Golem of the Crimson Heart

"That's what you call unhurt?!" was Galen's sarcastic/angry remark when he found me next to Lili's corpse. "Why did you let her do this to you?"

I just...didn't wish to...kill your friend. I answered him.

"Lili was complicated...we were never on the same page. I can just say we knew each other." but Galen lets out a deep sigh. "Anyway, let me help you."

Just bring my leg back please. It's by the nest.

Galen wasted not a second moving his old bones and grabbed Nyx's broken leg. "So you just sticking it back on or what?" Galen asked, feeling a little uncomfortable holding his friend's leg up. 

Something like that. I was pondering at the state of the stump in my hand. Putting it back, the shin was relatively okay, but the non-existent femur and thigh looked a bit broken. Mean-looking ass cracked. I fix the leg in the right place and mend it. It looks like crap from every angle.

"Does it hurt?" asks Galen again.

No. I just know it's broken. Along with the rest of the things in my body. But it doesn't hurt. I just feel them. Like feeling something over your skin. Saying it, I get back on my feet but find myself in a handicap. My leg was attached, but I couldn't bend my knee. 

Galen looked a little worried. "Grow back? Your weird flesh I mean." 

Just once I have a bit of blood. But yeah, then it'll fix me. I've done it before. Fingers too. They grow back, I think. Showing him my left hand, now only having the thumb and index fingers.

Galen's worry suddenly diminished and he straightened up. "You had the strength to hurt her. But you didn't want to. That was good from you."

Galen declares, pushing the dirt with his staff. From that place a stem started to grow, then thickened. It looked just like the one Galen carried. "It's not magic, but take it, let it help you back home."

Thanks, Galen. I need a feather too. Proof that their problem is over. With my good hand, I pull a feather and secure it in my pocket before I grasp the staff. I should get back. Mind helping me down? I asked of him.

He nodded as he lifts me over the edge of the ridge and dropped me to the ground. Galen just let himself land on his feet with a little dum. "It took a lot of courage to come out here. You said you wanted to live simply. Simple men do not go out alone ,hunting such beast."

I guess not. 

"I suggest you try to learn to fight. Who knows, maybe you'll need it, maybe you won't spend the rest of your life here in Elth." He now lowered to one knee and leaned closer to me. "Maybe, eh?" he tapped me on the chest with his finger. 

Now Galen became to speak in rhyme. Like he'd eaten mushrooms. You think so? You know I have to wait for...

But Galen interrupted me. "Maybe you do. Maybe not. But let me tell you." We both started walking now. "When I first laid eyes on you I could see it. All the colors of your soul, shimmering one after another. Your power. Resilience. Are you okay staying here, being alone? Not seeing the world?" 

His whole speech was starting to eat me up on the inside. What the hell are you talking about, Galen. I rebuked harsher than necessary. Compared to humans, I'm a freak, now and before I was 'reborn' . Only reason I have work is because I'm strong and my boss's a dwarf.

"YES! YOU ARE STRONG!" But Galen stops, leaning against a tree. "But maybe not strong enough to see the task through." He says worriedly this time. "The truth of this whole nonsense rests on you. And the truth stands true if there's someone to bear it." He points ahead, beyond the bushes. " The way to town is straight ahead."

What's all this, huh? You're very judgmental today.

"Eh...I'm sorry... I'm just worried about this whole evil deity thing and stuff. Sounds awful in all prospects." he said, his tone of voice mixed with concern as well as a hint of hope. 

I answer nothing to him. Because there's nothing to answer. I don't have one. So I just walk away. 

------------------Noon same day------------------

Walking around with a bad leg and a crutch was a pain in my ass. I was right. Galen was wrong. Two carts passed me on the way to town and neither man would let me get on.

Money does all the talking. I pay where to stay, now I work for 'em, and now I gotta pay for blood as much as some get paid for a month!! That ain't fair!

AAAAAAAAGH!!!!

I forge a shriek,but only manage to do little goofs and let myself fall on the side of the road. The uphill sucked. My life sucks. Everything in this world sucks! 

I now was just pulling my hair, trying to make sense out of all this mess. I was alone, damaged, hurt. Galen's fucking right.

I eventually stop after a few minutes of embarrassment of being seen on the street as a madman. With any remaining mental strength, I get back up and carry on. I just need a pint of blood and I'll be all right. That's all. Panic ,because I'm hurt and alone and probably subconsciously hungry. No fuss.

---------------------Half an hour later-------------------

Houses from outside the town would appear and after them the wall would appear. The spires were visible from a distance, but the closer I got, only the wall remained visible. Right now there was no one at the gate. Only five guards were stationed.

