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The Big Oof! Volume 1 Chapter 25: A Mortal's Limit
🕑 Added 2023-01-26 16:05:38 +0000 UTCAuri shifted nervously as the tiny being squinted her eyes, inspecting every inch of the poor red headed woman. There was nothing more she wanted other than to be seated in this packed and rowdy tavern with this… THING buzzing around her head, humming and hawing.
“Hmmm… You smell… familiar.” Yana said, sniffing her latest fixation
Curiosity burned within the Fairy as she reached out her hand with glowing eyes to incapacitate the woman to make further investigation easier. Auri had other ideas, distance grew between her and the fair as the red head leaned back as far as she could while the small pair of hands followed her.
“Yana.” Elijah called out in a stern voice, causing the Vanir to freeze in place. “No.”
Yana could feel the glare without looking back, but the moment she turned her head, her hand instantly went up to indicate she had no intentions of continuing. A shiver went up her spine when she saw that he was tapping on an empty wooden mug, sending a silent threat that if she were to go any further, it would be the dreaded ‘time out time.’ After spending so many centuries being trapped in her dreaded prison, the mere idea of being stuck under a bucket or mug for a few moments was enough to make Yana nearly panic.
“N-no! I’m not doing anything, see!” Yana floated away from Auri.
“There’s no need to lock me away, nope!” She said, landing on Elijah’s head.
Elijah’s eyes looked up as he felt the little gremlin make a mess of his thick wavy hair before letting out a sigh.
“Then stop randomly harassing people!” he barked and shook his head vigorously.
“Gahhh! Okay, okay!!” Yana yelled back as she held on for dear life.
Bennett was unable to stop the derisive and blank expression from spreading on his face while he watched his captain's attempts at… disciplining their new ‘crew mate.’ It was as if they had picked up some kind of feral animal that was so used to getting their own way, they didn't even understand the concept of boundaries. And now that they had to learn the hard way that they couldn’t act however they wanted after being put in such a disadvantageous position.
It was maddening.
“So who wants to tell her the news about her employer?” Bennett asked, trying to get back to business after being derailed.
Everyone except Yana’s expression immediately soured at the thought.
Auri's expression lightened as she looked up anticipating good news, however the look of optimism started to fade from her face after noticing the atmosphere of the room. Her heart started to tighten as the silence grew on, the woman nervously wrapped her arms around her body for security as everyone else looked at each other with uncertainty written on their face.
“Well… We found Master Simol.” Azeline interjected, realizing no one else wanted to say anything.
A sigh of relief was let out by both of the men.
“I…I-is he dead?” Auri asked with tears building up in her eyes.
Azeline opened her mouth and looked off to the side as she thought about how she would answer this. To say they found him dead was demonstrably false, and explaining how they themselves had to end the poor man would probably upset the poor woman more.
“You mean that person that accepted the Hungerer’s touch? Oh they killed it.” Yana said, flying on top of the table and sitting cross legged. “Or him…?”
The room froze as all eye’s shifted over to the small fairy.
“I truly have out done myself! I’ve managed to acquire apostles that ended such a powerful being so easily!” She said, closing her eyes and lifting her chin in pride. “It was as if they simply turned their hand and the beast was slain!”
…
“W-what? What does that mean!?” Auri said, with tears rolling down her face. “Y-You killed him!?”
Bennett was already rubbing his eyes with his hand, where Elijah was running his hand through his hair, massaging the top of his. Both men were making an attempt to ward off the headaches that were starting form as they listened to their little menace shoot off with zero tact.
“I wasn’t able to see how they did it, but I could feel it at the fringes of my consciousness! I could basically FEEL the fear oozing from it as the thing was silently begged for mercy before- MMPH!!” Yana couldn’t finish the rest of her recital of events when Elijah snatched her.
“STOP.” He said angrily.
Auri was trying to inch away, bawling her eyes out.
“Is… is that why you brought me here!? TO HELP YOU MURDER HIM!?!?” She yelled, catching the rest of the tavern's attention.
“No! We did our best to save him, but he was corrupted! He turned!!” Azeline shouted louder than usual so the rest of the tavern could hear her. “Please understand! If we didn’t end him, he would have killed us all!”
Her eyes darted all over the place as several patrons started whispering to each other.
“LIAR!! Master Simol would never!” Auri’s eyes went wide as she pointed at Azeline. “He’s a good man!!”
“Ya, a good man that turned into a bloated abomination and ran through a bunch of knights as if they were toddlers.” Bennett quipped, still rubbing his eyes.
Auri gasped and covered her mouth as tears rolled down her face.
“H-how…? How!? He was… He was always nice to me.” Auri started weep in the middle of the tavern.
