “It’s fine now.”

  “Look at what I got you.” The man opened his coat to pull out a small leather book out of his inside pocket. King could now see a small peek of the large scar running across this man’s shoulder. The man had never talked about it and his son had never asked.

  “This book talks about the tale of silver in more detail. A future knight of the New Hope must know everything about the journey of Mother Sallith and all the hardships she went through to make this realm a better place.”

  The man excitedly flipped through the pages, showing multiple illustrations. He stopped on one showing four figures. One unmistakably the one of the current queen goddess of this realm. She was easily recognizable by her long robe and the hood covering her face. She was surrounded by three in man in similar clothing.

  “See? They even talk about the heroes and their journey to defeat the demon king.”

  “It looks fascinating, father.”

  “I know! I'll put it in your room so you can start reading it tonight before going to bed. You'll love it, I know I did.”

  “Unfortunately, I am not sleeping here tonight.”

  His father’s eyes widened “But you’re back! What does this mean?”

  “It means that I am not yet done with my runaway, please give it a few more days.”

  King tried to walk past him, but the man put himself in his path.

  “If you spend any more time fooling around with other kids, you will fall being and potentially fail the military exam.”

  “Potentially is not a will.”

  “Come on, you’ve always been a good kid until now. Your mother and I want the best for you, you know that?”

  “I do.”

  “Then what is this behavior about? Talk to me about it.”

  King squinted his eyes. There was a LOT he wanted to say to this man which weren’t even related to Hector. And even if her talked about the Vay Vay Bhon, his father would just dismiss it all.

  King stepped in front of the man who was a bit startled “This military exam, I'll crush it. I'll reach knighthood and prove to everyone in this realm how strong and intelligent I am despite the savagery mixed in my human blood. And to start on this path I have something to take care of in this town.”

  King walked past the baffled Mr. Shurnikel who turned to look with wide eyes at the departing figure of his son. The man sighed and pocketed the book before stepping into the mansion.

  King headed back into town. He didn’t have time to argue with his father. If his father wanted him to become a protector of the realm then he would do as such; starting with this town.

  As he headed toward Shoku’s house, he noticed someone else walking ahead of him. Even from behind, he could recognize this certain baker thanks to the cute bun wobbling atop her head. She was wearing a thick grey sweater and long leather pants to protect herself from the cold.

  He approached her, the sounds of his steps into the snow alerted her, and she looked back. A beautiful smile lit her face the moment she recognized him.

  “Good evening! I was starting to wonder where you were.”

  “I had some stuff to take care at home.”

  The girl looked him up and down with curious eyes.

  “You shaved everything!”

  “Yes, it’s bett-”

  “The beard was starting to grow on me” cut him off the girl.

  “I guess it made me look more adult.”

  “Yes, but it also suited better. In my opinion you have a beard face.” She smiled warmly at him.

  Her kind words made him remember why he appreciated her so much. When he was in front of her, he was just a teenager like any other.

  She lifted a basket that she was holding and pulled out a round loaf of bread. The crust was a superb dark brown and looked just as crunchy. As always, love was put into her craft.

  “Here’s your loaf, just as promised.”

  King gently accepted the gift. “You didn’t have to actually save me one.”

  “I definitely didn’t, but I wanted to.”

  He smirked. “I can’t do anything about that.”

  She patted him on the arm. “I’ll leave you to your own things. I have dough to take care of.”

  “Is dough the only thing on your mind?”

  She smiled and started walking away. “Hmmm, I might also have bigger things in mind.”

  On these words she waved at him and skipped in the other direction. Seeing her so happy warmed his chest and it wasn’t the burning sensation he hated.

  When he finally reached Shoku’s house, he heard some weird noises from the small alleyway next to it. King went to check it only to see a creature trying to scale the building in the dark.

  ...

  King simply went into the narrow path to grab it by the collar. It fought back wildly as it was being dragged out of the darkness. Once he got a good enough hold on it he shoved the thing under his arm.

  “Let me go!”

  “There’s a door, use it, freak.”

  Daria squirmed harder in his grip, to no avail. The girl looked just as unkempt as always. King almost felt a bit of envy at her complete indifference for basic etiquette.

  King stepped in front of the door, brushed as much snow he could off Daria, kicked his feet and finally entered. He walked into the kitchen where Shoku’s father was seated. He looked at the two with bulging eyes.

  King set the loaf on the table. “For tonight’s dinner.”

  Without another word the mountain and its wild wolf left the kitchen to head up into Shoku’s room. When they entered the room the first think King smelled was something burning.

