Side Story: Walking Disasters

Side Story: Walking Disasters

Walking Disasters. Now that was a name and a half. Zyl scoffed at the alias in his status screen. They hadn’t really done all that much to deserve it.

Glancing over at the other two, he saw them looking aside innocently. Otto was chewing on a sandwich from his inventory, and Lucia was absently playing with wisps of fire in her hands. He shook his head at the sight.

“Am I the only one with a new alias?”

“No,” Lucia shook her head, her brows furrowing a bit in annoyance. “No, you’re not the only one.”

Otto simply grunted in response, making Zyl sigh. “Good, actually,” he said, “very good. See, I was pretty sure we said we wouldn’t burn this place down.”

Once again, he received two non-committal shrugs, making him sigh once more. He thought back to how it all had started…

- - -

The three of them had known each other for a while. Lucia had met Otto first, when she was exploring outside her town. He’d been abandoned in the forest by his parents, who called him more beast than man since he struggled with speech, which is where she found him.

Back then, Otto had been halfway through bleeding out, and Lucia ended up saving his life. She didn’t even have to do much, strangely. Just stem the bleeding, wrap a bandage around it, and let him sleep in her room in the orphanage for a day or two. He recovered miraculously quickly, and they became friends from there.

Lucia also introduced him to Iris, who lived in the orphanage with her and was by far her best friend there. Though they never quite regarded each other as sisters, more like soulmates. Later, Lucia would be adopted by a priest of the Church of Order, and Iris was left alone. The two exchanged letters for a long while after, though.

But the contents of those letters are a story for another day. Now, instead, the question is how they had met Zyl.

It was when he had snuck out once. His parents lived on a mountaintop, having erected a castle there and were using expensive items to keep people from finding it. Many dragons, especially the paranoid ones, did so. Zyl, however, wasn’t very excited about being confined to a single building all his life.

So, quite commonly, he’d run out. It had almost become a game to him, sneaking past their servants, or simply moving fast enough so they could barely see him. On one such occasion, he found a strange child on the mountain, kneeling in the middle of a forest, staring at a flower.

Otto had found his way there while roaming around one of Lucia’s carriages. He’d taken to travelling with her, both of them in their low teens now, and the priest who was teaching her moved around quite a bit. Otto often couldn’t sleep, and instead explored around the cottage, searching for trinkets to show his friend.

On such a rudimentary exploration, Zyl happened upon the boy, and he was stunned.

Of course, the young dragon had seen other species, such as humans and beastkin, yet he had never seen another human child before. Only their servants. Seeing the other boy, he almost habitually shapeshifted into his human form, with fiery red hair, and large eyes.

With the confidence only a dragon could have, he’d strode towards the stranger. “Who are you?” he’d asked loudly. “And what are you doing on our property?”

“Hm?” Otto turned his head curiously, then cocked it to the side. “I am Otto,” he said calmly, “and I am looking at a flower.” Seemingly happy with the explanation, he turned back towards the plant, running a finger over one of the petals.

Curious on what could be so special about a simple flower, Zyl approached, kneeling down next to the boy, and lookingat the greenery with him. For a while, there was silence, as Zyl snuck glances at Otto, who seemed entirely unperturbed.

“How did you get here?” Zyl asked after a few moments.

“Walked,” Otto replied, not lifting his gaze from the flower.

“You walked here? Up this entire mountain?” Zyl’s voice rose slightly, surprised by the silliness of the declaration. This place was high enough to almost touch the clouds, most humans could hardly make such a trip at their best.

“Mhm,” Otto hummed and nodded, giving a small smile. “It was pretty, too.”

This left Zyl a little stunned. “What… what's the world outside like?” he asked quietly, his voice shaking a tad. He had never been allowed outside the dome enveloping their house. Since he was told it was actually dangerous, it was a warning he’d heeded.

The smile on Otto’s face widened at the question. “Lots of pretty things,” he said. “Flowers, lakes, waterfalls. I learn many new words for many pretty things. Irideskent. Magnanymus,” he grinned to himself proudly.

Zyl shook his head a little at that. “How would you learn new words by just seeing things?” he asked.

“<Appraisal> tells me,” Otto nodded seriously, then paused. “And a friend tells me.” A smile found itself back on his face. “Want to meet her?”

The young dragon found himself quiet for a few moments before he nodded, slowly at first, then faster. “Yes… yes, I would like to meet her!” he said, and Otto simply nodded.

“Okay,” the other boy said. “Back here, tomorrow, same time. Good?”

“Alright, it’s a promise then!” Zyl said loudly, hoping it would make Otto more likely to keep his word.

He simply nodded seriously. “Promise,” Otto said, and then walked off.

The next day, when Lucia came, they talked for much longer. She told him about places they’d seen, and would patiently correct Otto when he mispronounced words. To Zyl, it was his very first window to the outside world, and while he couldn’t explore it himself yet, he knew he could not let this chance go.

