Mark's lack of hesitation seemed to shock Vir. Her expression betrayed that they had just made a deal with the devil.
Ouch.
The night from here was pretty lacklustre. I tried to spark up some conversation but the two only answered with bare minimum involvement. Rather than try to force the two I decided to get some sleep.
Well… by sleep I mean pretend to sleep. Can't say I'm keen on exposing myself that much to these two wackos.
Shortly after the two followed suit.
Come morning we set out in the direction of the Giant's corpse, but much slower. I seem to have taken my physical strength for granted as now that I'm reduced to a normal walking pace, I feel like a snail.
For ages we walked. Literal weeks of boring walking. We talked on occasion, but for the most part it was the twos comments about the lack of danger. The creatures around here are still rather weak variants after the bigger boys fled from the Gargoyle Queen. Nothing here is game enough to attack me.
After nearly three weeks of travelling the Queen's corpse could be seen in the distance from atop a hill.
Turning to the two I ask, "is that confirmation enough or do you want a closer look".
In the distance the giant, rubbled remains of the Queen lay solemnly the landscape. I would prefer if we didn't get too close so that I don't have to explain Snow's existence just yet, but I'm not too concerned if we do either. I'm just not sure how to tell these two that Gods are real.
Vir replied whilst using a small pair of binoculars to inspect the Giant corpse, "that's definitely it. You really did kill that thing. I can see its sword and shield. And the armour is intact enough to recognise."
Over the last few weeks Vir has calmed down a bit about my presence. She's actually pretty smart and resourceful, but she has a dense sense of solidarity. She doesn't like outsiders.
"Then are we good to go back now?", asked the third man on scene.
"Yeah. HQ can deal with the nitty gritty. But…" she turned to me and looked me straight in the eyes, "I'm assuming you don't want town knowing you did this?"
"Right you are."
She glanced at Mark who shrugged it off, "It's not our problem. If he destroys the town then so be it. As long as we survive that's all that matters. That's been our way forever."
This time my jaw dropped due to the incredulous degree of lack of faith.
"Hey! I'll have you know I have no intentions of ever destroying the human town! My gods! My goal is to destroy the corruption not the locals!"
"But you could destroy the town if you wanted."
…
"Well…"
"If you wanted to…"
…
Memories of burning the city down in northern Auralia flashed through my mind. He's right… I definitely could. But I'm not going to.
"Is there a way I can express my sincerity to you?" It's been three weeks since I met them, and they still believe I'm some kind of monster. I have feelings damn it!
The two remained silent as they stared at one another. A moment of silence ensued before Vir broke it, "There is actually."
There is? Well, that's perfect. What does she have in mind.
I waited for her to elaborate as she put her thoughts together.
"Tell us more about yourself. Everything, about yourself. And why you want to go to Wesker so badly. Also, what you intend to do in Wesker."
Oh…
I didn't want to tell them the whole truth. They'll think I'm nuts.
They both noticed my hesitation which put them on edge. "If you don't want to that's fine but we aren't going to trust you."
"It's not that."
Vir's eyes narrowed as she tried to figure out what I meant.
"The thing is my story, and my goals are kind of hard to believe. I figured if I told you, you would assume I'm crazy."
"The whole world is crazy. Surely nothing you can say would sound that absurd."
I think my expression killed that line of thought quickly.
"I'll tell yous. Everything. But it's going to sound ridiculous. So first let's keep travelling. We'll talk once it's time to camp. Also you have to promise that no matter what I tell you, you'll uphold your end of the deal."
…
"Ok", Mark replied, sceptically.
It's still only about noon so we headed in the direction we came, towards Wesker, until the sun began to set. Picking a spot to camp we all sat down and the two stared at me with such demanding expectancy that I could feel their glares in the back of my head.
"Fine, fine. Chill out." Sitting across from them I prepare for this nonsense. This is going to be a bombshell. Even I realise how ridiculous my story is.
