The river shimmered beneath the morning sun, its gentle current whispering across smooth stones. Birds drifted lazily overhead, and the world felt quiet, peaceful, and untouched. The clouds drifted apart. Maybe from nature, maybe from Kien. Either way peace can never last forever.
"CREIG, THERE'S FISH IN MY ASSHOLE!!!"
Oh, you've got to be kidding me.
Kien flailed around in the foot-deep water for what felt like an eternity. Far off on the shore, he glanced up at a knight in clanking metal.
The knight reached its hand out from the aquatic grass. "Grab on!" he yelled.
Kien wasted no time. He pushed himself off Creig as he shoved him under, grabbed the knight's hand, and pulled himself up, leaving Creig behind. Creig, soon after, held onto a creaking branch down the river.
"A little help!" He spoke, holding on for life.
The knight narrowed his eyes on Kien first. For once, someone seemed to care about him. "Are you okay?"
Kien rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I am totally fine. Just ignore the fish grabbing on my ballsack." He looked down. A flailing fish chewed on him between his thighs like it was dinner.
Kien winced. "...And no it does not feel good."
The knight stood in shock. Kien tried to picture what the knight was thinking, but all he could see was warm clothes and Creig's head on a spike with lipstick and a giant middle finger. 'Fuck you, Creig.' He thought. If only he could have pushed him away from the tree, or maybe gouged his eyes out. Or perhaps he could have-
"Thank you sir." Creig announced as the knight pulled him out of the water.
Kien was fuming. "Listen here, you flea‑ridden swamp‑ferret." He pointed directly at Creig's beaten black eyes. "Don't ever talk about my party! Or I'll-"
"Ok, that's enough from you." The knight grunted at Kien.
Before Kien could react, he was already on the knight's cold shoulder. "Hey, what are you doing!" Kien kicked and screamed, but the knight didn't budge. He continued to walk closer towards a wooden carriage holding others.
Kien looked up at Creig, who waved and smiled. "Do you see that!?" Kien continued to flail around, pointing at Creig. "Hey, you old pair of broken-down underwear, he's mocking me!"
The knight sighed. "You really never shut up."
Kien's heartbeat eventually caught up with his adrenaline. He relaxed. "Yeah, I get that a lot."
The wooden cart wasn't very comfortable. The wood was battered and broken. The prisoners were crowded and snickering. However, on the far right sat a towering, dark‑skinned man—shirtless, his pants torn, heavy metal chains wrapped around him and restricting every movement.
The knight threw Kien over the wooden cart wall, slamming him onto the hard floor with a loud bang. "Lucky I'm on patrol today."
The knight sat upfront on one of the two horses alongside another bearded man.
As the cart began to move, Kien watched the bright sky move with the surrounding trees. It was… peaceful. 'I really, really hate people.' Kien thought.
Moments passed, and no one spoke after Kien was placed in the cart. Only the roaring wind and chirping birds stopped Kien from going insane. He had to say something at least. The silence was driving him nuts.
Eventually, he cracked. 'Who do I talk to first? What should I say?' he argued with himself for minutes on these two questions. Then he understood it. 'I'll talk to the nicest looking guy here!' Kien's confidence had finally returned.
He turned his head to the left. "Hey there. What's your name?" But before Kien could take his words back, they had already left his mouth. Now he had to awkwardly look with open red eyes at the monster of a chained man.
'OH, COME ON!!' Kien thought to himself.
Moments went by. Then, just as Kien was going to give up, the man spoke.
He cleared his throat. "I go by many names… the God Slayer. The Manifesting Chaos." Kien couldn't tell if he was still soaking wet from all the sweat now dripping alongside his cheeks. "Some call me the Thunder of Death. Some call me the Chocolate Giant, but you, my friend… You can call me Bubbles…"
Kien's mouth dropped. Everyone else looked at the chained monster with flat faces.
"That's such a cool name!" Kien barked back. "The God Slayer! It's like something from a fable!"
