Bab 3: An Unexpected Meeting
As I walked through the dark alley, I felt the cold breeze of the night hit my face.
[Shit.. I have to hurry, I can feel my temperature dropping by the second, gotta find a shelter]
As much as I wanted to pick up my pace, I couldn't. My wounds were throbbing and the pain was so severe I was barely able to stand, I had to use the walls as support. I was already using up most of my strength just to take small steps and keep my eyes open. I had only just regained my consciousness, and yet I found myself in this predicament, how truly unfortunate could I be?
"..Shit"
My cursing wasn't particularly aimed at anyone or anything, I was just looking for something to vent on.
I had but one thing in mind as I aimlessly strode forth the alley, shelter. It was of the utmost importance, the cold was gradually getting to me. Needless to say, my wounds also weren't helping me.
+++
To say that I looked like a walking corpse was an understatement. It had been about an hour and a half since I regained my consciousness, I still hadn't found a place to rest, all the nooks and cranny were either too cold, or already occupied by someone else. I couldn't afford to stop either, my feet and fingers were now visibly blue, and my condition had all but worsen, if I stopped moving now, I would undoubtedly freeze to death. I was fully aware that if this continued, I would die.
As I was wandering aimlessly in the slums, I heard something peculiar
[.. crying?]
I heard a very faint, but audible sobbing.
[.. I must be hallucinating. Shit, this isn't good]
Hallucinations were a bad sign, this could be a signal that my body was starting to give in, and so I quickened my pace, though the speed of that was still very slow.
As I walked towards a small open space in the alley, I heard the sobbing sound again, it was audibly louder now. And so I concluded that it wasn't a hallucination, something, or rather, someone was making that sound. I used some of the strength I had left to look around, hoping to find the origin of the noise, and that I did.
When I turned towards a tree in a corner of the open space, I saw the thing that was making the sound, it was a girl, a young girl, maybe the same age as me. A big, warm-looking fur coat covered her pretty yellow dress. Her small head was protected by a yellow bonnet, while her hands and feet sported matching winter gloves and boots. In all honesty, she looked really warm, a fleeting thought told me to steal all her clothes so that I could warm myself, but I quickly dismissed it.
The girl finally noticed my presence and looked up. Her deep blue eyes, which were moist from all the crying, was a sight to behold, I felt as though I was being drawn in by them.
"... pretty.."
I unconsciously muttered to myself as I brazenly stared at her, however,
"Eeeeeek!"
The girl shrieked upon seeing my figure, she backed away a good distance and started crying even more. I couldn't blame her though, my current appearance did look pretty horrifying, I probably looked like a ghoul or some form of undead to her, frankly, I was bit embarrassed.
[ ..hm? Wait.. ghouls? Undead?.. what.. oh, yes, those kinds of monsters did exist in this world]
My two memories were still not properly synchronized, they would occasionally switch from one to another,
[Maybe it's because of fatigue, this is troublesome, I have to find a way to sync those two, otherwise, it's gonna be a problem.. but enough of that, the more pressing matter right now is this girl]
She might have been safe from the cold, but the slums offered more than just that, conniving thieves and ruffians roam the place, if they spot this girl, they might kill her and take her belongings, or worse. From the looks of her, the girl might be from a pretty well off family or a merchant family, I wasn't really sure. Considering her clothes, she could not have been from the slums, that I was sure of. No mere slum dwelling girl could afford the kind of extravagant clothes this girl was wearing. The best thing to do now was to get her away from the alley and into the main streets as soon as possible.
".. girl, come.. with me.. this place.. not safe"
I extended my hand to her, I still couldn't speak properly, every little move I made hurt, and the freezing cold didn't help either.
The girl screamed at me yet again
"Ddd-dont come near me! My Ppp-papa will surely punish you if you do anything to me!"
The girl was stuttering. Her trembling hands and knees were clear signs that she was most certainly afraid, who could blame her though. In fact, she should be afraid. A rich girl, all alone on the slums, in the middle of a freezing cold night. It's fortunate no one has seen her yet.
I raised one my hands in the air and gestured the other one to my mouth.
"Please.. quiet, trouble.. if someone hears you.. I.. mean no harm.. let me.. help"
The girl looked at me from head to toe, her eyes still moist. Then her trembling hands pointed towards me.
"Hh-help me? Ha! You look like you need more help than I do!"
Though still trembling, the girl took an imposing attitude against me, this is probably her way of easing her fear
"Please.. lower your voice.. this place.. dangerous.."
"Ww-what makes you think you can tell me what to do?! Do you not know who I am?! I will have my Papa punish you for that!"
[This stubborn girl, if she doesn't quiet down, people are sure to flock here]
The girl was now somewhat angry. Though her knees were still trembling, she may have concluded that I was not a danger to her, that's why she was able to take this domineering attitude towards me
"Calm.. down.. I told you be.. quie--"
I couldn't finish my sentence, I heard foot steps and angry mumbling coming from the opposite direction. I hurriedly put my hand on her mouth and pushed her behind the tree
"Mmmff!!"
"Quiet.. someone.. coming"
I whispered to her as she tried to fight me off. I was extremely weak, so I wasn't confident that I would be able to keep her quiet. Fortunately, she stopped her squirming when she heard the voice of a man
"That fucking bitch! How dare she! It's bad enough to reject me, but to insult me?! Fuck her!"
The voice came from a skinny looking drunk man. He was holding a bottle of ale as he was groggily walked past the tree.
"Stupid bitch, tomorrow I'm gonna have my brothers teach her a lesson! Just you wait ya bitch!"
