"I already told you there isn't much to say anyway, but if you really wanna waste yer time, then...suit yerself."He had in fact told me, thrice. I gathered that though he had intended to tell me everything afterwards, now that the time came to do so, he found it incredibly hard to keep his word. I hadn't asked him to say anything in the first place, he brought it up himself. And now he was entangled in his own thoughts. It dawned on me then, that he had never intended to come out alive from that fight.We kept walking and walking under the increasingly crimson sky, the illusion was really over. And despite my fears, it never rained. We were passing through a thicket, as the night began to crawl in and Chopper decided that we'd stay for the night. There was a ravine nearby, I could hear the sound of a waterfall as well. Truthfully, it was a lullaby to my exhausted ears. While, I'd have preferred sleep, Chopper instead proposed we wash ourselves from the battle.I wonder what kind of r
"I don't suppose that to be a trick question", was the response Chopper gave me after a rather long pause, "...'cause I'd rather not."He'd finished getting dressed as I emptily stared at him, awaiting an answer. I ended up throwing a rally of questions at him instead, absolutely not the way I'd intended this to go."What about them? Corsen and Wolfe...what exactly happened there? And how'd she die? Why didn't you go back?"He glared at me, perhaps a little taken aback at my sudden curiosity, but gave no answer. Instead, he proposed that we should go sit by the fire. Soon as we'd accomplished that, we started dinner. It wasn't much to go on but we figured since it was our last night out, this much would suffice. We might go hunting in the morning then, I supposed."Are you thinking about something?", I asked, as we had laid down. We'd been silent for far too long and knowing that neither was getting any sleep like this, I just had to ask. Although I'd been exhausted, the supposed ans
We were walking down a quiet path in a prairie, with Chopper leading the way. Our pace, complementing our surroundings, had slowed down considerably. This was unnatural for him, but I didn't mind. Although we'd been walking in silence since this morning, only now in this utter quietude did I realize how silent we'd been for so long. The path seemed endless, with him walking in front of me. It wasn't the first time, I was left with all the time in the world to gaze at his broad back. I was seeing him as a wholly different person now. Even the snake tattoos that ran across his arms presented a completely different picture to me. Chopper usually wore half sleeved shirts, I'd noticed his clothes having ripped sleeves, even in winter. He simply preferred it that way, perhaps to display those tattoos so proudly. He had a snake swirling round each of his muscular arms all the way up to his neck where it opened its mouth as if to swallow him whole. Still, the tattoos weren't imposing and at
This man, I could only introduce in a singular way; he was a cowboy. There has never been anything more cowboy than him nor will be. As he stood tall there, greeting us with a grin, fixing his wide brim cowboy hat, with a cigar between his teeth, he indeed looked like he would ride his horse into the sunset.That, at least, was how my first impression of him went. Upon closer inspection, I found him absurdly lanky, and in need of a bath. If the place didn't stink enough, he did. This he later explained with a light hearted statement, followed by a laugh."Got 'em backdoor trots, 'aven't been out much since, y'know", he said.I knew, of course, that he had no such digestive problem but he wasn't a man you could convince in any way.In any case, after he took a closer look at us that fateful afternoon when we first entered his hut, he lost all interest, sinking back into his sofa."Nothin' but dudes...", he muttered, loud enough for us to hear him."Oi!", Chopper was ticked off.Then, a
I had a feeling that our stay with Jean V. was overdue. For one, he wasn't a very zealous host, and living with him, we were no better than vagrants. And while, I wouldn't have had a problem with such a lifestyle, I knew we were imposing on Jean V., he must have wanted to go back to his solitude. He took us around town more than a few times and there was barely any place in Montreuil that we hadn't seen. To my surprise, Jean V. had once held an important position in the city, him being the mayor. He had developed the city to one of the best industrial cities in all of Mercae during his time. Whatever led him to retire to such solitary life now, he didn't say. But I assumed that things like that came with old age. Jean V. was an interesting man. He had a huge love for booze and rarely ate. He smoked two cigars at once and rarely took off his wide brimmed cowboy hat. He had a keen interest in God and in fact, he had been better in terms of his apparel, he might have been able to becom
I didn't know if we'd be welcomed with open arms or if anyone would have even realized that we'd been gone. I didn't care either way, I was more concerned about myself. What would I be feeling going back to that place? Would I shut myself up or be strong now? Chopper had been kind enough to bring me along, that did take my mind off everything. When I was calmly allowed to think, I was able to understand everything better. Things that had happened were things that needed to happen, although they could have taken place differently. But that didn't matter anymore.Before I knew it, we were already on the trail that led to Valhalla. The trees that provided shade to the trail seemed thicker than they'd ever been. The two of us slowly walked down the path and soon the place was in view. Chopper looked over his shoulder, perhaps affirming if I was still following."I'll go see the hag", he murmured, to which I nodded.Since I was really unsure of what I should sa
"Once there was an immortal queen, the strongest on all of land. She had seized everything there was, the air, the water, the spirits and the people. But she was kind and loved by her people. The land was prosperous and there was no plague anywhere. Her people sang her praises, revered her, worshipped her and to them, there was nothing greater, and for good reason, for she had a heart of gold. Yet, the queen was bullied by the fate her family. Her house of seven, they were kind to her beyond what she could have asked for. But unlike her, they possessed no greater strength or wisdom.""The queen who had an eternity to live hated her solitude and wished that if only her house of seven, her family could live forever with her, she would preside over her land as a goddess. Riddled in her misery, she searched for an answer which came to her in the form of a sage. The sage was clad in white, with a long beard trailing behind him. He gave the queen the cure of her miserable dilemma. If the qu
"Goddamn, Lady! What happened to yer face?!", Deli cupped her face and looked closely.The execution was set to begin now. As Lady had informed us, it was in military fashion. It was to be a death by firing squad. The seats were reserved for the military officers, the execution ground looked like an open opera house. We, Valkyries, however, weren't to be seen, despite the secret invitation. We stood way back, behind the chairs, far away from where the convict was to be placed. Lady, who was in shambles, with her slapdash bandages and wounds shut close with a tape, stood up front beside Deli and Chopper. "Nothing really, I slipped!", was Lady's explanation for her condition. I hadn't held back at all, and I didn't even regret it. She'd really made an animal out of me. I bet, if anything, she was feeling victorious right now. In any case, my sole focus was on the execution site. I couldn't wait to see the face of the man who was dying such a death on someone else's behalf. "Do we re