Chapter 9: Fall from grace.

Nero held back in his first blow, wanting to hurt the man, not kill him. That only heightened his surprise when the force of the attack sent Tommy shunting backwards towards the door, tripping as he reached it and falling onto his back so he rolled out the building.

Huh, neat.

He coughed, but was on his feet again and Nero stepped up to meet him. Tommy swung that cruel, hungry blade at him several times and each one missed, either by Nero dodging or blocking.

In hindsight, starting this fight had been a hotblooded thing to do, he was still far too unfamiliar with where he stood in this world’s hierarchy of magic. But from the looks of things, he reckoned fate had given him just enough shit to allow for one bad decision to go unpunished.

Back on earth, Tommy would have been uncontested for strongest man in the world. That, it seemed, was a testament to how powerful the magic in this world was then. His strength was at best a mild concern to Nero.

It was still a concern though, which was why when Tommy chucked a handful of dirt in his face, Nero was sent stumbling back, trying to blink his vision back into existence.

He saw just enough to know the fist was coming at him again, caught the hand and batted the blow aside, then stepped in and wrestled the unused knife from Tommy’s other hand for good measure.

You should be focusing on fighting, not thinking.

It was a reminder that the man was a better fighter than him. Well, really, he was just a fighter, and Nero wasn’t.

The only thing that kept him ahead in this fight was just the vast difference in physicality. Like Mike Tyson going up against an elephant.

He slammed his head into Tommy’s face, felt something crunch and sent the bigger man stumbling to the ground. He was dazed, and Nero watched to see if he still wanted to continue the ‘fight’.

“What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing?!” Gunther growled.

Nero turned around, surprised to see the storming rage etched into the small man’s face. All directed at him too. He raised an eyebrow. “I’m defending myself.” Nero protested.

“Yourself or your ego boy?!” The potions master accused. “God of Hell, you broke the lad’s nose!”

“He’s a big fucking bully.” Nero shot back. “People like him do what they want because they know they’ll get away with it and nobody’s going to make them fucking pay because that’s how the world works!” Nero felt his own rage grow to a flame he hadn’t known was there. He’d almost let himself think this was just about testing out his new found strength. No, there was something deeper there. “Someone needs to show them that you can’t just fuck people and get away with it!”

“Oh, and you’re that someone?!” Gunther scoffed. “Listen lad, I don’t know what you’re working through but you best do it internally and not use my fucking patients as your punching bags do you understand?”

Nero could have sworn nothing in the dark forest was even half as hateful as the man’s eyes were at that very moment. He swallowed then nodded. What was he even on about?

The man was an addict, he had a problem and Nero’s solution to that was to goad him into a fight. ‘People like him do what they want because they know they’ll get away with it and nobody’s going to make them fucking pay.’ He was describing himself, he realised.

When Gunther’s eyes softened, it wasn’t at Nero. “Tommy, you’re all kinds of fucked up, come here lad, let’s have a look at you.”

Nero looked down at what he’d done. Rivers of blood ran down from Tommy’s nose, he clutched the side where he’d hit him. He looked at Gunther then back up at Nero with fearful eyes. The man hesitated then ran off with a limp.

“Fucking shit.” Gunther swore.

Nero turned to him. “I’m sor-”

“You, with me, now.” Gunther said, turning around and making his way into the shop with a brisk walk.

Nero walked behind Gunther and the two shared a silence only periodically interrupted by the sound of howling and growling from the woods. Stradale was a few hours behind them now and with every step they moved closer and closer to the Dark Forest.

Gunther had given Nero a long robe to wear. ‘You’ll freeze to death in those, soft lad,’ he said, and that was one of the very few words exchanged between the pair.

It left a lot of time for Nero to think, which was a terrible fate. Dying, being hunted by Mercury, watching people be murdered to protect him, surviving the Dark Forest. It had all meant nothing, the moment he had power, what did he use it for? To make myself feel better. No matter the consequences.

Ember didn't seem to approve either, she looked at him with eyes that were apologetic yes, but also weary. It was the first time he’d seen her look at him like that, and it made him feel all kinds of wrong.

“Where are you from, boy?” Gunther asked.

Nero blanched, surprised at even being spoken to. It took him a moment to get his tongue working. “Somewhere far away.” Was all he said.

“Well, clearly they don’t teach you much sense in somewhere far away.” Gunther began. “Cause around here, idiots who start fights just because they think they’re hard tend to end up with an inappropriate number of holes in their backs soon enough. And then they’re my problem, bleeding out on my table while I try, and more often than not fail, to pull them back from the depths.”

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Nero didn’t say much at that, he’d not considered that he’d made an enemy on his first day in the town, and the implications of that made his guts squirm.

“Where are we going?” Nero asked, eager to change the subject. To his surprise, Gunther let it happen.

“We're going to grab a Sky Slitherer corpse.” Gunther told him.

Nero had no idea what that was but he pretended to know since Gunther seemed to expect him to. “Ah.”

“You don’t seem too surprised.” The man raised an eyebrow.

“It’s the serpent thingy you saw in the sky!” Ember chimed in, clearly she’d been deep in thought, else she’d have helped out sooner. Of course, Sky Slitherer. Should have guessed.

Nero shrugged. “I’m used to odd jobs.”

The man looked at Nero’s hands then shook his head.

“No you’re not.” He didn't dwell on it however. “Anyway, you’re gonna help me haul it back to Stradale, how many rubies do you want for it?”

He didn’t know the currency, he should have asked around about that when he had the chance. For most people in his predicament, the smart thing to do would be to simply say ‘Whatever you feel comfortable with.’ But Nero didn’t want to risk it, he stood out enough already and if the rest of the world was as impoverished as this town was, people would insist on being paid the worth of their labour.

He looked up to Ember and she looked lost at the concept of money. Perfect.

Luckily he had the luxury of recalling half remembered prices called out by merchants when he passed the market.

A fish was sold for two red rubies.

He’d seen clothes sold for sixteen red rubies, the priciest exchange he’d witnessed however was a dress for seventeen red rubies and one azure ruby. The highest purchase he’d come across in raw ruby denominations was seventeen red rubies.

The currency probably works in base eighteen. An azure ruby should then be worth eighteen red rubies.

He’d walked past stalls where people could exchange azure rubies for black rubies. That was the only time he’d in fact heard of black rubies which meant it was a much higher currency, possibly worth eighteen azure rubies. Could be worth thirty-six.

He’d have to make a guess here. Nero hated guessing. But that was a distraction.

There was the size of a sky-slitherer, it was big, very big in fact, if his memory served him correctly, and it probably didn’t, it would be several tonnes in weight. Plus or minus one for an imperfect memory, he had seen it when he was half-way to pissing himself so his mind was very likely inflating the size. Minus one then.

How many people could lift that? Not many people. Selvas, the hunter, had seemed impressed at his feats, and when she’d remarked on his strength the first thought she’d had was the job of dragging it. There was also the fact that he dwarfed Tommy in strength too.

He also had to consider how common magical strength was in people though. He’d seen superhuman strength enough now that it was beginning to seem a banality. Certainly Tommy couldn’t lift several tonnes, but five of him definitely could.

Finally, Nero decided on an answer. “Two azures and five red rubies.” He smiled neutrally as he answered. Nero wore an expression carefully crafted to be projected upon, that way if he was wrong in his estimations he could look like either a fool undervaluing his labour or a money grubbing swindler trying to clutch all the money he could. “Assuming the creature is only a few minutes away now.”

Gunther scoffed. “Lowballing yourself ain’t gonna get you back into my good graces, but I guess you laid your own bed, might as well lie in it, Two blues and five reds it is.”

Ah, so he had underestimated, but not by that much then. I’ll have to figure out where I fucked up on my own time then.

They reached the corpse not long after just at the outskirts of the Dark Forest. The Sky Slitherer was curled up into a ball which made it appear smaller than it actually was, but even now it still cut a titanic figure.

