Kapitel 21: Chapter 19- The Golden Trio
'Shit, shit, shit! I totally forgot about them! I hope they're fine...' David thought as he reached the wagon and pulled off the black cloth. Underneath the cloth were two tied up kids, a boy and girl about the same age as David.
The boy had red hair and black eyes, and he looked about 160 c"m. He was dressed in tattered clothes, which couldn't be recognized anymore. He was barefoot, and his tanned body was so malnourished David wondered how he was even alive. He was passed out, David couldn't blame him. His condition was horrendous.
The girl had silver hair and blue eyes, her height was 150 c"m. She, like the boy, was severely malnourished, dehydrated, and dressed in tattered rags. Though unlike the boy, David noticed that her clothes looked to be quite fancy before her current state. To add even more of a difference, she was conscious. Somehow, she endured her awful situation, and David saw her eyes burn with determination as she tried to yell at the top of her lungs.
As David climbed into the wooden wagon, his hand burned with the heat at the touch of the wood. David panicked as he realized that the black cloth that hid the kids, also served as an oven for them when it trapped the heat in. With no ventilation, it was a miracle they were still alive. David immediately picked up the unconscious boy and carried him to a shady and cool house, but when he returned for the girl, she didn't go easily.
The girl squirmed around. It was clear she didn't trust David, as she rightfully should. David fully understood her, but he also knew that she will risk death if she continued to waste her precious energy resisting. So, with no other option, David got a little rough. He grabbed her tightly and carried her on his shoulder until they reached the place where the boy was resting. The girl barely had the energy to squirm, so David went to prepare food for the sickly guests.
It was good for him too. He himself experienced a traumatic event just a day before, and while he was still grieving and mourning, he now had to put himself aside for the injured kids. His entire village was dead now, and he had a major part in it. Even if it wasn't his intention and accidental, he still blamed himself. He couldn't let death take two more kids so soon. Not while he was the only one able to take care of them. If he drowned in pain now, how will those kids survive the freezing night?
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David returned in a couple of hours, with some fruits and vegetables from the farms they had, as well as a couple of small birds he killed with a number of mobile turrets. When he returned, he saw that the girl was asleep so he quietly brought the both of them onto a soft sand bed he made with a heat enchantment to keep them from feeling cold. David slowly began to make a stew with a nearby iron cauldron. He didn't know how long the kids were starved for and introducing solid food in a large quantity right away may hurt them severely from the shock. He didn't know what they ate, or if they would even enter a shock, but he lacked the equipment to handle the potential situation so he thought better safe than sorry.
Still, starvation wasn't their only problem. David couldn't forget about their dehydration, which was even worse than starvation in the desert. David enchanted their rags to slowly concentrate the moisture in the atmosphere into water and inject it into their blood. The desert is dry, and the rags can barely handle the stress from the dumbed-down version of the enchantment, so it won't fix the problem immediately. David expected as much, but he knew that they will be much better after they eat some stew and let the enchantment do its purpose. {I don't know if I explained it clearly so I'll repeat it just in case. David's enchantments put stress on the objects he enchants. As his mastery will grow, the less stress the enchantment will bestow on the object. It's the reason why David didn't spend his years stacking infinite enchantments on his staff to make it a weapon of mass destruction. I hope that it's clear now. If I explained it earlier and forgot, well, I have a terrible memory.}
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The stew was finally ready. David cooked it for hours since he wanted the meat and vegetables to be at a consistency that allows the stew to resemble soup. And after tasting it to make sure it was passable, he went to wake up the kids.
As David was about to nudge the sleeping duo, the girl jumped up into a combat stance while not even being half awake. David was a little startled at her reflexes, only for her to collapse a second later. Her body wasn't ready to perform such a stunt, and now she's paying the price. David ran to catch her, but the girl was faster. Suddenly, she stopped in mid-air. Not in a freezing way, but instead she hovered in place along with some sand that decided the sun was calling it. Unfortunately, her forward momentum from the fall carried over as she was beginning to spin around in the air. David caught her by the arm before anything could happen, since he didn't know how spinning in such a weird way could affect her in her current condition. The girl, however, seemed to panic at David's unexpected and harsh grip. In her surprise, she didn't continue whatever allowed her to float, and she fell on David's shoulder with a groan of pain.
