“The hell was that?!” Kalter was fuming when he arrived.
“Their glorious leader has decided he wants a turn to play in the pool all by himself,” Creti explained in the least helpful way possible.
“Cheh, this I gotta see,” Lieu crossed his arms and stared expectantly. Alk didn’t say anything, but it was obvious that she was curious as well. The Fiends For Hire were trying to act aloof, but had their eyes peeled as well, as if they were expecting something to happen.
“Does anyone want some?” Drim asked his group.
“Sure, I’ll bite. Using my Curse that much has left me feeling sluggish,” Xard held out his hand. Drim grabbed it like he was about to shake it, but both started glowing instead. The green energy protruding from Drim’s hand swirled into red before it was sucked into Xard’s.
“Damn, you didn’t hold back!” Xard started stomping around, surging with energy like he’d just been injected with adrenaline.
“Ooo, ooo, me next,” Kada grabbed his still outstretched hand. She started squealing and tapping her feet in place like a tweaked tap dancer before skipping away.
“I guess I’ll take some, but not as much as these two drug addicts,” Phon had a bit more hesitation when she held out her hand, like she wasn’t really interested. That didn’t stop her face from scrunching and her eyes bursting open with life when she was topped off.
“Any of you all want some?” Drim offered to the other group. “I’d like to get rid of a bit more before I get started if I can.”
“Yeah, I thought I told you that you couldn’t give me poison,” Creti jested, yet still blatantly refused. Kalter looked like his entire being had been insulted by the prospect. Alk had initially shown interest, but after seeing how the others reacted, Drim doubted that she’d be willing to subject herself to such a display.
“Screw it, load me up,” Lieu grabbed his hand, squeezing tight like he was trying to crush it. This led to an impromptu arm wrestling match with both sides refusing to give. “I want to see what this zjik is that can fire them up like that. But I want it all, so don’t hold back!”
They continued to wrestle while the transfer was made. Eventually, it ended in Lieu’s victory, but it was an unfair match since he was literally getting more energy while Drim was being sapped of it. “Woo!” Lieu cheered as their hands broke away. He seemed less emphatic about his win and more blitzed by the rush he was now experiencing.
After pumping his arms a few more times, his eyes glued to a rock in the distance. He whipped out two pistols and started blasting at it until they were fully depleted of ammo. Instead of reloading, he grabbed his sledgehammer and rushed over to the rock, pummeling until it was literal dust on the ground and then some.
“What in Cosmos’ pantaloons was that?!” Lieu came back when he’d calmed down some, though still bustling with energy. “I’ve tried some stuff in my time, but nothing compared to that. People would pay top Commons for it on the right market.”
“Pure life,” Drim explained simply while his legs wobbled, barely staying standing. Unfortunately, that appeared to be not sufficient enough of an explanation so he had to elaborate. “I’ve just transferred a good chunk of my life into him. He’ll be bursting with energy and boosted health until it wears off. Meanwhile, I’ll be on the verge of death until mine replenishes.”
“Probably not something you should tell the enemy, while you’re in that state,” Xard was quick to jump in with that hindsight, but they were too busy to take advantage.
“So Lieu let another man inside of him? I’ve always had my suspicions but…” Alk whispered to Creti, but it was still loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Big steps, Lieu, we’re proud of you!” Creti gave two approving thumbs up. Lieu didn’t say anything in his defense, and instead went to go smash another boulder with a flustered face. It was kind of heartwarming to see that a group of narcissistic psychos could still joke around like close friends.
“Okay, I’m going to get started,” Drim informed them. “I doubt any of you would be in any danger, but don’t get too close to the edge to avoid getting caught.” He jumped into the fault, directly onto the pile of Starbits. Everyone stared down with expectant eyes, but he didn’t do anything flashy. He just started walking.
“What exactly is he going to do?” Kalter was just as interested as the others despite his earlier hostility. “How is he supposed to kill them all? He looks like a baby Freer struggling to walk for the first time. I doubt he could even strike properly with his blades.”
“We don’t know,” Phon was the first to admit.
“Yup, he didn’t tell us,” Xard corroborated. “But it will be something only he can do.”
“Yeah, and it will be super awesome! I can tell already!” Kada’s eyes were shimmering like she was about to watch a spectacular performance.
Drim’s lazy behavior continued once he reached the middle of the fault. Instead of attacking or anything, he just sat down, crossing his legs. After a moment, he began to sink into the pile of Starbits. He slowly descended inch by inch until he was submerged entirely to where even Phon’s eyes couldn’t see him, surrounded by the fluffy monster on all sides.
Stolen story; please report.
The faces of the Fiends For Hire kept their confidence and faith in Drim, but may have occasionally twitched over to worry. They all eased into relief though when the center of the fault started glowing.
Around the hole where Drim had sunk, a ring of Starbits suddenly vanished, absorbed into the red glow. Then the next ring disappeared too, and now they could see the boy. He was sitting on a rock at the bottom of the fault in the new gap he’d created. There was a lot more life in his eyes after what he’d done.
