9. Evil's many faces

More than you knew could exist.

          Kire was stoked that it was Arune who would be confirming his quest's completion, watching the man's face intently as he read Aveline's testimony Kire could see the blood pressure rising by second as told by a throbbing vein on the Orc's forehead. Eventually Arune slaps down the letter and glowers at Kire. "How? HOW? A tribe of Goblins recruited as farmers? Why do you keep doing this? Are you mad-" Arune remembers the title Kire had been given as he was about to say it and picks the letter back up to hold it in front of his face, ranting under his breath behind it while he tried to calm down.
          "You really want to know how I did it?" Kire had a wicked expression as he savoured the professional grief of his unwilling 'best friend'.
          Arune slaps the document down again. "Fine. How?"
          Kire looks around as if about to share a great secret. "The art of seduction." he says with a wink.
          Arune wailed and threw himself back in his chair. "NEXT! Please all the gods in the heavens NEXT!" He beckoned to the next person in line behind Kire. "Go ahead, just push this guy out of the way! I beg you!"


          With upsetting Arune checked off his daily to-do list the decision was settled to acquire the plot of land, catching the Elder's Hall before closing and offering his deposit of a 100 gold tab. Told to come back the next day when the seller had cleared the paperwork he takes his stroll through town to the lot in question and rests himself on the fence, admiring it.
          *So you are settling in here after all.*
          Kire shrugs, closing his eyes and relaxing to the sound of the river. (Don't get to choked up about it. I just need more space is all...If I'm going to be here a while I'll need all of Halgrim's rooms by the end of my month at the rate I'm creating.) He mentally imposed the layout in a way that would keep the trees and the river would give him running water for indoor plumbing, which was ideal. The long width of the lot meant a nice big garage to work in...


          He'd been lost in his thoughts about it awhile when someone walking up the road set themselves on the fence beside him in a matching posture. He turned to find an old man, oldest he'd seen yet in this world with sun-mottled skin and thin, wispy white hair. "I live next door and saw you starin' at the lot. Most folks don't linger this long."
          Kire nodded. "Well I've already delivered payment for it, if the approval was processed tonight I'd already be fixing this fence. Feels like a real peaceful place," He twiddled his index finger at the swaying leaves of the willow trees which added to the ambience of the river and the frogs. "Pity it's been lonely so long."
          The older man could not conceal his surprise at hearing about the bid. "Bullshit. How's a young fella like you get that kind of money? Can't be doing local jobs and nobody with rich parents would settle here unless they were hiding from something."
          Rolling over on the fence to a sideways lean Kire holds up his hands and wiggles his fingers, winking with a smirk. "Magic touch. No, no rich parents. I get by on my own means, I'm both an adventurer and artificer so I have a dual income stream." He figured it would be best to start covering the story for his relics now even if it means presenting dubious crafting credentials. It was luck that he'd not been too pressed by authorities yet about where he got his things and it felt safer to establish himself as a maker in case they ever started.


          The senior's suspicion lightened and they drummed their fingers along the fence. "Going to artifice yourself a house here are you?"
          "That's the idea. A nice log cottage with a big workshop."
          "And all the noise that comes with it I guess huh? Maybe the neighbourhood doesn't want to hear you hammering an anvil all night."
          Kire started to get his own suspicions about the neighbour but he figured he should ham up his expertise more. "My proprietary methods are quite considerate of my neighbour's peace, you'll find. If you don't believe me go ask at the Iron Flagon where I've been staying. If I can manage not to bother people in the next room over you can be certain I won't keep you up here." He did not intend to live as a charlatan but he was not about to come forward with his power and being a hidden, rare talent with exclusive clientele was as good an alibi as he could cook on the spot. He resumed his forward stance on the fence.
          The old man had an edge to him. "Yeah. I may just visit Halgrim this very evening about that."
          (Real HOA vibes.) "I suppose you've lived here a long time?"
          "My whole life."
          "You know the owner?"
          A wary side-eye. "I might."
          Kire tried to tap into the emotions that would give him the words to say what he thought would help, stirring a nervous dance in his chest that this could anger the man and backfire. "It's a shame, you know? I come from a place where so many people struggle to afford to live with not enough housing to go around. To see a lonely place like this...Waiting for someone to make it home. I'm told the owner has had a hard time letting go. That it holds precious attachment. But doesn't keeping this place empty just sustain the ache? Lingering on what it could have been and not letting it be what it could be? Housing a family for possibly generations." Kire continued to watch the water but the old man's finger drumming had stopped.
          (System, how's he looking?)
          *He's wincing.*


