Living Legends

Evony stared at the famous Osric Azarias wordlessly—and then, something happened that stunned her even more.

A tiny round robot whizzed out from behind Osric, floating in the air and hovering just beside the inventor's head. The robot sparkled a deep chrome silver, two tiny metal arms dangling off either side. Its face was a bright blue screen, which now depicted an angry pixilated expression—and to top it off, the little floating robot seemed to have a crooked black hat glued to its top.

"Where are the applications I sent down here this morning?" Osric inquired, perking his brow and tilting his head.

All the color seemed to have drained from Michael's face. He gaped at Osric for a moment, then began shuffling around behind the counter, mindlessly rifling through the drawers and looking positively shaken. Evony watched him, resisting the urge to snicker.

Osric sighed, quickly growing impatient. He then turned to his tiny robot, motioning loosely toward the counter. "Oliver—please search Michael's work area for the applications."

"Right away, sir," the robot replied in an oddly formal voice, one that sounded more European than robotic.

Evony watched in awe as the little robot soared over the counter, flying past Michael's head and ripping the drawers open one by one. Oliver the robot searched every drawer rapidly, his arms moving faster than Evony could blink. Seconds later, the bot shut all the drawers in quick loud slams, then flew back to its owner.

"No applications could be found, I'm afraid," Oliver reported. "Shame."

"Oh… that 𝘪𝘴 a shame," Osric muttered strangely, cocking his head again and moving closer to the counter. "What's an even bigger shame is that our dear Michael Landry has been working here for four whole years… and every December, all of his personal friends show up to do the seasonal work. Funny how that works."

Michael stared at Osric dreadfully, and Evony glimpsed between them, feeling almost enthralled by the odd confrontation.

"I smell a conspiracy, Michael," Osric uttered. "It's almost as if you've been turning away all the applicants so you can hire your friends instead."

"My friends need the work," Michael breathed weakly.

"And so do mine," Osric said insistently, giving Evony a nod.

Michael took back. "Sh-she's your friend? I didn't—I didn't know that—"

"Right, well—I'm a friend to every new face in this town, unlike 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 sour and unsavory few who shall not be named," Osric replied whimsically, flashing his weird charming smile once more. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I'm sorry," Michael sputtered. "I'm sorry, sir, I just—"

"No no no—that's quite all right," Osric cut him off, holding up a hand. "After all, we do adhere to a certain level of class—no, not class, I hate that word. Civility. Civility is a better word. We do adhere to a certain level of civility here. So get out."

"What?" Michael gasped.

"You're fired!" Osric beamed, clapping once and raising his hands as if he'd just announced the greatest news of all time. "Bye-𝘣𝘺𝘺𝘺𝘦!"

Michael gaped at him in shock, fidgeting in his stance. His eyes filled with furious tears, and he stormed around the counter, wiping his face and thundering across the lobby. He shoved the double-doors open and marched out of the building without another word.

Evony watched him go, her mouth hanging slightly agape, hardly able to believe what had happened. Osric fired him on the spot; perhaps the guy deserved punishment, but it was unsettling that Osric was so willing to fire his employees on a whim.

A moment of silence loomed over the mostly empty lobby.

Evony slowly faced the inventor, feeling more nervous than she was prepared for.

Osric calmly placed his hands over the top of his cane, smiling meekly at her, as if nothing had happened.

Before either of them thought to speak, Oliver hovered closer to Evony, extending a tiny metal arm and gently shifting her bangs aside.

Evony swallowed the urge to jump or back away.

"Oh dear," Oliver's voice echoed from somewhere inside his metal shell. "It appears you've been wounded, Madame."

"Ah—no, I'm good," Evony muttered. "I'm fine."

"Fresh from the trauma, and sporting a scar that's less than a day old—and here she is, looking for work right away," Osric grinned, offering his hand. "What's your name, my dear?"

"Ev… Evony," Evony managed, slowly returning his handshake. His hand felt cool, as they were both covered with stylish black gloves made of leather.

"Ev-o-ny," Osric pronounced, motioning with each syllable. "Excellent. Now, for the application process—oh, no, wait a second. No applications. Now, that presents quite a problem…"

"I can… I can just come back tomorrow," Evony offered, swallowing another wave of anxiety.

