Damon woke up feeling like someone had beaten the shit out of him thrice over and then tossed him out a fourth-story balcony. Only to have a go at him all over again. His first instinct was to try and stand, but his body had told him otherwise.
And so he was left laying on a bed he couldn’t recognize, in a room he had no recollection of.
There was not much panic to be had, the bed was a size too small, his naked feet dangling over at the edge, and his arms reaching over to either end of the cloth mattress. The window was open, a nice cool breeze streaming through, and his mind trying to gain focus. The throbbing beat of his heart was not helping any as it kept hammering against the inside of his skull.
Untangling himself from the bedsheets, he minimally dressed and walked over to the kitchen. There he found the owner of the house, or at least he suspected she was the owner. From behind the first thing he noticed were the pair of long white ears peeking from over her short silver hair. But as his gaze trailed down the supple curve of her spine, he fixated on her plump ample hips.
She was wearing little more than glorified cotton shorts.
“Someone’s at the door.”
Damon froze mid-step, gazing at the entrance and frowning.
“We know you’re in there!”
The voice was unmistakable. Sybil.
“Shit.”
“Should I tell them to go?” The hagsier woman whose name he’d yet to remember asked, quirking a curious brow at him over her slender shoulder.
“Doubt it’d work.”
[...]
System ‘heads-up’:
Sybil EM-tag has entered detection range.
Distance: 260 meters.
[...]
“But you can certainly try.”
A part of him wished he could just tell the vulpes outside the house to just buzz off through the power of his mental powers. Alas, he had no hymn nor could he detect it. So he was effectively deaf to the whole layer of nuance and pseudo-telepathic speech the locals kept throwing around like no one's business.
On the plus side, it also meant everyone else was entirely blind to his thoughts.
He quickly returned to the bedroom, picking up his stuff and quickly dressing up. He didn’t miss a beat and approached the window. Sharpening his hearing as best he could against the throbbing migraine, he could barely catch the sound of buzzing somewhere above. A drone? Must mean they’re more serious this time.
There was knocking on the front door.
And that was his cue.
Exiting through the window was a simple affair considering it was at street level. Damon made sure to check in every direction, confirming he was not yet within anyone’s line of sight. He kept following the wall, skipping some of the buckets and gardening tools while trying to keep himself.
There was the noise of clattering inside the house.
Damon hurried faster, and right as he was about to pass the corner…
“He’s here!” He could only flinch and glance at Sybil’s head as she’d been poking her head out the window. “Don’t you dare!”
Too late.
He was already sprinting, his boots hammering against the hard ground.
“We’re trying to protect you!”
And he didn’t want any of it.
Not that he bothered to answer, Damon was more concerned with the drone currently in hot pursuit. The thing was flying high above, it was maybe about the size of a soccer ball, with a trio of blades keeping it afloat. There did not seem to be any intent for it to get close, only keep overwatch.
Which was troublesome, since it might as well be a beacon over his head giving away his position. It took away every advantage his lack of a hymn held.
The minimap floated at the edge of his peripheral vision, Sybil was already in hot pursuit, and there were several other dots moving in his general direction. The streets were too straight and organized to give him a chance to get lost between the houses, and without the pounding migraine, Sybil would still be gaining on him.
Those damnable pressurized pneumatic prosthetic legs and…
He growled, taking a sharp turn right, nearly knocking over a pedestrian dragging some boxes on some sort of small cart. The stranger screamed slightly, jumping away and reaching for the knife on his belt. But Damon had long passed him and kept sprinting with everything he had even as his stomach roiled and his head fought against the hangover.
All the while, the drone kept flying overhead, definitely outside his throwing range.
Several dots on the minimap were moving to intercept. Where to go? How to avoid them? The adrenaline was giving him clarity. Sybil had brought friends, it seemed. Damon changed directions, moving straight towards the nearest building. It was two stories tall, the roof slightly slanted. A perfect target for him to work his way up.
Lower gravity and stronger muscles meant he could easily get up, and from there began navigating the city not by its streets but through its rooftops. His pursuers were looking for ways to block him off, and leaving the road entirely was the best chance to just skip that risk.
A quick check on the map.
Sybil had reached the rooftops and was gaining on him. Her legs had the ability to give large jumps, ideal to cover the space between the buildings with ease while Damon was forced to push himself hard with every leap. He silently thanked his longer legs and greater stride, otherwise the others would’ve definitely caught well before they’d made it this far.