"I know you." says one of the guards. "You work for Floyd. Work injury?" the man asks curiously.

He couldn't see half my face because of my hair and clearly my chipped hand. But I surprise him, pulling out the griffon feather and throwing it at his feet. I wait while the man tries to figure it out. "Did you kill the beast? Single-handed?" he says in amazement.

A nod is all I give him and I leave on my way to the hospital.

---------------shortly before the evening-------------

HOW MUCH LONGER DO I HAVE TO WAIT?!?!?!

Those bitch nurses have been keeping me here for hours! I told them I had business with that man Olsson, but they just told me to wait, not caring for my battered state. God, what I wouldn't give to break something. But even though I was getting angry, I still had to keep my cool. Yet again, children and old people were milling around the waiting room. There was no need to scare them at all, especially the children.

Scare. Scare one of these vermin nurses. Yes..

I walk from my spot over to the desk where this time there was another woman. But as before, she also looks at me sideways with amusement. No time for small niceties. I just reach across the desk and grab the opposite edge of the table, near where she rests her elbow. My fingers tear through the thin wood. From neutral, to scared, and now worried for her own safety, the girl shrinks.

At this point I'm not even interested in her permission. Here was just a warning not to fuck with me again. 

--------------------------------------------------

Knocking on the door was already annoying. Wasn't he here? Or maybe he was in the hospital, looking for a patient's needs. I let out a heavy sigh and put myself back in a chair. I don't need to think about it. I just have to wait. I just need to rest a little. 

The consulting room was at the bottom of the hallway, so everyone who didn't have business in here didn't even pass me. But I could feel people coming and going. My eyes were closed, but I wasn't oblivious. As always, this sense of mine kept me sharp. Some people were getting closer. Three men. Wakening, I took a good look at them. Olsson was among them. 

He saluted his colleagues and moved to me. "Any bar fights recently?" he jokes at me, clearly pointing out about my eye and missing fingers. He unlocks the door and I enter, sitting down on the mattress. "Same fix?" But I nod no. In a joking gesture, I show him my left hand, only having two fingers. "My, aren't you a comedian." He chuckles sarcastically.

Olsson opens what I later learn is a fridge. Some box rigged with magic runes to cool the inside to keep the blood as fresh as possible. He pulls out two bottles exactly like the first one I took. But now I don't take them to go. I just open the cap and drink the blood one at a time. Olsson just stood a few feet away from me, hands behind his back and waiting to be paid. The snake.

I stop, completely consumed blood. He just smiles. Doing the opposite of what Floyd kept telling me and the guys, I was still carrying money with me to work, but not everything I have.Only had six silver. 

I give him the money. He counts it for one second before complaining. "Hey! We already settled that.." But I don't listen. I get back on my cane and move toward the door. "You know, I'm risking my neck by doing these." 

At his little plea I just give him a brief glance out of the corner of my eye before I go out. 

And I'm paying you, you dick.

--------------------Later -----------------

Lamps flickered in the wind and the silence haunted the streets. The nights grew colder. But I think winter was weeks away. A couple of guards were hawking me but I ignored them. Stupid men. Stupid humans.

Back inside at Silvia and George's inn, a light was shining from the small room set aside for the guests to eat. Turning the corner, Sylvia had an angry look on her face, apparently cleaning George's wounds. He was covered with bruises and a busted lip. Definitely from a fight. Looks like this time the doctors down at the fighting club didn't do their job right or at all. 

The woman turns to me, somewhat startled by my facial complexion. The small mirror on the wall shows my eye, in the process of fixing itself. Checking my hand, I see that my fingers slowly grow back, having only a phalanx of each finger at the moment. "Dear you two, did you both get beaten up in the street?" she asks nervously. Ah...so George lied her, or he really got jumped by some thugs. 

I deny her hypothesis and sit down in front of them on the bench. My brain was so tired and I was just leaning on my elbow. They were both blabbering about their problem. I didn't understand but they stopped before they elaborate and just continued. "I haven't seen you since you left for work yesterday morning." George opens the subject.

I nod at his statement. Pulling out my notebook and...half a pencil, I map out my adventure on paper. 

"Killed the griffin." George reads. "Wow, wow, cool." he says somewhat shocked and half smiling. "Somebody just got a little richer. You know, you could have told me. I had some stuff that might be helpful. A bomb...or...eh, just a bomb." he giggles before Silvia punch him on the shoulder.

"I thought you got rid of all of those!"

Wait..rich?