"I'll star from the beginning. I used to be a professional soccer player. But I died on the field at some stage before all this shit began. I then found myself in a grey place between life and death and ended up in a deadly battle against the grim reaper. I got stronger as we clashed and he hunted me. Eventually I surpassed all but one of them, getting the attention of a Goddess who I made a deal with. She revived me but, on the condition, I fight the corruption…"
I paused for dramatic effect and noticed the twos deadpan looks as they stared at me.
"You see! This is why I said it sounds crazy!"
"Are you fucking kidding me. Grim reapers!? Revival!? Goddesses!? Are you taking the piss."
"The thing is I'm fucking not. The entire fucking world is being invaded by monsters, and you have fucking doubts about gods and the afterlife? What do you know that I don't huh? "
That stunned her.
It was pretty obvious by the lack of power these two have but they know next to nothing about why the world is in this shit state. Well… so do I but I still know more about the actual state of things.
"Now if you don't mind, I'll continue with my crazy story, although I am summarising a bit. After that the Goddess sent me back. She literally dropped me out of the fucking sky which I still don't know how I survived that. Since then, I've been travelling and killing. I've learnt a few important things along the way which I'll tell you but consider these downpayments for your further assistance. Understood?"
The two nodded solemnly.
"The first is that there are portals around the world which release corruption, and I believe monsters into our world. They also bring mana which we can use for spells. The next is those portals have powerful guardians. The giant was one of those and she was carrying a portal inside her. Also, that giant wasn't just a stone construct. She was a gargoyle, the queen in fact, and she had an entire swarm of gargoyles living inside her. She was the first guardian I've managed to kill but I almost died doing it."
I glanced at the two, noticing they're grave faces before continuing.
"The guardians also carry concentrated orbs of corruption on them. I think. Still confirming that one. The orbs release corruption which infests the land if nothing absorbs its power. I did that and it almost killed me recently. My resistance saved me. It tried to turn me into one of those corrupt creatures, which leads me to believe the corruption is and infection rather than an ordinary state of being."
Pausing my explanation, I ask the two, "starting to believe I'm not full of shit yet?"
They didn't answer.
With a sigh I continued, "It's not all bad. Corrupt creatures aren't the only things new around here. Gods are too. I've met two now. The goddess who sent me here, but I don't think she is actually here herself. And one more, that was born on Eardh as a kind of counterforce against the invading corruption. He's rather weak though at the moment and I'm helping him get stronger. That leads me to Wesker. A part of a gods strength is the influence of their territory. In short, landmass, worshippers and citizens all contribute to a god's strength. I want to add the people of Wesker to his territory so that he can do more to counter the corruption. We are still working on the details. Oh and his name is Snow. I named him. That's everything of importance for now."
Silence ensued my explanation.
"You two better not forget how valuable all this information is. I will be expecting your help with my mission."
Neither of them responded. Understandable really. They'll need a bit to think things over.
I decided to start cooking myself a meal as they did. With a short note I took off to find some grub. Once I had returned, I found the two talking to one another about the various revelations I dropped on them.
I cooked my meal as I listened in.
"The idea of gods is ridiculous but so is invading monsters."
"At least he has a feasible explanation for what started this. It's not complete but it would be more suspicious if he knew the entire story, no?"
"Right. He said the giant… or gargoyle queen had a portal. We could confirm that part at least."
I jumped in at this point, adding something I forgot to mention. "That's fine. You can also see proof of Snow's existence at the portal. He's sucking power from it using a series of conduits. It's an experiment in closing the portals. But don't touch anything."
The two listened intently before continuing their conversation. Their hushed voices were somewhat funny, reminding me of children plotting in the playground. I listened and watch for the next few hours as the two went over everything, only interrupting if I had something to add.
Eventually the conversation ended and we went to bed. Only this time, for the first time, neither of them pretended to sleep whilst really keeping watch.