10 – Don’t be a Hero

I rose to my feet, my back warmed by the glow of the afternoon sun, and took the time to inspect the last tile I’d slotted into the once-broken roof of my house. Getting new tiles hadn’t been cheap but Tiode’s mason was willing to treat me with some fairness.

“Well now,” I said, giving the tiles a small nudge with my heel. The slates remained firmly in place. “Smoke, I daresay I could have made it as a builder in another life.”

The cub, down below, let out a long and deep meow.

“I’m glad you’re so agreeable, my dear lad.” I didn’t need a ladder, it was trivial for me to hop off the roof and land neatly on the dirt that surrounded the house. Smoke padded over and I took a moment to reach down and pet behind his ears.

Didn’t have to reach too low, the little bugger was sprouting up like a weed. The regular milk we’d been getting from Tado had the hellcat growing bigger and broader, lean muscle gradually taking shape under his coat of glossy black fur.

I didn’t particularly want to share my land with anyone, but Smoke was the exception.

“I have to head into town,” I said, rising to my full height. “We’re running a tad low on meat, thanks to a certain someone. You stay here and keep watch, alright?”

Smoke gave me a long, mewling meow. Even his voice was a little deeper now, the sound ephasizd by a rumbling purr in his throat.

He stood to attention, like a little soldier, and watched me as I stalked off to the gate. Odd little fellow. If he wasn’t a wildcat, I’d think he had a little extra wisdom in his head.

Father good. Father feed. Father give milk.

Thoughts formed in the cat’s head, hazy and ill-formed things that were fighting to break through the dull molasses of an undeveloped animal brain.

Bit by bit and day by day, a consciousness was starting to crystallize inside his head. Not every animal exposed to an aura of qi on a daily basis could be expected to evolve, it was something of a rarity.

Smoke, well, he was just part of rare breed.

Perhaps, without even realising it, some primal instinct had directed him to the power that faintly radiated from Eamon’s body.

Protect Father, Smoke thought to himself, his sharp eyes quietly scanning the expanse of his acres. Protect home.

As soon as I entered Tiode I could tell something was off. Maybe it was something to do with the magicka that perpetually burned in my body, giving me senses beyond the norm. Maybe it was simply years of combat experience leaving me with taut nerves, easily tugged.

But whatever the case, as I walked through the dirt road, I couldn’t help but notice how… empty and quiet the whole village was. Even the fishermen had left their boats moored.

I set my jaw in an irritated grimace.

It was nothing, I tried to tell myself. Just a quiet day in a quiet village.

Still, I would be lying if I said the eery quiet and solitude did not put me on edge. Particularly when I passed one house and could not shake the sensation of someone leaning up to watch me from the corner of a window.

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Without even thinking, old instincts coming to life in my body, I found myself slowly clenching and unclenching my fists. A tingling sensation ran down my arms, resting in my fingertips. A roiling power that threatened to burst forth if I was threatened.

And then I heard it. The familiar sound of fists hitting flesh, of pained cries, joined soon after by the shrill scream of a terrified woman.

Don’t get involved, you stupid bastard, I told myself. It’s none of your business, whatever it is.

And yet my body was already in motion, running swiftly across the main street of Tiode. Another scream caught my ear, panicked and pained. Like so many screams I had heard during Novos’ campaigns.

You hypocrite, you stupid fool. How many people screamed in terror because of you? Why didn’t you try to aid them? Growing a conscience, playing at hero? Don’t be an idiot. Don’t be a hero. You came out here to be alone, to live a peaceful life. Don’t ruin it.

That voice in my head had a point.

But… I was not the man I had been before. Or at least, I did not want to be.