  Shoku was spread out on his bed with no shirt on. His chest was rapidly moving up and down as he tried to steady his breathing. He got up when he heard the two come in, his piercing orange eyes locked onto the two.

  “You’re....finally...here” he said out of breath.

  King dropped Daria who expertly landed on all four before getting up and rushing to Shoku’s side.

  “Sho, what happened?

  The smaller boy pointed at something in the corner of the room. It was a simple black shirt, but King nose could tell the burnt scent came from it.

  Shoku started:

  “Today, at the mines Hector came to visit like always but this time he and the big guy guarding the old section where I worked at went into it. I managed to slip right behind them. They were talking but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. What I did saw was the two collecting the fuse-shrooms growing on the walls.”

  He inhaled deeply to slow down his breathing.

  “After that, when I tried to get closer, I accidentally bumped into an old pickaxe, and it fell. The noise alerted the two. I’m pretty sure Hector didn’t see my face, but he still blasted me in the tunnel with a fireball.”

  ?So, it was you who pissed him off?

  “He blasted you? And you’re still alive?” said King.

  “It didn’t directly hit me. I only felt the blast in my back. My shirt got it the worst.”

  Daria approached the shirt and picked it up. In the dim light of the room King could make out a big, charred hole in the back. He also noticed weird yellowish stains all around the burn.

  Daria leaned closer and smelled the shirt. “It smells like grilled Biar’s.”

  Both boys looked at the girl with intrigued eyes. The girl simply continued:

  “It’s even yellow like the ripe spores.”

  King thought about all the information he had gotten today: The high amount of healing items, the Wrog’s mucus, the weird bracelet and now the fuse-shrooms collect and the spores on Shoku’s shirt.

  ?Could it be? ?

  King turned toward Daria. “Hey, make one of your magic balls.”

  Daria grimaced at first but then remembered that she had agreed to him being the leader and complied with a pout. A pink sphere floated out of her hand.

  “Can you shoot it at yourself?”

  Shoku looked at King with wide eyes. “What kind of order is that? Daria don’t do that!”

  “If my theory is correct, it will help us get rid of Hector. But I need her to get hit by her own magic.”

  Daria laughed loudly. “Why do you want to see that?”

  She sent her ball away from her before snapping her arm back. The ball stopped in midair before coming back to her at full speed. For an instant King doubted himself, only to see the ball bounce harmlessly on her forehead.

  She turned to him with an ugly smile.

  “It doesn’t do anything.”

  King smirked; he was sure of it now.

  “Hector is probably not a Vay Vay Bhon.”

  Both Shoku and Daria looked at him confused, as if he just spouted some nonsense. But they knew him and how serious he was.

  “I discovered it today, but Hector is hurt by his own ‘magic’. He doesn’t wear gloves because it’s cold but to protect his hands from the flames.”

  “But I saw flames come out of his hands, it doesn’t make sense,” intervened Shoku.

  King shook his head. “Do you think that his big coat is just there to look fancy? I do not know exactly what it is, but I am pretty sure that he has some kind of contraption under his sleeves which allows him to shoot fire at will.”

  Shoku’s eyes widened “and he uses the fuse-shrooms of the mines to fuel it.”

  “Exactly. He must then mix other kinds of material such as Biar’s to make different flame effects.”

  Daria face lit up “So I'm still the only magic in this town, hooray!”

  “Xenevia” reminded her Shoku.

  The girl shrugged “Human magic user.”

  Shoku looked at King expectedly. “How do we expose him, then?”

  “Well, he happens to be very angry at someone right now.”

  Shoku’s eyes got wide and he hesitantly pointed at himself.

  “Yes, you.”

  “Wait, wait, wait. I am not a sacrifice.”

  “Do you really want this guy to stay?” Asked King.

  “No” replied the smaller boy.

  “I will only use you to blackmail him, then we can lead him in a place where we could easily expose him.”

  “So, we’re taking him down?” excitedly proposed Shoku.

  “He has bombs.”

  “You have the strength of a yeti, why are you the one scared?”

  “Right, mister big muscles. Sho is all thin and yet he’s bolder than you.” added Daria

  “HEY!” protested said thin boy.

  King was now starting to feel his usual irritation grow inside of him. Just who were those kids who talked back to him so fearlessly?

  When did this shrimp of a boy became so heated about fighting? Perhaps it had always been there. For a second King remembered the blazing eyes he saw in the forest months ago. With a sigh he conceded:

  “We’re taking him down.”