"Oh, no, no—see, I'm still weeding out my hateful employees here," Osric told her, raising his finger. "I wouldn't want you to run into another Michael tomorrow. You need to get this done. Ah well, I'm feeling impulsive today—let's skip to the interview."

"What?" Evony barked without thinking. "I—really?"

"Yeah, sure, why not—I'm bored," Osric said, spinning around and gesturing for her to follow. "Might as well do something productive with my evening. Come along…"

Evony forced down every feeling of surprise and nervousness, following Osric Azarias out of the room. He and his robot led her down the right hall—a wide, empty enclosure with orb-like lights hanging from above.

Osric stopped at the first elevator, his own personal one, and pressed the button, stepping inside along with Evony and Oliver. Once the doors slid shut, Osric briefly removed his glove and pressed his thumb to a square blue plate beneath the buttons. The plate quickly scanned his thumbprint, and then, the elevator began to rise.

Evony had never felt so awkward and anxious in her life. With great willpower, she resisted every temptation to ogle the inventor beside her as the elevator ascended to the top floor.

Once the elevator stopped, the doors shifted open, and Osric marched out with Evony and Oliver at his wake. He meandered down a long, gray hallway—this one completely different from the one on the first floor. It appeared almost like the outside, like a castle—fashioned of stone, rustic and practically ancient, with long narrow windows on the left, lit torches protruding from the wall on the right.

Evony glanced around curiously as she followed Osric down the strange hall, pausing only once to peer out the closest window and spotting a brief glimpse of the fantastic view above Silverhollow.

The longer they walked in silence, the more disbelieving Evony became of her sudden situation.

She could scarcely believe that she'd already made a friend, assaulted the mayor's daughter, and arrived in Silver Peaks—but now, she was being escorted straight to Osric Azarias's private floor by the famous inventor himself.

She forced the thoughts away, as the gravity of the day's events began to make her feel lightheaded…

"Open," Osric said, stopping at a brilliant emerald door.

"Open what…?" Evony mumbled.

The shiny green door began to open by itself, instantly making Evony feel foolish.

"Oh," she whispered.

Once the magnificent door opened itself, Osric strolled inside, Evony following and gazing around in awe.

This room was the most spectacular one she'd seen so far; to the left and right were two opposite doorways, presumably leading to the rest of his living quarters, but the main room was a humongous area lush with colors and décor, mounted heads on every wall and various silver and green rugs along different sections of the floor. There were several portraits hanging alongside the mounted animal heads, as well as a shiny sword positioned just above the huge fireplace. The fireplace was behind the large red desk, and the desk itself was cluttered with random things—a closed laptop, business documents, coffee mugs, another tiny robot that was in the process of being repaired, and a huge white poster was on the far right wall, one that showed a complete map of the continent of Concordia.

Osric wandered across the room and took a swig from one of his coffee mugs, then plopped down in the cushioned leather chair behind his desk, releasing a breath and stretching comfortably. Oliver floated around his master briefly before landing on the desk beside him.

Evony approached the desk sheepishly, feeling more intimidated than she thought possible. There were two chairs in front of his desk, but she didn't move to claim either of them.

"Close," Osric ordered his door, and it obliged, slowly swinging itself shut and isolating Evony inside the inventor's private quarters.

There was a pause, Evony biting her lip and scratching her nails against the sleeves of her new leather jacket.

Osric leaned father back in his chair, cracking his knuckles and propping one leg over the other.

"Sit, my dear," Osric requested. "Don't be nervous."

Evony gulped, inhaling heavily and sinking into the nearest chair, almost fearing she might miss and hit the floor. "I can't… really help it."

Osric smiled. "Why's that?"

Evony hesitated before replying. "Well… just… because. Because it's you."

"It's me," Osric mimicked in a whimsical way, his smile growing. "Yes, indeed, it is. But I'll let you in on a little-known secret, Evony. I'm just a person like everyone else."

Evony slowly nodded. "I know, it's just… you're like… a really big deal. Everybody uses your technology for everything. They have for like forty years. I thought you'd look older…"

"Oh?" Osric said interestingly. "How old do I look?"