Everyone's eyes turned towards Kien. Their faces were even more shocked.
"Not gonna talk about the Chocolate Giant?" A bearded prisoner spoke.
"Or that his name is Bubbles?" Another asked.
Another prisoner rebutted. "But my name is Peachy. And no one seemed to care about that…"
"Shut the fuck up, John!" The bearded prisoner spoke. "Peachy was your dog's name, you idiot!"
"Oh, right." John responded.
There was a long pause. Kien tried to examine the men in the cart. He wanted to know who he could take in a fight. As he scanned the cart, his eyes met with a bald man with tattoos and a missing arm.
Kien froze. His smile widened. Maybe if he acted confident, he would become assured.
Deep down, however, Kien was more focused on what the man was thinking about him. Maybe he wanted to know why Kien was so handsome. Maybe he wanted to 'attempt' to fight Kien.
Kien locked onto the man's bleeding face. He could take him.
Soon after, Kien snapped his head towards Bubbles, who was looking right at him. Kien swallowed his pride. "So, why are you the only one chained up here?"
Bubbles held a long stare; his eyes narrowed. "I forgot to wave goodbye to my pet cow, and maybe accidentally slipped out of the cart." He darted his eyes at the knight. "But then I twisted my ankle while falling out of the cart, and I guess the knight took me limping at superior speeds away from it as threatening."
Kien nodded along. "I see…"
"So then, obviously feeling bad about the whole mess I decided to willingly return back to the cart." Bubbles cleared his throat. "Maybe because of my unwavering strength and fear, the knight had to chain me up in metal. And here we are now."
"So why don't you break free? I mean you are a God Slayer." Kien was more intrigued than ever.
Bubbles' eyes perked up. "What other reason but that the chains are simply this comfy?"
Kien was flabbergasted. He had never seen someone so mature in his life. Though the others in the cart only rolled their eyes.
The knight turned his head. "Alright, shitbiscuits, only a couple more miles until we arrive."
"Hey you old bastard, that's my line!" Kien paused. He backtracked his thoughts. "Wait. Where are we going?"
The one-armed man muttered. "The prison, you idiot."
There was a pause. Kien stood still, his eyes wide open. "I'd better be there for guard training."
Kien sighed. He sat down on the cart floor. Soon after, with a flick of the wrist, a menu opened up. He clicked over on the golden ring Kate gave him.
[Description: Face your fear, gain your strength.]
Kien began to shake, his teeth clenched. "It can't be… does this thing actually believe I have fears!" Kien couldn't stop chuckling to himself.
A prisoner whispered into another's ear. "Do you think he was dropped as a child?"
The other whispered back. "Sadly he wasn't thrown as a child. Then I would have been able to die in peace."
Kien summoned the ring. In a small cloud of smoke from his hand, the golden ring appeared. Everyone's eyes focused on it.
"You can't be serious…"
Kien stood up. "BEHOLD!" Kien showed the prisoners the ring. "Years ago, in a galaxy far, far away, where idiots never wrote chapter books, there was a man." Silence. "He was a fat man, a brave man. Someone with the real chutzpah… ALBERT!"
Everyone was in shock. "Now, after the fat Albert died, his widow was in shambles. She gave me the ring. But… the power of it is too strong! I need someone to hold it's power, and maybe save the world!"
The entire cart was in total concentration. No one said a word. "You can have this power bestowed only for the small price of a thousand gold bars and a prison escape! Who's with me!?"
No one said anything. The knight was looking back alongside the other man.
For what felt like hours had gone by, Bubbles intruded. "I really don't think that's-"
The one-armed man stood up. The knight and the man stopped the cart. The village near the grass road held a line of peasants, all gawking at Kien. "Goddamn it, I am fucking good." He remarked to himself.
The one-armed man pulled out a dagger from his hood. Kien screeched. "Cut the crap." The one-armed man barked. He pointed the dagger at Kien. "That power is mine…" He smirked. "The Ultimate Manifest."