All around me, the torsos fly up, aiming to strike me down, and I grip my sword tightly, ripping through them in whatever way I can. Why are they swarming me like this now? They should know that Jabari is the bigger danger on this battlefield, so the only reason they could be doing this is if they are reaching the limit.
"JABARI! CLEAR THEM!"
As my words release in the air, his chain and hammer smash them into pieces, and in that moment, I see a path clear in the mass of torsos, a single point where far more of them are coming out of that than the rest. "EVERYONE OVER THERE!"
As I point my finger in the direction they originate from, the bodies of everyone move in unison towards that direction at full speed.
Standing beside me, Jabari says, "Are you sure this is going to work?"
"It will, I just need you all to trust in me. For now, just move around and keep those who are looking after the injured safe."
"Okay, leader, don't die!"
He lunges away from me, and I quickly start running as a swarm of torsos flies after me. They hunt me looking for any moment of weakness to strike me down, so I run with all I am and all I can muster as far away from them all.
Their strike hurt my flesh as any form of self-preservation they had before fades, as they do whatever it takes to try and strike me down. It seems it got angry at my plan. What a smart animal you are for picking it up, but in the end, all I know is that those guys are all stronger than you think.
In an instant, all the bodies freeze for a moment, and the coordinated swarm they are in breaks apart as they all start to fly and bash into one another. "They did it!"
Turning to face them all, I hold my sword tightly and say, "Now it's time for the clean up."
My hand hurts, my eyes water, and my body, filled with wounds, feels like it's going to collapse at any moment. In this moment, I feel worse than I ever thought I could feel.
Yet as I lay on the ground with my blood pooling around me, their faces appeared. Smiling, laughing, crying, all filled with admiration towards me as they gathered around my body, and threw me up into the air.
In that moment, even though my body could barely keep itself up, I felt better than I ever thought I could ever feel in my life. All I was, and all I did allowed me to reach a height that was unknown to me before, and I was intoxicated by this feeling.
-Break-
Location: Matibaypukaw;Northwest of Expedition Campsite 7
Moving through a large forest, I turn my head back to everyone and say, "Just a little bit more, and we will reach our destination."
One of the elites looking at me says, "We thank you for saving everyone and getting our heads back on track, but are you sure you know were your going? We still have quite a bit of injured and far too many of our supplies have been destroyed by those torsos to waste time on anything right now."
John, stepping up through the crowd, says, "He is right, we don't know when the sky eruption will stop, and we can't waste time following your path."
Smiling at him, I say, "I do, I made an effort to buy maps and memorise the different paths all around this place. Even without one, all the knowledge is in here. I can guarantee that just a little bit more walking will take us to our destination, and that destination will have enough supplies for us to fill our bellies and rest our heads for a while. And I know everyone here can attest that I am capable of thinking my plans through even in extreme situations without panicking."
Anger and embarrassment fill his face, which grows as Jane, beside him, giggles a bit. Yet it quickly fades as Jabari glares at him, with a threat behind his eyes.
My head turns back forward as I start to map out our destination, but I hear Jabari say, "Hey? How did you know that I could handle that?"
Turning to him, I say, "I told you, I know the smell of my own kind, and you're nothing like me."
"That's a rather funny thing to say?"
"It's merely something I picked up by being around a freak like you for a couple of years of my life. Though he was a lot less meek, and far too particular about his internal rules."
"Sounds like a fun person, I'd like to meet him. Though I would also say you're a freak as well."
"I am not a strange person; I am normal enough. I have no special talent or ability that puts me above everyone; I am trash."
"Sorry, I didn't mean t-."
"I am fine with it. I don't need any half-hearted compliments about this. Understanding that fact is the first step to changing my normal life into something I can be proud of, into something that can give me the strength and power to dominate this world around me. And when that happens, you will be calling on me to be your saviour, understand that."
Pushing my finger into his cheek, I say, "And for you, stop holding back. How can I be the greatest when my other peers are walking around like morons with their tails between their legs?"
"I am sorry, but if I cause any more damage, Cordum and the rest of the priests and scholars will get mad at me for breaking things again."
"Who cares, you have a gift from the heavens themselves. The biggest insult to the Messiah, and all the others who wish to have what you so easily discard."
"What if I get a bit too wild for you all?"
"Then that's as far as we go, and die. But I can tell you one thing, I won't die."
