An Age Old Problem [Chapter 6]
Jan. 22nd, 2007 12:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
esp_dragonFandom: Golden Sun 2/Boktai 2
Summary: There have been strange happenings in Weyard. New monsters are appearing, people are seeing the dead walk, earthquakes. Then that boy appears. He says he's from a place called San Miguel (where in Weyard is that?) and he seems to be using... different Psynergy from what everyone else is using.
Rating: K
Notes: I'm so going to start working on The Path from the Past soon. My head is going asplode from the essays that I've been doin'. 'Compare and contrast these two articles'. That's easy. 'What is the sociological imagination? Discuss with two sociological studies and your own example.' Yeeeeah. I'd writen it out once already and then realised that I hadn't applied the SI to them AT ALL. But, at least they're only supposed to be at least 900 words each. 'Course, bein' me, that number is too small for me.
And the ironic thing? I'm finding it hard to write the essays because I'm far too used to writing fiction.
Right, about the fic now: it's my longest chapter to date. :) So a little good thing.
Genre: Action/Adventure
Word count: 3,695
Status: Work in Progress
Garet tiredly rubbed the side of his neck with a loose fist as he walked towards Mia's house. After the rest that he'd had the day before, he was finally feeling better from the effects of the poison. He had woken up relatively late and after reading the note that had been left by the others, he checked up on Django. The boy seemed to be sleeping easily so Garet had closed the door as quietly as he could and then left the house.
He had then walked around Vale for a short while to clear his head before going to get something to eat for himself and Django. He'd met a few people, talked to them but kept on walking.
As he chewed on the apple in his hand, Garet wondered how long it would take for the others to come back. Depending on what happened, they could come back within the hour or stay where they were for the rest of the day. It was only the first day for looking for Django's home so they would be extremely lucky they were able to find Django's family or home so quickly.
As he pushed the door open, Garet blinked at the candle sitting at the centre of the table in mild surprise. He had seen it flicker red and black for a second before it returned to its normal colour. Garet stood at the doorway, staring at it, wondering if he'd imagined it. He rubbed his eyes with the back a hand but when he looked at it again, the candle remained orange. Garet shrugged with a sigh, dismissing what he had seen. It looked like he wasn't completely free of the poison since he was still halucinating. Maybe he could ask Mia if she could completely cure him of poison later the next time he saw her.
Garet dropped what was left of the apple in the bin before heading towards the spare room. He opened the door slowly so not to wake Django up, just in case, but when he saw that the boy was awake, he pushed it as he normally would. Django was propped up on his pillow, leaning on the headboard as he played with the covers with his unarmoured arm. He gave Garet a small smile when he saw him.
Garet returned the gesture. "How are you feeling?" he asked as he walked up to the boy on the bed.
"Hungry," was Django's simple reply. His eyes had stayed on the bowl in Garet's hand as soon as he had seen it.
The redhead's smile widened to become a grin. "Sounds like you're feeling better if you've got your appetite back." He handed the bowl of fruit to Django.
Django took the bowl carefully from him and smiled a little at Garet again in thanks before he started to eat. It was quiet for a while apart fom the crunch of fruit being eaten. While Garet waited for Django to finish, he sat down on an available chair and pulled it towards 'Django's' bed. He noticed as he watched him eat was that Django was eating all of the apples first and nothing else. There was no conversation as Garet wasn't sure what to say to him and thought that it was probably best that he at ate what he could straight away. There was a pause when all of the apples were finished.
"Is there something wrong?" Garet asked Django when he saw him looking puzzled at something clutched in his hand.
Django nodded but didn't take his eyes off of his own hand. "What's this?" He held up what was in his hand so that Garet could see it easier. Django waited expectantly for Garet's answer.
Garet frowned slightly when he saw what it was. Django was from a place further away than they thought. "It's an orange."
"An orange?" Django repeated in a confused tone, his eyebrows furrowed together. He glanced back at the object in his hand. "Well, I can see that. But what is it?"
Garet shook his head. "That is what it's called." Seeing the lingering doubt, Garet nodded. "You peel it to eat the insides - like a banana." He stopped trying to explain, wondering if Django would know what a banana was.
Django perked at the word banana. "Aah! Okay, I understand now." Without any direction from Garet, he started to peel the skin. Garet thought about telling Django about the orange pieces but when Django saw the inside, he peeled the peices from each other and didn't have any further trouble with it. When he finished, he looked up at Garet again. "Thanks."
