Phon walked through the door of their apartment early the next morning. She usually only went grocery shopping about once a week, but had made a special trip this time to replace the food Kada had destroyed last night.
She closed her eyes to do a quick scan: the housewife neighbor next door was cleaning her apartment, which she did basically all day everyday, Kada was lying on the couch looking at her phone, and Drim was nowhere to be found. Once she was done putting everything away, she headed out to the living room and interrogated Kada, “Oi, slacker-doodle, do you know where Drim went?”
Kada sat up and protested, “I am not a slacker-doodle…! It just looks like I’m doing nothing, but I’ve been checking the request board every fifteen minutes, and browsing local forum sites to see if I can find anything worthwhile.”
“Alright, let me rephrase then,” Phon said a little irked that she didn’t get a direct answer. “Oi, special girl, where’s Drim?”
“Right right,” Kada said as she shuffled her hand around her pocket, pulled out a scrap of paper, and handed it to Phon.
‘Since things are slow, heading to Pimitrad, back in a few days - Drim’ the note read. Phon sighed and thought to herself, Ugh, that place is super radiated, I won’t be able to text him. Couldn’t he give a little bit more warning? He promised that we’d be together more, dammit.
Phon crumpled the note in her hand which trembled a bit from squeezing too hard. “Do you have to always be so angry all the time?” Kada asked. “You could be a little nicer to me too and not call me a new name every time you speak to me.”
Phon blatantly ignored this and said, “Sure plebeian, I’ve got something that might make you feel a little better.” She headed to the kitchen, returned with a sheet of paper, and handed it to Kada. It was a new warrant poster for her, that Phon had noticed while she was out. She figured they must have rushed it, since undoubtedly no one had ever heard of Kada before yesterday.
The reported list of crimes were accessory to murder, associating with known criminals, looting, resisting arrest, assaulting an officer x3, and public indecency. This brought her up to a criminal score of 980, just shy of the DoA mark. The last known location was Constead which was definitely annoying; meaning people around here would be on higher alert. However, there was no actual picture of Kada, just a composite sketch. “I think the officer from last night has a crush on you,” Phon quipped.
The sketch looked like Kada, but a more refined version. It made her look like a stunning beauty with a certain feeling of radiance beaming from the picture. It definitely was a bit of a stretch from her normal self, who had unkempt hair that looked like it was constantly flowing.
After Kada stared at the sketch for a while, clearly admiring the artist's work, she glanced up towards the list of charges. “Assaulting an officer?!” Kada yelled out. “Are they referring to when I jumped off them? Please, I barely touched them! ....and what’s this, public indecency?! I cover all the important bits!”
“Well, I don’t know about indecency out in public, but we definitely need to do something about your indecency here,” Phon remarked as Kada stared back, confused. “I’m talking about you sleeping naked… I don’t really care about seeing it, but it’s not something Drim should see on a near daily basis. You really need to get some pajamas.”
Since there were only two small bedrooms, Kada had opted to sleep on the couch instead of trying to squeeze into Phon’s room. However, she normally slept naked, which in itself wouldn’t be a huge problem, but she had a tendency to toss and turn in her sleep which would cause the blanket to fall off regularly. Drim was usually the first one awake and would walk in to see her in such a state.
“But what if I have a wet dream?!” Kada protested. An abhorred expression grew across Phon’s face and she slowly began backing away. “No, not like that!” Kada insisted, regretting her poor choice of words. “I used to wear pajamas, but sometimes I accidentally melt stuff like the blanket or bed in my sleep and I hated waking up in wet clothing.”
“Can’t you just resolidify the object so all the moisture would be removed?” Phon asked.
“Well yeah, but those few moments are just awful. It ruins my whole night,” Kada proclaimed.
“Alright, well why don’t you just wear your swimsuit to sleep then?” Phon suggested.
“Have you ever worn a swimsuit to bed? You can get a nasty rash,” Kada rebuked.
