Chapter 274: Chapter 274

He’s so cool, guy, look at him.

 

I watch as the stranger rises up the staircase ahead of me. There isn’t enough room for us to walk side by side, so I let him go first. The truth is, I just wanted to watch him without him thinking that I’m weird. There’s something about him. Something about those heavy, janking movements of his broken body that refuses to stop moving. Something about that fire that leaks out of his punctured back, something about that loose tendril of flames whipping out behind him like a hero’s cape blowing in the gentle wind -

 

I want to be like him. I want to be just like him. I run my fingers along my own back, feeling how empty it is and as I stare at the fire that pours from him, I realize something.

 

I should get a cape.

 

Oh man. Oh WOW! I should get a cape! I feel excited, thinking about it. Imagine that, would you, guy? Me with a cape. Oh boy. I wonder if I’d look as cool as he does? I wonder… I wonder if people would admire me then? If they’d respect me and want to be like me, be around me, then? I… I…

 

Lifting a hand, I press back in one of my teeth that is still loose from when he knocked me around earlier. The dungeon-magic pops it back into place. Thanks dungeon!

 

Where was I? Oh yeah, capes.

 

Only the hero gets to wear a cape, you know? I mean, it’s not like it’s a cosmic law or anything. He’s just the only one who can pull it off, is all. If anyone else does it, it seems a little try-hardy. But the hero? It’s just a part of the deal. What kind of hero would he be if he didn’t have a cape? What kind of -

 

Wait…

 

I stare at the stranger, eying him up and down, trying to find a single flaw with the leaking fire that seeps out behind him, the licking flames biting towards me as they cascade down his back, as if an animal’s warning to keep my distance. But as I stare at his broken form, at the fire that seeps out of him to flow in his wake, I find no flaw with it at all.

 

He’s pulling it off.

 

What does this mean, guy? You don’t think… no, no, that’d be silly. Right? Yeah, right. That’d be silly. It’s just a coincidence. He’s probably just a handsome guy is all. Handsome enough to pull anything off no matter what, even if it’s a cape. Ah, I’m so jealous. I wish I wasn’t so ugly. Maybe that’s why people don’t like me? Maybe that’s why he hit me when he woke up? It’s because I’m ugly, isn’t it, guy? Ah…

 

I lower my head, not looking at the stranger anymore as we walk. I don’t want him to feel my ugly eyes on his super cool armor and cape. But it’s still nice to have someone to walk with, right? Yeah. But as I walk, my eyes fall down to look at my ankles. Ugh. They’re so ugly too. I really am the worst. I’m sorry dungeon-master, I’m sorry, handsome stranger. I promise I’ll try to be prettier for you. You both deserve someone better than me.

 

I sigh. I’m really lonely, but I guess I deserve it so I have no-one to blame but myself.

 

We reach the next floor, but the stranger doesn’t stop to admire it. He just keeps on walking forward without saying a word, without sparing a single glance to look back at my ugly face. I know it sounds obvious, but the more he ignores me, the more I want him to talk to me. Do you want to hit me again, stranger? You can if you want. I’m not very useful or pretty, but you can hit me if it helps you feel better.

 

The stranger does no such thing.

 

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Trying to get my mind off of it, I instead look around the floor that we find ourselves on. There is shallow water everywhere, rising up to our ankles as we slosh through it. All along the sides of the room, giant toadstools sprout out of the water and as I stare at them, I recognize them as the same kind of fungus that’s down in the moonlight-arena where the fairy-mother lives. Ah, I hope I can be a dark-fairy again soon. I always feel safe around mama. She doesn’t care if I’m ugly and dumb. Thanks mama, you’re the best.

 

There is a loud hissing from ahead of me and for a moment I think that we have made some creature angry by intruding on its domain, some giant serpent or some strange, tiny hissing demon. But as I look over, I see that it’s just the fiery cape of the stranger, touching the surface of the water and releasing a loud, high pitched hiss as the flames and stagnant water collide, sending out a puff of damp vapor into the air.

 

The disturbed water that we tread through moves up and down, distorting the reflections of our bodies that cast out behind us, adjacent to our loose shadows and as I walk, I find myself looking at them more and more.

 

My eyes lock down onto the reflection below me, onto the familiar stranger, the other who I have met before. Hello there, friend. What are you doing all the way up here?

 

The other in the water doesn’t respond, simply walking along with me, their body beneath the surface of the water is connected to mine, as their ankles meet mine, connecting to my body where it vanishes, submerged beneath the wet.

 

I’m glad you’re okay, friend. You were in a pretty risky situation, weren’t you?

 

The other in the water doesn’t respond and I stop in my tracks, staring at them for a moment. I watch, as the hand of the reflection runs along their face, stroking a bony cheek as if to feel it out. Their head slowly turns, lifting up to look at mine, just as I do the same. What a coincidence!

 

But why are you still looking so glum, stranger? Shouldn’t you be happy? You’re still alive.

 

The stranger doesn’t respond, simply opting to stare up at me with hollow eyes.

 

What’s wrong?

 

No answer.

 

I lower myself down, letting my hands sink into the water as I kneel on all fours, gazing down at the visage below me, at the person just beneath the surface of the water. Talk to me, guy, what’s got your noggin jogging? It’s okay, you can trust me with your secrets. I’m too ugly to have friends, so I have nobody else to reveal them to.

 

The stranger tells me nothing.

 

I frown, rising to my feet. Fine. It’s okay, I understand. I hope things work out for you, friend.

 

The other in the water says nothing and as I rise to my feet, I see that the handsome stranger is already across the entire floor and starting to walk up the stairs. Hurrying, I run and rush after him before I am left behind where I belong.

 

 

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