Leperace once again woke up hungry, just as he had for the past three days. It came as no surprise to him, however. After all, what did he expect when all he had eaten the day prior was a singular vegetable that made him want to die when the aftertaste kicked in?
He had not even finished the thing after getting a taste. Leperace didn't consider himself a picky eater, but even then, he would rather starve than eat something that made him gag for ten minutes straight.
Groggily sitting up on his sleeping mat, he grimaced the moment he swallowed and brought a hand up to his throat. The instant he had swallowed, it felt as if a dozen pins had penetrated his throat at the same time.
—Of course my throat is dry…
And this was even when he had drunk water yesterday. Leperace didn't even want to imagine what it would feel like if he had not drunk any water yesterday.
—Granted, the water wasn't exactly clean, but that shouldn't matter that much, right? If anything, I should get an infection or something, not a dry throat.
Licking his dry, chapped lips, he placed a hand on the mat. Leperace was the kind of person whose senses woke up slower than he did. It would usually take a few minutes for his senses to fully awaken, but, for some reason, this time they returned merely a few seconds after he woke up.
Because of this, he couldn't help but grimace again and swiftly raise his hand back up after his palm touched the damp mat he was laying on. It did not take a genius to guess that the dampness had been caused by his sweat.
Nevertheless, that was to be expected. The weather reported yesterday night was 104 fahrenheit. And because Leperace's 'house' was nothing more than a small shack with two bedrooms and no windows, there was practically no cooling.
He put both hands beside him on the mat and taking in a deep breath, he used them to push himself to stand up. He stood up straight, and stumbled forward, still groggy.
Leperace hated waking up early in the morning. In his opinion, whoever decided that people were supposed to wake up in the morning and go to sleep at night was a sadist. Not only was the night calmer, but the temperature was always way more comfortable at night. In the morning when it was cold, it was so cold that he was afraid he'd get frostbite, and when it was hot, it was so hot that he felt as if he were waking up in a cauldron.
Leperace sighed and shook his head. Naturally, he wanted to do nothing else but to whine and complain even more about how much he hated mornings, but he couldn't. Partly because he didn't want to sound like a crying baby, and partly because of the reason he had woken up so early in the first place.
—Today is finally the day I'm gonna get my hands on some valuables.
He began walking towards the front door of his shack. By now, all of his senses had returned, so he could very clearly hear the creaking floorboards beneath his steps, and the familiar smell of wood wafting through the air.
Extending his arm as he reached the front door, his fingers wrapped around the rough texture of the wooden handle and he pushed the handle down, opening the door.
He swung the wooden door open and walked out. Before he could even step a single foot outside, he heard a voice.
"Oh? Was coming to wake you. Guess didn't need to."
Taking a step outside, Leperace galnced to his left as he heard the voice. His bright amber eyes met the speaker's bright red ones.
"—Delum"
The person, Delum, nodded. "Was waiting for you, but you didn't show up."
Leperace cocked his head, eyes narrowing in confusion. "What are you talking about? We agreed to meet a bit after the morning star rose, didn't we?"
Leperace didn't consider himself an expert at guessing what time it was, but he knew for sure that the morning star had just risen because of how low it was in the sky.
Apparently Delum disagreed as he shook his head, long black ponytail swaying in the air. "Star rose a minute and fourteen seconds ago."
"Where the hell did you get such an exact measurement from?!" Unable to help himself, Leperace raised his voice at hearing such an exact answer.
While Leperace was quite inadequate at guessing time, Delum was the opposite. Not only was he able to appropriately guess and judge time based off of arbitrary stuff like the length of a shadow and even by how the star was reflected in a mirror, but he was also extremely strict when it came to time management.
One time a few months ago, Leperace was eating his food very slowly, savouring every bite. Delum wouldn't usually mind as he did the same, but that day they had to go meet someone at that time, and Leperace eating had made them late by exactly three seconds. Needless to say, Delum was pissed at Leperace, especially since he had been telling him to eat faster every ten seconds or so.
Why was he so adamant about always being on time? Well, that was because Delum's most spoken sentence and what Leperace liked to think as his friends catchphrase was—
"The difference between the living and the dead lies in a moment's time."
At first Leperace didn't understand what he meant, but soon enough, he understood. Delum was basically saying that a single second could decide whether you live or die.
"I think it sounds really cool and ominous, but I definitely don't believe it."
"Get the feeling as if you thought something bad about me."
"Ah?"
Narrowing his sharp, red eyes at Leperace, Delum took a step forward. Leperace swallowed and took a step backwards.
"N-no, it's nothing bad about you. I just…"
"Just what? Thought something bad about the wise saying?"
He took another step forward, while Leperace took one step back. Another step forward and another back. Another step forward—and Leperace was cornered against the outside wall of his shack.
