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Conversation between us was more sparse than ever after that. I wasn’t brooding — I was just trying process what I’d learned, and all the events that led up to it. I mean, if I wasn’t actually who I told you I am, you’d probably be questioning the authenticity of this whole thing, too, right?
The angry part of me, still the more prevalent response, said I should boot Levi over the first cliff I found, then dupe some wandering no-one to free me from the cuffs… and then, eat them, too… just for good measure. No one needed to be witness to this humiliation.
The more pragmatic part of me… yes, I have one of those sides… told me I had this coming. What did I expect when I did things like forcefully turn people into Dragons and sic them on living cities, razing civilizations to the ground? In fact, the Elders had the right of it. I was a beast and a murderer. I willfully cultivated, spread and carried the Chaos. I deserved nothing more than death.
But, yeah. Who’s going to listen to pragmatism when it says things like that?
Anyhow, Levi wasn’t talking much. He wasn’t trying to avoid me, per say, so I don’t really know what it was all about. Maybe he was thinking about things, too. He was taking a pretty big risk in going against his Elder’s commands.
That still didn’t get him off the hook for almost killing me, though.
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It wasn’t quite evening when we stopped to rest for the night. Levi tossed me a part of the hunt to skin, and we went about preparing the meal in silence. I was still stewing about things, but it was that point when I decided this awkwardness was more annoying than trying to make conversation.
“So…” I said, hoping it sounded welcoming.
Levi just made a sound in the back of his throat. It was enough to indicate he was listening.
“The rest the trip going to be like this?”
He glanced up at me, then squatted next to the brook that ran by our camp to wash his hands. I’m not sure if the brook had a name, but I wish I’d known. I’d gone nameless that whole day since Levi wasn’t sharing information with me… maybe that’s what was bothering me more than anything.
Finally, when I didn’t say anything else, he answered, “I guess that’s up to you.”
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“Yes, well, see… not a lot is up to me right now,” I pointed out.
“Welcome to my life.”
I furrowed my brows. Welcome to his life? What about mine? Levi seemed to have everything going for him. He was in control, even from the moment he walked in that Glade the first time. People liked him and looked up to him. People trusted him.
How could he say he felt like nothing was in his control? I certainly was at that moment. And I hated that fact.
Levi must have read my look because he just shrugged it off. “Nevermind.”
I half expected him to follow up with: You wouldn’t understand anyway.
He was probably right about that.
image [https://sygnus.org/flames-of-bedlam/story/pic/divider.png]
We were in the middle of cooking when I saw it. A tiny pin-prick of almost invisible light — I always deduced it was on a color frequency we were never supposed to be able to see. It was a lot easier to make out with Dragon eyes than it was with the people-eyes of my past life.
I knew what it meant.
The tiny light traced over the ground, the trees, the campfire, then paused, hovering right on Levi. He didn’t notice it, even though hair on the back of my neck was bristling. He’d never known this kind of danger before.
I had a choice to make in that moment.
Either I stopped what was about to happen, or I let it happen and tried to twist the aftermath to my advantage. But, seeing how my luck had been going… and technically I still owed Levi one for not letting me die (I’m not going to say he saved my life, the jerk)… so…
With a guttural shout, I threw myself on Levi. I saw a momentary look of shock, and found it a little amusing that in all this time, it never crossed his mind that I might just outright attack him.
Of course, that wasn’t the case, but he didn’t know that. My own moment of triumph was coming. It would be delicious.
image [https://sygnus.org/flames-of-bedlam/story/pic/divider.png]
I shoved Levi with all my strength and weight. I was a good deal more built than he was — though he certainly wasn’t a pushover himself — so this act was pleasing in and of itself. He was too flustered and shocked to fight back, which was good news for him.
Just as we rolled out of the way, the blast came. A laser-light pulse of energy disintegrated everything for countless yards in one direction, leaving everything on the fringes in ash and flame.
“W-wha..?” Levi gaped as he started to process the situation, realizing I wasn’t the one attacking him.
“Invaders!” I hissed sharply. “Keep your head down!”
Of course, this wouldn’t help against the pulse-flame lasers the mechanical beasts commanded. I knew from my own experiences that kind of weaponry took a long time to recharge, and that for fear of overheating, it couldn’t be used often.
I wondered why they hadn’t targeted me first.
As we lay still with our backs in the dirt and the leaves, I motioned with one hand in the direction that blast had come. We didn’t know how many of there were, and we needed to find out. That would determine if we tried to run (a pretty hopeless path to take) or we tried to fight (also a pretty hopeless path to take). Any Invader armed with pulse-flames were built to be fighters.
Over there, I mouthed to Levi, hoping he got the idea.
He nodded. Though I don’t know exactly what we’d do with that information.
Levi did, though. I saw his brows lower with a serious expression that looked out of place on his face. His nostrils curled up — yeah, I know, that’s a really weird observation to focus on when something like this is happening — and before I could stop him, he rolled to his feet.