I knew who the man was, his frail looking body had inflicted several wounds and bruises unto this body of mine before. He was Barko Flay, one of the three siblings that had killed my other self. Anger and contempt started to swell within me, but I knew full well that my current state was no match even for this weak man, and so I endured it. Luckily, the man had not heard the girl's yelling from before and continued walking in his path
"I'm gonna get ya bitch, just you wait!!"
Unfortunately, the man was reckless. Barko screamed at the top his lungs, and threw his bottle at the tree.
"Eeek!"
[Oh shit]
The shattering of glass was followed by the small shriek of the girl. As if fate was against me, Barko heard the sound the girl made.
"What the, who's there?! Come out if ya don't want to get hurt!"
The threats he made weren't empty, although he was quite skinny, he was a very violent man. Fearing for the safety of the girl, I gestured her to be quiet and went out in the open
"What the.. yer still alive you fucking trash?! I thought we had done ya in, just my luck then, I need someone to vent my anger on"
Barko licked his lips as he said so. I had no other choice, I can't fight him off, all I can do now is lead him away from the girl. I had to get away from him, otherwise I'll get beat up, or worse.
[Haaah.. fuck, here we go again]
I sighed as I tried to limp away from the tree. But Barko was quick, he closed the distance between us in a blink of an eye and pinned me down to the cold hard ground.
"HAHA, ya tried to run away eh? I guess what they say about cockroaches were true huh?! Even if ya squish it, it's still gonna get back up."
He then punched me twice in the face, my already beaten features started to bleed almost instantly
"HAHAHA guess I'll just have to cut off your head huh?! Maybe that'll kill ya!"
His words sent shivers down my spine
[So I'm really gonna die again huh, what's more, to the same fucking guy.. damn it]
I tried desperately to get up and get away, but it was no use, I was too weak. As I laid there being beaten, I heard something
{Mm-maximize magic! W-water lance!}
[Magic?!.. wait.. oh, yes, magic did exist in this world, though my knowledge about it was next to nothing, but enough of that, the main problem right now is this guy!]
As Barko heard the incantation, he turned towards the direction of the girl, he saw a stream of water rapidly approaching his direction
"Oh shit!"
Barko cursed as he couldn't dodge fast enough. However, the water lance lost its form before reaching Barko, the only thing it managed to do was wet him.
"Haaa.. damn, I thought I was a goner! You brat!.. hoh?"
Barko looked at the trembling little girl and grinned
"Nice clothes you got there, lass. And that face, not bad, come here, I ain't gonna hurt ya"
He got up from me and started to walk towards the girl. Though he was still at a distance, the girl was frozen by fear
"Come with me little gi-- what the fuck are ya doing brat?"
Barko glared at me as I was holding his ankles,
"Girl.. run!"
I managed to squeeze a shout
"Damn cockroach just won't die huh"
Barko then picked me up like I was nothing and threw me at the direction of the tree, I stumbled on the ground and landed near where the glass bottle had shattered
"Listen here girly, if ya don't come with me, the same thing's gonna happen to ya, better believe it"
He continued his walk towards the little girl, without minding me
"Ddd-don't come near me.. ggg-get away.. my pp-papa.."
The girl couldn't take the same attitude she had with me. She only then understood fully the danger that she was in, her eyes couldn't hold the tears any longer and her knees gave away
"Ooh, Don't you cry little girl, come with me and I'll make it all go away"
Barko licked his lips as he moved closer and closer to the little girl.
[Shit! Shit! I can't move! This is bad!]
This was very bad, my body was horribly injured, there was no one else near us, no one's gonna come even if I yell.
[I need to do something! Shit! Anything! Gotta find--]
As I laid there on the ground I saw a broken peice of glass, the bottle Barko had thrown. It had very sharp edges, and the handle was still intact.
[This'll have to do then]
I grabbed the broken bottle and slowly stood back up.
Barko, who was standing over the collapsed kneeling girl, was probably pre-occupied with his imagination. He didn't notice me slowly limping towards him.
As he bent over to grab the little girl, I mustered up all my remaining strength and jumped at his back. Barko was visibly shaken by the surprise attack I mounted. He desperately tried to shake me off, but I locked one of my arms around his neck and intertwined my legs around his waist, then I went and bit his nape, just for added leverage.
"Aaaaaagh!! That hurts you brat!! Let go of me!! I'll fucking kill you!!!!"
I could taste his blood in my mouth, but I didn't put any thought to it. I simply held on to him. He trashed around and desperately tried to rip my arm away from his neck, but I was quick to act. I jammed the broken piece of glass into his side
"Ngg! AAAAGHHH!!! That hurtss!!!"
Barko wailed as I withdrew the broken glass from his side, he fell into one knee and clasped at his wound. I used this opening to then jam my weapon into the side of his neck, I didn't care if I missed his artery, I just put all my remaining strength in that one blow.
"!!... Blurgh!!.."
As blood welled up in his throat, Barko waved his hands and thrashed around in a futile attempt to save his life, but it was too late, as I pulled the glass, Barko spewed blood from both his mouth and neck, and then collapsed on the ground.
"Haah.. haah.. haah.."
I panted heavily as I tried to stand back up. My hands and face were full of blood, but for the first time in my life, they weren't my own. And just like that, Barko Flay, a man who had tormented me before and killed me, was no more.
My knees finally gave out, and my whole body collapsed on his side. I stared up into the beautiful night sky, content that I had managed to get my revenge. I felt my consciousness leaving me yet again.
"..oy, boy! ..et up! Get up!"
I could faintly hear something, a voice, but I was too tired to look. My body wouldn't move anymore, and so as my last view, the night sky with dozens of stars slowly faded away yet again into nothingness.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone