Ash stared down at an array of brass knuckles.
Oliver was looking over her shoulders. “Too rusty, don’t you think?”
She shrugged. “Was just curious, Ollie.”
“Maybe. But haven’t you ever wondered what it would feel like to hit someone with brass knuckles?”
“Sounds more like something you’ve been wondering about.”
She moved on from the stall with the brass knuckles to the displeasure of the seller, a young man with a round face and a forced smile.
Oliver followed her.
In another part of the market, Daniel and the rest of the team continued looking for where purchase a battery that worked just right for the purpose they needed it for. And while Ash and Oliver were window shopping at this point, they kept their eyes out for a cartographer of any kind. Or anything that hinted at the possibility of a map.
“I still don’t understand what he’s doing?” Ash said after a while.
Oliver shrugged as he picked up a dull blade from a stall’s tray. “At this point, I just let him do whatever he wants to do and go along with it.”
“I thought that was a behavior you reserved only for me and whatever poor girl you were in love with?” Ash peered at the dull blade of the knife and picked another one.
She looked at it in disinterest while the stall owner frowned at them. He knew they clearly weren’t going to buy anything from him.
“Maybe,” Oliver said after a while. “But I don’t how much any of you really figured out about Zed, but he always means well.”
“He invited your fake girlfriend to a party with her real boyfriend.” Ash stabbed the air with the knife twice then dropped it. “You were cranky the entire night.”
“And here we are.” Oliver nodded an apology to the stall owner as they moved on. “If he hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have known how selfish she was. And are you really telling me everyone knew about me and her?”
“Everyone except her boyfriend… maybe.” Ash paused. “There’s a chance he also knew.”
“You think that’s why Zed was hogging all her attention during the party? Trying to take his attention off the possibility that it might be me and her?”
Ash turned away from the stall to stare at something else.
In the distance of the jampacked market, Zed stood at an intersection. There were roads in front of him and to his sides. Ash and Oliver stood in front of a stall next to the road behind him.
Zed was staring at the air, muttering to himself. He walked off onto the road on his left, paused, took a few more steps, then paused again. After a very short while, he walked off onto the road until he was out of sight.
“You think we should go get him?” Oliver asked.
Ash shook her head. “He’ll be back soon.”
And he was.
Zed strolled back into view still staring at nothing. He looked frustrated and impressed at the same time.
“Remember that time you finally understood algebra and then it got more complicated?” Ash asked Oliver.
“I do.” Oliver folded his arms over his chest. “It was a very trying time for me. Looking for x became looking for x square. Then the equations got longer and even when I was understanding the equation it was still annoying. How do you get satisfaction from figuring out something that still annoyed you when you figured it out?”
Ash nodded towards Zed. “I get the feeling that’s what he’s going through right now.”
There was a small silence that settled between them as Zed rushed off into another section of the market, disappearing down another road.
In his bloodied and tattered clothes, he looked like a right madman staring at nothing and roaming about uncertainly.
“Just a while ago he was hurrying us.” Oliver sighed. “Now he’s playing figure out the patterns.”
“Any idea what that was about?” Ash asked, curious.
“No idea. But it was the same urgency he had on the ship just before it crashed.”
Ash frowned. “It was almost like he knew the ship was going to crash.”
Chris walked out of a shop staring down at her hands with a wide smile on her face. She strolled up to them without looking up from her hands. Only when she was with them did she raise her head.
“Is he still running mad?” she asked.
“He’s like a wise man from ancient times trying to read the stars on a midday,” Ash said, starng at the intersectin where Zed had disappeared down.
“Has anyone figured out what his doing yet?”
Oliver shook his head then looked at her hands. “What I’m trying to figure out is how the hell you were able to afford brass knuckles. You don’t have any money.”
“Did you steal it?” Ash asked absently as Zed walked back into view and down another road.
“How long has he been at it now?” Chris asked.
“Ain’t got a watch, but,” Oliver looked down at his empty wrist. “I’d say eight minutes. Again, how did you afford brass knuckles.”
“Sold eight bullets.’
