Chapter 13: Job Offer

            Even though the two had woken up in much more normal positions before, and still managed to make it incredibly awkward after, on this particular day, they were completely fine. For some reason, neither of them seemed to feel like anything was wrong. Not after the initial shock anyway. Even Austin’s surprise neck kiss didn’t make Ellie freak out. Instead, she just snuggled up closer to him.

“So where are we meeting this guy again?”

“He should be just around the corner here… Yeah that should be him there.”

Ellie pointed at a pale hunched over man with not much of his stringy hair left on his head. He kept glancing around at the few people walking through the town centre and not once did he stop scratching his wrist. Once he spotted Ellie and Austin and saw Austin holding a box he quickly skurried over to them.

“Hey, hey, hey. Y-you guys sent by uh Dina, yeah?”

“That’d be us.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah, cool, cool. So, uh, you got it?”

“Sure do.” Austin handed the man the foul-smelling box and almost gagged as he watched him take an enormous whiff of it. “So, are we supposed to be taking payment now or what?”

“Oh, ah, no uh I already paid upfront for this. But, but, but, if you guys are looking for some money then we could use your help with something in town actually. You know, since you to are pretty uh strong looking.”

“Depends what sort of help you need from us.”

“Ah, well, you see, er, somehow a pack of Dyodhiibs managed to um find their way into the town and are um living in the north west side of town.”

“… I-… Y-… And you want us to take care of them.” Ellie struggled to gather her thoughts and figure out how the Dyodhiibs managed to get in until she eventually just gave up.

“Yes… please.”

            It was only the early hours of the evening but the already dark sky around Occidignus had begun to get even darker. Unlike usual however, it seemed like it was a reasonably gradual dimming of whatever light there was around. Until after another hour it did turn into pure darkness with the only light coming from the top of the pillars with the stone plates.

            After walking around for what seemed like an eternity to Austin with not even a single sign of any form of life whatsoever being around, an eerie howl filled the sky above the streets. Austin could hear the light tapping of footsteps from all around, as if they were being surrounded.

“They’re nearby.” Ellie pulled her bow from her back and began psyching herself up for the fight.

“Nearby, are you fucking kidding me? They’re here!”

“What do you mean they’re already here?”

“Can you not hear them surrounding us?”

‘She won’t have if she’s not using Larax’s power yet.’

‘Oh great, thanks for telling me now.’

“Whatever. They’re here, so get ready.” Just as Austin began readying up himself, beady orange eyes peered through the darkness at them both. “Holy shit. There’s like 20 of them.”

‘Now might be a little bit late to ask but what exactly are these things.’

‘It is a little late, so for that reason I’ll just let you wait and see.’

‘Prick.’

            Two sets of eyes started moving forward out of the darkness and revealed their large hound faces with open, drooling mouths filled with shark-like teeth. Their heads were low, and their ears pointed, and they seemed to be producing a constant low growl. Even with almost no light around their pitch-black fur seemed to have some sort of gleam. They continued to move diagonally towards them until its body came into view and Austin could finally tell exactly what it was he was about to fight against.

‘Ahhhh shit… I gotta fight that thing?’

‘Don’t blame me.’

‘That bastard has more teeth, more claws, and even more fucking heads than I do!’

‘Yep! And you’re fighting multiple so I would use a shield if I were you.’

            Austin formed a triangular shield on his right arm and watched as more Dyodhiibs emerged from the darkness surrounding and circling around them. Just as the battle was about to commence another howl filled the air and they all seemed to stop and pack together, as a larger, taller set of four glowing eyes appeared behind them all.

‘What is this, a show of power or something?’

‘That’s the alpha of the pack.’

‘Well yeah, I gathered that.’

‘Then what are you waiting for? Attack already.’

“Moving.”

            Austin burst forward at superhuman speed that took him slightly off guard for a split second. He reached the Dyodhiibs within the second he set off and struck the closest one with a fiercely powerful downward hook at the base of its necks shattering its bones in such a way and with such force that it slammed its two heads together. The Dyodhiibs either side were quick to react attacking simultaneously. Austin turned to his left swinging a full forced right kick with him hitting the Dyodhiib’s right head’s jaw and again within the same second recovering his stance from the kick and launching a left hook at its left head’s jaw splitting its heads apart breaking its necks. As he did this one of Ellie’s metal arrows penetrated through the Dyodhiib behind him leaving a hole where its heart used to be. Austin quickly leapt back and created some space for him to re-evaluate.

‘Okay… What the fuck sort of speed is this? And why can I see everything so clearly?’

‘And strength! I’m strong as well you know!’

‘no no no. No! That’s not what I’m getting at. Is this seriously your power though?’

‘Meh… like 15, 20% something like that.’

‘What the fuck… Anyway, I’ve got an idea. You can change the shield to any form, right?’

‘Naturally.’

‘Alright then. Can you add a bit more of a point to it?’

‘A point? You mean like this?... OOOOoooooh~. Not a bad idea for you.’

