“So, there I was, with absolutely no shit in my pants,” Cadivus told the groups of relieved men who had surrounded him inside the tavern. “The giant Sigma was about to beat my friend to death. My friend screamed, ‘Save me Cadivus! Save me!’ Hearing his cries for help gave me the strength I needed to subdue the beast with a wet pair of pants. With my chimes hanging free, I wrapped the pants around his neck and relieved him of his breath.”
The listening men had their mouths open, and their eyes stayed fixated on the storyteller.
“Weren’t you scared of em?” one man asked as Cadivus took a long sip of his drink.
“Sometimes…there is no time for fear.” he said. “Sometimes, a man just has to act.”
The men had an inspiring look on their faces as if they had just heard some sage wisdom. Cadivus had actually read the phrase in a bathroom in some forgotten town a while back.
He caught eyes with Thermia, who he had been checking on all night. Smiling, she gave him the thumbs-up and nodded towards Ekio. He turned to see Ekio laughing at some jokes, quite comfortable in the company of men.
He approached her. The men at her table politely nodded and excused themselves as he stumbled into his chair, forgetting how many drinks he had already. Talking always made him thirsty. “How’s it going, my dear?”
Her signature half smirk adorned her face.
“It was going just fine.” She hid her face behind her cup.
Cadivus looked at her and then over his shoulder for an exit before turning back to her and taking a deep breath.
“What the fuck is your problem exactly?”
Her face lit up in confusion.
“I’m aware I may say some silly or suggestive things from time to time. Let me ask you this though, have my actions shown me to be anything other than a reliable ally? A friend even?”
She shook her head and stared at the wall for a moment before turning back to him.
“I know what is going on here. You found a way to be somewhat useful to me for a short period of time. Now you got a new look you feel confident in and a barrel of liquid courage in your gut, and you decided there is no better time to shoot your shot. Your shallow yearning is not something I need to consider for the sake of politeness or otherwise.”
He sat there, working through her words in his head. He opened his mouth to reply, but sighed instead.
“Ah, fuck it.” He got up.
“Aww. Hurt your feelings?” she said while making a pouty face.
He set the drink down on the table and leaned toward her.
“As a matter of fact, yes, you did. You know, I felt a connection between us because I thought finally…finally someone who understands me. To know what it’s like to have something inside you. Something not human. I’ve been nothing but an outsider my entire life. Well…the one I can remember. And as much as I would like to pretend it doesn’t bother me, it does. My shallow yearning? I wanted to take that mask off, even for a few moments.”
The words sat heavy in the air as they stared at each other.
He then lost his footing, causing his face to bounce off the table and for him to fall onto the floor. The rest of his drink spilled over him.
The room hollered with laughter, and someone threw a towel on his face. She sighed in relief as the tension fell away. He crawled away on all fours.
“Just…sit down already,” she said. “You’re making a scene.”
Cadivus took a seat, still woozy from the unpreventable collision. Once he collected himself, she held her cup toward him.
“To you, for” —she grinded her teeth—“for saving me today.”
“No…”
An appalled look took over her face. He motioned for the barkeep to fill his cup.
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“Are you sure?” the barkeep asked, coming over.
“Can’t toast with an empty cup.”
He poured.
“To the fallen,” Cadivus said.
“To the fallen,” Ekio repeated.
They clashed mugs together and drank deep.
“Hope to never make that toast again.”
A solemn look came over both of their faces.
“When did you get your powers?” Cadivus asked.
Ekio fiddled with her hands under the table.
“Ten years ago, I was seventeen.”
“Wow…So young. How did…”
“Before the…We have one source of power, and it is earned through trials. Only someone who is not already fully grown can obtain this power. We train our whole lives for the trials and…and the war.”
“You trained for war as a child?” he asked. “That’s…heavy.”
“It can’t be helped. They kill children as if they were grown. You might as well learn to fight back.”
“Huh?”
“What?” Ekio said, readying to berate him.
“Some of the evil out there…We might as well be children to them…”
She relaxed and nodded.
“I want to ask you something.”
Cadivus put his hand out to her, urging her to do so.