          The man still did not speak. Kire stood, checking his timepiece. "Well, I should get back for dinner. I'll keep dreaming about you tonight, you delightful slice of wilderness!" He waves to the empty lot. To the senior he gives a shallow bow. "And fare thee well, ominous neighbour man."
          Turning up the road the senior calls back to him. "Carl! My name is Carl."
          Kire gave a thumbs up over his shoulder and smiled to himself.


--


          It had been tough to rest or sleep that night even after unwinding at the bath house and harder not to rush the Elder's Hall first thing in the morning to see if they had a response. Power walking circles around the town to kill time so as not to look too desperate he hears bells sounding from the south end of town and sees runners cross him on the street ahead. "Attack! There's been a monster attack!"
          Jogging to follow the messengers with the small escort of adventurers they had picked up coming into town they collectively move to the guild hall where the out of breath pair of citizens tried to plead their case. "Some horrible creature...From the Eldergrove...Swam across the river. We never saw it coming."
          There was a storm of voices as everyone started to discuss this among themselves murmuring their shock and disbelief. The citizen had started to regain their breath. "It almost killed us, had us trapped in the house, but our sister was able to repel it with fire. It swam back across into the forest, just ten minutes ago!"
          "What did it look like? What kind of monster we talkin' 'bout here?" A Dwarf adventurer stood from the lounge in the back and approached.
          The second citizen who had run in to deliver the message pulled her hair back over her shoulders as she ran her hands over her head like she was struggling to make sense of something awful. "It was like...A mutant. Something I've never heard of. It looked like a bear but...It had an enormous serpent for its neck and head." The disgust and horror on her face was real enough that nobody would call it nonsense where she could hear.
          "This was close?" Another adventurer asked.
          Having calmed his panting the first runner spoke again. "We're the first farm south of the town. With good eyes the attack would have been visible from Thornwick."
          This caused many things to start happening at once as the few adventurers in the guild at the time elected for an emergency mobilization for public safety. The Dwarf took charge. "If it can swim across the river and it's that close it could attack Thornwick at any time. We need a hunting party, now!"
          Kire was already in a dead sprint for the inn to get his gear and behind him he heard the shouts of another guild mate who had left the hall to crier for any willing volunteers to join a militia and to gather any spears available.


          Kitted out and ready to move just as the hunting party is passing by the tavern on the road south out of town and sure enough not more than ten minutes later they are securing the farmstead that had been attacked. Kire approached the Dwarf. "Don't suppose you'll let me pursue it myself? I have specialized weapons that..."
          "Absolutely not, we of the guild have a moral obligation to act in case of emergencies like these. Nobody is endangering themselves by going alone."
          The nearest bridge over to the woods was another ten minutes jog past the farm and leaving the residents to fortify themselves with a whistle to blow if the creature came back the mob took off with every minute being essential to catching up to its trail. Eighteen armed adventurers and civilians breached the Eldergrove with three trackers coaching them to slow down and prepare for the fight.
          Whatever it was it had not wandered far, still stalking just within the cover of the mighty forest's juvenile edge wilderness along the riverbank. Whispers and signals are given with fortunately a number of the mob being seasoned hunters familiar with the area and the members of the hunting party spread out into two ranks, spears forward and a few archers in the rear. For his part Kire unslung his repeating crossbow.
          One of the trackers signalled to wait and crept up around a tree to make the sound that would bait the creature into their position. The first syllable was barely choked out when their body was ragolled and dragged around to the other side of the tree from something out of sight. Several members of the party started shouting and those with shields thumped them. "Hey!" "Over here!" "Come get us!" "Show your ugly face ya bastard!"