“Can we even get rashes?” Phon questioned, not really expecting an answer. “Well whatever, you said you were looking at the board, any jobs?”
“Six requests to turn ourselves in, four requests asking us to pick up things at stores, one request to kill someone's neighbor for stealing their lawn ornaments, one request from said neighbor to act as bodyguards, and a clearly scam request to send money to an Archlavian prince,” Kada listed off. Phon wasn’t sure if she had a good memory or if she’d just rehearsed it.
“So, nothing then…” Phon said with a slightly depressed voice even though she had been expecting it. “Well, that leaves us time for Plan B then. We’re going shopping.”
“First, we’ll go figure out something for you to sleep in, and get you some more regular clothes. That way you don’t always have to go trouncing around in a bikini in public when you’re not expecting to fight something. I get it’s your whole schtick or whatever, but it draws too much attention and we’re not…” Phon stopped midway through her sentence having caught herself rambling. “Second, we’re going to go pick up some groceries”
“Didn’t you literally just get back from buying groceries like two minutes ago?” Kada asked as if she was questioning Phon’s sanity.
Phon huffed in response. “I just picked up basic things that can be used in most cooking. I’m going to let you pick out whatever you want within a certain budget. Then, while Drim’s away, I’m going to help you practice cooking. Most times, Drim will just cook very basic food which usually centers around something he just hunted, so it would be nice to have a second person who’s capable of making a proper meal.”
“Alright, but I have to ask something,” Kada mentioned. “Why is cooking so important to you? You really don’t seem like the homey type. It just doesn’t really fit your personality at all.”
“Well, after Drim and I got separated, we would write to each other often,” Phon started talking, while Kada braced herself for a long story. “One time, he mentioned how he was basically just living off scraps to get by. I know that since we’re Fiends, we don’t actually have to eat much, but it didn’t sit right with me. So, I became determined from that point on to become capable of cooking good meals. So that when we were reunited, I could make sure he would always eat properly for the rest of his life.
“Rest of his life huh? Careful, your brother complex is showing,” Kada remarked snidely.
“I don’t have a brother complex!” Phon yelled while pulling out her toy gavel. After a quick smack to Kada’s head, she continued. “I’m just someone who cares about their sibling more than anything or anyone else in the whole world!” After Kada got done rubbing her head, the two headed out.
◆◆◆
Pimitrad was home to one of the worst disasters in history. The Drazahs had dropped a nuclear bomb directly on top of a nuclear power plant at the center of the country. This caused a massive explosion that destroyed about half of the country in a matter of moments. The country itself was rather small. So in comparison, the casualties were rather low, but with a single order, the majority of the population was entirely erased from existence.
The resulting radiation was so intense that the rest of the country had to be evacuated, and the border surrounding Pimitrad had been entirely walled off. Only Fiends were capable of getting anywhere near to the epicenter. It would likely be a few centuries before humans could set foot safely there again. It was without a doubt the most radiated place in the entire world.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
As a result, it was now a prodigious breeding ground for mutated monsters. Left unchecked, their population would outgrow the country’s borders, and they could pose a massive threat to the rest of the world. The inner workings of Pimitrad were mostly unknown to anyone outside of it, so Drim took it upon himself to deal with the situation.
About once a year, he would make a pilgrimage there, and perform an all inclusive culling of any monsters he found. Since he couldn’t cover the entire country in one go, he would focus on a specific part of it each time he visited. This time, he was clearing out an abandoned suburb near the border on the south-eastern side. Most of the buildings were still intact, but had been completely overgrown with vegetation.
It wasn’t normal vegetation either. Like the monsters, it too had mutated. If someone wasn’t careful, they could easily find themselves a victim of a plant just as often as a monster. However, this wasn’t really an issue for Drim. A plant was a plant, and he could absorb the energy from it. If any of them dared to attack him, he would drain it before it could even touch the air surrounding him. He tried to make it a point to clear out any overgrowth he came across, but sucking up too much nature energy at once made him feel queasy.