Garet waved a hand dismissively at the thanks. "It's okay." There were a few more minutes of relative silence as Django continued to eat.
After Django had had his fill of the fruit, he placed the bowl on the side-table that Garet was half leaning on from his chair.
"Do you think you're able to walk around?" Garet asked Django when he had settled back on his pillow.
Django looked up at him in surprise. Probably remembering Mia's reaction the last time he had gone out, Garet thought with sympathy. Garet smiled at him good-humouredly. "Mia's going to check up on you soon," he informed Django, "so if that's what you're worried about, don't be."
Just as he said those words, Garet turned his head to hear the creak of a door opening. He turned his head back to Django. "See? She's already here."
There was a small pause as they listened to the soft footsteps approach the room and then the door to 'Django's' room opened to show Mia. She bustled in and before Garet knew it, he was out of the room and hearing the door close. He settled into one of the chairs to wait for Mia's verdict. He didn't think that it would take very long.
:-:-:
Ivan looked up at the tall buildings, not completely sure what to do next. He and Piers could go up to the houses and knock on their doors to ask the owners about Django or they could do what they had been doing before and just ask anyone who passed by them. That hadn't been particularly successful with the second one and now, it was more deserted than the marketplace.
"Wait..." Ivan heard Piers' quiet command and stopped. He turned around to look at his friend. Piers had stopped walking a little while behind him and he was moving his head from side to side, as if he was trying to hear something properly. "Did you hear that?" Piers asked him, not focusing on Ivan.
Tilting his head slightly, Ivan waited to see if whatever-the-sound-was would repeat itself. Just as he was about to shake his head and deny that he could hear anything unusual, Ivan heard it: a rustle in the bushes. But it was too large to be a monster that could have slipped in unnoticed by anyone, Ivan realised. When Piers started to move purposly towards a line of bushed Ivan followed him.
Piers cautiously parted the bushes but there wasn't anything there. He moved a little further down the line and repeated his previous action.
A boy.
He was young. He looked like his was sleeping and in the middle of a nightmare if the scrunched up expression was any indication. He had black hair and his pale complexion was beaded with sweat that moved in little streams down his face. Just then, he gave a moaned a little bit.
Piers knelt down beside the boy and put two fingers next to a small wound that Ivan hadn't noticed straight away. Gently, Piers stretched the wound and seemed to be satisified when the wound didn't reopen. He nodded to himself before he moved his hand so that it was hovering over the wound and cast Ply. The boy was bathed in blue Psynergetic light as the Psynergy did its work. When Piers pulled his hand away, the two puncture marks were gone though it seemed like there was still some faint scarring there. When Ivan looked at the boy's face, it was no longer creased and was more peaceful.
"I'm not sure that I've seen a wound like that before," Piers admitted quietly, looking at the boy's neck where the wound had been.
Ivan replied, matching Piers' quiet tone. "I have, but I've never seen it on the neck before." He paused, trying to remember what he could. "It looks like a Bat bite. There are less teeth this time but it looks the same. If it was a small Bat, I guess that could be undestandable."
Piers was silent with the knowledge of new information. "Are there any side-effects to their bite?" he asked, still kneeling next to the boy. He checked to make sure that there weren't any other wounds that he'd missed.
Ivan nodded. "There are two. Some of their bites can poison and I've heard that sometimes, it can drive their prey mad. That's either really rare or just a story that I was told. It hadn't happened to us when we were travelling across Weyard." He shrugged to say he didn't know completely.
"I see." Piers' attention was diverted when the boy began to stir. "How are you feeling?" he asked quietly when the boy's eyes fluttered open.
The boy's eyes snapped open upon hearing Piers' voice. He looked up at Piers a little fearfully. His eyes were clear and didn't seem to be tired or misty. "I'm feeling fine." He sat up, leaning back on his hands, and edged away slightly from the two Adepts. Piers didn't try to close the gap between the two of them.
"No dizziness? Nausea?" Piers prodded gently.
The boy shook his head, his slightly long hair moving of their own accord.
"Is your home nearby?"
He nodded, keeping his eyes on Piers' golden ones.
"Can you get home by yourself?"
Again he nodded, still not saying a word.
Piers nodded. "Okay." He stood up and took a step away from the boy. The two Adepts watched as the boy got up quickly and sped off without looking back at them.