"Calm down. If I wanted to hurt you, you wouldn't be here. And if I was with the duo that kidnapped you, you wouldn't be resting here right now. I made stew for the both of you, so let me wake him up and I'll give you your portions." David pointed at the sleeping boy as the girl calmed down a little, though it was clear she was still on guard.
David walked up to the boy and he tapped his shoulder. The boy let out a tired groan as he opened his eyes. "Who are you?" Said the red-haired kid. "My name is David. Why are you so calm?" David asked the boy. He expected a similar reaction as the girl had, but the kid surprised him. "What you told the girl is completely true. Plus, I heard the fight." The kid explained. David was pleasantly surprised as he helped the kid stand. While he carried the girl on his shoulder, the kid put his arm around his neck for support as he slowly walked. Something caught David's eye though. Where the boy slept, there was a very small sand hill, right where his hand was. And David could have sworn he saw a shiny tip of something bearly popping out of it. Before he could get a good look, however, the boy sped up slightly.
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"So what're your names?" David asked as they neared the boiling cauldron. "My name's Apate. Nice to meet you." The red-hair said with a smile. "I'm Atalanta." The silver-haired girl introduced herself with cation. "My name's David. Now that we sorted that out, let's eat." David gave each of them a bowl with a little stew. "Don't eat fast," David warned them before they started to eat, "You went with no or little food for a long time, looking at your bodies, so if you eat too quickly your body will get shocked." Apate and Atalanta listened carefully and nodded.
"Ugh" Atalanta's face had a disgusted expression as she tasted the stew. "What is this? How can you mess up a stew so badly?" She expressed with a disbelieving tone. "What's the problem? It tastes fine to me?" Apate questioned innocently as he gulped down a spoonful. "Don't you have seasonings here? Salt, pepper, chili powder?" Atalanta was bewildered by the stew's bland taste.
"Damn, what did Raymond and James feed you? This isn't that bad" David said in protest. Here, they didn't have the luxury of exotic food. Food was simply a means to an end. Eat to stay healthy and gain energy, the taste was an afterthought. Still, David wasn't that bad of a cook, so he felt a little insulted. Didn't she live off dry bread and water for god knows how long? Why is she complaining?
"That's exactly why I'm complaining! I lived off dry bread for I don't even know how long, so can't you put some effort into the dish you make? I mean, is there even salt in this?" Atalanta's caution took the back seat as she complained that his dish didn't live up to her expectations. "Seasoning? Here? How the hell am I suppose to get those?" David looked at her with a confused expression. Seasoning was something only the top percent of inhabitants in this chaotic wasteland could afford. Who in their right mind would exchange their precious resources for god damned salt instead of weaponry or just plain food. With the shortage going around, practically no one had access to seasoning.
That raised a question of itself, though. For this girl to expect seasoning as a guarantee she must be from an important place. David glanced at Apate out of reflex. If the girl was from a high and mighty place, he must be too. Apate, though, seemed to know what he was thinking. "Don't get your hopes up, I'm not from anywhere important." He said as he ate as fast as David allowed. "I was just picked up when I spotted her being kidnapped. She was the original target and I was brought for some extra cash." Apate explained his situation between gulps.
"you know who she is?" David asked. "Yup. I'll give you a clue, her quirk involves gravity. You should have seen how Raymond was thrown around when they tried to capture her." Apate chuckled at the memories, but David's face showed nothing but horror.
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If I don't see a comment of someone that got my reference I'll be disappointed. If you're reading this, it's too late for you. But from now on think of it as a game. I'll sprinkle references from time to time, and you see if you discover them. Up until now, only my Thanos reference was discovered which is disappointing considering the title of chapter 15. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you in the next chapter. (BTW, I know this is shorter than the previous chapter, but I usually keep the chapters around 1000 words so this is technically a long one. Still, I'm getting comfortable writing at this length, especially since I feel like I actually did something in the day and not just lazing around after finishing my online classes, but we'll see how it goes.)
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein