Chapter 45: Gayle
“Hmm will I be letting you go…”
Coincidentally that Zan voiced his thoughts, a large gray hand skittered up from the darkness and attached itself to his shoulder.
The reanimated hand paired with the already frighteningly strong youth gave off the air of an undead lord. Or at least, an undead prince.
Gayle stared at both specimens in absolute horror.
‘Deathgod bloodline…?’
As someone who frequently immersed herself in a variety of genres of books, the appearance of the reanimated hand combined with Zan’s dark gray appendages brought up the legend of the undead lord. A cruel, vicious individual, who in the emergence of this current era used the powers of a core to connect to the forbidden concepts of death, reanimation, corruption and contamination.
‘No…that was eradicated a long time ago…’
‘Or…it should have been…’
‘If I ask him— no, if he sees that I recognize him for what he is, wouldn’t he kill me on the spot?’
Gayle bit her lip, this was a risky question but it should pass under the radar and even give her some clues.
“...Is that your familiar?”
“What?”
“Like…your servant.”
“What? No. This is my…”
“This is my friend.”
“...”
‘Perhaps he’s just odd…the death god was not known for siring any children, that would be the very act of giving life, not raining death…’
‘I’m too tense, it's messing with my thinking…’
Zan kept brooding until an idea illuminated in his head.
“You said you had a convoy?”
“Yes...”
Gayle and her group kept sending nervous glares at the gigantic severed hand on top of Zan’s shoulder.
“What kind?”
“A host of carriages and supplies brought to surplus and support our royal pri–”
Zan interrupted her.
“So you have food, right?”
“Yes…?”
“Good. Take me there now.”
The owl eyed girl and her companions hesitated at the sudden order, but eventually relented for fear that the strange youth would break their bones like Conrad’s.
…
At the convoy, a group of pure, or base humans as you would like to call it, stared at Zan as he plowed through half their food supply in a single meal. The eldritch body of the youth was actually filled to the brim with energy from the core, but that did not stop him from enjoying himself. The strong took from the weak, after all. Whether they starved to death from him eating their whole supply wasn’t his problem. Though…Zan did consider it his issue. For what reason, he himself didn’t know. In his line of thinking however, they were strong enough to hunt for food around this area, so the youth indulged himself anyway in their reserves without guilt.
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As Zan ate through their food stocks, Quin, the giant gray hand that grew a mouth on its open palm, was devouring a large sack of potatoes. It seemed he really enjoyed the common vegetable. Though, that terrifying scene only made the whole convoy even more terrified of the strange youth.
When they saw the broken body of that arrogant dragon boy, instantly the pure humans knew that their company had met a fierce foe. Though, the first emotion they felt when they saw his miserable state of being was pure happiness and joy. Swiftly followed by confusion and nervousness at the newest member of their party, who all their old masters seemed to be afraid of.
In the end however, despite his intimidating presence their newest boss did not treat them any worse than their old superiors. In fact, if you compared Conrad’s treatment of them versus Zan’s, he was much, much better.
Finishing their meal, the youth and the severed hand simply laid down on the hard stone floor. Enjoying the rest of their night that was soon to turn into dawn. It was as if Zan never went through all those battles and confrontations. Simply comparing the intense strife and bloodshed to the now serene tranquility, it felt surreal.
That was only Zan’s reality however. Gayle and her companions still tip-toed around that monstrous beast, kept on their heels wondering when he would demand another enormous offering or outlandish service.
…And he did.
“You. Leatherworker.”
“Ye– Yes?”
“Design this thing for me…”
“Have it done as soon as possible. And then call over that owl-eyed girl.”
“Sir, this is really big, it would take up most of our leather…”
“I don’t care, just do it.”
“Ye– Yes!”
The man scurried off.
…
In the next moment, light footsteps approached.
“Why did you call for me?”
“Give me a tent. We’re going to spend the night there.”
“Yo– We? We’re going to what!?”
“Actually, nevermind. I’ll just take the free one over there. That used to be your scaly-skin friend’s tent wasn’t it? Whatever, he won’t be needing it.”
“...”
The owl eyed girl stopped in place, the air around her turning cold and frigid. A burst of invisible aura shot out from her as her black hair floated upwards. Surging power flowed into her strange but beautiful eyes.
“You can take our supplies, you can even take my life. But you won’t take my virtue nor my chastity.”
“Chastity? What’s that? Who said I’ll be taking anything?”
“Yo– You…don’t want to bed me?”
“Bed you…?”
The girl’s face turned red from embarrassment as she completely misinterpreted his actions, which in all fairness seemed quite misleading from her point of view.
“C’mon.”
The youth casually made his way into Conrad’s tent. Gayle hesitated to accompany him, but eventually managed to force her feet to move.
The two entered the large, spacious tent. Conrad made sure he was comfortable, that was for sure. So much so that he forced many of the base workers to periodically clean and freshen his tent. Washing and replacing many of the silks and sheets on the tent floor.
A single candle lit the dim surroundings of the tent. The flap entrance was left open, and its view opened up to the night sky and an array of shining stars. The contrast of light and dark accentuated the lines and curves upon the two youth’s faces, showing them a charm that they did not expect from each other.
Zan glanced at the girl but quickly averted his gaze. Then, he finally opened his lips.
“I’m curious, owl girl.”
‘?’
“That guy I threw had lizard powers, another one threw a fireball at me, the others are probably the somewhat same. You’re their leader, but you’re so different from them. Why?”
“This is what you called me here for?”
“Yep. Just wanted to talk.”
“Really? You just wanted to talk?
“I just wanted company.”
“Seriously?”
“My only friend can’t talk. It gets…boring sometimes when I’m not up to something.”
‘Right, the living hand…’
The girl paused to look at him. Somehow, she saw through him in an instant but was deciding if she should just outright say it…
“No.”
“No?”
“You said it gets boring but really…you just get lonely.”
“...”
Zan went silent. It…was true.
Gayle went silent also, before finally sitting down on the multiple layers of sheets and pillows on the tent floor. The tension in her body and the uneasiness in her mind started to go away. Knowing that another person was lonely and it wasn’t just her…that connection made her want to let down her guard. While she relaxed a little, in her heart she still kept the walls up.
“You wanted to know why I’m different, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Basically, my father was fireborne but my mother descended from the lineages of the forest, of the owl tree.”
“Weird.”
“What’s weird?”
“Owls stay up at night where it's cool but fire is all bright and hot you know?”
“Oh. I guess you could see it that way.”
‘Why am I conversing with you about these kinds of things right now…’
“So you must be weak huh?”
“What? No!”
“Wouldn’t those two uhhh, what do you call yourselves?”
“How come you don’t know these things when you’re so strong? Evolved humans. Bloodlines.”
“Wouldn’t those two things cancel out then?”
“Are you saying I’m weak because I’m of mixed blood?” she said while raising her voice.
“You said that. Not me.”
Gayle paused for a moment. Noticing that tiny outburst was unlike her.
“Well, I’m not weak.”
“I’m anything but.”
Zan observed her and noticed that the tension in her body returned, this time much more intensely, fervently.
“People who know my blood, think that I am, all the while looking down on me.” she said as she gritted her teeth.
“What they don’t know is the wisdom of the owl, combined with the illumination powers of fire, result in the birth of something truly miraculous in these eyes of mine.”
Zan peered at her eyes and noticed that the yellow and orange of her iris and sclera, had turned into a burning sea of fire. It was insanely beautiful. He could look at it for hours if they didn’t threaten to blind him from the sheer light they omitted.
Gayle however suddenly stopped her ocular powers and the sea of fire went away.
‘Did I just tell him all that!?’