Looking up nervously at Delum, Leperace shook his head. "Please don't. I'm sorry."
Delum's face remained expressionless as he raised an arm. "You are not forgiven."
And then, he swung his arm downward.
….
...
...…
"Ga…hah….haha….hahahahahahaha! W-wait! Please! S-stop it! D-Delum seriously stop it! I-I'm gonna vomit dude! H-hold, haha! Hold on!"
Giving his friend no time to relax, Delum started rubbing the back of Leperace's neck. Delum knew that Leperace had no weak spots when it came to being ticklish. Well, that was, no other weak spots besides the back of his neck, for some reason.
"Hahaha! Du-haha! Dude! P-ha! Please st-stop!"
Leperace crouched down, trying to get away, but Delum being taller than him easily bent down and continued tickling him.
—Leperace shall pay for doubting my wisdom! I'm gonna tickle him until he—
Gag.
"Whoa!"
Hearing Leperace gag, Delum immediately retracted his hand back. Leperace folded and fell to his knees.
"I-I warned you that I'd vomit, man…"
Delum looked at his friend with slight guilt. "Sorry man."
Leperace shook his head and they stayed in silence for a minute before Leperace asked a question.
"You said you found a house?"
Delum's eyes widened and he nodded. "Yeah. It's not the wealthiest house; not even in its owners' wildest dreams. But it should have more than enough plunder to support us for a month or two."
Leperace raised a brow in skepticism. "Are you sure? Last time you said that, it only lasted us two weeks."
"Am aware. But this time, am sure."
Leperace was still skeptical, but, was there any other choice other than to accept Delum's words as truth?
He didn't think so.
"Ok then. I'll trust your word."
Delum smiled. "Thanks."
Leperace simply closed one of his amber coloured eyes and nodded. "Is there a catch?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Whilst slowly standing up, Leperace continued. "I mean, are there any obstacles we're gonna have to overcome before being able to take the house's treasure?"
Delum put a finger to his chin in thought. His eyes then widened at what Leperace was asking and he quickly nodded his head. "Am glad you asked; it completely slipped the mind."
"Are you serious?! You were literally going to send me to my death if I hadn't asked then?!"
"Uh...We all forget sometimes?"
Leperace face palmed as Delum nervously spoke out his excuse.
Delum Creaty and Leperace were rotten bandits. In truth, only Leperace was a bandit as he was the only one who would go into the shacks, houses and sometimes warehouses to steal as he was the only one who could properly fight. Delum was the one who stalked people to see which house they would steal next, and he was also the lookout while the burglary was taking place due to his excellent hearing and eyesight.
It was not uncommon for Delum to tell Leperace to go rob a certain house, and forgot to tell him about the dangers. Leperace had broken multiple bones and gotten many injuries due to that carelessness, so he had made a habit of asking every time. And it seems that the habit had saved his skin once more.
"So then," Leperace said, shaking his head. "What's the problem waiting for me there?"
"It's a zerovile."
…
…..
...
"Are you fucking serious?"
"...Yes?"
Leperace was quite for a moment before he reached out his arms and grabbed Delum's shoulders and began to aggressively shaking him.
"A damn zerovile?! And this completely slipped your mind?!"
"Yes! Already! Told you so! Leperace! Stop shaking me! Am going to vomit!"
Narrowing his eyes in righteous anger, Leperace shook his head and continued to shake Delum. "Like hell I'm going to stop! Unlike you, I'm not nice enough to stop tormenting you just because you're gonna puke!"
"P! Please! Am sorry!"
Leperace stopped shaking him and sighed.
Delum grabbed hold of his head and sat down on the paved ground in hopes of making his vision stop spinning as fast as the land's rotation.
"Seriously Delum. What would have happened if I hadn't asked? I could've been seriously injured or even dead."
Delum stopped holding his head and cast his red eyes down. "Am sorry."
Leperace's eyes softened at his apology and he sighed. He extended a hand towards Delum. He grabbed it and Leperace helped him stand up.
"Don't apologize; I know you can't help it."
Leperace would usually not have forgiven someone if they had forgotten something so vital, but Leperace knew that Delum could not help it. That was because of the fact that Delum suffered from something the best local doctor, Riakan Worlid, dubbed 'Energy deficiency induced memory loss."
Which, aside from both Leperace and Delum agreeing that it was a mouthful to pronounce, basically meant that Delum had such little capacity for Energy, that from time to time, he could not help but be unable to forget random stuff, whether it be important or not. It was not as if Delum forgot the thing forever, it was just that his memory had to be jogged. Case and point, what had just occurred. Despite all of that, however—
"But... Isn't there a way you could make yourself remember? Like writing it down somewhere?"
"... Huh. Why haven't we thought about that before?"
"Because we're both idiots."
