Chapter 20: Watch your step!

Valeraea the Younger, Valaea for her friends, was yelling loudly at Aereis. Who could only stand there and take the brunt of the Captain's anger.

I could not care less, I was dragging myself from the sand and dusted myself off. The young guard helped me up and told me that he was named Slaido, which sounded like a pretty badass name.

My vocal cords allowed me limited permission to speak. But then again, my brain was pretty much a strawberry milkshake right now.

Slaido simply asked me to follow him to the barracks.

That sounded like a good idea: I really needed a bath, and new clothes. And, almost out of habit, I ended up in my underwear again!

Like a zombie, I followed him close behind with my eyes almost closed.

With a groggy head and heavy eyes, I awoke from my slumber. Apparently I had fallen asleep after or before getting in the bathtub.

Two large jet black, pupilless eyes looked at me with an intentive gaze; these eyes were not human.

I looked around the big eyes and saw that they were surrounded by a dark brown and wrinkled face with monkey-like features. It appeared to be a primate and I gazed upon him without moving.

Suddenly the ape showed his teeth in a big wide grin, and started to massage my scalp. It felt more pleasant than I hadanticipated, and I was shocked when I realised that I lost my big bushy afro!

''Good morning to you to, Sunshine.''

I looked beside me, a pair of red eyes looked at me from the shadows. I quinted my eyes a bit to see who it was: It was Slaido.

I sighed out of relief and did my best to get my head sorted out.

''I am sorry to say, Heiro; we were unable to save your curls. I hope you can live with that.''

I looked at my side. My head was indeed a lot less wooly than I was a short while ago. Not only was my hair trimmed down to a buzzcut, my face was shaven as well.

Making me look even younger than I already did!

The ape in the mirror had really light fur, and very long arms. He appeared to be a tree dwelling sort of primate.

The ape was finally done with massaging my scalp and jumped away from the bathtub. He walked over to Slaido, making haggling movements at him.

Slaido laughed and gave him a big tropical fruit. After accepting his payment, the tree-dweller left through the window, leaving us to our own devices.

''Did you cut my hair, Slaido?''

I asked the young guardsman. He laughed and told me that the barber just left.

I was without words; my hair got done by an animal. With a sigh I dissappeared into the sea of bubbles. Giving in to the fact that this world was getting weirder and weirder.

My lungs were starting to burn while I was underwater. I did my best to get my head in order, but there were too many things that did not make sense.

Ah, well.. Time will answer my questions. I resurfaced from the bath, and pulled the plug from the tub.

The drainpipe instantly got clogged by my thick curly hair. I sighed as I tried to unclog the drain with my fingers.

''Don't worry, Heiro. I will take care of that. Normally I am the one who does the barber's work here. But.. your hair is so hard and tough. It feels like cutting through metal wire.

So I asked my friend, the Gentleman of the Forest, to help me out.

I raised my eyebrows a bit; it is true that my hair is rather thick, but my mom can cut it easily with her barberset.

Realizing that I was standing naked in a bathtub with my hands full of hairs. I tried to cover myself up by grabbing a towel.

Making my hair fly all over the place. I sighed, stopped trying and dried myself off.

''Don't be too shy, Heiro. These are the barracks. We have nothing to hide from eachother here.''

Slaido pulled his vest over his head. I could instantly see what he meant; there was a big scar running from his lower side all the way up to his collarbone.

''How did you get wounded like that, Slaido? You must have fought a champion or general to get a scar like that.''

Slaido laughed and coughed while laughing.

''A general.. haha, I wish that were true, Heiro. No, this scar is a reminder to the smallest monster in their arsenal.

This wound was made by a Glaive Mine, the smallest creature in the Underdeep Armed Forces.''

''Underdeep Armed Forces?

Who are they?''

There were so many questions in my head, but I needed to get dressed. So I left it at that. Slaido told me that he was at the frontline during the Second Carapace War.

He was the standard bearer of his brigade. Eager to show his men what real courage looked like, he went over the top of their dug-out.

The first step that he made was upon a Glaive mine, which blasted him with a jet of water, destroying his armor and the left side of his torso.

I gulped upon hearing this; there was not only a war going on, but the enemy knew how to fight dirty as well.

''How did you survive such a vicious wound, Slaido?''

A lesser man would have been dead a long time ago. Slaido gave it a thought, trying to dig through his memory.

''Camouflage was the one that saved me; he pulled me back at the last second, saving me from a fatal blow. Afterwards he rolled me into a carpet and carried me to the Medics.''

Now I was getting flabbergasted; Camouflage was a war veteran. It explained the scar on his face, I think.

There was no time for further questions, as someone knocked the bathroom door gently with the message:

''Lunch is ready, I hope you two are too.''

It was Valaea and she sounded a lot more relaxed than before. I sighed in relief, hoping that the lunch would be without any complications.

Slaido reached into his pocket, taking out a small vial with a yellow hue and drank a few drops from it.

I tried to walk over too him to see what he was doing. My legs were still feeling busted from the wild ride on Maisy.

With a smile Slaido gave me his bottle.

''It is just a simple painkiller, you look like you could use some.''

I took the bottle and took a sip. It tasted very strange and had an oil like texture. I let it slush around in my mouth until it became more fluid and I swallowed it.

There were no noticable effects, yet.