Malefactor Redux

[Gildarts]

Soon after the rain had stopped, the roads entertained again before leading to a large, muddy fork. The Veteran’s eyes darted from side to side, yet, it seemed neither of the little pathways lead in a satisfactory direction. Gildarts wanted to go straight, and about ten feet up the roads, both split off into ninety degree turns, each leading the opposite way. Between the two parting roads, stood a large tree. It was prolific with spiked purple fruit which weighed heavy on its boughs. Gildarts drew close, as though he were going to pluck one himself. Then, it seemed as though he had found his answer on one of the branches, for he walked away looking quite certain that he should follow the path on the right.

Above the branches on the right side of the the tree, there was a single barren spot, one left by a traveller plucking a fruit as they passed. They had taken it from a place almost taller than his own reach, and Gildarts concluded, though he was not entirely certain, that Whompt, the great orc mercenary, had trodden on the same path.

A bird sang a somber song in the distance. It was black, and looked down rather mournfully at the traveling Prime. “Caw-caw,” it called to the empty forest air. None of its friends seemed to want to respond to it.

Gildarts looked up at it, and paused. There was not a single sound stirring in the dense thicket of trees, yet, every time he had ever heard it rain, and then cease, there was always a thrill of new life brought to forests or deserts or oceans that he had traveled. Yet, the land full of life was as still as the puddles on the ground. The prime fished out his bag, and his hand moved past Piqui’s slumbering form as broke a piece of bread from his supply and set it on the branch next to the bird.

“Thank you, caw,” it purred and its beak snatched around the savory crumb. Gildarts, like any other sane individual, was quite surprised that the animal could speak, however, he was from a land of magic, so he was not about to ask the creature how.

“Say, you haven’t happened to have seen an orc pass by here? He has two large tusks, and uh...” Gildarts had more or less forgotten what Whompt looked like.

However, it seemed this explanation was enough for the raven, who blinked and directed its beady eyes toward the prime with new purpose. It flapped its wings nervously, and its head twitched, “Yes, I saw him, but I hope you aren’t looking for him... Tha’ one’s a mercenary, very, very strong. Well known throughout the land, particularly that of Camelot. Ca-caw.”

Gildarts was no longer looking at the raven and muttered, “I knew he had gone this way...”

“Wait!” the bird squawked and straddled on his still-damp hair, it pecked at him persistently, but not with enough force to draw blood, “The orc... He was... He’s dangerous. Caw. He had an axe mounted on his shoulder, and well... Frankly, the poor brute looked mad. Madder than you, walkin’ about in the rain, though I wouldn’t coun’ him out either. Caw-Caw.”

Gildarts didn’t seem to mind his hair being mangled by the bird, and it sat complacently perched, as though his head had become its new nest. Both their heads bobbed with the sway of Gildarts’ step, and Gildarts offered no response. His eyes tore through the brambles that had grown over the path, and his avid focus practically sliced through the entire messy tangle.

“Didn’t you hear me? Caw-caw! A madman!” the black bird flapped its wings as though it were going to lift Gildarts up with the strength of its wings and its knees, but Piqui finally poked her face out of the bag to see what the commotion was about. A smile curled on her lips as she greeted the new friend, yet the bird’s feet got tangled in its frenzy of trepidation, “C-Cat!? A cat? STAY BACK FOUL BEAST!”

The raven’s wings extended outward and its talons freed themselves from the nest of auburn hair, just in time for cat to have wriggled out of the bag completely. Its sleek black feathers vanished beyond the canopy of leaves and Piqui tilted her head and waved her own wings on her back dismally. “What was that about, and why didn’t he want to stay?”

“I believe, it is because cats and birds are mortal enemies, it didn’t see your wings and took off before you could pounce, I think it assumed you were hungry,” Gildarts finally said.

“Cats... What is..? I’m an exceed, Gildarts, you know that,” Piqui pointed this out, but went back to wiggling her wings. She even managed to float for a few seconds before stumbling to a fall on Gildarts’ shoulder and gripping into his shoulder with talons of her own.

“Now Piqui, I’m going to need you to keep your distance for a little while, I can’t risk you getting hurt, not when I don’t exactly know what is coming next. I can only guess...” Gildarts had that old, wise look about him, one that extended beyond even his forty years of life.