Yana finally managed to wiggle her way free from Elijah’s grip as her head poked out from between his fingers. The tiny goddess turned her head and glared at her ‘apostle’ and bared her sharp teeth, causing the man to immediately let go of her.
“Hmph! Rude! I was praising you!” She crossed her arms and looked off with a harumph.
Turning her attention back to the red head, Yana squinted her eyes once more, unable to get over the strange sense of familiarity.
“He wasn’t that good considering the dummy turned into one of the hungerer’s children.” She said tapping her foot on top of the table.
“What the fuck is this hungerering thing anyways?” Bennett asked, leaning back into his chair.
Yana raised an eyebrow and turned her head at the man.
“What!? How do you not know???” She asked, staring at him as if he was dumb. “Also what does ‘fuck’ mean?”
Azeline looked over at Auri who was curled into a ball in her seat, crying her eyes out and decided the best course of action was just to leave the woman be.
“They’re not from here, evidently.” She said in defense of her companions. “I don’t know what land they hail from, but evidently they’re pretty isolated and have no understanding of the happenings of the world at large.”
Seeing a difficult expression spread across the Vanir’s face as she stood there in contemplation, Azeline shook her head in disbelief. It was absolutely insane how such a legendary being was standing before her and everyone else just ignored her presence as if it was a normal occurrence. Although she had to give credence to the fact that in Yana’s current state, the mythical Vanir was easily confused with an odd looking Pixie.
“The hungerer is one of the traitor gods that went insane after he indulged himself with the old god’s influence.” Azeline explained, turning her head to the two men.
“I think you mean he was bullied into insanity by starving him for so long that he was cursed with insatiable hunger!” Yana shot back with a scowl on her face. “Even that idiot Tylas forsake his own brother and started an eternal war just because his fragile little ego was hurt!”
Turning beet red in anger, Azeline’s mouth started to flap, unable to form a coherent sentence after hearing such blatant blasphemy.
“Y-yo-you!!” She let out as the little being continued.
“I should know! I was there! Oh, and don’t get me started on that dummy Harda!” Yana moaned, dragging her hand across her face. “The self centered idiot hid away in the cold north and abandoned us all like the coward he is!”
Azeline saw red after having the name of her god insulted and disgraced in such a flippant manner. Even if it was from something of godly or legendary status, the woman felt as if she had to do something to regain her god’s honor.
As the small being went on a tirade, Azeline looked around and spotted one of the Ferfolk walking by with an empty clay pot.
“Not only that! But that dummy went ahead and backstab-ACK!!” Yana shouted in surprise as an empty porridge pot came down on top of her.
“H-Hey!! HEY! LET ME OUT!!!”
Silence reigned other than muffled yelling coming from the trapped fairy and Azeline’s heavy breathing as she smiled wickedly with blood shot eyes.
“...” Both the men couldn’t help but stare incredulously at the blonde elf woman.
Even Auri let out an eep of surprise.
“I-I told you! I told you even mortals have their limits!!” Azeline bellowed, as yelling and tiny thumps echoed out from under the pot.
Elijah closed his eyes and rested his head in his hand in the hopes to at least imagine himself anywhere else but here. But alas, the poor man’s hopes were in vain as the volume of yelling grew louder and louder until the top of the pot shattered and an angry fairy darted towards Azeline’s face.
He didn’t even bother to acknowledge what was happening as a yelp of fear echoed out and a flash of violet light spilled through his eyelids.
“Fuck me…” The man quietly whispered to himself after hearing the thud of a body hitting the ground.
Choosing to ignore the debacle to the side, Elijah looked towards the sulking woman and scratched his head trying to think on what to do with her. Truth be told, the woman's usefulness had died along with Simol, but he wasn’t so callous as to just tell her to fuck off and go home. Even though circumstances had forced his hand, they were still partially responsible for the death of her former employer, regardless of how minute it was.
“They aren’t lying… I watched the man bloat and warp in front of my eyes before ripping one of those knights in half with his bare hands.” Elijah said, backing up the rest of his crew.
Auri didn’t respond and just hugged her knees tighter with her head still buried in between them.
“What do I do now…? Where do I go…?” She asked with a shaky voice.
Ahh, that was a good question wasn’t it?
What does one do when you take away their livelihood in a rapid and traumatic fashion?
Elijah opened his mouth to reply, but the sound of Azeline fighting through her muddled mind and snatching at the fairy interrupted him.
“Both of you, stop it!” Elijah snapped at the two as if they were rowdy children.
Suddenly, all movement came to a complete halt as whatever magic Yana had used on Azeline finally dissipated, allowing the elf woman to sit up right.
Yana instantly flew over and sat on top of Elijah’s head before sticking her tongue out at the fuming blonde.
“I swear to god…” Elijah let out a derisive sigh.