Ash paused. “Just eight. Like, the number eight. One, two, three, four all the way to eight.”
Chris nodded.
“Who exchanges brass knuckles for eight bullets?” Oliver asked, confused.
Chris shrugged. “Apparently, bullets are one kind of currency over here. And a very rare kind.”
“Do they also use rune-dollars here?” Ash asked.
“Yeah, but it’s really not all that popular. If you want to buy, you’re better of trading it with something else.”
Chris stared down at her brass knuckles and flexed her fist. They weren’t new or shiny but they were firm and strong. She could cause real damage with them.
“Always wanted to punch someone with brass knuckles.”
Ash chuckled at that. “You’d think you’ve already done something like that before.”
“My life hasn’t been that wayward.” Chris through a straight practice punch. “Believe it or not, but my life was actually quite normal before the second awakening. My parents were gone so I lived with someone else. But the person was nice and we enjoyed the time we spent together.” She paused. “School was boring, though.”
“I enjoyed school until I got a crush on some guy and he rejected me,” Ash said.
“Publicly?”
“No. He was nice enough to smile lovingly when I told him I liked him in a place people could hear.”
“Oof.”
Ash smiled. “Oof is correct. He even told me he liked me back. Those were three very happy minutes of my life. We hung out the entire day until classes were over.”
“I’m confused. Then why did you stop enjoying school? Did he cheat on you or something?”
“Oh no, he was really nice.” Ash’s smile grew fonder. “He played the perfect crush for a whole day, then after school, he asked if he could walk me to the bus. That’s where he told me he didn’t like me back. Like, at all.”
Ash winced. “That had to hurt.”
“Hurt so bad I strolled all the way home and didn’t take the bus.”
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Zed walked into view and took the road leading up to them. He passed the three of them as if he didn’t see them and continued down the path.
Chris watched him go. “What’s up with Bloodbath?”
“No one’s figured it out yet,” Ash answered.
“Even his bestie over here,” Chris tilted her head at Oliver. “You’d think both of you would’ve bonded over her perceived madness. And what’s with the face, Oliver?”
Oliver wasn’t necessarily frowning, but he wasn’t smiling either.
“We never apologized,” he said.
Chris looked puzzled. “To who?”
“Zed.”
“For what?”
“Everything we did to him.”
Chris groaned in exasperation. “First you ask me to be nice to him, now you want me to apologize? What did I even do to him?”
“You hit him on the head with a club.”
“Because he kept calling me a friend.”
“He gave you the club you hit him on the head with. You never even thanked him for it.”
Chris looked down and away. “It’s not like I asked him for it. And I don’t even have it anymore. You guys forgot to get it when you were carrying me out of the stupid ship.”
Oliver sighed. “I’m beginning to see what Zed meant.”
“Did he say something about me? Is he talking about me now?”
Oliver sighed, suddenly looking tired. “I told him you weren’t all bad.”
Ash laughed. “Yea, I remember that. It was so funny. Zed almost lost his marbles talking about how he was sure there was some minute, miniscule, infinitesimal amount of good in you, but you had more than enough bad to go around.”
Chris turned in the general direction Zed had headed off in. “That arsehole!”
“He wasn’t that detailed about it,” Oliver said, shooting his sister a glare. “I said you were good, and he said it was possible. But he said you also had more than enough bad to go around. I wanted to say something but I didn’t. I felt he was simply justifiably biased.”
Chris deflated a little. “You want me to be nice to him?”
“I’m just now realizing you’ve been your version of nice to him ever since you woke up.” Oliver looked unsure. “And your version of nice to him is nobody’s version of nice to someone.”
Oliver looked lost in his own thoughts. “I see why he thinks you’re a bad person.”
Chris frowned uncomfortably.
“Do you think I’m really that bad?” she asked, taking a hesitant step closer to him.
Being taller than her, Oliver stared down at her.
“Do you… do you really think I’m a monster,” she asked, her voice firm but somehow uncertain.
Oliver looked as if he battled with his answer before giving it.
“To him,” he said. “Yes.”
Chris looked away.
Ash looked between them. “What the hell is going on right now?”
