Cairo - 14 Cairo

It was night again. A four-part feeling crept its way on top of me as my eyes finally began to open.

The first was a feeling of subtle pain. Specifically in my leg and upper abdominal area. The pain wasn’t bad, nor did it hinder my ability to walk. It was annoying. Annoying like the buzzing sound in my ears when a bee is hovering around me. It was similar to a leg falling asleep — except instead of the numbness it was more of an irritating pull on my muscles. I was sure my kidney was stabbed clean through, and yet I felt nothing strange happening inside. Was my kidney not functioning anymore? I didn’t know, and I didn’t care.

The second feeling was the realization that hit me of what had happened. Everything from Rina to Leonidas to falling to… Now. This feeling was possibly worse than the pain in my leg. This feeling was not something I was used to. It was uncertainty, doubt, and acceptance. All things that were too distant for me to understand.

The third feeling was actually quite nice. It was the feeling that woke me in the first place, and the feeling that continued even after all my thoughts had processed. Mooks was alive, wearing a small brown bandage around his torso while simultaneously licking my face and wagging his tail. I didn’t smile, although this was possibly the first time I actually wanted to.

The fourth feeling was one that wrapped all the others together into itself. It balanced out the pain with a mellow feeling of comfort. The comfort of Mooks, and the comfort of the mattress I was lying on.

Wait…. Mattress? I quickly sprung my body upright to examine my surroundings, but that ‘nonexistent’ pain in my kidney shot me right back into the pillow. “Grrgh.” I grunted lowly, trying my best not to make any more noise before I figure out where in the world I was.

Since Mooks had a bandage, and he seemed happier than when he ate Rina’s steak, I relaxed ever so slightly. “Where are we?” I whispered in his ear, glancing around me.

It seemed as if we were both in some sort of wooden cabin. A cabin with no windows, bearskins on the walls and floor, and a very short ceiling. It wasn’t tall, but if I stood up there wasn’t a doubt in my mind I’d have to duck down a bit.

“Some weird old guy came and saved us!” Mooks stopped his licking, putting more focus into wagging his tail and jumping atop me.

“A weird old guy?” I sighed.

“I forgot his name…” Mooks whimpered, “Wait, no I didn’t! He never told me!”

I sighed again, “Where is he now?”

“My my.” A crusty voice came from the doorway behind me. I couldn’t turn around, so I waited for this ‘weird old guy’ to make his presence. To no surprise, this man wasn’t old at all.

“What a wonderful looking group you two make.” The man said with an accent I couldn’t recognize.

As he approached us, I managed to finally put a face to his voice. He looked as if he was about the age of a newly-born father. His hair was as red as the strawberries I used to eat on my mother’s farm. He was short, precisely as short as the ceiling above us. His face looked as if it’s been through more than just a war, and his eyes were as dark as a freshly ripe plum.

I slowly attempted to sit upright again, this time taking my precious time to do so. He watched me carefully, laughing to himself. “My my, a warrior you are, I see. Wounded and thrown off a ship, yet you dare to stand back up.” His words sounded like a question, but the way he said it with his accent just made it sound as if he was mocking me. Either way, I ignored it.

I managed to sit upright, “Why did you help us? We were as good as dead last night.”

“Last night?” The man laughed, “You’ve been in bed, two days now if I reckon.”

Two days?! I’ve been in bed for two days? Is my body seriously that weak it can’t handle a couple of stab wounds?

“When I found you two,” The man started, “Your bodies had lost so much blood I barely thought you’d give a pulse.” He chuckled, “Yes yes, very lucky to be alive.”

Blood loss. Of course.

“Mister!” Mooks yelped at him, “Can you give me more fishies, please! I’m very hungry!”

“My my, you sure seem to be excited, young one… Ohp!” He pounced, “That reminds me.” The man reached into his pocket and grabbed some sort of strange glass vial out of it. Inside was an odd-colored blue liquid I’ve never seen before in my life. He tossed it to me and motioned for me to drink it.

“Name’s Alastor, former general of the King’s first-class line of offense. Headmaster for the department of Gifted soldiers, and of course,” He bowed, “Runaway criminal for noncharitable acts towards the King’s Vault of Glass.”

Smiling, the man exited the room, waiting for me to somehow join him.

I looked over at Mooks, who seemed to be more confused than I was. Apparently Mooks didn’t wake too early before me, so we were both in the same state of being baffled.

“Vault of Glass…” I said out loud, unscrewing the cap on the vial and hesitating to drink it. I hovered it around my nose for a bit — it smelled like poison and antiacids. I sighed, drinking it while holding my nose shut.

Surprisingly, nothing happened. Nothing that made my stomach turn, nothing that made me instantly puke, nothing that hurt me more than the pain I was already in. In fact, I felt pretty good.

I leaped out of bed and jumped in the air. I jumped again, and again, and again. What the hell did this man just make me drink?

“You feel it too right!” Mooks jumped alongside me. “I drank that blue stuff and I’m floppin’ and whippin’ all over!”

Although my body felt good as new, I still had too many questions to place my caution aside. I was also naked except for a pair of small shorts, bandages around my arms, stomach, and leg, and a pair of socks that were torn to shreds. After looking around for a second or two, I noticed my cloak hanging on a hook by the door, so I grabbed it and made my way to the other room.

A small, yet comfy looking kitchen popped into view with Alastor behind one of the wooden countertops. He had a small chimney-like fire pit behind him — roaring in flames — and a cauldron of some sort inside it. The cauldron had boiling water with freshly chopped vegetables and pieces of raw fish steaming and humidifying the room like a cloudy fog. My god did it smell delicious.

