Chapter 191

Catharsis

The dawn arrived relatively quickly after the Third Prince’s disappearance; Cain and his group never faced another wave, prompting them to disperse and help around. Nobody seemed to have died by the time dawn arrived, and Cain estimated that the increased difficulty was almost entirely due to the Prince’s arrival which should have been triggered exclusively because Cain was here.

As far as the Quest rewards went, everyone got at least some experience, with the highest contributors also receiving a few items. Cain, naturally, was at the very bottom as he barely even fought -- at least outside his mind. For most of the battle, he ran simulations in his head over which skills would work and which wouldn’t. As such, shy of his brief participation in the battle against the Prince, he’d done virtually nothing, not even earning enough experience to push him to the next level.

“I always knew you were lame,” he knew the morning wouldn’t go without jokes, and knew even better that they would start with Senna. “But... this is a whole new low.”

“I’ve got a great burn I’ve been thinking up ever since we entered,” Cain said with a faint smile. “So, guys, just remember: whoever goes the hardest on me, will be the target.”

“...”

“...”

“I’m pretty sure that dog that kept barking contributed more to the battle.”

“A dog? How about that fly that accidentally got in our way and died? I think even she contributed more.”

“Why go to the living things? I’m pretty sure sand itself contributed more.”

“Moonlight...”

“Stars...”

“Invisible black holes...”

As the scale kept growing and furthering, Cain could only chuckle, taking out a bottle of water and freshening up. The onslaught continued for about five minutes until they apparently ran out of jokes.

“You guys done?” he asked.

“... damn, did we really blaze through all of them so quickly?” Senna pondered aloud.

“We did go pretty ham at the start,” Emma said. “Kinda hard to put a lot of variation on the whole ‘you didn’t do jack shit’ concept.”

“Ah, so you are done? Okay, my turn--and since I honestly couldn’t be assed to keep the track of who went ‘the most ham’, I’ve adjusted my burn so it applies to all of you!”

“Can’t believe you actually called it a ‘burn’ aloud,” Senna cringed. “You’ve automatically disqualified it from being even decent.”

“Yup, no matter what, it will come out lame.”

“Come on guys, just gimme a chance--okay, listen up,” Cain said. “You all look like bad jokes!”

“...”

“...”

“... that’s... it?”

“And dress like someone who’d tell a bad joke!”

“...”

“...”

“Fuck, it would have worked better on just two people,” Cain complained when he noticed the dead looks aimed at him. “Y’know, one of you guys would look like a bad joke, and the other would look like someone who’d tell a bad joke.e It’s--oh, fuck you.”

“... you officially dug at the bottom,” Senna said. “At least, thank the Lord, we’ve heard the worst possible joke ever in the history of jokes. It can only go up from here. Probably only one inch up, but up nonetheless.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Cain said. “Pipe down smartass. Let’s go get ourselves some mounts and see if there’s anything else interesting at the bazaar.”

Though some people and settlement natives went to sleep, most were celebrating the victory, popping open countless jars of nose-stiffening alcohol. Cain and the group ignored it all and made a beeline toward the bazaar at the center of the settlement, a set of stalls wound in concentric circles around a statue depicting a man holding a bow and pointing it at the sky above.

The mounts Cain mentioned were eerily similar to camels, with the difference being a flat back and a glistening, golden mane. After securing four, since they were wide enough to ride in pairs, the group joined the massive crowd at the bazaar and began browsing through the items. Most were either shading clothes or ‘magically-infused trinkets of impossible powers’ that just happen to be made of ordinary chicken’s bones.

Cain stayed behind as the rest of the group got lost in the crowd, the former shifting out behind a set of sandstone-built shacks, lighting up a cigarette and focusing on the rising sun on the wavy horizon. He knew there was little of value to be found in places like these, but it didn’t hurt to send them out to figure it out themselves. He, on the other hand, was already busy planning for the inevitable future. The skills he currently had would in no way, shape or form do; even the items the group possessed were far from enough, which was why he planned on a slightly ‘curvy’ route toward their destination that would get them through some of the desert’s hardest bosses.

