The Slayji

THE DIVE BAR WAS DARK AND FULL OF ENERGETIC PEOPLE. The man sat with his funny hat in the back corner, the table furthest from everyone else. The hat was wide-brimmed and came to a point at the end of its floppy cone on top. It was properly called an alicorn. And it properly did not make him inconspicuous, <Stupid hat!> People were looking, staring, but they all seemed to keep their distance. He knew they were whispering about him. They always did, no matter where he went. Slayji couldn’t go anywhere without being watched, both in wonderment and in weariness. They were employed to hunt the monsters — though it was hard to get them to believe they weren’t also monsters.

A woman came barreling into the bar and all the energy of the place changed. The man had just parted his lips from the mug holding his favorite wheat beer. His attention turned towards the woman. His gaze hidden underneath the shadow of his hat. The vibes radiating off of her were almost tangible! “Someone please help!” She screamed.

The immediate around around the woman froze and looked on, unsure how to proceed. Most of them too drunk to proceed. The other people, further on the outskirts continued on with their drunken merriment. They hadn’t heard the woman over her screams. Their inebriated bodies numb to the energy change in the room. But that was quickly changing.

“Help!” The woman screamed. More patrons snapped at attention. A waitress brought a glass of water. The frantic woman slapped the glass out of the waitress’ hand, causing it to shatter on the floor. More patrons began paying attention, the shattering of glass often the prelude to an exciting bar fight. The frantic woman searched around. The slayji knew that she was looking for him. He’d heard this level of fear one too many times.

“You!” She wailed. The slayji was dark-skinned with dark eyes. The only thing clearly seen in the shadows of the booth he was sitting in, was the amber of the beer he was drinking. He did nothing but sip his beer. His expression was blank. “You’re one of them!” She accused. “You’re wearing the hat. Help me!”

<Stupid hat,> the slayji thought to himself.

“There’s a — a monster! Can’t you tell!?” She spat, almost angrily. As if he should have already been in the dark alley slaying the monster that threatened her life.

The slayji wanted to be left alone. “First I’m hearing about it, ma’am.”

“You have to do something! It’s killing people!”

The slayji placed his mug down, licking the foam that caught on his upper lip. He held his expression. Some bled beasts could enflame your fear if they could sense that you felt it. Years of practice made slayji stone-faced in the presence of danger.

“Why aren’t you moving? Do your job!” The woman snapped. She was turning her fear into anger. Anger was more comfortable for her.

“I see no coin,” the slayji said. He wasn’t actively working at the moment. He was here, having a beer.

“Just kill the bled beast! Do your job!”

“Do your deed, slayji. And the bar will pay you.” The waitress said. She said the word “slayji” like she were conjuring something repugnant. Always this reaction. Always fear or revulsion. But in the next breath, they always wanted help.

“Just kill the bled beast!” The woman growled. The waitress had tried to offer her another glass of water.

<At least she knows the proper terms for the monster,> the slayji thought. The music had seemed to go quiet as the rest of the patrons realized what was going on. They were quiet, watching the door as if the bled beast was going to make its way inside. The bar was old — and like most buildings from the old times, its entrance was painted blue to mimic water. Bled beasts didn’t like water.

“Please, Wizard.” The waitress whispered. She’d used an old title for the slayji. He wished for simpler times, when slayji were viewed as heroes and not monsters. As practitioners of the knowledge that they sought, not alchemists playing with dark arts. It made the waitress’ earlier sneer of “slayji” confusing to him, but he pressed it out of his mind. Perhaps the waitress was just saving face to calm the frantic woman.

Besides, he was moments from a hunt. He was born for the hunt! He could feel the jitters all the way down into his toes! The slayji smiled — and with that, he moved like the breeze. He didn’t have the talent to move in a blur. That was a forgotten, or lost, skill. His trench coat whipped behind him like the wings of a dark angel.

Once outside the bar, the slayji felt the thickness in the air. It was so slight that normal people wouldn’t even notice. It was like a significant rise in humidity. He knew it was the power of the bled beast. That dampness would try to get him to feel more frightened. He placed his hands on the hilts of his bone-sword and bone-bladed dagger. His bone weapons were useless against other weapons, they would crack and shatter — but they were necessary against the beast that was nearby. Hopefully it wouldn’t use weapons.