          Thudding footsteps and a serpentine hiss. Thick brown fur with a scarf of brown and pale yellow scales. A grizzly bear with the head of a hooded snake lumbers out to face down the party with unflinching and pitiless black reptilian eyes. Spears are levelled and the snake's length uncoils from where it had been looped over the bear's back and shoulders, unexpectedly shooting its reach an extra six feet to clamp curved fangs like sabers into one of the civilian militia caught unawares. The man fails to even scream as his lungs are punctured and flooded with venom but the others in formation struck forth for its head and neck.
          A crossbow shot glanced off the curve of its hood where it whipped and thrashed its prehensile half to drag the victim back towards it and perching a heavy clawed mitt on the body, rearing its head to full height with a hiss and tensing itself back for another strike. Three archers focused into its left fore leg and the spears collectively took a step back and shuffled positions for better shield coverage. This time when the head sprung forward it rammed one of the shield bearers in a headbutt that threw them to their back and the creature followed up by charging with its bear half, coiling back over itself as the rear caught up to pounce on the newest victim.


          The weight of its landing crushed the adventurer but that didn't stop it from rending and mauling them while the head swayed side to side trying to mitigate its injuries from the assault of pointed weapons. Now the hunting party moved to surround the creature, bloody pock marks accumulating over its body. The archers had sent three volleys into its leg so finally its thick corded muscles were starting to get clogged enough with arrowheads to hinder its ability to turn and the party shifts positions clearing out from in front of it to force it to choose a side where it would have more difficulty following them. During the reposition its head catches another party member by the leg and whips up, effortlessly lifting the hunter like a toy and bodily slapping them across one of the tree trunks with a sickening wet crunch and spray of blood.
          A crossbow shot penetrated its neck and went clear through emerging from the other side to stick into a tree but otherwise did not seem to seriously phase it. The ongoing barrage of arrows were now aimed at its hind right leg having moved to flank, trying to prevent it from being able to run away. Its wounds drove it into a greater fury and it raised itself on its hind legs; Now a towering spectacle of unnatural terror. Its head swivelled out of reach of the spears and seeing the archers it took three steps forward and made a desperate lurch into the defenders who's spears dug deep into it only to be snapped or pulled from grips by the creature's enormous weight bearing down on them. In the monsters descent the almost impossibly fast head claimed one of the archers and the broken line scattered to retreat and regroup, now down several spears.


          Kire had stopped shooting to pull out a small cylinder labelled 'Vitriol' from his belt. He removes his mask from his bag and quickly fastens it on, exhaling to vent the trapped air and taking a deep filtered breath. Working fast he unloads the magazine from his crossbow and takes a single bolt, not even checking to see if anyone was paying attention and removing the head to fuse the cylinder in its place with his item creation power. Modifying the push valve and the cylinder on the fly to completely explode apart on impact he extends the shaft so it is long enough to be front-loaded into the covered flight groove with the cylinder sticking out.
          Clapping the magazine back in and taking a kneeling firing position between two trees he yells as loud as he can. "Everyone clear the area! Gas! Gas! Gas!"
          The party was quick to oblige. Between their mounting casualties, shattered defences and the sight of him yelling down-sight made the next move understood on instinct. As soon as they'd stopped attacking it the monster let itself be distracted by the new prey in its jaws, twisting and crunching the archer's body as the rest fled. Kire waves them along, still yelling. "Keep running! Out of the woods!"
          His chemical weapons weren't intended to be deployed like this and he did not know what the actual affected range would be. The snake's head started to slowly swerve in Kire's direction, attention drawn by his shouts. It drops the body from its mouth and struggles to pivot towards him. (Sure hope everyone is clear.) The crossbow twangs, aimed at the beast's shoulder. The shot didn't need to strike any vitals, just to make impact.


