“I can’t believe you wasted your paper on those…” the thief remarked seeing the double-masked stranger cradling a bag of several erotic magazines.

“You’d be surprised how well these sell!” he remarked placing the magazines into his bag.

The two sat inside a large open area within the ruins of a city called Athens.

A massive patchwork of cloth, leather and plastic made up the giant roof above the head of no less than one-hundred people.

The man pulled out a roll of toilet paper and tossed it to the thief.

“Consider that your up-front payment for the year.” He said drinking a glass of beer through his air filter.

The thief stared at the paper as if she was handed a massive bar of gold.

“H-h-hold on! You had this much cash and you were still willing to get me killed over some curry?!” she demanded looking at the man, visibly upset.

The man shrugged.

“I keep my assets in the form of magazines, they don’t really fluctuate in value, it’s not like I can tear a page out and hand it someone!” he argued.

That’s when they were able to hear the commotion happening at a different table, the double-masked stranger turned to see the blond man being held by the collar, the one holding him was a large, muscular man wearing a tank top.

The blond man had long, curly hair and wore a snow-white blouse under a violet vest.

“Come now, you’re causing a scene, friend!” he laughed.

The assailant looked around seemingly confused.

“Did you have too much to drink?” the blond man asked patting him on the shoulder and beckoning the man to sit down beside him.

“I… I guess so…” the rough voice of the sleeveless man said as he sat down next to the one he assaulted seconds prior.

The blond man looked around seeing that he was the focus of everybody’s attention.

“Please excuse my friend and me! Please, get back to what you were doing.” He said with a wave of his hand as everyone except for the double-masked stranger’s table went back to their conversations as if nothing happened.

Their eyes met.

The glassy, masked eyes of the stranger and the rich, blue eyes of the blond man met before the stranger casually turned back to the thief.

“That guy looks rich…” she remarked discretely gesturing to the blond guy.

The stranger nodded.

“Yeah,”

The thief placed the roll of paper away into the same bag as the stranger’s magazines, inside she saw another roll of paper, the one grabbed by the stranger to cover his travel expenses, he learned his lesson after going without a meal for almost a week before stumbling into the thief.

As if by some divine coincidence, the blond man appeared before the two moments after the thief mentioned him.

“Good morning friends,” he began.

The stranger turned to face the blond man.

“What’s up,” he took another sip through his mask.

The blond man extended his hand towards the stranger.

“My mane is Alekos, feel free to call me Al!” he said with a smile.

Getting no response from the confused travellers, Al’s expression sunk into an uninterested frown.

“You’re going to order a portion of fish, eat it and drown yourself in the bay so that nobody notices,” he whispered his command.

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“Fuck off, I’m getting curry…” the stranger replied with folded arms.

Al looked at the man uncertainly.

“That’s not the problem here! He told us to drown ourselves!” the thief exclaimed, seemingly more upset at the stranger for not taking such a threat seriously than the one issuing the murderous command.

The stranger looked at her blankly for a few seconds.

“Eyeroll, you’re from around here, I assumed its some kind of Greek insult, like how some Arabic places have an insult which translates to ‘go drink sea water’ y’know!” the man said in his defence.

The blond man spoke again.

“Be quiet,” he commanded not feeling the need to raise his voice.

“Mind your own business!” the thief exclaimed pointing a finger at the man as she remained focused on her argument with the masked-stranger.

The two kept shouting over each other as the blond man became lost in thought.

“Who are these people…”

“My virus should make everyone compelled to do or think whatever I tell them to…”

He looked around anxiously, sweating, he rushed over to a different table where a crowd of three women chatted.

They looked at him uncertainly as he leaned in towards the group as he tried to think of a command to prove his abilities.

“I can’t ask them to talk… if I ask them to say something, they might do it just because of my god-like looks…” he thought uncertainly.

“Uhm… are you-” one of the three asked as the man turned towards her with a scornful look.

“Shut up!” everyone in earshot did as commanded.