The slayji ducked into the darkest alley, leaving the soft glow of the streetlights behind. He crept into the darkness, unsure of where the bled beast was, but he could feel it near. It didn’t take long for the beast to greet him! It came through the night like a bullet for his face! The slayji spun, using the beast’s momentum to send it out towards the light of the street. The beast landed in the dim glow, its claws scratching against the pavement. It slowly stood. Bled beasts tried hard to appear human. Humans were weary of creatures on all fours in the night — but an unsuspecting child? It was true, somewhere between three and four feet, the bled beast stood with giant dreamy eyes.

“Help me,” the little girl pleaded. She almost sounded about to cry. She stepped into the light. Any other person would have gasped and looked away from the sight, but not the slayji. He’d seen this one too many times. He dare say that he was numb to it. The little girl looked like a little girl with wet black hair, big doll-like eyes, and as if her skin had been pulled off to reveal all the bloody muscle underneath.

The slayji just groaned, not falling for the beast’s facade. There are a myriad of abilities that slayji had in their arsenals, but it all depended on what kind of slayji you were. He was a breathercist. He could use the breaths he stole from living things to perform various abilities that would appear superhuman, but indeed were just manipulations of one of the universes base powers.

He took a sharp breath, the pull of power from anything around him — unfortunately, there was only the bled beast and a few spiders. The akasha, as it was called, sat in his mouth and his lungs, giving him a luminous glow! Where his lips were parted a thin line of glowing air could be seen. It bled up into his eyes. He felt the power surge through his body and felt muscles in his back that normal humans didn’t have. He knew those muscles were attached to glowing wings that formed whenever he was holding akasha.

He could only hold akasha for as long as he could hold his breath. Good thing that when he was holding akasha, the power allowed him to hold his breath easily for ten minutes or more! He used it now, as the bled beast grew impatient and lunged at him, sharp teeth showing between her snarling lips! He held spider breath, and with it, he channeled their ability to cling to walls. So he clung, jumping to the side with spider-like agility, and sticking there. The bled beast landed like a cat in her lung, growling in frustration that she’d missed her prey. She looked around, spotting him and not hesitating to attack again.

Remarkably, the bled beast started to skitter up the wall towards him. She was like a demon out of a nightmare, crab-crawling, her back bent over upside down. The bled beast didn’t know how to move fast on two feet. Most didn’t. Bled beasts were animals that had been infected. It was the infection that caused them to hunt people and to assume humanoid forms. The slayji had to think fast — again, using the spider’s breath, he easily jumped over the skittering bled beast and landed back on the ground in the alley perfectly on all fours.

The bled beast was now above him and had an advantage. But the beast was impatient. It shook and the slayji could swear that he saw the creature growing spines from all over its body. The slayji wasn’t sure what the beast was planning on doing. Bled beasts could assume some abilities from what animal form they started out as. All he was confident in assuming, was that the spines were going to come for him.

So the slayji reached into the breast pocket of his jacket and threw out a handful of cards. The cards began to glow from the akasha that he still held inside of him. This was where he would use the akasha as payment. Each card was an agreement between the slayji and his various bonded allies. Breathercists could form psybonds with animals by holding their breath inside for a long enough time. Of course, the animals can refuse, but most often they don’t because before a psybond is attempted, there if often already a companionship between breathercist and animal.

The cards floated in the are before the slayji’s face. The bled beasts spine had become spikes that were growing — and the slayji couldn’t help but notice that it appeared as if the little girl’s lungs were filling with air, or at least her chest was — like she was going to explode! A card of a large tortoise floated before his face. <Perfect!> The slayji thought as he snatched the card from the air, the others returning to his pocket of their own accord. He held the card close to his lips and released his held akasha while saying, “Grandfather Tortoise — protect!”

The card beamed with more light and then exploded as a giant tortoise appeared in the alleyway in front of the slayji. The bled beast was just about to release its quills! The slayji ducked, he felt Grandfather Tortoise’s beak-like mouth clamp around the collar of his shirt and yank him into his shell, just as spikes started flying through the air, impaling the concrete around them! The slayji was shocked that the spikes were that strong, <Did any pierce Grandfather’s shell!?> The slayji hoped not.

Just as the slayji was going to crawl out from his shell barrier, Grandfather Tortoise began spinning, still withdrawn inside his shell. They gained lift and slammed into the bled beast’s body. The slayji could hear it hit hard against the brick of a nearby building. “Help me,” he heard the bled beast plead.

The slayji slid out from the protective shell, seeing the two curious people carefully coming down the dark alleyway, “No!” The slayji called. “Stay where you are!” <This is starting to get dangerous. I need to slay the beast!> He pulled his bone-blades from there hilts.