They were approaching his target. The buildings had been slowly gaining height and size, they’d been moving into the commercial district. The relatively smaller houses were shifting in exchange for the larger warehouses and workshops. The number of drones flying about was quickly increasing.
“Damon!”
This time it was very very close, he grimaced, slowed, and checked his surroundings and map to confirm his location. Turning around, he looked at Sybil with a wry smile. “Hey.”
“Don’t.” Her hood was thrown back, hair a wild red mess. “The Goddess wants to speak with you.”
“I’m sure she does.” He was not ready for that. With a frown, he tried to spot the drone, but it was not stationary, so though he had marked it on his map, he could not find it with his eyes.
“You’ve had your tantrum, you can’t keep this going.”
“You don’t know me that well, then.” He eyed over the edge of the building and to the space down below, whistling a moment at the drop. Slowly, he turned to look back at her, quietly trying to gauge her reaction.
That gave her a moment of pause, cautiously glancing at him. “You’re being targeted. We don’t know who, not yet, but someone’s mobilizing users to hunt for you.”
“Aside from the Goddesses and their goon squads, you mean.” He chuckled.
“Damon, we need you.” Her voice wavered slightly, hazel eyes looking at him with an edge of something that stung. “The Goddesses need you to access the temple under the dragon’s-.”
“I’m sure they do, and there’s probably a pile of grafts for me to pull it off, beat the dragon, all that.” He cut her off, the words pushed his lips downwards. “Still haven’t found anything about the nanomachines have you.”
His question rattled her, she grimaced, not seeing as he took half a step closer to the edge. “Nothing so far.”
“You should probably look into that rather than waste time trying to convince me to fight a fucking dragon.”
The moment passed, her look sterned. “I’m not arguing with you. It’s your purpose. Please come back.”
The words caused his face to freeze, muscles tense against the urge to growl. He pushed himself to smile instead. His gaze locked on to the weapon at her hip, not a sword, but a rod of some kind, quite similar to a police baton that’d been extended.
“That looks new. Is it plan B?”
“I-.” Sybil flinched, looking away and avoiding eye-contact entirely. And just like that, Damon’s thoughts skidded to a halt, nearly tripping entirely. His gaze narrowed on her face, and the uncomfortable look as if she’d swallowed a bitter pill.
“I’m not the answer to this… problem, Sybil. Whatever the Goddess claims. You guys have been doing just fine without me, and will keep being fine.”
Sybil’s expression flattened, eyes narrowing, the beginning of a snarl forming at the edges of her lips. Her hand moved away from her baton, forming into a fist, scowl deepening. “Janus-.”
Damon snapped. “Janus doesn’t exist! It’s just some company name that’s probably turned to dust by now.” He growled. “I’m just an error, a mistake, a machine in the middle of the mountains went crazy enough to spit me out right before it died.” His mouth tasted bitter. “And this fucking world is no different, just one massive mistake. The remains of some sick amusement park. This is nothing more than a sick cosmic prank.”
The silence hung heavy, Damon’s fists clenched into fists. What sense was there in this whole mess?
“You fought the knight’s familiar to save my and Han’s life. Was that a mistake? A prank? Was that why you saved Idina’s life? She’s been praying for you every day, for weeks!”
Sybil might not have brought out her weapon, but her words felt like a physical blow all the same. Her hazel eyes bore into him with painful precision. He felt at a loss for words. “I-.”
“Just go, Damon. Run away.”
Neither of their gazes met, she turned away, and he turned downwards. At the edge of the rooftop, he hesitated, just a second. He dropped on to the nearby ledge, beginning to work his way down. Sybil screamed, a cry of anger and something else, and he pretended not to hear it.
Not knowing what to do with life was something Damon was well experienced with.
The answer was usually simple: drink. All the problems would get washed away, he’d have a good time, and he’d just forget about it until the day after. At that point he’d just dust himself off, walk over to whatever thing he had to do to get food on the table, and hope the feeling would go away eventually.
But the feeling wasn’t going to go away. Because he was not the real Damon. The realm Damon lived back on Earth, doing whatever, getting his memories stolen by… what, aliens? Living the big life.
“I hope Earth Damon found a way to solve his problems at least.” He looked up at the clear night sky and the countless stars hanging above. One of those stars might even be the Sun. Earth Damon was probably dust by now. “On second thought, fuck him.”
There were still people he cared about, or he thought he cared about, even if the memories…
Despite his best attempts to focus on the stars above, his thoughts drifted to the rooftop earlier that day. And Sybil.