With his mind made up, Zyl hatched a plan. That day, he had run into the mansion, past all the servants, and stolen a magical item. It was a simple communication orb, a prohibitively expensive piece for most people, but they had a handful of spares lying around. Then, he gave one of the orbs to Otto, keeping the other to himself.

That way, they’d stayed in touch over the years. Now, they’d caused chaos together.

Perhaps, it was always bound to go this way. Zyl ran away from his family when he was barely an adult. Lucia lived with the priest, but mostly stayed on the road, being no stranger to sneaking away. Otto was the freest of them all, simply journeying where his heart took him, and yet, somehow, they all stayed in touch.

And eventually, they decided to meet. It was some time after Iris had ceased responding to Lucia’s letters. They were all adults by then. It was shortly after Iris had turned 20, when she’d been helping out in the orphanage. One day, she simply vanished.

For a few weeks, Lucia was unperturbed. Then, after a month, she began to panic. Eventually, when a letter came, confirming that Iris was no longer at the orphanage, Lucia went there herself, looking for her friend, and found her missing.

That day, the old wooden house Lucia had spent her childhood in, was almost reduced to a crisp. It was the day her now signature Skill manifested for the very first time.

Lucia began searching for Iris, and a few weeks later, she told Zyl and Otto. Of course, the two travelled to meet her, and began to look for clues. They found… nothing. Absolutely nothing.

This was obviously stressful for Lucia. For a while, she fled from the church, running through the countryside and living in forests. Her fancy dresses had long since been sold and replaced with travelling gear. Zyl and Otto stayed by her side, taking this as an opportunity to see the world themselves.

Yet, life was not quite so simple for the three of them.

Otto had begun changing by this point. His skin had begun cracking as he ate any monsters he fought along their travels. To him, apparently, it was entirely normal. He didn’t feel any worse, in fact, he felt healthy and said it tasted good. There were no adverse effects at all. It only changed the way he looked.

Zyl and Lucia also had their fair share of monster meat, but it never changed them as it did Otto. Perhaps, it was some Skill of his, or a mutation. He didn’t care to share details, and they didn’t care to pry. They were his friends, and to them, it didn’t matter at all.

Of course, to most other people, it was more than enough to begin hating him. In most villages they visited, Otto had to go in cloaked, with a large hood drawn over his face. It bothered him slightly, but he didn’t mind much.

Until he had things thrown at him. It didn’t help that they were in a backwater country, where people were always suspicious of strangers. When someone called him a monster, that was Zyl’s breaking point. He escalated the situation, and threatened violence.

Nothing came of it, luckily, but rumours had begun spreading soon after. New villages were apprehensive about letting them in, and they found themselves turned away at inns.

Lucia grew more and more agitated. She grew resentful of the world, of the people in it. Otto had begun withdrawing into himself, speaking less, and quietly. Instead of talking to his friends, he began to hum to himself, seemingly staring into thin air.

Zyl, for his part, became annoyed. Not angry, but he began to view himself as above the commoners again. If these people were stupid enough to judge his friend, why should he bother with them at all?

And eventually, something escalated.

They had booked a room for a night at an inn, which, surprisingly, let them sleep there. The innkeep was warm and welcoming to them, and they shared a room with three separate beds. Except, of course, things went poorly in the end.

Once morning came and the three had awoken, there were people with torches and pitchforks at their doors.

It was enough. The stress got to Lucia, and she finally cracked. She’d been irritable for months now, unable to contact someone she knew she was in love with. And the treatment of her and her friends… was it so bad that they simply wanted freedom? A bit of a break from the world? To see things, enjoy life, and hopefully rescue the person she cared for the most?!

That day, she burnt the inn down to cinders, her own tears evaporating away in the flames.

Nothing remained of the building.

No one died, they’d made sure of that. But none of that mattered to the people of the village.

It locked in their moniker for the rest of time. They were walking disasters.

They left the village, still searching for Iris, but in their travels, similar events kept repeating. Until that fateful day, when they burnt down yet another house, and the name finally appeared inside their alias.

- - -

Gritting his teeth, Zyl looked at his friends. They’d… drifted, a little, he’d noticed. Perhaps they needed some time apart? He shook his head.

“Come on, let’s move,” he simply said, and the two rose from their seats.

None of the villagers approached as they walked out, only hushed whispers and suspicious glances were thrown their way. Yet, they left the village without further incidents.

Once outside, silence hung heavily between them. Zyl was sure that the other two had noticed as well. Lucia didn’t want to meet his eyes, and Otto was simply staring off into the distance. He gave a long sigh.

All three of them knew that their time of travelling together was coming to an end. Not their friendships, certainly not, but they needed a break. To return to something more regular, something more routine.

That day, the truth seemed to cling to the air between them. They would find Iris, then return to whatever they had been doing before. It was a sad realisation, but at the same time, it fueled their purpose again.

Only a few months later, they finally found Lucia’s missing friend. Zyl had introduced himself to her. They shared stories around a campfire, which were joyous at first, then tapered off once it got to more recent events.

And then, once day broke, the group split up, going their separate ways. Of course, eventually, one silly man in a cat’s body would make them see each others’ faces again. But that was a story for another day.