          It does not.
          So otherworldly were the reflexes of the snake half it coils in the air and snatches the bolt mid-flight, clamping onto its haft and turning to stare him down with the payload held triumphantly aloft.
          The crossbow cocks. The speed ring is tuned to maximum output. Adrenaline floods his mouth with its bitter chemical taste and his heart rate skyrockets. His pupils dilate, the burden of the enchantment drawing his senses and perception out into an insufferable crawl. A second shot is fired straight through the gas cylinder which had been no more than two inches in length and less than an inch in diameter. The container explodes from the force of the pressurized contents and the monster's head is suddenly concealed in the pale green cloud that erupted by its mouth.
          Rolling backwards for cover between the trees in case it managed the fury to pursue and because the gas was untested on live targets he dropped his ring's focus and tries to clear himself from the shock. The abomination lacked the vocal chords to roar or cry out or wail. Instead there was a protracted, furious hiss...Which choked. Several more forced breaths each sounding worse and more garbled than the last and the staggering thuds of its feet which reminded him of how the Hammertusk sounded in its final moments off screen. This time he wanted to see it done and he takes back his vantage just in time to watch the creature which had gotten back up on its hind legs come down like an ugly tree, crashing and rolling off its neighbour to slump on the ground with its neck and head laid awkwardly next to its body. Everything about how wrong it looked made Kire sick.


          Someone called out from behind him and he rushed over to stop them from coming any closer. Offering to retrieve the bodies of their fallen himself since he had protection he assures the others they should stay well away from the area until they could be sure the risk was dissipated. Five bodies were recovered, three adventurers and two citizens. Once they were laid outside the forest's edge Kire tears off his mask for fresh air, mopping the sweat off his face. Some of the hunting party were crying over their fallen friends and some were staring numbly into the water or grass, wherever they sat.
          The Dwarf and two of the other guild mates did approach, and the party leader rocks back and forth on his heels, fidgeting and looking around uncomfortably. "I'm Dravi, by the way. We've never been properly introduced."
          "Kire. Kire the Madman."
          The Dwarf blew a great exhale from his mouth, looking uncomfortable to even ask. "Care to explain what that stunt was you pulled back there?"
          Kire didn't look up from his kit check inspecting his mask's filter and stowing it, also unloading his crossbow and sliding it into its webbing. "I told you I had specialized weapons. That's as much as I'm going to say on the matter."
          The Dwarf gently bobbed his head in understanding. "Well, the job's done, and it was done before that thing got into town."
          "Fuck my life what a nightmare that would have been," One of the other adventurers added. Nobody seemed actually willing to imagine what that carnage would have looked like though.
          The third addressed Kire now: "How long do you think until it's safe to go in there? I'd like to get a specialist to examine the body. It's too big to move and if we leave it too long scavengers will have at it."
          Kire sighs and checks his time piece. It was still only morning. "I don't know, there isn't going to be a ton of breeze going through there so it could take time to dissipate. I can give you three respirators-That is, breathing protectors-For you to take your specialist and one other guard. Give it a few hours to clear, wear the protection as I instruct you, and it should be fine."


          Some of the party ran ahead to get ropes, sheets and sleds to bring the bodies of the fallen back to town. As promised Kire gave three standard respirators to the adventure who had enlisted the local doctor to accompany him for studying the mutant's anatomy. The mood in Thornwick was heavy; No attack like that had happened so close in living memory and the fallen were honoured as heroes by the town council of Elders who'd gathered to receive the hunting party on their return. Funerals were arranged to be held in two days and those of the Adventurer's Guild retreated to their hall for that night.
          The otherworlder had not actually spent much time here beyond picking up or turning in jobs and a singular study session. He had yet to have sat by the great hearth in the lounge where he was now parked on the floor in a sombre gathering of the membership who were not out on jobs. Hot drinks were brought around by the staff. A few who knew the slain well were slumped over in their seats crying again. Those who were able to manage their grief shared their stories of Alain, Jessa and Yens. When the stories and sobs had run their course everyone sat in silence but for the crackling of the fire.


