♦ [Alesiar] ♦
♦ "Just because we wear some word called 'honor' like armor, doesn't mean it protects us. You're nothing more than scum." ♦
♦ "Just because we wear some word called 'honor' like armor, doesn't mean it protects us. You're nothing more than scum." ♦
Hikari slid back into the sheath with a small, low, metallic sound, as Alesiar walked out of the small, slightly decrepit village. It was a poor town, many of the people left were the old and the sick, or the young and the sick who were orphans. The only strong ones were the few urchins who ran around stealing bread and cheese from merchants' carts to help feed the weaker ones.
Alesiar knew how that felt a little too well. It hadn't been very long ago that that had been what he had been doing. Though he had only been stealing for himself, so that he could survive. Many of the urchins and orphans in the village had been mixed races. Some had been Sylph, and he had seen a couple Undine as well, which surprised him, but at the same time, he hadn't bothered to ask any questions. It wasn't his business, so why bother? Besides, urchins and orphans weren't about to talk with a six-foot-two guy dressed all in black with two swords strapped to his back.
Well, apart from the one who was trying to follow him at the moment. He knew who she was, she was the one who had thanked him, and he had only looked at her, and turned and walked away without a word. And now she was following him. What could she want? Money, perhaps? It would make sense. His thoughts were interrupted but a large and beefy hand grabbing his shoulder and spinning him around roughly. It wasn't hard for the overweight man, Al was rather light. His stoic expression changed in not the slightest while the man, who had been his employer, stuck a sausage-like finger in his face and began yelling at him, his face going purple and his mustache bristling. As the man ranted, Alesiar's only thought was wondering how the man had gotten so fat in such a poor town.
"Now you listen here, you, you...rat! I gave you a job to do, I wanted the heads of the thieves robbing my carts! And here now you just think you're going to hand over my own goods to the little cretins and just waltz out of here?! I'll have your head, you filthy bastard, you, you, thief! I'll--"
Alesiar had had enough of the man, and he snatched the man's finger in two of his own, twisting it so that the fat man cringed and cried out. His eyes flashed crimson as he glared at the fat man in front of him. Silently, with his free hand, he unbuckled the strap holding on his swords, which fell to the ground with a clang, and then let go of the man in order to take off his long coat. The man stumbled back away from him, holding his injured finger, his purple face now white from pain and fear, his beady little mouse eyes swiveling around for an exit, and then latched on to Alesiar when he realized what he was seeing. Alesiar had let his wings out, one six-foot pure black, the other six-foot pure metal. It was a thing of both beauty and horror, and he heard the girl hiding behind the tree gasp. She was also a Sylph.
Alesiar advanced on the man, moving both of his wings so that the sharp tips were only inches away from the man's face. "Who you sent me to kill were nothing more than young children. If you want them dead, then you're nothing but a cowardly prick who deserves to die. They're children. Are your goods really that precious? Then again, by your sheer size, I would hazard a yes to that." His ebony eyes shone as he leaned down and picked up the man, who was trembling so hard he could barely stand on his stubby legs. Alesiar turned and picked up one of his swords. "Get out of here, child, this is nothing you should see."
The girl, wide eyes staring at Alesiar, turned and ran back to the village. The trees swayed around Alesiar in the breeze as he glared at the cowering man, who was stuttering over questions and choking on his words. "You might want to learn more about your hirelings and targets before you send a Sylph after a Sylph. We usually don't take too well at being ordered to kill our own kind for money. Whatever god you pray to, I suggest you start begging their forgiveness. You sure as the Seven Hells are getting none from me." Kurai flashed black in the sunlight as the sword was brought around to the mans' neck, silencing his scream. His head rolled off somewhere to Al's right, and the body slumped to the ground at his feet, blood leaking out and pooling around his feet. He put Kurai down and sunk the tip into the ground, leaning on it slightly.
And there, in the middle of the path in the woods just south of the village, the Sylph with one mechanical wing, body at his feet and coat and sword scattered around him, fell asleep fast on his feet. But before he completely drifted off, he thought he heard the sound of waves on a beach. Funny...he didn't remember being near one before...