'Why like this?' Lucas thought.
Standing between tall trees, he stared through their crown at the crimson sky. He tried to think of the fast streaks of red meteors as beautiful, this way maybe his anxiety won't rise and his asthma won't flare up.
He looked down as his round belly that trembled with the ground, 'An overweight, asthmatic joe with no innate ability. I expected to die in a beast's mouth, but not like this. Haha.'
As sore as his legs were, he ran from place to place as fast as possible to maybe avoid the meteors falling.
He ran and ran, then, when he leaned into a tree and gasped for breath he saw it.
A man staring at the incoming ball of fire with a smile on his face.
'if I who's like this, have to suffer and stay alive, why does that moron gets to die happily!? ' Lucas resented,
He didn't think twice before acting. Guided by petty envy, he bolted with the last of his strengths, tackled the smiling fool and dragged him in his shoulder a good ten meters before the meteor crashed down behind.
But the distance wasn't enough, the sound deafened him, and his body became weightless, he felt his back burning and saw the ground coming closer.
He sighed. "I should've let him be happy and die."
****
"GET UP YOUR DAMN FOOL! YOU'RE STILL IN DANGER!"
'Rebecca?' Lazaro felt a burning injury on his back.
'I'm still alive!? How hard it is to die!? damn it! Back then I just needed to curse someone on the street and that'd do it!'
Beside him was a crater of ten meters in diameter and at least five deep, a red stone gurgled red like lave in the middle.
"Becca you're really lucky, huh, but the second time will probably do it."
"What did I do to you!? Nothing! I, besides keeping you alive, offered everything you could want! Even the opportunity to meet your wife again, whatever happened between you and another god, has nothing to do with me! You're acting on irrational prejudice, YOU'RE NO BETTER THAN THE ONES YOU SWORE TO OUTDONE!"
For a second his wit halted, that accusation was one he loathed, but it also bothered him, because she was right. Before he could finish his thought. He started hearing more than just a buzzing noise.
A rushed short breath.
'Becca, I was run over by a boar before the meteor struck right?
"A chubby mortal grabbed you and ran. He's dying over there."
She answered in a more subdued voice. Lazaro guessed she noticed the difference in his mood and tried to not agitate him again.
He forced his eyes open, the sky was still red, but the shower of fire had ended.
By his side, a short-haired chubby man struggled to breathe, his face was white and lips turning purple.
Lazaro eyebrows locked 'Lung disease? On a man this age?'
"Your barbarian world revolved around essence and martial arts, little care was given to medicine. Common children with Lung disease either they miraculously healed or died. So there was no adult with it. But this place is different."
Lazaro nodded. 'Little becca, save him.'
"I can't. Just end his misery, you're crippled and can't generate your essence. So you have to extract it from your surroundings, but he'd die before you could extract half the amount needed."
"Ha." Lazaro laughed and forced his broken body to roll to the scorched crater.
"W-What are you doing? Please! Don't try to end us again, at least give me some time to convince you." She exclaimed
'You said I shouldn't treat you the same as other gods, but the time you took to discard the man who saved your life was too short for me to not despise. But don't worry, you have the time I take to heal him.'
He could feel the small ball of light stiffening, but did not give it more attention, and threw himself down the burning hole.
The stone of lava formed a case of stone but it was still glowing red. His flesh burned but he grabbed it with both hands as if he did not have the instinct to avoid fire.
"Don't use that! this thing's essence is too volatile, it could kill you in any mishap! Besides, your state is too weak right now, the body is honest, chances are it'll shut down because of the pressure the essence will exude." She exclaimed again.
He managed to get up and got out of the crater
He laughed. 'Others can't, but I'm Lazaro of superbia.'
He fell beside the crying boar-like boy and tried to speak, but even if he did, he reckoned their languages would differ.
Exasperated he extracted the thick and strong essence from the stone, as it was strong it was easier to extract. its vicious burning nature destroyed his skin and burnt his flesh black but he managed to guide it into the man's chest.
They met eyes and Lazaro pointed his finger, signaling the chubby guy to circulate his essence according to his finger movements. He didn' know if he understood, But since the boar stopped breathing for at least a minute already he had to start regardless.
The shirt on Lucas's chest burned together with his skin, he never felt so much pain before, The man made a spiral with his finger on each side of his chest, and only after he started again did Lucas understood that he was supposed to guide the Essence withing himself too. By the second time, after almost losing conscience, his asthma attack ceased. He was tired but the burning pain did not allow for him to fall sleep.
Lazaro blinked a few times and as consciousness slowly left him, Hyera spoke. "Why do so much, didn't you wanted to die? From what I know, you're no hero."
'In my thirty years of war, people who act like him, people who stand up and move, are rare, even if weak, these kind of people are usually a positive in any place, contrary to the common person, who only swims with the tide.' As he answered Lazaro fell down unconscious.
Agitated by pain, Lucas pulled the smiling fool on his back and walked, one step at a time. It took him two minutes to walk four meters.
"I"m tired of this, let's just get him." A man suddenly spoke.
The voice struck a feeling of despise on Lucas, his eyes turned cold.
Two men in dirty black suit holding a pistol each appeared ten meters ahead.
"Piggy, we came to bring you back. you shouldn't go out alone like this again."
"We are a team you know, you shouldn't wander off on your own."
They laughed. Lucas didn't move they stopped giggling and put him down.
"I saw his skill in extracting essence piggy, to be so caring like that, is he your friend?" The blonde man asked.
The black one went behind Lucas, "You should tell us, you know? That skill is too valuable, people might've grown greedy, tell us about it, and we'll escort you too."
Lucas spat on the ground with a laugh.
"I'm fat, not dumb."
"You say that, but you enlisted in the academy thinking you'd become a hunter with asthma and obesity? Do you think you could succeed? I"ll tell you this, give that technique to us, and we'll give you five thousand UN for it." The blonde said and looked a the black man, meaningfully.
The black man typed in his watch and showed it to Lucas.
"5000,00 Un translates to 131000,42 of the United front country's ribil . Your family could live normally forever."
Lucas took a deep breath, he looked at the man unconscious beside him and laughed, he has no idea who the foreign guy is but understood that Lazaro didn't even have the language package. Even if he wanted to say something, he couldn't.
And, although he could tell them what happened until now, seeing their sniggering mouths and mocking eyes, he didn't feel like it. Instead.
He laughed out loud.
"Fuck you."
And cursed.
The two men snorted. And the beating began.