I carried Shadowpaw inside and lay her out on the bed. She put a hand on her chest and dutifully used her new self heal spell.
It didn't seem to do a lot, so I told her to keep casting it whenever she could. She didn't have much mana, so couldn't do it more than three times every ten minutes.
I told her to keep it up anyway.
Licorice fidgeted, sitting on the bed beside her. She looked uncomfortable at seeing the blood.
I didn't blame her. She was a sweet Neko with an innocent mind.
I took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "It'll be okay."
"And Skye?"
I felt a ribbon of hatred curl around my heart. "I'll go get her."
"What if-"
"I don't care," I cut her off, holding up a hand. "I'll bring her home."
Shadowpaw grimaced in pain. "I left her with the van," she said. "I stealthed over to his place through the trees. But he wasn't there. I was waiting for him to show up, but then I heard her scream."
"How did he do it?" I asked, glancing at her chest. I wasn't ready to hear what he'd done to Skye. "What did the skill look like?"
Closing her eyes, she settled back into the pillow. "He punched me. In the chest. His hand was white."
"White?"
"Glowing. Like, really bright light."
"Did he use a weapon?"
"A machete. It was on fire."
Licorice shuddered as she imagined the scene.
"Did he say anything before punching you?"
"I think he said Holy Strike."
"Shit," I groaned. "Of all the fucking things to throw at me. A paladin."
"Is that bad, Master?" Licorice asked nervously.
"Eh." I put a hand to my head. "Depends on his level. Holy Strike is a first level spell, though. I'm guessing he enchanted his weapon with Redemptive Flames. That's why it was on fire. He'll be a pain in the ass to kill. That's all. Can you see if you can get hold of Tippy and get her here, please? And maybe get a message to the others and tell them to stay where they are and lock their stores."
"Okay."
Shadowpaw cast Self Heal again and shivered as pale yellow light pulsed through her chest. "It burns."
"I know," I said, patting her thigh. "Keep doing it, though. You can probably take your bandages off, soon."
"What?"
"Your magic will be healing you faster. The skin is usually the first to heal."
She looked down at the blood-soaked bandages. "Really?"
"Yeah." I smiled at her. "You won't even have a scar if you keep it up."
"Bexley?" Her voice was small. Delicate. "Will everyone be like him?"
I shrugged. "Some, I guess."
"Some?"
"Okay, most." I tapped my head. "It's all about survival, Shadowpaw. The quests. The levelling. It's all about survival. And us humans have evolved to do that through violence. It's in our nature. Some of us just take it too far."
"What about you?"
"Maybe I do, too." I looked away from her, unable to keep her gaze. "On Neyteria, I was a Champion. It was the first title I got. The second I arrived there, the System told me that's what I was. A Champion. I had to save the world from the evil Demon Lord. I dedicated ten years of my life doing just that. Can I tell you a secret, Shadowpaw? Something I never told anyone. Something which makes my head hurt just to think about?"
"What?"
I leaned down and whispered softly in her ear. "I don't know why I did it."
She didn't understand the enormity of that. I could see in her eyes she was confused. And I couldn't explain it to her.
I wanted to, but when I opened my mouth to do so, I lost track of what I wanted to say. It slipped out of my mind like an eel out of my fingers.
"Maybe it's because I don't have any Wisdom," I told her as the pressure eased. "Maybe that's why I don't know why."
"But, you saved Neyteria?"
"Did I?" I looked down at my hands. "Yeah. Yeah, that's what the quest said. I'd saved the world. Congratulations to me."
She reached out and took my hand, her weak grip attempting a squeeze. "You saved me, too, Bexley. And I know why. I know why you saved me. And it wasn't because of a quest."
I couldn't look at her.
Instead, I kept focusing on my hands.
Hands which had done so much.
"I couldn't save Skye."
"It's not your fault."
"My head feels funny," I said. "Since I got back, I noticed it more. Sometimes I feel like I'm walking through fog. Other times, I'm two steps behind my own head just watching while my body does… things. And I get these ideas sometimes and I think that's just my Intelligence stat being good to me. But is it? Is it being good to me, or do the numbers mean nothing and everything is coming from… somewhere else?"
"Bexley…" She moaned as she sat up. Her arms went around me. "It wasn't your fault. And, I think, deep down, you know why you're doing everything you do."
I turned to her to find her face so close to mine. I could smell the coppery tang of her blood. And the soft sweet smell of Neko on her breath.
"Why?"
"For us," She said, leaning in and kissing me softly on the edge of the mouth. "Forever Nekos, remember?"
I snorted out a laugh and patted her on the head.
"Do you have a Wisdom stat?" I asked.
"No," she sighed, drifting back down onto the pillow and casting her self heal again. "Was I in the army, Bexley? Or the police force? I can't remember. Do you know?"
"No idea." I shook my head and threw her a grin. "But if you were, it'd have to have been Special Forces."
She nodded, answering my grin with one of her own. "I feel like I know what it's like to be in a warzone, you know? I feel like that's where you've been. And you haven't finished, have you? You're still in one." She hissed as a jolt of pain went through her body. "People think wars can be won in a single battle. But they're not. They're won by a thousand skirmishes. A million little fights. All leading to that final battle. So, focus. Focus on the fight in front of you. The skirmish around you. One day, Bexley. We'll make it through."
I nodded, wondering why she was the one giving me the talk. Given how shattered she must be feeling, it should've been me talking to her that way.
"Nekos," I said with a sigh. "Always there to pick me up when I'm down."
Her eyes glittered. "Go kill him, Bexley," she said, grabbing my arm tight. "Get him for me. Get him for all of us. Let's start with that."
And that was enough for the System to respond.
I felt the buzz of a notification.
Quest: Paws of Vengeance
Objective: Avenge Skye and protect your Nekos from the Psychopathic Paladin!
"Master?" I turned to see Tippy in the doorway. Her face was livid and her tail swished angrily behind her. "Who did this? Where is he?"
My phone suddenly buzzed and I pulled it out.
I had a message.
From Skye.
Why did you do this to me?
I blinked at it. This couldn't be her. She wasn't on my list of Nekos anymore. That meant she was dead. Nothing could take Nekos away from me. Not even paladins.
I knew, because paladins of a much higher skill than he was had tried.
The ribbon of rage around my heart started to squeeze as I typed back: It doesn't have to be like this. There's other ways to resolve a bounty quest.
A photo started coming through.
I watched it load, my brain freezing. I didn't want to see it. I knew I shouldn't.
But I couldn't stop myself.
The photo was of the side of the beat-up old trailer he'd been living in.
Nailed to the front was Skye's body. He'd slit the skin from her forehead to her crotch and splayed it outwards like two wide wings of tatted skin. Beneath her feet, a mound of gore shimmered in the sunlight.
Her guts.
Violent red flesh and blood against the pure cream of the trailer.
Her hair, matted with filth. Her tail limp and lifeless between her legs. He'd cut half of it off.
She did this to me. So I did this to her.
I felt white hot heat explode through my body. Hatred, greater than any I'd ever felt, flowed like dragonfire through my veins.
I'm coming to kill you.