The Adventures of Mr. Dirge & Lady Freckles [ Part VII ]
Parts: [I] [II] [III] [IV] [V] [VI] [VII] [VIII] [IX] [X]
My mouth started heating up while we were kissing. She pushed me off of her to the left and spat out golden fires. Cloud-shaped, smoky and bright yellow colored flames; they flew out from just in front of her mouth. Slicing through the air. Instantly, the flames fried the few remaining zombies behind me to a crisp. It seemed some of the zombies had escaped my attack, or hid from it.
“I've missed you” she said, her eyes fixated on my left arm. I looked down at my left forearm only to see that a spiral had drawn itself into my skin. Right below the inside of my elbow. Three spirals spun inside each other forming a fourth from their unison. That spiral was more of a maze than anything else. With the center appearing as though it belongs to a different maze from elsewhere. For some reason, I felt like it had something to do with Seriph. All around my body, my skin started itching. Suddenly, other markings started appearing. And with every new one, comes the pain of it burning itself into my skin and the knowledge it carries with it. Lost in a rollercoaster of pain and realizations, I finally passed out.
I woke up at the mouth of a cave, carved into a rocky mountain. I looked around and realized that I was in a cave on the lateral side of that mountain, right on the shore. A huge rock that sat on the shores of a massive sea. All around there was nothing; except for other caves and open tunnels all across the lateral face of that rock. An overwhelming feeling of familiarity struck me. Crept up on me at first, but shortly I remembered. However, it felt different, abandoned. I turned around expecting to see what was there; a blacksmith’s workshop. I saw a note on the table, picked it up and read.
“I will be back, don’t leave” Signed Freckles.
In the meantime, I thought, I’d work on my blade. Something needed to be added to it, I knew what it was. I engraved lines on the lateral width of my blade; dividing it into sections. I made two equal sections at first then bigger sections as I went up the blade. After nine sections, the length of my meter-long blade was used up, except for the twelve centimeter section that is the tip of the blade –even though the tenth section should have been fifty-five centimeters but there was not enough … “blade”.
“What are you doing?” Freckles came in from one of the tunnels asking.
“Minding my own business,” I replied jokingly.
“Better; I miss you too, by the way”
“Good … Dirge, There is something I need to tell you”
“I know, and I know. I met Rei.”
Before I could finish my sentence, Freckles grabbed my neck from one side and sat on top of me. We started kissing and slowly undressing –as hard as it was not to rip her clothes off. Her dark golden hair to her left side, and my mouth latched on the right side of her neck –both naked- she starts rocking her waist back and forth. Even the rocks in that cave envied her moans out in echoes. That sound that I had missed so much. And the trailed memory of her nails down my back start itching; moments before her hands reached back behind my shoulders to tattoo her lust into my skin. Injecting me with a drive that shook out existence, making me feel like a god.
“I need to go now; there are some issues I need to resolve with a certain zombie general. Dirge,”
“I know; you need to go alone. I understand.”
“You didn’t even need to say that.”
She kissed me, turned around, ran and leaped out the mouth of the cave; falling down only to fly back up as a dragon. Dark gold scales covered her body. Her eyes were the same yellow color as her flames, shinning as she flew off over the sea. Charly came in from one of the tunnels, knowing exactly what I was about to do. I unsheathed my blade and spun my command into letters on the ground below me. I ran and jumped. I started falling really fast, blade in hand. But with distance, it seemed my speed was decreasing, as though gravity is no longer what is at work here. Exponentially, I started slowing down until my feet touched the water’s surface as though it was just a simple step. Even Charly followed me down the same way. I looked up at the sky, saw where Freckles was flying off too, and started running. My blade hung held by my left hand, dragging it on the surface of the water to create a thin trail behind me.
I felt it was time to play. To see how far my skills have come. Just in time, the zombies start rising up from the surface. Charly was angry, I can feel it. The hairs on her back stood up, which told me she was nervous. Her tail was straight up, so I knew she wasn’t afraid. I pulled out my gun with my right hand as I kept running, picking off the zombies one by one like they were sitting ducks. The speed at which I was aiming, firing and re-aiming was something that I did not comprehend. It just happened as though instinctively. I can feel some of my movements fully, but other movements felt like merely ripples coming out of previous movements. Like an echo that knew exactly what it needed to do on its own; a delegated, conscious shadow of a move.
Charly took out the remaining zombies by snatching off their necks and dropping their heads. With less of them around, two objects came to my focus. Straight ahead, in the distance, I saw an island in the same direction that Freckles was heading in. But her flight was much faster than my running. Not to mention all the zombie trouble holding me back and slowing me down. The other thing I saw was a huge zombie, in my path. Easily twice my size, he looked exactly like the other zombies but bigger. His skin had a very blue-ish hue; it was covered with a layer of wax as though it was laminated. It had an almost plastic shine to it. His eyes were grey and dull. His jaw was massive, bloated and full of green scars. He had dark green teeth — sharp and serrated — pushing out of his mouth. Long and pointy fingernails, yellowish in color and sickly; in-between his fingers there were connective tissues, probably to help him navigate underwater. Slits from his gills start right below his ear and slit below slit they trace down to the top of his back from both sides. The further down the slit, the bigger it was. He only wore ripped jeans and was barefoot.
Without thinking first, I went to strike him down with my blade. But he was quicker and bigger. He slammed the back of his left hand against my right shoulder shoving me off my feet. I crashed and broke the surface but kept sinking. I started twisting my blade in the shapes that the Shamans had taught me. Spiraling, I come back up breaking the surface and landing a couple of blows on the beast. I dropped down and landed on the surface, floating. I realized that I had severely damaged one of the beast’s arms; his left one. I rush towards him again in a dash. He managed to dodge my attack. But my blade was changing. It seemed that every time I slice the beast, one of the sections starts glowing in a light shade of blue. I swung my blade upwards slicing the beast at his side. The ninth section on my blade lit up. Before I can even understand what that means, the beast grabbed me by the neck with his right hand. I pointed my blade to his throat, but it fell short. The beast laughed “hand too long, blade too short”. In a second, I understood what I had to do. I stood still and channeled my energy into my blade, now in my right hand. As soon as I opened my eyes, I looked at the beast and smirked. The tenth section of my blade, extended from twelve centimeters to fifty-five centimeters, crushing through the beast’s neck. He didn't make a sound. He just died, and drowned.
I reach the shores of the island; I could see how Freckles had a Sunday barbecue with ‘zombie’ on the menu. The entire shore was covered with crispy zombies. I laughed; I knew Freckles never needed my protection. I just can’t let her have all the fun. What else am I going to do?
A massive metallic pyramid stood in the middle of that island. I knew it was where I had to go. Charly comes running by my side as I step into the woods, heading towards the pyramid…
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