:-:-:
The afternoon was a bit warmer than earlier, Garet noted, but that was to be expected since the sun was higher up in the sky. Django was walking beside him, his eyes darting from place to place. Garet noticed that the longest time his eyes rested were on the inhabitants of Vale. Django didn't seem to realise that Garet was watching him from the corner of his eyes. It was as if Django wasn't used to seeing a lot of people in one place. Maybe his hometown didn't have a lot of people in it and not a lot of travelleers passed through it either.
Mia had told him that Django was much better than what he had been yesterday but he shouldn't do anything too streneous as he'd been going in and out of her house since he'd arrived. Django needed to exercise his leg though, to make sure that it was alright - which was why they were walking.
"Garet!" The two turned at the sound of the voice. Garet recognised the girl as one of children who had ran up to him and Isaac as they left Vale for the first time. She was running up to them, her face red with the exertion of running.
"Tess? What's wrong?" Garet asked her as she tried to catch her breath.
Still taking deep breaths, Tess shook her head. She grabbed the sleeve of Garet's tunic and tried to drag him in the direction that she had come from. "Hurry up! There's a monster just outside the town entrance!" The words tumbled breathlessly out of her mouth but they still understood what she said.
Garet gasped and his eyes widened. "Damnit," he muttered under his breath. He took Tess' hand and stopped her clutching at his tunic. He looked into her eyes, making sure she was paying attention to him. "Okay. Tess, stay here." He turned to glance at Django. "You too, Django." He was about to start running when he heard Django's reply:
"No."
Turning his head to look at Django, Garet could see the determination in his eyes. Garet said sternly to him, "There's no time for this - you're staying here. You'll get hurt again if you come." He didn't wait for another reply or to see the expression on Django's face before he turned and started running towards the town entrance.
:-:-:
Garet arrived at the town clearing slightly out of breath. It was deserted; the people were mostly in their homes because they knew how futile it was to fight the newer monsters. That was was why Tess had gone to him and no-one else.
Carefully, he made his way to the town exit. He could see the monster clearly when he reached it: it was the monster made out of black rock. It had a spherical body and it seemed to know when there was something behind it. When it knew that there was something close to it, it would roll up into a ball and doggedly chase whatever was near it.
Only two things stopped it: attacking it physically (if you were able to get that close) and the town entrance. No-one could understand why, but the monsters never came closer than the town entrance; it was as if there was a barrier keeping them out. It wasn't a bad thing but no-one knew if or when that barrier would fall. So it was preferable if they kept the monsters away from the barrier if the barrier only had a limited source of energy.
Garet stood there, hiding behind the entrance pillars, watching the monster lumber up when it swerved slightly so that it wasn't heading straight for the entrance anymore. Standing there, it relieved him a bit to see that because he realised what it was that he had forgotten: his axe. He'd left it at home because he normally wouldn't need to carry it around when he was moving around in Vale. There would have been no need to.
It didn't matter, really. He was better off using his Psynergy at a distance with that kind of monster, even though it wasn't affected by it that much. Taking a step forward, Garet was yanked back suddenly by someone grabbing his arm and pulling him back behind the entrance pillar.
It was Django.
"You can't do that!" Django whispered furiously. "It'll see you."
"I know it will!" Garet whispered back. "I have to do something though." He stopped when he realised who he was talking to. "And I thought I told you to stay where you were."
"So that's why you were about to step into a puddle?" Django asked a little scorn colouring his words while he pointed to a puddle that was at Garet's feet. It had been raining heavily very heavily the night before and there were still a few pools of water left. "I can't let you fight it alone," he added lowly.
Garet looked down at it and then quickly looked up again at Django. He glanced at the monster and gauged how far it was away from them. "It can't hear us from that distance."
Django shook his head. "You would be surprised by how much they can hear."
"Okay," Garet said, the doubtful tone obvious in his voice along with a slightly confused look on his face. How did Django know that about that monster? It would explain how that monster knew when there were something behind it but they had tried to sneak up on it and it still knew that they were there.
The new kind of monsters had only appeared recently yet Django seemed to act like he was an expert on them.
"What is it?" Maybe Django would know what it was called. And if he knew what this one was called, maybe he would know information about it and the others as well.
"It's a Golem." Django was peeking around the entrance pillar, so he didn't see Garet's look of surprise.
