Wandering

Vergil woke up a few hours later to the sun beaming down on him. He yawned for a bit before he reached down to find his somewhat dirty warajis. He put on his warajis and made his way outside as he desperately needed to use the bathroom.

Once finished with his business, Vergil made his way back inside where he saw Fenian was already up and seemed to be reading up on a book about forest creatures. "Good morning Fenian. How long have you been up for?"

Fenian looked up from his book and said, "About an hour. I got this book recently and have been meaning to read it but haven't been able to because I still had other books to finish up."

Fenian stared back down at his book as Vergil said, "You like books huh? Well, that's not a bad thing. I used to read a lot of books in the past. They all had these amazing heroes who would always save the damsel in distress from danger." Vergil said as he tried to recall stories from his past life without giving away too much info.

Fenian continued to read his book as he said, "Heroes, huh? If only those stories were true, a lot of bad things wouldn't have happened to me and others if there were such things as heroes in this world." Fenian put down his book and stared off into nothingness as he said, "People always try to show you the good side of things while trying to sugarcoat the bad. That's why I hate stories about make-believe heroes...because that's all they are, make-believe and nothing else."

Fenian stopped looking into nothingness at this point and instead stared at Vergil and said, "So, tell me Vergil, are you a true hero? Or a make-believe one?" Vergil not expecting to be asked this kind of question by Fenian simply stared back into his almost empty blue eyes and said, "I...I'm not sure Fenian. I don't think I'm any sort of hero, to be honest. If anything I could even be considered some kind of villain because of the amount of "things" that I've killed while in this forest."

Fenian didn't say anything for a while and simply stared into Vergil's eyes. After a while, he stared down at the ground with his hands crossed and said to Vergil, "Is that so?" Fenian said as he continued to look at the wooden ground that was spotless.

Fenian looked back up and said, "Guess that makes me a villain too huh? A villain in the intricate story we call life. Maybe that's why I don't like make-believe heroes, and maybe that's also why I always like to talk with the "enemy" Fenian said as he showed an almost desperate smile.

Vergil didn't say anything as the mood continued getting more awkward by the second.

After what seemed like an excruciating minute, Fenian finally decided to speak up. "Well fellow villain, we have a wolf camp to investigate soon. Pack what you need since according to you, this wolf camp is pretty far away."

With that said, Fenian patted Vergil on the shoulder and made his way over to his room.

Vergil stood there for a bit, thinking about what had just happened but decided to ignore it for the time being, as he needed to make some armor for himself as soon as possible.

Vergil made his way over to his room and picked up his bag that contained his Ryujin Jakka. He then made his way out of the room and into the living room where he waited for Fenian to continue packing his things up too.

While he waited on Fenian, Vergil messed with some of the decorations Fenian had put up. Fenian seemed to like working with his hands a lot since he had a lot of animal figures made from wood.

Vergil messed around with them for a bit before he heard footsteps come from Fenian's room. Fenian came into the living room and handed Vergil what seemed to be some jerky made from some sort of bear meat.

"Since we're leaving in such a hurry, take this jerky so you can get some energy for the trip." Vergil took it and inspected it for a bit before deciding to eat it. The taste was like biting into rough dry cooked meat. Although Vergil didn't like biting into tough meat, he didn't mind right now as he was hungry from not having eaten any breakfast.

Once Vergil was done eating the jerky, Fenian made his way over to the front door were he gestured Vergil to follow him. Vergil got up on the couch that he was sitting on and followed Fenian out the front door.

Fenian locked the front door and then made his way over to the shed where took out another key and locked it. Once done, Fenian asked, "So, where is this wolf camp that you've been bragging about Vergil?"

Vergil thought for a bit and then decided to ask Fenian something. "Well, where was I when you find me passed out next to the Purple Flash? I can't take you to the wolf camp from here since I don't recognize this area."

Fenian thought for a bit and said, "Hmm, the area where I found you might also be a little bit far away from my house but don't worry, it shouldn't take us too long to get there."

Vergil simply nodded as he followed Fenian throughout the forest. Along the way, Fenian and Vergil didn't talk much since Vergil had noticed Fenian was concentrated on trying to find the original spot where he had found Vergil.

Vergil got a little bit bored after a while though and decided to make some conversation with Fenian. "So, why did you decide to build your house in this area and not closer to the city or something like that?" Vergil said as he was honestly curious as to why Fenian didn't make his house closer to the city since he seemed to be trading with the people in the city.

Fenian continued making his way through the trees and shrubs as he said, "Well, I didn't make that house Vergil. My grandparents did a long time ago. There used to be a decently sized campsite near them and my grandparents decided to settle down near it in case they ever needed anything."

"If that was the reason, then why Isn't the campsite there anymore?" Vergil said as he wondered how such a big campsite could have just disappeared. Fenian didn't say anything for a while and just continued to make his way through the forest.

However, as if hitting some kind of invisible dead-end, Fenian looked back at Vergil and said, "I'll tell you when it's the right time, alright?" Vergil didn't ask anything else along the way and simply followed Fenian as he continued walking to the original spot.

