The flying pig had to atone for its sins.
It was not enough to not let out mocking oinks, but it also had to do something for the fate of the world.
What if the hamsters got wings? What if the fairy preservation movement actually got to the only fairy in the world? The flying pig had its orders. It could not just fly away.
Even though it wanted to.
So, so, bad.
It had to be fast, for Kai and Lin were using the ruins of the shopping mall so, as if they were actually a big parkour arena.
The fairy flew overhead, refusing to carry Kai.
Which was a problem.
"Come on! Your wings are faster than my legs!" Kai yelled, as he jumped over a long-lost lunch box. The strange animal on the lid might have been a cat, once, but someone had spray-painted an eye patch on its right eye and given it a forked tongue.
The fact that the inside of the shopping mall was dark, damp, and moldy did not give Kai the much-needed courage to run on.
"Oooom!"
That blasted sound made both partners run/fly faster.
"Lin, do you think that they'd mistake me for a fairy?" Kai yelled, as he jumped over a forgotten rat trap with the skull of a rat still lodged in it.
Kai did not want to end up like this rat. It was true that he was an SSS ranked adventurer, but…
That was only because his size was considered. Had he been human-sized, and not gnome-sized, he'd be only rank B right now.
And those did not have permission to attack humans!
"What sort of adventurer are you to run away in the face of danger?" Lin snapped, flying to the right to avoid being caught by grubby fingers.
"One who survives!"
Kai had a plan.
One of the columns near the lift looked close to toppling. He knew full well that a well-aimed air magic blast could get it down, blocking the way of these strange humans, who wanted to eat… Lin's mating attributes.
Kai took off his sword, aimed, and let out the wind blade.
The column started to shine.
"Dungeon!" The humans yelled, turning around as one, and beating a hasty retreat.
"Well… that was not what I expected," for if the dungeon core could now have its own dimension, something that all cores could do these days, for Leander had given away the secret as to how he had managed to get himself a private island, then the dungeon core was now a sentient being!
Armaros was going to have their hides if they smashed the core; the village was going to collapse if they did nothing!
"Kai?" Lin asked, landing next to his partner, and looking into the orange void which he was sure would bring about the end of his hopes and dreams. "I don't want to end up as a boss mob."
Kai nodded. Oh, he did not want to end up as such, either. Still, he took a deep breath and smiled at the fairy.
"You can wait here," Kai offered.
For a moment, silence reigned between them. The fairy looked into the eyes of the gnome, and they nodded at one another.
"Sure!"
Kai blinked; Lin continued to smile.
Wait… that was not what Kai had hoped for. No, what he had wanted was for Lin to come inside the dungeon, kill some hamsters with him, and then end up as his wife.
"You… don't want to come?" Kai asked, as he took a step towards Lin. "Like… only hamsters are waiting for us in there. Hamsters, Lin!"
"Yes, I know," Lin patted Kai on the head. With one swift movement, the fairy picked up the gnome and threw him inside the dungeon. "Be a hero! Do it for the village! Do it for me!"
As Lin took out a napkin from his never-ending stash, he pressed it to his eyes.
Now, the only thing he needed to do was double back to the village, raise all the dead hamsters, and harvest the villagers! Soon he would be able to feast his eyes on fellow fairies again, and they were all going to dance around fires, eating pasta, and…
Karma heard, Karma saw, the flying pig oinked its fury to the heavens.
As Lin saw himself before the man he had sent off to a fluffy death, he made a couple of steps back. The portal was back, he did not like Kai's smile.
"I can explain!" Lin looked around for any high ground. He was sure that if he was just out of reach of the gnome, he'd survive.
"Sure, Lin," Kai took off his whip from his back, uncurling it. "Explain."
"I just needed to get help," Lin smiled, he really did.
Kai took a couple of steps towards him. Lin fell to the ground, curling into a ball, hoping that Kai was not going to eat his wings.
The whip cracked in the air, something screamed.
That something was not Lin.
As the gnome fought a bee about as big as him, Lin asked himself questions he was not comfortable with.
What was he going to do now, that Kai knew to be distrustful of him?
Was he really so wretched as to betray the man who had just wanted a companion?
And, and that was the question which gave him no rest, could he fix this somehow?
The fairy took off his cape, as Kai limped back to him, blood on his lips.
"Did you bite off the sting?" Lin's cheeks were heating up. Could it be? Was the gnome really a hero?
"Well, duh, it did try to unlive you," Kai collapsed to the ground, Lin bundled him up in the cape. The fairy brought back all the corpses of the dungeon, making them into a meat shield around them.
For he now had the one for life.
The flying pig oinked in approval and zeroed in on the wannabe nature preservationist.
They would get what was coming to them.
Karma saw, Karma did not forgive.