They are the Vice they are the shadows the waste, the trash but their poison is just the residue from the course alchemy of That Haggler and his wayward Angels. They are all made of the same thing at the end of the ray.

You’ve seen the weapons his servants waggle about. Dust.Vice. All the same.

Pihuyo fumbled about and made some noises and thought about the light from the BigNlilstarvice and the local Vicery stocked regularly and felt sad. The very same light that had fed him and warmed him and charmed his eyes at night. They we’re both marked with the Vice. Came from the same place and we’re made from the same thing. Branded.

The same thing as that.  And Zeinte pointed at Cinquenta who stared into the fire, still and un breathing.

The same as this too. And he held open his cruelly curved talons, black and leathery.

Zeinte smiled. I guess I really am just an experimental prototype though.

Pihuyo looked into Zeinte’s eyes and said, “Exspermennental? What is that?

Zeinte held Pijuyo’s gaze for a moment. So earnest yet so dopey, He thought. A real big kid. And so trusting. So soft and willing to embrace. So gullible, thought Zeinte. With the right word or two among this deadly wilderness, this small boy would likely risk life and limb out of gratitude and necessity. Zeinte would play the worldly, seasoned master to Pijuyo’s inexperienced, naive little brother.

“Experimental.” Zeinte said. “This armor is just a test, but even as such, my life always belonged to Xibalba. Now the test has become my body, and my purpose is to carry this weapon for as long as I live.”

Pijuyo looked sad as Zeinte cooly explained something that seemed very painful and scary to Pijuyo. Zeinte caught the tinge of fear and mistook it for pity. “Do you feel sorry for me, Pijuyo?”

Pijuyo shook their head vigorously. “Of course not!” Pijuyo insisted. “But I can’t imagine doing something like that. Putting my body into to something that I could never take off.”

Zeinte shrugged. “A soldier’s body and heart belong to Xibalba. ”

Pijuyo looked embarassed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so rude.” he said, and his cheeks had turned red.

Zeinte smiled again. So warm and wise, thought Pijuyo. This was surely a man who had lived through a wide breadth of life, perhaps I remind him of a friend from long ago, thought Pijuyo. But we are friends now. I hope I don’t force him to leave with my big mouth, thought Pijuyo. And I hope he isn’t scared by Quetz. Pijuyo ate the rest of a juicy, peppery lemon fowl, and began to feel sleepy. “How far are we from Xibalba, Zeinte?”

Zeinte folded his arms. “Perhaps two more weeks on foot.”

“Two weeks?” Pijuyo momentarily panicked. But then he remembered that in his dreams tonight he would talk with Quetz about everything that had happened. He layed down, staring into the last glowing embers of the flame, and the gentle crackle of light seemed to lull him into a haze. He closed his eyes, and began to snore.

Zeinte watched Pijuyo sprawl about before the dying campfire, belly up unconscious. The last few of Zeinte’s neck hairs raised up though, as he sensed focused eyes trained on him as well. He looked up to see that golem, Cinquenta, the hulking beast in a girl’s body, staring straight into him. Knowing what she could do with just the slightest grasp of her fingers made him shudder, ever so slightly. He realized that this creature was perhaps not just a match for himself, perhaps not even merely more physically powerful. Zeinte was nonplussed more my her inscrutability than her rock crushing fingers. However Enigmatic this monster appeared, she would most certainly prove herself castastrophic in the end, thought Ziente. Was she really worth going through all the trouble?

“Safemoon.” Zeinte said, lying down, closing his eyes and rolling over. The fence tonight would surely hold in this placid grassland. He closed his eyes, feeling somewhat sorry for whatever tried to cross the threshold, for himself and the two ill-fated fools about him were all three by far the most dangerous things for miles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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