I took a seat at a round table beside the fire, patiently waiting for something to happen. Maybe there was a slow-release poison in the vial taking its effect the longer we waited. Maybe this man was about to capture us and take us to the King himself for a reward. Maybe I needed to stop thinking and start talking.

“So, Alastor was it?” I asked politely. “Having all those titles and being in a hut like this raises a few suspicions, does it not?”

Alastor walked over to the cauldron, stirring the ingredients with a large wooden spoon. “My my, curious are we. Maybe a man such as myself wants to get away from all the hardships and Live a normal life between the mountains.”

Alastor loosened the fire a bit, taking a large ladle and pouring the stew into a small wooden bowl. He did the same for another bowl, giving both me and Mooks an equal portion. “Eat up. Then we talk.”

I took his words cautiously, but that fresh smell of the stew won me over — next thing I knew I was sitting with a belly full of nutritious goodness.

“I’m surprised you haven’t asked us how we ended up the way we were.” I grumbled, feeling my stomach as full as a melon.

“Heh, All of us get tangled up from time to time.” He paused, taking a warm sip of his stew. I could hear the carrots and broccoli crushing and popping in his mouth. “That scar on your neck,” He pointed with his spoon. “Tells me more than I need to know.”

“You mentioned something about the Gifted? And the Vault of Glass? Explain.” I ordered, realizing how rude and demanding I sounded. “Sorry, I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

Alastor chuckled, taking another sip of the stew. “My my… I’m sure you’re quiet familiar with the Gulag yes?”

I nodded silently.

“Why do ya think there were kids in such a place?”

I didn’t have an answer. I could tell by the look in his face he knew I wouldn’t.

“You kids were being raised. Raised to be soldiers… The fights would divide the strong between the weak. Those who survived, stayed. Stayed until a rightful age to fight on battlefields. You were a lucky fella. If it weren’t for the explosions you’d be as good as dead by now… Or, you’d be on the King’s side.

That’s right, the explosions. The explosions I still had no answers too. The explosions that saved my life seven years ago.

“What-” I started, but he cut me off immediately.

“I don’t know what they were either. To this day, it’s still a mystery in my head.”

I sighed again. Sighing was a habit I’ve recently come to develop the more I talked to people. It was a way for me to express anything that remained in my body in a civil and righteous manner. It soothed me, and it felt good to do so.

“What about the Vault of Glass?” I asked, waiting for him to finish his next spoonful of stew.

“My my, what you wanna know about it?”

“Well — for starters — What it is.”

Alastor stayed silent for a moment, and the only sound we could hear was Mooks licking his bowl in a rhythmic manner.

“The Vault of Glass is the King’s prize collection of… Well… Items of sorts. That’s how I came about that vial you drank. Got plenty more too.”

“Items of sorts? That tells me nothing.” I bickered.

“You ask more than you tell.” Alastor smiled, finishing his bowl of stew. He got up, stretched, and walked over to the only window in his tiny house. The window was small and it was dark outside, yet he looked like he was looking at something, or perhaps someone. “My my, the winds sure are howling tonight.”

t”What was in the vial you gave me,” I asked again. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

tAlastor walked back to the table. He grabbed Mooks���s empty bowl and gave him an extra cupful of leftovers. “It’s a healing remedy. Good for internal damages, but smells like death.”

tI couldn’t argue with him there. It did smell like death, maybe even worse than death. “I feel as if there isn’t a single thing wrong with my body. How can such a small amount of liquid work so quickly and so effectively.”

tAlastor grinned, leaning back in his wooden chair. “The smallest things are the ones that matter the most.”

tI was pretty irritated by this point, the only thing keeping me staying was my only remaining question. “What is the Vault of Glass?

Alastor chuckled privately. “My my, you haven’t even told me your name and here you are, bossing me around like a slave.”

“Cairo.” I said, “This is Mooks.” I gestured to the wolf below the table.

“Oh don’t worry, your friend filled me in already. I just wanted to hear it from your mouth.” He looked towards the window again, smiling even wider. “You want to know about the Vault yes? Perhaps your attention should be focused more on the gentlemen outside.”

Gentlemen outside? So he did see someone. I didn’t know as to feel afraid or startled, all I knew was that the sudden increase in my heartbeat hindered my ability to think properly. It definitely wasn’t fear, and I wasn’t startled. I was tense. I was uncertain of what to expect. That’s what got to me.

Taking his advice to the back of my mind, I stood up and made my way to the door. After opening the old wooden door and ducking my head underneath it, I stepped onto what seemed like a beach of some sort.

My feet sank into the white sand below me, and the fresh smell of ocean waves filled my nose once more. It looked like we were still in the ridge, somewhere deep and away from where the ship had passed by. Many sharp and massive rocks remained scattered about, and the waters seemed to be too shallow for any fish to live in.

However, as I glance around, I noticed something odd in the distance. It was dark, and the moonlight barely gave me any help, but I was certain I was seeing three men walking toward me. Two of which seemed about my height, the third, however, made me itch my eyes to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.

In my days inside the Gulag, I have seen a fair share of men that towered over me like mountains to a pebble. This man, however, was no ordinary man. He nearly tripled my height, had hands the size of boulders, and eyes that were ready to kill.

Alastor came out behind me, slapping me on the back. “My my, looks like you got some visitors!”