“Anyways,” He looked to continue the conversation as he turned his attention back to Auri. “I don’t really have anything for you to do and I’m not sure when I’ll have a need for someone to read-”
Elijah immediately froze as a thought crossed his mind.
The man brought his hand to his chin in contemplation as Azeline pulled out a chair and finally sat back down with a disgruntled expression.
“Hey Auri, I have a question.” He said with a small smirk forming across his face.
Slowly lifting her head up from between her knees, Auri looked up at Elijah with red puffy eyes and a tired expression on her face. She had already given up and accepted her fate to be discarded once more, however her heart tightened when she saw the man's face. It was the same expression he had when they took her from the destroyed merchant office.
“Can I… can I hire you to teach me how to read and write?” He asked, leaning forward.
Silence reigned as Auri became flabbergasted as she stared at the man as if he was utterly insane. She opened her mouth to proclaim as much and tell the man that there was no universe where she would be capable of teaching him anything other than a few letters. But the woman hesitated before the words of denial left her mouth.
Why couldn’t she…?
The man before her was rather smart and even if it took a while, she just had to take it one step at a time. She could start by teaching him each letter of the alphabet and then slowly progress to simple word structures. And if the man was going to pay her, then she could easily secure a job for at least a year or two and have enough time to find another career that would put her literacy to use.
There were no downsides to the proposition, especially since there were literally no other opportunities available.
“... Okay.” She said with surprise all over her face.
Bennett’s eyebrows raised in surprise as his head snapped towards the red head. He didn’t expect the woman to say yes after everything she had been through and all they had done.
“Nice, dude!” Elijah yelled, bringing his fist down on the table.
The noise and motion made Auri jump as a large beaming smile formed across her new employer's face.
“I can’t have you start now though! I still need to gather funds!” The man said excitedly.
Narrowing her eyes in an attempt to control her emotions, Auri struggled to keep the man’s infectious eagerness from getting to her. The scene brought a sudden and near violent recollection of when her request to learn how to read and write was accepted. Tears started to form as Auri remembered how the excitement had nearly caused her to dance around as she gathered her things and bolted out the door..
Now here she was with an overwhelming sense of deja vu, as a small smile started to form on her face.
Not only that, but were they really to blame for the Holy Dominion’s abhorrent actions?
No… No they weren’t
All they’ve done was try to help her even if their methods were weird and unconventional.
“Can you meet us here a little early tomorrow? Preferably at dawn!” Elijah said as he stood up. “I have to gather a few things and make a few sales, but I’ll have your payment first thing tomorrow!”
“O-Okay…!” She said, bringing her legs down and slowly standing up.
Maybe everything was going to be okay.
-
After leaving the bar, the group made their way to the center of town in the hopes of getting a few errands taken care of. After their disastrous raid, they needed not only to repair Azeline’s favorite weapon, but find a way to sell their wares in the hopes to get some income flowing.
The lessons weren’t going to pay for themselves.
Both Elijah and Bennett watched as Auri trotted down the streets towards her home with a slight spring in her step. Elijah had instructed the girl to get started on learning material and to create a syllabus for when they met up for the next day.
“Reading and writing, huh?” Bennett said, his eyes glossing over.
There were a few moments of silences as the two kept staring into the distance where Auri initially left. The fact that they had to learn how to read and write a completely new language felt like another nail was being put into the coffin. Even though they were living and experiencing what this strange world had to offer, it just didn’t always feel all that real at times.
But now they were just one more step into accepting their new reality.
“... Ya.” Elijah said with a hint of surprise and melancholy in his voice. “It’s weird to me too.”
Bennett inhaled deeply as he looked up at the burning star in the sky causing a weird mixture of emotions to hit him all at once.
“You think they’re ever gonna find us?” He asked.
“I don’t even think they’d know to look.” Elijah answered instantly and stared straight into Bennett’s eyes with a serious look on his face. “We’re basically dead.”
A few more moments of silence passed before Bennett nodded and acknowledged what his captain just said. It was only natural to presume that no one would come looking for them due to the scale of the incident that brought the two here coupled with the fact that they just weren’t very important.
“Well, I didn’t lose that much anyways.” He said before looking behind him and saw both Azeline and Yana bickering in front of the smith.
“Well, Captain.” Bennett continued with a smirk on his face.“What do we do now?”
Elijah huffed in amusement, but he still felt the ache in his heart from everything he had lost. By being in the wrong place at the wrong time, the man had lost everything he had been working towards.
Ah who am I kidding? Elijah thought to himself as a sad smile spread across his face.
He knew in his heart of hearts that all the work he did was in vain anyways, his crew wasn’t going to come back.
She wasn’t going to come back.
And no amount of self improvement would change the fact that he fucked up.
“Simple.” Elijah said, turning around and walking towards the two bickering women.
“We rebuild and live our new lives.”