"I thought," -Django shushed him and waved a hand, warning him to keep his voice down- "they had all died out!"
Django nodded absentmindedly, still not looking back at Garet. "Golems are from the ancient race of giants, but because of the undeadening curse they came back."
Again, Django missed the confused look on Garet's face and Garet scratching his own head. The undeadening curse? What kind of curse was that? Since he'd travelled all over Weyard, Garet had experienced and seen his fare share of curses; he'd never heard of an undeadening curse before.
"Okay," Django muttered under his breath, not really noticing the silence and Garet knew that Django wasn't talking to him.
Garet looked across at the Golem and saw that it had its back to them. He twitched slightly when he felt a twinge of Psynergy that wasn't his being used. Django had his right arm stretched out in front of him and his hand held like it was clutching something. Garet blinked and then there was suddenly a strange weapon in Django's hand.
It looked like a very strange looking club. It was in vague L shape and the top part of that was pointed towards where the Golem was. The top part ended in an open cyliner with holes in it. Was that meant to be a weapon, Garet wondered. It didn't look like it could do a lot of damage.
He heard a click and then a second later he saw -and felt- the ball of golden Psynergy (so he was a Venus Adept? It didn't feel like it Venus energy) race towards the Golem. Before it hit it target, Django was already running towards it and easily side-stepping the puddles.
Garet tried to grab Django's scarf, tried to whisper a warning to not do anything but it was too late. He was out of reach and too far to hear his whispers. Garet scrambled after Django as he tried to avoid the puddles at the same time.
When the ball of Psynergy (it seemed more like it was Mars Psynergy because of that) hit the Golem, it didn't seem like it had been affected in any kind of way. This didn't deter Django because he kept on running without a pause.
Knowing that Django would need some help, Garet prepared to unleash some Psynergy to distract the Golem further. He went through the all of the Psynergy that he could use but found that he couldn't - there was a large chance that he would also hit Django. There wasn't something that wasn't powerful that also didn't have a large spread.
"Watch out!" Garet yelled out. The Golem had rolled into a ball and was spinning towards Django. Django dived out of the way just in time. It was then that Garet unnleashed Volcano. He knew that it would miss since hitting a moving target with Volcano was hard enough but when the Golem was spinning it was near impossible. Garet hoped to use it as a temporary barrier for Django and deter the monster away from the boy.
From his vantage point when the wall of flame had fallen, Garet could see Django staring at where it had been. Garet looked at the Golem which had stopped spinning and was standing again. Since it didn't have a neck it had to turn its body around completely to stare at the two humans around it. It was as if it didn't know which human to attack first.
Garet prepared another Volcano when he felt felt the spark of Psynergy from Django. He looked up, his concentration gone because of his concern, and saw a strange sword in Django's hand. Before he could see it properly, there was another flash of Psynergy and Django was holding a spear. The Golem seemed to have made its mind up and was rolling itself into a ball again. Garet cast another Volcano while it wasn't moving - it didn't look like it had even been hit. Garet then felt a build up of Psynergy and saw that the spear was glowing purple.
The Golem headed towards the Django but he spun his spear with practiced ease and stabbed it into the Golem.
It froze. A few second passed before it collapsed and exploded into thousands of fragments. Garet stared at the spear which still had particles of the purple energy (it didn't feel like it was Jupiter energy) falling off of it.
There was another flash of Psynergy and the spear was gone. Django wiped his forehead with the back of his hand as he scanned the landscape.
Garet did the same and was relieved to see that there were no other monsters there. "Are you hurt?" Garet asked Django as Django picked his way over to the Mars Adept.
Django shook his head. "I might have been if you hadn't been there."
"Why did you rush into a fight with it?" Garet scolded him lightly. The two of them started to walk back to the town entrance. "You could have gotten hurt again. You saw what Mia was like the last time you went back to her house hurt."
"I couldn't allow you to fight it alone," Django said, looking away.
"And I didn't want you to get hurt again," Garet said gently. Django still didn't look at him. "But thank you." This time, Django looked up at him, surprise evident in his eyes. Garet smiled at him. "It's because of you that neither of us were hurt." Garet then jerked his head towards the town entrance. "Come on. If Mia finds out that you decided to do something that could have ended in you seriously hurt, well, she won't be happy to put it mildly."
