Immortal

Bright Tina

Eugene selflessly swung his sword, striking the enemy with his weapon, and the tattoo on his face glowed bright red. His expression was stern and focused, his eyes blazed with bright flames. When there was only one opponent left, he looked up, as if he knew I was watching.

"Wake up!" he just said, and I returned to reality.

It was just in time. Otherwise, I would have been eaten by two disgusting creatures just in a second. It would be more logical for me to feel fear, but the first emotion was disgust. These creatures had hands, legs, body, and head like humans but they were not humans and not even Nefarious ones. The grey color of their skin differed much from ours. Moreover, their entire body was covered with mucus. They had no eyes and nose on the face, but swollen vertical holes instead, and the mouth was like a bulldog mouth with sharp long teeth. Their hands were longer than humans, with terrible black claws.

The attackers had hair neither on the head nor on the body. But the most striking thing was the complete absence of the navel and genitals. They were not concerned about wearing clothes. I got the impression that these creatures crawled out of the sewerage. I could feel their terrible stench everywhere.

"Oh dear, they look scary!" I blurted, and then I threw a fireball at one of them.

It burned away in an instant without making a single sound. But I failed to hit the second one fast. He figured out my plans and disappeared from the fire line so quickly that I could not even notice this. Three fireballs missed the target, one of them set a garbage bin on fire. The second one nearly burned the car peacefully parked in the parking lot. It seemed unreasonable to fight these creatures under a lantern not far from the apartment house, but they gave me no other choice.

Three more fireballs were thrown in vain, and I was getting very angry.

"Hey, that wasn't the deal! You're making me dizzy!" I said to a silent monster.

I decided not to be on the bit and tried to calculate the trajectory along which the enemy was moving. Every time I tried to hit the target, he went a few feet to the left and stopped.

"Hm…"

I threw the next fireball, which served as the bait, from my left hand, and then threw the second one almost immediately hitting the monster when it stopped.

Having shaken my hands off, I smiled and said,

"That's it!"

I heard clapping behind me. Eugene stood, leaning on the lantern.

"I'm impressed. You learn fast. Yesterday you almost exploded from these abilities, and today you deftly kill vampires. By the way, it was them. That's how they look, not as you show them in the movies. It's not good that you've put on such a show."

"I was just waiting for you, and they attacked me. What was I supposed to do?"

Eugene shrugged.

"Well, shall we look for another adventure?"

"I didn't take their abilities. Why?"

"You did, but haven’t noticed. They're parasites and their abilities limited to speed and strength only. And they're not immortal, so you don't have to worry."

"Thank God!" I exhaled with relief.

Eugene raised an eyebrow at my last sentence.

"What?

"You know the truth. Why do you keep saying that?"

"That's a habit!" I shrugged. Besides, if I started praising many gods in public, I would be misunderstood.

"Okay, ask your questions!" Eugene sounded a bit doomed, but judging by the look on his face, he wanted to answer or just liked my questions.

"What was that? A few minutes ago. I know I saw you, but how?"

"This is called mental connection between the Guardian and his ward. I feel when you're in danger. I can see you any minute just as you can see me. It'll be this way as long as you're under my protection. At least that's how Tol explained it. I've never had wards but missions. But when you are next to the demigod, I can track your location. Try to use it less often, because each attempt takes a lot of effort and is not always successful. I barely understood how to figure out when you're in danger."

"Do you mean your tattoo? It was glowing…"

"It always lights up when the ward is in danger. I felt it but could not come to the rescue without finishing my job, especially since the danger was minimal."

"The place you were in, what was it?"

"I thought you'd be asking me different questions. Why are you interested in me?"

"As you just said, we're connected. I want to know why and how. And since we're in the same boat for the whole trip, I'd like to know more about my companion. You can consider this a human thing," I waved.

"It's the Tart Desert. To get in and out of Tartarus, one needs to go through this desert. Only Gods can go straight to Tartarus. And I was protecting the entrance from the newly transformed souls that somehow managed to do something no one had ever done before. Nobody could wander the desert with impunity. There are certain services that eliminate unauthorized access."

"But how could you be there? You're not a God!"

"Yes. But I can transport myself there. I have friends among Gods, who can do me a favor at a certain price, especially since it's in their interest to allow me to do my job. Believe me nobody cares about the rules when the existence of all Living is at stake."

"Okay, now tell the truth!"

"About what?"

"About what's going on. Initially, you said that only one hundred souls escaped because of Charon. This morning I saw that the number is much bigger."

"That's true. While the gate was unsealed, a much larger number of Dark Souls escaped but you have to return only one hundred souls. It's the number that will restore the balance."

"Why?"

"One hundred souls escaped because of Charon. All the rest escaped because of the Guardians, who were not able to seal the gate fast. We also pay a certain fee but the Balance doesn't depend on it. It's rather natural damage."

"Why was there an earthquake?"

"It's not an earthquake. The fact that the dark souls can't stay long in this state outside the river and soon transform into other creatures. Only being in the form of spirits, they can infect the souls of the recently dead and wandering ones. Thus, they create an army. That's why the accident was set up. They hunt every new soul to transform. It's like a cycle. Sometimes they'll do something like that."

"Next time, I'll be ready to stop them."