‘Shut it. Anyway, did you see the size of the alpha?!’

‘By your standards that might be quite a hassle.’

‘A HASSLE?! It’s at least five feet tall at the shoulders. That thing’ll haunt my nightmares.’

            The back four eyes darted around in what looked like shock a few times before a third howl was released and the remaining seven Dyodhiibs began their attack. Austin reacted in the same way lunging forward and again surprising himself with his speed but again time slowed down to a crawl as he reached his first target allowing him to thoroughly think about what attack he was going to make and adjust his position. He hit his first target with a backhanded strike across its right head twisting his hand at the end cutting up its neck and through its mouth before dashing to his next target. The left head of the Dyodhiib of his first target was quickly pierced by Ellie’s arrow after being left stunned by Austin’s initial attack. His second target was hit by a downward strike to the top of its left head with the blade of his shield as he jumped and flipped over it and smashed the left head of his third target into the ground with a kick. He ripped his blade out of his second targets left head while spinning like a turbine and striking up into its right throat crushing its windpipe and simultaneously using the blade again to cut off the right head of his third target.

Just as he finished this combo, he turned to find his fourth target already pouncing at him. All it took was a right upper cut aimed at its chest as he twisted and slammed the Dyodhiib into the ground. He knelt next to his fourth target as he watched Ellie fall backwards as she fired three arrows in the blink of an eye through the mouths and into the chest of the final small Dyodhiib. Before he even got to turn to face towards the alpha it sprinted past him at an incredible speed as just a blur. It ignored him completely and was heading straight for Ellie.

‘How fast can we-’

‘Faster.’

            A confident smile filled Austin’s face as his eyes took on a more psychotic look and he took off at a frightening speed. Before he knew it, he had intercepted the alpha Dyodhiib mid lunge. As time stood still Austin’s mind was filled with bloodlust and anger, he already knew he had to kill the alpha to complete the job that had been given to them but now he had another reason. The terror that engulfed Ellie’s face at that moment, he never wanted to see her like that again.

‘You know what you have to do to make that happen right?’

‘Yeah… I have to get stronger.’

            Austin, filled with rage, hit the alpha Dyodhiib’s left neck with an enormous right hook and tore his shield up through its throat and lower jaw while grabbing its lower right mouth with his left hand. Blood sprayed into the air as he reached over with his right and ripped its jaws apart with all his might. Fuelled by adrenaline and anger he didn’t even feel the pain in his hands of holding through its teeth as he continued to pull its mouth open and fold it over breaking and tearing everything he possibly could in its face. By the time he had finally finished and dropped the lifeless, warped head of the alpha Dyodhiib to the ground, the slightly psychotic look in his eyes had spread throughout his face like a disease. His once calm and confident smirk had turned into a full faced grin and his cold and calculating eyes had widened and become full of energy yet completely emotionless at the same time. All of this with the added effect of something elses blood splattered and running down his face.

‘I wouldn’t turn around to face her yet.’

‘Why? Is there something on my face? In my teeth?’

‘Yeah. The look on your face. Even by my standards it’s pretty freaky.’

‘You trying to say I look ugly? Now of all times?’

‘No, you moron! I’m trying to say you look like a psycho. Like seriously. You do look quite scary right now.’

“Hah…”

            Austin took in a deep breath and let out biggest sigh he could muster as he looked up into the sky. He felt the first drop of rain hit his forehead as he closed his eyes for a second and cleared his mind before finally turning to Ellie. Just as he did, she fell to her knees and a single tear ran down her left cheek. Austin knelt down in front of her, and she quickly pushed her head into his chest, wrapped her arms around him and began to sob. He had never had a girl cry at him before and especially not like this, but instincts kicked in and Austin pulled her closer, pressed his forehead against hers and spoke softly.

“Don’t worry. You’re safe now.”

‘AWWwwwww.’

‘Shut up.’

“…Y- you-”

“Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything later.”

‘No the fuck you won’t.’

‘Ah yes. Because the superhuman shit I just pulled off doesn’t need explaining.’

“Your eye…”

“My eye? What’s wrong with my eye?”

‘Shit did I get injured, and I didn’t even realise?’

‘I don’t think so.’

“It’s so bright…”

“Huh?”

‘Oh wow…’

‘WHAT? What’s wrong with my eye?!’

‘There’s nothing wrong with it… It’s just… bright! Like really bright!’

‘What do you mean bright?’

‘Your iris and your sclera. They’re really vivid… Almost glowing.’

‘Sclera?’

‘The white bit… dumbass.’

‘Okayyy… But what do you mean it’s bright?’

‘How dumb are you?... Imagine your eye: the white of the sclera and the blue of your iris. Now make the white, whiter, like the brightest, most vibrant white you could possibly imagine. And the blue, bluer. They’re like… illuminated.’

‘Oh… cool.’

‘Really. After all that. All you had to say was cool.’

‘Yep.’

“Come on. It’s late and about to rain. Let’s go get a room somewhere.”