Django nodded to show that he understood while he pretended to wince and then laughed. They started to make their way back to Vale.
Summary: There have been strange happenings in Weyard. New monsters are appearing, people are seeing the dead walk, earthquakes. Then that boy appears. He says he's from a place called San Miguel (where in Weyard is that?) and he seems to be using... different Psynergy from what everyone else is using.
Rating: K
Notes: I'm so going to start working on The Path from the Past soon. My head is going asplode from the essays that I've been doin'. 'Compare and contrast these two articles'. That's easy. 'What is the sociological imagination? Discuss with two sociological studies and your own example.' Yeeeeah. I'd writen it out once already and then realised that I hadn't applied the SI to them AT ALL. But, at least they're only supposed to be at least 900 words each. 'Course, bein' me, that number is too small for me.
And the ironic thing? I'm finding it hard to write the essays because I'm far too used to writing fiction.
Right, about the fic now: it's my longest chapter to date. :) So a little good thing.
Genre: Action/Adventure
Word count: 3,695
Status: Work in Progress
Garet tiredly rubbed the side of his neck with a loose fist as he walked towards Mia's house. After the rest that he'd had the day before, he was finally feeling better from the effects of the poison. He had woken up relatively late and after reading the note that had been left by the others, he checked up on Django. The boy seemed to be sleeping easily so Garet had closed the door as quietly as he could and then left the house.
He had then walked around Vale for a short while to clear his head before going to get something to eat for himself and Django. He'd met a few people, talked to them but kept on walking.
As he chewed on the apple in his hand, Garet wondered how long it would take for the others to come back. Depending on what happened, they could come back within the hour or stay where they were for the rest of the day. It was only the first day for looking for Django's home so they would be extremely lucky they were able to find Django's family or home so quickly.
As he pushed the door open, Garet blinked at the candle sitting at the centre of the table in mild surprise. He had seen it flicker red and black for a second before it returned to its normal colour. Garet stood at the doorway, staring at it, wondering if he'd imagined it. He rubbed his eyes with the back a hand but when he looked at it again, the candle remained orange. Garet shrugged with a sigh, dismissing what he had seen. It looked like he wasn't completely free of the poison since he was still halucinating. Maybe he could ask Mia if she could completely cure him of poison later the next time he saw her.
Garet dropped what was left of the apple in the bin before heading towards the spare room. He opened the door slowly so not to wake Django up, just in case, but when he saw that the boy was awake, he pushed it as he normally would. Django was propped up on his pillow, leaning on the headboard as he played with the covers with his unarmoured arm. He gave Garet a small smile when he saw him.
Garet returned the gesture. "How are you feeling?" he asked as he walked up to the boy on the bed.
"Hungry," was Django's simple reply. His eyes had stayed on the bowl in Garet's hand as soon as he had seen it.
The redhead's smile widened to become a grin. "Sounds like you're feeling better if you've got your appetite back." He handed the bowl of fruit to Django.
Django took the bowl carefully from him and smiled a little at Garet again in thanks before he started to eat. It was quiet for a while apart fom the crunch of fruit being eaten. While Garet waited for Django to finish, he sat down on an available chair and pulled it towards 'Django's' bed. He noticed as he watched him eat was that Django was eating all of the apples first and nothing else. There was no conversation as Garet wasn't sure what to say to him and thought that it was probably best that he at ate what he could straight away. There was a pause when all of the apples were finished.
"Is there something wrong?" Garet asked Django when he saw him looking puzzled at something clutched in his hand.
Django nodded but didn't take his eyes off of his own hand. "What's this?" He held up what was in his hand so that Garet could see it easier. Django waited expectantly for Garet's answer.
Garet frowned slightly when he saw what it was. Django was from a place further away than they thought. "It's an orange."
"An orange?" Django repeated in a confused tone, his eyebrows furrowed together. He glanced back at the object in his hand. "Well, I can see that. But what is it?"
Garet shook his head. "That is what it's called." Seeing the lingering doubt, Garet nodded. "You peel it to eat the insides - like a banana." He stopped trying to explain, wondering if Django would know what a banana was.
Django perked at the word banana. "Aah! Okay, I understand now." Without any direction from Garet, he started to peel the skin. Garet thought about telling Django about the orange pieces but when Django saw the inside, he peeled the peices from each other and didn't have any further trouble with it. When he finished, he looked up at Garet again. "Thanks."