Smiling, Jabari says, "I think we're going to be friends for a long time."
I roll my eyes, yet as we break through the forest, I turn to everyone and say, "We have arrived at our destination."
Staring forward, everyone freezes as they see what lies ahead of us, with John grabbing me on my shoulder and saying, "Are you insane?"
"I am very sane?"
Pointing forward, he says, "That's a village! You know as well as we do that almost all of Enotita is against adventurers, and interacting with them outside of a job can get us in deep trouble."
"You'd be right about that usually. That's why you plan ahead." Taking a deep breath, I yell, "THE GREAT SAVIOURS, CAPTIVANT AND THE NOTES HAVE APPEARED!"
John quickly grabs my mouth, covering it, and says, "YOU FOOL!"
So I point towards my ears, and soon he starts to listen as footsteps rise from the village all the way towards us. From the village, a large group of people arrive and gathers around us, with smiles and words of praise spilling out of their mouths.
"You Captivant and the Notes, right?"
"I have heard of all the adventurers and journeys you have gone on."
"Thank you for protecting our people."
"I loved the adventure when you all sank that slaver ship."
Walking forward, I say, "Thank you all for the applause and gratitude, but now we are in desperate need of some assistance, you see we were recently struck down by a group of Wonderbeasts, which we were able to fight off, but took serious damage. So would you be able to help us?"
"Of course, we would, just come on down."
As the villagers run off, John says, "What is going on?"
"Propaganda. I have been staying up late writing a special type of book, often known as banshōzu, based on the natural phenomenon known as the Painted Mountains. Essentially, books with pictures that are popular in Enotita, featuring made-up journeys of Captivant and his allies, known as the notes. They often present us in a very heroic light, loved by members of Enotita wherever they go. I paid a few people every time we stopped at a city or so on to circulate them around."
"Why would they even believe that?"
"Banshōzu is a very Enotita specific style, that I am sure many of you have never heard about. I studied it along with other art forms when I was younger. As far as all of these people are concerned, this book could only be written by someone within Enotita, and they are considered to be trustworthy. So it's all technically a lie, but a rather good one, I would say. Now let's go and reap the rewards of my actions, and oh, all of you have a curse of forgetfulness which I am trying to cure. So don't go blabbing a bit too much."
I stare at their faces of shock and the face of appreciation that quickly follows after, so I turn and say, "Hurry up. It's time for us to head out now."
I start walking forward, and they all follow behind me.
-Break-
Location: Matibaypukaw;Pagbawi Village
Sitting around a table with drinks all in our hands, everyone surrounds me as they chug all they can drink to ease their pain and stress into nothing. Smacking their hands against my back, they let their joy forcefully rush into me, and feeling it, I say, "Don't break me, guys, I am just as injured as everyone else."
Jane, in that moment, crawls up to me and asks, "Hey, I was wondering how you knew how to handle that situation. Did you read about all the Wonderbeasts here in Matibaypukaw as well, you genius?"
"No way that would be way too extreme, this is one of the most biologically diverse countries in terms of animals in the world, I am pretty sure there are more Wonderbeasts than people."
"Then how?"
"I just used a shortcut. You see,Matibaypukaw is a special country. It's an archipelago with a large series of bridges that contact each island one by one, it is said that a giant Wonderbeast, possible a Behemoth, died underneath the land and from it's corpse a ridiculously diverse amount of aquatic Wonderbeasts rose from it's corpse terrorising the land. Due to this, members of the country tend to be overrun by aquatic Wonderbeasts, and often hire people within the country to destroy them, but when militaries and mercenaries within the country are busy, they often call Adventurers from the west to come and help them.
Due to this, most adventurers who come here are often only ready to deal with aquatic animals, and can be caught off guard by the land animals, which have evolved to be just as, if not more deadly than, the sea creatures to survive. If you look into most failed missions in Matibaypukaw, it's often due to sudden attacks from land Wonderbeasts, so I made an effort to just memorise those."
"And how many is that?"
"About 289."
Everyone around me freezes, then they grab my body and throw me in the sky saying, "Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant, Captivant!"
My eyes move to John in the corner of the room, who leaves, and there I feel my chest soar above the sky. In this moment, I stand atop the world I know around me, in this moment, I made the world bow towards me with my will alone, in this moment, I am, in the truest sense of the word, Captivant.