5.3 A Cosmic Entity That Could Crush Civilizations

It was a good thing that Svart and Vit were fighting when a cosmic entity that could crush civilizations with a snap of his fingers showed up, or else they might have reacted poorly. While Valentine waited for them to stop, she sat at the edge of a fountain, drawing circles on the water. For some reason, it glowed when touched. She stopped when said entity stood before her and asked, "What are you doing?"

It seemed very obvious to Valentine that what she did was drawing circles on the water, but if she said this verbatim the cosmic entity could react poorly, too, so she replied, "Nothing."

"Can I borrow your time for a bit?"

What a strange phrase. "Um. Okay." Valentine glanced at her friends, but no, still fighting. Might as well borrow time instead of killing it.

The cosmic entity sat beside her. Something wretched lay beneath that eyepatch. Best not to alert those two. He slid what seemed to be a letter from some pocket in his flowy black robe before handing it to Valentine. She took it. She read it. She was confused. "Long story short," said the entity, "My homeland is in peril. We need help."

"Oh. Okay."

"We're in need of as many..." he trailed off. The cosmic entity stared judgmentally at Valentine's water circles. She knew she had to, but she couldn't stop. "...warriors as..." More staring. "...possible. Great riches and fame await those who heed our call. Yeah, whatever. The meeting spot is there. I'd show up if I were you."

"Okay."

"Okay."

Valentine's throat was closing. She was choking. This happened a lot lately. Vit and Svart were talking over each other now; it wouldn't take long for one of them to break. As if knowing this, the entity's judgmental, one-eyed stare slid over to them, until he smiled, then stood up. What a cold smile. If he'd done that while looking at Valentine, she would've cried. Did he know that, too?

"See you and your friends tomorrow," He said, then spun on his heels. "I hope."

The cosmic entity vanished into the crowd before Svart snapped, "Then fuck off!" which startled Valentine and almost made her drop the letter on the water. She was choking. There was no saliva left in her mouth.

"You first," was Vit's reply. As usual, he sounded calm. Svart did not. "Val, let's go."

"Where?"

"Anywhere else."

"No," Svart said. To her, or to him? "She's coming with me. We still need to buy new weapons."

"She clearly doesn't want to go with you."

"More than you."

Neither. Valentine had no saliva or tongue, and her fingers were numb; she couldn't respond.

How fortunate—at least they hadn't seen the entity. Svart would've freaked, would've called him evil, would've tried to slay him. Vit and her would've had to save him yet again, and yet again, they would've had to run for their lives. Vit, on his part, would've freaked out, but since he hated Svart and Valentine, he wouldn't have shown this. Svart and Vit hated each other. Valentine hated neither of them.

While they argued again, Valentine reread the letter. While still confusing, she got it, kind of. The world needed heroes. It had too many villains. Too many good people gave up, so too many evildoers ran rampant.

Vit yanked her up by her upper arm. "I'm done," he told Vit. "See you."

"Don't touch her like that."

"Like what? Like a person?"

"Like she's luggage. Val, do you want to go with this dumbass?" Without waiting for a response, Svart continued: "See? She doesn't. Just—let her go. Val, go back to the hotel room. You look like you're about to have an episode."

"Piss o—" Vit then looked at her face. "—oh... fine. Fine." He let her go. "Whatever. See you two losers tomorrow."

'See you never.' Vit had once told her he looked forward to the day where he could say that. He'd been angry and drunk that day, so Valentine tried not to think too much about it. During times like these, though, the phrase took over her mind. Her thoughts. Her ears. 'See you never.' No phrase was lonelier than 'goodbye'.

Vit left to treat his anger with booze and his self-imposed loneliness with women. Svart escorted Valentine to their hotel room, then left, probably to drown his thoughts with self-imposed tasks. Valentine sat on her bed, reading the letter, until every word in it lost its meaning.

She kind of wished the guard had joined them. Svart had liked him, miraculously enough. He could've been a new friend. She could've had someone to talk to. He seemed nice. But no—he'd left with the other group, the one with the scary killer and catgirl accomplice. Why? She'd seen both of them at the oasis, but even though she should've, Valentine had said nothing. Why? Vit had obviously been trying to hide them. Svart had obviously noticed them. All of them pretended as though this hadn't happened.

