Tread Lightly – Among Monsters And Men

The hammer of the legendary Colt only hits the primer with a resounding click. No bullet is sent out of any kind. A short awkward pause ensues as the Demon Of Storms looks at me in confusion. The tall stature of the inhuman humanoid stands over me and looks down at me as the Colt in his hand is pressed against the bottom of my chin. The look on his face instantly shows that he doesn’t understand why nothing worked.

But after a short moment, he recovers and goes to press it again, as he likely assumes he must have done something wrong. He pulls back the hammer once more as an idea comes to my mind despite me having no clue why the Lily won’t kill me. Or cannot, I guess.

My left hand which is hard to control makes its way into my burnt pocket, but only a single finger can breach the melted cloth. I press my finger against the cloth and search for something inside. A piece of paper.

As Hura squeezes the trigger once more with that demonic smile, I infuse Ether into the note inside my pocket. And while I do so, I create a scene of my death with my mind. I am going to make him think he killed me with the Blooming Spider Lily. Then, I will ambush him while he is unaware of my survival.

But first, my death has to be perfect. Alexos said the more detail the better. Well, that’s no problem. No memory is more deeply entrenched in my mind than a murder that involves this legendary Colt.

The way the skin flakes and sinks in after the bullet lands. The way that the body falls to the ground limply out of energy. The way that all the youth is taken and siphoned to the wielder. This will be hard. But I can do it.

I feel prismatic and odd Ether that is not too dissimilar to mine enter me from the note, only that it seems to reflect colors instead of being many colors like mine. This Ether goes straight to my mind, and I take a small leap of faith by consciously letting it past Rapturous. But when it comes to my mind, I feel powerful. Not physically, but more like I can affect the reality around me, even if it’s only how other people see it. Like Alexos, I begin to create a false reality for all within my vicinity from the Ether he left behind for me.

Slowly, I craft an image in my mind. My imagination is put on all cylinders, something I have not used in a long time. Years of playing with fake guns made of sticks and fake swords of brooms come to mind very briefly. Like a flash of the mind, but they are tossed to the side as they are unneeded.

I start with something simple just as Hura pulls the trigger for the second time. The almost silent explosion that occurs within the Lily as a piece of lead sinks into my skin and disappears without a trace. Then, “I” instantly fall backward limply as my skin begins to shrivel, shrink, and constrict like an old man’s. As my illusion falls backward, I step back as well, covering my footsteps with the illusion.

I have an audible squelch resound as my “head” hits the mud beneath. Then, I have the illusionary me continue to turn to a mummy as “I” reach toward Hura in a false last bid to kill him uselessly. After that, I just have the body go fully limp and unmoving, the light disappearing from my eyes. And from that body comes a huge river of darkness toward Hura, one that aids in his healing.

This is where I have to truly become creative. I know that Alexos’ illusions can affect the brain, so I try to mimic what he’s done to me before. The real me stands still in illusionary invisibility as Hura grows ecstatic at seeing my death. I make him think that his wounds are healing by reducing how much of them he can feel bit by bit like Alexos did when he blocked out all my pain.

At this point, it feels like most of the Ether given to me is gone and the skill imbued into it is near completion. I try to force it to hold on with all my might. It just needs to go a little bit longer.

It all seems to work as the demon looks up to the sky. The demon is bruised and battered, but he is almost euphoric at the sign of accomplishing his goal. The illusion holds as he doesn’t look at the real me at all.

“Finally! Finally! Finally! Now that bastard will have to come back. I can’t wait to kill him! How could he not avenge his son?! Perfect… Now… onto you four. Well, you two, I guess. Mother’s slave seems to be doing its job.”

I watch with complete silence trying not to ruin the aftereffects of the illusion I made. Hura only grows more and more filled with glee as he looks over at Johnny and Bonfire. The demon completely seems to ignore the brawling Boone brothers because of their internal fight. I don’t know what’s wrong with Vernon, but he’s fighting like he’s been condemned to death. He is giving his older brother a run for his money, only because he’s going for the kill. The eldest Boone would never kill any of his siblings, I know that for sure.

Pangs of sorrow come as I see Virgil’s face. His mask is ripped from him during the fight and tears cover his face as he tries to subdue his brother. But I can’t help him right now. The priority needs to be on Hura. So with a heart that aches for my friends, I prepare to attack Hura.

