Snippet #2555888

Was it the sting of rejection or sheer stupidity? He wasn't sure but Lyki had to do it. He had to save Brigitte for reasons he didn't even understand. No, it wasn't love. Lyki wasn't capable of such kind, tender things. Love was something for man, not monster. If anything, Lyki felt obligated by God to protect her. It felt weird to think that, but it was really the only outcome that made sense. Why else would he risk his life, unless for the soul purpose of redemption?

Venturing out into the wasteland, Lyki had his eyes set on the far horizon. Somewhere just out of sight was the man he sought. Slasher.

Would he die? Likely, but at least he would die trying. He would die trying to keep back the beast that would bring about the end of Aegis. The narcissistic cannibal that would rip into Brig and tear her apart limb by limb. No, eat her alive flesh by flesh.

Shivering at his own mental image, Lyki blinded as he dipped into the great unknown. Steadfast, he marched toward fate.

As the sun got higher into the sky, Lyki began to realize that maybe Slasher wasn't really there. Maybe it was a myth? All a lie Bandit created to keep herself safe. Was that possible? It had to be. There was no way a mad-man would keep a pretty face around, even if she was that pretty.

And then, out of nowhere, a searing, stabbing sensation dropped him. Eyes burning, breath falling faint, he collapsed. Dehydration. It was a real bitch.

+++

Darkness. Darkness, it was all around him. Eyes flitting, he looked around and soon met the warm glow of a dim fire. It wasn't much but it was warm. Moving in closer, he found himself grinning from ear to ear. Had Brig come to save him? A shadow shifted near him. It had to be her.

"Thanks, Brigitte." Turning his head to face her, he offered her a sweet grin.

"Brigitte?" The voice that spoke was ghastly, blood-curdling eerie. It sounded as if it were straight out of one of those olden day horror movies.

Head pivoting slowly, Lyki's eyes widened with sheer horror when he spied the owner of said voice. Sure enough, before his eyes, was the slender, grizzled face of a mad-man. And not just any mad-mad. This was the mad-mad. It was...

"Slasher."

"Eh, I liked the tone you used when you said Brigitte. Almost sounded sincere." The green-orb murderer was mocking Lyki. The look in his eyes were pure ridicule. Any minute now, he would strike and eat the ghoul-man alive. Any minute now, Lyki's scream would ring out across the wasteland. Any minute now, he would...

Offer him stew?

Blinking as the worn bowl was dropped into his hands, Lyki quipped a brow and shifted from the infamous cannibal.

"Don't worry, it's not human." The way the words rolled off his tongue, he almost sounded rehearsed. Was this reaction really that known? Was it something Slasher had dealt with time and time again?

"But you're a murderer. A man-eater!"

"Uh, yeah. If you had to choose between sand and man, which would you eat. I don't eat people because I like to. I eat them when there's nothing else." Pointing to a rather fat pack, Slasher scoffed. "I have three rats in there. I don't need to eat man tonight."

It was unsettling to think that Slasher was being this cordial. What was his plan? What was up his sleeve? He clearly had a hidden agenda.

"You going to eat your molerat stew or not." His voice was starting to take a turn from pride to annoyance.

Looking from his food to the green-eyed man, Lyki gulped. He was famished but scared shitless. Was this really going to be okay? Hesitantly he raised the bowl to his lips. Whelp, he goes nothing, he thought.

When the slightly cooled stew his the back of his throat, Lyki found it impossible to pull from it. Gobbling it down like a ravenous dog, he immediately sought out more. Graciously, he received more and wolfed the second bowl down just as fast as the first.

Belly full, he licked at his lips before smacking on his thumb. "Where did you learn to cook like that?"

"My girlfriend is a horribly picky eater. I have the mask the taste of everything. If it doesn't taste like steak or lemons, she won't eat it." With a dry laugh, Slasher's head turned toward the glow of Aegis. "I wonder how she is." His voice had a sincere yearning to it as his body leaned closer to the establishment. Although miles off, it seemed odd to see a man like he so in love with a bandit like she. Did he even know about Null? He had to... right?

"She's doing better. She was in the infirmar-" his body was forcefully pushed into the sand.

"She was what?!" Slasher's fingers dug into Lyki's neck, making it impossible for the masked man to speak. Finally getting the wind he needed, he finished.

"Yeah, she was fatigued. We brought her back to health. She's safe now."

"Tch, safe? With that man. I think not." Shifting back to his old perch, Slasher twirled a knife in his hands before he tossed it across the fire into a rather normal looking lizard. "That soldier just screams trouble to me."

+++

When morning rolling in, Lyki moaned. The ground was wet. They needed to get out of this piss-pour rain and into Aegis. But how? How was he to doll Slasher up to look like a good man, rather than a murderer?

"Rain?" Slasher's face rolled up to meet the clouds above. "This is an omen for sure."

"Huh?" Turning to the man beside him who was equally as wet, Lyki shrugged. What was he talking about.

"We're in a wasteland. This rain is anything but pure. It's toxic. Toxic rain is a bad omen. Something hails from beyond the gray. Something bad is coming." Turning to Lyki, he planted a firm grip on the man's shoulders. "You need to get me into Aegis. Jessica is in danger."