"I don't know… thirty, maybe," Evony replied honestly. "How old are you really?"

"Oh… y'know… fifty-ish," Osric answered with a sideways nod. "Fifty-𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘦… ish…"

"What?" Evony gasped in disbelief. "No way. You look like you're barely older than me."

Osric was now slacked sideways in his chair, his legs crossed over one arm, his back propped lazily over the other. He rolled his head to the side, staring at her behind his black, goggle-like lenses and revealing a childlike grin.

"Science is a hell of a thing," Osric uttered. "Back in the day, I worked with a lot of likeminded scientists. They spanned across the regions, way beyond the American Colony. One of my best friends was a nice ol' chap who liked mixing and matching experimental life-expanding compounds. Alexander Graham—he worked for the British Military. Brilliant guy, he was. Until…"

Osric trailed off for a moment, his smile weakening. Then, he shook his head and continued.

"Well, anyway—Dr. Graham patented a serum of import. Essentially, the idea was to preserve the lives of the most important people among our many societies in Concordia. It's a despicably elitist thing to do, I'll admit—but who would say no to an age-slowing serum? Unfortunately, it's an extremely rare and expensive serum to make, and it's not easily concocted. I'm just one of the rare lucky few who got a hold of some. Granted, I'm still gonna die someday—but at least I'll live long, and at least I'll look good when I drop."

Evony let out an astonished laugh. "That's amazing."

"Yes, well… those wild days are behind me now," Osric resolved. "I suppose you could say I'm retired, even though I still run my industry from here… but it's gotten so huge and prosperous now, I needn't lift a finger. Being comfortable was nice for about a week. Now it's boring."

Evony chuckled, her nervousness finally beginning to subside. She quite liked what she knew of Osric Azarias so far.

"Well, I suppose we should get to business…" Osric yawned, stretched again, and straightened up in his seat, adjusting his hat and cupping his hands overtop his desk. "You're new in town, and that's good for trust. Just the kind of employees I need."

Evony squinted questioningly at him. "Newcomers are good for trust?"

Osric gave her a slow, single nod.

Evony wasn't able to see his eyes, but she strongly suspected that they had a serious look about them now.

"What did you do in the past?" Osric inquired. "Work-wise, I mean."

"Well… mostly, I worked in dojos," Evony responded. "But before that, when I first got out of school, I worked at my dad's cleaning company. That was before he became a writer, though."

"Ah. So you have some experience in this area."

"Yeah. And, uh… I don't know if this matters, but… I'm a master in taijitsu and krav maga. I'm guessing you don't need ninjas in here, but I figured I should tell you that regardless."

Osric laughed in a soft and lighthearted way, a way Evony might expect a child to laugh.

"Actually… quite honestly… now I know you're the perfect person to hire," Osric told her.

Evony's brows raised. "Really? Why, do you need a bouncer?"

"Well… maybe for the Convention, but that's not what I was getting at," Osric replied with a laugh. "We're getting sidetracked. Tell me, do you intend to work here seasonally? Or all year round?"

"Year round, if I can," Evony answered. "I'm willing to work as hard as possible to make that happen. Anything you need, I'll get it done."

Osric nodded as she spoke, opening his laptop and typing something she couldn't see. While Evony talked, he opened a special browser on his screen and clicked on the search bar.

"Excellent work ethic," Osric complimented her. "What's your last name?"

"Ackerman," Evony replied. "I lived in Starrylake up until now. Been there my whole life."

Osric nodded, typing the name Evony Ackerman into the search bar and hitting the enter button.

"Criminal record?" Osric asked. "Past association with extremist groups?"

"No, no… no way," Evony chuckled. "My mother was in the military, but my life's fairly normal. It's been pretty peaceful until today."

Osric surfed the web, finding the Ackerman family in the database and opening the files. He saw four files appear on his screen—each one showing pictures and bios of the living members of the Ackerman family, Terian and Evony. Neither of them had a criminal record or any history of extremist association.

"Good," Osric murmured. "Very… very good…"

The two of them spoke for about twenty minutes, mostly with the basic interview questions that Evony expected.