They’d have to ring back into shape quickly, and then surpass their current peaks considerably if they even stood a chance of completing the quest.

“Sordid winds,” a familiar, usually grating voice, woke Cain up from his thoughts; Te’gha snuggled into his arms and looked toward the horizon, his usually high voice magnitudes lower. “It’s scary, Thief. Where have you brought great Te’gha?”

“You hate sand? If so, boy, do I got a perfect movie for you.”

“... there is Chaos here, Thief,” Te’gha said, looking up at him. “Unstable, insatiable, mad. You are weak, Thief. Weak against Chaos.”

“... Chaos,” Cain mumbled, sighing. “That fuckin’ element’s as cryptic as anyone who ever spoke about it. What even is it? Order’s antithesis? Something self-actualized?”

“It’s a nullifier,” Te’gha said. “Eraser. Undoer. At its touch, all collapses, Thief. Even... Time.”

“Time collapses around a lot of things, cat,” Cain shrugged. “Hardly a measure of endurance. So, it’s like a null state, then? State of nothing, huh?”

“Te’gha isn’t a cat!! Te’gha is a mighty tiger!!”

“Yeah, yeah...”

“And not only nothing -- but also everything,” Te’gha added. “You can’t fight it, Thief. Run. Run far away.”

“I have to fight it, Te,” Cain sighed. “’cause, at the end... lies my chance to speak with a Divine’s remnant. Chaos or not, this is not the type of a chance that just drops from the sky.”

“... you are just like Addy,” Te’gha said suddenly after a brief moment of silence. “Unafraid of anything.”

“Oh, no, no -- I am absolutely, undoubtedly, royally fucking terrified,” Cain corrected. “I am walking into an ‘SSS’-level quest, the likes of which I literally never heard a word about, this lifetime or the other. I’m going in entirely blind. I’m fairly certain, by now, I can be classified as clinically insane and be committed for repeatedly endangering the lives of the people I supposedly love.”

“You will protect them,” Te’gha said suddenly, causing Cain to look down oddly. “I said, Thief... you are just like Addy. A protector, not a conqueror. That is why... Addy became that. He chose to protect... not conquer.”

“... one of the reasons why I miss being a kid,” Cain sighed, taking a puff. “Is ‘cause... only my friends and I had stories. Everyone else was just... bleh. Now... now everything has a story. It becomes so tiring to care.”

“Te’gha will help you,” the tiger said, looking up at Cain with what the latter could swear was a smile. “After all... I am born of Chaos.”

“Ah! Right! Primal Tiger of Chaos! Man, ain’t you a bundle of happy surprises? So, what, you can like, soak chaos attacks or something?”

“I can ensure they only break you and not kill you.”

“... you’re just fucking useless, eh?”

“...”

“Kidding, kidding,” Cain chuckled, petting the ‘cat’. “Addy’s still alive, Te.”

“... so?”

“So,” Cain looked down. “One day, I’ll become strong enough to free him. You two can then have your little reunion.”

“... you hardly inspire confidence.”

“Ouch.”

“But Te’gha will trust you, Thief! So you better not renegade on your promise!! Te’gha hates liars the most! The most!”

“... yeah, me too,” Cain mumbled as the tiger withdrew into his inventory. “Liars and thieves. Too bad I’m supremely good at both, eh?” he chuckled at himself and tossed the half-smoked cigarette. Glancing at it as it vanished into the soft sand, he wondered why he even lit it up in the first place. He stared at it, intently, as it burned, the smoke barely visible. His eyes veered up slightly, at the rising sun. As though planned by the hand divine, just as the last of the sun came up from beyond the horizon, the last of the cigarette burned. Smiling silently, he spun around and walked away, the last trail of smoke rising alongside the heat-bent horizon, vanishing into nothingness.