Oliver and Chris looked at her.
“What?” Oliver asked.
“What?!” Ash snorted. “Why the hell is she looking at you with sad eyes and coming all close to you. Dude, she looks like her boyfriend is about to break up with her because his bestfriend who has been with him through thick and thin doesn’t like her.”
Both of them said nothing. They stood where they were, only inches apart, and looked at her.
“You guys aren’t saying anything,” she pointed out. “What the hell were you guys doing when you were supposed to be training your sound specialization, Ollie?”
“We were finding out that while I had a sound specialization, I was still shit at it. And I still think we owe him an apology.”
Ash opened her mouth then closed it.
“While I want to point out that I know you’re changing the subject,” she said finally, “I’m not against the fact that you’re right. Jason did send him out to fight a Moscovian sloth. No one should have to fight a Moscovian sloth.”
Chris looked between the both of them. “Don’t you think it’s a little too late, though?”
“What do you mean?” Ash asked.
“Well,” Chris gestured vaguely, brass knuckles in hand. “If we are looking at it from his point of view, then we were shitty people to him when he was weak. And now that he’s suddenly getting stronger, and doing it quickly, we suddenly want to apologize? Sounds shady to me.”
“It is shady.”
“What’s shady?”
They all turned to find Zed standing a foot away from them. He was still staring at nothing and looking quite confused.
“Nothing’s shady,” Ash said reflexively.
“Actually, something is shady,” Chris disagreed. “How do you go through a gun fight with an axe, get into a sparring match with a lot of fire, go through a forest of monsters, fight and kill a Rukh mage, and still have that weird single braid in your hair?”
Zed’s hand reached up and touched the braid that hung down the side of his face absently. It had been longer once. Now it stopped just beside his eye. Its end was loose from being singed.
Zed shrugged. “What can I say, my stylist is amazing at what she does. She promised me it would last long and it did.”
His face changed from frustrated and calculating to sad. Then he frowned. Then he continued walking, ignoring them like they weren’t there while he stared at nothing.
“What was that about?” Chris asked. “His expression just changed. I swear I wasn’t trying to be mean or anything.”
“Not entirely your fault,” Oliver said. “He probably just remembered Cindy. And he didn’t even get to tell her goodbye. They were close.”
Ash nodded. “He probably remembered his daughter, too.”
“He doesn’t have a daughter,” Oliver said.
Chris and Ash turned to him. “What?”
“He doesn’t have a daughter.”
“But he said…” Ash looked confused. “What about…”
“He had amnesia.” Oliver shrugged. “Cut the guy some slack. Spending time with Cindy made him feel like he had a little girl that was important to him at some point. I’m sure he just made assumptions at the time. He’s got his memories back and there’s no daughter in them.”
“Then why did he leave town?” Chris asked. “Where is he going?”
“Why did you leave town?” Oliver returned. “Where are you going?”
Chris bit her lips, said nothing.
“Exactly,” Oliver said. “It’s really none of our business.”
“Well, I still think apologizing wouldn’t seem genuine. It will just make it seem like we’re scared he’s getting too strong and we don’t want him turning on us if he gets stronger than us.”
“It’s not like we aren’t getting stronger,” Ash protested.
“We are,” Chris agreed. “But let’s face the real world. Bloodbath went up two categories in a few months. No one grows that fast. I’ll bet you he’ll hit Rukh before we know it.”
Ash suddenly looked deflated. “Kinda makes me feel useless.”
All three of them fell into silence again. Oliver broke it.
“I still think we should apologize.”
…………………….
Zed stared down at his quest.
----------------------------------------
Quest: Purchase Order 001
You have ruffled a few feathers. Purchase what you require and make your exit before the time runs out.
* Objective: Acquire map: 0/2
* Objective: Acquire battery: 0/1
* Reward: mana stone x1.
Time remaining: 01:53:21.
----------------------------------------
It doesn’t make any freaking sense.
It had said forty-three minutes when he’d gotten it. And that was over an hour ago. Now it was saying they had almost two hours.
What was the point of a timer if it didn’t time?
