Stories of Home

“Well, there he is,” the reaper in a prim suit said. He pointed to a man below them, stumbling through the street in a drunken stupor. “Not exactly a pretty sight, is he?”

His associate remained silent. Though he lowered his head as if looking down into the city, his blindfold meant that he had no need to actually make line of sight. It often caught Loki by surprise that Ank was actually paying attention when his head was pointed elsewhere.

“These errands that Shelly keeps sending us on, why are they all rather… righteous? Last I heard, death wasn’t exactly interested in good or evil. But let’s just say, the world won’t be missing this one once he’s gone.”

Ank let out an annoyed sigh. “Let’s just get this done.” He dropped off the roof of the building and landed behind his mark. With just a raise of his arm, Ank grabbed hold of the man’s mind and mentally squeezed, making the man let out a yelp of pain.

“Aw, always to the point with you,” Loki teased, landing on the other side of the man.

“I’m not here for games,” Ank grumbled.

“Doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun on the job.” Loki flourished his knife and swung it down on the man’s arm. Within seconds, the gash turned a sickly grey and skin around it began to harden and crumble. The man’s arm went limp at his side as the dead cells spread. He yelled out in pain once more.

“I’m going to the bar,” Ank released his mental hold and turned his back to walk down the dark road. “You have your… fun.”

Loki sighed and tapped his fingers on his hips in annoyance. He brought the knife up to the drunken man’s throat and made a deep slice, quickly finishing him off. He pulled out a handkerchief to wipe off the man’s blood, and ran to catch up to his blind compatriot. He half expected Ank to stop, but of course, he continued his path to the bar.

They walked into an old pub and sat themselves at the bar. Ank seemed to be in no mood for conversation. He never was.

“You always going to be this walled off?” Loki asked. “I thought at first it was just getting used to your new job, but at some point you have to snap out of it.”

Ank didn’t respond, didn’t even act like he heard Loki.

“What can I do for ya boys?” the bartender asked.

“Martini. Dirty, exactly two olives.”

“Sangria.”

Loki chuckled. “Really? I had you as a whisky kind of guy.”

Though he was blind, Ank looked away wordlessly to avoid the statement.

“Hey, throw me a bone here. I’m just trying to make conversation.” Loki waited for any acknowledgement, but of course didn’t get any. “Here, how about we play twenty questions. Except instead of a game, we just answer each other’s questions. You can go first. Ask anything you like.”

“Why are you such a constant pompous prick?” Ank mumbled.

Loki sank a bit. It was probably a rhetorical question, but screw it. If he wanted to play like that, then may as well play along.

“I was born to a single mother. Total lune. I assume dad was a shapeshifter like myself, but who knows really. I was five when I learned I could shapeshift. Mother thought I was some demon and kicked me out of the house. Can you believe it? A five year old. I survived by pretending to be a stray cat. Eventually a man in a business suit picked me up and took me to his daughter. He was successful, had a nice house. I decided that I would grow up to be just like him. Never revealed my true nature, except to the daughter. She taught me how to read and write after she came home from school. Her parents probably would have freaked out if they knew a preteen boy was sleeping on her chest every night.”

Loki shrugged. “When I was in my late teens I left the house to pursue my own calling. Was about the age a house cat would die off anyway. Alright your turn. What’s with the blind thing?”

“Blind thing?”

“Were you born that way?” Loki clarified. “Injury? Just thought the blindfold looked cool?”

Ank turned as if to stare at him. He was still for a good, long moment, but then reached up to the blindfold and tugged it down. Behind it were two empty eye sockets, and a long scar slashing through one eye, over the bridge of his nose, and past the other.

“Yep, that’s going to haunt me in my dreams tonight.”

“It was Xerizero,” Ank said. Loki was surprised he was going into the story. He wouldn’t have blamed him if Ank didn’t want to go into detail.