During their entire conversation, Osric was using one hand to type on his keyboard, utilizing his own network in order to find all available information on Evony and the Ackerman family.

Once the questions had ended and Osric slowly withdrew his hand from his keyboard, he let slip a calm smile, a softer one than before. He'd found no troubling information about Evony or her family, and the Ackerman clan didn't seem to have any connection with Silverhollow whatsoever, save for the property recently purchased by her uncles. This was good news to Osric, though he couldn't reveal why. That was a matter for another day.

"Well… I suppose that's it," Osric concluded, leaning forward and intertwining his fingers. "Would you like me to reserve you a suite on the fourth floor? For December, I mean."

Evony stared at him. "Um… why?"

"Oh, sorry, I meant to explain—many of the employees have rooms reserved here shortly before the convention in December," Osric elaborated. "The work hours are wild and unpredictable during the convention, so it's best if the employees stay here if they can. I understand if you don't want to, but if you wait too long, all the rooms will be taken. The great and the good are soon to come, too, and they're gonna fill up the rest of the rooms in no time flat."

"Okay… how much does it cost?"

"No cost for employees. Although, room service still costs top dollar, so… be wary of that."

"Wow… you really take care of your employees here."

"I can afford to. One of the benefits of being a retired millionaire."

"Okay… sure, then. I'll take a room."

"Excellent. You'll be on the fourth floor, right beneath this one. I like to keep the employees all on a separate floor from the guests… not sure why. Maybe I'm OCD…"

"I'm cool with that."

"Oh—before I forget—you'll have excellent health benefits here, too."

"Really? I've never had that before."

"Well, you have it now. Would you like to reserve your room for right now? Or would you rather wait until the beginning of December to use it?"

"Um… I think I'll just reserve it for December. I still have to help my family fix up their new house, so…"

"All right, consider it done. Do you have any questions?"

"Yeah… kinda," Evony said honestly. "We haven't really talked about the job itself. What're gonna be my responsibilities?"

"General maintenance," Osric shrugged. "If something needs cleaned, you clean it up—if some decorating needs to be done, you help decorate—and if food needs to be served, you help out if need be. Mostly, you'll be doing a lot of laundry and dishwashing until the convention begins. Once that happens, the seasonal workers will flood in to help with the laundry and dishes, and you'll end up doing a lot of decorating and party management. That sound all right?"

"Absolutely. When can I start?"

"As soon as you like."

"Okay, well—I just got into town today. Could I have a day to settle in and help my family with the house? I can start the day after tomorrow."

"That sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Although, I have to add… there's a tad more to your job description," Osric uttered, inching closer and lowering his voice. "Once in a while… once in a rare blue moon… I might need to have a personal assistant up here."

"Oh yeah?" Evony asked. "What for?"

Osric nodded sideways. "Well, just… general things. Things that I can't entrust entirely to a robot. No offense, Oliver."

"None taken at all, sir," Oliver said with a salute.

Evony didn't realize that she was giving him a skeptical sort of stare.

Osric examined her behind this thick dark lenses, then smiled again. "Oh, dear… don't worry. I don't need an assistant for any kind of… creepy… reasons."

Evony blinked. "Okay… good. Sorry, I just…"

"You're a beautiful young girl. You have every reason to be wary," Osric smirked. "But I assure you, I simply need a helpful worker at my side occasionally. That's all."

"Sounds good to me."

"Alrighty then. I just need your current address and your phone number."

"Okay."

Evony wrote down the requested information and slid it over to him. Osric gave it a once-over, then nodded at her, standing and reaching over his desk.

"Welcome to the team, Ms. Ackerman," he said with a wide smile. "And welcome to Silverhollow. I'll see you in two days."

"Seeya in two days," Evony agreed, shaking his hand. "Thank you very much."

"Not at all, dear. Good evening."

"Good evening to you, too."

Evony beamed away, utterly delighted with her turn of luck. She spun on her heel and marched out of the room, the door sliding open for her at Osric's request.

Once she was gone, and the door began to slowly ease closed, Osric remained standing behind his desk, staring at the doorway until Evony was entirely out of sight, and for a while thereafter.

