"People talk sometimes of a bestial cruelty, but that's a great injustice and insult to the beasts; a beast can never be so cruel as a man, so artistically cruel. The tiger only tears and gnaws, that's all he can do. He would never think of nailing people by the ears, even if he were able to do it."
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky
***
I stumbled backwards a few steps before catching myself, then took a moment to rest, bending over with my hands on my knees. I looked at the Mayor with a face of exasperation and mild annoyance.
"You couldn't have done that any sooner?"
I couldn't stop myself from asking, but even as I voiced my complaint, I could see a mangled corpse, similarly sized to the one I just made before me, laying near the feet of the Mayor. It may have even been a bit bigger than the one near me, although I didn't have complete bodies to compare.
"Figured you could use the experience. You did pretty well, a solid seven out of ten I'd say. Good enough to deserve a break. You can go rest in the town hall for a bit until you catch your breath. My secretary is a decent Cleric, so if you're injured go see if you can't find her."
"And leave you alone to fight everything?"
"I should be able to handle this myself for a while, but I'll give you a holler if I need some extra help."
Waving me away, he turned around to face more oncoming beasts. I straightened myself out and began making my way towards the town hall. The sounds of some fighting came from behind me, at which point I realized I hadn't actually seen how the Mayor had been fighting. Thinking of this and seeing no reason to resist my urge to watch, I turned around to watch him fight for a bit. I was amazed by what I saw. He was fighting with his whip-cane, quickly whipping it out towards specific parts of beasts, where it would wrap around them and cut through them with terrifying ease with just a small tug from the Mayor. If it landed on thicker parts, it wouldn't directly cut all the way through, but the gashes it would leave were deep enough to put anything out of action. He would also use the gun as a club if anything got close while his other hand was occupied. One sight was terrifying due to its visceral technicality, the other due to its sheer brutality.
"I think he'll be fine on his own."
Muttering to myself and laughing a little at my own needless worry, I turned and continued towards the town hall. The building had suffered no damage, as if it had been blessed with some sort of divine protection. That, or the beasts simply couldn't detect anyone inside. Walking in the front door, I was met with nearly the same sight as earlier today, now missing a certain overworked secretary. There were two hallways on either side of me, with no indication of which one I should pick. I chose the one on the left and began to make my way down it. One side of the hallway was lined with windows, the other with doors, left open.
Every room was void of people, so I continued forward, quickly reaching the end of the hall, where it curved towards the right and ended at a staircase. Staggered lanterns lined the walls on either side, dimly lighting a closed door at the bottom. I descended the staircase, arriving before the door. I knocked a few times and opened it, a room full of shelves with stacks of papers and books coming into my view. Near the back of the room was a desk stacked high with more papers, a gap in the middle revealing the blonde-haired secretary.
"Erin, right?"
She looked up at me briefly, barely sparing me a glance before returning to her work.
"Don't you have something you should be doing right now, or is bugging an already overworked mayoral assistant a pastime of yours?"
I noted how she didn't seem to be surprised by my appearance, nor did she seem at all worried about the situation of the town.
"I'm actually here to bug a Cleric I was informed was here, who I assume is you, given that I haven't seen anyone else in this building besides the two of you."
I started walking towards her casually, taking time to look at the shelves around me. Some of the stacks had labels on them, although most were mundane things, such as town financial reports and copies of building permits. There were two that caught my eye in the short time I spent looking, one labeled "Hunters", the other labeled "Weapon Shipments".
"I politely ask that you don't go snooping through town documents, if you don't mind. It's all boring anyway, nothing to concern yourself with."
"I'm surprised you're still working, given the situation."
"This room is completely soundproofed from the outside and I'm the only one left in the building. There's no reason for anything to come in here, so I don't see why I should be worried."
"That's not exactly what I… never mind. I have a few broken ribs I'd like to not be broken."
"Alright then. Come here."
She finally looked up from her work and put down her pen. She stood up and picked up her chair, walking out from behind the desk, placing the chair in the center of the room's walkway.
"Come. Sit. Let me work my magic."
I did as instructed, sitting in the chair and taking my now Nightmare-fluid drenched cloak off and draping it across my lap. She stood in front of me and stretched her hands out, placing them just above my chest. She closed her eyes and her face scrunched up a bit in focus. After a short time, her pale hands began to glow a faint, pale gold, gradually growing a bit more intense. Other than that, nothing seemed to be happening, until I felt my cracked ribs begin to move slightly on their own. It was generally unpleasant, but not outright painful. After it felt like they were all back in place, an itch began to form around each spot where they had broken, and gradually became more intense. I fought my urge to try to scratch at my ribs, knowing the feeling was coming from the bone itself and not wanting to interrupt the healing process. A short while later, the itching began to fade and she pulled her hands back, her face returning to the pleasant indifference of before, although she seemed to be a bit paler.
"You're good to go now. Try not to get too beat up in the future. If any of your ribs had broken into your lungs, there would've been nothing I could do to save you. The area is too delicate to work on, especially while you're conscious."
"Well, I don't plan on it, but I'll keep that in mind."
She nodded and circled behind me. I stood up and threw my cloak back over my shoulders. Turning around to say thank you, I saw that she had already returned her chair to its spot behind the desk and was already back to work.
"Thanks for the help. It's nice being able to breathe properly, you know?"
"Yeah, yeah. Get back out there. If something happens to him while you're wasting time in here, I'll be blaming you."
I gave her a quick smile and a nod, even though she had her head down in her work and likely didn't see me. However, there seemed to be a faint smile on her face, although I could be mistaken. I walked back through the room taking one last look at the shelves, now from the other side. The only one that caught my attention this time was a stack labeled with abnormally fresh-looking ink: "Transfer Orders". Like before, I didn't stop to look through it. I was curious, but it was none of my business and I had something I needed to get back to.
Leaving the room, I made sure to close the door behind me. As I did, I felt the presence of the room change slightly. It was a weird feeling, almost as though it wasn't there; had it been like this when I first arrived here, I might have completely ignored the door. I shook the feeling off and walked back up the stairs, coming back to the hallway I had walked through previously. Looking out the windows into the courtyard, I saw the Mayor continuing to fight just as I had last seen him. It reminded me of how long we had been fighting and how much longer we were likely going to have to.
I finally came back to the courtyard and started running back towards the area I had been fighting in previously. As I ran, I readied myself to fight once again, finally taking the time to reload my gun which had been left empty until now. I was ready to fight once again, now more refreshed than before, although in the back of my mind I had determined that if I saw one of the bigger ones again I would immediately run, rather than try to fight.
"Glad to see you back and hopefully less broken than before. I'd reckon we're about halfway, now, so be on guard for- there you are, you bastard."
As he spoke, his head snapped around to the side, locking on to something out of my line of sight. He kicked the ground and shot off into the distance, leaving me thoroughly confused, facing down the couple beasts he had been fighting who looked nearly as confused as I was.