Drim had literally drained the life out of the Starbits until they faded out of existence. It was a simple solution, but it didn’t ease the issue of how many swaths of Starbits remained. Then something took everyone by surprise. They had previously ignored Drim’s warning about not getting too close to the edge, but all dashed backwards when a giant ring around the entire edge of the fault started to glow.
Vines erupted from every inch of glowing ground and started funneling down into the fault. When Drim had taken his walk earlier around the rim, he’d placed a bit of nature energy into the ground with each step, expecting that this was the course of action he’d inevitably have to take.
Once the vines got settled along the fault walls, coating them completely, one section of vines began to push. A giant slice of Starbits began slowly sliding forward directly at the Greater Fiend. He turned to them and welcomed them with literal open arms.
A few at a time reached Drim’s warm embrace, not even realizing anything was wrong before their life was drained away. While he could probably absorb their life energy from all parts of his body, if Drim tried to push the entire fault forward at once, the mass of Starbits would get caught on each other and wouldn’t budge. Once a good chunk had been removed from the current section, vines from another spot started to push.
Drim greeted his new guests with just as much enthusiasm. His entire body had already started to glow from the excess of life energy swirling around him. He looked like an angel of death waiting to guide these poor souls into the great beyond.
It was quite a brilliant tactic, really. Since the Starbits were only gently being nudged, they had no reason to panic and reproduce. Being constantly pushed around was their perpetual state of being, so they probably didn’t even notice that they were being moved. And while having their life energy drained out of them until they vanished may seem like a cruel death, it was virtually painless—like falling asleep.
Their numbers started decreasing rapidly, Drim doing more in a few minutes than all the others had done in hours. The only limit was Drim himself. The process was easy, just push and absorb, but Drim was constantly in pain. He didn’t show it on his face, not wanting to break his smile—not that it was a gesture the Starbits could appreciate. But the rest of his body was all-telling, practically convulsing with agony.
The excess of life energy was just too much. Now, Drim had a good frame of reference of what Xard experienced when he absorbed too much energy, when that had been a problem anyways, because now he felt like his own body was going to pop.
Once a decent enough space had been cleared, Drim started spawning some peaches out of his back—the first thing that came to mind. He filled each one to the brim with Life Energy so that it had somewhere to go. If he really needed to, he could just cast the excess into the void, but he wouldn’t allow that. It would be too disrespectful to the Starbits to waste their lives like that. At least this way they could become something new, something that could give life to others.
The awe from the others didn’t stop well after Drim finished, having emptied the entirety of Drazah’s fault in just over a half hour. They even stayed speechless when he crawled back out carrying an armful of peaches that he offered to everyone present.
Creti finally broke the silence, “Soooo, since all the competitors had to cop out, and everyone seemed to be doing a great job—some even working together. I guess we’ll call this a draw.” She decided the competition while entirely ignoring what had just transpired.
“But don’t worry, there will be many more opportunities for us to prove our superiority. Above will reign supreme!” A bold declaration that was followed by more awkward silence. Creti glanced over to Alk and nudged her with her shoulder. After Alk didn’t do anything, she nudged her again and asked. “Are you going to do it or what?”
“Do I have to?!” Alk, who perpetually looked fed up with life, looked more uncomfortable than anyone had ever seen.
“Well it was kind of the whole reason we did this, so yes. Don’t make me use my Curse,” Creti seemed fed up to no end with whatever was happening.
“Fine,” the timid girl dug through her pouch and pulled out a letter. The envelope was midnight blue like her hair, and she held it tightly between her now shaking hands. “Kada… I…” Alk mumbled, but she was so quiet that it was hard to hear.
The intended audience didn’t notice at all—too absorbed in the peach they were eating—so Alk raised her voice a little. “Kada—”
“Yes?!” Kada glanced over as she started noshing on another peach.
“I just wanted… wanted to.. To tell…” Alk started stammering on her words more and more.
“What’s up? I can barely hear you by the way. Could you speak up a bit?” Kada was now giving Alk her full and undivided attention.
“Uhh… Uhhh.. Uhh…” now she couldn’t stop shifting her graze between the letter in her hands and Kada’s staring eyes. “Ah mawhg it, I give up!” Alk quickly shredded the letter into bits and then flung them into the air above her. “I’m out of here!” she rushed away.
“Okay, we’ll talk later then, friend!” Kada waved after her.
“We’re not friends!” Alk yelled back without turning around.
Kada was probably the only one who didn’t notice, but everyone else around happened to catch a glimpse of a black heart-shaped sticker on a scrap of the letter before it was carried away by the wind.
Fiends For Hire Internal Dialogue 8
Eleen: Good job. You rectified the failure of your subordinate and got her to drink it.
Drim: I’d rather not talk about it. Didn’t exactly love doing it.
Eleen: Then why did you do it?
Drim: Because it had to be done.
Eleen: Well, it’s a good thing she only mentioned poison and not something harmful, or you would have been zjik out of luck.
Drim: It wasn’t anything harmful, though. It won’t negatively affect her in any way.
Eleen: For now at least. Until you decide that it should. But that’s a conversation for another time. I’m just so proud of you, my deceitful, conniving, evil son.
Drim: I hate you…
Eleen: Love you too!