Chapter 5: Power of a Human

Agrus stared at me as if I had just pulled the moon out of my pocket and asked whether anybody wanted to play catch.

His trembling finger remained pointed at my bare chest.

Or, more accurately, at the complete absence of anything on my back.

No wing-shaped markings.

No magical tattoos.

No hidden Spriggan identification sticker.

Nothing.

Just skin.

His mouth slowly opened.

"Impossible."

I raised an eyebrow.

That word had been getting a lot of exercise lately.

Agrus took one step backward.

"Humans vanished thousands of years ago!"

The Hyenakin around him shifted uneasily.

Even the ones who had been trying to tear me apart seconds earlier suddenly looked far less enthusiastic about touching me.

Interesting.

Apparently saying human in this world had roughly the same social effect as announcing you were carrying a live grenade.

I rested the sword against my shoulder.

"Yet somehow the impossible is standing right in front of you."

Agrus's eyes widened.

Then fear twisted into anger.

"Kill him!"

Nobody moved.

I looked around.

Several Hyenakin exchanged uncertain glances.

One tightened his grip on his spear, but his feet remained firmly planted where they were.

Another actually stepped back.

Oh.

I liked this development.

Five minutes ago, everyone wanted to sell me.

Now apparently my species had terrible reviews.

Agrus spun toward his men.

"Did you hear me? Kill him!"

One Hyenakin swallowed.

"But, Agrus..."

"What?"

"That's a human."

"Yes, you idiot! That is why I said kill him!"

The Hyenakin looked at me, then at the bodies already scattered around us.

"Maybe you should do it."

Agrus stared at him.

The man immediately looked away.

I nodded approvingly.

"Excellent teamwork. Very inspiring leadership culture."

Agrus snapped his head toward me.

"Shut your mouth!"

"That sounds difficult. It's one of my best features."

His expression darkened.

"I have read the old records."

I blinked.

"You read?"

Agrus froze.

Silence.

I tilted my head.

"Sorry. That surprised me more than the extinction thing."

A few Wolfkin nearby made sounds that suspiciously resembled suppressed laughter.

Agrus bared his teeth.

"I know what humans were."

"That makes one of us. I've been having a strange week."

"You were creatures of destruction."

The humor in the village disappeared again.

Agrus pointed his sword toward me.

"The ancient writings speak of your kind. Humans killed without purpose. Conquered without necessity. Destroyed things simply because they possessed the power to do so."

I stared at him.

That accusation was annoyingly difficult to dismiss.

I mean...

Human history was not exactly a bedtime story filled with hugs and responsible conflict resolution.

We had started wars over land.

Religion.

Politics.

Resources.

Pride.

Women.

Flags.

Ideas.

Sometimes probably because one king woke up angry and decided several thousand peasants should experience consequences.

We had invented weapons capable of erasing cities, then built more of them just in case the first collection was not sufficiently terrifying.

Humanity could create medicine, music, art, technology, and breathtaking works of beauty.

We could also look at something beautiful and ask whether attaching explosives to it would improve the experience.

So, yes.

Agrus was not completely wrong.

Annoying.

But not completely wrong.

Still, there was one significant flaw in his moral lecture.

I gestured toward the captured Wolfkin.

"You know what's funny?"

Agrus growled.

"What?"

"Hearing a slaver lecture me about destructive behavior."

His eyes narrowed.

"Our raids are our way of life."

I stared at him.

"That might be the weakest defense of slavery I've ever heard, and I once knew a guy who defended cheating because he said monogamy made him sleepy."

Agrus tightened his grip on his sword.

"You compare things you don't understand."

"And you kidnap villages."

"We take what we need."

"You take people."

"Because that is our way."

"So if I punch you in the face and call it my culture, does that make us even?"

Agrus snarled.

"You humans were worse."

"Possibly."

That answer seemed to surprise him.

Clyr looked at me too.

I shrugged.

"I'm not going to pretend my species was full of saints. Humanity could be wonderful, but we could also be spectacularly terrible."

Agrus sneered.

"Then you admit it."

"I admit humans are complicated."

"You annihilated kingdoms for no cause."

"Maybe some did."

"You brought ruin wherever you went."

"And somehow that makes tying up children acceptable?"

Agrus's jaw tightened.

"No."

I pointed at him with the sword.

"You don't get to borrow humanity's worst history and use it as permission for what you're doing right now."

His lips peeled back from his teeth.

"I do not need permission from you."

"Great. Because I wasn't offering any."

The Hyenakin leader threw his head back and roared.

Something changed.

The sound was not simply anger.

The air around him seemed to tighten.

His muscles swelled beneath his armor.

Red energy began spreading over his body like heat rising through metal.

