Chapter 14: Ansam

            The ride back to the compound was very quiet. I thought I might take a break in the city after that last fight. It took a toll on me that I would prefer not to say; quite honestly, I wouldn’t know how to describe it. Every time it seems that I abuse my teleportation powers, something is slowly chewing away at my life force, but I cannot be for certain that it is true. For the longest while I thought I was riding back alone, until I glance to my right, startled by a man.

“Ah!” I yelped.

“Hm?” The man looked at me, confused.

“Oh, uh…. Sorry about that sir, I just didn’t notice you were there for the longest while. Gave me quite the scare.”

“Ah, I see. Well sorry about that my boy, I can be very quiet at times. It’s how I prefer to be.”

“Not to worry, I am like that too.”

There was an awkward silence for a little bit.

“Say, would you care to listen to a story?” the man asked.

“Um, yeah sure. Go ahead.” I said.

“Perfect! Ok so the story begins with a young man, not too far from your age. But you see, he wasn’t any ordinary man; he was quite special indeed. He harnessed unimaginable strength and speed, so unparalleled that no one man dared to fight him alone. But you see, this man was very odd, and never liked to talk to anyone, so no one knew anything about him. He would walk the world without any purpose, or it was just assumed by everyone. The most you would get out of the man was a smile. Though, one day the man ventured into a small village, and just in the nick of time too, as it was being attacked by raiders. The man quickly disposed of them, but the thing that made him special was that even for a man like him, a mere second and he could cut down any foe he faced, yet he barely killed anyone. The most people say was that he killed only 2 people. The man quickly dispatched the raiders, driving them away for good, saving the village. Before the man left, he was greeted by a young woman. She was bearing gifts for the man as a means of thanks. The man instantly fell in love with this woman upon first sight and decided to stay in the village to protect it. The man would later wed the woman, and eventually spoke, and become more of how you would say – human. One uneventful day, the man went out to collect provisions for his wife, and upon return, found the village desecrated by raiders. He quickly rushed over to his home, only to find his pregnant wife, slaughtered on the kitchen floor, with multiple stab wounds to the stomach. Enraged, the man hunted down every last raider that he could find within the area, mercilessly killing every last one of them. The man left the village for good with the sorrow of death all around him. Legends say he still roams the lands today, searching for something, but no one knows what.”

I sat there for a moment, taking in the story. It, though random, it was still quite sad. The man was just like me – alone.

“Sir, we are arriving at the compound within 2 minutes!” The driver beckoned.

“Ah Okay. Thank you.” I said to the driver. I slowly began to inch my face towards the man, thanking him for the story.

“Oh, and thank you for telling me that interesting sto-” but before I could even finish, the man was gone. It was odd though, we were in a van.