Garet waved a hand dismissively at the thanks. "It's okay." There were a few more minutes of relative silence as Django continued to eat.
After Django had had his fill of the fruit, he placed the bowl on the side-table that Garet was half leaning on from his chair.
"Do you think you're able to walk around?" Garet asked Django when he had settled back on his pillow.
Django looked up at him in surprise. Probably remembering Mia's reaction the last time he had gone out, Garet thought with sympathy. Garet smiled at him good-humouredly. "Mia's going to check up on you soon," he informed Django, "so if that's what you're worried about, don't be."
Just as he said those words, Garet turned his head to hear the creak of a door opening. He turned his head back to Django. "See? She's already here."
There was a small pause as they listened to the soft footsteps approach the room and then the door to 'Django's' room opened to show Mia. She bustled in and before Garet knew it, he was out of the room and hearing the door close. He settled into one of the chairs to wait for Mia's verdict. He didn't think that it would take very long.
:-:-:
Ivan looked up at the tall buildings, not completely sure what to do next. He and Piers could go up to the houses and knock on their doors to ask the owners about Django or they could do what they had been doing before and just ask anyone who passed by them. That hadn't been particularly successful with the second one and now, it was more deserted than the marketplace.
"Wait..." Ivan heard Piers' quiet command and stopped. He turned around to look at his friend. Piers had stopped walking a little while behind him and he was moving his head from side to side, as if he was trying to hear something properly. "Did you hear that?" Piers asked him, not focusing on Ivan.
Tilting his head slightly, Ivan waited to see if whatever-the-sound-was would repeat itself. Just as he was about to shake his head and deny that he could hear anything unusual, Ivan heard it: a rustle in the bushes. But it was too large to be a monster that could have slipped in unnoticed by anyone, Ivan realised. When Piers started to move purposly towards a line of bushed Ivan followed him.
Piers cautiously parted the bushes but there wasn't anything there. He moved a little further down the line and repeated his previous action.
A boy.
He was young. He looked like his was sleeping and in the middle of a nightmare if the scrunched up expression was any indication. He had black hair and his pale complexion was beaded with sweat that moved in little streams down his face. Just then, he gave a moaned a little bit.
Piers knelt down beside the boy and put two fingers next to a small wound that Ivan hadn't noticed straight away. Gently, Piers stretched the wound and seemed to be satisified when the wound didn't reopen. He nodded to himself before he moved his hand so that it was hovering over the wound and cast Ply. The boy was bathed in blue Psynergetic light as the Psynergy did its work. When Piers pulled his hand away, the two puncture marks were gone though it seemed like there was still some faint scarring there. When Ivan looked at the boy's face, it was no longer creased and was more peaceful.
"I'm not sure that I've seen a wound like that before," Piers admitted quietly, looking at the boy's neck where the wound had been.
Ivan replied, matching Piers' quiet tone. "I have, but I've never seen it on the neck before." He paused, trying to remember what he could. "It looks like a Bat bite. There are less teeth this time but it looks the same. If it was a small Bat, I guess that could be undestandable."
Piers was silent with the knowledge of new information. "Are there any side-effects to their bite?" he asked, still kneeling next to the boy. He checked to make sure that there weren't any other wounds that he'd missed.
Ivan nodded. "There are two. Some of their bites can poison and I've heard that sometimes, it can drive their prey mad. That's either really rare or just a story that I was told. It hadn't happened to us when we were travelling across Weyard." He shrugged to say he didn't know completely.
"I see." Piers' attention was diverted when the boy began to stir. "How are you feeling?" he asked quietly when the boy's eyes fluttered open.
The boy's eyes snapped open upon hearing Piers' voice. He looked up at Piers a little fearfully. His eyes were clear and didn't seem to be tired or misty. "I'm feeling fine." He sat up, leaning back on his hands, and edged away slightly from the two Adepts. Piers didn't try to close the gap between the two of them.
"No dizziness? Nausea?" Piers prodded gently.
The boy shook his head, his slightly long hair moving of their own accord.
"Is your home nearby?"
He nodded, keeping his eyes on Piers' golden ones.
"Can you get home by yourself?"
Again he nodded, still not saying a word.
Piers nodded. "Okay." He stood up and took a step away from the boy. The two Adepts watched as the boy got up quickly and sped off without looking back at them.
