I didn't get to finish my curse as a strangely unaffected Marius saddled up beside me. His eyes dropped to Xynthia, howling in pain, blood leaking out of her eyes and ears. Noticing me relatively unharmed, he turned his attention to the writhing woman.

  "Come, my lady, you shall be safe, I assure you." He tried to soothe her, but she kept screaming.

  Taking her in his arms, his undead body seemed immune to her punching and kicking, desperately trying to claw her own face off and others. Ignoring the insanity, he turned to me, expectation clear on his face.

  "We have bought you time." He said, somehow awakening me from my confusion.

  Leaving questions for later and putting out the voice that threatened my sanity. I turned back to the gate. Summoning up every fragment of power I had, I blasted the metal again and again. Each hit doing just enough damage for the next to stack. Then I remembered I had an energy blade. And so activated it without hesitation. The shimmer came to life and formed into a blade of incredible sharpness. Wasting no time, I sliced the metal bars apart with several quick slices. Damaging it enough that a final kinetic strike blasted a hole big enough to vacate.

  Marius wasted no time and carried his flailing charge through the breach. Followed by a nonchalant cat, still yapping in void speech as he casually stepped through, wiping his tail around. Oh, how I would get answers from that pompous little feline. But not right now and escaping took priority. Just as I was about to flee through my makeshift escape hatch. Leaving the writhing horde of nosebleeds to their fate. I spotted the unconscious Garathi again and stopped in my tracks. Several ideas flowed freely in my mind. Predictions to be more exact, specifically about the fate of that man.

  I didn't precisely know his situation, but he seemed like a gladiator who wasn't enthusiastic about his situation. Given such individuals were expendable, he would likely not last long if I left him there. Cursing my sense of integrity. I activated Force Attract and pulled the unconscious man to me and lugged him over my shoulder, escaping soon after.

  As we entered the decrepit corridor, I quickly bent the bars back into shape before hefting my luggage to the side and dragging the Garathi along the sands. Straining a bit, I could feel my stamina had just enough to get this guy to safety. We fled for a good solid half hour, making our way down the dimly lit corridor and to wherever this place was.

  "Why did you bring him?" Marius asked.

  Turning to the undead bard, I was about to answer as another quickly interrupted.

  "What in the system was that?!" Xynthia growled, her hand cresting across her forehead.

  She looked to be in terrible pain and in dire need of some painkillers. Or maybe some healing magic. If healing magic could fix void speak headaches.

  "That is a great question..." I glared at Jeremy, who seemed almost embarrassed, "Jer? You going to explain?"

  Slitted pupils returned my glare; they seemed to widen ever so slightly. Was that guilt or fear, or perhaps I didn't know how to read feline expressions. In my defence he was a cat for most of our relationship. You can't fault me for assuming he would stay his feline self the whole time. But unless cats were naturally fluent in void speak. Jeremy had some explaining to do.

  As expected, there was not a peep out of the fella. Alas, the timing was probably not right for an interrogation. I explained that to all involved, and we quickly decided that fleeing first and getting answers later was the best strategy. Now with Xynthia up and running, we all agreed.

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  "Why are you bringing him?" Xynthia questioned rather harshly.

  "Because he would have been trampled to death." I replied, unable to stop the sarcasm.

  "Then let him get trampled!"

  "That seems harsh."

  We stared at each other, incredulous expressions mixed with the heaving of effort. I was carrying an entire dude while the rest were jogging along at a steady pace. We passed through an antechamber before entering some sort of dungeon. Not the one you would think of in a fantasy world. Filled with monsters, loot and daring adventurers. But a full-on dungeon with empty cages and discarded chains.

  The stretch of blood and waste hung in the air, and yet the place was barren of life. Every rusted cage was empty, with faint traces that suggested occupants. Scratches on the wall, splashes of dried blood and the stink of piss and shit.

  "Lovely," I said ironically.

  "My old lodgings, I hope never to see this place again." Xynthia commented before spitting contemptuously onto a nearby cage.

  "Not exactly the Ritz in here." I said with a grin, softly mumbling the song, Puttin’ on the Ritz.

  With a thought, I played the song on low volume and quietly sang along, tapping my shoe as we made our way through. Only after about halfway through the song did I hear a soft grunt before something moved. Realising I was literally carrying someone who had previously tried to kill me, I threw him off just as a blade scraped against my barrier. I broke off the song abruptly just as I saw my enemy.

  "Motherf..." I half cursed because that bastard tried to shank me in the eye.

  "Where am I?!" the confused Garathi demanded, waving around a concealed dagger.

  "Chill asshole, I saved your life!" I shot back, raising a hand to blast him into the wall if he advances.

  "Saved my..." he paused, eyeing two other figures, "where am I?"

  "Everybody chill!" I yelled before quieting down.

  "What does that mean?" Xynthia chimed in.

  "Do you mean we should decrease our temperatures?" Marius suggested.

  Keeping one hand free, I struck my forehead hard, grumbling a few obscenities before quickly accepting the lack of earth lingo on this planet. Before I could explain what the term meant, educating these poor medieval peasants on a superior method of dialogue. The situation quickly devolved into a blades-out scenario. Xynthia and Marius both had swords raised threateningly at the very outnumbered gladiator.

  Angered beyond belief at not only needing to explain earth-based phrases but being completely covered in hot sticky blood and barely surviving getting mashed like peas by a troll, before carrying this ungrateful gargoyle to safety. Now, in the middle of a literal Mexican standoff, I kind of lost it. The finger guns were now unholstered and aimed at both sides of the conflict.

  "Everybody chill or I start blasting!" I declared as two index fingers of destruction levelled at the two sides. "Chill... an adjective describing someone or something as relaxed or easygoing. As a verb, it means to relax, calm down or be easygoing. Used as a command, it means By the gaming gods, I will blast you if you don't calm down!"

  The room got deathly silent; no one moved a centimetre out of line. Just the soft breathing and the slow rise and fall of their chests. Well, except for Marius, since he didn't need to breathe. I peeked down at Jeremy; he was the only one who was actually chilling. Bathing himself with that razor he called a tongue, right in the middle of this chaos.

  "Burn the system! What are you talking about, human?" The Garathi cursed.

  "He is not human, at least I think he isn't." Xynthia explained.

  I looked back at the former prisoner, perplexed. She actually agreed that I wasn't human? That was weird, despite my own claims of inhumanity. Expecting to be mislabelled as a human was to be expected. Just need to keep correcting or somehow change my form. Or maybe just accept the label and pose as a human.

  "Thanks, Xyn." I grinned, liking the nickname.

  "It's Xynthia, asshole, and get your finger out of my face."

  "Drop the tools and I'll put down my weapons of mass destruction."

  "You are all strange." The Garathi commented.

  "It's part of our charm... now drop the weapons because we need to run now. Unless you want to take your chances with those guys." I gestured down the corridor and towards the cacophony of yelling.

  The world was bursting to erupt into full-scale murder. Daggers and swords swinging in the wind, while yours truly was going fingers akimbo and bluffing like crazy. I don't think I have enough energy to blast everyone because I directed most of my energy to my defenses. I was bluffing with no ammo to speak of.

  "Young Joey has a point; we should vacate before the others reach us." Marius came in with the save.

  The weapons lowered within seconds, and we all understood the situation. And in the spirit of cooperation, I lowered my finger guns, holstering them like in every spaghetti western. Feeling like a genuine cowboy, I pantomimed a hat salute and called everyone partner for the rest of the run.

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