"Heroes," she whispered, then ripped the letter in half. "Bullshit."

***

Snail actually recruited someone. Two people, even. Kind of.

The first was a succubus. She looked very sad when Snail approached her. Obviously, Snail knew how succubi... fed themselves... and her parents had told her not to approach them multiple times, but again, the succubus looked sad. She seemed surprised when Snail talked to her, which made sense, since not a lot of children spoke to her species, for obvious reasons (that their parents told them not to approach succubi without explaining why beyond 'it's bad'). When the succubus took the letter and read it, she blinked, surprised, then asked why Snail had given her that.

"Because... you looked like you need it?"

At the time, she'd regretted those words the moment she'd uttered them, but not anymore. She didn't even know why. The succubus's expression hadn't been a smile, nor had it been particularly warm, but something told Snail that it helped her to not be sad anymore. Either way, that was the first recruit. The second one was a Shiou monk with an eyepatch. He also looked sad. Perhaps Snail should've chosen candidates based on... strength... something like that... and not the things they tried to hide.

Speaking of which—sadness. Now everyone was sad. Mish, Pluie, Akiha, Two-Rabbit. They met at the accorded time and place, with no new recruits to speak of. Should Snail...?

...no, best not to say anything.

'Why did you recruit a SUCCUBUS?'

'Did he look strong?'

'Did she look strong?'

Something like that. Snail tried to exchange glances with Pluie, but he looked away for some reason. It hurt for some reason. "Let's just go for weapons," said Akiha.

"Where?" Asked Two-Rabbit.

"Wherever. I don't care anymore."

Pluie raised his hand, but no one acknowledged this. He lowered it before Snail could help.

As she sat on a bench made of engines and swung her legs, Mish told them, "There's still that big armory at the center. It's pricey, but, uh. We should, uh. Let's go there."

They went there. It was very nice. Snail wanted to share this thought with someone, but this wasn't the time for that. While it wasn't decorated with spinning wheels or aesthetically pleasing but impractical tubes, it still had gold, silver, and bronze wires decorating its sides, plus a chromium tree whose 'leaves' were daggers. Those who entered and exited it had outfits that far outpriced anything Snail could afford. Could they even go there? No one seemed to hesitate, so she just followed along.

As expected, once they got in, several customers leered at them. The rest obviously noticed, but no one said anything about it. Not yet, anyway. "Where do we start?" Asked Mish. Her voice broke a bit. "Should we separate and regroup, or... nah, maybe not. Ploo, Sweetie, I'll help you two choose."

"As you wish," said Akiha. "Hand-to-hand combat is not my area of expertise. I'll just follow along."

He did. Two-Rabbit did. They had an area for everything—close and long range, light and heavy, defensive and... wait, these were all non-lethal.

They headed to the light, close subsection, where blades of all sorts sat on tables of various colors and shapes. Honestly, the tables were by far the most eye-catching thing. They'd been dressed with red, blue, and green, as opposed to the monochrome products they held, or the monochrome people they ought to interest.

Mish held out a dagger. It was pretty. It was also priced at 1,666 zuli. Once Mish looked at the price, she put it back down. An obviously rich redhead hovering close by laughed, after which Mish's ears flattened against her head, and remained that way.

Pluie chewed his lip. He picked up a dagger here and there, but his interest was fleeting at best. "W-what—" Snail swallowed. "What weapons do you use, Pluie?"

He jumped when he heard his name. "S-sorry. Um. I like... I'm.... not good with these."

"Oh," said Mish.

"But it's fine! You two can... can take your time."

"What do you use, though?" Asked Akiha. Despite his earlier words, more than anyone else, he'd been the one to constantly lift weapons from their showcases. He'd tap them, thumb them, swish them in the air, as though they weren't... well, deadly. They weren't, but a lot of people didn't know the difference between the real things and the toys they sold in these places. Even now, he held a light blue, glowing dagger in his hand, idly pressing his finger against the tip. It was priced at 2,999 zuli.

Pluie replied, "Lances. Halberds. Longspears. Bows, kind of. But we can look at that later."

"Interesting." Akiha looked at the price tag on the dagger. He grimaced, but he didn't put it back. Surely, he wouldn't...?