Drim had just finished for the day. He had cleared the entire area, killing at least a hundred monsters in total. The area around him was smothered in blood, body parts, decaying corpses, and other various unidentifiable liquids. The look and smell would get to anyone. Even a Fiend with their stronger resistances would likely lose their lunch from it. After all this time, the occasional strong waft would still make Drim wretch a little.
He looked at his blades to judge their state. They were slightly dulled, but good enough for a couple more days without any risk of damaging them. His blades were made from a rare mineral. They were very strong and durable, but since they would be difficult to replace, he did his best to take care of them and would perform maintenance on them after basically every job. He’d sharpen the blades and replace any damaged fabric between the metal shards.
The ribbons that connected the pieces were actually made from plant fibers he had grown himself, which is what allowed them to tighten and form the blade. It’s also what let him move the blades forward and back. The back of the blade would slide along a track connected to his bracers. When it was in its bow form, the ribbon would stretch when he pulled back, causing the sharp side of the blades to separate slightly and gave the bow additional power by tightening them when he released an arrow.
Drim looked towards the setting sun on the horizon. He would go somewhere else tomorrow to clear out another array of monsters, but he definitely felt it was time to stop for the day, and the now safe suburb would provide a good place to camp. First, he headed to the edge of the area where he had left his supplies. There was enough room in his quiver for making day trips, but any longer than that required additional effects.
Once he gathered them, he began looking for a decent house to spend the night in. A lot of them were uninhabitable just from years of unmaintained wear and tear, as well as being overrun by plants and monsters. However, Drim had also destroyed a fair few during the day. Whenever he confirmed a building to be an occupied monster's nest, instead of going in and clearing it out in close quarters, he’d wrap the building in thorns and crush it. By the time anyone could use this area again, these homes would be long past viable, so he felt little remorse.
He had just found a house that he felt would suffice for the night when he was startled by a sudden clanging nearby. This made him jump a little since he believed he was completely alone, and he drew his bow loaded with an arrow to be prepared for whatever it could be. Drim walked slowly and quietly as he tried to pinpoint the source, which had changed to more of a rustling noise.
He felt a little better, but definitely more confused, when he found the source. It was a trash can with something moving around inside of it. Without a doubt, Drim had killed everything with a murderous intent within a several lage radius. There was a chance he had missed something, but he felt the odds of that were quite low. That meant that it was most likely a peaceful creature by nature, and since it could fit in a trash can, that ruled out most of the more dangerous monsters.
What would something like that be doing amongst all these ravagers? Drim thought to himself. Also, why a trash can? This country has been abandoned for nearly two decades. So there’s no chance there would be anything edible left in there. He also thought that it could be possible that it had sought refuge there when the fighting started, but that still didn’t explain why it was in this suburb in the first place.
Drim kept his bow drawn, with an arrow pointed at the can as he slowly approached it. When he was about ten feet away, he stopped, and three thorned vines sprung out from him. He moved two of the vines to either side of the trash can to help corral the creature if it tried to escape, and used the third vine to knock the trashcan over.
A small creature came tumbling out, doing a full somersault before landing on its butt. It was a marsupial covered in gray fur with a white pouched belly. It had pointed ears, a long snout, and a big bushy tail. It was a creature Drim had never seen before, and he couldn’t help but think it was surprisingly cute. “A koala… fox…?” Drim mumbled as he stared at the creature.
Drim didn’t let down his guard and kept his arrow drawn. While it looked cute and innocent, he had been deceived by that before. Since it was something he hadn’t seen, he couldn’t be certain of its nature. Ideally, he wouldn’t have to kill it, as long as it wasn’t an aggressive monster. Drim didn’t really ever want to kill anything that was just living a peaceful existence. There were times when he had to in cases of overpopulation, or if he needed food from it for sustenance, but he always regretted it a little, so he liked to avoid it as much as possible.