The demon is walking toward the duo of Johnny and Bonfire. I take slow and gradual steps as I feel the power of the note run out quickly in my mind. It's down to scraps already as I try to supplement the Ether with my own, pushing my Ether into the confusing pattern that Alexos’ prismatic Ether is moving in.

It only barely works. For every ten or so, I guess, clumps of Ether I put into the pattern, it lasts just a little bit longer. So I start funneling everything I have into it trying to prolong the illusion.

I walk behind Hura as my eyes take in the Gunfighter and Bonfire. Johnny is standing tall, but I can see sadness on his face. His brows are creased and his jaw is incredibly tight. His reaction to my death honestly warms my heart a bit. The difference in how he has treated me since I first met him is drastic. From basically sending me on a death mission to acknowledging my strength and wanting me to fight with him.

Bonfire, on the other hand, is struggling. He doesn’t seem to care all that much about my death, which is honestly reasonable, for I’ve barely talked to him at all. But the man is severely exhausted. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was about to keel over and pass out right now. He’s kneeling with his hands on his legs as he endeavors just to breathe.

The demon of storms slowly picks up his pace as he moves toward them, and as he does, Alexos and his entourage of people trying to kill him as well intrude on the combat. Sacate finally makes an entrance and I get to see him fight for the first time as he intercepts the Demon Of Storms.

I try to stay out of the man’s way as he turns into a storm of steel to combat the storm in front of him. Johnny backs him up with bullets as Hura and Sacate trade blows constantly. I cringe every time I see Sacate get hit with the red lightning, but a green aura protects him and heals him. Mostly, at least. The green aura flickers in and out rapidly as the man struggles to keep it going. The Ijiraq slowly accumulates damage as I dance behind them just out of sight with a headache that only continues to mount. The effort of keeping this illusion going is insane.

To my left, away from the fight, I see Virgil finally knock out Vernon in their brawl on the ground. The Darkstalker stands up covered in burn wounds all over his body from his own brother. His eyes move over to my “corpse” as his body begins to Flicker in and out of reality. The man becomes as silent as the skill he used to kill that Qiqirn.

Within a split second, he disappears completely from even my vision, his entire frame fading away from reality. I do, however, catch his expression before he does. And it’s the face of a brother who has lost his sibling and a close friend. Anger doesn’t even begin to describe it. But Virgil is not a man of emotion. He is a man of action. So, he simply pushes it down and moves. He Flickers toward Hura.

As Alexos fights against Abraham and the two redheads, Otto and Marion, in the background, right in front of me Virgil reappears less than a second after he disappears. He has his machete in hand, and just like me, he stands behind the Demon Of Storms.

He has come for the demon’s head once more.

His badly tattered but close-fitting outfit wavers as he bursts into motion, bringing the machete’s blade down onto Hura’s head. The demon is occupied by two 6th Sigils attacking him in sync with Bonfire helping here or there. Johnny is firing bullets non-stop, even faster than before as I see the barrel of his gun turn bright red, possibly to the point of damaging it. Sacate, on the other hand, is much more controlled. He fights like a leaf in the wind, dodging attacks as they come and slicing sharply when he has an opportunity.

I can see why Elizabeth thought he could see into the future. He seems to fight like he can at least a little bit.

These distractions cause him to not notice the threat of Virgil until the last possible second, just as the machete’s blade cuts into the demon's neck does he react. The demon moves his body as fast as he can, a burst of wind performing the task that his body can not. This makes the blade rip a bloody path through his body, but leaves his neck mostly intact. The demon in this abrasive movement that leaves him severely wounded and guaranteed dead if not for that vial, turns to face Virgil

A growl comes from Virgil as he immediately brings up his bowie knife to try and finish the job, for him, retreating is no longer an option. And Hura counters with the Lily as his life is threatened. Losing lifespan is always better than dying I suppose. The barrel of the gun points at Virgil. And as Hura squeezes the trigger, I make my move.

From inexistence, I reappear in front of the Blooming Spider Lily, going between it and Virgil to cause it to misfire. Nothing comes from the barrel once more. I’m unsure why, but I can assume that it’s my father’s doing. The face of the demon in front of me brings me so much joy as I take a massive gasp of air one more.

Strugglers Gasp imbibes me with Ether that I immediately send down into the Bloody Palm. I’m going to do the same thing as last time, that explosive punch, but I reckon the palm can take it. That, and I think it deserves this alongside Hura. But that is not all I do. I try to force a skill from this brutal mass of Ether. I may not have a weapon, but I still have a hand to Whet.