"Do you fancy that one?" Asked Mish. "It seems to be enchanted. Ice magic. Very strong."

"Oh! That was why..." Akiha trailed off.

Two-Rabbit finally spoke up. "I wasn't going to say anything, but, Akiha, enchanted cutlery isn't worth it. It's a marketing gimmick. Don't fall for it."

But this clearly fell on deaf ears. Realizing this, Two-Rabbit turned away.

"So..." Slowly, Mish approached him. "...you'll take that one? That one? Then can I take an enchanted one, too?"

To himself, Two-Rabbit slowly shook his head, closing his eyes. Pluie saw this, too. He was the one to initiate eye contact with Snail this time, and the message was as follows: Should we intervene? She nodded. He smiled, then waved his hand. Nothing. "Hi," Snail said, which was kind of dumb. "Hi? Akiha? Mish..."

"Yes, sweetie?"

"I... agree with... with Two-Rabbit."

"Why's that?" Asked Akiha. His tone was icy now, too.

"Um, because... because it's true that it's a gimmick. Right? Pluie agrees."

"But it's our money."

"...that's... that's true. Sorry."

Mish glanced at her, then at Akiha, then patted her shoulder.

Akiha purchased the overpriced dagger. He himself had said he didn't know how to use it. Pluie said he'd look elsewhere, to which Mish agreed. In the end, both of them spent a fraction of what Akiha did, combined. Snail? She kept her old blade. It wasn't particularly well-crafted, nor would it ever match the price of Akiha's own, but it'd been made by someone who'd never craft weapons again.

If nothing else, Akiha's mood notably improved after his frivolous spending. "Let us find an inn for the night," he said. "While you all rest, I'll continue to deliver letters."

"Alone?" Asked Pluie.

"Yes. I have an idea."

The eye exchange didn't work this time, mostly because neither Snail nor Pluie knew what the other one wanted to say. The inn they stayed at was themed after flowers, and—wow, did it show. It had more color than the rest of the city combined. Two-Rabbit was the one to choose it, too. The price? 50 zuli per person. Crazy. The room had six beds. Three hundred zuli for ONE room with bunk beds? It was due to her, wasn't it? To her size. Snail had seen literally no other giant since they'd entered the city.

"Oh, we're going to..." Pluie's eyes were wide. "We're... all of us in one room?"

"Yes," said Two-Rabbit.

"Boys and girls?"

"Yes," said Two-Rabbit.

"Together?"

Mish snorted. She'd already claimed a bed at the top, whose wooly wovers had been embroidered with fuchsia petals. "You Raabi really are weird, huh? I'd heard about the 'boys and girls' thing before, but wow."

Two-Rabbit shook his head. Why? Only he knew. "You choose," he told Snail.

"M-me? Oh... either one is fine by me. Top or bottom. I don't mind."

"Then I choose bottom."

Two-Rabbit and her had the 'special' bunk bed. Their covers had cyan petals. The bunk beds left over for Akiha and... Akiha... had yellow ones. The whole place smelled like a flower field. Honestly, if Snail really thought about it, it wasn't that bad.

A bed she fit on. Cozy ambience. Friends. All of these, she'd...

...no, she hadn't gotten these on her own. Not at all. None of these.

In fact, come to think of it, all she'd done was get kidnapped and saved like a victim instead of a warrior. She'd done absolutely nothing of value, yet she'd also received her share of the money. So it wasn't her money at all, therefore she hadn't earned the right to be here. Her savings...? Not enough.

But she couldn't leave. But she couldn't stay.

Pluie, pale as a moon, said, "I'llgoforsnacksbye," then went for snacks or, more probably, air.

Two-Rabbit crawled on the bed below Snail's. Within minutes, he was snoring. "Wow," said Mish. Snail agreed. "...well, then. I guess it's girl's night after all."

"Yeah," Snail mumbled.

Mish tapped the spot next to her on her bed. "C'mere. Girl talk. Let's talk."

"Um."

"What?"

"I don't... I'll break it. Sorry..."

Mish's face fell. "Don't be, sweetie."

Snail stood beside the door. "No, I'm really sorry. I know you're trying to be nice, but yeah, I'm too heavy for it. But thank you."

There was silence for a bit. "How about yours?"

Snail glanced at her bed. It should do.