Delum opened his mouth, as if to retort—only to close it after he couldn't form any words. He couldn't dispute Leperace and they both knew it. Leperace was most aware of it and had already accepted it as fact, while Delum was slowly but surely getting there as well, although not willingly.
—After all, no one wants to be labelled as stupid, especially by themselves.
"Anyway, that's beside the point. Leperace, we should get going."
Leperace nodded and he and Delum began walking forward. They walked side by side on the paved, grey stone road, their shoes thudding against the road.
Leperace glanced at Delum. "So, who's house are we ransacking this time?"
"I don't know the names, obviously, but I know that it's a family of three. It's a father, a mother and a child."
Leperace narrowed his eyes. "How old is the child?"
"Nineteen."
"Well, it's not a damn child then, is it?! That's three years older than me, and a year older than you!"
"I know, I know. Meant a child as in a son."
Taking a deep breath to calm down, Leperace looked at Delum again. "Are they rich?"
"Absolutely not."
"Then why the hell are we stealing from them?!"
Delum shrugged. "Because the house is the easiest to steal from. Not only that, but they have enough valuables to, as I said, support us for at least two months."
Putting a finger on his chin and thinking for a while, Leperace then raised another question. "What about the zerovile? Did you see what it looked like?"
Delum shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. I know they have one because I overheard the son bragging to someone about it."
"Who the hell would brag about owning one of those horrific undead monsters?"
"Uh, people who have nothing else to brag about?"
Looking past that matter of fact answer, Leperace was dreading stealing from this place. Zeroviles were his least favourite enemy to fight.
Those undead monsters always gave him trouble. Part of the reason was due to how different each zerovile was. One of them could be a fat, heavy and heavy hitting beast who could kill anyone not wearing proper armour immediately. Then, the next one could be a tall, skinny and fast beast who could tear a person's guts out in the blink of an eye.
Two things they all had in common however, were that they had no vocal cords; a result of bringing someone who had long decomposed back from the dead and the fact that they were all incredibly resistant to magic, meaning that armaments with no magic and pure physical did the most damage to them.
"We're here."
Delum's voice broke through Leperace's thoughts. Leperace looked up and saw that they were standing behind a house that was falling apart. It had massive holes all around it, but none big enough to fit a person. That was, all but one of them, which they were currently facing.
Leperace took a deep breath. He felt his Energy capacity. It was more than enough, Leperace thought. He glanced at Delum who gave him a nod.
"Go on. I'll keep a lookout."
Leperace nodded back, and stepped foot into the dark house through the large hole.
—————————————————————
—This house is seriously dark. I know it's early morning and the sun isn't even up yet, but come on. The least this family could do is buy some lanterns.
Thinking grimly, Leperace continued onwards inside the house. It didn't make sense to him. According to Delum, this family had enough spoils for them to take, and yet they didn't buy a single lantern?
—Or maybe they're believers of the rumour that a lanterns light makes you go blind if you stare at it for too long.
"Go figure, right? Staring at a bright light for a long time can make you lose your vision. That's crazy, isn't it?"
Shaking his head, Leperace continued walking. By now, he had left the small, dark room he initially walked into, and was walking through a small hallway with no lightning whatsoever. It annoyed Leperace, but it didn't hinder his ability whatsoever.
He was starting to get a little nervous, however. The house was eerily quiet. No sounds of snoring, or walking or anything.
Was this a trap? That thought crossed Leperace's mind, but he quickly shut it down. Despite appearances and his strange periods of memory loss, Delum was always careful about which houses they should rob. He would've certainly realized that this house was not safe if the people inside were smart enough to leave a trap.
Maybe he forgot? That was most certainly a plausible idea. But, Leperace would much rather have faith in his friend than think negatively of him.
But that still didn't change the fact that even when he stepped into what appeared to be the living room, there was no sound. Where was everyone? Did the people here just not snore? Or maybe they were all outside?
Either way, Leperace was going to make the most of this. He swiftly walked towards the room Delum told him they kept their valuable belongings in. A small room with a steel door. Normally, it would take Leperace a few minutes to be able to knock down a door made of steel without making any noise. This door, however, was already open.
Leperace was now more cautious than ever. "There's no way this isn't a trap," he thought, narrowing his amber eyes. It was so obvious at this point. But...
—Why do I still get the feeling that... something else is going o—!
Just as he said that, he heard a loud crunching sound come from behind him. He tensed and immediately readied the lightning spell Leia as he turned around.
And when he did, he was confused. Confused at how he didn't see the long, lanky, red skinned zerovile gorging on three separate corpses at the same while he was walking towards the door.
And what followed that confusion, was an immediate sense of dread.
Without wasting any time, Leperace waved his hand and released Leia. A long and bright bolt of lightning emerged from his hand and flew through the air before it struck the zerovile at the back of its skinny head.