He walked down another part with Cindy on his mind. He hadn’t even gotten to say goodbye. He’d left her thinking he was dead or missing. It wasn’t entirely his fault, but it still felt like a harsh thing to do.
And he hadn’t done it intentionally.
He got to an intersection and took a right. He needed to test out the timer based quest notifications if he wanted to avoid troubles with them. He hadn’t given much thoughts to his notification over the months, but it was time he understood them.
He’d been using them as a guide for a while now, and a means to getting strong. But he couldn’t keep following it blindly if he couldn’t even trust it to be true to itself.
On the ship it had gone from eight hours to mere minutes in mere minutes. Now it had gone from less than an hour to almost two hours in almost an hour.
He was slowly understanding why, but he wanted to be sure.
Behind him, Chris, Ash and Oliver were talking about how apologizing to him now would be shady.
He definitely saw how it could be seen as shady. But they were missing the whole point of an apology. Sometimes he wondered if Oliver was the only person who understood actual human interactions.
You apologized because you were sorry for the wrong you’d done, and you wanted to let the person you’ve wronged know.
It was as simple as that.
If you did it without ulterior motives, then it wasn’t entirely your fault how the offended saw it. Yes, there were things like shady times to apologize, but an apology was as much about you as it was about the person you were apologizing to.
Zed walked into a man’s stall, not for the first time, and sat down on the ground.
The man stared at him uncomfortably but didn’t say anything. This was the third time Zed was doing it, and like the other three times, the man said nothing.
Zed wasn’t sure if it was out of fear or pity. Or if the man just didn’t care. But that was the least of his worries. He was too busy frowning at his timer.
----------------------------------------
* Time remaining: 04:58:19.
----------------------------------------
Every time he walked into this specific stall and sat down, the timer ran all the way up to almost five hours.
What the hell is it with this specific place.
He got up and the timer effectively lost a whole hour. He looked at the man suspiciously. There was something about either the stall or the man.
The stall owner was old but not ancient. Maybe in his fifties. He was definitely younger than Festus, though. At least in looks.
He was also dark skinned with grey wooly hair. As for the stall, it was filled with actual slippers. There were rubber slippers as well as leather slippers. Even crocs that had somehow survived the apocalypse in perfect condition.
How much would he even sell these?
Zed’s walk about had led him to understand the trading method of the market. The value of everything sold was determined by the value of everything bought. So to speak.
Some people only took rune-dollars if they felt like it would be useful to them. Some rejected it outright. There were also those that would take it along with the offer of another item.
It was quite unestablished, if he was being honest.
Zed stepped out of the stall, and waved the owner goodbye. “Thanks for putting up with me.”
The old man smiled. “Thanks for keeping me company.”
As Zed walked, he stared at the timer. It went down very quickly, seconds ticking down with the speed of nanoseconds until it was shaved down to about an hour and a half.
He got to another road and paused. He checked the timer.
----------------------------------------
* Time remaining: 00:32:40
----------------------------------------
In the distance Kid was haggling with a merchant while the rest of the Olympians stood quietly around him with Eitri wiping their gun with a handkerchief.
Zed took another step in their direction and lost a whopping ten minutes from his timer. He gained five minutes when he took a step back.
Is it them or just their general direction? He wondered.
Could be them.
When they’d chosen to split up to see how much they could get by covering more grounds that was when the timer had started acting up. They’d agreed to meet back in thirty minutes at a specific location, and Zed hadn’t minded since it fell under the initial time limit.
Now it seemed like whatever trouble they’d instigated potentially, was either in a hurry to get to the Olympians, or the Olympians kept spending time in the general location that the threat fancied.
Second one sounds like a long stretch, though.
But at least it was decided. The timer was also serving as a form of reality compass. It told him when his actions were right or wrong.
And if there was one thing he’d learned, it was that the best action so far involved keeping an old man company.
He wondered how the timer would react if four people kept an old man company as he made his way back to Oliver and the others.
His plan was simple. He’d have the old man adopt them for a while. During that time, he’d go get the Olympians and see just how much time he could gain with them around him.
If I’m lucky, we’ll get out of here without any altercations.