Chapter 5 - Run for your life!

And I was definitely enjoying it.

The creature hissed, crouching in the smoke that was hiding her features.
"Why must you get in my way... WHY MUST YOU ALL GET IN MY WAY! If it weren't for you, I... would be with him now..." There was a hint of sadness in the girl's last sentence, as well as a feeling of nostalgia I couldn't describe.

The paladin lowered his blade and a hint of irritation, as well as empathy, furrowed his brow.
"My thoughts exactly. This is foolish, he could be arriving any minute now and..."

I kept staring at them in a dream like stupor.
Gone was the need for safety and gone was the fear.
In my daze, I had stumbled a few steps ahead trying to make sense of the complicated feeling I had in my heart.

The scene felt poignant, sure.
But to be honest, it felt much more nostalgic.

Nostalgic.
Now that was unexpected.

I’d never seen a scene like this in my life, and still…

There was a memory in the back of my skull, knocking politely, almost inaudibly, at the door of my conscience. I tried desperately to find the door she was waiting behind, but my mind felt like a maze made out of all the mundane little things I had seen and felt throughout my existence.

Mundane.  I felt that was the key…
The memory was not of heroes and powers unknown.
It was, rather…

A fuzzy feeling crept softly into my heart.

The face of a roundish kid…
The voice of a small brat…
The smoke, the fire and and the goat mi…

“Stop this stupid fight, right now!”

Uh?
The train of my feverish thoughts had been interrupted by a resolute voice.

Appearing right between me and the two combatants, a lone figure was now standing with her silhouette painted across the moon. Brown hair fluttering in the wind, arms resting on her waist like a mother scolding a child.

“First you scare away the patrons, now you damage our property. I sure hope you have the money to repay the damage!”

She shouted.
The two fighters trailed their gaze to face her figure, eyes glistening of a scary hue in the dreary night.

Enrietta puffed staunchly.
“What? You looking for a fight?” She said.

The eyes of the two superhuman warriors twitched.

I ran with the speed of sound.

In a minute I was upon the idiot that had just challenged the two monsters to a fight.
Grabbing her by her mouth, I profusely apologized and tried desperately to retreat.

Or at least that was what I had planned to do.

Enrietta, sensing my approach, quickly grappled me.
Lifting me easily off the ground, she slammed my body on the grassy meadow in front of her.

“Dust! W-what are you doing attacking me from behind like that!”
I grunted, massaging my rather unfortunate backside.

“I wasn’t trying to attack you from behind… I was trying to save your life! What do you mean ‘you looking for a fight’?!”
Enrietta looked confused, then quickly shifted to pure rage, then finally settled onto simple frustration.

“Make up your mind! First you tell me we don’t know how to keep a tavern, now that I try to ask for compensation when some bad apples cause trouble, you won’t let me!?”

“Did you see those two fight!? No matter how strong you and your father are, they’re practically monste-“

“D… ust…”
Wait. Did the demon-girl just whisper something familiar?

“…Dust?!”
The demon girl, still shrouded in the shifting smoke of her attack had began staring at me with scary eyes.

“Yes, that’s his name. Dust Luminas! He works at my Inn. Want to beat him up too?!!”
Don’t give them ideas, you idiot!

Oh gods, the demon’s looking at me.
She’s looking like I’m some kind of juicy little morsel…
Did she hear me call them monsters?

Oh damn, she got pretty scary when the paladin called her a demon-child.
What do I do? What do I do!??

“DUST!!!”
The demon-girl screamed, pouncing towards us with the speed of a wild animal.

My muscles reacted faster than my brain.
I didn’t even let her finish pronouncing my name.

“Wh-“
Sorry, Enrietta. I’m too scared to think about what I’m doing right now.

“…!!!”
She emitted a sort of rattling gurgle of either embarrassment or utter resentment, as I lifted her in my arms, princess style.

Then my legs were ordered to run. And they did without fail.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!”
I ran frantically, pathetically screaming for my life.
Enrietta hadn’t even fully processed what had happened and her eyes were circling like a broken clock.

I would have liked to describe my flight as dashing, but for any onlooker that must not have been one of my best moments. Face red from exertion, a steady stream of tears flowing from the corners of my eyes, I screamed at the top of my lungs while trying desperately to reach the open entrance of the Crossroads.

The beast, no, the huntress, was catching up to me.
I could almost feel her breath upon my neck. I would not make it in time.

In a sudden moment of clarity, I turned to look for the only hope for my survival.
The holy paladin, staunch defender of the weak, was sure to have reached the raging beast by now, he’ll surely save my lif-

“MASTER DUST!!!”
AAAAAAAH! HE’S CHASING ME WITH A SCARY FACE TOO!!!

I’m done.
I’m done for good.
This is my last day on earth.
Panting and screaming like a sissy, running for my life from a scary knight and a demon girl.

Wait.
Why am I falling?
Oh, I have tripped.

Yup.
If I think about it, asking my untrained lazy body to pull this kind of manouver was a bit much.

And now I’m going to die.

Oh.
These are probably my last thoughts.

What did I expect?
I’m just a normal guy, after all…

*THUD*