However, Leperace knew that the spell would have practically no effect on it.
The zerovile turned its head towards Leperace and Leperace caught his breath.
This was one of the most hideous ones he had ever seen. It had large, deep sunken white eyes, as if there were no pupils. It's nose, just like every other zeroviles, was non-existent, with only two holes acting as nostrils just above its mouth. The mouth that was permanently stuck in a wide, toothy grin. This time with an extra addition of chunks of flesh and skin on its sharp, yellow teeth.
Zeroviles, although brought back from the dead, still possessed a will of their own. They could be controlled yes, but it was as if owning a wild animal as a pet. If it snapped, you were as good as dead.
—Ah. So, this is why it was so quiet.
The zerovile slowly stood up on its two legs. Leperace noticed that instead of feet, this one had hooves. Its legs resembled that of a goat, just, much larger. It also appeared to have a large gash in its chest, perhaps the cause of its death before it was brought back. It's arms, long and lanky, ended at sharp claws. It already looked horrifying enough, but Leperace also noticed that...it had hair?
"How repulsive. Seriously. I don't know if I should feel bad for what this person has become after death, or if I should be disgusted."
Deciding he would do neither at the moment, he reached down to his waist and retrieved his dual short swords. But, Leperace knew better than to think that this fight would be easy. After all, there was just one more thing that all zeroviles had in common:
They were all extremely hard to kill.
The zerovile immediately charged at Leperace. His eyes widened and he managed to roll out of the way just in time.
The zerovile didn't let up, however. While still in the same position, it extended one of its legs and kicked Leperace in the chest. Leperace gasped in pain and flew a few centimetres back.
"Gah! H-holy shit...this thing hits hard..."
He had no time to complain about his pain however, as the zerovile turned around and tried to stab him with its long claws. Leperace dodged each and every attack, although just barely.
The moment the Zerovile stopped it's relentless, animalistic attacks, Leperace lunged forward. He extended his arms and waved both of them in a wide arc, attempting to slice the zeroviles head off.
It jumped back just in time to avoid having its head fully decapitated, but not fast enough to completely avoid Leperace's swords. The zeroviles neck started bleeding profusely, but it paid it no mind.
Leperace knew that the only way to truly kill a zerovile was to attack it at the same spot where the person was initially killed. In this case, that would be the left side of the chest. Alas, Leperace had hoped that he would've been able to cut off its head and that would give him a big enough window to properly finish it off.
The zerovile charged once again. Leperace watched in shock as it jumped high up into the air—and then came crashing down, creating a shockwave that knocked Leperace back and disoriented him.
—Ghk! Shit! I can't see!
Debris had flown into his eyes, and he rubbed them with his forearm. He didn't have time to, however, as he felt immense pain in his chest.
"GAH!"
Crying out in pain, Leperace forced his burning eyes open. He looked down, and saw a massive, bleeding gash on his chest. It was undoubtedly a scratch by the three claws of the zerovile. It raised its arm again—most likely to cut off Leperace's head— but Leperace managed to jump back this time.
—It burns, it burns! It's never felt this painful before! It's like my whole body is on fire!
Leperace clenched his jaw and looked up.
"Is this a zerovile with a fire aspect? No, that doesn't matter. What matters is that I have to quickly kill this thing, get the loot and leave!"
Ignoring the burning sensation that was permeating throughout his entire body, Leperace checked his Energy. There was still a lot, although he was losing it rapidly due to his bleeding.
"But, it's more than enough to finish this."
He stood up and waited as the zerovile jumped upwards again. The moment it landed, Leperace jumped up to avoid the shockwave. The zeroviles surprise gave him more than enough time to lunge forward the second he fell to the ground, and to stab the thing with his swo—
"...?"
Leperace stopped thinking as something suddenly stopped him from reaching the wound on the zeroviles chest. His arms suddenly fell limp to his side and he coughed. Or, more accurately, he vomited blood.
His eyes widened as the intense pain of having his innards impaled suddenly overwhelmed him.
"AAAAAAA!!"
He let out a scream of pain as he felt himself being lifted up into the air. He tried to use his arms to stab the zerovile and free himself, but to no avail. They refused to move.
He could do nothing but watch and feel as the zerovile threw him backwards against the wall. He felt even more pain as the claws left his body, but he could do nothing. Not even scream as he started losing blood at a rapid pace.
—Shit...am I going to die? Is this it? It's all my fault...I underestimated how strong this thing was going to be.
He watched helplessly, unable to move as the zerovile approached him and knelt down to his level. Leperace closed his eyes as he awaited death.
—Delum…Miss Riakan…Am I seriously never going to see them aga—
He lost consciousness just as the zerovile opened its mouth.