She let out a painful hiss and an "Ah! F**k…" as the motion put pressure on her injured shoulder.
"Go on an archeological dig in Greece, they said. It'll be fun, they said."
"Are you well?"
Leta's head shot up when she heard a masculine, accented voice and saw her savior approaching as he was in the process of sheathing one of his swords.
"Uh, yeah, for what it's worth." She grumbled, pressing her hand into her still gaping shoulder wound. She looked down to check on the injury and was happy that her nanites were hard at work stopping the flow of blood and all that rolling around in the dirt hadn't made the wound worse.
"Your next words decide whether you live or die."
"Excuse-" Leta looked up to see one of the stranger's short swords inches away from her nose, so close that her breathing caused the metal to fog with each exhale.
"Are you Blessed? Or, are you Chosen?"
Blinking, Leta stared at the knife in her face before his words registered in her head. Even then, and knowing that he had been speaking to her in Greek, she was still sure that something wasn't translating correctly.
"Uh… I am a dumb American that should have just stayed home instead of going to Europe during her school break."
A slow blink. "Blessed or Chosen. I will have your answer."
"I have no idea what either of those mean."
"Then why was a Loupgaru stalking you? Are you trying to summon such creatures with bait?" The man questioned, holding up the plastic bag of meat that she'd dropped in all the excitement.
"Where were you hiding that - no, never mind. I wasn't trying to attract anything! I didn't even know things like that even existed until it tried to jump me."
"Then what does a young woman do with a bag of meat in the middle of a forest park away from prying eyes so late at night?"
"Yeah, from the outside looking in, I can totally see how weird this is. And you're right, it's freaking weird, and trust me, my explanation is even weirder."
"I am a man carrying swords who hunts monsters of legend. I sincerely wish you the best of luck in providing me with an explanation that is, as you say, even weirder than what I have seen before."
[HOST IS ADVISED NOT TO REVEAL ANY INFORMATION REGARDING NANITES, GADA, OR THE ATLANTIAN COLONIES UNTIL MORE INFORMATION IS GATHERED.]
Leta nearly jumped out of her skin at hearing Gada's advice, so focused was she on the sword wielding man in front of her.
'Why not? I've got tiny machines in the atoms of my cells giving me superpowers. Maybe the sword slinging monster hunter has some information we can use. Who knows? Maybe he even knows why the Atlantians left.'
[PRECISELY. THE HOST HAS ENCOUNTERED TWO INDIVIDUALS UTILIZING CORRUPTED NANITES, AND ANOTHER HUNTING ONE OF THEM. WE CAN DEVISE THAT, IN THE ABSENCE OF THE ATLANTIAN CREATORS, FACTIONS HAVE BEEN CREATED BETWEEN THOSE WHO HAVE FUNCTIONING NANITES. THE HOST IS ADVISED TO REFRAIN FROM ANSWERING QUESTIONS REGARDING NANITES UNTIL INFORMATION SUCH AS THE GOALS OF THESE FUNCTIONS ARE IDENTIFIED.]
'Fabulous.' Leta grumbled internally before responding with a half truth.
"I… may have developed superpowers?" She responded, but it came out as if she were the one asking a question.
The man's head tilted in curiosity. "Explain."
Leta huffed, knowing how crazy even this half truth was going to sound. "I'm a student helping with an underwater archeological dig. While I was underwater… something happened. Something I still really don't understand or can explain, but I was in so much pain and it was hard to stay awake. I ended up passing out and I really thought I was dying. When I woke up, I was in a hospital and I could move a pen with my mind. As for this… thing? I think you called it a Loupgaru? I've never seen anything like this before. One minute it was a man, then it was a monster."
Mr. Shortsword didn't say anything, just watched her, staring at her. He seemed to be cataloging every breath, every blink, every unconscious movement that she made. After a moment, his sword lowered an inch.
"I believe that you did not intentionally attract the Loupgarou. However, that does not explain this situation. That Loupgaru followed you, stalking you since before you left the butcher shop. Why did it follow you so intently?"
Leta blinked once, trying to register what he had said, then blinked again.
"You were following me? And you didn't think to step in and stop it?"
"No, I was hunting the Loupgaru. Those beasts do not generally hunt alone, and I had hoped it would lead me back to its den where I could dispatch this infestation. The bite of a Loupgaru is extremely contagious, and I feared that I would need to kill you in order to spare you from turning into such a monster. But you used magic, and the curses of the Blessed do not affect the Chosen."
"Oh, well, thanks for not killing me I guess." Leta mumbled.
"You seem to have just Awoken, as well call it, but I feel there is much more for you to explain-"
The man stopped mid sentence, his head shooting up and looking back down the path. The park was silent save for the swaying of trees and the distant sound of city life, but the woods felt suddenly cold and eerie, like a battlefield before the slaughter.
When he drew his other short sword, she realized that something bad was about to happen.
"What is it?"
"The rest of the pack." He growled, dropping into a stance as yellow eyes could be seen flickering between the trees, headed right towards them.