“Y-you’re going to leave me? In the forest... All alone? It’s going to be night soon...” her eyes became very large as she gazed up at him. The day before, they had just talked about weakness and strength. Now, it seemed like Gildarts did not care about the feelings in her heart after all.

However, Gildarts set down his bag and sat down right in front of her with his legs crossed, “What would make you feel safe, then?”

Piqui looked confused, “Uh...”

“Well, I can’t bring you where I’m going, because I don’t know what will happen, but my gut is telling me I’ll soon meet the Malefactor that we’ve been chasing. But it’s also telling me, there is something I must face before I am able to get there. Piqui, when I was in Camelot, there was a magical buildup in my body, and it still continues, yet for some reason, it is slower when you are around. I may need the buildup this time, in order to use it to my advantage.”

“What happened... In Camelot, Gildarts?” Piqui whimpered.

Gildarts’ expression looked as though he had just been pricked with a blade, “Before I knew it, an entire village had been destroyed. This has happened before, but on much more minor scales. I’m probably more dangerous than half of the things in this forest. So, does that make you afraid of me? I could slip at any moment. This is why I travel alone. It is why Ambrosia is my home, but I cannot stay.”

“You... You...” the cat couldn’t find the words, and he wondered how much she had actually pieced together, since she was still quite young and rather naive.

“I wield crash magic. It is incredibly dangerous,” he picked up a deadened branch from the floor of the woods and held it in his palm for a moment. When he was sure her eyes had fixed on it, he let a white light flash in his palm, and suddenly the branch was no more. Instead, cubes an inch in length littered the ground around him.

“Gildarts...” the exceed sympathized with him, “How long have you wielded crash magic?”

“Hm, long enough,” he muttered mostly to himself.

“Wait... Did you ever... Y’know, have a family? A mom an dad? A wife?” Piqui may have thought that Gildarts was only a marauder since his arrival here in the Omniverse.

It seemed, however, that he had some discomfort with one of the words she had said, “I have been traveling and honing my skill since I was young. You can’t exactly stay and grow up in a village if, at any moment, you could cause something very bad to happen. Plus, people would know it, expect it, and I don’t much like it when others think they can know and judge you based off of only a part of you.”

“A box.” Piqui said finally.

“Hm?” Gildarts had risen to a standing position now.

“Will you summon me a box? I also want this box to be able to turn invisible.”

“How will I find you, then? After this is over?” Gildarts asked, looking rather worried, both about his magic, and the well being of the kitten that he had met in the dunes not too long ago.

“You needn’t worry about that, because I’ll find you.”

Gildarts didn’t think about how a kitten exceed was going to find him in a huge forest, and contemplated this for a moment. He could summon a vehicle to bring her back to Ambrosia, but he did not know if this was wise, he didn’t trust transportation usually, and preferred to use his legs. Someday, her wings would carry her far, but for now, they were too small, and they would not be useful in this situation.

He had no choice but to believe her, and despite his better judgement, he had summoned her supplies and gave her a map, “If I’m not back in a few days, you should go back to Nekui’s village, it isn’t very far if you take this route,” his steely finger pointed and Piqui nodded up and down, yet she did not seem like she would have to resort to this, in fact, she seemed certain of it.

“Good luck Gildarts.”

The Prime looked down at her bulletproof enforced, invisible box as she suddenly disappeared from sight, in it he had summoned her a track phone, emergency supplies, and a few other things. Each of them would now part until Piqui, in her mysterious ways, promised to find the Prime once more. As he stepped away, he had an uneasy feeling of doubt squirm in his stomach as he contemplated leaving her, and tried to memorize the spot. He concluded only one thing as he took his first step. This was wrong.

Gildarts picked up his phone now, and decided that Piqui could not be left alone, and if that meant calling someone to find her, and look after her, that is what he would do. “Hey, Piqui,” Gildarts knocked on the box, “I just called Nekui requesting he send someone from his village to get here. His fastest ninja. If I wait a couple of hours here with you, he’ll be here to take you back to Kimichi Village.”

“Hmm. So no box?” Piqui surmised.

“Oh you can keep the box too, I just think this is best, that way you can spend time with the villagers and you don’t have to worry about getting lost in the forest, it’s not a hard thing to do, after all.”