“Xerizero was always temperamental. Some days you came back with news of failure, and he’d just wave you off, or tell you to leave with no further repercussion. But not all days were like that. That day I told him I couldn’t complete a task, don’t even remember what I had to do. At first it seemed like he was going to just wave me off again, but then he grabbed his sword and leapt at me. I was off guard, wasn’t even prepared. Xerizero caught me all the way across my eyes. I have no idea if he was aiming for my neck, or wanted to cut all the way through my skull. But either way, I was completely defenseless after that attack. I had to keep my hands up to my eyes to stop the bleeding as best I could. Xerizero then grabbed my shirt and threw me out the window. Thankfully we weren’t that high off the ground. I lost consciousness, and when I woke up I was somewhere else with someone with me. No idea who or where. Some Good Samaritan who just happened to be walking by the fortress I guess. Anyway, she said that my eyes would end up infected, so she had to take them out.”

“While you were awake?” Loki asked.

“Couldn’t stay asleep during it. But yes, I can’t imagine anything more painful than that day. Also the blindfold isn’t just for fashion, but as cover to keep the sockets from getting infected.”

“Dear Gods, pretty sure I’d just drop dead during the procedure.”

Their drinks came. Loki took a sip of his and smiled contently. “Alright, round two. You go.”

Ank played around with the skewer of fruit in his drink, swirling it around the glass. “So, got any family?”

It was the most small-talkish subject Ank could go to besides the weather, but Loki took it as a win. “Besides the mother and father who hate me? Yeah I got a half brother. Same mother, different father. He is- well, excuse me, he was a pretty influential guy. His goal in life was to become immortal. Just like me, actually. In fact I don’t know if he ever believed me when I claimed to be his brother, but our goals were aligned so he put up with me. Of course, he didn’t want to just live forever like I did, but he also wanted to be as powerful as one of the Gods. At least he aimed high.”

“Guessing it didn’t work out so well for him?”

“Nope. Not at all.” Loki chuckled. “So what about you? Any family?”

Ank thought about the question a moment. “I guess. Mother, father, one brother, two sisters… maybe more. I don’t really consider them family any more.”

“Oh?” Loki leaned in in interest.

“I was sold off to the Darkness Requiem at the age of fourteen.”

“Sold?”

Ank nodded. “Anyone who shows talent in athletics or magic usually gets sold. It’s pretty brilliant, really. The people are kept happy with the possibility of more food or better housing, and it keeps the rebels dry of anyone who can fight worth their weight. I started showing promise with psionic magic, and it didn’t take very long for my parents to give me up. I don’t even know what they got in return. I never saw them since.”

“Wow.” Loki said. He could tell Ank felt hurt when telling the story, by the way his mouth tightened at the corners. His own reply may have been a bit dry for the emotional tale.

“Ever thought about visiting them? Your family? You’re a free man now. They’re no longer living in fear of an insane tyrant.”

“They’re probably dead.”

“Not really. The white light healy bomb that saved your ass probably fixed them up too, if they were dead.”

Ank leaned his head on the palm of his hand. Though Ank had gracefully put his blindfold back on over his empty eye sockets, Loki still felt somewhat unnerved by him seemingly staring directly at him.

“I… guess…”

Ah, he was deliberating.

“Come on man, aren’t you at least a little curious what they’ve been up to?”

“No,” Ank said quickly. “Not any more interested in a stranger’s life.”

“Nope, it’s been decided. We’re going to your hometown and you’re going to show me around.”

And sure enough, the next morning, Loki woke his coworker up at the break of dawn with a teleporter crystal in hand.

“Ready?” he asked. Ank wasn’t, as they had to spend the next hour fighting about how much longer Ank could sleep in.

The two teleported to a quaint little town surrounded by fields and distant mountains. The buildings had an old-timey, rustic sense to them, with small houses clustered together to form rough neighborhoods. Though not very big, the town was overflowing with its people, who all gathered its center. It was late morning, but it wasn’t uncommon to see people sitting on the side of the road or in the open grass eating a meal.

“Brunch?” Loki enquired, looking to a group of three eating what looked like bread and eggs.

“You don’t get to choose what time you eat,” Ank replied. “Too many people around.”

“Sheesh, where’d all these people come from?”

“The healing light revived anyone who died before their time in the last one hundred years. It’s going to cause a population bump, and it’s not like this town was well off to begin with.”

But as the two walked closer to the town center, three boys approached them, each holding onto some sort of makeshift weapon. One had a club, one had a hammer, and the third held a loop of chain.