His fur bristled.

His shoulders broadened.

His arms thickened.

Even his height increased.

I watched him grow.

"Well."

My grip tightened around the sword.

"Someone found the boss-phase button."

Agrus's body continued expanding until his armor creaked around him.

A crimson aura rolled from his skin.

The ground beneath his feet cracked.

Several Hyenakin immediately backed away.

Even they looked nervous.

Agrus lifted his huge sword.

The red energy crawled along the blade.

"I am Agrus the Red!"

"You mentioned that."

"I will be the one remembered for destroying the first human to appear in thousands of years!"

I smiled.

"You're very optimistic for a man whose employees just nominated him to fight alone."

Agrus roared.

"I WILL END YOU, HUMAN!"

Then he charged.

The ground shook beneath each step.

That was the moment something inside me stirred.

Not a voice.

There were no words.

No mysterious ancient spirit whispering instructions into my skull.

Nothing quite that dramatic.

It felt more like understanding.

A sensation.

A door inside me that had apparently always existed suddenly unlocking itself.

I looked at Agrus.

At the red aura wrapping his body.

At the way his muscles had changed.

The way energy moved through him.

The way his strength seemed to spread from somewhere deep inside his body and flood outward.

And somehow...

I understood it.

Not completely.

Not intellectually.

If somebody had asked me to explain the magical theory involved, I would have responded with a confident shrug and probably invented vocabulary.

But my body understood.

Something inside me urged me to let go.

Stop restricting myself.

Open whatever invisible valve I had apparently been walking around with closed.

Agrus reached me.

His sword crashed down.

I raised mine.

CLANG!

The impact shook my arms.

But this time, I did not fly backward.

Our blades locked together.

Agrus pushed.

I pushed back.

Then heat erupted through my body.

I looked down.

Red.

The same crimson energy began spreading across my skin.

My heartbeat slammed against my ribs.

My muscles tightened.

My shoulders expanded.

The world seemed to shrink slightly as my body grew larger.

Not monstrous.

Not uncontrollable.

Stronger.

Heavier.

More powerful.

Agrus's expression changed.

The rage vanished.

Pure disbelief replaced it.

"No."

I glanced at my arm.

Red aura rolled across it.

"Huh."

Agrus pushed harder against my sword.

"How?"

"I was hoping you could explain that."

His eyes widened further.

"The legends..."

"Please tell me they include instructions."

"Humans can learn anything."

That caught my attention.

"What?"

Agrus's jaw trembled.

"The ancient writings were true. You can see an ability and understand it!"

I considered that.

The wood chopping.

Weapon crafting.

My strange instinct with the sword.

And now this.

Several pieces suddenly connected in ways I did not particularly enjoy.

"Yeah," I muttered, "I've started noticing a pattern."

Agrus shoved away from me.

Before I could pursue him, movement came from my side.

A Hyenakin launched himself toward me.

Then another.

Then three more.

Apparently terror had finally been overruled by loyalty, stupidity, or poor career options.

I turned.

The feeling inside me reacted.

My sword moved.

Red energy gathered along the blade.

I had no idea what I was doing.

At the same time, I knew exactly what I was doing.

Those two facts should not have been capable of existing together.

Yet here we were.

I swung.

A crescent of crimson energy tore away from the sword.

It raced across the ground.

My eyes widened.

"Oh, that's new."

The red slash struck the charging Hyenakin all at once.

They were thrown backward.

Several weapons went spinning through the air.

Bodies crashed into the dirt.

The remaining attackers froze.

I looked at my sword.

Then at Agrus.

"Was that supposed to happen?"

Agrus stared at me in horror.

"You copied that too?"

"Apparently I'm having a productive evening."

He roared and swung his own sword.

A red slash erupted from his blade.

Same technique.

Same energy.

Except...

Smaller.

Much smaller.

His crimson wave rushed toward me.

I stepped aside.

It passed harmlessly by and tore through a wooden fence behind me.

Agrus stared.

His eyes moved from the destroyed fence to me.

"No."

I flexed one hand.

My red aura burned brighter.

Agrus's breathing became uneven.

"That cannot be possible."

"I've heard that sentence tonight."

"My Berserk Aura is stronger than yours should ever be!"

"Berserk Aura."

I nodded.

"Good. It has a name."

"You copied it only seconds ago!"

"Yes."

"You should barely be able to use it!"

"Probably."

Agrus pointed at the red energy surrounding me.

"Then why is yours more potent than mine?"

I looked down at myself.

My body was still enlarged.

Every muscle felt loaded with absurd strength.

Energy moved through me as naturally as blood.

I gave him the only honest answer available.

"Believe me, I have absolutely no idea."

"That is impossible!"

