Shattered Sands

[Shay Cormac]

The coat of sweat now permeating through Shay's heavy coat had the man distracted; despite having heard the threatening voice of a man only about ten meters off call the Templar out in a rather threatening tone, Shay himself took a few seconds to notice.

His mind was in an absolute daze, and walking for about an hour straight in the middle of hot, sandy nowhere didn't help that fact. Yet, he was supposed to believe the noises his brain was detecting as another human being?

No. The man thought to himself, firmly shaking his head and continuing to walk.

Of course, the voice in question didn't take kindly to this. Shay continued to look forwards upon the hazy sea of sands before him, about to walk over a steep dune, before... The voice itself got louder. More threatening.

"I'm talking to you!" the voice continues, "How dare you ignore me, mortal?!"

The Templar stops in his tracks. A moment of silence passes.

...

Yet, he does not look back. Shay Cormac, finally coming to his senses, realizes that is no hallucination his brain is having. The privateer swordsman thought the voice to be familiar upon hearing it, but up until he heard the word 'mortal' come out of the man's mouth did he realize who exactly it was challenging him.

...Enel, right? Shay scratched at his light stubble of a chin, finally looking back.

The freakish earlobes, baggy pants, sweat-induced shirtlessness, terrible fashion sense in general; it was definitely the Enel character Shay had previously headbutted quite some time ago.

Of course, Shay Cormac didn't turn around for a reason. He already knew it was the egotistical thunder-chucker from beforehand. No, he wanted Enel to see how Shay felt about him at the current moment.

Not being too direct, the Templar was seen gently loading lead balls into the barrels of one of his flintlocks. A slow bite of the paper, pouring the gunpowder down, a push of the ramrod, and finally, the projectile. Enel squinted, familiar with flintlock weaponry himself, immediately took this as a threat. In which case Enel was right, it was.

Neither of them knew, but the concepts and ways of life both Primes knew in their homeworld were strikingly similar by nature.  

In turn, it made this setting all the more unfamiliar for the both of them, and consequently, more resentful of each other. Enel knew what it was like being on the end of a mortal's gun, and the drive these creatures had against people like him. On the other side, Shay knew what it was like to face somebody on the same level as him, yet at the same time thought of themselves as high and mighty enough to ignore any notion of criticism.

Not like it mattered now, anyways. The two men found themselves facing each other in the middle of the Endless Dunes, weapons in hand. Shay slowly raised the gun up to Enel off in the slight distance, knowing he had a slight high ground. The Templar inhaled.

"I am... not sure if I am a pious man anymore," Shay came to say. He exhaled as he looked up into the cloudless sky.

Keeping his gun aimed, he continued, "but, I know you are not God."

The Templar could see the man's crooked frown. Enel wanted to be the one monologuing right now, but alas, Shay took that right away from him once more.

"Turn away and leave now, or I will shoot. If that's not enough, I will strike you down with force, for never in my life I have seen such a heartless, remorseless bastard as you."

The privateer needed no answer. He was certain the self-proclaimed God he was aiming at didn't need to answer himself, carefully observing the Templar placing his finger on the trigger as he opened his mouth to respond.

Perhaps the man was not in any place to pray, but he could at least hope. Shay closed his eyes for a brief moment, lifting his head to the sky once more.


May the Father of Understanding guide me.