“Well well, looks like the tax man has returned. Didn’t anyone tell ya? The Darkness Requiem is over. You don’t have any power over us anymore!”

“Tax man?” Loki asked. Ank didn’t respond to either. He just rolled his head back and forth.

“Hmph,” his accuser expressed, “not talkin’ eh? Well how about we beat the words outta ya!”

But as soon as he said it, the three accusers all fell to their knees, clutching their heads. Ank lazily walked over to the one with the chain and took his weapon.

“Hm, I wonder if you can make a noose out of this?” he mused. “Probably a bit short, but your neck doesn’t have to be comfortable…”

“Ha ha… you’re not serious right?” Ank turned to him with a blank expression. “You know we’re not allowed…”

“I know, I know…” Ank sighed and threw the chain to the ground. He released his grip on the three boys and continued walking on by. The group didn’t follow.

“Dude, what was that all about?”

Ank sighed again. “I’ll tell you over brunch.”

“Can we even get it before lunch?” Loki scanned the line in the marketplace. It twisted down the road on one side and looped its way back up the other.

“Obviously.”

Ank completely ignored the line and walked straight up to the food counter. As he did, the people in line backed away, as if he were parting a sea of people. Loki followed with slight concern.

The woman at the food counter frowned as he approached. “What do you think you’re doing here?” Her voice was seething.

“Brunch.”

“You’re not welcome here.”

Ank made a motion as if to attack or intimidate, but Loki threw an arm in front of him to cut him off.

“How about we just serve ourselves?”

He picked up two loaves of bread from a basket on the counter, and scooped up several sausages still cooking on the griddle. He handed Ank one of the plates, tugged his sleeve as signal to go, and gave a slight bow to the food lady.

The two found a place far enough away to sit so to not attract unwanted attention. Loki began eating his meal, but Ank decided to talk first.

“I used to collect taxes for this town,” he said. “Kind of interesting that it was my old home town, got to keep in touch. Well, not that there was anyone I wanted to keep in touch with. Sometimes I’d collect money, but mostly I was here for food. Darkness Requiem had to eat too.”

“Ah. Ever meet your family again?”

“Nope. I think they moved after they sold me. Or maybe they were just too ashamed to see me again and hid every time I came back.” Ank took a bite of his bread. “There was this one time, right after I was blinded. Some guys saw me with the blindfold and assumed it had made me weaker. Admittedly, I was still getting used to using my mind to see, per se, so it was easy for them to sneak up on me. One of the guys hit me over the head and nearly knocked me out. The others started to beat me. Eventually I was able to come to my senses enough to stop them, but I was really mad. I damaged their minds enough to placate them, and found some rope nearby. Hung them all as a warning.”

“That’s brutal.”

Ank shrugged. “The Darkness Requiem only cares about getting its taxes. If you can’t get them, then it’s your failure. Getting beat up like that was my fault.”

“That’s even more brutal.”

“One of the guys I hung was a kid I grew up with. Lived a few houses down. I don’t know if he ever considered me a friend. I thought he was pretty dumb, but he still had most of his mind intact when I hung him. He kept thinking, ‘why why? Don’t you remember me Ank?’ As if that would help him.”

Loki’s facial expression sunk slightly at Ank’s story. He tried to pin down what tone Ank was using. Disdain? Mockery? He wasn’t telling him these stories out of guilt.

“You ever… regretted doing those things?”

“No.”

“Not even against friends?”

“What do you expect?” Ank asked. “That I would beat myself up at night for becoming a bad person? I didn’t become a bad person. My family sold me to do a job. I’m damn good at my job. That’s it. If they didn’t realize that selling me to an evil organization would require me to do that organization’s work, then they’re idiots and its their fault.”

Loki sighed and leaned back. He thought that maybe they had similarities in their upbringing, but he was beginning to realize just how different their worlds were.

“Heh, maybe I should find my family again. I wouldn’t mind reading their thoughts about me.”

“Hm, we’ll save that hunt for another time,” Loki said. “How about we hit the half-dragon’s bar for some noon-time drinks? I think our brunch was rather lackluster.”

“You could have at least taken waffles…” But Ank nodded, and the two teleported away.