Shay Kha's Hero

Ralmine was even more of a chatterbox than Saif first assumed. Once he realized that Saif couldn’t exactly speak, he made sure to fill the early morning air with enough noise for the both of them.

“- so I told my dad, I don’t wanna be just another blacksmith, I want to be the best! I want people to seek me out by name. And you wanna know what he told me? ‘Well, the biggest name in town is the Schaver’s. We Grippents are better, our world holds true, but those darn Schavers’ play dirty, and you know it. Focus on your own work, and success will come to you.’ But see, I’m not passive! The Schavers’ progenitor is War, of course people will go to them when they need weapons because of all the monsters popping up. Ours is Fire, so we have invention on our side! We’re supposed to be better at this than them. So he told me, if you can’t handle it, then leave. So I left.”

Ralmine was even stronger than he looked, walking with the massive pile of ingots cradled against his chest without breaking a sweat. Daybreak was upon them, life returned to the world. Saif could see other travelers on the roads, some human, many others not. Those who weren’t walking were flying or taking buses or carriages to get by.

“You know,” Ralmine continued, “the reason why I came to the capital is because it doesn’t have monsters. Everyone knows that it's safe here. It’s the last place in the country where monsters are tame, but I knew it would change the moment the Greater Beings left their realms. I was right! I didn’t think I'd get attacked so soon, but I was right! Opening a smithy and selling weapons will make me richer than Death.” Ralmine laughed.

They were somewhere familiar, Saif realized. They were back on the same route he’d taken to the farms. It was very different in daylight. He could now see that there was a cluster of small buildings to the side of the road. Ralmine walked towards them, “Every traveler's treasured haven; a rest stop. I’m going to check the bus schedule, there should be one coming soon.”

Ralmine headed to a wooden board. Saif came up to it as well, but couldn’t read it from his place on the ground even if he craned his neck back. It won’t matter, since he doubted he could make sense of the script anyway.

“Sorry about that, Hero,” Ralmine teased with a very sibling-like grin. “I didn’t realize you were that small. Do you want me to read it out for you?”

Saif twitched. Nickname aside, he won’t that slide. Saif unsheathed his nail and jumped high, stabbing it into the wood halfway up the sign. He swung for leverage before releasing himself and the nail to land on top of Ralmine’s head.

“Hey!” He stumbled back, trying to balance Saif on top of his head without dropping his stuff. “Okay, I get it! You’ve got skills. Sheesh, now get off me!”

Saif jumped down and re-sheathed his nail, satisfied.

“Well, looks like the next bus is soon, but it’s a long trip round since it’s going to the Great Abode first. Or we can wait a supposed three hours for the other bus to take us the right way, but with time being wonky, it's not guaranteed. So, what now?”

Saif blinked. Neither option made much of a difference to him.

“You’re right. We can wait. Going into the Great Abode without reason isn’t as risky when the Greaters are in a meeting, but you never know what sort of mood the guards would be in.” Saif thought of the guard who gently shooed him away. So that was the exception, not the rule. Got it. ”Okay. Let's wait inside the food hall. I’m starving.”

Ralmine left him to guard the ingots while he haggled with the servers to try and pay less. The hall was large, with the closed-off kitchens occupying the back half, with two doorways leading in and out. The front half was split into three. In one corner of the hall, musicians gathered around to play seemingly well-known songs for a price. In another, several groups of people huddled around a large board covered with posters. The center of the hall held various types of tables and chairs, some wooden, some metal, some in materials he couldn’t describe.

Saif used the chance to take a better look at the citizens of this world. There were metallic people that shined with the light, plant people with leaves for hair, elfish looking fairy people, feathery bird people, fish people carrying tanks of water, rock people that glared at the metal people and people that looked like ordinary humans.

No reason to question it. It was clear the laws of this world were far stranger than his own. The only questions Saif had were “why is he here?” and “can he go back home?” Although, something uncomfortable stirred in the pit of his abdomen. Will he go back? Does… does he even want to go back? Saif tried to think, but the word home only brought uncomfortable whispers to his mind.

Ralmine returned with a large wooden tray, smiling from ear to ear. “Hero! Guess what? One of the cooks gave me an extra portion after I said I got attacked! She was really sweet too, asked me how I got away and she actually believed me when I told her you slayed them. Look, she’s the one talking over there. Everyone knows you’re a hero now!”