"Sir," Oliver spoke up, hovering off the desk and floating in front of his master's face. "If I may speak freely…"

"Always," Osric murmured distractedly, gazing into the closed door.

"You seem to be getting desperate," Oliver observed.

"That girl is the only person I've spoken to in a very long time who isn't wrapped up in the politics of the south," Osric mumbled softly, still gazing aimlessly into the door. "I don't care where she came from. The good news is that she didn't come from here."

"But a 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘨𝘦𝘦?" Oliver pestered. "Forgive me, sir… but I hardly see how a strange new refugee could be considered trustworthy."

Osric stared into the door silently for nearly a full minute without moving an inch.

Then, he slowly turned, facing his floating robot and raising his finger.

"We'll find out soon," Osric promised. "She'll be under my watch here—and she'll be under 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 watch elsewhere. I want you to poke around town, follow her at a distance, keep an eye on her. I just wanna know she's exactly who she says she is. After that, well… maybe we can revisit the whole 'trust' idea."

"Absolutely, sir," Oliver agreed. "Though, do be careful. We don't need anyone learning of these stalker-like orders you've given me. Folks will believe you're insane."

Osric stared at his robot, his mouth unraveling into a broad, childlike smile.

"That ship sailed and sank 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 ago."

-----

Evony sauntered out of the Silver Peaks building, wearing an ear-to-ear grin.

It was unbelievable; all the terrible thoughts of the Starrylake bombing and the worrisome altercation with Bellura were gone from her mind as if they'd never existed, and now, all she could think of was the wonderfully eccentric Osric Azarias, landing a spontaneous interview with him, and being hired to work in his prolific establishment right away. Not only did she meet the most amazing inventor of the age, but she'd landed an excellent job with benefits and good pay, and all of it happened before the sun even bothered to set over Silverhollow.

Beaming away, Evony slowed to a stop when she was halfway down the wide marble stairs, not even minding the blisteringly cold air that gusted by with the wind. She pulled out her phone, her thumbs hammering away on the touchscreen as she texted her father with the wonderful news—and then, she looked up, smiling broadly and absorbing the wonderful scenery surrounding her, which appeared oddly more beautiful than it had upon her first arrival.

Every inch of ground was coated in a thick blanket of snow, wooded areas of snow-tipped pine trees on either side of her as far as the eye could see, a gentle flurry of snowflakes whizzing by her eyesight, the sun beginning to set on the horizon of the southern Silverhollow mountain. She barely felt the cold, barely felt the exhaustion of all the day's events weighing on her.

As of now, right this moment, everything in the world was wonderful.

But then, just when she took another step down the stairs, the faintest hint of a noise caught her attention—so far away, so very soft, she questioned if she'd actually heard it.

Evony paused and turned her head, gazing off to the right and squinting into the woods, where she could've sworn she heard the far-distant snapping of a twig.

For a brief moment, she merely stared into the woods in silence, her eyes darting from tree to tree, searching for any hint of movement.

Then, a figure caught her eye.

Evony froze, gazing into the woods without moving an inch.

Far amidst the forest, a dark figure appeared in her eyeshot—so far away, she could barely see it. The figure appeared to be a man, wearing a long black overcoat and a hood draped over his head. He was marching away, leaving the property of the Silver Peaks castle.

Evony sighed, staring after the stranger and thinking it odd, but not necessarily alarming. Plenty of folks probably walked to and from their destinations in this town. Nearly everything was within walking distance, after all.

She marched farther down the stairs, glancing to the side and eyeing the figure from afar.

Then—she spotted something that made her halt on a dime, something that erased every happy thought and feeling from her mind, making her suddenly forget the joy she felt after being hired by Osric Azarias.

Another figure emerged from the trees—this one bigger than the first. This man, too, was wearing a dark overcoat and a hood, though his body seemed much thicker and burlier than the other stranger's. The burly figure sulked out of the trees, emerging from his hiding spot and standing stock still in the middle of the snowy woods.

Evony stared at him from several yards away, grasping the cold metal railing and feeling a strange spark of urgency in the pit of her gut. She watched the stranger, waiting for him to do whatever he planned to do.