I feel a bundle of nerves burst in my mind as I twist this impossible amount of Ether and spiral it around my arm and into my fist. With Whetting on my hand, I swing a left hook straight into Hura’s stomach. I feel and hear cracks of bone and ruptured organs come from the target of my strike as a huge burst of pain sears its way into me from my left hand and the hand enters the demon’s body with a crunch. A gasp comes from behind from Virgil as I grit my teeth and follow through with the punch, pushing Hura toward Sacate who is on the other side.

The Woodsman, as he is called, takes one huge step toward Hura and shoves his bonesaw-like blade straight through Hura. It comes out from where his heart would be, and blood spews everywhere as briars come off of Sacate’s blade arm from him pulling the blade out.

A muffled scream comes from Hura that is cut short by another surprise to the demon. Alexos. The man was apparently closer than he appeared. Instead of the hundred or so feet away by Abraham and the redheads, he was here. Alexos moves toward us with extreme speed from just a few feet away. A large knife flicks into the man’s hand as he cuts off the demon’s head, flipping over the two of me and Sacate with the decapitated head.

Silence immediately takes over as Alexos hits the ground. He did as he said he would. He killed him. I smile with joy at the death of the demon, but the smile quickly turns to a grimace as I look down at my hand. The Bloody Palm is bent and broken at the wrist. The unnaturally tough artifact was damaged by my Ether. I don’t feel guilty at all, though. If it wasn’t such a dick, we’d have killed Hura much easier.

The fighting stops all around us. Death still rages over by the town, but in this small area where we were killing Hura, peace reigns. Virgil, who is right behind me, grabs my shoulder with a very tight grip.

“Thought you were dead. Good shit using that note. I was wrong. Gonna go check on Vernon.”

Then, the Darkstalker walks over to his younger brother whom he knocked unconscious.

I nod at him and look at the dead body of the demon, just taking in the sight. Johnny comes over sweating and panting as he pats me on the shoulder. The touch of his hand helps me relax and makes me release all my flows of Ether, granting me a bit of relief.

“Good job kid. You even threw me for a loop. Virgil told me about the note, but never about how convincing it’d be.”

Panting as well, I compliment him as well. His shooting saved my life as well as Virgil’s and Sacate's an uncountable number of times. Every time I thought Hura would have me trapped, the demon would be forced to move from a perfectly timed piece of lead.

“Thanks. You are pretty good too. Your shooting is crazy. Your gun is still red, y’know?”

Johnny laughs at me as Alexos walks up. The man is likely seeking his reward. He holds the head of Hura, horns and all, as he speaks to Johnny.

“May I have the lantern? I did my part.”

Johnny looks at me and then at the corpse before addressing Alexos. His response surprises me as I figured it was all set in stone already.

“No.”

Alexos’ face contorts even underneath his illusions as the man shows panic instantly.

“What?! What do you mean ‘no’? I did as we agreed! What about my reward!?”

Johnny lifts his gun and points it at the illusionist.

“I make no deals with mass murderers. Your reward shall be your freedom.”

Alexos eyes shift around to the corpse of Hura where his goal is and then they land on me.

“Seriously? Wyatt. Come on. You owe me. Without that note, Virgil over there would be dead and you’d all still be fighting him. The bastard would have healed from that strike within a minute or less.”

I look at the face of the man who caused Edmund’s death, and surprisingly I feel a bit of guilt. I do owe him. A debt is a debt, but… I don’t know if I disagree with Johnny. He is a killer. A murderer. So what if he helped us here? At the very least he should be happy he has his freedom now, right? I take a step to the side and I just nod at Johnny.

I’m unwilling to say it out loud as a rock comes into my throat. It doesn’t feel good, but it feels right. Or the other way around? I’m not sure. It’s all conflicting inside of me, but Alexos doesn't seem to be so unsure. His eyes squint as he looks at me and shakes his head sadly.

“Of course… of course… I tried to be nice. No, I was nice. The ol’ fashioned way then, what do you say?”

His voice falls to a deep tone as the man fades from our vision. Johnny immediately fires his red-hot Colt at where the man used to be, but nothing lands. We both turn and look around, unable to see anything. Sacate burst into action near us, however, moving toward the fallen demon's corpse.

I force Rapturous back into session as I clear out Ether from my body I didn’t even know was there. And as I do so, I see Sacate slashing toward Alexos with his arm-blade as the man reaches down and steals a gun alongside a vial from the corpse’s open hands.

Not even for a full minute do we get to celebrate the demon’s death. All that work and there is more. Damn…