Sitri disappeared into the forest to the north. Just as I was wondering how she would make the sixty-two mile trip back to Chapel Hill, I saw a white swan ascend into the sky from the direction in which Sitri disappeared. Traveling as a bird must have been convenient, I thought.
I turned back toward the campsite where thousands of refugees were hiding. As I walked, I reversed my torn undershirt in order to block the brand on my chest from view. It would be embarrassing if the Coalition of Light learned of the [Greater Brand] on my chest so soon after I received it.
Once I returned to the campsite, it was abuzz with activity. People spoke with hushed whispers, and the fear in some of their eyes was much worse than it was the previous night. Their renewed fear confused me, since nothing new should have happened yet. It must have been about nine or ten A.M., so the dungeons wouldn’t appear for another hour.
“Who’s there!?”
Someone closer to the campsite had spotted my approach. I looked toward the source of the sound, and I saw Claire Fischer brandishing one of the laser pistols I made the previous day in my direction.
“Vincent Blackwell,” I called back, shielding my eyes from the bright morning sun hanging over Claire’s shoulder.
She lowered the pistol and let out a sigh of relief. I continued walking up the hill until I was next to Claire. I looked her in the eyes and saw more than I cared to see. In an instant, small details scattered across Claire’s person linked together like DNA strands, and I learned things about her that I didn’t want to know. I knew that she tried to avoid her family whenever possible, but she couldn’t describe why. I knew that she had problems with her self-image due to her strict upbringing. Blinking, I returned to reality.
“Where were you, Vincent?” Claire asked. The top button of her shirt had been torn off, and she had pulled the shirt high and to the right in order to compensate. Seeing that, I realized something significant, but I decided not to remark on it.
I took a deep breath and mentally reminded myself to act normal. Before I had received the [Greater Brand], I had difficulty acting like a normal person. With my [Reason] and [Memory] stats at 30, I was significantly smarter than any human had previously been. If I spoke without thinking, I would definitely sound like some kind of inhuman automaton.
“Claire,” I said with a smile. “It’s good to see you. I just had a productive discussion with my friends in the Conquering Horde.”
We walked side by side toward the RV, and Claire stared at me suspiciously.
“Carlos told me you went to speak with them. You look like you’ve been in a fight. Are you okay?”
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“I’m fine.” I could tell that Claire was more worried about me mentally than physically. That was fair, I thought, since I had given her much to worry about the day before. As we walked, I could sense a subtle tension in Claire’s demeanor. I had to say something to alleviate that tension somewhat. “I’m sorry about your shirt, by the way. You look good in it. If you want, I’m sure I can sew the button back on.”
Claire blinked several times, and I saw her face start to turn red as she looked away from me. “No- no thank you. I’ll sew the button back on when we get back on the road.”
In a strange way, I was starting to understand Melkior’s perspective. For every person on Earth, there were a few sentences that could shake them to the foundation. With just a little push, I could get most people to go where I wanted. In Claire’s case, I knew that I could push her in the direction of greater self-confidence.
We returned to the RV, and the two remaining members of my team were standing by the burned-out bonfire that laid inert a dozen feet from the large vehicle. I looked at Carlos and Liz, and I saw hidden secrets that unsettled me. I could see Carlos’s deep fear of rejection and Liz’s fear of intimacy.
As I cleared my throat and waved to them, I tried not to think about the concealed hatred Liz felt toward Professor Carlyle. The layer immediately beneath the outward persona was laid bare to me, and that layer was ugly.
“Hey, Vincent!” Carlos shouted when he spotted me. “How did it go?”
“It went much better than expected. I met Satan, and I think I’m the smartest Human on the planet now.”
Carlos laughed loudly and said, “Is that right? Come on, you should explain it to us.”
“Of course, but first I’d like to confirm something. A few minutes ago, Claire and some other people at the camp were marked on the chest with a brand, right? The brand looks something like this?”
At the end of my sentence, I pulled down my shirt, revealing the [Greater Brand].
“Yeah,” Carlos said. “The other brands didn’t have wings, though.”
The image on the [Greater Brand] resembled a flying snake with wings sprouting out of its body.
“About one in fifty people got the brand. If you want to compare it to yours, I think Enoch was marked with one.”
Claire was also marked with the [Lesser Brand], but I wasn’t about to ask her to show her chest to everyone.
“Good,” I said with a smile. “I wanted to speak to him anyway.”
We walked over to the campsite of Enoch’s group, and he waved to us in response. Carlos spoke first, saying, “Hey, Enoch! Can you show us your chest?”
“You could at least buy me dinner, first,” Enoch shot back quickly, meriting a hearty laugh from Carlos. Enoch pulled his shirt down, revealing a brand in the shape of a snake eating its own tail. “I woke up to a terrible pain throughout my whole body. When it was over, all of my stats had gone up by 2 and I had been branded. So, you know, there are pros and cons.”
“That’s funny,” I said with an insincere smile creasing my face. “You should come with us to the [Town] west of here, since apocalyptic asteroids will strike the Earth tomorrow, cracking the planet’s surface and causing a swarm of locusts to emerge from the cracks.”