The normal Saif would be flustered with emotion, but the current Saif didn’t even bat an eye. It was like his emotions were separated from him by a glass pane. He could see what he’d feel, but he couldn’t feel it directly. The only thing he felt was a surge of warmth coursing inside him Huh. That’s new.

Saif intended on waiting out the bus by learning more about the various peoples in the food hall, but an urgent need to go to sleep took him by surprise. Before he could consider fighting it, he ended up leaning back against the ingot stack, eyes drooping nearly shut.

“You all tuckered out, Hero? Get some rest. I’ll wake you up later.”

He slept.

Not really. His body, the husk, shell or whatever, was asleep. Anyone nearby could hear his gentle snores. But Saif’s soul was wide awake, and he wasn’t in the hall anymore. He was in that vacant field from oh-so long ago. Saif wasn’t alone this time.

Souls. Dozens and dozens of souls splayed across the barren fields as far as the eye could see. They were looking at him, making their way to him, slowly drifting across the ground, too slow to be threatening, but enough to be unnerving.

Saif wasn’t scared though. That fear was still at bay. Before long, he felt his body call out to him. Instinct was calling for him.

He woke up stronger than he’d gone to sleep.

Instinct was still there, curling at the edge of his being. Wy? What’s out of place?

The ingot was fine, twenty untouched bars in the same stack behind him. Ralmine was too, from where he was dancing with the cook in the corner with the musicians. Something was wrong though. Saif honed his nose, letting Instinct guide him. He scanned the room once, twice- there! At the table closest to the kitchen entryway, a cloaked figure held out a corked glass from underneath their hood. It smelled bad, sharp in a way that itched. Saif rushed towards them as they tipped the potion out into a bowl of soup on a table nearby.

The bowl was then pushed in a rock person’s direction. They were laughing maniacally, slamming their fist down at the table a couple of times. Each slam shook the table hard enough for the soup to bubble. It fizzed, the potion reacting to create a nearly unnoticeable steam. A fairy looking person with purple hair stopped laughing enough to draw the bowl towards them. They waved the spoon around at a few of the people laughing before they placed it in the bowl and stirred.

Saif leaped into action, running between the people and plates to reach the fairy just in time to smack the spoon away from their mouth.

“Hey! What’s the big idea?” The fairy said as their spoon clattered to the ground and started to sizzle. “Huh?”

The crowd nearby noticed the commotion, turning to stare at the melted soup eating away at the floor. Saif was not with them, focusing instead on tracking down the culprit behind it all as they tried to sneak away through the kitchens. The chefs were on Saif’s side, beating up the intruder with rolling pins, ladles and a large iron pan for entering without permission.

The culprit turned back towards the main hall, with Saif still hot on their trail, leaping from one table to another to keep up. They weaved in and out of the thick crowd, making their way out through the main entrance while confusion over the melting floor was ongoing.

“Where are you, Hero? Looks like the bus’s almost here.” Ralmine muttered, Saif’s keen ears picking his voice out from the crowd. Ralmine began to shout, “oi! Has anyone seen a little bug three ingots high?”

Saif couldn't get close enough to the culprit to stop him, not with the crowd funneling out the exit. Even if he caught up, it’s not like he could drag him to a stop. Damn it. What can he do? Saif struggled to keep a level head and analyzed his surroundings, eyes leaping from one corner of the room to the next, landing on the instruments.

Instinct guided Saif as he clambered his way over to the now forgotten instruments. He climbed up the neck of a long cello, and adjusted the tension of its strings. From here, he had a straight shot to the door. All he had to do was draw his nail across them just right, and wait for an opening. He locked eyes onto the target, and with a steady hand he waited. Not now… not yet... almost- there!

Saif let the nail go, sending it shooting through the crowd with precision. The path had cleared exactly for the nail to soar and land squarely in the culprit’s eye just as they were about to step out the door.

“AUGH, FATE DAMN IT!” They yelled, stumbling to the ground just outside. The same rock person from earlier grabbed them by the shoulder to haul them upright and cleared the path for others to leave. Saif rushed forward, catching Ralmine by the hand and pulling with all his might to point the human towards the door.

“You alright bud?” Said the rock. “That’s a lotta lifeblood.”

“Unhand me!” The culprit flailed, trying to get free.

Saif and Ralmine were almost there.

The rock placed the culprit back down on the ground. “No need to be aggressive, yikes."

“WAIT!” Ralmine yelled, but it was too late.

The culprit got away-

“Well, well, well. Look who we’ve got here.”

“Ugh… Shay Kha… we meet again.”

- only to bump into the fairy they tried to kill.