“Maybe it’d been a mistake to have gone sober tonight.” He muttered to himself, loathing how much his mind kept going into that whole subject that just gnawed at him from inside.
Turning a corner, he spotted movement further down the street.
It was poorly illuminated, most shops had closed at this time, only bars and taverns allowing customers. There was a slow and steady stream of people stumbling out of one such place, most letting out noises of complaint or merriment. Most of them swaggered off and walked in either direction of the street, searching for either a place to stay or to continue their drinking.
None paid much attention to him, though a few did send a weird glance his way.
His gaze was focused on the woman shooing away the remaining patrons. It was a familiar face, after all, one of the subjects that had haunted his conscience for most of the day.
Idina looked tired but determined as she splashed a bucket of water to wash away the stains near the entrance. Damon’s first instinct was to lean behind the corner before he could be spotted, just in time to avoid her searching gaze.
What was she doing here? Was this a job she’d picked up? Why did he avoid her?
“I should leave.”
The words did not match the actions, his feet remained grounded, watching her clean the entrance of the tavern before going back inside. The windows were closed, shutters fixed in place, it did not take long for the lights to go out and silence to fall on the street.
“You’re not very good at sneaking, sir.”
He nearly screamed, turning around to find Idina standing there, a hand on her hip and a smirk on her lips. He didn’t know what to do, even less what to say. With a grimace, he sheepishly turned away. “I guess not. What are you doing here?”
“I work at the tavern, but I’m currently staying at Miss Sybil’s place. I saw you on my way back.”
“Oh.” His boot scuffed against the ground. “Have you… heard?”
“Could you accompany me for a bit, sir? The city can be dangerous at night.” She raised a hand. “Not all the way of course, just until we get out of the district.”
“You’ve heard.” His words only got a shrug out of her. “You must think I’m the worst.”
“Not really.” A slight shake of her head.
“I mean, I am.”
Idina didn’t answer, turning her eyes up to the sky. “My father was brought to the temple yesterday. His trial will be in three days.” She placed her hands behind her back, her silver ears drooping slightly. “I’m still not sure if I should go and see him one last time before he’s stripped of his grafts, marked, and exiled. I’m still not sure what I’d tell him if I did. Thank him for caring for me? Cursing him for using me? Pity him?”
Damon really didn’t have an answer for her, though it didn’t feel like she was asking him either. They walked in silence, the city dispersing around them as they moved closer to the end of the district.
[...]
System ‘heads-up’:
Over x8 EM-tags have entered detection range simultaneously and are heading in your direction.
Distance: 360 meters
[...]
“Sir?”
She’d barely kept him in the corner of her vision, but had picked up on his tension right away. Her breath hitched as he grabbed her arm and took a sharp turn to the left. His grip on her arm was tightening as he kept glancing at the minimap.
Twelve dots. Users all, none of them from the group that morning.
“Sybil warned me about some people wanting to find me, I think they have.”
Idina’s eyes widened. “I should-.”
“Run.”
She met his gaze, nodding solemnly. “I will warn the others.”
Damon’s grip on her arm tightened instantly. “Don’t, they’ll…” Lips curling, he couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence. He checked the minimap again. “Just run, straight ahead is the best way to avoid them. Try to be quiet.”
With a loud snort, Idina shot him a rueful smirk. “I might be working in a tavern, but I am still a Gatherer, sir.”
She quickened her pace, and Damon slowed his own. His hand reached out, unclasping the club from his belt. He turned, watching the dots approach. Would he have to fight? What were his escape options? He’d considered lying in ambush, but considering they had changed course so quickly, it meant they had a spotter or a tracker.
Closer still, his heart began to quicken. Run or fight or wait. Who were they? What was their goal? He saw a figure approaching down the street. The others were on the side-streets, moving fast. The figure was hooded, and met Damon’s gaze, freezing merely a dozen meters away.
It was the kind of hesitation he’d seen whenever someone was looking for a fight and took a good look at him. But the fight didn’t come, the figure had quickly moved to one of the side-streets, continuing past him as the group of pursuers just moved on ahead.
Damon expected they’d surround him, or perhaps look for some way to attack him from behind, but the dots had not slowed at all, continuing past his location without much if any hesitation. It wasn’t until they were nearly out of range that he’d begun to relax and ask himself what was going on. Had he scared them off?
It clicked a moment later, he cursed under his breath.
He wasn’t their target.
“Idina.”