:-:-:
The afternoon was a bit warmer than earlier, Garet noted, but that was to be expected since the sun was higher up in the sky. Django was walking beside him, his eyes darting from place to place. Garet noticed that the longest time his eyes rested were on the inhabitants of Vale. Django didn't seem to realise that Garet was watching him from the corner of his eyes. It was as if Django wasn't used to seeing a lot of people in one place. Maybe his hometown didn't have a lot of people in it and not a lot of travelleers passed through it either.
Mia had told him that Django was much better than what he had been yesterday but he shouldn't do anything too streneous as he'd been going in and out of her house since he'd arrived. Django needed to exercise his leg though, to make sure that it was alright - which was why they were walking.
"Garet!" The two turned at the sound of the voice. Garet recognised the girl as one of children who had ran up to him and Isaac as they left Vale for the first time. She was running up to them, her face red with the exertion of running.
"Tess? What's wrong?" Garet asked her as she tried to catch her breath.
Still taking deep breaths, Tess shook her head. She grabbed the sleeve of Garet's tunic and tried to drag him in the direction that she had come from. "Hurry up! There's a monster just outside the town entrance!" The words tumbled breathlessly out of her mouth but they still understood what she said.
Garet gasped and his eyes widened. "Damnit," he muttered under his breath. He took Tess' hand and stopped her clutching at his tunic. He looked into her eyes, making sure she was paying attention to him. "Okay. Tess, stay here." He turned to glance at Django. "You too, Django." He was about to start running when he heard Django's reply:
"No."
Turning his head to look at Django, Garet could see the determination in his eyes. Garet said sternly to him, "There's no time for this - you're staying here. You'll get hurt again if you come." He didn't wait for another reply or to see the expression on Django's face before he turned and started running towards the town entrance.
:-:-:
Garet arrived at the town clearing slightly out of breath. It was deserted; the people were mostly in their homes because they knew how futile it was to fight the newer monsters. That was was why Tess had gone to him and no-one else.
Carefully, he made his way to the town exit. He could see the monster clearly when he reached it: it was the monster made out of black rock. It had a spherical body and it seemed to know when there was something behind it. When it knew that there was something close to it, it would roll up into a ball and doggedly chase whatever was near it.
Only two things stopped it: attacking it physically (if you were able to get that close) and the town entrance. No-one could understand why, but the monsters never came closer than the town entrance; it was as if there was a barrier keeping them out. It wasn't a bad thing but no-one knew if or when that barrier would fall. So it was preferable if they kept the monsters away from the barrier if the barrier only had a limited source of energy.
Garet stood there, hiding behind the entrance pillars, watching the monster lumber up when it swerved slightly so that it wasn't heading straight for the entrance anymore. Standing there, it relieved him a bit to see that because he realised what it was that he had forgotten: his axe. He'd left it at home because he normally wouldn't need to carry it around when he was moving around in Vale. There would have been no need to.
It didn't matter, really. He was better off using his Psynergy at a distance with that kind of monster, even though it wasn't affected by it that much. Taking a step forward, Garet was yanked back suddenly by someone grabbing his arm and pulling him back behind the entrance pillar.
It was Django.
"You can't do that!" Django whispered furiously. "It'll see you."
"I know it will!" Garet whispered back. "I have to do something though." He stopped when he realised who he was talking to. "And I thought I told you to stay where you were."
"So that's why you were about to step into a puddle?" Django asked a little scorn colouring his words while he pointed to a puddle that was at Garet's feet. It had been raining heavily very heavily the night before and there were still a few pools of water left. "I can't let you fight it alone," he added lowly.
Garet looked down at it and then quickly looked up again at Django. He glanced at the monster and gauged how far it was away from them. "It can't hear us from that distance."
Django shook his head. "You would be surprised by how much they can hear."
"Okay," Garet said, the doubtful tone obvious in his voice along with a slightly confused look on his face. How did Django know that about that monster? It would explain how that monster knew when there were something behind it but they had tried to sneak up on it and it still knew that they were there.
The new kind of monsters had only appeared recently yet Django seemed to act like he was an expert on them.
"What is it?" Maybe Django would know what it was called. And if he knew what this one was called, maybe he would know information about it and the others as well.
"It's a Golem." Django was peeking around the entrance pillar, so he didn't see Garet's look of surprise.
