Hidden Skill Unlocked

* reference to chapter 5

The wind, like a scythe, cut through the tentacle and the mist dissipated. I’m not sure what happened but I changed course. It’s better to kill this damn thing then check on Demi. I wasn’t excited anymore, I was angry. Luckily the mutant was also heading towards me. I sheathed my sword and then I summersaulted towards it. When it’s feet were right in front of me, I quickly pulled out a dagger from my boot and sliced the Achilles tendons. It screamed as it fell to it’s knees. I promptly stuck my dagger in it’s mouth and pushed it all the way through to the back of the skull. The body fell to the ground with a thud. Hah, hah, I tried to catch my breath. Having witnessed a mutant come back from the brink of death before, I pulled my sword out and chopped off it’s head. If it comes back from that, I quit. I pulled my dagger out of it’s mouth and then ran to where Demi lay.

When I got there, Demi’s upper body was leaning against the tree and his eyes were open. I sighed in relief. “Man, I was worried I was going to have to explain to your fiefdom how I got their Lord killed.” Demi had mentioned joking in the midst of war, so I figured I’d give it a try. Well, I was mostly joking. That really would be a bad situation. They’d probably send me to the afterlife to keep him company.

“Haha I’m still alive, I think my pride just died though.”

“Well that’s good. Pride before the fall; it’s a proverb. Shall I help you up or should I join you sitting down?”

“...take a seat. I need to assess the damage. What happened? I saw the tentacle coming towards me but then something stopped it. I passed out for a bit right after.”

“My greatest achievement and you didn’t even see it. Tch. I’ll forgive you ‘cause you’re injured.”

“Thank you, my lady, for your grace” he replied in an equally sarcastic tone.

“...”

“Okay, okay, don’t give me that look. You know the one; don’t pretend. Are you going to tell me what happened?”

“I didn’t give you a look. I’ll tell you if you answer my question first.”

“Seriously? Fine, go ahead.”

“Why did you smash it’s head when you could have just chopped it off and finished it?”

“...haaaaa because I was angry. I was fighting it, yet the thing was so focused on you.”

“Wow, I had no idea you liked attention so much. And from a mutant no less. Your taste is very...unique.”

Demi’s jaw dropped and he stared at me like we weren’t speaking the same language.

“Wha-no, just no. I was worried it would prioritize getting to you over saving it’s own life, okay? I don’t know why these mutants are so fascinated by you!”

“Last time you said you did...” I murmured under my breath.

Demi glared at me. “Are you done?”

“Uhg, so basically you were afraid the mutant would snatch me away and you lost your cool.”

“...something like that.”

Here I was, trying to figure out what the lesson is, meanwhile Demi’s pulling a Dave!* Well whatever, I guess he answered and what’s done is done. So I explained to him about the weird wind blade and my epic moves before killing the mutant...“so basically, a sword is great and all but I think I’m more of a dagger girl” I smugly bragged.

“I’ll keep that in mind. I did find out one thing though, this sword is really good.”

I turned my gaze toward the sword, that despite the flames, still looked brand new. “Well at least you know you got your money's worth.”

We were still sitting on the ground. Demi, having wiggled all ten fingers and all ten toes, found there was nothing seriously wrong. I disinfected his wound with the first aid kit that we had brought and began bandaging his shoulder.

“I don't know about you, but I'm tired.”

Demi expressed his agreement. After getting him all patched up, Demi set a fire and I cleaned up some of the aftermath of the fight. There wasn’t too much damage, but one side of the tent had fallen in when Demi and it were fighting. Luckily it wasn’t broken. I fixed it up and we entered the tent, retiring for the night.