It was much rarer for mutated animals to be non-aggressive. If even just one of the species it mutated from was a predator, that trait would usually carry over even if the other wasn’t. Drim could easily kill it now if he needed. It was just sitting there and looking around without a care. However, he felt he should give it the benefit of the doubt, so he lowered his bow and retracted his vines.
He approached the creature slowly, which caused it to stare back at him while continually tilting its head from side to side as he inched closer. When Drim was close enough that he felt he could reach it, he sat down in front of it. They both stared at each other for a little while. When Drim was convinced it wasn’t going to attack, he began digging through his quiver.
He pulled out a food bar. It was quite high in calories and nutrients. It wasn’t the tastiest thing in the world, but it was good for traveling and providing energy. Usually when Drim was on a trip, it would make up at least one of his meals each day. He held out the bar towards the creature, not sure if it would understand the gesture, but it took it nonetheless.
The animal began unwrapping the bar, causing Drim to think that it was definitely smarter than most creatures he had come across. Mutated animals were usually smarter by nature, but knowing to remove the packaging was on another level. This thought flew out his brain instantly when the animal shoved the wrapper into its mouth instead. It chewed the wrapper thoroughly, swallowed, then began waving the nutrition bar back at Drim, like it was prompting him to take it.
Drim took the bar, and stuck it in his mouth; chewing slowly as he dug through his quiver again. There was a chance it just didn’t like the nutrition bar, so he decided to try something else. He pulled out a small bag of trail mix, raisin free, and handed it to the koala-fox. It happily took it, and began darting its head around as if it was looking for something.
It locked its eyes on an empty can and walked over and grabbed it. With the can in one hand, and the bag in the other, it walked back over to Drim and sat down next to him again. It opened the bag, dumped the food into the can, then began to eat the bag, just like it had with the wrapper.
“Just what kind of creature are you? I guess you only eat trash, huh?” Drim wondered, kind of hoping that the animal would understand him, but it didn’t acknowledge anything and kept chewing. He looked towards the sky again and grimaced at how dark it was getting. He pulled out random bits of trash from his quiver from a meal earlier that day, set it next to the animal, got up, and began walking back towards the house he scouted earlier.
He turned around when he heard rustling behind him. The koala-fox had stood up and was now storing the trash in its pouch. Drim guessed it was going to save it for later, and turned around to keep walking. He got to his gear and picked it up, but when he turned to head into the house, the animal was suddenly right at his feet, staring up at him. Sneaky little thing aren’t you? And quick too.
He didn’t mind if the creature wanted to follow him for a while. Animals tended to act kindly towards anything that gave them food. It’ll get bored and head off sooner or later, he thought as he headed into the house, the koala-fox following close behind. In a vacant room, Drim set up the pop-up tent he had brought along. Since he was in a house, it wasn’t exactly necessary, but he liked the additional feeling of security it provided.
The tent was big enough for two people. Originally, he had just carried around a single person tent with him, but more then once he had found a person lost in the wilderness with nowhere to stay for the night. After it had become a regular occurrence, he decided to invest in an upgrade. When it was ready, he headed inside and unrolled his sleeping bag, then held open the flap a little to see if the animal wanted to come in.
The creature accepted the gesture and clambered inside the tent. It sat in a corner quietly as Drim got himself situated. After Drim had taken off his cloak and set it aside, the koala-fox picked it up and took it back to the corner. For a moment, Drim was worried that it was planning on eating it, but it began shifting it around in a circle like it was making a nest. When it was satisfied with the shape of the cloak, it curled up in the middle and dozed off instantly.
“Guess I’m not the only one who is able to sleep peacefully in lawless areas. You must have had a pretty tough life yourself,” Drim whispered. He zipped the tent mostly closed, leaving a small gap in case the animal wanted to leave during the middle of the night. While laying back in his sleeping bag, he stared at the creature breathing softly, and felt an unnatural sense of peace as he watched it.