“That’s really, really big.” Ember hummed.

It was still as a statue, every part of Nero knew the thing was dead, and yet it was those exact same parts that screamed at him to flee.

“There you are.” Gunther smiled.

“It’s massive.” Nero whispered.

“And a mean bastard too.” Gunther said, walking over and patting the corpse like the roof of a car.

“Why do you want it?” Nero asked, then nearly winced. It could have been a question with so obvious an answer that it would be odd not to know.

Gunther raised an eyebrow in a way that made Nero think it was. “Nearly all parts of it can be used to make a concoction.” He said. “It’s why they’re so valuable in the first place.”

“Of course, and you’re a potions master, that makes sense.” He nodded.

“Yeah, with a resource bag like this, my patients are gonna have a good month.” Gunther smiled, as if at something distant.

Nero looked at the wrinkles in its skin, the way it dropped in certain areas. He’d thought it was from decay, now he realised what it actually was.“It’s ancient isn’t it, died from old age?” Nero asked. “And Selvas, she’s the one who saw it, while hunting.”

“If you had a brain like that you should have used it while we were back at the shop.” Gunther chastised, but he seemed more relaxed now, more warm. “She’d have dragged it back for me had she not come across an idiot who picked a fight with a mother Sin-Spinner.”

Nero huffed and got to work. He moved under the thing’s head, groaned and lifted it off the ground. Once he began to move he became quite certain that he should in fact have charged higher, much more. This thing was denser than it looked. And it looks pretty fucking dense.

He dragged it across the ground and began to make his way to the town.

“What are you doing?” He asked Gunther.

The man was climbing on top of the corpse. He rolled onto its head and laid his back across it. “Getting comfortable.” He replied with an audible grin.

Ember laughed, and Nero grumbled.

“Do be quick about it, if the guards spot you before you reach Stradale they might try to claim it as their find and hand it over to the Lord of the town.” Gunther noted and there was a hint of urgency to his voice.

“What’s stopping the Lord from taking it when we reach the town?” Nero asked. He hated that every question he asked had him touting his own ignorance. But better to show ignorance around potential allies than enemies.

If he wanted to figure out this place he’d need to take risks.

“Witnesses.” Gunther answered. “The Lord doesn’t want a revolt and fucking over the man who heals your people is a sure way to start one.” He laughed. “Now that doesn’t stop the bastard from twisting my balls with taxes I can barely afford to pay, but that’s different from prying months worth of healing material away from the people right before their very eyes.”

“Well, let's hope we make it to town quickly then.” Nero suggested.

“Lets,” Gunter agreed. “God of Hell, I can’t stand the silence, should I sing?”

“That’ll be fun!” Ember beamed.

Nero shook his head. “I assure you, you don’t need to-”

“I’m gonna sing.”

And so the potions master sang while Nero carried him to the town. They reached it without any exchange with the guards, and a great many witnesses saw Nero carrying the monster through Stradale.

The good luck ended when they reached the shop however. Its door was ajar.

“Did you forget to lock it?” Nero asked tightly.

Gunther jumped down from the creature, dread etched into his face. He hurried into the shop and the moment he stepped in Nero heard him let out a cry of agony.

He’d thought he’d been hurt, but when he stepped in after him, Nero found that the situation was much, much worse. The shop wrecked, it looked like a storm had rolled through it. The once bubbling pots were turned over, beakers were smashed and shelves were fallen over on the floor.

“No…” Gunther whispered. He walked over to an empty drawer and shut his eyes. “The bastard’s taken all of it.” The man made his way across the room, inspecting the damage and physically flinching with pain every time he came across something new that was ruined or damaged. Gunther sank to his knees, clutching his head. “This’ll set me back months.” He whispered, sounding broken. “Months…”

Nero stared and felt his heart sink. He knew who did this. Tommy. He should go there and- And what? Beat him up, throw him around, what will that change? Make him more desperate, perhaps.

Nero looked at Gunther. “What can I do to help?” He asked.