Wait. Three days?

Yes, sir. The nightmares and pain that occurred during that time was overwhelming. The only thing I could think was “I’m going to die, I’m going to die, I’m going to die”, over and over again. It was unbelievable. After what felt like an eternity, my body stopped trying to kill itself and I slowly woke up.

I woke up on the back of a horse, my legs tied into the saddle to stop me from falling off. I shook off the sleepiness and looked at my surroundings. The strangers walking beside the horse noticed that I was waking up and they stopped the horse. I rubbed my eyes, trying to clear my vision. Finally, I recognized the face of Prophet.

“You went through quite the sickness, friend”, he said, smiling up at me from beside the animal.

“What happened to me?” I asked him, voice hoarse. I broke out into coughs and Prophet handed me a waterskin.

“The plague”, he responded while I gulped down water. “You’re lucky you found us when you did, or you probably would’ve died. The plague isn’t kind, is it?”

“No”, I responded, clearing my throat a little. “So that was you by the fire then?”

“Yes”, he said, eyes crinkling in a smile. “You practically threw yourself into our campsite. Scared Cranium half-to-death, I think”.

“Cranium?”

I looked around and quickly found Prophet’s quiet companion. The man looked at me through his hood, quickly dropping his gaze when our eyes met.

“Your name is Cranium?”, I asked, somewhat incredulous.

The man named Cranium nodded slightly, turning away slightly.

“Huh. Well, nice to meet you”, I said. Cranium didn’t respond.

Prophet chuckled. “I call him Cranium. He seems to like it.”

“Don’t you two have real names?”, I asked, looking between the two of them.

“Why yes, we do. We don’t use them though”.

He reached up and began to unbuckle the straps around my legs.

“Why not?” I asked, confused.

Prophet smiled again, finishing with the strap around my left leg. He then wandered around to the other side of the horse and began loosening that strap.

“Names have power, young one. In fact, they could destroy entire nations. They must be protected, at all costs.”

I looked at him, slightly confused. After some time, I realized that I was being slightly awkward, and I quickly made to get off the horse. I practically fell out and hit the ground hard. There was very little pain, however, which was weird because I thought my fall had been pretty bad. Shaking it off, I got up, brushed off my pants, and looked at Prophet.

“I’m guessing you don’t want my real name then?”

“No, I don’t”, he responded, smiling slightly.

“Well… Good. I didn’t want to tell it to you anyways”. I reached back and scratched my neck. “Um, I don’t know what you can call me then”.

Prophet chuckled.

“I think I know”, he said.

He stretched his hand out, as if to shake my hand. I was slightly taken aback and offered my hand in return. Instead of shaking hands, Prophet reached out and grabbed my fingers. Before I could ask what he was doing, he bent my fingers completely back until they were flat against the back of my hand.

I instinctively shouted and jumped back, pulling my hand from his grasp. I was about to yell about how crazy he was before I realized that there wasn’t any pain. It was uncomfortable, yes. But it didn’t hurt. I looked down at my hand, confused.

“It looks like the Gods have granted you powers. You’re one of us now.”

He grabbed my shoulders and I looked up at him.

“Welcome to the Fallen Angels. Rubber Boy”.