There was comfort in camaraderie. Despite the gulf between us, and the sore spot where I had been betrayed, I had some trust left in me to extend a furtive hand to be grasped. Some, with a dim view, may see it as a form of desperation. It was nothing more than the stark truth that we needed help to continue living this road strewn with the corpses of those too prideful or weak to keep up with the constant pressure. The weight must be shared.
“This certainly beats walking,” Angelos beamed at me as the wagon set off in motion. “I noticed your lass is in some discomfort. May I lend a heal?”
Florence turned to look at me, and I gave a brief nod. “You may,” she replied to him.
I understood her trepidation. Even ignoring his rough use of spoken language, accepting boons from strangers often left you indebted, or worse. Thoughts of the demon resurfaced in my mind.
“I got three abilities what can protect, and three things what can harm.” He gave me a wink. “All things balanced, as the great nob above so wills it.”
He held out a hand, and a swirl of grey energy pulsed from his hand and weaved through the air to softly course into the back of the Mage guiding Petal. [Renewal].
A slower-acting heal than those that a Cleric or similar Class could imbue, but effective nonetheless if you weren’t in a hurry. I watched as Florence raised her gloved hand and slowly moved her fingers. “Thank you, Angelos.”
“Pleasure, Miss. I’m sure you’ll need your health and wits if you’re lumping around with Victor.” He paused and tilted his head as if reading me for the first time. “Still a vamp, ain’t ya? They know everything, right?”
“They know what I was, and yes, I am still a vampire - just Masked.”
His eyes went from me to Jakob, and then Florence. “You’ve not bitten them, either?”
“No.” I didn’t see the need to tell him that I had not had my first bite yet; it was enough that he knew I was not feeding on these two.
“Fuck me, you really are on the path of atonement.” He whetted his lips. “Me and me god approve.”
“The last thing I need is your approval, Angelos.” I smiled, though. Truly, in a way, I was setting balance by doing good instead of my lifetime of prior evil. It would take centuries to find true redemption, and even then, my murky soul would find no rest amongst the divine. Not that I could even live that long.
Jakob lifted his hood and brushed hair from his eyes. “What kind of balance does your god seek?”
“Ah, tough question that.” The Guardian rubbed at his beard. “Life is kinda fucky and doesn’t have balance, so I’m always just kinda rubbing salt in the wounds of everything in hopes that I piss off the thing causing imbalance.”
Jakob worked his jaw but just nodded in response.
“I’ve come to understand it too,” I admitted, to the raised eyebrows of the man, “since becoming a Hero, seeing the disparity between the forces, it’s like something is tipping the scales.”
Angelos narrowed his eyes at me. “My god been licking around inside your ears too, Victor?” He leaned back on the side of the wagon and looked up to the bright sky.
Light shifted over us as we moved beneath sunlight and the occasional white cloud. In this moment of peace, it seemed almost unthinkable that great evils could be plaguing the world, and something was keeping the forces of good on the backfoot. I had been one of those great evils, yet I was not privy to the machinations of the system.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
After a few minutes of silence, as the wagon rocked gently over the stone road, I prodded the Guardian. “What are your plans here? After this?”
“Hmm.” He eyed me up again, his eyes looking tired this time. “You’re trying to see if I want to join your little circus and jump through Guild hoops?”
I shrugged. “If you have more pressing appointments…”
“Don’t be a smart-arse, Victor. I came to you for a reason.” He crossed his arms, hoping that I would be inclined to pry the information from him.
“What say you, Florence, Jakob? You have as much say as I in accepting him.”
Angelos exhaled. “I never asked to-“
“Is he aware of our curse?” The Mage asked from the front, not turning from watching the road ahead.
“Curse?” The Guardian narrowed his eyes at me.
“Trust me,” I grinned humourlessly, “that will not be an issue.”
He was certainly not evil, but it would be a leap to say that he had a good heart. In trying to find a balance, he had joined me in enough murder and conquest to tarnish his soul. As much as he may partially redeem himself on occasion, he was as close to neutral as you could get. Still, he scoured my expression for a proper answer.
“They’re cursed to not succeed when Partied with someone with a good heart,” I sighed in having to relent the information to him but was slightly amused in anticipation of his reaction.
“What? What kind of silly-cock curse is that? Sounds like something from a shittin’ fairytale.” He rolled his eyes and pulled a face at me. “So that’s why they’re following your arse around.”
I shrugged. “Woodsworth was with us too, then tried to stake me during one of our Villain attempts.”
“I bet you’ve got a hard-on for caving the stupid prick's head in then?”
“Not in such a vulgar way, but yes.” I sighed. “Once we Rank up enough.”
We fell into silence for a while as Angelos stared into the distance and rubbed his fingers along the detailing of his spellbook. Eventually, his eyes refocused on me, a wry smirk forming at the edge of his mouth. “Aye, I guess killing the prick would bring some balance.”
----------------------------------------
“No friendly face to meet us this time,” Florence said as we approached the monastery.
If things were as amiss as we all felt, then our reappearance after traveling to the zombie-infested graveyard would not be appreciated. Either we had skipped out on the task, or they knew what was really going on - and our beating hearts were the drums signaling doom for whatever foul plot was the reality.
The gate was shut now, so we called Petal to rest further away, where there was a post to tie her to. Better she not be spooked being too close - if things got out of hand.
“This was supposed to be an easy job for gold,” Jakob murmured as he hopped down from the wagon.
“Lesson one then, lad.” Angelos lowered himself down slowly, his armor and age not making him as spritely as the Ranger. “No job is ever easy.”
I wanted to interject, but I had the feeling he knew a little better than I did. Surely, as a powerful Villain, there were plenty of easy jobs. When you needn’t care about consequences or being a respectful member of society, it smoothed over a lot of the bumps someone more conscientious would get snagged on.
Instead, we gathered by the gate, and I unlatched it - pushing it open just enough for us to filter through. Again, there was the immediate sense of something being wrong. I glanced at the Party and could see they were feeling the same way.
“Whatever they worship here,” the Guardian withdrew his spellbook, “is giving me the chills.”
Caution told me to check the small office first. Reckless abandon willed me to burst through into the main hallway - see if there was a foul ritual we could interrupt. The silence filling the area didn’t reveal anything immediately untoward, but I longed to put my sword in this problem and wrench the bloodied heart of corruption from this once holy place.
“Office?” I murmured, to the nodded acknowledgments of everyone. I withdrew my sword, and the others readied their respective weapons. There was the overbearing feeling of being watched, and my eyes tried to scour the few darkened windows - even the trees nearby, but nothing was readily apparent.
Jakob knelt down and stared at the dirt, tracing something with his finger. I paused to allow him to get a good look before he raised his hood to meet my eyes.
“Tracks. Footsteps, but there’s something else - a line as if something was dragged.”
I raised an eyebrow and followed where he had been observing. There was an indented groove, almost wide as a foot, that made an almost constant trail through the loose dirt. Something heavy that seemed to scuff the soil every couple of feet. It ran through this patch of earth before stopping where it had hardened and been replaced with stone - leading up to the main hall.
There was a familiarity - a recognition in the back of my mind in looking at these odd tracks. Part of something I hoped to long forget - yet in my search for redemption in vanquishing evil, part of the atonement would be coming face to face with reflections of my past.
Angelos nodded to me as I met his gaze; he knew too.
The monks had prisoners.