A nice change in scenery

[Dane Regan]

Dane's flashback/dream can be found here: (Flashback) Usurping Command. (I swear I'll finish that thread one day.)

Dane awoke early in the morning to the smell of bacon. Sweaty clothes clung to his skin, sticky. That night wasn't the first time he'd had that dream, nor would it be the last. He'd be lying if he claimed to not have felt the slightest bit of sick satisfaction at killing Ishmir - at least, that's probably what a normal person would call it. How he was supposed to think. In truth, he couldn't care less. The world was relieved of a shitty person. He'd always held some resentment towards Drake as well for forcing his hand, but, in all fairness, the dude was just doing his job. That didn't stop him being an idiot. Regardless, that was in the past. He could bring them back, if he wanted. Clear the part of his 'conscience' he'd long forgotten and justified away, or gain the closure he wanted. Dane had thoroughly convinced himself the outcome of the battle would have been much worse should he not have acted, even if the initial steps didn't go as planned.

The real question that lingered in his mind was: should he? Should he bring them back or recreate them here? They'd get another shot at life, potentially. But was bringing back and abandoning someone he'd previously killed really a good idea? Probably not. But what could they do? Maybe they'd be thankful, and if not he'd just have to waste his time killing them again. But he didn't want to do that. Nonetheless, Dane decided for once that he should do this. It'd linger and drag on him and wear away at his mind until he at least tested it. Then maybe he could consider Ivy. In general, though, Ishmir was a crap leader, but he did follow rules at least - even if he did the bare minimum of his own thinking. Using a follower like that wasn't bad. And Drake, while being a typical brute, would at least recognise messing with Dane to be a bad idea. He was one of the later joiners to Dane's battalion, aged at twenty or so. Maybe closer to thirty. Dane didn't understand how he'd avoided military service for that long, unlike the others who were mostly much younger adults: only just aged enough to join combat. But The Kingdom had needed soldiers, so soldiers they had to be.

Who should he pick first? Could he do both at once? Probably not. Ishmir might stab him in the back while he summoned Drake. And Drake... well, he wasn't exactly sure. But, going for him first was probably the best cause of action. Maybe. Dane didn't have a prepared dialogue for this sort of situation. No one did. Or at least, he couldn't see why anyone would. So, he figured he'd just shove a bunch of information at Drake's face at once and leave him to cope with it. Not exactly a considerate cause of action, but an easier and faster choice for Dane at least.

Before making any progress towards resurrecting the dead, he reabsorbed the tent and campsite back into his Omnilium orb. He didn't think they took much Omnilium to create, but every little helped - it was better than finding out he needed the Omnilium two weeks from now. As an afterthought, he fused a small metal plaque into the side of his glorious natural creation.

This tree, does in fact, grow bacon. Help yourself. 

- Dane Regan.

He was sure many a traveller would appreciate it. Even if they still had to go to the effort of cooking it themselves, and it was seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

Omnilium in hand, Dane thought of Drake. It took a while, Dane wasn't sure how long, but eventually the buff man was standing in front of him. He wore light plate armour and had a longsword strapped to his side. His beard was bushy and black, his hair short and roughly cut, and his skin pale with a reddish tint. The only think missing was, luckily, the sword sized hole in his back.

Drake shook his head, his body wobbled, and he placed his palm on the bacon tree to balance himself. "What in His Majesty's name just happened... urgh."

Dane was just about to open his mouth before Drake interrupted. "Wait a moment... you. You killed me. You bastard. And you killed Steve." He drew his sword with one hand and pointed it at Dane, keeping the other palm placed on the tree. "Explain yourself."

"This is quite a biggie, mate. But here ya go: I complained to Ishmir, we argued, he tried to kill me. I killed him. You screamed about it so I killed you - couldn't have me getting attacked by literally everyone else in the camp now, could we? Anyway, we won the battle, the war ended like a month later. Fast forward three years or whatever and I'm in some other world or whatever with fancy summoning powers. I figured I'd use 'em to give you another shot. Felt kinda bad about it, ya know? I was gonna do the same for Stevie, cuz I don't have any reason not to." Dane did consider not being so nonchalant and informal about the whole explanation, but in his years of solitude he picked up the habit of preferring to explain himself this way, even if it wasn't the best method. It just felt easier to him to wave it all off like it was nothing, even if it clearly was not nothing. He'd always struggled taking things seriously.

"So yeah, you're alive. You can screw off and do whatever. Wait 'til I bring back Steve and screw off with him. Or you can follow me and go on a merry adventure," Dane finished, although he wasn't entirely sure if he'd really end up going on an adventure, given how he spent basically a whole day thinking about summoning stuff, and he still had questions on the topic.

Drake looked at Dane in confusion. "You've changed. You're nothing like the rash teenager I remember. But you need to relearn some respect, I can see that much."