"Could you stop saying that? It's becoming less special."

Agrus screamed and charged again.

His blade came toward my head.

Slow.

Not actually slow.

He was faster than before.

Much faster.

But my senses had changed with the aura.

I could see everything.

His shoulder shifting.

His wrists turning.

The tension in his legs.

Every movement announced the next attack before it arrived.

I tilted my head.

His blade missed my face.

Agrus reversed the swing.

I stepped inside.

His eyes widened.

My sword moved.

There was no hesitation this time.

No uncertainty.

My body knew the angle.

The distance.

The timing.

Agrus tried to pull back.

Too late.

My blade flashed across his neck.

For one fraction of a second, nothing happened.

Then his head separated.

It flew through the air.

Hit the ground.

Rolled twice.

Stopped.

Agrus's body remained standing for a moment.

Then collapsed.

Silence.

Absolute silence.

Even the surviving Hyenakin seemed to forget how breathing worked.

My Berserk Aura faded.

My body slowly returned to normal.

I looked at Agrus's head.

Then at the sword in my hand.

"Well."

Nobody spoke.

I cleared my throat.

"Thank you for helping me discover my capabilities."

The Hyenakin stared.

"You will be remembered."

I paused.

What was his name again?

Agrus?

Angus?

Something red.

I snapped my fingers.

"Igloo the Red."

Clyr stared at me.

Gran, still lying nearby, actually made a strangled sound.

I looked toward him.

"What?"

"That... wasn't his name."

"Oh."

I glanced at the head.

"Bit late to ask now."

Then I finally noticed everyone looking at me.

Not the way they had before.

The Wolfkin villagers stared with expressions somewhere between awe, confusion, fear, and the sudden realization that the strange idiot they had allowed into their village might be something out of a history book.

Clyr slowly stood.

Her gaze remained fixed on me.

"Caled..."

I looked at her.

"Yeah?"

"Who are you?"

I pointed at myself.

"Caled."

Her expression did not change.

"Really."

"I am being really."

"Caled."

"Fine."

I lowered the sword.

"I'm Caled Morningwood."

She stared.

I sighed.

"And I'm human."

Her eyes searched my face.

"But humans are legends."

"Apparently not."

"There are almost no surviving records proving your race ever truly existed."

"Sounds inconvenient."

"Most scholars consider humanity a myth."

I spread my arms.

Bare chest.

No Spriggan markings.

Dead Hyenakin everywhere.

One headless Agrus included.

"Well?"

Clyr looked at me.

I grinned.

"Do I still look mythical?"

For several seconds, she said nothing.

Then she slowly shook her head.

No.

Something in her expression had changed.

She was still shocked.

Still confused.

But underneath all of that was something warmer.

Admiration.

I smiled.

"That's what I'm talking about."

I turned toward the other villagers.

They were still staring.

Suddenly I became very aware that these people had fed me, sheltered me, joked with me, worked beside me, and accepted me while thinking I was merely a particularly defective Spriggan.

Now they knew I was something their world considered extinct.

That could complicate things.

I scratched the back of my head.

"So..."

Nobody spoke.

"I'd appreciate it if everyone could avoid treating me differently after this."

Silence.

I added, "Preferably no worshipping, dissecting, putting me in a cage, or charging admission to look at me."

Someone laughed.

Then another voice shouted.

"He saved the village!"

A cheer erupted.

Loud.

Sudden.

Wolfkin raised weapons into the air.

Someone shouted my name.

Then several others joined.

"Caled!"

"Caled!"

"Caled!"

I blinked.

"Well, this is healthier than dissecting."

The door to Clyr's house flew open.

The women who had been hiding inside rushed out.

I barely had time to process what was happening before several of them reached me.

Arms wrapped around my shoulders.

Another woman hugged me from the side.

Someone nearly knocked the sword out of my hand.

"Careful!"

A woman laughed while squeezing me.

"You saved everyone!"

"Yes, and I'd like to survive the celebration."

Another hugged me.

"Thank you!"

"Easy, easy."

More bodies pressed around me.

I raised both hands.

"Ladies, please. There is enough Caled for an orderly queue."

One woman slapped my arm.

"You're impossible."

"Apparently not. We settled that earlier."

They laughed.

I laughed with them.

Then, over one woman's shoulder, I saw Clyr.

She stood several meters away.

Watching.

And for the first time since meeting her, I caught something in her eyes I had never seen before.

Small.

Brief.

She tried to hide it almost immediately.

But I knew that expression.

Oh, I knew it very well.

Jealousy.

My smile widened.

I looked directly at her.

Clyr realized I had noticed.

Her ears twitched.

Then she immediately looked away and walked toward Gran, crouching beside him to help him up.