“Why don’t you use your powers? You’re not a fraud…are you?”
Cadivus took a long sip.
“Fine. You opened up to me, so I’m gonna level with you the best I can.”
He leaned over the table and spoke softly. “I have a fear of fire.”
She squinted at him in disbelief.
“I know. I survived lava—which was awesome of me by the way—I can’t be burned to death, or harmed by it even. It doesn’t make any sense. Still, when I wish to call upon it, I feel this…void inside me. And it collapses in on itself. My mind freezes, and I’m unable to act.”
Her eyes looked away as she considered the information. “Your brother…He never showed you?”
“He tried. He was patient at first, but after a while he just said I was hopeless. Can’t really blame him for that one.”
Her knuckles turned white from squeezing her fist.
“That’s…not okay.” She released her fist. “It’s not so easy to control. The only way to put it in is to break you first.”“Did they break you?” Cadivus asked without thinking.
She nodded slowly.
“Have you ever been able to use it?”
He thought hard about it.
“A couple embers here and there with my brother. And that one…incident…that brought us here together.”
“So, it is possible then.” She held her hand to her chin, lost in thought for a moment. “I can’t guarantee anything…but I can try to teach you what I know. When you’re sober that is.”
He held his cup out for another refill.
“Wait. Really? You’d do that for me?”
“All that we have been through in such a short time…” She smirked. “Perhaps this is…fated destiny.”
He laughed.
“You like that one, don’t you?” he said with his eyebrows raised.
“It is hard to forget something that obnoxious…”
“Ekio.” he said, still forming the question in his head. “Are you okay? Like, really okay?”
He stared at her with his drunken eyes.
Her eyes watered before she inhaled deep.
“Some days are harder than others. This was a hard day.”
“Damn right! Oh, just so you know that whole human shield trick I did…Well, I can only do that one more time, so use it wisely.” He winked as he took a drink.
She tapped her ring.
“Well it’s a good thing I have this then. Although I’d hate to scratch it. It’s so pretty after all.”
Cadivus wiped the beer that was still on his shirt, and his vest opened, revealing the scar on his chest. She reached out and ran her fingers over the scar, reliving the moment. “Don’t make a joke and don’t dismiss it. Just tell me why you took that hit.”
He rubbed his temples and sighed.
“Ekio, I just…Look, you can say it's dumb. I’m fine with it. You are by far the coolest woman I’ve ever met. And I’m…I’m uh…” He sighed. “I’m just saying when all is said and done, and this is over, maybe we don’t just go our own way. Maybe we can still, like, hang out…together. Because I think I love you. You know…Provided the planet doesn’t explode or something."
He sighed and then immediately fell into a state of cringe horror.
She still had a half smirk on her face.
“Okay then, give me your toe.”
“Pardon, bitch?”
“It is a custom among my people. When a man wants to court a woman properly, he gives her one of his toes. That way, we know if a man is limping, that means he is no good. If he can balance proper, however, he is a good man.” She folded her arms and stared at him, down at his toes, and back at him.
“You’re fucking with me!” He laughed. Hard.
She stood, placed both of her hands on the table, and leaned over toward him.
“I am not,” she said, almost like a threat. “I want that toe, Cadivus.”
“What do I get for a whole foot then?”
She pulled out the dagger and stuck it into the table.
“I am waiting.”
He stood and placed his hands on the table while staring directly into her eyes.
“You will die for me, but you will not give me a toe?”
“Well it’s a bit apples and tits isn’t it? I think your fucking with me. I’m not about to lose a piggy on a gag.”
“That toe is already mine, Cadivus,” she said with great conviction. “I WILL have it.”
He took a couple steps back, glancing around the room.
“I’m just gonna—” He turned around and ran up the stairs.
Ekio chased after him but he slammed the door behind him.
“Give me my toe, Cadivus!” she screamed through the door. Banging on it.
“Thermia!” he shrieked. “Help!”
Thermia and the other men downstairs stared at the interaction, laughing their asses off. The tavern owner watched from downstairs, wondering how this group managed to take down Alpha.