The burly figure seemed to be facing the same direction as the first hooded stranger, the direction facing away from Silver Peaks. In fact, if Evony wasn't imagining it, the burly figure was watching the first stranger—tailing him, following him at a distance, hunching behind trees so not to be seen.

Her suspicion was proven correct a second later, as the burly stranger began to follow the trail of the first stranger.

Evony's heart started to pound. She glanced up and down the stairs, but nobody else was around. If anyone were to act, it'd have to be her.

It was strange, of course, but what was she to do? Evony had no clue who either of the strangers were, or what their agendas could've been. But, from the looks of it, one of them was being followed by the other into a fairly isolated environment. That was a situation that could most assuredly put one of them in danger.

For a moment, she merely stood still, watching as the burly stranger faded farther and farther from sight. She must've been over-thinking. After all, how often did she really see muggings or attacks? That certainly wasn't a common occurrence.

Evony scoffed dismissively, shaking her head and stepping down the stairs. It probably wasn't as bad as she thought, and besides, there was likely nothing she could do about it.

But after a few steps—for a reason she couldn't know—she stopped dead, turning and glaring into the woods once more, this time with a peculiar sense of determination in her eyes.

True, she always thought that nearly everything was beyond her control—but she also hated that feeling, and something deep inside always wanted to fight it.

Perhaps Cally was right. Just because she couldn't fix the entire world didn't mean that all of her actions held no value.

And beyond that—if this situation turned out to be what she thought, then she'd feel terrible for walking away without helping somehow.

After all, it seemed that one of the strangers was planning to take the other by surprise.

She couldn't just do nothing.

"Ughk… fuck it," Evony sighed, extending her legs over the balcony and leaping over it swiftly.

She marched across the snow and into the snowy woods with a pep in her step, quick to follow the trail of the two hooded strangers.

For a long while, Evony simply walked, her face going numb from the cold and her hands hidden in her jacket's pockets.

She almost thought she was imagining the situation, but she quickly shook that idea away—because, as she drew deeper into the woods, she found twin pairs of footprints leading west, exactly where she'd seen the two strangers wander off.

So, Evony continued onward, trying to ignore the icy air and the steady darkening of the sky above the treetops.

She walked briskly, but quietly, staring down at the footprints left by the two hooded figures as she wandered farther from Silver Peaks, and presumably, farther from the rest of Silverhollow. Evony was sure to quicken her pace the longer she walked, hoping to catch up to the strangers in time, though she wasn't sure what she would do once she had. Perhaps she'd simply call out to the burly stranger, yell at him and gather his attention. Maybe that would alert the second stranger as well, which would keep him from being ambushed by the burly guy. Then again, maybe the two of them were just friends who planned to meet up in the woods, and Evony was simply being paranoid. It was too soon to tell.

This long, three-way tailing situation carried on until nightfall.

The first stranger—the skinnier one—finally emerged in a clearing outside of the woods, slowing to a stop and stiffening up, looking suddenly alert.

The burly stranger halted in the trees, hiding behind the nearest pine and eyeing the skinny stranger from a close distance.

Evony marched up to the burly stranger from behind, sighing heavily and feeling relieved that she'd finally caught up with him. Swallowing a bit of nervousness, she cleared her throat and called out.

"Hey!" Evony hollered, her voice echoing throughout the trees, making the burly stranger jump.

The skinny stranger turned his head and glared into the trees from under his hood, taken back by the distant voice.

The burly stranger whipped around to face Evony, backing away and looking defensive.

"What're you doing?" Evony asked, approaching the burly stranger nonchalantly. "It kinda looks like you're stalking someone. Sorry for being nosy, but…"

The burly stranger raised his hands—and Evony felt as if her heart had skipped several hundred beats in that instant.

Her eyes fixated on the burly man's hands, dark hands with thick, lumpy skin—scaly skin colored a darker green than every pine tree around, fingers stretching out in bony, craning motions, long black claws shimmering in the dim reflection of the Silverhollow moon.

Evony's body froze, suddenly refusing to cooperate with her.

The burly stranger lumbered toward her, its sharp white fangs bared beneath the rim of its dangling hood.