          His curiosity pushed Kire to break the silence first. "Is there any record of something like that existing before? Are there any guesses what that was about?"
          "No. Never. That was...A complete freak show whatever it was."
          "An abomination!"
          Murmurs made the rounds as the assembly took their turns digging through their collective memories for any hint of how such a thing could exist.
          "A mad Sorcerer, perhaps." Aldrich announced his presence with the suggestion having quietly approached the group unnoticed in the darkening hall after finally finishing his paperwork on the affair. He joined Kire and a couple others on the floor and took a fire poker to roll one of the logs for better airflow, releasing a pop of air and a shower of sparks. "Magic makes so much possible for us. It wouldn't be so crazy to think it makes the worst things possible too, sometimes."


          The silence returned heavy and uncomfortable and eventually they all went their own ways for the night with the sky having blackened prematurely outside in a promise of ill weather to come. Having supped on a skewer from a stall along the way Kire ignores everything in the inn except the route to his room. He tries to set himself to the desk but can't muster it and props himself up in bed instead. (Hey System. You up for some girl talk?)
          *I'm not here to be your therapist, don't go thinking I wait at your beck and call to go whinging to anytime you have a bad day.*


          In bitter silence Kire gets up to put out the light, undresses, and gets back into bed rolling over to face the wall.
          *Oh poor baby, if you're going to sulk about it like that I suppose I could pretend to care just a little bit.* Kire didn't need to address the System for the omniscient and nebulous entity to be privy to all his thoughts and feelings and though their unwittingly world-crossed charge blew them off they had a clear view of the furious turmoil he turned on himself this night. The failure to save Arnes, the murder of the captives he had bound and left to that fate, and now the failure to save his comrades. System felt his urge to rush out into the night and rage to become stronger tampered by the more reasonable need for sleep and a clear head. System had a new perspective of the arrogant adventurer's ego for the double edged sword that it truly was...And currently he was running himself through with it.


          This human was so strange in so many ways. Gross and offensive ways more often than not but he had a sturdy foundation and an intriguing psyche. System would have protested this pick if they'd had a say but the more they looked the more they saw the potential. That Kire's pride wasn't just for show but a weapon he used against himself to stay accountable and honest. They not-sighed and metaphorically bit their proverbial lip in annoyance that they actually managed to be vexed by this base lunatic's discomfort.
          *It will be impossible to save everyone, you-*
          (I know.)
          The man's emotions were laid visible to the System in a spectrum of colour and the words caused his anguish to flicker wildly like a candle in the wind struggling to stay alive despite him trying to blow it out. (I can't stop myself feeling this way but...I know. Thank you though.)
          *Well you little shit don't ask me to talk and then not let me talk!*


          Rolling on to his belly and taking a second to shift gears Kire whispers to the pillow as if holding a lover for comfort. "I've seen evil before. Evil people without a shred of pity who crush whoever they can because they can. Evil people who use and exploit just for the pleasure of treating others like play things. Nature is brutal, animals can be savage but...I've never seen an animal that was truly, deeply evil. Not before today."
          For System the trajectory this encounter would put the wanderer's time in Misterra on was tragically clear but the grown man clutching his pillow wide eyed in the night might as well have been a helpless infant for all he didn't yet know and couldn't stop from happening.
          *Was it too much for you to handle? Is the mighty warrior in fact a scared babe?*


          The comment broke whatever had gotten a hold of Kire and he let out a low, baffled laugh. "No. No I suppose not. I used to be insane, fun fact. I'd just rather not do it again and...The revulsion I felt seeing that thing also made me feel a worse part of myself. I've tried to live as peacefully and without contention as I could to ease my spiritual imbalance, but...What is right is always right and I can't sit aside and let murderers or monsters ruin good lives. Even if it isn't my world, even if I can't truly know how real these lives are."
          There it was. System finally saw the point. The only thing they had really hoped for out of whoever was dropped into this game between gods and devils: A just heart.