There were only a few ways to get rid of a bled beast. One of them was to impale them with organic material, something that had once been living. Like bone or wood. He sucked in a sharp breath, stealing the nearby spiders’ akasha again. He gained their agility and attacked. Grandfather Tortoise stayed behind, withdrawn in his shell. The bled beast wasn’t expecting such a quick attack. Again the slayji’s mouth glew, and his eyes, and he could feel the wings wanting to be freed from the confines of his jacket.

He came out of the assault with only his sword. The bled beast was screaming, which was both a good and a bad sign. Good because it meant that the slayji had hurt it. Bad because if it was able to scream, it wasn’t dead, which means he didn’t hit its heart. The slayji never had a great aim.

The bled beast attacked with its claws, causing the slayji to guard with his bone-sword and dodge as best he could. Grandfather Tortoise sucked him back into his shell when he was close enough — and they began spinning. The tortoise tackled the bled beast again. The slayji jumped from the protective shell while they were still spinning, using the momentum to pierce the bled beast’s side with his sword. He grabbed the knife while he was there and was thrown from the beast’s body, his bone-blades in hand.

But again, he missed the heart.

He released the akasha he’d been holding and expanded his lungs to as far as he could. As a breathercist he spent months training on controlling his breathing and expanding his lungs to their maximum potential. He took a sharp breath and filled his lungs with as much akasha as they could fit — but this time he focused his breath-drawing on the bled beast itself. <Let’s try this way, beast!>

The slayji stole so much akasha from the bled beast at one time that its breath literally caught in its throat. The little girl disguise that it was wearing looked fearful in her big doll eyes. It reached its clawed hand up to its neck. <Yes,> the slayji thought victoriously. Before long the little girl body was writhing on the ground. <Let this creature go you foul beast!> The power this time felt ten times stronger and more full of energy than what he got from the spiders. If he held on long enough he could start to see the shape of what the creature was originally.

In one last feeble attempt, the bled beast lunged at him. It was desperate. But the slayji had its akasha inside him, he knew as soon as the bled beast thought it, that it was going to lunge at him. He simply stepped aside and laughed to himself. He stepped his boot on the creature’s wrist. Its claws skritching against the concrete.

Now he could feel the beast try to pull its akasha back. This was where animals could deny a psybond, if they were strong enough. The slayji knew the bled beast wasn’t strong enough, he’d whittled it down in their fighting. Besides, you couldn’t actually psybond a bled beast. He was trying to do something else, but the schematics were the same. <Just a little bit longer,> the slayji thought. He was gritting his teeth now. His body wanted him to take another breath. A real breath. It was wrong for him to hold it for so long, unnatural.

<Help me,> the bled beast said in his head. There was a mental bond forming between them.

<Leave this body!> The slayji shouted. He felt as if his face was turning blue from not properly breathing. But he also felt more power than he’d felt in a long time! His wings, four of them, glowing, spread out, throwing his jacket off his shoulders. They spread behind him radiantly. <You are mine!> The slayji said mentally. He knew the bled beast heard him, even if it didn’t understand him.

The creature screamed with the voice of a little girl. It echoed on all the walls of the alleyway.

The slayji couldn’t hold the akasha any longer! He’d never grown four pairs of wings before. He hadn’t noticed, but he’d been floating. He landed clumsily and then sunk to his knees. The bled beast was no longer in the guise of a little girl. It was a much smaller beast now. The slayji swallowed the akasha, as it was just air now, it wasn’t connected to the mind of a bled beast. The glowing in the alleyway started to dissipate. When he was able to, the slayji got to his feet. He returned Grandfather Tortoise to his card and walked over and picked up the tiny hedgehog that was left from the bled beast’s form. It quickly curled into a defensive ball.

He walked back out of the alley. The hedgehog cupped in his hands. The tiny creature, curious, stuck its pointed nose from within its roll of spikes. Its nostrils twitched. “It’s okay little one.” The slayji whispered.

He took a finger and gently caressed the bridge of its nose. The creature slowly began unraveling. Its ears were too big for its small triangular head, and they were floppy, folding over each other. “Well you are cute.” The slayji laughed. “How’d you become that terrible beast?”

He walked back into the bar, which was still strangely silent. All of the patron’s eyes were glued on the door. They seemed to release their collective held breaths when they realized it was the slayji, wearing his floppy alicorn. He lifted the hedgehog up and smiled smugly, “Yous were scared of this?”