Aaron and Monument began walking towards the city's edge, drawing strange looks from the people as they walked by. Most people were familiar with what Aaron did, but they didn't know about this new figure clad in a different armour. It intrigued them, as it was made out of a material none of them had seen before. The teenager from earlier was staring at Aaron again and seeing his new pal.
"Hey. It's the same guy I was looking at earlier. He's got a comrade now." He uttered to himself, looking at Aaron in somewhat jealousy. He was strong, had a friend who wore some really cool armour, and even had an arm made of rock. It seemed unfair. He looked behind him, and he didn't see the others in the alleyway. "Did they move on without me?" The teenager asked himself. He wondered what to do for a second, but he quickly realised what he wanted to do. He finally had the chance to talk to Aaron.
The teenager rushed out of the alleyway as he tried to run up to Aaron. He avoided the crowd along the way, making sure not to bump into anyone. The group of people was dense, so it was hard to avoid everyone. He rushed up to Aaron after weaving through the crowd, tapping on his shoulder. Aaron turned around after feeling a tapping motion on his armour, only to see a teenager looking at him.
"Oh, hey there! Are you looking for something?" Aaron asked, putting on a cheery voice. He wanted to see what the teenager was wondering about, as from experience on Earth, they had the strangest questions. "Uh...yeah! I honestly didn't think you'd talk to me, so I'm kind of surprised." The teenager admitted, placing his hand on the back of his head.
"Oh, don't worry about asking me any questions. Fire away!" Aaron replied, welcoming any question the child had. "Uh...well...how did you make your arm turn to stone earlier?" He inquired, a curious look plastered across his face. He was really interested in him, huh?
'What answer should I give...what answer should I give...?' Aaron thought to himself, wondering how he should handle the situation. Aaron then came up with an acceptable response, one that shouldn't be taken seriously.
"I am a god who has come to the mortal plane in search of humans to devour!" Aaron responded in an obviously sarcastic voice. "I use my godly powers to transform my body into anything I want!"
"Oh, so you're a god?! What the hell?!" The teenager responded, not picking up on Aaron's sarcasm. Well, half of it was a lie, but it was a lie nonetheless. "No, I'm not a god! I was saying it sarcastically! A joking lie!" Aaron corrected him before trying to think of a better response.
"Listen, listen. I'm not a god. Just a person with a talent for summoning! My hand was blown off in an explosion many years ago, and the people who fixed me up gave me a new arm, replacing my old one." Aaron lied, making a convincing lie. "I don't like revealing my body to people. If they saw the other parts of my body, they'd be afraid. I'm talking about mass levels of hysteria. You know, people running around everywhere, people accidentally killing each other. It would not be a pleasant sight."
The teenager took a minute to take in what Aaron said, just making him want to ask more questions. "So, your body is scarred enough so that people would run away in fear? Almost like it would make you look like a monster?" He asked, curious about Aaron's appearance. "Well, people would mistake me for a monster with all of the scars I've got. It would make me almost look like a zombie or just a weird skeleton." Aaron responded, tapping himself on the chest, making a hollow ringing noise. "See? It makes me sound like a ghost with the number of body parts I've lost and replaced."
"Wow. Are you in any pain at all, or are you fi-" The teenager began to question before he was cut off by a deep voice. "Hey!" The voice yelled out, coming from a man wearing all black clothes. He didn't look like the nicest of people. The teenager stood behind him, almost like he was scared. Aaron looked behind him and then back up at the man. "Hello there. What can I do for you?" Aaron asked in a polite voice.
"Hand the kid over. We need him for something, and you aren't involved." The man bluntly said, going over to grab the teenager. Aaron lifted his hand, blocking the man while turning to look at the teenager. "Hey kid, do you want to go with this guy or not?" Aaron asked while stopping the man from grabbing him. The child shook his head from side to side, indicating a no. Aaron turned back towards the man, his eyes glowing red, unbeknownst to the man. "The kid says no, so I'm not letting you take him with you."
"You little brat!" The man yelled out in anger and tried to land a punch on Aaron. Aaron teleported behind him, almost like he had super-speed. The man looked at the area in front of him in confusion before hearing Aaron speak out behind him. "You know, you could have saved yourself a lot of hassle by simply leaving the child alone."
Hearing this sent shivers down the man's spine as Aaron lifted his hand. He slammed it down onto the man's shoulder, pulling his arm off out of his shoulder. His severed arm fell to the ground, shattering into bloody chunks under the force of the impact. The man didn't even feel any pain, at least until he checked his arm in disbelief.
He looked at the bloody stump of his arm that remained, and he began to scream, falling to the floor while holding the bloody stump of an arm he had now. He tried to crawl away while looking at Aaron with his fear-filled eyes, and Aaron let him. He turned back to the teenager, who was just looking at him with a mixture of fear and shock at what just happened.
"Hey, kid. Tell me your name." Aaron asked, placing his metal-covered hand on his shoulder. "Alec. Alec Conway." Alec responded in shock. He didn't think this would happen at all, but it DID.
"Well then, Alec, how about you join me and my friend on our quest to beat the guardians?" Aaron replied, extending his hand to Alec as a sign of friendship.
A handshake. A simple handshake has a lot of meaning.
More than you may think.