A smile spread across his face as an idea finally came to his mind, “Say, are you good friends?” he asked.

The three nodded uncertainly.

“Good, good…” his angry expression was once again disguised with a look of grace and kindness.

“Sorry for the interruption, ladies!” he said with a smile.

One of the women spoke up again, “It’s… fine-” before she could finish the man continued.

“Now, when I leave, kill each other with your bare hands.” He said wearing the same smile.

They didn’t reply as the man returned to his table next to the big, confused man wearing a tank top.

As the stranger sat down and took a sip of his wine, he paid no attention to the riot the broke out at a table not too far from him, a group of friends proceeded to tear each other to pieces in a gory display of animalistic combat.

The horrific sight was more than enough to ruin the entire festival for many, but the blond man sat at his table, grinning ear to ear as he observed the masked stranger and the thief excitedly.

His face was starting to turn red as all sorts of thoughts came to the one who was never opposed.

Later that night, as the stranger and thief were getting ready to hit the road again, they didn’t notice the blond man following them.

He was dressed in black, the dim light of oil lamps around every corner shimmered in the metal item he held in his hand.

“With your… resilience…” he smiled.

“I just can’t have you leaving this town…”

He jumped from around the corner, seeing the stranger was distracted searching through his bag, his sights were focused on the thief.

He sprinted right up to her, tightening his grip on the item in his hands as he fell to the ground, his hands open before him, showing the item he was hiding.

“PLEASE MARRY ME!” he cried offering a shining metal ring to the confused thief.

“Eh?” that was her response.

“I think you should do it.” The double-masked stranger jumped onto any tiny chance that he could get rid of the thief.

She glared at the double-masked man with a look of blistering fury.

“HE TOLD US TO GO KILL OURSELVES EARLIER TODAY!” she exclaimed through gritted teeth.

The double-masked stranger walked right up to the blond man placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Nope, I can tell he is a good man!” he said with a thumbs up.

The two were getting along great.

“I’m glad to have your approval, father!” Al said wiping a single tear from his eye.

“Anytime, son! Take care of my daughter!” the stranger replied practically frolicking away without a care in the world.

He felt his hoodie get grabbed from behind as with the might of someone carrying rocks for several hours a day, the thief bashed the man’s face into a nearby wall.

“QUIT ACTING LIKE A RETARD!” she exclaimed.

“So assertive, you never cease to amaze me, honey!” Al exclaimed running in for a hug only to be hit with an air-born masked man tossed by the thief in a fit of rage.

“COULD YOU TWO CUT IT OUT ALREADY?!” she demanded.

Not wanting his only chance to get rid of her without assassination to slip, the double-masked man quickly got off Al and helped him off the ground.

“Domestic violence isn’t the answer!” the stranger cried patting Al on the head.

He turned to face his kind-of-maybe-son-in-law noticing his face was bright red.

“I-its ok… I don’t mind…” he replied, breathing very heavily.

Concerned, the stranger removed his hand from Al.

“Gross…”

He looked to the thief and the strange man he met today.

“Hold on, no eighteen plus activity during the writathon!” he exclaimed.

“It’s alright, we can keep it PG until the fifth of December…” the red-faced Al replied.

“I’D RATHER KEEP IT PG PERMANENTLY!” she exclaimed whacking the two over the head with a sack filled to the brim with rocks.

Hours later…

When Al opened his eyes, he was met with the amber light of the evening sky.

“What… happened?” he wondered looking around and noticing the small wooden item he was located within.

He tried to stand up only to feel the item he stood in buckle with his centre of mass.

It didn’t take him long to realise he wasn’t in his room, or in a room at all, he was in a barrel floating off into the sea, tied up with rope.

“Oh… my… god… is this some kind of foreplay?!” he thought slowly drifting away.

Meanwhile, the thief dragged the passed-out body of the double-masked man as well as their bags of luggage on their journey North to the city of Livadia.

“Not getting rid of me that easily…” she thought.