7 The Dark Protector

Turning from the sight of the bloody heap that was Hell-hound's remains, Black Glider set his sights on Amyna. However, his expression had changed from grim stoicism to a gentle and adoring smile.

"C'mere little kitty. Come on. Oh, you're such a cutey..." The ominous looking figure who had brutally slaughtered a monster mere moments ago was now gesturing and calling in a cutesy high pitched voice in an effort for Amyna's attention.

Amyna only felt embarrassment, for both himself and the dark clothed man making silly faces in front of him. Fortuitously, his transformation came to an abrupt end, and Amyna felt the air around him explode forcefully, indicating a mass displacement.

Black Glider froze mid cat-call, his lips puckered awkwardly. He stared down the now fully human and unfortunately nude young man who had appeared in place of the cute kitty he was trying to rescue. Finally regaining some composure, the Black Glider straightened his posture and smoothed out his expression. With a cough he proclaimed, "You're not a cat."

"Uh, no." Amyna chuckled with embarrassment.

"Something funny?" The Black Glider's authoritative voice took on an ominous tone.

"What? No, no of course not." Amyna adopted a serious expression. The Black Glider seemed sensitive about it, and Amyna didn't want to offend him. He seemed like he might be a Protector. However, Amyna's eyes started to gleam with bemusement as he recalled the faces, noises, and gestures made by this grim figure not too long ago. "Thank you for saving me."

"Huh?" The Black Glider was confused for a moment, before remembering that this boy was, in fact, the cat he rescued. "Oh, right. Not a problem." He looked at Amyna for a moment, before turning back around, preparing to take off.

"Wait!" Amyna shouted, struggling to his feet with his hands covering himself in strategic locations.

The dark, ruthless figure paused, simply turned his head slightly as the black cape fluttered in the wind. "You need something?"

"You-" Amyna paused, before continuing more confidently. "You're a Protector right?" Amyna was hesitant to trust his assumption that this stranger was a Protector, but threw all caution to the wind as he realized he truly had no other options left. He was stranded naked in the desert, alone; what else could he do?

The man shrouded in shadow slowly nodded his head, as if unsure whether to reveal that information.

"Then, could you please take me home? It's too far to walk like... this." Amyna gestured to himself as best he could without compromising his modesty. He offered the Black Glider his trademark smile that always seemed to charm.

Whether or not he was charmed by the smile, Black Glider did agree to help, even lending Amyna a spare cloak from a bag hidden under his own cloak. Amyna was left in awe as they soared above the desert surface, while he was strapped tightly to the grim protector.

Thinking about his conversation with Caleb, Amyna wanted to probe for a Protector's opinion. "Would you consider yourself a hero?"

Black Glider's stoic face hardly moved a millimeter, but his lips did slightly twitch. Was he angry, or perhaps just amused? He was unreadable. After a lengthy pause during which Amyna became more and more certain he wouldn't receive an answer, Black Glider replied with a cold tone.

"There's no such thing."

Amyna felt a pang of sympathy for Dark Glider, as his words elicited a sense of a deeply tragic past buried beneath them. Not knowing what it was however, Amyna could only think of one thing to say.

"Never give up hope."

Black Glider jerked his head as he shifted his gaze from frontward to Amyna beneath him. His expression finally changed, twisted in a snarl. "Hope? For what? A hero? The future? This world?" He spat to the side in disgust as he flew. "There is no hope and there are no heroes. Just a bunch of messy, fucked up individuals killing each other. Some of us pretend that we do it for the greater good. For peace and order and the lives of the weak, but..." Black Glider sighed. "Who cares about the reasons? We're all mass murderers now."

Amyna was shocked by these words. He rejected them and the attitude which birthed them instinctively, but as he tried to understand what Black Glider meant, he realized there was some truth to them.

The Protectors were merciless in their methods. It was practically a necessity, especially at the start. With so many powerful individuals wreaking havoc nearly every day, the early Protectors couldn't afford to leave any loose ends if they intended to keep peace in their territory. Steel Lance was no exception.

Still, even with this understanding, Amyna refused to believe anything was completely hopeless. His own situation was a powerful proof to himself that anything was possible. Probing further, Amyna addressed the Black Glider once more. "Then why fight at all? If all is lost and hopeless, what is it that makes you go on?"

The Black Glider lapsed back into silence, his eyes shifting ever so slightly, before he sighed heavily. He closed his eyes and spoke solemnly.

"I save cats."

Amyna was momentarily stunned, but given the circumstances of their meeting it was actually the most plausible explanation. He smiled widely, as he cheerfully addressed the figure shrouded in darkness. "For what it's worth, I think saving cats is pretty heroic."

Black Glider simply continued to fly on in silence, but the faintest trace of a smile finally graced his features as they crossed the desert.

...

As the desert receded below them, Black Glider flew closer and closer to the ground. At the outermost edge of the wilderness, Black Glider touched down.

"This is as far as I can take you. Doveton is just a few miles that way." A gloved finger aimed towards the southwest, towards Amyna's hometown. Without another word, the dark cloak furled around its occupant as he flew swiftly backwards, retreating into the desert.

Amyna watched the flying silhouette disappear into the distance, as he marveled at the oddity of his first encounter with a protector. Were all the people they counted on for safety that eccentric? 'That may not be such a bad thing.' Amyna could only chuckle in amusement at the thought.

Then, he remembered that he had discovered a power within himself. Amyna leapt high into the air to relieve the bubbling excitement, before sprinting madly home in careless glee. As he ran along the road, he recalled the burning sensation within his cells the moments during his transformation. He also remembered the armor, and its mandate to 'Become the Main Character.' His steps slowed as he fell into deep thought. The two must be connected. It was the most plausible way his formerly powerless self was able to develop a power now, of all times.

'Does this mean the armor changed my biology? Or is this power imbued into the armor?' Amyna's thoughts ran infinitely along this confounding track. 'If it's the former, is the armor turning me into this so-called main character? So it's not just a command or a deterrent. Then what's the story? But what if it's the latter? Is this an armor that carries its own power, meant for some "Main Character" type? Does that mean it belongs to someone?'

After mulling over endless possibilities, Amyna vowed to himself that he would keep this ordeal with the armor secret, excluding X and Charlie of course. If it did belong to someone, they would surely come after whoever currently possessed it. Even if it didn't belong to anyone else, an item with the ability to give the powerless powers would draw the envy of anyone who knew about it. It was better not to let on. They could just think of him as a late bloomer or something. He could only turn into a cat, after all.

As he picked up his pace to quickly get back home, Amyna felt a sense of having matured somewhat over the course of these encounters. At the very least, he had experienced more in this week of adventure than all the previous eighteen years of his life.