Gift

I gazed upon the aftermath of the battle that transpired, staring deep into the nameless man's now exposed face, at least what had become of it. The black mass shrouded both of his eyes and his neck. The little skin that was exposed had become pale, and his lips were extremely dry. The pitch black tendrils that were once full of life and energy were now still and spread across the road, the man being at the center of it all. We all gathered around the blackened corpse.

"Now, how did one of the king's royal guard find his way down here?" Dente asked rhetorically.

Serrum interjected immediately. "Forget that, mind telling where thee has learned battle? Thou handled thine blade with finesse, as if thou hast used such a strange weapon before." Her tone was somewhat fierce, the same fierceness from when we met her.

I looked at the spear and sword in each of my hands. I had not thought about it until now, but wielding two very different weapons in each hand was far from conventional, yet the man within me attacked wielding both effortlessly. I looked back up at Serrum who was still awaiting an answer. I couldn't come up with anything. Telling the truth might make them more suspicious of me, but I couldn't figure out a lie.

"Perhaps he has somehow forgotten more of his past than the rest of us." Fesha answered for me.

The answer was so simple, yet I could not find it on my own. It made me wonder how differently things would have turned out if I had never met Fesha. She had been the one who needed to push me to fight before the man within me had to step in. Perhaps the man within would have killed these hospitable people due to my inability to think on my own. If Fesha was not here, I'm sure Dente and Serrum would have felt threatened, and possibly the need to deal with me before whoever was in me dealt with them first. I wavered under the stress, reminded that the world I had woken up in is a far cry from safe. These feelings devolved into something worse, as I began to fear myself.

"Hmm, perhaps." Serrum said reluctantly, snapping me out of my thoughts.

My stress slowly dissipated, but my confidence was still low. I knew I could not just let myself get close to death, only for the previous owner of this body to save me every time. If I had not attempted my attack, Serrum, Dente, or even Fesha could have died, and that thought frightened me.

"Anywise, we still should figure out why this guard had made his way to this level." Dente continued.

"What's so strange about it." I asked. I noticed Serrum side eyeing me when I asked.

Dente answered. "Uhh... The royal guard was the king of Caelum's top knights. They usually stayed near the uppers, but there were also some stationed at some of the lower levels, which I always found odd." He said seemly reluctant to answer me.

"What? I had no such idea of this." Fesha said.

"Well lady, perhaps the highest in line were hiding things even from royalty such as yourself." Dente retorted and laughed soon after.

Fesha became visually irritated at the retort. "What could they possibly hide? Why even joketh like this?"

Dente looked over at Fesha. "All I'm saying, from mine experiences, is that I have always suspected our king of something, I just couldn't tell ya what!" He said.

Fesha kept her mouth shut after that. We observed the dead knight a little longer, looking for anything of value and to make sure he was not still alive. Unfortunately, all of the things on him had been covered in the black growth, and Fesha is low on those red flowers to be able to burn it off. So we left, the engine back in our possession, leaving the nameless knight in his final resting place.

The walk back was nothing but quiet and peaceful. The columns of light that brightened the inside of this ruined city began to dim into an orange hue. The smell of metal and something burning was ever present in this industrial layer, though there was a small waft of fresh air. The corner of the explosion engine dug into my fingers with each step we took. If we had not been here to help Dente and Serrum, I doubt they would be able to carry this massive metallic box on their own. Eventually, we made it back to the stairwell that connected to the layer below. We made our way slowly down the stairs, being cautious with each step so as to not drop our precious find. We made it to the bottom of the stairs with no issue and soon continued down the twisting hallways of this industrial cluster. Though it seemed confusing to me and Fesha, Dente and Serrum seemed to know exactly where they were going, even having small talk while navigating. It goes to show how long they've been stuck here. Finally we had made it back to the roof that Serrum and Dente had set up camp.

"Just take it over here." Dente said as he guided us to where he wanted the engine set. He led us to an area on the other side of the roof from where we were. There was a wall with a wooden table leaned against it. It had an array of various tools and gadgets, all of which looked other worldly to me. There was also a tarp on the ground just in front of the table. We set the engine down next to the tarp and finally sat down to rest. The rest of the day was uneventful, Fesha and Dente were preparing dinner while Serrum fiddled with the engine. I walked up to her hoping for a conversation.

"So are you some sort of mechanic or engineer?" I asked her.

"Something along those lines. Dente wouldn't know what to do with this thing, that's for sure." She said.

An awkward silence fell between us so I tried a new topic. "By the way, do you want this back?" I undid the spear from the leather strap on my back and tried to hand it to Serrum, but she refused. 

"I was going to give it to thee as a gift anyway, it feels too awkward in Dente and I's hands. Besides, thou seems quite acquainted with the weapon already, so keep it." She said calmly. From her tone she still seemed suspicious of me, but by no means saw me as a threat anymore. Seems she had time to think things through while we walked back here. Still, it kind of hurt. 

Finally dinner had been finished. We ate to our hearts' content, had small talk, and soon got ready for bed. I thought to myself in bed, wondering if the owner of this body is truly a threat. He has only come out when I was close to death, but the way he moves, it was obvious he has killed many before. No wonder Dente and Serrum feared me a little. The thought lingered until I finally fell asleep.