"What makes you think that? I have respect for myself. I don't disrespect anyone 'til they act like an idiot. And if you do a smart, I'll probably acknowledge ya."

Drake shook his head. "I need to think about this... is that... is that bacon?" He looked up at the tree.

"Yes, it is. I made the tree myself. Dunno if you can do the same, though. I just sort of... made it - there's not really an explanation for it that I can give you right now. Anyway, you've got 'til Ishmir joins the party to make a decision. And he probably won't tag along." And with that statement, Dane ignored Drake and began focusing on Ishmir. Unlike the summoning of objects, when summoning people they just appeared in full after a while, rather than piece by piece - which would be both disgusting and amusing if someone stopped halfway through. Drake watched with a mix of bemusement and confusion, still visibly guarded.

A sword swung through the air, clipping Dane's right cheek. The breeze it wrought ruffled Dane's hair; only a short shift in his centre of mass was needed to avoid the blow.

Ishmir didn't look very happy to see him, and despite being lightheaded, he seemed to be able to stand fairly well. He wore loose clothes, no armour, had well-cut straight brown hair, and glared at Dane with his cold blue eyes. 

Dane jumped back to the side, Ishmir's shortsword missing by an inch this time. 

Ungrateful jerk.

Three years ago, Dane would have killed him for that, and much of him still wanted to end the feral man.

"Piss off, mate. I didn't have to bring you back from the dead. You owe me."

Ishmir growled. "I know not what happened, fool. But I know enough to spot a devil in sheep's clothing when I see one."

It's wolf, not devil. Idiot.

"You've got one minute to convince me not to kill you again. If you keep this up, you'll find out if there really is a Devil." Dane drew both his swords, dodging the strikes effortlessly.

So predictable.

Drake watched the exchange with a blank expression on his face. He didn't look like he had any plan to interfere.

Good, he's learning.

"Stay still and fight like a man. You only slew me before through trickery. Traitor." Ishmir sprouted more of his useless words, as Dane would describe them.

"I slew you because you gave me no other choice. I won the battle. I saved lives you would have lost. It was through my achievement that the village and its inhabitants were saved. But that war is over now, time has passed and we are in a different realm. You have the chance for another life here, but if you neglect to listen to reason I will not allow you that opportunity."

"Reason? Reason! You dare lecture me on reason - boy - when you barely understand its concepts yourself. My tactics and my orders. They were reason. And you defied it for some childish cause and refusal to accept facts." Ishmir stabbed his sword forwards, cutting Dane's arm. It was a small scratch, so Dane didn't particularly care.

"Five seconds until I kill you Ishmir. Stand down." Dane gritted his teeth. 

Ishmir screamed and charged forward, burying himself on Dane's now bloodied sword. Dane had no idea what the guy expected to happen. He blatantly exposed himself, so Dane took the opportunity like even a sub-par fighter would... although technically it did stop him from killing Ishmir in five seconds.

"Idiot." Dane shrugged and removed his sword as Ishmir fell to the ground, limp.

Dane felt no regret for those actions. He didn't kill Ishmir. Ishmir used Dane to kill himself, Dane thought. He had warnings, yet he still persisted. Suicide by proxy, he reasoned. 

"I guess we should bury him, eh John?" Dane turned around with a grim expression, glancing in John's direction. Except he wasn't there. 

Must have fled during the fight. I wish him luck in his new life.
We could track him down if we wanted. But it's not worth it.
He's probably going to be pretty confused for a while. Let's just leave him.

Dane dug a hole by with a shovel and chucked the body in. It wasn't neat. But Ishmir was dead, so he wouldn't care. No tombstone. Just a hole filled with a body and dirt. It wasn't pretty, but at least now the body would rot below the ground rather than above it. The thought did occur to him that the bacon tree might technically end up eating Steve-bits, as morbid as that might be.

Looking up at the sky, Dane realised it was already midday. If he moved quickly enough, he might just make it to the large city before nightfall. He had strayed from the straight route quite a lot yesterday, but the distance was not quite enough to make a large difference. Not if he ran, anyway.

Or we could just summon something to make our lives easier.
Yeah, we could summon a horse. Presumably, that would work.
Or a Pegasus? The bacon tree worked. Why not a horse with wings?
That would make flying a lot easier, but I'd still rather check out the big city before we go to the floating island.
Agreed. It's slightly closer anyway.

After writing down some notes in his book, Dane focused his mind on the image of Pegasus. A majestic white winged horse spoken of only in old tomes and mediums derived from them. Many scholars and common folk believed them to be extinct, with some more pious individuals believing them to be the carriers of their god's messengers. That one could be found in places where their god intervened to help the world. Dane wasn't really sure they ever existed in the first place. Information regarding them was too contradictory. It was more of a childish story, one to be discarded as you aged. Still, that didn't matter now, because he was going to ride one. Assuming it was similar to the technique of riding a horse.

It better be similar, I don't feel like plummeting to my doom any time soon.