After some time, Fenian finally found the spot and turned around to Vergil almost expectantly. "Alright Vergil, now it's your turn to guide the way." Vergil nodded and traced back to where he had been practicing shooting with his bow.

He found the tree with the bullseye on it and immediately became aware as to where he had come from. Although on the way to this area, Vergil hadn't been paying much attention. That didn't mean that he was completely oblivious to his surroundings as he would continuously check his mini-map along the way.

"Alright Fenian, just follow me for now and we should be able to reach the wolf camp in around 6 hours," Vergil said as he made his way towards Fenian. Once Vergil got there though, he couldn't find Fenian. "Fenian?" Vergil said as he became increasingly worried.

He didn't think this was some kind of prank set up by him though, as Fenian was relatively serious when it came to the forest and its surroundings. Vergil continued to shout Fenian's name but to no avail as he couldn't find a trace of him.

"Tch, what the hell happened to him?" Vergil said as he continued to look around. Eventually, his efforts were worth it though as he found some footprints near Fenian's original area. "Now where could you be Fenian?" Vergil said as he followed the footsteps.

Eventually, Vergil came to a dead-end where he found something extraordinary. Fenian was fighting two bears by himself! They didn't seem like normal bears either, however since they would eventually breathe flames from their mouths. "Fire Bears!" Vergil shouted as he took off his backpack taking out Ryujin Jakka in the process.

"Let's see how resistant to fire you are you bastards!" Vergil said as he steadied himself preparing his Shikai. "All things of this world, turn to ashes! Ryujin Jakka!" Vergil said as the area around him turned immensely hot.

The fire bears and Fenian hadn't noticed his presence before, as both parties had been to busy in combat to worry about anything else right now. Once they felt the air around them change to that of some sort of extremely hot oven however, they immediately turned their heads only to see a somewhat tall man with elf ears surrounded by flames.

"Vergil!" Fenian shouted as he had been outnumbered by the fire bears before. "I'm here Fenian. I didn't hear you when I called out to you so I came to see what's up. Only to see you struggling against two fire bears!" Vergil said as he wasted no time and charged at the bears.

"Be careful Vergil! They're fire bears so they have some kind of natural resistance to that. Although, I wouldn't be too worried as your flames feel like I'm being engulfed in some kind of magma."

Vergil simply continued to charge at the bears as the shrubs around him burned to ashes. The bears wasted no time in counterattacking though as their new enemy seemed formidable. They got into all fours and opened their mouths, sending out a huge whirlpool of flames.

The flames of Ryujin Jakka and the flames of the fire bears interacted for a bit almost as if fist fighting each other. Eventually, though, the flames of Ryujin Jakka came out on top and seemingly devoured the other as they made their way towards bears.

The bears not expecting their devastatingly hot flames to lose, however, decided to switch to their last and final plan which was to rush at Vergil full force. They got on all fours once more and charged into the flames.

For a while, the bears were seemingly able to endure the flames but that immediately changed as they noticed that the blood inside of them had started to boil. The bears screamed out in pain as they were slowly devoured by the flames that turned all to ashes.

Once Vergil noticed that the presence of the fire bears was completely gone, he deactivated his Shikai in fear of passing out from magic overconsumption. Once he did, the flames were completely put out and Vergil noticed that in the spot where the bears had originally been, now stood a pile of black ashes.

Vergil got on one knee as the magic consumption was still a lot and rested for a bit there. "You alright Vergil?" Fenian said as he held out a hand. "Thanks," Vergil said as he took Fenians hand and got back up.

"Those were some cool abilities, Vergil. I've never seen anything like it before, it's like the flames had a will of their own." Fenian said with a look Vergil had never seen before from him.

It was a look of admiration and Vergil felt proud showing Fenian his power. "How'd you even notice them?" Vergil said as he had been wondering how Fenian had just run off like that.

"I didn't notice them, they noticed me. I ran away from the spot as they looked tough and ran me down as I ran away. Eventually, the trapped me and if it wasn't for you finding me I don't think I would have been able to escape."

Vergil satisfied with his answer nodded and gestured for Fenian to follow him as Vergil stored his Ryujin Jakka back into his bag. "Shame that you turned those bears into ashes though. Their hides are worth a lot in the city." Fenian said as he waited on Vergil.

Vergil seemingly annoyed by how Fenian would always talk about the city said, "City this city that, if you love the city that much Fenian, why don't you just move into it?"

Fenian got into a somewhat comical pose and said, "Gee, I don't know Vergil, why don't you just grow into a dragon and take me to the wolf camp?" Fenian said in a mocking tone.

Vergil gave a quick smirk and decided that Fenian not moving into the city wasn't because he was reluctant but because of another unknown reason. Fenian smiled back and said, "When I take you there, you'll understand why I can't move in even if I wanted to."

As if ending the conversation at that, Fenian gave a quick clap and made his way back over to the original spot. Vergil looked at his surroundings for a bit and eventually followed Fenian as they made their way towards the wolf camp.

---END---