          *During the wagon attack you didn't hesitate to cut down your enemies, but at Bandit's Hollow you went to every length to spare those who surrendered. Why?*
          "Silly question. They'd surrendered. It's one thing when it's kill or be killed with active combatants...I'm not going to slay the unarmed as they beg for their lives. What kind of sick fuck do you take me for?!" As he spoke Kire's head raised off the pillow to glare into the dark as the question even being asked made him feel incrementally more insulted as he processed it.
          *Whatever you may be, I am glad you are not cruel.* System's tone was subtle but just enough to convey a real gratitude that they did not get stuck with someone worse and it had the effect of putting Kire on pause. *As you've commiserated, Evil has many faces. I am thankful yours is not among them.*


          Dropping his head back onto the pillow Kire closes his eyes feeling some of the pressure he'd been putting on himself washed away. Finally he felt the approach of sleep putting its hand on his shoulder, and he concedes today's win to System. "Thanks for the girly talk, bestie."
          *Shut the fuck up.*


          --


          It was easy to sleep in and easy to move slow this morning. His excitement to harass town hall about the deed was sufficiently tamped down with the previous day's misadventure and it was actually one of the town's Elders waving him over as they crossed paths in the market that he learned the offer had been accepted late the night before. Now his mood was a beacon lit anew like a kid at Christmas running for the town hall to retrieve his land title. By noon he was standing at the fence again, this time as its official owner, and he pushes the seized gate with a grunt to take his first steps where he would make his future home. (Well, more like a vacation villa while I'm in Misterra. You know. Temporarily.) He swung his head around as if checking to make sure System heard that.
          The grass was overgrown but not too full of weeds and there was a number of large stones littered throughout. Unlike the stream behind Halgrim's place the Eid river proper was too large and its current too strong to go simply bathing in so he would still be making use of the public facilities for a while but he could at least get the groundwork underway without raising too much suspicion. Stripped down to working attire with hair tied back in a bandana to catch the sweat he gathers all the rocks he can find to line them up by the river bank. Broken branches and twigs are also collected and an old fashioned push mower puts the grass to a rakeable state.


          When he stops for a water break he sees his neighbour Carl leaning on the fence as the two of them had prior and he moseys over for a hello. "You aren't a racist boomer who will get mad when I have a bunch of demi-human girls over in the neighbourhood are you?"
          Carl's brows reach for the sky at the remark. "I don't know what the hell half of what you just said even means but...I don't think so? I just came to congratulate you on your new home...Or home to be, as it were."
          Slumping back against the fence beside where Carl was leaned over it Kire admired his work. "God I hope I don't have ticks on my ass after wading through all that."
          Carl's head slowly turns to regard him through squinted eyes. "Well don't expect me to check it for you. Hold out your hand, I have a housewarming present."


          Acting giddy and giggling Kire closes his eyes and holds out his upturned hands and feels a familiar metal shape drop into them. Opening his eyes confirms it...The gold tab he had bought the lot with. "Hey now, I paid this fair and square. You too good for my money, buster?"
          Carl waves off the complaint and holds a leathery hand in front of Kire's face. "After what happened yesterday I don't want to hear it. You...Made some alright points in our talk the other day but that wasn't what decided it. We don't have a lot of adventurers who live around here, see. The guild is important and there are always guild members around but only a handful who actually stay around and be part of the community. When you all chased after that THING and...Some of you paid the price alongside our own I got to thinking good and hard about it. If there is someone who is willing to fight risking life or limb for our community and they want to settle here and be one of us...It would be a damnable shame to deny it. Besides...You were right. This plot has been lonely long enough. It needs to be a home. It wants to house a family."


          Kire scratched his balls. "You sure you won't check me for ticks?"
          He had to duck as Carl swiped a backhand at him and started back down the road grumbling something indistinct.