"I thought," -Django shushed him and waved a hand, warning him to keep his voice down- "they had all died out!"
Django nodded absentmindedly, still not looking back at Garet. "Golems are from the ancient race of giants, but because of the undeadening curse they came back."
Again, Django missed the confused look on Garet's face and Garet scratching his own head. The undeadening curse? What kind of curse was that? Since he'd travelled all over Weyard, Garet had experienced and seen his fare share of curses; he'd never heard of an undeadening curse before.
"Okay," Django muttered under his breath, not really noticing the silence and Garet knew that Django wasn't talking to him.
Garet looked across at the Golem and saw that it had its back to them. He twitched slightly when he felt a twinge of Psynergy that wasn't his being used. Django had his right arm stretched out in front of him and his hand held like it was clutching something. Garet blinked and then there was suddenly a strange weapon in Django's hand.
It looked like a very strange looking club. It was in vague L shape and the top part of that was pointed towards where the Golem was. The top part ended in an open cyliner with holes in it. Was that meant to be a weapon, Garet wondered. It didn't look like it could do a lot of damage.
He heard a click and then a second later he saw -and felt- the ball of golden Psynergy (so he was a Venus Adept? It didn't feel like it Venus energy) race towards the Golem. Before it hit it target, Django was already running towards it and easily side-stepping the puddles.
Garet tried to grab Django's scarf, tried to whisper a warning to not do anything but it was too late. He was out of reach and too far to hear his whispers. Garet scrambled after Django as he tried to avoid the puddles at the same time.
When the ball of Psynergy (it seemed more like it was Mars Psynergy because of that) hit the Golem, it didn't seem like it had been affected in any kind of way. This didn't deter Django because he kept on running without a pause.
Knowing that Django would need some help, Garet prepared to unleash some Psynergy to distract the Golem further. He went through the all of the Psynergy that he could use but found that he couldn't - there was a large chance that he would also hit Django. There wasn't something that wasn't powerful that also didn't have a large spread.
"Watch out!" Garet yelled out. The Golem had rolled into a ball and was spinning towards Django. Django dived out of the way just in time. It was then that Garet unnleashed Volcano. He knew that it would miss since hitting a moving target with Volcano was hard enough but when the Golem was spinning it was near impossible. Garet hoped to use it as a temporary barrier for Django and deter the monster away from the boy.
From his vantage point when the wall of flame had fallen, Garet could see Django staring at where it had been. Garet looked at the Golem which had stopped spinning and was standing again. Since it didn't have a neck it had to turn its body around completely to stare at the two humans around it. It was as if it didn't know which human to attack first.
Garet prepared another Volcano when he felt felt the spark of Psynergy from Django. He looked up, his concentration gone because of his concern, and saw a strange sword in Django's hand. Before he could see it properly, there was another flash of Psynergy and Django was holding a spear. The Golem seemed to have made its mind up and was rolling itself into a ball again. Garet cast another Volcano while it wasn't moving - it didn't look like it had even been hit. Garet then felt a build up of Psynergy and saw that the spear was glowing purple.
The Golem headed towards the Django but he spun his spear with practiced ease and stabbed it into the Golem.
It froze. A few second passed before it collapsed and exploded into thousands of fragments. Garet stared at the spear which still had particles of the purple energy (it didn't feel like it was Jupiter energy) falling off of it.
There was another flash of Psynergy and the spear was gone. Django wiped his forehead with the back of his hand as he scanned the landscape.
Garet did the same and was relieved to see that there were no other monsters there. "Are you hurt?" Garet asked Django as Django picked his way over to the Mars Adept.
Django shook his head. "I might have been if you hadn't been there."
"Why did you rush into a fight with it?" Garet scolded him lightly. The two of them started to walk back to the town entrance. "You could have gotten hurt again. You saw what Mia was like the last time you went back to her house hurt."
"I couldn't allow you to fight it alone," Django said, looking away.
"And I didn't want you to get hurt again," Garet said gently. Django still didn't look at him. "But thank you." This time, Django looked up at him, surprise evident in his eyes. Garet smiled at him. "It's because of you that neither of us were hurt." Garet then jerked his head towards the town entrance. "Come on. If Mia finds out that you decided to do something that could have ended in you seriously hurt, well, she won't be happy to put it mildly."
Django nodded to show that he understood while he pretended to wince and then laughed. They started to make their way back to Vale.