Evony felt as if the seconds had stretched into years, steeped in a sudden shock and watching in utter disbelief as the reptilian advanced toward her, every movement and every sound seeming to unfold in slow motion.

The skinny stranger stared at the two of them from the snowy field.

"𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘩 𝘻𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭...!" the reptilian hissed, spitting and snarling in a language Evony couldn't understand. The humanoid reptile loomed over her, raising its claws and preparing to strike—

And suddenly, she remembered how to move.

All her days of teaching and training seized control of her—and Evony took a fighting stance and delivered a quick jab to the reptilian's face, presumably where its nose was. She felt something 𝘴𝘯𝘢𝘱 beneath her knuckles—the reptilian shrieked monstrously and lunged at her—Evony stomping on his foot and jutting her thumbs into its eyes—

The reptilian roared into the twilight sky, staggering back and growing enraged.

Evony took on her fighting stance again, keeping light on her feet as her instincts took over—but then, to her horror, the reptilian lost all interest in fighting.

The burly reptile reached to its side, pulling out a bizarre round handgun and aiming at Evony—her life flashing before her eyes milliseconds before she snapped them shut—

She heard the terrifying whoosh of flames erupt from the reptilian's fire pistol, felt the heat radiating in front of her and toasting her inside her leather jacket—but as she stumbled backward, leaning against a tree and shielding herself with her arms, she felt no pain, no horrid burning sensations, and no flames engulfing her.

Evony then dared to open her eyes, peering out from behind her arms and gaping at the scene before her in absolute awe.

The skinny stranger stood firmly in front of her, his hood having fallen off, his arms outstretched to either side—pine green hair styled in a long messy fohawk, the sleeves of his overcoat rolled up to his elbows, revealing a series of deep jagged scars up each arm, all of them glowing an impossibly bright neon green.

The fire swept over his front, and he glared into the reptilian fearlessly with burning eyes of emerald, the flames seeming to distort and disperse as they made contact with him. The man didn't burn—and the fire siphoned into his arms in several rapid waves of soaring flames, every ounce of heat and energy flooding into the crooked green scars.

Evony marveled at him from behind, unable to believe her eyes.

𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦.

The moment the fire pistol ran out of fuel, the light of the fire vanished, and the skinny stranger's faint greenish complexion came into full view—his narrow face, big translucent eyes, and arms still glowing, seemingly brighter and hotter by the second.

The green man wore an intense visage, glaring daggers into his opponent as his arms shone a brilliant green, energy emitting from every scar in bright wispy waves in the air.

The reptilian charged at him with claws raised, and the green man let out a wailing yell, thrusting his arms forward and releasing all the energy at once.

An explosion of light overtook the scene—and a great green thunderclap brightened the darkness, blasting into the reptilian and throwing him off his feet. The reptilian rocketed backward and smashed awkwardly into a tree, an echoing 𝘴𝘯𝘢𝘱 bounding off the pine as the scaly humanoid flew out of the woods, rolling away and landing motionlessly in the snow.

A long, tense silence fell seconds after the reptilian landed many yards away, totally motionless, seemingly dead or unconscious.

The green man slowly lowered his arms, heaving several big breaths and still clenching his teeth. He stared at the reptilian's body for a moment, then released a heavy, conclusive sigh, the glowing light from his arms finally beginning to diminish.

Evony felt farther from reality than ever before, her head light and spinning, her vision going blurry as she gazed into the impossible man before her.

The green man slowly turned to face her, hair such a dark pine green, skin such a faint lime color, and his eyes—the most luminous shine of emerald she'd ever seen.

The sight of him was as captivating as it was unbelievable, and as she stood hunched against a tree, the shock sank into her entirely, her vision going dark as her consciousness abandoned her.

Evony slid to the side, stumbling off the tree and falling out cold.

The green man jumped, leaping forward and narrowly catching her just before she could hit the icy ground.

For a moment, he simply held her, hunching on his knees and looking utterly conflicted.

Then, he let out a deep cloud of breath, biting his lip and sparing her a softened sort of stare.

Thinking of nothing else he could do, Aldric scooped her up and carried her into the night.